Only Four Strings To Mess Up

I just read a comment on a site about music. The content of the post was about how much the author hates the stereotypical “Christian guy with a guitar at a party”. It was an okay post, but the real gem was a comment in the ensuing discussion. It hit home and made me, a lifelong bass player, laugh out loud. I *so* relate.

I started playing bass in high school so I could play with the youth group worship band.

It’s the only instrument that you can suck at and still be allowed to play with real musicians.

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If you don’t understand it, don’t worry about it, I just need to vent.

Let’s get this out of the way first: I am *not* a programmer. I kick around in code, but the concepts of pointers and object orientation make my head spin. I want to get the basics of a language, get some libraries and code snippets and put them all together into a simple database app.

I wrote a gift list registry program for our family to use, and some other people have asked about using it. It’s not set up for multiple families, so I thought I’d try writing a new version. The first thing I thought was that I’d try something new like Ruby On Rails.

I got the latest version of Ruby and Rails and got started. Well, it turns out that 99% of the books, tutorials and sample code is written for version 1.x. I stupidly listened to the guys on the Ruby site when they said to download version 2.x. 2.x has been out for over a year and there is very little in the way of practical help. The geek-manuals (which are deliberately written so that only people who already know what they’re talking about can understand them) were useless to me (see paragraph 2). Version 2.x is incompatible with version 1.x, but only subtly so. I spent 90% of my time trying to figure out how to translate the basic “hello world” type examples from one version to the other, and trying to figure out what the error message on my screen means when (I am serious here) there are TWO google hits for this message, and both of them are to the source code for Rails. So, do I develop a site in a deprecated language and just wait for the mandatory rewrite?

Just like my multiple aborted Linux installs, I just gave up.

Fast forward six months. I want to get this program going so I decide I’ll stick with PHP. I have a passing knowledge of PHP. The original gift thing is written in PHP4, so I thought this would be the easy way to go. A bit more labour intensive perhaps, but stick with what I know.

Well. PHP5 is out, and of course you’d have to be a slobbering neanderthal to use PHP4 (at least that’s what the developers seem to imply). I try to upgrade my web host to PHP5. After all, it’s backward compatible, right?

It took 2 days to get the move from PHP4 to PHP5 to not break my existing website installs (sorry Lyndon).

That got sorted out, and now I had a shiny new piece of paper to scribble on. I started out by going to look for libraries to help me do some of the heavy lifting: user management and data presentation. I looked at bunches of user authentication scripts (sidenote: SourceForge really needs to clear out the “haven’t been developed in over 7 years” projects).

It took forever to get one to work on my shared-hosting server, because I don’t have access to the PHP directories, so I had to figure out how to manually install the package, getting all the pathing right, in a subdirectory of my site root and then get the environment to find it.

I started looking for a data presentation library, and PEAR::DataGrid seems to be an obvious choice. There are two ways to access a mysql database in PEAR, PEAR::DB or PEAR:MDB2. DB is deprecated. There are dire warnings everywhere about how it isn’t developed anymore and it has been superceded my MDB2. No one, however, has told the rest of the internet about this.

In a situation that exactly mirrors the Ruby on Rails upgrade fiasco, there are next to no practical tutorials on how to use MDB2. All of the sample code uses DB. All of the downloadable libraries and source code are for DB.

After another couple of days of whacking away at it, I actually managed to get MDB2 and PEAR::DataGrid to work together. I saw my data in a nice table. YAY!

Then I decided to try using PEAR::Pager to split it into pages.

In another wonderful example of communication, the developers are the only ones who seem to care that DB is deprecated. Try to find a good example on the net of using ONLY MDB2 to display an entire database table in PEAR::Structures_Datagrid using PEAR:Pager. (Don’t be a smartypants and post links. Yes, I know there are one or two, I found them, and they stink.)

I did get it to work. I actually got this whole silly table in a web page with 10 records per page, sortable headers and pagination links. YAY!

Then I tried to add in the authentication libraries.

Whoops. They use DB. All of them. So, I can mix and match a deprecated connection library with the “correct” one all through my app, or I can rebuild the whole app using just the deprecated connection library despite the doom and gloom warnings of the PHP developers, or I can just put a gun in my mouth and save myself the effort.

I honestly don’t think I have ever felt this completely helpless. This should be a total no-brainer application. 15 years ago I would have had it running in FoxPro in 3 hours. Now I feel like I’m fighting the tools the whole way and the tools are winning.

Bah.

Here’s how to replace a guitar string so it won’t slip and also won’t have a huge ball of extra string wrapped around the tuning peg.

I play guitar with a pretty heavy hand, so I’ve replaced an awful lot of strings. Over time, I’ve found a method that consistently works for me. I hate having 20 winds of string around the tuning pegs, but having only a few winds means that they can slip when you are getting the string up to tension. So, without further ado, How To Replace a Guitar String, as demonstrated on my Ovation 6 and 12-Strings.

First, an important basic: The tuners on the top of the headstock turn counterclockwise to tighten the string, and the tuners on the bottom wind it up clockwise. The strings all run together between the two rows of tuners. This is important. If you wind the strings the wrong way, they will have to bend around the other tuners to get where they are going, and you’ll break them easily, and have tuning problems.

(Click any image to go to a larger version)

So, lets string the guitar. First, cut off the old strings. Use wire cutters and cut them just above the bridge. Sliding the whole string out through the hole in the bridge wears things down, takes longer, and sounds terrible. If your guitar uses white plastic pins to keep the strings in the bridge, cutting the strings lets you reach into the sound hole to help remove the pins. Unwind the strings from the tuning pegs, coil them and discard them. Do that now, because if you forget you’ll poke yourself with them later.

I always start with the bass strings. Insert the string through the bridge. Pull it through gently until the ball end sits neatly. I always line up the ball ends so it looks pretty, but I’m retentive that way.

Turn the hole in the tuning peg until you can place the string straight through it. Insert the end of the string through the tuning peg and tug it straight, but not tight. Check that the ball end is still sitting properly in the bridge and that the string is sitting in the correct slot in the nut.

Trick number one: Tug the string straight, place your finger on the string at the nut, then slide your finger back to the first fret. This should pull the string back enough to give you some slack over the body.

This is just the right amount of slack to wind around the tuning peg a couple of times. Experiment, the bass strings need one fret, the higher strings sometimes need one and a half, it’s entirely up to your preferences once you see how this works. It’s important that you hold the string at the first fret during the next couple of steps to keep the string going where it’s supposed to.

Next, turn the tuning knob so that the tuning peg makes about a quarter turn, like this:

This quarter turn helps make sure you see which way to do the next step. It doesn’t work right if you wind the string the wrong way around the post.

Trick number two: The lock. It might make more sense for you to just do it and see what’s happening than it will when you read it. Bear with me, it’s quite a simple concept when you see it.

Loop the string backwards around the tuning peg and under the string. This is the OPPOSITE direction that the string winds up to be tightened. (That’s why the quarter turn helps, you can easily see which way the string winds).

Tug the string end fairly tight and bend it upwards under the string going down the fretboard. This bent-upwards piece will be held tightly in place by the string once it gets wound a little tighter, which prevents the string from slipping. Even if you only have a half turn of string around the tuning peg, it grabs itself and won’t pull out.

Still holding the string slightly taut against the fretboard, turn the tuning knob to tighten the string.

Keep tightening until it is near the correct pitch. It should look something like this:

Using your handy wire cutters, trim off the extra string as close as you can to the tuning peg. It’s okay if your wire cutters don’t have grinder marks on them like mine do.

And voila! You can see in this picture how the string grabs and holds itself.

That’s all there is to it. Lather rinse and repeat 5 more times (or 11 more times if you have a 12 string, or 3 more times if you have a bass) and you’re done!

Let me know in the comments if you’d like anything clarified.

Although our children have never had formal music lessons, we have tried hard to immerse them in quality music and an array of instruments. Though I do not play piano, I have tried to teach piano lessons, and overall I’m pleased with the results. We also do a group guitar lesson where MrPages teaches us all (although some of us are slower to absorb this information, than others!) And yet I always worry that we are not doing enough. (Isn’t that the cry of every home school mom?)

Yesterday my children performed for me a “song” they wrote and put together. I was flabbergasted and very proud; it was awesome. MrPages recorded it, cleaned it up, and now we present the LittlePages in their debut single: My Banana

My mother-in-law requested a spa towel wrap for Christmas. I was unable to find one, (why do I wait until the 23rd of December to do my Christmas shopping?) so I dug out my sewing disaster room and let my dormant creativity surface.

This is the result:

Here’s a quick, very rough tutorial.

I folded the towel as shown in my very lame quick sketch.

First I attached a 4 inch length of 3/4″ wide velcro hooks onto the left hand side of the towel, about 1/4 inch down from the edge. Then I attached a 10 inch length of 3/4″ wide loops (the soft fuzzy part) on the right hand side about 1.25 inches down from the edge.

Next I folded down the top edge of the towel about 1 1/4 inches to make a casing. Fold the towel so that the side without velcro is inside the casing. The shorter piece of Velcro (the hooks) should be on the outer side of the casing facing one side of the towel. The longer piece of Velcro (the soft loops) should be on the outside of the casing on the other side of the towel. (So when you wrap the towel around yourself, the hooks will overlap the loops.) Sew about 1 1/8 inch from the fold. You have now completed the casing and velcro closure.

Now, if possible, measure the chest of the intended wearer, under the arms and above the bust. (Since this was a gift, I had to estimate this measurement.) Cut a length of 1″ wide elastic that is about 8 inches less than the chest measurement you just took. So if my chest measurement under the arms and above the bust is 32″, I would cut the elastic 24″ long.

Thread the elastic through the casing by attaching a safety pin to one end or using a special threader designed for that purpose called a bodkin, and working the elastic through the casing. (Make sure not to pull the other end of the elastic inside the casing and lose it! Sometimes I pin the other end to the outside of the casing so this doesn’t happen.) Unfortunately I did not get a picture of this and apologize, but here is a quick elastic casing tutorial.

Now secure the end of the elastic to the end of the casing by sewing through the casing perpendicularly, catching the elastic. Repeat on the other end of the casing.

This is the closure:

And this is the back:

For decoration, I ironed on and then hand sewed an appliqué flower near the top closure. I also embroidered a monogram on the lower edge of the towel, since it was to be used at a local gym.

If you have any questions, please let me know. If you try this sewing tutorial, I would love to see your finished product. If you have suggestions for how to make it better, please let me know that as well.

We spend far too much time angsting. We often need a little bit help like this:

Advisory: YouTube is not a particularly safe place for children or adults. If you click through to the site, do so with caution, and please consider protecting your little ones and yourself with K9 Web Protection. It’s free and it works.

Sing to him! Make music to him! Tell about all his miraculous deeds! Psalms 105:2

We are a music-loving family, and the LittlePages are always clamouring to put on MediaMonkey so we can enjoy some music.

Although MrPages and I come from secular backgrounds, we have, as we have grown in our faith, moved almost entirely away from secular music. We do, however, shun a large portion of Christian contemporary music as evidence of art giving way to commercialism. (That, alas, is another post…)

I thought I might share a few of the LittlePages most popular choices of our, perhaps, lesser known worship music choices.

FretNot Gospel are a group of talented musicians who “play old-time American roots-gospel, the traditional church music from the hard days of the Emancipation on through to the Depression.” They “play anywhere for anyone the Lord Jesus Christ has called” them too! They have a great page of samples located here. If you click on the albums, you can listen to samples of almost all their work.

Seeds Family Worship CD’s are an awesome way to hide some scripture in your heart. These “children’s” CD’s are professionally done, and enjoyable for parents and children alike. MrPages, who music tastes tend to a little more heavier than my own, enjoys these CD’s immensely. (If you use Firefox, you may need to open this site in IE. Checkout this plugin to help.)

Lastly, the LittlePages love to listen to the Jost Family. This probably has something to do with hopes of creating our own little travelling-home- school-ministry-music-group, but it’s still good music with a great message. (You may need to load this in IE too!)

So go ahead:

Sing praises to the Lord, who rules in Zion! Tell the nations what he has done! Psalms 9:11

… finally having enough clamps.

Lee Valley has a sale on boxes of 10 clamps, and I broke down and bought some.

I can’t believe how much easier it is to do basic tasks when you have the equipment for it. It took me less than an hour to put this crate together, from first cut to dry glue. That would have been a multi-day job with the 2 too-small bar clamps I previously owned. This is a storage box / bench seat for the Living History weekend camp coming up. I’ll cover the nailgun holes with some putty and paint, and we’re good to go.

I thought I’d share a few places I’ve visited the last week or so.

This made me smile.

Advisory: YouTube is not a particularly safe place for children or adults. If you click through to the site, do so with caution, and please consider protecting your little ones and yourself with K9 Web Protection. It’s free and it works.

(Update: I forgot to mention that this film is clean - no real violence, no swearing, no immodesty, in fact, I can remember nothing offensive.)

MrPages and I enjoy good films. By films, I do not mean movies.

Movies are what Hollywood churns out to placate the masses and brainwash them into buying kitsch. (Okay, we do watch a few of these too…)

Films, on the other hand, are created by artists to examine life and its worth. Films are hard to come by here in North America. That’s why, over the years, we have developed a taste for films made elsewhere. You do have to be careful about foreign film as some of it can offend North American sensibilities, but in general we have found it to be charming, challenging, and worth the effort of reading subtitles. (I detest overdubbed films. There is richness is listening to the speakers’ native languages, even if I can’t understand them.)

Ostrov is a truly great film, in all senses of the word “great”.

If you are a believer in Christ, you should watch this film. If you struggle with the me-centered, blessing-expected, self-esteem-raising promises common to today’s Christianity, then you need to watch this film and see what true Christian humility can be.

Ostrov (The Island) is a Russian film about a man who commits a murder during World War II and then spends the rest of his life in a Russian Orthodox monastery trying to accept Christ’s forgiveness. Here are a group of men sincerely desiring to know and serve their God, and live and learn from one another. The results are miraculous (literally) and they challenged my faith in a way that film seldom does.

The cinematography is stunning, the characters are mesmerizing, the symbolism is rich and deep, and my weak words cannot do it any justice.

If you can find some place to rent it or if you’re willing to take the plunge and buy it, I can not recommend it strongly enough. Our own copy should arrive soon. Maybe we can loan it to you.

***
I’ve re-read and edited what I wrote, but somehow it’s not enough. I want to talk about this film, but doing so would spoil it. I want to discuss the validity of Father Anatoly’s faith walk, the way he challenges the believers around him, the fact that this Russian Orthodox monk who sits on his pile of coals is closer to God than all those around him. I want to understand his suffering, his humility, his insight and his obedience. I want to mull over how this man’s life is closer to what I think God calls us to than any character in any other film I have ever seen (except, perhaps, Babette’s Feast - another great film worthy of it’s own post)

But, just in case you might, on a long shot, get the opportunity to see this one - I’ll hold my tongue.