I'm out of here

The move is as complete as I can get it. All the posts are moved and I'll move the comments as soon as Wordpress get their import scripts updated.

My new blog is at blog.bagobonez.com. I hope I'll see you all over there.

Moving Blog Home

Well I moved house a few weeks ago and now it's time to move blog homes. Blogger has been a great spot for me to get my start but I couldn't do some of the things that I wanted to.

I'm in the process of setting up a Wordpress powered blog on a new webhost and I will let you know when it is up and running.

Comment Problems should be fixed

Venomous Kate from over at Electric Venom was kind enough to drop me an email and let me know that my comment links were having issues and that it took some digging to be able to post comments from some browsers.

The only place I could figure that the problems were coming from was the peekaboo comment code that I was using. I've removed that code now so that by clicking on the "X Comments" link it should now take you directly to the post comment page.

Chalk it up to being over eager and trying to add gadgets (the curse of being a techno geek). At some point I might switch over to Haloscan comments as they seem to be a little more robust and useful than the blogger stuff. For now the standard comments will suffice.

She also pointed out that the page doesn't validate correctly. After checking through a large portion of the 1200 or so errors, it would seem that they come almost exclusively from the following

• Blogger's own code in the templates
  
• External html being returned from a few of the hacks that I use
• a few errors coming from Live Writer

Unfortunately that means that most of them are errors that I can't do anything about for now. Unless I move over to a different blog host that allows me more control over the template then I guess the errors are here to stay.

Technorati tags: blogger, comments, hack, Live Writer

Gahh!!!

God has a wicked sense of humour! Here I sit, a blogger who for the past few weeks has been unable to stop opining over the latest woman in his life, when out of the blue I get a phone call from another unrequited love.

I toured a theatre show last year called "The Breath of Life". The stage manager on that show is an amazing person. I fell for her hard but couldn't do anything about it. I would have, believe me. For this girl I would have overcome every little insecurity in my body and moved heaven and earth. Why didn't I? I know that's the question that is bouncing around in your heads as you read this. She had a boyfriend. And not just any boyfriend. He is in the Australian Air Force and at the time that we were on tour he was serving in Iraq.

I am not condoning breaking up a relationship for your own ends. That is just wrong. But, how could I compete with someone who was putting his life on the line each and every day?

So, after three months I finished the tour. She went back to Melbourne and I went out on the road with another show. We still talked on the phone regularly but the boyfriend was still in the picture. Over time I stopped calling. It messed up my head to talk with her for an hour and then spend the next week wishing she was here or I was there.

Then, on Saturday night, while my phone was turned off during a show, she rang and left a message. She said that she had been thinking about me a lot lately and would love to catch up.

I called her tonight. We talked for nearly an hour, catching up on everything that has happened over the last six to eight months. She has been working on an opera in Sydney for the last 3 months. That means she is only 1600km away right now. In 10 days she goes back to Melbourne.

There was a warm day in Sydney the other day and she went to Manly where we had stayed on tour while doing the Sydney run of the show. While she was walking around Manly she saw the pub that we went to for dinner, and walked past the hotel that our cast and company stayed at. And she cried. She missed me.

And now, I miss her!

I don't think she has the boyfriend anymore either.

God has a wicked sense of humour.

Technorati tags: life, love

A visit from Girl A

If you don't know who Girl A is check these two posts - A Surreal Evening and Isn't it supposed to get easier. (I call her Girl A because I don't know which of my friends might be reading this blog, and the last thing I want to do is embarrass people, and most importantly, her, by putting real names in my posts)

She is studying web design at the moment, but, her computer has been broken for nearly a month and a half. Understandably that makes it rather difficult for her to finish the assignments required for the course.

So, I volunteered to fix her computer so that she can get her assignments done. I've been playing with computers for years and so solving minor issues such as hers are fairly easy for me.

But, underneath my gentlemanly concern for her studies, there is an ulterior motive. You see, on Friday night at the party (A Surreal Evening) she mentioned that she was going to the guy's house that she has been seeing for the last few months to use his computer for her assignments.

I haven't sucked up the courage to ask her about this guy, and whether I might be replacing this guy in the foreseeable future. I will, in fact if I keep drinking this bottle of wine that I bought for us to share over dinner when she dropped off the computer, I might do it when she comes to pick it up after class. But, deep down, I secretly hope that by fixing her computer I can remove one reason to see my competition.

I am extremely jealous by nature. I can't help it. An ex-wife that slept around on me, followed by a string of girlfriends who followed suit, has left me with a nagging doubt about all my relationships. I cannot help but hate any person that is involved with someone I am interested in. It has nothing to do with them. They are probably great people. I just don't like them.

I know it sounds petty and insecure. I am completely aware of how childish my ideas are. I just don't care. I really like this girl. She complements me in more ways than I can count. I feel happy around her, empty in that one place in my heart that the rest of my life can't fill when she isn't near me. She is good with money, I'm not, and that's something I need somebody to push me with. She is driven to succeed in her career, and I detest people without aspirations. She wants to enjoy her life by seeing the world and experiencing new things, the reason I don't is that I want someone to share those experiences with.

I can't guarantee that I will ask her the question that is burning my brain tonight. I will probably wuss out and say goodnight like any nice guy would. Then, I will stand and watch her drive away, kicking myself for not asking, and then spend the next month wishing that I had said what I should.

Wish me luck.

By the way, we did at least have dinner tonight. Forty-five minutes of conversation and happiness on my part. Dinner was a Cajun Chicken Salad. It's the closest thing to healthy food that I know how to cook, and takes only twenty minutes to make. The perfect "I wish it was a date" meal if ever I found one.

Update: I wussed out. But we all knew that was going to happen, didn't we?

Technorati tags: life, love, relationship

Herman's Hermits and the Digico D1

I had 60's legends, Herman's Hermits, at the theatre last night. It was the first time that I was able to use the Digico D1 with a live band. The show we just finished was a musical which let me test the snapshot stuff but it wasn't really a good test of the full capabilities of the desk.

The Hermits are a 4 piece with drums, bass, guitar and keyboards. 4 sends of foldback were run from front of house.

The input list was as follows:

1. Kick - Beyer M88
2. Snare - Neumann KM84
3. Hats - AKG C451
4. Rack 1 - Shure Beta 57
5. Rack 2 - Shure Beta 57
6. Rack 3 - Shure Beta 57
7. Overhead Left - AKG C451
8. Overhead Right - AKG C451
9. Bass - DI
10. Keys Left - DI
11. Keys Right - DI
12. Guitar - Shure Beta 57
13. Vox Guitar - SM58
14. Vox Bass - SM58
15. Vox Keys - SM58
16. Vox Drums SM58

The true beauty of the D1 is the compressors and gates on every channel. No more deliberating which channel deserved compression or gating more than another. If it needs it, it gets it.

Soundcheck was really quick, I found that I could dial up eq settings almost as fast as any analogue console. Foldback was just as quick and having graphics built in to the desk made it very easy to tweak settings as we went through and tame any frequencies that got out of hand.

During the show it was very easy to get a clean and clear mix on this console. It sounds far cleaner and more transparent than any of the Allen & Heath consoles we normally had to hire in for these types of shows. The EQ section allows very fine adjustments to be made which allows a subtractive EQ style to be utilised to its full potential. Any small frequencies that needed to be cut could be cut very selectively with the ability to use Q settings as high as 20.

The compressors and gates are amazing on this console. Unlike many digital compressors, the compressors in the D1 are extremely useable. Heavy compression doesn't produce the artifacts that smaller digital consoles such as the 01v96 suffer from.

In all, it was one of the best mixes I have ever done in my venue. I'm sure that over time it will improve out of sight.

 

Technorati tags: audio, digico, work, shows

A surreal evening

I went to a friend's party on Friday night after I finished work. It's been three weeks since I moved to Ipswich and I haven't seen any of my friends in that time, so, I was due for some catching up and socialising.

These parties are normally quite riotous and fun. But this one wasn't. Sure the party was toned down a lot from what we normally have, but the people were still there that I wanted to see. The main problem was the two sisters that were there.

You see, one of the sisters, (lets call her Girl A for the sake of privacy),is the woman I am slowly but surely falling for. She lives at the house where the party was being held. I was really looking forward to seeing her because we have both been extremely busy lately and haven't had time to catch up at all.

The other sister, (Girl B), is what I can only describe as my first real love. Unrequited as that love may have been, it was still the very first time that I can remember being head over heels, follow her anywhere, do anything for her in love with this girl.

Nothing ever happened between the two of us. I spent years trying my damnedest to win her over but it never worked.

A few weeks ago I was talking to Girl A at a party and she mentioned that she had a crush on me ever since I first met both of them 12 years ago. We talked for an hour or so about things and she told me that the reason she had never done anything to act on the crush was because of how I felt about Girl B. She was worried that I would put her sister first before her, and that she would always be second best in my eyes. A fear that I told her was unfounded, now. Two years ago, or even twelve months ago it might have been different. But, in the last 12 months I had seen her grow into an amazing woman, who could stand on her own two feet.

She challenges me every time I am around her. I feel more confident, and at the same time, more vulnerable when I am with her. I feel happier in her company than I have felt in any other relationship in my life, ever.

As I sat in the lounge room talking to the two of them until the early hours of Saturday morning I realised something.  For the first time in twelve years I didn't feel my heart twist up into knots when I saw my first love.  Instead I looked at the two of them, listened to them talking and found that I was seeing all the faults that I had ignored in the last twelve years in one of them, and found all the things I am looking for in the other.

The whole night definitely ranked up there as one of the strangest nights of my life. I had to constantly double check myself in case I was showing too much attention to Girl B. Every time I started to get into a good conversation with Girl A her sister would butt in looking for the attention I used to give to her.

Very strange indeed.

Technorati tags: life, love, relationship

Comment Problems

I only just found today that comments aren't appearing on individual post pages. They show up fine with the peekaboo comment script on the main page though.

Going to have to look into that on Monday.

Windows Live Writer continued again

I thought that I had found a way to use Live Writer to add Blogger Beta Labels to my posts. Unfortunately I was only half right. I was able to make labels search links in the posts, but the labels for each post itself are not transferred to Blogger.

The only workaround I have at the moment is to insert Technorati tags and then manually copy those tag labels to Blogger by editing the post. It's a pain but hopefully they will include this functionality in the future.

Technorati tags: windows live writer, blog, hack, labels, blogger beta

Sound Guy Geekism / To be manly or sensitive

This video is the ultimate in sound guy geek fun. You see, I'm a sound guy, and anything to do with audio that combines the following,

1. Great music
2. Principles of Audio demonstrated in an interesting manner
3. and most importantly FIRE

is right up my alley. The video is of a Ruben's Tube which demonstrates standing waves. I want one of these on my wall at home, or even better, sitting on the meter bridge of my console at work. It might annoy the theatre goers a little, and Workplace Health and Safety may have their issues with it, but I think it would make for the ultimate "Pimp my Sound Console" accessory.

 

Manly, or Sensitive

Neil at Citizen of the Month wrote a blog called Strong, Silent Type. He said that he was feeling worried about how he wrote and acted and if it was sufficiently manly and not too sensitive.

I ask myself this question every day. In my head of course, never out loud to actual people (not that anyone reading this isn't an actual person. The Internet anonymity means I can say what I like here).

I've never known exactly how manly or sensitive was expected in general society. I tend to follow the crowd and play along at whatever level is required. With "The Boys" I am rude, crude, often quite sexist, and generally a "Man", whatever that means. Around women I try to be sensitive. They are the easy going, emotionally secure, and open minded people in my life, who can handle me baring my soul and not judge or laugh at me.

But where is the line drawn in relationships with the opposite sex. I hear multitudes of varied opinions on what women want in a partner. The abridged list is something like this (in no particular order)

• Strength
• Sense of humour
• Easygoing
• Sensitivity
• a Good body
• a Good job
• etc

I could keep typing for days (to be honest I'm probably too tired to think of any more so I'll let the reader fill in the list).

The line seems to move every day. One day she wants strong and macho, the next it's funny, and then sensitive. All without the benefits of an expert commentator to inform us what the "Play of the Day" is meant to be. 

I like to think that I can read people quite quickly. Give me 10 minutes of conversation with someone and I can generally pick what type of person they are behind the facade that they present to the world. I just can't do that with women I care about, and as a result I never know what's coming next.

I've been blindsided during a joke and told I'm not sensitive enough and am always making light of important things. I play the strong, silent type and I'm not involving myself in conversations of any emotional significance.  I try and connect on an emotional level and get brushed off.

I'm just wandering along unsure of what to do next, how to act, what to say, and there is a standard that says I am the man and don't deserve to be told.

Men - Ever been told "If you don't know, I'm not telling you" ?

Women - Ever said that?

That's me every single day. I wander around asking "What?, How?, Why?, When? Where?" and I get nothing back because she "isn't telling me".  I can only guess most of the time, and I guess badly more often than I get it right.

So, from now on I expect new standards. If you don't tell me, I won't care if I know it. I can't waste time trying every play in the book only to be told I'm playing the wrong game. I'm just tired of it.

 

Labels: life, audio, geek, relationships

Technorati tags: life, audio, geek, relationships