I’m beginning to give some serious thought to making a major change in my effects rack. The new rack would be built around a laptop computer (probably a Mac, but haven’t gotten that far yet in the decision making) that would be installed with recording/mixing/sequencing software and any number of a variety of plug-ins for effects. The main advantages I see at this point are (1) being able to record tracks in my own home studio and (2) being able to add effects, processors, etc. as I like onto the computer’s hard drive, without any actual physical increase in the amount and weight of the equipment I have to move around. The main disadvantage (for me) is that I just don’t know much about this area of computers and computer software yet, and still have a lot of research to do. Luckily for me, there are already some pioneers in this area among Stick players, most notably Don Schiff. You can read more about his “MacRack” on his website by clicking Musings in the main menu, and then MacRack on the left side.

I finally mailed in my absentee ballot yesterday for the 2004 U.S. general election. This is my first time to vote since 1992. I had the ballot filled out for a week before I finally mailed it. Deciding who to vote for was no problem at all for me, but I did start to get cold feet about whether I wanted to participate. In addition, considering my candidate of choice and the political leanings of the state where my ballot will be counted (Indiana), my vote for president will in effect have zero impact. (You need to understand how the U.S. Electoral College works to understand that last bit.) Having said that, however, not all hope is lost for my candidate of choice: in all of the U.S. presidential elections in which I have participated (ok, there are only two: 1988 and 1992), no one has ever won the White House without my vote.