Author: robertjames1971

I'm wicked tall.

RPM Challenge Day 13/28

After two days of nothing, day 13 had some progress, but only a little and not nearly enough to make me feel better about the state of things.

I put rhythm guitars onto one song, and wrote lyrics and a melody for another. That’s it. This weekend is going to need a ton of work, and I don’t think I am going to have any time for any of it. I might need to take a personal day next week to play catch up.

Another Screwy Day

Today is Thursday and much like yesterday and the day before it is turning out to be a screwy day. Fun.

I overslept this morning. I had a bunch of things I wanted to do before the work day started and then I overslept and screwed up all of my plans. I did get the big things in, my day’s worth of goofy exercise, breakfast, routine stuff like that, and I managed to sneak in a little bit of guitar playing. I put rhythm guitars onto one RPM Challenge song. Not much but better than nothing.

We got a little snow last night. Probably less than an inch. The snow turned into rain and now we have a driveway covered in a nightmare of slush. At some point later today the temperature is going to drop and that nightmare of slush is going to turn into a nightmare of ice and I don’t know if I am going to have time to clear any of it before it freezes. I am super happy about that. Really. There’s not an ounce of sarcasm here. I am thrilled to the teeth by this potential outcome*.

It’s not even noon yet and the work day has been just as crazy as yesterday. Not bad, but a weird combination of hectic and frustrating. It’s looking like tomorrow will be similar, but after that things should settle again. Here’s hoping at least.

In closing, here’s a few guitar pictures from this morning because I am insane.

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DSC_3728
DSC_3729

*Contrary to the above statement, I was in fact being sarcastic. Extremely sarcastic. My words were dripping with venomous sarcasm. Just call me a sarcasm machine.

RPM Challenge Day 12/28

Nothing. Again. Two days in a row with no progress at all.

Day 13 has already been a little better but I’ll spell that out another time. Am I running out of steam? Yes and no. I think my internal, gimmicky challenges (10 electric and 10 acoustic songs, and using two different guitars for the rhythm tracks) are probably about to be toast, but the project as a hole is still on, though getting to be massively behind schedule.

Genesis Birthdays

Today is Steve Hackett’s birthday. Tomorrow is Peter Gabriel’s birthday.

Let’s listen to some Genesis while wishing them both a happy birthday.

I’ve probably posted this video before. It’s actually pre-Peter Gabriel wearing costumes on stage. Not by much, but it is. Weird, huh?

Four Nations Face Off

Are any NHL hockey fans psyched up for the Four Nations Face Off? The first game is tonight. Canada and Sweden are going to start in about 10 minutes. USA and Finland play tomorrow.

Do I care?

Usually I get pretty hyped up for this sort of international challenge. When NHL players are in the Olympics it is THE BEST HOCKEY EVER. Now? Today? With the United States crumbling into a fascist cesspool? It’s really hard to get up for an international hockey tournament when you are completely fucking ashamed of your country.

If there were a Massachusetts team, or a New England team, instead of a US team I might be excited. Otherwise I wish the US weren’t involved. If it were Canada, Sweden, Finland, and someone else (not Russia either) then I would be more excited. As it is? I just don’t care.

Network Fun

I had 15 minutes to go until a meeting with a customer. Not just any meeting, but a meeting where I was going to have to present something to them. Now I don’t talk to customers directly. It’s not in my job description. That being said, we’re all in this together and we are all one big happy team, and if the folks who usually do talk to the customers directly are tied up in other things I am happy to pitch in. Happy yes, stress free? Hell no.

The information I needed to present would, best case scenario, involve two, maybe three sentences and that was it. If they asked me questions I told the people I was covering for that I would panic quietly and then mumble responses until they stopped asking. I was kidding, of course. I didn’t expect any questions. I expected my speaking time to be wrapped up in a manner of seconds. Still… yikes.

Then that happy moment, about 15 minutes before the meeting… when our entire network went down. Oh… no… now what do we do??

I wasn’t going to be able to join the call… potentially neither was any of the other 50-70 or so people who were scheduled to represent my company… and we had no way of letting each other know, and no way of letting the customer know. What do we do?

One guy in my building who fortunately sits near me found a work around and yelled it out. Everyone else yelled it out too. I got onto the call with seconds to spare, then waited about 20 minutes for my turn to speak, then spoke my two sentences and asked for questions and there were none.

Oh, what a relief that was. Over and done.

After that I spent two hours on another meeting and now I am going to spend the next 90 minutes on yet another meeting. What a thrill! I just want to go home and go to bed.