1st 100 Daze...

So, according to the talking heads on the news, Barack Obama's administration is closing in on its' first 100 days. These 100 days are seen as a bench-mark for how the future of the administration might be. I'm not so sure about that. I think the 100 day mark is not an indicator for anything, except the passage of 100 days.

Take, for example, the George W. Bush administration. I didn't vote for him, & I didn't think he had what it took to be the president. However, I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I wanted him to prove me wrong. And he almost did.

During his first 100 days, he rescinded a lot of good things the Clinton administration did. But I was still going to give him the benefit of the doubt. Then 9-11 happened. Initially, I was totally surprised with how well W seemed to be handling the situation. He seemed to be showing restraint. He seemed to be doing what a president should, reassuring the nation. It seemed like I'd been totally wrong about him. That was until he started talking about going into Iraq.

We were involved in a war in Afghanistan in which we were trying to find Osama bin Laden. He's the guy whom we had been told had planned & organized the 9-11 attacks. At one point, it looked like we had him, but he escaped. I didn't blame W for that (not then anyway) because things like that happen. But when he started up about Iraq & Saddam Hussein, I was like, "What the hell did Iraq have to do with this?"

Everything I could find about Iraq & 9-11 pointed to.... nothing. Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11. Even the news, initially, was saying that. But when people like me started raising the same questions I had, the W administration came out with their, "You're either with us, or against us"
BS. I noticed that the bulk of the news outlets started reporting what came from the White House as truth. They didn't even seem to be checking any facts or sources. It was like being inside the book 1984.

Well now we've been out of that administration for 100 days. We now know (at least most of us do) that W's administration had no reason to go into Iraq. Even though I agree Saddam needed to be deposed, that was not, and still is not, our job. Even Bush said he wasn't about nation building, but he ended up being about nation building in Iraq. I've not seen anything that proves this, but I think he did it to shore up his father's legacy. Either way, a lot of people died and are maimed for life, for no good reason. And where's bin Laden? Still on the loose somewhere.....

Anyway, back to Obama. He inherited a huge mess. The mess didn't get made overnight, it took eight years to create. So it won't be cleaned up overnight either, but I hope it won't take 8 years. Barack seems to be working hard to get things turned around. To me, I think I can see some small things changing for the better. He seems like a good guy too. I'll admit I was reluctant to back him at first. It was mainly due to the experience issue, just like with W. I'd been burned on that before & I was worried about history repeating itself. To me it doesn't matter if the President is Democrat or Republican. He just needs to follow the will of the people at large & not pander to special interest or religious groups.

I'll admit that I'm not too surprised to see some Republican folks already doing/saying stuff like "we're worse off now that under Bush," "I can't wait until Obama's out of office." Jeez people! Give the man a chance! He just might be the best president in 50+ years. Of course, he could be turn out to be the worse too. But you'll never know until you see what he can do. And just because he's part of a different party than yours doesn't mean that he's automatically bad. I gave W a chance back in 2001; he totally showed me how bad he was, but I did give him more than 100 days. I was fairly ok with him until he started up about invading Iraq.

Anyway, let's not be too quick to judge Obama or anyone else. Give them a fair chance. I think we should be able to see where things are heading in about 6 months. That's my take on it.... :)

Where the hell have I been.....

Well, I've been not blogging for one thing. For another, I've been just doing stuff. Other than that, I have no explaination or excuse, not that I need either. :)

My brother & his wife & son came to visit early this month. It had been about 5 years since I saw the FloJacks, so it was good to see them again. My nephew had really grown in that time too. When last I saw him, he came to just under my chin (I'm 5'9" by the way), now he's almost as tall as I am. They grow up so fast. :)

In other news, I've gotten a new fridge & stove; they were delivered today. Both are very nice, the stove is the kind with a ceramic top, digital temp control for the oven. The fridge has a much larger freezer and those great adjustable glass shelves. There's also plenty of storage space in the door.

I've also been hob-nobbing with celebrities. My friend, Baby-Girl, was playing sax for a band putting on a benefit for cancer. The band was an all-star line-up of rock legends. I'll see if I can remember them for you. There was Alan White (drummer for Yes & John Lennon, and the event's organizer), Chris Squire (bassist for Yes), Trevor Rabin (guitarist for Yes), Mark Hudson (of the Hudson Brothers), Elliott Easton (guitarist for The Cars), Roger Fisher (former Heart guitarist), Simon Kirke (drummer for Free & Bad Company), Taylor Hawkins (drummer for Foo Fighters), Michael Shreive (drummer for Santana), Eric Bazilian (of the Hooters), Nona Hendrix (of La Belle), & Sheldon Reynolds (guitarist for the Commodores & Earth, Wind & Fire). The great part is that I actually got to shake hands with each of these people. They were all very nice and didn't give off an ego trip at all. By the way, Baby-Girl was awesome, and she looked even better, as she usually. She's just awesome in every way.

That's about all I can think of to write about for now. I'll try to post more often (where have I heard that before).

T Minus Seven Days & Counting...

In just seven short days I will have a house full of refugees (or house guests if you will). It's my youngest brother & his family (wife & son). They will be flying up from Florida next Friday to stay with me for a week, and I am so excited. I've not seen them in almost five years. It will be so great.

I think this is a first, people from Florida, where it's now in the 80s temp-wise, taking a vacation in March to Seattle, where it's barely breaking the 50s. I've told them to all bring coats, and it will be chilly, and it could be rainy. But I think we'll have lots of fun anyway. :)

Actually, this will probably work out really well. Being that it's the off-season, we shouldn't encounter many crowds at the main tourist spots around town. Therefore, we shouldn't have to wait in many, if any, lines. My main hope is that we have a few days of sunny skys, because the views will be awesome, and I want them to experience the scenery.

That's about all I can think of about this topic, so I'll just sign-off. :)

Light at the end of the tunnel???

I don't think I've mentioned this before (and I'm too lazy to check my previous posts), but my apartment building is undergoing renovation. It's been in that state since I moved in back in September. I moved in anyway because the rent was less than my previous place by about $500, and I really like this neighborhood. Because of the renovation, the landlady is knocking another $250 off the rent while it's ongoing. How cool is that? :)

When I moved in, the landlady, a lovely older woman named Mrs. Anderson, said that she had been told the renovation would be completed by mid-December. That didn't happen of course. It's nice to keep the lower rent going, but I will admit that it's been a bit of a pain seeing all the cracks in the walls and the bare drywall ceiling for the past 6 months. But the charm of the neighborhood, & closeness of the busstop really does outweigh the 'under construction' condition of my digs.

Well, this week the workers have finally come back to finish up the inside of my place. The work has been good quality, though the pace has been slow. They came in on a Thursday in the 1st week of December, worked that day, and didn't return until 2 weeks ago. When they came back, I was assured that they would finish everything by 3-6. They worked on Monday & Tuesday of that week, and didn't come back any other days. I called the site boss on Monday (of this week) and asked if they were ever going to finish. This time he assured me that all would be completed this week. Each day I saw small signs that people had been in the apartment, but didn't see any real signs of work being done; until today. A note on my door said, "We'll be back Monday to finish up, hang the blinds, & clean up." After Monday, I may actually be able to put things where I want them, and not have people come in a couple weeks later & move them all around. What a concept that will be. :)

I'll have to discuss this with Mrs. Anderson, but there's still work to be done on the exterior. Therefore, I won't be able to access my parking space until that's completed. I believe our agreement about the lower rent was, 'when the scaffolding comes down, the rent goes up.' So my lower rent should continue for a bit longer. However, I doubt that will be the case when I pay May's rent. But it's looking like there's some light coming in at the end of the tunnel.

Randomness...

I felt like I should post something today, but I can't really think of anything linear. Therefore, I thought I'd do some random bullets. It's a technique used by many bloggers, I'm sure, but I'm copping it from one of my favorite blogs Miss Zoot.

• I recently did a post about a couple of my favorite shows. However, I omitted one, "Burn Notice" on the USA network. I think it's one of the best spy dramas in quite some time.
• The company at which I'm employed is very big. It's a multi-national. However, I'm continually amazed at how homey it feels. I get the same sense of community there as I did at my last company. It was a small textile company.
• I've recently been invited to play guitar with some guys from work. This past Wednesday was the first time out. It was the 1st time I'd played in a group in five years or so. It was the 1st time in more than ten years that I played guitar in a group. I played bass in the last group. It's still fun. :)
• Recently, an old Air Force buddy tracked me down via facebook. We lost touch and I hadn't heard from him in quite a while. Technology is amazing some times.
• I'm wondering when the construction crew will be coming back to finish their work on this building. It's been almost 2 months since they last did any work on my apartment. It's very frustrating.

That's all I can really think of for now. I think I can expand a couple of those into full-blown posts. Thanks for tolerating my rambling. :)

Great TV....

I'm sure many of you have heard that old adage that, "TV is a vast wasteland." At times I'm inclined to agree; especially when it comes to a lot (make that, most) of the "so-called" reality shows. However, in the past two seasons I've found a couple shows that I feel are real gems. Both are dramas; both are "cop" shows, and both deal with "Life." :)

The 1st of these is the NBC show "Life" starring Damian Lewis. The show debuted last season, and the premise is that Lewis portrays an LA police officer who is wrongly accused & convicted of the grissly murder of his best friends. After 12 years of hard time, his conviction is overturned, he's freed, he wins a multi-million dollar wrongful imprisonment lawsuit, and he asks for his old job back (which he gets). The reason for getting his job back is so that he can find the real killers & bring them to justice. Of course, part of the subplot is that while in prison he was brutally beaten (due to his cop status) by other inmates. He did his share of retaliations (or at least we are led to believe he did), made some good allies, and found inner peace through Zen.

Now that he's out, he find wonder in the advances in technology since he's been away. He also loves fresh fruit so much that he's seen eating some at least twice each episode (is was constant in the first season). He also has a "conspiracy wall/room" in his extremely sparsely furnished mansion, in which he has photos of those he beleives were "in on" his frame-up & the murder itself.

Initially, I wasn't sure I'd like the show. I'd seen Lewis in a couple of films, and he always played the heavy (bad guy). From that, I wasn't sure if I could believe him as a good guy. However, his acting is so good that I'm totally sucked in during each episode. Often I find myself disapointed when the episode ends.

The other show is ABC's "Life On Mars." It's also a cop drama, and it's on the same night as "Life," therefore you'll probably need to set your TiVo for them both (that's what I do). This show debuted this season, and it's premise is that NY police detective Sam Tyler is struck by a car while pursueing a serial killer on foot. He then wakes up in a vacant lot to find himself in the year 1973 (instead of the present). He goes to his precinct, the 125, and finds that he's supposed to be the new transferee to the unit.

Now I don't remember the name of the show's star (who portray's Tyler), but other cast members are the beautiful Gretchen Mol (from "Rounders" & other films), and heavy-weight actor, Harvey Keitel. Actually, I initially watched the show just because of Keitel's involvement.

A lot of the show is Tyler dealing with being in '73 (when he was actually only 4 years old). He runs into his Mother, and the Father that abandoned the family in that year. He also meets a cops who will later become his mentor on the force. Other situations with which he must deal is the rampant chauvanism still present in the department, the kick-backs that are part of "business as usual," and the lack of modern technology & detective skills that he's used to using.

This show is also well written, and I find myself hating to see its episode end as with "Life."

There are other shows I feel are "can't miss" television, but I think this is enough for now. Be sure to check them out; I think you'll enjoy them as I do. :)

A Myth is Dispelled.....

I totally cop to being an old fart. I'm just three years shy of 50 (as of last month anyway). So when I started listening to music seriously, when I was around 11 or 12, there were a few formats you could get, vinyl LPs, vinyl 45s, 8-track tapes, cassette tapes, & reel-to-reel tapes. Actually, when you examine those options, there were really only two choices, vinyl & tape. I was in my early 20s when CDs were introduced. Since that time there's been a debate about which media has the better sound quality. A lot older folks, around my age, will say vinyl while others tout the clarity of CDs & mp3s. However, I'll tell you a secret; they're both wrong. Furthermore, the adage that vinyl promotes better sound quality is a total myth. Before I explain my previous statement I need to make sure everyone has the same knowledge about sound & audio technology. This will only need a pretty simple explanation, so bear with me.

First you need to know about two things analog & digital. Think of digital as a light switch in your home. You flip the switch one way & the lights are fully on; you flip the switch the other way & the lights are fully off. That's digital; a switch that's either on or off, no in-between. Digital is usually represented by either a 1&0 or by a line or square/rectangle.

Now, think of analog as replacing that light switch with a dimmer switch. This time as you turn or slide the switch the light goes from being totally off to very dim, then brighter & brighter until the light is fully on. When you move the dimmer the other way, the reverse happens until the light is fully off. That's analog; a state that's continually changing between two base values (on & off). Analog is usually represented by a curved symbol that resembles an 'S' laying on its side.

Any sound that you hear (birds, traffic, TV, etc) reaches your ears as an analog signal. Sound is analog. CDs, MP3s, & DVDs are all recorded in a digital format. Digital is great for these because it takes up much less space. The problem comes (in my opinion) when you want to make sound (analog) a digital signal. In that conversion from analog to digital & then back to analog (so you can hear it) parts of the original sound are lost forever. I'll show you what I mean.

In the picture I've provided, the green line is a sound you can hear as an analog signal. The sound is changed to an MP3 by digitally sampling the analog signal at various points. This is represented by the green & blue rectangles. Note the bits of pale yellow showing between the green wave & the green/blue samples; those are bits of the wave that are not picked up by the conversion to digital. Now granted the signal is actually sampled at a very high rate, so the missing bits are very, very small, but there are still bits missing. Part of the original sound was never picked up. Some will say that the signal has been cleaned up; I don't agree.

There is still more to be done. You want to play the sound back later. Your ears only hear in analog, so the digital signal has to be converted back to analog. This conversion back to analog is represented by the red line in the drawing. So now the signal has been stripped once in a conversion, and even more has been lost in the conversion back to analog.

Back to the myth of vinyl. When people say vinyl LPs have better sound quality, it's true... but only for LPs that were recorded in an analog format. That hasn't happened since around 1990. Therefore, if you have a vinyl LP by, say, Coldplay, it has the same quality as a CD or MP3 of the same album. So it's not the vinyl that has the better sound quality, it's the analog recording itself. Of all the formats I mentioned before (LP, 45, 8-track, reel-to-reel, cassette) vinyl is the best because tape tends to have a hiss that can never be taken out.

To sum-up, vinyl LPs are not better than CDs or MP3s, etc. It's the analog signal that's better than the digital signal. This is not only my belief. I was saying this as far back as 1986, but no one would listen to me. Then around '89 I read an interview with Neil Young in "Spin" magazine. He said that he started recording all of his stuff in digital instead of analog. He said that he did this because he couldn't stand to hear the difference in the recording anymore, so he just went to digital right off. That way he always heard it in digital, and thus, didn't hear any differences. I was vindicated then.

Oh, there is one great thing about vinyl LPs that CDs & MP3s will never have; liner notes. I know that there are liner notes on CDs. However, you have to have a magnifying glass just to read them. On the LP you can just read them. This is more of a factor for me as my eyes get older.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I must say that I love my CDs & MP3s. It's very hard to carry a vinyl LP or 45 in your jacket pocket. :) By the same token, I still have a working turntable & about 200 vinyl LPs. I'm currently working on putting all my vinyl onto my computers hard-drive.