Been a tough year. I wasn't sure if I was OK. Time to start a new adventure from a work perspective. Then an omen in the form of a streamed live concert changed everything.

I am in an entrepreneurial phase evaluating 30 domain names and business ideas I've been discussing with trusted partners for many years now. Could be exactly the right time to create one of those products/services. Exciting, exhilarating, invigorating, and terrifying. The solution for dealing with the stress: loud rock and roll music. Acquired some new toys and they sound good. Less than a minute intro from the song "Strange Frequencies Emit" and another minute on tail end. All recorded within the period Oct 25th, 2020 through Oct 29, 2020. [in the audio I mistakingly refer to the song. The correct name is "Strange Frequencies Emit. It is unfinished. It will likely have some additional sounds and tones added via synthesized or sampled instruments. Or at least a bass part deliver over alternative instrument.]

Image is from a general admission show in 2011 where Sue and I were right up against the stage. That's Dave Haywood licking off a song in style.

Sue and I voted this morning. VOTE. Elect a functional, compassionate President who will stand for decency, civil justice, global responsibilities, health care, climate change, women's rights... You know what needs to be done. Get it done. Vote. We need every one of you.

A reasonable short episode with thoughts on a new podcasting direction, some eclectic topics that help explain the bizarre experience of my life/career. Offers a couple of life lessons, some Grateful Dead talk, and a realization of the connection between many software developers and artist formerly known as the autism spectrum. Funny stuff as always. Short episode. Includes some distorted single guitar played through my amazing new all tube Blackstar Studio 10 KT88 with my Squier Tele that I am personally upgrading. Recorded on the little Zoom H4NPro just capturing a stream of consciousness jam. I was playing with a concept in mind of "Shenanigans Ensuing" as a result of recent events and upcoming D-day (I mean E-Day for Election). Excited for a family gathering at our house for my daughter's bridal shower. Taking a few days off to prepare, play guitar, and capture the energy and creative streak I've been feeling. As I state in the episode, my interests are proportional allocations to those interests are constantly evolving. They seem to universally include Music, Technology and Life. I discuss a new series I am currently working with a new format. This series will live on for the regular listeners. They are not large numbers, but many are people I care for and if they want this continue I will do it just for them. Their friendship, technical skills, and support has been invaluable.

Interesting episode where I discuss how guitars have feelings, my doctor's insightful prediction, and other bizarre yet hopefully relatable tales. A relatively short < 30 min episode with some interesting and strange glimpses into the mind of a creative musician/technologist who has been locked away alone too long.

The song in the episode is a little solo acoustic session I had. I was not planning to record so I just turned on the Blue Yeti USB mic. A nice mic for some uses but not up to my usual analog microphones. I record with the Yeti just so I can listen with a critical ear and capture song or riff ideas. What I captured was a snippet of a song with the working title "Empty Beaches". It has a little avant-garde intro where the notes don't go where you expect, then into a riff. It's a glimpse into the life of a guitarists with songs that must come out even before they are fully baked. Some of the coolest tunes I've ever written emerge from playful jam sessions. This one needs lots of work but it has a story to tell about beaches empty for months suddenly seeing their people return with the warmer weather. But are we ready? Is it safe? These are the questions the beaches whisper to me.

The photograph is from a walk to one of the beaches on Walker Pond. Through the trees that frame the sun with their leaves and branches is the pond and forest on the other side. I thought this scene was gorgeous and worthy of a photo.

Last night I unwisely began exploring Quantum Physics (again) and any sleep that came after must have happened in a different dimension. I found a cool series of videos featuring actress Marion Kerr on YouTube and that sent me off on an interesting evening resulting in my mind being blown. Earlier in the day I watched a class Grateful Dead show from Foxboro, MA in 1989. So you could say I had my face melted and my mind blown on the same day, or should I say on all days that ever were and will be. Quantum. Don't fuck with that shit unless you can afford sleepless nights! String theory is a gateway drug made out of absurdities. But Quantum Theory, that's the hard drug.

The image is an artistic representation of the E8 quasi-crystal. As far as I can tell this is a royalty free image. If not let me know and I'll find another. This episodes fade in and fade out music is from a song I call Quantumtined. It's an experimental guitar/drums tune that seemed to represent my state of mine. I recorded the guitar and programmed the drums back in March 2020. Obviously the name is derived from the words Quantum and Quarantined. Be careful with this stuff.

A half hour discussion of realities of life in general and in technology. Quarantine amplifies some of the challenges. Lots of idiot savant wisdom from my 35 plus year career building technology products. Some interesting stuff in here that relates to attitude, approach to interacting with people, and providing a growth experience for everyone you intersect with. Get specific with one person and discuss my current team (with the appropriate focus on NDA and personal privacy issues for most people involved). Stories from my life raising money as a CTO pitching and working with VCs such as the classic question: "what is your succession plan if you were hit by a bus?" Believe it or not this is an incredibly common question and proves more difficult to answer than you would have thought even if you're not an arrogant narcissist. I try to soak of the rays of wisdom that every gifted and capable person I meet and let them merge into my essence through osmosis (note: liberties with science and analogies there!). Includes a discussion of "greatness" -- whatever that means to you.

This episode also features fade in and out music from my chaos-inspired song "Harsh Echoes of Quarantine" which began life as just an experiment in attempting to melt the tube in my little practice amp. Published under my new solo-band name: Pandemic Richie and the Quarantined. Slightly different portions of the song than the prior episode used.

The image was taken today at noon on Monday May 18, 2020 by MacOS PhotoBooth with me attempting to put on an exaggerated angry face. The shirt I'm wearing gives another hint to my anger dissipation strategy. It says: "I might look like I'm listening to you, but in my head I'm playing my guitar (or I'm thinking about buying another one...)." Over my shoulder on left is Time Magazine cover with Jibo robot on the cover from Nov 27, 2017 issue of Time. On my right is my trusty Fender Telecaster Custom Shop HH (the guitar used for both tracks of "Harsh Echoes...").

A long but hopefully interesting episode covering a plethora of topics. A central theme is Guitar Love and what a unique period of time this is for guitar players. YouTube and other social networks are full of the best players freely discussing and playing their passion for guitar. It may be a challenging, frustrating time for guitarists who can't work in the studio or live, they can turn on a camera and talk to eager subjects like me listening on from the edge of my seat. I cover other aspects of life during wartime, I mean quarantine. For the first time, I injected some of my music into the podcast for the opening and ending minute of the episode. This one features my apocalyptic rocker "Harsh Echoes of Quarantine" released under my (imaginary) band "Pandemic Richie and the Quarantined". Admittedly the band is comprised of 2 of my multiple personalties and another manifested as bot drummer Jesse from my arrangement of his Garageband drum programming. I name a dozen or so unique, new, YouTube resources that tickle rock and roll fans 'till they squeal.

Speaking of guitar love, two of my favorites from my life. Left is a Fender USA Stratocaster broken in over prior decade, and a relatively new Taylor 714ce, one of the best sounding acoustic/electrics I've ever played. Out of view is the SWR Strawberry Blonde acoustic amp and other studio equipment from my home studio in Oregon. Even a peak of my coveted Event PS8 studio monitors, which have moved to the afterlife and have not been replaced yet :-( This pic is about 17 years old.

A discussion of issues that arose over the bots that block content on sites like YouTube. Loosely related to a recent YouTube video by Rick Beato involving bassist Leland Sklar and James Taylor. Talks about some non-obvious sources of friction that pushes back against emerging technology.

The image is playful picture due to use of word "bots" in the title. This is from the manufacturing facility in China where we built the Jibo robot. Playful because this is not the kind of bot this episode talks about!

While reading my friend Rana's book "Girl Decoded", I began thinking about my own journey. I focused in on my emotional maturation where I put myself in timeout when I feel the risk of flaming somebody out or saying something mean or nasty. I'm a deeply empathetic person and feel emotions very strongly. This can lead to quick angry or intensely sad reactions. Sometimes the reactions are justifiable but mostly they are overreactions. Young professional me would fire off an email or call somebody to right any wrong I perceived. The episode goes into this. The Rana el Kaliouby's book "Girl Decoded" and the impact she had on me as a person working closely with her for several years. She's such a positive force of nature that she made ME a better person. One think I do now is monitor my emotions. I can't filter emotions out of my work. The emotions are the genesis of the brilliance or ingenuity. But they also can lead me down dark paths of flaming people. This is extremely relevant topic if you work in software/technology development. You can become paranoid and worry that you aren't on the A team anymore. Whatever team you ARE on, do your best, forgive all the wrongs you perceive, and try to crush your role whatever it is. The people who stand out are the ones who get things done and make things happen. Be that person. And learn how to manage your own hot headed personality. Focus on kindness and effectiveness.

Cover photo is pic I took for a song by new one man band Richie Pandemic and the Quarantined on SoundCloud. I don't really wear a mask in my office but I can be found in Grateful Dead or Dead and Company t-shirt several days a week. Clearly this Deadhead thing is just a 40+ year fad for me!

Note to self: the word I was searching for was "empathetic" pronounced correctly!

This is my umpteenth episode while under Quarantine. Today I tell you about a ray of sunshine. My dear friend, mentor, and former boss Rana el Kaliouby's book entitled "Girl Decoded" is out. It will be available to purchase on April 21, 2020 on audible.com or other bookseller. The bonus of the audio book to me is that Rana herself reads it. Listen to the Podcast for stories about Rana and why I believe you NEED to read this book. When I think about the idea for this podcast series High Risk/High Reward: Stories from my Life in Technology, Rana and my experience at Affectiva as the 7th employee stand out among the most unique examples of my approach to finding the very best place for me to work at a given time. I share my strategy for being considered for a job I was dramatically overqualified for, how I connected with the founders and became passionate about their vision. I knew I could help them navigate the murky waters of having a great technology looking for a business use case. So quick tales of some of the crazy things we tried. There are no words that would suffice to explain how special of a person Rana is, and therefore, why you must read this book. Give this podcast a listen and I'll explain it best I can. It took a little over 30 minutes to do so. And I still can't fully express who this woman is and why her book may change your life. She certainly had a profound impact on mine.

The photo for this episode are the Affectiva cofounders: On the left is Roz (Rosalind Picard, PhD, Director of MIT Media Lab Affective Computing Group), on the right is Rana (Rana el Kaliouby PhD, CEO Affectiva and co-founder). Rana is presenting the roses to Roz for her longtime support and belief in Rana.

Dramatic goings on in my life punctuated by a pandemic moon. Sometimes everything goes wrong all at once and the only solution is to temporarily give in to the stress and panic so that you can emerge free of it. Life, work, health, finances, relationships, family, todo list... These all mix together into the one life we live now. We are each on our own singular personal journey but we experience it together with everyone else. Recorded April 9, 2020 smack in the middle of the expected Covid-19 bell curve in the US. Episode 3 under quarantine. This episodes image inspired the title "Under a Pandemic Moon". It's a photo from my iPhone 11 taken April 7 under a unique mixture of moon brightness, haze, and state of the world.