andrew dodson

My most recent interest in web development is learning CSS.  I’ll save the details for those of you who aren’t web design savvy.  But, in short, it’s a neat little coding feature that makes site layout simple (font sizes, colors, borders, margins, etc.).

I considered purchasing CSS for Dummies, but I thought better.  I decided to google (perhaps my first-ever use of the word “google” as a verb - seriously) “CSS.”  As it turns out, I’ve found out all sorts of helpful knowledge tonight in a very short while.  All for free.

This leads me to the title of this post - “Everything I Ever Knew I Learned on the Internet.”  Despite the fair amount of trash on the web these days, there’s an equal or greater amount of educational & valuable information.  Maybe this is why I’m so fascinated with the internet.  There’s not much that you can’t find out about on the web.  I imagine this is how folks felt about cable TV when it first started.

I be smarter all cuz I got that there Interweb.

I’m truly delighted by the development of The Point’s website. While it’s still under construction and development, it’s come a long way in a short while. The great part, for me, is that I haven’t had to do a whole lot of work on the site. Rick has added most of the content, and I was pleasantly surprised to see two new photo galleries had been uploaded today by other users. It’s definitely a burden off my shoulders enabling others to maintain the site.

This leads me to an interesting point. As I take on more and more web projects, and create more and more complex sites, I like the idea of enabling the users of the site to keep it maintained. This was confirmed when I discovered the user-friendliness of iPowerweb’s web editor. It only allows you to update the content area of the page, and does not allow you to mess with the design.

I’m highly considering a switch to site design & setup only. I would be available for support issues and administrative maintenance, but I would train the users to maintain the content of the sites. Talk about a huge time-saver on my end. The more I think about it, the more I like it. Hmm….

To borrow the title of a JMB song, I’m not so easily pleased with my logo ideas for The Point. There’s a whole lot of (perhaps) over-analyzation going on in my head in regard to this logo, but I haven’t fallen in love with any of my ideas. This isn’t “just a logo.” To me, it means a whole lot more.

Last week, I installed a RAM upgrade on my iBook. I thought I noticed a slight boost in performance, but when I clicked on the trusty “About This Mac” button under the Apple menu, it told me my computer only had 256MB of RAM. It should’ve read 1.25GB of RAM.

Background info: When I purchased the iBook, I talked CompUSA into throwing in an extra 512MB upgrade. This brought my total RAM to 768MB. Not too shabby. However, I noticed sluggish performance whenever I recorded & mixed large projects like the Josh Martin Band live CD. I decided to take out the 512MB chip for a 1GB chip.

Back to today… Almost ready to give up on the eBay-purchased RAM upgrade, I decided to check my work one more time. I opened the iBook up, and discovered the RAM wasn’t completely seated in the slot correctly. I popped it in place and put the iBook back together. Booted up, and whattaya know? It tells me I have 1.25GB of RAM now.

Don’t you love happy endings?

I’m still trying to catch up from my time at Cedarmore this past weekend. Mostly, I’m working on several projects:

-Mailing out CDs of recordings
-Website for Kentucky Coed Pageant
-The Point website & logo
-Crossings “Who Am I?” logo
-general apartment stuff (cleaning, etc.)

Due to having to “move out” of Crestwood, the past few days, I’ve been a drummer without a home. One drumset is currently living in one of the JMB’s trailers in Pleasureville. My “gig” drumset is being kept in my truck as of right now. Fortunately, we haven’t experienced any truly cold weather.

My good friend Brad O. has given me a key to his basement to store my drums there and give me a space where I can practice. He’s an all-around great guy. I will owe him for this gesture.

Surprisingly, I’ve found places to store all of my recording & electronic gear here at my apartment. Also surprisingly, it hasn’t “cluttered” anything up. Everything is neatly tucked away. I will say that I am truly getting the most out of my little abode.

Everything at The Point is moving along nicely. Our first service was great and God is continuing to bless the situation, in ways that only He can. He’s pretty cool.

Technically, it’s Day #4 (12:39 a.m.).

Josh is in the drum booth (which has been converted to a guitar booth) recording his acoustic guitar tracks. “Get Up to a High Mountian” is up currently. He’s moving through the songs pretty quick, so he’ll probably wrap up pretty soon. Bert is passed out in the middle of the floor (he fell asleep listening to Josh record). Kelly is manning the recording console.

I have torn down most of my drum & recording gear. I’ll be packing up in the morning and heading to the first service at my new church, The Point.

Derek & Danny headed home a little earlier - they have an early church service in Frankfort tomorrow. Doug has also packed up and headed home.

The rest of the guys will come back after their church services to lay down vocals. From that point, we should be pretty close to finishing recording. We’ve had a great time this weekend and can’t wait to start mixing the album. We’re excited about what God has in store for this album. See you soon…

I’m done! For the most part, at least. All the drum tracks are recorded. The only other things I might add are small percussion parts. The next big part for me will be mixing the album once all the tracks are laid down.

As a band, we finished the last two songs today (”What Part of Go Don’t You Understand” and “Depths of Your Mercy”). Doug has been busy laying down his tracks in the mean time. Josh, Kelly & Derek will begin adding vocals tomorrow.

I’m going to start tearing down my gear shortly and get things packed up. I’ll be joining the rest of the praise band for the first Sunday of worship at The Point tomorrow afternoon. I’ve really enjoyed this weekend of recording. Most of all, it’s been a blast hanging around the other guys, and taking a break from the real world. It’s been great.

Day #3 of recording is underway. Our good buddy Doug has arrived and is getting set up as I type this.

We opened the morning, as we did yesterday, with a devotional by Josh and prayer. This morning’s prayer time was very encouraging.

A lot of great progress was made yesterday, and we should be in good shape to finish up the bulk of the project today. More to come…

Day #2 of recording is done here at Cedarmore. Work has been done on a total of eight songs to this point. Our good friend Doug (as heard on our live album) will join us tomorrow to lay down some tracks. He’s pretty stinkin’ good, and we can’t wait to hear what he adds to the songs.

It’s looking like we’ll be in good shape to finish up the bulk of the recording by tomorrow night. After that, we’ll overdub vocals, extra parts and all that good stuff.

For now, we’re off to play some Texas Hold ‘Em and call it a night. See you in the morning…

For the record, I’m typing this post in one take. Ha ha. Just a little recording humor for you.

After a slow start this morning, we seem to be picking up steam. Most of the tracks for “Wrap Me In Your Cross” were recorded this morning. We just started working on “Learning More Everday.” We were pretty happy with the first take, so a couple of us are fixing minor parts right now. “Call Me Crazy” is up next.

We’re looking forward to relaxing a bit tonight and getting our minds off recording. Another game of Texas Hold ‘Em is in the works.