I decided a little over a month ago that it was time to retire Shawnogram. The site is coming up on its four-year anniversary. And it has served me well over the last four years. But it’s time to move on.

I’ve been thinking that it’d be good for me to have a real “business-card” type of website. Something I can point people towards to showcase some of the “professional” things I do. And for the most part, I don’t feel Shawnogram (or any other site I’m contributing to) can really do that.

The plan going forward is two-fold. My new professional site can be found here: http://shawn.mx/ The site contains some basic information about me as well as a journal where I’ll be writing about things like music, podcasting and media production. (There are already a couple posts there to get things rolling.) I’ve also started an attendant Tumblr blog where I’ll be posting personal stuff and various digital ephemera. There are already some posts there as well.

My advice is, if you want to get everything, bookmark/subscribe to both sites. The RSS feed at shawn.mx is podcast-enabled, and you can subscribe to it in iTunes or any other podcatching program. It hasn’t yet been submitted to the iTunes Store, so you’ll have to subscribe manually for now. (Contact me if you need help doing this, it’s actually pretty easy.)

I’d like to thank everyone who’s followed and contributed to this site over the last few years. I hope you’ll stick with me through the changes. Good things are ahead.

(The audio enclosure below pretty much just restates everything I’ve posted here.)

Over the last few years, this has happened to me five or six times with different accounts. Usually, it’s been credit cards. This is the first time it’s happened with the debit card.

I have no idea how it is that my card numbers keep getting stolen. It’s especially curious with the debit card as I really only use it these days for ATM transactions.

Maybe this has something to do with it.

(Thanks to Jen for the video.)

During the week, I’ve had to take care of all of the usual time-consuming life obligations, Beyond that, I had an appointment with a physical therapist for my ongoing left-arm problems. I was given a regimen of stretches and arm exercises to do at home to try and strengthen the muscles in my arms and upper back. I think it’s helping.

Jen’s been summonsed for potential jury duty in L.A. (400 miles away, round trip). I spent part of an evening helping her fill out the online “qualification questionnaire.” We did our best to make it as clear as possible that they really don’t want Jen on their jury. We won’t know for at least a few weeks if she’ll have to go.

I’ve written 2/3 of a new song and I kinda like it. Been thinking about the music thing a lot lately. Got some ideas there. Also thinking of finally making good on my threat of taking this blogging thing to a new location. This may tie in with the music thing. I need a clever name for this new project but I haven’t thought of anything yet. I’d like to get a simple domain name that somehow ties into my name. There is actually one shawn.xx top-level domain name available but it’s one of them weird ones that costs $50.00/year to register. Not sure if I want it that badly. I could just do things under my own first and last names (plenty of domain options there). But, I don’t know. I find my name to be rather dull. Also, it seems that my last name is difficult for many people to pronounce. It’s seemingly even harder for them to spell. Six letters. One syllable. You wouldn’t think it’d be so much trouble. This is why I need a clever alter-name to operate under. Let me know if you’ve got any ideas.

The old studio setup. Note my computer on the left-hand side of the photo and Jen’s computer on the right-hand side.

Last year’s move served two purposes. It helped us to reconfigure the studio but we also swapped the studio room with another room entirely. This year’s move wasn’t as involved as that. We just moved things around in the studio room. The other parts of the house were left (mostly) unharmed.

I developed this high-tech system to help plan the layout of the new studio. What’s shown here isn’t actually what we ended up with.

The first thing to be done was to pack up loose items and get them out of the way. This tub held all of the stuff on or around Jen’s desk.

Next, I had to remove my airplane collection from the glass display case. Gonna be fun putting all of that back together…

Next up was just tearing things down and moving them around. “Studio Tetris” as I referred to it.

A mass of cables from all of the stuff that is on my desk.

The final location for Jen’s new desk. I put up a couple small shelves where she’s planning on displaying some miniatures she’s painted.

The new location for my desk, also known as Desktron because three desks merged to become one super desk!

The cables from my desk after they’d been sorted.

The curtain that was originally hanging over this window was eaten by the dryer. Jen insisted on using this towel as a temporary treatment because you can take the girl out of Carpentersville…

Music gear is now in the closet.

The finished studio!

Requisite photo of Jen sitting in my desk chair. I think it’s the first time she’s ever done so.

(More photos available here.)

The installation was pretty simple. I had to improvise a little because I don’t have the recommended drill bit for the towel holder’s supplied hardware. No big deal. The installation is solid and it looks OK, too.

(More photos available here.)

We had fun Friday evening recording GeminiDragon 18. We were joined by some friends for the live show as we discussed our predictions for 2011 and covered some amusing year-end lists.

Jen and I spent the rest of New Year’s Eve watching movies, eating bad party food and enjoying some mixed beverages. It was low key but it was nice. I had two drinks and actually didn’t wake up the next day feeling like hell. I’ll take this as a good sign for 2011.

Jen, as we recorded GeminiDragon 18.

Saturday was a busy day. Jen worked on her many writing projects. I did a bunch of stuff around the house. We also concocted some plans for contributing to the new Dawnforge Productions network.

On Sunday, I walked to SLO Fresh Market to get some groceries. This is the second week in a row I’ve done this and I’m enjoying it. There are drawbacks to shopping at SLO Fresh vs. the big chain supermarkets, and I don’t think we’ll ever be able to shop there exclusively. But I’m grateful that this place is within walking distance.

My cart’s worth of groceries at SLO Fresh Market.

I spent the afternoon and evening on Sunday working on some little audio and music projects. I even got some Warcraft time in before calling it a night.

Not long after I fell asleep, the power went out. Thanks to some helpful light from my iPhone, Jen found our barbecue lighter and lit some candles.

Jen spent some time trying to get the birds to calm down. They were pretty flustered in the wake of the power outage. Thankfully, in all of their commotion, they managed to not hurt themselves. The power remained off until almost 5:30 Monday morning. Jen stayed up all night reading. She didn’t want to go to sleep while there were candles burning. I managed to get in a decent amount of sleep but it wasn’t enough and I’ve been feeling the effects. When the power came back on, Jen was picked up by her second (third?) wind and went back to work. She didn’t really go back to sleep until around 3PM Monday. I’d guess that she stayed awake for approximately 26 hours straight. (She’s sleeping as I type this.)

Turns out that a power line went down nearby and that’s what caused the outage. We lost power again in the afternoon. I was preparing lunch but gave up as there was no telling when the electricity would return. I walked to Taco Roco (WARNING: Clicking this link may result in instant fiesta) and picked up some tacos instead. The power was back on by the time I had returned and it’s stayed on ever since. Which is good because, how else would I have posted this highly informative blog?

1.) Get to goal weight of 200 pounds. I currently weigh 226 pounds. I’d like to get down to 200 by the end of 2011. On average, I’ll need to lose a little over two pounds a month and that seems reasonable.

2.) Pay off credit card debt. This one will be difficult but it is obtainable in 2011. The keys to achieving this goal will be to not make any new debt and to also make as much extra income as possible.

3.) More music! I’ve posted already about how I’d like to improve my guitar-playing skills by finding a good teacher. I haven’t pursued it yet because of finances. (See above item.) Even so, there are still things I can do. I received a new acoustic guitar for Christmas. It’s the first acoustic guitar I’ve played that I actually like. I’m contemplating attending an open mic night or two. If nothing else, I need to at least check out one show per month. I need to get out there and meet local musicians. I’m also considering starting a local-music podcast, and that would tie in nicely with this goal.

These are definitely the big ones on my mind right now. If anything else comes up, I’ll add it to the list.

1.) Since leaving the orbit of a major metropolis and moving to relatively-small San Luis Obispo, I’ve lost certain connections with mainstream media. I used to listen to WXRT a lot, and while the station’s legend grows ever-more blighted in these modern times, it was (and probably still is) one of Chicago’s best sources for new music. I don’t actively listen to the radio much these days, and even if I did, the closest approximation to ‘XRT in my area would be the local college radio station. Most of the time, my stereo receiver can’t even pick up the college station’s low-power signal, and because it’s a college radio station it’s very… college radio-y. It’s not really the same thing as WXRT.

2.) I mentioned in the previous item that my active radio listening is somewhat limited. Actually, my active media consumption overall is limited. At least, in terms of Old Media. Since Jen and I moved into our own place here in SLO, we’ve never had cable TV. Other than a subscription to a now-defunct music magazine, my reading of periodicals has pretty much become non-existent. Sure, I spend a lot of time online. But I don’t follow many of the Internet’s “popular” outlets, even those that relate to my interests. More than anything, I use the Internet as a tool for finding/doing specific things or seeing what things my friends/contacts are finding/doing. This helps me keep a thumb on the pulse of a handful of sources. But it’s not the same as being plugged directly into the Matrix.

3.) I’m old! Yeah, I know that’s a relative idea. But I do find myself having a bit of a “get-off-my-lawn” complex when I look at some of these whippersnappers out there today. It doesn’t help that reading about music before actually hearing said music can implant tiny prejudices in my mind. One of my favorite music writers is Jim DeRogatis. I read his reviews of the band Vampire Weekend long before I had heard any of the group’s music. Dero has had some mixed feelings but ultimately he’s unimpressed with these guys and he’s always half a sentence away from bringing up the band members’ Ivy League pedigrees. And knowing that these dudes come from money seems to have an effect on Dero’s perceptions of the band. And in turn, this has an effect on me. Here’s a Vampire Weekend song that wound up on one of those end-of-year lists (not Dero’s, of course):

I heard it for the first time tonight. I didn’t totally hate it. (Though, on second listen, I think I’ve heard enough.) And up until that point I hadn’t even given the band a chance. I just dismissed them out of hand because of things I had read. That’s a lousy way to appreciate music. Still, going further into this I’ve realized that I *do* actually have some serious conceits towards most of the artists that fall under the Indie Rock banner. I find it difficult to relate to what I often perceive as a bunch of privileged young’uns, who all look like they just rolled out of bed and decided to start bands before they brushed their teeth in the morning. Hey, you damn kids! Grow up and at least pretend to try. Is that too much to ask? I mean, look at this:

Apparently, Generation Twee is so enamored with this kinda stuff that even car companies are eager to help them sell out. Anyway, I think the whole point of this item on my list is simply to say that, it’s hard making a living as a musician. My reaction, when I see people who downplay their own successes in doing so is to believe that they must have golden parachutes on the other side that’ll magically carry them into their parents’ law offices if the whole music thing doesn’t work out.

I didn’t dislike everything I heard on those year-end lists. Though, the stuff I’ve liked is certainly outweighed by the stuff I didn’t. Regardless, it’s made me realize that I need to work a little harder at keeping up, and that maybe I shouldn’t downplay stuff before I’ve even heard it. No matter how twee it may be.

Nice ghetto monitor stand there.

It worked OK for awhile. But there was room for improvement.

After I had that bought of left-arm pain a couple months back, I realized that the way I was sitting at my desk might’ve been the source of the muscle irritation in my arm. Because I can’t see so good, I was sitting like this:

(Sorry for the blurry photo.)

As you can see, it was a rather cramped situation. I started researching alternative monitor stands. I figured for sure that a low-vision specialty company probably made something that’d accommodate my needs. I had imagined something complex with multiple points of articulation and perhaps some kind of tray that a monitor could sit on. I had completely glossed over the fact that LCD monitors can be mounted onto all kinds of stands. I eventually found one that I thought would do the job. The stand uses a boom arm that swings out from a base that clamps on to the back of the desk.

There’s a mounting bracket that installs onto the back of the monitor, and the bracket is then attached to the boom arm. It was pretty easy to get it set up. Jen helped with the final attachment as the monitor weights over 20 pounds and it was difficult to hold it in place and attach it myself.

it was working well. I was able to slide my keyboard under the monitor so I could still sit close to the screen but also give my arms some room to stretch out. After a few weeks, I decided to do some tweaking of the original setup. I added a coaster on to the desk where the c-clamp base is attached to help give it some extra leverage.

Having the new monitor stand has really improved my computer experience. I’m much more comfortable. I can actually sit up like a normal person and still see the monitor and type at the same time. I don’t have to constantly slouch forward or bend in weird ways. It’s also easier on my eyes, as the screen is more centered in my field of vision.

What the monitor setup looks like now.

Me, with the new monitor stand.

(A few more photos of the monitor stand can be found here.)

We went to the SLO Promenade/Madonna Plaza shopping center. An outdoor mall. Outside was soggy. So were we by the time we were done. It’s a week until Christmas. Every store we went into was packed. Mom needed some help at the jewelry counter of a major department store. She eventually got the attention of a clerk who was behind the counter, but had apparently been put on double duty as a cashier. I get it, stores. It’s Christmas time. It’s busy. Either hire some more staff or close the jewelry counter register. So, you know, the jewelry counter clerk can actually work the jewelry counter. Sadly, this experience was the better one. We stopped in at another major department store and couldn’t even get any help at that store’s jewelry counter.

On the bus ride back from the shopping center, we got an unexpected treat. We got to ride on SLO Transit’s contraversy-riddled double decker bus. It was the first time I’ve had a chance to ride this bus. We sat on the lower level. The most impressive thing I noticed is that the double decker has cool red Stop buttons in place of the traditional pull string that’s normally used to alert the driver that a passenger needs the next stop. I’d like to ride the two decker again sometime in the future to see what the view is like from up top.

We made transfers at the Downtown Transit Center. Mom caught a bus back to Atascadero. Before she got on, I tried my best to confirm with the bus driver that his bus would indeed be able to drop Mom off where she needed to go. In return, I received something that looked like a nod combined with a shrug, along with a half-hearted “yeah,” the sound of which might’ve ended with a question mark. Thankfully, a nearby passenger verified that the bus would be stopping where Mom was going. I don’t know what it is with some RTA drivers. But if you have a question about an RTA bus route, it always seems like the last resort should be to ask an RTA bus driver.

When Mom takes the bus from San Luis Obispo to Atascadero, she’s picked up at the other end by my sister. Like me, Mom is legally blind (though her vision has deteriorated far beyond my level) and it’s difficult for her to know when to pull the stop string on the bus. I was worried that Mom might miss her stop. She doesn’t carry a cell phone, and considering the oh-so helpful nature of the bus driver…

Sure enough, I got a call from my sister at 4:30PM. She had been waiting at the pickup location since 4:15PM and she hadn’t seen the bus. (Expected arrival time was around 4:20PM.) I told my sister that it was likely that the bus was just running late. That was indeed the case as the bus pulled up shortly after she called. I didn’t receive a second call so I’m assuming that Mom was collected safe and sound.

Despite the lousy weather and other hassles, I had fun. It was nice spending some time with Mom. Made me realize that we could probably do this sorta thing more often. Here’s some pictures of buses.