Junk mail, spam email, robocalls, and now…spam Google calendar events. I had the delightful experience of getting some of this spam about 2 weeks ago. Basically I just saw a repeating event for “Win a new iPhone” every day at 6-9pm that endlessly repeated. While this is definitely an annoying […]

Google Calendar Spam is 2019’s Junk Mail

samsung pro portrait mode with music
It’s no secret that I’m a fan of technology, and that I’ve enjoyed using my tablet as a music reader. While originally I was looking forward to the convenience of always having the music I needed at my fingertips, I didn’t anticipate one of the more unique use-cases for digital […]

Outdoors with a Tablet: Pros and Cons

purposeful-practice-mistake
While I usually fill this space with some technology news (or something depressing in the realm of security and privacy), this past week I’ve gotten a little sidetracked. It started when I started reading this article on the favorite Ars Technica video games from 1998-2008. That article led to lots […]

So I Got Sidetracked…

One of the first things I put on this site (way back in 2014) was my page on basic horn maintenance and cleaning. And in recommending it to a student, I realized that it was due for an update. So I’ve just recently overhauled almost all the text and some […]

Cleaning and Maintenance Page Updated

For software security, many people prefer open-source software. It’s usually functional and inexpensive, although it’s not always pretty. It also (generally) has a reputation for being more secure than closed-source software. But a rash of supply chain attacks have infected many popular open-source projects. Oftentimes the infected code is small […]

Open-source Dangers: Supply Chain Infection

It’s almost September, which means high school and band camps are well underway (or done). One of the hardest shifts that most brass players make is the switch between “summer chops” and “band camp chops”. Most brass players play very little from June-August. Even those that do practice usually don’t […]

Prepare for Fall Band Camp (and Auditions!)

One of the most popular ways for people to get infected by malware is through email. One of my first online jobs was working for a company that is involved in email spam filtering. I still work for that company occasionally, and while it’s true that the technology to filter […]

Understanding Email Headers

One problem that comes up a lot with students, especially younger students or when there aren’t clear short-term goals, is what to practice. When the All-State music comes out, or if there are upcoming seating auditions, then the practice plan becomes clear. But one thing that separates the average students […]

Simplify Practice Decisions: The Practice Menu