StevenJacks.com

I woke up with the sunrise, headache gone like a bad memory. I washed up in the rest stop’s bathroom and went on my merry way. I drove straight through Texas – San Antonio and then Houston. I had planned to stop in Huston, but after glancing around, I decided I didn’t want to be in another busy city, and kept going instead. I crossed into Louisiana soon after. The ladies at the visitor info center were pleasant, and they welcomed me to Louisiana. This was the second new state for me on my trip – very cool indeed. They recommended a hotel near LSU.

I drove straight to Baton Rouge, and found the hotel on the second try (dang GPS). I asked the gals at the front desk where to get food, and they pointed me to a strip of eateries. I found one, Sonora’s, and stepped in. There were four college girls and I asked to sit with them. They were about to leave, but ended up quizzing me on my travels instead. Soon thereafter, a friend of theirs came in. This boy ended up showing me a personal tour of the city, and we drank beer on the steps of the capital building in the nighttime of the city. It was incredible. He showed me Abita Strawberry and Cane’s, two must-haves of Louisiana. My night ended about 12 AM, and I crashed hard back at the hotel.

Today I set out to Roswell. I was skeptical about the aliens and all, but I wanted to be able to say that I’ve been there at least once. I go there, and it was kind of a small town. The courthouse was a nice facility, and I saw an art museum, but to be honest, the town is kind of plain. I ended up talking to a couple locals, who informed me that the alien/tourist thing is just plain overrated. Just after noon I left for Carlsbad.
I drove straight through Carlsbad and reached the Caverns National Park. The only room open was the big one, and it was a self-guided tour. It was very cool to see! 75 stories underground, a huge cavern with all sorts of rock formations. It was unbelievable. I bought a T-shirt as proof of my survival of the expedition, and set off for San Antonio about 4:30.
I didn’t make it by about 200 miles, though. I had a headache and fatigue was setting in as the sun was going down. I ended up pulling off the road into a rest stop (last one for 48 more miles), and slept in the car. I blasted the heat at first, but that didn’t last, as I had cracked a window to help with ventilation. After being too cold, I put on my leather jacket. It worked for a while, but still no dice. I got out a blanket, and again, that was a fleeting effort. At last I busted out my 20 degree sleeping bag, and slept toasty for the rest of the night in the back seat. It was the best sleep I’d had all trip.

I got to the auto shop at 7:30. The staff was super awesome – they told me where to get a big breakfast, had free wi-fi in the waiting area, and then fixed the car in a matter of about three hours. I checked out of my hotel and took off, going to El Paso around 10:45. I reached the city, and then found a hotel. It was certainly a sweet change after the previous night.

Drove down to Phoenix today. I was walking around downtown and found the Diamondbacks’ baseball stadium. Halfway through the self-guided tour, my buddy from Fort Mohave called me. He said he saw an oil spot where my car had been and advised me to check my oil. Sure enough, I was leaking.

I drove to Tucson and parked in an auto shop. Unfortunately, because it was Sunday, the auto shops were closed. I accumulated my belongings into a couple bags, threw the rest in the trunk, and set off to find a hotel. The first I came to had a warm waiting area to check in. I asked the price for a room, and then asked to see a room. The guy running the place told me he wasn’t going to show me one unless I paid first. He said it was too cold out, and was very rude for a business person. So I left and tried the place next door.

The one next door was very sketch – it had a lack of hot water and was pretty grungy looking. No wi-fi either. But I stayed the night anyway. Hope the car is going to be fine…

I made it with no problem to Arizona. Saw Fort Mohave, Bullhead City, and even a bit of Laughlin. My buddy played host and it was great. He took me to a sushi place, we hung out and watched movies, and the windy night desert air with the near-full moon overhead was gorgeous.

Driving has been fun. I can talk to people on the phone – even through Skype – while I drive and the reception hasn’t been too sparse to make do. The weather here is brisk and near freezing. No snow though, since the precipitation is quite low. Lotion has really been my friend to keep up with the dry cold.

I started bright and early – before the sun came up – today. Here is the first pic with the sun coming up.

So my application is officially selling on the iPhone and iPad app stores. It’s really cool to see something I fabricated out of nothing tangible available online for worldwide download. Technology is incredible.

Also, a friend of mine knitted two awesome beanies for me. I thought I’d share the awesomeness. Yes, that’s a triforce!

So I’ve created a couple new things this month. Along with the new music on Soul Sound (available on the music page), I have come up with a concept design for a shirt featuring a tongue-in-cheek interpretation of the Far East Movement’s Fly Like a G6. Now, a G6 in the song’s context is a jet, but this chord, according to pop theory is a G-add6 chord, which is simplified as ‘G6′. This is different in notation from a G⁶, which is a G-first inversion triad. This may seem like nitpicking, but in another sense of choosing between these two chords, the add6 version looks more interesting to me with the four notes – with one being offset – than if it were just a first inversion G major triad, which would just be three notes in a row. It’s reduced to one clef to be compact and visual, and treble clef because of its popularity in readability for most people.

This design is still just a prototype (the image is from a t-shirt design website’s editor), but I’m looking to getting these made for the public so you too can own one if you wish! The more popularity I get in response, the quicker I will set this in motion.

In other news, I’ve created a music application for the iPhone and iPad. It took me a few days of constant programming and designing, but I’ve made it. This is a tool used for learning perfect pitch. With enough repetition and practice, the human ear at any age can learn perfect pitch. For those of you who wish to learn this skill, this is a cheap and portable tool for you to pick up. More information on it is on the App page.

Applications are in! I have one more to pull off before the end of December (into January, really), but the bulk of it is already done because of the first two. This is quite a liberating feeling and I’m feeling like I’ve been productive.
I was reading lately that time is of the mind and that the mundane turn into monotony, while the new seem to create the sense of a long time. Over the past week I’ve done things that I normally don’t do – go out to lunch, run errands, etc. And then I’ve written them down into a “basic things that happened today” list. The result is that I’ve found the fireball speed of November turned into a crawl. This week has seem fulfilled in a way that I haven’t experienced in a while. It’s quite interesting.
I’m also starting to conceptualize another theory book. Because of an inability to find advanced music theory sources online (I found one that said ‘advanced music theory quiz’. The first question was “how many flats are in Ab Major – which isn’t hard for those of you who aren’t familiar), I’ve been thinking to create and develop new concepts myself. I’m trying to keep myself honest with it all – that is, make it logical to work with and produce. So far I have a slew of topics that I’ll cover. I’ll post more as I create it.