ain't technology cool?

Man, I am having the greatest day -- technologically speaking, that is. I've just been digging into so much cool stuff I can hardly stand it -- I'm like an Amish person in a horse-and-buggy store!

First cool thing numero uno: I just set up my first piece of outboard gear in my studio -- an Akai S-5000. I know, I know, it sounds so 2003 to be raving about hardware when everything is software now... and up until today, I could brag that my entire studio was soft, virtual, and entirely digital, including the mix environment. So what am I so excited about, for crying out loud? It's all being controlled by my Mac by a program called AkSys. I can even load and save the Multi setups inside the hardware to and from my Mac too, all via one wee USB cable. I basically never need to touch this piece of gear again, ever. TOO FRIKKIN' COOL.

Cool thing number B: On a break, I started exploring the widgets on the Mac dashboard. For the unenlighted, the dashboard is this cool popup feature that instantaneously springs up dozens of mini-programs for you to gawk at, then when your boss comes around the corner, one click of a button and they all go away in a flash. So while this is of no interest to PC owners, it should add to your Apple-envy. You can download widgets if you CLICK HERE.

Some of them are extremely useful, like a UPS package tracker, or the internal heat of your CPU, or maps, or hotspot wifi locators, or even updated gas and stock prices. I do have the stock prices on my dashboard, so at a moment's notice, I can tell how my old employer is doing (DOWN -3.15 ha ha!), and how my new employer is doing (UP +.46 hee hee!).

I also can see the weather update, since I don't have any windows in the studio. It's sunny now. It was raining earlier. See, I wouldn't have known that before!

I also have regularly updating CNN headlines ("Oil surges to $66 a barrel"), movie listings (VERY cool), a thing that tells me what happened this day in history ("Gifford Pinchot was born..." evidently, it's been a slow day for history...).

I have my daily horoscope, which is always entertaining; and I have my bio-rhythm chart, which is always alarming. Apparently today I have totally bottomed-out physically, emotionally, and passionately... who knew?!? I DO! I HAVE WIDGETS!!!

I've got a graphic representation of the current phase of the moon we're in, as well as an ongoing game of 5-card draw (I'm down 50 bucks).

I also had a widget that spelled out guitar chords, but the voicing were stupid, so I took that off.

Gotta go get more widgets!!