I admit it. I am addicted to talk radio and current events. Between Rush and Sean and then Fox News in the evening, I barely have time to do anything else. It's just that the news is moving so rapidly right now with the election and Memo-gate, etc.

I'm thinking of scaling back after the election. Just stop listening for a while and pursue other things. I still get 3 newspapers everyday so I won't exactly be uninformed! But, I think I do need to cut back on the talk radio. I think after the election with Bush safely re-elected, I can wind down a bit.

Well, no sooner had I written about my lust for a D-SLR than this news that Pentax has now entered the budget D-SLR fray. I have an affinity for Pentax. I really like the compact size of this new model (Pentax *istDS). I definitely thought the Nikon D70 felt really big when I held it. I think I would prefer a smaller camera. I'm thinking a kit version with lens could come in as low as $800 with discounting? This would undercut the Canon 300D. Interesting times.

I got out my old Pentax Super ME 35mm film camera. Of course, I haven't shot film in 5 years. This was a trend center years ago. Maybe the *istDS will do the same in the digital era.

Apparently, *istDS will be available in November 2004.

For a while now, I have had an irrational interest in purchasing a digital SLR. Specifically, the Nikon D70. The other contender is the Canon Digital Rebel. I currently own an Pentax Optio 555 which I have been very pleased with. But, the siren song of Digital SLRs is very tempting. What to do? I keep thinking maybe there will be some price drops as competition heats up. Pentax is said to be preparing an entry D-SLR of their own. There seem to be a lot of happy users of the D70 over at DPR.

Completed upgrading to WinXP SP2 on all my computers last night using the handy CD Microsoft sent me. Everything went fine.

One tidbit I have noticed that no one as mentioned is that the color of the little WinXP loading status bar has changed from green to blue. I haven't seen anyone mention this. It can be seen on the WinXP loading splash screen. This is an easy way to tell if a system has been upgraded.

[Listening to: Limbo - Marilyn Crispell Trio - Storyteller (06:54)]

Gloomy day today. After backing up my computer yesterday, I decided to install WinXP SP2 which I received on CD the other day. All went without incident. Things seem to be running fine.

Also, finished installing various audio software updates I hadn't gotten around to. This led to the odd bit of testing the various new sampler sounds I had installed. As a result, I knocked out a new AcidPlanet tune called Crimson Jam. As the name suggests, it is "an imaginary impromptu jam between King Crimson members". I made special use of the great Chapman stick patch to get the authentic Tony Levin sound. It's a bit cacophonous but I think it hangs together well with each instrument placed distinctly in the mix. I tried out the T-Racks mastering plugin and really got a loud but clean mix. It's probably a bit overdone but I have found that to get a good sound when using the low bit WMA formats it is really necessary to have a "hot" mix going into the encoding process.

I'm kind of curious what kind of response I get from it. I think it really does sound fairly authentic.

Just installed the new WMP 10. Walt Mossberg was his usual grumpy self. I find it interesting that none of the reviews mention that the MSN music store is offering higher quality encoding levels that most other stores including Apple's. While still not up to lossless level, it is still a step in the right direction. Anyway WMP 10 has a much improved interface and now includes MP3 encoding as well. No problems so far. I'm waiting for the 40gb Creative Zen Touch before I make a decision about upgrading to a new music player. Looks like a lot of things to buy this fall.

Just got an email for the next version of Sonar - audio sequencer. Should be out about the beginning of October. I'll have to dig into what's new.

So the new iMac is out. Nice design. Not necessarily new but a nice implementation of the all in one PC. The use of wireless really helps keep connection clutter to a minimum.

I just recently picked up the Microsoft Wireless Intellimouse Explorer 2.0 for $20. I had never tried this type of peripheral. I have been worried about RF interference since I do a lot of audio work. So far it is working flawlessly.

[Listening to: Opal - Kenny Wheeler & Jurgen Friedrich - Summerflood (07:17)]

I'm starting to get back into the blogging mood. I also have updated my site a little bit. I had to find a new news feed since the one from Corante seems to have died. I'm now using the Daily Rotation which seems quite good. Google's upgrades to Blogger are now quite extensive and I'm incorporating things as I have time. Since I use my own custom template and CSS stylesheet it takes a bit longer for me to incorporate. I am trying to move as much as possible into my stylesheet so as to make updates a lot easier. One cool thing I have added is the ability to supply a RSS site feed. This is new for Blogger and I can now be just like all the big boys on the net. Since I use Comcast's very limited web hosting I have to leverage as much I can from Blogger.

Fw: A Text Blog via email

I am testing the capability to blog via email.

 

Happy birthday to me!

[Listening to: VIII - Tomasz Stanko Quartet - Soul of Things, Variations I - XIII (03:24)]