If you have not been to my website recently, I'd love for you to check it out. It is now ready for potential employers of school districts where I'm applying to see. I'd love more experience doing web design, especially flash.
Otherwise, we're doing ok. Having a hard time with the sermon preached this morning by our campus pastor. How do you get "You young men need to man up, get a job, take a wife, and start making babies" out of Jeremiah 29? Yes, I'm taking it totally out of context, but that is what the rest of the sermon was like. We felt pretty slimed.
Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Friday, October 26, 2007
Media, media, media
Today I have nothing eloquent to say. I've been working on my website, researching other ways to display media than simply uploading an .mp3 or .mov file (where it goes to another page), and otherwise enjoying lots of media that now works with our not-so-broadband internet connection (768kps). The Daily Show with Jon Stewart finally has its own website with a huge library of videos that I could spend hours and hours watching if I'm not careful. The first video listed here is one of my absolute favorites.
I also uploaded some old videos from 2006 when I played in the Marriage of Figaro and in Britten's War Requiem. The volume on the first video is pretty loud, so turn it down first.
I also uploaded some old videos from 2006 when I played in the Marriage of Figaro and in Britten's War Requiem. The volume on the first video is pretty loud, so turn it down first.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Recording is cool
I bought the XtremeMac Micromemo recorder for my iPod. I performed in front of the 55 clarinet students at UNT on Friday and recorded my performance for you to hear if you click this link (4.5MB). You can also right-click and click "save link as..." to download it to your computer.
The recording is of Etude No. 5 of 16 Etudes Modern by Paul Jeanjean, a French composer. This piece was a challenge for me when it came to the musical interpretation because the tempo was all very flexible and the form and phrasing was not very straight forward. I tried to pace it so that the listener didn't get bored, but so that I took enough time in moments that needed it. I hope you enjoy it.
The recording is of Etude No. 5 of 16 Etudes Modern by Paul Jeanjean, a French composer. This piece was a challenge for me when it came to the musical interpretation because the tempo was all very flexible and the form and phrasing was not very straight forward. I tried to pace it so that the listener didn't get bored, but so that I took enough time in moments that needed it. I hope you enjoy it.
Monday, September 17, 2007
tour
Here's the video tour of our apartment, as promised. I'm sorry the audio quality is so low, you may want to turn it way down or turn your bass down at least. I hope you enjoy it!
Edit: Thanks for bearing with me. The video is no longer listed as private, so you should be able to view it now.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
@#$%ing Verizon
Time for an old-fashioned rant.
Dawn and I recently moved to a new apartment which is about 3 miles away from our old one. We had Verizon DSL and the most basic land-lined phone service for something like $38 per month.
When it came time to move, Dawn called to have our exact service transfered to our new address, where Verizon is the exclusive telephone and internet provider. They even offer their new FiOS here, but we didn't want to pay that much.
The problem is that they not only took down the wrong address, but they didn't have the correct callback phone number, either. They finally called us on our land line just before we moved to say that the address they had didn't exist, so Dawn spent a couple hours on the phone with them trying to get the correct address. She even had the woman repeat it back correctly to her three times. It was supposed to be installed yesterday.
Mind you, we were getting calls for the previous resident here until yesterday, as well. We also could use her internet service (I think she had FiOS because I had a 2MB/s download speed on her connection). I think this might have contributed to the problem, though this woman supposedly moved out on August 31.
Anyway, I called them this morning and they determined that my phone and internet service had been cancelled because they still had the wrong address (2016 instead of 2060). I couldn't figure out why it was cancelled. Maybe the tech guy was like, "duh, there is no 2016, so they must want to cancel their service." So the tech support guy referred me to another Indian woman who referred me to a local agent who could only sign me up for new DSL service. However, I realized that if I don't have Verizon phone service, I can't actually get the DSL. If I need to order new phone service, I probably won't get to keep my old phone number! ARGH!
At this point, I have three options:
1. I could try to get my old phone number back which would involve hours on the phone and perhaps some yelling, or
2. I could cancel my newly ordered DSL service for the phone number that was cancelled and order fresh, probably FiOS. However, when I went to their website to get a quote, it said that there was existing phone service on the address that I gave them. Bloody hell.
3. I could wait a couple of days to see if my phone magically starts working, and then wait until the 25th for my "new" DSL service to be activated.
Did I mention that the tech support hold music is the most annoying elevator music imaginable?
@#$%ing Verizon.
Dawn and I recently moved to a new apartment which is about 3 miles away from our old one. We had Verizon DSL and the most basic land-lined phone service for something like $38 per month.
When it came time to move, Dawn called to have our exact service transfered to our new address, where Verizon is the exclusive telephone and internet provider. They even offer their new FiOS here, but we didn't want to pay that much.
The problem is that they not only took down the wrong address, but they didn't have the correct callback phone number, either. They finally called us on our land line just before we moved to say that the address they had didn't exist, so Dawn spent a couple hours on the phone with them trying to get the correct address. She even had the woman repeat it back correctly to her three times. It was supposed to be installed yesterday.
Mind you, we were getting calls for the previous resident here until yesterday, as well. We also could use her internet service (I think she had FiOS because I had a 2MB/s download speed on her connection). I think this might have contributed to the problem, though this woman supposedly moved out on August 31.
Anyway, I called them this morning and they determined that my phone and internet service had been cancelled because they still had the wrong address (2016 instead of 2060). I couldn't figure out why it was cancelled. Maybe the tech guy was like, "duh, there is no 2016, so they must want to cancel their service." So the tech support guy referred me to another Indian woman who referred me to a local agent who could only sign me up for new DSL service. However, I realized that if I don't have Verizon phone service, I can't actually get the DSL. If I need to order new phone service, I probably won't get to keep my old phone number! ARGH!
At this point, I have three options:
1. I could try to get my old phone number back which would involve hours on the phone and perhaps some yelling, or
2. I could cancel my newly ordered DSL service for the phone number that was cancelled and order fresh, probably FiOS. However, when I went to their website to get a quote, it said that there was existing phone service on the address that I gave them. Bloody hell.
3. I could wait a couple of days to see if my phone magically starts working, and then wait until the 25th for my "new" DSL service to be activated.
Did I mention that the tech support hold music is the most annoying elevator music imaginable?
@#$%ing Verizon.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
hot and humid
Good morning, reader. I have a few minutes before I have to head to class, so I thought I'd say hello.
Things are going well for me at the moment. I've biked to work the last two times and its been quite an experience. It was raining every single day for the last several weeks here in Texas and now that that pattern has been broken, I feel like I'm living in a jungle. I bike just 1.3 miles over there, and in ten minutes I might as well have been rained on. I sweat that much. While it's true, I am out of shape, the heat and humidity is killing me. I biked home yesterday when the heat index was 102 degrees. I feel so tough. Yarrr. I guess it's an efficient workout because I am burning the maximum calories for the minimum workout time. :-)
I am really happy to be getting exercise and to have a fuller schedule again because I have so much energy now. I get to be around people all day (which, as a staunch extrovert, is a really good thing) and the exercise gets me moving faster. I tend to have a much higher self-esteem when I feel useful, too.
What else. . . Oh yeah, I was able to spend some time on a video conference the other night with my family. They placed their camera on the dining room table so I felt like I was sitting in the room with them. That was fantastic, except that it made me miss them even more. Lord, let me move back to where my family is where I'm not swimming in humidity. Amen.
Otherwise I haven't been spending much time on my recovery lately, which is not good. We are supposed to start our Fearless Moral Inventory and I would like to be at the point where I am journaling much more than I am. I guess that's part of adjusting to a new class and a new job.
That's all thats on my mind this morning. Today my activities include going to class, moving a friend, and going to work. Later.
Things are going well for me at the moment. I've biked to work the last two times and its been quite an experience. It was raining every single day for the last several weeks here in Texas and now that that pattern has been broken, I feel like I'm living in a jungle. I bike just 1.3 miles over there, and in ten minutes I might as well have been rained on. I sweat that much. While it's true, I am out of shape, the heat and humidity is killing me. I biked home yesterday when the heat index was 102 degrees. I feel so tough. Yarrr. I guess it's an efficient workout because I am burning the maximum calories for the minimum workout time. :-)
I am really happy to be getting exercise and to have a fuller schedule again because I have so much energy now. I get to be around people all day (which, as a staunch extrovert, is a really good thing) and the exercise gets me moving faster. I tend to have a much higher self-esteem when I feel useful, too.
What else. . . Oh yeah, I was able to spend some time on a video conference the other night with my family. They placed their camera on the dining room table so I felt like I was sitting in the room with them. That was fantastic, except that it made me miss them even more. Lord, let me move back to where my family is where I'm not swimming in humidity. Amen.Otherwise I haven't been spending much time on my recovery lately, which is not good. We are supposed to start our Fearless Moral Inventory and I would like to be at the point where I am journaling much more than I am. I guess that's part of adjusting to a new class and a new job.
That's all thats on my mind this morning. Today my activities include going to class, moving a friend, and going to work. Later.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
New Webcam
Here is a video I made last night that didn't work right until this morning. Enjoy!
http://www.zefrank.com/theshow
http://www.zefrank.com/theshow
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Addicted to media
Did you know that you can embed all of your favorite videos on your blog? This is too exciting.
lot on my mind
Summer has been hitting me over the head lately. No commitments other than finding a job. I have unofficially been offered a part-time job at Office Depot that pays $8.50/hour. I will probably take it if, by the end of the week, nothing comes up that offers higher pay and more hours. It feels good that my work wasn't in vein, though. I started the process with Office Depot like 5 weeks ago. Money might still be an issue through the summer, so pray that God will provide and I don't have to delay my schooling.
Google Earth and its 3D Warehouse have been of great interest in the past couple weeks. They have this tool called Google SketchUp which can model almost any 3D object with little effort. The program is so intuitive and easy to use, I wish I'd had it as a kid. I might be on a totally different career path by now if that were the case. I say that because I love 3D modeling. I've always loved sketching 3D houses, castles, or other objects and I figured most modeling programs would require a class to master.
After a week of going through tutorials and learning how to use Adobe Photoshop CS again, I modeled my own apartment building.
Its pretty exciting, though a couple of the textures don't load correctly in Google Earth. I don't know exactly how to troubleshoot it, so I'll leave it as-is. It didn't take me long to realize that if my career in music education turns out to be a flop, then doing something with computers, especially building them or using software like SketchUpPhotoshop would be a lot of fun for me. I realize it is just as competitive of a career.
On the subject of technology, Dawn and I just burned our first DVD! It is pretty awesome.
With Windows Vista's DVD creator, we made our own menu with its own music, and burned four downloaded episodes from The Office: Season 3. Pretty amazing, and it saves a lot of disc space. We love The Office. It has very believable stories and characters. I'm sure that the writers created these characters from people they actually knew or their friends knew. It seems that reality is so much more funny than fantasy could ever be.
Finally, a friend of mine from church suggested that all of my thoughts and bitterness toward God might be helped if I meditate or read about Jesus. When I think of Jesus, I remember how kind and caring he is, going after the poor and oppressed and shunning the rich and self-righteous. I don't think of someone who is a control monger that wants to be Lord over every part of me. I don't think of Jesus as a man who will do what ever he wants without regard to my thoughts or feelings. I think I can love Jesus.
Google Earth and its 3D Warehouse have been of great interest in the past couple weeks. They have this tool called Google SketchUp which can model almost any 3D object with little effort. The program is so intuitive and easy to use, I wish I'd had it as a kid. I might be on a totally different career path by now if that were the case. I say that because I love 3D modeling. I've always loved sketching 3D houses, castles, or other objects and I figured most modeling programs would require a class to master.After a week of going through tutorials and learning how to use Adobe Photoshop CS again, I modeled my own apartment building.
Its pretty exciting, though a couple of the textures don't load correctly in Google Earth. I don't know exactly how to troubleshoot it, so I'll leave it as-is. It didn't take me long to realize that if my career in music education turns out to be a flop, then doing something with computers, especially building them or using software like SketchUpPhotoshop would be a lot of fun for me. I realize it is just as competitive of a career.On the subject of technology, Dawn and I just burned our first DVD! It is pretty awesome.
With Windows Vista's DVD creator, we made our own menu with its own music, and burned four downloaded episodes from The Office: Season 3. Pretty amazing, and it saves a lot of disc space. We love The Office. It has very believable stories and characters. I'm sure that the writers created these characters from people they actually knew or their friends knew. It seems that reality is so much more funny than fantasy could ever be.Finally, a friend of mine from church suggested that all of my thoughts and bitterness toward God might be helped if I meditate or read about Jesus. When I think of Jesus, I remember how kind and caring he is, going after the poor and oppressed and shunning the rich and self-righteous. I don't think of someone who is a control monger that wants to be Lord over every part of me. I don't think of Jesus as a man who will do what ever he wants without regard to my thoughts or feelings. I think I can love Jesus.
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