'2023' Archives
![[Busy computing... for you!]](https://www.bolsinga.com/comp.gif "[Busy computing... for you!]")
Hitting a big milestone in my life this week. I've been working on my own. I've been taking care of the family, our home, and doing a little poking around with newer Apple technologies. It's been fun. I'll see where I take this over the next year.
I've also been feeling older lately. I've learned that other parents at Oscar's school are near my age, but I still think I could be the oldest. My body is also showing its age. I hope to do more for that soon.
I've been listening to a podcast all about SST Records called You Don't Know Mojack. The two Canadian hosts are going through each release, one-by-one. It's fun to listen to, even though many of the releases I'm barely familar with. #
I have finally added search to this web site. I had removed the "generated" links to bands, albums, and venues from the generator program this week. There were mostly just links to "Can" and "Home" and other generic words. This got me to thinking about search for the site. In the end I swear it didn't even take me an hour to implement. So it goes. #
It snowed about 9 inches at our home the other day. It's the most snow we've seen while living here. Oscar got two snow days off of school. The first day we played outside and took the sleds to Irving Park, not too far from home. We found lots of kids from his school there and had a really fun time.
We'll have to see how long this snow sticks around. It's also a cold snap here. Usually if it dips below freezing, it doesn't stay there very long. However this time seems different. #
I just downloaded Spacemen 3 and De La Soul. It's going to be a rocking few days! #
I made a macOS application called Missing Artwork. I've worked on it on and off for nearly 3 years. It was fun to learn so many new things along the way about new Apple technologies. You can see all my process for the application and its library on github.
At both of my jobs after working at Apple, it was not possible to play with all the new stuff. They had large legacy codebases that made it hard to move forward technologically. While at Apple, you were only ever working on the latest and greatest release, so you could always use the new stuff. In fact you were encouraged to, if not even required to. It's good to be back. #
Like nearly everyone, I love the way listening to music can make me feel. I was just listening to an Unwound song that gives me the chills nearly every time I hear it. #
I dunno when I first heard of Velvet Underground. Probably through Bowie records. Somewhere around 30 years ago, I got the banana album. Whatever I had, I remember it was a different mix than what I have today. Anyways, somewhere along the line I'd heard that the "later stuff" wasn't as good. It took me until about 10 years ago to get "White Light / White Heat". Oh my gosh, I think, this is terrific! Then it takes me until this week to get their last two albums with Lou, and they are just immensely amazing. Holy smokes, they are good. I'd heard covers or live versions of their hits, but the albums are chock full of such good stuff that I'd never expect from 1970. I've heard nearly 50 years of people interpreting and re-interpreting these songs, so I was just blown away to finally listen. #
I saw my first movie in a theatre in nearly eight years the other day. I have to say, I realize I haven't missed much. I arrived at the specified time for the opportunity to see 30 minutes or more of commercials and previews. At least I had an assigned seat! I think I'll think hard if I go to a theatre again. If I do, I'll be sure to arrive 30 minutes "late". The film I saw was good though ("Oppenheimer"). #
I've been updating this web site for 25 years now! Thanks for reading over the years. The site started sometime before the first entry on 9/6/1998, but we'll call it 25 years.
I've been building an iOS application that displays all the shows I've seen. Send me a message if you'd like to get a link to try it out. Thanks again! #
I wasn't always perfect about tracking the dates of shows. Early on, I guess I'd write them down without a date. In later years, I'd remember going to the show but wouldn't have tracked it soon enough to know the date. Bill Johnson helped me out on Facebook with six unknown dates from Starcourse shows. He found a list of names physical folders archived somewhere at the University of Illinois. Thanks, Bill!
Now I just have to find an archive of Blind Pig and Trito's shows from that era too. #
I read quite a bit more this year than I have for awhile. It's been fun. Here's what I read in order. I haven't quite finished the last one yet, but I bet I do in a few days.