Monday

I updated my resume yesterday and applied for that job today. It's kinda exciting and kinda scary. I know it's always a long shot, but it would be so cool for us if that job worked out.
Then I got a haircut, so I'll be presentable if they call for an interview.
Then I set up a profile at ESRI, the GIS place in Redlands, and looked at what jobs they have available. Looks promising, but I think I'll hold off a week before applying there, because they look more together for hiring software engineers, and I'd rather get this Riverside job if it's possible, so I'll give them a head start, I guess.
I signed up with Monster last week, and today a headhunter from Macarthur Associates called. She said she works mostly with Orange County (Irvine) employers, but she'll let me know if she finds any IE jobs that would be compatible.
Doni and I put some jewelry and stuff up for auction on eBay, and still have more ready to put up, but Doni's still recovering from yesterday's drum corp volunteering so I'll let her rest. Tuesday morning now; we have about 14 items up on eBay; I think that that's more than I've ever put up at once before. I'm looking in to how to post to Cragslist now. Just a sellin' fool...

Sunday

Slept through night for a change, woke up excited about a job listing I found; it fits my software experience, is a company that seems nice, and my commute would be less than 5 minutes! I'm applying tomorrow. Who knows...

Lindsay has gone to Kyle's for a couple of days. Donita and Paige are at the DCI drum corps competition at RCC until about 10PM. So I'm home alone, which I like from time to time.

I ended up sleeping much of the afternoon. I fell asleep reading the manual for the keyboard I've been programming.

I also read some of Julia Sweeney's blog. She's fascinating.

Good night!

Saturday

As you may have noticed, I'm currently programming an Alesis QS6.1 for TV's Kyle Live. As is typical of ROM-based sample-player keyboards of recent times, you can't tell much at all about it from the picture. All the complexity is in the menu structure, which generally sucks on these kinds of boards. Pretty powerful, but a PITA.

Found an injured hawk in our backyard. Doni caught it and put it in a box, called Riverside and Animal Control came by and took it; the A.C. lady said she thought he wasn't too hurt, and they'd watch him for a few days and set him free.

Figured out all the foo necessary to put up a "donations" link on Lindsay's "Daisy is Dead" webcomic site.

Took Stan to his barber's.

I figured out the QS synth's effects architecture and how to use it. Next, custom voicing. Eyeglasses help.

I was wrong; the Tiki Room is 43, not 41.

Spent some time on Deviantart. Vivage's work was featured there today; Congrats, Viv!

Okay, I wrap this up now. Good evening.

Friday

Early this morning, I listened to a podcast ("jawbone") with Mike Nelson of MST3K, but it was kind of disappointing because of the interviewer. I fell asleep during it (which is the whole idea of my early-morning podcast listening), and I was awakened by the dogs when Doni came into the studio for Stan's doctor's phone number (we are
having trouble with the Loma Linda VA pharmacy getting prescriptions refilled in time, and the bureaucratic pharmacistas are kinda nasty to deal with). The funny thing is, when I started listening to the end of that podcast, Mike was gone, and the man and woman were concerned that the man would end in jail after killing the woman or something. It went on for a few minutes. I could, of course, go back and listen to the beginning of that conversation, but I think I'll just leave it a mystery.

Fri 6/23/06 8:50 AM: blogged reply to Vivage.
(that's what my old "did" script would have done. No, I'm not going to get that detailed on this blog, thank goodness...)

Today is the 41st anniversary of the opening of Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room.

Check out the Tiki Room Pele knockoff that is (was?) available at Big Lots for $29. Pretty cool! http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?topic=18769&forum=12&54
(I don't know if any of this will work via mail blogging...)

My dad called and asked for a ride home to Palm Desert next Thursday. He's flying in from my nephew Trever's in Georgia Wednesday night and staying at his girlfriend Bernie's daughter Jackie's. I pick him up there, go out to lunch with him, and then take him home. Fine with me.

Doni's dad called and asked for a ride to the barber's tomorrow at noon. I think Doni will be busy, so I'll take him. Fine with me.

Putting up old books for sale at half.com; I think I have about 18 listed now. The big surprise was Microsoft's "Windows 95 User
Experience," which I bought around 1999 for $23. They're going for upwards of $200 now. WTF??? It's just a typical UI standards kind of thing.

Ken's playing with the Klones at Francies in Corona tonight beginning
at 8:30. They said there's no room for me because of the small stage area, but I may go check 'em out for a moment, anyway. Ken says they have good burgers.

Doni's off to get her dad's prescription refills after discussing it with someone nice at the VA hospital.

I checked Kyle's keyboard's AC adapter again; it's definitely bad; the output wire is intermittent where it goes into the plastic box, and they used tamper-proof screws on the box so I can't easily open it. I guess I'll get a new one for him.

Tested my SQ-80 synth after 3 years' storage; it still works. Now I'l put it in the semitrailer for who knows how long.

Paige's Yamato drum corp camp begins tomorrow, so I guess Donita will be there most of the week (with Paige). I may need to go too, I don't know yet. If you're into drum corp stuff, there's a big show at RCC this weekend. A cousin-in-law from Texas will be there, and so will Paige's favorite group, the Blue Devils.

I doubt that I'll have an entry tomorrow; maybe Sunday, so Viv, I hope
this satisfies yer blog jones! ;->

Well, Doni and I went down to Francie's for the Klones gig around 8PM, and had a nice dinner. She had a burger, I had a Philly. It was pretty good. The band was supposed to start at 8:30, but Joey the drummer didn't show until 9. They started playing near 9:30, then Ken's wireless guitar hookup's batteries died, so they stopped while he switched batteries. Then they played another song, and the PA went silent. Doni and I drove to Ken's and picked up his PA head,
took it back, and helped swap the PAs. It still didn't work. Turned out, apparently, that one speaker was never plugged in, and the other speaker had a dead connector (but it had 2 connectors chained in parallel, so Ken just swapped plugs and that worked). Doh, I guess I should have been more thorough while troubleshooting. That PA is kinda trashy. They were beginning to play as we left and went home. I'll find out how it went tomorrow, but the few songs we heard were nice sounding, not too loud (I'm _sure_ they got loud later, though). I really prefer to be playing and not just watching; but there really isn't enough room in that bar. Oh well.

Selling stuff on half.com and other e-classifieds

Years ago, I sold a few books on half.com. Now that we're going through storage and getting rid of stuff, I'm using it to sell books and CDs again. I kinda thought it went away after eBay bought it, but it seems to be thriving.

The big plus for selling stuff through half is that it's so easy. Once you've set up a seller's account with the usual personal info (like Amazon or any other vendor wants), you just go to their "sell an item" page and type either the ISBN number or UPC barcode number into it, and up comes your item's picture and description. Then you just select the condition of your item (New, Like New/Unopened, Very Good, Good, Fair (they won't sell unsellable items). Then it gives you info on the prices that that item are going for, and you choose a price. It lists for some indefinite period (certainly longer than the usual week on eBay auctions), and if somebody buys it, you get an email complete with instructions, an address label, and the end of which serves as a shipping statement. They give you a shipping allowance (which is more than I need to ship stuff so far), you ship it and let half.com know it's shipped with a click. I ship CDs in CD mailers, which is just a matter of folding them around the CD, taping it shut, and labeling it. Every 15 days we get paid. Books are harder, but Doni's taking care of shipping them.

Much easier than eBay, which typically takes me around an hour to set up an auction. The downside is that it's hard or impossible to sell items that aren't in half.com's database, but about 80% of the old stuff I'm getting rid of has been in there so far. We're making an area in storage for the rest, which will go on eBay when I get around to it.

I'm also going to sell the nice 50's vintage drill press that I got for helping Michael with his auction, and I think I'll try putting it up on Craig's List, because that's more local, and there's no way I'm going to ship it anywhere. Thanks for the nice drill press Michael, but I don't think I will be able to afford to take such items to our new digs, wherever they may be.

The one other way to get rid of stuff is with "freecycle", which, like Craig's List is simple and local. It's a list for giving stuff away for free, so I'm sure there are people who really monitor it. The weird thing, though, is that within minutes of posting a metal vise to give away, requests for it came in, and they then came in at the rate of several per hour until I pulled the ad. It's free, and good for stuff that might go to Goodwill but Goodwill is persnickety about some things (like maybe an 80 pound steel vise). I might use it again, but I might not. Lots of interaction just to give stuff away.

I'm off to get another pile of books for half.com. Until next time, stay the course!

Thursday

Completed basic appraisal coursework; need to find someone to proctor.
(Still have "15 hour" course in federal appraisal standards to do,
starts Jul 3.)
Increased Lindsay's car insurance deductible to $1000; worth it if
she doesn't get in more than one her-fault accident a year.
Moved some other things around in our insurance, saving over a
hundred a month.
Need to get Grand Am (the car we won) ready to sell.
This week I've been listening to NPR podcasts between about 5 and 8
AM while snoozing; works kinda nice.
Moved 2 more truckloads of stuff into semitrailer; still a few loads
to go before we can ditch the rented container.
Getting the hang of the QS6.1 keyboard programming; I basically get
voices and mixes, but effects editing is complex.
Listening to The Roches and "Air" by The Owls; I likey.
Fixed the battery portion of Kyle's keyboard, looks like his wall
adaptor is hosered.
Lots of stuff for ebay and half.com.
Do you enjoy reading these daily trivial activites blogs? I'm curious.
I don't think I can do it everyday; maybe a couple of times a week.

Tuesday

slept until six (late for me); still tired.
Packaged Curioso order, half.com sold items, uke case for shipping.
Listening to NPR podcasts; me likey.
Studying Alesis QS programming for TV's Kyle songs; it's harder since
my vision ain't so good..

Monday

Not enough sleep
groceries
keyboard repeir discussion
good practice; lots still to do on my own
got theory book in traffic
Going to work on programming Alesis keyboard for each song;
It would be good to only carry the one.
Stan says possible prowler on hill around 7PM.

Day's Summaries

I'm going to experiment in summarizing my days by mail-posting a semi-
poetic message to the blog. I probably won't do this every day, but
let's see what happens, anyway.

ceremony, bilocation and the further decline of civilization

The people behind us in the stands at Rory's commencement at Ramona. The guy in blue had been obnoxiously messing with his cellphone and was pointing its camera at us, but turned to avoid being photographed when I turned around with my camera. They all got upset at that point. The woman above him and the guy next to her with the camera were also involved, and just put on those serious-attention-elsewhere poses when I got ready to take the shot.

I haven't the time or energy to write a proper post right now, but I wanted to save a spot here for an upcoming rant on the rudest audience crowd I've ever been in. It was at Ramona's commencement last week, which Doni, Paige and I attended to watch her boyfriend Rory graduate. Stay tuned and you'll hear a tale of punk kids, dishonor, and bilocation. More when I get a chance to decompress.

A Jaunt Down Memory Lane

We've been moving our stored stuff here from a rented shipping container into an old semi-trailer (not roadworthy, but good for storage, bigger, and free). As we move stuff, we're consolidating things and getting rid of stuff we no longer want. I went through a box of junk that used to be on surfaces in my HP cubicle, and thought I'd share a few items with you. First up, my old name tag from HP. I had a lot of nametags in my over 2 decades there, but this one was from around 1990, one of the best times there. See the little vineyards and stuff? Nicer than the plain nametags before that.

In 1998, my part of HP got split off and became "Agilent." In 2000, they gave us 100 stock options apiece. My valueless option brick now resides in our outdoor water fountain. It swims with the fishes. "Dreams made real" indeed...

This is my Santa Rosa Junior College student ID from around 1994. This was the last time I wore my hair that long. When I DID go and get a trim, they gave me a mullet without asking me!

Around 1999, I discovered that you could buy old Hammond organs for almost nothing, and really got into fiddling with them for a while. Here's the ID plate from one that I picked up for free. It had been left out in a field or something. It was unrecoverable, so I parted it out. A mix between thirties telephone, clock, and electronics technologies, Hammonds are really fun to tinker with (if you're a nerdy musician type like me, anyway)!
You can look at my favorite of the Hammonds that I've owned by clicking on the "my Hammond M3" link on the right side of the page. I played that organ with three bands, and still have it.

Enough reminiscing for now...

TV's Kyle and The Treehuggers get Fan Art!

Deviantart is a site that allows artists to post art and discuss it with other artists. A rich community, and my family have all benefitted from participating in it.

As you may recall, Kyle, Lindsay, Donita and I performed at the Claremont Folk Music Center's monthly Open Mike Night a few months ago. I put a video of it in this post. Kyle put that same video on YouTube, and a DeviantArt member saw it there, and recently drew some "fanart" (shown above; click the picture for a larger version). Here's what he wrote about it:

"For those of you who may not know who Kyle is, he is an amazing cartoonist and also a musician when he's not busy drawing. A long while ago, through the magic of YouTube, I saw his band preform on an open mike night, and Boy! Do they sound great?
...
Then I had this idea of creating a poster of them as it would be should they ever decide to do a Live Tour! The first two are clearly and but the other two I couldn't make out properly. So I *hope* I got them half right!"

Well, he got them half right. What a kick! I thought you might enjoy seeing it...