Author Archives: Fresh

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30 of 30 straight days: blogposts

Well, the challenge has been met. Thirty days. thirty blogposts – done. I knew it wasn’t going to be a difficult challenge. If you go back to my first post of this challenge on November 14th, you can read about the origins of this challenge and how it started on a whim via a discussion between Clay Lowe, DarrenKeith, and myself. So, what have I learned by reaching this challenge goal?

Two days ago on December 9, I published a post about accepting challenges and how I look at the ROI to determine whether going through with the challenge is worthwhile. I summed it up by just that, the ROI is a very important gauge to assess as a catalyst in moving forward. As mentioned in the November 14th post, I’ve been blogging officially since 2007, and it’s been pleasurable when I have. After 15 years, the blogging scene has changed a lot.from monetization purposes to more of a huge push in audience growing (the latter always being a desire to any blogger), but it just seems like it’s become more commercialized (like podcasting).

What I have seen, is that I’ve never pushed to grow my blog reading audience as it’s always just been a pastime to engage in self-publishing from my own digital garden (as DarrenKeith says). With that comes a circling back to audience growth. If growth is what you want, especially from your own platform where you make the rules and are not subject to algorithms and the like, you have to put in the work to increase reader. This is where the ROI comes in for me. Theres not one person I know that doesn’t enjoy readers engaging with the content they publish, but when you do publish from your own space, it’s imperative that you put in the work to, at least, increase the reach of your blog to the masses. The easiest (read most convenient) way to do this is to crosspost your post links to the huge social media platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, IG, TikTok, etc. Once that occurs, you’ve done just that BUT that doesn’t guarantee engagement (comments) on your post. Perhaps another way to achieve that is blog on sites like Medium or Tumblr but, again, the work needs to be put in.

My takeaway based on my ROI for this challenge, is this: reaching the goal of this challenge will NOT cause to blog on a regular basis because the desire is not grow readership based on the work it will take to do so. Conversely, I’ll just go back to enjoying the desire to blog when the whim hits me and engage with anyone who chooses to leave a comment or comments. I like it that way,

For those who have commented on any of my posts during this challenge, I highly appreciate you sharing your thoughts on my topics. Thank you!

Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Fresh.

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Habit forming….

Image: Getty Images

Greetings Earthlings…

‘Chocolate coated, freaky and and habit forming. Doin’ it to you in 3-D, So groovy that I dig me. Once upon a time called Now! “

The above lyric is from the iconic track from Parliament, entitled P-Funk (Wants To Get Funked Up). I won’t even go into the “iconism” of this track, nor its effect on my since the day I’ve heard it, because it transcends that particular lyric. What I will talk about is forming habits (good or bad).

Suffice it to say, we all want to develop good, consistent, game-changing, positive habits, yes? There are many ways to do this and those ways are best only to the individual will to do so. Thousands of articles and books have been written on this topic. One that comes to mind and which I’ve purchased and read is James Clear’s Atomic Habits. While you can read many reviews of the book, explore his website, follow his social media feeds, and the like, there is one key principle that James Clear has stated, I believe rises to the very top like cream, and my long time friend and professional organizer, Deb Lee, recently tweeted it: “Yes 100% to all of this. Keep it simple!”

Discipline/showing up breeds discipline, which births consistency. I really can’t say it any simpler for forming any habit (good or bad). Simple concept, yes? Sure it is. Executing is the key (can you hear that echoing in your head?) I dare you to come up with anything that disputes this. I believe it 100%. That said, why has it become so difficult for me at times? It’s not because of extenuating circumstances beyond my control that interrupts consistency and flow. The real reason, for me, has been not immediately acting on strengthening the development of the habit. In other words, I think to long about why I shouldn’t, can’t, or don’t want to do it. I’m at the point where there’s really nothing else to consider when I believe this is the case. Deb’s tweet above and Nike’s slogan pretty much sums it up: Keep it Simple and Just Do It. If nothing uncontrollable is stopping me – execute immediately and strive for doing it consistently. That’s my strive, not for 2023, but right now.

Oceans of rhythm.

Fresh.

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The (un)caffeine stop…

Happy Holidays to you. Today, I’m actually writing this blog post while mobile. Using the WordPress app for iOS is actually quite convenient, as it mirrors the desktop app quite well.

It’s been a pretty much laid back Sunday, heading into late afternoon as I type this, sitting in Starbucks. I’ve been a fan of Starbucks since the early 2000s, when a friend actually sent me a physical (pre-mobile app) $10 Starbucks gift card for my birthday. Ironically, though I’ve consumed it on occasion, I’ve never been a coffee drinker. I asked her to recommend a good drink to break in the card, and she recommended a Caramel Machiatto (sp). I’ve tried a few since then, but not being a coffee drinker, I’ve always been like “meh”. Incidentally, I just realized the title of this blog post is a misnomer because this Bava drink has 160 mg of caffeine…so much for the title.

As for other drinks, I’ve tried many of their green teas, hot and iced, and teas are essentially all I drink when I frequent this establishment – unless they stock bottled or canned drinks like the Bava Energy dtink above. One exception is, and always be, the canned iced nitro brew, which is super nasty, as well as their hot chocolate drinks which oddly seem to kill my appetite alllll the way….weird!

Anyway, I enjoy Starbucks for many of the same reasons many do. For me, specifically, it’s just a pitstop getaway to chill, gather thoughts, sometimes read, or conduct relaxed business meetings (most of which have been about the business of music production).

They’ll keep me as a customer, especially if people occasionally gift me with Starbucks cards, or I’m able to add them to the mobile app. I still have my original Gold card as well. It’s rare I order to go, I usually sit in the shop and enjoy.

Off to the next stop soon, then home. Have a great rest of your day.

Oceans of rhythm..

Fresh.

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Where in the world…are you?

Greetings and Happy Holidays to you and yours.

Today, I had to take a drive out to a floorings place to view and purchase flooring for my basement renovation. This place was 41 niles away and I’ve never been there before. As I loaded the address into Google Maps, I wondered…. “What I’ve there was no GPS and I had to use a map?”

I’m old enough to have had to reply on maps, when needed, to get places. Yes, found memories of those HUGE fold out maps you get from the gas station, LOL, talk about an inconvenience that wasn’t even known back then,

I can’t even imagine how long it would take for me to study a map, keep it open, and drive to where I need to get it. I also remember having GPS hardware in the car that you had to periodically download maps to keep in current…crazy today.

Google Maps, Waze, Apple Maps… is tech that has definitely made me lazy, but it’s one of the best technology assets ever been developed…(now if I can only get a decent Car Play unit installed in my ride 🙂

Have a great night.

Fresh

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You can’t spell challenge without….

Greetings. Let’s jump right into it. We know what the definition of “challenge” but how often do you impose them upon yourself? The focus of the question is not really a matter of frequency but do you think doing so is beneficial to you or do you find, at some point, during the challenge, the effort is fruitless or won’t bring you the intended return on investment you initially hoped for.

One thing I didn’t think of until tonight is the end result of accepting a challenge should result in some sort of change, even if the challenge is not completed.

As of this post, I set out to complete a number of challenges this month to close out 2022. They are listed below:

  • A minimum of 35 minutes of exercise for a minimum of 14 days (I’m shooting for 30)
  • At least on Nike Training Club workout a day (so far at at 100%)
  • Spending time everyday increasing my knowledge of financial investing (especially in tech stocks and crypto)
  • Finish up Chapter 9 in my Python Crash Course book while advancing in Round 3 in the #100DaysOfCode challenge

So let’s see…where do I stand so far?

*35 minutes min of exercise a day – Easy challenge, ROI: great.

*NTC workout – pretty much the same as the above. This ROI is great in the sense that it will get me back to using Nike Training Club workouts again. I’ve been using the app since 2017 but became less consistent over the last year.

* Financial Investing Literacy – One day so far…this is a bust BUT I will continue to strive and make time for it

*Python studies – (see Investing Literacy)

I was chatting with Roni Lyons…(THE Dr. Roni Lyons), that I don’t do New Year resolutions for one simple reason: Why wait until day 1 of the new year to start ANYTHING?? She can relate!

In the end, the best thing that can come out of time based challenge – is an ROI that essentially spells “consistency”.

That’s it for now. Got an early morning start tomorrow and I should be zzzzz.

Best,

Fresh!

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The Social Media Trends Bandwagon – Do you “do you”?

I have a friend I met online about 15 years ago, right around the time I began podcasting. Some years later she decided she wanted to do her own podcast and wanted to leverage my little experience in that area of preparing audio media for such. The name of her show was “Let’s Talk About It”, so that being said..let’s do that..let’s talk about the trends that are born and die on social media (sometimes die) and how people participate… or not.

Without going deep (simply because I have not that time in the least bit), many of us have used social media in some shape or form since it’s been created (remember when the term was called “social networking?). All the old messenger platforms, like AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), Window Messenger, MySpace, Facebook, BlackPlanet, Asian Avenue, 2600, Usenet Groups, Compuserve, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, Periscope, Vine (which I miss…LOL) Mastodon, and the longggg list goes on.

What is inherent to all social media/networking platforms are trends, and I don’t mean “such-and-such hashtag” is trending. What I do mean are actions people take, trends that started than many participate in.grab on to that catch on like wildfire. There have been sooo many that’s I’ve seen come and go that I’ll try to remember some to discuss. Incidentally, this topic came to mind because the approach I generally end up taking is: If everyone is doing it, I’m definitely not doing it LOL

To avoid being wordy, I resolve to my usual list to give some example and touch on a few.

  • The use of stable fusion technology to create AI Art (particularly of selfies)
  • TikTok Invisible Body Challenge
  • Wordle
  • Age prediction photos (this is how I’ll look X amount of years from now)
  • Milk Crate Climbing Challenge

Why these trends emerge, last for some time, then die off, can be for many reasons. I’ll venture to say that many of them do so for the simple reason of what social media perpetuates: reach and exposure which hopefully results in follows and likes of one’s social media feed. Though I make a point not to follow any of them, I do notice what the algorithms throw onto my feeds. Let’s start with the first one…

#AIArt – I’ve been noticing a bunch of people using whatever this stable fusion technology is to create very realistic and accurate drawings of themselves. With that, I’ve seen a fair number of people criticizing this as technology that takes away from the most talented artists that can do the same by hand (nothing new here with AI taking over in instances like this). I’ve seen a few people I follow posting selfies of themselves in this manner.

TikTok Invisible Body Challenge – This one is particularly interesting to me because of the cybersecurity issues that many are clueless about. What is this challenge, you may ask? It goes like this: challenge requires you to film yourself naked while using TikTok’s “Invisible Body” filter, which removes the body from the video and replaces it with a blurry background and this challenge has led to people posting videos of them allegedly naked but obscured by the filter. First of all, why would ANYONE have no issue with “film yourself naked while using TikTok’s “Invisible Body” filter” (someone, help me on this … please). It gets even “better”…”hackers are capitalizing on this trending challenge named to install malware on thousands of devices and steal their passwords, Discord accounts, and, potentially, cryptocurrency wallets. To capitalize on this, threat actors are creating TikTok videos that claim to offer a special “unfiltering” filter to remove TikTok’s body masking effect and expose the TikTokers’ nude bodies. However, this software is fake and installs the “WASP Stealer (Discord Token Grabber)” malware, capable of stealing Discord accounts, passwords and credit cards stored on browsers, cryptocurrency wallets, and even files from a victim’s computer.” This is pretty much what I’m referring to by jumping on the social media trends bandwagon – doing things just because it’s a trend and you know clue of what the implications could be (especially in a case like this) because you’re essentially acting like sheep. You can read more about this challenge and the hacking approach here.

Wordle – I have no idea what this game is or how it’s played but I number of people I follow on Twitter pepper my feed with their daily Wordle results

Age prediction photos – This one’s seem to die off but, boy, I’ve seen a ton of followers jumping on this one BIG time. Sort of the same use of AI thing as #AIArt. Lately I’ve seen the same approach but applied to dead celebrities who’s been deceased for some time now, but showing how they would look if they were still alive today.

Milk Crate Climbing Challenge – One of the DUMBEST, ignorant, and most dangerous challenges I can remember seeing in some time. I’m glad that one is dead and gone….(isn’t it?).

As said above, if the proliferation of such is even noticeable, you won’t catch me involved (can you say TikTok? – that’s an entire different story that I don’t even understand regarding the continual security concerns with the platform).

Anyway, do you indulge? No judgement here, just asking for a friend 🙂

Have a great day!

Fresh

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The ever evolving mobile phone technology 

“Can you hear me now? – Verizon

Greetings all. Hope your December is going well. Another work day is behind me. I just finished dinner and have retreated back to my home office to compose this blog post, with (based on my post from two days ago) the Fluid channel streaming some cool chill step, chillout, and liquid trap on somafm.com.

“What’s up with this graphic above?”, you may be asking. Well, it represents my entry in to the world of mobile phones. Let’s go back….way back. The Motorola TeleTac 250 was the first mobile phone I ever purchased. I got it from, then, Bell Atlantic Mobile which is now Verizon. I graduated from keeping a beeper on my belt to this hefty, chunky phone with a removable battery that had to be placed in a cradle for charging. Let’s talk a bit more about it. I have a leather case, complete with a belt clip, that allowed me to carry it that way, when it wasn’t stored in a bag somewhere. The one line amber LCD display is only large enough to display full ten digit phone number and other types of messages, like diagnostic codes and pager codes (yeah those things that pre-dated todays emojis BIG TIME lol), remember those? https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/samir/11-pager-codes-that-you-need-to-know

I was very much, by default, used to using that phone, pager codes and all. In fact while it was far thicker than my iPhone 12 mini of today, its height (with the antenna retracted – yes an antenna you had to pull up) wasn’t taller than my current phone. What’s the biggest difference between the Teletac 250 and any mobile phone today? It’s simple – you can only do to things with it: make/receive calls and pager (text message) codes with it..in other words…zero distractions come with modern day mobile phones. That, in itself, is an entirely different and long topic of discussion.

As the evolution continued, I when from the Teletac 250 to the much smaller and very sleek Motorola Razr V3M flip phone. Outside from its form factor and totally different design, the big and new thing was a built in camera. While the picture resolution compared to today’s phone was pretty much garbage, there was nothing better to compare with, so that WAS big. I actually miss that phone for its size and features even though the introduction of a camera was the gateway to the city of Distractionville. I will tell you this, I’m pretty certain that if this phone were able to operate on the 5G network today and at a decent price, I would seriously consider dropping my iPhone….for sure.

From the Razr, ended ups with the Blackberry Curve, with Blackberry being all the rage during the last 90s. The Curve was, of course, a step up in technology, just as the Razr was to the Teletac. From the Curve, I finally switched to the iPhone 4S in 2011. Being (and still am) a fan of Apple products, it was only a natural progression. It was then that voice recognition was introduced into the iPhone line up with the creation of Siri (hence the “S” in “4S”). I kept the 4S for a few years, jumped to the iPhone 6, then 7 in 2017. I used the iPhone 7 until it was on its last leg and finally jumped all the way to the iPhone 12 in June 2021.

The gist of this post is really about how mobile phone technology, especially the iPhone, has advanced so far away from just “making sure the call goes through”, and (to me) the biggest feature set and selling point has been the camera. While we all realize that mobile phones and all the built-in technology can and does easily replace all the separate devices we used to have to carry around – recorders, audio players, laptops, GPS devices, and….cameras. Being an engineer for my entire career (both in software and hardware development), I totally get it like there is no tomorrow but I’m glad to have seen the birth and growth/evolution of this tech as it gives me broad perspective in terms of experience usage, a perspective that allows me to assess the pros and cons of such evolution ESPECIALLY regarding the ubiquitous grip it has on us.

It’s interesting, as one example, I still have a digital camera – an old Nikon D3100 DSLR that I actually brought for cheap from a photographer that was upgrading. While the pixel resolution is nowhere NEAR what current mobile phones give, it takes exceptionally fine photos, but as you know, the convenience factor, from a use factor, is waaaay down compared to taking everyday photos (and video) with my iPhone12.

Sometime ago, I read an article about the accepted use of mobile phone technology in our daily life. In the midst of the article, a question was posed to who use said phones now but are old enough to have grown up in times prior. The question was: “Back in the 60’s and 70’s, If you could put a device in your pocket that would essentially allow you to be tracked at any given time, but you were free to use it and all its beneficial technology at will, would you use it? I’ll let you assume what the answers were.

…and the beat goes on.

Thanks for the read.
Fresh.

PS: Yes, I still have the Teletac 250 🙂

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where does your creative thinking seem to thrive?

Arashiyama Bamboo Grove

Good morning, I hope the reading of this post finds you well. You are a creative thinker, even in the least bit, whether you are prolific music composer, hobby artist, NewYork Times best-selling author or finger painter. There are certain places where your creative thinking seems to flourish best, or there are certain scenarios involving those places that are a catalyst to it.

This has a direct alignment to problem solving as well. Many times I’ve read (especially in articles of productivity) that if you’re stuck on a problem, seeking a solution, the best thing to do is remove yourself from your current environment and take a walk. Removing yourself from the focus of what your dealing with, in order to gain clarity, can often be just what is need to find (or at least better approach) a solution. A familiar scenario is writers or composition block. At times, a total shift in mindset, even momentarily, could be just the thing to get back on track.

As for me, being a musician since I was 14, songs that I write, music that I compose often pops in my head. In doing so, I need to be able to some how get it out of my head and onto, into, some sort of medium so I won’t forget the foundation of the idea. The weirdest thing with me is that for as long as I’ve been a musician, these ideas seem to always come to me…in the shower, LOL! I’ve lost track of the times, over the decades, when this has happened, even to the point of me hopping out, throwing a towel around me and either running down to the studio or grabbing a portable cassette recorder and humming, even beat boxing the idea in so I don’t forget the “virgin idea” (which often times happens to be the best foundation for the final song)…hilarious times.

Things are a little different now, with the advent of mobile phones, as I can just grab the phone and record said ideas into the voice memo for recollection. Even more convenient is the ability to export that audio into my digital audio workstation, if need be, and continue from there, building more of the track around it.

As for writers who suffer the same, I suspect it’s far easier just grabbing something to write with and some sort of paper, but you get my drift!

If you deal with this in anyway, shape, or form – how do you handle capturing your creative thoughts while in an environment not readily conducive to maintaining them?

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Fresh!

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Whistle while you work – what’s your fave genre?

Greetings all.

Yesterday’s topic about workspaces kind of leads into today’s topical pretty nicely – when you work (be it at a desk or anywhere else) what kind of music do you like to listen to (if any at all). Many times, unless I need to really concentrate (or just want quiet) on work items, I listen to music. The sources range from streaming platforms to minidisc to mp3 players to CD players.

My genres vary, but let me see if I can generally categorize them via the type of work done:

  • Housework/yardwork – 90’s era hip-hop (especially instrumental boom bap), funk, jazz (UK, contemporary), UK Garage (2-Step), Deep House, Rock, liquid drum and bass, atmospheric drum and bass, jungle
  • Deskwork (day job/other) and coding: Downtempo, chillout, ambient, chill step, lo-fi hip hop, jazz

I pretty much grew up on R&B, R&B which is considered as “old school R&B”. While it’s classic and legendary, it’s a genre that I listen the least to, probably because I’ve heard it day by day, decade after decade. The interesting thing about this is that it was highly commercial then with far more substance, across the board, than contemporary R&B. My reasoning for not engulfing myself in listening to old school is for the very simple reason being that as great as it is, it’s boring now. What I would love to hear is that same substance return with the same commercial heavy rotation it used to have BUT done my newer artists – commercial artists. I was telling a younger listener who is searching for such that she will mostly like find it in the realm of indie R&B artists, but definitely NOT in urban contemporary radio/streaming platforms today.

Ironically, I am typing this blogpost in utter silence…LOL. Sometimes I just want quiet…like now. 🙂

Thanks, as always, for the read.

Fresh!

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Deskspace Decorum – What’s your style?

Image courtesy – twitter.com/jeorgepaulo_

Greetings all, Happy Holidays to you.

It’s Sunday night about 9:28pm as I write this post and sip on some hot chocolate. For many of us, it’s back to work tomorrow. Fortunately for me, it’s a scheduled workday from hime, but a workday nonetheless.

When it comes to the space in which you work (your personal workspace), whatever that work may be, what kind of environment do you create, what is your preferred decorum? Are you somewhat (or definitely) a stickler for ergonomics that help your productivity actions flow better – such as desk and chair type, lighting, monitor size, desktop vs laptop or both? Do you desire a clean and neat workspace, or is the opposite not an issue?

For me, I’m far from a Felix Unger type (for those of you that recognize that name) BUT I strive and prefer to keep a very neat desk space when I work. Stuff all over the place speaks disorganization and mess to me, the clutter is a mental distraction big time. All of my personal desks at home are of the legendary IKEA Jerker desk, which has been long discontinued. I happened to have three of them: one in the guest room/office and two in my recording studio. You can see a drawing of the standard Jerker without the accessories below:

Here’s actual picture of one assembled (not mine, but I have the same color wood):

Here’s a very close shot of one of the two in my recording studio, of which use the two swivel shelves shown above, along with a second shelf:

In any event, yes, I’m all about the ergonomics as well – having everything easily reachable, etc. I’m not one that has the cash to burn on one of those expensive Herman Miller Aero chairs but a good office chair definitely helps the flow. Lighting whether a desk lamp or overhead lighting (of the right hue/intensity – I don’t like bright light working conditions) is definitely important as well. All in all, gotta keep it neat and clean.

I won’t get into the desk and computer accessories, but an attractive visual aspect is one I generally try to keep. As for the office at work, they gave us nice, adjustable standing desks, so I take advantage of that during the day. Talk about workplace ups and downs! (Ok, yeah that’s corny!!)

How about you? What’s your environment like?

Thanks for the read – have a great week.

Fresh!