ATTN: Internet Explorer Users: Switch to FireFox

This site works best in Firefox. There appear to be few bugs with the stylesheets and layout in IE. I'm working to resolve these issues. If you are in IE and you are looking for the right hand menu, scroll to the bottom. That's where it is.  Sometimes browsers are Stoopid. I recommend using Mozilla FireFox. It's smart. Apparently IE doesn't want to play nice and is currently riding the short bus to this site. That's okay, I'll fix IE's little red wagon tomorrow. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Don’t Be Defined by Your Bumper Sticker(s)

I'm glad I'm not defined by my bumper stickers. I have none. On my way into work I passed a car with at least 1, 2, 3, okay 15 bumper stickers. Traffic wasn't too bad today so I was only able to read maybe two of them. Here are the ones I read: "My Goddess Gave Birth to Your God" and "I found Jesus. He was behind the sofa the whole time." Oh, and the license tag was IAMXENA. Okay I surmised two, nay, three things. Xena Warrior Commuter is more than likely an angry agnostic/atheist femo-nazi and the only reason she wasn't wearing her Live Action Role Playing costume was because she was going to work, it was being dry cleaned or it was being re-forged by Vulcan (Hephaestus for you Greeks). Oh, and maybe she's Greek or Roman. She apparently has a goddess.

What makes people put more than one or two bumper stickers on their cars any way? Is it to cover up the bondo or their insecurities. It's like they are saying "I've got something to say and since I can't articulate it myself, I'll let me car speak for me. Car, tell people how I feel about the world I live in."

Granted, all this may be a hasty generalization. My gut tells me probably not. If you don't want complete strangers finding out who you might be or profess to be, leave the stickers off your cars and SUVs. People are more apt to make a judgement call on your character by what you stick on your ride.

By the way... the most clever vanity play I ever saw was on a Corvette drive by a hot chick that read "WAS HIS".

The French Get Something Right?

I never thought I would utter these words but I actually agree with the French on this. The land of wine and stinky cheese won't be surrendering to the iTunes blitzkrieg any time soon. Accorinding to an article by John C. Dvorak over at Fox News, the French think that the proprietary structure of the iPod and iTunes is a load crap. I, for one, happen to agree. Don't make it difficult for me to buy music and enjoy it on my Zen Touch. Take my 18 hours of battery life and kiss my non iPod havin' hind quarters. I didn't get an iPod based on the fact that the battery life is less than grand. That and the fact that I had already ripped almost all my CDs to 192kbps wma files. C'est la vie.

Yes, Virginia, you can get a degree in electronic music.

I'm currently working on a CD for release shortly. This disc is to be titled "War Machine" It is a compilation of the "experimental" or "avant-garde" music I did while I was in school at the University of Tennessee. Yes, Virginia, you can get a degree in electronic music. Well, it's actually a degree in instrumental composition with an emphasis in electronic media. You can hear the title track (plus see a video) and one other called "Electric Dream" at my artist web site (idtheory.com). I'll warn you ahead of time... It is very experimental. The best category to put it in would be Ambient.

The point of the degree was to design one's own sounds then sequence them together for the final work. Fortunately I got into this just as software sequencing was beginning to come of age and direct to disc recording was in its infancy. Had I started a few semesters earlier, I would have spent hours and hours sequencing the "old school" way by splicing tape. I'm glad I avoided that arrow. It was hard enough working digitally.

I'm getting back into music in a big way now. I hope to be doing it full time. I will say that I'm not quitting my day job just yet.

Calculating Combat or Something Like That

I’ve decided I’m getting into the game software biz. Well, not really a “biz” per se, but more along the lines of gaming aids. I’m mainly doing it as an exercise in programming. Professionally I work as a Flash Programmer and I’m learning C# as well. I’m thinking up these little gaming aids that I can use while playing some of my war games. I believe that once I get them written in C# or ActionScript, it shouldn’t be too hard to port to other languages as well. I see people using laptops with gaming aids on them but I’ve never really seen anybody using a Palm device. Ultimately, I’d like to have a collection of “combat calculators” or “range finders” for various games I own. It will be a nice way to keep my programming chops up. I'll be sure to post anything useful here.

When Good Game Stores Go Good

I don't know what it is, but part of the appeal of going into a game store is going somewhere that's kind of a not a bad place to be but not a real nice one either.

My local game store (I say local when it was a good 40 minute drive with no traffic) moved from the location where I first discovered it. It used to be in this run down strip mall next to a Piggly Wiggly or Save Rite or some other kind of discount grocery store. It actually didn’t look like the safest place to be after dark either. You would walk in and it was kind of dingy. The carpet was dirty. The walls still had tape on them where various posters and announcements had previously occupied space. You could hear the cacophony of various games going on in the gaming area. A Magic game here, Role Playing there and always some kind of Warhammer something or other going on. Basically it was a place where a good deal many people would not feel that comfortable unless you were "in the know" or part of the culture.

Almost as Satisfying as a Smite Button

Well, I think I’ve figured out how to lessen traffic during the morning or evening commute.

I live in the metro Atlanta area. As many of you may know, traffic here is probably 3^rd or 4^th worst in the nation. A good many of the problems are at the fault of various things being spilt, dropped, sprayed, leaked, oozed or otherwise strewn about the interstate system.