maury mccown: blog@import "http://www.maurymccown.com/index.php?css=site/site_css.v.1219133209"; AudioPlayer.setup("http://www.maurymccown.com/sounds/player.swf", { width: 290 });        blogBlog Home | My Old Blog Posts (from old site) | Monthly Archives Saturday, October 11, 2008 Roomba ! ! ! ! In my never-ending quest to find ways to do things that need to be done without actually having to do them (aka: delegation), I finally bought a Roomba. SWEET!This is the Model 562, which is one of the newer versions — and I got it because it has several extras that may be nice, and they'd cost more if bought separately. It says to let it charge overnight before using it, but I didn't — and it managed to get a whole room cleaned for finally dying. And yes, it actually worked! And yes, we followed it around and watched it like complete d0rks!People that have Roombas speak of them like we TiVo users speak about our TiVos: once you use one, you can't image ever going back to the "old way." So, I'll set up this little sucker and give her a go for a few days before formulating a complete opinion — but what I've seen so far has impressed me (and she even got under the bloody dining room table (the bane of floor cleaning process))!Now I just need to name her... Posted at 4:12pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (6) Thursday, October 9, 2008 Thursday Stuff We watched this week's episode of LIFE, and I found out that my little dirty boost guitar PCB (see the post below) does a lot more than I ever imagined: it's actually a wireless microphone and transmitter! Not only that, it does all that WITHOUT ANY COMPONENTS! I crown myself the new King of Electrical Engineering!••••••••I got a partial photo publication list, and it looks like some of my pics will be in Flare, ELLE, and Nylon magazines. I still can't post pics any yet, but they're scheduled to be in magazines released Q1 of 2009. I'll post more as I'm allowed to...••••••••Grub worms are attempting to take over my back yard, but seeing as how I'm a "higher mammal" (thanks, Ren), I will destroy them utterly, making them die twitching and writhing as trichlorfon throws their central nervous system into complete havoc.  ••••••••My No Depression contribution went through yesterday, and I started the process of reaping the benefits. Mary got my name put on the site last night, which is totally cool (and I got a plug in there for RAILhead Effects): I also got the skinny on the free tickets and meet-and-greet with the band of my choice. Basically, I just have to pick who I'd like to see, make a call, and Kyla will get in touch with her contacts to make it happen. How freaking cool is that? Of course, she can't get me into massive stadium shows like Metallica of Rob Zombie, but she can easily pull off shows with the likes of Old Crow Medicine Show, Kathleen Edwards, Tift Merritt, and 99% of all the other bands I like.I imagine we'll end up making a little mini-vacation of it, visiting some town just to hear the group play... maybe Seattle, maybe Nashville, maybe Toronto....••••••••There's nothing like needing to update 31 computers to Office 2007. That should make for a GREAT Saturday. Maybe I'll just put the disc image on the server and write down all the serial numbers, then do it all from home...••••••••I sure have used a lot of ellipses in this post. =/••••••••Oh yeah — I took a new self-portrait while I'm sporting a beard: Posted at 10:20am CDT | Permalink | Comments (1) Wednesday, October 8, 2008 The Latest Ripoff: NBC’s LIFE TV Show I'll start this post by saying I'm no stranger to having my work copied, modified and used, and just plain stolen. I began working in the graphics business in the early 90s, and for over 10 years, I was pretty much a household name in the Apple Mac Community — and running sites with over 20,000 hits per day just stacks the odds against you that someone, somewhere, is going to snag your stuff. So in the last decade and a half, I've had all manner of work "Used Without Permission," from web graphics, to fonts, to photos, to interface elements, etc., etc.But last night was a first.My wife and I are fans of the NBC show LIFE, and last night we were catching-up on last week's episode, "Everything...All The Time." If you don't watch the show, I'd recommend it. But anyway, at the very end of the show, Crews pulls over Jack Reese and they chit-chat for a sec. When Reese drives off, the camera zooms in on the back windshield of the car — all of this beginning around 42:08 in the episode (on a commercial free version). For 44 frames (or around 1.5 seconds), you see this: When that briefly flashed on the screen, I had Karen rewind and pause the TiVo so I could get a good look. I knew that PCB trace pattern. Why? Because it was mine, dadgummit!Since I keep records of everything I do (since I'm used to getting my stuff nabbed), I pulled up my old PCB drawings to confirm my suspicions (which really weren't suspicions, because I knew this was mine). Sure enough, it was the final trace image for my not-in-production, dirty boost effect, code named "Bustierre" (cool name, eh?) — I recognized the tell-tale "2:35pm" traces in the center. Upon further research, I found that I posted this image on my old blog back on August 14, 2007. On the same day, I posted an image of the etched PCB on my old blog as well as on my Flickr page. Here are my original images:  HOLY CRAP, eh? That's what I thought. Notice how the pad in the upper right corner is cut in half, just like mine. But really, any dummkopf can PLAINLY see this is EXACTLY my trace image. I mean, there's no ifs ands or buts about it — it's a total rip of my design. The only thing that was done is that the image was skewed and the traces were made thinner. But to do that, my original image was either taken from my blog or my Flickr page and manipulated. To make it even more obvious, I've superimposed my original image over the one from the show: So there you have it: the latest Maury McCown Ripoff. I guess it's cool to know so many people like and use my stuff. Like when we were in New York last year, driving through downtown, and I saw 7 stores using my fonts for their signs — without permission, of course. I see a lot of my stuff all over the place, but the sad truth is, there's just not a whole lot you can do about it without spending all kinds of time and money chasing people around. CDs from major labels, DVD covers, pictures...all used and used for gain because I don't have a legal department. Oh well. Now you know why I no longer post my profit works here.Some ripoffs, however, are so public and obvious, it's worth the effort. So if you're the putz from NBC that snagged my PCB image for LIFE, just send me the ID badge Damien Lewis' character, Charlie Crews, uses on the show — and I want it autographed. I'll call it even, then.You have 30 days, beginning today.You have been warned.The draft is written, but let's not go there, eh?Lastly, I want to remind the geniuses at NBC that what they had Crews put on Resse's car will do nothing — it's a blank and empty PCB. I guess we're supposed to think it's some kind of tracking device, but without components, it won't do jack. I'm also curious to see what happens to this "device" in future episodes, so let's be sure to see if they change it... Posted at 8:28am CDT | Permalink | Comments (9) Tuesday, October 7, 2008 New Music, and More New Music Tuesday, and I'm on a spree of just buying stuff to try. Here's a run-down of today's purchases...Missy Higgins: On A Clear Night The Bittersweets: Goodnight, San Francisco and The Life You Always Wanted  We shall see...••••••••I found the above artists using Pandora, by the way — a free "song discovery" service I've mentioned before, and highly recommend. If you have an iPhone or iPod that supports the iTunes App Store, you MUST get Pandora installed ASAP! My only gripe about the service is that you can only skip 6 songs per hour.••••••••I just found out that Ford Models will be using some of my edited images for 3 different magazine spreads. I really, REALLY wish I could post them here — but I can't. However, I'll let you know what magazines they will be in, in the very near future...••••••••I was bummed when No Depression magazine went out of print, but they've come back with a rapidly growing online presence. Half the music in my library is there because of the wealth of information, reviews, and articles in that magazine — and many of us are doing our part to assist with the online version of this awesome resource.I recommend all music lovers check out the site and pick up some back issues, then make a contribution to help keeps things growing. There are 3 tiers that let you become a member of the No Depression family, called the Founders Circle: a Contributor, a Benefactor, or a Revelator. Your contribution will not only help expand the online offerings, it will also give you some goodies (CDs, shirts, artwork, etc.) — and you'll even get your name dropped on their Founders Circle web page.I went full-tilt since I was (am) totally in love with the magazine, so my name will be at the top in the very near future. The coolest thing, though, is that I'll be getting 2 tickets with after-show access to a meet-and-greet with the artist of my choice at their concert. SWEET! I'll coordinate this with the No Depression staff in the coming weeks. I'll also get a painting of No Depression #33 (Lucinda Williams), which will be signed and numbered by Jon Langford. This will go great alongside my signed comic book artwork. =)Pop over to the No Depression web site and check things out!••••••••Yesterday's Terminator episode was pretty dadgum awesome in my opinion — even with all the product placement. There's a chance this may be the last season, though, which would totally stink like a monkey's butt.••••••••We got our replacement refrigerator on Sunday, and I've never loved water and ice more. Ozarka is great and all, but dadgum, it's nice to have ICE and a 'fridge that doesn't smell like a dead rat. Posted at 3:02pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (1) Wednesday, October 1, 2008 Picture Demolition I've gotten back onto my image demolition kick again, and it seems like the vast majority of clients are liking the "otherworldly" effects, too — even for portrait and posed shots. I still need to write-up my Faux Polaroid technique, but it's so good, I hate to just give it away! Since I'm still no fan of model releases, here are some other recent examples of image demo:    The first and last images use my most requested post processing methods, and they're also my favorite to apply since they're a mic of my Faux Polaroid and good ol' Cross-Processing techniques.••••••••Oh yeah — a lot of people don't know their iPhone can take screen shots of the active screen (hold the Home button while clicking the Power button). Here's a shot of my 3 main screens: Posted at 1:44pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (1) Monday, September 29, 2008 Miscellaneous Monday I have new pet-peeve that's really, really getting on my nerves — and vying for the Number One position in my list: people that use speaker phones when the dadgum handset is right in front of their face.HOLY CRAP. There's a person down the hall from me at work, and for some reason, he calls people, then leans over the phone and talks to them via the speaker. WHY OH WHY?!? Why must everyone else in the office have to hear your conversation? PICK UP THE HANDSET!That said, I don't mind speaker phones in cars as much because it really is safer to not be bothering with a cell phone while steering.••••••••Speaking of stupid things humans do, this is another one that takes the cake: smoking at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Are you people for real? So you walk out the Hospital's main entrance, you're surrounded with people hooked-up to CVCs or IVs, people hooked-up to oxygen, people in poor general health — and you light-up a cigarette right next to them?! That clicking you hear is God's finger tapping the Smite Button, you know. Thankfully, we're usually inside when one of these buffoons lights-up — but the second someone does while we're out there, there's going to be a "situation."Humans will never cease to make me feel sorry for us.••••••••Ike-Stink won over our refrigerator, so we bought a new one. :shakes fist in frustration:••••••••I wonder when our church will replace the "B" we lost in the hurricane. We've been " razospointe" for a couple of weeks now.••••••••Jenny Lewis' new album isn't as good as I hoped it would be. She should have dropped about 4 songs and released an EP instead — then she should have come to my house and put on a concert for everyone in town. Posted at 4:02pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (2) Saturday, September 27, 2008 Wow… Man, this week has flown. Updates soon... Posted at 10:10pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (0) Tuesday, September 23, 2008 Old Crow Medicine Show: Tennessee Pusher Released Just a heads-up that Old Crow Medicine Show's latest album, Tennessee Pusher, went on sale today. Get it now! Posted at 2:11pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (1) Monday, September 22, 2008 Ike Redux Our power came back on late Saturday night, and here's a little story to go with it:First off, Dad was scheduled for his 4th chemo cycle last Thursday (the 18th), and he was dreading it because he was feeling so bad, and we were 3 hours away from MD Anderson due ot the evacuation. With the previous cycles, after a few days, Dad's breathing would get worse — and even though we have oxygen, we were all concerned about him having some type of breathing issue that would require another visit to the ER — thus, us not loving the idea of being so far away from MD Anderson.So we drive to the appt, leaving Cedar Creek at around 4:00am, do the blood work, the bandage change, then finally see the Doc. After hearing from and seeing Dad, the Doc says chemo is a no-go for now because he wants to fix this breathing issue. Chemo was to be scheduled next week, which — at that point — was when we were hearing our power would be back on. If the schedules panned-out, Dad would be back home in the security of his own house and with power — and we'd only be 50 minutes from MD Anderson, not 3 hours in case of an emergency.This was a massive answer to prayer!Second, Dad's begun to experience neuropathy in his left foot, which is a potential side effect of chemo, and one that can turn out to be quite serious. It's basically nerve damage that could result in loss of feeling in an appendage. When they saw this, they immediately knew what to do (of course), which will be to lower the dose of one of the chemo drugs during the next cycle. And just to be safe, we'll be seeing a neuro-oncologist today for a complete nerve examination to ensure everything will return to normal. So, another answer to prayer regarding Dad's foot, because they seem to know exactly what's causing it — and how to fix it.Third, our main Doc called-in a favor to MD's top pulmonary Doc, and got Dad a visit with him to get an opinion on his lungs. This Doc feels 100% certain that Dad's breathing issue IS NOT asbestosis or anything new — he feels it's just inflammation from either some kind of virus or a reaction to the chemo drugs. THANK YOU, GOD! This guy thinks the main culprit is the Rituxan, and says that when normal lungs — which have near 100% capacity — get Rituxan, capacity can drop to 85%. BUT, normal lungs don't notice the drop. So you take Dad with his asbestosis scarring and a lung capacity of 45% to 50% and drop him 15% — he's going to feel it big time.So dadgummit, it looks like we know for sure what's going on — or at least that it's not his asbestosis or something new cropping up. And if this pans-out, his breathing WILL get back to where it was. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, GOD!!Lastly, I was crazy worried about us having to go home to no AC or electricity because of Dad's health. All I saw was a Pandora's box of problems waiting to jump out — but we just had to get back to LJ. So, we spent Saturday buying all kinds of stuff — and we even got a couple of window AC units to setup at Mom and Dad's so he'd be able to breath cool air. We had a game plan, I hated it, and all I did was pray and pray that God would let us go home to power. We called all day, but no answering machines ever picked up.Right before going to bed, at 10:30 Saturday night, I called Mom and Dad's house one last time for the day — and after a few rings, I heard my Mom say "This is the McCown residence, please leave a message after the beep." I called 3 times, then called our house — and our power was restored, too.This happened just minutes after I stood pleading and crying in the bathroom for God to give us power at Dad's so that he didn't have to deal with all the potential headaches, so that he could go home and relax in his own house, so that he could easily see in the dark without carrying a flashlight while trying to walk on a messed-up foot, so that Mom would have electricity while she watched my sister's baby while all of us were at work, and so on and so on. God answered in perfect timing.GOD IS GOOD.We pretty much have everything back to normal. Karen's been busting it doing 10 days worth of laundry and all that fun stuff, and we're both hoping the odor will leave our refrigerator soon so that we can restock it.••••••••I never shave on vacation, and even though our evacuation wasn't really a vacation — I still didn't shave. That said, I'm growing back the much-maligned beard my wife and Mother hate. Karen mainly hates the growing-in period since, I admit, that intermediate time looks pretty wily. But she'll get used to it eventually...••••••••For Ike catch-up, I have to build 8 io Super Distortions, 5 TUA Metalcore Distortions, 3 Peach Custom Fuzzes, and 3 PURE Boosts, and 6 Pulse Tap-Tempos. Ugh. I was able to get in touch with all the buyers and explain the situation, and all are cool with the delay. But — I have a feeling I'll be going blind right before I get carpel tunnel syndrome...Outside of this, I have to reschedule 16 photo shoots, which is going to be a massive pain on all kinds of levels. Some of the clients are wanting to take advantage of debris, though, so that should be cool — and I may have to reinstitute my Model Release so I can post some pics here (or on my Flickr page).••••••••My Taylor K-14c acoustic cussed me out up one side and down the other for not taking it with me when we evacuated. He's jealous of the Gretsch, since she's so much prettier. Guitars, no?••••••••I just found out that someone I grew up with is working on the new JJ Abrams show, Fringe. I'm already hitting her up for spoilers, but she may be the type to actually adheres to those pesky NDAs. Posted at 8:39am CDT | Permalink | Comments (1) Saturday, September 20, 2008 We Give Up We're throwing in the towel because we have to get back to work, so we're all coming home tomorrow to no power. Yay. I'm still praying that we'll get hooked-up so that Dad doesn't have to deal with no AC, lights, etc., etc., but we'll see.I have a story to tell, but no time right now — so stay tuned... Posted at 5:44pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (0) Tuesday, September 16, 2008 Still Waiting… As of 4:00pm CST, our zip code is still 84% without power. This is down from 90% at 10:00am CST today. So, that's leaving 10,296 home powerless. All over town, more and more streets are coming online, so at least there seems to be daily progress. But like everyone that's away from home, our family is growing more and more impatient — even though the blessing of actually having a home should outweigh being away from said home.Nevertheless, it's getting really tiresome for the McCowns. We've confirmed that Dad's MD Anderson appointments and treatment are still on schedule for Thursday, and he's dreading the 3 hour drive to Houston from Bastrop — and then repeating the same drive the next day, 24 hours later, for his Neulasta shot. Couple that with there being some connection between Dad's chemo rounds and his shortness of breath, and he's really dreading being so far away from the hospital — and we doubt they'll agree to hospitalize him just to be safe. So, Dad's looking forward to spending over 12 hours in transit.I really hope we get our power on, so that we can go home tomorrow. I don't care about my house or my sister's — I just want Mom and Dad to be able to get back to their environment, and have Dad closer to MD Anderson. I know that there are people in far worse situations than we are, but that doesn't mean I don't wish things were better for us. And considering Dad's condition, it wold be really, really great for us to get him back home ASAP.This sucks — and I can't wait to see how it all turns out okay, and how all of us were freaking out and worrying for no reason.If you're the praying type, feel free to send a few for Dad. Posted at 6:57pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (1) Sunday, September 14, 2008 Really Good News, In One Way A family friend and coworker got back into our hometown today, and headed out to check the McCown Family homes for us — and all is well. My parents' pool enclosure screen was torn in a couple of places, and that was all. My sister's house looked like nothing had touched it. Our house has some limbs gathered between our garage and house, and there was a shingle in the driveway — but our guy said he thinks it's from the neighbor's house.Thank the Maker!Power is still out in most of the city though, and so is the sewer. We're now praying and hoping those will get fixed ASAP so we can get Dad back home and into his own house (he's in the middle chemo treatments and not doing as well as we'd like). We also pray and hope our company gets power and internet ASAP so that we can get up and running without having to work from Bastrop. And another issue is that Dad's scheduled for his 4th chemo cycle this coming Thursday — and he has to be there. He may also have to stay overnight — so we just need some grace to let all these schedules and repairs fall into place so nothing ends up lacking.We are getting reports from the Mayor at 10am, 2pm and 6pm daily — and I'm calling our houses and business every so often to see if an answering machine will pick up. Hopefully we'll hear some great news, soon and very soon. Posted at 4:58pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (1) Saturday, September 13, 2008 Another Evacuee Update More good news: all of our homes are in great condition, supposedly, and so is our company's main office. We have some insiders that remained behind, and they reported that all seems well — so now we just have to hope some crazy leak wasn't sprung somewhere. BUT, the main thing is that we are lucky enough to have a home to go back to. I fear that some of they guys and gals I work with will not have homes, literally. That will be horrible — but at least our company is intact, so there'll be no time without pay to help them out.Intermittent power will begin to flick about the city tomorrow and Monday, and there's a good chance the city will start letting people come home. HOWEVER, full power won't come online for a week or two — and a lot of stores will NOT be open. We're playing it by ear, as we don't want to head home without full sewer, electricity, and water due to my Dad's health. We're working on a couple of leads to try and get closer to home, though.One of the local churches lost its steeple, which then fell through the stained glass of the main worship area. Hopefully there wasn't too much water damage.My cigars have been getting warmer and warmer since Friday evening. It'll stink to lose $300 worth of stogies if they all get ruined... Posted at 9:50pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (0) Hurricane Ike Update Ike has passed through my home town and its nearby cities, and we seem to have fared quite well, considering. Power went out on Friday at either 6:40pm or 8:30pm (which was before the bad weather even started). Brazosport High School's sign was torn off its brick foundation, street lights and power lines are down all around Freeport, Clute and Lake Jackson, the County Courthouse lost part of its roof (but its subroof kept it from sustaining water damage), etc.So it seems that the brunt of the damage really was sustained mostly by the coastal and inlet towns. We have no flooding in Lake Jackson or Clute, which is a relief. I only hope our windows stayed intact, and that the 4 trees in our front yard are still firmly rooted in the ground — and not in my house.So we wait some more, and hope power gets restored in our area soon — because if we don't have power, we can't run the company and get payroll for our satellite offices. That will mean we will have to stay here in Bastrop rather go back to our homes — and that totally sucks. But, at least we seem to have fared well, and that's an answer to prayer.More later... Posted at 9:05am CDT | Permalink | Comments (2) Thursday, September 11, 2008 Watching and Waiting What a load of hooey hurricanes are. Every time hurricane season rolls around, I ask myself why in Hades do I live at the Gulf Coast — the veritable Valhalla of hurricanes. Ugh.So now it looks more and more like hurricane Ike will, literally, pass right over my little home town (population 27,000 +/-). That's a nice thought. Our family left town before the mandatory evacuation was called (and that was called at 10:00pm last night) because we didn't want to get stuck in traffic with my Dad (who's undergoing chemo treatments) and baby nephew. We had smooth sailing to Bastrop, and here we site at the Hyatt Lost Pines Resort.Tomorrow we will have a hurricane party, and as my brother-in-law said, if we see Geraldo Herrera in our neighborhood, we know it's going to be bad. I hope that we don't see or hear anything bad about our wonderful little town. I can't imagine what it would be like to come home to a ruined house. My parents, sister, and I all live right around the same area (we're all within quick walking distance of one another), so I guess if our house goes, we still have 2 others — and vice versa. I guess the statistical probability of The Family losing all our homes is on our side.I had to carry a lot of work-related hardware, so all I made out with was my main Mac system, my photography gear, my brand new Gretsch, and my 88 Les Paul. This means I still have all my amps and the rest of my guitars at home, which totally sucks. But, I just had to remind myself that this is why I buy insurance, and even though it'll be a hassle, I have to risk leaving some stuff behind. I normally always bring my Taylor K-14c acoustic, but I just didn't have room. I also have a decent amount effects building inventory in my shop, but it should be okay.The other thought that totally sucks is that we have wood floors in 90% of our house, the remainder being tile. It would be pure crap to have to replace flooring — but I'd rather do that than not have a house at all.I'm also concerned with our company's office, which is a 2-story metal building in Clute, TX — just a few miles from the beach. I totally do NOT want to have to relocate or commute.And finally, I'm mildly concerned with our church — but the way it's built and how it's situated in its locale makes it pretty sturdy. We may lose our sign and lettering, and we could easily flood — but hopefully not.So now we watch and wait and pray and hope. I would hate for my Dad, in his health condition, to have to go home to a ruined — or partially ruined — home. I don't want Ike to hit our town and destroy half of it — nor do I want it to do that to any other town. So, I pray that God would somehow see fit to make the storm weak, and that He would send cool waters to the Gulf that would keep it from intensifying. I pray that Nature would take the hurricane to an unpopulated are with little industry or population mass, and as I always do in these times, I pray that death, injury, and damage would be minimal or nonexistent.There are people all over the globe in far worse situations that ours, but no one wants what we have coming. So feel free to say some prayers and send positive vibes to the Gulf Coast — because as it stand right now, a lot of us are going to need them.Oh, and if you loot my house, I'll hunt you down like the dog you are. I promise. No — seriously. Posted at 1:54pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (11) Page 1 of 7 pages 1 2 3 > Last »    Syndication: ATOM | RSS 2.0Everything contained herein is copyright © Maury McCown. 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