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Reflections from first gig

Vince Smith — 2009-08-24T07:58:58+01:00

It has been just over two weeks since the band’s first gig. So I now feel that I can puts some thoughts about the whole experience.

I was reasonably happy with my performance. There were a couple of things that I have done better and so should have done better, but there were certainly things that went better than any practice. A lesson to take away is that you might realise that something was not correct but if you play with confidence and pleasure then the audience will not notice. I have realised that merely playing is not what people want from a live band - it is the performance - the stance, movement, smiles, nodding, syncing with other band members, etc. that you put in and they not only listen but watch the band. This sounds obvious - but it’s not easy to add that aspect when you’re trying to play all the right notes at the right time in the right sequence.

My enjoyment was a little tempered as I also was playing recorded music, the sound engineer, lights and announcer. There was a lot to do. There was a lot of preparation and after the gig it was a bit of a let down. Still, I will be ready for that next time. Forewarned is forearmed.

We have another gig coming up in October where I’ll be merely band member and sound engineer. It will be more relaxed for the set up and I expect that I’ll be able to enjoy the gig better.

I do find that the performance aspects can be a little addictive - there is a buzz that comes from playing and performing with others in the band in front of other people. So thankfully we have that new gig.

Choices or Molds?

Vince Smith — 2009-07-03T13:16:20+01:00

I recently worked my way through the Jung Typology Test using the Myers-Briggs typology (see http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm ) and I came out as:

INTJ

The actually signifies Introverted iNtuitive Thinking Judging, but this needs a little explanation:

Introverted is aligned not with shyness etc. but whether the person needs others as an expression of themselves or gets energy from others. So an introverted means that they are self-activated.

An Intuitive person means that they believe the information that they themselves have received from the internal or imaginative world.

Anyway, the results did not really surprise me. But it got me to wonder whether I’ve turned out like that because of the things I’ve done in my life to date or that some of the trends are inherent. I looked back at what I assess were significant decision points and experiences in my life and felt that some of them had clearly had a life-changing impact and some were following a preferred path but some, as a I remember, were rather less significant at the time or less serious but turned out to be significant in hindsight.

I certainly think that my degree choice was significant - I still to this day over quarter of a century later have people surprised that I chose to study Theoretical Physics. I am still interested but realise that my interest is very much at a somewhat knowledgeable member of the public. But the scientific outlook still remains. Again a career as a school teacher, though at this time occupied about a quarter of my working life (this first quarter) has left me indelibly marked as having a teacher’s perspective - and this comes out even today in my desire to assist people to understand, the importance and practice of good communication, etc. My personal decision to follow Christ as an adult, and this is not meant to be a cliché, was and is still a life-changing event. This also has imbued me with new attitudes and outlooks.

There are others, but I wonder where some of the drivers to make the choices I made came from. I’m not so sure that everything is inherent - or “in your genes” as I believe that there is choice, which no doubt is another discussion. Did I make such choices because I was already pre-disposed to that route or was there a post-event change that shaped me? I’m not sure - but I’d probably say both, and that means that there may be a cascade effect that as your make choices that reinforce outlooks then the next choice is more likely to go the same direction. But sometimes I feel that we sense we’re constrained and make a leap - almost deliberately to be unexpected (or perverse).

I was intrigued to read some of the perspectives of an INTJ and several rang very true.

No More Lessons

Vince Smith — 2009-05-21T16:08:00+01:00

I have finished my guitar lessons, does this mean that I know everything?

No.

In the thoughts of something else, I’d say that I can start learning. But in fairness, the main reason I have stopped is that I am not playing the guitar. I’m playing bass, I’m practising bass. So I was not practising the guitar between lessons. So why take a lesson.

It also saves me a little money but that was not the main reason.

I do find that I’m learning more musical stuff on the bass, notes, scales, fret positions. So that should transfer across to the guitar.

The other important thing is that bassists are more on their own - there are not huge TABs for bass out there. So I have had to do more listen and learn - no bad skill to develop, as well as the underlying music constructs.

Follow-up: iPhone

Vince Smith — 2009-02-04T08:14:08+00:00

Well - I do have some more feedback on the iPhone. In regard to 3G, I was given the wrong information by O2 at the store - my SIM card was not sufficient. I had to get to new SIM card sent through by O2. I finally realised that in a place where other had 3G I did not and checking on the coverage map there was something not right.

In terms of Apps in the App Store, things have both improved in that many of the Apps are of higher quality but the sheer number of apps makes it difficult to find something suitable. I confess to having a number of apps that are no longer on the iPhone - I have tried a number of RSS readers and I have returned to Google Reader (ie via Safari) as I want to maintain that read count etc. across the various machines I use. The few I tried were either a) only the first import of feeds - Mainfest b) used Newsgator (NetNewsWire) which didn’t seem to sync that well across my platforms - which is also why I still use Google Reader on my Mac and XP laptops.

Am I still happy with the iPhone? In the main yes I am. I do wish for more integration between some apps - even the Apple included ones - eg I do find reusing a sent email to send to someone else very hard to remove the superfluous text. I also wish that O2 would get more coverage for even EDGE nevermind 3G.

Cycle 2 Work - the Reality

Vince Smith — 2009-01-29T13:15:34+00:00

I have now used the folder (Mezzo D9) twice to go to the office. I have, in the same period, been in the car twice. The lessons learned that I might be able to pass on are here.

Preparation - I had to take through to the office some clothes, shoes, wash kit, etc. in advance. Shoes particularly are too bulky to carry back and forth in a bag on the bike. Once they were deposited at the office then they generally stay there. In terms of preparation for the bike, then I was very careful about the timetables for the trains. As there are a limited of trains that start from my destination, it is important to known when I have to be at the stations. I did prepare the bike the night before along with the rack bag. Of course, at present, it is dark at both ends of the day and lights and batteries are essential.

Journey - this went well except I included so much contingency time that I got rather cooled at the station waiting for the train. The second trip was better. I expect that my time estimation will improve each trip. The train itself was fine and no issues were encountered about carrying the bike. On the first trip I took and used the bike bag, so I folded the bike and put it in the bag, on the second trip I did not take the bag and merely folded the bike. I had no issues. I was shown a route from the station to the office which was predominately on dedicated cycle paths and mainly through a park. I used this on the second trip. Much better!

Reception - I folded my bike at the office and took it in the office and under the desk. There is a changing room with a shower available. There was a lot of interest in the bike and my cycle 2 work experience.

Technical - the gearing is not low enough for where I live. There is a final 1:7 climb back into my village that is just on the limit. I also found the front light when set to flash was uncomfortable in the unlit country roads - I can see why some people find strobe lighting bad for them. The Mezzo luggage - the rack bag was great - enough for the laptop and other stuff to the office. Though the carry bag will get used less than initially intended. I got a spare tube, some tools and a pump for it. I do find riding a 16” wheeled bike rather different. And I guess I will get used to it.

Conclusions - The price point between commuting in the car and the cycle 2 work has been eroded by a) the price of fuel coming down b) train tickets going up. However, the exercise, a more environmentally friendly way to travel and the stress-less journey are good compensations. If I have done this in January then I can easily see that as the daylight gets longer and the weather gets warmer that things will be even better. So I am still happy that I have arranged to get the bike on the cycle 2 work scheme and doing my bit to support the train line and reduce the carbon emissions by not driving. It also has the advantage that the working day at the office is well-defined by train times.

Finally - the folder

Vince Smith — 2009-01-11T21:02:06+00:00

Finally - on Saturday just gone (the 10th) I got the last two pieces of my order. So now I can tell the story - at least this would be book 1 - the Acquisition.

My employers benefits scheme included the benefit from the Government’s Green Transport Plan by making it possible to acquire a bicycle with some tax incentives. What this means is that I can have a new bike that I can use for whole or partial journeys to work and pay for it over 24 months direct from my salary before tax and National Insurance deductions. When the price of diesel fuel reach the £1.30 per gallon I looked at the equivalent rail fare which was £7.60 at that time - in August 2008. So the costs began to make sense, if got a bike on the scheme that I could use to ride to local railway station and then from the destination station to the office and back then I could just save a bit of money, improve my fitness and do quite a bit for the carbon footprint.

So I looked at my current collection of bicycles 2 x full-suspension MTB 1 x Road Bike and started looking at the idea of a folder. It is pretty poor that the Green Transport Plan does not extend to making taking bikes on trains easier. I decided after some reading including the Folding Society who reviewed many folding bikes that my shortlist would come down to three bikes: 1) The Brompton 2) The Dahon Speed TR and 3) Mezzo D9. The brompton is the archetypal folder - very British and the best folded size; the Dahon was more of a riding bike - having 20” wheels unlike the others with 16” and the newest being the Mezzo.

Of course the work scheme was organised for us-and my story will show what an oxymoron that was. The company had chosen to tie up with Halfords - and their Cycle2Work team. I expected hassle, especially as Halfords do not stock any of the bikes on my shortlist. But at least they do sell Dahons. In order to get into the scheme I had to state how much I wanted to spend on the bicycle - and at the time of the deadline for entries my shortlist still had three choices. I had to get quotes from Halfords so to define the amount I needed.

I got quotes - not too bad a process - but I quickly found that they respond to email better than phone. And I was surprised by the Dahon quote which seemed high - and they said it was for the next year’s model. But I found that Dahon hadn’t even announced the model for next year. I chose my value and submitted my benefit request. At the Start of October, I got the confirmation and the paperwork that I would have to exchange when I picked up my bike from my local Halfords store. However, I still hadn’t chosen which bike.

After a lot of deliberations, even building a scorecard to define the pluses and minuses of each, I reached a conclusion to go with the Mezzo D9. Let me quickly summarise my reasons:
Brompton - the order book was very full and there would have been delay; the gearing was not that low -and where I live there are 1:7 gradients between home and the station; there was to be a new gearing model but that was at least another month away; the components seemed to all own brand and I found some YouTube video of the process of changing a tube - very messy and very complex. The Brompton was also the most expensive of the three.
Dahon - the Model could have been obtained by Halfords very easily as they sell other Dahons; the gearing was by far the best - considering it is designed as a tourer with front and rear panniers (racks supplied) - the gearing was great; it used standard components and had v-brakes - the best brakes of all three; but it was the largest, the heaviest and not really a commuter bike. The folding resulted in the largest package of the three.
Mezzo D9 - the bike folded well and had standard components, the gearing was Ok - but the rear cassette could be altered for one with a lower gear; the changing of the tubes was much simpler than the Brompton.

So I got back in touch with my local Halfrods store - who took my details and my order for a Mezzo D9 with the rack bag, the cover and carry bag - all from Mezzo. A couple of weeks passed and then when contacting them I was told that I had order it from the cycle 2 work team as it wasn’t a normal stock item. So I emailed the cycle 2 work team with my order. Had a flurry of email exchanges to confirm the prices - including me sending them back their original quote for the D9.

Time passed.......

After nearly a month, we are now well in November, I contacted the local store to find that nothing had been received. I contacted the cycle2 work - they said it had been sent and received.

Further chasing by me mainly, resulted in the original delivery being declared Missing. I asked the cycle 2 work team to make the order again, and within 3 days Halfords local store did receive it. This time I rang cycle 2 work to get a delivery day and then rang the local store to tell them to expect a delivery. It was just before Christmas - I got my bike!

Getting home, I unpacked and set the bike up - not a lot to do really - put the stem on and the pedals, put some lube on the chain and pump the tyres. However, the cover and carry bag were not included but the rack bag was. So it was back in the email to cycle 2 work and then with Christmas and New year in the way - I finally got the rest on Saturday.

In conclusion, I do wonder home many hours I spent - and I haven’t even done one trip to work yet - that will be in book 2! My expectations were not high - I’m afraid Halfords had a poor reputation and it didn’t rise - despite some excellent assistance from largely powerless individuals.

AntiVirus and the Mac

Vince Smith — 2008-12-09T12:03:30+00:00

The Mac, the Virus and the Risk

From 6 to 4

Vince Smith — 2008-08-18T12:21:18+01:00

Well, after borrowing for some time and letting languish after a short burst of enthusiasm, my brother-in-law had his bass guitar back. Of course, not long after I really had the hankerings of a bass. So after some research, I ordered a Vintage V940. It arrived safely, in one piece courtesy of TNT from a company I've used for bits of PA - iMuso. So why did I order the V940 - the price was right - especially for a beginner and was sufficiently flexible to accommodate different styles. It also looked good.

So my first impressions? The guitar is heavier, longer and yet beautiful - being in a natural wood finish. How does it sound? Great - to my largely untrained ears.

I have a couple of books, some TAB, some songs and little time - but I hope to make some progress with it along with some cross-fertilisation with the 6-string normal guitar. I think that I will be using a metronome and drum backing tracks more often.

Hello iPhone

Vince Smith — 2008-07-21T12:44:06+01:00

Yes - it's true - I've joined the ranks of those who have an iPhone. So let me start by saying for me, it's not just a clever phone - it's a new iPod and a new PDA. It was time to replace the Sony Clie (PalmOS based). The new iPhone has the AppStore and that means more than just the bundled apps. Yes I could have got an original and jailbroke it. But too many stories of things going wrong. And also insufficient decent apps - that is coming true for the new AppStore - though it is earl;y days and I'd say that in the main - many of the apps look good and don't do a lot or look naff and still don't do enough. The second set will those from other platforms merely recoded for the iPhone. When you see it as a replacement for a iPod and a PDA and you get a phone and a GPS as well then the cost in my terms is great.

I did take the tariff with O2 that was the lowest and I paid up front for the phone. It turns out that this is the least expensive over the time. The free WiFi at the Cloud and BTopenzone are very welcome.

So what's it been like?
Initial acquisition - not good. I find it incredible that for a) a mobile phone company and b) selling a mobile internet device like the iPhone that I was astounded to be filling out paperwork. It's like going to buy a new car and being fitted for new walking shoes. As for Apple - I expected that they'd learned the lessons of last year's hypo-hype of the launch and scaled the systems to cope. They hadn't, they didn't. It took me most of the rest of the day to activate the new iPhone. I had iTunes 7.7 ready. What made matters worse was the obscure, unhelpful dialogue boxes with error messages that didn't tell you a) what was wrong and b) what to do.

Usage - good - as I live in a rural area - it was only when I went to local city that I even saw 2.5G (aka EDGE) I have still not seen 3G. At home it's GPRS. Fortunately the wireless (WiFi) connect is great both at home and in various places (Caffe Nero).

AppStore - good but needs to improve - both in terms of the apps on offer, and better ways of navigating the categories and getting the number of downloads accurate - how can an app have 15 reviews and zero downloads? I guess that reviews are global but downloads are local (ie UK only). I have 4 apps installed and in use: Evernote (already been updated once); Twitterific, Remote and GuitarTooklit (this being the only non-free app). I've been intrigued to see that there is a PalmOS app under development - so maybe some of those apps I liked can be redeemed. Also I've noticed that developers selling in the AppStore already feel constrained - I have asked whether users of a desktop or previous version of an app can get the iPhone version at discount - they have used the excuse or it's a proper reason to say "We cannot give discount in the AppStore because it is not constructed to let us do that."

Push Email - yes that's working and it's good along with Contacts, Calendars. I do wish that notes and todo would make it. But I'm looking at my GTD app (OmniFocus) which has a proper iPhone app that syncs. Evernote is OK - but the notes are in the cloud rather than on the iPhone.

MobileMe - as a .Mac subscriber since I was an iTools user (also all the way back to eWorld!) - MobileMe is still getting there. I'm very disappointed that iCards are going (there is a petition) - what is the point of that - it clearly cannot be highly complicated, expensive to maintain. Or is this something that will be replaced with something from Google? My judgement is still out on MobileMe.

Tour de Frustrations

Vince Smith — 2008-07-05T21:49:33+01:00

It's that time again. The Tour de France is back on and yet again we cannot see it directly. There do seem to be a number of youtube videos but we cannot get it on TV as we're still in the analogue-only region and still waiting for the great digital switchover. Next year we should be able to watch the TdF directly.

It's a sign of the times that our usual mechanism is to get our next door neighbours to record the TdF off Eurosport on VHS. However, like most people they've migrated away from VHS onto a DVD recorder. However, with our tests we cannot get the DVD into a normal DVD player or computer to play back the recording. It looks like the DVD recorder has a proprietary format. So it looks like You Tube will be the 2008 TdF means. Next year on TV (I hope).

Life in a hotel

Vince Smith — 2008-07-01T16:10:04+01:00

I have recently had the opportunity to spend some time aboard working. It's really the first time that I've done this in the past 7 years other than a brief 3-day visit to Copenhagen. This was a two-week stint in Johannesburg, South Africa. Well - I found that the preparations were familiar to me - but strange things like trying out the modem on the work laptop. Hearing those dial sounds brought back quite distant memories - my oh my haven't we moved on here in the UK. As it turns out I didn't use the modem. But still it was good to check out the laptop. Also intriguing that my personal MacBook doesn't even have a modem.

Anyway, I was to travel out alone and the project manager would join a day later. The main frustration was with our internal company bureaucracy in getting the flights organised and then the hotel. Sometimes I'm sure that the main reason that these departments exist to stop the very things they are meant to do. I was happy to fly business class both ways and with the airline selected (Emirates) it flew from Manchester to Dubai and then a brief stop before another flight onto Jo'burg. Emirates is neat as they include, for business class, free pick up and drop off on each journey. No travelling by train or car and parking. That's such a help and lessens the cost.

Business class has changed a little since my last trips in 2000-2001 - more in-flight entertainment, somewhat better seats. What I did notice is more people travel business class. Other than that - they little else different. And the prices were about half. Though I'm not sure whether that is our company discount levels.

There are much more people using the business lounges - they are filling up. At Dubai I managed to find the showers and grabbed one - thanks to a colleague for suggesting that - a wonderful improvement. After 7.5 hours, though somewhat pampered, to have a shower in the business lounge was a good move.

So how was flying? On these flights it was pretty much as before - there are distractions such as films etc. and food. Even so I didn't expect much difference.

I considered the whole flying thing. When you look at it you see historical continuations from the shipping business - given away in the terms: captain, hostess, steward, purser. Maybe as early flight and even later flight was a rich person's mode of travel that it included such things as food, drink (why serve alcohol that dehydrates in a plane that has an atmosphere that dehydrates and then causes behavioural problems with no escape?) I guess when Virgin get their tourist spacecraft up and working then it'll be similar. I wonder what the difference between business and coach classes will be like on those flights? Comfortable space suits versus one size fits all for coach? It's not how I read most SF books when I was younger. There were lots more individuals flying about (Note to self - good time to re-read the Larry Niven belter series) or very much the commodity stuff.

The main point of this ramble - was to say how much I dislike being in a hotel. I'm sorry to sound very ungrateful - but 15 nights in the same hotel - even though it was 5 star - are mind numbing, soul destroying, and drives me stir-crazy. It was made worse by two facts: 1) the hotel was part of a complex that had two other hotels, a casino complex with several restaurants. 2) for our personal safety we didn't go out or have our own transport. I know a bit like an animal in a zoo - all the food you want, the bed is made, etc. but I want to get out, explore and meet real people - not employees who say Morning Sir!

I'd better stop - as I am sounding very ungrateful. But I was glad to get back home - detox on normal food - like baked beans on toast and fish & chips. It was a good reminder to really enjoy and be thankful of where I live and how I live.

Legacies and rationality

Vince Smith — 2008-06-04T07:54:39+01:00

Recently a friend had finally acquired a bicycle that he wanted - it was a hybrid with flat bars rather than drops, had skinny wheels rather than MTB tyres. But my friend had found the two shifters to be inconsistent - he wanted them both to move the same way with similar effects. We talked for a little while about shifting - he used the numbers on his shifters - which didn't mean a lot to me as a) my shifters don't have any numbers b) I've used thumbshifters, grip shifters and only in the past 8 years rapidfire shifters c) I've been using them for so long that it's largely autonomous. So I wasn't really able to comment on the numbers part - must be a car driver's thing - and the expectation that the gear will be engaged when the number is indicated.

There is of course a huge difference between a car gearbox where there is a very on/off gear engagement - either you have got it in the gear selected or you can clearly hear that you haven't. Whereas with bike gears it is pulling a cable to move a deraillieur to move the chain across from one gear ring to another. There's a lot more variability in that.

Anyway, back to the rational movement discussion - that is he wanted when he moved the right hand shifter up or the left hand shifter up they should do the same result - eg selected a lower gear. The difficulty is the difference in the physical nature of the two parts of the gear systems: the front chain rings have the largest on the outside and the smallest on the inside; whereas the rear cassette has the opposite - largest on the inside and smallest on the outside. Of course, there is also the difference between the front - a larger ring is a higher gear, and the back - a smaller ring is a higher gear.

So what would we do? Chain the rings around? Change the rear cassette? Add more complications to the shifters? Or leave it as it's always been?

Your guess.....

This discussion made me also say that there are things that have developed because someone thought of something and did it that way (just because) and it has become the de facto way of doing that. Now it's too late to alter it. I'm sure you can think of your own examples.

Sea kayaking re-discovered

Vince Smith — 2008-04-27T13:05:07+01:00

We recently went on a short stint in Scotland where we camped and paddled on the sea. It had been a long time - must be getting over 5 years since we last did anything and even longer that it was fairly significant. Anyway we went on the basis that we were feeling our way back in and would take it easy and carefully. The others were also either older and slowing down or in the same position as we were.

Anyway, the weather was kind - not too windy but cold. It was mainly a N or NE which for Scotland in April with snow on the mountains meant it was cold. We did paddle for a day around an island and then for a short overnight over the last two days of the trip. In between we had a walk and a visit around to some places. We came away relieved that we had been OK and happy to have got back on the water.

We did discover some of the pleasures of old - the views, the flora and fauna, wild camping; some of the pains of old - cold feet, slippery rocky beaches with loaded kayaks. But all in all the level was fine and we were in good company. We all came away saying that we'd repeat this next year but in late April and in a different part of the West Coast of Scotland.

The trip did throw up some equipment issues that we need to sort out before we go out again.

And now the reflections....

Vince Smith — 2008-03-30T20:15:56+01:00

Now it is the day after and I've had some time to reflect on my experiences of my first real gig. So what went well? Clearly many of the songs we had were right and people did join in. We even had an encore - we didn't have another number to play so we replayed the best song - House of the Rising Sun. What didn't go so well? Backing tracks - we were out on a couple of them - in fact one of them were out by such a way that I muted the backing track part way through. I forgot to bring up the vocal MIC for the first track - oops.

What was I pleased with? My performance was good, confident and mainly all together. I had a few slip ups but I heard the others making some slips as well. My best parts? The solos in Summertime and my party piece (The Loner) - not because I did it perfectly - because I didn't - but I managed to continue with confidence and pick it up - people didn't notice or realise. By the time I got to the second half I was enjoying myself - that was a major goal.

You can see the photos of the event at this album

The Big Gig Day Approaches

Vince Smith — 2008-03-28T10:46:31+00:00

Well tomorrow is the day of the big gig - well for me anyway. It is my wife's brother's birthday and I'm playing with my wife's brother (guitar and vocals) and his friend on bass. My roles are several - a) sound engineer - I'm setting up the PA, mixing desk, foldback, MIC as well as the levels and the mix; b) technician for the backing tracks - the creation, mixing, editing; c) initiating the backing tracks using a MIDI footboard to trigger the tracks on the laptop; d) also playing guitar.

So I'm busy both beforehand and after with kit set up and take down as well as during the set when I'm playing and triggering the backing tracks.

I've been practising for nearly 12 months and my wife and I cannot agree on the estimate of the hours I've put in to this practice. Let's just say we agree that it is hundred's of hours in the 12 months.

Now, of course, I am desperate to 1) let everything go well 2) play well and 3) enjoy myself. I'm struggling a little with the latter one. But once #1 has been done then I can concentrate on the rest.

I'll report back early next week with my thoughts and feelings on the big gig.

Second Audio Podcast

Vince Smith — 2008-03-01T17:19:23+00:00

Topics covered in Episode 2:

Christmas
Coffee
Ableton Live
Getting Started

This is a standard mp3 format at 128kbps.

Click here: Podcast

Argh...best intentions and reality

Vince Smith — 2008-02-25T14:51:43+00:00

Here is my first entry of 2008 - and I've had the plans to create and post my second audio podcast ever since the end of last year. So it's about procrastination, interruptions, distractions and intentions. They all crash together and the result is reality. And for my reality - I've not done much that you the reader or listener can access.

Yes, it's been on my ToDo list, yes I have made plans consisting of small steps, but there are lots of other things as well - some scheduled (like birthdays), some more enjoyable (like riding my bike), some more important (getting the car it's first MOT certificate) and some just easier (like watching some TV).

Well to err is human and to confess is good. But the hardest thing is beginning.

First Audio Podcast - Standard Edition

Vince Smith — 2007-12-06T09:57:49+00:00

For those of you without the ability to play back the enhanced podcast (ie in m4a format) then here is the podcast in mp3 format:

Podcast

Vince

First Audio Podcast - Enhanced Edition

Vince Smith — 2007-12-02T18:56:42+00:00

Today is my first audio podcast in m4a format
Podcast

I hope that you enjoy this, maybe with later versions it will be even better.

Sticky Buns, Wheels and People

Vince Smith — 2007-11-07T09:33:18+00:00

My wife has started up something she calls a Sticky Bun Club, whose main aims are to get some women in our village to cycle to a cafe, eat a little, ride back and along the way to socialise, get fitter and have a good time. All very laudable. They do include me as the token male. And along with a short ride I get recompensed with a free drink and sticky bun.

It is interesting to compare the way that people ride and socialise. If a group of blokes went out then there would end up with a little competitive aspects creeping in, but the women are not at all concerned. I wonder if this is a gender thng or an age thing - or a combination of both? Would younger women be more competitive?

In a footnote, the women are starting to see improvements in their fitness, confidence and want to go further. It's unfortunate that the time of year makes this harder.

Joining....and Leaving Networks

Vince Smith — 2007-08-06T11:14:43+01:00

I finally decided to join a social network - I chose Facebook. It has a mainly North American focus and population. I have been on Friends Reunited for a while - but not as a paid up member. This is a UK-based site and has much better representation for schools, organisations and employers than Facebook. Though they are different. What can I say about Facebook? It is different to Friends Reunited. I like the ability to add stuff to Facebook, I like that it is free, and that it seems less juvenile to other social networks. I've started to glue my stuff from other places into Facebook, such as this blog, my del.icio.us, etc.

I also joined Plaxo in order to get my cals and contacts syncing to google. Unfortunately, the google cal sync has been stopped as they've had problems. So, other than updating a few contacts with other plaxo members, plaxo is not that useful at the moment. I may leave if this does not change. In terms of leaving, well I haven't as yet. I still have a Yahoo account.

With the variety of sources and stores for information, the ability to bring them together is a vital component. I already sync my PDA, phone, Mac with plaxo, and look forward to getting google into this act.

Heisenberg Principle in Performance

Vince Smith — 2007-06-13T12:12:35+01:00

Why is it that there seems to be an aspect of the Heisenberg Principle when you try to perform? Let me explain with an example, I'm practising at my guitar playing on my own with a backing track track and it's all coming on so nicely. Then I visit my tutor and whether he asks me or I suggest I show him how I'm getting on. What ever the case the result is nearly always the same - the performance is far worse than my private practices. Why?

I suppose that it is with more and more practice that things move more to an autonomous or intuitive level. More credit from me to all performers - whether stage, screen or music or whatever. I have found that I haven't had this with other aspects of public performance (in the loosest sense). When I have spoken in public I invariably use a set of brief bullet points to create a framework of what I need to say. Therefore I repeated the performance then the result would be different. Music is not as freeform as that - not for me - and I guess not for most. From the classic music that is completely transcribed that every performance should be a repeat of others to jazz improvisation which is still based in a tighter framework of time and melody. But why - why do I (and I guess others) fluff things up when watched - or as is the basis for a number of video clips - when showing off to someone else. Maybe we're more focussed on seeing how the others respond, maybe it is just a mental thing of knowing that someone is watching you.

There is, of course, only one answer - more practice and more performances. I think that the ability to fluff things up will diminish if I do more performances.

iPhone - I had to say something

Vince Smith — 2007-05-07T11:26:12+01:00

Almost everyone else in the blogosphere has said stuff about the iPhone. It is very tempting but I've fallen. At least to say something before we have seen a product is a get out.

I have a Sony Clie PalmOS PDA, a Sony Ericsson phone and an iPod and an iPhone could be a neat replacement for all three. It'd certainly save time and complexity in syncing the stuff around. But the battery life on the phone is fantastic, the storage capacity on the iPod is wonderful and the text input on the PDA is the best of all three. Therefore to have a single device replace all three - is a hard act. The Clie has Buetooth, WiFi, a camera (no flash), plays music and has a card slot. The Sony Ericsson phone has Bluetooth, camera (no flash), plays music and has a card slot. The iPod (4G photo) has no Bluetooth, no WiFI, no card slot but plays music and has a huge store.

So the iPhone can have WiFi, Bluetooth, plays music, has apps, has a camera. It probably will cost (initially) the same as buying a new iPod and a replacement PDA. Even if the phone functionality is as good a normal Sony Ericsson phones then I could be tempted to replace the PDA and phone with it. The naysayers who place the price as too high are comparing it to a phone rather than seeing it as a new iPod with all the other stuff.

The bigger questions for me are about the platform as a means to deliver apps and services - being able to use WiFi instead of the phone; being able to use efficient data transfer mechanisms on the mobile networks. Having the apps, integrate with the phone and mobile data experiences.

I just hope that this is the first in a range of mobile devices from Apple that converge the mobile voice, data with a hand-held computing device - and better than the preceding historical devices: the Newton, Palm Pilots, WinCE, Windows Mobile, Treo, Blackberry and Symbian. There are a lot of lessons to be learned and incorporated.

We shall see...starting in the USA in June. Though they seem to be more concerned with the choice of mobile carrier.

Apple changes its name

Vince Smith — 2007-05-06T12:25:33+01:00

Much has been said about the removal of computer from the name of Apple Inc. This has fuelled statements from the usual news-, rumour- and seer-communities, coupled with the delays to Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5) and the focus on Apple TV and the iPhone. Clearly, as a long-time user of Apple stuff, I have a view on this as well. I am not unhappy with the name change. Perhaps it is honest of Apple to say that it is no longer merely a computer company. We've not moaned against Sony who seem to make all sorts of stuff - TV, VCRs, Music players, Computers, etc. We've got use to Microsoft being a hardware company (keyboards, mice, xbox). Similarly, we have combined companies such as HP, IBM who do both. All the best to Apple - maybe they can stimulate some more innovation, integration and convergence into the marketplace - I hope so.

The extension of Apple into the the other things that are connected with computers is not new - they were first with the LaserWriter to go with their PostScript-driven software; they had their own keyboards, mice, etc. They had their own PDA (invented the term), a very early digital camera. Then to extend to the wireless networks, the cards, the access points and more recently the iPods. It's not new - we shouldn't be surprised. It is often to kick-start the introduction of new technology - PostScript, PDA, WiFi. Perhaps it surprising that some Apple-branded products have not appeared - an Apple HD Camcorder; and some have appeared late - iPod HiFi for example.

I guess that we need to remember that Apple Inc are a business first and foremost and must turn a profit. That's the nature of capitalism. Apple's history means that they have launched into a new market and then as the third parties have matured they have withdrawn their products - witness the LaserWriter, the QuickCam, the Newton. The iPod has become such a phenomenal success that they have persisted. The move of Apple Inc to services is also not new - remember AppleLink?

What does the future hold? I don't think that Apple is going to change to a Sony-style consumer electronics with DVD players, TVs, hi-fi, ICE, etc. Sony are struggling enough with the other players in that market. But to add it's own values of total user experience of digital media - with end to end integration, convergence and ease of use - that means some strong products will come and AppleTV is but the next step.

Receivers and Transmitters

Vince Smith — 2007-05-06T12:10:37+01:00

As I listened to someone else talking this morning, I was thinking along the same lines and then as my mind is inclined to do go off at tangents and metaphors. I pondered the nature of our society and then the smaller sub-groups within it. I was thinking that a lot of behaviour is very individualistic and even selfish (perhaps that's the true nature of man). Our consumer, individualistic, no respecter of authority society is driven in a metaphorical way by being receivers - we get, we watch, we don't get that involved. But then how to have a better, is to transmit as well as receive - which is a rephrasing of a well-know and significant statement.

If individuals are more often that not receivers then who or what are the transmitters? Are they the movers and shakers, the trend setters, the influential people in our society? For many it seems to be the celebrities - but I don't follow that - more often than not - it is in my nature to be the opposite! Just perverse I suppose. But I have my influencers - so living some memories and some written. Maybe we all re-transmit what we receive - but the danger is that we lose some stuff in this process - we may add our own perspectives - but what sort of transmitters are we? Though many people do not respect authority - they give authority to their influencers - implicitly by letting them shape their lives, behaviour and thoughts.

We should all be transmitting from ourselves and checking to what do we give authority. We should also do as much transmitting as we receive. We're not dumb radios that merely reproduce what we have received - we are walkie-talkies (hmm...) that broadcast as well as receive. Though of course, my metaphor shows that it takes less energy to receive than to transmit.

What I need to do is make sure that the signals I send are a) good b) true c) honest and d) positive wherever possible.

I'll stop now before I overuse my metaphor.

Changing TV - 1

Vince Smith — 2007-04-13T08:09:39+01:00

One of the things that has characterised the 20th century was the development of broadcast media based on electrical transmissions - better known as radio and TV. These broadcast media, as an extension of printed media, have created a huge global industry. But in recent years things are starting to alter the broadcast model.

Firstly, the development of the internet and the RSS feed to affect printed media - especially news and editorial. Rather than wait for the next print run - which are often many days (or weeks for monthly magazines) - a RSS feed can be updated and subscribers pick it up as soon as the Publish button is pressed. Following on we have podcasts - an audio version of the text. This is replacing radio in an analogous way. Finally, video podcasts (or whatever name you'd like) - these are replacing short TV news slots - especially in niche or specialist areas.

So what is the change? Instead of the broadcast model that has the producers saying we are outputting this tune in or miss it. You get all of what we have to say or write. We now have the viewer saying I will subscribe to this and that and I will pick up stuff to hear or see when I want. The controls are swapping. I agree that the VCR and its natural extensions of the PVR mean that we can shift the time when we see or hear something broadcast, but we are generally following a number of broadcast channels. Where I live, the terrestrial channels are limited to 4 at present. So not too confusing. However, with the internet and all of the sources of news and comment that are available globally - you have thousands of the equivalent of programmes.

The introduction of the AppleTV and its support for downloaded video (and audio) podcasts at a quality level greater than most "normal" broadcasters at present could mean that the acceleration of the change around will increase. many podcasters can grab a HD camcorder and produce a HD podcast to be downloaded and played back via the AppleTV onto a TV screen. When people watch such programmes and then a "normal" programme - the visual quality difference will be dramatic.

What can the broadcasters do? Better content - be the authoritative voice - as well as better quality.

The Hamsters

Vince Smith — 2007-03-12T08:09:05+00:00

We went to see the Hamsters - a band that several people had recommended we go an see. It was great - they did a playlist from their covers of ZZ Top and Hendrix. The Hamsters are a trio and watching the dynamics of the group - the lead guitar who was the lead singer and the leader - he spoke with the crowd. They were not a tribute band in that they didn't attempt to imitate the originals. The venue was good but I'd say that the acoustics were not brilliant. The audience was quite a mixture - young and old and much older. They concentrated on the music, no fancy light show, but their finale was unique. That's all I'll say - you need to go and see them.

I was interested to see how the guitarist played and did things - but he was rather fast - a challenge. A huge pedal board - but with Hendrix I'd guess a lot of effects. I did notice the lack of rhythm in the songs, but the bassist was playing a 5 string bass and covered some aspects of the the rhythm.

Live music is good to hear and see. Must do more.

Welcome to the Music

Vince Smith — 2007-02-05T21:29:43+00:00

I thought that I would try to get myself a playlist - a portfolio of songs that I could play, if someone said to me - well what do you know? After considering several things like a) what I like b) what I've been learning c) what I've made progress on d) what I have transcribed and e) what I can listen to. I have come out with a list - a varied list. And varied in several ways. Firstly, they are not all one type of music - there are acoustic songs; they are not all just chords and rhythm - there are a few where I think that I could get the solo and lead parts. They are not all dead easy - but I remember not to set a Personal Everest - and yet a challenge. Yet as I look at the list they feature many songs that are a backdrop to my life - which is good. So without further words here is the list as it stands at the time of writing this entry. Of course, I reserve the right to change it.

# Part Title Artist
1 R Wish you were here Pink Floyd
2 A Hardest button to button The White Stripes
3 R Hey Joe Jimi Hendrix
4 R Wonderful tonight Eric Clapton
5 R Wishing Well Free
6 A Blowin' in the wind Bob Dylan
7 R Black Night Deep Purple
8 R Smells like teen spirit Nirvana
9 R One U2
10 A Silver Machine Hawkwind

11 R Heart of Gold Neil Young
12 R Everlong Foo Fighters
13 R All I Wanna Do Sheryl Crow
14 A A Horse With No Name America
15 R All Right Now Free

16 R Don't Worry About the Government Talking Heads
17 R Free Bird Lynyrd Skynyrd
18 A Psycho Killer Talking Heads
19 A I'll be Creepin' Free

Where A is all parts and R is Rhythm part only.

Thoughts

Vince Smith — 2007-01-16T21:31:53+00:00

I had an opportunity to actually sit and listen to someone and have no pressure to listen for acts, issues, etc. - a refreshing change from the usual work and work-style life that I seem to live. It is amazing how malleable we can be. Still after listening to two speakers talk from the Northumbria Community, we were then asked to consider our thoughts.

Well. I did and I pondered and considered with how the following three things can be positive and negative in terms of influencing who I am and how I act: Reviewing, Regretting and Rating. I thought that reviewing was looking back at what had happened, how I reacted, how I changed; Regretting wasn't only just thinking that I could have done that instead, or wouldn't it have been better to say that, but it was about what would have happened if I had chosen this rather than that. This was, no doubt influenced by the fact we were in Durham and surrounded by the University places. I was considering what might have been my life I had got a SRC research grant for particle physics at Durham. And my bugbear - Rating - always looking at someone else and thinking "if only I could be as * as they are" (insert whatever as the *). My ratings are always me being lower than someone else.

Of course, all of these are good in the proper balance. I need to review and assess my past actions, thoughts so that they might change my future actions and thoughts. I might compare myself to others as having aspirational challenges, but regrets probably is a good trigger word for the negative aspects of most of these. What is in the past is done and unchangeable, however, positively learning and changing from the past in the present is good. This led me to my fourth R - Realisation - being true, being content and knowing yourself - having a proper perspective. In this I can count on several benchmarks and people who will put me right.

Finally, some aphorisms that also came to mind that mean a lot and maybe more if I spend time pondering some more: Investment and Return - not in a financial sense; Joy in small things and Serendipity - which I've thought about previously and Capturing the moment - taking the opportunity presented.

PS We sat for a while in Durham Cathedral - great place - stunning building and so much peace.

Tagged

Vince Smith — 2007-01-09T09:44:55+00:00

Stu tagged me, and so I must respond. So here are 5 things you don't know about me - confession is good for the soul.

1 I have still got a book from the school library -Watership Down. I took me several attempts to get past the beginning to read the whole book. I never got around to returning the book.
2 I have met Brian Aldiss and Harry Harrison. Science Fiction authors - if you didn't know.
3 I nearly got a job on CERN when I was in my final year (79-80). I was really interested in particle physics and did as many of those course as possible during my degree. Just considering how different things might have been for the rest of my life.
4 I did do 100mph on my motorbike (Kawasaki GT550) on the M58 - that was a while back.
5 During my school years, I worked at an angling store where I prepared maggots. They were dyed and it took a few days for the dye to wear off. Mainly orange!

Ignition....

Vince Smith — 2006-12-18T11:36:23+00:00

Well - after what seems to be akin to a Noah-like period of deluge in NW England, Saturday was both predicted, and turned out, to be a fine day. I took the opportunity to go out for a walk in the Lake District. However, considering all of the rain we've had, I was careful about which route and then factoring in time constraints such as not getting started for various reasons until 11am. I decided to start from High Oxen and head around the Tarn Hows and then pick up one of the great views of the Langdale Pikes from Iron Keld. The weather was kind, a little rain, some hail and lots of rainbows. The conditions underfoot were OK, clearly the choice had been a good one.

Upon our circumnavigation around Tarn Hows, the NT are doing some work and a lot of trees, mainly pine, spruce, etc. had been cut down. I found it interesting to read that they are hoping to reduce the spruce, pine trees and plant some more native species and open the landscape. They pointed out that some areas were unsafe - I presume from the height of the trees and the depth (or lack of) of soil.

At the time, it reminded me a piece on the local TV news about the Lake District NP bidding for UN World Heritage status and the news programme had the usual vox populi section whereupon some said how lovely and natural it was. Pah! if it was natural then the lakes would probably be covered in dense forests almost up to the tops of most of the fells. It is the centuries of farming, grazing, forestry, industrial exploitation and tourism that make the lakes look like they are. For example, Tarn Hows is a man made reservoir to provide power to a saw mill, in a area that had much mining (copper) as well as slate and other quarries. Ironic I thought.

Still it was good to get ignited to get out, and I pondered on the difficulty of ignition - the hardest thing often is starting. I'm so full of good intentions it is the hardest thing to get going, but once ignited then for a while at least it is easier to keep going. I look forward to another walk in the forthcoming Christmas break.

Review: AppleJack

Vince Smith — 2006-12-14T17:22:49+00:00

I would recommend AppleJack to you, if you have a Mac, are comfortable with the terminal and are concerned that you may have problems. AppleJack is a collection of scripts that you run from Single-User Mode that perform a variety of tasks to repair, help maintain and try to prevent difficulties. However, if the term Single-User Mode is unknown to you, then maybe AppleJack is not for you.

Single-User Mode is initiated from start up by Pressing Command-S (aka Apple-S). You will get to a black screen with a very old-style command line. From there, you run applejack. Once done, then you can restart the machine, or let AppleJack do it for you.

Don't just take my word for it, see also MacFixIt - Troubleshooting Tools: AppleJack

I heard about AppleJack from the MacBreak 18 podcast and I'm imnpressed with AppleJack.

Is the tide turning?

Vince Smith — 2006-12-13T19:06:15+00:00

It seems strange, but I seem to know many people who now have Macs, or are getting one, or are seriously thinking of getting one. After all these years of wandering in the wilderness preaching the Apple gospel, things may be changing. What I do see is that people are liking the totality of the Mac experience - whether it be camcorder+iLife+Mac with Firewire or audio or iPod or just trying something new. But I have heard good things about the Apple retail experience - when people go to the Apple Store and seriously talk to a person. Though you could argue that improving upon the level of expertise in most large stores (you know who I mean) would not be difficult. But again this philosophy of the totality of the experience is in complete contrast to the other sides.

It makes me think how Apple could do something with the much-rumoured iPhone and the impending code-named iTV. The thing is, as a UK-resident, neither of these devices will be initially aimed at the non-US market. So it'll be the USA cell phone (aka mobile phone) standards and the USA TV standards (NSTC, etc.) that will get the fanfare of the initial products. But, as sure as the iTunes Music Store has (slowly) reached beyond the shores of the USA, the iTV will get PAL, I really hope that they get stuff to tie in with DVB-T and DVB-S and please even DAB radio. As for the iPhone then getting a service like the Apple Store experience will be a mighty challenge, because the most likely thing is that they will rebadge/leverage an existing service of the incumbents who stumped up the prices for the licences (the gang of 4 in the UK: O2, Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile and the other one: 3). Clearly none of these has the totality of the experience that Apple provides. I would not be risking too much to assume that this is similar with the USA incumbents such as Verizon, Cingular, etc.

All of this talk about the phone part of the iPhone talk is usually missing - others seem to go on about the iPod Integration or the User Interface, or whether it will have one or two batteries. Maybe we'll all be surprised in 2007 - even the Newton could be resurrected more than the Inkwell technology currently in OSX 10.4!

Panto 2006

Vince Smith — 2006-11-27T09:04:22+00:00

Well - another year's panto is done and dusted. You can see some of the photos on the following page. It seemed such a rush and panic at times. As usual, I was at the back operating the sound - consisting of sound effects and snippets. I did start to wonder where such a form of drama originated and is it very British?

Low and behold there is a wikipedia entry for it Panto is very British. In looking at the form that Panto takes, we seem to tick most of the boxes, but we haven't had for a few years the traditional principal boy. In a small village, you have to work with what you get. But we've never had a pantomime horse or cow - there's a thought....

More on Oslo

Vince Smith — 2006-11-11T21:14:48+00:00

In considering Oslo, we like it a lot. It is so relaxed, friendly and without any signs of hassle about anything. There is only one thing - everything is so expensive. Maybe that is why there are fewer tourists, smaller population and less stress. Oslo has a wonderful integrated public transport system of busses, trams, trains. The city centre is fairly compact that you can just walk around it. They have spent sometime renovating several of the older industrial areas into the usual modern shopping and eating centres. Aker Brygge is very pleasant and we were delighted to spend some time in the D/S Louise restaurant. I can recommend the museums for Fram and the Viking ships. We would recommend buying an Oslo Pass as this gives free entrance to many museums, free public transport and discounts. I was surprised to find that modern Norway is about 100 years old. And then before it even is 50 years - it is invaded and occupied for about 5 years. They clearly have made a mental change to that event and that clearly shapes their outlook and involvement in the rest of the world.

In a personal reflection, it is the events in our lives that shape us, not merely the genetic components that we are dealt with, and at each event, we have choices and consequences to the choices made help perform that molding. I agree that our genetic information is also a factor in our life but the logical conclusion to the statement that we are only what our genetic make up leads us to be, is a statement of irresponsibility for any and all of our actions. This is something that I do not subscribe to.

Microsoft's iPod?

Vince Smith — 2006-10-22T18:56:25+01:00

The Microsoft Zune seems to be collecting a mythology all of its own before it really starts to be available. Already there are reports that in French speaking Canada that "zune" seems to be an unsavory slang word (see) and now "zune" is similar in sound to the Hebrew for something as even unsavory (see). Please note that the referenced pages may contain words or phrases unsuitable for children to view.

We'll no doubt see what happens, but it is surprising considering Microsoft's worldwide presence that it didn't see this one coming.

Virtual Serendipity?

Vince Smith — 2006-10-22T18:45:47+01:00

A thought came to me the other as I was in the company office talking on the phone to a colleague about an issue, when another member of the team stuck his head over the divider and said that he couldn't help but overhear and he'd had to deal with the same issue recently and had some knowledge he could share.

This triggered the thought that one of the things you miss when working in a virtual team, or remotely is the serendipity of conversations. I don't read up on research on collaboration but clearly it must be very difficult to do. This is why, despite the tools all being available from the home office (and sometimes better - another rant - another time), the lack of this discovery or bumping into people is something that I am making deliberate efforts to get into the office.

On another tack, but related - vaguely, is the development of social tools - such as del.icio.us that enable you to share things. But I have been using Last.fm for sometime letting iScrobbler send up my listening habits.For those of you unaware. Last.fm is a website that seeks to give you suggested other music to listen to, dependent on your listening habits. the iScrobbler sends up to your area on Last.fm the songs you play and Last.fm builds a picture and recommends other music. There is also Pandora which seeks to use an algorithmic approach instead to make recommendations. It might be interesting to take the approach and apply it to other things, It was interesting to see on the BBc's Dragons Den programme that someone was trying to do something very similar with books. Clearly none of the dragons were aware of either Last.fm or Pandora. One of the things about Last.fm is that it takes a more social view of providing groups to allow people to share, whereas Pandora can be used almost in isolation.

Initial impressions of Oslo

Vince Smith — 2006-10-15T14:16:38+01:00

Well. I thought that Denmark was expensive, but Norway is even more so. Beyond that, then my impression of Oslo is that this is a lovely country with friendly and relaxed people. The city is not crowded, cluttered and not even much building - unusual for a main city nowadays. The public transport is well-integrated and punctual. Oslo, itself, is small and easy to get from one side to the other - and so varied from the dockside with ships, ferries and small boats to the top of the hills overlooking the city with the Ski Jump - it's not flat in many places.

More to come on Oslo. But check the photos.

The Importance of Pain

Vince Smith — 2006-10-15T14:02:38+01:00

Many years ago I read a book written by a couple of people who had spent a lot of time with people suffering from leprosy. One of the significant things that I remember from that book was the importance of pain. One of the things that leprosy causes if that pain is not felt at all. In the light of many recent medical advances you might think that this was ideal. However, it's not. The book describes a couple of times that people had turned up at the centre having walked a long way to get there. In one tale, they had failed to realise that they have twisted their ankle and continued to walk on it until it was completely twisted. We often fail to appreciate the importance of pain - both in terms of an early warning - like nearly touching a hot item or changing the way we do things - such as walking along and continually altering our gait automatically to alleviate the start of blisters.

Without pain, we fail to learn important lessons, and I'm concerned with a) the rampant health and safety risk assessments b) wrapping people in cotton wool c) the lack of adventure. I'm sure that there will return a balance point back towards acceptable risk but in this environment of allocating blame and suing - I cannot see it happening for while.

In another sense, pain of many sorts is the mechanism to force us to change. We say - no pain no gain. In a work sense, the pace of change is something we all struggle with, and often it is only the fact that doing things the old way is now more painful (ie more difficult, more expensive) than doing it the new way is what forces us to make the change.

Tutor found

Vince Smith — 2005-10-01T15:29:01+01:00

I have found a tutor. He's the chap that taught someone who was on a Sound Recording course I attended at Kendal college. So I will have 30 minutes once a fortnight. Seems short to me. But he knows best. He seemed to think that the second hand guitar I'd got was a reasonable piece of kit. So no excuses on blaming kit rather than lack of effort, practice or ability!

The Challenge - play the guitar

Vince Smith — 2005-09-01T15:22:03+01:00

I suppose it's my age. But I need a new challenge. And I've decided that I'm going to learn to play the guitar. I suppose it's my history. Having grown up with all of the great guitar heros - Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Dave Gilmour, etc. and it's probably more achievable than the piano.

But I decided that the electric would be easier to pick up and get started. I got my self a second hand guitar from a local shop. So nothing much ventured so far - and a book with CD.

It brought to light within me that I don't even remember playing the recorder at primary school - or being invited to learn an instrument ever at school. Perhaps they knew some I don't. Still now I need to set myself some sort of target, so I don't just dither along. And I'll try to find a tutor. Always good to have that external stimulus.

The guitar...one year on

Vince Smith — 2006-09-29T15:04:17+01:00

Well after about 12 months of fortnightly visits to a tutor for 30 minutes of show, try, look, listen and then a pile of stuff to go away and practice. I know that I have progressed. You could argue that starting from scratch is the only time to show rapid progress. Well, I'm still encouraged and by measuring things it is possible to actually see improvement.

As an old dog definitely trying to learn new tricks, the hands, fingers and brain are sometimes well out of alignment. But in an encouraging book I got there are 3 P's to consider: Patience, Perseverance and Practice. Along with the idea that you do not set any personal everests - how it is difficult when all you hear in the music you listen to and the musicians you see - are people very much at the top of their game.

Still after a year, I'm progressing with soloing around the pentatonic scales, getting the main open chords and main barre chords up to a satisfactory consistency and fluidity. Though I admin readily that I have some obvious weaknesses - D minor chord! Just started to finger-pick a bit. That's hard - and as a point to not develop bad habits I'm deliberately not looking at my right hand.

Seasons

Vince Smith — 2006-09-25T20:51:37+01:00

I don't know whether it's because I'm getting older and the perception of time changes, but I certainly experience the seasons much more than when I was younger. I see the leaves on the trees starting to change, and yet there are buds ready to spring into new growth next year.

I also find that I see similar and analogous cycles in many more places, organisations, events and technologies. To take an example or three, when videos first came out, they were very expensive. I remember these huge Grundig machines at university and college. Then after the VHS-betamax war was won, there were video rental stores springing up on nearly ever street corner. Today, with a few exceptions, they are consolidated into a few stores - ie Blockbuster or they have become commodities that Asda, Tesco, etc. sell them. Similarly, with mobile phones - we have, in the Uk, a number of major chains supported by a still viable (for how long) set of independents - the networks - orange, O2, Vodfone, T-Mobile and then the other chains - Carphone warehouse, Phones4U, etc. Again, much of it has become a commodity that Adsa, tesco etc. sell them. There are other examples.

What will be next? The next season for my examples? Well the way things seem to be going is to try to continue to eliminate atoms from the chain. So we have music downloads beating out physical CD purchases in many places. And the latest thing is video - Apple have their new additions - the Disney set first, but probably not the last. As with the other aspects of the iTunes Music Store we'll see many others - and we have that with Amazon already.

It's a different season for the content creators - ie the music labels and film studios - and they've not realised the season is changing and if they don't change they'll be left behind. Musicians are already cutting out the labels and going directly to MySpace, or iTunes Music Store without the labels. Just wait until video goes the same way. And I haven't even mentioned TV.

Temporary links to older items

Vince Smith — 2006-09-23T13:18:08+01:00

See the following:

Tour de France 2002
Yealand Panto 2002
Yealand Panto 2003
Yealand Panto 2004
Yealand Panto 2005

File Sharing

Temporarily until the other pages have been redeveloped.

Some are now in the sidebar.

Yealand Panto 2003
Yealand Panto 2004
Yealand Panto 2005

Echoes

Vince Smith — 2006-07-21T08:55:29+01:00

I try to keep up with some of the movers, shakers, visionaries and commentators that a) I know about and b) I hold their views with respect, authority and interest. One of these is Robert X Cringely, whose comments I first met years ago when reading InfoWeek regularly.

Anyway, the article that stunned me was delivered in may and yes I've only just got around to commenting.

You can read it for yourself at http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20060518.html

The comments about billable hours are strong echoes on my current work outlook. The gathering of billable hours and revenue is something that is shouted loud and often proud by management. This is often to the detriment of delivering efficiently. We are all guilty - we all add contingency and eventually after anything has gone through enough people then amount of contingency can be greater than the core effort needed to accomplish the thing. Of course, in this age of protecting against failure, we all do it. In an era of job insecurity, the busier we are the less likely we feel at risk.

This is not the only aspect this malaise - getting requirements agreed is becoming a specialist job.

Spain - for the first time

Vince Smith — 2006-04-08T08:54:00+01:00

We took an early break by going to Spain for the very first time.

We took a trip for a few days down to Granada in order to visit the Alhambra. I have uploaded some photos. The Alhambra is fantastic, it is so wonderfully positioned above the city of Granada and the palaces and gardens are kept in wonderful condition. This is even more worthy when you consider the sheer numbers of visitors that come through day by day.

We spent the whole day wandering around, enjoying the architecture, the decoration of the palaces and the planting and structure of the gardens.

ToB - Jubilee Tower

Vince Smith — 2006-08-30T16:44:01+01:00

Tour of Britain 2006

Apple Battery Scheme

Vince Smith — 2006-09-20T15:34:38+01:00

PowerBook Battery News

London-Centricity

Vince Smith — 2006-09-15T18:03:36+01:00

I've recently travelled to Newcastle (on Tyne) and by train it is unbelievable that the link across the North Pennines is so slow. There are very few cross-Pennine routes and there is a lot of commonality between Carlisle and Newcastle that I'd expected the rail link to be better, faster and much more modern. There are lots of level crossings, small stations and no inter-city class trains. They also don't seem to arrange the timetables well to let people come off the West Coast trains to step onto this line. I spent about an hour each way at Carlisle station. It might have been a a little quicker to go up the east Coast line to Edinburgh and then get a West Coast train back down.

Also I've been looking at getting to Yeovil - I expected to go down maybe change at Bristol and get to Yeovil . The Trainline.com website directs you via London! It even forbids you to go to Exeter and work back. This is crazy - the trip time would be about 8 hours!

We should get grid rid of the hub and spoke model of the railways around London as the major hub.

PowerBook 2

Vince Smith — 2005-08-20T17:56:49+01:00

Changes in the laptop

Brussels and Belgium

Vince Smith — 2003-10-01T17:54:49+01:00

Trip to Brussels and Belgium

Introductions

Vince Smith — 2003-10-01T17:54:00+01:00

The first entry in my Blog

Linux - Ready for Prime Time?

Vince Smith — 2003-10-02T17:51:15+01:00

Various stories of my struggles with Linux

Meals, Photos and People

Vince Smith — 2003-10-02T17:50:00+01:00

Brief update on the trip to Brussels

Starting Things Automatically

Vince Smith — 2003-10-03T17:48:58+01:00

Getting to grips with Linux when trying to get apps and services to run automatically on starting the system.

Annoying things about the Linux box

Vince Smith — 2003-10-07T17:47:45+01:00

Continuing things that annoy me with the Athlon Linux (SuSE) box.

Tales of woe from Dantz

Vince Smith — 2003-10-11T17:46:43+01:00

Problems with backup support from Dantz - the makers of Retrospect

Belgian public transport

Vince Smith — 2003-10-13T17:45:03+01:00

Waxing lyrical about Belgian public transport

Day out to Brugge and Gent

Vince Smith — 2003-10-16T17:43:49+01:00

Day trip out from Brussels to Bruges/Brugge and Gent.

A neat thing with Linux

Vince Smith — 2003-12-03T16:42:10+00:00

New things discovered about Linux

Finally

Vince Smith — 2003-12-03T17:41:00+00:00

A replacement has been started, updates on other web sites and learning to love .Mac

Views on the PowerBook

Vince Smith — 2003-12-10T17:40:08+00:00

Some personal views on the Apple PowerBook 12" in comparison to the iBook.

Virgin railways - A Brief Rant

Vince Smith — 2003-12-10T17:38:21+00:00

Ranting about the rolling stock on the NW to Euston line

Some of Chosen Utilities - Mac OS X GUI

Vince Smith — 2004-04-23T17:36:13+01:00

Workstrip - I have used Workstrip and got rid of the Dock. However, I am sure that I do not useWorkstrip any where near its full potential. I use Workstrip mainly as a launcher in place of the Dock. I have found that sometimes it gets the Spinning Ball of Death and have turned off some of its tracking.
LaunchBar - I like LaunchBar - I use it a lot, mainly as an application launcher, even though there are bookmarks, email addresses in its list.
Fruitmenu - I use this a lot, I have added several things to the Apple Menu.
SallingClicker - this is great and a real show-off item to Windows users. I have a Bluetooth phone and do PowerPoint presentations using Salling Clicker controls. The addition of a Bluetooth PDA and the later Salling Clicker software means that you can preview and get more information on the phone or PDA about a presentation than before - brilliant!
Synergy - I list to music while working a lot and as phone calls come in, I use Synergy to pause. great ease of use.
SoundSource - I have an iMic and that is piped into the Hi-Fi and playing music through that from iTunes. It is great to be able to control and from the menu bar. With a PowerBook the iMic is rarely used, though for times when you want to preview on one audio output whilst another is playing then the iMic will be handy. Still good to have the switchable line level inputs.

Virgin Railways - Improved

Vince Smith — 2005-03-14T17:33:20+00:00

Response to my own rant

iWork - An Initial View

Vince Smith — 2005-03-14T17:32:18+00:00

Initial thoughts about iWork - Pages and Keynote 2

More Recommended Utilities

Vince Smith — 2005-03-14T17:29:43+00:00

More Mac OS X utilities

Recent Demo Rides

Vince Smith — 2004-05-29T13:17:57+01:00

I was able to get a demo bike out from Biketreks recently. I got the Specialized Enduro Comp. I took this bike out around my normal loop around Ambleside, Loughrigg, Iron Keld, Tilberthwaite, Chapel Stile and Loughrigg Terrace. The 5" of travel front and back coupled with 2.2" tyres inspired confidence. The travel worked well, and was active at all times. I did not flip the link at the back to change the geometry and maximum travel, and neither did I change the Itch shock at the back to reduce the travel of the shock to 100mm. But I did find the lockout on the front and rear very useful for road climbs. I was able to change the lockout easily from the saddle. There are a number of road climbs on the loop and the lockout made the climbs more bearable. The riding position was good, being neither stretched out and remote from the front end or being so cramped. The Enduro design is evolving over 4 years now and the basic design is fairly established. The seat post was long (the perils of being a demo bike and trying to fit as many customers as possible) - I would cut it down so that it could be dropped for some steep descents. But that is a limitation of any frame design that has the seat tube interrupted.
What didn't I like?
I didn't like the weight as I found it felt heavy. It was a bit of a tank but that, on a positive note, meant that it felt robust and able to cope with everything thrown at it. This is a bike for Camelbak users. No real bottle mounts. The cable routing went, traditionally, under the BB shell.
What did I like?
I liked the active travel, the lockouts and the riding position.

The following day I had the opportunity to ride around a limited course two bikes that on paper would compete with the Enduro Comp. The first I took out was the the Whyte 46. This felt light just picking it up in the car park. The Maverick fork gives 4" or 6" of travel, and the back end is also adjustable. For the initial climb, the fork was reduced to 4" and the rear moved using the TARA - ie a small QR. For the downhill part of the route the full 6" of travel and the back end were changed. The bike climbs well and descends brilliantly. The forks were rigid and true, no feeling of wandering was felt.
What didn't I like?
There were a number of rattles and squeaks. This could be down to a demo bike, but it may show that there may be an amplification effect by the rear swingarm. The geometry seemed to change when the shock was moved to the shorter position. I had to adjust the seat post height after changing the TARA. Again, a bike for Camelbak users - there were bottle cage mounts but they were on the top tube - not a good position. The TARA was not something that could be done whilst on the bike. Maybe Fox will let others use the Itch technology next year. There was no lock out either front or back. I did not have the opportunity to ride the Whyte up an extended road climb to check out the bob, but there is bob from the back end
What did I like?
The travel, the front forks and the weight were brilliant.

The second bike I took out on the same course was a Santa Cruz Blur. This was a 4.5" travel bike with Virtual Pivot Point (VPP). After riding the Whyte 46, the Blur was paled by comparison, the Blur was OK. There was nothing special or significant to record. It was a good ride, the front forks were not as latterally rigid as the Mavericks, but probably cost half the price. It was light and rode well.
What didn't I like?
I find it difficult to record much about the Blur, but the front forks were Ok but not in the same class as the Maverick forks.
What did I like?
There were no funny adjusters, so that the Blur was simpler to operate, just ride it and it rode up and down fine.

In summary
I would love to have the Whyte 46, but I'd prefer a fork and frameset. As Whyte are only making a limited run and with the brilliant reviews the bike is receiving, it is unlikely that there will be spare capacity for a frame and fork deal. With the Maverick fork running at £800 then the £2600 price for the Whyte 46, the package price is probably a good price. The price comparison to the Blur, would get me to chose the Whyte. However, the Blur can be obtained as frameset. The Specialized is a great bike, and a frameset deal can be had. Allowing the weight issue to be resolved with appropriate choices of components. The Enduro Comp has two bikes above it in the range.

I look forward to next year, as the main fork manufacturers come up with their solutions to the 6" of travel in a light fork. Then we shall see the basic FS XC bike with 3" travel as a anachronism and 4-6" of travel as the norm.

Initial musical thoughts

Vince Smith — 2005-03-14T13:14:32+00:00

A new category to my blog is about music - its creation, editing and reproduction. Though I'm not a musician, I appreciate music, and good audio reproduction.

My current environment consists of hardware and software with some skills (they are still embryonic).

Hardware
Hi-Fi system with speakers, amp, cassette deck (yes I'm that old), record deck (similar comment), CD player. Into this is plugged my PowerBook that allows me to playback and record. I also have an M-Audio Oxygen 8 USB keyboard controller, Griffin iMIC USB input and output (one stereo channel each way). I have access to some live audio equipment - such as mics, analogue mixing desk and active PA speakers.

Software
iTunes - brilliant - great organiser of music and yes I have bought some music via iTunes Music Store; GarageBand via iLife '05 - this is so neat. I also use Sound Studio, Spark XL, Bias Peak to do some audio editing.

Skills
I have rerecorded some old cassette music onto the computer and created mp3 and CDs. I have been the sound engineer for several village pantos and created soundtracks, edited snippets of music and sound effects to go with the performance.