As my all time favorite comedian, Mitch Hedberg, once said:
“I bought a seven dollar pen because I always lose pens and I got sick of not caring.”

I have always been on the lookout for a great pen. I used to have one that I wrote scripts with (Remember the silky ink on "Karmacorp" Anne?). I even painted it to "make it my own." That company started producing shit ink replacements after a few years, so it's now rotting away. I used to love the Pilot G2, but then I found gel inks to be very inconsistent. Recently I heard about Mont Blanc pens. Supposedly they're the best ever, but cost $200. I've since seen models costing $350 and $1000!!!!

The trick is the refill, which is more like $8 (or $13 for a 2 pack). Check out this Instructable on how to alter the refill to fit the shell of a Pilot G2. A quick snip off the end, and you're G2 is a Mont Blanc.

Do it now, because they'll likely catch wind and make an impossibly weird refill cartridge.

If you love a pen, circumcise it. If it writes better, it's your forever. If it doesn't, it was never meant to be.

Two Birds, One Stone.
I have been meaning (for LONG time) to write a Power Supply tutorial for this site. I've also been meaning to start writing for Instructables. I decided to suppress both needs in one shot. Here is the result:

Hobby Electronics Power Supplies Part 1: Wall Warts - More DIY How To Projects

I recently took an interest in tracking/logging GPS data. Ultimately, I want to track where the hell my cat goes when he is out ALL night EVERY night. The devices I found were either too expensive, or required a monthly service fee to operate. My means for building such a device are very limited. I could build something basic, but it would be clunky and not very useful. Until I'm smarter/more capable, I can still have GPS fun with a free service offered by www.instamapper.com.

Designed for GPS enabled phones, you're a quick app install and a free account away from some light James Bond action.

Read after the break for more...

I got caught in a rainstorm many moons ago, during which my 1st Gen. iPod Nano started acting up. I figured it would be fine after it dried out. It turned out not to matter, because the very next day I got lucky. A generous friend, who had originally bought me the iPod as a birthday gift, got an iPhone. She offered me an extended loan of her 3rd Gen Nano, and my iPod sat on the desk for a while.

The next time I picked up my old Nano, I realized the rain had done some permanent damage. It would not hold a charge, and it took several minutes after plugging it in before it had enough life for iTunes to even recognize it. I didn't care too much. I was rocking a new 8 gig. A few months ago, I moved out of Boston, and my extended loan ended. I was iPodless.

We just finished our second record!

John and I spent the morning at Sound Mirror with Mark Donahue (Multi-Grammy nominated Mastering Engineer). As the photos show, this room is GORGEOUS! Lots of API limiters and channel strips, tons of Weiss EQ's, a pair of golden ears, and several hours later... we're done! I just need to layout the artwork and send it off to the presses.

Stay tuned.
Shawn

master 1
mastering 2

So, I have recently reconnected with my Taoist roots and begun to take a new scholarly approach to meditation and Taoism in general. In order to combine that with my great need to use my hands, I designed and made this Yin Yang table. It's for holding such various items as chimes, incense, candles, idols, desserts, and what have you. It sits before my meditation pad in a section of my room.

I think I have contracted a hippie disease.

Unfinished
Top

Another day, another 'Turd.' This film actually has a decent amount of visual trickery, but still gets the turd moniker because it was made in one day. It's all about water that just can't follow the rules like it's supposed to. Stupid water. Why can't you just be normal like the rest of your brethren? This was created for Open Screen a few months ago.

UP-UP-UPDATE!! Check THIS POST for the first of two (or more?) power supply tutorials I wrote for Instructables.

Every project needs power, and every hobbyist needs a variable bench power supply. It's a surprisingly easy item to build, either from scratch or scrap parts, and you'll get lots of mileage out of it.

I've been messing with Vimeo and my site structure to determine how best to approach this. Here's what I've got so far.

This film, Home Alone, fits in a category I call "Turds." They are films I make very quickly with no real regard for image quality. Sometimes, I do this because I'm bored, or upset at my lack of film output, or under duress to finish something because I have put it off too long.

In this piece, I was having a suprisingly hard time renting my apartment, and it was bumming me out. I figured, if the room was going to be empty, it may as well become a sound stage. Here is the result of a couple hours of shooting, and several more editing over a weekend.

In Boston, we have a thing called Open Screen. It's an open mic night for movies. I always try to make movies for it, but usually fail. One day, I got real bummed out about that. With the show that night, I quickly came up with a concept. After work at 6, I shot and edited this frantically, to submit it for the 7:30 show.