I haven’t had sound working on my computer since this fall’s rebuild.  It took me a while for the problem to get annoying enough to deal with, but it finally did.  Actually, it was as much the fact that DH is getting fed up with Windows and AOL and how things just don’t play nice on his computer, so earlier this week he commented that he was starting to consider having me install Ubuntu Linux on HIS computer.  DH, the non-technogeek!!!

Well, he would absolutely be miserable without sound on his computer for all the sound clips and videos he finds in his ‘Net surfing, so I knew I’d better get it figured out.  Of course, as I started digging into the problem, I found out that our motherboards both have the absolute worst sound hardware to get working under Linux.  Lovely…NOT.  But I dug and dug and fiddled and fiddled and installed and uninstalled until I should have been getting SOMETHING…and then I pulled out my motherboard documentation and started reading.

Ha, I should do as I say, not as I do, myself — RTFM FIRST!   Come to find out my motherboard does NOT like unpowered speakers, and of course both sets I’d been trying (the ones embedded in my monitor and the stand-alone ones) were unpowered.  So I plugged in the spare pair of powered speakers we had lying around and after another fiddle or two, VOILA!  SOUND!  WOOT!!!

This morning I decided I’d try some music.  I tried out the default Rhythmbox Music Player first, but it kept spontaneously closing as I was using Firefox.  Luckily I had another option available, because I’d installed Amarok upon its recommendation  in one of my many RSS feeds.  I opened it up, told it where my tunes were on my hard drive, let it build its database, and for the past hour or so have been contentedly listening to Acoustic Alchemy and Gretchen Wilson.

(Now there’s an odd combination for you, true.)

HHJJ!!!!

I may be almost the last person in the world to get themselves an MP3 player, but I finally got one yesterday, a Creative Zen Xtra Nomad Jukebox.  Yes, it’s obsolete technology, but it was dirt cheap and is large enough (30GB) to hold most, if not all, of my CD collection.  I knew I didn’t need super-portable — I need something to sit beside me or in a pocket so I can listen to music with headphones while I’m grading or reading or lampworking or collaging or whatever.  It’ll also hook up to my car cassette adapter so now when I travel, I don’t have to hassle with trying to guess what CDs I’ll want to listen to on the trip.  I can just take it all with me!  Woohoo!!!

I’ve had my stereo hooked up in my studio for a couple of months, but rarely remember to turn it on before I fire up the torch. Today I remembered, and put the newest Putumayo Celtic compilation, Celtic Crossroads, in the CD player. I have a huge passion for contemporary Celtic music, and now I know it’s great music to have on when I’m making beads. A lot of it has a very hypnotic rhythm to it, which just enhances the entrancement I feel when the creation is going well. A Zen feeling with a Celtic beat, if you will!

Back to the torch — I got a box of nice new frit today from Gail Joseph, and I want to see what it does. There are at least four great frit pushers, er, suppliers out there, but Gail is probably my favorite because of both her product and her service (thanks, Gail!).