New Web Site

I’ve had a heckuva good time the past couple of days building Wintellect’s new Web site in ASP.NET 2.0. (We finally had the site redesigned for a crisper, cleaner look, and we figured while we’re repaving, might as well do it in ASP.NET 2.0.) In addition, I caught a break in the rainy weather and flew my P-51 just before dark. The perfect way to end a day.

My old friend Richard Hale Shaw was in town this week. He always travels with his bass, so Thursday night we got together for some barbecue ribs and a jam session. He’s inspired me to get serious about guitar again. I played a lot in college, but college is 20+ years ago, and to say I’m rusty would be too charitable. Richard’s currently in a band named World HeadQuarters. You can check ’em out at http://www.whqband.com/WHQ/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabindex=1&tabid=102.

In college, I spent hundreds–maybe thousands–of hours dissecting rock ‘n roll songs to learn the rhythms and leads. I wore out albums by the Doobie Brothers, 38 Special, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Dire Straits, and other great guitar bands until I could play their songs note for note. It was fun but incredibly tedious, because in a fast lead, the notes blend together. Richard turned me on to a sweet tool for figuring out guitar leads: Windows Media Player. Turns out WMP 10 has an option for slowing tunes down without changing the pitch of the notes. I played a couple of fast leads at half speed and could hear every note being played. What I would have given for something like that back in college!

I came across a great new R/C crash video. The plane that got splintered was a 165-pound B-25 with a wingspan of 202 inches. That’s one huge plane. As Peter Sellers might say, however, not any more.