Beth Carty

I had a sister named Beth. She had big bright eyes and a wide honest smile that put people at ease. She was smart and funny, talented and creative. She took more pictures than you can imagine, made collages, scrapbooks, and so many other crafty little things. She played music. She worked with children and loved animals. She was always ready to lend a hand to anyone who might need it. She left us this past weekend and I’ll miss her wry comments, boisterous laughter, and helping hands. I won’t by any stretch of the imagination be the only one that misses her, or the light she brought with her.

The end is nigh

I've gotten the AARP mail before and never felt like I was old, but I now know I am. I just received my first piece of mail addressing me as and I quote "Dear Senior Citizen". I feel sad, and old. Now get off my lawn you damn kids!!

When did it happen?

Holy *#%$! When did Morrissey get old? I saw him about an album ago and he seemed fine then. I just saw a video of him preforming "Something is Squeezing My Skull" and I realized for the first time, the Wizard of Mozz grew up and got old. In my head he's always been eternally young, never aging from those 80's videos with The Smiths. This leads me to one conclusion, I might be growing older as well...nope look the same in my mind as I did before.

Idiots and their money...

...are soon parted in some of the stupidest places. Why do people feel the need to throw coins anywhere they see water, and sometimes even where they don't. I've seen it in fountains, at the ferry dock in Disney World on the pilings of all places, in streams in the mountains, I mean really what do they get from it? I just was watching a show on the National Geographic channel about the Grand Canyon and they were talking about a condor that choked to death on a coin thrown from an overlook by tourists. From what I saw you can't even SEE WATER!! Why? What pushes people to throw coins? Where do they believe the coins go? Charity? I doubt it, probably goes into someone's pocket. I gotta find a way to put a pond, a fountain, some kind of water feature in public. I seriously doubt I'd ever have to work again.

From the iPod

This is the first post from my iPod, and quite possibly my last. What a pain to type on something this small. Well had to try it at least once I guess.

Didn't last long did it?

I'll have to find other uses for the blog, as the industry just doesn't have that many events any longer. No small tours, no "get togethers" everything is just announced on the web, very little human interaction. Got a question? Write support. You can check on a forum, and maybe you'll get the answer, or maybe you'll just get a troll trying to stir up trouble. I know tours, shows and the like cost money no one seems to have any more, and attendance always seems light, but there has to be some type of middle ground right? In some fantasy world maybe but its all or nothing in the real world.

Aldo Nova pick me up on your way out.

Back to the beginning

I started this blog to be able to update people about what I was doing, especially when I was out of town at tradeshows. In an attempt to get things back on track all the way around I thought I'd start doing the updates from industry events again at the very least, and so I present Mix Nashville, or wish I could. So many are missing from this years event it makes me wonder about the very industry itself. No Apple, NO Digidesign, no Logic, no Microsoft. I know this doesn't spell the end of the business but come on, Digi has had a rep in Nashville forever and they couldn't even muster a table or at least some brochures? Some of the panels seem interesting, and Cakewalk is here, so is Roland (they own Cakewalk) so not a total loss but things seem very different this year. I can't put my finger on what it is but I'm keeping a weather eye on the horizon for next minute or two for certain.

What - what maker???

Tilt Shift Maker! What fun, check out the website it's a blast. I've been playing with this website for a couple of weeks now and it's so addictive. If you'd like an in depth description of the origin of the effect here's the wikipedia entry for tiltshift . There's even a flickr group , so enjoy!

Been a while

Well the last post was when we elected our next President, and soon he'll be sworn into office. Maybe this is a new day for all of us, in our own way. I know I need a new start. in every way. Well the light of the dawn always seems to bring new hope.

History

For a while now I've been looking for something to blog about, and I guess this would have to qualify as something to write about. I've seen "history" made in my lifetime, not all of it good, in fact most bad, or at best just sad.

July 20, 1969 man lands on the moon, I didn't really see it I don't think, but I was alive. This was good. August 9, 1974 Nixon resigns. April 30, 1975 last choppers out of Saigon, the end of the Vietnam War. 4 November 1979 Iran takes US Embassy, hostage crisis begins. 8 December 1980 John Lennon shot. March 30, 1981 an assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan. November 9, 1989 the Berlin Wall fell, and on December 25, 1991 the Soviet Union dissolved.On December 19, 1998 Bill Clinton was impeached and acquitted narrowly of the charges on February 12, 1999. September 11, 2001 is hard to think about even today. I could go on with the Iraq War, the War in Afghanistan, but I think enough time has been spent dwelling on the past.

Tonight, at 11:30 John McCain gave his concession speech, and another moment in history, one I can say I'm proud to have seen, occurred, an African American, a black man if you want, was elected President of the United States of American. September 22, 1862 the Abolition of Slavery, the Emancipation Proclamation, was issued. 146 years later Barack Obama is our President Elect.

The vacation is over!

A week in Florida and no updates thanks to a forgotten power cable for the iBook. Photos will start going up soon (1200 plus to sort through) and more text as well. Vacation I miss you already.

DCon survived sucessfully

DragonCon 2008 has come and gone. Best of the past several years, had a blast, saw panels, people watched, drank some, and laughed way to much (is that possible?).It was a wonderful little geek/nerd vacation and I'm actually looking forward to doing it again next year. I might try to go into more detail later but right now I need a little sleep. Check out the pictures and look around Flickr for even more.

Just a good day.

I was feeling good about the day and thought what a novel thing to blog about, no insightful thoughts, no gripes or grievances, no epiphanies, just simply a satisfying day. Have you had one of those days lately? Nothing too hard nothing too easy, just right. Learned a couple of things (and probably forgot a couple) made a couple steps forward without falling back any, I guess this is what Goldilocks found...does that mean there a couple pissed off bears waiting for me around the next corner? Oh well it might just be worth it, if I see Goldy I'll make sure and ask.

Social?

I was just thinking, I belong to a fair number of "social" networking sites, and they all seem to involve me sitting alone in my house typing on a keyboard. Doesn't seem very social does it?

New Day Rising

It is my favorite Hüsker Dü album, but it's also what's happening, that's all I'll say for right now.

Independent soon!

The 4th is upon us again folks, cookouts, a long weekend, fireworks, and all the trimmings. I can't wait! Had dinner and drinks this evening with friends in celebration of a birthday, I'll keep the names and ages out to protect the innocent. Camping again soon, and this time a little more rustic, I can barely contain the joy!

Why don't yards mow themselves?

I really wish they did, I tell you that for nothing. I have more important things to waste my time and money with, like, well, I'm sure I can come up with lots of things I could be doing, later. I mean like ridicules posts on my blog, daydreaming about better jobs and places to live. Any number of possibilities jump to mind. I just saw my house on Google Street View, I think my yard was mowed then. The sun was just coming up, my old car was in the drive way, rest it's soul, and my house didn't look too terribly bad. A little bland but not bad.

Fireflies

Saturday evening (after Big C's 8th birthday party!) I went with friends to Elkmont in the Great Smokey Mountain National Park to watch the synchronous fireflies, a phenom I am to understand only happens in a couple of places in the world. They blink together in groups, not all in sync but large groups in sync, it looks like living Christmas tree lights. Got some interesting photos off the Little River while waiting for the sun to go down. I thought I might get some shots of the fireflies but it just didn't pan out. All in all wonderful and magical, the only thing I didn't like was standing in line for the trolley back, and even that wasn't a real chore. We stopped in Gatlinburg on the way back and took a couple of pictures around Gatlinburg, my favorite is the one with this post.

Post Meatfest

I don't know if I like the way that sounds...Meatfest, but I don't know if there's a better title for a festival celebrating the charring and eating of meat. It happens every Memorial Day weekend and it is wonderful. This year was made even more so when the roster was bolstered with new friends, Missy, Bob, Barry, Jenni and Kaylea. All wonderfully wicked senses of humor and fantastic stories. I just realized this is the "brightest" post in quite a while, I'm sure that'll be over soon. Work began on Tuesday and now by Wednesday it feels like Thursday. I know you're asking yourself "What the hell does Thursday feel like?" Closer to the weekend that's what! The week's been good this far so I'm outta here before I jinx it.

An afternoon drive

I started out today for a short drive to clear my head, I ended up in the Twilight Zone. I started in Sweetwater (don't ask why) and decided to drive by the Lost Sea and head back to Knoxville via Hwy.411. When I got to Madisonville the road to the Cherohala looked empty and I thought what the hell let's try it. It's usually a hell of motorcycle riders. I never thought about how long it would take to drive. By the time I got to Robinsville NC it was dark and I had to drive "The Dragon" in the dark. With only my headlights the entire curvy hell looked the same, and after a while I began to think I was driving the same two curves over and over and over again. The next mistake I made was thinking that the Foothills Parkway would be shorter than Hwy 129, DUH! Long dark and empty, both the Dragon and the Parkway. Pictures are up on the Flickr and maybe when I've some sleep I'll write some more.