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MIDI Band Spring 2013 Concert

James — Tue, 21 May 2013 17:37:49 +0000

The last concert of the season.

Filed under: Photo

Happiness Engineers in Santa Fe

James — Wed, 15 May 2013 17:08:21 +0000

Last week, the Happiness Engineers of WordPress.com and Jetpack got together for a week of introductions, learning, and sightseeing in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Automattic is a globally distributed company, including the Happiness Engineers, so it’s nice to get together occasionally and learn from each other in person.

Throughout the trip, I did manage to snap a few photos, and you can see more in my safmeetup2013 tag.

If this looks like fun to you, we’re hiring!

Filed under: Colleagues, WordPress

Apple Tart

James — Sat, 11 May 2013 16:09:47 +0000

At Chez Mamou in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Filed under: Photo

Breakfast Burrito Friday

James — Fri, 10 May 2013 19:19:40 +0000

At Café Palacio in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Filed under: Photo

Breaking Bad Car Wash

James — Thu, 09 May 2013 21:39:13 +0000

We found the car wash from Breaking Bad in Albuquerque, New Mexico. If you don’t know what that is, you should watch Breaking Bad.

Filed under: Photo

Chatting with our CEO

James — Wed, 08 May 2013 18:12:26 +0000

A townhall with our CEO, Toni Schneider in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Filed under: Photo

Honest pre-concert spiel: “The theater’s terrible acoustics amplify

James — Sat, 04 May 2013 04:09:58 +0000

Honest pre-concert spiel: “The theater’s terrible acoustics amplify the tiniest audience noise and offer no reinforcement for stage sound.”

Filed under: Asides

Iris (Electronic Arrangement)

James — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 17:52:16 +0000

Two days ago, I shared my seven-year-old Iris arrangement. As a bonus track, here’s what happens when you spend the night messing around with GarageBand’s seemingly endless synthesizer settings.

Filed under: Music

Iris (Instrumental Arrangement)

James — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 16:39:21 +0000

Sure, I work for Automattic now, but when I was in college, I actually wanted to be a music teacher. While pursuing my degree in music education at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, I took an instrumental arranging course and one of my assignments was to arrange a pop song for an entirely instrumental group. I choose Iris by The Goo Goo Dolls, and since then, my arrangement was been played regularly by the university’s MIDI Ensemble (which I have volunteered in as a coach since graduation).

There are so many great arrangements and covers on Soundcloud, that I figured I might as well dig through my old school archives and finally put it somewhere more appropriate than a dusty CD in the corner of closet. So, without further chatter, here’s my 2006 arrangement of Iris for flute and other stuff, mechanically performed by the heartless instruments of GarageBand.

Filed under: Music

Earth Day, 2013

James — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 17:39:30 +0000

It’s Earth Day again! Time to start at least saving the environment for free if you haven’t been already, and maybe even plant some trees and donate to a worthy charity, like The Conservation Fund. If you want to know why I prefer The Conservation Fund, read this.

Want to do even more to save the environment? Start at home with this list of fifty ways to help the planet.

Now, get out of your home or office and spend some time outdoors, or at least watch this video if you can’t.

Filed under: Science, Video, World