January 2008 Archives

links for 2008-01-30

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links for 2008-01-15

links for 2008-01-07

links for 2008-01-05

Goal #2: Wild Stringdom!

Back in the day, Dream Theater's guitar player John Petrucci used to write a column for one of the guitar magazines called Wild Stringdom, so I thought the name was appropriate.

My second goal for this year is to really get back in to playing music. I've always played a little guitar, but its always been a hobby that was never really fully realized. I would get in to playing for a bit but then would get busy and stop for a while. I never really got anywhere with my playing.

Considering how much time I spend around music and musicians, this really frustrates me. I have decided that this year I want to be able to get up and play with those guys and have them trust I will know what I am doing. It would be a lot of fun to be able to do this from time to time.

The other driving force behind this is that I recently found out a friend of mine has a full practice space at his apartment. The last few times we have been at his place for parties, we have jammed out a few tunes and it really felt good. I now am hoping we can turn that energy in to a regular jam session that will do two things. First it will help me get my chops up, second, it will help me get used to playing with other people, which is a skill I have not mastered in the least yet.

I have been really good the last few days in trying to get myself in to a routine of playing. I have a list (and an iTunes playlist) of about 40 songs I know or want to learn. I've also been really good about spending at least an hour each night playing some of that list. Now I just need to keep it up and push it even further.

The next big step is to spend some time with my books and magazines on guitar and music theory, which fits right in with another one of my goals which you will hear about later.

Goal #1: Blog More

I figure I should start out with the obvious one (and at the same time try to start to fulfill it).

I totally sucked on blogging in 2007. Most of all, it was a time issue, but I think I need to make more time in my life for things other than work, drinking and watching TV (more on those things later). Also, I feel I have lots of document about my life, which is the whole point of having this blog.

I also write for 2 other sites, which I have totally been slacking on.

First is my Dream Theater site http://www.dreamt.org/. I get lots of information in my RSS reader about Dream Theater, but never seem to actually put it up on the site. This has to start now and I even tried to be good about that by posting something today.

Second, I recently was made captain of Metroblogging Boston, a site about local things happening in Boston. I've finally recruited a little bit of help, so now I need to step up and start posting things myself. I am out and about in Boston often enough, I should really have lots to add here and its one of the big things I plan on doing this year.

So, three sites, three different areas of my life, all need to be documented more this year.

Reso^H^H^H^HGoals for 2008

I started writing a post about all my goals (notice I did not say resolutions) for 2008 and decided last night that I think I am going to explore some of them in longer posts and maybe do the final few in one big post after that. I think it will help me think about some of them some more than I would have in one big post.

links for 2008-01-03

To iPhone or Not to iPhone

My current phone contract is up in February, so it's time to start thinking about what I want to get. I have been a Sprint customer for over 9 years now (since they introduced the PCS concept), so my easiest path is to just get a new Sprint phone. I looked around a little and it seems like the best phone they offer for me is probably the MOTORAZR2 V9m. It's the higher end Razr phone and has a bunch of the features I would like to have in my phone (especially the phone as a modem feature, so I can use my laptop on the road).

This will end up costing me like $250 for just the phone and with tax and some other stuff, it will most likely end up being over $300. The biggest reason to do this is to just keep with the service and system that I have used forever. The other big reason in the past was keeping the same number, its been my number forever, so I would hate for it to change.

These days, we have number portability, so I could take my number with me wherever I went. And as for Sprint, its not like they do anything super special for me. Lastly, the $300 for the phone is kind of steep for a regular old phone.

So, the question becomes, do I just get an iPhone? First of all, it would only be $100 more than my current idea of what I want to buy. It has the obvious "cool" factor as its the hot phone out there. It also means that I can carry one less device (no more ipod) when I walk downtown or something. I'm a huge Apple fan, so it would fit pretty well in to my digital lifestyle. And its got a lot of great stuff built in to it and once apps can be put on it, it will be even better.

The cons? Well, I would guess we will be seeing a new iPhone pretty soon (I would love to see one at Macworld because that would make this decision a lot easier). It means switching networks, so if I have issues or can't get service in places, it means figuring out a new system. It means going through the hassle of moving my number. And it means dealing with some of the issues I have heard about on the iPhone.

I dunno. I definitely will have to think about this some more. I do have about 6 weeks, but that will go by real quick.

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This page is an archive of entries from January 2008 listed from newest to oldest.

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