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ok, so i’ve decided to start a new category on my blog: How-To. in a nutshell, it’s stuff i know how to do, and knowledge i want to share. i came up with the thought this afternoon while i was watching the Angels on TV and polishing my cymbals.

i have a pretty sweet set of Zildjian cymbals:

• 14″ New Beat Hi-Hats
• 20″ K Ride
• 17″ K Custom Fast Crash
• 18″ K Custom Dark Crash

as you can see that totals 5 cymbals to polish (don’t forget there’s a bottom and top cymbal for the hi-hats). that’s quite a bit of work, but well worth it i think.

for polishing i use 3 polishing cloths that i bought at a car parts store. $3 for a 3 pack, which turns out to be perfect. for the actual cleaner i use Groove Juice which i think works very well. i also have an extra towel or rag for drying. i usually do this over carpet so when i lay down the cymbal i’m not scratching it up.

here’s my method:

1. i prepare my cloths. one cloth i use for rubbing in the cymbal cleaner (referred to as polishing cloth). another i use to wipe down the cymbal after applying cleaner (the wipedown cloth), and also to hold the cymbal so i don’t get any unwanted fingerprints. the last cloth (the drying cloth) i use in conjunction with the towel for drying the cymbal
2. start with the top of the cymbal. take some groove juice and spray it on the polishing cloth. rub it on a small area of the cymbal, making sure to do a small section at a time. i like to do a small area that extends from the rim of the cymbal all the way to the bell, and work my way around. i also use a circular motion. make sure to use the wipedown cloth, and rotate the cymbal as you go. when you go over the logos, rub lightly, so as to slow down the wear on the logo.
3. lay the cymbal on the carpet and wipe the top down with the wipedown cloth.
4. turn the cymbal over and repeat step 1-2 with the bottom of the cymbal. take good care not to fingerprint the top that you just cleaned
5. after wiping down the bottom of the cymbal, take it to the bathroom. i hold the cymbal using the wipedown cloth to prevent fingerprints. turn on the shower and give it a quick rinse on both sides. once the cymbal is wet i don’t care too much about fingerprints, as the water will help prevent fingerprinting.
6. take your towel or extra rag and wipe the cymbal dry. this is very important, as you don’t want any water to rust your cymbals.
7. now that the cymbal is dry, use the wipedown cloth to hold the cymbal. take your drying cloth and wipe the cymbal down again. i try to dry the cymbal off with 2 different cloths in orderto make sure that i’ve gotten it very very dry. like i said, you want to make sure your cymbals are dry dry dry as to prevent any bad things happening to them
8. check to make sure your cymbal is clean to your content. if it’s not, clean it again! i’m not overly picky about my cymbals being too clean, as i’ll likely muck them up again soon
9. return them to the cymbal stand. give them a quick crash to make sure they’ve brightened up a bit.
10. repeat the above for the remaining cymbals

cymbal care is important to the life of your cymbals. this takes me about 45 mins to 1 hour, but it’s well worth it in my opinion. if there are any drummers out there reading this and have other tips, be sure to put them in the comments.

happy drumming!

-m

i’m a fan of open source. while it may be as lucrative in creating software in terms of money, i always find myself seeing how much better open source ends up being. while it’s still quite rough around the edges, as the movement is still quite young in my opinion, i believe that open source is getting closer and closer to the types of software we are used to seeing from closed source companies, such as Microsoft.

i use a lot of open source software myself. firefox is my current browser of choice. at work, i like to write code in eclipse. i’ve been an avid fan of the linux operating system, as well as apache as a web server, and LAMP (and its variants) in general. and for instant messaging, i like to use gaim when using multiple screen names/messaging systems. heck, even to keep myself healthy at the computer, i use workrave to make sure i’m not staring at my screen during crazy coding sessions.

now, i’ve been taking guitar lessons for a while now, about half a year i would say… i’ve been learning a lot, and for some reason tonite while i was having myself a crazy practice session, i came up with this thought:

open source is a lot like music

it seems a bit strange at first, but to me it makes sense… despite what the RIAA says, music is very open and free when you look at the core makeup of a song… music and software are all built upon basic building blocks – music has its notes and chords, software its statements and functions (and i suppose objects if you wanted to include that as well). each musician takes those notes and puts them together to his liking… the same is with the developer. every song has elements that can be found in other songs. the same with software.

lately i’ve been learning to play guitar solos… my teacher, donovan, told me that in order to learn how to solo on your own, you listen to other great guitarist’s solo’s, take the style and parts that you like, and make them your own to create your style. i believe this is what is happening in open source now. take the above linked gaim for instance… the people behind that program took what they like about other software, the messaging protocols, and put it together to create their own program. they stripped what they didn’t like, and kept the stuff they thougth was good. the result is a messenger program, that, while not completely unique or new to the computer world, but has its own place in the world of computing much the same way a song has its own place in the world of music. the same can be said about lots of other software, like open office, eclipse, and firefox.

i found this small epiphany very enlightening and exciting for some reason… it’s strange how you start to see how things interconnect sometimes.

i also decided that there doesn’t seem to be too much open source musical software out there… i think what i’d like to do is create an open source music application… there are 2 programs that i’d like to create and maybe possibly merge or integrate together at some point… the first is a program that would aid in learning and memorizing different musical ideas, such as notes in a chord or scale, building and recognizing complex chords, and other such musical things… the next would be to create my own sort of guitar teaching program… i would basically take the lessons i got from mike granat (my first guitar teacher) and donovan, and try to put them in some logical order that would help someone learn the guitar… or, i would build it for donovan to give to any of his other students as compliments to one on one lessons.

i think this would be an awesome way to get my code into the open source community… the only thing that i’m unsure about is building the graphical parts, as it’s been a long time since i’ve done it, and i don’t know how to make it portable to the different platforms… i’m sure if i build it on the GTK framework, it should work on windows and linux, but i’m not sure about mac… we’ll see tho’, i’ll have to do some research and write some documents for each, and my time is stretched thin right now…

if there is anyone out there would like to join me on this, please feel free to hit me up on the comment section and i’ll write you a proper email… while i’m sure there are probably few developers reading this blog, who knows who might show up and find this interesting…

anyways, i think that would be pretty cool to do some programs like that… i could use the practice and would love to learn some new coding tricks.

so yeah, that’s that… go try some open source software, you’ll be surprised at what you’ll find!

-m

for some reason this past july was… busy. i know i’m usually busy, but not this busy. or was i??

july is a favorite… it’s in the middle of the summer, my favorite season. it has my favorite holiday, the 4th. my (and my birthday twins’) birthday.

a lot of stuff happened this july. russ, my boss, quit as VP of tech at my company… we began venturing into coding things some of us have never coded before… went to ensenada for my birthday… got into some pretty serious fights with iris… went to a dodgers game and almost had a dodger dog (almost!)… spent time with my sister… started my carpool…

now it’s august. where did it all go??

i had dinner with fry tonite, and i had to say it was great… sometimes i struggle to define our friendship, and not in the sense of us struggling to be friends or stay friends or something like that… a few years ago iris once told me that fry and i are very much alike… and i thought about it and saw that it was pretty true. i mean, if you looked at our room situations when we lived together, i think any other way would’ve been a bit chaotic… between my roomies and i, i think fry and i are the introverts, and bean and gold are the extroverts… but i digress… what i’m trying to say is that we have some connection that, while not as outspoken as with our other friends, remains a deep connection.

who knew what kind of other things july would usher in… i’ve always seen that as another starting point in the year, not just because it starts the second half of the year (scary!), but it starts a whole new year in my life really. think about that on your next birthday.

in any case, i’m not sure what the next part of the year will bring… i’m hoping for new ideas, new ventures, new friends, new places to see, and new foods to eat. i’m also hoping to continue to hold close those things that are most important to me.

also, let’s hope i can keep this thing a bit more updated than i have been… heck, i even used a new template to spiff it up a bit.

here’s to the rest of 2006.

-m