My Parents are Married and Happy, I'm Happy for Them

My mental illness makes me find a happy balance of appreciating the time I have with my parents, appreciating every moment I have with them, and also giving them their space. PS. I'm using the dev-ices I use more effectively, reading books on the Nook App on my laptop, and hopefully getting my online calendar figured out.

inspiring music lesson

This came at the end of an article from one music instructor to another, who was having a tough time with teaching a student. I'll save you the details of the first part of the article. Here it is, from music instructor Jerry... "People who can function in this realm are usually called “talented”, or “artistic”, and are thought of as special. I have written voluminously on the fallacy of this belief system. The fact is that it is not that your student cannot learn, it is not that he cannot focus his mind or be aware of his body, he simply will not, and is presently suffering the effects of a lifetime of such behavior. I am sure it feels to him like he cannot do it, and it probably looks to you like he cannot, but if he is functional enough to drive to the lesson, and remember to show up on time, then I feel confident in saying he has the capacity to focus during practice, but simply will not. Teaching him, making him aware of the fact that he must, and he could, but he WON'T pay attention, is the first and essential step in saving him from “hopelessness”." VERY Inspirational... If you want to review the article, or see what he suggests for the student... here's the URL. http://www.guitarprinciples.com/taking-lessons/322-is-this-guitar-student-hopeless.html

A day of bedrest, not as restful as it sounds.

Yesterday, I stayed in bed all day, thought I was resting my mind and body...Today, I have a terrible bedrest hangover. OK, me and pills don't agree, but ibprofin helped the bedrest hangover.

Why don't laptops have built in radios?

Ok, I've covered this before. But, why don't laptops have built in radios? It would be a very simple addition to the motherboard that would add value right out of the box. I'm not an electrical engineer, but the only thing that would need to be added would be a copper coil to pickup the radio waves. I think the motherboard has the other components already accessible. I can see how the natural progression of computers from desktops where it was easy to add a radio card to laptops with a design similar to desktops has kept the radio out of reach. And with the availability of the internet and internet radio there isn't really a need for "analog" radio anymore. Still, as I see miniature radios and radio schematics, I can't help but wonder...Why do computers not have radios built in? That being said, there is a very simple solution to this problem. The USB radio. Simply buy a usb radio, plug it in, and you have access to your favorite am or fm radio station. The "classic" brand seems to be a company called ADS, and the reviews are positive, the price is about $15 give or take. This device is one that I would really like to smash open and look at the guts, because of its small size...but who knows how it works, I haven't tried it. Ok, now I'm mad, I'm going to see if there's an app that does local radio without the internet...don't know how it would work...

A guitar at 1/30th the cost of a Belucci, made by me, with a little help from dad

I found a really neat alternative to the $3,200 Renaldo Belucci South American classical guitar. First, let me tell you what I've been looking for. I wanted to build it myself, or at least purchase it as close to home as possible. Also, I want it to have a full soundboard, not a cutaway, and a full fingerboard, not hanging over the sound hole. Lastly, I want it to have an electric jack and equalizer. This last part is going to be a challenge to install into the already made body of the kit I'm looking at. So with all this in mind I've found a $72 kit with $50 piezo electrical setup at grizzly.com. It's going to take some work to get the electronics into the body, and there's always the possibility of a sound port on the upper bout. I'm looking forward to this project and may save my set of EXP strings for this setup. :)