Cool videos of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor

Neat video showing a visual representation of the Bach’s famous organ piece.

More versions:

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We were doing some shopping for a fire pit but didn’t find one that we really liked. We decided to hold off on buying one, and then when we got home we realized we had enough bricks that we could just build our own. Our first use of it was lovely, just like sitting around a campfire.

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Let’s say, hypothetically, that you are a designer, and are working on a design comp for a Christian Science church or reading room, and you wanted a high resolution vector version of the logo to use in your mock-up so you didn’t have to chop out background garbage out of some low-resolution version of the logo you found on the web somewhere. What should you do?

In the Cross and Crown trademark licensing documentation, you will find the following instructions:

Two approvals are necessary:
(1) for your type of use (sign, etc.) and
(2) for the actual form of your use (how the sign appears).
Therefore, if you already have a sample or mock-up of the proposed use, please send it by e-mail or regular mail along with the Request Form, so both approvals can be done simultaneously. It will save you time later.

Unfortunately, they do not currently provide any links to a high-resolution version of their logo for purposes of laying out a design, which would be very helpful to all the designers out there trying to help their clients prepare a mock-up of the proposed usage.

Or do they!??

Interestingly, they do happen to include the logo in their announcement PDF about the licensing terms. If you are a designer, and are in need of a vector version of the logo, you should have no problem saving the linked PDF, opening it up in Illustrator and copying the high-resolution logo artwork contained therein for use in your comps.

Once you’ve copied it out into a new document you may need to release two clipping paths to get at the actual logo paths, which you can then change the color of as needed, resize, save as an .EPS or .PDF, place in Photoshop, etc.

You still need to get their permission to use the logo in a final production setting, but now when you submit your design mock-up at least the logo will look as crisp and correct as it can.

Popularity: 11% [?]

So the new version of WordPress is out, and it’s got over 70 new bug fixes, performance enhancements and also addresses some security issues. As always, upgrading is fairly straightforward.

Version 2.5.1 of WordPress is now available. It includes a number of bug fixes, performance enhancements, and one very important security fix. We recommend everyone update immediately, particularly if your blog has open registration. The vulnerability is not public but it will be shortly.

Read the WordPress 2.5.1 announcement | Download Latest Version Here

Popularity: 11% [?]

Rob Riggle is HILARIOUS in this clip.

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We were happy to have the Wee Trio come give a concert on April 22, 2008. It was a great success!

They performed to a packed house (standing room only) and did a great job. Their polished sound including drums, vibraphone and bass impressed everyone present.

James Westfall - Vibes
Dan Loomis - Bass
Jared Schonig - Drums

http://www.myspace.com/theweetrio

Click here to see video of the final piece they played

(Cross-posted on the Lafayette Square Christian Science Society site)

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Here are some of my favorite pictures from our trip to Mexico for Kristin’s author visit to the American School Foundation of Monterrey in Mexico. We stayed an extra two days in the beautiful mountain resort of Chipinque.

See the whole Flickr set here

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 18% [?]

We had a good trip to Monterrey, Mexico, and thankfully were able to make our connecting flights back flying standby on Northwest.

More pictures to follow. If you can’t wait, this is the Flickr set that will have all of them in it.

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Northwest pilot saves the day.

So, our flight to Monterrey, Mexico was supposed to be today. Kristin has an author school visit tomorrow morning. Got the message that our flight had been cancelled. Went to the airport, scanned passport in the machine. “You’re checking in too early for your flight, which, by the way, we’ve rescheduled for TOMORROW”.

So, Kristin’s dad being a pilot for Northwest, who just happened to be at the St. Louis airport by chance, helped us out by doing some research to help solve the problem.

Our journey so far:

1. St. Louis non-rev Northwest flight to Detroit. 2 seats available.
2. 1 seat available in Detroit flight to Houston. Did not want to split up, so declined single seat
3. Talked to 10 people about why they couldn’t re-list us on flight to Minneapolis, continuing on to Houston.
4. Finally got re-listed, got flight from Detroit to Minneapolis.
5. Flight to Houston is now delayed. We’ll be getting in around midnight.
6. Had to re-book the Continental ticket purchased earlier today from Houston to Monterrey (extra $100 charge each ticket) for tomorrow morning instead of tonight
7. Power is running out on the laptop. Gonna go charge it up and get on this flight to Houston.
8. Got some dinner, a tasty sandwich, fries, side salad. Plugged in laptop. Making Internet with the phone. Booking a hotel in Houston for approximately 6 hours of rest for $84.24.
9. Headed to the gate, to wait.
10. Made the flight to Houston. Took a cab to the EconoLodge, where it was good we had a reservation since they were full. Sleep time, then shuttle to the airport at 6:30 am.
11. Got on the 6:30 am shuttle to the airport, passed through security with no problems. Got on the plane to Monterrey, got through customs just fine. Was picked up by Fiona (Kristin’s contact) and we drove straight to the school. So in the end, only the first presentation of the day had to be rescheduled. Yay!
12. Oh yeah, it’s going to be ~38º C today here in Monterrey. That translates into right around 100º F. But it’s a dry heat, so that’s good. They’re treating us very well. So, victory, at last, despite American Airlines FAIL, which would have forced Kristin to cancel the entire day of school visit talks.
13. Here is more information about the cancellations from American Airlines that includes a link to their Customer Service email contact form if you want to request a refund.

Why, American Airlines, why the spectacular FAIL TODAY!?!?!

Some tasty coffee on our Northwest flight. Tunes of choice on the iPod right now? Gogol Bordello of course.

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Kristin has some author school visits scheduled at an international school in Monterrey, Mexico in the next couple of days. We’re leaving later this morning (Wednesday, April 9) and will be returning Monday evening (April 14).

Where is Monterrey, Mexico, you might ask?

View Larger Map

This is the hotel we’ll be staying at over the weekend. Even though it looks fun and all, and is supposed to be in the 100º F range temperature-wise, I will be working throughout the trip.

I don’t think my cell phone is going to be working, however, so email or IM is probably going to be the best way to get in touch while we’re gone.

Still to-do before I can go to bed before waking up in a couple of hours:

1. Finish preparing tax docs for the accountant
2. Prepare mileage spreadsheet for 2007 - uggh
3. Pack
4. Clean this mess up.
5. Save new voicemail greeting message explaining why I’m not picking up
6. Backup laptop (just in case)

My desk looks like this right now:

So fun. Sort of.

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