#365challenge — Public Fediverse posts

Bribes

Remember when bribery was illegal? That was before the nazi in chief of the fascist states of america declared that it was a smart move to let a foreign government give you an airplane as a present. Our new air force one, which will stop being air force one and become trump’s personal plane once he leaves office, assuming he leaves office before he dies.

Yeah, this country fucking sucks. Can you imagine if Barack Obama told the public he was taking a passenger jet as a gift from an Islamic nation? Fucking fascists.

Change of subject. Two things to look forward to this week. First, I have my three year post-gastric bypass surgery check in at the weight loss clinic. I expect them to tell me that I am the greatest patient they have ever had, and that no patient they’ve dealt with has ever had suck overwhelming success with their post-op program. I am hoping for a plaque or something to honor me.

Of infinitely greater importance, my step son Harry is going to graduate from the University of Vermont this weekend. I am so proud I am so proud I am so proud I am so proud. Did I mention how proud I am? We’ll be heading up there after work on Friday. I am really looking forward to it. I don’t know if you can tell by the context of this paragraph, but I am really proud of Harry.

Okay, Robert. Back to work with you.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54514909030/in/datetaken/

#365 #365Challenge #365Project #bribe #bribery #Cat #collegeGraduation #collegeKids #Family #gastricBypassSurgery #graduation #grownUpKids #health #Kids #Kitty #magaIsACult #Nikon #nikonZ5 #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photoADayProject #photography #Politics #robin #StepKids #trumpIsAFascist #trumpIsANazi #trumpIsEvil #z5

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54069966877/in/datetaken/

I’m in the office today. Can you sense the excitement? Neither can I.

Traffic sucked. Lots of cars broken down on the highway for some reason. I am glad it was not contagious. I got into the car at 7:15, turned on Google Maps, and was told my 40 mile drive was going to take an hour and 27 minutes. That was before I noticed the gas tank was low. Crap. I made it on time though. Barely.

It is likely going to be a long and stressful work day today. At least it’s my last in-the-office day for this week. Looking on that bright side, folks.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/10/16/baby-yoda-says-hello/

#365 #365Challenge #365Project #babyYoda #commute #Grogu #inTheOffice #iphoneography #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photoADayProject #photography #StarWars #StarWarsToys #traffic #work #workInTheOffice

Yesterday was my first day back to work after a week’s vacation. It was not the usual first day back as I walked right into some big process changes that needed to be handled and communicated to my staff. It was an odd day all around.

Today is more like the usual first day back. I left the house at 7:30am and got to the office 10 minutes late.

Yeah… welcome back, Robert.

I did manage to get my exercise in for the day and to take a stupid photo-a-day-challenge picture. Nothing special.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54017131202/in/datetaken/

Here’s hoping the rest of the day/week/career is less frustrating.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/09/24/late-3/

#365 #365Challenge #365Project #commute #Guitar #inTheOffice #iphoneography #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photoADayProject #photography #returnToTheOffice #traffic #work

Oh my goodness, was today’s commute epically awful.

It took me 49 minutes to get out of my tiny little city. It usually takes about five.

It took me one hour and 55 minutes to get to the Foxborough office. It usually takes about an hour and 10-15 minutes.

Today was just awful. AWFUL, I tells ya! It’s almost like the universe has been upended. I mean, first the Florida Panthers win the Stanley Cup and now this? What’s next? I’m afraid to even think about it!

I’m in Foxborough for the morning so at least I am off the road. At last.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/06/25/hellish-commute/

#365 #365Challenge #commute #iphoneography #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photography #traffic #trafficJam #trafficNightmare

Bit of a mentally challenging day today. Nothing major, just lots of administrative stuff at work. Meetings and meetings and meetings. There is hardly anyone here in the office today but weirdly all of the conference rooms are booked. What’s going on with that?

I have a doctors appointment tomorrow morning so I am only working a half day. Next week I have another half day on Friday. That one is so Jen and I can jump in the car and get an early start on our drive to Florida. Yeah, we’re driving again. Road trip, babie! Seven business days left before vacation, and two of those are half days. It’s too far away to start suffering from vacation-itis, but we’re getting there.

I tried to take a photo a day picture this morning while I was jogging (pronounced yogging, with a soft j) in place and they came out blurry. Duh. Of course they did, you putz. I took another one after I finished. It’s meant to guilt me into playing the damn guitar this weekend. Come on, Robert. You’re about to go on a trip. You need to play the guitar a ton before you go. Get on with it, Red Head!

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/05/15/busy-5/

#365 #365Challenge #florida #inTheOffice #iphoneography #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photography #plans #schedule #Travel #work

I got up super early this morning. I wasn’t planning on it, but I was up and at ’em a little before 5:00am. Yikes!

That let me get all of my exercise in, eat breakfast, water all of the plants, do a couple of little things to help Jen get ready for her in-the-office day, finish my normal morning routine, go to the grocery store and get dinner for tonight, and put vocals on two songs… all before punching into work at 8:45.

Wow… it’s been a long day. I need a nap. Doubly so, thanks to the crummy night’s sleep last night. Damn.

The current music recording project is Quarantine Tunes Volume 8. Four songs underway. One ready to mix, two ready for lead guitars, and one ready for rhythm guitars. How do you like that?

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/05/02/musical-morning-4/

#365 #365Challenge #iphoneography #Music #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photography #QuarantineTunes #QuarantineTunesVolume8 #QuarantineTunesVolumeEight #Recording #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject

Two days in a row. It is silly how sneaking in 20-30 minutes of guitar playing before work in the morning can just brighten up the whole day. Silly and a little weird, maybe.

I mentioned last night that I started working on a new song for the re-recording project thing. I put rhythm guitars on it this morning after I did my daily exercise and had a quick breakfast. Done and done. I used direct outs from two of my amps again. That’s the norm now. Oh well. It sounded pretty good today. It sounded pretty good yesterday too, I think.

Here’s the obligatory guitar pic. Let’s use it for today’s photo a day project as well. Day 243 of 365. Actually… 366, but we won’t worry about that until the end of the line.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/04/30/more-guitar-2/

#365 #365Challenge #Guitar #iphoneography #Music #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photography #QuarantineTunes #QuarantineTunesVolume8 #QuarantineTunesVolumeEight #Recording #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject

I mentioned last night that I was hoping to get some guitar playing in before work.

This morning? I got some guitar playing in before work.

I put rhythm guitars on the song I worked on last night, and lead guitars on the only other song I had in progress. I think I might have a little time to add vocals on Thursday morning, so I’m hoping to start another song tonight and put rhythm guitars onto it before work tomorrow. Wednesday is an in the office day so there’s no time for anything there. If I apply myself (HA! Fat chance of that!) I might be able to get to three songs ready to mix by early next week. That would be cool.

The current project is updating, editing, rewriting, and rerecording songs that were originally written for the 2021 Fifty Songs in Ninety Days challenge. I picked 10 songs to focus on. I might decide along the way that some of them are unworthy, but as of now we’re going with 10. Two songs in progress. Many more to mess around with.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/04/29/pre-work-guitars/

#365 #365Challenge #Guitar #iphoneography #Music #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photography #QuarantineTunes #QuarantineTunesVolume8 #QuarantineTunesVolumeEight #Recording #Rock #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject

We had a new dishwasher installed today. I am in the office so I have only seen pictures so far. I want to take it for a spin when I get home. I’ll dirty up some dishes if I need to.

I was in the office yesterday. I’ll be in the office tomorrow. Then I am at home on Friday, which is good because a plumber is coming on Friday. It never ends, kids. It never ends. Totally worth it though.

Change of subject: I watched 3 Body Problem on Netflix. I enjoyed it. I was warned that episode five was a mind blower and sure enough it was. I wonder if people who read the original books enjoyed it too. It read somewhere that it was considered to be an un-adaptable book and the fear was that people who read the book would hate the show. I wonder if that’s true. I wonder how moving much of the focus away from China would affect people’s opinions. I don’t know that I am curious enough to try and read the book, but maybe. I feel the same way about Foundation on AppleTV+. I enjoyed the show, but did I enjoy it enough to give the Azimov books a go? I don’t know.

Change of subject: This coming Sunday is Easter. Easter doesn’t have any real meaning for me anymore. Sorry, not sorry. We’ll have dinner with my father. The rest of my focus this weekend will hopefully be music. I have two songs for the March edition of Record Every Month to finish and there is a lot left to do on both of them. Here’s hoping I’ll get everything done. I won’t be distracted by the start of the Red Sox season though. Some moron decided to have Boston start the season on the West coast with all of the games being night games. That means the first handful of games this season won’t start until 10pm for Red Sox fans. Screw that.

Okay, here’s today’s bad photo a day challenge picture. No reason, just cause.

I’ll be in the office tomorrow too so expect number 210 of 365 to be another thoughtless picture of whatever I happen to see in the cellar while doing my daily exercise at 5:00am.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/03/27/happy-dishwasher-day/

#3BodyProblem #365 #365Challenge #appletv_ #Baseball #dishwasher #foundation #Guitar #homeOwner #kitchenRemodel #MLB #Music #Netflix #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #recordEveryMonth #recordEveryMonthChallenge #RedSox #remChallenge #Television

Okay, so how much music did I work on today? I already mentioned in a previous post that I put vocals onto three songs and bass guitar (MIDI) onto one. After posting that update, I added bass and drums (both MIDI) to one song and rhythm guitars to three.

That’s not even close to what I was hoping to get to today, but I’ll take it. The guitar tracks I recorded used my Fender Deluxe Reverb at a slightly, borderline absurd volume. It was louder than my usual gig volume… and it was awesome.

When I pick up where I left off I will have to go back to direct signal out of the amps into the USB interface. It’s still fun and it still sounds good, but it’s not as fun. It’s not as epic. It’s not as awesome.

Maybe more tomorrow? Maybe some car vocals? We’ll see.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/03/23/music-day-recap/

#365 #365Challenge #Guitar #Music #Nikon #nikonZ5 #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photography #QuarantineTunes #recordEveryMonth #Recording #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject #z5

I woke up this morning with every intention of working in the office. Now it’s 9:07am though and I am sitting at my desk at home.

I woke up a touch later than I wanted to, and that was the first issue. By the time I finished my morning exercise (jogging [pronounced yogging] in place for 45 minutes) I just couldn’t bring myself to drive into the office. Instead of packing up my stuff I just ate breakfast and finished the episode of The X-Files that I was watching (the one where the baseball player in the ’40’s is an alien in disguise… not the best episode).

I am still planning on making tomorrow (Saturday) a major musical day. Jen is going to be at a conference all day so I am on my own. The to-do list includes getting a haircut (which I desperately need) and an oil change for one of the cars. Other than that, it’s music. The Record Every Month Challenge and Quarantine Tunes Volume Seven… and maybe a start on Volume Eight too.

I promise you, owe internets, that there will be guitar playing, song writing, and recording done on Saturday. Unless I change my mind and just sleep and watch TV all day, of course.

Anyway, here’s today’s photo a day challenge masterpiece.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/03/22/schedule-shuffle/

#365 #365Challenge #Guitar #Music #Nikon #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photography #plans #QuarantineTunes #quarantineTunesVolume7 #QuarantineTunesVolume8 #QuarantineTunesVolumeEight #quarantineTunesVolumeSeven #recordEveryMonth #recordEveryMonthChallenge #Recording #remChallenge #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject #toDoList #weekendPlans

We are in our second week or having to come into the office twice per week instead of once. It’s Monday so here I am. At my desk. In the office. Monday feels like a really crappy day to come in, but I need to pick a day to go along with our usual Wednesdays and I don’t want to come in two days in a row and Monday just feels better than Friday so I’m here on Monday. I did Friday last week and the morning commute was all right both days. Friday had the benefit of having far, far fewer people around. Monday has the benefit of getting the second day out of the way really fast. I think we’ll stick with Mondays for now.

My step daughter is flying home tomorrow afternoon. I took the afternoon off so I can get her at the airport. I am thankful to have as much personal time available to me so that I can do stuff like this. It’s a good thing and it makes me happy.

I took a pic this morning. Nothing special but it’s a photo a day challenge kinda thing.

I need a haircut. Did I mention that? Do you care? No? That’s okay. I need a haircut anyway. Just sharing, or maybe just over sharing.

What else… I don’t know. I have a meeting in half an hour. That’s fun, right?

I watched the third episode of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live (aka the Rick and Michonne show). It’s the weakest of the three so far (there are three more coming this season), but it was still pretty good. I am pleased with the season to this point but I am hoping the quality goes back up starting next week. No spoilers. If you like The Walking Dead, you should be watching. That is all.

Jen and I have been watching Star Trek: Lower Decks. I started watching Penny Dreadful the other day. I’m still plowing through The X-Files. I watched the first movie after finishing season five. Tomorrow morning I’ll start season six. I’m getting near to the point where Mulder leaves and that’s going to make it hard to power through. I’ll stick with it though. I promise.

Okay, back to work with you, Robert.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/03/11/office-day-3/

#365 #365Challenge #Airport #commute #es335 #es335Pro #Family #gibsonEs335Pro #GibsonGuitar #hybridWorkSchedul #inTheOffice #lowerDecks #Nikon #nikonZ5 #pennyDreadful #personalTime #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photography #returnToTheOffice #StarTrek #starTrekLowerDecks #Television #theOnesWhoLive #TheWalkingDead #theWalkingDeadTheOnesWhoLive #theXFiles #theXFiles #timeOffWork #vacationTime #work #z5

Hey everyone, raise your hand if you were able to sneak some guitar playing in before work this morning.

Robert timidly raises his hand.

Yup, I recorded lead parts for two songs. I now officially have no songs in progress that are currently ready for any guitar tracks. I have to do some MIDI work tonight, and maybe some car vocals in the morning, and then I’ll have some stuff ready to work on.

The Great Guitar Pick Journey of 2024 continues as well. I tried another new one today. Much of my internet research pointed to Dunlop as the brand to go with. I tried Max Grip first (1.14mm) and those were okay, but no as good as the Fender picks I’d been using for ages. They have little grippy things on them that are supposed to keep them from spinning around between your fingers as you play, and that worked but it felt awkward. I am sure I could get used to it but I moved on to option two this morning (for now at least). 

Option two is Dunlop Tortex Jazz III. This one was much better than the Max Grip in all ways but one. The little guy is just tiny. I kept going into muscle memory mode and literally missed the strings. It’s just small. It feels really good in my hand, and the overwhelming majority of suggestions I’ve received in my online questioning said to try them. I’ll stick with it for a while, but I am wondering if they make the same pick only bigger. 

I have two other options that I want to try before I start looking outside of Dunlop, but I haven’t bought either of them yet. One of them is pretty expensive for a pic. We’ll see.

Anyway, here are the obligatory pictures from this morning’s lead guitar playing extravaganza.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/01/25/anyone-else-play-guitar-today/

#365 #365Challenge #Guitar #GuitarGear #guitarPicks #iphoneography #Music #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photography #picks #quarantineTunesVolume7 #quarantineTunesVolumeSeven #Recording #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject #theGreat2024GuitarPickJourney

Was today the first car music of 2024? I think so. 

I snuck out of the house a few minutes after 7:30, got to the movie theater parking log (which wasn’t quite as empty as I like it to be) by 7:40 and recorded vocals for two songs until 8:25. I didn’t have time for any more, and even if I did I might not have. It was a struggle today. My voice was very scratchy and I’m not terribly pleased with the results… then again I am never pleased with the results so what difference does it make?

The upside is I now have two songs that are ready for lead guitars. The downside is that I have no calluses on the fingers on my left hand so recording lead guitars is going to hurt a bit. I can hack it though. I’m practically a pro at this… not really… whatever.

Here’s the view of my “studio” today:

There was a truck parked right next to my usual spot so I had to move over a few rows.

In closing, here is the obligatory clock picture:

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/01/23/car-music-2024/

#365 #365Challenge #iphoneography #methuen #Music #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photography #QuarantineTunes #quarantineTunesVolume7 #Recording #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject

When I finished playing guitar yesterday morning I had run out of tracks that needed to be recorded. Last night I started another re-recording song so that I could have something to work on today. Now here we are again with nothing ready to work on because for the third day in a row I played guitar!

I now have six quarantine tunes ready for vocals. That’s what I call a backlog. It’s going to take me a while to get through all of that. I have one more song on my list for this round of re-recordings. I had two but I decided to drop one of them. If I can prep that one with bass and drum MIDI tracks today then I’ll have something to do tomorrow morning. Then we start doing car music on Tuesday? We’ll see how it shakes out.

Obligatory guitar pics, via Hipstamatic shake-to-shuffle….

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/01/21/officially-on-a-streak/

#365 #365Challenge #Guitar #Hipstamatic #iphoneography #Music #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photography #QuarantineTunes #quarantineTunesVolume7 #Recording #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject

I played guitar again this morning! Two days in a row!

I put rhythm guitars on a Quarantine tune, and lead guitar on another song. It was my first recorded lead on the new frets and the first recorded lead in months, meaning I have no calluses, meaning ouch town, population: me.

In other guitar playing news, the new pick journey officially began today as well.

I started with a Dunlop grippy model and amazingly dropped it within seconds of starting to play. WhatWhatWhat??

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/01/20/more-playing/

#365 #365Challenge #Guitar #guitarPicks #iphoneography #Music #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photography #QuarantineTunes #quarantineTunesVolumeSeven #Recording #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject #theGuitarPickJourney

I recorded some guitar tracks today! WOOHOO!

I put rhythm guitars on one Quarantine Tunes vol. Seven song. Lots of chunky wah-wah groove. Awesome. Here’s hoping I get to make some time to play a lot this weekend. I have a lot of stuff ready for car vocals too.

Get to work, Robert!

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/01/19/pre-work-day-guitar-playing/

#365 #365Challenge #Guitar #iphoneography #Music #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photography #QuarantineTunes #quarantineTunesVolume7 #Recording #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject

I have barely done anything musical in the past week. I told myself I was going to work on Quarantine Tunes Volume 7 this month, and I have done some work. I just haven’t done enough. 

I have one song ready to mix, but it’s been ready to mix for about a year. I have one song ready for lead guitars but, again, it’s been ready for about a year. I have three songs ready for vocals and I have been trying to get myself into a place where I can record them (meaning in the car in an empty parking lot at the crack of dawn) but I’ve failed to get it done all week. Tomorrow, maybe? I also have two songs ready for rhythm guitars but I just haven’t been able to make the time to record the tracks. I will, I just need to get myself motivated.

Motivation! Why do you vex me so? Get your ass in gear, Robert! Do something! Play the effin’ guitar, you bozo! Make some music!

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/01/11/make-music/

#365 #365Challenge #Guitar #iphoneography #Music #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photography #QuarantineTunes #quarantineTunesVolume7 #Recording #SongWriting #theGreat2015ReRecordingProject

The last post talked about trusting my instincts. A big part of me is wishing I hadn’t written that because for most of this morning my instinct has been telling me that today is going to be a really shitty day.

Why?

I don’t know.

It’s the day before Thanksgiving and I am working in the office. The office alone sort of points to a bad day, but it’s more than that. In the United States, the day before Thanksgiving is traditionally the busiest travel day of the year. Everyone in the country hits the road on this day each year. I expected my morning commute to be an absolute nightmare. Add to the expected gridlock that it was pouring rain outside and it would be safe to assume that the traffic would be a gridlocked nightmare times 10. Nope. There was no traffic at all. Everyone drove a little slower than the speed limit thanks to the rain, but I never had to hit the breaks once over the entire 40-something mile drive. You would think that would ease my sense of impending doom, but nope. Somehow it made it worse.

Today should be a quiet day at work. If the office is anything to go by, it’s dead as can be here. I only see two other people and they both work for me. Weird. I should be feeling optimistic and excited about the coming holiday weekend, but instead I am just dreading everything. Once I get home tonight and see my beloved bride again, I will start feeling really good about the weekend, but until then?

It’s going to be a long, sucky, painful day.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2023/11/22/impending-doom/

#365 #365Challenge #commute #Hipstamatic #Holiday #holidayWeekend #impendingDoom #inTheOffice #instinct #iphoneography #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photography #Thanksgiving #thanksgivingWeekend #trustYourInstinct #work

I got up early this morning because it’s an in the office morning (hopefully not a full day, that would be tomorrow) and I needed to get all of my morning routine stuff done extra early.

When I got out of bed I saw this scene. This pic was taken with the iPhone’s low light mode, which is why it looks a little funky colored. The only light in the room was far away and purple.

I got a second shot a few minutes later when Jen got up and turned on the bathroom light.

If that doesn’t make your heart feel all warm and fuzzy early on a Tuesday morning then nothing will. I’m 80-something miles away from home now. Hopefully I’ll get to go home at lunch time and finish the work day there. Tomorrow is the official work-in-the-office day, so I’ll be there for the full day. Let’s see how it goes.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2023/11/21/good-morning-12/

#365 #365Challenge #Cat #commute #inTheOffice #iphoneography #Kitty #lily #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photography #returnToTheOffice #robin