February 28, 2007

Music collection:
Here's a list of some of the music I recently acquired by converting cassettes into mp3s. In January of 2007, I began a digitization project. I've been converting my old cassette collection into mp3 format. The project is going well, and I'm up to the letter "E" at this point. This listing constitutes a small chunk of conversions. I'm bringing the 80's back to life on my Mac! I discover new music by listening to Indy tracks, using a fantastic music service called Pandora, visiting 3hive.com and consuming a few different music podcasts (iTunes new music tuesdays, indiefeed, and a customized playlist put together by a friend of mine). I buy most of my music from emusic.com.

These are just some of the items I added to my music collection during the month of February. Since returning from Japan in 2001, I've been starting to rediscover my appreciation for music. I really picked it up again in September of 2005. Since then I've been slowly adding, revising and updating my music collection. If you have a comment or a question regarding my music collection, please don't hesitate to send me an email.

Even more snow!
On the eve of 27 February, it began again. At first it was slight, light and dreamy. Turning large, fluffy, and later heavy. The snow came down again. Coating the street, the drive and the porch in a forbidding field of white. Refusing to be held at bay by this dark and dreary day, I venture out to take care of a couple chores I've stored up over the last few days. The snow is making for slow going on the roads to base, and the mood is somber, reserved, and downright depressing. In three inches of precipitation, the day comes quickly to a close. It snowed all day long, and not a single school was closed. Perahps we're getting used to this abuse?

February 25, 2007

Music collection:
Here's a list of some of the music I recently acquired. Most of these are cassette conversions. In January of 2007, I began a digitization project. I've been converting my old cassette collection into mp3 format. The project is going well, and I'm up to the letter "D" at this point. This listing constitutes another large chunk of conversions. I'm bringing the 80's back to life on my Mac! I also downloaded some music from 3hive.com, and some artist websites. I discover new music by listening to Indy tracks, using a fantastic music service called Pandora, visiting 3hive.com and consuming a few different music podcasts (iTunes new music tuesdays, indiefeed, and a customized playlist put together by a friend of mine). I buy most of my music from emusic.com.

These are just some of the items I added to my music collection during the month of February. Since returning from Japan in 2001, I've been starting to rediscover my appreciation for music. I really picked it up again in September of 2005. Since then I've been slowly adding, revising and updating my music collection. If you have a comment or a question regarding my music collection, please don't hesitate to send me an email.

Hot and Cold:
Another week of extremes in Colorado weather. I never know whether I should wear shorts or a parka. On the 23rd of Feb, we had temperatures in the lower 60's. That's rather warm for this time of year, but not unheard of. Following two days of relatively warm temperatures, and lots of melting, we got hit by another snow storm. This one came and went in a hurry. It began on Friday (23 Feb, 2007) night, and it was all over by Saturday (24 Feb, 2007) morning. I had to fire up the snow blower in order to tackle this mess. Six inches of heavy snow, made my back ache by Sunday morning. Thankfully, it didn't stick around long, and we're back up above freezing today (25 Feb, 2007).

Kudos to me!
<rave>I had a really good day at work the other day (23 Feb, 2007). Three things happened. All of them were good news for me.

First: A good friend from Misawa, will be coming to Denver in order to run the division I work in. How's that good news? Well, he's got a good background in this job. He knows how to get things done, and I'm confident that he'll help straighten out some of the problems we've been having in the division that I work in. If I'm really lucky, he'll realize that I can do more to help our division from the top down. Working from the bottom up is quite frustrating. I know that I could do so much more for our division, but I'm in a position where I can't use all my skills to their full potential.
Second: On Friday (23 Feb, 2007), I received my performance feedback from Northrop Grumman. I'm a lot happier with this years rating. During 2006, I certainly proved my worth to my employer and the government. I received a 'Far Exceeds' rating, which will likely result in a substantial pay raise. Given the right opportunities, I could push that rating into the Outstanding category during 2007.
Third: Something very important happened on Friday (23 Feb, 2007). Me and a government employee (someone who knows me well, understands this job as well as I do, and believes in me), were instrumental in getting a policy overturned at work. The policy was preventing the government from utilizing millions of dollars worth of resources in the execution of the sites mission. The government employee and I questioned this policy and we kept pushing the issue, not accepting the first, second, or third response that simply defied everything we knew about the mission and resources involved. We pushed it as far up the chain as we dared. Eventually, someone agreed to forward our concerns to a headquarters level. Despite the fact that everyone at site, and even headquarters, kept saying "No", "you're wrong". Someone at headquarters pushed it up to the national level. That's where the big time lawyer types reviewed the policy. The 'National Authority' reviewed the policy and they firmly came down on our side in the matter. Contradicting both our headquarters, and the personnel at site. Their remarks justified our assessment of the policy. That the restrictive policy was implementing a "Mythical Prohibition" against the use of these resources. That there was no reason why these resources couldn't and shouldn't be used. This policy reversal now frees up Millions of dollars worth of resources that would otherwise have been wasted. Resources that can now be used in the execution of the sites mission. I've questioned this policy ever since I arrived on site, and others tell me that it's been a policy stretching back at least ten years. This ill advised policy has prevented site from using resources that are valued at a minimum of $7,000.00 a minute. It's a huge development, and someone has finally listened to my objections regarding this restrictive policy.

It was a really good day at work. I went on break that day, and the consequences of these three things haven't rippled down to the worker level yet, but I'm predicting that some sort of recognition is coming my way. If nothing else, Friday's developments have left me with a very good feeling. I feel better about my job today than I have since I retired from the military back in 2005.</rave>

D&D update:
We played D&D on the 24th of February, 2007. Everyone showed up, and we even had a guest. A potential player from my waiting list. Yes, believe it or not, there's a waiting list to get a seat at our gaming table. Lee is interested in playing D&D and he'd like to join our campaign if the opportunity arises. Unfortunately, there really isn't room for another player at the moment. If and when an opening materializes, I'll give Lee some considerable weight for showing enough interest to actually show up without any promise of a slot. I haven't received any character journals, or monster descriptions yet, so the only thing I've updated since the meeting is the game date on the campaign page.

During this meeting (on the 24th of Feb, 2007), the party continued their quest to help Tanar locate his father. Missing for the past twenty years, Tanar's father, Nigel, has gone gone in search of some magical gateway. So far, the party has reached the town of 'Longbridge', and hiked up into the mountains. They've camped out on Firestorm peak and explored the nearby mountains. While searching for a way into the mountain, they've encounter some hostile creatures, violent wildlife, severe weather and some unexplainable events.

As soon as I receive Grenco's journal entry (from Stacy), I post some additional updates.

February 20, 2007

The return of the Guestbook:
My guestbook is back. Long ago, I had a guestbook. People even signed that guestbook. Then something changed, and guestbooks became magnets for spammers. A place where some low-life could tell people about his latest get rich scheme, architectural porn, or discount viagra. That's about the same time (three years ago) that my guestbook stopped working. I spent some time troubleshooting it, looking for alternatives, and contemplating the usefulness of said guestbook. In the end, I decided to leave the guestbook broken, and not replace it. Well, times have changed (a little). With the help of a 'distant' relative (thanks Jan), I've located a guestbook with relatively good spam protection. It's not hosted on someone else's site, it's not covered with advertisements, I was able to configure and customize it with relative ease, and best of all; It's Free!

So, the new guestbook is up and running. Hopefully it'll stand up to the legions of spammers looking for a place to deposit their steaming heaps of spam. I encourage you (Brian) to leave a little note, a small blurb regarding your experiences, a delightful disertation on the merits of "Rob's World!". I promise I'll read your note, and others may as well. My public bulletin board (guestbook) is back in service. I've even imported all the old entries (it looked kind of vacant without those).
<https://www.robsworld.org/gbook/gbook.php>

Index pages:
There are three index pages at "Rob's World!". There's the 'Front Door'. It's the main page of the web site. It's the primary index. You've probably seen it before. If you haven't, you need to set "Rob's World!" as your browser's default starting page. Then there are two index pages that you can use to help you find your way around the web site. Index1 covers all my D&D and gaming related activities. Index2 will help you find all the other stuff at "Rob's World!" I'm only mentioning the index pages because I recently updated them. If you're still having trouble locating that article about the Tanuki, you can always use the search engine. You shouldn't have any problem finding anything at "Rob's World!" by using the search engine.
<https://www.robsworld.org/indexpg.html>

Music collection:
Here's a list of some of the music I recently acquired. Most of these are emusic downloads (Emusic.com is 100% legal, has no cumbersome DRM, and it's a lot less expensive than iTunes). The eMusic model is a monthly subscription fee, for the piles of music I crave. With this sort of model, a monthly charge appears on my credit card, but considering the fact that I was dropping a minimum of $22.00 a month at the iTunes music store (for appx 22 songs), this isn't to bad. For $19.99 a month, I can download 90 songs (90 credits per month / typical cost is one credit per track). That's more than enough for me - eMusic is giving me four times the music for less money than the iTunes model. The eMusic library isn't huge (only a 1.4 million tracks, 1400 artists!), but they've got an extensive collection of independent artists. Since I've never been a mainstream kind of guy, the selection has proven to be compatible with my tastes. I still download some music from Apple's iTunes music store - They've got an awesome selection, a fantastic feature rich store, and a easy to use interface.

I also downloaded some music from 3hive.com, some artist websites, and a variety of newsgroup sources (I know they're a bit outdated, but they're a far more reliable source of downloads than peer-to-peer sharing..) I discover new music by listening to Indy tracks, using a fantastic music service called Pandora, visiting 3hive.com and consuming a few different music podcasts (iTunes new music tuesdays, indiefeed, and a customized playlist put together by a friend of mine). I buy most of my music from emusic.com.

Website and newsgroup downloads:
* The Busters - Ska, Sweat & Tears: (6 song EP) A German Ska band that I'd never heard of before. This release is offered to visitors at the band's website. It a fantastic little compilation of favorite live recordings, selected by fans of the band. The release even included a video and a CD cover (in pdf format). A 3hive.com discovery.
* The Busters - Waiting for the Sun: (single) A much more polished released (compared to the live recordings above). This song presents the energetic German Ska band in a terrific light. My introduction to the band came from 3hive.com.
* Westbound Train - Please Forgive Me: (single from Transitions) Another Ska song. After finding the Busters, I came back to 3hive and found this band. American Ska band mixes some jazz, R&B and mellow vocals to create something special.
* Let's Active - Cypress: (12 songs) Downloaded from a newsgroup. I bought this album many many moons ago. Thankfully it's survived relatively unscathed. This band was highly praised by the critics, but it didn't sell very well. As a result the band didn't last very long. The band's lead singer (Mitch Easter), went on to produce some great music (for his and other bands).

eMusic downloads:
* Bridges and Powerlines - Bridges and Powerlines: (1 song) Downloaded the last song in this five song EP. A new talent rising amongst the raucous roar of Alternative artists. Discovered using 3hive.com. An American band, making power-pop alternative with a british post-punk sound. Reminds me of Killers, the Rakes, Gang of four. Good stuff.
* So Many Dynamos - Flashlight: (4 songs) A great band discovered using 3hive.com. I previously downloaded six songs from this band, but I recently discovered that two of their albums are available on eMusic. Caution: Potential energy could cause spontaneous combustion. Powerhouse progressive pop leaps at you like a crackhouse exploding. Barely restrained lyrics are backed by energetic instrumentals. Four more songs to download to complete this album.
* Joe Strummer and The Mescaleros - Global A Go-Go: (11 songs) Picking up where he left off with Sandanista! This release reaffirms Joe Strummers influence to Punk and Rock. Sun-drenched rapid-fire lyrics mark this album in a distinctive Strummer style.
* Minutemen - What Makes A Man Start Fires?: (18 songs) An amazing release. This very early release by a punk band firmly crushed the conception of hardcore Punk, and brought us a group that was both intelligent and energetic. I'm going to listen to this baby over and over and over.
* Stereolab - ABC Music, the Radio 1 sessions: (32 songs) Wow! That's a lot of songs. Thanks to Troy, I discovered this pleasing festival of pop culture. Avoiding any specific niche, this band proudly shows it influences on this huge compilation.
* Manic Street Preachers - New Art Riot: (4 song EP) Another discovery, thanks to Troy. This band has a strong post-punk/alternative flavor, spiced with obvious left leanings.
* The Sea And Cake - Oui: (10 songs) I discovered this one by listening to my playlist over at 'Pandora.com'. Alternative, indie, experimental. Jazz flavored instruments soaking in melody, seasoned with fuzzy electronic musings.

These are just some of the items I added to my music collection during the month of February. Since returning from Japan in 2001, I've been starting to rediscover my appreciation for music. I really picked it up again in September of 2005. Since then I've been slowly adding, revising and updating my music collection. If you have a comment or a question regarding my music collection, please don't hesitate to send me an email. Don't bother with reporting errors. The collection/listing is full of errors. Now that I've started to converting my cassettes into digital format, I'll be weeding out the errors, omissions and unwanted duplications. Eventually, I'm going to completely scratch the current listing, and start all over.

The future of music:
I for one can see it coming. Eventually, most music will be sold online. Not only most, but a lot of music. Way more music than that being sold today. If the music studios can get their act together, they'll make a lot of money at it. Non-physical distribution of music, via the internet is a perfect means of increasing the music's accessibility and reducing costs associated with physical distribution of CDs. It reduces the middle man factor, completely eliminates the costs associated with a physical product, offers a greater potential for universal product access, and shortens the connection between artist and consumer. It's the perfect channel for independent artists, but the music industry (read RIAA) is strangling the potential in this new distribution channel. By making DRM (Digital Rights Management) demands that are increasingly difficult to create, manage and enforce, they're limiting their own distribution potential.

I'd like to download more music for less money (eMusic recently reduced the number of songs you get for your subscription (I was lucky, I got grandfathered in, and was permitted to keep my current limit)), but there isn't enough availability or competition to make that possible. The record labels are restricting licensing to a few legal music stores. The DRM restrictions they place on these stores are keeping out smaller players. You might have ten or twenty places that sell CDs in your neighborhood, but the immensely large community of the internet has an incredibly small number of legal music stores. Why? Because the record labels are afraid of piracy. Since they can't stop some people from downloading music illegally, they think that making it harder to get the music (for everyone) will deter the people who illegally share their music. That's ridiculous. All it's really doing is limiting the number of people who would buy music online. By making it difficult to obtain a license to sell their music, they're effectively killing potential sales in order to stop those few thieves. Stop worrying about the pirates, and license your products to more stores.

If these recording labels would remove the restrictions on obtaining licenses, more stores would open, there would be more competition (between online stores), they'd earn a higher return for the music they sell (compared to physical retail), and more people would buy music. Imagine a future with thousands of competing music stores on the internet. They would all charge very low prices, and the consumer would be blessed with an immense selection, and a huge variety in music purchase outlets. There really isn't any downside for the music industry. More sales equals more money in their coffers. Limiting licensing agreements, insisting on DRM, and trying to restrict the transfer of music from artist to customer is only hurting the music industry.

Here's what Steve Job's of Apple Inc. has to say regarding the current problems with DRM.

Software favorites:
One of my favorite pieces of software just released another update. GraphicConverter inches forward. Another step towards perfection. Another product that's always getting better.

One of my favorite programs released another upgrade recently. GraphicConverter released a new version (5.9.5) recently. GraphicConverter is an image converter and editor. A fantastic piece of shareware that is well worth the price ($35.00). I use it to convert image formats into web standard formats, to create and edit image maps and other graphics. I've been singing GC's praises for many years now, and I'm not sure I would do without it. The best part about GC is it's author. Thorsten Lemke is completely committed to his customer base. Constantly and Continuously responding to customer recommendations and bug reports. GC is a dynamic, evolving, application. Always on the cutting edge, an absolute must in any web developers tool box. At a fraction of PhotoShop's cost, this photo editor puts a huge wrench in your toolbox.
<http://www.lemkesoft.com/xd/public/content/index._cGlkPTE5Mw_.html>

D&D update:
We played D&D on the 10th of February, 2007. The party continues their quest to help Tanar locate his father. Missing for the past twenty years, Tanar's father, Nigel, has gone gone in search of some magical gateway. So far, the party has reached the town of 'Longbridge'. They helped the local lawman track down some rapists, and they witnessed some rather unusual animal activity. They found a hunter willing to lead them to a mountain trail. The trail led up into the mountains. Eventually they came upon two very large gates in the side of the mountain. While they searched for a way into the mountain, they were attacked by an unusual creature. These mountains seem to spawn strange beasts and cause madness in the animals living in it's shadow. What lies in store around the next corner? Stay tuned for danger, stay tuned for mystery, stay tuned for adventure! A couple of days ago, I received a journal entry from Mark, and this morning I made some updates.

Even more snow!
It seems like it never stops. This time we had a bit of a break before it came back. On the 13th of February, it started snowing - again! By the time it ended, we ended up with 1.5 inches. Mild compared to some of the storms we endured this winter. This snow was accompanied by bitter cold temperatures and blowing winds. There was a lot of drifting, and driving was particularly treacherous. We saw temps hovering about 0 degrees F. This time I'm not shoveling. Temps (in general) have warmed up enough to melt the small amount of snow that we received.

Fighting Spam:
<rave>Recently I've received a few email messages from Anthony Edwards, a system administrator for a few different domains (Easynet UK, Sky Broadband, and others?). The email I received from Mr. Edwards, was sent in response to spam that I reported (through SpamCop) recently. Anthony wrote to thank me for reporting the spam sent through his network. This isn't the first time I've received an actual positive response from a spam report, but I report more than a thousand spam messages per month, and I almost never receive thanks, email, or any sort of reply from the ISPs where the spam originated. I was surprised, impressed and glad to see that someone still cares. Kudos to Anthony Edwards and the companies he works for. Thanks for helping to fight spam. System administrators like Anthony are our front line in the war against spam. If every ISP employed someone with Anthony's attitude, we'd have a lot less spam to sift through in the morning.</rave>
<https://www.robsworld.org/index2.html#fightingspam>

VA data stolen - Again!
<rant>What's the deal? Three significant instances of Veteran's Administration data theft in less than a year's time. On the 11th of February, 2007, I learned that the VA has just reported the loss of a portable hard drive containing sensitive information. The VA reported the computer (and hard drive) missing from the Birmingham VA Medical Center on January 22nd, and it may have been stolen. The hard drive of this computer reportedly contained "sensitive VA-related information" on approximately 535,000 individuals (including information on approximately 1.3 million living and deceased non-VA physicians). Initial reports (from the office of Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) indicated that as many as 48,000 records had been compromised. This new number is significantly larger. We're also told that much of the data was "Not" encrypted.

Sure, the employee who had possession of the drive has been put on administrative leave for violating the agency's security policies, but that's of little comfort to the thousands who are now wondering:"Was my data on that disk? What kind of data was on that disk?". There are plenty of unanswered questions. At this point, I'm sitting here waiting to see what happens first. Another apology letter from the VA, or a maxed out credit statement from my bank. The VA currently has no evidence that the data has been misused, and VA Secretary Jim Nicholson said the agency will be notifying individuals whose information may have resided on the drive. He said the department would also arrange for one year of free credit monitoring to anyone whose information was found to have been compromised.

This incident marks the third major data security breach reported by the VA in less than a year. You may recall the theft last May (May of 2006) of equipment containing personal data on more than 26 million past and present military personnel. This latest episode is likely to spark another round of hand wringing and concerned questions from Congress. When will the VA actually implement some new data handling and encryption procedures? </rant>

Mac OS 10.4.8 security update:
Another security update released by Apple. This time the update addresses security concerns in the OS's core services, the iChat application, and user notification code. Apple's software update makes it easy to find out about, and implement these security updates. If you own a Mac, you can rest assured that any potential security concerns will be addressed in a timely and thorough manner. You can read more about the update at Apple's website. Keeping my Mac safe from malicious hackers and such.
<http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/security/>

Oh, no - Not a cavity!
The other day (15 Feb, 2007) I had to have a cavity filled at the dentists office. Today (20 Feb, 2007) I had to have some gum work done. Bummer! I despise these visits to the dentist. I like to be in control of my life at all times, and someone else with their hands inside my mouth is a huge violation of my personal space. The dental work went o.k. but I'm always worried that the dentist is going to drill into a nerve. Oh wouldn't that be fun!? - Not! So now I'm back to brushing and flossing on a more regular basis - Twice a day for both. I don't want to end up like dad, with a mouth full of dentures.

February 11, 2007

D&D update:
We played D&D on the 10th of February, 2007. The party continues their quest to help Tanar locate his father. Missing for the past twenty years, Tanar's father, Nigel, has gone gone in search of some magical gateway. So far, the party has reached the town of 'Longbridge'. They helped the local lawman track down some rapists, and they witnessed some rather unusual animal activity. They found a hunter willing to lead them to a mountain trail. The trail led up into the mountains. Eventually they came upon two very large gates in the side of the mountain. While they searched for a way into the mountain, they were attacked by an unusual creature. These mountains seem to spawn strange beasts and cause madness in the animals living in it's shadow. What lies in store around the next corner? Stay tuned for danger, stay tuned for mystery, stay tuned for adventure! I'll post the latest journal entry as soon as I receive some input from the players. Since everyone showed up for last nights meeting, I was able to take a new group photo. Here are a couple updates I posted this morning.

Just a few updates from our latest gaming session. Look for more in the weeks to come. Maybe we'll even see some character backgrounds posted. Who knows? Anything could happen.

Music conversions:
Here's a list of some of the music I recently acquired. I discover new music by using a fantastic music service called Pandora, visiting 3hive.com and consuming a few different music podcasts (iTunes new music tuesdays and indiefeed). I buy most of my music (now) from emusic.com. The music below was all converted from cassette using Audacity and my Mac.

These are just some of the items I added to my music collection during the month of February. Since returning from Japan in 2001, I've been starting to rediscover my appreciation for music. I really picked it up again in September of 2005. Since then I've been slowly adding, revising and updating my music collection. If you have a comment or a question regarding my music collection, please don't hesitate to send me an email. Don't bother with reporting errors. The collection/listing is full of errors. Now that I've started to converting my cassettes into digital format, I'll be weeding out the errors, omissions and unwanted duplications. Eventually, I'm going to completely scratch the current listing, and start all over.

Software favorites:
One of my favorite pieces of software just released another update. GraphicConverter inches forward. Another step towards perfection. Another product that's always getting better.

One of my favorite programs released another upgrade recently. GraphicConverter released a new beta version (5.9.5b1) this week. GraphicConverter is an image converter and editor. A fantastic piece of shareware that is well worth the price ($35.00). I use it to convert image formats into web standard formats, to create and edit image maps and other graphics. I've been singing GC's praises for many years now, and I'm not sure I would do without it. The best part about GC is it's author. Thorsten Lemke is completely committed to his customer base. Constantly and Continuously responding to customer recommendations and bug reports. GC is a dynamic, evolving, application. Always on the cutting edge, an absolute must in any web developers tool box. At a fraction of PhotoShop's cost, this photo editor puts a huge wrench in your toolbox.
<http://www.lemkesoft.com/xd/public/content/index._cGlkPTE5Mw_.html>

February 9, 2007

D&D update:
We played D&D on the 27th of January, 2007. Another new adventure. The seventh adventure for our group. The party has decided to help Tanar locate his father. Missing for the past twenty years, Tanar's father, Nigel, has gone gone in search of some magical gateway. A diary page that Tanar recently received, contains many details regarding his father's disappearance. The party has set out to discover what happened to Tanar's father, and possibly uncover the mystery surrounding 'Firestorm Peak'. So far, the party has reached the city of Silverymoon. Their destination is a town named 'Longbridge'. From there they hope to unravel the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Nigel Stormcloud. Traveling cross-country on horseback, the party has encountered a few groups of wandering monsters, and a friendly Satyr. The mountains nearby seem to spawn beasts and hordes of intelligent foes. The party will have to stay on their toes. What lies in store around the next corner? Stay tuned for danger, stay tuned for mystery, stay tuned for adventure! With the party beginning a new adventure, I completed the following house rules updates:

3ewhoswho.html:
One update to the "Who's Who?" page. I've added an entry for "Ravek", the intelligent weapon which Thalidimar carries. There's a bit of a story behind this entry. Be sure to check it out. The " Who's Who?" page is a listing of characters, both player characters and non-player characters.

monsters.html:
I added two new entries to the monster page this week. Vasuthant are wispy floating undead creatures which suck the life force from the living. The party met a thirsty Satyr on their journey to Sundabar. He was courteous and informative. The monsters page is a listing of monsters that the party has encountered, read about or heard of.

Just a few updates from our latest gaming session. Look for more in the weeks to come. Maybe we'll even see some character backgrounds posted. Who knows? Anything could happen.

With the completion of the most recent adventure, the campaign is moving forward into a whole new phase. Now that I've retired from the military (on the 1st of January, 2005), and I won't be relocating every three years, I'll be able to run the campaign past the 8th level. It's something I haven't been able to do since the early 80's, and I'm excited by the possibilities. I hope that the players in group are enjoying the game, and I hope that I can carry the campaign forward into this new phase without any problems.

A heat wave? In February?
What the? First it's subfreezing temperatures, blowing wind and snow (on the 1st and 2nd of Feb, '07). A few days later (on the 5th & 6th of Feb, '07), and we've got record highs? The temperatures got up to 57F on the 5th, and 59F on the 6th. The temperature on the 6th set a new record for that day. The average high for the first week of February is 47F, and theses temperatures are really strange. With the warm temperatures came a lot of melting.

Music conversions:
Here's a list of some of the music I recently acquired. I discover new music by using a fantastic music service called Pandora, visiting 3hive.com and consuming a few different music podcasts (iTunes new music tuesdays and indiefeed). I buy most of my music (now) from emusic.com. The music below was all converted from cassette using Audacity and my Mac.

These are just some of the items I added to my music collection during the month of February. Since returning from Japan in 2001, I've been starting to rediscover my appreciation for music. I really picked it up again in September of 2005. Since then I've been slowly adding, revising and updating my music collection. If you have a comment or a question regarding my music collection, please don't hesitate to send me an email. Don't bother with reporting errors. The collection/listing is full of errors. Now that I've started to converting my cassettes into digital format, I'll be weeding out the errors, omissions and unwanted duplications. Eventually, I'm going to completely scratch the current listing, and start all over.

Bitter cold, and more snow!
It seems like it never stops. It seems like I just finished shoveling. On the 1st of February, it started snowing - again! This time we only got one inch. Unfortunately, the snow was accompanied by bitter cold temperatures and blowing winds. There was a lot of drifting, and driving was particularly treacherous. On the way to work (on the 2nd of Feb), the Volvo read a temperature of -6F in the garage. On the way to work the temperature got down to -12F. According to the news, we had record cold temps that day. DIA (the airport) measured -18, while the previous low (for Feb 2nd) was recorded as -16F in 1996. With the wind chill, we recorded temperatures in the -25 to -50 range. It was cold!