Author Archives: skipbensley

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About skipbensley

Unabashed father, AV genius, part time dark knight, foodie, amateur chef, antifascist, volunteer and rabid Boston sports fan.

Hanging out in JP

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I went out with Sharon and her friends Julie and Dean this past Friday and had an excellent time. We met up at Latino Restaurant on Centre street to eat at a place that was found on Yelp. The place was packed with people mostly locals I suspect and everything was in spanish. The waitress we had helped us out but it was touch and go for awhile. The good news is they have much of the food already prepared and you can see what it is you are ordering.

I had a steak combination plate that came with a steak, Salad rice and beans all for 10.50 which was pretty reasonable. Yelp said it got crowded which it did, and that the food was inexpensive which it was. The crowd was a bit loud but most were guys unwinding over Carona’s after a long work week.
If you can get past the noise you well receive a good dinner value with plenty of food. You can see Yelp reviews @ http://www.yelp.com/biz/latino-restaurant-jamaica-plain .
After we finished all our food we were all off to the Milky way bar and lounge. This is a old school basement bar also on Centre street with a very nice bar, pool tables, food live music and 10 lanes of yes Candlepin bowling. There was also an ethiopian band featured on this night and there was an 8.00 cover. We had a few wines at the bar after putting our names in for bowling.
We listened to a few warm up bands both were rather bad but thats ok, it was still live music. Dean said the first band was the equivalent of musical sominex or something like that. They all seemed stoned but then I was drinking wine so who knows.
Midway through the second band, a large group of people dressed in S shirts. The Bowling buzzer interrupted our listening of music and we went off to bowl Candle pins for about an hour. I had to relearn scoring Candle Pins ( I grew up on big balls) but Dean had an idea and He Sharon and Julie all did our best to have fun and not hurt ourselves or others surrounding us.
We were finishing up our one game when the Ethiopian band went on. And we danced to their funky Ska-esque beat. The band had a singer, trombone, C flat sousaphone, accordion and guitarist I think. The place was packed around the stage and everyone was grooving.
We left around 12:30am I think and headed out into the cold for home. It was the first time I had been up in JP in a long time and it was definitely worth the trip. Thanks to Julie and Dean for inviting Sharon and I. For more on Milky way lounge see their website at http://www.milkywayjp.com.
I hope to get the name of the Ethiopian band later today.

Iphone video problem solved…

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I worked with two 2nd tier Apple techs who were both very good last thursday. Steven Brown in Final Cut Pro and  Roger Johnson from iphone support. We had the problem of the iphone playing back a demos music but unable to process the dialogue my client wanted to hear also.

What we found was that a stereo mix down with two tracks of voice cancelled each other out in the itunes mixdown. Usually two tracks of audio is preferred.  We found that if you take the one channel of voice over with music it plays fine through the speaker on the iphone.

The same is true if you post a youtube video and then try and play it thru iphone also. You need to mix it down as a mono Aiff file then reimport it into your timeline. For FCP editors here are the steps. 

Here are the steps for exporting a mono audio file from stereo DV audio in Final Cut Pro.

1. Mute all audio tracks in the timeline except the tracks with the DV audio

2. Select the sequence in the Browser

3. Go to File/Export/Using QuickTime Conversion…

4. In the Save dialog change the “Format:” to AIFF and leave the “Use:” at Default

5. Click Options and confirm that the audio is 48 kHz Stereo Linear PCM in the Sound Settings dialog and click OK

6. Save the file with desired name in your desired location

7. Import the mono AIFF file into your project

8. Mute the DV audio tracks

9. Place the mono AIFF on a new audio track

10. It will now play out of left and right channels with the stereo music track and will sum to mono w/out phase cancellation.

Hope this helps others down the road. Thanks again Steven and Roger at apple.

Interesting video problem with the iphone

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I recently shot and produced a demo for a Professional Seminar speaker and then made him DVD copies etc. I also sent him an iphone version directly from Final Cut pro the editing software I use in all post production.  Funny thing is the music played all the way through but his voice was lost after it was synced to the iphone from itunes. You can hear the music thru the little speaker but not music and dialogue. If however you plug in the headphones you can hear both mixed down tracks perfectly.

I have been searching for a cure to this. The first is just up load it to youtube and play it on iphone there. The 2nd is to send the edited piece as an email file and play it off the email.
Either way you can get around the iphone import glitch and I will keep looking for the  real solve online.  I have left questions in a few forums so perhaps a RT solution will present itself.

 

Being thankful

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I am awoken today surrounded by my kids and both sadly are sick. My son CJ who is flying to Florida later today to see his grand parents is got a raging head cold full of snots and poor Sabrina my youngest cannot keep G2 and water down.

It’s hard as a parent to see your kids sick, you want the best for them and you hurt when they hurt, and I am sick because they are sick. All I can do is take care of them and comfort them and hope that they will be ok.  
I want to thank My love Sharon for being such a good soul yesterday when our plans on Valentines day went so horribly awry. I also want to thank her son Alex for being a trooper and rolling with the day. I hope you guys had fun bowling although it’s not really bowling unless it’s with the big balls.
CJ, Sabrina and I thank you both and we are all very lucky to have you both in our lives. We are very thankful.

Isn’t everyday Valentines Day?

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If you are in a meaningful relationship with someone is not everyday Valentines day? Does not the sight, sound or smell of the one you love close to you not elicit a reaction of warmth, fondness and caring. Why is it that hallmark beats us all down once a year with this mid winter obsession that saying I love you everyday to that special person means nothing unless it is also said with magnitude on February 14th.  

Why are we all acting like lemmings?  Why do we buy the cards, the roses, the chocolates? all at inflated prices on that one day? Are we helping the economy?
I read that people spend on average about 102.50 per person on gifts for Valentines day. Would investing that money not be a better idea?,  ok maybe not today but some day soon?
My daughter Sabrina made me a hand written valentine and I have it on my refrigerator. I adore it because it is simple, and written from the heart along with pictures she drew of me ( I am always round in her pictures) but the message is what counts. She has made me lots of art over the years but this one is special for valentines day… Ok I get it now,  I guess even I can learn from writing a blog.
Happy Valentines Day Everyone
Skip
PS …  Sharon I Love and adore You !

Finding your voice on the internet.

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One of the things I think a blogger needs to do when starting out is figure out what he or she is going to write about. Is it going to be personal or professional? Funny , sad , full of factoids or just ramblings and gems from the cranium.

I have been blogging for a little while, I actually had another blog I started a few years ago but that became like a personal attack on any bad customer service experience and while funny and cathartic I think blogging negatively all the time is just bad karma. So be mindful if you blog negatively, it’s ok to be honest about your experiences but then let it go.
Blogs do not have to be long, in fact  short  "snackable content"  is preferred so your message is short, and sweet and too the point.  The only other  important thing I can recommend is hitting spell check before you hit publish post.
Write about what you like about, what you know about and don’t be afraid if the blog you write isn’t perfect. It’s about what you like and want to talk about. it can be about nothing in particular.  If Seinfeld wrote a blog would it not be about nothing? Nothing can be interesting. 
 

Do you know Zoe Foods?

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A good friend from college and colleague Karen Vigurs Stack of 602 communications asked me to sit in on a brainstorming session yesterday on how we can help her friend Tori Stuart save her company Zoe Foods. Zoe Foods makes all natural, healthy heart smart products such as granola cereals and  protein and fiber bars. They are local in MA based in Needham, and have fallen on hard times in this economy.
We thought maybe we should have people who are fans and customers of Zoe foods to write blogs about the products. While I am not a customer yet, I am now a fan.

Before yesterday I knew nothing about Zoe Foods other then what I was forwarded in an email about our strategy session.  I am also have never been a fan of granola, or energy bars. They all taste well Yucky.  I eat energy bars purely out of necessity before I ride 50+ mile bike rides and on the rides themselves to keep me supplied with energy. There is nothing worse then bonking while climbing a 60 degree grade hill.
The Granola’s are all natural, heart smart, healthy and don’t taste bad either.  I have opened all three boxes ( a big no no) but I had to try them all in order tow write this blog.  My favorite is the cinnamon raisin but the Honey Almond and Cranberries and Currants versions are both tasty and now that I have opened all three boxes I will be eating them in the days to come.
The Bars are good tasting also, better then I have had recently.  There are three choices and I liked the Chocolate delight best, but Chocolate peanut butter bliss and Peanut butter paradise were also both good. I fear I may have over fibered myself but this too shall pass.
All their products have 8g of protein, 7g of fibre and Omega 3s (100%). This translates into a healthy heart, and isn’t this National Heart Month after all?  Didn’t I hear that on Oprah?
One interesting fact I learned yesterday is that if you do not fart 14 times a day you are not getting enough fiber. I am not sure how this is calculated exactly but when the numbers were presented nobody in the room refuted them.
 If you are curious about finding out more about the tasty, healthy and heart smart offerings at Zoe Foods please check out their website
I am a fan of Zoe Foods now and I plan to be a customer once the boxes I opened are finished, which won’t be that long my kids haven’t tried it yet but that might be another blog.

Riding the Bolt Bus.

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I rode the Bolt Bus to NYC and back recently and I must admit it wasn’t bad. I rode the bus lots in college and I figured I would check it out. What you get is internet access on the bus, an electric outlet in the seat in front of you and a decent value on a round trip ticket for about 30.00. The buses are new, nice and the drivers seem skilled although the driver on the way back had a near miss at 70. Not good but I was way in bac
k and could be mistaken.
I tried in vain to video chat with my friend Phil. He mentioned I was drifting on and off so trying video from the Bolt Bus internet connection proved fruitless. Their connection to satellite must be intermittent as is the wifi. Sending email is fine however.
While a good ride, I guess the one qualm I have is the lack of trays like in a plane or train to support the weight of the laptop. You will need to use your knees for your lap hence the word laptop or across ones lap.  I know it’s a pain but you can do it. A pro book 17 is perfect for this situation.
Make sure you book in advance cause Day’s do sell out on Bolt Bus.  I enjoyed my ride on the bolt and would recommend it. It reminded me of my college days and travel that was more fun and less responsible. Only in this case I saved lots of money over the Accela which is much more responsible.

Software do’s and do nots.

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First off I don’t claim to be a software guru, I am not. I am a small business owner. What I write today I do because I have had some good experiences with software and some Horrific.

First the Good News. I am now migrated off of Windows completely. This was accomplished when quick books for Mac was created and I moved all the stuff I have for records over. Sadly I have not figured if I can migrate old Windows based QB databases over but if I can I eventually will.

I have also implemented Daylite which is like a robust ACT for Mac. I hope the people at market circle will forgive me but I love this product and so far so good. It would be nice if they created a conduit to the new quick books but I understand their internal push with Billings which is their own small biz accounting software. I kicked the tires of Billings but couldn’t really figure it out in the trial time they allotted (1 week). Quick books looks familiar and works just fine.

Daylite does everything, links email, calendar contacts all in one program. I was able to figure it out in 1 week and bought it after 2. Maybe they should think about extending the trial on Billings also.

All and all from a Accounting and Contact Management perspective I am off Windows on mac and on the run that’s the good news.

Now the Bad news..

If you are thinking about getting office 2007 and implementing small business accounting 2008 or 2008. Take your notebook and throw it out a three story drop. Better yet set it afire and roast marsh mellows with your windows machine.

2008 was the year of the database disasters not once but three times my database went so horribly wrong that it took down office 2007 once on a windows machine, and again on a Boot camp partitioned hard drive on my pro book.

Try as they might this program never worked right. Let me also say that I tried loading it on a third machine, a laptop for a woman that worked for me in sales for about a month. She was never able to get it to run on Gasp (vista) either. Where do you want to go today? no where if you buy office 2007. It was awful.

Once I have made sure I have all the data I can farm off the XP think Pad that currently has office 2007 on I will delete windows 2007 banishing forever and hopefully moving on in my life.

Friends don’t let friends drive Yugo’s remember that.

Friends don’t let friends use office 2007 or Windows (gasp) Vista.

Just my two cents noting more.

Friends don’t let friends buy Microsoft office 2007.

Happy New Year

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Lots of changes, It’s a new Year. We have a new President and renewed hope I suppose that the country will turn itself around. President Obama was sworn in not once but twice and we all hope he has the answers and the wisdom to lead us out of this funk.
It would be nice if the US took the lead in something again. We used to lead the world in everything now we lead the world in deficits, bad wars, and we outsource everything we were once a leader in.
Change will not be fast or simple, but we will need it the world needs it. We need new energy, synthetic gasoline, solar power, renewed exploration of space and solving disease. We also need to stop all the wars and get our troops home.  But we also need to create a country where people can earn a living and prosper again and that will be no easy task.
I have been to quite a few networking events and I take away the same from each. Everyone is doing what they can to remain positive, but are all holding their breath at the same time.
Colleagues in the video world have mixed things to say. One may have nailed it on the head when he said get a bunch of pencils and stake out your corner.  Kids graduating college with a laptop, a mini DV cam and post production software are all calling themselves production companies these days .  People who like myself have been around are having to find new and creative ways to find our customers.
I attended a NETSEA event last night and a crowd of about 80 people showed up at the Westin in Waltham. There were a few nice people there including a fellow kindred iphone spirit who I connected with on Twitter and linked in.  
For the most part it was sales executives I think, and a few CEO’s and such. Everyone who was with the group NETSEA itself as a host was listed as a VP’s which is interesting. One staffer mentioned there are 400 VP’s working for NETSEA.
I met a few nice people from Zoom info and I told them I am waiting on their i-phone button with Xinga.  The Kindred I phone spirit was Mike Damphousse CEO from Green leads. Mike showed me a great networking tool that was already on my iphone and I wasn’t using it completely.  Thanks Mike.
I was told by a few members that the NETSEA group has its cliques, and it can be a tuff crowd to break into. This might better explain the and one guy who asked a question and then turned around and ignored my answer.  Despite this faux pa, all and all the event was a networking success and I look forward to visiting NETSEA again.
For more information about NETSEA see www.netsea.org