My Thoughts by R.E. Fort

News update

nospam@example.com (R.E. Fort) — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 23:08:15 -0700

Hello Friends Well the Fort family here in Phoenix hopes everyone had a safe and fun 4th of July. Alongwidth cooking out and some swimming. I got a little creative and uploaded a few new full length songs and then decided it was again time for the website to get a face lift. Check out the site and either post your comments on Facebook or use the new Contact me tab and send me your thoughts.

Enjoy

Without Music,,,,, Life Has No soul
R.E. Fort
www.astramusic.net
www.facebook.com/R.E.Fort
www.myspace.com/refort
www.myspace.com/astramusicnet

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Hello Friends

Well the Fort family here in Phoenix hopes everyone had a safe and fun 4th of July. Alongwidth cooking out and some swimming. I got a little creative and uploaded a few new full length songs and then decided it was again time for the website to get a face lift. Check out the site and either post your comments on Facebook or use the new Contact me tab and send me your thoughts.
Enjoy

Happy Fathers Day

nospam@example.com (R.E. Fort) — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 17:04:22 -0700

Today I spent a lot of time thinking of my dad. My dad passed away a number of years back but I still think of him as I always will. Dad was much older than my mom when they got married. I mean a lot older, 19 years older to be exact. I wonder while I am sitting here, me at about the same age my dad was when I was born his oldest. How would I match up the job he did? Starting a family so late in life and having not one child but three WOW. I often joke you would find me in running down the street screaming “SHOT ME” if my wife came home now at this age and said guess what honey? Can you imagine being in your late 40’s and just starting to your family. WOW I have to take my hat off to you Dad I wonder how you did it every day.

So today we eat and laughed and I opened presents an cards and spent time with my kids. They are all pretty much grown up now and they are a wonderful bunch. They make me smile all the time from my oldest at 28 and his wife, to my youngest at 19 (sorry no names they hate when I talk about them) They do make my day.

So today on Fathers day I say thank you dad for being the man that you were. For being strong and caring and for showing me how to be a better father.

Happy Fathers Day

Creating Training Videos

nospam@example.com (R.E. Fort) — Sun, 30 May 2010 13:03:58 -0700

Well it’s been sometime since I updated my blog so today I thought I would write about what I am doing at work. I am a software trainer and recently my company has me creating training videos. At first I thought this would be pretty easy, I mean come on we have all gone on you tube and searched for a how to video to learn something. Then I tried it. WOW what a difference it is. In my case the videos are on litigation support or also called e-discovery software. The videos are short when I can make them that way 3 minute clips on how to do a certain task and targeted to Lawyers, Attorneys and Para Legal’s, not your must forgiving audience.

In my head the first step is to understand the software you are using to record with. In my case its Camtasia Studio, very cool software allows for multiple takes, voice over or narration, Zooms, fades, transitions, quizzes on topics and a host of other very cool options. The next and in retrospect the most important is to understand what you are training on.

The tricky part is keep the video from being too jerky no one wants to watch what looks like a rollercoaster screen running by them while trying to follow the mouse. So be smooth and fluid with your movements. Next is getting the voice just right. You would think if you know the product and know your material well, it would be a cakewalk but it’s not the simple. I found that for me it is much easier to record the screen leaving nice 3 to 10 second pauses while I move the mouse from one task to the next. In places that will take more time to explain options or features I will simply let the mouse sit while I say the options out loud slowly. This way when I come back and do my narration or voice over tracks they are clean and easy.

The next part is the voice over work and this can take some time. Hardware for the voice recording is VERY Important along with the type of room you are recording in. In my first recordings I used my studio gear and was doing most of the work at home in my studio. While that provided GREAT audio it was time consuming and taking away from writing music. I found a great USB microphone after doing a lot of research. Inexpensive with a great recording quality it’s called SnowBall and it looks like one too. It’s a condenser pressure gradient microphone that I must say even sounds great when I tried it on my acoustic guitar.

With the correct tools for the project it’s time to work on to old saying “it’s not what you say but how you say it”. It’s important to have some fun with it and provide what I am calling animation to your voice. Nothing is worst then listening to a monotone person try to tell you something while there voice puts you to sleep. So keeping it light and almost conversational is the key I have found.

Well that’s all for today as always

Without Music… Life has no Soul

Phoenix AZ Weather Report

nospam@example.com (R.E. Fort) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 21:14:54 -0700

With all the news lately about the rain, subzero weather and snow that the Midwest and East Coast areas are experiencing, we shouldn't forget that Phoenix also has it's share of devastating weather in the last couple weeks.

Below is a photo showing damage to a home from a recent storm that passed through the Phoenix area. It really makes you cherish what you have, and reminds us not to take life for granted.

New Entry

nospam@example.com (R.E. Fort) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:26:46 -0700

I received this from a friend not long ago I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

No matter what our kids and the 'new' generation think about us,

WE ARE AWESOME !

OUR LIFE IS LIVING PROOF !!

To Those of Us Born 1925 - 1970 :

At the end of this email is the quote of the month by Jay Leno. If you don't read anything else, please read what he said. Very well stated, Mr. Leno. ~~~~~~~~~

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE 1930s, '40s, '50s, '60s and '70s!!

First, we survived being born to mothers who may have smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then, after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets, and, when we rode our bikes, we had baseball caps, not helmets, on our heads.

As infants and children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes. Riding in the back of a pick- up truck on a warm day was always a special treat. We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one died from this. We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter, and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar. And we weren't overweight.

WHY?

Because we were always outside playing . . . that's why! We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. --And, we were OKAY.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride them down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Play Stations, Nintendos and X-boxes.

There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVDs, no surround-sound or CDs, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet and no chat rooms.

WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them! We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits from those accidents.

We would get spankings with wooden spoons, switches, ping-pong paddles, or just a bare hand, and no one would call child services to report abuse.

We ate worms, and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever. We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls, and - although we were told it would happen - we did not put out very many eyes. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them.

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers, and inventors - ever. The past 50 to 85 years have seen an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all..

If YOU are one of those born between 1925-1970, CONGRATULATIONS! You might want to share this with others who have had to grow up as kids before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives 'for our own good.' While you are at it, forward it to your kids, so they will know how brave and fortunate their parents were. Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it ?

~~~~~~~ The quote of the month by Jay Leno: "With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?" -- ______________________________________________________________________

Without Music,,,,, Life Has No soul

www.myspace.com/refort www.myspace.com/astramusicnet and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/RE-Fort/115880789247?ref=mf

Mastering your mix

nospam@example.com (R.E. Fort) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 17:24:57 -0700

Mastering your mix

How do you mater your recordings?

To be honest I didn’t have a good answer myself. So I decided to do a little research, Google to the rescue. On my Google search this site came up with a pretty good description of the term and processes http://homemusicrecording.com/music/master-your-recording/. The site lists these as mastering aspects to a song, Track volume optimization, Equalization levels, Tonal balance adjustment for consistency, Edit the final arrangement of spacing between songs, Create and edit PQ sub-code, Creation of CD master ready for mass duplication.

What a list, in my mind most of this does apply but when we are talking about the new great hit song my short list is, volume, EQ, left right balance per track, and effects revered chorus and the like per track. I apply these all too each track and some cases to a certain part of a track. It’s all a matter what I hear in the ghost ear, what’s not yet recorded or even played. We all have it happen to us. As song writers we start writing a song sitting at the keyboard or guitar and we hear the drums doing this, the guitar sounds like Benson here and Carlos here the strings increase here and so on.

So, on a guitar track I will record it with my trusty Virtualizer PRO by Behringer set with a simple revered. Once the part is recorded I will listen to it over and over editing EQ mix, a little brighter or deeper depending on the guitar I played. All of my audio files, are edited in Adobe Audition regardless if they were directly recorded in Audition or generated from MIDI plug-ins from Sonar. I do create multiple versions of them as well keeping the first clean recording and then editing and saving a copy this way I can apply the new track to the mix down and see how it sounds against it all.

My brother once told me the best recoding he has heard from me is a song on Island Life called By Request. In that song to be honest I wish I saved all of the settings I used because the mix is very clean. In short, I will master the guitar tracks cleaning them up adding my EQ and FX’s then go on to the remaining tracks doing much the same. On the master mix down of the song I do very little in the way of editing but with Audition you can control a lot per track and master. I will usually add some small amount of FX trying to give the music that almost live feel. I try to only apply EQ to each track there is nothing worse than going through the last mix and do your EQ on it and drop an instrument.

I was speaking with an old friend and guitarist I truly admire, Larry Green he was talking about the canvas of music. The foundation of the recording in my ears is the drums, keys, bass rhythm guitar and maybe the strings although they can be like the solo and melody instruments the brush the artist paints with. With that in mind I master music that way. The canvas has to be clean with all of the subtitle sounds and FX’s in place then I bring in the accents the brush strokes looking at that meters helps a lot then it’s on to the melody and chorus then lastly the final touches. I burn a CD drop it in the car and go for a drive. To be honest the best way I have found is to spend a day or two listening to other music trying to erase the not recorded but heard part of the music from my ear. Then listening to it in a car to me is better then headphones or even the most expensive monitors out there. I make my mental notes and back to the mix. In the case of By Request it took me almost a year to get that CD where I wanted it.

So to sum it up, if it sounds like it needs it, then master it. I master each track making many copies so I can go back and play with each then I bus it down to a master track and only adjust what is needed and I hope and pray that is only volume.

Enjoy and keep playing

Healthcare and Change

nospam@example.com (R.E. Fort) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:38:12 -0700

All over the news and radio website everywhere we hear both sides of this issue. My thoughts are very simple on this topic, change is good let what comes of it come. This nation has grown because of change and we should be embarrassing it now as we look back and see just how much we have changed. The concerns that I have heard are many but the ones that stand out in my mind are I don’t want to wait in longer lines for heath care, I don’t want to become a socialist nation, I don’t want to lose my freedom of choice. Well I have not read the entire purposed plan but I do look forward to any change that comes. I am insured through work and I have made the choice with every job I have had to have insurance no matter what the cost to me would be. I have a family and during the early years raising them money was as it always is tight. We had to go without things but not health insurance. Once before I was married a good friend of mine was in a terrible accident. He called me over as he waited for the paramedics to arrive and look at his arm. The bone was actually sticking out of the skin. I freaked out to be honest I have never been good with that type of thing. Well the paramedics arrived and mind you this is in the early 80’s. So they arrive start to treat him and then ask if he has insurance. The services stopped then and there they put a sling on his arm and said they could not drive him to county without some form of guarantee of payment. This has stuck with me to this very day over 20 years later and I still remember driving this kid from hospital to hospital all turning us away because A: no insurance and B: not life threatening. Now looking at that he did have one good option County hospital in down town LA. We waited there at least 6 hours for someone to even look at his arm. Now the term life threatening is an interesting phrase they were right at the time it was not life threatening he would live through it but if it got infected which considering his living arrangements it would have it would have developed into gangrene and would have caused him to loss the arm or worse. What I want and I believe this nation deserves is for all to have access to treatment, medications, preventative treatments and consultations and some form of insurance to help pay for it all. I remember back when my first child was born they walked intot he room and handed me and my wife a bill for over $3000 and we had insurance now when my daughter was born $0 not a dime. Different insurance companies and different plans yes but the latter should not have happened. It took my wife and I some time to pay him off.

As I said in the beginning of this rant, Change is good and we should embrace it. This nation started off looking for freedom of religion then we evolved to freedom from taxation without representation then we evolved to freedom from slavery then we evolved to equality for all men then we evolved to freedom, equal pay and equal treatment for women ok that last one we are still working on but my point with each of these changes these evolutions we became stronger. Our people became more educated and contributed to the nation and world in general. Change is what allows us to move forward. Running in fear of the “what if’s” would have kept this nation tied to horrible things that the many at the time considered standard and why change. Thank god that someone took it upon themselves to elevate all of us even the unwilling to a better place a better standard of living. Sure there are many unanswered questions and many things to be afraid of but what we should fear is not changing. Not moving forward and becoming stagnated like a dead body of water festering in our own ignorance.

This culture evolution that is on the brink of happening is an amazing thing. Think of it we are in a position now to provide to everyone a chance at health at least the basics of it. Think of the strides this will make in totally wiping out problems before they become catastrophic lets look at the big picture. A bad flu is running through our nation now. We are offering to everyone now a chance for a vaccine. Now let’s think outside of the box. A new problem raises its head but it’s unseen for too long. The population as a hold is not sick but the ones that can’t afford to see a doctor are becoming sick. The medical industry doesn’t see this new threat until it’s too late. It’s moved into the general population now and mutated into an unstoppable disease. If only those in the early days of this sickness had been treated seen by a doctor a simple pill would have put this strain down but now w count the losses in the millions. Our nation is devastated people are dying in the streets because we didn’t have the foresight to fix a simple problem allow everyone access to health care allow everyone the right to be healthy. I know I am writing science fiction here but how far off is this possibility. We have families now that do without health care until they are too sick to survive. We have people going broke trying to pay for medical bills that would not exist today if they had access to health insurance. We have people today that will skimp on their medications for serious problems because they can’t afford to pay for them. While big pharmaceutical companies make billions of dollars on their drugs while the needy go without. They are seeing this now and are terrified haven’t you seen these commercials on television recently with the trailer offering people that need the medication and can’t afford it to contact them for assistance. They are seeing the writing on the wall and they should.

Our government needs to step in because the insurance industry and the pharmaceutical companies are not going to do it or they are not willing to bend and make the change. Look who is fighting and funding this fight. Always rememeber think for yourself dont be sheep look and read do your research. Its the insurance and pharmaceutical companies that are funing this fight and always have been. It’s time for someone to stand up and pull the rest of this nation forward into change into evolution kicking and screaming if most be to make sure we don’t become that festering pool of waste. Embrace this change don’t fear it look forward to a time when your children’s children ask, what do you mean you couldn’t see a doctor?

Another way to look at life and be a better person

nospam@example.com (R.E. Fort) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:27:14 -0700

Last night a good friend and I where talking on line. She sent me this story and to be honest it touched my soul. You know we all find ourselves getting upset about simply things and not looking at the big picture. But after reading this simple story, which I have cut down, it makes you think Enjoy.

When I was a little boy, my mom would make breakfast for dinner every now and then. And I remember a night in particular when she had made breakfast for dinner after a long, hard day at work. On that evening so long ago, my mom placed a plate of eggs, sausage and extremely burnt biscuits in front of my dad. I remember waiting to see if anyone noticed! Yet all my dad did was reach for his biscuit, smile at my mom and ask me how my day was at school. I don't remember what I told him that night, but I do remember watching him smear butter and jelly on that biscuit and eat every bite!

When I got up from the table that evening, I remember hearing my mom apologize to my dad for burning the biscuits. And I"ll never forget what he said: "Baby, I love burned biscuits." Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy good night and I asked him if he really liked the biscuits. He wrapped me in his arms and said, "Your momma put in a hard day at work today and she's real tired. And besides a little burnt biscuit never hurt anyone!"

The lesson here is simple. He could have blown up, made some off hand comment about not being a good cook or taken the high road smeared on that jelly and butter and smiled. Our comments and reactions to the people in our lives dictate how their day will be and can either build them up and tare them down even the son was watching and learned a lesson that night. Taking the low road and blowing up over a burnt biscuit or making some off handed comment could have easily exploded that story into a nasty fight and one that could have left scars that would never heal. It would have taught the son a bad lesson as well how to not to be perceptive to the people that matter to you. We all want the same thing out of life, a happy peaceful home to live in one that nourishes and strengthens us and our family. That starts with your outlook on things and the way you handle life's little burnt biscuits. So smear some jelly and enjoy.

What I've learned over the years is that learning to accept each other's faults and differences will build a better relationship in fact those are the same reason in most cases you got together in the first place. Trust me I get it wrong more times then i get it right but I guess the trick is to keep trying to take that high road. So smear on some jelly and butter and enjoy it. That action alone will say more then your words could ever say.

Freedoms and the loss of them

nospam@example.com (R.E. Fort) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:22:06 -0700

A friend of mine posted this on face book and I told him I was posting it on my face book as well.

It is amazing how society forgets that freedom is something that you not only fight for from aggressors, but you fight for freedom from those who claim to have your best interests at heart. More atrocities have been committed and freedom lost because the hubris filled people in power convinced the willfully ignorant populace that they needed to be saved from themselves

After I posted this I had a few questions from other friends to elaborate on my thoughts and reasons for posting this.

So sorry to go off on a rant here but:

We are, in my mind the most prospers nation and best equipped to solve the world’s problems. The problem we have is that we constantly fix the squeaky wheel while the care is falling apart. As my friend put it in his message I posted. We simply hand away our freedoms because someone else thinks or told us it’s a good idea. Hubris, a great word meaning prideful, excessive ambition sums up all elected officials in my book. An example of giving away our freedoms, in California and AZ and I am sure in many more states you cannot smoke a cigarette in a restaurant. Now I grew up in a time that one could light up anywhere they wanted to. Believe it or not even a mall or a hospital. Now because of the few the squeaky wheels, smokers which I am one, can’t smoke anywhere. Don’t get me wrong I grew up in a house of smokers and I am the only one of my siblings that smokes but it was not because my father smoked that got me started on this terrible drug no, it was not because of some cartoon character that got me started, it was because I chose to at 19 in college. When I would go to a restaurant, that back then they had smoking sections. I would look around make sure that others where smoking before I lit up so not to offend their meal. When I traveled, which I did a lot of up until recently, I would smoke only in areas that were designated for smokers. My choice to smoke is my choice; I pay higher health care rates because of it. But because of the few that believe it’s their right, no their task their fate in life to dictate to others what can and cannot be done to their own bodies. Our elected officials said hum, what’s that squeaky noise I here? Oh never mind that we still are on fossil fuel even after the 70’s, that our schools are failing and canceling programs that have been proven to keep kids in school and make them successful, that our nation is falling behind. No the only thing they say is “what’s that squeaky noise I hear, Oh let’s fix that first that sounds is driving me crazy” and shazam, we have a smoking is ban even in BARS. BARS are you kidding me now that one made no since to me at all. I understand the test and studies about second hand smoke and I have lost family to lung cancers and other terrible deceases as everyone has. But for those that smoked it was their choice to smoke. They knew the risks but yes smoking is bad and when it all comes out what the tobacco industry has done to keep people hocked on something so addictive they will have to pay a price to a much higher court then mans.

A few days ago a friend sent me another great email but I will not post or go into too much details here but, it talks about having our own Boston Tea Party. As emails go around the world I am sure that most of you that are reading this have seen the video of this great thinker ranting about how we have let our elected officials run away with the country. I agree it’s time to do as the video says everyone get a tea bag and mail it to your congressmen, senators and any other elected official you can think of. It’s time to exercise our strongest freedom before it’s taken away as well peaceful civil unrest and protest. It’s time to take back and as the post I made in face book states it’s time to fight for our freedoms against our own elected officials that have become too comfortable, to detached and to intermingled in the business of politics. I have said it before; I want someone in office that has had to struggle. That knows what it’s like to live paycheck to paycheck and pull themselves out of it. I want someone I can relate to. Someone that knows what it’s like to fear not having health care so they can keep a roof over their heads. Someone that believes as I do that less is more. Stay out of our lives and take care of the things we cannot. Protect our boarders, build our infrastructure, educate us and make no law that interferes with an individual’s personal rights.

It’s time for us to stop being sheep lead where ever they want us to go and become the nation of leaders and thinkers that put a man on the moon. That started the internet and a million other life changing things. That can accomplish anything once we all join together and make it happen as we have done some many times before. It’s time to become great again.

New Communication Software Digsby

nospam@example.com (R.E. Fort) — Tue, 19 May 2009 12:23:50 -0700

While this may sounds like an advertisement for software it’s really not. I recently found and added a new tool to my website that has got to be one of the coolest things I have seen for chat and communications in sometime. The tool is called Digsby and you will find it on my main page allowing you to chat with me if I am online. Why do I feel this tool stands out above some of the other multi-platform chat tools you may ask? Well it’s that it also services your E-mail and lot of the social networks services as well. Now for those that know me, they realize I have been on the web well, since the beginning of the web. So I have lots of instant messaging, social network and e-mail accounts. One problem I have run into recently is trying to keep track of LinkedIn, Tagged, two Myspace accounts, Facebook, Twitter, MSN, AIM, Yahoo, ICQ, Google talk a host of e-mail address and whatever new IM or social network is released in the next thirty seconds that catches my eye. Yes I know I have an issue or two.

So for a long time I ran and I still think it’s pretty great a program Trillian. Yes named after the girl in the great book (yes it was a book before movie) Hitchhikers Guide to the galaxy (Don’t Panic). This program like Digsby is free and well that’s normally enough for me to try it out. It supports pretty much all of the IM services other then Google Talk and Skype maybe a few others but the big three AIM, MSN and Yahoo are covered and very well too. It gives you one application to run and talk to all of your friends. It also can monitor e-mail on those accounts, which is pretty cool.

Now in comes my new friend Digsby, this little guy does all of that then it adds access to most of Social network, wish it also covered Tagged but oh well. It checks e-mail and not only tells you there is a new message but it interacts with them depending on the service. And speaking about service that e-mail option, well it covers POP and IMAP e-mail as well, Very Cool stuff. Out the box without modification it supports LinkedIn, Twitter, Myspace and Facebook for social networks then it adds AIM, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, Jabber and Facebook Chat also giving you the ability to have multiple accounts on all of the above. Now for those that have more than one account this is huge. The hands down winner for me, was the ability to embed in my own website a chat box. Now there have been many tools to do this in the past and present like Yahoo and I believe a few others but nothing I have seen like this. The widget simply opens a chat box where you place it. So your website visitor is not taken to another site they stay right on your page. They simply enter a name and start talking to me if I am on line. That jumped the coolness factor for me almost off the charts what can I say I still have pretty high standards.

Ok downsides, well while it does all of that it is a little bit of a memory hog. I find that if it’s in the process of checking one of my POP email accounts and say my Palm Treo 700p (look for a blog one day on Palm Phones my favorites) is checking or getting e-mail it will fail but it will reconnect. While MSN and AIM and I believe Yahoo support VOIP or Voice chat it only seems to support video and audio. Hey there are times I just don’t want you to see me. I hear rumors about support for Skype and once that happens WOW I will be happy. I did find on my trip to Chicago a few issues with connecting across open networks with my laptop but that was firewall stuff at the different locations I Other than that this program gets 8.5 out of 10 where Trillian I am sliding down to 7.5.

There is your tech news for the week.

Working from home

nospam@example.com (R.E. Fort) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 21:34:44 -0700

Well this week I achived what most of us want at one point and when gas reached $4.00 a gallon out here last summer I not only dreamed for but prayed for the ability to work from home full time. So this is week one. I decided to do this right it makes since to ask someone that has been doing it a long time how to make it work. So I e-mailed a good friend and asked the question, "How do you make this work"?

His reply was insightful and funny so I thought I would share it with you.

Working from home; one word: Discipline

Get in a work pattern; be in the “office” by x O’clock every day. Remove distractions from the “office”, I have a separate room that I only use as my office, I do 95% of all my work there. Eliminate distractions (no TV, no News on the radio, nothing you “pay attention to” your own music is fine, but set it and don’t mess with it (Pandora or iTunes Genius is good for this)). I sit with my back to the window (not looking out). I leave my “office” to get coffee (need the exercise). I have some simple rules, NO Drinking in the “office”……… until after “closing time” which I consider 5:30 PM. Some other rules I’m not so strict about; lunch if eaten at home (rare for me) takes no more then 30 minutes; and when I go out no more then 2 hours (including time to do any grocery shopping). I do go out to eat almost every day, part of my routine. I try to be in my office working before 8AM, usually I’m “in” just after 7. No more than 1 pot of coffee (12 cups) a day. Door to office always open, but kids/family should not generally interrupt (unless they are looking to fill my coffee cup).

Interesting guy we have the same issue with coffee too (Know coffee Know Peace No Coffee No Peace).

Now while all of that sounds great one thing is the biggest challenge for me, getting rid of distractions. I have four guitars hanging on the wall next to me and I sit in a room with two keyboards and a baby grand not counting the bar LOL. Distractions are not just radio and TV but my passion. So I will do what I can but I am sure I will be playing the guitar and working on databases one day soon.

Enjoy Life and live it as best you can, we only get one ticket for this ride called life make it a good one.

R.E.

Song Writing

nospam@example.com (R.E. Fort) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 10:33:36 -0700

The New CD Strings and Keys

Well I am officially working on the newest set of music. Today’s blog is on song writing or should I say the process that I go through. From the fear oh god can I still write a song to the tedious how many more times do I have to listen to this to find that one bad note that’s driving me mad.

First Inspiration or Perspiration, I know we all have felt that drive to write the next great song and back in the day I would say I needed inspiration before writing a song and in some ways I believe that is still the case. But I have recently found not a formula but a routine that I seem to get into when I am between projects. I always start playing songs I wrote years ago. That in some ways inspires me to look into new songs. But what amazed me was that I found myself sitting and just playing melodies. Nothing I had heard before, and at first it seems that I am just running scales, working the fingers you know. But the next thing I hear is a melody like in the song By Request. That song like so many of my picking songs, as I call them. Either started with a melody or a sweet mixtures of chords I find while picking around. This is how I get around writers block which hits me like a ton of bricks some times. When I find myself just stuck unable to move forward with a new idea. I have found by going back to the very basics, picking out some chords and playing with transitions then moving on to melodies or running some scales something shows itself. From those melodies comes the next idea. Now sometimes it last longer so trying the Piano or the Bass seems to help as well. The other trick I have found to get out of this mode is to find other music, something I always wanted to learn or a style I have not tried yet, playing with other musicians, open jam sessions and of course listening to some of my older stuff with new ears.

Putting it all together, now this I have found to be the most frustrating and enjoyable thing ever. There is this phenomena that happens with song writers, we hear what's has not been written yet. I am blessed to have three great kids two of which are amazing musicians. Once my son and I were listening to a new song that I was working on. As he watched me he leaned over and said to me. Dad that parts not in the song, I had to stop because I was jamming away to a string section I was hearing in my head that was not record or even written yet, other then in my head. We all do it, its part of song writing we start playing those chords and we hear the guitar solo the bass line the keyboards every aspect of the song is in our heads being worked out. Then at some point, for me at least, when I believe I am done with the song as I am listening to it in the car. I realize that I never recorded the bass or that transition string section that I know will be the hock because it still stuck in my head. To work this out what I am doing is listening to not only the newest song I am working on but the other works in progress as well with headphones, in the car and over the monitors. I also play them at work when I’m working on a project. I keep notepad open when I am at a PC or use my cell phone as a note pad to remind me to add this or edit that. It seems that the times I get the most work done or the most inspiration on a song is when I'm not actively listening to that song. When you mind is elsewhere it seems you can work on the music better it least that’s the way it works out for me.

Well that’s enough for today look for more thoughts on work soon

Thanks

To Serve the Server

nospam@example.com (R.E. Fort) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 22:18:14 -0700

To Serve the Server This is a basic principal that I believe can resolve many conflicts in the work place and if applied correctly life in general. When you think of the word or phrase serve or better yet “to server” you realize that we all are servers to some extent. We all regardless of our place in life or business have someone we must report to someone that holds us accountable. In turn we all have someone that we rely upon to provide us with information, product or simply service to complete our service. We all are connected in this way and keeping this principal in mind, we then see that it serves us best to make sure that our support team, our servers, are served well, prepared, informed and taken care of. This way we insure that we get the best service possible and that we provide the service we can provide. To Serve the Server is to, not put one’s self above anyone. Especially the one’s we are asking for service from but to server them with the best possible knowledge and service so they too can provide the best possible service. The cycle completes itself then. Think of a restaurant you walk in and are seated and given a menu. Now if you give the server bad information, like forgetting you like your steaks medium rare. Then you are the one to blame for not making your needs know to the server. In fact you gave bad service to that server. This may sound simple and basic but watch people sometimes and see how the treat each other. This world needs a change and we are in the process of one now. We are on the brink of it and if we start to think of each other not as a means to an end but as individuals that require input clear, accurate and precise information so they can excel in this new world then we all win.

A new way to think about the Day

nospam@example.com (R.E. Fort) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 21:26:53 -0700

First let me tell you a little story. There is this story of a New Luggage guy, I will explain the new luggage thing in a second. I am not sure if its 100% true but it sure changed how I look at things.

We will call him Bob. Bob was the type of guy that when you asked him "how's it going" he always gave you a smile and said "if I was any better I be twins". Bob ran a very successful restaurant. Not because the food was great but because of his attitude. Well one night as he was closing up shop when a guy came in the back and held him up at gun point. He tried to keep the guy calm but was shot anyway. On the way to the operating table he could see the nurses and doctors where looking at him as of he was not going to make it. When the nurse asked him if he was allergic to anything? he said "Yes" the room went silent waiting for his answer his reply was "Bullets..." the room exploded in laughter. While they where laughing he said to them "I choose to live so please treat me like I am going to make it and live" His attitude, his quick thinking saved his life that day and when people saw him after he was released and asked how he was doing, you may wonder what his reply was? "If I was any better I would be twins want to see my scars" Attitude makes the difference, choose to live a great life and make each day the best day.

I believe some of us think this way already and that there are a many different types of people in the world but in general they can be broken down into two groups, when it comes to this topic, New Luggage and Old Luggage people.

Each day we get up, we either pick up our new luggage and make the best of the day, or we get up and take yesterdays and the day before and the day before that's luggage with use to start a new day.

Old Luggage people bring all of the luggage of their lives with them. The good and the bad it all comes with them. They have all of this extra luggage they have to go through to make each and every choice. They look at every little detail, positive and negative about what's happened to them to date and measure it against what's going on right NOW. Inevitably the negative starts to out rule the positive even if the positives are strong. This takes so much extra energy that by the time they are done and if they even remotely get close to a positive outcome there simply to exhausted to truly enjoy what's in front of them. You know the type, "why is it always me, why can't I get a break," the glass is not only half empty but for some they feel they didn't even get a glass.

New Luggage folks, well they choose to start each day with a simple statement, today is going to be the best day, or I'm going to make no matter what happens. These folks are not in denial as some would think, no, they simple have come to the relation that you make your day. When you come to life with an outlook of "I make my day, I control how I will handle this or that" well then you have action not reaction, you have thought and planning not an "oh pity me attitude."

I choose to make this a great day and I choose to share this with everyone.

November 4th 2008 a day in history

nospam@example.com (R.E. Fort) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 21:25:14 -0700

11-04-2008 a day that will go down in history. I heard a glass break that day at 11:05pm MST. Once in this wonderful country not too long ago, for certain people, to be even able to vote was only a dream let alone the ability to achieve the highest off in the land and to break that glass ceiling. I don't look at this as a victory for democracy nor do I look at it as a victory for Black America alone. I look at this as a victory for America. We have stood together and announced in a loud clear voice that change is here, and now, this day we move forward. On that day 11-04-2004 and all during the campaign I thought of my mother and father my grandparents and wonder how they would react to this happening in the life time. The pride they would feel and the amazement in these days during the campaign's events and the culmination of those days on 11-04-2008. My mother passed away at the beginning of the new millennium. She followed Dr Martin Luther king, Malcolm X and thought use, my brother and sister, to believe that we could do anything. She lived with the oppression not only of a Black American but dealt with but the oppression of women as well. I know that if she were here, part of this history making moment, the pride in her walk, her voice and actions could and would been seen for miles around. My Father passed away in the early 2000's and he was much older than my mother and would have been close to 100 if he lived. Very close to the age of the 106 year old women, the now President elect Obama spoke of during his address that night. I know he would have been amazed at the strides we made. Seeing a black man take the highest office in his life time, I am sure was not even a dream. That glass ceiling that broke that night was just the beginning of our work ahead though. We, America, have a long road to run before we truly can live what we preach. For us as a people to shed the old and embrace the new to no longer look at sex, and skin color as difference that separate us, but a simple matter of nature. We are still a young nation and growing and these invisible lines and glass ceilings that have for so long separated us need to and must vanish. Today and I hope for a long time to come, I feel this same way, that the words of my parents and I am sure yours as well. You can be anything do anything if you apply yourself and work hard, have come true to me and I believe them. I am proud