June 4th, 2010 by Fresh

Greetings crew…
Hope the weekend is going well. Mine has definitely started on on a great note – I was scheduled to work tomorrow, but got a call from my coworker (I was off today) that informed me that weekend work has been canceled for the whole test team…cool!

In any event, I spent the last two days redoing a The Lab’s signal flow diagram. Being a systems engineer for a long time, it’s a natural for me to diagram anything that comprises a systems (inputs and outputs) in order to better understand how it works. I don’t like to see any equipment I currently have connected go without some use….that situation has gone on for too long, hence the need to complete this little project in organization. Secondly, after completing it, I knew it would help awaken my music creativity and production muse. Work has been so crazy busy, that creatively (being new tracks and ideas or the stuff I need to complete) I’ve been pretty much spent after work.

I thrive on a certain level of ergonomics and organization of my environment in helping me to create music. Everyone has a different approach to the aforementioned areas, but I know that I need a synergistic balance between them to effectively move through and to the results I’m trying to achieve. For those who haven’t seen it (or seen it in awhile), I’m here typing this blog post:

I’ve been a big proponent on utilizing the expertise on video sharing sites like YouTube and Vimeo to help on learn about many things. For me, the primary area is, of course, music production. I carry well over two GBs of instructional video on my hip (iPod Touch 2G) regularly for watching at my leisure (especially during break times at work, etc). As convenient as it is to have that instruction available to help learn what it is I am trying to do in studio, nothing beats actually sitting down and executing what u learn.

You’ve seen The Lab…everything I need to do my thang, but now (with the various projects that float through), it’s really time to take advantage of the organization created and ….make…more…music (from the smallest to greatest extent).

11:44pm…I’m gone…an early morning awakening and it’s off to the races.

peace.
F!

April 9th, 2010 by Fresh

Greetings readers.

Hope this post finds you in good spirits. I thought I’d take a moment to do a post about my favorite social media/networking site of all time, Twitter. November 21, 2010 will mark my fifth anniversary of tweeting, so I can safely say I am an early adopter and have seen the evolution of this micro-blogging site. I’m pretty much still subscribe to the original reasoning behind the creation of Twitter, though I’ve read more than enough times that some feel tweeting about the oatmeal you just ate is inane and boring. I beg to differ, in that it gives insight to one’s everyday activities (how’s that for “reality”?).

In any event, Twitter 2.0 (if you will) has evolved to be a major force in content and social branding. I simply love it for the info-push that I receive in various areas of technology, music production, and yes, those everyday so-called “boring” aspects of daily activities some tweet about. That being said are *my* ten tips for better tweeting.

1. Acknowledge new followers with a tweet of thanks.

2. Pay attention to the interests of your followers. If you come across information that they may be of interest to a follower, tweet it directly to that follower (or followers).

3. Follow Friday: If you’re going to suggest to your users why they should follow someone, give a reason why. A large list of IDs followed by #FF = #FAIL..

4. Retweeting someone else’s large list of #FF = #DOUBLE FAIL. Personally to see entire list of folks that I have no idea who they are is annoying. Call it a pet peeve, but hey….

5. Be courteous. Despite the origins of Twitter. It’s a social network.

6. Airing dirty laundry, twitter rage complete with expletives = #FAIL. (Yeah, yeah I know, unfollow the person – I do when it gets excessive).

7. Retweet info that you think would be beneficial to most, if not all, of your followers. If it’s just a few, try using list for that. I doubt all my followers would be interested in a retweet of how long a Shuttle EVA event lasted on an ISS mission.

8. Twitter is not a chat client (contrary to popular belief) . Though it can be done, I’ve found it difficult to carry on an ongoing conversation. The mechanism of Twitter is too dynamic (update-wise) to meaningfully keep track of one. Yahoo IM, Google Talk, AIM, MSN Messenger, BBM…you get the picture.

9. Relentless arguing on Twitter = #FAIL. You unnecessarily subject your entire list of followers to something they could possibly care less about. Doing it in real life is ridiculous enough.

10. When using URL shortners (bit.ly, etc), ensure that they point to the intended page before tweeting. Sometimes they dont always work properly.

That’s it. Have a great weekend. Oh, and if you like….retweet this (see 7). (wink)

peace,
F!

February 25th, 2009 by Fresh

This post I can’t take credit for, and I can’t quite recall the original source, but it speaks great truths to me. I often partake it some of the advice but hope to increase in those areas where I don’t. I hope you find it useful.

Ten Ways To Stay Grounded In a Busy World

1. Live simply and live deliberately. By choosing not to get caught up in the details of this fast-paced world, you are doing your part to slow down the . You will also discover that you have more time to enjoy being alive.†

10. Make time for stillness, silence, and solitude. The world can be noisy, and we are subject to all kinds of noises nearly every waking hour. We are also often “on the go” and unable to relax. Being alone in a peaceful place and making time for quiet can help you stay in touch with yourself.

peace…
F!