Zzzzzzz!!!

Today was one of those days where my time was absolutely wasted... at least for the most part. Being that it's Thursday means that today was a class day. So, I make the trip to my 8 o'clock class, 15 minutes late, only to find the classroom dark and empty upon arriving there. Obviously, I didn't get a memo about there not being class that day. So, I went to the Mac lab where all my stuff goes on in my program of study and hung out for about two hours before going to find lunch.

I walk 20 blocks over to the gateway Mall area, thinking I can get something at Runza, since McDonald's wasn't at all appetizing to me. Problem is, Runza only takes cash, and the ATM inside the mall wanted to give me no less than $20 and I'm pushin' broke. With that, lunch ended up being chocolate covered raisins and green tea from Walgreens.

I get back to the college in time for my Digital Video Production class, where I expected to see the deadline pass for a music video project I'm supposed to be working on. Luckily, nobody showed up, but for a few people. Too few to hold a class and do show and tell. But, while I get more time to work, I also had another 2 hours to burn, since I don't drive. If it wasn't for my personal internet radio station I set up on the Mac at home and the fact that this was a good time to register, I would have gone nuts or simply fell asleep.

So um, how was y'all's day?

Looking for the perfect mix

Those that know me know I'm extremely particular in my playlists and my tagging when it comes to my digital audio files on iTunes. Not only do I do the usual genre tags, I take it a step further and use the grouping tags to fill in sub-genres for each song. For example, with the R&B/Soul genre, I use the grouping field to designate Contemporary R&B and Neo-Soul, since there is a difference in the two. Beyond that, I make sure every file is rated upon entry to my collection.

What this does is allow me to create self-updating "smart playlists" that give me exactly what I want when it comes to genre, sub-genre, and rating. But after finding an article about creating playlists that filter music in and out according to how often they're played and how they're rated, I decided to do more research into creating smart playlists on iTunes.

What I found was a response on another blog that used ratings as more of a priority. It went like this:

5-star (any song rated 5, not played in the last 3 days)
4-star (any song rated 4, not played in the last 2 weeks)
3-star (any song rated 3, not played in the last 6 weeks)
2-star (any song rated 2, not played in the last 6 months)
New (default setting in Itunes)
Unrated (any unrated song, not played in the last 4 weeks)

I then make a “hit radio” playlist, that just plays these 6 playlists mixed together. Perfect mix. When a song plays, you can then adjust the rating as required, it is easy to pick up on a song that you hear too often and drop it a star, or promote a great song you haven’t heard in a while.

You can also adjust the “last played” factor on each level to adjust to your preference & music library size.

You could easily add a “music playlist only” modifier to each rule playlist, but I just pre-emptively mark anything that I know I dont want in a music playlist as a 1-star. (comedy & spoken word stuff, as well as horrible songs that I don’t want to delete)

If that's at all confusing to you, each individual line of rules is a separate smart playlist. Since I obviously don't like music rated with one or two stars, I immediately phased that out, keeping the rules for 5,4, and 3 star ratings as well as my own personalization for new music. To take it a step further, I added a genre setting for each of these list so that they only play R&B/Soul. Then, I made a smart playlist combining the smart playlists I created.

What I have now is a very pleasing mix of songs, with the flexibility to change ratings on the fly to enable me to keep songs in rotation that I'm feelin' at the moment and to lower the rotation on songs I'm not in the mood for at the moment. Lists like these also work nice for people who own iPod Shuffles, such as myself.

So, don't be afraid to go deep into your music tags on whatever player you use on your computer. This will help you create better playlists in the future.

B.E.Z.

Back to basics again

Well, I decided to play around with this blog again instead of using the iWeb site. Really, what it comes down to is just a lack of default blog styling that I feel comfortable with. So, I still have this old template that I created for blogger and I think I'm going to ride it for a while.

I simply have more flexibility with this format than what I have with iWeb. Let's keep in mind that iWeb is a young application. I was introduced to the iLife suite as part of iLife '06 and is still very much a work in progress. Judging from what Apple has done in programs such as Pages, Keynote, iMovie, iDVD, iPhoto, and even the new version of Mail that's coming in Leopard, I'm sure iWeb is a application with a promising future. If that holds true, I'll probably move to it for purposes of hosting a home page. It just doesn't support what I want right now, entirely.

As far as what to expect from this version of my home page, I'm not going to promise anything. However, I do hope to get some music reviews and sports rants on here among other things. I know this post probably wasn't overly exciting to most of you, so, I'll try to make it so in future posts.

Until then...

B.E.Z.

Random notes for April 17

Just thought I'd type something here since I haven't done so in a while.

First, I'd like to draw your attention to the new Music blog. If you're thinking to yourself "this music blog must be about music", you're right!!! I'm looking to do some things on there such as break down my weekly top 10 playlist for the week, post some reviews on new albums I get ahold of, and just talk about the state of the industry in general.

As far as my life goes, I'm really looking forward to getting my next student loan check. I'm to the point where I'm either in class or at work every day, so, I have no days off. It's too the point where I'm frequently fighting off migraines and tension headaches, which makes it hard to concentrate on my classwork. So, when I get that check, I'm going to tell my boss that I'm no long available on Saturdays. That's the beauty of being part time.

As far as my classes go, there's nothing much to report on as things have gone slowly. My composition class has been interesting, however. I think it's already had an effect on my writing skills. It's also forcing me to think about things that maybe I wouldn't normally think about. Hopefully some of the work I come up with will be good enough to share on here, so look for that.

Other than that not too much else to talk about.

B.E.Z.

Back into the rat race

Back to the grind for me. I started classes again on Wednesday. I'm expecting this to be a fairly challenging quarter for me as I start my day taking two classes at once with Page Layout II and Illustration I where I'm taking the Illustration as an independent course. From there, I have a lunch breaks and then I move on to Composition I. I usually don't prefer to be in any of my general education classes, which the Composition is, since I'm usually out of my own element in the Mac labs creating web pages or whatever. I'm also not a fan of writing, even if it'll end up being typed up. My creative mind don't thrive in that area.

Anyway, I've been on the wild chase trying to get books before they run out as well as trying to find a copy of Microsoft Office for the Mac. I already have Office on the PC that I've given to my mom, but, I absolutely hate the keyboard on that computer. Not to mention I hate that computer in general after dealing with the quiet smoothness of my Mac.

So, be on the lookout as I'll probably be posting my doings in those classes on here.

B.E.Z.

It's Supposed to be Spring

This was supposed to be the first full day of spring. However, as I type this, it's currently 31 degrees and there's an 11 inch blanket of snow on the ground. The sidewalks suck... the roads suck... and I'm getting a little stir crazy since I don't really feel like being out in the stuff.

Word is there's still more to come. All of this after we had a pretty much calm winter where the temps were much higher than normal and there was very little snow or ice to speak of. Fairly rare for Nebraska as I know it.

It seems kind of weird hearing the tornado sirens go off in their testing rounds with all this snow and cold air outside. At least I don't have to work today or anything.

Still, it's days like this where I'm bored no matter what. I don't like having weekdays off in the first place. Makes it worse when you can't even go anywhere. The grey skies kinda make you drag, then the boredom makes it worse. So, I'm not exactly full of energy.

Anyway, I'm rambling.

B.E.Z.

Back for the first time

I finally decided to start paying attention to my blogs now that I'm finished with school for the quarter.

The past couple months have been a stressful and tiring time for me, so, that would explain a lot of why I haven't been writing much.

Anyway, look for a little more from me. Take note that I've decided to have separate blogs for life, sports, and music. The links for each of those are on the sidebar.

B.E.Z.

Skoo Goes To Jail

Yup, had to visit the Lancaster County Correctional Center today. I swear to you, however, that I am innocent.

No, seriously, I am. I was actually doing some filming and picture taking for a project for the LCCC (we'll stick with that abbreviation since it's a hell of a lot easier to type). The video that we're piecing together is for the families and friends of inmates so they can see the process that a convicted felon goes through when he enters the correctional system. It's supposed to bring some ease to mind (if possible) to those families so they can see that they're well taken care of while in custody.

So, we took the trip down there. Nothing like the look of razor wire glistening in the morning sun (that was actually prison humor from our guide). My associate admitted he was a bit nervous being there. I wouldn't admit to such thing. I was just cold as hell being it was only about 20 outside (below zero in Canada). But anyway, we took some shots, did some filming, and things seem to be going well with it.

We're supposed to go back to do more shooting of the place (with cameras) on Thursday. I'll let y'all know how that goes.

'Til then, B.E.Z.