In my last post, I talked about how my dad is resisting new guitar music notation. This evening I am resisting a usual change in my schedule. Normally I fly from the Bay Area home on Thursday evenings. This week I am flying home tonight (a Friday) because of meetings during the week. I needed to stick around until today and take the last possible flight home. My work obligations went well and I am glad I stuck around for today.
When I first started flying every week between Salt Lake and the Bay Area, I used to come out on Monday mornings and fly home on Friday nights. I also used to take this late Friday night flight. I did not like it but that was a choice I made for my career. After proving myself as a reliable employee, my company gave me the chance to work from home one day a week. I loved that change as it gave me more time at home with my family. I guess that means I don't always resist change.
So what is it about a change in technology that has us resisting it? I have to admit that I didn't immediately jump on the bandwagon when the original iPhone came out even though that change had the potential to make my life better. I think we would all have a tough time getting rid of our smartphones and going back to simple mobile phones. When I think about it, the increase in mobile phone costs could have been the reason. Perhaps that is a valid reason, perhaps not.
One change I am resisting right now relating to my mobile phone is getting a new one. Yes it is a pain to transfer all of my information from one phone to another, but realistically it shouldn't take that long. No, I actually have a number of problems with the new iPhone and it has me holding onto my old one even though it is memory constrained and should be upgraded. First is that I miss having a headphone jack. I have a set of wireless earphones that I love. I also carry a set of wired earbuds and I use them all the time. Wireless earphones don't have unlimited battery power and so the wired ones come in handy while batteries recharge.
I also don't like the form factor of the new phones. They are too large. My current iPhone is an SE and what I deem to be the perfect size. I have compared it with some of new choices from Apple and the smallest of the latest models are still much larger than my current one. I don't want a bigger one.
Finally I don't want to spend a lot of money on a new phone. It used to be that an expensive phone came in at around $300. Now that price has skyrocketed to around $1000. I once took my entire family to Disneyland for that price. I'd rather have the trip to Disneyland.
Perhaps I should look at a smartphone from another manufacturer. But then there is a technology change I have to deal with. Oh well.
Friday, June 28, 2019
Thursday, June 20, 2019
Advances in Music Notation
Nobody likes to see their parents get old and start forgetting things. One activity that helps keep the mind young is playing a musical instrument, especially one that you learned to play as a child. To help combat my own father's failing memory I worked with my son and got him an electric bass. Then I picked up a copy of Rocksmith. In addition to teaching you how to play guitar, it can also teach you how to play the bass.
My dad played bass in high school and even played with the local symphony. Then he got married, had kids, and never really picked it up again. Once in my youth, my dad borrowed a bass and tried to play it at a talent show but that was it. I have had a lot of fun learning how to play the guitar and hoped that my father would enjoy it as much as I do. What I didn't realize is how something as simple as advances in music notation would cause problems for him.
Guitar chords have been appearing on sheet music as long as I can remember. Then in the late 1980's and early 1990's a new guitar music notation started gaining favor. Instead of the usual 5 lines on the treble clef, guitar tabs have 6, one for each string. Instead of music notes, numbers represent which fret should be held to create the correct note. It is very intuitive for someone that does not have much music training. For someone like my dad that grew up playing the bass as well as the piano, it created a learning hurdle. Instead of embracing this new music notation, my dad ridicules it and belittles guitar players for not knowing how to "read music."
Fortunately I know enough about traditional music notations and guitar tabs to be able to explain the merits of the later. One thing you lose with tabs is timing information.There is no distinction between whole, half, quarter, or eighth notes. This is fixed by showing the treble clef notes above the space for lyrics and guitar tabs below them (often where the bass clef can be found in regular piano music).
The guitar is somewhat unique in that you can play the same note many different ways. If you hold the low-E string (the thickest one) at the 5th fret, it is an A note. That is the same note as the 2nd thickest string without any frets pressing. On a piano, each key represents a unique note and there are not any duplicates like there are on a guitar. Sometimes guitar music is written so that you will play the same note on 2 different strings. This is the way the introduction to "Wake me up When September Ends" by Green Day is written. The only way to indicate that with traditional music notation is to create a footnote that is impossible to figure out when sight reading the music. With guitar tabs, it is very intuitive and can easily be sight read.
There are technological advances happening around us constantly and it is important to embrace these advances even when they seem different and foreign. A lot of older people shy away from technological advances simply because they find it difficult to learn a new way of doing something. While it is easy to see the flaw in my own father, I too suffer from the same reluctance to embrace certain advancements. Naturally my kids are the ones that point it out to me.
My dad played bass in high school and even played with the local symphony. Then he got married, had kids, and never really picked it up again. Once in my youth, my dad borrowed a bass and tried to play it at a talent show but that was it. I have had a lot of fun learning how to play the guitar and hoped that my father would enjoy it as much as I do. What I didn't realize is how something as simple as advances in music notation would cause problems for him.
Guitar chords have been appearing on sheet music as long as I can remember. Then in the late 1980's and early 1990's a new guitar music notation started gaining favor. Instead of the usual 5 lines on the treble clef, guitar tabs have 6, one for each string. Instead of music notes, numbers represent which fret should be held to create the correct note. It is very intuitive for someone that does not have much music training. For someone like my dad that grew up playing the bass as well as the piano, it created a learning hurdle. Instead of embracing this new music notation, my dad ridicules it and belittles guitar players for not knowing how to "read music."
Fortunately I know enough about traditional music notations and guitar tabs to be able to explain the merits of the later. One thing you lose with tabs is timing information.There is no distinction between whole, half, quarter, or eighth notes. This is fixed by showing the treble clef notes above the space for lyrics and guitar tabs below them (often where the bass clef can be found in regular piano music).
The guitar is somewhat unique in that you can play the same note many different ways. If you hold the low-E string (the thickest one) at the 5th fret, it is an A note. That is the same note as the 2nd thickest string without any frets pressing. On a piano, each key represents a unique note and there are not any duplicates like there are on a guitar. Sometimes guitar music is written so that you will play the same note on 2 different strings. This is the way the introduction to "Wake me up When September Ends" by Green Day is written. The only way to indicate that with traditional music notation is to create a footnote that is impossible to figure out when sight reading the music. With guitar tabs, it is very intuitive and can easily be sight read.
There are technological advances happening around us constantly and it is important to embrace these advances even when they seem different and foreign. A lot of older people shy away from technological advances simply because they find it difficult to learn a new way of doing something. While it is easy to see the flaw in my own father, I too suffer from the same reluctance to embrace certain advancements. Naturally my kids are the ones that point it out to me.
Monday, June 17, 2019
Video Game Review: Red Dead Redemption 2
Last week I finally finished Red Dead Redemption 2 and so I thought I would provide a review of the game. It is a long one so plan to spend close to 100 hours if you want to finish it. I completed all of the story missions including the 3 epilogues. There are still a few side quests that I can go back and do but my son wanted to play the game and so it is time for me to move onto something else.
As I have stated in the past, I really enjoyed playing Red Dead Redemption on my PS3. I anxiously awaited the sequel when it was announced. Once it released I contacted one of my close friends who used to work at Rockstar Games and had him help me get a copy for $20. Then I patiently waited as it took an hour or so to copy all of the information from the 2 provided discs to my PlayStation 4. Fortunately I still have a PS3 on my boat and practiced guitar with Rocksmith 2014. Plan to have something else to do during the loading time or you will be bored.
The game started out well as I relearned all of the controls. Many people refer to the beginning of the game as a horse and snow simulator. I didn't mind it at all as I love the snow. Once I got familiar with the game, I sort of got frustrated as I felt forced to do tasks go against my style of play. If I was to give myself one piece of advice it would be to make your own choices and not feel like you owe anything to anyone else in the game. Once I figured that out, I started enjoying the game more.
Rockstar spent a lot of money creating the game and they did a phenomenal job. There are still areas that feel a lot more polished than others. The last few sections of the main part of the game really kept my attention and I wished that more of the game had the same level of finish.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is really 3 games in one. There is the main part of the game where you play as Arthur Morgan. In the Epilogues you change characters and play as John Marston who is the main character in the original Red Dead Redemption. That means RDR2 is a prequel to RDR. Then there is an online portion of the game where you create your own character and perform separate missions using the same map as RDR. All sections of the game combine to create high-value if you are looking for a video game set in the late 1800's.
I played the game knowing I would be doing a review and so I looked for a number of elements so I could comment on them. Firstly the game is rated "M" for Mature and says it includes violence, strong language, drug use, nudity, and sexual situations. I know that some parents are concerned about nudity and the only that I saw during the game was in paintings found in an art gallery. In other words, I wouldn't worry about it in this game. As for the rest of the content, yep, it is all there.
There is a lot of content for a $60 video game. Right now, that price has dropped to $35 and is well worth it at that price. If I didn't have a friend in the industry that got me the game at a nice discount, I would have gladly paid the original asking price. I highly recommend the game for young adults but would be a cautious parent getting this for a teen.
As I have stated in the past, I really enjoyed playing Red Dead Redemption on my PS3. I anxiously awaited the sequel when it was announced. Once it released I contacted one of my close friends who used to work at Rockstar Games and had him help me get a copy for $20. Then I patiently waited as it took an hour or so to copy all of the information from the 2 provided discs to my PlayStation 4. Fortunately I still have a PS3 on my boat and practiced guitar with Rocksmith 2014. Plan to have something else to do during the loading time or you will be bored.
The game started out well as I relearned all of the controls. Many people refer to the beginning of the game as a horse and snow simulator. I didn't mind it at all as I love the snow. Once I got familiar with the game, I sort of got frustrated as I felt forced to do tasks go against my style of play. If I was to give myself one piece of advice it would be to make your own choices and not feel like you owe anything to anyone else in the game. Once I figured that out, I started enjoying the game more.
Rockstar spent a lot of money creating the game and they did a phenomenal job. There are still areas that feel a lot more polished than others. The last few sections of the main part of the game really kept my attention and I wished that more of the game had the same level of finish.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is really 3 games in one. There is the main part of the game where you play as Arthur Morgan. In the Epilogues you change characters and play as John Marston who is the main character in the original Red Dead Redemption. That means RDR2 is a prequel to RDR. Then there is an online portion of the game where you create your own character and perform separate missions using the same map as RDR. All sections of the game combine to create high-value if you are looking for a video game set in the late 1800's.
I played the game knowing I would be doing a review and so I looked for a number of elements so I could comment on them. Firstly the game is rated "M" for Mature and says it includes violence, strong language, drug use, nudity, and sexual situations. I know that some parents are concerned about nudity and the only that I saw during the game was in paintings found in an art gallery. In other words, I wouldn't worry about it in this game. As for the rest of the content, yep, it is all there.
There is a lot of content for a $60 video game. Right now, that price has dropped to $35 and is well worth it at that price. If I didn't have a friend in the industry that got me the game at a nice discount, I would have gladly paid the original asking price. I highly recommend the game for young adults but would be a cautious parent getting this for a teen.
Thursday, June 6, 2019
Building a Prototype Web Application
This past week I have been putting together a fairly simple prototype web application. Ultimately I will build it with a back-end database but right now it is about a dozen static HTML pages. This will allow others to look at the design and suggest changes or refinements before we spend a lot more time and money on the finished internal application.
Putting together static HTML pages is something I did many years ago while working as a consultant. Back then I would hand code all of the HTML as automated tools didn't really exist. Sure I could use something like Dreamweaver from Adobe but the underlying code was difficult to maintain in a non-Dreamweaver environment. That was close to 20 years ago and so I did a quick survey of HTML tools to see if there is something that would work for me.
I must have gone through 30 different tools and none really worked. Some had a steep learning curve and wouldn't quite create the look I wanted. Others were just plain awful. Ultimately I decided I didn't need anything too fancy and used a word processor to create my initial design. Then I had it save my file in an HTML format. That sort of worked, but not quite. Next I pulled out GIMP and did a lot of layout work with the graphics. Then I did an few Internet searches and brushed up on my cascading stylesheet (CSS) skills. Once I had a design I liked, I tweaked the look by hand editing the HTML using my favorite text editor: vi.
Now I am building out a few follow-up pages simply by copying the original page and making a few edits. I don't need to build more than a dozen pages to help my colleagues understand what I am trying to build and so this process works fine. If I needed to build a more complex prototype with a lot more pages, I might want to take the time to learn one of the more complicated tools. Until then, my current process seems to be working fine.
Putting together static HTML pages is something I did many years ago while working as a consultant. Back then I would hand code all of the HTML as automated tools didn't really exist. Sure I could use something like Dreamweaver from Adobe but the underlying code was difficult to maintain in a non-Dreamweaver environment. That was close to 20 years ago and so I did a quick survey of HTML tools to see if there is something that would work for me.
I must have gone through 30 different tools and none really worked. Some had a steep learning curve and wouldn't quite create the look I wanted. Others were just plain awful. Ultimately I decided I didn't need anything too fancy and used a word processor to create my initial design. Then I had it save my file in an HTML format. That sort of worked, but not quite. Next I pulled out GIMP and did a lot of layout work with the graphics. Then I did an few Internet searches and brushed up on my cascading stylesheet (CSS) skills. Once I had a design I liked, I tweaked the look by hand editing the HTML using my favorite text editor: vi.
Now I am building out a few follow-up pages simply by copying the original page and making a few edits. I don't need to build more than a dozen pages to help my colleagues understand what I am trying to build and so this process works fine. If I needed to build a more complex prototype with a lot more pages, I might want to take the time to learn one of the more complicated tools. Until then, my current process seems to be working fine.
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