Over 8 years of blog posts later, I decree that this particular blog has run its course.

I am proud to have stuck with it for at least 5 years, and though the last 3 have been rather dry as far as personal and heartfelt updates go, it’s kind of amazing to think of the era of time that this blog has captured. I must give tribute to Jon Breaux and his many fantastic contributions to the site.

I will be archiving everything and tucking it away in a corner somewhere online. Not exactly a time capsule, but I would like to have it in a format that is still readable in 30+ years.

What will replace the ever-present blog on my homepage?
More importantly, who cares?

Lots of movement in the newborn arena lately. Crank up the cuteness meter. First there was my sister’s baby, Lily, in April. Honestly, I don’t know why Dad hasn’t gone berserk on his website with photos and podcasts and feature-length films, but Lily is adorable and tiny. My parents are now Grand and I have a familial title, Uncle David. Our thoughts are with Michelle and Jon as they stride through the infancy stage and all of its peculiarities.

Just this week, I was informed of two more babies on the same day. Adrian and Sarah had their son, Oliver, and David and Julie had their daughter Emily. Congratulations to everyone, especially the moms!

For Les Paul’s birthday we can make a recording with a chromatic scale bass guitar. I used the keyboard for this composition:

Short and dwindling

You want something uplifting, so here you go: you can never have a good relationship with anyone when your focus is the relationship. There’s a human being there who existed well before you got to them, and they weren’t built for you or your needs or your parents or your future dreams as an actor. If you want to be happy with someone then your body and mind have to instinctively adapt to their happiness. If you’re not ready for this kind of sacrifice, then you’re simply not ready.

via thelastpsych

No pithy sayings this year.
And plus, I was going to post a recording that I did a long long time ago, but once I opened up my recording software I got sidetracked and ended up jamming for like an hour. I don’t even know if I’m going to finish writing this post.

I suppose not.
Here’s a funny cat instead.

Nellie McKay being funny and sentimental at the same time.

The Onion brings us another late-breaking story about the new 8th wonder of the world, mankind’s most enduring and colossal creation.

I would now like to refer you to this relevant collection of photographs: Women laughing alone, with salad.

I have a small kitchen, but it’s gotten to be fairly well-equipped since I’ve been married. We started out over 3 years ago by purchasing some quality stainless pots and pans. Mom gave me a very nice kitchen knife set a couple years ago. Grandmere let me salvage some of Pop’s old cast-iron pots last year, and they have been making delicious rouxs and stews ever since.

This Christmas, I got the message that people have been liking what I’ve been cooking. I got a variety of utensils and small tools, but the most impressive are the machines… The mechanized, motorized tools are pleasing to my engineering sensibility and satisfying to my masculine need for more power…

Tonight I took out the 200 watt Cuisinart hand-blender, aka “immersion” blender that Des gave me. I have been wanting such a blender to make velvety-smooth soups, just like Des likes. Until now, when i’ve attempted such a feat, I took the unblended soup out of the pot in 1 cup increments to put in my tiny “magic bullet” blender and then transfer that to another container for temporary holding until i had all 6-8 cups into a somewhat similarly blended mix and then put it all back into the original pot. Pain in the butt. Now, with 200 watts behind a steel blade, I can stick the hand blender directly into the pot and a few seconds later end up with a completely homogenous texture. This blender looks really, really nice. It comes with whisk attachments and gearbox assemblies and grinder attachments and mixing cups and a lot of class… brushed stainless steel construction, totally uniform and clean. And quiet… quieter than running water in the sink.

I thought that was pretty awesome. I would liken it to getting a sweet new motorcycle, lightweight and quick for zipping around town. Then I moved on to the new food processor that Mom got me. If the hand blender is a motorcycle, the food processor is a turbocharged V8 racecar. Unpacking the 600 watt 9-cup Cuisinart food processor was one of those experiences where you pull out each piece and part and marvel a bit at the design. Everything was engineered to be intuitive and sturdy and sharp. I didn’t need to watch the included 50-minute instructional DVD… but i did anyways. There were only 10 minutes of instructions and the rest were sample recipes being prepared by a Non-Food-Network chef (read: utterly boring personality) with a lot of extreme close-ups on the running processor (kind of mesmerizing, like watching videos of things being blended into destruction).

There are going to be many top-quality meals this year.

This cartoon blog is now one of my favorite places on the internet. Dog owners will enjoy the latest cartoon:

Hyperbole and a Half: Dogs don’t understand basic concepts like moving

The hilarity does not end there.

This month I took a step in a new direction. I made a decision to become serious about my hobby, my passion of music. After 10 years of learning how to make and record music, I’ve registered EchoSound Records LLC with the state. EchoSound Records is an independent record label and mobile recording studio. I have an ISRC registrant code, which is like an ISBN for music, and with the advent of online services such as iTunes and CDBaby I can put music up for sale immediately to the world. The “music” link on my website no longer points to a place you can download my music. It now points to the company website.

EchoSound’s first signed artist is Nick Lavin, and his album 1674 is being released on iTunes in December this year, with CD’s coming sometime in January. We recorded the album throughout 2010 and I have been saying it’s some of his best work yet.

I don’t plan to make enough money with this company to quit my day job, but making it official sure helps to establish this as an important part of my life.

Right now, I’m running totally mobile because I don’t have an established place to conduct business. I have been working out of my home office and on location so far. One day I might have a house on a larger piece of property, upon which I can build a small studio. That would be cool.

I need several years to form a reputation and client base to really start going forward. So much music to make! This is really exciting for me and Des has been extremely supportive.