Glad to see Apple are finally selling the refurbished iPhone 13 mini. Just placed my order to downsize from my 13 Pro Max. Portability, music, reduced screentime, and texting. Those are my goals. No YouTube, minimal web browsing (probably just NetNewsWire and micro.blog feeds).
During these next few weeks my focus is going to be staving off burnout.
Balancing crazy work hours and making sure I’m available for family has resulted in very little rest or pursuit of hobbies and such.
I’m not really stressed but can feel my body starting to reject the status quo I’m in.
Poser.
Dave Abbruzzese, Pearl Jam drummer for the Vs. and Vitalogy albums dropped a comment in one of my YouTube covers.
I’ve been going down a Pearl Jam rabbit hole, especially the Vs. and Vitalogy albums with Dave Abbruzzese on drums (my favorite PJ records and all time favorite drummer).
I’ve never really played along to or tried to learn their songs in my youth. I’m focusing on learning Vs. first, starting with Animal. Such a foot work out. So much energy in this song.
Purple corn, with occasional flowers.
How Far the Song has Fallen from the iTunes Tree
I have nothing against streaming music (I do so on occasion), but I prefer buying my music and downloading on to my devi...Man, I sure miss Bowie.
Today I posted a Stone Temple Pilots drum snippet and a lame attempt at playing samba.
My go-to beer is the Run Wild IPA from Athletic Brewing but it’s hit or miss finding it in the stores here (or any NA beer besides like O’Doules). Today they had Stella NA and I was skeptical but it tastes great!
Summer, signaling its beginnings.
I’ve been enjoying posting little short snippets of my drum playing on YouTube but I think I’m going to transition to hosting them here instead.
Frozen fruitcicles
Friday last week, we installed the pedals on my son’s balance bike and he didn’t skip a beat, was successfully pedaling on his first try.
I posted another drum cover short on YouTube. Jimmy Chamberlin (Smashing Pumpkins) is a great drummer but I never loved the Pumpkins that much. This song is from Jimmy’s jazz/fusion/rock band Jimmy Chamberlin Complex and Billy Corgan provides the vocals. Wonderful song.
Trying this out, my first YouTube short playing drums.
Incredibly disappointed I missed Godzilla Minus One in the theaters but super happy it was released on platforms today. It was excellent.
My (other) tribe
I’ve discovered an excellent new blog, arun.is by Arun Venkatesan. Today I read a mini first impression of the Daylight Tablet Arun posted back in March of this year. Long story short, I ended up pre-ordering the device, as it seems to be a promising take on e-ink tablets which is something I have been intrigued with since the first Kindle came out back in the 2000s.
Of particular note in his commentary, I appreciated this the most:
In my previous post, Why we crave healthier computing, I explored how the evolution of computing over the last century has made our devices both more powerful and more burdensome. Technology progressed from large mainframes to ever-connected smartphones. Concurrently, users have been presented with an ever-increasing number of questions they must ask when using their devices. I called these the “Six User Context Questions”:
- “What do I plan to do with this computer?”
- “Which applications should I use?”
- ”How may I best arrange my workspace and workflow?”
- ”How should I collaborate with others?”
- ”When will I use this computer?”
- ”Where will I use it?”
I appreciate the approach of having the technology be limited in order to constrain some of the time consumption our gadgets bring today, in this case a device with no cameras, black and white screen, and limited (?) application availability. On the flip side I’d like to think we as humans can overcome this without the need for outside restraints. I’m sure this device will have its quirks outside of the constraints it naturally has but if they nail the interaction model along with the balance for simplicity, it could be successful (ironically as discussions of turning the iPad into a full fledged computer continue to make the rounds).
I’ve been trying (somewhat successfully) to not be consumed by the technology around me. I hope that some day I am completely free from all temptations and dopamine hits that our tech world brings and truly come to full control of my tech vs. the tech powering me, at the very least as a model for my son as his future evolves.
I am this close to some day capturing a lightning bolt.
It’s so silly, but I love that Call and Oates is still active, many years ago I saved the number in my contacts and tried it today and it worked! For those not familiar here’s the npr story from 2011.
Lots of jumping and rolling in the grass today.
Wild asparagus, with occasional grapes.
Playing drums to a loop for giggles, it’s been a while since I did anything electronica-ish. The recording quality through GarageBand (on my phone) is remarkably improved over Yamaha’s Rec ‘N’ Share app. Going to play around with using my old iPhone SE as an overhead mic combined with the EAD10 to see how that works out quality wise.
I appreciate marveling very much
