Jack's Diary

Hope your knee recovers pretty quickly Jack. I love the Cohen brothers, I made a note of that show...for whenever I got some tv watching in.
Glad your daughter is in for a visit and how nice that you were able to see aunts and uncles and cousins. Sounds like you have a good amount of family living in the area.
 
Thanks, Mols. It feels better this morning. It was a reminder I have to be careful with it.

Ugh, I'm up to 169. This is what usually happens during the holiday season. I have to get back on track. Seriously.

I'm not going to risk running today, but I will go weightlifting. And just try to ease off on the snacking.

I watched the Celtics last night, but they were horrible on a back-to-back. They have a rookie name Rober Williams who is *really good*, but the refuse to play him. It's super frustrating.
 
Today I need to work on getting a wire to recharge my headphones, which I somehow lost. I took them to the gym yesterday and it was nice to run without worrying about the buds falling out all the time. They're noise-cancelling Bose headphones that I paid $300 for a couple of years ago when we moved to a noisy part of the office, but I think I can use them for jogging.

I also need to buy wiper fluid and send in my PTO time-sheet to work. They are closed for Thanksgiving and the day after. Fortunately, the recruiting company I work for gives PTO worth about 2 weeks a year - way better than nothing.
 
There were absolutely no games yesterday, and I skipped the jam with Charlie (he never called), so I had a nice free day yesterday. I finally nailed down the intro solo to "Wish you were here" by Pink Floyd and I'm very proud of that. There were some notes that just eluded me, but I treated like a paid job, so I stuck it out and finally got them. I think looking at a hobby as a paid job might be a good way to improve more quickly (as in, at all) at guitar and Japanese. Actually, I watched a Japanese show on Netflix while practicing the solo, so that's kind of like the reward for figuring it out.

It's a 3-day week this week, with two days PTO for the Thanksgiving holiday. Nice.
 
I'm back down to 167, which is still too high but going in the right direction. The guy in Europe had an issue with XML, and both P and J are on vacation this week. L and I couldn't get a test system working in back, as the usual one has been plundered by another group. So I just debugged through the code and found the section where the issue must have been happening. I think it's a simple configuration issue, so I sent off an email and went home, but it was 7 pm. So, I can leave early Wednesday if I want.

I watched the Celtics, who lost - they're not doing nearly as well as expected this year. But I did work on getting the timing down on the wish you were here solo, and it doesn't seem to bad. It's much better to know how to count it, so I need to keep at it.

My daughter came home and we watched 3 more episodes of Patriots, but it was 1:30 am by the time we were finished and I just got up and 7:45. Oh, well. Oh, shoot, I just remembered my wife is having company tonight, one of her Japanese friends and her kids. Oh, well, it's a chance to practice a little Japanese. She should go home around 8, and I'll have the rest of the night.
 
Wow, those kids were a handful! Good kids, though. I played a couple of songs for them. The little boy was transfixed, the kid is not even 2 years old yet. I felt stupidly gratified at his enthusiastic clapping both times. His parents are both musicians, so it's clearly in his genes. Then we watched 3 more episodes of Patriots tonight, my daughter and I are powering through it.

On the work side, the good news is my suggested fix for the European install worked. I made sure to copy my boss on the email, why shouldn't he know?

On the other hand, the fix to the database location bug is taking longer than it should. I lost 1/2 day figuring out how to update the registry when there was working code right in the program, had I just chosen to notice instead of barging ahead. Note to self - don't go barging ahead before making sure there's code not already there that does the job. Also, on reviewing the code, I finally understood what the original guy had been trying to do. His data-naming was confusing, so I refactored them, and that's when I got it. But there was another 1/2 day. And then just dealing with the Mysql install utility - it tough to nail down. I finally figured out I had to do the uninstall via the control panel instead of using the install utility - that seemed to solve the problem. But, the cygwin delete wasn't working, so I had to switch to the dos scripting which I don't like. But then that started working when I did that. But, at the end of the day, I was still where I was at the end of last week, with the program not starting due to JDBC connection issues. Oh, yeah, and I figured out that some stuff that wasn't working was because I had the configuration file in my editor. Duh.

So progress has been slow on this one. Fortunately, there's not much pressure at this point in time. But I feel like I'm gonna have to bring some work home this weekend. Oh, well, we have a couple of extra days.
 
I certainly don't envy your task at work, there is a good reason I no longer work in IT, my coding skills are so rusty it is falling to bits lol
 
Hi Trusylver,

Yeah, and it's getting tougher with the kids being so smart. But, there are advantages. I find it to be interesting. And it remains an in-demand skill, so there's some financial security there.
 
Whew! Work is over for 4 days. My cheapo consulting company won't award PTO if your company is closed, which my lady told me I was eligible for. So, either way, I will take the 4.5 sick days, which means 4.5 days I will have off that I otherwise wouldn't. It does lessen the amount I'll earn for the year, but I'm not starving anyway.

I finally got the database location bug straightened out. It had to do with the original code copying a subdirectory of the whole directory it was supposed to copy. That was the last peel of the onion. Then there was a weird thing where it was showing gobbledy-gook in one of the fields, but I went to the original data file and it was gobbledy-gook in the file as well. Garbage-in, garbage out. I think it might be an encoding thing.

I was bushed when I got home and after I got gas and picked up some champagne and tonic for the party, I crashed hard for about 1/2 hour. But I just had a nice dinner and the Celts play at 7:30. I have decaf in the coffee-maker, I'm at a reasonable 167 and it's time to par-du!
 
Ok, Thanksgiving day. It's going to be a rough day for gaining weight.

I'm kind of sad because I don't put much time into guitar. Strange how I always make time to watch sports. Actions speak louder than words.

It's been really nice having my daughter around. She went to her high school re-union last night, and was a little sick - she wasn't drunk, but she did blame that last gin and tonic. Poor thing. She was embarrassed, but I was told her we've all been there.

I've been trying to read this book, but my eyes are so shot at night I can't really do it. In the morning, I can, but I'm not in the mood to read in the mornings. Anyway, I'm losing interest. It's hit a kind of dull part just now. It's a book called "Bel Canto" by Ann Patchet.
 
Goals for guitar:

1. Get a few songs memorized so I can play anytime.
2. Get a few songs with a few licks tossed in.
3. Transcribing - every day just transcribe a few notes from a solo.
Current solo - Wish you were here Intro
Next - Intro to Marshal Tucker "Can't you see"
Also, intro to "'Angie"
Dengue Woman by Jamie Vaughan
4. Get better at jamming
- Know the chord tones
- Blues
5. Practice the modes
6. Practice the appargios
 
jackbenimble said:
....
5) Do the most important things first.
Click to expand...

please don't think it has anything to do with your goals, but seeing "do the most important things first." as 5th on your list is cracking me up this morning for some reason.

i haven't read this entire file, but i did a search through your pages for "guitar". i've been playing off and on for over 40 years, but not with any formal education. what instruments do you have? my acoustics are from the 70's, a Gibson Heritage and a 1st gen Ovation 12-string, but a few years ago i decided to try electric and when Gibson came out with a 12 string SG (2011), i grabbed one. still haven't rung all the fun out of that yet and likely never will. i have a Marshall JMD:1... with an insane amount of settings!

i notice you mentioned at least one Pure Prairie League song. they were at our school and i got to talk with them just about when their Bustin' Out album was released. some of those tracks have always been my favorites.

encouraged to hear about your daughter playing. i thought garage bands were a thing of the past.

cheers...gary
 
Lol, yeah, I kind of threw that one out there. I've tried doing the most important thing first many times and it ain't easy. But it's a worthwhile goal, nonetheless.

As far as my guitar journey, I first started playing about 35 years ago. Despite the vast length of time, I've never gotten much beyond open-chord strummer. But I love the idea of being a real guitar player, and my most recent effort is to try to learn solos by transcribing. Right now, I'm working on the intro to "Wish you were here". I've got the notes, but I'm working on counting through it to get the timing correct, so I can play it without the aid of the recording. I actually played it for my daughter's friend yesterday, and she liked it, although maybe she was just being polite.

My guitars are a 1981 Fender Lead and a PRS SE Angeles acoustic of more recent vintage. The amp is a Vox portable cube which can run on batteries. One of the inputs isn't working, but I'm just using it for practice anyway.
 
So, the good news is I only gained 1/2 lb yesterday, despite the vast array of sweets, pies, snacks and treats available. I just told myself don't mindlessly eat. I think I had two oatmeal cookies, 3 pieces of something like fudge, two or three apple wedges dipped in mousse, a couple of slices of banana bread later on, a few salted nuts, that's all I can remember for now. Not bad for Thanksgiving!

I got up at 5 a.m. today to see my daughter to the airport. It was a nice week with her, and she'll be back for Christmas, or New Year's at least. She hasn't found work as a tech-writer yet, but I showed her a site ("dice.com") last night she never had heard of, and there were a bunch of tech-writer jobs there, so maybe that will help. I'll also send her resume to my recruiting agency, which has a national presence.

All she needs to do is get a few interviews and she'll be good. The last time she interviewed, for an intern position, she had two interviews and got two offers. She's just has a kind of pleasing way about her, and is plenty smart.
 
So, I got to the gym and did lifting, stretching and running. I'm still at 167, but I feel 100% better for having worked out, because I didn't get there yesterday.

I spent a lot of time working on "Wish you were Here" yesterday. I found a lesson and just want to get the timing an strumming patterns right. It turns out I've been playing it the wrong way for a while. I also practiced soloing to "Can't you see". I kept recording it and listening back. There was some improvement at least. I found a good lesson on improving where the guy suggested focusing on just a few notes at a time instead of moving around too much on the fretboard. That kind of opened things up. It's easier to start out small and work out than the reverse.

We got a new washing machine just now, as the old one was making noise and couldn't handle much of a load anymore. Ordered it online Friday, actually. It was the best rated top-loader according to Consumer Reports, and the whole package, delivered, connected, taxes, take away the old one, was still less than $700.

The nice thing was I paid them $30 to take away this old TV kicking around that was super-heavy and I don't know where to dispose of it. They just threw it in the truck and that was it. Nice. Plus, they looked so happy to get $30. Man, they must live on a tight budget.

Speaking of budgets, we are way over for this month. The washing machine, $700, the muffler repair, $300, the laptop (which I'm going to return) $400, and of course the budgeted expense of $2K for car insurance. Plus I'm thinking of getting a pedal for the guitar, which I have a %15 discount coupon for. Nah, I just remembered, it's for purchases fo $200 or more.
 
Jack, I pictured you playing guitar for the little Japanese kids and getting applause. It sounds like a really nice moment.
You were mentioning a pedal, which one are you looking at? I'm starting to want to get an electric...was learning The Passenger last night and it sounds pretty goofy on acoustic. :)
 
Thanks, Truslyver! I usually am just making it on weekends. I have a bit of a cold and a sore lower back which I'm going to see the Doctor about on Wednesday.

Mols - I was thinking about getting a pedal the repeats what you play, a "looper", I think. So, you can play a chord progression, and then hit the pedal and it starts looping that progression. Then you can practice soloing against it.

Yay, the weekend! I'm wondering if the treadmill contributes to my knee pain? I didn't seem to get it as much when I was jogging outdoors...
 
Thanks, Cate. I think I'll try that out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top