If you don’t know what those two things stand for, you may be bored by this, but Kirk Evans, an Architect Evangelist from Microsoft, and friend, cornered me at the recent Microsoft Launch event in Atlanta for a quick interview.  It is available on Microsoft’s Channel 9 site.  Click here to view it.

And there you have it.

Joe.

I discovered a type of music that I have heard many times, but was not able to assign a genre.  Gypsy Jazz, a French born style of music, typically features acoustic string instruments such as guitar, upright bass, and violin.  One telling aspect of the style of music is the rhythm guitar which is played as close to a percussive instrument as you can get with out actually hitting the guitar with your hand like a drum.  For a look at the styles of guitars that Gypsy Jazz musicians typically play look here.

Django Reinhardt is credited with creating the music style France in the 1930’s and it is now popular world wide.  Unlike other genres, Gypsy Jazz musicians typically do not read or write music.  Songs are passed down orally or by recordings.  This makes learning to play Gypsy Jazz very challenging.

I was fortunate enough to catch an Orlando based Gypsy Jazz group, The Cook Trio, last night while staying at the Ritz-Carlton in Orlando on business.  The three musician’s (Brothers Jason and Ian Cook, and friend Kyle Jones) have over sixty years of combined musical background despite being in their early thirties.  I fell in love with the bright, yet elegant style and inquired about it.  I got a brief history lesson on Gypsy Jazz and was practically forced by Ian to look up Moreno, a French raised Roma, who further popularized Reinhardt’s music.  He said I would be so impressed that I would either be majestically inspired or quit playing guitar all together.  I have to go with the former.

I can’t wait to start learning to play this unique, rare form of music.

And there you have it.

Joe.

since I learned I have arthritis in my knees and would, therefore, be unable to run to keep in shape, I took up swimming.  Every weekday morning, before working out I swim laps in the gym’s pool.  It is great exercise and I enjoy it thoroughly.  One of the things I miss about running, however, is the ability to listen to audiobooks while I run. 

A coworker, David, and I were having a conversation about this when I suggested that someone should make an underwater case for iPods.  Weeks later, David came across an advertisement for that very thing and forwarded it on to me.

I jumped on the chance to purchase this product from H20 Audio.  I purchased the case and headset to fit the Generation 3 iPod Nano.

  The case fits very well and is the best part of this two piece configuration.  It is easy operate.  The controls fit directly over the Nano’s and work flawlessly.  It water tight seal does not make opening and closing the case overly difficult.

The headset, which is a separate purchase for, I suspect, several reasons.  One is that they have several different cases, but only one model of headset.  The other, and I think the actual reason, is that the though the case needs little improvement, the headset could stand a few.  One the headset isn’t comfortable.  The plastic that holds the ear buds presses too much on the side of the head.  It isn’t so uncomfortable as to deter usage, but could be improved.  That is the easy improvement.  The difficult improvement is the design.  I thought the most challenging aspect of the product is to get the sound to your ear when submerged, until I used it.  That’s when I realized the biggest obstacle the designers face is not submerged audio, but the frequent shifting between submerged and non-submerged audio.  Water tends to fill your ears when underwater (go figure).  The audio quality of these ear buds is great underwater and satisfactory when out, but they do not deal with the transition well.  Maybe they could figure out a way to keep the water from getting in the ear.  Or better yet, since they sound better when submerged, maybe they could figure out how to hold the water in your ear.  Either way would be an improvement.

All in all, I really like the product an don’t regret the purchase, though it is very pricey.  It is completely suitable to listen to music while swimming laps, though the constant shifting in audio quality (under vs. out of water) makes listening to an audiobook too challenging.  With that said, if you are just hanging out in the pool and not trying to swim laps with this thing, run out and get one right now… don’t even finish this blog post!

And there you have it.

Joe.

Wow…. it has been a long time since I have “spoken”.  I had been good about blogging this year until something just got in the way.  Hell, I don’t even remember what that something was.

So here are some things that have been happening with me:

Though I have been playing guitar since I was a teenager, I never really got any better.  I was satisfied with the skills I had learned and, though I always wanted to get better, I never really had the drive to do what it takes to get there.  Not any more.  I decided about two months ago to pick up the guitar after a long hiatus and to learn the theory of lead guitar.  It has been really enjoyable and led to a purchase of a new guitar…More on that later.

After changing my diet late last year, I managed to lose about 50lbs.  My goal was to lose 70lbs, but I was having trouble getting past my first plateau.  I decided that I needed to begin exercising and regularly.  I joined the company gym and am now working out Monday through Friday including swimming laps daily.  I just started this, so I haven’t had time to see any benefit from a weight loss perspective, but I know it takes patience and persistence to achieve this goal.  I am on my way.

My 20 year class reunion is supposedly this year, though I haven’t heard anything formal about it.  Interestingly enough, I have heard more from the High School that I attended only one year at, then I have from the High School where I graduated.  Hopefully, they can get their act together, because I am looking forward to it.

My wife and I are going on our first vacation as a married couple (excluding our honeymoon).  This is pretty significant since we have been married for 9 years this coming August.  I don’t really know why we have never taken a vacation before now, but I suspect it has to do with schooling, certifications, and a few other impacting events that we have endured throughout our marriage.  We are both really excited about it as is our son.

That’s about it for now, but, hopefully, I will get back on the “blogging horse” and dedicate more time to putting things out there.

And there you have it.