nc
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
House
Offer has been accepted on the house! It has already been inspected too so we may be on the fast track.
nc
Sunday, November 28, 2010
weekend
my DSL modem went out last night so I have no Internet on my computers. It dropped during the middle of the OU/OSU game.
We put up the tree last night. The cat took it down during the night.
We put an offer on the house on Oak Street yesterday but haven't heard back yet.
nc
Friday, November 26, 2010
Thanksgiving
Had a good Thanksgiving day. We went to Joplin and ate out with Mom, Dad, Rod, Emily, JoNell, Nathan, and Nick.
Afterwards we went to Scammon and visited with the McCormick and a partial Young family.
nc
Afterwards we went to Scammon and visited with the McCormick and a partial Young family.
nc
Crazy.
Read here about a weaponized computer virus. This is the next step in warfare. It is/was aimed at Irans nuclear facility.
nc
nc
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
lessons
Patrick and Nellie started violin lessons last night. They proceeded to come home and play "Pepperoni Pizza" for Miranda and I. Actually, "play" wouldn't be the correct word. "Scratch around" would be more accurate. Now I know what my mom and dad went through when I was learning the steel guitar. Unfortunately the violin sounds like nails on a blackboard when played incorrectly. I shudder just thinking about it.
nc
nc
Monday, November 22, 2010
tonight
Tonight is an appreciation dinner of some sorts at IBS. Patrick and Nellie are starting violin lessons at school tonight.
Bertier was supposed to go get neutered this morning but he disappeared on us. I haven't seen him all day.
nc
Bertier was supposed to go get neutered this morning but he disappeared on us. I haven't seen him all day.
nc
House.
We are in the market for a house. We have a few that we are looking at:
2nd Street
Locust Street
Oak Street
Wingard Road
The last one probably won't work because they may not have high speed internet available out there.
But all the homes have at least 4 bedrooms (one for my office) or a separate office space. Oak Street is the cheap one so it's the front runner.
nc
2nd Street
Locust Street
Oak Street
Wingard Road
The last one probably won't work because they may not have high speed internet available out there.
But all the homes have at least 4 bedrooms (one for my office) or a separate office space. Oak Street is the cheap one so it's the front runner.
nc
Friday, November 19, 2010
IBS Fall Dinner
The fall dinner was medieval themed. Here's how Miranda and I went.
The pictures don't do justification to my skinny legs. I never thought in my life that I'd say the phrase: "Just a second, I have to pull up my tights".
nc
The pictures don't do justification to my skinny legs. I never thought in my life that I'd say the phrase: "Just a second, I have to pull up my tights".nc
Thursday, November 18, 2010
loan.
Still haven't heard back from the loan officer to get started. Apparently the local one is useless so she has to go through someone else. They won't email back or call. No idea what going on. The local one keeps trying to get them to get back with me but nothing.
That's the problem with big banks. I'm not sure what small banks are around here but we may be looking for one.
nc
That's the problem with big banks. I'm not sure what small banks are around here but we may be looking for one.
nc
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
bank.
We went to the bank yesterday. We aren't getting pre-approved yet but they are running some numbers and will let us know. So, next week, we may be in the market for a house.
Work is picking up at my job. They aren't for sure why but have some theories. All the economic blogs that I read say that the U.S. economy is picking up steam. Shipping is up, tax receipts are up in basically all the states, passenger traffic is up, food and retails sales, etc...
We want to get a home loan before rates start soaring again.
nc
Work is picking up at my job. They aren't for sure why but have some theories. All the economic blogs that I read say that the U.S. economy is picking up steam. Shipping is up, tax receipts are up in basically all the states, passenger traffic is up, food and retails sales, etc...
We want to get a home loan before rates start soaring again.
nc
Sunday, November 14, 2010
weekend
We went to Joplin this weekend. The Fall Dinner at IBS is on this coming Friday and it's Medieval themed. So Miranda and I went to Roy's Costumes in Joplin and picked out our costumes. Miranda is embarrassed at my costume. I'll try to post pictures later if I remember. You'll understand then.
Decisions, decisions... The kids have taken to sitting in the closet by themselves. I think they are needing some alone time. They never have any time to themselves. Nellie was just sitting in there for about 30 minutes by herself. She was sorta pouting but not really. So Miranda and I are really thinking about buying our own house soon so that they can have their own rooms. In theory we are waiting until summer when the economy is looking up but I'm not certain that it's going to be that much better in the summer versus right now. Plus interest rates are so low.
nc
Decisions, decisions... The kids have taken to sitting in the closet by themselves. I think they are needing some alone time. They never have any time to themselves. Nellie was just sitting in there for about 30 minutes by herself. She was sorta pouting but not really. So Miranda and I are really thinking about buying our own house soon so that they can have their own rooms. In theory we are waiting until summer when the economy is looking up but I'm not certain that it's going to be that much better in the summer versus right now. Plus interest rates are so low.
nc
Friday, November 12, 2010
mind.
I've had a bit of a problem wrapping my mind around this one. There is a game called minecraft. I know nothing about the game but a guy has built a working CPU in the game. You can watch a video of it here.
Really odd but somewhat neat. A computer running inside a web browser running on a computer.
nc
Really odd but somewhat neat. A computer running inside a web browser running on a computer.
nc
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
idea
I've been kicking around an idea for about 12 years. Imagine that you have a keyboard like below.
You will notice that it's only a section of a piano. But it's really a MIDI controller. MIDI is a way of creating electronic music. For instance, if you have a piano with a really neat guitar sound, the guitar has been recorded and you are generating the sound with a piano with MIDI. What all can MIDI do? For me it does two important things. It plays musical notes and it can pitch bend. Now instead of a guitar it's a pedal steel guitar.
Here's the theory. Each key matches up with a string on a steel guitar. You also have a potentiometer that can set where your "bar" is sitting on the guitar. For example, if the potentiometer is sitting at position 3 and you press button 8, then you get a G note.
If you get it all hooked up together then you have a basic lap steel guitar. It becomes a pedal steel with additional buttons that you can attach really anywhere on the body of your new instrument.
The tricky part is the electronics (at least for me). You need to hook up the keypad and the buttons to a controller, the controller would connect to a computer and it would process all the buttons and keys to determine what notes should be played. That's the easy part because I are a computer programmer. Then you run the MIDI into the Wavelore Instruments and bingo... an electronic pedal steel guitar. No more tuning, broken strings, wishing you had that killer knee-lever that Paul Franklin has (it's all electronic, you can change knee-levers and pedals during the middle of a song if you want).
So to recap. I need an Arduino or something similar, a smattering of keys and switches, some electronics knowledge, a computer (laptop if you want to take the new guitar out of the house), and the Wavelore/Kontakt Software (way too expensive for me currently). However if I could get the cheap stuff, then I could play around with it to get individual notes even if they don't sound like a PSG. Then when I got all the kinks ironed out, I buy the expensive software.
Technology has come a long way in the last 10 years and I think I could realize my dream with a little money, time, and knowledge. That last one is the trickiest.
nc
You will notice that it's only a section of a piano. But it's really a MIDI controller. MIDI is a way of creating electronic music. For instance, if you have a piano with a really neat guitar sound, the guitar has been recorded and you are generating the sound with a piano with MIDI. What all can MIDI do? For me it does two important things. It plays musical notes and it can pitch bend. Now instead of a guitar it's a pedal steel guitar.
Here's the theory. Each key matches up with a string on a steel guitar. You also have a potentiometer that can set where your "bar" is sitting on the guitar. For example, if the potentiometer is sitting at position 3 and you press button 8, then you get a G note.
If you get it all hooked up together then you have a basic lap steel guitar. It becomes a pedal steel with additional buttons that you can attach really anywhere on the body of your new instrument.
The tricky part is the electronics (at least for me). You need to hook up the keypad and the buttons to a controller, the controller would connect to a computer and it would process all the buttons and keys to determine what notes should be played. That's the easy part because I are a computer programmer. Then you run the MIDI into the Wavelore Instruments and bingo... an electronic pedal steel guitar. No more tuning, broken strings, wishing you had that killer knee-lever that Paul Franklin has (it's all electronic, you can change knee-levers and pedals during the middle of a song if you want).
So to recap. I need an Arduino or something similar, a smattering of keys and switches, some electronics knowledge, a computer (laptop if you want to take the new guitar out of the house), and the Wavelore/Kontakt Software (way too expensive for me currently). However if I could get the cheap stuff, then I could play around with it to get individual notes even if they don't sound like a PSG. Then when I got all the kinks ironed out, I buy the expensive software.
Technology has come a long way in the last 10 years and I think I could realize my dream with a little money, time, and knowledge. That last one is the trickiest.
nc
crazy
Things have been a bit crazy around here. Depression is running rampant.
I've taken up caffeine again. That's right. I decided to go without caffeine to help my health. I dropped that when I found that Coffee (caffeine) can help fight against cirrhosis of the liver. So I'm on coffee for a bit. However it appears that it only helps with alcoholic cirrhosis so now I've got to become an alcoholic. With the way it's been going lately, it's not a real stretch.
After giving up caffeine, I had headaches for two days solid. No more headaches for about a week and a half. However last night I drank a cup of coffee and it was the first caffeine I'd had in about two weeks. I felt like I was about to jump out of bed. Not sure if I'll stick it out on the coffee.
Every day I check my eyes. The day that I notice they are turning yellow is the last day I walk out of my house for anything not absolutely essential (work or death).
nc
I've taken up caffeine again. That's right. I decided to go without caffeine to help my health. I dropped that when I found that Coffee (caffeine) can help fight against cirrhosis of the liver. So I'm on coffee for a bit. However it appears that it only helps with alcoholic cirrhosis so now I've got to become an alcoholic. With the way it's been going lately, it's not a real stretch.
After giving up caffeine, I had headaches for two days solid. No more headaches for about a week and a half. However last night I drank a cup of coffee and it was the first caffeine I'd had in about two weeks. I felt like I was about to jump out of bed. Not sure if I'll stick it out on the coffee.
Every day I check my eyes. The day that I notice they are turning yellow is the last day I walk out of my house for anything not absolutely essential (work or death).
nc
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
true size
This is interesting. Here's the true size of Africa in comparison to USA and a few other countries.
nc
nc
Monday, November 8, 2010
Monett
In Monett today. Last night Patrick had water by my computer and I spilled it on my keyboard. Now I get to buy another keyboard. I'm going wireless this time.
nc
nc
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Patrick
We are proud of Patrick. He has 3 A's and 1 B in school
He has come a long way from his rough start as a baby.
nc
He has come a long way from his rough start as a baby.
nc
Keynes vs Hayek #2
Background on the Keynes vs Hayek video. I loved the discussion section where they blasted Keynes.
nc
nc
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Christmas
Nellie was watching Charlie Brown Christmas and saw where Charlie and Linus were shopping for Christmas trees. There were trees of all colors. She decided that she wanted a strawberry tree. Looks like I'll be in the market for a can of red spray paint.
nc
nc
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