Monthly Archives: January 2022

All Hue lamps are bought

Almost a year has passed since I started the hunt for the Hue lamps that I wanted to buy. But now is the day when I have received all my Hue lamps. It has taken quite a bit of time to accomplish. The last two hue lamps were ordered in September, but I have just received them. They were worth the wait because I got them on sale - 33% off. Only one small detail is missing... I have to install them.

I've put up more Hue lamps since I last wrote about it. The lamp in the utility room has been installed together with a motion sensor. It's nice that the lights turn on automatically when it's dark, and I walk in the door. I have also bought a big lamp for the living room, and now it's possible to lighten up the living room. I have used it during the wintertime when I've played. So it's a success.

I still need to put up a Hue Sana lamp near my armchair. I want it to give pleasant indirect lighting when I watch TV. And, of course, I also need to put up the two lamps that I just received. One lamp is going up in the kitchen, and the other lamp is going up in my shed. I'm also looking forward to putting up a motion sensor in the shed.

My mom also has three hue lamps that I have to install. So I'm not bored. Each time I have to put up a lamp, I appreciate that my dad pushed me to buy a wire stripper last year. It has been worth it.

Two Philips Hue Aurelle lamps

Saxophone lessons

I have for some time now wanted to find a saxophone teacher. I haven't been successful in finding someone online. Last year, I noticed an ad from a music school, but I didn't have the energy to assess whether or not the concept would suit me. I'm not sure that attending a lesson each week would fit me. First of all, I don't always have the time to practice from week to week, and secondly, I get tired of too many fixed appointments during the week. This Christmas, I noticed a new ad from the same music school, and this time I grabbed the opportunity. Most of all, because I only had to commit for half a year.

I haven't met physically with my teacher because of COVID-19. As a substitution, he arranged for us to meet online. At this point, I have attended two online lessons and one physical lesson, and I'm very happy with the choice I made to sign up for the lessons.

I'm aware that I have to keep a low profile on some of my opinions. I'm a big fan of play-along sheet music, and I know that a lot of people don't share my opinion on that subject. So I'm curious about my teacher's opinion. Up until now, I sense that play-along sheet music isn't his favorite kind of music, but I also sense that he doesn't know diversity. Despite his opinion about play-along sheet music, he uses it in the lessons because he knows that I like it - kudos to him for meeting me halfway.

Before my first lesson, my teacher sent me an email asking me to tell him a little about what I wanted to work on. I talked a lot about tone quality and sound, and as a side note, I mentioned that I don't know how to improvise. He has given me advice on how I produce good-sounding altissimo notes. He also says that my sound on the saxophone is good, but he has focused on teaching me to play by ear and improvise. He has made me try different methods of improvising. I think he is figuring out how he best can teach me to improvise. So far, I'm progressing, but it is very difficult for me.

Well, I'm looking forward to evaluating my decision to get saxophone lessons. But first, I need to listen to my teacher and learn from him.

And now it's time to disassemble my Christmas tree.

Assembled artificial christmas tree
Halfway assembled christmas tree
Disassembled christmas tree

Work weekend no 1 in 2022

From a work-related viewpoint, it has been an intense beginning of 2022. The last two weeks have been exhausting and frustrating. We are working on an It-strategy for the next three to five years, and because of missing communication from management, it has created a lot of confusion and misunderstandings.

This weekend it was time to upgrade our two SAN systems. Our regular consultant comes and does all the upgrading, and it usually goes without a hitch. All servers attached to the two SANs need to be shut down, which is my job. Then our consultant upgrades out two SAN systems. The process took a lot longer than usual because we hadn't upgraded the SANs for some time because of COVID-19.

When the consultant had upgraded the two SANs, I began to start all the servers. Everything seemed to be working. I checked our mail system, SQL, our intranet, and so on, and everything was working as expected. Suddenly I noticed that all virtual systems on a Hyper-V host weren't starting, and then the problems started to appear.

The first problem I discovered was that the server had lost its Windows license. I never found out why. It took a couple of hours before I found a solution for activating the server license by telephone. Normally, I would activate the server online, but it was not possible to give the server internet access. To do that, I needed access to the firewall management server, which was inoperable because it was hosted on the problematic server.

After activating the server license, I was still unable to start the virtual systems. It was getting late, and I wanted to go home. But before I went home, I wanted to be sure that I was able to reinstall the server from home if necessary. That required a couple of trips between my office and the server room with a cable before I was sure that I could reinstall the server from home.

I got home and had something to eat before I started to debug the problem. When I went to bed, I thought the problem was with the server hardware. The next day I debugged some more, and now it looked like the problem was with the SAN. I contacted the consultant, hoping that he could help. Together we concluded that the SAN wasn't the problem either. Back to the debugging board. Finally, I found that the problem was with the SAN drive attached to the server. Or more precisely, the problem was the replication of the SAN drive between the two SAN systems. As soon as I deleted the replication everything started to work as expected.

Phew, it was a long weekend, and it was exhausting because I had to work seven days in a row. Unfortunately, my next day off isn't until Friday, so it'll be an extra looooong week.

UMBS 2022

The first virtual event of the year is over. It's the second time I attended the Ultimate Music Business Summit (UMBS). This time around, the format was different than last year. In each timeslot, there were at least two various sessions to attend. Immediately following the session, it was possible to join the presenter in a Q&A session. It was a great way to do it.

Furthermore, the event was hosted on a new platform which worked fabulously. The summit was much more rewarding this time, and I believe it was because of my state of mind. This year I was motivated to learn something.

There was a lot of great information at the summit, and there were two topics that I loved. Firstly, the fact that posting to social networks can be automatized. Secondly, you have to have a clear image of who your fans are. I'm not ready to start my own business, but I'm still playing around with the idea of creating a homepage about play-along sheet music. Even though it won't involve making money, the principles are the same. Who are your readers/visitors, how do you get more visitors, and how do I get the visitors to come back?

Of course, I think it would be great to be self-employed in the future but I have no clue of what I would be selling.

Logo from UMBS 2022

Happy New Year 2022

I read the Happy New Year post that I wrote last year, and I quickly deduced that I hadn't been to Germany to shop or started on the homepage about play-along sheet music. In other words, I haven't done any of the things that I wanted to do last year. But then what happened last year?

The year was, of course, characterized by COVID-19 and vaccinations, which is why I chose not to travel to Germany. I didn't want to risk getting sick. COVID-19 is also why I haven't attended any concerts with the big band. Moreover, the Wienerorkester was discontinued, and I'm not happy with that.

2021 has also been greatly affected by my father's death - both directly and indirectly. I have spent a lot of time mourning and doing practical things. But, my mom has also been sick from different causes since my dad's death. Both eat away at my energy to do new things.

Last year also brought changes to my workplace because my team leader retired. On that front, it will be exciting to see what will happen in 2022. Will my work tasks change, or will I have a new job? My boss doesn't want to have the responsibility as an It boss. He wants to outsource the responsibility for the physical equipment like servers, firewalls, purchases, network devices, and so on. He doesn't know exactly how or how much yet. I don't want my job tasks to be picking up the phone, calling an external partner, and telling them that it doesn't work. That is not fulfilling to me. Then I would rather look for another job.

Talking about my music playing, I have signed up for saxophone lessons during the spring. I'm very much looking forward to it. I expect to become better at expressing myself while playing. On top of that, I hope that there will be some concerts with the big band.

In 2022 I want to spend time finding inner peace again. I also want to do some of all the things that I didn't get to in 2021. I want to go shopping in Germany, and I want to build my homepage about play-along sheet music.

I wish you all a happy new year.

New Year decorations
Fireworks