rips…

…and other disturbances…

new and old circles…

I've probably been involved in web design for too long, as to me it seems as most in the business are repeating themselves and go round and round in the same circles as they did years ago. Probably nothing wrong with that, apart from that it is a bit boring to watch when one knows where they're going.

No, I do not have all the answers, but I do know that even if I had them, most people in the business would disregard most of them anyway and continue round and round in their circles until they lose interest and start looking for another circle to join. Nothing new there – as long as people like joining circles then they'll keep on spinning round in them and make noises.

Personally I'm focusing on exploring and refining web design basics, and am not all that interested in what circles are “in” or “out” at any one time. What I'm doing and how I'm doing it is nothing to make noises about, so it is pretty quiet in my tiny corner of the web. I like it quiet, so I intend to keep it that way.

meanwhile, back at the farm…

The weather is good. Sunny, warm and dry, as is how we like it this time of year so our fields can dry up and the grass grow lush and high for our grazing cows. Right now we're restricting grazing and supplementing the cow's diet with silage, as we want our grazing-fields to last well into the autumn.

The cows have only strayed into the neighbors fields once – as they tend to do every spring, and they immediately returned to their own fields when told. You know: cows are like humans in that they always think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, but once they've tasted it they're not so sure anymore.

The four calves that came into being a month ago, are doing fine. We'll have to sort out which to keep and which to sell shortly, as we're expecting a few more calves next month and need the space.

Milk production is high right now, in fact so high that our milk tank gets overfilled each weekend when it has to hold three days production. Not much of a problem this month, but we'll probably have to adjust milking-times when 3 more cows go into full production in a months time.

The farm-assistant (the author) still has problems using his right arm, as although it has improved somewhat over the last few weeks it is still pretty painful at times. Doesn't prevent him from doing his part of the every-day farm work – it just takes a little longer. Other projects are more or less put on hold for now though.

Apparently the author can still handle a keyboard, and he has always used his left hand on the mouse so that's not a problem either. So, no big deal when it comes to web-related work unless his arm gets worse.

side note…

The other day I felt like taking some time off from farming, arm-pain, web design and what-not, and simply relax with some nostalgic music. A quick search lead me to a clip with my old mentor: Lloyd Green. Yes, I've actually met the guy and learned a lot from him about music in general and about playing the instrument we both cherish in particular.

Most musicians can create good music by sampling the sounds they want and put them together. That's how most recordings that end up on CDs are made, but outside the worlds of jass and classic music not all that many can get so much out of a single instrument live in front of their peers without the sampling-support.

I've seen, heard, learned from and recorded Lloyd Green on a small convention in Norway – back in 1991, where he spent 3 days inspiring a small group of Norwegian steel guitarists – myself included. He “just” sat there a few feet away – in front of 30 steel guitarists, playing impossible licks and creating perfect harmonies in ways that any sane pedal steel guitar player would say were impossible without extensive use of overdupping. Only Lloyd did it live, right there, with three picks and a bar and a unique sense of harmonics.

Whether you like this type of music or not, if you understand anything about the art of creating music, you should be able to appreciate a great musician.
Here he comes: Lloyd Green - live at the Convention.

I've listened to many great musicians live and/or on video/CDs, and I like many of the old and new styles on a whole range of instruments. I rarely ever hear one in Lloyd Green's league as a musician though, so when I at times contemplate going back to practicing music again, it's the old steel guitar standing next door I want to give a brush-up and a set of new strings. Maybe I will, one day.

sincerely 

Hageland 14.may.2008
last rev: 14.may.2008