nostatic at all...

Supposedly final game test before shipping aka "release candidate 1." A few bugs still lingering but at some point you just have to ship it. Or fix it. Fix it fix it fix it fix it fix it fix it fix it fix it fix it fix it fix it fix it fix it fix it.

Finally all of the final cuts full rez, magically converted to mpg2 for the binloop players. Of course this is all done blind and we don't know if everything works until they're loaded on Saturday. Gotta have faith...

Travel tomorrow, and in advance the usual packing along with making sure that all my digital assets are in order. And the usual question - which cameras, and how few clothes can I get by with (or without). Snow is in the forecast. I guess I can't just take a few t-shirts and call it good...

Stranded by snow...in Houston! Landed early and sat on the tarmack while snowflakes fell. Upon turning the cell phone back on there was a voicemail from Southwest - "your flight to New Orleans is cancelled." So there you have it. A long wait in line at the airport but things worked out in the end. A cheap stay in the Hilton overnight and a morning flight out. That delays work by a day, but hopefully we won't need it. Time will tell...

A clear and cold morning in Houston. Quick breakfast then shuttle to Hobby, then short flight to MSY (aka "the Big Easy"). I actually got on standby for the 0915 flight but it was full and I would have to check my carry-on stuff. Was halfway down the ramp and turned around to try and get my A02 boarding status for the 1025 flight. As the previous day, Southwest was awesome, and I took advantage of the free wi-fi while waiting for the later flight. Then shuttle to the rental car, and a 2 hour drive north direct to Camp Shelby, MS. Rolled in about 1400 and immediately got to work transferring video files to their respective CF cards and checking our programming. A few minor issues, but surprisingly smooth. This bothers me - a project of this size/scope just shouldn't deploy without problems. Sunday will be final tuneup and checks. Fingers crossed. Everyone asked me when call time was. I said, "1000" and everyone was a little surprised, but I hate early calls, especially on a Sunday. I'd rather work late than start early.

Not the email you want to wake up to the morning before you go live:

"This morning during start up the exit test computer i believe has had another hard drive failure. on power up of computer when it starts into system load the HP start screen appears then it went black and the following text appeared. ERR3ERR4. I attempted to reboot system and it is now asking for a bootable disk in media drive. Any ideas on this?"

That led to troubleshooting, determining a bad hard drive, buying a new hard drive, discovering that our imaging software doesn't work with Vista, buying new imaging software, imaging a good machine, swapping drives, restoring the new machine, then configuring. Oh, and while we were at it we swapped machines in the container as a contingency as the one that died was mission-critical and the other was expendable. And of course the mounts are different (one-offs) so everything had to be swapped over. By the time the new machine was fixed we found it didn't fit in the other computer's mount unless we sawed off part of the housing. And finally, we figured that since both were now working we should switch them back as they fit in their housings better. That was around 2000. Will have to wait for the morning, right before we go live. Sigh.

Mad scramble with power tools in the AM, but doors open in a freezing rain to a group of E6/E7 trainers. No bugs, all hits, no errors. Some fixes and tweaks though (there always are), but it works and works well. Now to turn around and head home to finish the tweaks and get some other projects spun up. Never a dull moment...

0600 alarm, quick shower and head south in driving rain from Hattiesburg, MS to New Orleans. Listening to the classic rock station around 0700 when the song is interrupted by the harsh emergency service warning tones, then the deadpan voice issues a tornado warning for Harrison county. Not being from these here parts, I look that up on my iPhone while driving down I59. Oh, it is the next county over from where I am. Isn't that special!

Thankfully I didn't see my first tornado, but it rained buckets. Only stopping for Waffle House in Slidell, arrived at MSY in plenty of time now biding time waiting to board a flight to Vegas then transfer planes to LAX. If all goes well should be back in LA a little after 1500. Have to fly through some nasty weather en route though. Thankfully st banged the bong on my behalf. Xie xie.

I've always wanted to rap, but I'm just not very good at it. I can sing no problem...I suppose part of it is not being immersed in the genre so my passing knowledge of rap isn't enough to get over the hump. But in the grand tradition that is nostatic, if I can't do something, I of course volunteer to do a project that requires something that I can't do so I have to...do it.

In this case, a short rap for an Army video. Humor is the goal, so I have that advantage. Sounding like a white boy trying to rap actually will help with selling the bit. So tonight after writing and rewriting for a few days, I finally sat down with Logic to record (somewhat dreading it). Lo and behold, first take nailed it. A few quick punch-ins to fix something (rapping "laser guided missiles" at warp speed isn't easy), some pitch shift to make me sound like a tenor and a little requisite auto-tune effect and its done. Now to wait for the reviews...

Well, the boss and the bosses boss listened to the rap. Huge hit. Actual physical high fives for it. Hysterical laughter from everyone who heard it (which was the point). Time to book the tour bus...

I watched the first Bourne movie last week (yeah, I'm behind), and the third tonight. Somehow I missed the second. No matter - this is about spooks and rogue agents. I'm all about that. Funny because Matt Damon isn't my favorite actor (though he has been in some movies I particularly liked like Ocean's Eleven). He works as Bourne though, because Bourne is kind of a zombie. The horrors of being typecast...

THC circa 1979

Band promo photos for Nasty Habits, Nov 1981

Well, the original is older than yesterday's photos, but the recording is from today.

Do It Again (5.1MB)

PerilousRelish does it all...except the drums. Those pesky drums.

I've seen Jon Herington now 9 times live with Steely Dan. Each time I've gained more and more appreciation for his approach, chops, and sensibilities. I finally got around to checking out his solo stuff. First I got "Pulse and Cadence", which is actually a reissue of "Complete Rhyming Dictionary" from the mid 90's. This is the album that caught Becker and Fagan's notice, leading to his 2000 and on work with the Dan. It is an interesting mix of jazz, fusion, and bits of orchestral scattered about. Tonight I bought his "Like So" album. Totally different. Pop/rock with lot's of other things mixed in. And he writes and sings all the tracks. Awesome. Smart pop that moves through the changes effortlessly. I hear a fair amount of Tom Petty in there, but in general is it obvious that he grew up listening to a lot of the same stuff I did (he was born in '54, me in '61). Go buy it on iTunes and listen deeply.

'Lie to Me'

See it now it's disappearing
That pretty little line
Gone just as your lips part
And they're about to meet with mine

The dog and pony events continue. I need to be writing. But that isn't going so well, so I might as well dog and pony. Sigh.

Petting zoo, my ass. Let's talk negative training, shall we?

Not northern either

Technically vacation started at 5:30pm today. So why am I rewriting a document at 9pm? I'd ask myself that question but I wouldn't like the answer...

Bike packed, coffeed up, pointed north.

Morning on the sand, afternoon on the hill

All good things come to an end. At least the rain held off for the ride back home. And no traffic to boot. But then the reality of errands and other nonsense..;

Yeah, it was beautiful. And played like a dream. But tone is tone, and I'm just not an ash/maple kinda guy. So back east it goes. Guess I'll just have to live with heavy sunburst alder. I can do that...

Holidays are good for moviegoing...especially when you're burned out and having knee problems. In this case, "Up In the Air," the Jason Reitman film that celebrates (maybe) the business travel lifestyle. Having spent more time this year racking up frequent flier miles than any previous one (almost all for work), I was anticipating a few "nodding knowingly" moments. While not anywhere near the transit maven Clooney's character, I have gotten it down to multiple night work jaunts with minimal baggage.

I thought the movie would be good given the reviews. I wasn't prepared for how good - no, great - the movie is. In fact, I'd have to rank it as the best I've seen this year, and maybe in my top (some small number) list. Yes, it is that good. No trite happy endings, instead realistic ambiguity and moving targets for personal growth. A stunningly good film that honors the tough topics of joblessness and loneliness while celebrating the warrior that is required for travel these days...both literal and metaphoric.

And why not...

Always dangerous when you have drinks with an old friend who "knew you when..."

Well maybe not dangerous. Just embarrassing perhaps...

Defying xmas tradition, or perhaps creating new ones. Hot pot for xmas dinner. Mmm, spicy...

A teenager. In an apartment. With a drum kit?!? Why of course...what else could I do? No pics yet, had to order it. Heh...

In the time it takes to bathe...makin' music.

Well, the sun was out and there were instruments to be checked out. Looks like one of these will be in my future...well, with 5 strings...has to get built first. Oh, and paid for. Details...

As usual, the rain starts and everyone in LA immediately dashes to their car to drive like maniacs. The past few days have been traffic-light due to the holidays. But when it rains, people are compelled to go drive in it...usually too fast and without mad skillz.

A fond farewell to 2009. A long, often arduous, deeply rewarding year. Regrets? No time for those. There is music to be played...