I always love beta testing items, primarily because I find bugs. A lot. Repeatable.

When I worked in live entertainment (read: theatre and concerts), ever show I did I would rent one ‘unknown’ piece of gear that I had never used. A new type of automated light most of the time, but sometimes a console. I remember a new year’s eve event, which was pretty much the event from hell. My gear list was all messed up because the project manager ordering the gear thought that another person had designed the stage and used his equipment preferences. I ended up with two types of lights I had never used, along with a brand-spankin’ new console (controller) that had been on the market for all of 2 months. Not only did I need to learn the capabilities of the new lights, I had to figure out how to program a new lighting console.

This is not an easy task for a one-off event.

I ended up with blue-screen-of-death (yes, the same one Windows used to display) on the console the second night into programming. Wiped out about an hours worth of work. Restarted. Tried the last keystroke combination again. Blue screen. Third time? Same results. Panic!

Hello, bug. I guess I’m not doing that idea.

That day a sewer pipe also broke and ran under the stage area. All the cables and dimmer racks were covered. It stank. The hosers came out to wash the area down with clean water. We hoped for nothing to short out since water and electricity make very volatile friends.

The event turned out okay. I reported the bug to the console manufacturer.

I find it exciting to test out new things. Mostly because I can intentionally try to break software or sites or gear — and give ideas on how to improve it. Which is why I’m happy to be part of the T-Mobilizer program through T-Mobile. I occasionally get to test out new phones, and give feedback on them and the service received. The best part? T-Mobile wants the positive and negative. Rock. ON.

Besides, who doesn’t like having their voice hear to make something better?!?

Disclosure of Material Connection: A smartphone will be loaned to me from T-Mobile for two months for review purposes, and for free. I am an existing T-Mobile customer, and will continue to pay my monthly service fees during the review period. The opinions I express are my own and — since I’m only human — can be flawed and in no way reflect the views of T-Mobile, the phone manufacturer, or other affiliated companies. I am not required to write a positive review. For more information or a full list of phones and services provided by T-Mobile, please visit their site, visit your local store, or call their customer service line. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Photo: oops_5642 by This Amuses Me (Flickr name) and used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) license.

Toad The Wet Sprocket (L-R Dean, John, Todd, Me, Glen -- missing Randy)

This was probably one of the best concerts I’ve seen out here because there were so many cool people in the audience.  Willing to talk to you. Willing to not take over your front row spot if you had to use the restroom.  They didn’t spill beer on you even when it was flowing freely. Willing to take a picture for you.  And amazingly no tree like guys stood in front of me.  Yay!

Glen, I’ve missed you, too!

Changeover happens. It takes fifteen minutes to swap around the stage, and then we wait for another 15 minutes. It seemed like forever until Rodrigo y Gabriella took the stage. When they did, cheers of excitement from everywhere. From that point on, fingers and arms flew all over the guitars. For those of you who never heard RyG’s music… well… it’s a bit hard to explain. I’d say its flamenco meets metal with a bit of classic guitar thrown in for good measure. Rod’s fingers barely seem to touch the fretboard, while Gab pounded her strings with a hard, percussive sound. In many ways, she used the guitar like a bodhran, capable of producing sounds that I have never heard from a guitar. The music played fast and furious, stopping once to say hello and thanks to the audience. The two musicians seemed to intuitively know where to go next, often challenging each other with a bit of call-and-response fun. Each had five minutes of solo time, and Rod covered Led Zepplin’s Stairway to Heaven and then joined by Gab. The entire time they kept the audience involved by using hand claps of different rhythms, singing — rather mimicking the notes he played, and shouts. Gab seemed to often go into a trance-like state, resting her head on the base of the neck and bobbing to the beat. Technically, the sound was fabulous and only had a few very minor instances of feedback. The tiny cameras on the headstock were used for the projections and complimented the lighting perfectly. This show definitely takes the award for best sustained energy. Even though their set only lasted an hour and a half, it felt like a lot more time had passed due to the sheer speed of their fingers and hands.

For everything that happens on stage, there are always things happening in the audience. And this most certainly is one of my pet peeves. A man is standing behind me, and, as the show progresses, he drinks more and becomes louder and more belligerent. “They’re the best EVER!” “Don’t you think they’re good?” “Why aren’t you shouting? Don’t you like them?” He starts swinging his arms and hits my head. “You’re a poser.” C’mon, dude. Although my favorite line out of him for the evening: ” You know that Gab is an alcoholic, right? But she’s the best kind ’cause she goes where her heart tells her to.” Uh… yeah. I think that you’re speaking a truth about yourself, Mr. Drunk. Next time hold your liquor better or bring a friend along to shut you up and drag your ass out of the venue. A floating wall of tall former-frat boys stopped in front of me at one point, more concerned about their beer and jabbing each other than watching the show. I’m glad to say they moved on after 10 minutes. There was the guy who danced with his beer like he was dancing with a girl, and then the obligatory tongue-bath couple. Although, what amazed me the most was the fact that Rodrigo y Gabriella’s last song caused at least four beers to be dropped in the audience almost simultaneously, creating a lake of beer in the house right section. It’s cool to see music still affects people that way.

That being said, prepare yourself for the gushing. It’s past due.

I discovered TTWS when I was 13, maybe 14. So that means I’ve been listening to their music for some 15 odd years. Someone bought Fear for me as a Christmas present. This is before they hit the Billboard charts. I played it over and over, and eventually wore out the cassette tape. That album held something that spoke to my teen angst and all the insecurities I hid. Add to that Bread & Circus and Pale, and I became a fan. Toad’s songs helped me through a rough few months of family deaths, love and heartbreak, and being a geek girl that didn’t quite fit in anywhere. I was not a happy camper in any form, and the songs’ melancholy matched my life. The music let me know that I wasn’t the only one that felt that way. Fast forward to college when they released Dulcinea. I made trips to two local colleges to see them perform. I even tried to arrange an audio interview for the college radio station (it’s probably good I didn’t because I wouldn’t have known what to say!). Coil is released, and then TTWS say their goodbyes and go separate ways. My mental state improved. I matured. Finished school – twice – and started a Master’s degree as well. Things are good. I continue to follow Glen’s solo career and Lapdog, Todd and Randy’s Dean’s band. I even get to see Glen in concert a few times!

Imagine my surprise when at tonight’s show they play their entire set, and three songs for the encore. The last song is I Will Not Take These Things For Granted. With the first three notes, my eyes well up with tears. All those old feelings rush back into my memory, and I’m reminded once again of the power of music in my life. The power to be the helping hand. The power to empower. The power to depress. The power to see beyond the present and look towards the future.

So, a deep felt Thank You goes Dean Dinning, Randy Guss, Glen Phillips, and Todd Nichols for creating your music. I wish I could explain in words what your music did and continues to do for my life. Thank you.

And no, I’m not a crazy stalker fan. Just someone who wants you to know that you’ve done good.

Eventually the money issues trickle down into the state university system, and the private colleges get scared as well. Yep. What a time to be looking for a library job in Florida. I know that Lake County has asked all of their services to be frugal with their money as to not lose positions. It also is made a bit worse by some new county commissioners who possess semi-extremist views of what a library should do regardless of the first amendment. They don’t open the pocketbook as much as previous commissioners as well. On the other hand, the new building is within 6 months of completion. There’s no exact opening date yet, but I’m guessing early 2008. Ahhh, just in time for peak snowbird traffic! I think it’s time to start looking into the corporate/law/medical sector for some work.

I’ve seen first-hand with my father what you’re going through. His happened around this time every year because he’d eat the jelly hearts for Valentine’s day. My mom would make him sleep on the couch (or he did that so she could sleep) since they lasted for at least two weeks. We found out that it’s probably an allergic reation of some type to red food dye when he ate BBQ sauce that caused the same thing. His advice:

Last time I had them I gagged myself. They went away for a short time at first, but the duration got longer and longer until they stopped.

(I’m fairly sure this was said tongue-in-cheek…)