Fun Not Just For Drummers

You sure don't have to be a drummer to twirl your sticks. I've been playing drums for over 15 years and finally decided that I wanted to learn how to twirl my sticks. I decided this after watching a Thomas Lang video on Youtube. Just search for Thomas Lang on You Tube and you'll get a bunch of his solos. I will still post a video link that I found useful though in the next paragraph or so.

I came across a video of a young fellow who decided to study the Thomas Lang drum stick spin technique and pick it apart, piece by piece. He now has a you tube video up that explains the steps to accomplish Thomas Lang's signature drum stick spin. Give it a try if you have a few minutes:

Is Cancer in Style?

After cancer took my grandfather's life 9 years ago, It seems that every day I'm hearing of a known person either being diagnosed or dying of this disease - I'm sick of it. I always mention to friends and family that people being diagnosed with cancer is continuously increasing and, somehow, they always come up with an excuse (perhaps to narrow the conversation).

Today's cancer discovery I heard by word of mouth from a friend. MCA (Adam Yauch - founding member of the Beastie Boys) has been diagnosed with throat cancer. It sucks when this crap happens, especially to nice people. After reading this article, the video clip is at the bottom. But i'd to get back to a point I was going to make regarding cancer denial.

People will say things like "Randy..There is just seemingly more cancer because the doctors are now able to better detect it" . . .hmmm...I disagree. More "treatments" are available for cancer simply because there is more of it. The World Health Organization stated in 2003 that Global Cancer Rates could increase by 50% by 15 million by 2020. Now yes, a heck of a lot of that number is due to the smoking of cigarettes.

I know that many people have a gut feeling that Cell phone usage can lead to brain tumors: example would be Senator Edward Kennedy having a brain tumor on the same side of his head where he heavily used his cell phone.

I know that many people have a gut feeling that the ingredients in our foods can create nutritional problems for our bodies, making it easier for cancer to develop. Have you checked the ingredients on your favorite foods lately? WHY is this crap allowed into our bodies. It almost makes me think that the business don't care about your health and more about mass producing items inexpensively to make more profits off of us...nah! (sarcasm)

On a positive note, people are speaking up and fighting the corruption - well some are. An example would be people bad-mouthing High Fructose Corn Syrup. Kind of scary when the government then comes out with propaganda commercials on TV telling you that High Fructose Corn Syrup comes from corn and it's Natural - TOTAL CRAP, in my opinion. It's half man-made people. Just google something like: "High fructose corn syrup man made".. You'll get a bunch of scary results about it causing insulin resistance, etc. Here's a good rule of thumb to know what not to put into your body: "If it doesn't rot, don't eat it!".

Balistreri Vineyards - Check This Out!

While enjoying my week-long visit to Colorado, I had an opportunity that I couldn't pass up: I took a free tour of Balistreri Vineyards. Balistreri Vineyards was not just any business either. This is a business that goes every extra mile, on top of every possible effort to satisfy the customer.

My visit to Balistreri Vineyards started out with a greeting from a nice gentleman who immediately welcomed and guided us to the sampling area. The gentleman opened up DOZENS of freshly-sealed wine bottles, poured all 6 of us samples, and asked our opinion. If the wine was a dry, sweet, fruity, cherry wine, he would explain exactly how it was made, where the grapes were grown . . . everything!

I still couldn't believe this Wine company existed and that I never heard of it. This is where the greatness of the internet helps me to keep in touch with Balistreri and spread the word to you. Balistreri pretty much only sells their wines in Colorado - I'm from Michigan. I wanted to know what I could do to get some of this great Wine to my home in Michigan.

I asked the gentleman how I could order some wine and if they shipped. Yes they do, and they give a 20% discount for joining their "once a month" wine club. That's a great deal, considering this high-class Vineyard sells many of their wines for sub $20!

The next move is up to you. I figure I could spread some valuable word-of-mouth and if you're looking for some great wine at an unbeatable price, This is it.

Colorado Trip

An Update for RandomRandy.com: I went on a road trip to Colorado. From Michigan, we drove through, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and then Colorado. I will be flying home in a day's time.

I must say that Colorado is beautiful and the people in the Boulder and Golden, CO areas are really cool. If you have to ask a question, the people are patient and will usually provide you with an answer. I love small-town mentalities in larger, urban areas.

I have not left this site - it's not forgotten. 5 days has been one of the longest time-off streaks I've had with this site in the last few months. Thanks again for reading!

Randy

PCLinuxOS and the Parents - update

Image by aid85 via Flickr

My mother and father are still using PCLinuxOS as I'm typing this post. Now I'm going to answer a few questions that I have been asked by friends and other family members. I have been asked more than once, "Why would you switch an amateur to a Linux distribution?".

I can come up with an easy answer to that question. The reason I would switch an amateur computer user to a Linux distribution is because if somebody doesn't have enough knowledge to make sure that their firewall is on, virus definitions are updated, or to run spyware scans, they have no business using Windows on the Internet - it's no good. You don't have to run virus scans in Linux...really, the only way to get a virus in Linux is if you ask for it and give it permissions.

So, I drove over my parent's house today to check up on how their computer and how it is working for them. They are totally pleased and have absolutely no problems to report. When I had MS Windows running on their previous system, I would receive phone calls often, reporting that the computer is "not working" .. or .. "it shut off, froze, or Blue-Screened".

After not having any computer problems and then becoming bored, I decided to take an old Cannon Printer they had laying around and plug it in. It was an All-In-One type printer (printer scanner and card reader). After I plugged this All-in-one in, it immediately worked. Sweet. I didn't need to find the "Printer Driver CD",like trying to find a diaper for a baby in a panic.

PCLinuxOS and the Parents

Image via Wikipedia

I'm not going to make this into a dramatic story, making you read through keywords to hear my point.

My parents have dial-up internet and I had to find a linux distro that is EASY as heck (for the windows reliant people) to use to get online and serve basic functions. Being that their slogan is "Radically Simple", I decided to try PCLinuxOS.

I ran through the very-simple installer and then Rebooted the computer ..It was only like 10 minutes or so. Ta-da. All my hardware was set up, and the system booted smoothly. I then thought that I was going to run into a huge problem - the dial-up modem. Fortunately, I have a Trendnet External Serial Modem. I plugged the modem in and used the PCLinuxOS Control Center analog modem setup. It was easier than Windows! Much easier, and connected on the first try.

I think you should go to the PCLinuxOS Website and check out this gem of an OS.