• Ready to dive into the week. One Monday meeting down, 2 to go. #
• All Monday meetings are done! Even got some tickets closed. Time for a "science project." #
• Trying to get Pro Presenter to look at the HD-SDI inputs on one of our DeckLink cards. #
• @wantmoore Good to hear from you again! #
• The Pro Presenter project got cut short, but I’m hanging with Jess now, cooking up some chicken and edamame. #

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• Big changes are on the horizon. BIG changes. More news later. #
• @thejrod Too true… except CSI doesn’t sport the famous "gavel" sound like L&A. #
• @thejrod Make that L&O, not L&A. #
• Setting UStream up for the morning. This is looking very promising. #
• Had a couple lockups on UStream, but overall is went great … someone was even leading discussion in the chat room during the message. #

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Those of you who follow me on Twitter probably noticed a post from Saturday about some "BIG changes" on my horizon.  Those of you who are on Facebook regularly probably also saw some very intriguing changes to my profile.

Well, I’m here to set things straight remove all doubt:  Jess and I are indeed engaged.  (You can read her iteration here, which is way more creative than what I’m dishing out.)  This happened Saturday, around 7:40pm, for those of you who are uber-statistical.

How’s this feel?  Surreal, for sure, but still very exciting (for both of us).  I’m sure it will sink in more as the days go on. 

Based on the amount of similar questions each of us has received in the past 24 hours, we thought it would be good to put together the following set of frequently asked questions for your enlightenment and reading enjoyment.

The Dave and Jessica Engagement FAQ

Did you get down on one knee to propose? No I didn’t.  I was nervous though.

I bet the proposal was mind-blowing! It got the job done.  The proposal wasn’t dramatic or fancy, but it resulted in a positive response, and ear-to-ear grinning that couldn’t be wiped off with a baseball bat.

Did you guys set a date? Right now we’re looking at the beginning of August.  August 9th was the date that we officially began dating, and it just so happens that 08/09/08 falls on a Saturday. Hmmm…

OMG WHERE’S THE RING?! Check back in two weeks time. 

Are you guys planning a huge wedding? No we’re not.  We both would like to keep things as simple as we can, from both logistical and budgetary standpoints.  We decided we want our ceremony to be as uncomplicated and as fun as possible.  In fact, Jess just said she’d like to wear jeans at the ceremony.  Perhaps that’s pushing things a little…

Am I invited?  We don’t know yet.  Like I said before, we want to keep it uncomplicated, and sometimes that goes hand-in-hand with a small guest list.  However, that’s not set in stone.

We would be more than happy to answer any other questions if you wish to leave them here for us to answer.  Just keep it sensible and family-friendly. 

• Did decent at the bowling alley … back at New Grounds with Jess. #
• I must say … it’s been a very GOOD evening. #
• Just got done watching the pilot episode of LOST. #
• @JasonPowell I did like it. Still not sure if I’m going to pick it up though. #
• Just finished up weekend prep, clothes shopping (smaller sizes!) and washing the car. Time to settle down for the day. #

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• @jasonpowell - HP drivers are TERRIBLE about that. And also, the wings were amazing. #
• Internet connection is NON-EXISTANT in the cafe tonight. Hoping I can download PDAnet without choking their wifi modem. #
• Driving back to New Grounds to repair one of their PCs. #
• Just got an email from someone at the church describing a "loud beep coming from the server room." That’s never a good thing. #
• Messing with TwtterSync … Yes I know I said I was done with Facebook… #
• Fridays are a great day to be in the office — It’s so quiet! #
• Halfways done recabling IDF1 - Doesn’t look as sweet as the MDF but it’s still a drastic improvement. #
• Done installing new cabling … just need to verify that our check-in stations are still working. #
• All connections are good! One IDF down, one to go. Time to get ready to bowl. #
• Bowling! #

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• @deanlisenby Good thing you weren’t flying Delta… or if you did you were very lucky. #
• Back on the Twitter radar and closing the IT office for today. Need to do some serious cleaning. #
• Done with the control room! Moving on to the IT bench. #
• Got a shipment notification on a Rhino labeler. w00t! #
• Too bad IEC power cables aren’t in higher demand. I’d have a small fortune laying here. Where’s all the gear that came with these?? #
• Work room is done! Now to clean my desk… #
• Our AD is syncing with Katharion again! Thanks John Dolan! #
• @jasonpowell - Keep those snowflakes to yourself. =) #
• At New Grounds having a salad and wings with Jess. #

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Nine days ago, I wrote about a Power Mac G5 that seemed to have a very adverse reaction to percussion instruments.  Long story short, this machine would seize up as soon as I played a snare drum next to it.  Very bizarre.

I decided that I would start troubleshooting by keeping the machine in the same environment that it misbehaved in.  I loaded up a Pro Tools track and began playing along with it.  Much to my surprise, however, the Mac held on for quite a few bars before seizing up with it’s all-too-familiar half-second-repeat of WAV output.  I tried playing along with and without the ProTools hardware (a M-audio FW1814) attached, but it was the same story.  Eventually the finicky PT box would lock up and leave me wondering.

Just for kicks, I took the cover off the G5 and checked out the machine on the inside, looking for anything obvious that would be causing the issue.  While I was in there, I popped the RAM chips out and reseated them.  I put the cover back on the machine and started it back up, expecting to get the same "leave you stranded" ProTools experience that I’d been getting all morning.

But what’s this?  After loading a PT session and playing through it, the mac had yet to crash, or even show the slightest sign of instability.  This was unexpected, but very cool at the same time.  I went ahead and restarted the PT session and played just as I normally would (loudly) on the snare.  Not even a hint of a crash.  What happened?

All I had done (that I knew of) when I was inside the case was unseat and reseat the RAM chips.  Had they been loose?  Was there a piece of dust or something else placed so strategically on the RAM or elsewhere on the board that just the right vibration frequency would cause it to momentarily short out a circuit?  It seems a little far-fetched, but those RAM chips did not feel loose when I popped them out.

So for now, this is a continuing investigation.  I’m definitely happy to see that this machine is seemingly able to holds its own, but I’m not confident enough to put it on the auditorium stage for the band to use. (Ever been playing drums to a Pro Tools track and then have it crash during performance?  Yeah, you’ll remember that feeling. )

• I couldn’t help myself — started messing with Paglo on Friday instead of Monday. No bowling either, we went to New Grounds instead. #
• Paglo is flippin’ sweet. Was able to trace an oddball network device down to the switch port based on its MAC address. #
• Just had a nice scare with the Pro Tools rig in the Main Auditorium. Luckily some updated drivers solved the issue. #

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• Just played a MEAN game of Scrabble and Phase 10 with Jess. #
• Been a slow day so far… the office is closed so I’m giving the apartment some much-needed attention in the cleaning area. #
• Found some very promising jukebox software for New Grounds. Can’t wait to demo it. #
• Bowling again tonight for the 3rd Friday in a row. This is a trend I could probably get used to. #
• Got my invite for Paglo today! I’ll start messing with that next week. #

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• I REALLY want to look at that Mac again today and actually try to make it crash. I need to close some tickets though first. #
• Working in a more controlled environment to get this ProTools mac to crash. #
• So far I’ve been able to replicate the crashing UNTIL I pulled/reseated the non-OEM ram chips in the Mac. #
• The whole snare issue is looking more like freak coincidence. After re-seating the RAM, I played through a PT session with no crash. #

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