More New Toys

This weekend I mostly felt like crap. No ambition whatsoever.

Things started to pick up on Sunday afternoon, though, and all last night and early this morning I got to play with my new microphones. Guitar Center was running a special last week that I could not resist. They had two condenser mics for $99! Normally, studio-quality condenser mics are anywhere from $500 to many thousands of dollars. So, I whipped out the plastic and snapped them up.

Inside the kit was a pair of MXL mics: a MXL 990 for vocals and a 991 (which looks similar to the MXL 603) for instruments.

I’ve always heard about the difference a quality condenser mic made, but it’s totally unbelievable. I’m going to have to scrap everything I’ve recorded thus far and start over (not really, but if I listen to each thing I’ve recorded in sequence, there’s a noticeable improvement in sound quality from one to the next).

Posted in Tunes | Comments Off on More New Toys

Who Has Seen God?

Please, visit Zuly. Her sister and she are working on a project to collect the various visions of the Creator from different perspectives in words and pictures (even from agnostics and atheists). I want to spend some time thinking about this one, before I whip out some of my usual nonsense.

Posted in Life, the Universe and Everything | Comments Off on Who Has Seen God?

Next Time She Should Bury Them

There is something disturbing about coming home and seeing your underwear in the trash.

What does it mean? Was Goodwill closed? Were they that toxic? Did I do something so unspeakably wrong that her only recourse was to toss my shorts? Is she throwing me out one undergarment at a time?

Being the sort of guy who doesn’t like to have such things hanging over his head, I confronted my spouse.

SHE: They were holey.
ME: Well, if they were holy, then how could you treat them so?
SHE: *sigh* Because that’s where they belonged.
ME: What? Next you’ll tell me you burned the Bible!
SHE: Not holy! HOLE. EEEEEE.
ME: Well, are they or aren’t they?
SHE: You have a nice clean stack of underwear on the bed.
ME: Are any of them holy?
SHE: No.
ME: So! Swapping my sacred shorts for unholy underpants.
SHE: I hate you.
ME: I can see that.

Posted in Life, the Universe and Everything | 9 Comments

I don’t need your hype

Is it just me, or did we not need Fox to tell us how much the Sox and Yankees are supposed to hate each other? Kinda feels like they’re trying to horn in on something special. Or something like that. I dunno. Never mind. Guess it is just me.

Go Sox.

Posted in Baseball | 4 Comments

If it’s free, I’m Linspired!

CRN : Daily Archives : Linspire Gives Away Its Linux OS : 2:05 PM EST Fri., Apr. 16, 2004

You need BitTorrent, but for a chance to try out the OS formerly known as Lindows, this is a minor hurdle.

Posted in Wouldya Lookit That! | Comments Off on If it’s free, I’m Linspired!

You don’t need a weather man to know which way the wind blows

Yes, kids (and I do mean “kids”), we have a winner. It looks like jcwinnie will be taking home the grand prize. And, boy, is it ever grand. Whooo. If I told you how grand it was, you’d just fall over dead with jealousy. Man, is it ever a grand prize.1

Get sick, get well
Hang around a ink well
Ring bell, hard to tell
If anything is goin’ to sell
Try hard, get barred
Get back, write braille
Get jailed, jump bail
Join the army, if you fail
Look out kid
You’re gonna get hit
But users, cheaters
Six-time losers
Hang around the theaters
Girl by the whirlpool
Lookin’ for a new fool
Don’t follow leaders
Watch the parkin’ meters

Subterranean Homesick Blues

1This offer void in the 48 contiguous states and Canada. Subject to severe restrictions throughout the rest of the known universe. Grand prizes may be substituted for something less grand (such as a laurel and hearty handshake) subject to the whim of Ink Well management and its subsidiaries. Whining about it is clearly prohibited in the terms you agreed to when you started reading this blog. What do you mean, “what terms?”?? The terms that have been on file for the last 9 months in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.’ Some people just don’t know where to look for things. If it had been a moose, it would have bit you. Like it did my sister. Well, if I had a sister. But wouldn’t that be cool? If you had a sister, how could you resist slathering moose bait on her and dropping her off in the woods, just so you could say that a moose once bit her. Mind you, moose bites can be pretty nasty…

Posted in Strangeness | 5 Comments

Look Out Kid

OK, after all this time, does anyone know where the name Solonor’s Ink Well comes from? Anybody? Bueller?

Posted in Strangeness | 17 Comments

Radio Free Hackistan

My brother was having a problem using MSN Radio Plus on his laptop. Here’s the reply he got from their support team:

From: MSN Entertainment Premium Radio Support
Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2004 7:40 PM
Subject: RE:Premium: I have a problem playing music.

Hello,

Thank you for contacting MSN Radio Plus support.

I understand your concern that you wish to run Virus software and use other MSN services while listening to radio plus.

I would like to inform you that there is no other alternative other than disabling the virus software while listening to Radio Plus. If you are using Pop-up ad blocking software or Virus protection software, I would suggest you to kindly disable it. Also please ensure that it is enabled once you finish listening to the stations, if you do not wish to have it disabled. We appreciate your interest and are taking your feedback into consideration. We forwarded your suggestion to the product team that carefully reviews these suggestions and considers them for future releases.

We appreciate the opportunity of providing you assistance. If you need clarifications or have other concerns, please write us back and we would be glad to assist you further.

Have a nice day

Regards,
MSN Radio Plus Technical Support

While you’re at it, could you share your hard drive and publish the password for us? Our spyware development team is having a difficult time reading all your files. Thanks.

Posted in Rants 'n' Whines | 2 Comments

Are you ready, eager young space cadet?

I must admit that my science fiction reading has been sorely lacking over the past few years. Still, I like to keep up with what’s going on. And so, I get excited when the Hugo Nominations are announced (even though the only thing I know anything about are the video productions).

In the “Best Dramatic Presentation – Long Form” category, Return of the King (more fantasy than sci-fi, in my mind) is competing against 28 Days Later (fun zombie movie), Finding Nemo (fun animated movie… though I’m not so sure about it’s sci-fi credentials), Pirates of the Carribean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (fun pirate movie… again with questionable sci-fi ties), and X2: X-Men United (fun comic book movie). If I were voting, I’d go with 28 Days.

In the “Best Dramatic Presentation – Short Form” category, there’s likely the final Buffy episode to be nominated, a nice Smallville episode, Gollum’s hilarious acceptance speech at the 2003 MTV Movie Awards, and two Firefly episodes. I really wish I’d gotten the chance to see Firefly, now.

What’s really cool, though, are the “Retrospective Hugo Awards for 1953.” Lots of neat stuff there, including this powerhouse lineup for “Best Novel”:

The Caves of Steel – Isaac Asimov (Galaxy, Oct.-Dec. 1953)
Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury (Ballantine)
Childhood’s End – Arthur C. Clarke (Ballantine)
Mission of Gravity – Hal Clement (Astounding, Feb.-July 1953)
More than Human – Theodore Sturgeon (Ballantine)

Wow. How do you choose?

But, of course, my favorite nominee of all is in the “Best Dramatic Presentation – Short Form” category. You already know what it is from the title of this post, right? Right?? Well, if you don’t, then I’m not going to tell you, because you obviously have no taste and are a complete loser. So, back off, Martian, or I shall use my disintegrating pistol on you. And when it disintegrates, boy, does it disintegrate… hey, whaddya know? It disintegrated. Heh.

Posted in Blogcritics, The Big Screen, Wouldya Lookit That! | 6 Comments

Run in the shadows

Crap. If there’s anything I hate more than reality shows, it’s chain letters. Well, thanks a fricking lot to Speaker:

Everyone reading this shall now hit “Leave a Comment” and ask me exactly three (3) questions. Ask me anything, but not too TMI, ok? I will answer your three (3) questions. Then you post this in your journal, asking all of your friends to ask you three (3) questions.

There. Now bad luck will stay away… or I’ll win the Irish Sweepstakes… I forget which.

Posted in Strangeness | 12 Comments