waking up

Michael Jackson Died Yesterday

Jun 26
1 Comment

Amidst all the blog posts there must be on MJ, I just wanted to express that I haven’t felt this way about a musician’s passing before. I mean, I was sad when I found out Buddy Rich was dead, or that Jaco Pastorius was dead, and these were musicians I emulated as a drummer and as a bassist. But when MJ died, I was so stunned… I didn’t believe it. For an hour, I constantly checked Google News in case he was in a coma with the possibility of coming back. Why? Because, for all his troubles and all the scandal, he made a difference for the good. I mean, our lives were better for having his music.

I saw a comment on a YouTube video of MJ… and it really made me think. It made me think of all the people who praise his career and influence now who really had no compassion for him during the tough times. And now it’s too late.

***

It’s true,he was one of the best,but it’s funny how, when a person passes he is loved and revered,he needed all this love and support when he was around,just as the common man,you come across of see everyday, desires the same. We are now going to make him into another Jesus. When Jesus/Michael and others were here, they were vilafied, but in their death or demise, we make them into angels. The idea is, love everyone the same, now why you have a breathe yourself, he is gone, duplicated, by only 1

The guy (apart from his broken sentences and poor grammar/spelling) is basically saying that we hate some people when they’re alive, and love them when they die. It’s a strange concept, but I believe it’s true in the sense that we judge and condemn or just become apathetic to many people around us, and while they may not have the talent or accomplishments of a pop icon, are they any less worthy of dignity and respect?

Why not love them now while you’re still alive?

Posted in Life, Spirituality, Church, Ramblings, Noteworthy

Phone Theory Lesson

Jun 12
1 Comment

Today it became apparent that I had double booked myself. Not having a clue about it, I got a call from the students I had ditched, who basically were just worried and hoped I was okay. I assured them I was, and they thought perhaps it was a miscommunication. I told them that it was probably 100% my fault.

And then I proceeded to recall the assignment I had given them for the week… it was a theory exercise, through which they had to apply their understanding of the major scale to the guitar fretboard. The reason? 1) So they could know the notes on their guitar, and feel more confident about hunting notes down, and 2) more importantly, that they would recognize chord shapes they already know, and see the constituent notes that form those chords.

Today, I challenged them to not only see a chord they play often, but to understand it at its theoretical basis. AND I WASN’T EVEN THERE. Maybe this could open a door!! Skype theory lessons one day?

Posted in G.O.D., Noteworthy

Protected: Money and Responsibility

Jun 11
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Posted in Life, Spirituality, Church, Ramblings

AT&T U-verse Review

Jun 11
4 Comments

So it’s been a few weeks since I started using the service, and I said I would review it once I had a sense of how good the service was.

First things first… I got a $200 rebate just for signing up before May 31st, which was nice. Second, I also obtained another $100 reward just for signing up and using a referral code that an online agent offered me during a live chat (so if you are signing up through the website, make sure you ask a live chat salesperson to help you finish the transaction… and sorta hem and haw about how you would sign up if you were convinced that it were a great deal and such).

They offered two free months of HBO, cool.

The service worked great for the first week. Great.

The service completely crapped out for three and a half days. BAD.

I spent nearly three hours spread across five customer service calls trying to get the problem resolved. Burned through two routers as well. LAME.

They were very polite, and the customer service was 24/7. Decent.

They had to send over two technicians on separate occasions, and a maintenance guy on another occasion because no one knew the full scope of the problem until the very last visit. ANNOYING. Turns out my phone line was super old, couldn’t steady the signal, and my cable running into the house from the box was getting interference from the electrical wiring because the installation was performed improperly.

They sent each serviceman very quickly, and on one occasion, sent the guy within an hour of the complaint. Impressive.

They offered to reimburse me for the days I was out of service. Good.

They could have avoided all of it if the first technician that performed the installation knew what the hell he was doing. STUPID.

Now, for the actual FEATURES of the service:

-View photos from your Flickr, awesome
-Record up to two HD programs (normal) or four standard channels at once (impressive)
-Very good picture quality… even better than Comcast IMO, but it’s very subjective since I never compared with the same TV
-Weather, Stocks, interactive “U-bar”
-Yahoo! Games (never tried)

CONS
-very slow button response… sometimes close to three seconds for the “record” function to wake up
-resetting the DVR is much like resetting a router… only it takes a few minutes and not seconds
-rebooting the router takes even LONGER, but thankfully, I haven’t had to do this since the major problem that caused my outage was fixed
-the picture and sound jutters wen recording two HD channels from time to time
-internet connection is occasionally intermittent… but we’re talking about a few seconds, and otherwise, it’s relatively solid

***

So far, due to the incompetent nature of the install, I was really frustrated with AT&T, but honestly, they couldn’t have handled it any better. I’m sold on the customer service and the product itself is good, if not very good. And when it comes down to it, if they can do half the things they are potentially able to do (and the future moves towards IPTV), then I am happy to be an early adopter. I recommend it.

Posted in Noteworthy, Other