Paul Merrill | Shiny Bits of Life

June 13, 2016June 12, 2016

Auto-Tune

Why not make things better than what real life offers?

That’s the idea Andy Hildebrand applied to sound when he was working for Exxon. His technology has been applied to alter the sound of a tune so that the pitch is always perfect. But like many good things, it can be overdone. A tune can be altered to sound like a robot is singing.

Many popular musicians love this technology. When applied minimally, it can improve a musician’s ability to hit a note properly. When applied to the maximum, it will produce that robot effect.

And I get to hear robots every day. The building I work in has a Muzak music subscription service, and they chose the Auto-Tune channel to play all the time – in the halls and in the bathrooms.

Thankfully, Auto-Tune does not intrude into my office. Never shall it pass those doors.

(And I’ve written about this before. It’s a subject that is near and dear to my heart.)

May 31, 2016May 29, 2016

Other people’s lives

hand-written grocery list My sister and I share grocery lists – other people’s. We find them on the pavement outside grocery stores, because people discard or lose them.

It’s interesting to get that tiny glimpse into others’ lives.

Highlights from this one are Plastic Limes and Kick Starts. The other side featured Lay’s Truffle Chips.

We enjoy the variety of handwriting and selections of household items. I have yet to find a computer-printed list.

May 24, 2016May 21, 2016

Appreciating the esoteric

I love spotting the shiny bits – the things that pass most people by – the details.

(And that’s why I love hanging out with, living with and working with those who see the big picture. Contrast is healthy for our souls.)

In Fort Collins a few weeks ago, I spotted the back of this Honda. You’ll note it says “Fit” on the left and “Jazz” on the right.

In America, the smallest Honda is the Fit. It’s called the Jazz in the rest of the world. The owner of this car appreciated that fact enough to find a badge from both places.

I love it!!

(And I love Fits. We have one.)

May 17, 2016May 14, 2016

Write

hand-written note on the back of an old postcard

Write with your hand.

This old postcard is one my dad left me, before he left.

Putting a pen (or pencil) to paper is an entirely different experience than typing on a keyboard. Feeling the pen tip (or graphite) move across paper produces a deeper feeling than hitting keys. Every character you produce is a small act of creation.

I have a bunch more of my dad’s postcards. I’d love to write to you on one. Just leave a comment on this post. I’ll send you an email to get your address, and then a postcard will magically appear in your mailbox, at the speed of snailmail.

Sending one back is completely optional.

May 10, 2016May 9, 2016

All too quick

I dismantled a swingset on Sunday.

Colorado’s intense high-altitude sun and temperature swings had taken their toll on the wood.

Our youngest kid is now 15. Playing on the swingset no longer holds the attraction it used to. So we decided to convert that part of the yard to garden.

It’s sad to contemplate that it seems like just a few years ago when I was mourning the loss of cuteness – when she was about 6 or 7 years old.

May 3, 2016May 8, 2016

Come on, invent that

window-gap

New windows for an old building… sometimes that doesn’t work.

Seeing this gap reminded me of reading a great phrase someone really smart once said: “no one puts new wine into old wineskins.”

And that made me think of the gaps that are all over Colorado’s roads. The extreme heat and cold we experience – and the water that seeps underneath our road beds – cause all manner of cracks and holes to appear – and gradually become larger and larger.

Road repair budgets are not what they used to be, so car repair bills related to tires and wheels are becoming commonplace.

Why can’t a smart engineer-type invent an inexpensive elastic road surface that will expand and contract with the changes in weather and precipitation? This surface would need to provide a uniform surface – as in, very smooth.

Know anyone up for the challenge?

April 26, 2016April 25, 2016

What once held value

Adobe Creative Suite, circa 2004 In 2004, I bought this Adobe suite of software. At the time, it was the full complement of software that the world’s best graphic designers would use to create their artwork.

(The current cloud-based version still fills that role.)

I paid something like $700 – and at the time, the regular full price was north of $1,000.

Today? That software is useless. It’s not worth a penny.

The computers it would run on have long since been retired.

And even though the core functionality of that suite of software hasn’t changed, no one would buy that old version.

At least we still hold value when we get older. Our core functionality isn’t that much different, though there are newer faster versions.

April 20, 2016April 20, 2016

You can’t say that

don't talk illustration American culture has become extremely polarized. If you are even slightly on one side of a fence, it’s very hard to say anything about your issue without getting shut down by voices from the opposing side.

This current political season has made the polarization much worse. Political candidates from both sides of the aisle are harsh and often unreasonable in their criticisms of their opponents. A climate of combativeness has sucked much of the American public into that same negative vortex.

Thankfully, I have become so tired of pre-election politics that I lost my desire to voice any political opinion. I hardly listen to any news, as so much air time is devoted to the same verses being iterated in some hardly-new direction.

I’ll be glad when November 9th hits, no matter who wins.

April 13, 2016

When good songs become bad

Hearing a song over and over can ruin a perfectly good song.

As I visited Kinko’s today, I heard a song that I’d be happy to never hear again for the rest of my life.

sir-paul-mccartney Paul McCartney is definitely one of the most talented musicians of the last 50 years. But every song he has written and sung has not been a masterpiece. (Very few musicians have that capability!)

Band on the Run is not my favorite song by Sir McCartney. Even when it became a world-wide hit on the radio, I didn’t enjoy it very much.

So when the Kinko’s playlist featured that song, I nearly ran out of the store screaming. (Well, not really.)

Can we have a world-wide moratorium on certain songs? Please?

April 5, 2016April 2, 2016

Seasons

car parts in a snowbank It’s that part of the year when I am totally ready for warmer weather.

Last week, we had a huge snowstorm. The white stuff accumulated so much that cars’ underbodies left bits and pieces all along the roadways as they unsuccessfully tried to be snowplows.

Days went by without sunshine. (And in Denver, we’re used to “about 300 days [with] at least one hour of sunshine sometime during the day.”) When you get used to seeing the sun, it’s hard to live without.

My brother lives in San Antonio. He trades not having snow for putting up with long summers of intense heat. As Americans get older, many move to warmer places. I understand that now.

But I do love the seasons. And the beauty of a new snowfall – before car parts start collecting in snowbanks.