Man... This past month has been a friggin' whirlwind.  I refuse to believe November is nearly gone. Anyway...  Jesse and I are almost done with our debut Christmas album, "Herod the Fink", and while recording the last drum session, I thought it might be cool to see what I look like when I play.  Well, as fate would have i...

Yeah, I'm tired, but man - life is good.  I spent way too much time on our Herod The Fink project last night (and into the wee-hours of this morning), but it was so worth it.  We are really cranking to release a truly unique Christmas album.  My only regret is that we didn't start this sooner, so we could get more content.  But ...

Visit my homepage!  http://www.advancedonlinedrums.com...

I just got done playing some sweet jazz for a client, and with the usual rock 'n' roll requests coming in, this was a great change of pace. I'm always intrigued at the different nuances that exist between styles of music as it pertains to rhythm and percussion.  Rock and roll pounds out some great 4/4 along the occasional 3/4 timing, with so...

A few months ago, I thought I'd get a bit more serious about setting up a semi-professional studio in my home.  It's worked out great, so far! As I've worked with clients, they've been more than happy with the results, and I'm learning new techniques and tricks of the trade at the same time.  So far, so good. So, along this trail, I b...

Through the 20 plus years I've been playing drums, I've had all sorts of drumkits, and I've used all sorts of heads.  Well, it came time to replace my snare head recently, and I was offered a new type of head by Remo. The Remo Ambassador Black Suede is a single-ply head which is meant to offer a softer sound without muffling the inherent res...

From the first memories I have, my life has been lived through rhythm.  There has always been an inherent "groove" of my life.  From walking down the sidewalk after school when I was in Jr. High, pacing the rhythm of the lines in the cement, and timing my steps accordingly, keeping the "1,2,3,4" clock in my head going ...

Wow... It's been a long, long time since I updated anything about my life on here.  Mostly because stuff got really busy, and really interesting about April of this year.  I've documented all the crud that we've gone through, so no need to rehash that. What I would like to say is that music is more a part of my life now than it ever has...

My sister died a week short of her birthday. It was really hard but we got through it.   Today, my nephew drove me right up the wall. I couldn't believe how much energy he had and how much trouble he could get into. Ben did most of the taking care of as I was busy with helping Holly with her resume   I get to move out for the first ti...

You know you've got a great project when its name is "Herod Fink", and it's Christmas-themed with an alternative flavor.  Yeah...  I'm really enjoying life right now. Anyway, so far, this project has been a whirlwind, but one we definitely cannot get enough of.  we couldn't stand it anymore, so we posted a little diddy f...

Merry Christmas Dear Latter-Day Saints   Merry Christmas I greet you wherever you may be as members of a church family Tonight we pay homage to our Lord. Born in a stable. Loved and adored.   He who'd been the creator of this earth. Condescended to a humble birth. And, thus we have the gift of Christmas. This the greatest of ...

mesa u said in ur last blog that u didnt feel like writing that best b a fase i wont let u quit cause u could become a really famouse poet so if u quit then i quit this site and wont tlak to u deal or no deal like the show christine p.s.i aint joking ill quit talking to u..........eventually.........hopefully..........maybe..........not.........

Gadgets, shiny and most often expensive little doodads that kick people in the face with their awesomeness and cause strife between angsty teenagers and their "just squeaking by" parents. For some people the latest release of a gadget means improved response, better software, and more functionality. For others it's simply a way to say &qu...

We've been trying to get into the habit of having Famiily Home Evening together as a family, and tonight Sarah planned a splendid lesson that would have been enjoyed much more if I wouldn't have been ill, and dead-tired. But... such is the life of a husband/father/bread winner. :) Anyway... After the lesson, she wanted all of us to write down ...

Man...  When, at the beginning of this year, I wrote that 2009 was gonna be a doozie, I didn't know the half of it. After having been employed for only a month, two days ago, Monday, at 5:00pm, my superior came in to my office and told me, with a red face, that they had to let me go.  The red face was undoubtedly due to the fact that nob...

  this ones personal. I left the church after realizing that I am gay, and I don't want to change that. Lastnight. I do not believe in the Church's stance on homosexuality. Which is that you can overcome those temptations, that it is an awful sin, and as long as you don't act on it, youre okay. I really don't believe that God would make 10% of...

Concerning world events, I'll be the first to say that I'm a pretty naive guy.  I keep up on stuff that's important to me, but not too much more.  I realize that this is somewhat of a flaw, so I am trying to involve myself much more with the world. That said, on the morning of Sept 10, 2001 - if you asked me what the "world trade ...

 So, this chapter seems to be about the rise and fall of the people, and the rulers who ruled both in righteousness and wickedness. It seems to mow through a genration with each verse that goes by - very quickly.  I guess this chapter would be a good one to illustrate the Lord's prophets making promises, and then keeping them through la...

My wife left this morning for Girls' Camp (she's a leader), and so my mom came down to help with the chil'lins.  It's been good to spend some time with her. We watched The Eagle's Concert "Hell Frozen Over", and she not only watched the whole thing, but she *really* enjoyed it.  It was great. We then talked about this site I...

It's been awhile since I continued on in my quest to read and write about each and every chapter in the Book of Mormon, but, I'm still at it!  I'm gonna finish!  Here's Alma 18: The first thing I notice this time around is something I don't think I've ever noticed before. In order to feel badly about doing something, you have to at le...

I've been finding it hard to write / blog lately, simply because I have no desire to write.  I've been thinking about this for a bit, so I decided to write about ... writing. In order to write  / blog, I have to have something to write about - obviously.  What isn't so obvious is, I always have something to write about. I came to...

The studio walls are up!  ... and they are ... HUGE!  Honestly the level of excitement I have for this studio build is right up there with the excitement of my marriage and the births of my children.  I can't believe this is actually happening! Anyway.... I'll be posting more random updates on Facebook (which will link to publi...

I just got done reading, listening to, and watching the general conference talk "Ask In Faith", by Elder David A. Bednar. I must say, having missed the original broadcasting of this conference, I heard all the hype about this talk in the ensuing weeks and months.  It seemed that this talk was all the rage about learning how to &quo...

Whenever I do credit card checking, I always end up searching for longer than it would take me to create it myself, so...  without further ado, here's the Luhn, or "Mod 10" algorithm for validating credit card numbers. function mod_10($cc) {     $reversed_string = strrev($cc);     $string_array = str_sp...

Since I purchased my 2007 Mustang GT in January of 2007, I've been putting 85 Octane gas in it. I didn't notice any pings, nor anything else to make me think I was putting the wrong gas in it. Well, my dad was in it two days ago and asked me what gas I was using. When I told him, he couldn't believe I would do such a thing. Well.... In my defe...

Well, people....  Most of yesterday (until this morning around 12:30am) I spent trying to figure out what to do about my email situation. Here's my situation:  I get so much friggin' spam, I can't stand it.  This shouldn't be news to anyone.  The person who receives no spam is a person who doesn't have an inbox. So, I decided ...

The first thing that stood out to me this time around was the anger of Lamoni's father.  Try to place yourself in the situation Lamoni found himself in.  There are so many variables in the situation, it's hard to imagine exactly what was going on with the family undercurrents, but holy cow.  Lamoni's father drew his freaking sword an...

As I read this chapter, I found the question in my head, "why was Nephi prompted to put Isaiah in here?" One thing I'm noticing in this chapter and the last, is the writing style of Isaiah is quite starkly contrasted against the writing of Nephi.  It's wildly poetic. I enjoyed this chapter as much as I did the last.  I didn'...

Oh, man...  I just got back from a wonderful geek lunch with the guys 'n' gals from UPHPU (Utah PHP Users Group), and it was a blast.  ... heh... makes me smile just thinkin' about it.  Okay... I didn't just get back.  I had to make sure I could get done today what I promised my boss, and then I would write about it. Well... ...

 So...  I thought I'd be going to bed, but here I am. When the Spirit directed me to come down and write down my testimony, I wasn't (and still am not) quite sure what to write.  This certainly isn't due to a lack of testimony comparative to other times I've done this, but rather quite the exact opposite.  It is because my tes...