Rehearsals begin

This is just us in rehearsals, its a rough mix and we had Britta's voice over gained so she sounds a bit distorted at times, but we'll learn...less gain when the wee one is doing the shouty stuff

Ahthankyew

Phew... Cracked 90kg

Finally, I cracked 90kg....granted it was only flickering on and off but the scales defiantly said 89kg then 90 then 89 then 90...clearly my intake of air I my lungs was kicking it over, I shall stop breathing.


But at least the diet and exercise is starting to pay a visible dividend....no difference yet to the folds though...Now that the better weather is here I 'll be cycling to work more so it we can start to up the exercise parts.


The Gadgeteers are on tenderhooks (tenterhooks?? I never know) at the thought of a live pub gig in 2 weeks, we have 33 songs in our repertoire we have to become note perfect on in 5 rehearsals...

shiiiiit

Maybe that's why I'm losing the weight...nerves



Ahthankyew

The Gadgeteers Ride again, getting a new board ready.

We have a gig, on the 26th April at Café Happy Days in Breda...one of the busiest nights here, its called Koningsnacht, Kings evening, the evening before a National Holiday for the King...so always a busy evening, the Dutch love to party.

Its short notice, but we do have a fair set arranged and can add a few numbers, it is far longer than we have ever played though, 3.5 hours...not all playing of course we can take breaks.

Scary though to book a gig only a few weeks away...better get our practice heads on. I hope this will be the 1st of many new gigs in the pubs and cafe's


https://www.facebook.com/events/1594814947431440/


In honour of this event, and the fact I am getting a cool tax rebate in a few months, I am finally putting the finishing touches to my new gig board idea. Something much more portable for band based events. The Mega Board is just tooooooo huge to lug around for band events, it's staying at home for recording my looping efforts, unless I ever get some gigs on my own...unlikely.

The new Gigboard, will consist, of a GR55 (I picked up a 2nd one super cheap on eBay), my VoiceLive Play GTX, which will also serve (with the GR55) as my main guitar source and of course vocal processor, perhaps with the Tone Synth added for Daft Punk covers.. A small 5 port mixer, going out to my RC3, and maybe...just maybe a few of my single pedals, hooked up via my 5 way signal looper. (not an audio looper, it routes the guitar signal to different paths, allowing different pedals to work in different routes.)

The VL-GTX is not as powerful as my VL2, but it works fine for the singing and backing I do in the bands, so no need to load up the VL2 to the board.

I need to keep this light, so the single pedals, and even the RC3 are probably going to be overkill. But the Mixer to bring the 4 cable outs from the GR and GTX will make it easier to hook up to a PA. At the moment I take 4 inputs which is a lot.
If it turns out its getting too heavy I'll keep my single pedals in their current board and use when I am only playing guitar.

I've bought a basic but strong pedal board on eBay, its on its way now, so assembly will start next week when it arrives. Pics will follow

As will some video and audio of our rehearsals.

Ahthankyew

My board Final?

Always hard to say for sure, but I think this is my final board configuration, at least with these pedals.

Under the tier is still a shambles of cables than will need some work to tidy, but aside from a sticky out XLR on the VL2 everything is looking neat..and more importantly working fine

Behold..the new "final" board.
Of course, there's more... The Adrenalinn III is capable of far more than just being an Amp modeler, its a fantastic fx unit in its own right, so it can connect up to my Berhinger FCB1010

Which then gives me the ability to select presets, volume control, wha control, and a few other things...

 

Now....to learn how to use it all.



The BeatBuddy is still proving to be a bit hard to get my head around when the RC-300 is the midi master (it refuses to be a slave) so I need to adjust my timings to work within that and see if I can get some recording done.

The cold/cough from hell kept me from recording for the last few months, but it hasn't stopped me practicing a few songs,  I've got holidays soon, so I'm going to gear up for a mega recording session with all toys fully on display.








Ahthankyew

The temptations of the flesh are many and tasty

Not going to do the weigh in today.. I know for sure I blew it big time the last couple of days.. And especially last night at Poker with Peter and Liz and the gang..

I pigged out on Gourmet and more importantly on some absolutely fantastic rum

 

Wow this stuff was nice, I had quite a lot of it.....which probably caused me to play quite brilliantly at poker even though I suffered a massive loss when sitting 2nd or 3rd in chips with over 50euros, when I had a nut flush only to lose out to 4 kings....ouch that was a killer, but my betting strong actually scared the 4 king hand into thinking I had a royal flush....he bravely played and caught me out...
Damn it was the hand of the evening...and pulled in  a wedge of euros, wish I'd won it lol
.
Lucky I  still had 10euros in reserve and managed to push that all the way back to 27.50 in only a couple of rounds, for a 2.50 profit. at close.(we only play 25euro stake games and set a time rather than last man standing). If it hadn't  been for that big loss I would probably have left as chip lead, but no matter, I'm always happy to leave in profit.

I did however lose a clear 1kg when I checked on Friday... If will try to walk/exercise the excess of the last few days away.

I had some awesome news on Thursday too, but can't say just yet....I did however celebrate...more to follow on that one when its all out in the open.

Ahthankyew

Hungry...but determined, and more toys

ok I've upped the stakes now....calorie counting and a bit of light exercise, walking , using stairs, and the sit ups and push ups....grrr, will try to pop to the gym (yeah right) sometime soon.

I'm trying to stick to 1000-1500 KCals, basically, a breakfast biscuit eaten as later as possible around 11. A small sushi or bento box from AH (ideally the 35% discount one)  followed but a small evening meal...no supper
Drinking lots of coffee, with no sugar of course, I've not had sugar in my coffee for years.

So yes by 9-30 am hungry, but am not going to give in.. I have FOLDS....

if I haven't started to lose weight with this on Sunday's weigh in.. I'm just going to pig out and go with the rag on a stick.
I am hoping once the weight loss becomes noticeable, I will be able to focus better on ignoring the hunger...right now, though there's a couple of cheeseburgers in the fridge that are calling to me....I am resisting, even though I'm well under my quota, I don't want to go to bed with food in my stomach...It needs to burn off.

Onto Toys....
I picked up a Google Chromecast dongle today, only 35euros so I can easily get Netflix on my downstairs (or bedroom) Tv. Its  not without flaws, the thing is controlled by your iphone, or laptop, but it seems to sometimes lose the connection to your chosen control device and then it can't be controlled, needing a reset to get it going again... Hoping they fix that, as resetting is a bit of a pain.
But it does stream well, no major issues there.




Ahthankyew

not lost an ounce

I've cut out snacks, I have a small lunch and dinner, I take the dog for much longer walks, and try to do a bit of power walking as I do it...I even gulp, have been doing pushups and sit ups.

and 2 weeks later


not an ounce lost....


I hate diets..but I still have folds, so have to keep it up.

increasing the pushup count from 1 to ...1.5 next week maybe...


Ahthankyew

Sober code review

Damn I was drunk last night......but boy was I productive...and after going though it today, aside from misspelling a lot of labels, the code is excellent. As was the graphic optimisations I did to try to produce a graphic solution to a scrolling issue I didn't have the space to code.

I seem to be becoming more coherent and focused while drunk.....

Scuze me, I have to do a quick shopping trip to the off-license...4 crates of Cabernet Sauvignon should do it.


Ahthankyew

quite drunk

yup did even more coding, and fuck me it all works.

seems to be the way to do it.

only trouble is it makes me sadder than hell, wish Brenda was still here, I miss her so much

being drunk and productive isn't worth the pain I feel not having her here.

Ahthankyew

maybe not yet

With the benefit of wine, I managed to do quite a lot of Z80 coding today

of course, it was with the benefit of wine, so it may not actually work when I am sober.


ta daaaaaa!



Ahthankyew

Am I past it?

Health issues aside, (99.95% now so pretty much there)

I worry if I am still up to my job..not the teaching, I still love that, and enjoy the challenges it gives me. But as a programmer, can I still cut it?

The last year, I have had so little time to do much programming, but when I get time, it never seems to be productive.. I can't seem to finish my Z80 project, though I usually work on it 5-10hrs or so a week, I seem to spend more time firefighting and hunting for memory than actually progressing towards a clearly visible but still distant end. I can't do much more till that's out the way as people are waiting for it to be finished and I can't let them down. There's an old coders adage, 95% of the work is in the last 5% of the project....very true in this case.

I have also a PSM and a PS4 project on the back burner...but just no great inspiration to move forward with them. The PSM one is dead though, since Sony have sadly decided to kill of the PSM program...so sad..
But the PS4 gig is potentially a great thing.. it was going to be my Masters gig project but the masters never kicked off, so back burnered, with a glance from time to time. I fear disappointing an old friend who has let me run with this project he originally created with his brother...But I do still hope it will be the masters project in Sept... Not that I want to do the masters..but if I have to, that's the project I want to do. etc....moan moan rant rant. Masters crap shit fuck..


I dunno what I need to do, I've had writers block before of course, but I never used to suffer prolonged writers block, I have an enviable reputation for getting projects finished, but that drive seems to be missing.. I can't just sit down and do it....all my tips and tricks which I pass on to students are not working...I need a kick up the arse from somewhere, but its just not there.

We're moving into a quiet period at work, for 3 weeks, and I have a quiet block also coming up then summer...that might finally give me some chance to recharge... I can't wait for the summer holidays, though mostly I plan to sleep and do as little as possible, before going down to La Moreau in France, for a special week of guitar playing and performing in memorial to a lost friend.

I think I need to do something else for a while...once I get the Z80 thing done..music still fills my time, but not when I am so busy with work.  Could it be time to clear out the shed and get my model building tools set up on the workbench?? hmmmm naaahhh...too much hassle.

Being single also isn't helping, I can't say how much I miss Brenda, she doesn't read this, so I can be open, I can't really get over her, nothing would make me happier than having her back in my life, but I know in time nothing would make her sadder....can't win!

Need more time,  apparently it heals all wounds....might bleed to death waiting though....hmm there's a song lyric for someone.

hmmm that got depressing quite quick........can't think of a way to make it lighter right now...Better just go get back to staring at my screen, I have some odds and ends of marking and project reviews to do...suppose I might as well crack on with this.






Ahthankyew

New Board Layout

I don't carry this around as much as I did, its too heavy, this is what I now consider my solo performance looping board, since I don't need to do much vocal effects or any looping with the band, the looper and big vocal unit are not essential to band work. Since I don't gig solo (maybe one day) it now mostly static in the attic.

But I like this board a lot, I've now added the Beat Buddy to it, which I love to use but am having some issues getting it to midi sync with loops, I dunno if its a problem with the RC-300 which is known to have issues as a slave, or the BB which may have issues being a slave...but bottom line is they drift after a few loops making it hard to have the BB as the drums in a performance piece......I don't beat box expexially well with a paralysed lip so I do kinda need a drum system that works for me.

If its a BeatBuddy software issue with its receive being slightly wrong, it will get fixed.. boss sure as hell have no interest in fixing the RC-300 slave functionality...shame.


anyway heres the new layout of the board... A bit of space I could fill in but won't, and a few straight cables still in place which will be changed for angled ones soon to clean things up a bit more.

Ahthankyew

Diets make you hungry....and my will power is terrible...but 91.3kg

I have cheated several times, the packet of choccy raisins was just asking to be eaten

But slow and steady the grams are dropping... AND I have discovered something very useful

Breakfast grain biscuits...choccy ones from Aldi... 79Kcals for 2 of em, but they stop you feeling hungry for at least a couple of hours in the morning.. I'm not normally a breakfast person, except at weekends, but I do get hungry as hell around 11 and often sneak in a sausage roll or baguette snack before lunch...no more..

The breaky biccies let me last till lunch time when said Sausage roll or baguette is lunch, and even then only 1 sausage roll or half sized baguette. So trading in 79Kcal for 500 or so is a good plan.
They do have a salad bar at the work canteen but its not very inspiring, I might just walk to the store and buy a ready made one..only use half the dressing.

Not much weight coming off yet but still early days, and only just beginning to exercise...risked a few morning pushups, which I will try to do every day as well as a some Ab crunches, also taking the dog for much longer faster paced evening walks... I'll try to hit the gym soon..(grrr)

A rough BMI calculation has me at 30.9 which is obese...well the folds told me that.. I basically need to lose 30Kg to be in my perfect weight for my height, but I'll settle for getting down to around 70kg without the folds. Less than my stated target, but that sill has me in the overweight group, so I need to aim lower but not at the 60 it wants for ideal..I am 51 after all I can't expect a washboard stomach and pert pecs...so just lose the weight and tone up and I'll be happy...might live a few months longer.

Oh, so far today...no coughing fits...a bit of throat clearing but no cough.....it won't last the whole day, but its nice to not notice the cough...now that I think about it, I want to cough...dammit.

Ahthankyew

Oh and I really am going on a diet.

Caught sight of my nakedness in the mirror this morning.....there were folds....FOLDS...I just can't handle that...

Not going to do anything fancy...2 small meals a day, avoid butter/oils/fat and no eating after 8pm

Can't believe there were FOLDS!!! oh ugghh... I'll be washing myself with a rag on a stick before long.

start weight is 92Kg.... target 80kg... It will be done, and I will buy myself a new bikini for the hols when I get there.



Folds!!!!




Ahthankyew

stuck at 99% maybe I should use some homeopathy

Still can't shake the damn cough...doctor time....though as soon as I tell him/her that I feel better he'll suggest I come back in 2 weeks...watch this space.

There is an astonishing argument going on, on Facebook, which I have been part of but no more, It has made me realize that people are just unbelievably dumb and unwilling to accept facts if it does not fit with their view.

Its about homeopathy of course, I dunno how to link a specific FB thread but its the Richard Dawkins page, where they highlighted the homeopathy research in Australia, as I did in the last thread.

What follows is an absolute clusterfuck of misinformation, misunderstanding and blind stupidity on a level I can barely comprehend.

Misinfomation 1st...sadly they used an image of a rack of herbal essential oils...now I'm not going to say these are utter nonsense....some good does come from their use in massage, and inhalation, but its hardly medicine...but more importantly its not homeopathy....so many people just jumping on that as a sideways means to defend their belief in homeopathy.

Misunderstanding and stupidity....I cannot, I mean I really cannot comprehend how incredibly bad this is, 99% of the people posting in defense of homeopathy clearly think it is a herbal remedy, in the same way as Aspirin, ginger and garlic etc are.....its incredible to me that people are so astonishingly misinformed... It matters not how many people post on the thread to point this out, THEY KEEP MIXING IT UP.

Herbal remedies are not useless, they may not have a lot of efficacy, but for some very specific things they do work and many modern drugs own their origins to herbal remedies.

Homeopathy is something totally different, it is basically like taking a tablet of aspirin, which we know helps with many things.....throwing it in a reservoir.. and expecting every one who takes a glass of water from that reservoir to have their headaches cured... It is utter madness

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathy


When I was a kid, I genuinely was amazed at they way communication and travel made the world a much smaller more intimate place. The sharing of knowledge convinced me that in time we would see an end to wars, a global understanding of science and an ability to tap into the knowledge of mankind to make life better, a bit like Star Treks utopia..
We have all that global understanding today via the internet, but rather than enlighten us it seems to have made us more and more convinced our stupidity is right because we are able to find other stupid people to back us up.

The internet has caused confirmation bias to run wildly out of control, we no longer trust anyone we appoint to take care of or lead us, doctors, scientists, governments are all out to destroy us with their massive conspiracies and evil deeds to keep us down. We've seen the rise of fanatics, and a glorification of stupidity and ignorance. Not just Homepathy; Anti Vaxxers, Jihadists, 9/11 truthers, Neo Right wingers of all styles, Illuminati, Lizards in government...the list is too long....too incredibly stupid to bother getting our head around.

If I could afford it... I think I really would just go find a cabin in the woods somewhere, take my retirement collection of scale models to build and hide away waiting for death or a UFO lift to some other planet. I just don't think I care anymore about this planet and the naked apes running it.


But everyday I read the news and I know...we're heading for oblivion....

Hey Aliens, if you're reading this....please take me with you?

Please?








Ahthankyew

Well I already knew this wouldn't help

As always, the Alternative medicine nutters are swarming all over the internet now that another massive study on the efficacy of Homeopathy has shown......it does nothing.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/mar/11/homeopathy-not-effective-for-treating-any-condition-australian-report-finds?CMP=share_btn_fb


Hardly a surprise of course, but still people refuse to listen, from the Big Pharma consipiracy nuts, to the, well it works for me gullible people, are rushing all over the net to comment.

And Missing the point as always.

Why?

Placebo....its as simple, yet complex as that. The Human body is fantastically effective at fighting illness, virus, diseases even some of its own genetic conditions, every single minute of every single day our bodies are working hard to kill infections and grew and replace damaged tissues that occur as an everyday fact of life.
We probably get attacked by a 1000 cold or flu viruses a day, but for the most part our body kicks their asses and moves on and we never notice/

Its only when the body gets overwhelmed and our defenses routed that we get sick, a virus, we don't know, or damage too big to fix quick, then we need help.

What controls our level of immunity to sickness, is basically unknown, but we do know that stress, poor mental outlook and a host of other life issues can have an impact on our immune system, that makes us less able to fight and gives the bugs a chance to get us.

But equally, we can boost our immune system, positive thinking, positive actions all work wonders and help us fight a whole range of illnesses, from Cancer to man-flu (actually there is no cure for man-flu, millions of men die every hour from it)

Placebo is the trigger for this positivity, it comes in countless forms, but the basic idea is that someone cares how we are doing and is paying attention to us, and we feel good about that...allowing us to fight. Even babies and animals can benefit from placebo, they just need to be made to feel that someone cares and is doing something for them.

Now...if you accept that placebo is a real thing, and it most certainly is....then you need to realize all the quack medicines out there are just pandering to that placebo effect...if it makes you better that's fantastic, but sugar pills and a cuddle from someone you love will have exactly the same effect.

Lets not be stupid about this, its just making greedy people rich.



Ahthankyew

97% fit

Creeping up a bit, I STILL have a cough, last night it got quite bad too, it seems any time I expose my lungs to cold night air I have to pay for it.

This is 8weeks of a cough...I can't recall ever having a cough for so long, I am getting nagged to go to the docs but while that has merit I know that I am improving, which gives you some idea how bad it was originally.
If I can just keep away from cold night air I should be ok...


hmmm I wish the dog could walk himself before bedtime


Ahthankyew

95% fit

One advantage of work at home days is I can have a really good lie in,  at least as long as the dog stays cuddled up in his bed and does not want to go walkies

I still have a bit of a cough, but overall, I am sleeping all night and the cough is not chronic and constant

Can't say I'm 100% yet, till the cough finally goes, but I am feeling so much better, sore ribs and stomach have eased and the coughs are more of a clear out than a bring up a lung and pop several blood vessels while you're at it.


Still want to see the back of it.

Not much other news to speak of, been busy finishing the last of my late grading, only to discover I can't enter the damn things on the school system..grrr

Finally getting some time to code on personal and school projects too, so my mojo is slowly returning. But my frustrations with slow internet connection to my PC (caused by my dongle not the ISP) are proving to dent that mojo.

Soon be done with my Z80 gig, its been painfully slow and much harder than I expected but after a couple of major bug finds I can now creep toward the finish line at last. Next up is a PS4 gig I've been back burnering for too long




Ahthankyew

90% fit

Well I have to say that was not fun, I even coughed up pure water at one point, which according to google is a sign of pulmonary edema.....not good, Lucky I don't get all hypochondriac on my own ass about things like that. Google is never a good place to diagnose yourself...but clearly it was a mother fucker of a chest infection.

But there wasn't a lot I could do in-between coughing fits so I waited...I had planned to go the docs on Wednesday morning  but couldn't get out of bed early enough to book a same day appointment, so waited a bit more.

And Thursday night finally I started to stop coughing after one especially severe fit and resulting lung water episode....but I think that was just my lungs clearing out.

So I am on the mend, incredibly croaking and squeaking  voice and still coughing a bit from congestion rather than infection but nearly there.

I also had the most wonderful lie in this morning to celebrate my 1st full 10 hour sleep in over 6 weeks...Boy I needed that.

Normal service should be resumed after the weekend, I'm going to stay in out of the cold as best I can (dog walks are unavoidable) and should be back to 100% soon.





Ahthankyew

Brian's health update....for both of the visitors who are interested

Even though I seriously wasn't up to it, I managed to do a walking dead like shuffle into work to support my co-lecturer as he was giving his 1st lecture in our PR4 course... I coughed and wheezed though the whole thing but at least I didn't go down as taking a sick day.

I am just a little bit better, sill having the odd little coughing fit, but it is clearly reducing....I can only hope a few more nights sleep will see the back of it... I have a friend who's been sick for 11 weeks so far with a similar cough, I can't imagine how horrible that is.. I hope she gets better soon.



Ahthankyew

only a teeny bit

still coughing up a lung so fever might be gone but my god I am sore....ribs are at breaking point.

If I can get to sleep I might be ok...but so far no go.


Might have to take another sick day tomorrow, can't believe that, I've had almost none in 5 years and already this year I've had 4 maybe 5if I can't get to sleep.....bahhh!


Ahthankyew

0.01% improvement

Better whisper it...but I am a teeny bit better...still coughing and my ribs are aching from it all, but slightly less and it seems the fever and sweats have passed....now the problem is just the cough...how long will it last.




Ahthankyew

Week 5 in the big brother hospital

ohhh goawd....just kill me now

constant coughing, sweats, headaches....this is just horrible.. I would go to the docs but its just COLD......the cold from hell but just a cold, on top of a cold on top of a possible chest infection that they wont' give me AB's for because its just a cold..

Another day in for me I think, hmmm though I do have to take the dog for his obligatory walks, maybe that's what keeping me sick, the constant exposure to cold air on the dog walks.... Harvey is killing me???


He did a funny thing last night though, as I got all wrapped up, in double coat, scarf, hat and gloves to take him for his evening walk..he trotted to the door, then stopped dead in his tracks.....

looked up and me and pretty much said, 

"Yo..Bitch....It be raining, I ain't goin' out in no rain"..

And stood his ground...totally refused to go...

At least I got away with that one, but had to force him to go out before bed time, otherwise there'd be a present or 2 for me in the morning that I wouldn't want.



Ahthankyew

Really???? I mean...REALLY?

So despite not quite being over the last cold, and coughing pretty much all the time...I am the recipient of yet another virus from the cold hell.
runny nose, headache, often caused by dry cough/heaving, sweats and fevers....this is just fucking unreal. How long to have I have to feel like shit physically, when I'm still coming to terms with feeling shit mentally.

And yes I have been swallowing OJ like its water, bought a bulk pack of it from Macro last month and have had 2 glasses at least every day.. proof as if it were really needed that nothing stops a cold kicking you when you're down.

I've not enjoyed much of this holiday break at all, marking and working and now the last weekend I will be in bed most of the time sniffling.. There's more tissues round my bed than a 14yo boys room...grrrr



Ahthankyew

No X factor for me....dammit

It's taken me several days to get a video made, I had all sorts of issues getting the sound in to the laptop and it just was a pain.

I rehearsed some songs over and over again, and in my headphones I sounded fucking Ace...really, best ever. Confident, strong, in tune, good phrasing, I nailed them.

finally I get the audio sorted, I sing and play a test track


And its not fucking Ace..its fucking awful....but why was the sound in my headphones so good??

sigh....the guitar playing was good though, I just need to find a singer.

Ahthankyew

Nice weekend....but frustrating

Been catching up on all the code stuff I have to do, finishing marking and as a special treat to myself, been setting up an Acoustic recording session. I find I need sometimes to provide myself with a reward to drive myself to do the boring or hard work I need to do.

So after 4 hours of so of practice on Saturday getting 4 songs sounding just right I got ready to record them during my Sunday session......nope, technology decided to get in my way.

My Zoom R24 is a lovely bit of kit, and it does an amazing job as an 8 channel live mixer with USB out, but no matter what I tried I could not get Debut video to take the sound..it saw it, it registered the input but all the resulting videos were mute...grrrrrr

5 hours I spent doing that... 5 HOURS! and still no joy...my enthusiasm for recording went.

I can resolve this by hooking the R24 to my RC300 which I know works fine with Debut, but I really shouldn't have to, but I want to get these songs on my youtube library since I've done nothing for months, despite practicing a lot of nice songs...

So even when doing something simple like an Acoustic session, technology twats you about.


Oh well, maybe todays session with the RC300 as the A/D system will work... I'm betting something will screw up.

Ahthankyew

Carnival madness...or in my case peace

Avoid Breda for the next 4 maybe 5 days...Carnival is here.

10's of thousands of people in costumes singing and drinking and having a generally good time, but its all a wee but too much for me.

I enjoyed it the 1st couple of years I was here but now its just a bit of a madness I try to avoid.

But I will gratefully take the weeks holiday we are given to celebrate it and rest and relax and do as much coding as possible.

Brian time.....


Ahthankyew

phew

Fortunately slept fine,  though didn't get to bed till late.....

no major ill effects so it was not a cold/flu thing probably just a shitty numb throat from surgery thing that sometimes crops up. I probably should note it in my cancer blog....wonderful things to look forward to for the rest of your life.....

marking is sill ongoing, I've got most of the PR and PRF's done, will try to finish the last of the PR's today so they can go in,the PRF's are a bit quicker to mark since they are much smaller projects but not really very well done....shame.

Anyway...gotta go get ready for a lecture and then back to marking.



Ahthankyew

Oh C'mon

Coughing again....

weird kind of cough, more like a something going down the wrong way choking cough, probably due to phlegm dripping down my throat, which normally just gets swallowed, but if it hits the right spot on my right side, I have no feeling there...so it gets breathed in.....nasty retching cough follows.

Very unpleasant and not much I can do about it except wait for it to settle and try to sleep

fuuuucccking sick of being ill...especially when I don't currently feel especially ill.




Ahthankyew

Picking up the pieces

So after more than a week of feeling utterly shit, its time to get things back in order, dishes done after stacking them for days, guitars and gear left on the floor put away, clothes off the floor and in the wash basket, or wash and generally trying to get a momentum going.

I let things slip when I was ill, mostly marking which I tried to do some of but was unable to do very fast.

Will be mainly catching up on that for the next few days, hoping I can still get them all graded within the 10 days deadline..I might miss by a weekend though.

Kinda pissed I didn't have the energy to do more on my Z80 work, but I was just so wrecked with the cough, tiredness and general lethargy. I will get back on to that when I am done marking.

Quite pleased that my new cheapo reclining chairs for the attic arrived though, and were taken in by my neighbours, which considering the size of the boxes was very kind of them

I built one up to try it out, only took 30mins or so, and well....its cheap, its supposed to be leather, but its not really, however it seems hardwearing enough, and once built, with the obligatory missing washer, and unscrewable bolt..it looks quite nice and is indeed quite comfy for sitting back and watching the movies on the big screen. So job done. I look forward to sitting back with wine on the side table and popcorn watching movies in 5.1dolby surround on my 300cm screen

As I was sitting checking it out I also took some more time to investigate my new projector which was troubling me with its highly saturated redness...but I found some settings (colour) to drop the saturation down from 50 to 20 which produced much more pleasant skin tones... I think its all set to go now.  Only thing left to try is a PS4, not that I play many games if I am honest but will be interesting to play a race game or something on a movie screen. I doubt I will buy one though.

Netflix is a bit of a hit and miss, most of the movies are pretty B grade moves, which is a shame, as it would be nice to have a real choice of movie. I still like having my actual DVD's though, and will soon be buying my 1st BluRay to see what the fuss is about. But, the odd buffering problem aside, likely due to my router being a fair distance from the player, its not really a bad system, and if I have no new movies to watch I am sure I can find something to watch.




Ahthankyew

Make that 4 nights

Although the coughing has seriously reduced, its still keeping me up...just as I doze off I wake up choking, and I used the last of the bromhexineHCL up, which never really stopped it just make it easier to cough up.

This is truly horrible... I've come down to have a few drinks to relax and then try again, but I really can't explain how tired and sore I am now....


oh well, whiskey and honey is finished, back to bed.  I'm not setting any alarms though, if I am fit to go to work when I wake up I'll head in, otherwise  I need the sleep.


Ahthankyew

3 days.....phew

3days (and nights) of non stop coughing,  I am utterly shattered, ribs and throat are sore as hell. and I am totally wrecked...but finally it seems to be passing, I even managed a few naps today

Need to try to get some more UK cold meds, its not so much that you can't get meds here but there are pretty week usually just paracetemol and/or vit C. Nothing to help with congestion, or other symptoms of colds which leads to other things.

Had to call in sick today which is a pain as I really wanted to go in to voice some concerns I have  over peoples perceptions of what we do at NHTV..

There is a slowly developing idea that interactive Apps, are "games" which is partly true, but there is a world of difference between am advertising app for a phone and a 2 year project built from scratch for a console...They are both "games" but the difference in what they are, how they are made and how they are sold is so vast that its hard to see any synergy with them...but people seem to be forcing that and pushing NHTV as a place to learn to make apps, rather than games....to my mind this is utterly wrong and needs addressing.

We had an education day today where someone from a company that develops these apps was going to give a talk... I really have no idea why they were brought in, and wanted to make that point, but I simply wasn't up to it.. I do hope I get a chance to voice my concerns another time.. We need to put some of our high ups in the picture a little more.

Ahthankyew

Nearly better

Not Man-flu
Just a heavy cold this time, think I'm over the very worst symptoms now...though today am getting a bit worried about the dry cough I seem to have developed over night.. I hate getting chest infections here cos the docs are so unwilling to give you antibiotics for them and as a result they seem to last for weeks.
In the UK a quick course of something non penicillin based (I'm allergic) has any chest problems cleared up in no time, without them it seems to take 2-4 weeks and they end up giving you steroid puffs, which probably do more harm than good. Given that I am now having to pay for my annual drugs due to the 375euro own risk policy, if I have to go to the docs I'll be insisting on some decent AB's.

I've not had to go into the office the last couple of days so just been busying myself at home wrapped up warm,  with students work and some of my Z80 project which I have gotten back into, I can finally see an end to this, and the client is start to get impatient, so one last push and I should be done.

Oh and I finally have my new LED HDMI projector up and running, I had to order special tools to remove the mounting clamp from the old one, as well as new screws to mount the new one into the clamps, then risk life and limb on a not very safe looking, but really quite secure ladder arrangement on the stairs to fit it.  But it is finally up and running and I'm now up to date with a BluRay based cinema system... I suppose I should buy a BluRay film so I can see if there really is much of a difference.
Still sad that the old one is broken, I could have sold the complete unit for a decent wedge but as it is just selling the old projector alone, won't raise more than a few quid.




Ahthankyew

17 days... a new record

17 days into the new year and I managed to stay fit and healthy, until I started sniffing and sneezing and became the world largest producer of raw snot....

Bugger... I have a cold....just as I was going to go to the gym....again..

I've also been risking life and limb trying to install my new projector, which turned out to require some interesting ladder placement, coupled with some surprising degrees of vertigo resistance.

Also a lack of tools as it turned out. I did finally managed to unhook and remove the old BenQ unit, after working out its clap was secured in place with a squeeze pin system. But actual removal of the clamp from the unit so I can put it onto the new one, requires special tools I didn't know existed. Tamper proof Allen keys..which are basically the same as normal Allen keys but have a hollow middle. the screws themselves having a bump in the middle of the hole, preventing normal Allen keys from going into the hole and allowing you to engage....major pain...

Will pop to Hornbach later, before the major manflu symptoms kick in and buy a set. The Ladders are still in place until then making access to the attic tricky, so don't want to leave it in that state too long.

The reconditioned Roomba I got on ebay is fantastic...It arrived  yesterday, and could not wait to see it in action so left it run through a cycle which also helped to flatten the battery, which is apparently a good thing on 1st use....Aside from being a bit of a cable puller-outer, so I need to make sure cables are not loose on the floor, it works perfectly. Especially on my hard floors downstairs.. So its now set up and scheduled to do its thing every other day at 6am while I sleep. No more hovering downstairs...and once a week letting it loose upstairs which also has hard floors should be more than enough. Though not this week as there will be more snotty tissues on the floor than a teenage boys bedroom before and after his 1st prom.
There are apparently mop versions of this you can get which would also be nice to do once a week, but I am not so impressed with those so I will have to stick to the bucket an mop method..once a year.

I thought Harvey might go a bit nuts at it, but he just looks at it with distain and keeps out of its way.

Better get a lemsip or 2 down me then head over to Hornbach... I can feel the life draining from me as my eyes start itching..........manflu!!!!!!!

Ahthankyew

Operation clean up....nearly done

So without actually setting any specific resolutions I have been quietly cleaning up. My house, my work, my life...kinda

The very cool sale at C&A has allowed me to restock my wardrobe with garments more fitting a man of my advanced years....though I did also buy a few new pairs of jeans to replace the desperate old and ill fitting ones I cling on to, like much loved children... I can wear them at weekends.

Sales in the shoe store also reaped some new basic shoes, so I can keep my "good" shoes for....y'know I never know what  you should keep good shoes for?


But a few hundred euros of sales spending has given me a totally new wardrobe and look, which pretty much everyone at work has commented on, saying how smart I looked? what the !@&*#!? ...making me feel a little self conscious but I guess it proves my old "style" was a little too scruffy, just wearing a collar shirt and jumper makes stand out so much now...I must have really been a bit of a sight.

Now I really have to learn how to iron.

The house is also cleaning up nicely...I am still pissed off about the death of my old reliable  (well it did last nearly 7 years)  DVD home cinema, now replaced with a Sony BluRay unit, but which also resulted in the need to replace the old and still reliable, just no longer up to date, BenQ projector... It can't handle the output from the BluRay. I suspected as much as my projector could not handle PS3/PS4 output either....At least I can sell it on.. It will still be useful.. I did briefly consider setting it up downstairs..but...why have the attic cinema then?
Fortunately  I managed to find a decent priced HDMI unit on ebay... only a few hundred for a new one. I just got myself out of a financial deadfall, thanks to the Xmas bonus, so don't want to be spending too much replacing these things. It should have arrived yesterday but I was out when the DHL man arrived and it seems he didn't want to leave it with the neighbours.
But overall a good ebay buy if it all works ok.

Oh and while on ebay, I could not resist a bargain bid on a Roomba Robot Vac....an extravagance perhaps but I think it's perfect for my hardwood floors and it can be set to work when I am not around... assuming Harvey does not try to kill it. It should be here in a day or 2.

New projector will need a bit of installing as will the speakers for the new BluRay, so the attic at the moment is a work in progress, still a bit messed up.... I will have a proper go at it (maybe let the Roomba loose) soon.

I also want to source a couple of nice recliner chairs for the attic.. I really don't like the Ikea sofa bed any more, its far too bulky and not that comfy when you want to actually watch movies... Time for something else.

And as the end of Block B approaches I can look forward to 3 reasonably quiet weeks to get my work stuff back on track, I have let a few admin things slide, I need to stop letting things slide and get on top of them..

I also made a more focused effort on my Z80 project, I have been having issues with it over the last few months as lack of free time and chronic lack of memory in the ROM, have really stopped me getting on with it.. But I scrapped some of the early set up code on it in favour of some new code and its starting to pull back together again...I really want to get that out there, and start another one. This experiment in the feasibility of Z80 work has taken too long..its fun in some ways but I need to get a proper project done and make a bit of money with it...so this test project needs to get out there...establish my name in the market place and see what the next one can do.

2015 .might even see me visit a gym soon... I almost went on Friday...almost...  I at least considered it...but it was raining and decided not to....damn that rain.... ;)

Ahthankyew

Another Great Gig

the Mighty Starrcase played yet another Graduation party, and were brilliant...a few minor flubs but still brilliant.

I really do enjoy the feedback from these gigs and seeing people dancing is very cool

Next one in May/June....better get practicing.


Ahthankyew

And back to ....

Sadly not the future..but back to work

A New Year and a new fresh start. I will do my best to keep things going for the better. Time to get on with stuff that has been lingering far too long, also a bit of an image change.

I suspect my Jeans and T-shirt look is starting to seem a little jaded, as is my weight...so not exactly a new years resolution but I am definitely going to lose the weight I half heartedly set out to do last year..no more yo yo-ing.
Am going to cut back on the cake...hmmmm cake..
And get myself trimmed...I won't make empty promises about gyms, but I will at least try to go, I have noticed my condition as they say here in NL is less than stellar, so.....we'll see

Also during the sales I stocked up on some sensible clothes, collar shirts and slacks....not quite enough to see me through a week but enough to start the image change..

Apart from my attic, the house is clean and tidy, and I will keep it that way, new vacuum has proven its worth. Just have to work out how to use that iron thing...can't seem to work out where you insert the clothes!!!


Come on the 2015...I'm ready for you.



Ahthankyew

no way to hide it.

Have to be honest, that was an utterly shit Christmas, on my own, for the 1st time in many years.

I have spent a fair amount of it drinking and watching movies to keep me occupied and stop myself getting all wound up. I might do some coding soon when my brain starts to clear. I did however enjoy my mince and tatties Christmas dinner....no really I love that stuff and no point cooking a roast for 1.

I suppose I have to get used to the idea that the future I had partially planned out for "us" is simply not going to happen, things I had convinced myself were going to make my later years happy and fun, are just not likely now.

Oh well... I cheered myself up by buying a new vacuum cleaner for Xmas....yes a strange present for sure, you'd have thought I'd have got a new guitar but the old vac is broken, and though it might be fixable with some glue and a ring clamp(ohh I need to go buy one of those) , I thought it best I just got a new one...it got me showered and out of the house to buy it at least.

Another Christmas casualty is my trusty old Phillips Cinema surround system... I have had it since I arrived here and its served me very well these last 6.5years..but when setting up some lights, I accidently unplugged it while it was showing a menu, and now it won't load any vids at all....I think the motor that spins got damaged

bugger...I suppose it is time to get a new one, but I have held out knowing that any new one I get probably won't work with my now quite old 720p projector...I didn't really want to get a new one of those too...Also...Blu Ray is upon us...oh well... I guess I have some spare funds since I don't need to buy the new mattress Brenda wanted to buy..I'll go see if I can pick up something cheap in Media Markt.


Better go shower....

I'm also going to try to catch up on some jobs that needed doing....the shed needs a clear out,  I was going to build a little herb garden ready for spring, several rooms need a lick of paint, and I still have not put up any wall paper in the Attic after the new walls were fitted. I will swing by the DIY store in the next couple of days and sort that out... Keeping myself busy stops me moping about.

I'll try to head into the new year with some purpose.....................yeah....well whatever.




Ahthankyew

And another door closes

So, thats another chapter in my life over with. Brenda and I are no more, it wasn't working out, lots of reasons, some undoubtedly down to me, but I honestly could not see any genuine future for us as long as the problems we had individually and together were not resolved.

So...bugger...

Please ignore any clearly drunken posts for the next few weeks, I may not be in full control of myself to post much.






Ahthankyew

Working on the train.....I think not

So am on the train to Utrecht, and I think to myself, I 'll do a bit of work and upload a retake file to our school system

log in,..ok that works, I have internet for 15 mins on the train

14 mins later I'm still trying to sign in to our school portal, or any other site. Including this

The idea that working via the internet on the train is even remotely possible is laughable.
I'll be amazed if this actually posts!!!

Ahthankyew

Tommy..gig..busy...

Tommy Emmanuel  was utterly incredible, I felt humbled and dazed at the mans talent, I know there are many great guitar players around, and I strongly truly believe that saying someone is better than someone else is a pointless exercise.....But, this man...this man,.is in a league of 1. He's so far ahead of the others the comparisons remain pointless...genius isn't good enough. He really is the Best Guitarist in the WORLD today.


phew


I'm in two bands, Starrcase is the school band made up mainly of NHTV teachers and partners, and we do fairly regular gigs at school events. But also I am in another band, my friends the Gadgeteers... our progress to gigging has been a more labored process as we struggle to find a sound/genre we all agree with so we've only really played for family and friends, but we had our 1st proper pub gig this month, it went pretty well!
We have some video I am going to edit together mainly to remove my shocking backing vocals...but it did actually go well. We learned a lot, made a few mistakes and got great feedback that we can hopefully use to take us to new levels.. The Gadgeteers are coming, to a small backyard pub near you.

And marking hell is upon me...as always, has taken almost all my work and spare time...and I've got some more to do, so hence the lack of an update.

Time for some guitar playing then bed...so I can get up early for more marking.


Ahthankyew

I appear to have grown up

I have finally realised that Dr who is in fact a kids show, not an actual intelligent Sci Fi show for adults...At least not when Stephen Moffat is writing it.

That last episode of the finale was UTTER SHIT, I CAN'T GET MY CAPS LOCK LOUD ENOUGH TO SCREAM HOW UTTER SHIT THAT WAS.


and breath

I think that's it, 50 years, and I have to say goodbye to my childhood.

Bye Bye Doctor at times it was brilliant, but those times are few and far between now, time for me to move on.



Ahthankyew

Here's how it should be done.

Not had time to do a video, been marking non stop all week, and coding. But I have been doing the guitar parts of Night after Night and have almost worked out the entire song :D Soon as I memorise the words I'll start on a video.

Might be a few more weeks now as marking hell has come with 80 odd projects to grade from the 1st and 3rd years...will take a bit of time to get it all sorted.

As a treat though about the time I finish all that.. I get to see the greatest guitarist in the world,...yup...he really is...playing in Utrecht.

The amazing Tommy Emmanuel .....Cannot wait to see this amazing player.

http://www.tivolivredenburg.nl/agenda/616/Support_Rick_Price/Tommy_Emmanuel/

Ahthankyew

Coding catchup, and time for bifocals

Marking is going ok, still takes a lot longer than I want it to, I got fed up with students demanding their 1st homework grades, so after I did them I decided not to give them...They need to realise grades are not as important as their actual assignments they'll get their grades when I have finished the 2nd assignments, then have to start grading the final assignments...they better be good.

Also doing a bit of coding on other things, my own projects and learning new PS4 stuff, lot of work...I have to do a course next block that I've never taught before, so have to do a shed load of revision. I know the material, but its far away from being something I specialise in but it is daunting but fun.

Age is catching up with me so fast now, 51 in a few months and everything aches, creaks, or is misfiring. Knees, back, groin, the only thing that is not hurting at the moment is my shoulder..its probably taking a rest before coming back with a vengeance.

My eyesight is also becoming noticeably worse, we revamped the living room a few weeks ago, and now the TV is a full 2-3 feet further away, just far enough that I can't actually read the TV guides of program summaries,
So I have had to wear glasses, more often, when watching telly...its all nice and bright and sharp now :(
Trouble is I can't switch focus to things I am reading, or working on my laptop...so looks like bifocals for me next time  go for an eyetest which I think I going to be soon.






Ahthankyew

wow, thats a song and a half

I was watching a really impressive drama documentary on BBC the other night about WWI tank crews. It was pretty harsh but very informative.
But at the end credits I heard a song that just blew me away, I'd never heard it before, even though its a few years old now.. thank you google for helping me find it.. It is this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAMxAYkU7gQ

I think this is possibly the most beautiful sad song I have ever heard and it just speaks to me.

I'm going to record it as soon as I have some free time, the original is in a drop D tuning but I was able to work out a reasonable normal tuning version, I just need to practice it a bit more and find a key I can sing it in.

Anyway readers, if you are both reading this, check it out, its wonderful. Mine won't be 10% as good, so soak it in before I ruin it for you.




Ahthankyew

Mid week chillax and cost of drugs.

3 lovely days of peace and quiet...lots of coding done, and some guitars plonked..I can feel the stress falling away.

I have some marking to do, so will probably do that tomorrow, then continue to enjoy my break, but I can definitely feel the return of my calmer self.  No rants at people doing daft things, just me time.

My tennis elbow has pretty much gone, I have full function again and very very little pain, apart for my wallet. I got an odd bill from my medical insurance company,  which I managed to find out online was for drugs and hospital visits, which I have to pay the 1st 360euros of...ouch. I didn't know that.

But the pills the doc gave me for the nerve damage was a shock, nearly 60euros...for a pack of 24 pills.....WTF.... and a couple of other odd charges I need to ask them about.
I'm a bit ticked off that the doc never mentioned that there was such a high cost attached to the meds, if she had told me I think I would have passed on the idea and just loaded up with the much cheaper, 7euros oxcontin, I'd have been stoned for 3 weeks but the pain would have been manageable.

Lesson learned, always ask the cost of drugs.

We have some visitors staying this weekend, so Brenda wants to do a tidyup.....hmmm well its tidy as far as I can see, its how we live, why make it tidier??? Anyway Spare room does need a bit of a clean out.




Ahthankyew

gaps are getting long?

I'm not neglecting you reader,  its just been a rather busy month, lots of work to do, and been playing with some toys and trying to get some stilly end of project bugs out of my Z80 game..


My BeatBuddy has been proving to be fun and frustrating at the same time...its fun as a drum machine, it really does exactly what it should, I was however hoping to sync it with my loopers so I could have drum backings on my loops but that's proven problematic...ironically not because of the BB, but the loopers themselves really don't want to play with MIDI. I need to keep playing with them.

The software for it arrived, or a least a beta, its just about usable, but I am buggered if I can see where 10+months of development has gone. Its very limited and lacks a lot of functionality...but hey ho....I might be able to help them out with it later, the guy who invented it is very approachable.

In other news...ummm not much to say, my tennis elbow/nerve damage has slowly improved and I am almost pain free.

I finally went to Den Haag to find the famed M&S and have so far made two trips...Pork Pies....oh god such nice pork pies...sausages, that even Brenda loves, pies, pasties and packs and packs of Jammy dodgers and ginger nuts...lovely.

We tried a small financial experiment this month too, setting a fixed food budget and making sure we paid cash for things...we seem to have managed to eat very well all month so far and will get to payday with a few quid spare...Normally we're a little bit short, but we eat far too much takeaway and restraint meals, so this has been quite an eye opener. Given that this month we had the council bills all due too we didn't want to get into the red...We will keep this up and should be able to put a small buffer into the savings account so big council bills and unexpected holiday expenses won't hurt as much.

Ahthankyew

Worth the wait

Nearly 10 months, maybe longer, and way past its original April target date..My BeatBuddy has arrived, with the added bonus of not being asked to pay customs, despite a waybill on the packet that suggests I probably should have...I am sure I'll get a reminder if I have to pay something.

I've played with it for 2 minutes, and I can immediately tell you this thing is genius, utter utter genius, easy to use, easy to set up, fantastic, just fantastic to play along to.

Being able to transition to chorus/verse and add high hat or other accents (depending on the track) is just such a simple obvious idea....yet no one did it..until now.

I always like to play along to a rhythm track but that sensation of being locked into the same groove eventually kills the pleasure...it may keep you in time but it does not give much of a dynamic, especially for transitions in the song.

Now every solo musician can have a drummer.....

flipping brilliant.

Now I just need the software, which is also delayed but, I know more than most how that is....I will wait and master my BB in the meantime.


Ahthankyew

Beat Buddy on the way

After being stuck in Hong Kong for a week, my Beat Buddy is finally on its way
http://mybeatbuddy.com/

I've been waiting over 9 months for this little beauty to come, it started out as a crowdfunding idea
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/beatbuddy-the-first-guitar-pedal-drum-machine

Way back in December and I immediately knew this was a great gadget to have, and signed up,  I still worry that the bigger companies will realise the awesomeness of this, but no matter. The team at BeatBuddy have managed to see this through, and despite a hiccup at the customs in Hong Kong its finally on its way. Wonderful to see that something which was so passionately put forward, has actually become a reality.

I just hope that it plays nice with my RC-300, traditionally RC's don't like to midi sync with other units, but that's kinda essential....but if doesn't I do have other loop systems I can use.

It should be here next week, as soon as I get it I will be trying it out on my loops, and see how it does..

Vids will follow.



Ahthankyew

StarrCase Rocking

We did a birthday party at the Clarenbeek a few weeks ago, here's some vids

Ahthankyew

91Kg

No I don't know how either

but still 3kg in a month is good....its all so far down to just not shoveling pies down my face, no snacks, cutting out sugar and avoiding treats... I still eat normal lunch and dinner meals, just choosing healthy when possible, also we were pretty broke after GC so we ate a lot of cheap veg...it was not always exciting to eat but it filled a hole and clearly helped.

I have not been to the gym yet (lol) but I do have a genuine reason.

Stop laughing, I do.

As I noted in a previous post, I've got some nerve damage in my arm, maybe neck surgery related  or a strain, but either way I have brachial neuralgia, which is basically sciatica in your arm which gives a fairly constant level of discomfort at points on my arm and a weakening...I can't even open a jar of pickles any more....the ignominy of asking Brenda to do it will never leave me :(

I've been hoping it would settle down and go away but it got a lot worse, and I had a couple of very severe pain attacks from my neck down to my little finger that left me speechless with pain.

So had to go see the doc..she was very helpful.
Got some pills, been taking them.
Not noticed a massive difference, in the levels on constant pain, though the "arggh please cut my arm off now", kind of pains have not re-occurred so maybe it is working.. So the oxycontin the doc gave me just in case, has not been needed....yes...oxycontin...morphine...it was THAT bad.

I will go back to the docs next week to follow up, and possibly go see the sadist Chinese massage woman in town who did my feet, to see if she can loosen up the neck and shoulder muscles..while gleefully watching me cry like a baby no doubt.




Ahthankyew

Neightbours DIY starts at 8, prevents drowning of sorrows sleep

So we moved to the back room of the house to reduce our disturbance from the roadworks from hell, and surprisingly it worked very well, we were not woken up at 7am.
But it seems there is also an 8 in the morning as well, which I have discovered because a neighbor a few doors down has decided that's a good time to start using power tools on the wall, I assume a sander.
A few doors down shouldn't matter but since it vibrates right through the structure, we get it a nice loud buzz at 8am.

thanks neighbor, thanks a lot

I sold None More Black yesterday, to a nice Chinese guy who's into Metal....she's gone to a good home, but I will miss her.
I spent a few hours  cleaning her up and giving her a good wax...as well as putting some funny black strings on her and couldn't resist a post clean noodle...ah the strings were strange but she sounded great...why oh why had I not spent more time with her. 
He didn't want the strap though, as he had plenty, so I'm left with a sad reminder of a great guitar that I never really spent enough time with...a few drinks were had in her memory last night. sob.

But on the plus side, the dire financial situation we found ourselves in after the GC holiday has been significantly reduced so we can buy steak again...hurrah.
I will however be continuing the guitar cull, there's still a few guitars that need to go, but no rush.


Ahthankyew

7 in the morning.....they have a 7 in the morning

Arrghh
I know this because they are busy ripping up my street with massive big machines which are big, and as a result of being big, are also very noisy....which coupled with the annoying fact they laid down a temp roadway of metal plates for cars to travel down the middle of my street meant it was well after 1am before cars stopped going clank clank clank down my street.


And then they started work, at the afore mentioned 7am with their big machines.

7am


No amount of coffee is going to prepare me for today.



Ahthankyew

Diet continues but nothing to report yet...

No weight lost as such to report yet, its still early...I wanted to make more effort to get to the gym but something else is getting in the way...

I've had tennis elbow, or brachial neuralgia for a while now, it comes and goes but certainly it comes more than it goes.

Brenda has been on at me to go to the doctors, which in my usual, don't like doctors, I've avoided doing, since there really is nothing much that can be done, rest and keep it mobile....and I can do that without having a doctor tell me to do that.

But I had to give in and book an appointment, the pain multiplied by a factor of 10 today as the base of my bicep felt like it was about to explode....never felt anything quite like it. So even if he tells me to rest it but keep it mobile, I can at least ask him for some horse strength painkillers to avoid the agony I was in an hour or so ago... double dose of Ibuprofen has taken the edge of it but wow it still hurts.

Seeing doc on Thursday.

94KG

Wow, that is my heaviest ever....admittedly with clothes on but still..that's ...fluffy.

So that's the start point, I must lose 10kg before Xmas...and if it goes well aim to get down to 75kG as a target weight




Ahthankyew

Diet..yes really.

No, this time I mean it
I dunno who that fat slowly browning beached whale was that Brenda was taking snaps of on our hols but I certainly don't want to see any more pics like that

I've been paying for the gym membership for years now and not using it, so it is time to make something of it...Diet and gym, I plan to lose 10Kg, I will do a weigh in tonight.

I also need to go see the doc about my tennis elbow issues, as it will no doubt get aggravated by the gym work, but this has to be done... I have slowly let myself go to ruin and its got to be fixed.

Holiday was good in terms of weather but I have to say Gran Canaria has kinda lost its appeal now, The weather is all you can say is good about it. There was a lot of closed shops and a sense of decay about the place which it seems they have compensated for by vastly increasing the cost of everything.. We struggled quite badly with money despite having more than I've taken the last few times I went and that made some things hard. Food and drink in particular were much more expensive and not always worth the price...
So its adios to GC for me I think.. I've had many happy happy times there but the honeymoon is over

But its back to work now...Time to get things ready for the new group of 1st years..yeahhhh

Being a teacher means I can make fresh starts twice a year....:)

.



Ahthankyew

Need a holiday to recover from the holiday

Its been a fun 2 weeks, only 2 more days to go before we have to return to the Netherlands in the small hours.
I have lots of pics to post when I get home, but there just isn't the bandwidth here for much more than a simple text post so I'll keep you waiting.

It has been tiring though, trying to fit in a lot of things while struggling with the 30-35degree heat is no easy task, we've found ourselves sleeping in a lot and only coming alive in the evenings.
I got burned a few times, but am now pretty brown..

Funds have  been a little low on this trip so improvising things as we go. which does not really fit in well with Brenda's everything must be planned, and my lets just wing it, mind-sets, but apart from a bit of grumpiness we've managed to reach agreements and fit in a few nice trips and events.

The SeaCat trip in particular was lovely even though I screwed up totally and went to the wrong pickup points which meant Brenda had to call up and do some re-arranging to get a new booking. The plus side is we got to see a lovely sunset at sea since we have an evening trip rather than a morning one.

Yesterday we rented a car for 3 days to let us get out and about a bit more, but the trip inland and back left us bought with mega headaches, possibly from the thin air as well as exposure to the sun...despite a very interesting visit to an aboriginal canarian settlement/exhibition. Some stunning views too of course. But unlike my last trip inland a few yeas back I didn't take quite so many photo's so the mysterious lines will have to remain a mystery.

That headache did put a bit of a damper on my visit to my favourite Canarian steak house, but the succulent char grilled Tbone steak was still devoured and Brenda enjoyed the fillet Strogonoff.. Before we had to retire home to find a lack of paracetamol and no way to buy any.. Only Farmacia's can sell them.
Lucky for us after a bit of a rummage in the tardis of Brenda's bag we found a strip and managed to tame the worst of the headaches so we could sleep... It was pretty bad.


We're planning a trip to a cave based Canarian restaurant later for a nice meal and hopefully a few more events before home time...

Harvey has had a bit of a rough time though his dog sitter had to take him to the vet as he seemed to have problems with his anal glands....she said he was too fat for her to clean them out..oops... I will call later to find out. Financially it could not have been a worse time for vets fees but we'll have to work something out, his health is important to us, but I just can't do much about it while I am 2000odd miles away.

I have to go straight back to work, when I get back...and also straight into rehearsals as I have gigs due with both bands, especially a last minute Starrcase gig on the 30th... hope I don't fall asleep in the middle of my numbers :





Ahthankyew

The internet is full of sickness and stupidity

Its a bit of a shock to the system, when you realize how easy people can be manipulated, twisted and desensitized to the world they live in.

Ask any Daily Mail reader what the no1 problem in the UK is and more than likely it'll be the EU or immigration, though it does rather depend on when you ask them, it might be GMO's and cancer next week. They'll trot out this weeks reason to rant at the drop of a hat but seldom give you any actual facts beyond, I know a mate who knew.....and heres a graph that shows it...all unverified.

The media manipulates and alters opinions constantly, in some ways that's not a bad thing if it educates and informs you towards a viewpoint you had not considered, but more often than not it just indoctrinates and brainwashes you to see their particular viewpoint.

For whatever reason, I have spent most of my life struggling with seeing  both sides of a story, I'm easily swayed by fact, and occasionally opinion, of those I trust, but mostly facts.

I read the news voraciously, its part of the reason I'm shit hot at trivia quizzes...I digest news, I digest facts and I form options based on those facts, not on the views the suppliers of some of those facts want me to share.

I can spot blatant propaganda bullshit on Russian media,Chinese media,  US media (dear god, the bullshit is strong with those people), and also sadly in UK media,  bullshit radiates with flies hovering about and I just know when something isn't right.

When all said and done, if someone tells you something and a little voice in your head says...is that true? There is never any harm in checking it out....when you then discover its not true, or its been exaggerated or somehow undermined by emotive or misleading language, you can assess how much of the bullshit might be worth taking on board.

Recently I have come to realize, my surprisingly keen insight into the world as it truly is,  is not shared by the rest of you mere mortals....this as always, causes me to doubt...am I the one who's seeing things wrong...let me check...nope...let me check again and again...time and again I keep seeing the same thing...people taking a view, mostly indefensible, and then defend it....with faulty logic, faulty facts, hearsay, rumor,  and then sometimes just plain old stubbornness again.

They seek out confirmations of their views, but only their views, and proudly wave them at me as if this incredible find from a source that gave them their views in the 1st place is the only source worth using..

But what about this, these, all these contrary viewpoints, with evidence and facts....bias propaganda they say, ignoring the irony that all they are spouting is the opposing propaganda....No one wants to see the truth in the middle, because that means admitting you are wrong.....I don't mind doing that...when I am wrong...I really don't. It's just that is not very often, because I take time to form my views by looking at both sides and I am always open to change that view, always....that puts me in conflict sometimes with both sides...but shit happens.
I can't help but question something I perceive as a lie, sometimes its because I want that lie explained to me, in case its true....and then when I realize its not, I try to show that...but no one really wants to listen. Sometimes its because I have read some trivia new story which has tucked away in the back of my mind and I know the resulting fable needs to be exposed...once I've checked it a bit more.

People guard their views strongly, its theirs, you can't have it, and there's nothing you can give them that will change it..even truth. Because your truth is not a truth they want to accept.


I've seen this a lot recently, I've sunk a little into a abyss and slowly climbing out of it, but finding so much about the world and the people in it to be hard to take. There is some amazingly blinkered and irrational viewpoints in the world. I know everyone is different, but why do so many have to be so blinkered and downright stupid that they refuse to do that little bit of self doubt that makes them check the other side.

There's far too much hate in the world and all it really needs to combat it is just to think about the other viewpoint...can you be wrong?

The world is a very very scary place right now, I wonder if we'll make it through the next 20 years without mushroom clouds.





Ahthankyew

Marking done...time for a video

Barring a few late submissions, marking is done and summer is almost here...I plan to do a lot of coding this holiday but some guitar work will keep me sane.

 

Trying out my VLP GTX and finding some of the vocal settings are more pleasing than on the VL2...but its simple enough to copy  them over.

 

Anyway...new vid...sorry I am looking at the floor so much but the buttons were not as familiar to me as my big rig...but I wanted to try something simpler..

 

http://youtu.be/EuL6sZ9lh1M


Ahthankyew

Booked and paid...here we go

Off the Canaries at the height of the season in August....2 weeks of sun sun and a bit more sun

can't wait.

Ahthankyew

Near the end!

School is effectively done for the year, I have a small pile of marking to do this weekend,  and a smaller pile next weekend for some retakes, but then its over.

An interesting year, more work, more students, slightly more tiring and perhaps in some ways less enjoyable for a host of different reasons...I feel each year slightly more detached from the process of deciding on the direction of our education, as we get bigger and management takes more control of it, not always in ways I feel are appropriate.

I suppose this is normal when something successful grows...For now though I still love the teaching aspect of my job and seeing students grow and develop remains for me more than enough job satisfaction.

I have found and decided to attempt a Masters degree at Birmingham City University that I feel I will get some pleasure from, since it basically involves me writing a game.......yeah...well ...thats kinda ok...though I still strongly and vocally protest at the so called need to have such a degree in place, but if I want to keep my position I am going to have to ..."just do it"....as people keep saying to me...

"Just do it", however is not a reason any one should ever have to accept when being forced to do something against their will..

I keep putting forward that argument that Masters degrees as an entry requirement to teaching are actually barriers that prevent highly experienced and potentially prized teachers from entering academia, but as academia is stuffed full of masters educated academics, my argument simply isn't listened to....So I have to join the club....It still infuriates me so much.
Fortunately not enough to quit, but its a pretty heavy bale on the camels back.

I took the small exam for entrance/discount for the course and scored 100%...well any less would be worrying.. I hope the rest of it will be as easy, I value my non work life very highly these days, even if a lot of it is sleeping in, or vegging out in front the TV (or coding or playing)....I don't want to find myself stressing out about exams and deadlines at my age.

Anyway....venting a bit, for a whole year this has bugged me and now that I have to admit defeat it still bugs me....when I get it...it will bug me and some smart arse will probably suggest I do a Phd...which will bug me even more.

I think its time to plan some fun things for the summer... May's bonus salary along with a nice tax rebate mean we can plan a nice holiday this year.  I am heading down to the Travel agents this afternoon with Brenda to plan our 1st holiday away.... I better hit that gyms and get my bikini figure back before August.....or I could just buy bigger swimwear....hmmmm yes that sound more practical.

Speaking of fun...check this out...



Ahthankyew

Been too busy

Sorry I didn't post news of the gig, it went really well.. and I will post some pics shortly

Just been very busy with things, and now have to catch up a bit on some coding and other things that have slipped...

normal service and a few vids to follow soon


Ahthankyew

Squeeky bum time tomorrow

 

So tomorrow is our 1st Gadgeteers gig...we probably picked the worst possible time to do this, because its a long weekend here in the Catholic south where they've been celebrating Ascension day on Thursday so it turns into a 4 day break..
Nice, but it means a lot of our friends and colleagues who would come to our gig won't be around... but no matter there will be a few people and it is a gig so we'll get the experience of a full live set... :D

In preparation I've been setting up my pedals ....
Time for some gear pics....in case you've not been following my ongoing problems with Gear Acquisition Syndrome.... heres my lovely rig.

I spent the other morning rejigging my "gig" box to make a bit more space and use the new Goliath Powerplant and here's the final result. I was able to fit a few more things into the box...course I need to build even more muscles to haul it around cos its freaking heavy, but the upside is can set up in 2 mins, just remove the lid and plug into a PA and I'm off.

Purists might want to argue points about tone and sucking etc but bear in mind this is what I use in my bands where I need to wear several hats, as backing singer, keyboard/string/fx filler, as well as lead or Rhythm Guitar are needed so I have to have flexibility and like to keep it all in one spot.

The size of the rig is kinda dictated by the two massive pedals at the front an RC-300 looper (wonderful thing) and the GR-55 Synth. My main guitar sounds come from the Adrenalinn III box  on the top row, which  emulates a host of different amps and cabs as does the COSM modelling in the GR-55 so I can pretty much get any sound I want.... At home I just use a Tube Screamer into a Fender Champ 800..but band work has different requirements

The Adrenalinn can be further controlled and turned in to a pretty cool synth on its own with my FCB1010 midi control board, not shown here... I usually only set that  up for live playing or video recording. But for most of the time it just pretends to be a Fender Deluxe or a Marshal Plexi..I don't know how accurate it is, I just know I like the sound.

The Digitech pedal gives me various Wah and distortions and is a cool Lead/Loud Pedal when I need it.

Vocals...I am a shit singer, so I process the hell out of my voice.. the 2 TC Helicon pedals in the middle give me fx as well as pitch correction so I can do robots. harmonics, megaphones, vox, etc....then then go into the big TC Helicon Voicelive 2 box when I need to sing straight but with a bit of reverb and pitch checking to make it sound reasonable.

Under the deck is of course the power.. The Wah pedal and the GR-55 need a bit more power than even the Goliath can manage so they get their own power supply, but everything else is run by the Goliath which is a meaty and pricey bit of kit.
I like this Goliath but am a bit worried by the heat it generates, I blew up a much cheaper unit I bought previously and would hate for this one to blow as well, even though I'm within its output limits, the RC, VL2 and ADIII do draw a lot of power close to the 450ma limits, so it gets hot. I am going to attach a CPU heat sink to the top of it with some Thermal tape to help it shed heat a bit better and reduce my paranoia..If I can work out how to fit a fan too I'll keep better..

There's also a mic receiver unit for my wireless mic, and an In Ear monitor transmitter, which  is fed by the RC-300, which is where all the different outputs go into for output to the PA or when recording, the USB. That's only used when I am playing by myself otherwise I take a monitor feed from the desk.

The RC-300  can configure all its switches and pedals to different thing, it also has a very nice drum machine in it (so does the Adrenalinn) my template configuration for it, is to have the foot pedal set from 50%-100% input gain so it acts as a solo button. The loop fx button is a mic on/off switch, I sometimes split the mix input to a small mixer so I can loop instruments while singing. The Voice Live 2, also does some very cool funky harmonies and distortion fx so it can create some amazing tones even from my crappy vocals...

 

Anyone with more than a couple of pedals knows the wiring and patch cable maintenance is a pain, so keeping things in one box is my solution to it.. I'm still not happy though,  I've used the shortest patch cables I can, but I still plan to make my own cables to exact fit sizes. Also some of the power cables are a bit long, so I am hunting for shorter versions.

The only other thing I am planning to add is a Beat Buddy drum pedal which is due to ship in July..not quite sure where it will fit...but I will work it out.

It looks more complex than it is, but it turns heads when I set it up.

Finally its all driven by 1 guitar, usually Margaret, my Patrick Eggle Berlin Stage T with a GK3 fitted, but I also use a  backup Fender Strat with a GK-2 fitted, called Penny

Once the gig is out of the way, I have yet another gig to get ready for, the next Starrcase Gradation  event is coming up in about a month, I need to check the date but its been a hectic few weeks with double rehearsals for Gadgeteers as well as Starrcase gearing up to gig mode....

Both bands are getting better every time we play...so its exiting stuff..

Not had a lot of time recently to do any videos but have been hearing a lot of great songs that I want to do loop covers off, so will try to fit something in when there's a quiet spot.

Ahthankyew

5 more sleeps

counting down the days to the Gadgeteers 1st proper gig...we did a small spot at THE birthday party :) but this will be our first ever proper on stage gig. on Saturday 31st...we're shitting bricks over it... Only 2 more rehearsals to go

I'm hoping to grab some video and sound bytes on the night, lets hope it all goes to plan...we've been preparing for this for nearly 3 years now since the 1st Expats jam sessions started. We've come a long way, though still playing some of the same songs.......I am tempted to say badly but we have got better...Especially in the last weeks with the focus of a gig on our minds.

If anyone local is reading this, please come along and show us some support, we're at Sound Dog, the address is Oude Baan 8,  and were starting things off at 7-30.



Ahthankyew

Paid GIG!!

I am now officially a gigging musician, 100 euros divided by 7 ;)

heheh, its feels good.

Out Saturday gig though was a lot of fun, we had the audience bopping but it did highlight a major problem we have playing live... We have no clue how to mix the sound.

As a result, the recording we made direct from the mixer was dire. Just incredibly bad. With 2 members totally dominating the mix.... Fortunately the audience probably didn't have to worry about it, since they would have got a lot of the monitor mix as well which was quite loud...so they at least heard something better than we mixed...and we got paid so it couldn't have been too bad.


I'm researching solutions to this live mixing issue and thing I've found the answer...as always not a cheap solution but worth it, and as long as I can get use out of it for myself I'll invest in it.

http://www.mackie.com/products/dlseries/

cool gadget, will need to sell a few other mixer toys to pay for it.



Ahthankyew

All set up and sweet

Here we are, the new board layout..though I did switch the 2 VoiceTone pedals around after this was taken. Cables are still a teeny bit messy, but I can't really afford to go buying custom lengths.

Underneath the tier, is also a mess, with 2 long power strips, 1x 3pin UK and 1x 2pin Euro with 7 individual power units to power everything. I plan to replace almost all of those those with a single mega power unit in the summer when my tax rebate comes through.

Still heavy, still needs wheels to lug around but I'm pleased with it. Wait till you see the 2nd and 3rd board I can attach to it :D

2nd board has my other GR30 synth, and its UX-20 switch to control it, its not complete yet as it will also have my Beat Buddy Drum machine when it arrives in July, just to give a bit more flexibility. I've had a few test plays and its so cool to have looped arpeggios while you play other things and not have to worry about loop timings.

The 3rd board is my good old mobile board from the old Layout, it can route a shared guitar signal via the UX-20 through the GR30..I probably won't use it but its there if I want to.

oh and then there is the FCB1010...to control the Adrenalinn III, its not essential to use but it is easier....hmmm my floor space might be getting eaten up again :)

Do I have a problem?

Ahthankyew