The Gymboss 2009 dual timer is my most recent source of consumer joy. It’s designed for use in the gym (duh), to help you keep track of intervals, rest periods, metabolic circuits, or whatever special timing your workout involves. But the dual timer function is also useful for reminding you to do other repetitive tasks. Even with the best of intentions, it can be tough to remember to do certain things regularly throughout the day. Here are some off-the-top-of-my-head examples:

Avoiding desk fatigue with scheduled mini breaks (this is a big one for me):
Timer 1: 45 minutes (work time)
Timer 2: 2-5 minutes (get up, stretch, rehab exercises)
Repeats: 2-3 (then take a proper break)

Tracking billable freelance hours:
Timer 1: 15 minutes (time spent doing billable work)
Timer 2: 15-30 seconds (short break to note down billable period on time sheet)
Repeats: 3-4 (then take a proper break before you get back to your billable work)

Guitar Practice:
Timer 1: 2 minutes (practicing a particular exercise)
Timer 2: 60 seconds (rest, stretch, setup next exercise).
Repeats: Say, 10 for a 30-minute practice session.

Kicking procrastination’s ass a la Merlin Mann’s 10+2*5 method
Timer 1: 10 minutes (doing productive work)
Timer 2: 2 minutes (dicking around as a reward for doing productive work)
Repeats: 5. Congratulations, you’ve just worked a productive 50 minutes!

The Gymboss is easy to learn to use, and offers the following useful options:

- 1 or 2 timers
- Manual or automatic repeats (either infinite or a set number of repeats)
- Alarms: High beep, Low beep, Vibrate, High beep + Vibrate, Low beep + vibrate

I bought my Gymboss solely for use in the gym a couple of months ago, and by now I don’t know how I ever managed without it. What I didn’t expect is that this clever little timer would make it so satisfying (in a geeky kind of way) to program my “intervals” for other everyday activities. When something is more fun and satisfying as opposed to just “good for you,” you’re more likely to actually do it.
And in case you’re wondering, yes, it comes in PINK.

Gymboss on Amazon (aff link)

http://www.globaldomination.se/reviews/guilt-machine-on-this-perfect-day

Just a quick public service announcement on behalf of my friend Pia Nyström (co-founder of the kickass all-female Swedish band Ice Age).

Pia has informed me that Ice Age’s former (like, waaaay former) manager is illegally selling vintage Ice Age demos in an attempt to make a few quick bucks. The illegal demos are being released on the label “Nemesis International.” According to Pia, Ice Age never signed a record contract with Nemesis or any other label, and thus nobody has the right to sell the demos except Ice Age themselves.

Pia and the rest of Ice Age don’t want to see people turning over over any hard-earned cash to this crook, so they have made their entire demo collection available for FREE DOWNLOAD on Vuze.com. Just search for the keywords ICE AGE DEMO COLLECTION, or click this handy [and updated] link here.

This is an example of the kind of slimy music management trick that I really hate hearing about.

I’ve not finalized the design yet, because I’ve had to set it up in a few spare minutes here and there while on the road for the Promo tour. It will be prettier later.

The idea of being any kind of “manager” is massively daunting, to say the least, and because I rate Arjen so highly as a person I’ll be under a lot of self-imposed pressure not to screw up! But luckily I thrive on learning new things, so I’m looking forward to the challenge.

Arjen’s previous manager, the unquenchable and extremely talented Yvette Boertje, was effectively the manager of Stream of Passion when I was in the band, so I know about the high standards people have come to expect from Arjen’s management. Here is her official statement from the Ayreon website:

“After working for Arjen for as a manager for nearly five years, I decided it was time to move on and, among other things, pursue my screenwriting career.

We’ve looked for a replacement and are happy to announce that Lori Linstruth will be taking over my tasks. She recently moved from Sweden to the Netherlands and, after a short transitional period, is now ready to take on the job! Please welcome Lori as the new personal manager, webmaster, messageboard administrator, and shopkeeper for Arjen!”

I wish Yvette the best of luck with her new adventures!

Because everything is so new for me and there is so much to do leading up to the release of 01011001, we’ll actually be making the transition gradually throughout December. But after Jan 1, 2008, the training wheels come off and I’ll have to balance on my own. EEK!

Of course all of this anxiety will (hopefully!) blow over soon. Before you know it I’ll probably be running around in cheap lounge suits, smoking a big cigar…

Beginnings
Rachel started begging her parents for a violin at the tender age of three, after having been entranced by the sight of “older girls in beautiful dresses who were playing violin at church.” But after setting bow to strings for the first time, it was no longer just about the dresses: “Initially, it was the sound of it I loved,” she says. “Its voice spoke to me as if this were preordained somehow. By age five, I knew this is what my life would be about: I was already defining myself by my instrument.”

Imagine having such clarity of purpose by the age of five!

Formative years
Rachel’s family opted to home school her, giving her enough time to do schoolwork, practice eight hours a day, and still have a social life. Her family struggled to make ends meet, but their choice to let Rachel pursue music paid off: by the time she was 14 her her violin playing was responsible for the lion’s share of the family’s income.

I was responsible for the mortgage, the utilities, the groceries, and there was so much pressure, growing up like that. … When I was 17 or 18, even if I had gotten a full scholarship, I certainly wouldn’t have been able to be in school and continue to work enough to … support the family.

Rachel first performed as a soloist at age seven, and by age 10 she had appeared with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Her teen years saw her win loads of prestigious international competitions. For example, at 17 she was the youngest person (and first American) to win a gold medal in the J.S. Bach International Competition in Leipzig, Germany in 1992. Since then she has enjoyed a successful career as a concert soloist and recording artist, playing one of the world’s most important violins, the 1742 “ex-Soldat” made by Guarneri del Gesu.

Overcoming setbacks
Rachel is also an inspiration for the way she bounced back after “the Metra incident.” As she was exiting a Metra commuter train one day in early 1995, the train’s doors closed on the strap of her violin case. Remotely controlled and lacking safety sensors, the doors remained firmly closed. Clutching her violin — a 400-year-old Amati valued at about a half-million dollars — Rachel was dragged 366 feet before she was pulled under and run over. The accident severed one leg above the knee and severely injured the other.

But did this stop her? No way. After taking two years off to recover from her injuries, Rachel successfully resumed her professional career. In 1999 she took Metra to court. Metra’s defense argued that it was her own choice to not let go of her valuable violin, so her injuries were mainly her own fault. However, the jury didn’t buy it, and awarded her $29 million in damages. (Metra subsequently changed the door mechanism on its trains and revised its conductor safety procedures.)

Recommended recordings
Rachel has recorded numerous CDs, but there are two that may be of particular interest to P.L.A.G. readers:

Stringendo: Storming the Citadel contains Rachel’s original arrangements of rock and metal classics, including Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” and Metallica’s “One.” Rachel’s notes on this recording include the following observations:

The rock world is not as far removed from the classical world as many people assume…Many rock artists were trained classically, and classical heavily influences their compositional style. Marty Friedman, Kirk Hammett, and Slash, among others, listen often to classical music. (Marty told me that his favorite instrument is the violin!)

Many metal musicians (Van Halen, Man O’War, King Diamond, Rainbow, Judas Priest, Accept, etc.) include actual classical quotes in their compositions…The harmonic influences come from sources including blues and classical, and the structures of tunes like “The Spirit of the Radio” and “One” are quite sophisticated, much more so than in a typical pop tune.

My favorite rock bands always fully express the emotions they are portraying with their music and try to share those feelings with the audience. These musicians inspire me to reach for that level of communication in my performances of classical music, with its more varied emotional palette.

Instrument of the Devil is a classical follow-up to “Stringendo,” featured a collection of diabolically dark pieces for solo violin, such as The Mephisto Waltz, The Devil’s Trill, and Danse Macabre. On her website, Rachel explains that “The album’s liner notes tell the fantastic stories behind each piece and describe the violin’s centuries-old associations with the macabre. It was said that Paganini must have sold his soul to the devil to gain the ability to play all of those fast notes. But don’t worry, I just practiced a lot!”

You can learn more about Rachel Barton Pine by visiting her website, her Myspace, and her Youtube channel. Make sure to check out the photos of Rachel and her rock idols in her photo album.

azhantae@crappymailhost.com, you need to check your spam filter. I have replied to ALL your mails, even the last totally snotty one.

Life is too short, I tell ya…

What you might not know is that the articles initiated a series of events behind the scenes here at P.L.A.G.

Not long after I’d published the articles, the artistic designer and conceptual director of Luna Guitars, Yvonne DeVilliers, got in touch with me to invite me to become a Luna artist. She generously offered to send me a Luna Andromeda Floyd Grape to try, encouraging me to send candid feedback and suggestions for any improvements I might find. [Given that I'm never short of things to say when it comes to guitars, I think she may have got more than she bargained for! ]

Of course it’s a great honor to have a company offer to send you a complementary guitar, but I want to make it clear that didn’t accept Yvonne’s kind offer just to score some new gear. Far from it. Luna’s positive and empowering message had charmed me from the beginning, but the more I learned about the company, the more confident I became that it was a company I wished to support. Had Yvonne not approached me first, I would definitely have initiated contact myself (as soon as I got up my nerve!).

A player’s relationship to her instrument is not limited to practical and technical design issues; it also involves highly personal, emotional aspects. Luna Guitars understands this, and it’s part of what makes them so refreshing. On the Luna website you won’t find long-fingernail-sporting porn stars pouting seductively with guitars that they obviously don’t have a clue about how to play, the misogynist subtext being “Guitar is a boys’ club — we only allow girls whose first priority is being attractive to men.” No no no. The Luna site offers words of affirmation and encouragement to women and men alike, wrapped in a beautiful design aesthetic inspired by flora and fauna, exotic henna patterns, mythical beasts such as the dragon and phoenix, and classic works of art.

In short, Luna Guitars is a company that walks the talk of its promotional copy, aiming to create instruments that “fire your imagination, inspire your creativity and offer you the perfect guitar for expressing that special music inside that only you can hear.” That’s a message I can stand behind, but it was some words of Yvonne’s, found on the inside cover of the Luna 2007 catalog, that really hit me:

Luna Guitars’ namesake is the moon that shines by reflecting the constant light of the sun. Like the moon, we wax and wane. Sometimes we feel bright and clear, and sometimes we find ourselves in darkness. But the source of light is always there. I encourage you to remember that always…especially in dark and challenging times.

That message profoundly resonated with me, and I decided then and there to accept their generous invitation to become a Luna artist before I’d even played one of their guitars.

It didn’t take too long before the FedEx guy rapped on my door, heralding the delivery of my new Andromeda Grape. Upon unpacking it I was surprised to see that in real life the guitar is even sleeker and more elegant than it appears in the photos. When I’d tuned up and plugged in, it played and sounded great as well.

Andromeda Grape Floyd Review

After having a few months to evaluate the Andromeda (she’s currently my main guitar) I can offer the following observations. One could of course argue that my opinion is biased, but I’ve done my best to provide a balanced and objective view of the Andromeda’s strengths as well as its weaknesses.

THINGS I LOVE

• Slim neck profile (good for my small hands)
• Excellent sustain (Much better than my HMs)
• Smooth trem action (VASTLY better than the Kahler Spyders I’m used to)
• Light weight (you can play standing up without killing your back)
• Comfortable shape
• Killer rhythm sound (note: my Andromeda is fitted with EMGs)
• Great overall sound and feel
• Attractive design: I hate to admit it because I’m normally a total form-over-function kinda girl, but I feel so much cooler playing a guitar that looks good! (HM Strats are not generally admired for their aesthetics.) I even get the warm fuzzies when I look at the Andromeda sitting on its stand.

THINGS I’D CHANGE
Here comes my “That’s nitpicking, isn’t it?” Nigel Tufnel section :

• For playing live, I would need to move the pickup selector switch to a position that is easier to access. This is something that I believe Luna plans to address on forthcoming models.
• The Andromeda is a standard 25.5″ scale length. My own preference is 25″ or even Gibson scale, to lower string tension and increase the reach available for my little girlie hands.

Admittedly, to keep the Andromeda as affordable as possible, some sacrifices have been made. For example, the trem is a licensed Floyd rather than an original. But as I see it, this is actually a good thing. The low price makes the Luna Andromeda an eminently affordable guitar for new players who have not yet discovered their own quirky preferences. If a player outgrows the stock Andromeda components — pickups, trem, etc. — they can easily change them to suit their personal preferences. The Andromeda is so affordable that those who eventually wish to switch out the components can easily do so, and have the exact components that they prefer on a neck and body that ROCK.

Final verdict: at 339 USD on Amazon, the Andromeda Floyd Grape is a bargain.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR LUNA?
Luna Guitars is a company that is extremely interested in and responsive to suggestions from their players. For example, the new line of Andromedas will feature a round of changes suggested by Luna players. There are also plans in the works for a Pro Artist line, an exciting prospect that you can bet I will monitor with great interest!

Keep your eyes open for Luna’s forthcoming “Lighten Up” campaign, which will highlight the Andromeda as well as their other electrics. Additionally, Luna will be adding many new acoustic and electric guitars for 2008, guitars that designer Yvonne assures “will carry forth the Luna vibe and commitment to creating inspired instruments that are physically comfortable, visually appealing and spiritually nourishing.”

Thanks to Yvonne and Derek and all at Luna!

Visit Luna Guitars on Myspace

If (like me) you think chain letters embody all that is repugnant about western culture, Dave’s got the perfect solution for breaking those suckers with a clear conscience. Now you can trash ‘em without worry, and merrily heave a pie in the face of any potential supernatural repercussions.

Just download, print and sign the brilliantly worded Certificate of Chain Letter Nullification (a free pdf).

It rocks so hard I can hardly stand it…

Thanks in advance!

[UPDATE: I've got it covered now, thanks to Chen's help! Turns out that Ebay and Office Depot are two really great sources.]