Taking Life Slow

I suppose this could be useful. Especially when I can't remember what I want to say, or lack of a better excuse, having nothing to bring to the table. All of which certainly does not describe me!
Am bluesy today. NASAV_studios has come to a grinding halt due to health issues stuttering in front of me like a fawn staring at my headlights.

Been kicking around some ideas for my new flash site which will exclusively focus on my music and NASAV_studios. But of course, so I don't give the impression of being silly, unrealistic or totally full of crap, there is no point in my having a music website when I am not not recording music! Just venting a little frustration. Please don't allow my rants to motivate your blocking my blog via NetNanny.

On a positive note, mentally, I am delighted with the idea of getting started with LogicStudio on Mac via 01X. Once you learn how to operate a automated digital mixer, there is no going back. Now, here is an example where I "could" use Zemanta to "reblog" old posts about Yamaha_01X. But, again, since I am bringing new excitement to my blog, I would prefer writing new excitement as well. Content has always been my primary focus since beginning HappyHarryNET in 1997. This is why I specifically chose to use the slogan on my website, "visit a website with REAL content".

Just yesterday I wrote some new lyrics. I will put music to them soon and add to the pile of content that needs to get published on the new website. Release date? I ain't going there until I get past this cardiology daydream that I am dealing with. Keep tabs here and you'll be the first to know. Also, I plan to have FANCLUB signup on my site for those of you who choose to follow my musical endeavors.

;;cheers;;

Life Catches Up With You

In 1993 I was ejected from being gainfully employed due to brain trauma caused by head_on car that couldn't wait for me to pass by.

Of course, whether or not you are familiar with my many successes coping with MTBI and residual neurological dysfunctions, does not matter. For I am now writing about NEW plaguing matters.

In 1995,everything that my physicians told me would happen 5 years later is now happening. My skull and spine being at the top of the list spitting out enough chronic pain for a handful of people. Toss in the usual morbid 40 to 90 hour migraine or whatever the hell you call it and life becomes amusing to say the least.

Now that I have crossed the 55 barrier, it's cardiac time. Apparently, my bloodstream has clogged pipes and is giving my heart a run for its money. I have appointments for heart monitor and stress tests come JAN 8 and 15th. Meanwhile, I am eating xanax and nitro_glycerin like candy to get through days. Mind you, all in the comfort of my easy chair because exercise is too stressful now.

Understand, you're talking to the guy who has used a Total_Gym for almost 15_years and am used to daily physical exercise and activity. All being reduced to total inactivity and the inability to overcome newfound acute anxiety attacks which WERE under control for 13 years until this heart crap came into play.

For those of you who have been reading my blogs and are familiar with the progress of my recording studio construction; well, it's on hold now isn't it. Perhaps, I can record my own funeral music to maintain a sense of humor.

;;cheers;;

Happy Holidays 2008

The holiday season for 2008 much simpler this year. Even so, the one travel trip we did wore me out. The colder winter weather is pressuring me as suspected with a couple new renditions which I have already seem my physicians about.

Personal projects are pretty much on schedule. Now to finish up home RV projects prior to dismantling furniture and installing studio table and jacking all the gear.

I'm already reviewing my web pad and scratching up ideas as to revamping all sites in 2009 and which technologies and methods I plan to use to accomplish that. Fireworks, XaraXtreme and Flash are all in running, with the web-goal of adding more interactivity to my websites. With the studio on its way, wanting to revamp websites may be an unrealistic idea. But, this would not be the first time that I had too many irons in the fire that ALL got accomplished.

Just swapped my Nintendo DS (NDS) slot1 microSDHC over from a Class_2 to a Class_6. The speed improvement is very noticeable. So my verdict is, yes Class_6 do cost more, but they are worth having on board. Period.

On the Xbox360 front, birthday and holidays brought in Fallout_3, GearsOfWar2, Left4Dead, and Civilization:Revolution. So now, I have more games than I do lifetime.

Don't have any intention to revise [much] 2009 new years resolutions. May append a priority on project management, including our intention to gain citizenship outside of USA for the sole purpose of increasing the ability to care for our health better and to improve financial stability.

Happy Birthday Ned [if you're reading] who turns 58 tomorrow. Would be nice to visit each other, however distance and health issues for both of us pretty much guarantees that won't happen.

Kicking the idea around to quit Twitter, or to change HOW I go about Twittering. Perhaps I will change to a web-based widget applet of some kind. Am burnt out with the usual web method and gaining followers has not been an enjoyable experience as I had expected.

Electronic Arts really blew it big time with using the Xbox Vision Cam in their game Command & Conquer 3. In the multiplayer menu, you cannot choose to have the server only find you opponents WITH CAMS, so the entire idea of having a cam is moot. Also, the Xbox Vision Cam is strict USB 2.0 and this is why many users have had cam troubles using their Xbox 360 Vision Cams with their PC chat programs. Providing your USB controllers are strict v2.0, you can use the Vision Cam with any PC software that supports a camera. Period. (that's Microsoft's promise not mine)

In close, I hope all of your dreams, wishes and aspirations come true in 2009. And of course, if you can make any of them happen NOW, please stop reading my blog and GO GET THEM DONE!

;;cheers;;

Nailed Again - Mandatory Accomplishments

Well jeez. If I allow it, that's sorta depressing. My LAST blog on the 12th, I was nailed and here I am today, on my birthday even, enjoying another glorious morbid migraine. But, winter is here, its generally colder all the time, so I am experiencing the "accumulative effect" of cold which hassles my skull, neck, spine and stirs up the pain department in such a fun way.

There is a good side to this coin. I haven't blogged from Dec 12 to Dec 20 because, along with a lot of pain, I've been busy constructing the new Nintendo DS website with chatbox at http://happyharry.net/slot1 OR you can visit my website and click on the Nintendo DS logo which I will be drawing a dedicated graphic for the slot1 site in the coming days.

The studio table is here and outside leaning against the RV. This is all about timing, including my health and the weather. It's been raining and snowing off and on and I need a dedicated half day to rip out the furniture in here, get the table installed and then properly tarp the furniture outside for the winter until I can move them to storage in the spring to keep so if/when I sell this rig, I can reinstall the default chairs.

I've been looking through a studio catalog at some other table designs. One looks like it might work better, but stragely enough, there are no dimensions listed with the product. Now why would any company have a gorgeous, color photographs of their products of custom furniture WITHOUT DIMENSIONS?! That's like throwing an Easter egg party and having no eggs!

Finalized my cabling inventory so I could make a list of the new cables I need to order for the initial studio setup. Just a tad over $300 dollars plus tax. I suspected as much. Also, I am going to purchase the reference monitors individually, rather than as a package deal, because solo they each come with nice stands and Auralex MoPads. Oh!? Which monitors? I decided to go with the Yamaha HS80M, and HS10W sub.

I'm just anxious to get my gear jacked so I can sit down and do music. I am music starved. Also, I miss creating parady materials for the gang at PCTech. I'm sure many of them feel left out because I initially made a handful of songs for some people, but never got to finishing the song list due to having to tear down my gear to construct the studio space. But, 2009 should prove to be fun. Both making their parody songs and experiencing their reactions. P.S. One of my 2009 New Year's resolutions will be, "to be LESS politically correct than in 2008" so look out world, here I come!

This dang headache is wearing off about as fast as defrosting meat in a freezer. Jeez, I get sick of this crap. I've had a couple NEW chats with God recently about what the heck is going on. So far He appears to remain neutral on these matters which is annoying me. When someone comes to me for help and answers, they get, "Johnny on the spot service!" What gives? I keep asking myself, "What am I missing here? What am I supposed to be learning from this experience?" I shall remain vigilant in my being still and listening so I won't miss the downlink when it happens.

Back to music, I have decided to rerecord John Fogerty's song, "Don't You Wish It Was True" and plan to gain legal rights to do so through ASCAP and BMI. It's such a happy song and I can already here my version in my head.

Additionally, whereas I am dangling on a string here musically with all of my gear, "stowed away in the RV" to make space for constructing the studio area... I enjoy listening to these snippets 3 takes; 2 spanish guitar and 1 harmonica and here is two Harry's and one 12_string trying out my new RODE_NT1_A Large Condensor Diaphragm microphone

Hope You like them!

Okay, I gotta see what I can get done, this website needs to be done tonite so I can shoot all the apps up to my FTP for the homebrew and dvd_to_dpg_guide.

;;cheers;;

Nailed Again

I don't feel well. I'm not sick as in cold or flu. My neurological system is fried. Feeling a ton of pressure on the base of my skull. No question my atlas is dislocated and causing spinal entertainment superior to cable television. Toss in loss of equilibrium and dizziness anytime i move my head and what a wonderful day.

Today I had planned to knock out another web page but I don't think that is going to happen until later or perhaps tonight in 12 hours.

I tire of this group of maladies and the cold weather surely doesn't help.

In any case, grin and bear it, eh?

;;cheers;;

Headache Production

Never thought way back when in 1993 after sustaining brain injury and spinal injuries that I would be constructing web pages with morbid headaches. Life is amazing to say the least. In any case I will pound out another page today after a hot shower.

The site is coming along nicely. I want to do all my new work using XaraXtremePro, but since I have wet feet, I bailed back into Fireworks to knock out this NDS project. If you care to take a peek it is located at http://happyharry.net/slot1

After the NintendoDS site is done I will begin removing the two chair and table from the RV to install the table and start drilling holes for the needed uprisers and cable routings. NASAV_studios is now planned for late FEB_09 because I won't be connecting my new Mac and LogicPro7 to the Yamaha_01X until then.

;;cheers;;

Evaluating Life

It would appear that amongst all my irons in the fire, that I must give effort as to what truly is priority. As usual I have lost a lot of time since the summer, and my ToDoList looks like a warzone.

I remind myself that I always endure higher levels of physical pain during the winter, but some of what I am experiencing is part age and part, "brain injury at 55."

Everybody has something. It is inescapable. And, I have my ups and downs just as any human being does.

Nevertheless, my heart yearns for music, and I hope all of you get a chance to hear some of it so it can touch you like it does me.

;;cheers;;

Phew! Another Month

Well jee, where DOES the time go?

In my case, I lose quite a volume of time to brain injury related matters. Nevertheless, we all have the same 24 hours a day to utilize and time is continually ticking away and there's not a dang thing you can do about it. Usually the best course of action is to utilize the time and DO something with it, anytime you can.

Although winter is here in the California mountains, we are going to set up an outdoor tent specifically to house a new Total_Gym. That's right, the one you see Chuck_Norris selling on TV. My 1st one lasted about 12 years before I chucked it into a dumpster. It had gone through 3 wheel change sets, lots of cleaning and lubricating while traveling all over the USA for nearly 10_years; including 2 rides on a commercial jet when it got banged up pretty good but was still my trusty Total_Gym and worked well. In any case, we are looking forward to this physical fitness arena add-on to the RV and my body is crying out for the exercise which pretty much came to a halt when I moved into the RV, 3 years ago come this May 2009.

On the projects home front, the most recent items that I ordered having to do with the recording studio, did NOT arrive at my physical location. So now I am tracking down items and getting the sellers to reship to me via FedEx with a signature.

Additionally, the NDS/slot1 site has been slow coming to say the least. I've been getting nailed so much with spinal issues and other health matters I am a month behind on this project. Still, I think I can wrestle the site to its minimal completion by December 20th. If I can't, I will change the release date, but this would be my last choice, since there are many users who have been waiting for the site with the DEC_20 date promise.

I am looking at purchasing a new 12_string guitar and a 4_string banjo. So, at this stage I am window shopping and researching product lines and technologies.

The Xbox360 has become all the more enjoyable with the NXE (new xbox experience) which is the new dashboard interface Microsoft released on NOV19. I opted for a Netflix account at $8 a month for 1 DVD out and unlimited streaming on XboxLIVE. Already, inside of 12 days, it has paid for itself TWICE compared to local CHEAP DVD rentals at $1 dollar each. I'm impressed the 360 continues to play a major role in our home's multimedia enjoyment. Kathy got Madden_09 for $30_bucks so I finally have a 360_version of Madden. Up until now I had Madden_04 and_07 for Xbox1 which none of the Madden's are playable on the 360. Also, the 20th anniversary edition of Madden_09 is a gorgeous game even if you don't like football.

Although I have not accomplished much in the month of November, I am trying to make this reading enjoyable nevertheless. My NintendoDS has some cool new games which I have yet to try out. Being a strategy nut, I did plunge into Age_Of_Mythologies right away and enjoyed that. I will blog about DS games in another blog after having the time to both play the games and write about them.

Meanwhile, we're just creeping up on the tail of Fall here. The air is crisp, the fog rolls in and the quiet of Winter has begun to creep into this area. The holiday people are gone, the groundskeepers themselves are somewhat hibernated, and like bears, I'm ready to enjoy 4 to 5 months of quiet time. With the exception of videogames, watching movies and playing music.

If you are wanting to participate more in my activities you can join my Twitter at http://twitter.com/HappyHarryNET

Until next time...

;;cheers;;

NOV 25 - Relax and Happy Birthday Michael_S

Just thought I would post something relaxing to listen to. This is a snippet of 3 separate recordings; 2 guitar and my 1st try with harmonica.

Who Can I Turn To

I love pretty music ;;smile;;


;;cheers;;

Nailed Again - Into The City

Enjoyed a trip into the city. Kathy got her hair done, we visited with family and went shopping for a new cell phone and to buy new videogames.

I have not been traveling well the past dozen trip and am going to need to haul my butt back into the doctors. Rear skull dizzy spells, loss of equillibrium along with serious travel sickness makes for nothing less than a horrid time. I will have lost a solid 4 days after the dust from this trip settles. Along with the colder weather that is pounding me with daily migraines, it is very challenging to get projects done.

Kathy's birthday was October 11th so I gave her the new World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. I took awhile choosing amongst many great Xbox360 titles and chose Fallout_3.

Meanwhile, focusing on getting the NDS website up on or before December 20th.

The inexpensive 3/4 spanish guitar that I ordered is not quite up to my expectations, but it is fun to play and will hold me over until I spend serious cash for a guitar.

Some people have asked me so I will reannounce here. Yes I am making a website for our NASAV motorhome and there will be both photos and videos.

Since, I AM, a man of my word, I shall see to it that things get done come hell or high water.

;;cheers;;

Nintendo DS Website and Chatango Chatbox

Thinks are moving along nicely. Just finished flushing out the comps for secondary web pages for the NintendoDS website. As usual, XaraXtremePro is really lending a hand!

People have been hanging out in the chatbox and the community is growing slowly. I anticipate more users to hang out once they learn about my site.

I am excited to offer "more content" to the public and provide a level of service that exceeds the majority of the other game sites with regards to online help.

;;cheers;;

NDS Website

Hello everyone.

Well yes, of course, it is possible the NDS/slot1 website will be ready early! However, it goes without saying, that the worst-case-scenario means, the site will be open as scheduled, on Dec_20th.

For now I am keeping things simple and making the site easy to navigate. Again, the focus is on new users who might not even own a NintendoDS. Further, anyone who is looking for specific help about NDS topics will find them easy to locate on my site. So, again the focus is help and the focus is easy.

I decided to post a mini-FAQ because people have been asking questions. An FAQ you ask? Yes, that is Frequently Asked Questions.

Q: Will there be a search engine?
A: No. Perhaps down the road when I have more time to dedicate to such a project.

Q: Is your website for game roms?
A: No. My website nor its FTP store any game roms.

Q: Will your chatbox help with questions about roms?
A: Yes.

Q: Are you going to charge any fees?
A: No. HappyHarryNET hasn't charged fees for anything in 11 successful years.

Q: What about donations and ChipIns?
A: I am considering adding my PayPaL donation button for $1 $2 $3 $4 $5 $10 $20

Q: I heard a rumor about contests?
A: Yes. From time to time I will be having random contests with Amazon.com prizes.

Q: Is it true just about anybody can be a MOD in your chatbox?
A: Come to HappyHarryNET/slot1 and find out for yourself.

Okay. It's time to get back to work. Perhaps I will finish the web site early. Wow, now that would be awesome!

;;cheers;;

NDS_slot1 ++news++

The NintendoDS slot1 website is in construction. But, I chose to test a chatango box on the site and to my surprise users began coming into the chatbox which has been a fun distraction from my working on the website.

In any case, things are moving along nicely and we have a slew of MODs so it's kinda like American Idol right now. We shall see if the list thins out over the holidays as the box becomes busier after the site opens.

To those of you who read my blog AND are trying out my NDS chatbox (which you can see right here below on the right side) I would like to thank you for your participation.

Meanwhile, I am getting back to work to finish these web pages.

PCTech never fear, I shall return; I promise. NASAV_studios is busy too. Painting is done and custom table is on order and shall be installed in a couple weeks. Then all my gear gets wired and I shall begin working out the live video kinks.

Stay tuned!

;;cheers;;

NDS St. Helen

Long day. My girlfriend needed an angiogram so we set out to a local hospital a couple/few hours away.

The procedure went well. She had 90% blockage on main heart artery. It was a rough post-op day with her blood not coagulating then massive pain followed with her having severe reaction to morphine [loss of 24 points of blood pressure] followed by hours of nauseum. Hours later, things settled down and she slept for 3 hours to wake up looking refreshed and happy as if she just got back from a Jamaican vacation!

We look foward to getting back home to NASAV where its quiet and peaceful.

On another note, the NintendoDS (NDS) on hospital wifi has been a work horse and again I am pleased with its mobile capabilities, including my blogging now on NDS.

;;cheers;;

Yucko Day

Had fun playing Fable_II last nite. Woke up to severe leg cramps. Feel like shit, have a headache, am in a bad mood. I'm gonna lay down until the very last minute before I must get up, shave smoothe, dye my beard, shower and go meet old mentor friend tonite.

Having issues with people in my life who don't know what RESPECT is. Feel like moving to Moldova, Russia. Then I won't ever hear from them.

;;heh;;

Fable II Rocks - Xbox 360

Fable II rocks! This is a true pick_up and_play game! Click the title of this blog above to be whisked to Lionhead's website where you can learn about this wonderful game.

Just one of the things I love about this game is your pet dog. You interact with your dog and your dog helps you find treasure and alerts you to things in the game, besides the myriad of tricks your log learns as you collect books along your adventure trail.

I also like that you can play coop 2 player. Now I was a little dissapointed what this actually turned out to be in real life playing the game, but it sure beats not being able to play together at all. Overall, the coop add-in is a plus and gets high scores from me because Fable_I was great fun but you wanted to play with a 2nd person and couldn't.

With no doubt in my mind, Fable II will please most anyone who chooses to grab a controller and try this game. 5 hours later, you will be raving about playing the game. Fable II is not the best RPG game available for the Xbox 360, so I don't suggest diving into Fable II with that thought in mind. But, if you want to experience a wonderful adventure, gorgeous graphics, luscious music all while it being easy to control and to learn, then Fable II is for you.

Let me know if you get Fable II because we can adventure together online using XboxLIVE. Remember, a GOLD account on XboxLIVE only costs $4.17 per month when you purchase a one year subscription at $49.99 so sign up now!

Also, purchase a Messenger Kit which costs $29.99 and snaps onto your wireless controller so you can easily chat with all of your MSN friends while playing on your Xbox_360.

;;enjoy;;

October Fiddling

It's a cool, clear, calm, quiet Monday. The ducks "flew to me" from the lake today, to offer their morning greetings. Very socialable creatures.

Today I noticed on the RV that a structural patch job from 2 years ago had become, "undone" during our escursion into town for RV repair. So today, I shall wait until later when it warms up a bit and get the ladder out and repatch it. It's nice that the weather grants me "no rush" to get this done. Had it been raining, I would have been on that ladder hours ago.

This last disembark, I yanked the Xbox's knowing that upon return I was going to rewire everything over on the home-theater side of the RV. Although the previous wire job was neat and orderly, this round we'll route everything into collating tubes and band them together along the wall beneath the booth table. Additionally, I will u-clamp the 100AC cord for the LCD. Apparantly no kind of tape will keep the bundled cord up. In any case, I am looking forward to some 360 tonight.

Late afternoon, early evening I plan to set up the MOTIF_XS and play some music. I've been out of music a couple weeks or so now and I'm feeling withdrawal symptoms big time.

That's all for now.

;;cheers;;

Up Days Down Days

Gosh time flies by. Been very busy these past weeks including disembarking from our resort location here to take the RV into the city for repair.

All done and now back home, I spent two days [literally] resting after working activities. I enjoy the outdoors and working on the RV but my spine just doesn't like it. I can surely plan for a couple days of crippled activity post physical whatever.

In any case, things are better and I am preparing the RV for the table installation for NASAV_Studios. And, I can't wait to get my new Mac come 2009. These PCs are driving me crazy with their typical crappy behavior. I probably will get a MacBook or MacBookPro, but truly a MacBook with 4GB RAM will be enough power and plenty of compatibility with my Yamaha hardware using LogicStudio_8.

I just upgraded the firmware in my NDS (NintendoDS) to the new v4.0 Sakura iTouch and it really rocks! The new file manager makes it fast and breezy to shuffle through 80 games whereas before that was a 19-tap-page-down operation. Also am enjoying some of the new games such as Jewel Quest Expedition. It's great to see some of the PC games making their way over to NDS.

Am working on a new NDS website to assist new users and provide a chatbox for hobbyists to hang out and talk NDS. One of my NDS buddies from another site has offered his chatbox for my website and I like the idea. He's been around for quite sometime, so his chatbox brings instant people to the new site. I had already prepared and setup my chatbox for the site, but this is an offer that I cannot turn down for any reason. The new URL for the site will be http://happyharry.net/slot1 and there will be a graphic button on my main site linking to it. Hope to see you there. I am looking to NOV for grand opening.

Been looking through catalogs and checking reviews and have decided upon a Ibanez_12string acoustic electric guitar. Looking forward to ordering soon and using with the new studio setup.

Interior RV customization is still in progress with more painting to come including flat white in the kitchen area and blacking out a small area in bedroom to rid of the obnoxious brown flowers on the wall.

That's it for now. More to come later.

;;cheers;;

Nailed Again - But Moving Ahead

Today I awoke to another round of morbid skull pressure, spinal pain and a headache that was blinding my thinking. With assistance from my partner including a quality, pounding infrared massage and a handful of meds, she yanked me onto my feet. Since then, today has not been pleasurable in the sense of what most of you relate pleasure to meaning.

Anyhow, now 20 hours later, I'm just in a very pointed mood that some might consider grumpy but I call it focused. I don't have time to be proper and polite and to see to it that everybody has a nice day. As a matter of fact, I am growing more irritated at the volume of people that I come in contact with, whom have no physical ailments to boggle their day and yet they complain the most about the least meaningful little piles of possum-poop.

XboxLIVE finally came back up and I guess I had my wires crossed about why their servers were down in the first place. It was my understanding that Microsoft was unveiling the new dashboard UI for XboxLIVE on the 360. But, after poking around on the net, I come to find out that the dashboard upgrade may be coming in November. So, again, as usual, Microsoft is playing head games with their customers [using their marketing skills] to build drama and misinformation about their new product lineup. Somehow I don't see that as a method to gain market share and sales. But, who am I to judge that. XboxLIVE has over 12 million subscribers, which means, if XboxLIVE was a State of the Union, it be the 8th largest state and would carry 20 electoral votes! Impressive to say the least!

Let me take a moment to describe what I am enjoying when I am not feeling so crappy physically.

Playing GRID on NDS is mucho fun. Great driving game and on DS this is a real milestone because the majority, meaning all the rest, of the driving games on DS, are not to swell to put it nicely. GRID is pick up and play and the driving control is excellent. Graphics are nice and detailed and the game play and achievement system is done nicely and keeps the game moving forward.

Now for the Xbox360. Geometry Wars 2: Evolved (GW2). Now this is serious high definition, gaming frenzy at its best. GW2 is even a fun game on NDS (I had to buy both) and the NDS version has a strategy game built in which I happen to like. The 360 version is addictive, addictive, addictive. In the beginning days of play I was frustrated because there is so much going on, I never thought I would increase my scores. But, I kept at it, and finally, I've got my scores in the millions and am currently working towards my first 3 million score. Lots of fun. Lately, I have been choosing my favorite music album to listen to on the Xbox360 then start the game and play while listening to my favorite music. Mind you, this is not a new feature. It is just that I am getting up to speed with features that have roots going as far back as the first Xbox.

In other news, I have begun YouTube-ing, mostly just wacko funny baloney for the time being. But am having fun and other are enjoying my ridiculousness. Additionally, I am gaining practice with my $800 vocal processor from TC-Helicon so it's a win-win. FTW ^5

Continuing on, I just released the first Black and White edition of the Q4 - PCTech NEWS which are now published quarterly. If interested you can either click on the PCTech link to the right and on that site click on newsletters or you can visit my site, also at the right, and click on PCTech. Either way, you won't break your mouse getting there. The new format is not as exciting as the former color version, but it's fast loading, much more portable and it is functional. So I am hoping this new formula is to everyone's liking. If not we can try something else and if participation continues to remain at an all time low, then I will simply shit-can publishing it. Oops, I meant, I will simply cease that project. LOL

NASAV_Studios painting is nearly done and I am looking forward to actually ripping out the current furniture and wall mounted items to install the new stuff. It's gonna be fantastic to actually have my own project studio up and running, 24/7. Plus this project will increase cabin space by 40% because the isle way will be totally clear allowing for easy access to the booth across from me as well as the isle way will not be plugged up with my mixer and stand nor the keyboard workstation. Which up until now, these items have had to constantly be shuffled back and forth in order for me to do other life projects besides music.

Speaking of which, come October the truck goes into the shop to have a new plumbing line and union replaced. Along with that, we're upgrading the toilet to the new higher style type which will be a pleasure with much less squatting. 18 inches versus 11 inches. Big difference. Also, the new model has a better flushing mechanism. But, I must admit, our current 25-year old commode works just fine and to this day is not broken in any way.

So heading into year 3 in NASAV. How the time does fly. Oh NASAV, remember? That is what we call our RV.

North American Surrealistic Adventure Vehicle - Home sweet Home.

;;cheers;;

Getting Things Done

Finally after over a solid two weeks of headaches, I get a break and a little fresh air.

Back to finishing up the PCTech GetTogether 2008 video photo slide show. Perhaps by the weekend I shall post to the net.

Meanwhile, am finishing up the Nintendo DS add-on site. I am drafting a DVG TO DPG tutorial which is the best in its class available on the net.

Music is on hold. I am swapping out all of my cables with new replacements including the tri-sets for the HS80M satellites and sub woofer.

In preparation for fall and winter, shall be driving the RV into town to have an entire PVC water line replaced and a new 18 inch height toilet installed. Additionally, I've collated the materials in order to paint the forward cab ceiling flat black to enhance the home theater and game playing area for “lights out” enjoyment.

I am also constructing my design of the logo type for NASAV_Studios. For those who care, this is accomplished using Adobe Illustrator 9. The A.I. File will be emailed to the lettering company who will manufacturer the logo letters using a nice flat_white vinyl material. I will take a sheet of foam core and spray it flat_black, then the vinyl lettering will be applied to the foam core. The foam core will be velcro'd to the black velvet divider between the RV driving cab and studio area. So, needless to say, I am excited to begin shooting live video while recording, with the NASAV_Studios logo proudly displayed in the background, white on black. This will look really nice ;;smile;;

In the gaming arena, I am still playing Civilization Revolution on the Nintendo DS (NDS) and Rainbow Six Vegas on Xbox360.

Until next time, have fun and take care.

;;cheers;;

Nailed Again - Glad To Be Home

After some 400+ miles, we're finally home. As much as I enjoy traveling, my body don't. Although the car is comfortable, the change in seats and beds really messes with my spine. It's like changing from shoes you're used to into new shoes that are not yet broken in.

The resort is completely empty as we head in the direction of fall. We are the only ones here now that Labor Day is gone. Very nice. The city seems literally out of control, especially in the noise-pollution department.

I'm nursing another slam-basted headache today so I don't feel much like accomplishing anything. Perhaps later, which will end up being tonight sometime whereas it is 1:30 pm already.

Played a little Rainbow_Six_Vegas last night. The weapons detail and customization is very neat and adds an element of strategy to the game. As with Gears_of_War, for games that are over a year old already, they both look extremely good at 1080p. Also, when using sniper rifles, the 6x and 12x scope "kill animations" are seemingly realistic making the game very satisfying as you rid of tangos throughout the maps.

Well, I'm gonna mosey down to the lake and then plop down and check out for the day. Nothing getting done today.

;;cheers;;

Little Baby Isaac - LBI

Our first grandson was born September 3rd. His name is Isaac Mitchell Michael and he weighs 7 lbs, 9 oz., and is 21 inches with giant hands and feet! Momma and babyIsaac are healthy and all is well. We got lots of photos and video and after my other projects I shall constuct a babyIsaac video for the family.

We're several hundred miles from home and are anxious to get back home. I have medical business and physical in the morning, then we hit the road and get the hocky puck out of metro hysteria. Can't stand the city! Everybody here has rectal ventriloquism!

Picked up a couple Xbox360 games. Rainbow_6_Vegas and Gears_of_War. I've wanted to play these but didn't want to cough $60 each so I waited for the price drops.

I am geared up for this annual medical tomorrow, but will be glad when it's all over. It's inconvenient and a total pain in the ass.

I'll blog again when I am back home and relaxed.

;;cheers;;

Nailed Again - Labor Day

Aha! Now I know why it's called labor day, because I am laboring through another headache!

In any case, I made it onto my feet after dragging myself to a hot shower 3 hours ago. Meds not doing their job today.

If I don't get any productivity projects done today, I may end up just clicking the time away playing Civilization_IV: Beyond_the_Sword and since I am wiping this PC next week, I will be glad to begin playing Civilization Revolution on Xbox360 which is a faster, more relaxed game.

Anyhow, I'm outta here. I'm so sick of these blasted headaches I could spit.

;;cheers;;

Nice Summer 2008

Well summer is treating me nicely with comfortably warm temperatures that don't run you out of house and home.

Meanwhile, I am keeping busy with an array of projects, including upgrading some of my web pages to the new format, still constructing the PCTech video slide show which got side-stepped last week. I am expecting to be done with the video and move on to recording a new song for a friend beginning second week of September. Everything takes time and while I am pretty good at the things I do, I've been stuffing much more “fool_around_time” into my days, so projects slip away.

Why not? Life is short and I'm not on anyone's payroll!

Still enjoying TBS_4X, Civilization IV both on PC and NDS. Am looking forward next week to picking up a copy of Civilization: Revolution for Xbox360.

That's about it for now.

;;cheers;;

Astronomical Nonsense

Life has treated me to a cavalcade of thought provoking experiences during my recent virtual life in chat rooms on Paltalk Messenger.

It would appear that a there some people associated with this on-line society who are not exercising much brain power. Moreover, these same people take no accountability for their actions and do not believe in consequence.

Then I receive responses from many users, which I call these replies, “mass hysterical mishmash” or (MHM) which is nothing more than their uninformed response to the events happening around them. The end result is a feeling that things are not fun, so people become less interested in whatever the particular on-line society's purpose was in the first place.

Also, keep in mind, the troublemakers believe their juvenile behaviors and vandalism is a method to show you, Joe Public, how talented they are. When in fact, they are under achievers, and their offensive behavior is clearly a symptom of their problems. Much like that of an alcoholic who steals alcohol only to drown their problems in booze so they don't have to own up to anything. This is delusional behavior and this leads a person to believe to a false sense of security in that, they are thwarting a threats which will bully, rattle or cause harm to others. Again, only to gain emotional attention to feed their psychopathic bad habits. Amazingly, then they cry and snivel when they must suffer the consequence for the offenses they commit.

Over the past week I have received many different forms of communication. Some have responded with queries as to why? While others are wanting to know what on Earth is going on? Managing the hysteria of this scenario can be as challenging as navigating a raft down the Wenatchee River Valley rapids in the state of Washington. By the way, a very nice trip if you have yet to visit there.

Then there are individuals who are claiming that I accused them of being hackers. Well, they can't READ. And, IF they CAN read, they certainly do not have the ability to decipher the meaning of clearly written English text. My text clearly stated that they got caught red-handed CONSPIRING TO hack my personal Internet properties. Secondly, there was ADMISSION and CONFESSION on a verified audio recording that one person had compromised my security in the past. Meaning, they are guilty of already doing so. Third, they FAILED TO REPORT any conspiracy TO me. This is where the infamous, “guilt-by-association” kicks in. So my being accused of naming anybody a hacker is false. My being accused of filing a lawsuit is false. It doesn't appear that the troublemakers can't even keep their stories strait. By the way, it is reported that law enforcement officials experience this same phenomenon when interviewing suspects.

Appropriately, I now give thanks and honorable mention to the following people who did the right thing. Their stock with me, just went up 2 points.

LectroSpazz, WordPerfectly34, Sunny Sky50m, SubZerQQ, and ZippidyDooDaw

;;cheers;;

Nailed Again

Last night, after a glorious romp with Rise_of_Nations (RTS_4X), I awaken today to misery once again.

After assisted massage and removal from bed to make it to a 120 degree hot shower, I am finally on my feet hours later.

Perhaps I shall continue my RTS/TBS/4X romp later. But, I had a fun romp with strategy games this past week. And, I am looking forward to picking up a copy of Civilization_Revolution for Xbox360.

;;cheers;;

TBS_4X and RTS_4X

Hello. It's great to be back. Early to mid-Tuesday was queasy but I only made plans to play strategy games for the week so I mustered through.

Late Monday night I began a romp with Civilization_IV: Beyond_the_Sword, an excellent TBS_4X (Turn Base Strategy) game. The 4X means, "eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate". During this gaming session, it was not my goal to be a warmonger, but rather win by technological advancement. I was doing very well up until mid-morning today when China invaded me and handed my butt to me on a silver platter. But, I got extremely close to winning at year 2025. The game ends and the rules play out at 2050. And although CivIV is a gorgeous game, in actuality, Civilization_II is the superior Civilization product. This is perfectly understandable, whereas CivII is Brian_Reynolds, who is the same developer behind Sid_Meier's Alpha_Centauri (SMAC) which happens to be the finest TBS_4X ever produced.

Civilization_IV: Beyond_the_Sword is a wonderful expansion pack for CivIV and besides the hundreds of variables it alone adds to the game, I found myself really delving into CivIV much deeper than I ever have before. There is no question that using the macros for my building cues, city management and research tree really did help me focus on other game issues rather than the meat and potatoes of playing.

Tonite I shall begin a fresh romp with Rise_of_Nations (RoN). This is a RTS_4X (Real Time Strategy) game with a twist that includes hundreds of TBS_4X features. My version of RoN includes the Thrones & Patriots expansion. There's so much to like, including the 6 types of governments that you can change during the game in real time. Reminds me of my Yamaha_MOTIF_XS... everything is done in real time!

Unlike Civilization's static TBS_4X system, Rise_of_Nations plays in real time just like other RTS games, so the battles are much more enjoyable. I love during the gun powder age, it's like the civil war; totally cool!

All around, RoN is one of my all time favorite RTS games because it is very balanced and has hundreds of game options that can be made PRIOR to starting a game and changed DURING a game. CivIV has features like this too, but not as robust as RoN. Rise_of_Nations is Brian_Reynolds' best work to date; this side of Alpha_Centauri.

And, yes I still play the 1999 PC game SMAC, at least twice a year. Sid_Meier's_Alpha_Centauri is an excellent game with an excellent user interface. It was my hope that other PC games would have adopted SMAC or RoN user interface. But, it appears that you'll only find these qualities in Brian_Reynolds products; Alpha_Centauri, Civilization_II, Rise_of_Nations and Rise_of_Legends.

After dinner, it's time for RoN and then you won't find me on the grid until Friday.

;;cheers;;

Nailed Again

Need I say more?

I hear there's a lot of chaos over in Paltalk_Land and PCTech. I hope things simmer down by the time I'm back on my feet.

;;cheers;;

Anybody Listening?

For those of you who actually take the time to read my blogs, you actually know much more about who I am than the rest of the crowd. I speak my mind and like living my life candidly with the public, to some extent.

I too have my private life, although it is far less than what I share with the world.

We are living in very turbulent times. People are working two and three jobs just to make ends meet. Parents can't afford daycare, babysitters, let alone nannies to care for their kids while they work their double shifts to pay their mortgage. The daily pressures are building up like lava in a volcano, and at some point in time, its gotta burst.

I see the changes in society, even though I live hundreds of miles from metro-hysteria. Even the television shows and commercials reflect the current trends and propaganda.

The upcoming election is enough to make everyone sick to their stomach. There appears to be no real hope for most people. Or at least a "feeling" of hope. It's kinda like having to choose between Microsoft Windows XP and Vista. The world is divided. Approximately half the users hate Vista and the other half want to stick with XP. This is about the same division in the USA over removing, "In God We Trust" from our currency. That's pretty sad. HALF OUR COUNTRY THINKS IT NEEDS TO BE REMOVED. Talk about mutiny!

Whoever is reading this rant, and whoever knows me, will agree this might be my most negative sounding blog. With all of my personal irons in the fire for new upcoming projects for Q4 2008 and 2009. But, rather than defend that line of thinking, let me make it clear that I am not negative but rather to the point. Anyone can do their own research. Anyone can study the archives. Anyone has access to public documents thanks to the Freedom Of Information Act that yet has been banned. So, I don't consider myself special with regards to knowing the things that I have educated myself about. Anyone can do it. And the more you educate yourself about our country's history and corruption, the more you find yourself wanting to pick up the rifle and march to Washington to take your government back. Welcome to tyranny. Anybody flying your USA flags upside down? Well you should be. Our country is in trouble and needs help. We are in distress. This is no laughing matter. And the fears and stress of these truths are even apparent by the behaviors of adults in chat rooms. Peoples attitudes are jacked up. People are easily offended. Racism is at an all time high in history. And although everybody tries to pretend they are acting Politically Correct, they actually want to ring each other's necks! It's sad.

For those of you who find comfort in your higher power, more power to you. Prayer, meditation and other forms of connecting with our inner self and that spiritual highway is very important to living a happy life in today's times. These are the end times. Won't be long and they'll yank the currency and they will "chip" you. I have every intention to deny accepting any "chip" implant.

This album recording is a slow going process. Writing songs and recording music and mixing is a very time consuming project. And, doing this in between health has grown into something that is obviously going to take much more time than I ever imagined. But, I will do everything I can to finish the album so all of you can hear my musical creativity. Maybe I'll get lucky and get 2 albums done before I'm gone. But, I sure hope I can get ONE finished before my time expires. It will mean the world to me for you to experience what God continues to give to me... music.

In closing, I suppose what I wanted to say is I have made plans to make drastic changes in my lifestyle. I've already moved out of the city, into a motor home and live at least 100 miles or more away from metro-hysteria. The next venture is to get further out and get off the grid for awhile. If I didn't enjoy the Internet so much and use it for all of my electronic financial matters, it would much easier to get off the grid. There are plenty of BLMs in the USA and living 4 to 6 weeks at a time hundreds of miles in the boonies is easy when you know how to bring your own power, water and communications. Eventually, I think I will leave the United States. Although the USA is extremely diversified (geographically speaking) the rest I can do without. And, the longer I live in RV the less I really want to travel. This opens the door to the idea of moving out of the USA permanently. The people and things in my life that matter, know how to reach me. And the rest of the world isn't my business. According to the doctors report in fall of 2000 I now have approximately 9 years of life. Of course I could out live that and make 100, but this brain injury/tumor stuff usually don't fly that way. So with that in mind, I need to re-steer my focus as to what matters the most TO ME. Up until now I've made most other people more important. I know, I know... I also make ME important. LOL. But, the fact remains I could certainly take a lesson on letting everyone else manage their own entertainment systems. I may play a song from time to time, but it's not my job to see that the entire world is happy. That is a ludicrous illusion of grandeur.

;;cheers;;

Songwriting

Back on my feet. Yesterday was busy with tank dumps, hosing October_2007 dirt off RV, Mediacom came, installed dedicated 8 Megabit drop. Service sucks, lucky if I see 2 Megabit and I see ALOT of 500 to 1500 kilobits per second. HillbillyNET is what I call them.

Got a couple new songs in the works. Some parody's for PCTech admins and one serious song that I am writing for a friend. I won't share more details about the songs, for then they won't be any surprise when I release the songs in September. There will be an obvious graphic on my websites announcing the new music. Stay tuned.

As I spend more time with the Yamaha MOTIF_XS workstation, the process of songwriting and song construction is becoming more natural. In my humble opinion (IMHO) they still don't have the work flow process nailed, but it's certainly much better than previous years, and of course I am whining, for there are zillions of users out there who would starve themselves to get a MOTIF_XS. All I am saying is, the idea of "the workstation" is evolving and eventually WILL be "the one place" where you construct and record your entire musical arrangement, mix, master and burn to CD without jacking into a PC or MAC. I also have Yamaha's 01x 28_channel digital mixer which can be used with computer DAWs or as standalone mixer. This is a major advantage over most current mixers and DAW controllers which do nothing when not connected to a computer. Still, I look forward to 2009 and jacking my gear into Apple OS_X and Logic_7Pro or LogicStudio8 with 01x as the control center. Korg's OASYS has already been doing the record/mix/master/CD-thing for years. But with its $8,500 dollar price tag, a learning curve that is nearly strait up and sounds that are NOT as good as Tyros/Tyros_2/Tyros_3, I think only studio producers and the like will be Korg's customers.

Still got my eye on Tyros_3. From what information that is available thus far, I am disappointed they have not at least switched from 61_keys to 76_keys. Whereas Tyros is Yamaha's flagship "best sounds" arranger-workstation synth, I am surprised they have yet to market a 88-key model. It's a pricey unit commanding $3000-$5000 dollars depending on the model and used/new. Reading the forums, I see Tyros_2 owners already selling their units in order to buy Tyros_3 - a bit premature for my taste. Although the 61_key won't change my purchase decision, it's time the Tyros grew up. I think an 88_key, balanced_hammer version would stand Korg OASYS on its ear simply because Tyros has the mind-blowing impressive sounds, and no_brainer to use. OASYS [in its own right] is advanced beyond Tyros with its programmable flexibility, but its "out of the box" difficulty level will consume at least a year of time for most users to "get up to speed" with the product. On the other hand, Tyros has always had the ability to enable users to "do what they want strait out of the box." Why don't I have a Tyros already? Well, I had a $5,000 dollar budget and had I bought the Tyros I would not have been able to purchase the 01x, mics and other gear in one shot. The MOTIF_XS was the next logical choice whereas much of its power lies in the fact that it is filled with Tyros MEGA_VOICE technology and thousands of arpeggios.

Meanwhile, MOTIF_XS is certainly no slouch, but you must learn "its ways" of doing business. Some of the logic doesn't make sense to me at times but I am adapting to it. The largest challenge [for me] is learning to construct songs using pattern mode which is the MOTIFs most powerful song construction mode. Pattern mode consists of 16_parts, each part having up to 16_tracks, with each pattern having 5_scenes. That's 16_x_16_x_5 or 1,280 tracks of sound! But, whereas I am an old-school linear songwriter/recorder, this is a new way of song construction. MOTIF also has 16_track LINEAR song recording, but the full arrangement power still lies in the pattern mode. Pattern mode still allows for live performance recording into patterns and extensive use of 6,000 arpeggios so there's a lot to like.

This afternoon I shall update the firmware of my XS. One of the updates I am looking forward to is the LAN user login/password is now stored. So accessing the network is not a laborious task of typing logins and passwords. Somebody was obviously asleep at the wheel during initial testing, but Yamaha has fixed it and that's all that matters.

;;cheers;;

Nailed Again

Ain't happening. Woke middle of nite screamin headache, spinal crap, neurological system tweaked to Saturn and back, feel horrid.

Wrote a new song yesterday, will record in coming days when possible.

Hopefully later today or tonite I can participate in my life.

Until next time...

;;cheers;;

Memorials & Memories

In 1 hour 15 minutes from now [4:01 PM PDT) 15 years ago in 1993, I was struck head-on by a car while driving my motorcycle.

Over the past few years I hadn't given this date much thought. Afterall, it's just another day, right?

Well, now I don't subscribe to that line of thinking. Because I did in fact sustain a brain injury, I had to relearn how to do things, which also opened the door to bigger and better ideas. Including learning how to design better ways to think and find data in your brain. This also includes better methods of living and making better choices. In my experience, it's rather "the lack of" making choices which leads to poor experiences simply because you're making less choices in the same amount of [life] time. In the end, the only way to learn how to make good choices, is to make bad choices, learn from them and next time round, make better choices.

Although my life on August 6, 1993 was really good, my life now is much better. And, had it not been for the fact that I got hit by a car, my choices would probably never got me to where I am today.

So the next time you hear, "It's a shame bad things happen to good people" tell them that is a bunch of rubbish. Getting hit by a car wasn't a bad thing for me. In fact, it was the best thing that ever happened to me.

;;cheers;;

Internet Woes

Trying to get something done without Internet is not only frustrating but unattainable. The Internet has now become an electronic service necessary to accomplish daily tasks such as online banking, business transactions, retail purchases and social communication with family and friends.

Today I was [again] greeted with no Internet. We are scheduled to get a dedicated drop from the pole on the 12th and tomorrow I have requested they make a service call and replace this modem which I feel is dropping carrier.

Meanwhile, the frustration grows because every thing I do on the computer requires the Interent. Currently, I am constructing the newsletter which requires my FTPs. Additionally, I have began the production of a DVD from my step-daughter's baby shower, which requires my FTPs and the Internet. I had scheduled two minor changes to a website and have one PCTech back-channel update which requires Internet. So, it goes without saying, we live in a world where not having electricity, Interent and cellphone tower service is not a invenience but rather a non-acceptable practice.

I shall do as much as I can offline during these downtimes, but surprisingly, not much can be done. It doesn't take me long to do anything and more often than not, I require a hot Internet connection more than 80% of a common day.

;;cheers;;

Koolman_2008 - Temporary Space

Previously I announced setting up a project studio in my motorhome. That project is [still] in the works. I've got a niggle to iron out with regards to the mixer stand that will uprise through a table, and in order to accomplish that, I must seek the aid of a welder many miles from here to make me a custom part. As you can see in the photo below, I have haphazzardly set things up around my chair. Space is a bit tight, but actually when seated, everything is within easy reach and I am in production mode.



Here is a short audio clip that I made for Koolman_2008.



;;cheers;;

Nailed Again

Well jeeze, what else is new. Please... somebody tell me something I don't already know. Today's waking was one of the most morbid of times that I can recall. But, of course I probably say this every time I describe the pains I suffer with.

In any case, now 22 hours post awakening, things are down to a dull roar and I lost an entire day and night. So all projects just lost one day. Additionally, I was reminded about my step-daughter's baby shower and going out of town on Thursday. So, as much as I was wanting to publish the PCTech newsletter for the very first time on the 1st of the month, is not going to happen. Well, I guess that's why they say, "dissapointment is merely a word."

On another note, I have more admin songs in the works on the MOTIF workstation and am excited to get the admin-jingles production going. I know the admins will enjoy them as well as the roomies.

Still, with music ongoing and on the back burner, I have Help Videos to do. I knew Spybot 1.6 would be coming and it's been out awhile and it's time for me to get, "up to speed" and replace my old Spybot 1.4 videos. AVG 8.0 now has a PDF help file on the PCTech website, so there's no reason to delay making a CCleaner video.

August should prove to be productive.

;;cheers;;

Using AVG 8.0

For those of you who are interested in AVG's version 8 of their antivirus, I have thrown together some simple instructions which should make installing, configuring and using AVG 8.0 easier.

To view my PDF help file, click the title above, "Using AVG 8.0" or you can click your mouse in your browser's address bar and type:

happyharry.net/using.avg8.pdf and press [Enter]

On a different topic, I had planned to publish PCTech's August newsletter on the 1st of the month. However, family matters arose forcing me to leave town for 3 days, thus delaying the newsletter to publish on or before Wednesday, August 6th. It is my intention to post future newsletters on the 1st of each month. Thanks for your understanding.

;;cheers;;

Nailed Again

Not happening today. Past few days was rolling up to this, but yesterday was [at least] productive.

Was good to hear from Spazzy on the phone and I was sorry to hear pipelinerdave's mom passed. I know how that is. A day don't go by that I don't miss my mom.

Cubase_4 install had a glitch and didn't include Halion sampler. Reinstalled to correct the matter.

Today being the 15th I see current music projects sliding out to August already. But, they are getting done. That's the beauty of "total recall" so you can jump right back in where you left off.

My thanks to the reply regarding brain injuries.

;;cheers;;

A New Month

Gosh, July 6 already! The tail end of June for me was riddled with headaches and I guess rolled into July because here I am just getting going again.

PCTech newsletter is in the works but off to a slow start this month. Thanks to the editor, at least I don't have to chase down too many people for monthly content. But it's my hope that soon we will have a pool of content to draw from to construct newsletters and publish them on time, e.g., the 1st of the month.

In other news, I am working with some Yamaha plugins using Cubase AI4. Things are working properly, but I am considering starting this current recording project in the MOTIF workstation to keep everything under one hood. I can always shoot the mix from the MOTIF over to the PC later. I just want to get started but am considering all musical possibilies up front before stepping on the gas.

Weather is warmer and the air conditioning in the RV is welcomed. Generally, this year seems much cooler than last summer. A combination of elements including different location, having better power and we're not parked in the desert.

Bought one of those Shark vacuums. Works wonderful for super fast indoor clean up. Why I hadn't thought of this before is beyond me. Not a whole lotta floor space in this 27 foot rig, but using the Shark sure beats setting up the 11 amp vacuum.

I ran out of steam early tonight. Will get some rest and start early. I am hoping to publish newsletter on Tuesday providing no niggle.

;;cheers;;

Yamaha 01X and Reaper

Here is a sneak-peek using Reaper 2.13 DAW with a Yamaha_01X mixing console. These are exciting times for 01X owners!

Basic operations of 01X work fine using Cubase, Sonar, Digital Performer and Tracktion. But, Logic_7_Pro on OS_X is the only "out of the box DAW" that controls every button, knob, fader and function on the 01X console, including the SCRUB function.

Now that Reaper is including 01X remote capability shows great promise! And, Reaper is being developed for OS_X as well. Reaper runs on Windows 98/ME/XP/2000/Vista/WINE.

WATCH THE VIDEO
To see the video, click on this blog's title, "Yamaha 01X and Reaper".

;;cheers;;

Gaming Update

Hello and welcome to three days away from July 2008!

Replaying Half Life 2 on the Xbox360 in 1080p and surround was much more satisfying than when I played the PC version. The Orange Box is a very nice collection of games on one disc, but before I begin Half Life 2: Episode 1 (yeah I know... I'm behind the times) I have dove into a couple new games that are a lot of fun.

Supreme Commander, a massive real time strategy game (RTS) plays a lot differently than its PC counterpart. First you don't sit in front of a computer. Second, you relax in your easy chair or lay on the bed with your wireless controller and completely manage the NEW USER INTERFACE which I happen to like. Supreme Commander had a ton of keyboard commands and thinking this would be possible to manage using the Xbox360 controller, at first, didn't seem possible. But, they did it. The screen is uncluttered with one button bringing up a circular interface that is very inviting and easy to use. This game grows in size, immensely during gameplay, and yet I found managing everything was as easy if not easier than playing on the PC. For me, not having to sit and keep my hand and wrist on a mouse and press keys was a relaxing change of pace. Very much like the previous RTS games on the 360 including, Lord of the Rings: Battle For Middle Earth II and Command & Conquer 3. Actually, the new Command & Conquer: Kane's Wrath [which just shipped this past week] uses a similar radial-menu which is an improvement to their previous romp where the game interface took 25% of the screen real estate. Supreme Commander has 3 factions so playing its campaign mode gives you AT LEAST three entire games. Then you have skirmish modes where you can selectively choose and setup your map type, map size, factions and other details to play random games against the computer. Then you have the real meat and potatoes; playing on Xbox LIVE against other players. So, this game has some lasting appeal to me and those who enjoy RTS games. Don't let some of the "low game ratings" for this title scare you off. If you enjoy strategy games AT ALL, run and buy this game, or at least RENT it and check it out.

Next up is Frontlines Fuel Of War (FFOW). Frontlines is a military-themed infantry and vehicle based, open-world first person shoooter. Now this game was fun from the start, and in part because it is open-world. You're not playing the game, "on a train track" such as Call Of Duty and this makes it more fun. You can wander off a bit and some of your squad will still find you and offer support which is nice. But, I was surprised how much I enjoyed this game because I never was a "Battlefield" affectionato. However, I am LQQKing at Battlefield Bad Company as we speak and am considering it. I will play the demo a few times and check it out. Back to Frontlines. FFOW is easy to jump in and play. Also, unlike the game reviews, I am enjoying the campaign A SECOND TIME already! This game actually was slated as a new Battlefield game, but got shoved and ended up shipping under its own cover. Details about this can be read on the Internet if you scour around for it. But what I like about this game is, it is NOT as realistic nor are the graphics as top notch as in Call Of Duty 4. But, I like that you get more weapons right from the start. And I like that you get to use MORE weapons right away. And the variety of weapons and vehicles is offered to you RIGHT AWAY from the beginning of the game. You don't have to play for hours unlocking bonuses to start having fun. Of course, it is not realistic that you can carry 6 weapons with you while you're running around, but who cares? It's a game! Also, the story [like many other game stories] interestingly is about our current modern day times with the timeline beginning in 2005 and moving through the increased gas prices due to the politics surrounding oil. I thought the story aspect was done well, but I didn't like that the cut scenes and story are STEREO and the game is in SURROUND. Not a deal breaker, but a bit odd. This game and its accompanying sound effects are fun strait from TV speakers too, a major plus for gamers without surround sound systems. Frontlines Fuel Of War is a fun, first person shooter (FPS) that is like Battlefield when you play the game online. It has interesting weapons and vehicles and although this game does not bring anything new to the table, its a fun game to play and worth buying if you're not a game renter.

Xbox360 games that I am [still] waiting for are: Civilization Revolution (TBS), World In Conflict (RTS), Madden '09, Dead Space (FPS), Fracture (FPS), Gears Of War 2 (3PS), Fable 2, Tom Clancy's End War, Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X., and Unreal Tournament 3. Well, jee, there's $540 dollars plus tax! LOL

;;cheers;;

Changing DAWs

When I first dove into DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations) I had skimmed over one called Reaper. At the time, Tracktion [made by Raw and marketed by Mackie] grabbed my interest with it's "one screen" simplicity. Also, at the time, I was able to jack my Yamaha O1X and get up to speed rapidly. And, in the beginning, this really excited me because the sonic capabilities of both my O1X and the MOTIF_XS are so astounding, I was just glad to start recording in the 24-bit digital domain.

Well, it didn't take time for me to mature. I spent the better part of the past year learning how to use the O1X and MOTIF and came to the conclusion that I would save my money and go with OS_X and Logic. Bear in mind, Logic 7 using O1X is by some standards considered, "old technology" but what grabbed my attention is that Logic, "was the only DAW out of the box" that supported every button, knob and switch on the O1X. Currently I am in that "saving $$$ mode" and yes I will be moving entirely to OS_X and for good reason.

Meanwhile, I am going to try out a new .DLL for O1X and Reaper. The Reaper DAW only costs $50 dollars for a license. The DAW is totally skinable to your liking. Although I am not much of a skinner, I already found a couple skins that grabbed my interest. Using "Deric's" DLL for Reaper breathes total functionality of the O1X into Reaper.

This may sound like a bunch of mumbo-jumbo so I will rephrase in simpler terms. A guy programmed, from scratch, specific Mackie Control codes so every control surface function of the Yamaha_O1X is totally compatible using Reaper. Additionally, this talented programmer added a slew of additional control features that go beyond the scope of what Logic, Cubase and other DAWs are capable of, using O1X.

So now I'm actually back to the idea of dedicating my 30" inch LCD (1280x1024) just for NASAV_Studios. I've been trying some new setups this past week. Whereas space is limited in this 27 foot RV, you gotta be real creative when it comes to how you setup recording equipment, mics and keyboards. But, I got something that is working for the time being.

I definitely will be blogging my progress with Reaper and O1X.

;;cheers;;

June Activities

June is almost over already!

The studio has yet to get finished. I still need to take part of my mixer stand into the city and get a custom weld job to extend the stand to uprise through the studio table. This past month has been chaulked full of headaches, spinal issues and general "off my feet" adventures, but I am hoping to schedule a city trip come July.

Playing games this month shifted off of the NDS and GBAmicro to the 360 where I am finally playing, "The Orange Box" which although in the eyes of most PC gamers, playing Half Life 2 is old news, Orange Box is a great bundle of 5 games to play on the Xbox 360. Also, Half Life 2 and its episodes are much better on the higher 1920x1080 resolution accompanied by optical TOSlink surround sound. Next week we go into the city so I plan to pick up a copy of Supreme Commander and Frontlines: Fuel Of War both for the 360. Of course, there are 6 new games coming between now and December that I am awaiting to play and they all are good so I can't really just pick one out and say it's the best. However, I am very much looking forward to playing Supreme Commander, World In Conflict, Tom Clancy's End War & H.A.W.X., and Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution. Oh, and jeez I forgot Fable 2, C&C 3:Kane, Madden '09, and Gears Of War 2, ohh man and Dead Space! There's no end!!

Meanwhile I have been setting up my MOTIF_XS haphazardly just so I can at least have some fun and continue learning how to use this monstrous and powerful music computer. The pattern mode is becoming more friendly and I am looking forward to the OS patch from Yamaha that should be out this week as a matter of fact. The main thing I am looking for is storing the username and password for LAN mounts instead of having to enter each time you connect. As for the new option to include a standard QWERTY USB keyboard for data entry, I'm not that impressed. The whole point to using a workstation is to, "Get away from using a computer" so I am not in a hurry to start using PC junk with my workstation.

The MOTIF_XS has 16-track automated mixing built-in, but it's surely not as productive as having hands on the O1X. Still, on days such as today, its nice to sit and putz, "completely standalone on the workstation" and compose, edit and arrange music without having PCs or MACs in the picture. Although, I WILL say MAC is fun to have around musical instruments much more than the PC.

RV life is about the same as always--wonderful. More city people show up now that summer is upon us but still things are relatively quiet and peaceful here whereas this is an upper class resort and the clientele who visit here are not trailer trash. Been enjoying nightly walks and taking nice photos of the sunsets. Until nextime...

;;cheers;;

Screwing Off

Slugging down ice cold silver bullets and watching commercial_free CSI:_Miami in luscious high def and THX TOSlink surround.

No place to go and nothing to do.

Life is good.


;;cheers;;

Thank You Everyone!

Right now I am a bit too busy to go into details about the depth of my busy-ness. But, I wanted to give a shout-out and thank every one who is submitting materials to the PCTech monthly newsletter. Especially this month's June, morning edition, which will be publishing Friday the 13th, Eastern Daylight Time.

See the MAY issue at:
http://pctech.50megs.com - click on PCTECH NEWSLETTERS by the USA flag

You can submit newsletter content to:
HappyHarryNET@aol.com at ANY time

Upon completion of the JUNE issue I will be finalizing the upcoming PC_Help_Videos.

Well... back to work.

;;cheers;;

Things Are Heating Up

Besides the lovely June weather that has brought warmth upon us here in the mountains beside the lake, lots of projects going on to keep the coals hot.

PCTech is celebrating their one year anniversary for their newsletter which went public just last month. I am busy with that and hope to publish by Wednesday 11th.

Started picking at my own sites finally. Converting them to the new format. This process will take some time because the original static sites were not truly designed from the ground up so the new replacement pages are essentially redesigned and coded. I am pleased in all respects. The final step will be to comb through all of the graphics and change to the optimal format and crush them to smaller faster file sizes.

It's vocoder time on the MOTIF using my new AudioTechnica phantom condensor head microphone jacked into the TC-Helicon vocal processor then jacked into the stereo inputs on the MOTIF XS sampler. This is truly exciting stuff. Eventually, samples, demos and final music productions of what I am doing will be available on their own dedicated website.

On the gaming front, I have returned to playing Guild Wars on the PC and enjoying it much more than my first two rounds of playing it a year ago. Still am playing Fire Emblem, chapter 26 on the Game Boy Advance micro. Great game! Speaking of games, starting in July, I am writing a column in the PCTech newsletter about games. I shall see that links here and on HappyHarryNET are available. My 2cents on games shall prove to be a wrath of knowledge, experience and enjoyable reading for anybody remotely interested in video gaming on PC, MAC, consoles and handhelds.

;;cheers;;

Time Flies

See what happens when you blink?

The month of May impaled me with a barrage of spinal pain, skull cramps and screaming headaches. Needless to say, I lost some serious time.

Today, I found myself slumming around with a morbid headache. Still, I am poking along with projects getting things done, "at a snail's pace" at best.

Hopefully the month of June will show promise to higher productivity levels.

;;cheers;;

Nailed Again

Well for starters it is very obvious to me just looking at my blog dates that I have been down for the count more than not.

For the record, the past three days were productive. Although, each day began with morbid headache and spinal pain.

Today, was another matter. I don't understand any of this. It is 100 degree warm sunny weather. The heat usually helps me. And, the level of pain and dysfunction that I am experiencing today is the worst that I can think of let alone remember.

Now 6 hours into the day and medicated to the gills, I am finally on my feet. Whoopdeedoo.

I know catastrophe's such as the 50,000 deaths in the recent China earthquake are devestating to their families and friend... and to the world. But honestly, today is one of those days that I find myself hard pressed to find a reason why I should be here. I'm tired of this. I'm sick of this.

As many of you know I laugh a lot and have a good time most of the time. Well, most of the time, "that you see me". That's the key phrase.

I have so many projects and things I want to accomplish and I feel myself slipping away from them. My music studio gear is stowed and I am not physically up to dragging all of that out and jacking it up so I can fiddle with some music. I can hear the music in my headache ridden skull. The sweetness of music never tarnishes in my mind and heart regardless of the pain and chaos that may be burying me at the time.

Last night I talked with an online friend in Australia. Her son recently was injured and sustained brain trauma. I'm not sure at this time that even the medical community is sure what his problems are. It's too soon. But my heart goes out to her and her family who are now having to cope with, "this new person they used to know" and I personally know how hard it is.

Today I am having an extremely HARD time. And it doesn't go away. It keeps coming back and this is a hell that I would not wish for anyone to have to live with. I lose over 50% of my life to this nonsense. And I gave up trying to count the days, months and years a long time ago.

On another note, I know there are times when I break through the pain and agony as though I was rocketing into the 4th dimension. And, this is very true. But, when I am experiencing these extreme levels of pain and physical dysfunction, I don't yearn for the so-called, "nice days" because even those days begin with some level of morbid headache and I usually wake up stiff like a tin man. Besides the skeletalmuscular problems and advanced arthritis which stems from the trauma sustained in 1993, the level of screaming headaches, occipital nerve pressure and pain, blurred vision, very impaired and/or loss of equilibrium... jeez I haven't even got to the brain part. Sure I can babble and take turns opening my eyes to check my typing. Like talking, I type with my eyes closed to construct sentences. Otherwise any visual input, "distracts" me from my thoughts and writing comes to a halt.

I was 39 when I got hit by that car and now I am 54. In 2000 the neuro-doctors gave me 15 years with the year tumor they found. Of course, I was not willing to live with that so I used a compliment of modalities such as prayer, visualization, positive affirmations, and all that. Two years later when they scanned me the tumor was 80% less. So I spose, there is power in personal home medicine and simply the determination to tell bad things to go away.

Still, that doesn't change the facts and daily reality. My partner Kathy does every thing. I am not totally useless. But, I am usually focused on my projects, whatever they be. Example: today when I woke up, I did the usual spending most of the day just getting onto my feet while still inundated with pain. Kathy had set up the FedEx package pickup, and made arrangements for some banking matters, made coffee and left me a note before she went out. I am very lucky to have someone who gives a shit enough to want to be in my life. Because although it is true that, "I am HappyHarry" WHEN I am, there is a lot of down time. This is where many people get hung up. I'm getting hung up right now writing to you about it.

Brain injuries are a bitch. They are ever-challenging. The are not understandable. And it's nobody's fault. It's a confusing mish-mash of chaos and things that don't make sense. And all the while, everyone on the sidelines must just wait and see. And just maybe, they get their loved one back in the same shape they were in before. I think its fair to say, eventually, much of the original personality of the survivor will return. But, there will be inconsistencies that you are not accustomed to.

Accept and Resist. We are either accepting or resisting. Which are you doing right now? You see I am doing both. I am accepting the pain and sharing with you about this pain in the ass life of mine. And I am also resisting, because I am sick of it and I want out. I've lived a good life and although I have not achieved some of my dreams, you never achieve all of them anyhow. Life isn't THAT long. You grab a hold of what you can and who you can and you ride the waves of life before the rapids run calm.

My Internet is down so I will post this when I can. Today is Monday, May 19, 2008 according to my system tray clock. If not for computers I would not know what day or date, but I usually can say what year it is. Unassisted with any databases of information and the like, I must look up most things or use someone else's brain to jog my memory. And yes, it is great that I have learned how to manipulate that.

Well I am going to slam some coffee and try to beat this. I am fed up with this slow-motion state of affairs. I had plans to finish the Spybot video today/tonite. We'll see.

For more information about brain injury and Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (MTBI) visit my website at http://happyharry.net and click on MTBI.

Thanks for listening.


;;cheers;;

Busy Life

After a couple days recuperating from a headstorm which ended Thursday, April 24th, (mind you I'm having to use a calendar to even construct this sentence) it appears I am back in saddle and getting personal life projects accomplished.

A couple glitches surfaced, delaying NASAV Studios™ construction again. Shall blog on this under separate cover.

I am currently making 4 new PC Help Videos. I am not impressed with Camtasia 5. Although some of its new features are nice, editing and doing post production in the time line has UNACCEPTABLE LAG TIME which seriously hampers production. Some users might view this as a "upgrade your PC hardware" sort of thing. I don't think of it that way. I am using a 800 FSB, Pentium 4 3.2GHz, optimized XP SP2, and the performance degredation from Camtasia versions 4 through version 5 are simply unacceptable. There is no point having the ability to adjust and slide things on the time line in any editor having to do with video and sound, if you cannot precisely preview your content exactly how it will be rendered. So, I am back to using Camtasia 3.01 which is easy to use and you can actually edit smoothly in real time and have an accurate preview prior to rendering your final production.

Meanwhile, 11 hours into PC Help Video production, my operating system decides to take a dump. Will not boot to safe mode, reboot loop. Taking video with my little DV cam I was able to see the flashing BSOD (blue screen) which contained no stop error and was a generic, "remove or reinstall bad hardware" error message. Attempting an XP Repair, Windows found 5 partitions. Drive 0, the 80GB HDD which went bad, showed up with 76GB of free space meaning Windows XP is reporting the drive to be empty. Booting up using my custom UNIX boot CD, the partition is found and I can view ALL of the data and their filenames on the drive using short and long-filename modes.

At this point I have 3 options. 1)Killdisk the drive, and install XP; this would be my last choice. 2)Boot @Active File Recovery Enterprise (AFRE), recover data and save to CD/DVD, LAN or external USB (which I don't have an external USB now) and 3)Boot System Commander 9 and disable the "active" partition on that bad 80GB drive. Then connect the bad drive to the PC I'm using now which boots from a 200GB SATA drive, run AFRE, recover data from the bad 80GB drive and save to the 190GB of free space on this 200GB drive. BEST CHOICE. And it worked. Flawlessly.

Initially AFRE found the 80GB IDE HDD partition in "Bad" shape. However, in less than 25% into its thorough scanning process, AFRE upgraded the partition status from Bad to Poor to Not Bad to Acceptable to Good to Excellent! This is wonderful software and totally worth $100 dollars. When logical drive letters get scrambled or when XP cannot boot to safe mode, it's AFRE to the rescue. Note: XPs Recovery Console proved fruitless trying all partition utilities and commands. Actually, the recovery console made things worse, but again, System Commander instantly fixed that!

But before recovering data, first stop was System Commander which I used to disable the active partition on the bad 80GB drive. I won't bother naming them, but just for giggles, I tried 3 name-brand partitioning programs, that people tell me, "they're good partition managers" and yet NONE of the 3 I tried had the ability to change the bad hard drive's, "active" status. In my case, it was paramount to disable the active partition. Without disabling the "active" boot status, the IDE and SATA drives cannot be connected to this motherboard because the BIOS doesn't support toggling to SCSI, which happens to be a workaround for this SATA/IDE drive scenario. So, as long as the IDE partition is active, my SATA C: drive will be ignored and the bad 80GB HDD will continue its boot_looping BSOD_ing nonsense.

If I had an external USB drive to use, I would have simply fired up a AFRE boot CD, recovered the data and saved to the external USB drive. But, I live HOURS from a city where I could purchase a USB drive (today) but I'd rather not pay $30 dollars just to FedEx it overnight. So, I chose to remove the drive from its case, and jack it into this PC. Ran AFRE and recovered the data and saved to the free space on this 200GB drive. Long story, good ending. Data recovered. Problem gone. Thanks again to System Commander and AFRE.

Changing topics, we're going to be changing camp spaces here at the resort. We were offered an incredible offer saving over $3,000 dollars annually. This move will help me to buy a 3GHz iMac 24-inch. The 3GHz dual core provides ample power to run XP/Vista under Apple Boot Camp, Parallels Desktop or VMWare Fusion. I had considered dedicating my P4 2.4GHz XP SP1 PC to use for DAW with my O1X and MOTIF XS, but now I have chosen to bail entirely from Windows and music recording production. The Intel iMAC manages native OS X running Cubase 4 and Tracktion 3 better than its PC counterpart. Even, running XP under Boot Camp, Parallels or VMWare Fusion is better than running native on the Intel P4. So, Harry is headed, "back to MAC-land". I say this because I began my personal computing adventures FIRST on a Mac back in 1984. I find it ironic, now 24 years later, I am returning to Macintosh.

In other news, I am continuing exterior painting of the RV. The mirror struts are finally done and it's time to remove the masking tape. The rear of the RV needs to be cleaned, sanded and taped where it will receive some flat black and crimson red stripe painting to finalize the elimination of this truck looking 24 years old. So, although my plans to construct the NASAV website and post photos and videos of the, "before and after" is now 4 months behind, this project close to completion.

Still enjoying the NDS and during my PC death, it was handy to jump online via wi-fi and twitter and do some email. Go NDS ^5!

For those of you who take your time to read my blog, I would like to thank you for your time and consideration. I trust you will have a nice spring season and I think we're all going to have an exceptional summer this year.

;;cheers;;

Nailed Again • Life Is Slowing Down

Well isn't that special. It's Friday already. Jeee, that was a nice week that just whizzed past me without even saying, "Hello".

It's [comparatively] warmer today. Still, in the 50's but my body's whacked-out thermostat is aware that the barometric pressure has changed and the mean temperatures have increased. There have been times when I am just plain boiling up and I will turn on the air conditioner when it is only 65ºF ;;heh;; I can remember when any temperature lower than 80ºF was freezing cold to me. Well... that was 8 years ago in Florida. Wow, almost a decade already since Ohio and the girls, then back to FL, then dad sick and then California. All seems like a blink of the eye.

I think I might be getting old. I spose up until now it hadn't occurred to me that fifty-four years have zipped by me while I was pretending that time stood still. Then one day you wake up and realize that life only let's you pretend just ONCE and then it's over.

When I get NASAV_Studios™ operational I will feel emotionally better. I am frustrated now. I am at least four months behind schedule. I thought it would never stop raining. But, it finally did. So, now it's time to customize the table and to acquire some ABS PVC to test it as a substitute mixer stand pole which will rise up through the table. Hopefully, this idea will work. If not, then I will have to build something using wood. So, again, I need to drive into town with my measurements and see what I can work out. Ideally, if I could buy a piece of aluminum or steel with the two different dimensions for each end, that would be sturdier than the plastic, but I think the thick ABS will suffice. The mixer weighs less than 20 pounds and the length is not excessive.

I'm feeling laziness set in already and spring isn't even here yet. I look up at the ceiling and remember that I never repainted it flat-black as planned and now from the kitchen back to the bath and bedroom I am going to paint flat-white. So, I have painting work to do before summer 2008 passes; which it will; everything does.

As the days pass, I notice I nap several times within a 24 hour period of time. This napping is on top of my existing 4 to 6 hours sleep that I experience most days unless I am in coma sleep due to pain. Things are slowing down. The other day I thought back to 2001 when the doctors gave me 15+ years. Perhaps, what I am expriencing is the autumn of my life. I am spending time caring about what ultimately matters. Though I don't think I have sorted out what that is as yet. Perhaps I will write a song about that.

Still enjoying the NDS which has strayed my time away from the PC more and more. I plan to get my PC projects done before spring is over. Help videos, a couple new websites and other ideas I've had on paper to construct and be done with.

It's nice that James and Kathy has joined twittering with TheGraz and me. I twitter and even blog now using my NDS. Surprisingly, it is not much slower than using a PC. Sure, typing a story using a standard keyboard is a plus, but many other times, it is very convenient to hop onto the NDS via wi-fi and post my 2 cents.

Time for a nap. We'll catch up later.

;;cheers;;

Nailed Again

Ain't gonna happen today.

Starting a technews site. Sneak peak at http://happyharry.net/technews where there is only one article.

See ya on the flipside.

;;cheers;;

NDS Heaven

Hello everyone!

Here I am blogging to you using my NDS (NintendoDS) on wi-fi and Opera browser. This is very cooL and I am able to access email, chat clients, online chess, twitter and blog, all with the ease of using the on-screen keyboard and the NDS stylus!

For my first hours online I am impressed that I can walk quite some distance away from my NASAV home and have solid wi-fi performance. Way to go Nintendo!!

;;cheers;;

Nailed Again

Another batch of days seemingly drop off the radar. Which would be mathematically correct. Nevertheless, my projects and ToDo lists from 2007 for 2008 are getting lined out a little slower than projected.

NASAV Studios™ originally scheduled to be operational by FEB 2008 has been pushed out to JUN 2008. Better late than never, eh? It is exciting to finally get the studio rigged and the cables jacked. Most of all, it is fantastic to consider the O1X digital mixer being taken out of its case and getting permanently set up for use! There will be a dedicated website coming for NASAV Studios™ to keep you up to date with what's going on there.

Personally, I've let time slip away in NDS-Land. It's a busy and fun place. And, I am enjoying microSDHC memory cards. Much better than their SD and CF counterparts in terms of how they are manufactured and constructed. I just threw out into the trash, another 2GB SD card simply due to, "wear and tear" because the casings begin to come loose. When this happens, it affects the locking mechanism on the card which in turn affects WRITING TO the card. When this happens there is nothing you can do. Your data ON the card is safe, which is good because you can drag it off to someplace more safe. I also keep a copy of my data on a free server site at http://adrive.com which gives you 50GB free. Check it out.

Finally got into town and purchased new strings for my 12-string guitar. So there's another day to plan. The guitar is "like new" so doesn't require much cleaning up, and changing the strings is a fairly easy job. I have somewhat grown out of this 12-string and am looking to sell it and will purchase an instrument that is more in line with my caliber of playing. I have yet to determine a selling price, and yes, I shall announce its price when it is available to sale.

Shall blog again tonite. I have PC Help Videos to make, create and post.

;;cheers;;

A Week Of Life

Wow a week of life!

One thing that I am appreciating about "blogging" is it gives me a sense of time. When I look at the time and date in my system notification tray and see Monday, April 14th and realize my last blog was on the 7th and only remember like one day that I was off my feet, it gives me great satisfaction to know that I enjoy a great WEEK of life. Seven solid days give or take a headache and some pain here or there.

In this blog I am going to skid over the topics that I may later post more specifically about. But, for the sake of time and that I don't want to forget what is on my mind, I will keep the topics brief for this posting.

First, it was very exciting that the DIMM RAM finally arrived for the Yamaha MOTIF XS and I prepared ahead of time for its installation. The workstation must be flipped over so having a secure "stand to support the unit" is imperative. I used bricks and wrapped them in 12"x12" cloth towels available in sets of 9 for $5 dollars at Wal-Mart. The installation took around ten minutes tops. I also wore a grounding wrist-strap whereas I am one of those people who naturally carry on their person, 50,000 volts of static electricity so it is imperative that I be strapped and grounded before I get near electronic parts such as highly sensitive DIMM memory. After installing the DIMMs, I fired up the XS and it immediately showed 380 minutes of sampling time available. I patched into SONG mode, called up a song I am working on and then mixed it down to stereo to be resampled in the sampler. The process was painless and worked well. I did go through the process 3 times because the amplitude was less than I expected. Yamaha apparently purposely [for a lack of better word] attenuates the signal gain so people don't get distorted samplings. You can adjust the sampler; -12db, -6db -3db -zero +3db +6db and +12db. This is actually a handy feature when you simply want to take a song from the XS, and create a 44 kHz WAV file to send or take to a PC/MAC for mp3 without having any plans to edit, mix or do any post production on the data in any DAW or mastering app such as Wavelab or Yamaha's mastering suite. In my case, this was a simple, somewhat quiet, yet lovely piece of 2 spanish guitars and harmonica and the +6db resampling option worked well.

All of the NDS accessories I purchased finally arrived. This includes the M3DS ReaL slot1, RAM expansion slot2, 4GB microSDHC including USB 2.0 SDHC adapter (very cooL) and an extra RAM expansion called the 3-in-1 which is needed for fast browser cache when using the Opera web browser on the NDS. I'm glad I bought the 3-in-1 because now, both of our NDS units will have Internet capability. All I must do is order another M3DS ReaL which I will do. In my first hours of toying with its features and "home brew" this is really exciting stuff and a fun hobby. If you enjoy handheld gaming and like to get into other venues such as viewing pictures, movie conversion, listening to music and the like, then you owe it to yourself to either find a friend who has one and is doing this so you can check it out OR just go buy a Nintendo DS Lite, and get yourself a M3DS ReaL, download and install the latest firmware v3.4 and get "brewing" ASAP. If you're wondering how much does all this junk cost? Well, the NDS is $129, my really cool case to carry it all was $26, the M3DS ReaL including a rumble pack and RAM expansion plus a USB 2.0 microSDHC reader was a whopping $63 and the 3-in-1 expansion was $20. The Kingston microSDHC 4GB including SD and MMC adapters was $30. So, for $268 you can have a totally custom NDS, with Internet connectivity, watch movies, listen to music, view pictures and do TONS of Linux apps and utils, plus play DS and GBA games. This is handheld heaven. And, yes I was considering a Sony PSP. Still am. It can do a couple more things better. Such as watching home brew video and it has a neat add-on live chat-cam package. But, feature for feature and price vs. price, the NDS costs way less and does AS much as the PSP. Neither handheld can play Flash yet, nor can they view PDF files. Shall be interesting to see who gets any of THAT first. But, in June, Sony will be releasing the "Cherry Red" PSP bundle including the game, "God of War" and it will be a must buy for me. But a PSP with all the bells and whistles and accessories about $500. So... if you're interested at all, leave me a note right here on my blog using the Shoutcast OR email me. But, for under $300 USD, the NDS delivers a TON of entertainment for years to come.

Kathy and I had our 1st "shindigg" here yesterday. We threw a birthday barbeque for her twin daughters. 11 people showed up, plus a gorgeous white pet husky dog. We all had a great time, the weather was gorgeous and I will be adding these videos to the upcoming NASAV website which is the web for our RV life. The party lasted about 5.5 hours and although I enjoyed listening to our favorite music and watching the girls dance and fool around, it was nice to get back to, "nature quiet" after everyone left to drive back to the city.

I'm back to playing Mass Effect on the 360. And a couple days ago I got an itch to play Dawn_Of_War_Dark_Crusade. Enjoyed that so much that I happen to see their new RTS, DOW_Soulstorm so I went ahead an bought it. Great game and now this fine real time strategy game includes, "air units" and I like one of the new factions called, "The Sisters". Fun game, and it's fun to be playing RTS again on the PC.

Tirtiary note: I was surprised that during the birthday barbeque, the guys opted to play Call_Of_Duty_2 instead of playing the new COD_4 which proves that the 2nd incarnation of the game provides a better split-screen experience. Personally, I think the weapon sounds in COD2 are much better than in COD4, this includes experiencing them in full 5.1 digital surround via TOSlink.

In other news: days before the barbeque, I have already finalized all roof maintenance due to the winter. This rig is 25 years old and our roof repairs consistently have worked for us, but each spring, a few spots need upgrading or simply repatching. The entire process took me around 2 hours and I am very pleased with the RV roof.

Also, all of the RV trim got a, "Spring Coat" of flat black latex and I am preparing to do the cab_steps and order a couple rolls of molding for the outside skirts. Also the front grill (in front of the engine) although still looking good, needs to get a fresh spray of black along with the rear wheel skirts. I do this once a year anyhow. This process takes about 2 hours as well. So, you're asking, "When do we get to see all of this so-called customizing?" Okay! You're entitled to ask and to gripe! But the NASAV website is in the works. The transformation of the RV from what it was when I bought it to what it is now, is not night and day, but it is very unique. The main attraction being our RV is probably only 1 in millions of RV motorhomes that DOES_NOT have factory logo decals on it. That was the FIRST thing we ripped off. There will be pictures and video of those experiences.

In the past WEEK, I spent an entire day just learning more about the MOTIF XS song and pattern mode. The pattern mode is very powerful with its 16x16x5=1,280 parts to be used in song creation. It takes some getting used to a different way to [physically] construct songs. Yet, the process is still linear and works well for musicians like me who do write parts such as intro, verse, bridge, chorus, fills, key changes, ending.

Am very excited to finally find a OFFICIAL Yamaha O1X travel case. I say this because I got lazy and didn't buy one when I bought my O1X and then when I went online to order one, they were no longer available ANYWHERE. I was freaking out. So this is great that not only did I find a place that has them, but the price dropped $30 too. This case is a padded, zippered, wheel_around with slide-up extended handle (just like airline pull me's). The case includes space for a laptop in a separate layer of the case along with pockets for cords and cables. So, come the tail end of April I will order one along with a Gater-case for the XS, and 2 nylon dust covers for both units. Once the studio is setup permanently, the units MUST be covered at all times when not in use. Quality towels DO_NOT keep out dust, dirt and debris!!

The month of May will be to INSTALL the studio table, saw, drill and paint and setup the gear, jack all the cables and get excited to begin losing days and nights at NASAV_Studios™.

I spent half a day kicking around some PCTech documents that I am still editing and working in collaboration with the room owner. I expect these to be approved and get published to the net sometime between now and May.

More later!

;;cheers;;