This is 42…this is…Me…

42… years
504…months

15330…days

367920…hours

22075200…minutes

1324512000…seconds

That is how long I’ve been on this blue marble… fuck… this is 42… one more rotation around the sun…
I for whatever reason feel it this go around… heavy, tired...older… up until now it was just another birthday… who cares.

 But, this birthday for whatever reason has me contemplating time, more than I usually do.

 Time is the one resource we never can get more of, I’ll never hold my lil girl's hand the way I did when she was 1,2,3,4,5,6…etc… those moments are in the past now… memories… slowly fading with time.

 Life is an interesting experience, full of great highs and devastating lows. We have people that come and go in our lives constantly, we hold their memories of those times, but when we see them, they are not the same people that we knew back when… at their core they are still “them” but, life and its experiences has changed them/us… we grow/move beyond what we were to each other in those specific time frames… others will grow with you, some will grow apart. Some you will meet and lose along the way… some will become fast friends that will last the remainder… but, all will be “friends” in those moments of time. We can revisit, and even rekindle those friendships, but, not always… and that is okay, we keep moving forward along our timeline…meeting and departing, reconnecting, aligning, and swirling around other's timelines as we go…

these experiences age us… give us wisdom… change us…

People…people are complicated… one person's best friend is another's nemesis. Doesn’t mean they are bad necessarily (some people are) but, most likely they think they are doing the right thing… However, their methods just don’t jive with how you/we see the world, and probably vice-versa for them.

Understanding and empathy are hard, and so is recognizing one's own biases… I can tell you for me… I have very strong biases and morals that I’ve come to have over my years due to various experiences, and while not for everyone, my morals are very meaningful to me, which has caused rifts between me and others, especially over my right is right morals.

 I am not always right, to be clear, and I’m quite frankly wrong a lot… as are a lot of people… it is a hard thing to accept sometimes…

 … but, we should be very careful about letting those biases and morals turn to “hate” the foulest of four-letter words.

 Do I “hate” some people or at least think I do… do I properly “hate” them or am I just strongly opposed to their beliefs as not aligning with mine… “hate” is a very strong word and emotion… the more I think on it the less I actually think I “hate” anyone. Maybe dislike, have no respect, can’t abide, etc… but, “hate” that is reserved for the foulest of people. Heavy topic…

Some people will just never get along… like dogs, some butts just smell bad to us … ha…  

 That doesn’t mean I shy away from conflict, we should meet it head-on and do our best to approach it with empathy and awareness of our own biases to better de-escalate, come to terms, and make peace as quickly as possible… but man is that a hard/terrifying thing to do … putting yourself out there is difficult and scary, and to do so with empathy and awareness of self takes wisdom and experience that frankly not many are capable of all the time… me included.

We should still try though, and keep trying to be empathetic and aware of ourselves.

I think we all need to find our tribe, those we’ve met along the way who inspire us, question us, make us strive to be better… above all else accept us for our crazy, help us heal when we are down, guide us when we are lost, hug us when we are hurt, celebrate each other when we succeed.  Our tribe isn’t always family, but those we choose to be family, friends, loved ones, and acquaintances can all fall into the tribe we choose.  

Anyway… just me rambling and thinking about things… especially time… life is not guaranteed … time has a way of sneaking up on the best of us… sometimes it is good to think about the end, so we can better appreciate the now.

Tempus Edax Rerum…
(Time, devourer of all things)

A haiku

I stared at this scene for awhile everyonce in awhile sipping my coffee and taking a puff from my pipe... contemplating until the below haiku hit... 

pipe tobacco smoked

raindrops fall while coffee steams

thoughts contained within

I don’t know why… but felt like writing a Haiku about my morning smoke and coffee after my workout … I don’t smoke very often … but find it very relaxing … but man do I pay for it the rest of the day lol… and probably tomorrow too ha…

it’s fun trying to write with restrictions… by no means do I think the above haiku is good… but it was fun to come up with and put on paper. It is more about the practice and experience of it, taking the time to be mindful of your surroundings by trying to constrain them into a 5/7/5 syllable haiku is a thoughtful endeavor and helps bring value/meaning or understanding to a moment.

Try it sometime…

don’t smoke it’s bad for you!

why do all the enjoyable things have to be bad for you… well back to my negroni…

Cheers,

Tyler Oak

I don’t like being cold…

So, as winter fast approaches, we are hitting 40-degree temps here in the PNW (Pacific Northwest). I am acutely aware of the coming cold damp darkness that is the PNW winter and all the depression and inherent introvert-inducing moods it brings.

Mt.Si during a cold overcast and damp day …

I struggle with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and it seems to hit harder some years more than others. This year… I’m going to do my best to battle it and not go into hibernation grumpy grizzly mode like I usually do… but, oh man is it hard not to delve deep into the angry old man mood that the cold brings with it!

Cold… ultimately this is my biggest bane… I get cold, and then I get sluggish and grumpy and don’t want to do anything. It is a real struggle bus to motivate to do anything. The funny thing about it though, is if I just move and get going it isn’t as big of a problem.

I just need to work out in the cold and get to a point where the blood is moving and then I feel exponentially better… the problem is my blood at the beginning is like molasses on a winter morning and my bones and joints feel as brittle as fresh ice on a pond… everything hurts in the cold.

cold and brittle … fall leaves frozen in time between fall and winter

So, what is the plan… how do I battle this affliction of cold and SAD lol… to start, I’m going to try to be as aware of it as possible and force myself to push through the ho-hums and doldrums, the cold fatigue, and the darkness. With self-awareness, I hope to battle most of it, but that is not enough.

I will need motivation and people kicking me in the rear when I get pissy… in comes the aid of my wife, daughter, family, and friends. I hope all of them together telling me to stop being a grouch and go do something will keep me in the sweet spot all winter. That and lots of layers of clothing.

Here's to the cold dark, let it be short, and let us find all the joy we can in it!

the struggle bus is real with this one…

Struggle bus in the snow is real… gif/video not mine Source link: A Walk Around Seattle in the Snow on Vimeo

If you know anyone struggling with SAD, or depression or who just looks like they need a pick me up … say hi, ask how they are doing, give them a smile… no need to press them on it. Just being there and letting them know you see them and giving them a hey and a smile is usually enough to make it a little bit better.  Check-in on your friends and family! This is surprisingly hard to do, we get so caught up in our own lives and stories that we sometimes forget to see how our community of folks around us is doing. This can lead to other issues though… but that is a write-up for another time…

Praise the sun and force a smile until it becomes a reality ha! life is too short to wallow in our own heads too long

Daughter praising the sunset (Hawaii my happy place)

Cheers… Tyler Oak

I need to write more…

I need to write more.

Letting this site sit idle has been a dark cloud over me all summer...

Damn it man! I’m a photographer not a writer!!!

View from the Coho ferry on the way to Victoria B.C. looking back at Dungeness WA USA

trying to figure out what to say, worried about putting down on paper my thoughts, etc. stressing about poor writing skills, lacking in finding the right words, pace, and storytelling capabilities. Creating a self-fulfilling prophecy in that the less I write, the less experience I get to become better.

So this is me... writing more... trying to get better. Wracking my brain on what to write about...what... to... write... about...

Well, I guess the best stuff to write about is everything I'm scared to write about ... to things I have passion about. Plus anything and everything in between...

This is me... writing more... about everything and nothing... all at once. Welcome to my journey, hopefully, it is a long one worthy of reading about. Expect photos... expect stupidity, maybe some jokes, entertaining stories, and rambling...

I don't intend for this to be anything other than a place to push out thoughts, ideas, experiences... a good time... maybe... a bad time... probably as the self-deprecation is strong ha! I don't think I'm always right and try my best to be open to new ideas or perspectives, life would be pretty boring if I didn't.

anyhow...

This is the start... of what I hope is a long relationship of learning and growth. Sharing ideas, meeting new people, sharing experiences, and hopefully a healthy happy place to take a break from the day-to-day and reflect on this short journey called life.

Cheers, and thank you for reading!

Tyler

P.S. I'll try and add pretty pictures so at least you have something to look at while reading my drivel lol

ETA Mini Semi-Closed

ETA sent out a demo tour of the Mini semi-closed set and they are not asking me for anything other than my honest opinion regarding these headphones. I’ll be handing them off to the next person on the tour soon.

ETA Mini Semi-Closed

So, the ETA Mini-SC ... first off let's approach the elephant in the room. These are 3D-printed cups and parts. This is not the most "beautiful" headphone out there, well depending on what you find to be beautiful ha. But, that isn't to say that these are not well-built. They are very solid feeling and at the same time lightweight. I wouldn't go throwing them on the ground or against the wall or anything, but no one should do that with any bit of kit, it is unrealistic ha!

Build quality

To quote ETA directly

"Our standard chassis is made from 30% high-modulus amorphous carbon fiber inset polyethylene terephthalate glycol for superior rigidity, strength, and durability relative to conventional ABS injection molded parts used in many other headphones." ~ ETA

I can confirm these feel super solid for the build. No frills just get to the thrills kind of build. I don't have an issue with the build, even though it is 3D printed, they don't feel like they would break apart easily.

Aesthetics

Ok, this will be hit or miss for a lot of people... but, for me, they kind of grew on me. I dig the quirky 3D printed texture and DIY build quality. These don't scream "premium" and honestly it makes me feel more comfortable taking them out and not worrying as much that people might want to snag them. Also, they have this strong Studio Monitor vibe going... probably from the no-frills build and aesthetic (all the thrills are in the sound ;) but, more on that later). I mean it even says "Studio Monitor" on the headband ha! I've gotten off track... but, Aesthetically these are a no-frills, get-it-done look in my opinion.

Use case, or how I got along with them on the daily

Folded up in my camera bag

I love the portability of these due to how easily they fold up and can fit in my daily bag. Plus the fact they sound stupid good off of every source I've put them on... from my Macbook to dongles to top-of-the-line gear. They just get the job done! I don't have to worry about the source. But, when I do want to scale up... they take to whatever audio gear I throw at them like a fish to water. Superb do all use cases with these.

Using the Mini with my Macbook to edit videos

Comfort/Fit

These disappear on the head, light and comfortable for me. The pads are soft and fit decently around my ears, though the pads are relatively shallow, I didn't have discomfort with my ears touching. Honestly, I've spent hours listening to music and gaming with these on with no hot spots or discomfort.

But, how do they SOUND!

TLDR; They sound Stupid Good!

-The lows are punchy and clean

-Mids are neutral and accurate.

-Highs are smooth and detailed.

What do these statements even mean... well, Lows give a nice visceral punch where necessary. Lows don't overtake the rest of the music or vocals but play along with them. With Bass heavy tracks they can be amazingly addictive, while not being overwhelming.

-Mids are smooth detailed and neutral, I do prefer a little more warmth usually with my music, but these presented so well that I didn't mind it as much as I usually do with other headphones. Vocals do seem to be a tad bit further back from the Highs and Lows, but outside of that they are very well presented and detailed.

-Highs are smooth and detailed without being overdone, sibilant, or piercing. Well done Highs, love the splash of cymbals, and the details I can pull from them without it being "painful" (I'm generally treble sensitive).

-Detail is not in your face but readily there. The Mini-SC is not a detail monster, it has plenty of detail without getting in the way of itself or overly presenting details.

-Stage/imaging is well done but these are not the widest sounding. Though imaging is in my opinion well done. I was enjoying using these to play video games that require good imaging and detail, they didn't disappoint in Destiny 2, CoD MW2, or even single-player RPGs.

Plugged into my controller for a gaming session. Usually I just plug directly into my desktop amp, but these sound great straight from the controller as well.

Overall

I find these to be one of the best sounding and easy-to-get-along headphones under $1k I've heard in a long time. This is what happens when passionate people make things, and I'm all in for it!

I highly recommend getting ears in these or some of the other ETA headphones at the first opportunity you get. They are doing some good work, and are a small dedicated crew building some excellent-sounding headphones.

Plugged into the Nitsch x Schiit Piety

Some Tracks I listened to :

She Burns Away ~ Briscoe

That intro is fire! and the way the space is presented... the high hats at 00:45 and onwards and just the percussion in general in this track is amazing! Around the 2:50 mark, you can hear finger/palm strikes, and it is fantastic! The Mini-SC performs stupidly well with this track! Highlighting its strengths well!

She Burns Away by Briscoe (songwhip.com)

Junk ~ Vivienne Chi

Rolls right into some awesome imaging with the snaps and low end... then gets rolling at around the:50 mark. Vocals come in strong at the 01:05 mark. Lots of details and layering of sounds. Can get a bit overwhelming and I'm not the biggest fan of the purposeful "digital" sounding grainy low-end strikes. But, it is a big fun track to listen to.

Junk by Vivienne Chi (songwhip.com)

B-Side~ Khruangbin

Funky, thumping, and smooth! It is a good listen. Lots of depth and the vocals are upfront. Great track for imaging and Vocals. Plus lots of layering of instruments and imaging/stage. Too many highlights to give pinpoints cause they seem to happen all the time ha! Just give it a listen!

B-Side by Khruangbin, Leon Bridges (songwhip.com)

Link to ETA Mini Semi-Closed (non affiliated): Mini Semi-Closed | Over Ear Closed Headphone (etaheadphones.com)

Tin HiFi C3 IEM

TinHiFi C3 In Ear Monitor

First off, thank you HiFiGO for sending these out for the demo! They are not asking for anything other than my honest opinion regarding these.

Well, let’s dive into it!

My thoughts…

The build is very solid, and the cable is great! One of the better cables for a budget IEM. These come in at around $49-59 dollars (US) and honestly, for that price, these are a great deal for the build and quality, in my experience during my time with them.

Sound-wise they are very capable IEMs. The Highs are detailed and not overly crisp to my ears, though they can flirt with that line a little bit.

Mids are good, but I keep searching for them, as in I’m trying to describe the sound of them and all I can come up with is “good” ha… not bad, not great… just good. Nothing wrong with good!

The vocals sound good but can seem slightly muffled. Almost like the mic was just slightly too far away from the singer. It isn’t bad and sounds good, I wouldn’t have overly noticed it but it was kind of like that word you can’t remember but are actively trying to lol and I had to figure it out before I wrote this ha!

Lows hold their own as well… punchy and can bump on the right tracks. I’d say they can be a bit boom heavy, but not overly so. They are above average in my experience. I’m more of a bass head so I enjoyed the presentation.

Overall Lovely budget IEM that looks good, sounds good, and has a really good build quality in both the shell and cable. Easy recommendation if on the lookout for a solid do-all IEM on a budget!

2009- Trevor Hall cover of Mac Millers “2009”

Bass is solid and highs are crisp, mids are good… but are kind of just OK ha. The vocals are forward and sound good but, have a tad bit of grit, though I think that might be the recording.

Genius of Love – Tom Tom Club

This fun track brings back memories ha! The overall presentation is a bit pulled back… though vocals do seem more forward. A highlight is the hook music and its spatial cues. The C3 presented the track well.

Tadow – Masego

Fantastic sounding on the C3! Though the Bass can get a bit much and overwhelming and bloaty boomy. The other instruments and his vocals cut through nicely though. It’s a vibe

G.O.A.T. – Polyphia

C3 was struggling a bit with this track… but, still performed admirably. It generally kept up with the speed, but I think it got overwhelmed at times. Mids got muddy and kind of fell apart at specific parts of the track.

Mistakes were made, lessons might have been learned... confessions of an addict

I have to admit something, I have been taking a break from coffee... *gasp* I know... like, why?!?! Well, because it is a challenge and it is good to try hard things! Plus, I'm trying to optimize my health. Drink more water and tea... that sort of thing. So the setup: I removed all coffee from the house (or so I thought, more on that later) and committed to tea as a means of a less harsh delivery of caffeine to the system. I still drink a random cup of joe from Starbucks or other specialty coffee shops when out and about, but we are talking like maybe 2-3 times a week at most and even then... I'll usually order a tea latte or chai latte ha!

mmmm…. good coffee… not like the swill I’m about to imbibe…

Ok... that is out of the way, I woke up today in dire need of a cup of coffee, like proper craving! talking zombie needing brains type deal here. I found a random pack of Trader Joe’s Nespresso pods digging through old coffee storage, and dug the crappy Nespresso machine out as well… only to find I’d forgotten to clean it, classic… and... low and behold... an old, used, Nespresso pod sealed inside after use, months ago*facepalm*... "why Tyler, WHY!!" My stupid ADHD brain foiling me again!!

So commences the cleaning, and by cleaning, I run the Nespresso machine for the past hour until the water coming out of it is relatively “clean”…

That’s clean right!?!!…. RIGHT!! Yeah… that should be fine…

now imbibing questionable coffee ...and ...it...is... not... good, yet! AMAZING! all at once…

damn

...I’m probably gonna have food poisoning or something now…

worth it in my moment of now triumph! but, …at the cost of my later! and, doing questionable things to the porcelain, all for the sake of that sweet... sweet coffee imbibe.

Addictions are bad m'kay! it's good to try and break them often and push yourself and do the hard thing... Ok, off to take a ride on that cold demeaning porcelain pony... mistakes were made, and lessons were hopefully learned... but let's be real...I'm a big dumb animal and more mistakes are to come... Bottoms up!

Rest in peace you big dumb animal…

How to follow the drivel

Tylers thoughts RSS

For those of you still using rss (like me). Simply right click and save (or even just copy). Open your rss reader of choice click the plus button and add the xml.

New Year’s Resolutions…MEH!

This might not be as eloquent or put together as Mfadios blogs... or quite frankly as interesting… but, here we go...

It's a new year, and resolutions are a thing. I have all the typical ones, lose weight, get back in shape, be more proactive, etc... pretty vanilla but necessary goals as we get older, especially after a fulfilling holiday season of delicious food and winter S.A.D. are hitting.

There is one thought that I want to push on and make my BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) thanks Mfadio for this referance ha. I want to start taking this media creation more seriously, as in the website, blogs, videos, podcasts, etc and creating more. I want to push my limits on creating things and talking to creators or just other people that are passionate about "things". Or, maybe just talk to people that have interesting jobs, or paths in life. Take more portraits, get out and see between the norm and every day and find the unique and intriguing.

This is my big goal, my "real" resolution this year! Be more creative, be less afraid to take photos and risks with my creativity... explore more with video and podcasts, and talk with new and interesting people. To grow as a photographer, and as a creator of media? content creator? entertainer? a Creative?...I like creative! we will stick with that ha!

Here's to exploring and finding new ways to create... I don't know what that means yet... but, hopefully, it will be fun, trying, and worthwhile with some hard work. I look forward to sharing here what I/we create!

Cheers and Happy New Year!!

Who we are…and why it matters…

who are we... and why does it matter...

First off it doesn't matter...

That being said, we are girldads that found out we had similar yet disparate attitudes and thoughts on the hobbies and world around us. Found in the pits of despair that are most audiophile forums. As one collapsed a few of us made it out alive and made our way to different islands in the sun. Mfadio and I also just so happened to live relatively close to each other, and bonded over our likes of good hole-in-the-wall food, disdain, and learning we have toddler girls of the same age. There is more to this story... but that can be left for another day!

Back to the task at hand... wait, what was I talking about... oh, yeah... who are we... do I go deep and try and define the soul of it... or just that our id was strong and felt like our thoughts mattered enough to put them on paper/audio/video... shocker, I don't think our thoughts matter, but this will be fun all the same. I don't think I can define who Mfadio is, that is a task best left to him.

But, I can discuss who I am. I am an early retired government worker, who spent the majority of his young adult life in the military, making poor decisions and thinking I was a lot smarter than I was/am ha… I like to think it made me a wiser person… but probably not. Followed by gov work, early retirement, a dip into big tech/philanthropy, and now stay-at-home dad to a wonderfully chaotic-make-me-pull-my-hair-out daughter (good thing I don't have much hair on my head) who I love dearly and will protect fiercely. I have many likes and dislikes as do most. I love finding new things and learning constantly. I rarely master anything, but, I do become generally efficient in most things I dive into. Open minded while fighting my closed-mindedness. A couple of things that have stuck around through my years that I find solace, peace, accomplishment, etc... Reading, Music, video games, pop culture, photography, food, and art, to name a few... so expect those topics to come to the forefront in the future.

A hobby tourist if you will… not quite a renaissance man, more chicken with its head cut off wanting to see and do all the things and never finding the time for any ha!

what are we trying to accomplish...

I don't know, it will be hard to define, especially since I have horrible ADHD and do nothing to combat it these days ha!

I have lots of time, while Mfadio is generally self-abso...err very busy... but even with my time and Mfadios busy schedule. we will try and endeavor to create some fun podcasts and maybe, just maybe bring some value, entertainment, and a place where people will enjoy visiting and finding out what is new in the worlds of Unsupervisedads... stay tuned!

Photography

The joys of Photography

I found myself, camera in hand. Just, waiting for a moment, searching for one, impatiently seeking one out. Then slowly letting go, and letting the moments come as they are. Then hoping my settings are correct...I depress the shutter actuation and wait to see if, the moment was captured, in a way that met my feelings on the matter.

Over my brief time with photography, I've started to take it, exponentially more seriously. I am a self-taught photographer, and I have found that by focusing on "my" art, or how I interpret and edit the photos, the more I enjoy it. That being said, learning and researching the proper settings for how you are shooting, and getting a foundation for the rules of photography is key. Especially before you start breaking them, or editing your photos into more artistic pieces.

This hobby/career/thing you can do is such a fascinating and deep rabbit hole to go down. Recently, I acquired a Leica Q2, and it has changed me... I now carry it everywhere. It is easy to pull out and snap a quick photo without being obnoxiously large or attention-getting like my main camera rig. It has limitations, such as a set lens, not the fastest, nor the best auto-focus (I tend to manually focus a lot with it). But, all these limitations, have brought about a learning pace that has me creating/capturing more of my daily observations into photos to share. I take more time, I attempt to draw out more from each capture. Looking "harder" at each moment for something unique and beautiful... or even mundanely beautiful.

Opening my eyes to the world, paying attention to the minutiae and the mundane, while looking for the beauty in it all. Then, attempting to capture it in a way that captures my awe.

At the end of the day, for me... it is all about the joy and wonder of capturing a moment that mesmerizes or captivates your attention beyond what you would expect. Sometimes it's the big epic moments, other times... it is the mundane or, simple moments and things that bring about moments of awe... all are worth capturing and remembering