STAT!

So, it’s January 31st, 2009 and the blog is still going strong. My New Year’s Resolution is working out very well. You can see that there has been at least one post per day, the one of me playing guitar was used for something in another dimension of the Internet and I didn’t want to load it up on YouTube, even though no one would probably view it.

What do you think of the content? Good? Bad? A pleasant time killer? Waste of time?

I genuinely have no idea what anyone’s take is on this blog because I do not receive any comments or emails and this is NOT to say that you HAVE to write in, but I was just curious.

Anyway, I’m always up for sharing how the blog is going with you the reader in case you’re interested.

I am still writing. I have a book of blog ideas that can stretch out for a few months so hopefully there will be something new for you to read every day regardless of what I’m doing (which is good because I have a lot of business plans and hey, I’m going to be a dad again this year so there’s always that too). It is a tough resolution, don’t get me wrong though. My business plans involve me being away from computers so I would need to blog enough to cover my absences, then come back with hopefully enough cushion time to write some more blogs and get the ground back under my feet. Add to that a crying infant and a probably-jealous older sister and an understandably tired wife and you can see how I’m going to be busy busy busy. Maybe some family will come to visit and take some of the load off of me.

As far as READERS go, like I said before, numbers are going down. There are spikes here and there, usually when I post links to the blog with videos for the guitar communities but usually it’s around 5-12 people per day. That’s unique, by the way, not one person coming back 12 times.

The monthly view of numbers looks pretty interesting and it was steadily climbing all the way to December when it took a dive by about 100 unique visitors. November had about 745 unique people coming to it, December had 640 something and January isn’t looking like it’s picking up very much. I think, if it’s going to happen in the first place, that it’ll be a while before numbers get back up to those levels again.

I’m not complaining, just stating the facts. I’m happy that there’s anyone reading this, so it doesn’t matter if the blog is diving and soaring to me so long as it hasn’t flat-lined. It isn’t like I’m TRYING to gain popularity with this blog. Why would I? It’s one thing for people to stumble on it from forum signature and keep reading it because they have a basic idea of who I am and maybe they find it interesting. I can see that happening. But for me to log out and TRY to gain readers, that seems a little… I don’t know. I just don’t want banner ads with my face on it saying stuff like “Come get to know me!” I definitely don’t want that.

It’s like meeting an interesting person and checking out their MySpace. Except I don’t update MySpace. My New Year’s resolution does not involve regularly updating my MySpace page. It DOES involve a new blog here every day. So save the link as a favorite and check back daily. There’s a ton of good stuff coming your way.

My OTHER blog (http://www.5th-fret.blogspot.com) is doing well. Unlike this one where there was a dip last month and this month’s not looking too impressive, I passed last month’s then-highest number by two as of early this morning. That blog I AM trying to get out there and maybe even become a “legitimate” blog. I don’t know exactly what constitutes a legitimate blog – I have no clue so just like whenever this happens, I’ll just make stuff up.

Russ’ requirements to be a legitimate blog:

Over 1,000 unique people per month coming in.

More than FIVE interviews with people in the ‘biz.

NAMM Press Passes.

No lower in rank in the top 100 than number 60.

Those are my requirements to be legitimate.

But to be considered successful in my own eyes?

Over 2,000 unique people per month coming in.

More than 10 interviews with people in the ‘biz.

Going to NAMM and covering it.

No lower in rank than number 20.

At least one gear review where a company sends me something to review.

Invitations to Guitar factories to check it out and write about it.

Now THOSE are some lofty goals, but I figure I have all the time in the world right? We’ll see what happens.

I know I say it frequently but I really appreciate you coming to read this blog. I hope you find some level of enjoyment from it and want to keep coming back. If you weren’t around, I wouldn’t feel nearly as good about putting all this out there.

Thanks, folks. I appreciate it in the truest definition of the word.

Let Slip The Days Of Youth

Lately I've been missing being a teen. Well, more precisely I've been missing my old routine. I would come home, go to my room, drop the backpack and pick up the guitar. I'd find a pick (they were never where you left them) and then turn on some music and crank it up. Then I would play with the CDs for hours. Usually I'd play through all of the Misfits Famous Monsters, Metallica's Ride the Lightning, and half of Garage Inc. Disc 2. By the middle of that I was tired from jumping around and trying to keep the downpicking steady.

I wasn't playing the actual notes or chords or anything like that, I was just getting the tempo down. I wasn't really interested in playing those particular songs, but I wanted to play as fast as those particular songs and use that tool later on in my own writing.

I'd come out of the room soaked in sweat and open up a soda and sit down and tell my dad something like "I finally got the galloping method down" or "I was able to downpick through all of X" or "I was picking so fast my hand was a BLUR!"

I miss being loud sometimes.

Ah, but you grow up. You move into an apartment and your downstairs neighbors drop little hints about your guitar playing that makes you (if you're considerate) stop plugging in when you want to, stop turning up to where you want to, even stop playing acoustically as loud as you want to (and not on an acoustic guitar but an electric one). And I know there are those people out there that say so what? Let them be annoyed for a little while but I don't want to be that guy. It's bad enough I have to listen to loud car stereos bump by night after night as I'm putting my daughter to bed. I don't want to be the guy that everyone's thinking "well, he's only got ten more songs and then he usually quits."

Life has all sorts of different things in store for you when you grow up that I think it's more painful to look back and see the things you loved to do (nothing relieved stress more than a two hour downpicking marathon) and know that you can't do them anymore. Not for a while anyway. It isn't like you CAN and you choose not to, you just plain can't. It's a tough pill to swallow and I think that this is one of the toughest experiences of growing up (the bitter pills, not the whole can't play a lot of guitar thing). I mean, you come home from work and it's past five, you only have a few hours to spend with your child and once she's put to bed you want to spend time with your wife and then pretty soon you're getting tired because the day was long and soon you're in the sack asleep.

I just want to make this perfectly clear: I do not regret getting married or having kids or anything like that. I love my wife, I love my kids. But sometimes you miss the days you can't have back anymore. I think it's natural.

The Office: The Angela Saga

SPOILER ALERT! IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE CLEVER WRITING DISPLAYED IN THIS WEEK'S EPISODE OF THE OFFICE YOU NEED TO STOP READING RIGHT NOW AND INSTEAD PERUSE MY PREVIOUS BLOGS AND SUBSCRIBE SO YOU CAN BE ASSURED OF GETTING ANY NEW BLOGS THAT ARE SCHEDULED TO COME OUT!

Angela has been sleeping with Dwight while being engaged to Andy. Andy is oblivious. Everyone else in the office knows though.

Including Michael which is a dangerous thing.

It's dangerous because Michael, wanting to be way more of a presence in your life than you would like your boss to be, will tell secrets to become that presence he wants to be so badly.

And he did. He told Andy that Dwight and Angela were having an affair and that it's been going on for a while. And then he drove off to New York leaving Jim to manage this time bomb.

See, Andy has anger issues. Dwight is willing to fight for Angela and Angela is so... messed up, that she's willing to let someone else decide for her who she should be with. Apparently she's having a tough time with it.

So! Andy confronts Dwight and Dwight proposes a duel during their break so it wouldn't be breaking company policy where they would fight for Angela's hand. Angela says she'll respect the result of the duel.

How about that?

Well, the duel happens. Andy, through his superior intellect manages to distract Dwight long enough to get his Prius and pin Dwight to a fence with the full potential of breaking his legs or just plain running him over.

OK. That's enough for now.

In the real world if this were to happen someone would have to leave. The potential groom would want to leave if his fiance was banging someone else in the office and chose to be with him. That's just plain embarrassing for the would-be groom.

The potential bride would want to leave because she might as well have a scarlet "A" on her chest. There's no way anyone would respect her and as a result, no one would treat her the same in a professional manner and she would turn into a horrible employee because her peers wouldn't let her shine.

The stud the would-be bride is banging would want to leave because he'd be known as a dog and end up much the same as the would-be bride work-wise.

So you see? Everyone has a reason to leave, and if one person leaves, life could PROBABLY get on without too much trouble.

But all three are fairly strong staples in the Office world. So what would the writers do?

They made both Andy and Dwight feel slighted by Angela. Apparently she had been telling Dwight that she wasn't sleeping with Andy.

Dwight and Andy come back upstairs and Angela is anxiously awaiting the result of the duel. Andy calls the baker and cancels his order for the wedding cake and Dwight picks up a bobble head that Angela had given him for Valentine's Day so long ago when they were dating and throws it away.

How clever is that? Everyone can stay if they want to and justice is served to an acceptable level. Really, that's all you can ask for.

So kudos writers. You bundled up this saga in a great little ribbon and it worked out pretty well.

Good job.

Nothing Beats A Good Haircut

While being in the military means I HAVE to have a haircut that meets Air Force standards, it doesn't mean I have to mind. I will say, that sometimes I really wish I could grow my hair out. The threat of baldness in the future instills a very strong "use it or lose it" mentality but because I'm so awesome, I keep my hair within standards while trying to still let my personality through via my hair.

This sounds weird.

Anyway, getting a haircut feels great. It's basically like a head massage and you walk out with your head all tingly, really it's one of the cheapest feel-good methods out there.

When I was a civilian I was usually too broke to get haircuts (but had enough for comic books most of the time) but I was always torn between growing my hair out and getting it cut. Short hair requires less effort and upkeep, something I really like, but longer hair looks better.

Meh, I really like walking out of the barber's with a good haircut. It's a pleasant experience that I've never grown tired of.

Just thought I'd share that with you, the reader.

I bet you're thinking I just wasted your time, huh?

Apple Genius

Apple has this application in iTunes and on their iPods where you can select a song, any song you like and click the genius button and it will generate a playlist that is the length you choose that is filled with songs of a similar vein. It is not like "shuffle" or random or anything like that.

The problem with Genius is it can only pull from the available source. That would be either your iTunes collection or the music on your iPod. So if you have 120GB of music of various genres and artists then yes, it would probably work very well. Same goes if you have a large collection on your computer.

But if you have a smaller music collection on your computer or you have an iPod that is limited in space, like say, a Nano, then your genius playlist probably won't be that great.

I am a guy who is quick to point out flaws, especially when it has to deal with something that is changeable like software and I am ALWAYS willing to share my opinions on how to make it better.

The Microsoft Zune, useful in the way that Burger King is useful to McDonalds (not even comparable in taste but good for competition's sake), has an FM transmitter and while that's good in cities with good music on the radio, it is NOT good in a town like this one. The iPod Touch can access the Internet from hot spots. So, if Apple could put out iPods with something similar like Pandora and solve the whole "if you go outside the area you'll lose your radio" thing, it would work. Say, you could pay a monthly subscription fee to Pandora and in return they will give you 100 songs (or so) that you don't have either from artists you do know or artists you do NOT know. If someone said for five bucks a month you can listen to music that is PROBABLY what you'd like in addition to music you KNOW you like, I'm just about sold.

The thing that would push me over the edge of consumerism here is the option to buy any of the songs directly from my iPod. Say I'm listening to Me First & The Gimme Gimmes, a punk cover band and on the Pandora list is a song from the Lost Fingers, a gypsy jazz cover band and I love it (I like the Lost Fingers quite a bit) I would also love the option to buy the song for the normal .99 or the album for 9.99 or everything from the artist for whatever it would cost.

That would be great. I could imagine going broke very easily if iPods had this feature.

Are you listening replacement for Steve Jobs?

Death Magnetic Going Strong!

I listen to my music at work. It’s nice to shift focus every now and then to listen to whatever song is on (because it’s always on shuffle) as a way to take some of the stress away, but it’s also nice as background noise. I’m not interested in what my coworkers are saying and prefer to stay in my own little world and do my work.

As far as what’s on my iPod, most of it consists of this or that song from a particular artist’s album, just the best so I’m not constantly clicking to a different song. When I get a new album, I throw the whole album on it and listen to it once or twice all the way through and then keep it on for a little while and if one of the songs jumps out as not that great, or I’m reaching to click forward, I’ll write the name of the song down and remove it from the playlist when I get home. So far I’ve lost one of the songs that I thought was good when I made the playlist in the first place.

Some albums are just plain good enough to keep the whole thing on all the time, though the list of no-kidding, front to back and everything between included on the iPod is few.

The one album that I keep THINKING I’m going to remove songs from is Metallica’s Death Magnetic. I love Metallica, they’ve been a favorite of mine for a very long time and I’ve been liking them for just about as long as I’ve been playing guitar (going on twelve years). By no means am I a hardcore fan to the extent where I would lie and say stuff like “St. Anger was a good album” or anything like that. I’m still realistic. Not one of their albums made it onto my iPod in its entirety, except Death Magnetic because I know I haven’t given it a fair shake.

But I could have sworn that after giving it a fair shake I would remove the songs I didn’t like and move on like with every other album on my iPod.

This just doesn’t happen though. Every time a song from it comes on I turn my head a little to the speaker saying “what’s this?” and waiting for the vocals to come on and when they do, it’s unmistakably James Hetfield and I say “Ah.”

And they’re good. I haven’t run across one of the songs that I wanted to move away from or remove from the playlist.

I’m pretty happy about this. I wasn’t filled with too much faith after St. Anger and the idea of backtracking to sometime between the Justice album and the Black album didn’t really appeal to me either. One was so complex that much of it was boring (and in dire need of being stripped down) and one was leaning too heavily toward popular metal at the time. I find the album refreshing both in its aggression and rattiness. It’s like a garage metal band, not this big huge machine known as Metallica. It’s like they’re human again and the fact that it’s not polished and super clean and there’s some audible degradation from the excessive volume, it makes it feel… I don’t know… more REAL.

Kudos, Metallica.

Attrition And Determination

I posted a while back the statistics about blogs and I thought I'd say a little bit about my plan.

While some people start a blog and then for whatever reason decide to drop it, I can't think of a reason to drop this blog. I won't lie, there have been some times when I thought of dropping my other blog, because the articles just aren't coming to me as fast as I would like them to, and the traffic is kind of slow, and there seems to be little or no interest or support from folks that I thought would be interested, but I'm soldiering on, because I think it's worth it. I think that blog is worth really digging for topics and I've got an article I'm writing right now that's still in the draft stage.

That's a big difference between there and here: there's no draft stage here. This is just me, writing my head down, so to speak. This is where I can let anything fly and the rules are far fewer. I've still implemented some rules here lie no cursing. Or at least, I try not to curse anymore. I'm sure it's bound to happen - even more bound to happen now that I've said that - but I really don't want to be labeled as "explicit" as a blog.

So the idea of a specific blog with a specific purpose failing, that's easy to grasp. You write a blog about pocket watches, but everything goes to digital watches and you're left thinking you might as well close up the blog. I get that.

But this kind of stuff, where it's just your thoughts? I don't know, I don't really get that. I do understand not writing stuff every day, but giving up all together? It sounds a little to me like giving up on yourself.

Ah, but some people are in it for the money and while I do have ads I am not sitting here typing, thinking that every little word I write is just a passport to more money. It's occurred to me that I'm not making very much at all and it doesn't really bug me. I put them up as an experiment and that's it. I'm not shy about it either. The whole time I've had them up I've had the ads clicked about 70 something times leaving me with about 37.00. I don't consider it real money because I have not gotten a check. When I have it in my hands I will then consider it real money.

So I can also understand if you have a blog that you think is going to make you big bucks only to find out you're like me (or worse) and I can see how, if that was your goal, you'd be a bit disappointed.

Or maybe people are writing blogs thinking they will become internet celebrities? Their blog will be an instant smash hit and they'll be invited on Opera?

A vast majority of blogs written (so say the statistics) are never even seen by the general public. Honestly, I think this has to do with content and perseverance. If there's something new to come to every day, then people will come and if it is indeed NEW than maybe someone that reads it, a friend from work maybe, will tell a friend of theirs to read it and word will spread. But it's not rational to think this will happen quickly. As a matter of fact, I'd say it's probably much safer to think this will not happen at all and spare yourself the sadness of failure.

An unexpected win is always sweeter.

So if you plan on being huge, or you plan on getting rich, or you write for a niche crowd, yes, I can see you stopping because of disappointment. But what about me?

I write for none of those reasons. I write because its so much quicker to type than actually WRITE in a journal, I like the feeling of typing out little blogs about specific things, almost never just going in with the need to type without a topic anymore, and I think it's cool that the number of people that read this blog do. Yesterday 21 different people viewed my blog. I'd say that number is padded because the recent came from list said they did an image search for guitar givaways and mortal DC, the two blogs that sill probably outlive me, and walked away disappointed. I'd say maybe eight of the people that came were genuinely interested in the blog.

That's fine with me. And maybe they'll tell their friends and maybe the ads will pop up with something that interests them and they'll click on it. Maybe I'll become super rich and an internet celebrity!

But I doubt it, and it isn't bringing me down. I like writing blogs, I like writing with you in mind, and I love the fact that someone reads it.

Thanks.