So... COVID has killed my fun BDAY Vegas weekend. Sigh. I guess Expedia doesn't know who is open and who still can't play. Retooling, recalibrating, resetting.... plan B in motion. 👊🎂😷
So... COVID has killed my fun BDAY Vegas weekend. Sigh. I guess Expedia doesn't know who is open and who still can't play. Retooling, recalibrating, resetting.... plan B in motion. 👊🎂😷
What a gorgeous morning for coffee with the windows open. The desert breeze was rushing through the upstairs long enough to finish my first cup and it was a fantastic way to start my day. I'm grateful for it.
I have Chary Life by Anika Nilles playing in my Saturday morning playlist and that song immediately brings me to my happiest place! She is one of my favorite drummers and a brilliant composer.
Happy Saturday!
There's some seriously good music coming from the Czech Republic. My Youtube feed continues to grow with new favorites all the time. It's funny how each of these fantastic players take me to my "happy place" for vastly different reasons.
It all started for me when I stumbled into the epic record "Celkem Jiná" by Gabriela Gunčíková. This quickly became a loop worthy staple in my playlist. A few years later, I still only understand bits and pieces but my soul can sing along phonetically. It's insane how music can connect us like that. She has a voice that stands on it's own but has always reminded me of Sandra Nasić. There's a ton of great Youtube content by Gabriela and I truly hope there are more records coming from this talented performer.
The drums on Celkem Jiná are legendary and that's where I stumbled into Veronika Mraz. OMG can this girl play the drums. She has a unique feel to her playing that is truly recognizable and live, she is a true rockstar behind the kit. There's hair flying everywhere.
I love her approach to fills and placement. She is a groove player that always seems to add a memorable feel to the song. Nothing is rushed. One of my very favorite drummers ever.
From Veronika, I stumbled into another legend. Drummer, composer and husband, Dali Mraz. At just 28, this guy has been composing music at a genius level most of his life. One of the best drummers on the planet, you 'feel' the ADHD energy pouring out of his playing. I remember a favorite Drumeo appearance where he explains creating as a composer. His brain moves at an astounding pace. (his cymbal work is insane)
From Dali, I made another favorite discovery... his sister Elis Mraz. She is a natural performer, creative song writer and phenomenal vocalist. These kids make it look easy on Coriander and I definitely wanna play at their house. That video takes me right to my happy place. lol
Elis has a superstar personality on camera that you just know she was born with. I love her creative approach to writing and her delivery is always entertaining.
What's super interesting is how these two favorite singers have matured as performers. Gabriela and Elis have two very different approaches to english enunciation and it's awesome to be able to watch them improve over a few years of videos. Czech is a beautiful language and tongue placement is obviously much different than english. One thing I love about Youtube is the ability to see how these singers are forming vowels and consonants. It's an insane amount of work to perfect I'm sure.
Well... my little post has become more of a blog entry. lol - gonna stop here. Do yourself a favor and check out the talent coming from the Czech Republic. There's a ton of it. :-)
Quarantined on a Saturday night. Opened the windows, cranked up the amps and played a while. The desert breeze was awesome. (another benefit of living in the middle of nowhere) lol
Very little gravel left to rake... so today's workout is small, isolated movements on the rings and lots of cable work.
Today's workout. Who needs the gym when you have 2 tons of gravel to rake? ☀️💪#jackedAt50
Building some fantastic new open source tooling and talking about it over on my GX website. GXUI2 is just about completed and I am so ready for a vacation... oh yeah, I forgot. Quarantine. Sigh.
Here's a few of my latest open source components for GXUI2! Check out the daily GX updates on my Dev Channel.
I gave up on finding the right girl and just married this piece of PVC pipe. We're very happy. 😳
Absolute brilliance from Bruce Dickinson in 1983. It's been said the phrase "Die With Your Boots On" is a saying from the American Old West, meaning to die with honor after putting up a fight.
"Another prophet of disaster taunting us with visions. Afflicting us with fear. Predicting war for millions, in the hope that one appears.
In thirteen the beast is rising, the Frenchman did surmise. Through earthquakes and starvation, the warlord will arise. Terror, death, destruction pour from the eastern sands.
But the truth of all predictions is always in your hands.
No point asking when it is. No point asking who's to go. No point asking who's to blame. If you're gonna die then die with your boots on."
The ship is not lost. Hang on tight and stay the course. Be brave and see it through.
It's been a grueling two weeks of development on the new FirmPOS website. Our former hosting provider decided to jack up the renewal rate to almost $700 per year for the domains we agree to host. (from about $300) and then shut off our service 5 days early as an added kick to the face. I about shit when I saw the "new" yearly price.
Truth be told, I have been really unhappy with them for some time but moving the websites wasn't something I had time to tackle. I have been working around the clock to get this completed so I can get back to some real work. I'm beat.
I am loving the new design. It's running on my new blogging platform and the performance gains are fantastic. Our mobile presence is much improved as well.
Sometimes your brain is so tired from the struggle that it will believe anything you put in front of it. Choose wisely. #todaysDesktop
What a gorgeous Phoenix morning. 64 degrees and the breeze is fantastic. I have been coding since 3am and let me tell you, this brisk morning air is like a second cup of coffee.
Which reminds me... I need another cup of coffee. ☕️
Whoa. Costco was a circus. I had a mask, gloves and plenty of this stuff. You know, it really says a lot about us as a society when you can't buy disinfectant, gloves, masks, paper towels or water because the stores have been ransacked. Animals do that. I weep for this world.
And back by popular demand... my 'Just for Men' Ragnar Edition. 😎
Yes. I know the scruff is silver. I know it's always dark. (I even created the 'Just for Men' Ragnar Edition) - Trying something new. I'm 50 in a month. I'm thinking... super villain. Ripped and tan with a short silver beard.
Tune in next week for more exciting details. 😁
Raise your hand if you feel a bit stressed right now... my hand is way up. 👋 😷
Let me share my current immersive coding environment. I have the windows open for a great breeze. I have a playlist by Kevin MacLeod playing on my main surround system using Tidal.
Behind me, I have a little Bose Soundlink that I am streaming two youtube videos by The Relaxed Guy that mix heavy rain and ocean waves together.
To my right-front, I have a large fan that provides white-noise and air movement.
Believe me, this helps. Crank it up and get a balance of sound that works for you. The stress disappears and deep focus returns. If done right, you will eventually forget it's there and your mind will start reacting to the new environment naturally.
Brand new article on my GX website! I am loving this new blogging platform. :-) Check out Five reasons you must have an open source club management platform in 2020
Yes I do. #currentDesktop #wallpaper
Worry takes the moment you have.
So I'm building content for the new website and was checking out a few of our illustration libraries. Pic #1: They give you elements that you can manipulate in the illustration to tell your story. Ok...
Pic #2 : This is what they want you to see. Pic #3 : This is what I see...
It's like I'm doing surgery in the back yard... lol
The new GX blog is live! I am so excited about this new blogging platform. It literately brought that site to life again. I have added three new articles and the fresh content makes all the difference.
I am cleaning up the code today and should have something to share on my Github page soon :-)
In a garden where the seeds were spilled, I favored the few that stood strong in the sun. As I reached for the profit of my prize, I found I had trampled the forgotten ones.
I use a lot of acronyms in my naming conventions. I just found an old site that has an interesting acronym lookup. I love these type of finds!
Happy Monday! Integrating the new blogging platform into our GX website today. This thing is looking great with the GX styles and a perfect example of why you should keep the app design flexible. You never know how it will evolve in new environments. Little surprises like this make design fun!
Good morning! Still trying to come up with a good name for my new open source blogging platform. It's key functions are good support for static design, super easy blogging and facebook/twitter style status updates. Built for people that understand how to build a website and don't want Wordpress.
But is it gluten free?
I'm excited to announce the launch of my new website running on my new blogging platform! Since dumping facebook a couple years ago, I have searched everywhere for a similar micro-blogging experience that didn't involve another social media giant.
The goal was to create an optimized website-first platform with strong support for static design but with the dynamic content element I was missing. Built around a creative friendly, mobile first editor that allows me to share content to my websites in the same way you might a facebook status update. Quick. Easy. Without losing the creative focus.
And... it's open source. I will be posting the code to Github soon.
