I’ve been without cable for the past few months since Comcast turned it off and I’ve been on the fence regarding paying to have it turned back on. On one hand, I don’t watch as much TV as I used to, mostly because the major networks play nothing but crap. Not watching a lot of TV is a good thing because it means that I’m spending time doing other things. My weekends are much more productive because I’m no longer lured into watching home improvement shows. I’m actually out there improving my home. 🙂 However, last night it came into sudden, sharp, crystal clear focus, that by not having cable, I have been left out of the loop.
As anyone who has read this weblog can attest, I enjoy bicycling a great deal. The super bowl of cycling is the Tour de France and I’m insane about watching any and all coverage concerning the event. As it should be obvious by now, I’m a HUGE Lance Armstrong fan. If I’m crazy about cycling, and crazy about the Tour de France, then 2 + 2 should equal 4 right?
A Little House Cleaning
Did a little housecleaning this afternoon. I consolidated the Workout log into the main weblog under the category Health And Fitness. I haven’t posted to it in a long while and if I do in the future, it will be in the main weblog anyway. I also pulled the old Webcam page into the Odds And Ends page. It just made more sense to keep the navigation as simple as possible. I also removed the Wishlist because it just wasn’t working for me the way it was laid out.
There’s never enough time in the day, but there’s a few things that I’m working on for the future:
» Merge Moblog & Photos – I don’t have a camera phone, so posting to the moblog is a somewhat cumbersome process. Since that’s another area that has gone by the wayside, I think I’m going to integrate it with the photo gallery. I’ve been looking at Coppermine for the software to run the photo gallery and my buddy Craig uses MfOP2 for his moblog, so that’s another option as well.
» Cleanup Comments – Since upgrading to MT3, there’s a bunch of new options regarding comments. For those looking to post a comment, you probably don’t notice any difference, however on my end I have to approve each one. There’s many different things I can do with comments and I just have to figure it all out and clean up the code.
» Song Of The Week – Inspired by Asterisk, D. Keith Robinson’s weblog, I’m hoping that I can add that feature to this weblog as well. The only flash player that I can find that resembles Robinson’s player is something called Wimpy Player. It’s available either as a button, or a full player. Costs money though, so it’s something I have to think about. Plus, I don’t have Flash, so I’d have to rely on the kindness of strangers to customize it for me. 🙂
» A Complete Site Redesign – Inspired by a favorite coffee cup of mine, I have the early buzzings in my head of a site re-design. I know that I’ve been tweaking colors and little things like quotes, but this would be a complete overhaul. I’m still fleshing out the rough sketches, but I hope to get to it later this year.
Well, that’s about it! Whenever I make changes to the site, I always like to document it by posting and entry on what’s changed in case any one is looking for something that’s no longer there. 🙂
Things Parents Say That Leave A Legacy
You wouldn’t know it by looking at me today, but I used to be a little kid. I was the smallest, skinniest little kid in school and being at the bottom of the food chain, as it were, had it’s own set of hurdles. As you might imagine, I had issues just like any child growing up would, but my issues centered around my height (or lack thereof) and my weight (or lack thereof) and how being little sucked. There were plenty of people along the way that helped bolster my confidence. Take Coach Newport for example. My 6th grade gym coach made the comment that being the smallest was a good thing because, “You get to be at the top”, whenever we would make a human pyramid. Clearly this made a lasting impression on me, as did other people in my life, since I remember it to this day. However my Mom made the most lasting impressions. Impressions that still have an indention in my psyche today – only I didn’t know they were false.
If anyone shared my pain of being little, it was my Mother. She was the one I’d run home to, to share my fears and anxieties over my size. Like any good mother, she would do everything in her power to make me feel better about myself. I remember one instance where she took me to the doctor. I don’t recall if I insisted, or if she thought up this on her own, but we went to him to ask him how tall I would be when I grew up. My Mother is 5′ 10″ and my Dad is 6′ so the doctor told me I would be 6′ 4″. To a kid that is smaller than every single person in his class, this was akin to being told you’re going to pull the sword from the stone, or grow up to be president. It wasn’t until I was in college and my height stalled at 5’10” that I realized that the doctor had just pulled the answer out of the sky. He had no way of knowing for sure. Yet, I always had doubts about his answer. There was no machine, or instrument he used to come up with his answer, he just said “You’re going to be 6’4” “. Although I hoped he was right, when he wasn’t, I didn’t put a lot of weight in it. I mean it wasn’t like he was family or anything.
Tales From A Pantry
Author: Marjorie Sweeney Beck Edition: Paperback, 65 pages Publisher: Unknown ASIN: Unknown Category Food
While strolling through the French Market in New Orleans on a gorgeous afternoon, I happened to stop into Aunt Sally’s Creole Pralines. Although clearly geared for the tourist, Aunt Sally’s stocked a very nice selection of true Louisiana fare. Things that you might find in just about any home in Louisiana. Although my wife and I were back in Louisiana to visit family, we had been a bit homesick recently, so seeing items that we grew up with really made us feel all warm and fuzzy. I had just taken up a keen interest in cooking, so I was wondering around looking at all the cookbooks.
They stocked the classics, such as “River Road Recipes” and even some avant garde fare such as “White Trash Cooking“, but there were several cookbooks that I had never seen before. One that particularly caught my eye was called “Tales From A Pantry: Reminisces of Growing Up in New Orleans in the Thirties and Forties, and Just a Few Recipes”. The small book appeared to be self published with a plastic comb style binding. As I glanced through the pages, I saw more stories than I did recipes, which piqued my interest, but when I saw that there was a recipe for Grillades, it instantly became a must have cookbook. 😛 Continue Reading
The Depressing Side Of Playing The Trumpet
I wrote this early Sunday morning, even though I didn’t get it posted until today. I bring this up because I’ve left the present tense used in the entry since I wrote it before I began playing on Sunday
I’ve been playing the trumpet for around 25 years, since the 6th grade to be exact, and it’s something I really enjoy a lot. Most people don’t know that I have my bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts in Trumpet Performance, but at one point I planned on being a full-time musician. After graduation, I changed paths and I don’t regret the choices that I’ve made. I don’t play as much as I used to and to be completely honest, I simply don’t have a lot of time for it. It takes a lot of practice to keep your chops up and I don’t make the time like I should. However, there are a few gigs that still come my way. This weekend I was asked if I would play for all the masses at church in honor of Memorial day. I readily agreed to perform, but there was a part of me that wanted to say no.
Why? Because the reason I was asked to perform was so that I would play Taps after each mass in remembrance of our fallen soldiers. In all of music, I cannot think of a sadder song than Taps, yet for a trumpet player it is part of the standard repertoire. Think about it, the only time you hear that song is when it’s played for the dead. Funerals, memorials, anything where you’re remembering a soldier that has died, Taps is called for. I suppose that if I did it often enough, I’d grow hardened, or accustomed to the song and the scene that accompanies it. However, that’s not the case so as a result each time I play it, it’s a struggle to get through it.
Learning To Let Go
There’s a dog that was a recent addition to our neighborhood. He lives just two doors down and goes by the name of Vegas. He’s a sweet puppy, but a big puppy although I don’t know what breed he is. He has the coloring of a Doberman, but his ears are a bit floppy. I’ve heard that Dobermans can get their ears trimmed to give them the upright ears they are know for and maybe his haven’t been trimmed. I don’t know, I’m no expert, but whatever breed he is, he’s sweet as can be.
His owner gives him a lot of room to run – the whole neighborhood in fact. Just about any time of the day, I can expect a brief visit from Vegas. He’ll run up, his tale wagging with bright happy eyes that seem to be saying “Hey! What cha doin’? Need any help?” I don’t like how he sometimes tramples our garden in order to come say hello, but he’s just so happy to see people that it’s hard to stay mad at him. Often times, as I see him run back to his own home, I wish that I could give Gracie some room to run and let her off the leash a little bit. I would never give her full run of the neighborhood like Vegas’ owner does, but some freedom would be nice.
Part of my resistance has been due to Gracie’s propensity for running to greet new people and/or animals. When I have her attention, she usually minds me, but when she’s been on the leash and a squirrel darts across our path, I’m thankful that she’s tethered to me. Walking through the neighborhood during our evening walk, I’ve felt the temptation to unhook the leash and let her run free a little bit, but my overwhelming fear that Gracie would tear off and not come back is too strong. I’d like to think that she’d stay close, but it’s such an unknown and if she were to run away, or get hurt, I don’t think I could take it.
Bluetooth Basics: Pairing
I’ve been playing with Bluetooth (BT) off and on for the past year or so, but it wasn’t until I purchased the Sony Ericsson T608 BT mobile phone that I really began to use BT technology on a more regular and meaningful way. I’ve learned a little bit as I’ve explored how to do things with Bluetooth and I thought I’d share some of what I’ve learned in the hopes of demystifying the technology. Once you’ve learned some of the basics, it’s really quite easy to use and in some respects, becomes almost transparent.
What IS Bluetooth?
Conceived by Ericsson, Bluetooth technology is the result of the joint achievements of nine leading companies including Motorola, Nokia, Ericsson, IBM, Intel, Toshiba, 3Com, Lucent and Microsoft. Ericsson labeled the technology “Bluetooth” after Harald I Bluetooth, the King of Denmark between 940 and 985 AD. They felt this name was appropriate because Kind Harald was remembered for uniting the various separate clans of Denmark and Norway. Similarly, the Bluetooth wireless technology seeks similar goals – to unite separate and various devices wirelessly. The future vision of the technology is that via Bluetooth, your computer, or handheld could “talk” to a vending machine, a toaster, or even the mundane mobile phone.
After several years of hype, Bluetooth products are finally making some headway in the US market. Adapters for your PC are as inexpensive as $30 and BT mobile phones have finally come stateside. Not quite the juggernaut that was promised, BT is gaining ground and is still a viable technology even though other standards have gained more ground, such as 802.11b
S A W E E T!
I just got off the phone with SprintPCS Customer Service and they informed me that Nationwide long distance includes Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, and …drum roll please… GUAM. That means that I can call my buddy Dan, who just moved to Guam, for free! :O So although he’s halfway around the world, across the dateline even, I can still call him because he’s still in the United States. I can’t begin to tell you how thrilled I am to learn this.
Before Dan announced that he and his soon to be wife were going to be moving to Guam for 2 years (she’s in the Navy), I barely had a clue as to where the island was on the map. I knew it was the South Pacific. Thanks to the CIA, I was able to learn more about the island, it’s culture and history, but it wasn’t until I saw this map from the Guam Visitors Bureau that I realized just how far away it truly was. It’s actually closer to Japan and Australia than it is Hawaii. Thankfully, Dan’s been updating his weblog with plenty of images and stories about life on the other side of the world. Through his eyes, I’m getting acquainted with Guam and what it must be like to live there.
I’m still getting used to the time zone issues though. Guam is on the other side of the date line, so when it’s 12:00pm CST on Tuesday here in Nashville, it’s 3:00am Wednesday there in Guam. That’ll twist your noodle when you’re tying to figure out what time it is there. I guess I better get used to it though, now that I know I can call Dan for free. 😛
I can just see it now…
Me: “Hey Dan, what’s up buddy?”
Dan: “Damnit Ashby.”
Me: “Oh did I do it again?”
Dan: “Yes…”
Me: “What time is it there right now?”
Dan: “4am”
Me: “Oh man, I’m sorry. I keep forgetting. Hey, but since you’re up, I have this cool idea…”
Dan: “That’s it. I’m changing my number.”
Back From Across The Border
We made it back last night from the Rivera Maya all safe and sound. It was a fantastic trip and could not have gone better. I have a TON of photos as well as a bunch of entries for a travelogue. However, like anyone else returning from a weeks absence, there’s a lot of catching up I have to do work wise. As a result, it will be a few days before I can get the photos, or the travel notes posted.
Regarding the travelogue, as stated in my last entry, I was a little apprehensive about attempting another travelogue, but I will be attempting to complete one for this trip. My plan is to post a day at a time each Friday. Hopefully that will give me enough time to get each day written up since there was so much going on. 🙂
Tomorrow I should be back to my regular posting of normal entries as well, if I can get everything I need done caught up today, so until then, ¡hasta luego!
Hola From Mexico
My wife and I are on vacation this week, so it looks like mashby.com will be dark for the duration. We return this coming Sunday and should be back to regular posting then.
As for a travelogue of our trip, I´m not going to promise anything. So far my success with Travelogues hasn´t been that great. I post a lot of stuff, but I never seem to finish them 😛 I will tell you this. If I complete the travelogue, then I´ll post it when it´s done.
Anyway, I hope everyone has a great week and I´ll see you on the flip side. 🙂