Saturday, March 14, 2009

The Runner, Part 2

Oh, yes, I'm still on it. Today I started the third week's program:
  1. running: 6x 4:00 minutes, intermediate walking: 1:30 minutes
  2. rest
  3. running: 4x 6:00 minutes, intermediate walking: 1:30 minutes
  4. rest
  5. running: 6x 4:00 minutes, intermediate walking: 1:30 minutes
  6. rest
Maybe I have to insert an extra loop. That depends on how much I loose shape after the blood donation on Monday. Anyway, I will keep with it 'cos it still feels that good - and I'm closing in on the 7km limit!

CU - GU!

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Sitting Under The Tree, Part 2

Well, hello: Welcome under the tree again! Take a seat, take a cookie, some milk (if you like) - and enjoy! (Or just do whatever you do while reading blog postings.)

I've been around here for a couple of days now. Thereby "here" means as much as with Twitter. And it's quite a place, sure it is. Sometimes it's just amusing, sometimes it makes me think.

One point I came across is the follower-following-ratio that can be found amongst the accounts. It's amazing, just figure it out: people following hundreds of feeds! - What brings me to the question that suddenly stroke me: is it possible to really, seriously follow that many tweets a day?

I made up my mind a little bit on that. Aware of the saying what assuming can make of you and me I'll do it anyway: Let's assume that the good old 80/20 rule works for this one too. Which one? Oh, yes. Thinking about 100 feeds to be followed, 20 of them might create 80 percent of the tweets. If those people are less active that may lead to about 20 tweets per hour. That's all right. But what happens in case these people have quite a mind and things to say? That can lead to about 40 to 60 tweets an hour - one tweet every minute!

Now, let's step back and take a look. One tweet every minute, at least every two minutes. What about all the people out there complaining 'bout more-than-full e-mail inboxes? Am I the only one to find that a little bit strange?

Let's change point of view a little bit: Who's to read it? Again back to e-mail for comparison. There are junk filters, spam filters, inbox rules and a lot more stuff to do filtering on what's coming in. (Well, that's why it's called inbox. Never mind.) But that's done because you sometimes just don't have a choice on what you get and who might send a message to you. And after all, honestly, a lot of messages remain in the inbox (or a subfolder) kind of unread. (No, don't lie to me...)

Back to the lovely tweets. In most cases you have a choice. You choose which feeds you'd like to follow. That may be because it's entertaining, useful or anything else. But again I'll do an assumption: you only follow tweets because you read them (most of the time). - Remember the figures from above? One tweet every minute? Can that be done? Honestly?

I don't want to give answers here. It is a very personal thing. Some people just can't get enough whereas others are overstrained quite easily. Everyone has to judge this for himself. (Please pardon my political incorrectness.) It just came to my mind...

I know of a small experiment performed by @jadito. He just asked for a reply using the words "read" in the message. He wanted to find out how many of the following/followers really read and tend to the messages they receive. I may be mistaken by the proper goals of the experiment but as far as I learned the result was quite disillusioning - even though it was expectable.

Another good point is that some people just have a life. (Yes, they have!) @nencetti asked: "If I am too busy to use Social Media sites, does hat make me Anti-Social Media?" Quite a question, isn't it? Many people "like social media", but "never have the time. Day job, marriage, life, etc." Good points I think.

So, how many feeds with tweets you can follow seriously? Yes, it depends, that's right. Everyone of us is different. That's how it's meant to be. That's why everybody can feel free to ask the question and answer it for himself. (Don't get me 'bout the political incorrectness!) As far as I am concerned, I am about to follow 50 feeds - and I am about to draw the line there. Just have to see how much noise, er, tweets there will be during the next couple of days.

Until then I will sit here, whisteling my own tunes from time to time - and listen to the birds tweeting. Sitting under the tree.

CU - GU!


Saturday, March 7, 2009

The Runner, Part 1

To be honest, I am not an ace at all - never been. But I like sports, I really do. Basketball is my favorite team game. I just love it. (Note to myself: Look for a local old men's team.)
But it's no fun at all as long as you're in a bad shape. That's the reason why I am running for training. As a part-time runner I have to start over every year after winter's break. Today the second week has just begun.
Here's how I started over last week:
  1. running: 6x 2:00 minutes, intermediate walking: 1:30 minutes
  2. rest
  3. running: 4x 3:00 minutes, intermediate walking: 1:30 minutes
  4. rest
  5. running: 6x 2:00 minutes, intermediate walking: 1:30 minutes
  6. rest
And here's second week's program:
  1. running: 6x 3:00 minutes, intermediate walking: 1:30 minutes
  2. rest
  3. running: 4x 5:00 minutes, intermediate walking: 2:00 minutes
  4. rest
  5. running: 6x 3:00 minutes, intermediate walking: 1:30 minutes
  6. rest
As I said, second week has just begun. It's not exhausting; key point is discipline and constancy - well, I think that's why it's called training. And it feels good after all.

CU - GU!

Thursday, March 5, 2009

The Art Of Noise

Even though it's months now that I moved to my new flat I haven't neither been able nor motivated to unpack and set up all I brought here. All in all happening step by step - very small steps. Anyway, looks that it's time to start doing it.

While waiting for my just ordered 17"MBP it's time to prepare for one of it's major uses: Home recording and producing demos.

Haven't done any of this stuff for quite a time. The last recordings I did seriously date back about 10 years. Jeez! I just made up my mind about the equipment I used:
  • Escom Paradigma 486 notebook
  • MS Win 3.11 (instead of DR GEM)
  • Steinberg Cubasis
  • Steinberg PCmidi (parallel)
  • Yamaha QY20
  • Yamaha MDF-1
  • Yamaha PSS-480
  • BOSS BX-4 mixer
  • AIWA tape deck
The results were quite impressive - for demo recordings. And I've had some real fun doing that stuff. And, you know, words can only say so much - it's hard to express...

Time went by. A lot of things happened that brought even more changes to my life. A lot of them sure worth telling another time.

For a couple of years I'm a proud owner/user of a MacBook. Again and again it's quite impressing what is possible using this thing. Even the bundled stuff can help you produce quite a few things. Arranged some sweet backing tracks for remixing with the free loops already for example.

Now I'm about to set up my small home recording corner again:
  • 17" MacBook Pro (can't wait for delivery)
  • GarageBand (may switch to Logic express later)
  • M-Audio MIDISPORT 2x2 (Anniversery Edition)
  • Yamaha QY20 (still have this "notebook")
  • Yamaha PSS-480 (yes, still there)
  • BOSS BX-4 mixer (for other audio sources)
And maybe, yes, maybe I'll even get a guitar (electric one, nice sound, more options).

I think that will be a lot of fun. And maybe I will post the one or the other demo track here (or link it, more likely). That way all can enjoy (like it - or not) the art of noise.

CU - GU!

Monday, March 2, 2009

Sitting Under The Tree, Part 1

All right, here we go. But what is in a name - or a headline? Well, let me try to explain.

I'm not quite new to that world of networked computers, not really. Curiosity and exaltation for the new things to discover using well-known tools have driven me to use Twitter and start this blog. Kind of late compared to others, but anyway.

Now, here I am, sitting under the tree. Which tree you might ask. Sorry, let me explain. Those of you who know be sure know which company I'm addicted to. That company's logo not always has been a fruit only. Anyone remember the first one? (Search Wikipedia or Google, sure will find, what I'm writing about.) So, I may write on my experience on these products from time to time.

But now for the other tree, let me call it Twitter tree. Yes, after all I joined this community with a smile on my face. The stories about the beginning of Twitter in mind I wasn't sure at all if I would stay for long. No need to repeat the questions that were running through my mind - many others have left their notes on it on The Net.

Let me tell you, I'm no longer looking for a sense in Twitter. I still have a smile on my face when it comes to Twitter. It might lack sense frome time to time, but it can be just fun. Nothing more, nothing less. So I'm sitting under the tree with all it's birds and listen to them, tweeting.

From time to time it can be quite noisy. Following some of the people, you might find you in front of a wave of messages exchanged between them. That's what I call noisy - just like startled birds. Nayway, that's part of Twitter, like it or not.
But there are times of silence, too. Noone you follow has a thing to write about, you yourself have neither. Looking at the Public Timeline, things are going slow there, too. As annoying as the noise might be, the silence is strange to me frrom time to time.

Sitting under the tree you have to live with the droppings. Spam is everywhere, and the wave of spam sure still has to strike Twitter. Until then you just have to learn to recognize this stuff. And followers aren't all that counts.
On the other hand some birds in the tree are almost unhearable, but their tweets are that sweet you don't want to miss a single one. I call myself lucky to come across some of those tweets now and then. It's kind of an inspiration from time to time. Others just are, well, nice.
Last but not least some birds are around that take the word too serious: "Eat like a bird, poop like an elephant." I'm pretty sure that these words by Guy Kawasaki are terribly mistake from time to time. (Note to myself: Think about it!)

Well, but after all I like to sit here, whisteling my own tunes from time to time - and listen to the birds tweeting. Sitting under the tree.

CU - GU!