The "magic" words

Psalm 121:1-2
I lift up my eyes to the mountains---where does my help come from? [2] My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

These seem to be my words of the week. I remember reading a post on facebook from Casting Crowns of this miraculously fixed to a tree after a hurricane, giving new meaning to their song, "Praise You In The Storm". I also remember a Hebrew version of this psalm that we sing on Yom Kippur.

Funny enough, I found myself turning to these verses out of instinct, last night going through my own storm. I had an overwhelming two days as there was a problem with my son's medication and Joelle is not around to fix it. I was starting to panic a bit because one cannot play with these types of medications. Honestly, I felt powerless and helpless.

I also knew that God doesn't disappoint and always comes through in some way or another when one has "faith as small as a mustard seed".

I believe God was waiting for me to display my faith in Him. He wanted me to take that one tiny step. That's when both the psalm and that song started coming out of my lips. It was at that moment only did everything come together. Not only was the problem straightened out, but they got delivered right to our door. I think that God wanted me to display my faith because he knew that the eyes of my heart would be open so I could see Him at work. One might say that He was waiting for me to say the magic words. Perhaps, I should say them more often when I find myself in these situations.

The Apple iTunes Conspiracy Theory

Last week, I made a rather horrible discovery: I found that my iTunes had its EQ turned on. Doesn't sound so bad, does it? Well, it gets worse... at least to me it does. The EQ settings were set to "Spoken Word". I'm sure you are asking how this is bad. For me, it is bad in two ways:

The first way is that I already use a graphic EQ in the studio. I have it set to match the characteristics of the room relative to the listening position. Great pains goes into these settings as I am often having to endure both white and pink noise generators for a couple of hours. Not only that, it drives the rest of my family crazy 'cuz all they hear is a constant noise ranging from a hiss to a jet engine noise. So, you can best believe after all of that setup, I am going to use it heavily to ensure that what I am hearing through those monitors is going to translate to other speakers. An added EQ in the chain will colour everything. It will change what I am listening to and it will ensure that what I am hearing is not correct. So, when I am playing my reference mixes, they are all tainted by iTunes' EQ. This will affect how I mix, because I want it sonically similar to the references. Because of the EQ setting that it was on, it boosted the mid-range excessively. The problem this creates is that I am now doing funny things with the mid-range in order to make it sound like the references in iTunes. The worst part is that I never listened to my mixes through iTunes on my computer. I just use it to sync to my iPod and listen to it there.

The second way compounds on the first. Because I am not hearing those references properly. I am making misguided mix decisions because I am believing what I am hearing. These mix decisions carry over to other speakers, such as my car, headphones, etc. All of a sudden, things start to really sound weird and I find myself doing unnecessary things to make it sound reasonable when it translates over. This has often resulted in mixes that I felt were either missing something, or had too much of it. All I can say is that the mix is way off.

How did I discover this? Stupidly enough, by playing a raw mix in iTunes. It didn't sound anywhere near what I had just done. In fact, it was worse... much worse. After shutting the iTunes EQ off (I already ensure Sound Check and Sound Enhancer are disabled) and re-listening to my references for a half hour, I discovered that I had a more solid mix. Everything was right where I wanted it to be. Not only that, it translates rather nicely now.

You're probably thinking, why all the huff? Why didn't you just turn it off sooner?

Well, I never turned on iTunes EQ in the first place. And I would never set it to Spoken Word. So, for me, it wouldn't have dawned on me to look there first. And, like I said, I don't listen to my mixes through iTunes... I can do a Quick Look and preview it there. Main reason I use iTunes is because it hooks me up to my iPod in a rather brainless way. However, I think that brainless has its pricetag.

I'm almost convinced that Apple turns on the EQ either with an iTunes update or a OS X update. Either one of the two. I'm almost thinking that Apple at times is arrogant enough to believe that it not only knows what we want in our settings, but that they believe they know better than we do. I will be watchdogging my settings on a regular basis. If I find that Apple has touched any of my settings without my permission from this point onward, you can bet that they will be on the receiving end of a 64-bit tongue lashing!

In Pursuit of Real Wealth

Funny that when people first found out my new job, the first thing they say to me is, "there must be more money in it", or something of that nature. Then they find it hard to believe that money wasn't the reason that I was going after this job. After all, they know that I was very happy where I was. The thing is, over the years I have discovered that money is not wealth to me. I learned this a number of years ago when I was pursuing money and at one time making quite a lot of it. Yet, the more I focused on money and the more I worked towards that focus, the less wealthy I had felt. To me, money was a good unit of measure, but it wasn't wealth to me. That's when I went on my self-discovery.

I discovered my real wealth is in knowledge. Not just in obtaining knowledge, but investing it as well. That's what I see in this new job. I see lots of potential for gathering new knowledge by investing current knowledge by sharing what I know and hopefully watching it grow with the people I work with. If I have the ability to turn juniors into seniors, that is what I call a real return on an investment. If I have something that I can give to the team to take them to the next level, then I am going to invest it. To me, that is real wealth.

My mother-in-law often told me, "never share your secrets of your job, or they'll take your job and leave you with nothing". Nothing could be further from the truth than this. I found the only way to grow is to share your knowledge. If anything, I have proven this time and time again. Anyone who has ever worked with me has discovered that I never keep any secrets. To me, that is not wealth building... it is greed.

Sure, my new position is a Flash development role. But, if anything, I see great possibilities in developing for the newest Blackberries, or even the PlayBook tablet. I see great potential for gaining that type of growth of knowledge. However, I don't see that happening, if I am not prepared to share my "wealth" of Flash knowledge with others. If I can grow others, then I know that I will grow. That's the way I have seen it work. Who knows, I could also wind up picking up new discoveries in Flash that I hadn't thought about before as well. There's definitely a lot in Flash that I have yet to discover.

I see a whole bank of knowledge waiting to be invested on me. I see tremendous possibilities and returns on these investments. I see new avenues in which these investments can carry me. I can get totally immersed in the possibilities that this has to offer. That is totally what draws me to this new job. This is why I am excited.

I'm still here... so treat me like it!

I have to admit that I am a bit peeved at some people's attitudes at the moment. Yes, it's a given that I am leaving my job. However, I have not left yet. I haven't even checked out in my mind. I don't plan to do that until it's time to officially check out. So, why are people talking to me with the belief that because I am leaving, I don't care what happens now, and after I am gone?

Nothing could be further from the truth. I am still making sure that my team is highly functional and that we can still hit the tight deadlines that have been driven by the executive business end. Not only that, I am trying to make sure that my successor is able to step in as easily as possible without believing that he has walked into a nightmare that may have been left behind. There is plenty to do and I feel that I have a responsibility to get it done. Just because I am excited about the new opportunities and possibilities, that in no way means that I can simply forget everything that I have tried to put in place here. I do not wash my hands of anything until it is officially time to leave the table. I make no apologies for being this way.

So, when you talk to me at work, don't talk to me like I am leaving. Talk to me like I am still here ensuring that everything that I need to get done, gets done. Talk to me believing that I still have the company's objectives in mind. If you feel the need to talk to me like I am gone, and do not possess the will or desire to change this, then please do me the favor and just treat me as if I am gone and don't approach me. This way, you will be making room for someone else who knows that I am still here and is willing to serve them in order to get things done and help them meet their objectives.


-- Posted from my iPhone... because I can

The God I Know...

It's no secret that I am starting a new job soon. What people may not realize is how it came about and what prompted my decision to take this job. After all, I had no dissatisfaction with my current job. So what made this different? The answer, at least to me, is rather simple: God was in the decision. In fact, He was in this whole situation every step of the way. Here is my testimony:

The fact that I had applied to this place back in 2003 and consistently tried for about 5 years only to give up, having met up time after time with repeated computerized form letters telling me thanks but I am not qualified for the position and so on and so on, showed that I was doing this under my own power and was amounting to nothing of my own account.

The difference all started when they reached out to me, in an email, asking "if I knew anyone that was interested in such a position". Of course I knew someone... me! I was like, "God, can this be true? A human being from this company is actually contact me?" So, I sent back the response along with my resume indicating my interest and stated to God, thanking Him that even if I got no further, I got further than I ever did in this company.

I then received a second email from this person asking me to answer a few questions before we proceeded. I was amazed because this never happened before. I answered the questions as honestly as I could. Funny enough, it got to the part where they asked why I want to leave my current job. I stated on it that I had no reason to leave. I even told them about my current boss. I had nothing but positive things to say. In fact, I was giving them more reasons why I didn't really need this new job. However, I was honest and kept it that way. Before I sent it off, I once again said a prayer giving my thanks to God that even if I got no further than this, I have gotten even further than I ever did in this company.

Then came a request for a phone interview.

Again, I ask God if this can be true. Is this from Him? Is it by God's will? Has God seen a certain discouragement in my heart that He would go, "It's time!"? So many questions that I can think of, and many more that I cannot even express. Of course, I said YES! to the phone interview and tried to set it up so that I would not be late going into work. Sure enough, we started at our scheduled time and we talked... and talked... and talked. It was great. It seemed the both of us had a lot to say about this and I thought we had a great interview. Already, they were starting to feel like a company that I wanted to be a part of. I lost track of time but I didn't care because I felt that if this was from God, I was going to give it all that I had. Sure enough, God must have met me half way because when I looked up from my car, situated in the parking lot of my current job, the entire building had been evacuated and everyone was outside. What happened was that the men's toilet upstairs suffered a broken pipe which shorted out a light circuit, probably causing sparks. No one hurt, but bought time as I wasn't considered late. As I hung up the phone, I once again thanked God heavily because this was the most I ever got with this company and even if it got no further, I was totally grateful.

Then came a request for a face-to-face interview.

You can bet I was asking God again those same questions. After all, I had to know. I had to know if this was from Him. Of course, I said YES! I did the face-to-face interview with their team lead and a couple of their senior developers and we were talking almost everything technical about Flash. I showed them how I managed to solve certain problems. Heck, I was even drawing things out on their whiteboard. I left feeling great about the interview. Before I drove off, I prayed in my car. I thanked God again because even if I got no further, I have NEVER made it further than this!

About an hour later, I get a phone call. They phoned wanting to schedule an interview. I told them sheepishly, "I... just... had an interview?" They were like, "I know... they want a second interview". How could I refuse. God must has have been at work here because they were kind enough to set up a very early morning interview, so I wouldn't be losing any real time from work. But, of course, I still had to know if it was from Him. Let's face it... 5 years of nothing, and this is happening faster than a could ever have imagined. I spoke with the manager this time. It didn't go as well as the tech, in my opinion. I stumbled. Despite my own disappointment in myself, I was still totally grateful once again. God brought me further than I ever was. I was not going to be disappointed in the least.

Then came the wait...

Joelle would ask me anxiously if I heard anything. At that time, I was certain that if this was to come from God, then He would deliver it in His time and in His way. I kept telling Joelle that either way, I will be grateful and if it doesn't happen, I am still very happy at my current job and am not going to look any further. This would happen a few times and Joelle agreed with me. I think she knew that I would only do this if God were in it. In the meantime, I would have exchanged a few e-mails with their HR expressing my thanks again for the opportunities to meet with them. I told them that it was a real pleasure regardless of the outcome. However, I knew not to ask about the status because I was just going to let it go and leave it in God's hands. I was sure that He knew what was going on and if it was not in His will at this time, I still made it further than I could have on my own power.

Four days before we were to go on vacation, I got a phone call. It was a job offer there. I was totally excited. I was standing outside talking on my phone freezing but I DIDN'T CARE! We talked for about 30 minutes and they could see my excitement. It wasn't just for the job and the tremendous possibilities that it carries. It was because it was from God. I was sure of it. How? Well, I had to take care of some formalities within those four days before I was to go on vacation. Once again, I tried on my own power and hit road blocks right up to the last day, despite not only my efforts, but HR's attempts to help.

However, I was certain that God would deliver! At this point I had no doubt that it was from God because I knew that if it was from God, He would ride in at the last minute with trumpets blaring. I even told Joelle this. I was so certain because this is the God that I know. He set everything up so that He could show me how He works. Sure, it's probably a small thing for Him, but it was huge to me. Sure enough, God did just that. I needed an official signature and God delivered one hours before we were to go away. I got everything off and once again, was to wait until after my vacation.

After wrapping up a few more details when I got back from my vacation. I got a phone call about a week later confirming my start date. After giving huge thanks to God once again as I hung up my phone, I also prayed that I do things right in preparing to say good-bye to my current place of work. Knowing that God was leading me every step of the way, I don't want Him to stop leading as the time comes to leave to go to my new job. In fact, I know He won't stop leading because He brought me this far...

... and I have NEVER been able to go this far on my own!

Faster, faster

I've been making a crucial mistake in my workouts... one that could have killed me. I deluded myself into believing that I would get a better workout by increasing the resistance on my bike. If anything, it was giving me the reverse effect. Even worse was that I was piling on more resistance and straining myself out.

This was starting to exhibit a reverse effect on my health. My energy level dropped considerably. I was always worn out. Even my voice was in terrible shape. Not to mention that I wondered why I was not losing weight.

It was definitely time to reconsider what I was doing. When I finally started to watch my calories, both in what I was eating and what exercising, I cut the resistance down drastically, and pedaled, probably for my life. If anything, I'm going for the calories. Now, I'm noticing the positive effects.

I've learned that pedaling faster is more important than pedaling harder. I'm seeing my energy level climbing and my weight dropping. Even my voice sounds a lot livelier.

My goal right now is to hit racing speed. The good news is that after last night, I seem to be 0.8mph away from achieving this. And once I reach this, I will try to take it even faster. I'd almost say that my life depends on everything that I have learned recently.

-- Posted from my iPhone... because I can

Letting Go

After over 35 years of playing guitar, I have made an incredible discovery: if I let go of my guitar while it is hanging on me with a strap, it doesn't move. Isn't that neat? Well, to me it is.

Here's why:

Ever since I have been playing guitar, I have always grabbed the neck so tight, it would make it impossible to not only play faster, but it would also be a pain to shift positions. Thus, I would rarely ever stray from one position when I am playing a lead run. Of course there were exceptions, but they were just that: exceptions. I would wind up with a sore thumb and wrist in many cases. As much as I love to play, I didn't make it very easy for myself to do so.

Discovering how to let go of the neck, through watching a video by David Kilminster, I found myself doing things that I previously found difficult, if not impossible, for me to play. I have found my fingers lighter and easier to manipulate. I even found moving up and down the neck to be much easier.

When I let go of the guitar, I can do hammer ons and pull-offs a lot quicker and without getting tired. My biggest surprise came when working out an Andy James lick for a song. It was a two handed lick and I found myself executing it rather fluidly.

Amazingly enough, I have never seen any one ever covered this important aspect of shredding. It's definitely important and should be passed on. There's probably more people out there in the same situation as I am, and holding on tightly does not mean more control.

-- Posted from my iPhone... because I can