The Rig.

I've been DJing quite a bit lately. I've been a professional DJ for 23 years, now. Certainly my longest held source of income. Before I tore my equipment down at my last gig, I decided to take a few images of my current rig:

This particular venue is quite small, but I still bring in all of the equipment, as it provides a wider range of sound. Visible in this picture are a pair of JBL 2x15 inch cabinets and some of my light show. There are also a pair of 18 inch Yamaha sub-woofers.


These days I'm running a bi-amped system. In other words, I have one amplifier dedicated to only medium and high frequency sounds which are then transmitted to the JBLs on top and another amplifier dedicated to only low frequency sounds which are transmitted to the Yamaha subs. This process is managed by a crossover unit which decides how the frequencies are distributed. Any speaker system which has a low and high component (woofers/tweeters) has the same kind of system integrated into its design. If I recall correctly, I'm pushing 750watts through the mid/highs and 1200 watts through my subs.


I've also recently acquired a new centerpiece light for my light show. Unlike my older lights, this one uses LEDs. As such, it is brighter, has no duty cycle (time limit before it overheats) and lasts practically forever.

That's my return to the blogsphere. I'll try not to be so much of a stranger.

Daily Commute

Today, I decided to chronicle my daily commute between Saegertown JSHS and Maplewood JSHS. I teach French classes at both schools. This trip is pretty mundane for me now, but at times most of these scenes have struck me as interesting. For example, when the body of water (French Creek) floods, it looks like it's about to swallow up whatever vehicle I'm operating at the time. Or, the first time I passed "Faith Builders" which appears to be a Menonite school if one may judge by the apparrel their students adorn themselves with during their physical education times. (It's pretty wild to see fit young people doing a mile run in an ankle-length dress).

The pictures in the slideshow are in the order that they appeared on my trip, beginning with the old yellow truck and ending with the Maplewood front doors.

What!? No Posts?!?

I've been a terrible blogger. No posts in almost 2 months?!? What am I thinking? I'll start it back up slow with my latest GIMP creation. Nothing that special, but I'm learning new things, which is always exciting.

French Coverage of Corruption in Pennsylvania!

Imagine my surprise today when, checking out the news in one of my favorite French news publications, I saw "En Pennsylvanie, des juges touchaient des commissions pour envoyer des jeunes en prison" More or less, this means "In Pennsylvania, judges receive kickbacks for sending youth to prison." More often than not, the news that makes it to France from my home state tends to come from the eastern half of the state.

I was surprised in a couple different ways when I read this: First, the fact that western PA was being covered by, not only an internationally respected publication, but an internationally respected French publication. Then, by the sheer callousness with which these judges scooted average kids off to boot camp. If I were these kids/their parents I'd be mighty pissed, my friends.

I think the French picked up on this because they like to catch corruption of government officials wherever it may occur. It's sort of a tradition for them.

WPA Impressions

Actually, I think the term would be WPA: Impressed. I'm sure that for many, I'm merely echoing the impressions that they've already heard/had of the little (both in stature and exposure) group The Pop Rocks a group of 11-13/14 year-olds from Harmony, PA.

I've since shown their clip to my 8th-12th grade French students as incentive to put everything they have into their projects. I am of the school of thought that individuals working together can create things that go beyond the sum of their individual experiences. It merely takes a desire to put all of your best ideas/input into whatever you are working on.

I wish I knew a little more about this group. If I find anything out I'll post it here.

They have since made a Super Bowl video based upon U2's Vertigo.

Update: Looks like they have a band Myspace Site.

Juste Comme Ça

Well, as I haven't posted in a dog's age I've decided to start writing something... anything. I've slacked a bit on my MMOing lately, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I've had more time to consume large quantities of Scotch and watch episodes of whatever series strikes my fancy in a given moment. Such as:
and. Yesterday, I truly played the child. I grabbed one of the all-time favorite sandbox games: GTA: San Andreas, and repeatedly spawned attack helicopters and VSTOL jet fighters and took out any pent-up frustrations I had with the world (which, admittedly, aren't really that many) on the poor citizens and law-enforcement officials of the fictional state of San Andreas. I slumped into a bleary eyed mess for a few hours which may have been just what I needed, because I felt great afterwards.

On Sunday, I happened upon one of the rare and fleeting opportunities to converse in one of my non-amerloque languages. More specifically, it was French. Oddly, the area of the world in which I live is remarkably devoid of francophones. But, from time-to-time, I stumble upon one and it feels a little bit more like home for a few days.

Life is good.