You may be more up on newsy items than I, but just in case you're not -- I really enjoyed an article I read today. It was about a security company that has recently switched from PCs to Macs (causing quit an uproar I guess). Now farbeitfrom me to start a flame war. That's not the point here. We have 1 PC and 3 Macs at our house. I have been quite amazed though at what it has taken to keep the PC cleaned up. I've never had to work that hard with my Macs (having used them for about 13 years).

I have two teenage boys that like to surf music and gaming sites. Because of this, we have a tendency to pick up hitchhikers (well, till I figured out how to block and clean them). Both my parents own PCs and neither can figure out how to do even the most basic maintenance. That alone should be a good reason for them to just buy a Mac and be done with it. But I guess they believe that since everyone else owns a PC, they should too.

Anyway, give this installment of the Mad As Hell series a read and see what you think... I liked it. :) Especially coming from a security company ... and mirroring my experience of being a "Ma and Pa" user of the PC. They make some good points.

Sorry, but for some of us (okay, me!), TODCON '05 is still alive and well. You don't believe me? You should see my sketchbook! :-)

No, really! I'm serious.

Actually, all of the TODCON '05 CMX Suite strips you've seen so far were done on the plane during my flight home. I guess that's one advantage to being a "traditional" artist in the sense that as long as I have my sketchbook, pencils and eraser, I'm never at a lost as how to spend my time on long trips like Molly was recently asking advice for before she took her trip to Japan.

The problem for me though isn't always how to spend my time but rather will inspiration magically flow onto the white pages starring blankly back at me? Sometimes, that's the most maddening - and intimidating - part. Just starring at a blank page - or maybe a blank Fireworks canvass - and HOPING an idea will instantly spring out of your head and explode out of our finger tips or mouse. Sometimes it comes and sometimes the blank page (or electronic canvass) just laughs at you unmercifully.

Fortunately, that was NOT the case with my plane trip back home.

TODCON filled me up with so much inspiration, I found my sketchbook filling up page after page after page. So much so, I almost - almost - didn't want the plane to land. First I had Scott's cartoon, then Laurie's Zumanity, then Paul's. I even started on next week's strip - sorry Tom (LOL!). And then, of course, there was poor Ray.

For those that attended TODCON this year, you know how miserable Ray looked and felt. I know I did because I have had my share of sinus infections in the past and they are miserable, miserable things to deal with. They wipe you out just enough so you're left feeling awfully miserable but with just enough energy you think you can muster through something as important as... say, oh, running a whole darn web developing conference in the middle of the City of Sin. :-)

So now a few weeks later, I feel a little bit better (or would that be "safer"?) giving Ray something to look back on and laugh about. Ray, I know you may not have enjoyed Las Vegas as much as you might have in previous years, but I know all of us who attended TODCON this year (regardless if we were CMX Partners or not) really appreciate you being such a trooper that you were.

-Chris

Very exciting news for me personally and for the school district where I work this week. Our purchase of a license for Breeze Live and Breeze training was approved by our Board. Over the coming weeks and months I'll be heavily involved in administering accounts and training users in this great tool.

As in any large organizations shepherding the purchase through the required permissions and multitude of questions took a great deal of time and energy on my part, but it was a worthwhile endeavor for the simple fact that Breeze just works. Along the way various groups tossed out ideas for competing products and services, with the usual question being "Have you looked at this?" And yes, I did look at a number of video conferencing solutions.

I won't get into all the details here, but there are any number of companies offering services similar to what Breeze does, but there were compelling reasons to stick with the Breeze purchase. Not least of these was cost. One popular service would have cost $129,000.00 more each year than our entire purchase of Breeze for a comparable number of users and meetings.

The second reason for choosing Breeze was the impact on our network's bandwidth. With 60,000 plus computers in our school district, bandwidth is a major concern, and even though some products can deliver higher quality video and additional features, none of those solutions were able to do so without bringing our network to its knees. Not to mention the minimal impact Breeze has on the server we purchased for running the program. In a test that we did last week the server never went over 10% of its processor capacity, even with 8 simultaneous video and audio streams running.

Finally, Breeze uses the Flash player, a proven technology that, well, just works. No expensive switches to purchase and configure. No additional plug-ins for viewers to install. And once again, it just works. And that's a huge advantage over some of the other products that I've seen out there.

Total Volume

Maybe a GIG. Not too much. I download obscure stuff I can't find in stores and listen to my CD collection otherwise. People should buy more CDs. Support the artist and actually take the time to find out about the album and the artist by reading the insert in the CD. Be a fan of music and not a fairweather listener.

Last CD Bought

I bought 2 last time: K-OS - Joyful Rebellion (One of the most under rated hip-hop artists. No gangsta stuff, just intelligent hip-hop) and Mars Volta - De-loused at the Comatorium

Song Playing Right Now

Lost Souls by the Doves

Top 5 Tracks

This Time - The Verve
Everyday is Halloween - The Ministry
B'Boy Stance - K-OS
Outer Space - The Prodigy
Any old stuff from Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains

Five people I'm passing the baton to:

I don't have any friends to send this to anymore as they all got sick of me sending them cheezy baton mails all the time :(

Okay, I have a friend in my office who just turned 40 so I drew him a little B-day card with the Village People Indian (well, a slightly overweight Village People Indian - since he's of the overweight variety as well) and wrote this on the inside of the card:
If you all like song parody's, you might enjoy this. By the way, I'm not so far off from "40" myself - 2 more years to go. So you could say this will soon be MY theme song as well! :-)

############################
Sung to the tune of "YMCA":

Old Man, yeah you, the one laying on the ground...
I said, Old Man, if you had a cane you wouldn't fall down
I said Old man, that robe really looks like a tattered gown
It's not wonder why at your age you're so unhappy

Old man, don't you realize there's a place you can turn to
Especially when you're so broke and feeling all blue
Just fill out that membership card and you will find
Many, many others just like your kind...

They'll make you realize there's no more to enjoy
As they complain about no longer being a young boy

You're finally joining the A-A-R-P...
You're finally joining the A-A-R-P...

You've fallen and can't pick yourself up
And your dentures pop out during a good meal
You feel lucky if your Viagra gives you a good deal

Old man, are you listening to me sing...
I said, Old man, are your hearing aids up to speed?
I said, Yo! Old man, is that a Depends Diaper I see?
If it is, you got to know one thing...

In the old folks home, no one pees by himself
Old Man, I told you those Depends are up on the shelf
Without them, don't try to go by yourself
You need to call the A-A-R-P
So they can help you see

You're gonna need that senior discount thanks to the A-A-R-P...
Looks like you're gonna need living assistance thanks to the A-A-R-P...

############################

Whoo-hoo! I've joined "the party" - I'm so excited I feel like I'm in the "in" crowd now! And you know, this is just dying to be a CMX Suite subject matter! :-)

So, Ray has invited me to this little party. Like Pink says... "Let's get this party started!!!"

Total Volume
Funny little story about this... My wife just got me a 40GB iPod for Christmas so during the holidays, I went around my house collecting ALL of the CDs I had - no matter if I really listened to them or not. I'm talking the whole entire collection of "1970 and 1980 TV theme songs" and things like that. Thought I had a ton of music. Well, after converting them and uploading them to my iPod, I stand at a whopping 3.4 GBs!

Okay, so I have some music to go purchase...

Last CD Bought
Actually, I just bought a couple of them - remember, I have 37 GB to do something with! The two main CDs I recently bought were "The Essential Heart" and "The Best of John Denver". I also like to buy collections of songs - like top hits of the 80's and things like that. One of the main reasons why I LOVE iTunes' music store!

Song Playing Right Now
Heart's "Back in Black II"

Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me:

• "Don't stop believin'" - Journey
• "Total Eclipse of the heart" - Bonnie Tyler
• "Has anyone ever written anything for you" - Stevie Nicks
• "Shook me all night long" - AC/DC
• Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack

Five People to Whom I’m Passing the Baton
Jeff Laquement
Tony Moller
Rich Keeler
Andrew Jeffery
Paul Davis

OK, my daughter said that if I was going to name her in the revenge of the music baton, I was going to have to let her answer in my blog. So, gentle readers, here is Jenn German, my teen daughter, who has very eclectic tastes...

Here's Jenn...

Greetings. I could, as my mom said, simply put this in a reply to her music entry. However, as I consider a non-CMX partner to be unarmed and defenseless, passing on the baton to me is cheating. Therefore, I am instead hijacking her blog. Nyah!

Total Volume

I try not to look. I'm extremely paranoid about hard drive space, and I only check how much space is left in total.

Last CD Bought

Russian Favourites (a whole lot of Missourgsky, with some Borodin and similar composers thrown in

Song Playing Right Now

Nothing at the current moment, but I had "Kovanschina" by Missourgsky on my iPod a few minutes ago.

Five Songs I Listen to a Lot (at the moment)

• "At the Great Gates of Kiev" from Pictures at an Exhibition by Missourgsky
• "Kovanschina," by Missourgsky
• "Habit," by Jump, Little Children
• "Paperboy," by Mycroft Holmes
• "Mr. E's Beautiful Blues," by EELS

Five People To Whom I Am Passing this Baton

• Meredith Collier
• Danielle Trucano
• Bob Jones
• Nicole Harris
• Jana Piotrowsky

OK, I am gonna get Tom Muck for this--passing me the music baton LOL. Or perhaps you, my gentle readers, should. I know what you're thinking: "Oh, no! That ranting classical music person again. Not her!"

Total Volume

Zero when I am working. Here's my little secret: I can't listen to music when I am working because soon I am NOT working. Music is a snake charmer and it makes me want to get up and dance. I do have a Bose Wave radio with CD player in my work area, but that is silent during the day unless there is a big, breaking news story.

In the car is a completely different story. I spend hours a week in my car. I turn the volume up loud. In fact, we're in the market for a new car, and we're looking at one with an upgraded sound system. I could care less what color, make, or model the car is. I will even live without air conditioning and heat--but I can't live without a CD player and great sound system. What do I listen to there? I toggle between WBJC and WGMS, our two remaining local classical music stations, and my CD player. I just bought Benjamin Britten's Simple Symphony from the Apple Music Store, and have been wearing a groove in that of late.

Oh, wait. You mean my HD volume LOL? Very little. I burn my tunes to CDs with my SuperDrive.

Last CD Bought

The above mentioned Benjamin Britten Simple Symphony

Song Playing Right Now

None, but like Tom, I am listening in my head--and it's the fourth movement of the Simple Symphony.

Five Songs I Listen to a Lot (at the moment)

• Shostakovich Piano Trio in e minor
• Hindemith Four Temperments
• Benjamin Britten Simple Symphony
• Camille Saint-Saens Samson and Deliah
• Prokofiev Second Violin Concerto

Five People To Whom I Am Passing this Baton

• Jenn German
• Rebekah Herbold
• Elizabeth Bateman
• Laurie Casolino
• John Gallant

Damn baton! stupid idea :~)

I've been batonised at least three times today, so decided to give in and blog it...

Total Volume

I have no idea how much I have on my machine, not much for sure. I tend to be a CD buyer.

Last CD Bought

Le Roi EstMort, Vive Le Roi! by Enigma

Translates to the "The King is dead, long live the King!" should you be at all interested. Sort of trance electronic music, nice to chill out to.

Song Playing Right Now

Heroin - Lou Reed from the live Rock'n'Roll Animal, album, cool song gets up and bites your ass!

Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me:

All the songs that mean a lot to me are the ones I listened to when I was a kid.

• Heroin - Lou Reed
• Led Zeppelin - Stairway to Heaven
• Mountain - Nantucket Sleigh Ride
• Hendrix - Machine Gun
• Steppenwolf - Born to be wild

Five People to Whom I’m Passing the Baton

1. Holly Bergevin
2. Brian Edgin
3. Danilo Celic
4. Derrick Ypenburg
5. Joel Martinez

Dragged kicking and screaming into blogging conformity... I suppose I have to respond to Tom's passing of the musical baton.

Total Volume

I have no idea. I guess my Rio has about 12 gb on it, but that is mostly from rips of my CD collection. I do not download music... the quality is just not there for the money. I use Rhapsody almost constantly during the day at my office. I imagine their volume is pretty big.

 Last CD Bought

Victor Wooten: Soul Circus - I love Victor. He is truly one of the greatest musicians around and a terrific guy. This album is not my favorite. It contains some great playing that is, unfortunately, mixed in with lyrics that are not up to par with the music itself. Vic's political views can shine through with a flavor of racial angst that rings just a little hollow to me. But he is really an amazing bass player and a loving guy. Check out any of the Bela Fleck and the Flecktones stuff or his album A Show of Hands (ALL bass... no other insturments... amazing).

 Song Playing Right Now

Nickel Creek: Beauty and the Mess

 Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me:

I typically listen to albums (CDs for the young), not just songs. Here are my top five albums (recently)...

• Rush - Vapor Trails
• Nickel Creek - This Side
• Bela Fleck and the Flecktones - Left of Cool
• Victor Wooten - A Show of Hands
• Steve Morse Band - Southern Steel
  

 Five People to Whom I’m Passing the Baton

• Danny Patterson
• Danny Kastner
• Paul Newman
• Chris Flick
• Heidi Bautista

Bill passed me the musical baton (from Stephanie originally), so I'll play along.

Total volume

0, zip, nada. I don't generally mix the computer with music, and don't have an iPod. In fact, my office machine doesn't even have sound. I've been to iTunes and they don't have much that I would be interested in. They seem to only have a few things. I buy CDs. . .lots of them. I don't know how many, but when I like a group or artist I usually get everything they have, including bootlegs, live albums, and re-issues. If there is an artist I like, like Little Walter, I hunt down every song they've appeared on and track down out-of-print albums and CDs on Ebay and other online music stores. My favorite company is Document Records, because they reissue all the old blues 78s on CD in their "Complete recorded works" series. At home I usually throw an old album on the turntable in my office.

Last CD Bought

Judas Priest: Angel of Retribution. Judas Priest is back together with Rob Halford after many many years apart and the album is great. Not quite up to the old classic albums that always had memorable songs that became instant barroom classics, but still a solid album.

Song Playing Right Now

None on my computer. In my head, the Roy Orbison tune sung by Carrie Underwood last night on American Idol.

Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me:

I don't generally listen to songs individually unless I listen to the whole CD/album, but here are 5 recent well-played songs (with listen-links, if you're interested):

• Never in My Life - Mountain
• On the Road Again - Canned Heat
• My Fault - Muddy Waters (w/Little Walter)
• Killing Floor - Howlin' Wolf
• Beatin' Around the Bush - AC/DC

Five People to Whom I’m Passing the Baton

• Ray West
• Kim Cavanaugh
• Sheri German
• Big John
• Tom Green

Sorry guys. ;-)

In response to Stephanie Sullivan's hit-and-run... um, I mean Musical Baton, here are my answers to the Magical Musical Baton questions.

Total Volume:
5.48 gigs. No filler. Just a bunch of great music.

Last CD Bought

Eric Clapton's "From the Cradle." Yes, I know it came out a few years back, but I don't by CDs very often. Actually, my last musical purchase was a record (yes vinyl- you remember those big, black, flexible things?) by Sweet that I found in a flea market in Memphis.

Song Playing Right Now

Elvis Costello's "Beyond Belief." It's a good bet that you'll hear Elvis playing a couple times a week in my office. OK, maybe more than a couple times a week, but who's counting?

Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me:

That's awfully personal, and I'll thank you to butt out of my affairs. Alright, I'll bite.

• Oliver's Army - Elvis Costello
• Down to the River to Pray - O Brother soundtrack (no religious reasons. I just dig the harmony)
• The Way - Fastball (My buddy Tony's in the band. Gotta support my homies)
• Melody Lee - The Damned
• Hellhound on my Trail - Robert Johnson

Five People to Whom I’m Passing the Baton

• Angela Buraglia
• Dan Short
• Tom Muck
• Danilo Celic
• Adrian Senior

Well, I'm not much for personal blogging, but when Mark Wubben passed me the musical baton, I simply had to play along. After all, it's a quick and simple one and it's been awfully fun reading other people's musical selections. So here are my answers to the meme.

Total Volume

10.76GB

Last CD Bought

I'm an iTunes queen, so I usually buy singles instead of CDs. However, for Mother's Day, my boys got me Franz Ferdinand (the one with the bonus disc) and I've been enjoying that.

Song Playing Right Now

Right now, it's "Lopsided" by At The Drive In. But when Mark's email came in, it was "Shopping for Blood" by Franz Ferdinand.

Five songs I listen to a lot, or that mean a lot to me:

This is difficult since I have a pretty big list in iTunes that is usually set to random. And it depends on my mood. Why didn't they give us space for at least ten?

• Gravity - The Dresden Dolls
• Drive - Melissa Ferrick
• Street Spirt (Fade Out) - Radiohead
• Turn Up Turn On - Careen
• Smalltown Boy - Bronski Beat

Five People to Whom I’m Passing the Baton

Ohhh... they're probably gonna kill me, but I'm passing it to:

Robert Hoekman
Scott Fegette
Dan Mode
Gordon Mackay
Bill Horvath

I hope none of you now have two batons. Leave me a note and let me know where yours is. New musical ideas always welcome. ;)

High school was finally nearing its long, drawn out preclusion to the summer days. All through the hallways, kids were already preparing for their beach trips or their summer vacation plans with their families as they walked the hallways decked out in their Ocean Pacific attire.

Everyone could taste the sweet smell of summer - even the school administrators admitted this by relaxing the rules and letting the kids play music on their "boomboxes" around their lockers - from Journey's "Don't stop believing" to Michael Sembello's "Maniac". Oh yes. Summer was in the air. You could hear it. You could taste it. You could feel it.

But before any of that happened - before summer could OFFICIALLY begin that year - some more important things had to be answered first. Answers that couldn't be found in any text book or a final exam sheet. Answers that no school administrator, teacher or counselor could help you with. Answers that plagued you for three and a half years... Made you crazy with anticipation.

And so it was May 1983 and I found myself agreeing to something I never thought would be possible - I was about to throw caution to the wind. I was about to become a "bad boy" - a "rule breaker". I was about to laugh in the face of the dreaded "after school detention".

My "gang" - that four-man ruthless, fearless gang of Commodore 64 game playing, comic book reading, animation fan geeks - were about to do something really crazy, really outrageous. The plan was brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. How could it possibly fail? And yet, it was so simple... So, so simple, you had to laugh at how easy it was all going to be. Skip the last class of the day, get into our gang leader's car before anyone noticed we were gone, head to the local mall and be one of the first in line to see the...MOST ANTICIPATED MOVIE OF ALL TIME...

Return of the Jedi.

And so we skipped our last class of the day - PE - and headed to the mall. Oh yes, our plan was brilliant. Skip the last day of class so we could be one of the first in line to see what would become of the dreaded Empire or the Rebels... What of Han? Surely he couldn't die, could he? Would Chewie and Lando be able to save him? Would Luke ever finish his Jedi training with Yoda as he promised? But more importantly... The question EVERYONE had been asking, speculating, even arguing about... Was Vader REALLY Luke's father???

Those were the questions we asked ourselves all the way to the mall - even as we laughed at the poor, poor pitiful fools who weren't as brilliant as us. Those pitiful fools who weren't brave enough to risk detention... Who were going to have to wait FOREVER to be able buy a ticket to see "Jedi".

We were still laughing even as we ealked up to the ticket booth, only to see in our horror and disgust: The 1 o'clock show - sold out. The 2 o'clock show - sold out. The 3 o'clock show... Also sold out. But the 4 o'clock show... Yeah, baby, THAT was our salvation! And so we slowly walked to the end of the line... Out of the inside of the cool, air-conditioned mall...around the corner of the Crown Bookstore where posters of the recently released hardback "Return of the Jedi" silently laughed at mocked us through the cheery glass windows.

Finally, around the three hour waiting mark, we finally stopped laughing at our so called "brilliant plan". Oh yes... We were brilliant alright. We didn't bring any reading material... Didn't even bring anything to shade ourselves from a sun that seemed to be trying to get in shape for the long, long summer ahead.

But still, after 4 and a half hours and two of us taking 20 minute "mall walking shifts", we had our tickets. We had our popcorn. And we had the thrill of hearing that heart-pounding, hair raising theme of Vader's open up the movie... Ba-ba-baba...ba..ba..ba..baba..ba...

And we were thrilled beyond belief.

That's what it was like in 1983 anticipating the opening of "Jedi". There were no multiplexes back then. The mall we went to had maybe 6 or seven screen. Three of those were reserved for Jedi and yet all the shows - all day long - were sold out hour in advance. Even a week later, I still had to wait in a 2 hour line when my brother wanted to go see Jedi.

Then last week, going to see "Sin City" with my wife, I saw that our local multiplex was advertising the fact that you could purchase your "Episode III" tickets on-line, TWO WEEKS IN ADVANCE!!! And I suddenly found myself a little sadden by the fact that as great as technology is today - as convenient as we seem to make our lives - I wonder how much "little things" we miss?

Gone are the days of sitting on the sidewalk in front of a movie theatre with a bunch of your best friends waiting multiple hours just to be able to purchase a ticket for a movie you've been waiting several years to see.

Now, if you ask me what those friends and I might have talked about during that 4 and a half hour span way back in May, 1983... honestly, I couldn't tell you. But I can tell you I look back at that whole experience - the planning, the driving, the anticipation and yes, even the sitting - was something I look back on with fond memories.

And that's just something you'll never be able to buy online or in advance.

Ever.

-Chris

Our new site search functionality went live over the weekend, but we are continually trying to improve it. Today we added an RSS feed for search results to the page, which should be extremely useful for people with RSS readers. For example, if you are interested only in flash remoting articles, you can do a search for "flash remoting", set up your RSS reader with the search results RSS link, and every time a new article or blog entry comes out, your RSS reader will pick up the change in the RSS feed.

Our RSS feed also handles categories and authors. For a full list of RSS feeds available from Community MX, check the opml page. The RSS and OPML feeds now contain some basic XSLT transformation with styles so that if you should happen to click the link you should see a readable page rather than raw XML.

We've implemented a new search mechanism at Community MX. Anyone who has used the site search in the past knows that we had three search types: a Verity full text search, a Basic search which was a keyword search of the article titles and descriptions, and an advanced search which allowed you to narrow down searches by date or content type, and also allowed a search for all words, any words, or exact phrase.

The new search mechanism goes way beyond this. Here are some of the new features:

• The Verity full-text search is now combined with the database search. In other words, when you do a search, the full content of the site is searched, and then the results are combined with a keyword search that searches the content description, keywords, reader level, author, etc from the database.
• Search results can be title/date only or full descriptions (for simple and advanced search).
• In the Advanced search, you can now filter by author, date, category, reader level.
• You can now display more than 10 records per page (up to 100).
• You can save search preferences so that every time you do a search you will have the same settings.
• You can search within results.
• You can order results by author, date, or reader level, in Basic or Advanced mode..
• The CMXtraneous blog has become a good repository for information and tips, so the site search now searches the full content of the articles within the site as well as the knowledge base and the blog.
• Popular searches are saved and the top 10 searches can be displayed.
• Search Tips page was also updated to reflect changes.

This should enhance the user experience at Community MX and allow content to be found more easily. For example, let's say you want to find all items written by Danilo that mention JavaScript. You can now type danilo javascript in the box, and all articles, blog items, and knowledge base items that mention Danilo or were written by Danilo and mention JavaScript will be returned. If you want to find all articles that mention the Holly hack, type "holly hack" (in quotes) into the box and the search will return all articles, blog items, and knowledge base items that mention Holly hack.

We hope you find the new site search functionality useful. Please try out the search and if you find any problems or have any suggestions or comments about the new search functionality, please contact us at http://www.communitymx.com/contactsearch.cfm.

I'm an Ultra-Noob when it comes to Flash. Frankly, the application overwhelms me, most likely because I overthink the process. So one thing that CMX has helped me with is to learn a bit about this program, by working with some of the cool extensions and tutorials created by our Flash Experts.

Case in point: In the past few weeks, I have had TWO requests from clients for an automated slideshow for their web sites. In the past I have built these as semi-interactive photo galleries, making use of other extensions and then hammering them into submission until the gallery fit inside the page the way I wanted. After reading Paul Newman's article on his CMX Slideshow Flash Extension I was not only intrigued, but completely hooked. I could DO this. And I did, in less than an afternoon, including image selection and batch processing.

Let me tell you, I was tickled pink that this worked. Not only did I do something in Flash, I also had an answer for two clients - which means more work and happy customers!

After my initial elation wore off, the designer part of me kicked in. I started wondering how I could jazz up the slideshow. I glanced nervously at the drawing tools in Flash, but my hand knew better. Fireworks was launching before I even thought about it. With some trial and error and patience, I was able to do just what I wanted - and - get the customized frame into Flash.

I must say, I love how I can move seamlessly from app to app in this suite of products. It makes  for a very pleasant creative experience and smooth workflow.

I only scratched the tip of the iceberg with this little project but it got me pumped. And it got me to use Flash more than - well more than I ever have. Admittedly that doesn't mean much to regular Flash users, but it has helped open my eyes to the potential of the software - and unlock some creative potential inside me.

And for those of you wondering . .  look for a tutorial mighty soon on this process of discovery.

After three years of sitting in on the Howard County Middle School Gifted Talented Orchestra, it's all over. My son joined the viola section in 6th grade, and I stayed for rehearsals partly because we live a half hour away and driving home, then back again made no sense. I also stayed, however, because I liked watching the music evolve from the first sight-read train wreck to a finished, polished gem. I liked watching the director, a master teacher who handled the children with skill and humor, mold pieces in the shortest time possible, as the bird flies. I fell into creating and managing the orchestra web site, helping with chairs, and organizing parent volunteers.

It's all over now. My son is graduating from eighth grade. He probably didn't always like having me there. I probably won't be able to sit in on the equivalent high school orchestra, Howard Regional Youth Orchestra, that he hopes to join. So it is with a great deal of melancholy that I attended the final HCMSGTO concert of the year. I sat amazed, as always, at the quality of an orchestra that auditioned and accepted only children who played at a high level because they were willing to practice diligently. Still, even among these children, few will become professional musicians. There are just too few spots for professional classical musicians, coupled with ever dwindling audiences.

Why don't young people like classical music? Or is it just that they think they don't like classical music because of all the misconceptions out there? Even those with the best of intentions write things like "to become relaxed before bed, listen to classical music." No wonder young people don't give it a chance. I don't like deadly dull, soporific music either. And classical music. is. not. dull. Nothing beats the savagery of Stravinksy's Rite of Spring cranked up loud while you're driving 70 on the Interstate. Shostakovich's Piano Trio in e minor would give any heavy metal piece a run for its money, written as it was on the theme of Jews being forced to dance before being shot by the Nazis. Or how about this? Last summer we drove through the Austrian Alps with Wagner Overtures blasting from the bus CD player. Everyone--young and old--got a rush from that. Classical music appeals to my Dionysian side, not my meek and mild side.

So how do we save Mozart? A lot rests with our music educators, many of whom are confined to teaching in janitor's closets, like our daughter's string orchestra teacher was for her first couple years of high school. Engaged in an underground movement of sorts (competing as they are for dollars that many parents would prefer to see put into sports), the dedicated music teachers of Howard County are answering the challenge. At the final orchestra concert, the superintendent of music took the mike and told the audience that Howard County had just been named one of the top school systems in the country for music.

It helps that our county is within spitting distance of Peabody Conservatory (a division of John Hopkins), and is awash with the highest quality teachers, both private and in our schools. It helps that we have educated families who recognize the value of music lessons and are willing to see that their children get them. But what will save Mozart is the dedication of our music teachers as they give time to all the extracurricular orchestras, bands, and festivals that the county hosts. Yes, most of the children in these groups will not become professionals, but they will become audiences.

And as wonderful as it is to have YoYo Ma and Joshua Bell and Wynton Marsalis, in the end only audiences - head over heels in love with the music - can save Mozart.

I really thought we were done with this. At least I thought that larger, more professional sites had changed. Browser sniffing. Locking people out of web sites due to their browser choice. What happened to presenting an unstyled page to those who choose a more current browser? What about screen readers?

Case in point -- National Geographic. As some of you know, I home school my sons. This morning, I was helping the eldest with some Grasslands research for Biology class. I Googled what appeared to be a great link. However, when I hit it, this is what I got:

Your Browser is not supported

The Following Browsers are supported:
Please download one of these free browsers and try again.

Netscape 4
Netscape 6
Internet Explorer 4
Internet Explorer 5
Internet Explorer 5.5
Internet Explorer 6

So rather than telling me my experience would be better if I were using one of these icky browsers, they choose to completely lock me out. Ahhh, but I'm one of those smart web developer types, right? So I just go to my little Web Developer's Toolbar, and I turn off JavaScript. They can't sniff without it! Now I'm all set to read. I refresh my page and voila! I have nothing. I have a completely and totally white page. Okay...

Final ditch effort. View Source. Wow -- the whole, entire, freaking page is loaded with JavaScript. There is no page without it. So they sniff and then they load. If they can't sniff, they don't load anything.

Yes, I have access to a PC. And yes, I went to the page and know that the main portion is an "interactive" map -- albeit a very slow clunky one. I wonder if they actually tested it in Moz-based browsers before they locked everyone except IE and NN out. Perhaps, they could allow the rest of the page to load? Maybe I'd like to see and use the sidebars, even if they've created something in the main area that no browser but IE and NN can handle? That would be swell.

Alrighty then, folks...

I thought I'd jot down a few random thoughts about this week's CMX Suite strip. I don't know if this will be a "regular" habit of mine, but it is something I have been thinking about doing for a while now. Consider it a bit like "Inside the Actor's Studio" only now, you are entering "inside a cartoonist's head". If ANY of you ever remember the short lived FOX TV show called "Herman's Head", you get the idea.

Anyway... as you can obviously tell, today's strip was a product of being very mesmerized by Molly Holzschlag during TODCon '05 two weeks ago. Here's a little secret I'm going to share with you all... even though I probably SHOULD have known who Molly was prior to TODCon, I didn't. Heck, I didn't even pay attention to who was presenting all the CSS stuff that was at TODCon this year - I was just determined to attend as many CSS sessions as I possibly could to see if this silly artist could FINALLY wrap his head around the bizarre universe known as "table-less designs".

Well... that's not going to happen any time soon, I can tell you that!

But still, I forged ahead and went to the first CSS session at TODCon and was immediately blown away by Molly's personality. And, as many people will tell you - including Molly herself - she has quite an overcharged personality. And as typical with a personality like that, some love it and some can't handle it. Me? For whatever reason, I've always seemed to be more comfortable around people that have a personality like Molly's. And when I find someone interesting - like I did Molly - I start drawing them. Or, at least, I start drawing a representation of them.

As all the CMX partners will tell you, none of my cartoons of them - either in their strip or on their blog pages- actually looks anything like them. That was for a very conscious decision on my part. I've done caricatures in the past - I still do caricatures as gifts or commissions - so I could have easily spent a lot of time creating caricatures of all the CMX Partners but that would have taken a tremendous amount of time to duplicate in a web comic strip form. Instead, I wanted to create more of a "representation" of that person - make them a bit more "animated-like" so to speak. That meant having to sacrifice "likeness" for "simplification".

So, what does all that have to do with Molly?

Well, when you first meet Molly, two things immediately capture your attention - her hair (her wild, crazy hair) and her eyes. So that's where my sketches started. And before long, I suddenly had what looked like a Japanese Animated looking female character - only with long, crazy, curly hair. And, when it comes to drawing women, I absolutely love drawing long, wild and crazy hair. The crazier the hair, the better.

And Molly fell right into that category!

Now, the whole part about the CSS Jedi Warrior came towards the end of the conference in a casual conversation with Stef Sullivan - one of my fellow CMX partners whom I consider to be my personal CSS hero (Shhh! Don't tell her though. Let's just keep that OUR little secret, shall we?). Let me tell you... Being in the presence of those two ladies - with their awesome CSS skills - DEFINITELY made me feel like that poor shlub of a Storm trooper Commander who stopped Obi Wan and Luke in Episode 4 asking about R2 and C3-PO...

Originally, I thought I'd sketch Stef in a Jedi outfit ala Mace Windu and maybe we'd put it on a mouse pad and sell it at CafePress since I so love to draw Stef's cartoon character in all sorts of crazy outfits... but during the flight home to Virginia, I remembered the sketch I also had of Molly - and as ANY true Star Wars fan will tell you, Jedi Knights always travel in two's. In the Star Wars Universe, one's a master while the other is the apprentice. But I wasn't thinking in those terms here. I was thinking more along the lines of Mace and Yoda - both side by side and masters in their own rights - a description that I thought fit Stef and Molly perfectly.

Besides... who could argue with two hot female Jedi Warriors kicking some serious butt and having a bunch of hapless, clueless dudes eating out of the palm of their hands????

:-)

-Chris

PS: I also don't have a CLUE who that last guy is that's in a baseball hat. I really don't. Sometimes, these characters just draw themselves.

:-)