A Penny on the Track

Posted on July 20, 2020 by SusanG

You know that practice of putting a penny on the train track to get it squished? And how you’re not supposed to do that because supposedly it could cause the train to derail? Either part of that applies to me after this weekend. I’m either the squished penny or the derailed train.

A meeting doodle. My home office has more
colors to doodle with.

Ok, it’s not quite as bad as that. I was working along last week with a fairly good routine working on the various things I’m trying to learn and I was all set to have a weekend that I would be able to sit down and really get into one or two of those things and make a surge in progress. I even got my Friday errands done so I wasn’t going to be interrupted with going out to do something. I was set. And then Mr. Migraine shows up to squish my penny and derail my weekend plans.

Now the good news is that I got a few things done during the week that were significant, and I got a few small extras done on Saturday before the migraine took hold. And that’s the important stuff.

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned that I bought an Aerogarden. I got it the last week in April and have been growing the herbs that come with it. Ok really, I was just growing the Basil. The Mint and Dill and Parsley came up. And they tried to get going but the Thai Basil and the Genovese Basil came up quick, got big quick, and took over the light so nothing else stood a chance. The stuff grows so fast that I could make a one to two person serving of fresh Pesto every three days. I finally decided that, since I couldn’t keep them trimmed back enough so they weren’t getting burned by the light, it was time to pot them in soil and see what would happen. I needed bigger pots. And if they survive, I’ll get them some.

Genovese Basil, Garden of salad greens, Thai Basil.
Yes, the Basil’s were in that garden, with the light taller.

There is a question if the Thai Basil will survive because of the abuse I put it through trying to get it out of the garden. It’s root system was so extensive that it took over the water well. Between that and the light, no wonder nothing else was having any luck. With a bit of squishing and fiddling I was able to get the roots out without cutting them. I think that was a good thing. Though, they took up nearly the entire pot that I had for it to go into. It’s still hanging on and it’s been six days so maybe. The Genovese Basil wasn’t as bad. It too could use a bigger pot.

The cool thing about that, and my work from home situation for the day job is, I did all that on my lunch hour. After work I re-potted the Mint and the Basil that are on the balcony to keep the wasps away. And then it was time to clean up the garden and start a new one. I started some salad greens. I have no idea what they are, they just say salad greens. Those little buggers sprouted in two days. I’ll have to keep and eye on the roots this time.

My guitar playing has been intermittent lately. I’d make excuses and reasons why it isn’t happening except, we all know that they really don’t count for anything. So I’ll leave it at that. I did get in and do a little work with my loop pedal one night. It was a quick thing but I’m starting to get the hang of it…sort of. A few months ago I finally decided I needed to try laying down a rhythm track on my loop pedal so I could work on soloing over an eight bar blues. I’ve got a good feel for a twelve bar but the eight is newer to me and I haven’t had a lot of practice with it. So I fiddled with it and stomped it on and off and whatever several times and finally got a clean loop of the eight bars down so I could play over it. It worked great.

You can just see the little green leaves starting to peak through.

At one time I was using a little mini loop pedal that was just a one stomp and one track pedal that worked well. And while I still have it, it’s not on my pedal board my Boss RC-3 is. It’s got more bells and whistles, knobs, and buttons than I know what to do with right now. So for me to figure out, how to get what I wanted was an accomplishment. And then, to remember that a few months later was just as big a deal for me. Next up, learn howto add a second track to the first one, cleanly. That will be something.

I’m still working on donuts. That was one of the things I had planned to do this weekend. I was going to finish up the tutorial, all the way this time, and get started making dozens of donuts in Blender. That didn’t happen. So it’s on the agenda for this week. I was also going to finish up the section I’m working on for the Ruby course. That didn’t happen either. So I’ll try again this week.

For now here are a small few pictures for your enjoyment.

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Still Starting, and Continuing

Posted on July 13, 2020 by SusanG

Oh my. I hardly know where to start or what to cover today. I have the same problem with all the books I have to read and online courses that I’ve signed up for or need to take, and all the projects I’ve set for myself. There is so much that I sometimes end up stuck trying to decide where to dive in. It turns out that bit about the artist that I shared the last time seems to be helping. It really doesn’t matter, which one I start, I’m going to read them all, I’m going to learn them all, and I’m going to do most of if not all the projects, or completely different ones. The key is to just start. And that’s what I’ve been doing. Some days more successfully that others.

Yes. I did join in the home gardening trend

There are a few things on my plate that are related to the day job and some of those things seem to be expanding. I’m still studying for one more SQL certification test. This one has been a little more of a challenge than I expected because of the nature of what it covers. That’s ok. Though I did have to find a different way to study for it. I think I’ve got a better system down now and I am making a bit more progress. It involves and old study technique that I only ever used in the classroom. However, I’m now also using it for the online courses I’m taking. I’m taking notes.

Really. Super simple solution right? Well it depends on how good or bad your handwriting is. Oh, that’s the key. I’m taking notes by hand. I’m not typing them into the computer or a tablet. I’m writing them on dead trees and with ink. I’ve read the book once and did the highlighter thing. Now, I sit down with the book and take notes from it as I’m reading it for a second time.

Interestingly, it is essentially the same idea recommended for learning to code in the Web Development Bootcamp course that I’ve signed up for. In the first section, there’s a little bit on a recommendation for how to use the videos for learning to code. Apparently, a lot of people, besides myself, try to learn and do at the same time as watching the video through the first time. The recommendation is to not do this. Instead, watch the video, take notes and try to understand what material is being covered, then try to do that lesson. A simple solution again. And, yes, when I think about it now, my response is, “well, duh”.

Some of the results of the gardening.
It made good pesto.

I haven’t made it very far into the Web Development course, yet. However, I have taken that bit of information and started using it for the Blender Donuts tutorial. It might be working. It sure makes more sense. And it gives me more uninterrupted time when trying to do that part. I watch the video, take notes, and then try to do the steps. If I haven’t taken good enough notes, instead of going back and watching the video again, I try to figure it out and make sense of what I wrote. Sometimes I watch a couple of the videos before I try to actually do what they are showing me how to do. It seems to be working. I’ll know better once I get all the way through the course and then go back and try to do it again but a little different.

And that is the item that is going to be the thing I ‘draw for a year’. Or maybe my Blender thing that I’m going to draw for the rest of the year. Blender Donuts. Brace yourself for dozens of Blender donuts.

There are a few other courses that I have signed up for, or as I discovered today need to sign up for. Some, like the one I learned of today, are for the day job and some, like Blender, are for personal projects. And some may have some overlap. One of things for the day job is an off-shoot of a course I took for the day job.

A vertical climber, my home gym solution.
It is harder than it looks.

I have the assignment and opportunity to learn some of the scripting and automation that my company uses for a variety of things from patching to server deployment and configuration. I completed the initial course they wanted me to take which caused me to realize that I probably needed to learn Ruby. I had a meeting with one of the principle people involved in it to get a better understanding and overview of our environment and setup. One of the initial things that came out of that was that my instinct on Ruby was correct. The other thing that has come out of it, as of today, is that there is some other training I need to complete before I can get access to the scripting environment. And this type of situation always makes me think of the song by The Fixx, “One Thing Leads to Another”.

Right now, for the day job, the studying and courses I am working on, or need to work on, cover, MS-SQL, Chef, Ruby, Linux, and now AWS (though I don’t know yet the extent of this training). In addition to that some of the courses I’ve signed up out of personal interest or need cover Data Science, Web Development, Machine Learning, Blender, Unreal Engine, Programming in C++, Python, and Javascript, and even a course or two for Guitar. As you can imagine it can cause significant brain congestion trying to figure out what to start doing most days. I want to do it all. But I won’t be doing myself any favors if I work on one for a little time here and then another over here, and try to start all the courses at once. And yet. I need to start. And then continue.

Ah…recently, freshly, roasted coffee beans.
From Katz Coffee in Houston, TX

What I find interesting is that it is a daily decision to work on something. Right now, with all the crazy in the world staying motivated and focused isn’t always easy. It would be very easy to default to staring endlessly at new sites or even scrolling through social media. And yet I know that is not at all satisfying or healthy for me. When I find myself starting to fall into that behavior, I make a conscious decision to do something. And by doing that I can continue to start and then continue. So this week, so far, I have started the Ruby course, and I am continuing the SQL study, Chef, and the Blender Donuts, and I must not forget Taekwondo. Which I have been continuing and I find it a huge help in creating a bit of order for me.

Even with all that going on, I am still playing guitar. Though I’m not getting in quite the same amount of practice as I was. I do have a couple of interesting guitar courses that I’ve signed up for and as a fun and relaxing item, that may be the next ‘start’. I have managed a couple of new things with the guitar and gear. I’ll try to remember to share that next time. For now, here are a few pictures of things.

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Start

Posted on July 6, 2020 by SusanG

I looked at my last post and realized it’s been three months. I guess all the crazy in the world is getting to me more than I thought. I have plenty to say about all of it, and don’t want to say any of it here. Aside from one thing…Wear a Mask. Please. That’s all I will say on the subject. I’m not going to debate it. I’m not going to plead or give reasons. Just wear the mask.

Moving on.

A couple of things of note come to mind that I want to share.

My Blue Footed Booby drawing framed.

The first one involved mail. Actual postage. You may, or more likely have not, seen the reports of the issues that the postal service in the US is having with staying in operation. I know many people argue against in because we have email. Which is all fine and good except my art supplies, t-shirts, and other physical goodies don’t come via email. The US has one of, if not the, least expensive costs of sending a letter. Right now a ‘Forever Stamp’ runs about $.55 and that will let you mail a multiple page letter in a #10 (letter size) envelope or a greeting card with a note inside. Post cards, I just figured out are about $.35 for a quick postcard with a picture on one side and a short (very short) note on the other.

I had heard about this and about the idea of others to help support the post office by sending more letters. Yes, we all get the junk mail but that is usually sent at bulk mail rates and those are lower than the cost for sending our letters so while it might help the post office some, it doesn’t help as much as if we would send more letters.

3D printed ear savers for your masks.

A little background on me and letters. When I was a kid I had penpals. For those who don’t know or remember, there used to be a service or two where you could send a letter saying that you wanted a penpal from a certain country and they would send you back a name, address, and maybe a little about the person. I don’t know how many people I wrote to at the height of my penpal days, I did have them from all over though. It was always such fun to check the mail and find I had a letter from one of my friends. It was a treat. I still get a kick out of it. It puts a smile on my face every time. It’s why when I went to Australia last year, I made a point of sending post cards to a few people and on them I wrote, ‘because getting mail is fun’. It is.

With that in mind, I texted a few people to get their addresses, because we don’t share those that much these days, so I could start sending them notes. There were some, like my sister and some other family, whose addresses I already had. I included them in this endeavor as well. I ordered some fun stamps (50th Anniversary of Sesame Street) and found whatever cards and such I still had and started sending notes. I’ve since picked up some additional blank greeting cards and some sets of postcards to send to switch things up. And because I haven’t quite got myself together and created my own.

Finally got this picture hung. Not my artwork,
just cool stuff.

I’ve been pretty good about sending things fairly regularly to some people. Family in particular. And I guess I had gotten regular enough about it that when I slacked off a little in the last couple of weeks, someone noticed. I had a text from my sister telling me that I had broken a streak. I did remedy that right away. And I will remember to not slack too much on that again.

The second thing that I’ll share is about a video I happened upon.

I don’t know about you but all of my best intentions with all this time at home have not quite resulted in what I might have hoped for. To be fair, I’m not sure I know what I had hoped for, which could be a big part of the issue. Anyway, I’ve got all these things I think I’m going to do, finish a dozen or so courses on Udemy, Linuxacademy and I’m not sure where else, study for a test, make a greeting card collection, work on a 3D project, play more guitar, the list as you see goes on and on. I have made small bits of progress on things, and yet…

The next Lego build project.

So this video had to do with this creative guy that was whining (his description) to this artist friend about not getting anywhere. So the artist friend tells him to draw one thing for the next year. The point he makes, and I’ve seen it before, is to start. Motivation does not always cause action, and same with inspiration. Action does trigger motivation and inspiration. This was the point of the whole thing. He said he’d been using thinking as a form of procrastination. And he felt like he was productive. Except he wasn’t. I understand this. And I relate to this.

I’ve only just come across the video so I haven’t put this into full practice yet. I have started. I’ll fill you in later as things progress. Not because I am still thinking about it. Actually, writing this post is part of getting that into practice. This is my ‘act’ instead of wait for inspiration or motivation. Keep that in mind if future posts are shorter or seem off the usual topics.

It’s not all been for naught. I have managed to get a few things off my longer term to do lists in the last couple of months. Like learning more about my 3D printer, and getting my picture framed. I’ve included a few photos of those sorts of things and other bits.

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Wow. Things Have Changed.

Posted on April 8, 2020 by SusanG

A month and a half, or more, ago I was going to write a post about how some things were shifting for me. I got started and didn’t get it posted. I kept thinking I’d get back to it and didn’t. And then we had a pandemic. I’m not making light of the Covid-19 virus pandemic. It’s definitely horrible and serious. It’s turned everyone’s world upside down in so many ways. And between Facebook memes and posts, the news and everything else we likely are all inundated with news and updates related to it.

Originally, I was going to share about the shifting of focuses for me and some of the cool new stuff I’m starting to get to do for the day job. And then Covid-19 took John Prine. I admit, I’m not overly familiar with a lot of his work. I hear the tunes that come on Bluesville or Margaritaville and sometimes I stay and listen and sometimes I don’t. However there is one of his songs that I really love to play and sing. That song is ‘Angel From Montgomery’. Recently when I was playing it, I thought how my Uncle Bear would have loved that song.

Finally time to put this together. I was a 3 part construction. This was the second week of staying home.

It’s because of that that I thought I’d go ahead and start off with the music stuff and maybe get this finished and posted. I’m not sure how much is really happening on that front. Of course all the lock downs have put any Blues Jams on hold. I have been added to an interesting group on Facebook the ‘Socially Distant Fest’. That’s been fun and interesting. I do a bit more scrolling past than watching but the few I have watched have been great. And I’m also part of another group call Guitarists. Again, I do more scrolling that watching but it’s a nice way to stay involved.

My new day job office setup. This still needs some work.

The therapy for the hand/arm/elbow is on hold as well. I’ve progressed enough and have plenty of exercises that I’m not an emergency case. I am still stretching and strengthening. And I’m up to 20 minutes at a time with a 5 minute break and another 20 minutes when playing guitar. It’s progress and I’ll take what I can get. I’m also looking at some things from a conversation with Gail. She mentioned something about a shorter scale guitar. I have done some research and a bit of minor experimenting and found some merits in the suggestion. I’ve also found I do have a couple of the shorter scale full size guitars so I’ve switched to playing those. I do not have the shortest scale full size guitar, yet. But I am tempted. I learned a lot of interesting stuff about guitar scale lengths and strings that I won’t go into here. I also did some research around guitars for small hands and learned some really cool stuff. As a result I’ve made some adjustments to what I have and play.

Right now the shortest scale length guitars I have are my Gretsch and my Les Paul. I needed to change the strings on the Gretsch because I didn’t like the feel and sound of the ones I had on it so when I did that I put 9’s on it. This, in addition to being a shorter scale length has helped. I’m much more comfortable playing for longer. YAY! The shortest scale full size guitar(s) I can find do come from Fender. The Jaguar and the Mustang are 24 inch scale lengths. And I have been tempted to order one. They are just over a half an inch shorter scale length than the Gretsch and while, as Nick was saying ‘that’s not nothing’ I’m not sure it will make a big enough impact for me to know for sure that’s what’s going to help. So I’m getting a mini Strat. My nephew is awesome. He has offered me his from when he was a wee thing. And my sister was all set to bring it to me and then her travel got cancelled. She was going to ship it to me but I admit, I would be devastated if it got broke in the process. I’m still thrilled at the offer and would love to have the guitar. I just don’t want to risk it getting broke. Which is why I’ve ordered one. It should be here in a day or two. YAY.

Just before the stay home started I made salsa.
And I found a way to keep the aroma from
taking over the refrigerator.

Given some of the difference I’ve had with changing back to the Gretsch for my practice as well as the change in the string gauge, I’m really hopeful and excited to see how things go with the mini guitar. Even with what I’ve done so far I’ve started working on a couple of songs that I like. One blues version of a song that I have been wanting to learn to play and one that I just came across and thought, ‘hmm I wonder’, and I got sucked into it.

I have said, for a while now, that I think you can learn guitar in 15 minutes a day if you play everyday. And I still believe that. Especially when first starting out. You have to build the calluses and the strength and you can do that with 15 minutes a day. At a certain point, if you are not just learning a song or a specific something, the process starts to need and want more time. At least that is the case for me. I’ve found that to really get better and start to feel where the notes I want are and how to get the licks I like takes spending more time with my hands on the guitar making sound. Some would argue whether or not it’s music so we’ll go with sound. That’s why it’s important for me to find a guitar that is comfortable for my hands and that I can play longer for my practice times. I may play a larger full size guitar for a performance, but for practice I need the comfortable as a pair of over-washed baggy jeans, feeling guitar. I’ll let you know how it things work out.

I do have cool stuff happening at the day job and some changes there as well as in my response and attitude towards it all, for the most part anyway. I’ll have to get back to that in another post when I finally figure out how to write without it being super long or expository. It’s all good though and I am one of the fortunate ones that is able to keep their job and work remotely from home during this time. Something I am extremely grateful for. It’s been an interesting experience and transition.

I don’t have a lot of pictures but I have a few of what I worked on during lunch and in the evening during week 2 of all this. I’ll see what else I have to share as well.

Stay safe. Stay home. Stay healthy. Try to find something to make you laugh and smile.

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A Bit Behind, I Got Distracted

Posted on February 27, 2020 by SusanG

I was a bit behind in getting my last post out. I had written it and every time I sat down to do the last bit of work to get it posted, I would just run out of time or energy. I finally got it posted, though I had to make a few edits as it was out of date. I find it frustrating when due to either a sudden lack of time, I find I don’t get done what I intended. I feel this way in a lot of circumstances and as I can get distracted it happens a bit more often than I like.

I’ll get back to this.

The donut tutorial is a good example. I had expected to be done with it by now and to have created a set of donuts for Valentine’s Day, which is now passed. Not only have I not created the donuts, I haven’t finished the tutorial. While I did get distracted by something it wasn’t until after I had already come to the conclusion that I wasn’t going to get the Valentine’s donuts ready in time for the holiday. I started on the scene. I got part way through it and realized that I had made a bit of a mess and would really need to start it over. I also realized that given my schedule for the week, I wasn’t going to have a quality piece of art ready in time for the holiday. I could have a piece of art ready but it wouldn’t be the quality that I want to produce. So, I pursued the distraction. I will be getting back to the donut. I promise.

My distraction had to do with playing guitar. Wait. No. Don’t get excited. I am not back to full form. I’m still limited in the amount of practice I can do at one time. Though that is increasing and I now have strengthening exercises to do. I’m on a good path. What I have realized as I’ve got through the physical therapy for the shoulder and the forearm is that a significant cause of the issues have come from trying to do things like everyone else. From how I sit at my desk and work, or home for that matter, to how I try to play certain songs on guitar, or for that matter how I play guitar in general. In general, there’s nothing wrong with doing these things like everyone else. When it becomes not ideal is when you realize you are 5 feet tall in a world designed for people between about 5 foot 4 inches and 5 foot 10 inches. I personally, don’t have an issue with being short. I rather like it to be honest. I fit places tall people can’t and I often have a good time surprising people because well, they just didn’t expect that out of someone so small. Ok short. However, the reality of our cookie cutter world is that when you do not fit the mold well, then things can be a problem. And I have no doubt that people on the other side of the design specification have a similar problem, just in the opposite direction.

I’ll get back to this too.

So while they were able to help me get things corrected at my day job by bringing in an ergonomic specialist to assess my work space, fixing my guitar playing is all up to me.

I have been aware for a couple of weeks now, because of the physical therapy, that one of the things that has probably been a big contributor to my issues has been the way I play the rhythm for the song ‘Dust My Broom’ it’s a nice blues shuffle that requires me to do a lot of work with my little finger on my fretting hand. I have to move it quite fast in a regular rhythm and a little over stretched for the size of my hands. Oh and yes, I play a regular size guitar. As I was starting to get a little practice time in I came to realize this and that some of the issue might also be how I play rhythm guitar. Instead of thinking that I just couldn’t or wasn’t meant to play guitar, I thought of the people that want to play so bad and yet don’t have the use of some of their fingers like Django Rheinhardt, or people that play with their feet because they don’t have the use of their arms, or don’t have arms. At that point I realized, I can play, I just have to find a different way. The way I play pretty much comes from how I learned to play and how I’ve defaulted to playing for so much of my life. A lack of understanding of theory has somewhat limited my ability to change this as well.

The cool thing is that because I have some ability to read music, and an electronic keyboard, and an analytical mind, some pretty cool friends that help me understand the bits I need, oh, and mustn’t forget a really stubborn streak, I’ve been working on ways to get me some music to play to accompany my singing while I recover enough to get back to guitar. As a result, keyboard chords and a little more theory. And that was helpful. And not satisfying. It’s not guitar.

It doesn’t look this shiny anymore.

As I was talking to some of the other guitar players at the last jam I realized that I could try, yet again, to learn to play slide guitar. Yes, it requires control, but it doesn’t require as much grip. As I’ve tried it before I know one of the ways this works well is by tuning the guitar to an open tuning, and open G tuning is quite popular. Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones has been known to use the same tuning on a number of songs. A quick search on the web and I found a couple of great sites on open G tuning and how to play in it and even how to play the shuffle pattern like in ‘Dust My Broom’. And guess what, it doesn’t require a lot of over stretching to make it happen! So I was off to the music room to tune a guitar in open G. And then to figure out where the different chords are. Once that was done it was time to figure out how to play the pentatonic scales in an open G tuning, and not just for the key of G, for any other key I might want to play in. This is where that analytical mind thing comes in. Yes, I might have been able to look up the patterns to figure it out. But why do that when I could probably figure it out myself. So I did.

I don’t know if open G tuning will turn out to be the tuning that works best for me. It could end up being a different tuning. But now that I’ve figured out it is based on the G form from the C-A-G-E-D system, I know where I can easily or fairly easily find different chord shapes within it. I also know that I can either find the tuning or figure out how to get an open tuning for a different shape, if it makes sense to try it. At this point, the primary reasons for me to try one of them would be either, I prefer the sound of the chord in that shape, or it makes it easier for me to play without causing me problems. That I know of, or can tell or hear, standard tuning on a guitar, does not produce a regular chord. What it does, is make it possible to make the same chord in a lot of different shapes, with relative ease.

I’ll be needing more of this I think.

Yes, I’m a little behind on things I thought I’d get done. But wow. Look at what I’ve learned and figured out. I’m slowly starting to put it all together and make it work and make sense. I will be learning most of the songs I do, all over again. Some almost from scratch. And in the process, I’ll hopefully make them a little better. I’ve one I’ve already identified a better way to play the rhythm and another that I’ve found a way to add a little extra to it. It makes sense, to take this time to learn a different style of playing. While in some ways I get to revisit that old friend from the art world, the valley of suck, because of the need to take things slow and steady, it’s much less frustrating. I’m kind of excited about the whole prospect. Ok. I’m really excited that I get to play again.

Oh, a bit more news on the Blues Jam front. We are back to having two a month. They have found a different second location that we’ll be playing at starting next month. I don’t think I’ll be ready to debut my new playing style there for the first one but I’ll sure go and sing and have a good time.

And in between my five minute practice sessions I’ll be working to finish up the Blender Donut Tutorial. And download the newest release. For Valentine’s Day we were gifted a new release of Blender. Version 2.82 is now available. There are mostly fixes in it. But it has a bunch of fixes for things that I didn’t know were a problem. So best to go ahead and update it since nothing I do is tied to any earlier versions. Honestly. I’m mostly excited for 2.83 which is due out in the summer I think. It has some changes that though I don’t use them or need them right now, they are super cool. And huge improvements.

I might need a bit of this too.

I don’t really have any new pictures to go with this so I’ll recycle some from previous posts. I’ll try to keep you updated on the mind bending mental gymnastics of learning to play the guitar differently. And I’ll post the progress on the donuts. Perhaps with fewer trips to the donut shop.

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