Anyway, I wish I could claim that big life events from the past 6 months or so were being expressed in those chunks of 140 characters or less, but things have been pretty quiet. Oh, not to say *nothing* has happened, but nothing I’d bore the couple of people who might have forgotten to remove this blog’s feed from their RSS reader with.

Don’t despair, however: as is wont to happen, I occasionally have something to say, and I’ve got a few things running around in my head. I’ll do my best to expand those beyond 140 character chunks and attempt to make them resemble English (with real sentence structure, and everything!). At least to the point where both of you will reconsider removing that RSS feed…

It’s fairly common for people who are over 25 years of age to not be able to hear above 15Hz

and

Musicians have a much higher risk of hearing loss that most people do

I’ve known my ability to hear high-frequency pitches has been diminishing, as even slightly-misbehaving electronics used to drive me crazy, but don’t anymore: in university, I worked in a department that had a slidemaker that when it was turned on, emitted a high-frequency sound that most people couldn’t hear, but I would have to leave the room or suffer a near-instant head-ache.

One of the joys of getting older, I guess, but as a muscian (and music lover) I’m grateful that I can still hear a normal range of tones.

It used to be that companies needed every customer they could get, and would do whatever they could to keep their customers satisfied and coming back. Now, maybe there are companies out there that are so big, and do so much business that individual customers don’t actually matter, and maybe in a slight twist of irony, the negative word-of-mouth that can be spread so easily via the Internet (say, via blogs) is obviated, or at least offset, by the increased business a company can do on the ‘Net, creating this situation in the first place. In any case, I’m sure these guys still work on commission, and whatever they’d like to think looking at their weekly or monthly pay checks, their customers *are* important.

So if you’re one of these, here’s a little tip: don’t tell your customer that he’s not important (actual quote: “sorry I forgot about this, but I see 200 customers a day”), don’t blame your customers or call them difficult (“I tried to work with you, and you changed your mind”), and don’t put your vendor sales reps in a bad light (“I just talked with him, and he said you weren’t interested in working with them, you just wanted to return the product” – this one especially got me, as I spent a *month* waiting for their tech support to eventually acknowledge a bug I knew was there from the first day I used the software). Oh, and I’m not just dumping on the sales reps – the store’s general manager and the district manger (whom I spoke to directly at one point) were both involved in this debacle as well. So after Monday (or whenever this is resolved), I plan never to set foot, or spend another dime, in a Guitar Center store (or website) again. I can’t (and won’t) tell you to do the same, but the next time you do, remember that you’re likely just a number to them, and hope that you don’t need to take anything back. And if you do, I hope you’re treated better than I was.

Edit: The first part of this is here.

I have pretty specific needs when it comes to software of this nature, and I know what it needs to be able to do.  The Kore software version 2.0.0 did not have the functionality I required, and was interested to learn that the upgrade (2.0.1) seemed to have added it (that alone should have warned me).  I called our sales guy at Guitar Center, and asked him specifically if the new functionality would meet my requirement.  He didn’t know, but he promised to ask his Native Instruments rep (NI).  A little while later, he called me back with the news: it would do what I wanted.  I made the purchase, and a few days later (they had to ship me a copy from another store location), I had the product.

I went through the install and upgrade.  In order to get the upgrade from NI’s website, you need to register the product, which I did.  After getting everything running, I started experimenting with the new software, trying to figure out how I could configure the new environment to work.  After several failed attempts, and reading the mostly-unhelpful manual addendum, I turned to the user forums, figuring I was just missing something.  I had noticed, as part of my research into the product, that several NI reps were active on the forums, and I figured a detailed post would allow them to point out where my oversight was, and get me going.  After a few days without any response, I posted a follow-up asking if *anyone* knew what my problem might be.  One response gave me a glimmer of hope, but it turned out not to be the answer.  Note I’m deliberately leaving out technical details here, post comments if you want to know more!

After a few more days of no response, I contacted my Guitar Center sales guy, who suggested I call their support line, and gave me the number.  I called, and after a rocky beginning (“this is not a tutorial line, sir”), admitted that this was something he’d have to talk to their German team about (Native Instruments is based in Berlin).  I should have asked for a ticket number, but forgot.  A week later, having had no response, I once again called Guitar Center, and explained that they hadn’t called me back.  I expressed my reservations about NI’s ability to address their customers’ issues, and asked for him to process the return.  He told me he’d get back to me, but that it shouldn’t be a problem.

Fast forward to the new year: January 4th, a month after my purchase.  Guitar Center is now back-pedalling, saying because the product was registered, they can’t take it back without NI authorizing the return.

Another week goes by, and my call to Guitar Center actually gets me the District Manager for Guitar Center, who, after a few hours, puts me in direct contact with their NI sales rep.  I’m told that the only way Guitar Center will take back the product at this point is if I can get NI to authorize the return.

The NI sales rep promises to look into the problem I’m having, get their tech support to handle my ticket, and if they can’t solve my problem, he’d authorize the return.  Over that weekend, NI tech support actually contacted me – but without any history: their email was basically “how can we help you?”.  Of course, the big music trade show, NAMM, was on this past week, meaning the sales rep was unavailable the couple times I tried to call to put an end to this.

So where am I?  At this point, I’ve pretty much lost any confidence in NI’s tech support.  If I have this kind of problem right out of the box, and they can’t fix it in a month and a half, what does that say for the next problem I have?  (By the way, I should mention that I’m not just missing something: I’ve been using MIDI applications on computers since the late-eighties/early nineties – I think I know what I’m doing)

On top of that, it’s not like I’m fiddling around with this in my bedroom – the package was going to be the center of my live stage rig, and there’s no way I’m taking a product into that situation without understanding what it does and how it behaves.  In other words, trust is important here, and I don’t have a lot of it for Kore’s host capabilities.

The other problem, the one that’s left me the most jaded, is that between two companies, neither one wanted to step up and do the right thing, and still haven’t, even after a month and a half.  The moral?  I’m going to be a lot more careful about the exact terms under which I buy things from that store, if indeed I still choose to continue to spend my money there.  I’ll post a follow-up when this has been resolved.

One thing to note, first, however: I got my invitation to the closed beta yesterday, so I’ve had my account less than a day. And while I’ve spent a good deal of time poking around the interface, recording greetings, uploading my contact list, etc, not too many people have the new number yet, so I won’t be claiming it changed my life just yet. The potential is definitely there, though. Read about my initial impressions after the jump.

The sign-up process was painless: pick a username, password and PIN, and then either an area code or state choice. I chose an area code, so I was presented with a list of 5 potential (and available) phone numbers, with their vicinities shown on a map). You can request another 5 and go back and forth. After some deliberation, I chose a number that was where I lived, and had the same prefix as our home number. This took me a while to decide, as theoretically, this could be my last phone number!

Once chosen, you enter your other phone numbers, and choose one to have the system call you to verify the account (you’re given a numeric code to enter when you get the call). And that’s it! You’re off and running.

From what I’ve seen and used so far, the interface to get at everything is really great, with some really nice features (the voicemail interface is particularly well-done). One of the first things you’ll notice is the liberal sprinkling of “call” buttons everywhere (and this not only for your contacts’ numbers: some of the setup, such as recording a greeting, will ring the phone of your choice, and when you answer, you’re already at the correct spot! No more navigating those phone menus! Nice.). When pressed for a contact, you are presented with a list of your phones (along with the ability to enter a temporary number). Selecting one of these rings that phone, and when you pick up, then rings the other party.

Of course, the whole point of this is to manage calls, so a large part of the setup is determining which callers ring which phones. This is done either individually or by caller group. You’re currently only given four groups to work with (Family, Friends, Work and Others), but a FAQ entry hints at more (and hopefully custom!) groups in the future. Voicemail greetings are also done by groups (although the default is one greeting for all callers). Once nice thing they’ve included is what they call the “QuickRule”. When on, all calls can either be sent directly to voicemail, or a temporary forwarding number.

What I am hoping to see in the future with the call management is the ability to fine-tune the rules: “if a caller (or a particular group) calls between these times on these days, do this, else if the same calls the other times, do this, else do something else”. That, and the ability to say, ok, everything rings just my cell phone for the next few hours/days, etc. There’s no FAQ entry on this, so I’ll be submitting that as a suggestion.

When you receive a call from someone via your GrandCentral number, you first hear the call announced, and you’re given four options: to take the call, to send the call to voicemail, to send the call to voicemail and listen in (with the ability to then optionally take the call anyway), or to take the call, and record it (you can also record a call at any time during the conversation).

As a quick overview of the other features, you have the ability to change the ringing sound people hear when they call you (including some rather humourous voice-based sounds), some call screening options (what to do when unknown names/numbers appear), how to notify you of voicemail, what to do with “phone SPAM” (“sorry, this number is not in service”!), what to display for caller ID, and some web integration features.

The service is still in beta (it’s now a Google property, so no surprise there!), and it sounds like the team is working hard on new features. I’m looking forward to getting everyone using the new number, and I’m pretty excited to see what’s in store for the service. Which is a pretty big deal for me: we’re still talking about phones here!

Oh, and if you’re reading this, know me, and haven’t heard about my new phone number yet, you can expect a call! Well, ok, an email, at least…

You can see more pictures of Smudge (and Widget) here.

What I really wanted to talk about here was the recent fun I/we have gone through as part of life in U.S. as a non-permanent resident.

The first was after waiting over 2 months for my new visa to arrive (I’m back on the NAFTA-based TN visa, which is the yearly one my wife has been on for the last 8 years, and will be until we clear the line and begin the process again), I had to update the paper-work at the payroll office where I work. After doing that, they told me I also need to update the information in the GLACIER system. GLACIER is the system the government uses to track tax information for non-resident aliens. In essence, it’s a memory test of unrelated information designed to tell you something at the end so blindingly obvious, you’d rather fill out a tax return. As I started filling it out, it was basic info; no-brainer things, some of which was already filled in. Then you get to the section that asks you to detail your presence in and out of the U.S. since 1986. The “out of the country” is required for as long as you’ve been legally in the U.S., so for me, that’s 8 years. We don’t spend a lot of time in Canada or traveling each year, so that’s not too bad. The other part – “in the country before that period”, took a little more thought. After all, in 1986 I was 15 and still in high school. Having relatives in the U.S. that we visited on a semi-regular basis made this a little challenging. Two things came out of this: one was being told to “do your best, they don’t really check it”, and second was getting to the end of the form to be triumphantly (as much as a web form can, anyway) told “Hey! You’re eligible to pay taxes!”. I could have told them that, and without the memory test.

The second event just happened, and while this is to be attributed to life post-911, it’s still annoying. As mentioned, we have lived and worked in the U.S. for 8 years. During that time, we’ve held New Jersey state driver’s licenses, and have had to renew them twice, as they expire every four years. At least that used to be the case for us. Recently, NJ switched to a “digital driver’s license”. In moving to that system, they did something deviously clever. To get your new license, which is all about security: are you who you say you are, you need to provide various forms of ID in a point system: you get different amounts of points for different pieces of ID, from 1 to 4 points. With the caveat being you can only use, at most, 2 1-point IDs, this ensures you have ID from the higher point values. As non-permanent residents, none of the 2-point IDs applied to us (well, I guess if I had an FAA-issued pilot’s license), so that meant the big 4-point ID was our passports, with our work visas in them, and in that is the cleverness. By forcing you into that position, you’re forced to let them know you’re a non-permanent resident without them having to ask. The result? Your driver’s license now expires 90 days after your visa, and for us, that means we’ll be renewing our licenses every year. Michelle even caught a bonus: her current visa expires in May, so she’ll be back in the MVC even sooner. The only saving graces are the fact that they pro-rate the fee (I paid ~$12, and Michelle had to pay ~$8), and it only took us 15 minutes, plus driving, which only added maybe 10-15 minutes.

Maybe it’s just that there’s been a few of these recently, but I used to be fairly complacent about the 5 year thing, and now I just want things to move along. Oh, well, back to waiting. At least I’m not really been hassled the way I’ve read stories about other non-Canadians. I have a way that lets me stay and work in the U.S. legally for as long as someone wants to employ me, and that means I’ll be putting up with the little hassles that crop up from time to time. It is fun, however, to talk about them, and get people’s (ie American citizens’) reactions to things their governments put me through! Is that wrong?

This would be the part where I mumble something about it being the beginning of the year, and resolutions, and making an attempt to do better, but I’m not going to do that. Actions speak louder than words, and all that (which means you’ll probably soon be deafened by the silence resulting from the aforementioned cycle beginning another turn).

Anyway, the story so far, in particular order (that chronology thing):

* reverential bought a new sound system: a Bose Cylindrical Radiator Loudspeaker, and a JBL subwoofer, which sound amazing.

* I got a piano: a Yamaha Clavinova CLP-230. An excellent practice instrument for the lessons I started back in September.

* I attended the USENIX LISA conference in December in Washington, DC. At the conference, I was able to meet Cory Doctorow and have him sign one of his books for us.

* We lost our cat, Oscar, as due to a series of problems that came on pretty suddenly, we had to put him to sleep.

* We saw Thomas Dolby (with BT) in concert at the World Live Cafe in Philadelphia, and got to meet them afterwards.

* We went down to Little Rock, Arkansas for Christmas to visit Michelle’s parents. As they’re looking to retire in the next year or two (back to Canada), this could have been the last Christmas at their AR house.

Well, I think that hits the major highlights for last year. reverential has 4 or 5 gigs already lined up for this year, so there’ll be lots more news there, along with live photos of venues we play and gear! And there’s a few other things that I’m saving for separate posts. Enjoy!

So now all I need is a piano. I’ve been using my CME controller and my Alesis NanoPiano module, which is OK (the CME has 76 notes and semi-weighted keys), but not great. I would really love to buy an accoustic (a baby grand if we’re really dreaming, but even a good upright would be nice), and I’ve started to look around, but I think realistically, I’ll probably be buying a digital for now. Not that it’s all bad, either. There’s a new Yamaha I’ve been playing in a music store I frequent, and it’s really nice. Hammer action, ok speakers, good sounds (samples) MIDI, USB – all the bells and whistles – for a decent price. I’ll let you know what I end up with.