Chckn8ring

Unplugged

2010-03-19T17:53:00.003-04:00

No, I'm not talking about wall outlets or playing accoustic versions of all my hits, I'm talking about earbuds, speakers, etc...

I just came back from an errand to the local store. Like always, I had my iPod in my pocket and earbuds ready to stick in my ears. I was tempted to pop the little things in my ears and scroll through the music and podcasts to listen to while I walk.

This time, I hesitated...

Don't know whether it was a result of listener fatigue or the fact that it's a beautiful sunny day here in Vancouver with the birds chirping, cherry blossoms in bloom and signs of Spring everywhere. Regardless, something convinced me to just walk down the sidewalk without any artificial auditory stimulus to entertain me on the way.

I live with music or some sort of audio soundtrack playing at anytime. I live and breath audio pretty well every waking hour of my days. It's either me playing/writing music, listening to music, interacting with my family, etc... There's always something auditory going on.

I found the few blocks to and from the store "au naturelle' to be invigorating and refreshing. I found myself listening to the sounds in the neighbourhood - really listening to what's going on in the world immediately around me.

Instead of being bored, I quite enjoyed the randomness and unexpected things that reached my ears. I also found myself creating and revising music snippets in my head based on the sounds and rhythms from around me. If I could have somehow recorded all that ... well that would have been cool.

Anyway, I thought it was this kind of thing ... taking away the "conveniences" we have grown to rely on to entertain ourselves that turns into a touchstone for breaking out of the mold and seeing things in a fresh perspective:

Getting out of my normal routine, watching the breeze in the trees, smelling the flowers and listening to the birds sing...

Rejection - doesn't have to be all that bad does it?

2010-03-05T00:07:00.006-05:00

Thought I'd share something that got me thinking.

I know, I know, it's yet another infrequent post by me. I dunno, but blogging is this fickle thing for me for some reason - feast or famine...

Anyhoo, just got a message from a client that I submitted a demo for that they are deciding to pass on me for the bigger project. I mentioned it to someone, and got the response:

"Oh, that just sucks - you must feel dejected!"

...

To tell you the truthI didn't feel that bad - I got to do something that I quite enjoy, got some experience under my belt and learned some lessons.

I didn't quite agree with the feedback, but hey, that's what music is all about - it all hinges on personal expectations and taste. Sometimes two peoples' visions don't align, and that's cool

I took the "rejection" with some grace - thanked them for the opportunity, told them I had fun doing it (and I did), and mentioned that I had ideas on other parts of the project and offered any help if they were open to it.

On to other stuff - turns out they're open to other ideas and wouldn't mind hearing them.

All in all, not too shabby. Sure, it would have been good to land the gig, but who knows? By taking it all in stride and looking to the positives, the door is still open for something down the road, which may even be a cooler gig...

We'lll see!

Making Possibilities

2010-02-03T22:02:00.004-05:00

I doubt you'll ever be able to accuse me of wasting too much time keeping my blog up to date. Geez! December 1st of last year was the last time I was in here?

The impetus for this post you ask?

I'd like to think that it was all the things going on in my life at this point in time, but I think it's just the fact that I'm proctoring a mid-term exam and I'm bored...

Well, there are actually a lot of changes going on. Catherine's got a new position at the University, the house is going through some major renovations, and the boys are about to celebrate their birthdays. Chris is turning 10 tomorrow (big double digits) and Alex will be 7 on Friday.

All that, and with the new year starting not too long ago, there's been a lot going on in my mind - mulling over choices I've made in the past and what might unfold in the future - results of the choices I make.

Here's an abridged list of some of the values I and Catherine have worked to instill in the kids:

do and try your best at whatever you do
if you feel wronged by someone, at first, assume they had good intentions
talk nice, be nice
don't come to breakfast in a bad mood
...

... the list goes on. With all these "lessons" I also find that I sometimes have to remind myself of the values I'm trying to teach the kids.

I've been mulling over one of these "wisdoms" lately ... taking charge of your own destiny.

Not to preclude asking for help or assistance when you need it, but in order to make things happen, you've got to ... make things happen. Think of the "butterfly effect" if you will. Over the years, I've gotten more comfortable at being (respectfully) tenacious, but there are times where I have found that maintaining the status quo can get ... comfortable.

Over the past couple of months, it's been a mini-renaissance for me ... re-energizing, getting the word out, picking up the phone, pounding the pavement, re-connecting with people. Generally, trying to make more possibilities for myself.

It's not that I don't enjoy the work and clients that I've been dealing with - quite the opposite! I've absolutely love working with the folks I'm lucky enough to have on my client roster. I'm just looking for even more - more cool gigs, more cool people to work with, more cool sounds to make ...

Dividends from the efforts are starting to appear ... back to making some more ripples in the pond.

Canadian Audio Hardware Tech Support

2009-11-30T22:23:00.008-05:00

Some of you may recall that I started tweeting about my Presonus audio interface deciding to quit a couple of weeks ago.

Well, it's still sitting in my studio waiting to get fixed. I was thinking of replacing it, but then started entertaining repair options.

Of course, I contacted the Presonus customer service option on their site and got a fairly prompt response from them on procedures to start the repair process via a return authorization procedure. After a couple of emails, they discovered that I was from Canada.

I got directed to the Presonus distributor in Montreal... People down the street could probably hear my groan.

That was a week and a half ago...

I had a futile run-around experience with the Canadian distributor of M-Audio when my Delta 1010 interface on my PC started humming a few years back. I gave up and jumped to Presonus... {sigh}

If there's one thing that I find absolutely infuriating about moving back to Canada (after 9 years in the US), is that the very concept of customer service is seriously lacking! That's not a blanket statement by any means - there are companies that adopt good practices and treat their customers well up here, but there are a lot more companies I've run into that don't seem to willing to adopt any practices that might promote customer loyalty.

Now, jury is still out on whether the Presonus distributor will come through, but I've been sent to Long and McQuade with the assurance that they'll take the unit for me (they didn't) and numerous emails which each seem to have progressively more names added to the "CC" line have been flying back and forth.

My last two emails have fallen into black e-holes - and we don't have the American Thanksgiving to blame up here.

I just want a place to send the unit and get it fixed! I don't care who's supposed to do what nor who has an agreement with who ...

Why does a (up to a week ago) happy customer have to endure complicated and lengthy processes, explanations and delays to get a routine support task completed?

I have a couple more days of patience left I think, then I guess I'm going to have to postpone my monitor speaker purchase and put that budget towards a competitor's product.

... a product that doesn't require you to interface with their Canadian distributor!

A Seriously Appropriate Blog Title

2009-11-28T13:03:00.007-05:00

Just pulled up my news reader this morning and saw a post by my pal and co-host on Inside Home Recording entitled:

"Oh fuck"

I've known Derek for almost 2 years and listened to him on IHR for more than a year before I was invited to be a host on the show. He's got to be one of the most positive and clear-thinking people I know. The fact that he has some pretty severe cancer - you'd hardly know it to talk to him - makes everything about the world seem totally out of whack.

He's an avid blogger (at penmachine.com) and has been interviewed by the CBC TV and CBC Radio for his efforts to document his life online and preserve that record for future generations.

This is all so infuriating as I'm beginning to think that this is an extremely bad and poor taste re-run. A close friend of my family - someone for whom I had the utmost respect while growing up - passed away after his fight with cancer a while back. He had such a magnetic, happy personality about him. There was always a twinkle in his eye and you would never leave his presence without a laugh and a smile. It was a very, very sad day for me when I learned that he wasn't with us anymore.

Why does this disease always seem to affect those who make positive impacts on lives? Not that I'd wish to inflict pain on anyone at all, but when it comes down to "emotional analysis" ... it all seems so unfair!

Derek has been fighting this for a long time, with some successes and some drawbacks as well. I wish there was something I could do to erase his burden or at least shoulder a bit of it. He's been going through many different treatments and operations that have thrown his body out of whack. I can't even begin to imagine what he, and his family are going through

What I do know is that he's still got a positive attitude while fighting this damned disease with everything he's got.

If I were a bettin' man, I'd be all in on Derek.

What Just Happened???

2009-11-21T00:55:00.003-05:00

A few days ago, my main concerns were:

applying enough sunscreen
making sure the kids didn't get caught in the undertow
keeping little hands from touching sea turtles...

We arrived back from Maui last Wednesday morning (2:30AM to be exact). The morning of Tuesday, we were swimming in a pool in 80+degree, sunny weather and then that evening, returned to rainy weather and a temperature that was less than half of what we left.

A scant two days later, I find myself having driven four hours along Highway 1 in the dark (light faded at 4:30PM) and find myself in a small town in the middle of the Rocky Mountains named Princeton for a hockey tournament.

For peet sake! I was literally wearing two pieces of clothing (not counting flip flops) three days ago, and now, I'm packing multiple layers ...

After experiencing tropical island life for just over a week, I wonder whether my ancestors were oblivious to warmer climates, or were just plain lazy when they decided to emigrate from the British Isles...

Sigh...

I guess getting back to the regularly scheduled program can never be something that's gradual or forgiving.

Fringe Fans!

2009-09-10T22:41:00.005-04:00

Well, coolness happened in our neighbourhood today (and tonight). The House on the next block - we can literally see it out of our window at the back - was being used for an episode of Fringe.

The entire main cast was seen - Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv), Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson), Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble), and Philip Broyles (Lance Reddick). I brought the kids over to watch what looks like the final scene of the episode this afternoon and we got to speak with Joshua and get a pic with him - very nice guy - even asked how the kids liked their first day of school. No idea what the episode is about, but Joshua said that it's #7 this season - we'll be watching as always!

One other cool surprise was that we had Dr. Bishop's infamous station wagon parked out in front of our house too.

It's amazing that they can actually pump these episodes out so fast given what seems like such an inefficient process. There are tons of trucks and equipment around, 40-50 people milling around on the set and they seem to spend a lot of time doing ... stuff for perhaps 1-2 minutes of "action" per hour.

Regardless, it was cool to have all this happen in our own back yard - fun stuff!

Hello? Hello?

2009-08-28T23:44:00.003-04:00

Wow.

Today, for the first time in a year, I talked on a phone at the back of our house without worrying whether the call would be dropped...

Since we moved back to Vancouver, Catherine and I have been trying to use just our cell phones as our primary (and only) means of voice communication. Well, Catherine has a desk phone at her office, but that's beside the point.

We haven't had a "land line" in our house for over a year.

We thought, "Hey, our cell phones should be more than enough. We're in the midst of a large metropolis and what do we really need a land line for?"

Okay, well, here's the list:

Even though we're in a well-established neighborhood minutes from downtown Vancouver and UBC, unless we're on the front porch or up in the master bedroom, a call to or from our cell phones will undoubtedly get dropped. And, we're on two totally different plans with two differenct carriers (Telus and Rogers) - no difference.
How the heck do you actually send and receive FAXes easily? Sorry if that seems like the dark ages to you, but some businesses up here in Canada still insist on electronic document transfer via 1980's technology.
911 and the kids - we pretty well have to make sure that anyone babysitting the kids has a cell phone or leave one of ours if we go out. Plus, if something were to happen to one of us, would the kids be able to 1. find our phones and then 2. be able to place a call reliably?

So, yeah, now we have an old-fashioned land line. Well, not so old-fashioned, it's with Vonage, so it's only "old fashioned" up until the little orange box that converts my silky voice into 1's and 0's.

I'm okay with that - at least I still have my cell, although, I don't have to hesitate calling people back in fear of appearing rude and having the call dropped...

My Vacation in Southwestern Ontario... so far

2009-08-02T19:14:00.004-04:00

Well, the fam and I are three days into our vacation in Ontario - back to visit friends and family in the midst of some tourist-type activities...

So far, so good. The weather has definitely been cooler - it was 104 degrees Fahrenheit in Seattle when we left and 38 degrees Celsius in Vancouver the day before - freakin' hot. We got here and were tempted to drive on the QEW to my parents' place with the windows down instead of using the air conditioner!

We've seen grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins - all the good stuff so far - Niagara Falls was yesterday and tomorrow, we're off to Toronto.

Some personal noteworthy observations about the trip so far:

I didn't have to turn on my iPod once on the plane trip - someone was good enough to program the "Watchmen" and 3 episodes of "Flight of the Conchords" on Air Canada!
It seems as though Ontario has some odd Metric conversion going on - 100 Km/h speed limit seems to translate into a minimum of 130 Km/h....
Pedestrians seem to be a lowly lifeform here (approaching how they're viewed in Montreal) - I found myself yelling at some dude in a Pontiac Sunfire while crossing the street with my family - I almost had the heels taken of my shoes after my son and I stepped out of his lane.
Speaking of pedestrians - walking anywhere tends to be snickered at. You can't get anywhere in the "Golden Horseshoe" (who thought of that name anyway?) without getting into a car.
"Service" has, so far, translated to mean to treat customers with disdain and contempt, taking their money and hoping that they never want to come back into your store / restaurant ever again...
An "Alternative Rock" station I hit seemed to be, at least to me, classic rock with a bit of Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden sprinkled in for "modern" taste...

Funny being a tourist again in the "yard" where I grew up. It's cool to see the familiar as a bit unfamiliar. Looking forward to seeing old friends and relatives again! I'll see what I can post down the way...

He's not MY "boyfriend"

2009-06-30T11:33:00.006-04:00

Late Night TV

Catherine and I watch late-night news most nights - and we typically watch CBC's The National ... mainly because it's the only decent one on at 10:00. Okay, we'd probably miss any news show we tried to watch at 11:00 because we'd fall asleep.

It's a little bit stodgy and sometimes, when the news cycle for the day seems to be quite dry, going to bed early will definitely be the best option - CBC is not the best at creating filler or fluff pieces.

The nights that we actually do get to the end of the broadcast and get to see the flirtatious jibes between Peter Mansbridge and CBC's "senior meteorologist", Claire Martin, we get our ten minutes of local Vancouver news and then...

It's "The HOUR" with George Stroumboulopoulos (put that name on the back of a hockey jersey). The Hour is the only Canadian late-night talk-show and I gotta say, the show itself seems to be able to book a lot of great talent. BUT, I don't think I've ever been able to watch the show for more than five minutes...

I don't think it's the late hour and it's definitely not the fact that there are so many other fantastic shows on at the same time (ahem) ... but I have to admit, something about Georgie just makes me want to turn the TV off.

Some of my complaints:

He tries to be funny with little skits and impromtu stand-up-like routines ... and to me, it sounds as though even the audience is being threatened to at least force their laughter.
He talks WAY too fast.
He comes off as being ... immodest - I have no idea why he would have a big ego...

I think the thing that seems a bit grating about the show is that someone at CBC (don't know if we can entirely blame George) is that he's been officially labeled as "Canada's boyfriend".

"Your boyfriend is next after your late local news."
"Tune in to see your favourite boyfriend tonight..."
"Hello there, it's me, your boyfriend, and on tonight's show..."

{shiver}

I don't know about you, but I have trouble seeing how I'd be attracted to George.

He does have a show, seems to be famous and well connected, so I guess there's that going for him, but really ...

George Stroumboulopoulos: a sex symbol?

Am I out of touch with what others see as attributes that contribute to a man being attractive or desirable?

I don't know, maybe I AM turning into a cranky old geezer.

Synth Memory Lane...

2009-06-16T11:01:00.010-04:00

Ahhh... Nothing better than a little trip down gear-from-the-past memory lane.

This latest episode was brought to you by my upcoming segment for Inside Home Reocording. I'm planning to do a "Synthesizers 101" bit - getting into some basics on theory and practice behind subtractive synthesis.

I'll probably be touching on other kinds of synthesis (granular, wavetable, additive, physical modeling...), but subtractive synthesis is probably the easiest and most popular form of synthesis to cover. Plus a lot of the "downstream" aspects of subtractive synthesis apply to other forms as well.

Back to the post subject. As part of researching this, I was trying to find a soft-synth out there that was:

a subtractive / analogue model,
FREE and
available on both Mac and PC platforms

Surprisingly, there were more than just a handful when I did a search on KVR. I unearthed a fantastic candidate from Togu Audio Line called the U-NO-62. It's apparently a model of the Roland Juno-60 built back in the early '80's.

Finding this soft-synth was awesome on a couple of levels:

The Juno 60 was a simple synth with a single"ish" oscillator and fairly intuitive controls - so perfect for demonstrating a "101 Basics" thing with.
It was the predecessor to my very first synth - the Juno-106 - which I spent HOURS on back in high school. It had a similar layout and controls as the Juno-60, but also had this new-fangled thing called MIDI on it as well.

... which brings me to memory lane... {ahhh...}.

"To all the synths and gear I've owned..."
Come on everyone, you know the words!

Alright, I'll spare you the nostalgic crooning, but I'll indulge you with a shortened, abridged version of the trip down memory lane of gear I've owned and sold over the years...

Soon after investing in the Juno-106, I went on to acquire a Roland TR-909.

That led to getting my first MIDI cable and ... well, the rest is history. I started doing some rudimentary recording with two tape decks and a couple of RCA splitter cables. Very time consuming, but hey, I was a teenager with time on my hands. We didn't have the Internet back then folks!

When I went off to music school at Western, I thought I needed to upgrade, so like any budding gear-slut, I haunted the local music store in Ottawa (Steve's Music) and lusted after the latest and greatest (at the time): Ensoniq's ESQ-1.

.... {drool}

It had 3 oscillators and 8 multitimbral voices! Woo Hoo!!!! To boot, it had an on-board multi-track sequencer which was the kicker!

Having this little baby around made me realize that I was a Music-Theory geek. I spent hours trying out stuff we'd learned in Theory classes - trying to apply to different styles of music and whot-not.

A couple of years later, the next shiny toy came out: The Korg M-1

This was just a killer synth at the time - a lot of the same concepts that the ESQ-1 incorporated, but it just sounded ... fantastic. So, back to the sell-your-gear-to-finance-the-upgrade cycle.

Soon after that, I decided to go to B-School at Mac and sold the M-1 to finance my next "toy" - a shiny 386 33MHz PC. Woo Hoo! Boy, that thing had 4 Mb of memory and a 80 Mb drive - killer!

The rest is sort of more recent history, but it took another five or six years before I'd start marrying the PC-geek and the Music-geek who were just itching to hitch up. I went out and bought a Korg N264 along with a copy of Cakewalk Pro-Audio (version 5 or 6 I believe).

That's where the downward spiral to today begins, and THAT is where I unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your perspective) have to end this before it gets way too complicated and rambling....

Music Technology & a Few Sucking Sounds ... Part II

2009-06-14T22:21:00.008-04:00

In my previous blog entry, I mused about the possibility that Music Technology itself may contribute to a "suckage" factor in today's music. This mental excursion was the result of listening to Joe Chiccarelli in an interview on Electronic Musician's monthly podcast where he stated that he felt that the low barriers present for artists to record, produce and distribute their music has deteriorated the overall quality of music you hear on radio these days.

Well, I must say, I've had a lot of great response both on my blog and on Facebook (I have my profile pick up my blog and post it as a note there...).

I wanted to touch on one more thing before I let it rest - give a bit of a real-life example that I came across that frustrated me a bit.

For those of you who know me, or tune into Derek and I on the Inside Home Recording podcast, you'll probably have heard me mention that I've been teaching a theory course at the Art Institute of Vancouver.

I'm about to mark the second of two assignments for the term. Their first effort was good overall, but there were a few instances where folks were ... well a little TOO reliant on technology. I'd asked them to piece together a "song" using stuff we'd covered in class: 8-bar verse, 8-bar chorus. Be as simple or complex as you want. I gave an example of what I was looking for too...

I got some interesting stuff back, but I think the most irksome bit was getting back stuff that was printed off Logic and other notation modules from DAWs that were ... unplayable as written. I asked these folks to at least play me what they were thinking and found it to be quite simple.

There were odd double-dotted 64th rests at beginnings of bars, sixteenth notes tied to dotted 32nds over bar lines... some of these scores were simply unreadable. What they'd done was play their creations into a DAW with a click, look at what came out on the screen, added in chord analysis as I asked, and pressed print.

Interesting, I thought ... why would these folks - and they're all intelligent young dudes (and a dudette) - not go ahead and double check to see if their work actually worked out? They've shown me that they understand notation rules and the like to be able to verify the validity of their work. Was it laziness? Were they pressed for time?

Maybe. But I also feel, now looking back on the first assignment, that these kids rely so heavily on technology to finish their music and put that "special sheen" on it, they don't find the need to even question what comes out the other end.

The next class, I gave them a half-hour primer on how to actually go into the piano-roll in conjunction with the score view and use tools such as quantization to line things up, stretch notes out so that what you get something that will be playable by a musician.

Regardless, I changed up the second assignment to force some good old fashion pencil sharpening and thinking ...

Modern Music Making Tools = Increased Suckage Factor?

2009-06-12T18:54:00.005-04:00

I was just listening to the latest Electronic Musician podcast which contained an interview with Joe Chiccarelli - Producer / Engineer who's worked with The Shins, U2, My Morning Jacket, Tori Amos, Beck...

Mike Levine asked what his opinion was of the impact of recording technologies available out there now for everyone have on recordings these days. He had some interesting comments that got me thinking one in particular was him lamenting that although there is a larger volume of artists out there getting attention, he felt that the quality of music coming out these days has gone down - both from the songwriting/structure and the overall sound standpoints.

Got me wondering if I agree or disagree.

In the end, I think I have to be on both sides of the fence.

One the one hand, I absolutely love the tools that are out there now. There's a ton of flexibility, and ease to which you can work on music projects and produce things in a bedroom at relatively low cost.

There are a lot of great artists getting heard with the low barriers now. There are also a lot of folks who are not necessarily musicians being able to create music now.

A lot of barriers are getting broken down and there is a TON of diversity out there - which I find great!

On the flip-side, the low barriers also does produce its share of ... kr@p too. Joe lamented that now-a-days there is a lot of mixes coming out that try to emulate what FM Radio sounds like - getting back to the loudness wars debate - where everything seems to have no dynamic range whatsoever. Charles Dye and company have been outspoken proponents of bringing dynamics back to music.

I also thought - well, what about the actual music itself? What's going on there to facilitate the "suckage factor" these days.

With all these tools out available to pros, semi-pros and amateurs alike, a lot of variations on representing music - whether it be performance information in the form of MIDI or recorded information in the form of digital audio waveforms - conforms to a grid-like paradigm.

You start a new project in Logic, Sonar, Garageband, CuBase etc. and you're presented with grids - time, measures, beats etc. along the top and your tracks along the left-hand side. Usually, you're not proficient in all the instruments you'd like to add to your creation, so you have synthesizers and samplers, but if you're not a keyboardist either, then you have LOOPS!

Loops have become a staple in a LOT of music you hear these days and they're usually found increments of one, two, four, eight... bars. You drop these into your creation and bada-bing, you're ready to move on to the next part.

All this grid / pattern stuff, at least to me, seems to promote a "laziness" on the part of the artist sitting behind the screen. There's a system ... a formula if you will ... that home recordists, semi-pro and even pros succumb to in constructing their creations.

Listen to a top-40 station and try and find something that contains something that deviates from a formulaic 4 or 8 bar phrase. It's pretty hard.

I guess, what I took away from this personal brain fart was that I need to try and step away from the tools and create music with ears - come up with things that don't easily fit into the formulas - shake it up a bit. Folks worked like this 10-20 years ago and there was some GREAT stuff.

Don't get me wrong, next to Catherine and the kids, music technology rocks. I just think the next project I create, maybe I'll start away from the things that require power and have those shiny, flashing lights...

My Toys Suck

2009-06-08T20:24:00.005-04:00

... well, that's what my son said in not so many words.

I just bought and am in the process of configuring and and setting up a Network Attached Storage device on our home network - copying files over, setting up backup programs to talk to it...

My son walks in and asks what I'm doing ...

"Playing with my new toy" I tell him.

It's black, it's shiny, it's got cool lights that are blinking.

He asks what it's for and I try to explain that it's so that we can keep our data in a centralized place AND have it on redundant/mirrored media.

Before I finish, I can see his eyes glazing over ... his hope that it's some sort of cool new Star Wars device from Toys R Us dashed to oblivion.

It's then that I wonder ... when did my toys start to adopt this ... "boringness"? Maybe next time, I'll bundle the optional lightsaber, holoprojector option with my electronic shopping cart...

Mystery of the Lost Tooth

2009-06-04T12:52:00.003-04:00

Our little guy Alex, lost his tooth a couple of days ago.

He wanted to save it for show and tell today. He got up this morning and put the tooth in a little carrying case (shaped like a tooth) and strung it around his neck to bring to school.

Well, as you can probably guess from the title of this post, just before going into class, we discovered the carrying case hanging open and the tooth missing.

We took a look around the playground and ... sigh ... didn't find it. Well, it's a playground with woodchips ALL over, and a bazillion other kids were playing at the same time, so chances were pretty slim of finding it.

On the way home with Sam, I found myself in a very deep discussion about why the Tooth Fairy would most likely still be able to "re-imburse" Alex for his tooth ... even though the said tooth was not going to be in the, ahem, agreed-upon location: under the pillow.

I found myself wondering how much of this she'll remember. I'm pretty sure that Alex will - after all, it was his first tooth.

Chris is now at the age where doubts have surfaced and he gives little winks and nods at the mention of different holiday and special characters quite regularly.

It'll be interesting to probe their memories in the next few years and see what sticks and what doesn't.

I'm only hoping that these memories aren't the catalysts for future therapy sessions ...

Parent Break is coming to an end...

2009-06-03T13:20:00.004-04:00

Just looked on the calendar and saw that our daughter's last day of school is next week!

ACK!

The boys get out of school a couple of weeks after that, but geez, it got me thinking ...

Has anyone ever done a study on the amount that summer break loses it's luster and appeal in relation to your age / amount of kids? Is this an inverse direct relationship? Is it linear, logarithmic? Am I the only one who wonders this?

Oh, don't get me wrong, I still look forward to it and love being outside - especially on awesome days with the kids - swimming, biking, playing in the park .... it's going to be a blast.

I'm thinking of the lame-o things that us loser adult types start to elevate as priorities - sleep, mowing lawns, fixing stuff, typing on a computer in a cafe (ahem) and ... oh yeah ... work.

I mean, what's up with that? We spend our entire childhood getting pysch'd up for holidays and summer vacation, then when we're teenagers, we're slowly introduced to the "summer job" and once you leave school - it just gets the "oh never mind - you're a responsible adult now" treatment.

I'm thinking it's got to be the biggest bait and switch scam out there! Why do we do this to ourselves and our kids?

The solution? I don't know - until summer holidays are mandated by governments, perhaps we should do away with all this negativity around childhood labour just so that we can let our kids down easier as they get older.

I'm just sayin... ;)

Am I sounding like a broken record?

2009-06-02T14:00:00.004-04:00

I've been listening to a LOT of different music these days - I have to admit, consumption of new music has become a habit ...

It's been a condition of mine for a while, and I don't think it really has any real serious side effects - well, except if you count my kids requesting songs such as "Balls to the Wall" or "Crazy Train" once in a while.

The new bands coming out today are fantastic! I mean, stuff like the Silversun Pickups, Metric, Phoenix, Band of Skulls, Patrick Watson... I'm having a blast listening to them.

I'm also expanding the jazz collection - picking up classics from Herbie, Miles, Chet...

However, just this morning, I went ahead and found my music selection on my iPod fall onto AC/DC for some reason.

Back in Black came up.

I haven't listened to Back in Black all the way through since high school.

Dang, what a brilliant album - the song sequence fits, the sound is amazing - great tracks from beginning to end.

Derek and I have discussed this online with others a lot before - how music from your youth really resonates with you. But, I don't know there IS something fantastic about this album that is so much different from the ones out these past years.

What makes a "classic" album? What's going to be a classic album from the 2000's in the next 15-20 years?

It'll be cool to see.

Hockey Morning in ... West"ish" Vancouver

2009-03-12T17:26:00.004-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, while at Chris' hockey practice, a couple of the other parents started to suggest that I write a "theme song" for the hockey team.

This came about because the team has been chosen to be featured on CBC's Hockey Night In Canada sometime in the spring.

Someone (I forget who) said, "we should have a theme song for the kids". Which led to ... "hey, you do that creative kind of stuff don't you? What do you think of writing a tune?"

Well, to make a long story short, I've been seriously working on the tune and it's kinda coming together. Don't know if they were joking around, but I'm running with it. I even lugged out Catherine's laptop, an audio interface, a pair of small diaphram cardioid mics, mic stand and cables to Chris's game last Thursday to record the kids yelling their team name - among other things.

I'm not kidding when I say, these kids can yell! I had to bring the gain back down to less than half of where I'd done my own personal sound checks...

It's starting to grow now. I've got a section where there's this two bar "catchy" sing-along bit ("uh, uh, uh, uh, ohhhh...!") where I'm thinking I might start to solicit help from some Internet audio-geek buddies out there to provide more fodder for a "gang vocal" thing.

Anyway, so far, it's been fun, and it's starting to take on a life of it's own - eating up spare time and the like. I'm even finding myself obsessing over lyrics and melody lines.

What started out as - oh, this won't take more than a couple of hours, has grown to taking a bit more than a week... so far.

I think I'll have to start imposing a deadline before long. More to come!

The 30 (no 31) albums meme

2009-02-24T23:34:00.007-05:00

I HATE memes. I really do, but I have to admit that being tagged by Derek on this particular subject got me thinking and... well here we are...

Think of 25 (sorry, I couldn't whittle down below 31 - even then I felt like I was cutting off a limb...) albums that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life or the way you looked at it. They sucked you in and took you over for days, weeks, months, years. These are the albums that you can use to identify time, places, people, emotions. These are the albums, no matter what they were thought of musically, that shaped your world.

When you finish, tag 25 others, including me. Make sure you copy and paste this part so they know the drill. Get the idea now? Good.

Star Wars Soundtrack - John Williams
(probably the first album I bought on my own)
The Dream Police - Cheap Trick
(first rock album I bought)
Back in Black - AC/DC
(god, memories of middle school flooding back...)
The Wall - Pink Floyd
(ditto with above)
Moving Pictures - Rush
(move to London Ontario - grade 8 - I've owned this on two cassettes, an LP and CD ... now ripped into MP3 - high quality of course!)
Thriller - Michael Jackson
(didn't everyone pick this up back then?)
Freeze Frame - J. Geils Band
(Centerfold - grade 8 - puberty ... need I say more?)
Synchronicity - Police
(like, who DIDN'T own this album and wear it out?)
1984 - Van Halen
(Eddie plays an Oberheim ... my connection with hard rock)
5150 - Van Halen
(grade 13 and summer before university - plain and simple)
Songs from the Big Chair - Tears for Fears
(grade 11 written all over this in my head)
Rio - Duran Duran
('k, I was dating a John Taylor groupie back then...)
Dream into Action - Howard Jones
(wore this album out - grade 12 and 13 through and through)
Appetite for Destruction - Guns 'n Roses
(I can still remember the night I first heard Sweet Child o' Mine on the car radio ... blew me away)
Boston - Boston
(got me through a summer job)
Pyromania - Def Leppard
(they hit it big with this one, but still had that pent-up energy - can still remember playing this over and over at a pool I worked at - must have driven the regulars nuts)
Scenes from a Memory - Dream Theater
(still cannot get enough of this work - priceless)
Emerson, Lake and Powell - Emerson, Lake and Powell
(no, not Palmer ... Powell - remember seeing the video on MuchMusic with Keith surrounded by 20 keyboards ... woah, that guy is wild, I have GOT to get this album)
90125 - Yes
(my first exposure to Yes ... it all went downhill after this - I've lost count of how many albums I have from them!)
Pornograffitti - Extreme
(got me through a summer clerk desk job...)
Welcome Interstate Managers - Fountains of Wayne
(there are still easter eggs and ear candy I find in this album - pop songwriting at its' best)
So - Peter Gabriel
(remember waiting to see what "Big Time" would look like when released on MuchMusic)
Version 2.0 - Garbage
(the model of late '90's pop sound)
Genesis - Genesis
(probably their peak with just the trio)
Flying in a Blue Dream - Joe Satriani
(when Joe actually started to sing - such diversity through this album)
Metallica - Metallica
(couldn't get enough of this CD)
Dream of the Blue Turtles - Sting
(you either hated the new sound or you loved it ... stuck with me)
Bridges Over Borders - Spoons
(their "rock" / change of direction album post Nile Rogers - grade 12/13 through and through - Catherine can't believe I have this in iTunes too!)
Fumbling Towards Ecstasy - Sarah McLachlan
(I think this was her peak - so far - she's just hitting what's now become her monotonous sound, but there are still things from days of Solace and Touch)
Commitments Soundtrack - The Commitments
(Catherine and I spent a lot of Sunday mornings listening to this)
Sleepless in Seattle Soundtrack - Various
(When I Fall in Love - NKC version - was what Catherine and I chose for our 1st dance tune - listened to this album pre-wedding almost every day)

Facebook & "My" Stuff

2009-02-17T12:41:00.005-05:00

There's been a lot of hullaballoo about the recent update of Facebook's Terms of Service legalese. This was brought to my attention a couple of days ago by a good friend who has since closed out her account on the site.

Her departure from Facebook will definitely be missed as she had posted a lot of interesting mental fodder that was enjoyable, albeit (as she put it) non-productive, time online.

The uproar is appearing in a lot of different places - people ranting over their expectations of privacy and ownership of content being violated.

Now, Facebook has backpedaled and gone back to its' original terms of service. Mark Zuckerburg posted this earlier today. Now, the universe has righted itself after the voice of the people made a big roar - everyone is safe now... Everyone owns and controls their online content yet again.

Not to be cynical, but ... DUH - come on people!!!

I don't know about other folks out there, but my online mantra is:

Anything I put online can NEVER be guaranteed to remain in my control.

Any email, blog post, twitter, forum comment, music clip, photo or movie I, in one way or another, move from my hardware onto the Internet - I consider it to be out of my control.

Seems like common sense to me.

Technology has made the dissemination and consumption of information so much easier than it used to be. Back in the olden days, when I was a kid, plagarizing a book for that school assignment involved actually hand-writing, word-for-word the text from a page. Having a copy of your friends' AC/DC album involved actually recording, in real time, the entire album to tape.

These days, copying, manipulating and/or forwarding on someone elses' intellectual property takes a matter of seconds.

It's the Internet ... if it's out there, I consider it to be out of my control - no matter what the terms of service are.

The Facebook kerfuffle took a more ominous tone in that people were up in arms about a clause from their revised TOS that stated:

The following sections will survive any termination of your use of the Facebook Service: Prohibited Conduct, User Content, Your Privacy Practices, Gift Credits, Ownership; Proprietary Rights, Licenses, Submissions, User Disputes; Complaints, Indemnity, General Disclaimers, Limitation on Liability, Termination and Changes to the Facebook Service, Arbitration, Governing Law; Venue and Jurisdiction and Other.

(There - I actually just copied that in a matter of a second... ha!)

I, personally, was not surprised nor offended by this. I'm not paying for my use of Facebook (and I don't consider the ads on the right-hand side of the Facebook interface - which I have long since ignored - to be an "inconvenient" form of payment), so why would I trust or even expect them to look after my personal interests?

I don't know about other people, but I consider it to be a bit naive to think otherwise.

Come on, stop it... it's embarrassing

2009-02-06T15:36:00.002-05:00

Every so often, when there's nothing else to do or watch later in the evening, I'll watch the CBC's "The National". There's a segment that our eloquent host, Peter Mansbridge brings up every now and then, a segment called "Your Turn". It's a very small bit where he'll read off a couple of comments from viewers who have written in about segments aired on previous episodes.

I've asked myself, on a few occassions: "Who actually spends the time to write in?"

Well, I found out who - I actually went to the site, digged up the submit form and wrote in. Here's what I wrote:

"Please stop playing to the insecure, whining Canadian stereotype. It's really quite embarrassing.

Being a proud Canadian who lived in the United States for 9 years, I can tell you that yes, Americans do like us, and there are some who admire our way of life. We're just not at the top of their minds all the time... nor should we expect to be.

The Canadian media (that includes you, Peter and Rex), needs to get over the fact that the United States does not share your exaggerated sense of self-importance. Take a cue from the at-issue panel last evening who, at the least, all seemed to view the agenda for the Obama visit with rational eyes rather than snubs to petty, jealous delusions of grandeur."

What prompted this you ask?

Last evening, the burr in Peter's bonnet was the newly released schedule of Barak Obama's visit to Canada on February 19th. With a few peppered references to Canadians being "snubbed", the main thrust of the commentary for the evening wasn't the fact that this is Obama's first foreign visit as President nor that this could be a great opportunity to put our best foot forward with a new administration, but rather the fact that the visit is for less than 6 hours without {gasp} any expected pomp and circumstance.

The injustice!

The travesty!

He's not even going to address Parliament, stay for a state dinner or even bring Michelle and the kids along!

How rude!

{rolling eyes}

It was Rex Murphy's rant that put it over the edge for me. I hate to generalize, but why is it that Canadians (actually, it's mostly the Canadian media) have entitlement issues when it comes to the United States and Americans? There always seems to be some sort of cup-is-half-empty mentality when it comes to any interaction between our two countries. There's some sort of misplaced sense that Canada and Canadians are not much more important and proper than our southern neighbours.

A decade ago, this didn't really bother me, but after living amongst our American neighbours for a few years, I got a good chance to see Canada from an outside point of view. Don't get me wrong, I love being Canadian and am the first to admit I'm proud of the country I call home, but comments like the kind Rex Murphy made make our country look like a spoiled little brat.

I can not, for the life of me, see any high horse other Canadians seem to feel they are perched on. Please get down, you look stupid up there.

Turning Tables

2009-02-03T00:18:00.002-05:00

I know, I know, it's been a while since my last post...

I've been frickin' busy already!!!

Ever since the first week of this year, I've been teaching a class at the Art Institute in Vancouver. I'm teaching second quarter music theory.

I have to admit, I'm actually quite enjoying it. It's taking up a lot of my time preparing, but it seems as though everything is going well. The guys (and 1 gal) in my classes are a great bunch - all seem to be quite receptive and interested in the topic. Well, as interested in theory as you can get.

The quiz I popped a couple weeks ago yielded some great results - either it was too easy, they all cheated, or I'm actually doing a great job. I'm holding out for the last option!

While it's going well, there is a bit of "weirdness" in the position. There's that student-teacher wall that although I remember being there as a student, it took me a bit off-guard as I wasn't really expecting it.

You know, it's that being-friendly-but-not-"friendly" kind of thing. Being in a position of "authority" isn't really new to me - I've been a dad for ... almost 9 years now, and I did do the management thing, but this is different somehow.

There's those furtive glances when I walk past students in the hall, or that silence or quieter voices as I pass a group from class. It's not like I'm itching to be "one of the gang" and all that, it's just that I never really thought about being on "this side" of the coin.

I'm just taking it all in and chalking it up as one more of my experiences in my life.

He's not even President of my Country...

2008-11-05T14:57:00.001-05:00

... but dang! I can't help but feel good about things today.

Watching the election coverage on TV last night was probably the best thing I've seen on the screen in years!

I remember watching Obama's speech at the Democratic national convention when he first came on the national scene and getting this inkling that there was something there that was different, fresh and empowering about him.

Every morning I pump in the morning show from KEXP (an awesome indie station in Seattle) to the kitchen and the rest of the house. This morning was just the same - the DJ, John is obviously quite pumped about the results of the election as well - as evident from the playlist of the last hour.

I can't quite put my finger on it, but he's got this way about him and delivering his message that has a calm, welcome comfort that your trust is drawn to. After last evening I'm excited for the future of America and what the impact of that future will be on the world stage.

Watching the coverage last night also made me a bit envious of the American political system in a couple of respects:

I'd love to be able to vote seperately for the person who is going to represent our country - he or she may be different from the party or person I'd vote for to represent my riding.
I admire the respect that Americans have for the office of the President. There's none of that here - although, it does make the Prime Minister seem a bit more approachable, but then again, that also feeds into a perception that the office of the PM isn't so ... important.

I guess Trudeau might have been the closest we've had to an exciting PM... Maybe one day, we'll have our Obama.

Chris popped down last evening to get tucked into bed just as Obama was about to hit the stage. We had him up with us to watch the acceptance speech. His initial reaction, once it was over, was: "it was pretty boring". I can definitely see where he was coming from at his age, but instead of doing the obvious "you'll remember this moment a few years down the road" schpeel, I went with him to bed and chatted a bit about what he just saw.

We talked a bit about two of the more prominent things surrounding this point in history - the fact that Obama is the first black President and, more importantly, that he brings a sense of hope for the US. We chatted a bit about one of the messages that he touched on in his speech - listening to and understanding people you meet without any prejudice.

I let Chris try to explain, in his own world-view, what he thought of that. He was very eloquent in applying that thinking to his own experience: how it's good to talk to people and find out why they have different ideas on how to do things - he was using a groupl of friends deciding what to play at recess as an example.

I love finding these little nuggets of wisdom from my kids. It's funny... even though he's got a textbook knowledge of the concept of racism and it's roots in American society, he definitely doesn't see skin colour as a differentiator in people. I wish people could hold on to that innocent view of the world.

He knows that he's "half-chinese", but I uncovered that he hadn't really thought about what that meant, or even cared about what made up "the other half" of his heritage. My favorite quote of the night:

"What's caucasian mean?"

"That's what I'm refered to as."

"And mommy's Chinese."

"Yeah."

"... I don't think you're different at all."

"That's a pretty awesome observation."

"Yeah, I like knowing a lot of people and getting to know what they're like. Everyone has their own ideas and it's more fun to have lots of ideas to use than just one or two..."

I'm glad it was dark, 'cause I think I had a little tear welling up...

When it Rains...

2008-11-04T12:57:00.004-05:00

Dang! What's been going on? I obviously haven't had enough time or inclination to sit down and write a post!

Can't really pin it to anything earth-shattering. Just been busy as heck with kid activities, other family stuff and whatever I can get done with Hatched Productions when I can.

I'll be the first to admit, that this "blog" isn't the top of the priority list, but I guess I'm sort of in this phase of cleaning a few things up right now. Catherine kindly reminded me that I hadn't updated the familychick.com website for almost a YEAR. I couldn't believe it'd been that long! It didn't help that my admin PC (which hosts the local templates and files for the sites) went all wonky. I have no idea what happened, but XP got corrupted and I had to do a quick install of another version to get the files off of it. It's going to have to be squashed down and rebuilt from the ground up I'm afriad.

Now, I can't really complain, but I've got a heck of a lot of projects on the go now. I just finished a gig for Trav - he threw four three minute spots at me last week. With the kids schedule and Catherine's work, I only had a few hours each night to really work on them. Now, I'm on to working with a great trio who are doing a tribute to the Andrews Sisters and want to hire me to create backing tracks for the their gig. That should be fun.

On top o' that, I've got my keyboard parts for the CaPe challenge at The Womb and I'm kinda trying to write a tune for the song challenge at the Home Made Hitshow. It's supposed to be a song that incorporates a girl's name - don't know if I'll use a proper name, but rather do something against the grain and use a name that rhymes with "itch".

Other than that, I'm looking forward to meeting a guy on Friday for a possible teaching gig at the Art Institute. We'll see how that goes.

Gotta go pick up Sam from Art class. More later...

A New Holiday Proposal

2008-09-23T12:46:00.003-04:00

Big, freakin' sigh...

Well, not only did the calendar confirm it, but come September 22, in Vancouver, the weather did as well:

It's autumn.

From my point of view, the next few months up until February are interesting and then, well... {snore}

So, you've got Canadian Thanksgiving in a couple of weeks, then there's Halloween, then American Thanksgiving (gotta think about that with three little Americans in the house ... and the football on TV) and then there's Christmas and New Year's. Pile in all the remaining birthdays (Catherine in November, me in December and the two boys in February) and it's a pretty jam-packed section of the year.

I don't really count Valentine's as besides some possible gifts and flowers, there isn't really a day off to put the day over the top... ;)

After that, up until possibly Easter, it's kind of the doldrums... You've got cold season (and I ALWAYS seem to catch a doosie these past few years) and it's hit and miss on the weather and doing stuff outside.

It's an all around, unequivocal, no-doubt-about-it ... DRAG. I mean, what happens? What gets done? Who is actually working at more than half speed until spring comes along?

I'd like to propose a "parent's day" holiday. Or better yet, right after March break, how about a "Parent's Week"? Time off for any adult with kids under the age of 12 complete with child-care for the week.

Put this week in the middle of March, and I'm pretty darn sure you'd boost productivity, GDP and whotnot between January and March to more than off-set the cost of child-care and time off.

I gotta go and crunch the numbers

Music & Memories

2008-09-02T21:31:00.004-04:00

Ahhhh... it's been a while since the last post, but it's been a busy summer...

Well, I'm not one to casually quote cliche sayings, but I've recently had a couple of moments that would fit into realizing that music you listen to

- especially in your teenage/early adult years - is ...

wait for it...

the soundtrack of your life...

There, it's out - it's tired, it's overused and I was loathed to admit it, but I guess there's something to be said about these cliche sayings.

I started thinking about this just this evening as I was tending the barbeque. I'd sort of randomly selected U2's "The Unforgettable Fire" album from our music collection and while listening to it, all these memories of grade 11 came popping back through my head. It was odd how they were all triggered. I hadn't thought of a lot of those people, places and things for ... ages...

The same thing happened a couple of weeks ago when I was listening to Uzeb's "Noisy Nights" album. Very distinct and long-forgotten memories of 2nd year at Western kept popping into my head.

It happens on more recent music purchases as well - like listening to The Mooney Suzuki's "Alive and Amplified" brings back vivid memories of Sam's birth as that's what was playing on KEXP in Seattle on September 15th early in the morning...

I'm thinking, over the next few weeks, I'm going to be selecting quite a few more of my "older memories" to be played in our house...

The Great Balancing Act

2008-08-05T12:06:00.002-04:00

Summer's coming to an end. Kids summer camps are coming to an end too.

Then they go back to school ... well sort of...

Chris is going into grade 3 and will (obviously) be there all day.

Alex and Sam will be going half-days and will be going on opposite halves of the day. It just happened to turn out that way...

I guess it's all part of the "progressive", left-leaning thinking out here. Kids under the age of 6 are apparently not supposed to be in full-day school / care. I thought it was odd in Ontario, but compared to the 'States, Canadians seem to really cling to the idea that coddling their children at home is the best thing.

I definitely agree that spending a lot of time with your kids creates a great bond and has some unbelieveable satisfaction for parents and kids, but I think there's a point where some time apart benefits children as well. I've seen quite a few children here (of course, none of our friends' children!) who don't have adequate social skills when with other children and who also have a very low educational baseline.

There were children entering grade 1 in Chris's class who barely knew their ABC's and basic mathematics! Chris was starting to read Harry Potter and had begun basic division shortly after starting grade 1!

I look at Alex and he's entering kindergarten knowing how to read and do some basic addition and subtraction. Sam's has a year to go before entering kindergarten and she's already reading four-letter word stories!

I don't know what it is, but it seems as though Canadians don't have a very high expectation of what kids are able to achieve with not much effort. We're not, by any means, partents who push their kids or pressure them to participate / excel in activities at any cost.

But I digress...

I look at the kids' schedule and then at what I'm trying to do ... set up a new business, make contacts, land some gigs and score/complete jobs - in the midst of drop-offs and entertaining/mentoring/caring for two pre-school/kindergarteners...

Sam and Alex can be self-sufficient at times, but not in blocks of two-three hours during the days. We'll figure something out ...

Balls in the Air

2008-07-22T17:31:00.002-04:00

It always seems to happen no matter what my best intentions are. I get freakin' too much going at once!

Here we are, just three or so weeks in Vancouver - almost the end of July - and I'm wondering where the summer went. One day, it was the end of school, and we were on a plane out west and then, here we are about to move into our house, which, back in June, seemed to be MILES away!

On top of taking care of the move and the kids schedule, I'm trying to squeeze getting two feet on the ground with respect to Hatched Productions!

I've already got a bunch of folks I've begrudgingly had to put off getting back to. I've been trying to touch base with some composers in town to pick brains about the industry here as well as possibly collaborate with. There are some potential leads that have come in through some contacts I have made and there's this agent/agency that's looking like a perfect fit!

All this happening at the same time! Don't want to complain about the raining=pouring thing, but I also hope I can be mindful of all the balls in the air and keep them up there!

Dreams and ... Songs in my Head

2008-07-18T12:09:00.003-04:00

"Weird" is the only word I can think of...

Maybe it's just a "Freaky Friday" post.

Weird in that I've been having really vivid dreams the past few weeks.

It's not that I have them every night or never had them before, but they seem to be happening more frequently that they used to.

I don't remember them all, but I do wake up remembering that I had a dream ... and usually I remember the fact that a LOT happened. The little gears in my mind were stuck in high during the wee hours of the night.

Last night, I seem to recall snippets of a situation where I was under the impression I was still a teenager in Ottawa (although none of the landmarks were from any city I've been in) and I was riding a bike along the Sea Wall (which is actually in Vancouver) to get to a large pool to swim laps (haven't swum laps for exercise for a LONG time).

A lot more happened in this dream, but I can't remember what... The only thing that I can connect in these dreams is that they're all different and they have nothing to do with what I've been doing / thinking about the past few weeks: kids and moving in...

The other odd thing I'm finding is that I am waking up with songs in my head - not necessarily good ones either! This morning, I woke up with the theme song to the "Big Comfy Couch". I was tempted to whack my head against the wall until the song was out of my head...

I'm thinking the song thing might be a symptom of not having a studio to work in. I've been "composing" music in my head without any way of trying it out ... might be that kind of "frustration" that's causing my mind to play cruel tricks on me.

I attribute it mostly to Tony and Dave over at the Home Made Hit Show. They're running a song challenge "contest" of sorts. You've gotta write a song that incorporates "Summer" in it by August 10th. I came up with a pretty cool idea that I'd like to get down and I've been putting it all together in my head - getting things ready for when we move in and I get my studio back together. I THINK I may have enough time to lay down some tracks and record it... We'll see.

What a Difference...

2008-07-17T12:10:00.006-04:00

WOW, what can I say?

I'm being a bit of a broken record here, but geeze, I think this town is working out just fine.

Can't complain about the weather either! It's been sunny and warm for the past two weeks and that doesn't seem to be changing in the future...

I'm really talking about the climate of people / business here. I've been here three weeks and I've connected up with a bunch of local composers and potentially landed 3 music-related gigs!

I signed in and looked through the GCFC's site a couple weeks ago after updating all my contact info there. I did a quick 'n dirty search on composers residing in the lower mainland. I looked over a few sites and picked a dozen who looked as though they'd been doing well for themselves and sent out emails to each of them.

Within a week, I'd say I'd gotten 10 responses to my request to have a coffee / chat about the industry. I did the same thing back east two years ago, and didn't have nearly the success.

I've met one of the composers so far and he even invited me to come to an orchestral recording session at the CBC studios here. Not to mention, he referred me to some other local cats I might want to get in touch with...

On top of that, we're finally in to our new place ... well sort of. We've got the painters there right now and the floors are going to be done next week. We move in on the 26th...

BUT, I do have to say, it's nice to actually be able to freely go in and out of our new place!

Canada's 141st

2008-07-01T10:26:00.004-04:00

Almost two years ago, we moved back to Canada from Seattle.

I started a post back then (that's still in draft form) that I was trying to compose as an analysis between the two countries based upon my personal observations...

I kept on adding and deleting things from it, but never got to post it... I touched on everything from milk in bags (that's how they sell milk in Ontario) to health care to where you can get your wine and beer in either country.

I was reminded of this attempted post this past week as I've been contrasting life on the west coast against life in Toronto.

Here are a few things I've noticed over the past couple of days:

The people in front-line service are very friendly and chatty here! I've encountered employees at the drug store, grocery store, restaurants, you name it who go WAY beyond the cursory "How are you today"s...

Case in point - I almost had to drag the kids out of the local grocers after the cashier noticed we were buying Mini Wheats with Indiana Jones "prizes" in it. A movie critique ensued complete with opinions on why Harrison Ford should have hung up his whip after the 3rd Jones movie...
There are way less blondes here. We went to a number of playgrounds and a pretty popular pool and when looking around, I couldn't help but notice that blonde hair was indeed the minority.
My tattoo is not the novelty and subject of odd looks and stares that it used to be out east. I'd say that the number of dad's AND mom's around that have "ink done" approaches about a third or half of the peeps I saw. And I'm talking about middle to upper-middle class neighbourhoods here.
People actually stay in the city on the weekends and holidays! Catherine and I went out a couple of times in Toronto to the lakefront and were floored by the absence of people on a beautiful day in the Beaches. We tried taking the kids down to a few of the beaches in Vancouver yesterday (that would be a Monday afternoon) and we could not, for the life of us, find a spot to ditch the car and get out to walk.
A drive along surface streets is actually enjoyable. I drove the kids from the Science Center to UBC yesterday - which is a pretty long way. The streets are well labeled, the main roads are wide, cars stop for pedestrians and drivers actually know how to merge. Things seem to move at a more relaxed pace, but they also seem to move more efficiently for some reason.

I'm sure I'll find more "comparisons" in the near future, but just some of the interesting observations I've come across in the odd brain fart I've had...

We Made It

2008-06-28T17:10:00.002-04:00

Well, we made it.

We're out here on the west coast. I watched our house leave in a couple of containers on the back of a semi on Monday and we all flew out to Vancouver Wednesday evening.

Poor Chris got picked up from school on Wednesday and we drove to the airport from there. Poor little guy - he was really a strong little dude on the playground saying bye to some great friends he made. The cool thing is that he's been able to already email them all (multiple times) since we got here. Alex and Sam seem to be taking it all in stride and I think Catherine is very glad to not have to commute ever weekend anymore!

We saw the new place today. It's definitely smaller than the house in T.O., but not as small as I inferred from Catherine's descriptions and comments. She admitted to purposely trying to set expectations lower... ;) The current owners are still in there, and I wouldn't be surprised if they were now regretting accepting our offer after having our three little tornadoes in for a quick look-see.

It'll be a while before we're in there. Our stuff won't be here for another couple of weeks and the place doesn't close until the end of July. We'll be getting it painted and the floors done before getting in, so we won't be getting in until at least the 28th. Meanwhile, we're at Catherine's parents place.

Kids + Pool = Hours of Entertainment

2008-06-24T13:25:00.005-04:00

Yesterday, our house got cleared out.

We're now the proud owners of an empty house and a bunch of other stuff that's locked up in a couple of containers on the back of a truck.

For today and tomorrow, we're staying at Catherine's brothers' (Uncle Kai) place. He's got this little 4 foot deep octagon pool (about 10 feet from side to side) that the kids are just loving!

Got me wondering when I changed from loving being in the water even though my lips were blue and I was shivering to a "parent" who's always trying to suggest we get out and get warm. Of course, my suggestions were consistently vetoed.

Back to the first point - empty house. Geez! It's really odd and a bit spooky to walk through a place you called home when it's transformed into a echo-filled cavern. Walking through empty rooms brings back a lot of memories.

You'd think that having all our "stuff" there would do that, but, at least to me, it seems as though the absence of any furniture or whotnot, (and probably the impending move) brings back a whole raft of experiences. We're going to head back one more time to look through before getting on the plane tomorrow.

Speaking of being at Uncle Kai's place...

Before I figured out what the password for Uncle Kai's wireless access point, I found 2 out of 4 available WiFi connections in the neighbourhood were not locked down.

I dunno, I GUESS the chances of some malicious hacker driving by and getting into my connection for nefarious purposes are probably pretty low, but I, personally don't want to tempt fate there.

Maybe the new "tiered" or pay-as-you-go services being proposed south of the border may be a bit of a kick in the pants for folks to lock down their access points.

Oh well, off to Vancouver tomorrow! More later.

Wiiiiiiiiii!!!!!

2008-06-23T08:45:00.002-04:00

We got our Wii yesterday!

Mom and Dad presented the kids with the Wii at Uncle Kai/Aunt Nicole's place yesterday. They hosted a going-away party.

After everyone left, we set it up and played until the kids started whining about needing sleep. ;)

What a blast. This is the first video game platform that I think Catherine can actually get into as well!

I can't believe how small the box is too - it's not much bigger than a protable DVD player.

So, of course, it only comes with Wii Sports, but that'll change quickly soon. Guitar Hero World Tour is coming out soon - that'll be the next on the list me thinks.

Ho Hum...

I'm waiting for the movers to arrive. Catherine has the kids over at the playground after dropping Chris at school. The house is in boxes.

The only thing still connected is the phone. I reluctantly disconnected the Internet connection last night, but remembered that there are a couple of unsecured WiFi points at neighbours' houses around here.

After they left, I dug out the laptop and ... bada bing, bada boom ... Back in action! So this'll do me until the the battery dies... ;)

Damn it! Dora is Back...

2008-06-22T07:39:00.003-04:00

After a couple of successful months without having to hear that annoying "Backpack" and "Map" songs or the chorus of "Swiper, no swiping, Swiper, NO SWIPING!"...

Sam, out of the blue, requested to see Dora the Explorer again (there's a Wiki page for everything these days ... low standards).

We have been letting the kids watch TV on the weekends and each have a few requests for what they'd like to watch. Sam had started requesting other shows and not watching Dora (to the absolute delight of myself and Catherine ... not to mention Chris as well). So, we took the show off the PVR recording schedule.

We've been enjoying a whole host of other shows that, I'm sure with time, could become just as grating as Dora - Toopy and Binoo is a show that's first on the list of quickly getting there. We were REALLY hoping that Dora was a phase long gone in the rear-view mirror.

{Groan} No such luck...

The only saving grace is that this is the last weekend with the PVR. We're going to be staying with Catherine's parents for a few weeks before moving into the new place, and we'll see if that's a bit of a distraction from their regular routine. They've got a PVR too, but I'll be sure to see if I can "sell" some other options for their weekend viewing... ;)

Moving

Speaking of last weekend with a favourite piece of technology, I broke everything down in the studio last evening. That means, we are pretty well completely packed. :) I backed up things on hard drives in triplicate and have padding for everything.

It was a solemn evening - only to be revived by a two hour session on RockBand with Catherine. We've almost completed our quest to get five stars on every song. Those last Iron Maiden and Metallica tunes and a couple others are still our nemisis on hard...

Boxes are everywhere. Things are taped up, labeled and ready to go. It's really odd living in this kind of transition period. I really can't wait to get roots settled down.

I think this'll be the last post before Vancouver. So farewell to Toronto and hello west coast!

Been a While...

2008-06-19T18:40:00.002-04:00

Yeah, yeah, yeah...

I've been AWOL for a week or so. It's been packing, packing, packing man!

I can't really take credit for all the organization around here - that'd be Catherine. I was planning to pack up my studio today, but my pal, Travis, sent me a couple of files last evening wondering if I could lay down some tracks.

Sent him a "boy are you lucky you didn't email tomorrow" message and got to work last night and today. I sent him off some tracks that I think might work - we'll see what he says. If it's good, then I'm a-packing away...

On another note, found a cool product called "Autosampler" through a post on The Womb. It'll go through your hardware / software synths and sample them into Logic's EXS|24 sampler. This is cool, cause, I've been essentially staring at my synths for the past couple of months wondering when / if I'd be using them like I used to.

Logic has made using soft-synths so easy, that it's been so painful to even think of trying to record hardware synths anymore.

Plus, me thinks the sale of these synths after the fact will more than justify the price!

Well, maybe another post before the move...

Hockey Night in Canada

2008-06-09T05:45:00.003-04:00

So, I'm a member of the Guild ... the Guild of Canadian Film Composers.

It's a great group to be a part of - supportive and has a few seminars and such that are educational and/or showcase members' work.

I wouldn't say that they're in the same league as the Screenwriters Guild down in the 'States - there's no union or collective bargaining aspect to the organization, although they do seem to add their voice and opinion to some topics.

The latest thing to come across the Guild's listserv is the spat between the CBC and Dolores Claman regarding the failed negotiations to keep the traditional "Hockey Night in Canada" theme.

The "sitch" of it all, from what I can gather, is that now that the negotiations are officially ended, the CBC wants to run a competition to search for a new theme. The proposed "jackpot" is a $100,000 with any royalties being donated to little league hockey.

Now, a thread has been started expressing some concern over what the CBC is doing, but I can't really see what the big fuss is about...

I've seen a couple of arguments:

This will become a precedent for future contracts between producers/directors and composers - stripping composers of their traditional ties to ongoing royalties.
This is yet another example of "devaluing" composer's work.

Now, getting past all the sentimentality that surrounds the theme song and all, I, personally, don't see a real problem with what's going on. The CBC is proposing a way to replace an iconic theme song in what seems to be an open manner - using a competition that is non-exclusive and probably very public. The added bonus is that Canada's national sport - little leaguers get a financial boost.

I haven't really seen any other arguments but the above against this, but from my perspective, to the first point, this doesn't set any precedent at all - it's a competition - they all run like this. From the American Idol songwriting competition to the art contest on the back of Fruity Loops - you relinquish any rights to your work when you enter a competition.

I can't see this as a precedent for producers to keep royalties to themselves - if some producer comes along and holds that argument up, then they can go through the legal and administrative hell of running the competition too...

To the second point - devaluing composers work? There is no "minimum" standard or qualifications one has to possess to write music. Who are "we" (Guild members) to judge that someone with an aspiration to write a theme song and and submit their work to be scrutinized is any less qualified to try their hand at this?

If you're talking about the financial aspect of it, then, again, what are you talking about? The Guild's own salary survey from 2005 shows that less than 10% of commissioned themes for broadcast media fetched 20% or greater of the "jackpot" here. Even if you are giving up royalties, you'll be hard pressed to get a better return on investing the jackpot...

I find the whole "devaluing work" argument a preposterous entitlement mentality! Get over yourself and put your money where your mouth is.

As you can probably gather, I don't really have any qualms about the way the CBC is proposing on how to run this, but rather the whining of a few fellow members.

Merits of Yoga - According to me

2008-05-28T11:12:00.003-04:00

I go to Yoga class once a week...

I can't help notice the disproportionate ratio of men to women in the classes ... but hey, that's not the point of this post, nor is it the reason I go.

...

My regular workouts at the gym consist of some weight training, and a half hour on something that gets my heart rate up in the 120-130 range. And, then there's the shower and such afterwards.

Where's the fun in that I ask?

In the last class I was attended, I was contrasting a yoga class to a "regular" gym workout. Let's see...

With Yoga, you start off getting "centered" (they call this "Dhyana" or meditation)- essentially sitting and thinking of nothing but breathing like Darth Vader ("Ujjayi")- very calming ... I caught myself murmuring "ohmmmm" the other day.

Then, you get into either putting your body through stretching contortions, endurance or balancing poses that can hurt like bloody hell.

But, you suck it up, pretend you're still centered and wait for the sweet, utopic numbness to settle in just before you're asked to untangle yourself and wrench your body in some other position you never thought it could get into let alone keep in for another 2-5 minutes.

After about 45 minutes of this, you get to lie down on your back and rest - they call this "Savasana", but all I can think of is when I was in pre-school lying down on mats on the floor for an afternoon nap. I actually think I dozed off one day... hope I didn't snore.

You finish it all by sitting cross-legged with your hands together in front of your chest and murmuring "Namaste" - which I believe is a form of thanks.

By this time, your body has recovered to a point where the muscles, tendons and other sundry body parts start to feel quite good.

When I think about my "regular" workout, I'm just putting my body through pain right from the get-go and all I get afterwards is a shower in the men's locker room...

With Yoga, I get calmed down, put my body through pain, have a nap and mumble words I don't really know the meaning to ... then have a shower.

So for the same amount of time, although I don't get my heart rate up, my body still gets battered, but I get a NAP! How can you not think that's cool?

After Yoga, I feel relaxed. I feel open. I feel rested and refreshed.

I just wish they'd supply coffee to keep me from walking into doors in my post-yoga daze.

Little Boy in Heap O' Trouble

2008-05-26T12:32:00.005-04:00

Ooooooooooo boy,

One little boy in our family is getting the tough lovin' treatment today!

After a half week and weekend of being home sick and recovering quite nicely yesterday, Alex decided in the car, just outside his school that he STILL didn't feel well.

This wasn't one of those "oh, I'm feeling kind of hot, I can't eat much and I'd like to just lie down and rest" kinds of things. That happened LAST week.

This was a "Hey, that was pretty good last week - I got to stay home, play with ALL the toys and get pampered! ... Let's do it AGAIN!" - all complete with tears and hysterics in the back seat as we were pulling up to school.

I was NOT amused - especially after a whole day and morning of running around like nothing's wrong.

He's eating lunch right now, but I think re-considering his decision as I made it pretty darn clear that he's going to be doing the same thing he did this morning after he's done eating:

NOTHING

Nothing but resting in his bed with

no toys,
no talking,
no TV
... nothing.

And guess what he gets to do when the other two come home from school today?

Week ???

2008-05-26T05:49:00.005-04:00

I've lost track of which week it is for me being Mr. Mom. It's all a big blur now... Catherine's left and I'm typing this while listening to the latest CBC Radio 3 podcast with Grant Lawrence - always a good alternative listen to the live KEXP feed which seems to be comprised of east Indian music - which I'm not really in the mood for at this hour in the morning...

I'm selling a couple of pieces of gear out of my trusty rack on Craigslist now - a Lexicon MPX 1 (the black/blue thing at the top) and my Emu Proteus 2000 (the black thing at the bottom with the grey knob). They get turned on every morning, but I've found that I don't really use them at all anymore.

You gotta love Craigslist!

From an aesthetic point of view, the whole thing just sucks, but it's all text and is so efficient. Not much in terms of bells and whistles, but it works and it works really well. I've shied away from eBay lately as I find it so much less hassle to sell stuff locally - you get pretty well the same price, but it's quicker and you don't have to worry about shipping or anything like that...

I do have one beef with Craigslist "buyers" - I should qualify that - those people who troll the electronics / musical instruments pages. You get a bunch of people who assume that you're desperate to get rid of your stuff and they come back to you with "I'll be willing to take it off your hands for {insert less than half your asking price here}".

It's hard to keep from hitting reply and banging out a snide PFO email with details about how I don't REALLY need to get rid of it and that I've researched the going market prices for the item and please don't waste my time with a stupid offer like that...

Instead, I just send back an email with the asking price less a dollar...

Then, when you're selling musical instruments, the majority of your offers are barters or trades for other gear from, I'm assuming, starving musicians who can't scrape together enough cash... - I made sure that I inserted a sentence in my posts that stated "NO TRADES PLEASE".

We'll see how it goes... I hear the patter of little feet...

Long Weekend Recovery

2008-05-20T06:07:00.004-04:00

I can't say that it was a great long weekend, but then again, I can't say that it was bad either.

Catherine was back for more than 2.5 days - that was good. We did a lot of things - ROM, Science Centre, playgrounds (indoor and outdoor), saw some friends...

The weather sucked - that was bad.

What the heck is wrong with the weather on the May long weekend around here??? I remember being a kid and it ALWAYS being the first awesomest weekend that kicked off the countdown to summer break. It gave you a reminder of what summer was like - a taste of the heat and sunshine to come.

This weekend, it was grey and generally moist the whole way through - oh yeah, and hitting the 'teens in Celsius was lucky.

Start of Week 6

So here I am again - 6:03 AM on the clock. I've been up for almost 2 hours already again. So what's on tap this week? A bunch of little projects - next IHR segment, a song I've been working on and zipping up a couple of cues for a director.

Okay, little feet are tip-toeing around upstairs... They seem to have settled back down - realizing that it's still a bit too early to be "morning time".

Found this link on a forum I frequent called the Womb. I'm pretty sure that if these were real, they'd be selling like hot-cakes.

Talking about online forums... I've been a member of a few recording, songwriting, composing and the like forums for the past few years - occasionally posting and responding to posts.

There was a post I made on one of the forums that I re-read a couple of days later and had this moment - "hmmm.... that might have come across the wrong way..."

Something that's been at the back of my mind - what do I "sound" like to others on the forum? I can't really help but apply some sort of (probably arbitrary) personality and sound on others who post based upon their writing style and comments. I wonder if others do the same and, if they do, how does my prose translate into a personality to them?

I've been told that I write quite similarly to the way that I talk - people who've met me in person have said that they can clearly "hear" me when they read my words. That being said, what do I "sound" like to someone who hasn't ever heard me speak?

Okie dokie, sounds as though some little girl is up now... On to the week...

Let's Get the Band Back Together Dude...

2008-05-16T13:47:00.002-04:00

So, I found a flyer in the mail from the Sony Store down the street - for some reason, they're calling themselves "Sony Style" in some odd, almost unreadable font... whatever.

They're holding a Rock Band "event" in their store where ... "you can challenge our in-store staff for prizes".

It's a total scam to get you into the store ... I know ... but I'm in hook, line 'n sinker.

I'm trying to convince Catherine to get into it. We've had her brother and wife over a few times and gotten quite good - most of us play at the "Hard" level. I'm sure my brother-in-law would be all over this, but it's our respective spouses, who I don't think would be quite into it...

Ahhhh ... what to do?

Starting a New Project

2008-05-14T08:03:00.003-04:00

Dunno what happened yesterday, but all the kids slept in! I got up about 7:20 ... by myself for once ... and Sammie got up. Then I had to wake the two boys who were sawing logs at 7:50...

This morning was a different story. All three little feet were active at 6:45. Sheesh!

Cool tidbit from this morning. Was listening to KEXP via the 'net - it was around 7:00 AM, so 4:00 in Seattle and the DJ put on "Mimi on the Beach" by Jane Siberry! Like holy ___, I hadn't heard that song in like eons! I emailed him sending some kudos for not only playing some Canadian content, but something from way out in left field from the I'd-forgotten-about-that archives. He emailed back and said he'd been on a Sibbery kick for the past couple of weeks and actually acknowledge my email on air a few minutes later... heh.

Anyway, starting a little project for my pal in Seattle - Travis. He and I have been collaborating on his films for almost 3 years now. He and I seem to have this awesome rapport.

Lately, he's been doing a lot of commercial shoots which are definitely different from film, but also regular and come with budgets!

This time, he's working on some "super secret" project with a Hollywood screenwriter and has asked me to score a short 1.5 minute clip that I gather is going to be the calling card for the screenplay / film. Can't get into any details about it, but he's given me carte blanche ... a blank page. He's essentially given me complete control on sound / kind of music, where it goes, what have you... He TRUSTS me with it all ... silly boy!

Well, Crap! Where to start? It's not from lack of ideas or anything, it's the process of self-imposing boundaries and getting down to work.

I think I've got a good idea of the sound and spotting for the scene - which is a good start... now to see what comes out of the muse this morning...

The "Hump" Week

2008-05-12T06:06:00.002-04:00

Well, here I go, almost at the top of the hill... Catherine just left for Vancouver and we're starting week 5 of 10 without Mom.

I'm sick again. The cold conveniently started on Friday evening and thru Mother's Day to today... I guess I can't really be surprised as I've been sort of burning the candle at both ends and being a little too optimistic about the temperature outside. hmmm... Regardless, just a bit stuffed up and tired.

Man! What a weekend - little Alex is a bike-riding monster! Saturday afternoon, I took off his training wheels (with some protest), ran up behind him halfway up and down the block ... TWICE ... and then he was on his own! Starting and stopping by himself!!! It's like he's been riding for months!

Now Chris is much more interested in riding his bike... hmmm... ;)

Embarrassment...

2008-05-08T18:21:00.005-04:00

Okay, so the kid in the picture really has nothing to do with this post, but I thought it was funny...

Right now, I'm listening to Daft Punk's Human After All album ("Robot Rock" just came up) and reflecting on the week while the kids play a bit before bedtime...

I dunno whether or not I should be concerned about a conversation I had with our 8 year old this week.

I've noticed the past couple of weeks, when I've dropped him off at school, he hasn't really been as affectionate as he usually is when he's off to school. I usually walk him into the yard and then give him a hug and kiss goodbye. This past week, he's been reluctantly giving me at least a hug and doing this nervous giggle when I give him a kiss.

I asked him what was up at bedtime a couple nights ago.

"I'm a bit embarrassed to give you a kiss in front of my friends."

....

I hope I didn't let on that my heart hit the floor with a gigantic thud right then and there.

We chatted a bit about it and decided that we'll do quick, stealth kisses instead. As I left his room after a bit of a snuggle, I couldn't help but keep on thinking about the incident:

When was it that I started being "embarrassed" to give my parents a kiss?

Was I older or younger than he?

How'd my parents react to that news?

I know he's a very affectionate kid and also quite confident around his peers, but I guess we're coming to the age where standing out from the rest of the crowd starts to become taboo. I remember those kinds of feelings and dilemmas: "What will everyone else think???"

You lead two different lives - one with your family and another in front of your friends... at least for a while through the pubescent years and then something happens...

You feel comfortable being unique again.

Rediscovering Music from My Past

2008-05-05T16:20:00.002-04:00

On the way home, I decided to click on some tunes from my iPod that I hadn't spun in quite a while ... the Shuffle Demons!

Man, I haven't heard these guys for a while (that's the fun of filling up a 60Gb drive with music ... so many choices). I remember being in sweaty little dives in London Ontario watching these guys. It's a hoot what they can do with three saxes, a bass and kit.

Classic lyrics:

Spadina Bus (Spadina Bus)
Spadina Bus (Spadina Bus)
Spadina Bus (Spadina Bus)
Spadina Bus (Spadina Bus)

I say get on the bus (get on the bus)
Yeah, right on the bus (right on the bus)
Right on the bus (right on the bus)
The Spadina bus (the Spadina bus)

Ain't no school bus (ain't no school bus)
Ain't no streetcar (ain't no streetcar)
Ain't no subway car (ain't no subway car)
The Spadina bus (the Spadina bus)

I want confirmation on my information about my transportation from Spadina station
(We want confirmation on this information on the transportation from Spadina station)
Gimme confirmation on my information about my transportation from Spadina station
(We want confirmation on this information on the transportation from Spadina station)

Well, I start to cuss on the Wellesley bus
And you can't go far on the College Street car
You know the Yonge Street train is a real pain
And the LRT—for that's not for me
Well, you can't have fun on the York U. run
And the Ossington trolley is just a big folly
Well, I don't give a damn ‘bout the Bathurst tram
So I'll make a fuss about Spadina Bus

‘Cos on 77B (77B)
On the TTC (TTC)
Yeah, 77B (77B)
On the TTC (TTC)
Well, 77A (77A)
I guess it'll be OK (that's OK)
But I want 77B (77B)
On the T-T-T-TTC (T-T-T-TTC)

Hey, check it out

I went down to the station
I didn't scream or fuss
I didn't have lots of patience
Waiting for that bus
Dug deep down in my pockets
To try and find some coin
But much to my chagrin
All I found was my groin

Hey!

(Sp-Sp-Sp-Sp-Sp-Sp-Sp-Sp-Spadina Bus) The Spadina Bus
(Sp-Sp-Sp-Sp-Sp-Sp-Sp-Sp-Spadina Bus) It's raising quite a fuss
(Sp-Sp-Sp-Sp-Sp-Sp-Sp-Sp-Spadina Bus) Just wanna get on the bus
Sp-Sp-Sp-Sp-Sp-Sp-Sp-Sp-Spadina Bus

Holy Frick! We Bought a House

2008-05-05T05:50:00.006-04:00

We just bought this place in Vancouver.

It's in the "Dunbar" area. I've been to the area a few times, but really don't have a true appreciation for the nuances of the different neighbourhoods of Vancouver.

Catherine was pretty excited about it - she's the only one who has actually seen the house! :) She was going on about how it's close to the "Point Grey" area and all that which from what I can gather, is a good thing.

It's apparently going to need a bit o' work - new kitchen and some electrical stuff done. The basement is unfinished and ripe for building out a studio! (bwa ha ha ha!!!), but all in all, we can fit in there.

It was a bit hairy last evening as our agent phoned us just after he discovered that there were going to be five offers presented to the owners. After putting the kids to bed, I discovered Catherine downstairs at the FAX/printer with a phone to her ear looking a bit frazzled. We quickly decided what we needed to bid on the place and phoned our agent back to let him know "the plan"...

We initially had sort of convinced ourselves that we'd lost the bid as we've been in these multiple bid situations before and know that some people can be quite crazy with their bids to get a place. We hadn't gone beyond our game plan or anything like that, but weren't prepared to go to ANY lengths to get the place.

He went in at 5:30 (PST) to present the offer and gave us a call back at 7:30 with the news that we'd got the place.

I really think that we were in total shock (and still are). We sincerely thought we were out of the running and had already started preparing a contingency list of available properties for Catherine to check out this week...

Anyway, she's now preparing to visit banks and such shopping around for nice 'n tasty rates for the financing - every point off prime counts baby!

More later...

Week Three...

2008-04-28T06:02:00.006-04:00

It's 6:00 in the morning and I've been up for one and a half hours already... another early start to the week with Catherine leaving at 5:30 to catch the early morning flight to Vancouver...

Start of week three with me and the kids!

Going to Try out a New Approach

After listening to the Fountains of Wayne last evening, I got this "Ah-HA" moment. I'd posted previously about my aversion to writing lyrics a couple weeks ago. I've been labouring over writing lyrics to music I've been playing around with in my head. Things haven't been flowing very well - writing about these "lofty" kinds of things.

The guys in FOW are phenomenal songwriters - catchy tunes, great hooks, lyrics... - songs that I enjoy to listen to. I started listening to the lyrics (since that's been one thing I have been trying to actively do these days) and found them to not necessarily be these heavy-handed things in terms of subject matter. I mean, there are songs about a relationship being likened to "Traffic and Weather" another one about a Subaru car... pretty quirky, funny things.

I then started to think, well, why do I have to try and do something heavy handed? I don't necessarily have any expertise in that, plus, I'm not enjoying writing about that, so why not something that's close to my life? Quirky, funny... something I actually know about? Duh...

Now, to cull down the subject matter... :)

Online Presence

I'm listening to an interview of Derek K. Miller - the co-host of the podcast I've been part of "Inside Home Recording". He's talking with Nora Young on CBC's "Spark" program. They're talking about Derek's digital legacy.

He has been undergoing treatment for cancer and is facing the possibility of his life being cut short by the disease. He's been a self-described "geek" for a long time and has been blogging since the start of the century.

What I found quite revealing in the interview was the concept of what he and Nora were terming as his "digital legacy" - what happens to all the stuff that he did online when he's not around anymore. People concentrate on a lot of different things in writing their wills - mostly on material and monetary items, but what happens in this day and age to their lives they've lead in the digital realm?

Unlike "reality", a lot of what you do online can be kept and maintained ... if you keep up with it. It makes for a very interesting "what if" scenario. What if your ancestors had access to the technology we had these days and you could go through their online records, peruse their blogs, look at their IM chats, find other records about them? I'd think it'd be quite interesting. I never knew two of my grandparents, I just have odd tidbits my parents told me of them - beyond that level of my family tree, there are a few photos and official records that my dad has collected in his genealogy research, but that's it.

I don't really know what they were like as people. What'd they think of? What was their life like?

Besides using this as a communication tool and jotting down my (seemingly) random thoughts, I'd like to think that sometime in the future, someone may find it interesting or helpful to read through and get a bit of an insight into who I was, what I was thinking, what made me "tick".

I truly doubt it'll be some best selling memoir or what have you, but I'm thinking one of my future relatives may look at the branch/limb on the family tree with my name and wonder - who was that? ... and then be able to find out with a quick search.

Things that make you go hmmm...

Two Down ... Eight to Go

2008-04-25T18:15:00.004-04:00

I'm at the end of the second week as Mr. Mom.

I just responded to a friend about how it's going. I told her that it's not going too badly at all...

Refereeing three kids by myself isn't really too much of a stretch to tell you the truth as with me working at home, I've been doing a lot of the daily herding duties. It's just takes a little longer than when Catherine's around.

We chatted a bit about that last weekend - we concluded that the kids really see us, in terms of parental unit functions, as interchangeable, so having me do it all by myself isn't that much of a stretch for them...

Now, I think I'll fix myself a Mojito now that the kids are finished dinner and happily playing together.

Bad Influence?

I dunno if I should be concerned about this, but it seems as though our middle child is quite smitten by songs with ... questionable subject matter.

I have a fairly large music collection (over 60 Gb on my hard disks so far) and music is pretty well ALWAYS playing when I'm home. I also have Guitar Hero and Rockband for the PS2 my brother-in-law "donated" to us ... he didn't expect us to actually buy new games for it. Silly...

So, I've noticed that Alex seems to really like songs like: "Rock and Roll All Nite" (from Guitar Hero III), "Bang Your Head", "Balls to the Wall" (from Rockband) and now, "Stacy's Mom" (a song about a pubescent boy lusting after a classmates' mom) by Fountains of Wayne which I was playing this evening...

Stacy's Mom Lyrics - by Fountains of Wayne

Stacy's mom has got it goin' on
Stacy's mom has got it goin' on
Stacy's mom has got it goin' on
Stacy's mom has got it goin' on

Stacy, can I come over after school? (after school)
We can hang around by the pool (hang by the pool)
Did your mom get back from her business trip? (business trip)
Is she there, or is she trying to give me the slip? (give me the slip)

You know, I'm not the little boy that I used to be
I'm all grown up now, baby can't you see

Stacy's mom has got it goin' on
She's all I want and I've waited for so long
Stacy, can't you see you're just not the girl for me
I know it might be wrong but I'm in love with Stacy's mom

Stacy's mom has got it goin' on
Stacy's mom has got it goin' on

Stacy, do you remember when I mowed your lawn? (mowed your lawn)
Your mom came out with just a towel on (towel on)
I could tell she liked me from the way she stared (the way she stared)
And the way she said, "You missed a spot over there" (a spot over there)

And I know that you think it's just a fantasy
But since your dad walked out, your mom could use a guy like me

Stacy's mom has got it goin' on
She's all I want, and I've waited so long
Stacy, can't you see you're just not the girl for me
I know it might be wrong,
but I'm in love with Stacy's mom

Stacy's mom has got it goin' on
She's all I want and I've waited for so long,
Stacy can't you see your just not the girl for me,
I know it might be wrong but oh oh
(I know it might be wrong)
I'm in love with (Stacy's mom oh oh)
(Stacys mom oh oh)
I'm in love with Stacy's mom

There are other songs he likes, but he seems to gravitate to these ones - it seems to be for the actual music and grooves rather than the lyrics, but I'm wondering when he's actually going to connect the lyrics and their meaning together.

I'll just have to wait and cross that bridge when we come to it. ;)

What do Jedi's Eat for Breakfast?

2008-04-24T12:48:00.007-04:00

Catherine bought the kids toy lightsabers. I went and picked them up from the Purolator depot yesterday and surprised the little dudes and dudette when they got home...

They've been THE ONLY thing they'll play with since last night - had to be a bit firm with Alex as we wanted to sleep with his last night - it was definitely a little closer to his bed this morning. ;)

Sammie has a purple lightsaber - Alex is calling her Mace Windu - he's such a Star Wars geek a little dude after my own heart! She's been designated as the Padawan (Jedi in training) by Alex and Chris.

Apparently, Jedi's like to eat the same thing that my kids like to eat for breakfast - Fruity Cheerios. There, mystery solved....

I'm still the breakfast garbarator finishing anything that doesn't get done by the young "masters".

New Tunes

Just downloaded a new album by the "Flight of the Conchords". They're a parody band from New Zealand - sort of a cross between They Might Be Giants and Ugly Duckling. Very cool and funny stuff - they cover a lot of different styles and genres and man, their lyrics are a hoot!!!

A Kiss is Not a Contract - Flight of the Conchords

A kiss is not a contract
but it's very nice
yes it's very nice

Just because you've been exploring my mouth
Doesn't mean you get to take an expedition to the south

A kiss is not a contract
but it's very nice
yes it's very very nice

Just because we've been playing tonsil hockey
Doesn't mean you get to score the goal in my jockeys
Just because I'm in an acoustic folk band,
It doesn't mean I only want poon-tang
I can't go around loving everyone
I just wouldn't get anything done
Oh because...

I'm only one man
Baby
We're only two men, Ladies
Baby, oh pretty babies

Technology Sometimes REALLY SUCKS!

2008-04-23T11:07:00.002-04:00

I gotta go and get my eldest for lunch in about 10 minutes.

And, I'm in the middle of technology hell. I'm recovering files from my dead drive - most of them are coming through... I'm getting a replacement drive coming in the mail pretty soon, which is some comfort, but I still have a bunch o' stuff that's not coming off the old one. It's taken over 16 hours to try and go through the 4Gb I'm trying to eek out...

I'm going to go out after lunch and get yet another drive - I'm thinking I'll do the RAID thing with my data drives.

Grrrr... is all I can say. This is NOT conducive to all the cool creative things I was hoping to do this week...

To Pirate or not to Pirate...

2008-04-22T06:06:00.003-04:00

Last week, I posted on my Facebook status that I "was right pissed that my iPod disk had crashed". I found later that it wasn't dead as I was able to update it using Catherine's iBook. I concluded that there was something fishy with the front USB port on my Mac Pro as the data was coming from the same place (a disk on the Mac Pro).

Everything's hunky-dorry...

Fast forward to yesterday morning. Fire up the machine and I'm face-to-face with the gray Apple Logo on my screen for minutes on end. hmmmm....

not good.

Finally, the machine wakes up and my familiar desktop appears MINUS the "Music" drive (which is a partition on one of the 500Gb drives I put in the box).

not good.

I boot up Disk Utility, find the partition in the list and click on the trusty "Repair Disk" button. chug-a-chug-chug.

Found errors ...

Fixing errors ...

Your drive is good to go now!

Great! I open up iTunes and try out some of the tracks. Looks good... whoops, one doesn't play, then another, one more plays, oops, another one doesn't...

not good.

Fast forward through more trouble-shooting through the morning and afternoon trying to rebuild and transfer files to a "safe" location. I'm not entirely panicking as I have been exercising safe disk practices using protection and backups ... well most of the time.

That's what led me to downloading a demo version of a data recovery tool on the 'net. "How awesome!" I think. I can try this out and see if it can salvage the disk. If this actually works, I'll buy it, 'cause I know with all the hard drives I have, it's bound to happen again.

Well, it was a bit too much to expect - the demo version of the product WAS actually crippled and didn't let me do everything I wanted to see it do ... unless I forked out a pile o' cash ... which is non-refundable of course.

Now, here's the dilemma - what to do? I don't want to shell out some clams for the chance that this product might work the way it says it will. I have MOST of the data on a backup, but I'd like to at least try and get it all.

Well, as it turns out a simple search on Google containing the product name and "serial" comes up with a bunch o' hits to sites that publish serial numbers to software.

Wow! Should I? I DO intend to purchase the product if it actually works, but I can't really see if it works to my satisfaction unless I "crack" it which technically isn't ... playing by the rules.

Well, if I use the serial and it works, I'll definitely buy it, and then the company gets my money. If it doesn't work, well, I don't have a piece of software that has been put into the "Write-off" expense category.

So, I guess I'll let you know whether or not I bought a new software product or not later...

Man I SUCK at Lyrics

2008-04-19T19:39:00.002-04:00

I've lately been getting the urge to write songs again.

I go through these cycles when I'm in between projects.

Do I do some major maintenance on my systems?
Do I do some more acoustic treatment in the studio?
Do I learn how to use that new app I bought?
Do I play a video game?

A lot of the time, I still want to write music. I guess that's a good thing since that's ... what I like to tell people I do. :)

I've got a lot of ideas floating around - a lot of aspirations to tackle different things (write that symphony), try my hand at X genre of music...

The past week, I've been toying around with what's turning out to be a couple of songs that I'm simmering on the front burner.

AND, I'm trying to get them to be precisely 2:42 - found a link to this blog on IHR leading to a guy arguing that 2 minutes and 42 seconds is the perfect length for a pop song... {ahem}

So far, it's going great, at least that's what I keep saying. What I'm really doing is trying to put off the inevitable - writing lyrics.

I absolutely think that I suck at writing words to music. Mainly, I find it tedious and simply not enjoyable. That just is a death spiral for anything positive.

First off, I hardly listen to lyrics in songs - couldn't really give a hoot what the lyricist was writing about. Maybe on the 10th, 20th or xth listen, I'll try to catch a few phrases of what's being "said" and that'll be about it.

I get going with the arrangement, the harmonies, the instrumentation, the production, the melody ... all that stuff. I find that I like to pay attention to everything BUT the lyrics. And that's where I think part of my problem lies. I have no inspiration or drive to write words to music...

I started a couple of pages for one of the songs I'm crafting - it's got sort of a Coldplay vibe to it. I've been listening to the last three albums from the band and I'm REALLY trying to pay attention to what Chris Martin is singing about and see if I can some how absorb some sort of pattern and method to his lyrics, but, on the page, they seem just ... well, lame.

We'll see if the writing muse strikes next week...

Me and the Kidz

2008-04-14T06:20:00.003-04:00

Well, here I am - all alone with the kids still asleep upstairs.

Catherine left almost an hour ago (it's 6:21 according to the Rogers Cable box...). Thought I'd get up and make she and I a cup o' coffee before the cab arrived this morning. I just emailed her - she's at the airport already.

I should be hearing little footfalls upstairs sometime soon - watch this be the one day that they all decide to want to sleep in...

We SOLD OUR HOUSE!

Can't believe it - we didn't even go to market. Claire-Anne, the agent we went with, came into our place a week ago, was about to do the whole staging thing and all, then suggested she bring in some buyers she'd been dealing with before she listed. They were here on Monday, and worked to get their financing in order all week. Friday, they presented us with a super clean offer (no inspection even!) and we signed it then...

{whoosh of a tornado and then silence...}

Now, I've gotta coordinate movers and what else? Oh yeah, Catherine's gotta find a place in Vancouver. Details, shmetails...

Work Schtuff...

Well, this week, it's going to be a review of Reaper - suggested by a listener on the IHR forum. I've heard a lot about this app, but never really looked at it since it didn't support video, but this should be pretty fun to do - it's small (3.2 Mb), and launches damn quick!

My friend Reek Havok, emailed me yesterday asking for a couple of tracks for he and Alan White of Yes to use in a demo at a drum/percussion conference at the end of the month. They're going to be using sections of "Perpetual Change" off of the "Yes Album" to demonstrate something to do with odd time signatures (15/8 going to 7/4) and need to have the instrumental tracks covered so that they can trigger them from samplers. At least that's what he told me.

Billy Sherwood is apparently going to be emailing me some of the tracks he's done, but Reek asked me to just start recording what I can get from the original recordings ... just in case. ;)

Other than that, it's continuing on the song I started last week - turning into some stadium anthem - if I can just write lyrics that don't suck, then it'd be killer! :O

More later...

The Last Few Days of "Normality"...

2008-04-09T10:41:00.002-04:00

Lots 'n lots o' changes are coming down the pipe...

Of course, it all is on account of the fact that we're moving to Vancouver. Catherine's last day of work is today, and she's got four days to go until she's out west, then it's me and the kids for the weekdays!

I'm not thinking it's going to be too much of a hassle - barring that we get the house sold today. If not, I'm NOT looking forward to having to deal with having to get the place staged, and then open for folks to look at on the open market... (sigh). Our agent seems to be top notch, but has a reputation of being ... demanding of her clients. ;)

Anyway, besides that, it'll be odd to have to be without Catherine during the week. I'm thinking of getting her a webcam so that we can do the iChat thing during the week. The weird thing is that I can't seem to find many third party ones that will work with Macs. Odd, I'd have thought they'd be pretty ubiquitous.

Now, to prepare for two 8-year-olds to come home for lunch and actually eat instead of hovering over their DS's.

D

Recording Audio Interfaces

2008-04-03T14:24:00.001-04:00

Well, just finished a draft of my next segment for IHR.

This one's on selecting audio interfaces. Man, I knew it was a pretty big topic, but geeze, didn't realize how big. I've been researching and composing the copy for two days now.

It's getting uploaded to Paul's iDisk folder right now - dunno if it's going to be too big or what.

Also got a lead for a kids show being produced in Vancouver. I googled the name of the show and got the site of one of the guys who works on the show. He has a personal site and a blog, so I emailed him and he got back to me in a few minutes with the name of the director. Gonna call him in a few minutes to see if I get anywhere!

:)

D

Bodily Functions...

2008-03-28T10:35:00.003-04:00

Why are burps, farts, hiccups, etc. so appealing and hilarious to kids?

I mean, I remember being young and bursting out, rolling on the floor laughing while my friends and I tried to out-do each other by making "outbursts" longer and louder than the other.

My kids seem to be at a stage where the default response / joke to everything seems to be something to do with poop, burp, whatever - and maniacal laughter ensues.

Of course, as a parent, my default response is to try and discourage or re-direct that kind of behaviour into something that's more appropriate. You know, just in case they get into a habit of doing it and blurt something out at school or in front of others and get in trouble or embarrassed... but today, I started thinking about that reaction.

When did it all change? When did letting one go in the elevator with your friends become taboo? In high school? University? First job? No, I can think of a couple of recent times when I or others were purposely "juvenile" with C and/or good friends and we all had a little snicker.

So, the fun in all of this hasn't really gone, it's just a bit more subdued I guess.

With the kids, there's a bit of knee-jerk parental responsibility to teach some restraint, but, I guess it all comes down to a matter of trust with the kids. Trusting that we've taught them appropriate discretion and judgment to know when or when it's not appropriate for expressing themselves in "non-traditional" ways...

i.e. Maybe it's okay a couple of times at home with your brothers/sisters and in small, infrequent doses... It's definitely not okay in the middle of class or in front of your grandparents at Christmas dinner...

In the end, I resolved to show them how it's really done. it was a heck of a lot more fun to join in and be an example for discretion and restraint rather than a broken record spouting off rules and doling out time-outs...

Westward Ho!

2008-03-20T08:59:00.004-04:00

Well, the cat is officially out of the bag.

We're going to be moving again ... to Vancouver.

I think the hardest part of the move was telling mom. I phoned her yesterday and there were tears... She was understanding, but sorry for having us and the kids be so far away again.

It all happened so fast. Catherine hit on some "magical formula" for her resume and started getting calls from recruiters and the like from all over - Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. One of the calls was from UBC.

They flew her out for an interview and then shortly after that, offered her a position - with a lot of perks.

Next to telling the family about the move, the most difficult part will be finding a house that fits us! Sure the real estate market in Toronto has been strong, but it definitely pales in comparison to Vancouver!

Catherine's going to be starting mid-April and I'll be taking care of the kids while she commutes back on weekend until probably June...

More to come!

D

Ghosts

2008-03-06T14:25:00.002-05:00

Just downloaded the new Nine Inch Nails "album" - Ghosts I-IV.

Although there may be no real "hits" on this ... album (I guess that's what you'd call it), it's a pretty darn good thang and how can you argue with $5 for 36 DRM free lossless tracks?

I'm quite impressed with how Trent Reznor keeps up with and helps drive trends in the music industry - especially in the use of technology to produce, distribute and market music.

Much like the Radiohead album "In Rainbows" - NIN is distributing this stuff on their site directly to the consumer. Except it's not "pay what you think" - you can download the first 9 tracks for free and if you want all of them, it's $5.

It's all instrumental and was put together in 10 weeks. From their site:

"This music arrived unexpectedly as the result of an experiment. The rules were as follows: 10 weeks, no clear agenda, no overthinking, everything driven by impulse. Whatever happens during that time gets released as... something."

Pretty darn good experiment if you ask me...

I think it's this kind of stuff that is going to slowly going to keep kicking the music industry in the a$$. I don't believe that the record industry is ever going to go away completely, but I think it'll diminish in importance and influence. There are always going to be people who want to be fed their music and will rely on the industry (record companies, radio stations, mass media publications, brick-n-mortar stores) to help choose music.

I think that this generation, and to some extent the previous one, have taken advantage of the resources the Internet provides them and started to bypass the antiquated music distribution/marketing pipeline. Artists and music consumers are more intimately aware of and involved with each other - everything going between the two is from the source and unfiltered.

It's all cool... ;)

Yet ANOTHER Cold

2008-03-05T14:36:00.002-05:00

Man, I am NOT doing something right these days...

I've got yet ANOTHER cold. I was only able to get back to the gym for one week and then Monday, I was hit hard with another cough/sneeze/stuffed up thing! NOT good.

It'll probably be gone by the time we're out in Vancouver next week, but hopefully by Friday...

Podcasting!!!

I got the gig on the Inside Home Recording Podcast! I sent in a segment that Paul and Derek put in Episode #55. I guess I didn't screw up too much.

We're in the midst of trying to get together while I'm out there on the west coast. It's looking good for next Thursday.

I'm in the slot as the "PC Guy" which is a bit ironic in that I'm now on the Mac, but I do still use the PC's a lot in the studio, so I guess it's not a total sham. :D

Tattoo

2008-02-22T09:08:00.005-05:00

Well, I did it...

I got stamped... got ink done... got my tatt.

I went into "New Tribe" down on Queen Street West - across from MuchMusic and got my tattoo done. I'll take pics later when it heals, but it's a representation of the kids' middle names (on the left there).

C's middle name (top) is "Shen" (some places spell the pinyin as "Sheng") which means "flourishing".

A's middle name (middle character) is "Li" which means "stand".

S's middle name (bottom character) is "Ling" which means "beautiful jade".

I had this guy over in China (Shanghai I believe) do the calligraphy of the characters - $6 for all three.

I brought it into New Tribe, made an appointment a couple of weeks ago and did the deed yesterday afternoon. I chatted a bit with the artist on how we could make it more interesting - less like a bunch o' characters stamped on me. C and I had been discussing this and were sort of thinking of some sort of frame or 3D kind of treatment around the characters.

The artist came back with a drawing that had the characters looking as though they were carved out of a piece of stone - little cracks and everything too. Then he went at it.

Now, I've suffered through 4-5 months of a ruptured disc in my back plus having my thumbnail removed, so I think I've got a bit more pain tolerance than an average Joe. But, I gotta tell the truth, it hurt a bit more than I thought it would. It wasn't anything that was unbearable or anything, but definitely not the most comfortable feeling.

I also got the tattoo on the top of my left bicep which is in itself a bit of a tender place. I hear that ribs or anywhere close to bones is more painful which is something I'll keep in mind for next time (ahem) ;)

New Times...

The kids thought it was pretty cool this morning (the first time I took the bandage off). I don't know if they quite know that it's different than the temporary ones they get. Nor, do they have any of the preconceptions of tattoos and the taboo we were taught they represent when we were young.

I distinctly remember conversations with my parents when I was a teenager - discussing (sometimes heated) my possibly getting an ear piercing and/or more "radical" hair styles. Granted, mom and dad definitely grew up in a more conservative time and I think that some of those barriers were lowered for my generation, but deviating from the expected "normal" still wasn't looked upon fondly.

Thinking back on that really raises some questions for me when looking at the environment my kids are growing up in. I'd like to think that a lot of those preconceptions about appearance that we grew up with - fashion choices, hair styles, music tastes, body "modifications" - have become more accepting.

Maybe it's our living on the west coast for 13 years or maybe it's our generation as parents or maybe it's the influence of the Internet/new media, I don't know, but I feel that C and I have a more relaxed view of what's "normal". I don't think that a lot of our parent peers in this neighbourhood would necessarily share some of our extended views and opinions on things - this is Toronto after all. It's main industry is banking and finance, so there in itself is a bed of conservatism.

I certainly hope that our kids will grow up sharing and even going further than us in embracing diversity in people. It's okay to "fit in" and be accepted by different people and different groups, but I hope that we're giving them the foundation of confidence to be individuals and make intelligent decisions about who they are and as equally important, treat everyone they meet equally without social preconceptions.

I remember growing up with preconceptions of what a person was like by the way they dressed and looked like. I don't know when those preconceptions went away, but I think I'm one of the first people to reserve opinions on a person until I at least get to know them a bit. Tattoos, leather, studs and body-piercings have been on some of the most honest and caring people I've met.

I think both C and I are setting a consistent example of tolerance and acceptance to the kids. I think it's sticking as I see lil' C thinking things through and not necessarily "following the pack" on opinions and positions. We'll see how it goes - it'll definitely be interesting to hear what he and his siblings perspective on this in twenty years... ;)

The New Kiss Army

2008-02-15T09:38:00.005-05:00

I came to the realization that my kids are destined to be new recruits into the KISS army this morning.

I usually get requests for songs on the way to school - "Video Killed the Radio Star" and other 80's classic greats, but recently it's been KISS...

And more specifically, "Rock 'n Roll All Nite" (and party every daaaayyyy....).

I looked back in the rear-view this morning to catch lil' A literally banging his head and "playing" drums in the back seat - just like a seasoned air-band professional would. The kicker was the huge grins on his and his siblings faces as they were all belting it out:

"You keep on shoutin', You keep on shoutin'!
I, Wanna Rock and Roll all niiiiiite!
And Party every day!"

I was so proud dropping off my 3 and 5 year old at their Montessori school while they were still singing, quite loudly, the chorus of what I'm sure is the anti-thesis of what Maria Montessori initially intended when she first set up her curriculum way back when...

Three Years...

2008-02-13T10:01:00.006-05:00

It almost went by me today...

It's been three years since I had my heart attack.

February 13th, 2005 was a Sunday when I woke up and my life changed forever. I was blogging back then and just looked to see what I'd written and if those posts were still out there - found it on the site where I used to post my thoughts.

It was definitely ironic, when looking back on it, that the one thing in my body that is the icon for the next day (February 14th) decided to break down.

The "anniversary" almost flew by without me realizing it.

I don't think I or C have forgotten or minimize what happened, but I think that the changes we made to our lifestyle have become habit and we don't treat heart disease as a limiting factor in what I do. My health is much better than it was before Feb 13th, 2005, and as a result, I don't find that the disease limits what I can do myself or with my family at all. In day to day life, it's a non-issue. The only real reminder of my condition is the mitt-full of pills I take every morning and evening...

The important part of reflecting on the personal significance of this day though is remembering who and what is important in my life. I can't tell anyone how much a situation like this can ground you - crystallize your focus on those you love and who, in turn, love you too. C and the kids are the ones in my life who I love and cherish.

Sure, keeping healthy and strong for myself is important, but doing it so that I can enjoy being with my family is the real motivator. There's so much that I want to experience and share with them as we grow together - being a part of that is what makes me thankful for all I have in my family.

Little Coughs and little kisses

2008-02-12T08:17:00.000-05:00

Ah... what could be more satisfying than snuggling with your little daughter because she can't get back to sleep.

I mean, I got woken up at 4:30 this morning by what sounded like a truck driver hacking away at his phlegm in the next room. I went in and there was lil' S sitting in her bed looking cute and pathetic with a sniffling nose and her body being racked by these huge coughs.

We got up, went to the bathroom, got a bit to drink and then headed back to bed - with a lot of whispering and repeated: "Are you sure it's not morning-time yet?".

She seemed quite pleased that I was going to help her get back to sleep.

I snuggled down beside her and she planted this little kiss on my cheek and then started poking my nose with her little finger.

I was thinking to myself that it couldn't get any better than this. Like, who cares that you got woken up from a deep, comfortable sleep? Who cares that it's as cold as !@#@ out there? Who cares that the sun doesn't come up until after 7:30 still?

Then, the truck driver let a hack go right into my face as she was examining my closed eyes...

Holy F*&k it's Cold!!!

2008-02-11T09:47:00.000-05:00

Check out this article on CTV's site. For all of those who measure their temperature in Americanese, -30 degrees Celsius (that's including wind chill) is equivalent to about - 22 degrees Fahrenheit.

Let's just say the kiddies went out with every stitch of warm clothing that they own and were dropped off with multiple reminders of bundling up with all they're wearing (although they're not going to be let outside all day...

What was on last night? The Grammys? {Yawn} I'm going to bed...

Man, this writer's strike is certainly a boon for other forms of entertainment - like going to bed early. This was supposedly their 50th year - ya gotta wonder whether they'll be around in the next 50. Even with the show being the ONLY thing on (trust me, the only good thing competing with it was a re-run of Desperate Housewives and American Gladiator), they still had declining viewership.

You can't deny that, if you're involved in the music industry, a Grammy is certainly THE award to get, but I don't know if they're going to be able to evolve and be as relevant as they once were with the public viewers these days. The Grammy's are voted upon by folks in the industry - much like the Oscars and the Emmys - if you've won one of those, you're eligible to vote. So, yeah, getting an award from your peers is quite THE thing.

But, I think the industry has changed drastically from when the awards started back in '57. The public is no longer being "fed" their music. The Internet has enabled a more distributed "pull" structure to the music consumption market. Consumers are now able to quickly search, sample and purchase music from a variety of sources and even from the artists themselves - bypassing the traditional industry.

I'm sure there'll still be super-groups and superstars in the future (who generally feed the Grammy machine), but I'd hazard to bet that those acts won't enjoy the almost unanimous attention they could have gotten back in the '70's and '80's.

I guess for those artists and the people who follow them, the Grammys and award shows like them will be relevant, but I feel that there's a ground-swell of the public who will become more fickle and discerning about the music they purchase. Coupled with a growing comfort and ease of finding music that suits their immediate needs, I can see a bigger and bigger group of people seeing the Grammys as a non-event.

For those of you over 30

2008-02-08T16:27:00.000-05:00

Something I got forwarded to me in the email:

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious rantings about how hard things were when they were growing up... what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning ... uphill BOTH ways..YADDA, YADDA, YADDA.

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

But now that I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia! And I hate to say it but you kids today YOU DON'T KNOW HOW GOOD YOU'VE GOT IT! I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we wanted to know something, We had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, IN THE CARD CATALOG!! There was NO email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter ... WITH A PEN Then you had to walk all the way across the street And put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

There were NO MP3's & NO Napsters! You wanted to steal music, You had to hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself! Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio And the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up! We DIDN'T have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called They got a busy signal, that's it! And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either!

When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, Your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games With high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like "Space Invaders" and "Asteroids" and the graphics sucked! Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination! And there were no multiple levels or screens; It was just one screen forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting Harder and harder and faster and faster Until you died! Just like LIFE!

When you went to the movie theater There no such thing as stadium seating! All the seats were the same height! If a tall guy or some old broad with a hat sat in front of you And you couldn't see, YOU WERE JUST SCREWED! Sure, we had cable television, But back then that was only like 15 channels And there was no onscreen menu and no remote control! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide To find out what was on!

You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV To change the channel and There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning.

DO YOU HEAR WHAT I'M SAYING We HAD to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons!

AND We DIDN'T have microwaves, If we wanted to heat something up We had to use the stove. IMAGINE THAT! If we wanted popcorn, We had to use that stupid Jiffy Pop thing and shake it over the stove forever LIKE AN IDIOT!

You KIDS WOULD NEVER have lasted five minutes back in 1980's!

Regards,
The over 30 Crowd

Relaxing Weekends? Hah!

2008-02-08T09:22:00.000-05:00

I find it kind of ironic that now we have kids, the weekends are no longer the part of the week we covet.

Is Saturday the new Monday for parents?

I'm not begrudging the kiddies at all, but I find it odd that I now look forward to Mondays as a time to "unwind" and get things done. Today (Friday) is going to be spent preparing for the weekend - cleaning the house and decorating the kitchen for the party tomorrow...

A peak into this weekend:

Saturday:

okay, a bit of sleeping in can be done - at least until 7:30 or 8:00 now that lil' C can manage the remote control.
8:00 - 9:00 - Breakfast chaos
10:30 - 12:00 - Swimming Lessons
1:00 - 5:00 - C & A's birthday party with extended fam
6:00 - ?? New Year's dinner.

Sunday:

8:00 - 9:00 Breakfast chaos
10:00 - 1:00 - some sort of outdoor activity
1:00 - 3:00 - C's birthday party with friends
3:00 - 5:00 - some sort of settle down / party review
5:00 - 6:00 - dinner
6:00 - ??? - shower time and settle down for bed...

It's a tad crazy - what's planned for Monday you ask? Well, I haven't really had time to think about that ... probably some work and tidying up some of the loose errands coming out of the weekend.

The interesting bit is that this is going to be our life until the kids leave home... then, it's their turn! Bwa ha ha ha!!!

Podcasts I live with

2008-02-07T13:47:00.000-05:00

I got my iPod a couple years ago - it's the 60 Gb "classic" one (that's not it over there, just a pic from the Apple site - I don't think I'd have Nelly Furtado on it...). I've filled it up and then decided to cull some junk off my library. I'm always hovering around 59.x Gb of content on it.

I immediately got into PodCasts and have been following a few pretty religiously:

Diggnation
This Week in Tech (TWiT)
Project Studio Network
Inside Home Recording
NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me
CBC's Radio 3 Podcast
Tiki Bar TV
CBC's Quirks and Quarks
Cranky Geeks

and more recently:

The Totally Rad Show
CBC's Definitely Not the Opera
MacBreak Weekly
and the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe

The last one (SGU) is a great - I just finished my first episode (1/30/2008) where they chat about a bunch of things from "is raw milk good or bad for you" or "the ABC drama that connects vaccines and autism", the merits (or rather not) of "facilitated communication in the court room". All stuff that definitely makes you think.

The hosts are definitely on the evolution side of the creationism debate and come at things from a very scientific and logical point of view. Definitely looking forward to hearing more.

When is it nap time?

2008-02-07T10:07:00.000-05:00

Here's what I opened the door to this morning...

Yes, snow... and I got to shovel all of it after dropping the kids off at school.

Now that I'm done shoveling, I'm waiting for the snow plow to come by ... oh, yeah, I'm waiting with a sharp stick and a big rock I should say... ;)

C and I were lamenting last night about the choice we made to move here rather than Vancouver back in 2006.

Water under the bridge I guess... {sigh}

Facebook Frenzy

What the heck happened yesterday? I got contacted by four different people - out of the blue - to be friends on Facebook. It's great to reconnect and all, but what went on? I haven't had a friend request in a couple of weeks and then in one day - actually, within about two hours of each other - I get four requests.

Very weird...

Icky Thump

I broke down and finally bought/downloaded the latest White Stripes album. It's really growing on me quite fast. I was in one of those "I need some new music" moods last night and nothing was really grabbing me. The usual perusal through "People who bought this album also bought.." links wasn't really turning up anything and Icky Thump has sort of been in the back of my mind as one of those albums that I should probably give a fair shake to.

I'm weird in that I typically avoid buying music that's hyped up and has been on the front page of iTunes and most mass media. They seemed to be on every news cast last summer because of their tour through Canada.

I dunno what it is, I've gotten a bit jaded at putting music in my collection that came from the Billboard top XX. It seems a bit ... monotonous or something.

I was trying to get something that I'd (eventually) be able to work out to - fast-paced, gritty and with some "brains". A lot of the guitar-based hard-rock seems to be knock-offs of that pop-punk Blink 182 / Green Day style. The whole production sounds exactly the same for each record - gets to be quite boring - quickly.

Anyway, I'm liking what I hear so far - lots of great stuff. Sounds well produced, but not in a way that's too polished or forced.

Now back to my post waiting for the snow plow...

still hate snow...

2008-02-06T21:34:00.000-05:00

It's 9:30 PM and I just came in from taking out the garbage and the "green bin" to the curb.

There's frickin' 15 cm (that's roughly 6-7 inches for my American friends) of snow already on the ground and it's starting to freeze rain. I am NOT going to like this in the morning...

If you're going to volunteer...

2008-02-06T20:59:00.000-05:00

... then make sure you're up for the responsibility of the job!

C came home and we were chatting about a certain group that she volunteered to be on. The group shall remain nameless, but let's say it's somehow associated with a public institution that our kids are (or for some, will be in the future) involved in on a week-daily basis.

She told me that she doesn't really enjoy being a part of this group as it doesn't really promote a positive atmosphere and it doesn't seem to . She gave me an example: a few of the other participants haven't been showing up to the meetings regularly and the "chair" started a motion to kick them off.

C apparently interjected and explained that it wasn't quite clear that attendance at EVERY meeting was mandatory. Furthermore, it wasn't her understanding that an absence would result in termination from the group.

The chair (and some others) apparently reluctantly agreed that there should be some communication put out there before taking action. Then, the chair goes off and says something to the effect of "well, I'm not really sure it should come from me as I'm not really a great communicator."

.... excuse me???

I know the person who she told me about and I don't doubt that this happened in a bit.

If you put up your hand to volunteer for a position in a group - especially one with some power, then GEEZ!, please step up or step down...

I hate snow...

2008-02-06T10:27:00.000-05:00

It's disgusting!

This weather is what I remember hating in Ottawa. Sure, the snow looks nice right after it's fallen and everything is nice and white - beautiful, wonderful ... just great. But shoveling the crap and then the next day when it starts to melt and/or gets frozen solid - then the cars on the roads kick up the salt, sound and crud onto the banks. It all starts looking like some big animal puked all over the city.

On top of it, I broke our ergonomic shovel - couldn't handle the junk the plow left at the bottom of our drive... {sigh}

Ahhh.... to be on the west coast again. There, if you really want snow, you can drive to it. When it rains, at least you can still do all the stuff you usually do - you just get wet ... big deal. I'm listening to the KEXP feed from Seattle right now - getting some of that laid-back vibe infused.

Oh well, enough ranting.

The Photo Shoot

I don't know what I was expecting - I guess after Trav had done that interview with me back in Seattle with the whole pot-lights setup and such, I was expecting something like that for the photoshoot. :)

But Fernando showed up with his own digital camera and snapped about 40 pics in my studio last night. He sent them to me - there are definitely a couple of good ones that'll fit into the article. Also got a copy of the article he's submitted to his editor. Some nice writing. I'll post a link to the site when it goes up.

Interview Questions

2008-02-05T09:40:00.000-05:00

"Transcript" of Interview for Unchartered Sounds

Hey Dave,

I wanted to concentrate on article on you on the video gaming industry. I would love for you to enlighten our readers of how the music composition is so big in the video game medium...Can you please answer the following questions for me and then I would like come visit the studios for so I can shoot photos for this article if possible with you working with your equipment. I hoping you are in the GTA. Anyways, the questions goes as follows...

1. In a nutshell, how does composing music for video games differ from composing music for other mediums of media?

I have composed for film, TV and video games - a lot of it is the same - you've got to develop themes for characters/places, adapt music for different moods and situations, lock music to specific on-screen action, and be able to craft your music in a lot of different genres.

There are a couple of key elements that are different:

The first is sequencing and predictability, or rather I should say 'unpredictability'. Video games typically follow scripts in terms of what the player is to experience throughout the game, but it's more of a broad brush stroke script when compared to film/TV. On top of that, the pacing, sequencing and action are all unpredictable. With traditional media, you have frame-accurate, perfectly predictable picture to compose to - everything is locked and you compose a specific piece to fit.

In video games, you have no idea what the player is going to be doing at any specific point in time during the playing of the game. Of course, a lot of games make use of strictly scripted story elements where the player just watches and that's exactly like writing for other media.

What you'll see in video game scores is music that repeats in a loop - typically a long loop (2-5 minutes) so that the soundtrack doesn't get too monotonous for the player. The challenge comes in writing the music so that when a key point is reached that requires a shift in the music, (like when the player just went into the room with the level boss, starts to get attacked, etc...) new music or other elements can be introduced as seamlessly as possible. You don't know when this is going to happen in the piece. It's not like you can ask the player to wait to take that jump across a chasm on the downbeat of the next bar, so you have to make sure that your music can "react" to different unpredictable elements in a game either through cross-fades, inserting "stingers" or other transitional elements that will smooth out the transition from one music pace to another and provide a dynamic underscore to the gameplay.

The second big thing is technical limitations. Depending upon what platform the game is being developed for, you may be restricted to certain sound sets, polyphony and file size. It's not as bad as the early days of the original Nintendo systems, where you had only 3 voices, possibly a noise track for percussion and file sizes measured in kilobytes (100's if you were lucky), but even with more powerful machines, keeping the size of the total package to a manageable and efficient one is always a consideration for performance and memory space reasons.

2. What kind of background or If I can say resume do these types of composers have?

Composers for media come from all walks of life. There are working musicians, songwriters, classical composers, producers, engineers - you name it, there's someone with that background. I, for one, used to manage a team of technical project managers before I got into this full-time. Mind you, I had a long musical background before that, but for 10 years, music was not at all my bread and butter.

There are schools and such that are out there these days that focus on composing for media, but there's no real formal prerequisite course of study to get into this. Like composing for other media, it all comes down to what you've done and how well you've done it - getting into the community, doing a great job and getting experience the "old way" is just as credible as any other path - there's no "preferred" way to get into this industry. A suggestion for up and coming composers is to do your research on the tools and techniques - try things out, get to know how to work efficiently in your studio. Hook up with some young, up and coming producers and cut your teeth on some pro-bono work - get a feel for interacting with the community.

It is possible to specialize in one specific genre of music and be successful, but you're typically going to want to be able to offer the ability to write and produce music in a wide variety of styles. Having a healthy appetite for diverse styles of music definitely helps - understanding and being fluent in those styles will go a long way. One thing I have to say here is that you'll be surprised at what you can compose - never turn down an opportunity to score something that's out of your comfort zone.

Lastly, I find that less than fifty percent of my time is spent actually writing music - I wear a lot of different hats throughout the day. Some of them are music-related: arranger, orchestrator, producer, engineer, etc. and some of them are business related: marketing, technical support, client management, contract negotiation, billing... You've got to be prepared to handle all aspects of your career. As budgets get leaner for the vast majority of music in media, a lot of composers don't really have the luxury of delegating many, if any, tasks that need to be done in a composing career. The more you can handle yourself (arranging, recording, orchestrating, sound engineering, mastering, etc.) the better.

You're running a business and need to remember that although you are an artist, you are first and foremost working for someone else. Pleasing the customer will keep you working. Getting "cred" in this industry doesn't come from formal training, it comes from doing a great job for your customers and building your credit list.

3. Why is it difficult to be composing music for this type of medium or why is it a hard field to break into?

It's definitely a sexy industry to break into, but the difficulty comes down to one thing: competition. Compared to the number of titles coming out of film-makers and videographers out there, you've got a hand-full of potential video game titles being developed all being sought after by virtually the same pool of composers.

Yes, there are composers who specialize in video-game music and ones that specialize in film/TV, but there are so many similarities between the composing methods, that you've got a significant overlap in the two "camps".

There's no one place to go and drop off your resume, it's all a relationship-based industry. You've got to be able to get out and meet people in the industry, make those contacts and develop them. The reality is that there are a few number of video game developers probably getting a pile of demo-discs each day. It's not impossible to break into, but it takes a lot of time and effort.

Music is a commodity in all these industries. For all the work you put into a piece, there are probably dozens of other composers out there who could mimic your work and undercut your price at the same time. Unless you make those person-to-person contacts and develop those relationships, you're not going to be differentiated from the rest of the "pack".

4. Are composers getting a lot more attention in this industry?

They definitely are! Composing music for video games has come a long way since Koji Kondo wrote the Mario themes for the original Nintendo systems. Composers for games aren't getting the same attention as film/TV composers, but they're definitely coming into the spotlight - look at "Video Games Live" (http://www.videogameslive.com/): a live orchestral multi-media tour headlining music for video games.

Music is definitely getting bigger and bigger slices of the budget on video games. Since the days of Hitman, live orchestra recordings are becoming more and more common. They're not as popular as they are in Japan, but stand-alone video game soundtracks are now starting to be in demand in North America. The music is not just an afterthought to video games these days - as the games' stories are becoming more involved and immersive, they're requiring a vehicle in which to better communicate and suggest emotion like TV and film - that's where music becomes integral to the gameplay.

5. Can you explain the process of how a composer makes music for a video game?

It's very similar to film and TV. However, with video game development, the composer usually comes into play earlier on in the process. For film and TV, composing music is one of the last creative steps in the process. In video game production, the composer is usually brought in somewhere between the end of the design and middle of development process.

There's coding and development work that has to be incorporated in the game to handle music, so unlike film and TV, you won't get a "locked edit" to work with - you're expected to be able to go with the flow of inevitable changes that are all part of the software development cycle.

The process is much more iterative than other media. You're brought in with the producer to "spot" the game - either to storyboards, demo proofs of concept, or partially developed segments of the game. You're given a copy of the storyboard or script and you work with the producer to determine where and what kind of music happens where and when in the game. You then develop themes, place them to different emotional settings, genres, tempos, etc. and review with the producer. Upon acceptance of basic themes and directions, you then go through the software testing, development and acceptance process. The producer of the video game may have qualitative or quantitative/technical direction for each iteration. Depending on the complexity of the game development this may take a few or a lot of iterations. In the end, you're a part of the development team and need to pull your weight to meet schedule dependencies.

6. How long can it take to make a score for one video game?

It can take a matter of weeks to months. A few big variables come into play: the amount of music required (some video games like Elder Scrolls have over 1.5 hours of music), the complexity of the music / video game interaction, the experience of the producer / development team and the overall development schedule.

7. What are some of the best compositions you have heard for a video game?

Oh wow, I think the first one that blew me away was the original Myst - the gameplay itself was unique in its' time, but there was also an obvious focus on music and sound in the game that enhanced the play. Some of the other titles I've played and have noticed the music have been Hitman, Medal of Honor, StarCraft, Half Life, oh, the list can go on...

It's funny that now recently, music has come to be the central part of games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Although the experience of playing the controllers that come with those games is not like the real thing, they're a heck of a lot of fun to play and do promote a few musical skills such as active listening and rhythm.

8. Is it necessary to have an expensive studio to compose music for the video game genre or is there a quota that is to be achieved to do this.

No, not at all! The technical barriers to starting to produce music have come WAY down in the past years. There's still a gap in quality with what you can produce in your bedroom versus in a professional setup, but that's getting smaller every day.

You can do some really decent stuff with just a laptop, a two octave keyboard and some headphones these days. There are a number of bundled or even free/open-source tools out there that can be used to get started and/or even produce great finished results! If you've got a new Mac, you've got GarageBand with a whole slew of loops and instruments to use. On the PC, you've got apps like Reaper and the like that are VERY cheap and packed with a lot of functionality. These'll definitely get you off the ground and running with a basic setup.

Of course, having the tools and knowing how to use them are two different things, but again, there are a TON of free and inexpensive resources (Podcasts, Forums, User Groups, tutorials, books, etc.) out there to help you get acquainted with and get around the ropes.

Tuesday, schmoosday...

2008-02-05T09:23:00.000-05:00

What is it about Tuesday?

Everyone is so down on Mondays, but what is it about Tuesday that makes it seem like a non-starter day? Maybe it's the schedule these days - it's a bit gloomy out there, the kids have skating at 10:30 and there are errands to be done. Seems like the day is all chopped up...

I guess there's some solace in that I'll be able to cross things off the list that C left... ;)

Big 5-Year Old

A turned 5 today. Gee, that kid is full of so much energy - wears his emotions on his sleeve. I commented to C last night that he's got to be the best gift-receiver around. He is TOTALLY enthusiastic in opening gifts, but also has the most over-the-top expressions for when he sees what's under the wrapping.

I can just feel sorry for the teachers at his school - they're probably going to be hearing that it's his birthday all day...

The Photo Shoot (da, da, daaaa....)

I'm going to get my photos done in my studio this evening. I got called by a writer for an online publication, "UncharteredSounds" to do an interview about composing music for video games. I told him that I've only really done one title, but could still do it if he wanted - which he did. I got a few questions emailed to me and, it seems as though those went over alright, so now, it's photo-shoot time!

So, here we go - apparently, he's coming over after 7:30 tonight to do the deed. I'll be posting a link when that goes up.

Now, it's time to go to skating lessons - and, probably the court house to schedule the dreaded trial date... {sigh}

Back into it ... Maybe

2008-02-04T10:03:00.000-05:00

Well, here we go again.

I was religiously blogging before, but then stopped for some reason - dunno what happened... Hopefully this'll go on. I was reading some of my older posts - it's a hoot to read all that stuff again!

It's C's 8th birthday today! Man, he's such an awesome little guy. I guess, his day started yesterday when we let him stay up to watch the Super Bowl. He and mom were cheering for the Patriots, but I was going for the Giants - dunno, just like going for the underdog. C wasn't too happy about the result of the game. :)

He got a new Webkinz dog (a bulldog - we'll see what he eventually names it...) and will probably be spending the lunch hour configuring the new profile on the website. He also got a couple of books - Loch Ness Monster and the Abominable Snowman - both things he's been quite interested in the past few months. He and A got a "powerful telescope". I have NO idea where the need for that came from!

Once today is over, then it's A's turn!

Got a frickin' ticket on the weekend! The morning after the snowstorm, I was driving C and S back from swiming lessons. I'd just gotten some gas at this station up Yonge and was turning right at an intersection, looking out for any crazy drivers in the snow and got pulled over a kilometer down the road for apparently making an "illegal right on a red" - apparently there are signs there. I do not have any idea why there would be - it's not a blind corner and there weren't really any cars coming at all...

I'm going to be calling up today to contest the ticket and also going back there to look around. I did NOT see any signs...

God, the Toronto police department has WAY too much of a budget here with their parking meter maids - seemingly one for every block and then these ambush cops for insignificant and frivolous infractions.... grrrr....

Post Dad's Day

2006-06-19T11:18:00.000-04:00

It came, it was here and now it's gone. Yup, Dad's day came and went just like any other day. C and the kids gave an hour and a half of extra sleep, a book, a new watch and some cool things made at school / preschool. We all went out to brunch and then to the zoo in the afternoon.

I can't really speak to other dads, but I'd rather spend time with the family than by myself on Father's day. To me, that seems more like the point. You wouldn't be a dad without a family and having all of them around is what makes the day that much cooler.

Preview of What's to Come

Just read in the Seattle Times that Steven Harper is scrapping the gun control program in Canada. Now, I can appreciate doing something about programs that are over budget and behind schedule, but when the intent of the program is sound, why not reform it rather than scrap it?

A mini soap-box moment:

Call me a liberal or my views as "garden variety" Canadianesque, but I view the possession of firearms as a priviledge and something that should bestowed upon people who require them to do their profession (police for obvious example). Possessing a tool that was intended to kill living things is NOT a right and should be monitored and controlled.

{stepping down now}

The only solice in seeing this headline is that when we're back in Canada, we'll be able to vote..

Preparing for the Weekend.

Today's going to be a combination of things - doing some touch-up on the paint outside, mowing the lawn and finalizing the score for the recording session this weekend. I don't know what I'd have done if I had to write out everything with pencil and paper. Thank the gods of technology for applications like Sibeius!

Father's Day 2006

2006-06-17T16:25:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow's the big day... Father's Day.

This'll be my sixth. It's traditionally been a pretty decent day in the past - usually pretty quiet, get to sleep in a bit and spend time with the kids. It's going to be pretty similar tomorrow I'm thinking. Except, we now have the prospect of moving back to Toronto hanging over our heads.

It's pretty well decided. It all came to be about two weeks ago when C was starting to get the "not-so-warm-and-fuzzies" from the immigration lawyer. He apparently had some doubts that her TN visa could be renewed easily. The only real options he gave us were - you'll have to leave at the end of the visa, or try to file for the extention and see what happens. If it doesn't go through, then you'll have two weeks to leave...

I'm sorry, but WTF! This is the second immigration lawyer who's had this attitude of ... oh well, if it doesn't work out, then you can always just go back to where you came from. I can't really get over how inconsiderate these people are of what kinds of impact this has on not only an individual's life, but the family.

After we chatted about it, the only option that seemed to offer us the most control was to file for the extention and move back earlier than expected.

Another pet peeve I have with the US imigration program - there's no non-green card option to stay here - even if you wanted to become a citizen. We've contributed to the economy in this country, we've paid taxes, didn't give a whoop about not being able to vote - been anything BUT a drain on the country's resources, but have no way to continue on without going through a barbaric work-visa system. Don't get me started on the annual visa application process with the border guards...

Anyway, if I try and keep all that out of my mind tomorrow, then it should be a pretty decent day...

My Picture Post

2006-06-17T16:11:00.000-04:00

This is a post so that I can have an image dangit!