my geek life

I attended the 3rd Anniversary Show of Don’t Call Us Tori(DCUT) in the lovely Hotel Cafe, Hollywood a week ago. I took a few photos, talked to friends, made some friends, got to see two of my all time favorite artists, and ate some awesome Bruschetta. For those that don’t know, DCUT is monthly showcase of 3-5 indie female singer-songwriters at Karma Coffeehouse in Hollywood, CA. (They also do a few other shows throughout the year.) During the last year, I was able to attend every single one of the monthly shows and helped out doing everything from carrying gear to running the show. Last Monday was a special event and since I changed jobs, I was able to attend. I actually didn’t have to help with anything except hanging a banner. So I don’t have to mention it for each one, everyone was phenomenal. It was one of the best DCUT shows I’ve ever attended and more people should have been there.

Casey Desmond [myspace] was not a part of the scheduled DCUT, but she fit the profile and was annexed in. I actually spotted her on the way to the show, before I met her. So, she should take that as a celebrity moment in Hollywood.

Elizabeth Nicole [myspace] is one of those artists that has a voice that immediately grabs your attention. Her voice is still developing and it will make her unstoppable.

Sara Melson [myspace] stepped in and filled a slot with only about 30 hours notice when another band went down with the flu. She was able to bring two band members and played an awesome set. This was also her first time playing with DCUT.

Kari Kimmel [myspace] is one of my all time favorite artists. Her voice and songs are simply, amazing. Her recently released CD, A Life in the Day, is a must have. She was also accompanied on one song by Libbie Schrader [myspace] who has been featured in past DCUT shows.

Shannon Hurley [myspace] is one of the people that started DCUT and was recently listed in Rolling Stone’s 25 Best Bands on MySpace. She was accompanied for one song by another favorite artist of mine, Jamie Blythe [myspace].

That night we totaled eight female singer-songwriters on the stage. What? I’ve only listed seven? My most humble apologies to Marina V [myspace]. I was negligent and didn’t get a photo of her while she sang backup on one song of Shannon Hurley’s. I can’t wait until I get to attend a concert of hers. Thanks to all the artists for giving an awesome concert and to DCUT for organizing this show.

I know my photo taking and editing sucks and this is a really long blog post and this is a really run-on sentence, but that’s the way it is.

cheers!

I just wanted to jot down a question and my thoughts on it real fast.

“How much importance should we place on being obedient to the Ten Commandments in this day and age?”

I feel that this question is misleading in where it tries to lead us into thinking. It at least drives me to start worrying about each one as a checklist. It’s like learning to drive. At first you are constantly aware of all the things you shouldn’t do, or at least try to. But once you get beyond that, its not about obeying the law constantly, its about driving safely and looking to the law to help you figure out what to do in certain situations that aren’t common. I think a walk with Christ should be the same. We need to stick with it and get past the point where we are worrying about our obedience to the Law and just living safely in Jesus.

OK, gotta get to work. Just wanted to jot that down and see what people think.

i’m sick with a sore throat and can’t think straight. so life is a drag.

i’ve only got one more day of work at my old job and then it’s on to a new career. so life is exciting.

i have to finish up some projects tomorrow, while i can’t think straight. so life is a drag.

i’m going to a go spiritual retreat thing-a-majig this weekend. so life is exciting.

things are good and bad all at the same time. so life is …

I know, really, I do. I haven’t posted a “daily pic” in a while. Well, I’ll get back in the habit.

I have some big news. My main profession is changing from Computer Programmer to Audio Technician or Engineer or something like that. Here’s the story … I’ll try to keep it brief. I spent two weeks working with a friend of my dad’s at camp meeting setting up and running audio. Well, he figured out that he needed someone to work with eventually and we work well together, thus a tentative, “let’s think about this” attitude. A couple months down the road we start thinking it might work in January. In November I help him with a Christopher Cross benefit concert and we start looking at the details. Details get worked out and everything looks good and I gave notice at work last week. I’ve been slowly heading down this path for a long time and I’m rather surprised that it worked out like this. I’ve been playing with audio stuff since I was little and helping my dad setup and tear-down the equipment for school programs. I ran audio in the Earliteen’s tent at camp meeting for 3 summers. Next, I did a brief stint in high school running a very low-power radio station and didn’t really do anything else until I came home two years ago. I got involved with church audio and school programs again, but as the one knowing the most about the equipment. Somehow I got involved with Don’t Call Us Tori and have run backup engineer and ran one show. That leads up to what I already explained and here I am, ready to embark on a whole new adventure. It’s actually kinda hard to stay at my current job till the end of the month because of the excitement of the next.

Well, my recent addictions that have grabbed my time are:

• Sliders – a fun sci-fi TV series based around “sliding” between alternate earths

• The many podcasts I subscribe to

• The Shadow – old time radio theater serial, lots of fun

• Sleep – wish I didn’t have to do it

Oh, because of the new job, I’ll be moving up near Yosemite’s south entrance. Not quite sure what town I’ll be in, but it’s beautiful up there. I’ve always been more of a mountain person than a beach person … wait, who am I kidding. I don’t care as long as I’m comfortable and have internet, electricity, and my laptop.

cheers!

I’m sick of running into friends that still use Internet Explorer for their browser. Ok, let me break this down for the ones that are. If you are still using IE then you probably have no clue what I’m talking about. You know that big blue ‘E’ on your desktop, the one you press to get “on the internet”? Ok, that is how you open your browser and it is called ‘Internet Explorer’. What I want you to do is press the button below. That will tell you all you need to know about why it is bad and what other browsers are available.

Now that you are back, my personal favorite is Firefox, but since I have a Mac, I also run Safari. I don’t use Opera, but I don’t have anything against it. So please, PLEASE, if you haven’t switched browsers yet, do it now. Right now. No, don’t click another link until you have gotten a new browser.

Ok, say you go to a website and it doesn’t work in your browser. COMPLAIN! There is no reason for it not to work except for laziness. Say you go to a friends MySpace page and it doesn’t show up right. COMPLAIN! Tell your friend to go to browsehappy.com, just like I had you do. There is no reason to let them remain in danger if you are their friend. Also, there are very few sites that are IE only anymore. So don’t give up on it just because of those one or two sites. Think about your safety.

Along the same lines, if you are still using Outlook Express for your email. For similar reasons, please check out Thunderbird.

cheers!