Project starting ... now!

So much has been happening lately that I haven't had the time to process all of it. It seems that I have been focused on a bunch of things, but at the same time, not getting a lot done. Spinning your wheels is never a good feeling, but at least there is some small bit of forward movement.

First - the family is fine. Everyone seems to be in good working order for the most part. Mom and Dad have a cold, the Mrs. and I are tired from all the hard work we have been doing, but that is just par for the course.

I have been focused on making the recording work that I have been doing into a business. I am not ready to jump in whole hog, and quit my job and go full time with it, but I would like it to be something that eventually looks like a functioning business.

I went ahead and purchased a .com address, paid for hosting for 2 years, and am in the throes of developing the site. I would like to have it done as soon as possible, knowing full well its going to take a while to get the site up to speed. I have to make sure that whatever I put up there, is of good enough quality that I can edit simply so that I can concentrate on the actual work. I want to make sure that I create a library of representative work that shows what I can do without giving away the store. That part of the project is going to take some time, but I needed a hobby over the winter.

Here is the link to the site - www.tughillstudios.com

I have not finalized the layout at all. Quite frankly, I am not even sure that the layout I have on there now is something that I am going to keep at all. I wanted to use a blogspot-type system for the site just to have ease of updating and such. I loaded WordPress on the site and am using that system at the moment. It seems to be pretty well suited for my needs, however, I am hoping that I can make it more like blogspot, in the sense that I can manipulate it a bit more easily.

In other news, with the help of some good friends I have my entire front porch loaded with wood nearly floor to ceiling. That is about half of what I expect to use this winter. The good news is that we have easily twice what we need for the season. We try hard to have at least 2 years of wood on site just in case. So we are well ahead of the autumn workload. Of course, as the leaves fall, there is going to be ton of yard work to do, but the good news is that I am going to be able to get that done much more easily now that I have the power equipment all in working order.

I am going back out on the road today, but not until late this evening, and I will be going all night. I usually leave in the morning hours and end my day in the mid to late evening, but the load I have today is going to pickup up at 630pm. So I "start" my day then. It is a new customer, so it should be interesting getting down there and dealing with that. The good news is that I am delivering into southern Georgia almost at the border of Alabama for Wednesday mid day. So as soon as I am done with all the puttering I want to do on the computer I am going to take a quiet nap.

Hope everyone reading is well~!

Audio engineering is so much fun~!

As you all may know, I am a Huge Fan of zombie movies. I always have been. There is something exciting about the prospect of the world deteriorating into a "tribal" government, where each small group of people have to band together and survive against everyone else that makes me happy. Maybe it is because I am so upset with the way politics and government work? I am not sure.

I also am a huge fan of NPR and PRI. Intelligent talk radio in the united states is increasingly rare. Most of the talk radio shows have been shoved over to the AM band and are 90% very far right leaning political shows, or sensationalized medical and advice call in programs. I don't like those at all.

So how do these two things go together? Enter Lost Zombies:

I am a featured member of this "social network" and have been for a while. If you ever wonder what I spend my time doing when I'm not blogging or working and what-not, this is it. Lost Zombies is a social network site, but it is far more. The ownership of the site is hell bent on creating a "Community Generated Zombie Documentary". What is that you ask? We are gathering interest, material, and contributors for a feature lenght movie. We have won several awards and gained some serious interest from the film industry. Anyone who ends up contributing work that goes to the film project, will get full credit and be compensated.

So I love radio drama, and radio programs. I have a home studio and freinds who do voice acting as a hobby. I have free time on my hands.... and well... this is what comes out of that combo.


So I present to you "The Gerald Borland Show":


Find more videos like this on Lost Zombies


And of course there would not be studio work without out takes. Beware the F-word show up in this out take so parental discretion is advised!


Find more videos like this on Lost Zombies

Off To The Fair

Good Morning Everyone~!

It is that time of year again. We are off the the Great New York State Fair~! I have my new straw fedora, comfy sneakers, a pocket full of cash, and the whole family. I love the fair I took photos of it last year and they can be found in my Photos Section. The fair is great for so many reasons. People watching is always a treat. There are so many freaky people at the fair. The food is to die for. They have everything from Gyros to Deep Fried Pickles (bleah) and Spaghetti on a stick (how DO they do that?). The exhibits are really interesting every year as well.

I'll post more tomorrow after I recover! Have a great weekend!

Whew....

This weekend was a disaster for my tractor. I can't get into all the specifics because I am going to be taking some legal action against the dealership, but we can easily say that the tractor that I had is no longer a tractor but a pile of parts.

I was lucky to find a similar tractor on craigslist.com and after a lot of anger, yelling, feelings getting hurt, pain, suffering, and of course... $4,000 dollars.... we now own a much newer and perfectly running tractor.

It only took 24 hours to replace the old one, but it did take 2.5 weeks and many phone calls from the dealer for them to supposedly "find" a crack in the block after weeks of work. They deliver the tractor Wednesday, in pieces, "completely unrepairable" so they say. Funny... It went in for an oil change and a small starter issue. It started and ran, drove it up on the truck and it was fine, no oil spilling all over, or horrible noises. How odd is that? Hmmmmmm.......

I will update more after talking the the Attorney General's Office, John Deere's Corporate office, and the local news station. I am sure each of these groups will love to hear about how a local business took a running tractor from a 100% disabled veteran dying of cancer, kept it for weeks, raised the price to over twice the original cost, then, when the veteran refused to buy a new tractor, claimed that it was "totaled" and returned it weeks later, in pieces.

The good news is that I have a nicer tractor being delivered at the end of the week, in far better condition, and that I had the money to replace it. The bad news is that it was every dime I had in a slush fund, and that I am dangerously broke and in hoc to be here. Going after the dealer for the replacement cost of the tractor is the only option, so that is what I will do. Satisfaction will be mine.

In other news:


My brother is such a nice guy. He gave me a wicked nice treadmill that he no longer was able to keep in his apartment. They had not used it much, and it really has all the bells and whistles including counting calories burned, heart rate, and pulse. Total motorized system with incline... its sweet. He rented a moving van and we loaded it up and hauled it here to the house. It is now in my living room, across from the television. From now on my posts and TV watching will be sweat powered.

I do plan on going slowly, but the end result needs to be a loss of 100 pounds in just under 2 years. That is my goal, to be 100 pounds lighter in time for my daughter to be old enough to take rock climbing courses with me. She really wants to start as soon as she can, and she can't go alone. Time to get off my butt!

I have been a busy audio editor lately as well. I am actively working with my friend Phil who is warming up to start work on a full length audio book. Phil is an author with several novels published over the years. He has yet to write the big one that launches him to stardom, but quite frankly... it is only a matter of time. I am working with creating the audio versions of his books and articles to get more attention for him. It is going along nicely and as time allows, I may post examples of his work here for your enjoyment.

Dinner is almost ready and the rain just started pouring down, killing my internet connection. Figures that would be the case! I will post this as soon as my satcom signal comes back. Take care everyone, I am out Monday (as far as I know) so I will update later.

Life get's easier, but hotter!

We have had an unusual summer here in Upstate NY. It has been cool all through July and into August. We also had much more rain than we usually do which killed my garden, and made it miserable to plan vacations and such. Now that August is in full swing, the heat arrives. No one was ready for it. We were all getting used to and enjoying cool evenings and mild days, then this heat wave hits. It has been terrible the last week or so. Highs in the 9o's and humidity and heat indexes both in the 100's. I have been very good lately at avoiding the heat and dealing with it since I travel to the south every week where, as you would expect, it is brutally hot all the time. I even went out and got a straw fedora to wear in the sun (as a stereotypical fat white guy should have) and I really don't care much about what people think. The last sunburn I got on my poor shaved head, nearly turned black, and I can't let that happen again.

We had the last parade for my daughter on Saturday, and that went very well. I am glad to have gotten to know the kids and be able to be there and help them My transformation into a "bank geek" parent is complete. All I need now is the T-shirt. We are going to start working on fund raising for the Washington DC trip next year and I look forward to the fun that will bring.

I seemed to mostly resolve a spat I had with an old friend. He is going through a tough time right now that I understand all too well. It is hard dealing with issues in mid-life while the economic downturn here slaps you around. It felt good to see him again. For his privacy, I won't go into any detail, but I am glad we are talking, albeit on a sort of top level only basis. I would love to have deeper conversation at a more convenient time for both of us. I think, having gone through a similar crisis, that I might be able to offer some help, and I hope I can. It was hard when I had to go through my last crisis because I did it mostly on my own. I don't ever want to turn my back on someone going through a similar thing, unless it gets to a point where my own self preservation calls for it. No matter, I am glad we had a chance to reconnect and talk.

Yesterday my brother called me on the phone and asked from my help. I was wondering what I was going to do for the day when he calls on the phone and asks me to help him clean his carpets in his apartment. They were going to get a delivery of new furniture and need to clean everything up nice. I lugged myself down there in the heat, daughter in tow, and we steam cleaned his carpets and moved furniture around. The nice part was that after we were done, we got to steal a quick dip in the pool they have there. I was going to just bail out in the am go swimming with friends and hang out all day, but when the family calls and asks for help, we jump up and go. That is how we are. Pizza and a few laughs ensued shortly after and we were home by bedtime.

I got an email a short time ago from the boss, telling me that I do, indeed, have a load today, and my truck should be done from it's 30,000 mile service. I am glad I had taken the time to clean it through and through before the service, and now when I leave, the truck will be in great shape inside and out. That truck is my house 4 to 5 days a week, and just when you clean your house from top to bottom and everything is repaired, it feels very nice to be there when everything is done. It sure makes the trips more pleasant in a clean, well organized, and well running environment.

So, it is time to pack up and take off. Thank you all for reading again, I appreciate it.