Electronic Hermit

Electronic Music Guide

2005-11-19T17:25:00.000-06:00

Ever find yourself confused by the many different categories of Electronic music out there? Maybe you heard something and liked it, but you're not sure what the heck it was? Perhaps you like one particular style but wonder what else is out there. Well, look no further than this website right here (http://www.di.fm/edmguide/edmguide.html). The author gives some humorous descriptions of each genre and sub-category, and just going through all the samples can take quite a while. Try it out, I bet you'll learn something. I did.

Mini Me, ASAP

2005-08-17T20:38:00.000-05:00

The other day, I was sitting in my electronic cave listening to the high-pitched whine of my P4 machine, hard drive chugging away doing who knows what, reading through the latest batch of Windows security alerts when I hit the breaking point. I threw up my hands and said "F*** this!". Well, maybe not exactly like that, but something inside me had reached the point of no return. I wanted security, I wanted a better user experience, I wanted silence...I wanted another Mac.

At first, I considered a used machine and browsed through the wares at online stores like Powermax, but after adding up the cost of upgrades and considering the fact that these machines are almost six years old and most certainly not silent, I figured a new machine was my best bet. Unfortunately, I don't make the kind of money that would let me afford a shiny new G5 dual processor box. Plus, I had a nice Viewsonic 19" LCD monitor that I wanted to re-use.

So, a few days later, I went over to the Apple Store at Mayfair to pick up a Mac Mini 1.42 Ghz and an Apple keyboard. When they handed me the box, I couldn't believe there was actually a computer in there. I've known about the Mini for quite some time, but holding one for the first time was a strange experience. After a quick stop at Best Buy for a 1 GB ram stick and a Microsoft optical mouse, I was all set.

Well, upgrading the ram myself was an interesting experience, due to the way you have to carefully pry open the case with a putty knife, but after some sweating and cursing, I managed to get it done without breaking anything. :)

The machine is whisper-quiet and surprisingly fast. I see no problems with doing anything I will need to do with this machine, including design work with Adobe Creative Suite 2.

I've had a few Apple machines around the house for a few years now, but this is my official "switch" point. I'm convinced that Apple machines give a better user experience and I'm not looking back. Oh, the PC will stay around as a game machine or whatever, but as far as day-to-day work, it's Mac all the way for me now!

Packers, TDIs and Tigers (oh my!)

2005-04-29T12:27:00.000-05:00

I was just walking to lunch and saw a car with a Green Bay Packers license plate. The plate read "P4X0RZ". ("Packers" in "leet-speak" if you are wondering.) I got a good chuckle out of that. :)

I think I am going to try to pick up OS X 10.4 (Tiger) this evening. If you haven't checked it out, you need to go on over to Apple's website and take a look. There are a lot of very cool new features, and a lot of other improvements "under the hood".

I didn't mention this before, but I've been driving a Toyota Matrix (base model) since November. I like it quite a bit. However, I'm waiting on Honda to bring their super efficient diesel engine to American shores. I really believe biodiesel is the way forward for decreasing America's dependence on foreign oil and fossil fuels. Volkswagen has a great interim solution, with their TDI engines, but to have the reliability of a Honda would be the icing on the cake.

Easter Present

2005-03-28T16:55:00.001-06:00

Dana and I woke up on Easter morning, not to find Easter baskets full of goodies, but to the realization that our furnace had died sometime during the night.

Since it wasn't a great furnace to start with, was 12 years old and wasn't sized correctly for our house, we decided to just replace it.

We actually get heat upstairs now! Plus, our floors are actually warm and it is super quiet! :)

Mad props to Rich and Matt from West Allis Heating and Cooling. They are true masters of their craft.

If anyone is in the market for a new furnace, I can definitely recommend a Lennox G61V installed by these guys.

http://www.hetzer.net/lennox.jpg

(Almost) Easter Baby

2005-03-28T16:50:00.000-06:00

Dana's sister Katy had her baby on Saturday morning, March 26th at 3:08 am. Mom and baby are doing well and got to come home today.

Welcome to the world, Trey Andrew Salerno. We love you!

http://www.hetzer.net/trey_andrew.jpg

I Like Flowers

2005-02-24T23:29:00.000-06:00

So I took some pictures of flowers in our yard last summer and they've been hanging out on my hard drive since then. I wanted to do something special with them, so I picked out three nice ones, did a little precision cutting in Photoshop and came up with this:

http://www.hetzer.net/flower_triplet.jpg

I wanted something to brighten up our house a little bit. I think these fit the bill quite nicely. :)

Done

2005-02-05T20:24:00.000-06:00

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've been busy trying to finish school. About a year ago or so, I returned to school online to obtain a second Bachelor's degree and I am finally done. I will be getting a BFA in Visual Communications. My final project is available here, so you can see what I've been up to:

http://www.hetzer.net/portfolio

So, it will be nice to have my weeknights and weekends to myself again. Lord knows there is plenty to do around this house. Maybe I should have gotten a degree in home repair! :)

Flash Is Fun

2004-10-28T20:27:00.000-05:00

Here is a little project I created for my Multimedia class. It's a little drum machine with loops and samples I recorded using my Roland R8. Pretty simple, but it opens the door for some cool stuff. Might have to work on some things later...

Enjoy:

http://www.hetzer.net/drum_machine3.swf

Work Is Still Work...

2004-10-28T20:12:00.000-05:00

...and work is not fun. The funny thing about being a consultant/temp, especially in the computer field, is that you are expected to do everything a normal employee would do except with half of the resources and kind of back-handed support from your employer/"teammates". Did I mention you will only be paid one-half to two-thirds as much for all of this hard work? Yeah, that too. Oh, and if you show even a hint of reliability and knowledge, you are going to get loads of work dumped on you, usually stuff that the regular employees don't want to do. Then again, my supervisor did that to me when I was an employee too, so I guess it isn't really all that different.

So, this is my anti-post to my last post. Temp/consulting work isn't all about freedom. It has its downside too. I've been on both sides of the employment equation and they both have their ugly aspects. At least as a temp, I can't be forced to work overtime (usually).

Meh. Three more months of school to go until I get my Visual Communications Bachelor degree. Then I can start looking for graphic design work. It may be better than tech work, it may be worse. I'll just have to wait and see. But, it will still be work...and work is not fun.

The Temping Life

2004-10-07T21:53:00.000-05:00

Yes, indeed. I must say that although the pay is not all that great, my stress level has gone down drastically since I've returned to temping/consulting/whatever you want to call it. I came across an amusing article on a UK website that pretty much sums up the key elements of the experience. Check it out:

http://www.i-resign.com/uk/workinglife/viewarticle_132.asp

Freedom is a beautiful thing. :)

Mini Vacation

2004-08-24T20:52:00.000-05:00

Dana and I went to Chicago last week (Thurs, Fri, Sat and Sun) for a little mini-vacation. I put the pictures together into a little web gallery courtesy of the Automate feature of Photoshop CS. I didn't have time to figure out how to edit the description fields and all that yet, sorry. Basically, we went to Millenium Park, the Field Museum, the Lincoln Park Zoo, the Art Institute and the Air and Water Show was going on. Oh, and my brother Dan and his wife Marge stopped down to hang with us on Saturday too. It was lots of fun and the weather was excellent. I actually got sunburned! :)

Check it out at:

http://www.hetzer.net/chicago2004

Feeling Better

2004-08-10T21:50:00.000-05:00

I'm getting back to my normal self a little more each day. I started working out again and brushed the dust off my drum machine today. It still works. :)

401k to IRA

2004-07-29T16:43:00.000-05:00

I went to see the good people at R.W. Baird in Mequon today to set up an IRA for me to roll my 401k money into. They are always friendly and helpful.

One interesting thing that they told me is that under current Wisconsin tax law, if you sell your house within 5 years of buying it, you get to keep 100% of the profit you make on the transaction, tax free. Very cool and a good way to build up cash if you don't mind moving every five years and fixing up houses. Of course, like anything else in life, you have to be smart about it, but very cool anyway.

Day Three...

2004-07-28T11:34:00.000-05:00

...feels like three-hundred. I think I need to look for a part time job soon. Working from a queue has a way of structuring your life and when you are suddenly left to your own devices, well, it kinda feels like wandering the countryside without a map.

Yesterday, for no reason at all, I drew this. Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking. I watched Oprah yesterday, too. *sigh*

First Day of Freedom

2004-07-26T21:59:00.000-05:00

So, today was my first official day of "freedom" from the corporate world. I have to say it felt pretty strange to not get in my car and head off down the freeway this morning. Strange, but nice. The electrician was here today upgrading the service to our house, so I caught up on some reading. Kind of a nice change of pace. Tomorrow I plan to delve into my pile of long-neglected music equipment and see if I can remember how it all works. :)

I also plan on working on a long-overdue update to my website. Oh, and there is always homework. Maybe after I play some Castlevania on the PS2. :)