Paul’s Ramblings

In my old age I’m now discovering that not all advertising can be valued as highly as the Holy book itself. Take for example men’s shaving razors. As an informed consumer I know that two blades are better than one, three better than two, four than three and so on in an exponential fashion. I also know that the purpose of the extra blades is to lift hairs, as I shave, for a closer cut. I am also dutifully aware that the longer the title of the “shaving system” the better the shave and the smoother my face will be; “Mach 3 Turbo Extreme” obviously yields a better shave than “Men’s Razor”. So you can imagine how distraught I was when I recently discovered all of my shaving knowledge was utter bullocks.

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In this, the second instalment of Playing with Paradiddles, I continue to experiment with different variations of paradiddles used for fills across the drum kit. Additionally, I spend way too much time editing and tweaking this video when I could be sleeping instead. Clearly, the funky monkey needs no more Dr Pepper tonight.

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In this, the second instalment of Playing with Paradiddles, I continue to experiment with different variations of paradiddles used for fills across the drum kit. Additionally, I spend way too much time editing and tweaking this video when I could be sleeping instead. Clearly, the funky monkey needs no more Dr Pepper tonight.

I now have a new kitchen toy, for the balcony, it’s my BBQ. At the beginning of winter I saw these little beauties for sale and procrastinated to my own detriment. Now, months later, they reappeared and I snapped one up for $10. There’s nothing quite like a succulent pork loin grilled over hot coals of Carpathian hard woods on a cool night.

This is not a pasta dish, this is a coup! I was recently watching a video podcast from Jamie Oliver’s web site, it featured an Italian friend of his making pasta. As I watched I realised that making pasta is just too easy not to do, so I decided it was time to try; what a revelation!  Let’s just say that fresh, home-made pasta is going on the weekly menu.

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Paradiddles, double paradiddles, paradiddle-diddles. Which is your favourite? It depends on whether you’re having white meat or red meat, and how much you’ve practiced. Paradiddles are a sticking pattern, or rudiment, for drummers to practice and use; commonly they are practiced but not so much used. I’ve been working with paradiddles for sometime in an effort to discover how I could make them an indispensable part of my chops bag, here is one such discovery.

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Paradiddles, double paradiddles, paradiddle-diddles. Which is your favourite? A paradiddle is a sticking pattern, or rudiment, for drummers to practice and use; it is commonly practiced but not so much used. I’ve been working with paradiddles for sometime in an effort to discover how I could make them an indispensable part of my chops bag, here is one such discovery.

For months I’ve been playing football, the game in which the ball is actually propelled primarily by the foot, but in the course of learning to kick in a given direction I managed to injure my big toe. The sensation, upon connecting with the ball, was similar to belting one’s toe, dead-on, with a small hammer. I decided that my runners were the likely cause of the symptoms and so forked out the cash for some real football boots. I’m pleased to say that the low profile and grippy sole seems to have put my amateur football career back on track.

I’ve been having some trouble with telephone calls of late. Specifically, Internet telephony (or VOIP). Making telephone calls from our computer gives us an economical way of staying in touch with home, but lately it has done little more than inspire me to gnaw my own toes off.

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Firefox 3 is soon to be released and it comes with a nice tweak for the visually fussy, such as myself. It is now possible to load the colour profile for your specific display (LCD screen) directly into Firefox. Why would one wish to do this? In a word, perfection. The colour profile lets Firefox present images in true to life colours on your display.

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I’m not turning hyper-pedagogical, nor am I trying to out do my mother; I have started my own library. Library 2.0 to be precise. I know this careless expression is just compounding the obscurity that veils, what is arguably, the maturation of the World Wide Web, but, in a shameless bout of whimsy, I’ll employ its misuse regardless. The bottom line is this, I’m starting my own library to retain, and catalogue, articles which, for whatever reason, interest me. This means that I don’t need to rely on bookmarks that could be outdated with time.

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The maiden of Kiev stands with steadfast gaze toward mother Russia. I’m told it’s a gesture of goodwill, or as much, but a gigantic metal woman, brandishing a sword, sends me other signals. Perhaps I’m yet to get the whole Slavic ‘thing’.

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