Blog

Where's the bass?

Tom Lorenz — Tue, 22 May 2012 11:31:00 +0000

I've felt the need lately to shed my large studio headphones in favor of in-ear earphones. On Sunday I picked up a pair of Ultimate Ears 600vi earphones and have been using them since. Frankly I am a tad underwhelmed by them. They're not bad by any means, but the bass is surprisingly weak.

Thinking that maybe I'm missing something, I went to Amazon to read some reviews and see what others have to say about them. That's where I first heard of the concept of "burning in" one's earphones. Basically you play loud and varied music through them for about 12 hours straight, then take another listen. Supposedly that makes certain components more supple and responsive. Seems somehow reasonable, doesn't it?

Gonna have to try that overnight and see what happens. I hope to be pleasantly surprised in the morning!

Blue platelet special

Tom Lorenz — Tue, 22 May 2012 00:49:09 +0000

I have been a regular platelet donor at the Red Cross for the last four years. Every third Sunday at 7am I would show up, grab a DVD, and watch a movie while I bled. It was a great way to watch something that my wife wasn't interested in, while at the same time providing platelets for patients who needed them.

Everything was fine until about six months ago. There was a problem aligning the needle with my vein and I was sent home early. A few visits later it happened again, only that time the realignment attempt-- Maybe I'll spare you the details. Suffice it to say that it was pretty painful. And kinda gross. I've had about three problems donations since then. It's happening more often, which troubles me. I even switched arms, hoping that would help. It didn't. Something about the return that keeps messing up. And let me tell you: when that happens it hurts. A lot.

So it is with a heavy heart that I have decided to stop donating platelets for a while. I'll still donate whole blood, but no more platelets. Eventually I'll try again, but not for a while.

Another VHS gem

Tom Lorenz — Sat, 19 May 2012 12:02:21 +0000

As we all did back in the proverbial day, I recorded a lot of stuff on VHS tapes. Now that the world has gone digital I find myself with stacks of those tapes that I need to get rid of. The only problem--as you may have surmised by the fact that I still have stacks of VHS tapes in my house--is that I have never had an easy time throwing things away. Luckily technology gives me a way to throw away those old tapes while retaining their contents. Thus, I have been going through them and digitizing the best stuff before tossing them.

This morning I found a true gem from around 1999: "George Carlin - 40 Years of Comedy", a career retrospective and interview show from HBO, hosted by none other than Jon Stewart. Can't find it (legitimately) on DVD, so I am thrilled to have found this!

The Watchman

Tom Lorenz — Fri, 18 May 2012 00:46:49 +0000

Have you ever noticed that the majority of shopping sites let you narrow down your search based on what you like, but few let you narrow it based on what you don't like? Right now I'm shopping for watches, and I can easily select which material I'd like for the band: stainless steel, plastic, ceramic, and so on. As a vegetarian, I want to see every material other than leather. Sadly, there's no way to do that at this site. Some do let you do stuff like that. Most, however, don't.

Oh well. Maybe I'll just get an iPod Nano and a plastic watch band for it instead.

Separated at birth?

Tom Lorenz — Sun, 06 May 2012 23:39:50 +0000

I noticed this resemblance years ago, but until now I hadn't set out to find two somewhat comparable photos of the two people. Now that I have, I present to you:

On the left is Charlie Manuel, Manager of the Philadelphia Phillies. On the right is Chris Squire, bassist for Yes. Kinda uncanny, innit?

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Tom Lorenz — Sat, 05 May 2012 15:32:55 +0000

She's got it where it counts

Tom Lorenz — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 02:18:00 +0000

This may be the single coolest thing I have ever seen online. It happens that the entire Parkland High School campus in Allentown, PA is shaped like the Millennium Falcon. Don't believe me? Check this out:

Still don't believe me? Check it out on Google Maps and Bing.

Before the iPad, there was the eMate

Tom Lorenz — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 01:21:00 +0000

Back in 1997 I had the opportunity to Dover, DE and teach an abbreviated course in basic HTML to a group of teachers at an education conference. It was great fun, people built rudimentary websites, and a splendid time was had by all.

After the course was finished I wandered around the exhibitor area, stopping for an extended period at the Apple booth. You can imagine my excitement when I saw--and played around with--Apple's newest gadget: the eMate 300. At the time it was the coolest looking gadget around, with its translucent green body, stylus-based screen, and complete portability. It even had a tripod mount on the bottom!

As the owner of a Newton 130 I was keen to spend some time with this beast, and I was not disappointed. I absolutely loved the thing. It presented the promise of being able to do real work on a Newton device. I adored my Newton, but its impracticality was its Achilles heel. Without a keyboard, it was useless for anything more than entering short sentences or phrases. Plus its size made it damn near impossible to carry around in one's pocket without first investing in a pair of suspenders.

The eMate 300, however, was different. It had a built-in keyboard, so I could type in a bunch of text quickly and not have to hope that the Newton's character recognizition would get even half the words right. And while this was also too large for any pocket, it was light and came with a carrying handle molded into the case. Best of all, like all Newtons, it was instant-on. This was a highly portable computer, was ready to go within a second of being powered on, and it was inexpensive. Conceptually, it was almost the iPad.

For better or worse, Steve Jobs killed the entire Newton line when he ascended to the CEO spot at Apple. The eMate was no more. It was sad, but now that I have an iPad 2, it's okay. I even tracked down a cheap eMate 300 a few years ago on Ebay. One of these days I'll also get a power supply so I can use it!

In the mean time, I dug up a brochure I picked up at that conference and scanned it for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

Getting into hot water

Tom Lorenz — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 17:48:05 +0000

As a long-time listener of Howard Stern, I remember reacting with puzzlement years ago when he talked about how he drinks a lot of plain hot water through his show. It just sounded odd to me. I drink a lot of water myself, but never tried it hot. It seemed somehow gross. Coffee? No problem. Tea? Sure. But plain old hot water? Ewww.

A couple of weeks ago I was feling kinda pflegmy and my voice felt tired. It was the middle of the afternoon and I didn't want to make another pot of coffee, so I thought I'd give Howard's idea a try. It wasn't bad at all!

Now I'm hooked. In the morning I still make a pot of decaf coffee, but after lunch it's all just plain hot water. It's not a miracle cure or anything, but it definitely feels good and help keep my voice nicely lubed up and sounding fresh.

These dads were made for dancing

Tom Lorenz — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 17:23:00 +0000

When we first signed our kids up for dance classes, we didn't know what to expect. The studio we chose was new, founded by a duo of young women fresh out of college. Everything seemed fine.

And for the first few months everything was fine. Then shortly after the new year, a sign-up sheet went up in the waiting area. They were putting together a special ensemble for the spring concert: Ovations Dancing Dads. How could I possibly pass that up?

That first year we did the Can-Can in full black skirts with frilly red trim and boxer shorts underneath. The response was immediate and overwhelming. Everybody loved it! Since then we have done a different routine every year: disco, Irish step dancing, you name it--we did it! And the costumes? Fuhgeddaboutit! From year to year we've worn ball gowns, leather jackets, bee hive wigs, lederhosen, diapers, and just about anything else you could imagine.

[ASIDE: Yes, diapers. It wasn't as bad as it sounds. It was worse.]

But there's so much more to being a Dancing Dad that most people never think about or even see. Luckily the October issue of Dance Studio Life explains it all pretty darn well.

Even though my kids have long since abandoned their dance studies, I am still welcome in the ensemble. I just began my thirteenth year with the Dancing Dads and couldn't be happier about it. This studio has grown by leaps and bounds and promises to be so much more than the way it began. Frankly I'm happy to have been a part of it for so long, and plan on continuing for as long as I can.

In the mean time, feel free to read all about us!