Things I love:

1. Logic Pro X — Logic Pro X is a music software program to produce various types of music. It has synthesizers, drum machines, and midi capability to play most instruments of the world. This program originally started in 1992 by German engineers Gerhard Lengeling and Chris Adam, and was first released on Atari! The program was eventually bought by Apple, and made way for a system that had an easier interface for users. It became the 2nd most popular production software behind Ableton Live. I started music production when I was about 15, and I always grew up with Apple products in my household. Apple has some products that come with the computer, and Garage Band was one of them. This is a good beginner music software product, but lacks a lot of the bells and whistles of other programs. I experimented with a couple of other programs in college and afterwords, but when I discovered Logic Pro X, it felt like riding a bike again because of the similarities to Garage Band and the functionality of an Apple product. I continue to use the software to this day and never get tired of learning new tricks and techniques. Here is a link to my Soundcloud if anyone cares to listen, most tracks were created with the use of Logic Pro X.

2. Bose headphones — I got my first pair of Bose headphones while working for my last company. They supplied the headphones for anyone who wanted them on the company dime. The reason for this was because of their amazing sound canceling technology. The idea of noise cancellation headphones first came from Bose’s creator, Amar Bose, in 1974 when he was on an airplane, and the sound of the engine was so loud that it prevented him from enjoying any music. He then developed the noise cancellation technology for airline pilots to prevent hearing loss, and the first release was in 1986. After the success with pilots, it became commercially available to customers soon after. I love this product for a few reasons. I have yet to find a better set of headphones for sound quality, and I use them often in my music production. Over the past year, I had 3 international trips, all more than 10 hours flight time. True to the designers vision, the noise cancellation allows the user to enjoy the music, and not the sound around them. In addition to this, their comfort over long periods is unparalleled by other brands I have tried.

3. Midi keyboard — Music production can be completely done on a laptop. Logic Pro X for example, has a keyboard “keyboard”, meaning the letters on the laptop can correspond to notes that would be on a keyboard. While I used this technology for years, I knew it was time to purchase a Midi keyboard. This opened the music up for me in a new way; not only was I able to play musics on an actual keyboard, I could more easily switch octaves and play riffs more accurately. In addition to that, the Midi keyboard has other knobs and wheels to control a variety of effects that take significantly more time to add if they were edited post recording. This frees the artist to be more in the moment when recording and capture the sound in real time.

Things I hate:

1. Mosquitos — I mean… Isn’t this at the top of everyone’s list? Mosquitos first evolved around 100 million years ago in Asia. Since then they have been on a reign of terror around the globe. Mosquitos feed on any warm blooded animals that their spear like mouth can pierce. They are vectors for multiple diseases, such as Dengue fever, Malaria, Zika, and West Nile virus. Even if you don’t get one of these deadly diseases, with every bite comes an itchy red patch where the insect sucked your blood. Mosquitos are responsible for over 1 million deaths a year. Surprisingly, it’s not actually the mosquito that kills a person, but in the case of Malaria, it’s actually a virus that lives in the mosquito’s blood. Florida is on the charge for mitigation, in a Jurassic Park level experiment. They will release 750 million genetically modified mosquitos, in which the females (the ones who carry and spread diseases like Zika) will die in the larvae stage when they mate with the native mosquitos. Hey, at least they are trying. And if it goes wrong, I am not going to Florida any time soon anyway.

1. Heat Waves — This labor day weekend, many cities in the US broke their all time high temperature records, including Los Angeles County at 121 degrees (F). In Colorado, the biggest wildfire in recorded history is currently underway, which may have contributed to Denver also breaking an all-time high temperature this weekend, at 101 degrees (F). These issues are compounded into a terrifying experience in a few ways. The wildfires contribute to the heat, and the heat causes citizens to blast their AC, which causes companies like PG&E in California to strain their outdated infrastructure. This is causing rolling black outs state wide, compromising the health of its citizens. Many times the blackouts are unannounced, causing a slew of issues. Those with medicines that need refrigeration are left without reliable medications. The elderly which are more prone to dying of heat flashes are at risk when their AC goes out. With the compounding issues of climate change, these heat waves will be more and more common. Luckily, climate change may also help Colorado in this most recent fire, as temperatures will plunge over 60 degrees in 24 hours, and will bring 14 inches to snow to some areas, hopefully reducing the fires that are devastating the area.

1. Traffic — When I lived in the SF Bay area, I foolishly accepted a job that was an hour and a half commute each way from my home to the office and back. We were required to be in the office 5 days a week, and rent was obscenely high in Redwood City where the office was located. I did this commute for a whole year and found myself, screaming, depressed, and even cried a couple of times as I was frozen in bumper to bumper traffic. Yes, I had my podcasts, music, radio, but the jarring gas, break, gas, break starts to get to you psychologically. You start to think about how many people are doing the same thing, how they can cope, solutions to the problem that will never be implemented, and it starts to drive you a little nuts. It was a major factor in me changing jobs closer to home. After working from home for months though, one can start miss a little “decompression time” that comes with a commute. I have to admit that I started to have these feelings even after my experience in the Bay Area. Now that I am in Fort Collins, I do commute about an hour to classes, but unlike the Bay Area, there is little traffic comparatively. So this time around, I really do enjoy the decompression time I get while driving… Until the snow starts!