Getting ready...

Okay, I have the main things prepared for when I am overseaes. Money. I made sure my PIN works on my credit card. And it works on my debit card. I will bring cash with me, not too much because there is a limit on the amount you can bring out of the country (and bring back). Check with your travel agent or online. In the Ukraine you can easily exchange your US Dollars or Euro-dollars in the cities. At the time of this writing, I remember it to be about 5 Hryivna's (pronounced: Griv-naz) for 1 US Dollar. A taxi driver will take Grivna's, so before you leave the airport, you might want to secure some local currency. I saved some from my last trip, so I will just bring it with me.

I told the girl I am going to see that I wasn't coming. But I have arranged a surprise that I will be there (the surprise might be for me!) :o

My extra compact flash and reader for the computer and camera have come in. I will test that out later. That's it for now. I did arrange ahead of time (about 4 weeks ago) care for my pets and security for cars and property. Got all the bills paid up so I don't miss any payments while away. I did have a nightmare last night. I was on the plane, and it broke apart (it's always over the ocean for some reason... I guess it gives me a chance). I took my seat belt off and watched the plane break apart. I felt the fall and realized there was no chance. My last words were: "I Love You". And it was not directed to anyone in particular. I assume they were my last words. I like to think I grabbed onto a piece of the wing and glided to safety (by the way, that is why I took my seat belt off I assume!).

The fear goes away when you get on the plane. Everyone is nice and wants to get home safely too. The 10 hour flight is a long one! Last time I was delayed 2 hours! But I made it back safe. The coolest part of the flight is leaving New York City at night. That place is huge!

Well it's about time! The tickets finally have come in! There was a problem with my e-mail communication to the travel agent this week (the file size was too big for the travel agents e-mail, I think). It is a good idea to call the agency just after buying your tickets, so you know you have the tickets secured. I developed a new saying, "It's either Preparation or Preperation H". :)

I looked over the tickets and everything looks good. I am going! I have the opportunity to buy travel insurance now. I use www.TravelSafe.com and it is important for all to have something like this. If you have a medical emergency in another country, they will ask for your payment up front! And it isn't cheap! Also, it insures problems with the flight such as your plane being late, and causing you delays and cancellations. Many more items it insures, but please take my advice it is worth the price. The price...what is the price, yes? Mine will be around 79.00 dollars (USD).

There still is nothing else to report, except that I have been looking at a smart card or two for my camera. Usually I bring those instant cameras, I will bring one, but it is time consuming and expensive to have the photos put to disk in Ukraine. With the digital camera, the plan is to just upload them.... I better make sure that plan works! Take Care, Gary
PS I just got in some stamps with my pictures on them! Go to www.Stamps.com for more info if you want this too.

You are here

Soon, I will have to report all my findings, and take a lot of pics when I get to Yalta. The journey is often as fun as the arrival at the destination. If you are planning a trip somewhere in the world, I suggest you plan, but not overplan.

Please feel free to get your free songs at my web site www.SundayisFunday.com . Free only if you promise to tell 3 friends about my site.

Pics of the trip will be made soon! And posted right here!

Okay, today I finally have my flight itinerary, and it will be a short vacation pril 4 to April 12. Short because it takes about 20 - 24 hours to get all the flying and transfers done. Then the 1 hour and 30 minute taxi ride to Yalta.

My tickets cost me $1175.00 USD Not bad price for trip. I will be able to bring 2 bags to check in and one carry on (usually a laptop with extra pockets). At this time of year, my tour guide informs me that I can get hotel apartment for about 50 to 60 dollars per night. I'll take pics when I get there. You'll be amazed!

Okay, i will fax the info in and pay for these tickets (all done online). I talked with some of the girls (Alexandra, Valentina, Tanya, and Larissa just to name a few). I will meet more, and you will get the full report. Ladies, you will be mostly interested in the view of this exotic city. I'll try to convey my spectacular romantic abilities that will set you on fire right in front of your computer (I'm not liable).

Hello,

Well, I'm going back to Yalta this April. The last trip I blogged the people I met, and the things I did (www.SundayisFunday.com) to help the other travelers. I will blog this next trip starting now. It will prove useful as a way to prepare for a trip. And by the way, I think it will be useful for any trip overseas.

The Ukraine no longer requires a United Staes citizen to have a Visa. But You will need your passport, some other ID, and some bank cards (I prefer to use the ATM debit (mc\visa) card). I thought ahead from my last trip, and brought back to America some cash (Hrivnya: "Griv - Na"). Now when I land in Simferopol or Kiev, I have money for the airport and unforseen needs (like a taxi transfer to another airport when the plane lands at the wrong airport! It happened to me! Read the story on my other blog link at www.SundayisFunday.com (click "Yalta Tour 2005").

So, I have thought about my trip, and told the girl I was coming. Her name is Valentina. I will see her in Yalta, and maybe perhaps some other girls. My tour guide is named Tanya, and I secured her friendship in the last trip. She is a great person, and will be very valuable in my adventure into the city of Yalta, for the second time (She was indespensible the first time!).
I e-mailed my Travel Planner (for airline tickets). I scheduled my vacation, and as it turned out, the dates I took off do not exactly match the dates the airline leaves. I can either make adjustments to have a longer vacation or a shorte vacation. Since it is my second time, and I know I have the resources to go back, I will choose the shorter vacation (I like the "home" feeling).

At this point today, I am waiting for my Travel Agent (Barbara Barros working for www.GoToRussia.com : e-mail her only when you are ready to buy tickets at a very cheap rate...this will be my third time with her, the first time I also used this company to secure my Visa. I recommend them).

So, I will plan to be there the weekend from April 5 to April 10 (originally it looked as though I would be there from April 1 to April 10...you can only watch so much Russian TV without understanding one word in English!).

So, my trip will get more fun and more exciting as the vacation approaches. I will post pictures too (when possible). Which brings me to my next decision. If I stay at an apartment, it will be cheaper and I will have kitchen. Also, most importantly, the girls will not come to Hotel room (that is lie, but it is a huge obsyacle to work around). The problem I have with the apartment is that I need to be connected to the internet to write my blog and show pictures. The apartment does not have this feature yet. By the way, you probably won't need or like the kitchen anyways. Going to the store and finding food you recognize is not easy. Then when will you find the time to cook? You will mostly be taking girls out to restaurants and bars! (If your aim is to have a lot of sex, get the apartment, there I said it).

I think I will ask Tanya to set up the Hotel Oreanda, or Bristol. I will look on internet at these places, and decide. I do not need Tanya to make reservations for me, but I think it is wise for me to have local help (remember the airport is in Simferopol. 100 miles away from Yalta. It would not be good to trust hotel alone with my four wheel mountain adventure to Yalta.
WhatI have done today is to get a blank piece of paper, and write down two things I need to do soon. 1. Test my laptop computer to see if my camera works with it to send pictures to the blog. Take passcodes with you. I always send pics from the home computer, so this is why I need to test the laptop. 2. Decide which hotel Oreanda or Bristol. Write (email) Tanya and let her know.

Okay, That is it for now. I will post this blog to MySpace and to Blogger. My name is Gary, aka: the Compusician. I am an artist, musician, computer musician, singer, and an adventurer now I guess. I dream how fun it would be to travel the world, meet new girls and learn new customs. And then report my findings to the blog. Sort of an "insiders" view. If you are a TV producer reading this, contact me. If you are a girl alone in a country needing an American man to have as friend and to visit and learn, contact me (you can star in my blog). If you are you and have questions about trying adventures like these, contact me. When I have time, I will answer questions or find where the answers are!

Please note that I am a songwriter and poet too. So forgive me ahead of time when I display my talents (talents?). :)

I got my list, and I got my go....Here goes!!!

www.SundayisFunday.com email: TheCompusician@yahoo.com

What is VST?

Steinberg developed a software processing engine in 1996 for their Cubase program called Virtual Studio Technology (VST). It allows the real-time processing of Audio and Midi plug-in effects, very much in the same way that a mixer would access outboard effects such as reverbs, delays, etc., but without all the expensive needed hardware. First implemented in Cubase VST, it allows the user to access a wealth of plug-ins, from Steinberg as well as a large number of third-party commercial, shareware and freeware developers. It is arguably the most popular plug-in format, and plug-ins are written for Macintosh and PC (but they must written for one or the other), and is supported by many programs in addition to Cubase.

Another application for the VST format has recently been introduced with the Virtual Instrument, or VSTi. This is a type of plug-in that can emulate many existing (or extinct!) hardware instruments, or create any type of new instrument. The most popular plug-in’s have revived the early analog synths such as Prophet 5’s (Pro 52) and Moog’s (Model-E), and digital synths such as the PPG Wave 2.2. They can be Samplers or incredible recreations of drum machines, B-3 organs, and totally new instruments such as Reaktor and AbSynth. These "instruments" are played thru Midi, but the sound output appears as Audio in the DAW’s Virtual mixer. This allows for all the convenience of Midi, but all the benefits of high quality audio, free of signal problems such as hum, buzz, etc. They are far cheaper than the real instruments, occupy far less space, the sound quality is top notch, and you can load in as many “Moogs” as you need (or have the power to run)! The downside are the tiny, on-screen knobs and faders, and the amount of power that is required to run these instruments.

A very popular add-on to Digital Audio Workstations (DAW’s) to address the problem of controlling those tiny knobs and sliders on the screen with a mouse, is the control surface. These are essentially hardware boxes that add the “missing” knobs and sliders to the software version of their hardware counterparts. Most VST programs also have the ability to control their Virtual Mixers, EQ’s, etc., from control surfaces. Some of the control surfaces offer programmable knobs and a small controller keyboard, such as the Evolution MK-225C, the MK-361C, and the Midiman Oxygen 8. Other controllers are boxes with knobs only, such as the Evolution U-Control UC-16, and the Native Instruments 4 Control. The Tascam US-428 combines three needed features for the VST recordist; it combines a 24-bit audio interface, 2 independent Midi ports, and a full control surface.

To address the power needs of many of the new VST virtual instruments and effects (aside from upgrading your computer!), is the addition of a Digital Signal Processing (DSP) card, such as the TC Works Powercore, or the Universal Audio UAD-1. These cards go into a PCI slot in your desktop computer, and provide a tremendous amount of computing power to run a suite of specialized software plug-ins that provide reverbs, delays, compressors, and even virtual instruments. They also sound excellent, and are the ultimate add-on to your computer music experience! (refer to : http://kellysmusicandcomputers.com/detailedanswer.asp?faq=103).

I just installed the Liquid Guitar v3, and thought it was going to be a nightmare. It wasn't, but I admit that I got lucky. I fired up the Magix Music maker program v10 Deluxe, and opened up the "Synthesizer". I clicked the "VSTi" block and chose set up path. I don't know enough about the best file location to put your new VST instrument, so I put it in the VST folder under c:\Programs\ and also I put the new instrument in the file folder path location inside Magix Music Maker. It does not seem to be a problem to have multiple locations for your instruments. I hope this article helps some other fellow musican venturing into the Computer Music world! Peace Out, The Compusician at www.SundayisFunday.com !

Advantage Out

I was so blind with hope,

my eyes could not see.

Now I'm left with less than nothing,

not even a true memory.

- The Compusician

Breaker, Breaker, One, Nine..... O kay, I was heading north to the state line, about to run out of time... okay, the law was not following me but you want interesting stories, yes?

Last night I headed out north from Dallas to Oklahoma City. I heard many reports about ice. I called another driver in OKC about the driving situation, and I headed back to Dallas, the big "D" and I do mean "Dallas".

I will try again tonight, but let me just say that it is times like these a man wishes he was not a trucker. We want to get our load, and get done. Dispatch, Weather, Unforseen Obstacles, you name it....we have to overcome it all. You want to be a trucker? Then I recomend you play it "OVER safe" and never go out into what you cannot get back out of! I have tire chains and (the cable chain type) and can chain up easily. But I want you to know right now, and truckers speak up!, your chains are designed to get you TO the truck stop or safety zone, not put you IN a bad situation!!! The chains are for getting you out of a bad situation, not into one!

I cannot stress this enough. I know the chains are pretty good, and can do much for your travel (almost indestructable!). But, it is the other driver who will find you trouble! The guy who drank too much, the guy who knows too much, the person who is not sure but will try anyways, and the girl who has to prove she is as good as the guys.... just wait it out and use the chains ONLY to get you to a safe place. that is my advice. A seasoned trucker.

www.TireChains.com is the place to go for your needs. Look up "Cable Chains" I like these better for the midwest and east coast drivers.

Also, if you are close to home, it's late at night, no traffic (remember the other guy factor) then by all means strap them on and get home!!!!!

F the dispatcher, home is home.... but have the right tools to do it. 75 bucks, for a lifetime investment.

I'm retiring from trucking soon, and exploring music and arts. Worldwide. But i will try to maintain my CDL. It is valuable and profitable. Good Luck my trucking friends, and support my music too if you have a chance. If you have some words to submit for a trucker's song let me know!!!!

Yours, Gary

Ah yessss, the Olympics, or Torino Games. I watched a little bit of them and the TV coverage has improved. They cut out much of the boring parts, and increased the action!

Janet Jones, Who is she? I see her name in the news. At the Grammy's I was glad to see U2 win many awards against the crap theses kids are putting out these days (please disregard my crap I put out).

Vanity Fair, Superbowl commercials, Michele kwan, teri hatcher, all busts.

I did look at Zillow and was impressed. They show the prices of your house in the neighborhood.

Sasha Cohen, haiti, face transplant, sly stone, bode miller, arrested development, do not interest me. And finally.....

Valentines Day round out the top 15 internet searches for this week, checked February 16.

Peace Out, The Compusician!

Valentine's Day Poem or thought,

Valentines Day is almost here, and you will probably present your girl with the standard candy and flowers. Of course you will have a card to give her, but with nothing to say (off the top of your head). So, here is something you can write to your girl (or man, I don't ask)... Change the words to fit the situation...

"I wake filled with thoughts of you. Your portrait and the intoxicating evening which we spent yesterday have left my senses in turmoil. Sweet, incomparable Alexandra, what a strange effect you have on my heart!"

That's better than just signing your name on the card. Good Luck!