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2012-01-23T10:41:00.000-08:00

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Kyle McHattie

2011-05-21T15:48:00.000-07:00

Kyle McHattie: "I connected Blogger to my http://flavors.me page - http://flavors.me/keyguy13"

Infinity Blade Comic

2011-01-18T20:35:00.000-08:00

This is hilarious because I just started playing this game on my iPad. My neice and Nephew helped me play it for a couple hours on Sunday night. Babysitting was pretty pretty easy :)

The Phoenix Rock and Roll Half Marathon

2011-01-18T20:27:00.000-08:00

Well I managed to talk Rich into running the Phoenix Half marathon with me. It was a little chilly at 6:00 in the morning but we rode the light rail to the starting line and then waited in line for the porta-potties for another 40 or so minutes. It took so long that we didn't get to our coral in time and started with coral #5. My knee started hurting right from the start but it was manageable enough to keep running for a long time. 8 Miles, in fact. We stopped several times to stretch his foot and my knee and thought that was going to get us through. We'd been keeping a great pace and then just as we caught up with the 2:07 pace keeper, my knee started hurting a LOT worse. We tried to stop and stretch and then run again but it was too painful. So we had to walk the last 5 miles. Miles 9-11 were painful but 11-13.1 were absolute agony. I have endured a lot of pain in my life but that definitely was in the top 5 of all painful things for me. As we hobbled over the finish line, I was happy to have done it but also disappointed that I hadn't trained hard enough to do well. On top of that, the event was very badly organized. As I hobbled to the first medical tent, I was told they had no ice. NO ICE?! Really? How stupid could they be? That is one of the main things needed for injuries. Same thing with the next 3 medical tents. No ice. Didn't run out, they just didn't have any. Finally the last tent had some bags of ice and I got my knee wrapped. The second comedy of errors is the fact that both of the finish lines (yes two separate finish lines, the jackwagons...) had Full Marathon and Half Marathon written on them, and no signs anywhere telling people there ARE two finish lines. So Sally and the kids missed us hobbling over the finish line (which is actually good in some ways...) They also had no signs telling friends and family where to meet the participants except an obscure sign in the middle that had numerous things written on it that would have been confusing for most people let alone someone who had never been to one of these marathon events. The Las Vegas Half marathon and marathon was MUCH better organized. And one of the things I am most pissed about is that I didn't even get my free beer because the beer tent was about as far away from any other part of this event that it could be and my knee hurt too bad to walk that far. So I guess we will run Zappos events and not PF Chang events from now on.

Anyway, this is a picture of my medal

Life in Vegas

2011-01-13T13:05:00.000-08:00

I have been running since October. I ran the Rock and Roll Las Vegas Half marathon with my friend Cindy Knull and my brother, Rich. It was my best achievement this decade and I am so proud of all of us. I can't describe how awesome it was to cross that finish line with Cindy and to know that my brother was going to finish it too, even though he was injured. I will always remember how happy that made me :)

Now I am registered for the PF Chang's Rock and Roll Phoenix Half Marathon. It's on January 16th, 2011. My knee is injured and I will be in pain but I am running it. I want this medal and you can only get it if you run The Rock and Roll Las Vegas and then the Rock and Roll Phoenix back to back.

Check it out:

Internet Exporer Default Search Provider Corruption Error

2010-03-25T08:07:00.000-07:00

Internet Explorer - Search Provider Default

Error Message:

"A program on your computer has corrupted your default search provider setting for internet explorer. Internet Explorer has reset this setting to your original search provider, Live Search (search.live.com). Internet Explorer will now open Search Settings, where you can change this setting or install more search providers."

Solution:

1. Make sure IE 8 is closed then navigate to registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders

2. Add a new “Expandable String value” inside the above mentioned key with a value name of “AppData” and a value data of “%USERPROFILE%\Application Data”.

3. Reopen IE 8 and see if you still get the error message.

2009-09-03T08:01:00.001-07:00

I saw a great quote today. 'If god created man in his image, why am I not invisible?'

Facebook Musician Page

2009-07-14T08:58:00.000-07:00

Kyle McHattie on Facebook

2009-07-02T07:30:00.001-07:00

This is a test

Greek Rocket War

2009-06-19T06:42:00.000-07:00

This is something I would do :) It's kinda cool :)

Greek Rocket War

How to have a religious argument

2009-06-17T13:49:00.002-07:00

The other day my friend, CJ, and I were arguing about the video I last posted to my blog (the Michael Newdow demolishes reporter one). You can read the argument in the comments to that post.

My point is that if she, who is a very religious christian, and I, a true atheist, can have a discussion without hating each other or feeling belittled for our beliefs, why is it that the rest of the world can't do the same?

I'm just saying...

Atheist Michael Newdow Intellectually Demolishes Arrogant Moron on Fox News

2009-06-08T06:39:00.002-07:00

This is a prime example of religious arrogance.

If only I could do this at MY workplace...

2009-04-23T08:32:00.000-07:00

If IT Ruled the World: User Error

Stock Trading is fun!

2009-04-16T10:39:00.000-07:00

I know I have mentioned this recently, but I am a member of updown.com an investment website. You can join and play around with $1,000,000 in fake money and try to do well in the stock market. If you do well, you can actually make a little real money. I started several months back, not knowing what I was doing and did ok for a few weeks. Then the market had a down turn and I hadn't been checking my portfolio. I lost my shirt! So the fake me jumped off the 13th floor of a fake building...

A couple of weeks ago, after learning many things about the stock market and the mechanics of trading, I reset my portfolio and started over. I have taken more of a 'day trading' approach. I belong to several investment groups on the site so I watch what stocks they buy, check the highs and lows for the week and make a somewhat educated gamble when buying the stock. I then place a limit order (check out what this means at the site if you don't know) to sell at a price that the stock has reached during that week. I try to find stocks that have a lot of activity and I look for trends (again, lots to find out if you're interested, at the site).

So far, I have a 8.4% return on my million dollars since 3/24/2009 and at this rate, an annualized return of 98% :) I have made $84,028.90 on my $1,000,000! Not too shabby...

Check it out here

Previously on Bloggity...

2009-04-16T08:33:00.004-07:00

I figured that would be an appropriate title considering how long it has been since I have posted to my blog :)

A lot has transpired since I last posted. What a great word, transpired :)

I am still very involved with the Hillsdale Wind Symphony and also a jazz combo at the college. We are called 'Papa Joe's Kentucky Breakfast'. I have also been auditing a jazz piano theory class, too. It has been extremely difficult but at the same time, very rewarding. Understanding this stuff better has opened up many more ideas for me when I compose. I am also much more confident when I improvise, too.

I bought a new instrument too. It is called an EWI. I bought the cheaper usb version because I already have a computer or two to plug it into to play the sampled instruments. I have been practicing it even more than my trumpet and I really like it. With the jazz theory class and all the technology that I have, I feel like I am getting much better as a musician. I will be putting up a youtube video this weekend with a sample of me playing both trumpet and ewi to the song 'Some day my prince will come' (the miles davis version). It's a cool jazz waltz version of it. I will be playing it at our 'Jazz Bash' on May 2nd. It is going to be an outdoor concert with a bonfire, food, beer and several jazz bands. Our combo will be playing first. The event starts at 4:00 PM at Dr. Henney's farm on Mechanic road (take a left just before the bowling alley and then look for the tent about a mile up the road on the left).If you can find a way to make it to this party/concert please do. It is going to be a LOT of fun!

Back in February or January (i can't remember which), my friend Janna and I decided to have a friendly competition. She is also a composer (a really good one) and was up for the challenge. Since I commented on the fact that she often composes pieces using triplets, i suggested she write something without any triplets at all. This prompted us to come up with arbitrary rules. They were as follows:

Janna's piece:

must be in 2/4 time
no triplets
60 beats per minute
in the key of B minor
must use all the string instruments
at least 32 measures and no more than 60 measures.
additional instruments are ok

Kyle's piece:

must be in 5/8 time
140 beats per minute
in the key of Ab major
using these instruments:
   wood block
   bari sax
   cello
   trumpet
   cow bell

As you can see, I got screwed in the deal ;) No seriously...I got screwed...

So we presented the scores and the music for our compositions on Tuesday after wind symphony practice. Janna's piece is way better than mine (did I mention I got screwed?) . However, I am very happy with the piece I wrote. In all seriousness, Janna's piece is beautiful and I am glad our friendly competition sparked this bit of creative genius. Here are links to both of our compositions:

Janna Franklin: A Moment's Requiem

Kyle McHattie: Carousel

We now have another competition that should be great fun too :) I'll share the music when we are done. That's all for now...

It's been awhile :)

2009-03-23T13:51:00.003-07:00

Ok so it has been awhile since I have posted on my blog. I have been following the stock market sporadically for the last few months. I reset my updown.com profile today and did a bunch of limit buys and a couple of market buys. If you want to follow along with me or create your own profile check this out:

Celebration Fail

2009-01-08T09:20:00.000-08:00

This one is just funny, cause people falling down is always funny...

Machine Gun Fail

2009-01-08T09:17:00.002-08:00

This could be an ad for superglue or something...

Christmas Music

2008-12-13T11:06:00.000-08:00

Last night was the Wind Symphony's Christmas Concert. While we didn't play as well as we could, it turned out well. I got the whole thing on HD Video. I will be making it available on youtube in the next day or so. Enjoy the music. Oh, and I am the only one wearing a white shirt in the video (top left). I tried on my suit coat and it has shrunk, so I had to go tuxless.

One of the videos is the performance of my friend Janna's piece entitled 'Patches of Silver'. Again, not performed as well as we have rehearsed it, but it still turned out well. I think Janna has a very promising career as a composer. Leave feed back when you see it to let us know what you think.

Check out my new trumpet song

2008-12-06T18:09:00.004-08:00

I worked on this last night and this morning. It is a little rough and unfinished but it has some ideas I really like. Tell me what you think...

The New Guns and Roses CD!

2008-12-05T07:07:00.002-08:00

This review is as close to my own opinion as I can get:

"Reasons Chinese Democracy is GnR's Best work ever:

1. No covers. 100% original.

2. No clones. Every song stands on it's own and no two songs sound alike.

3. Extreme range. Musically, vocally, and lyrically, it's all over the place. Ultimate highs and lows, raging rock anthems in the spirit of good old hair metal, to the ultimate power ballad. Lyrically, it's Axl - all grown up. Vocally it's Axl in ways we've never heard, in ranges we didn't know he had, in addition to the Axl we all know.

In summary, if ever there was a "coming of age" body of work for GnR, this is it. I vote Chinese Democracy as GnR's best album ever."

I listened to every track last night. I absolutely love this body of work.

In conclusion, this is the only CD in the last decade that I am willing to buy. It is the only CD worth the ridiculous price they charge for them these days.

Enough said.

Flickr

2008-11-20T08:56:00.001-08:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

The New Star Trek Movie! 5-8-2009

2008-11-18T08:42:00.000-08:00

New Star Trek XI HQ Trailer 2 Leaked Nov. 2008 teaser 2

The Netflix of Books!

2008-11-18T07:31:00.002-08:00

Booksfree.com is a new service that lets you rent paperback, mp3, and CD audio books for a flat fee a month. Shipping is free with plans starting at $9.95 a month. Check them out: booksfree.com

Blogitty Mobility

2008-11-15T11:21:00.001-08:00

I am sitting in my truck in my driveway. My truck has a new engine. Actually it is a previously owned engine. According to my new mechanic, this truck should last me at least another 5 years. He pointed out all of the new parts I have put into it in the last 9 years and agreed that the engine pretty much makes it brand new. He wondered why there was almost no rust on it. I told him it was because it was a Las Vegas truck for the first 10 years of its life. Now, with the replacement engine, I am good to go. After I totaled up the cost of the screw up and breakdown from this summer. It only cost me about $2800 to have a good working truck again. When I tally how much gas I saved in the last 3 months of only driving my motorcycle, it is more like $2650. Add that to the $1350 for all of the other repairs I have had to make over the life of the truck and it is still way less than an average new car payment. When you consider the cost of insurance as well, I am far better off having kept and repaired this truck.

That's all for now.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Testing!

2008-11-15T09:06:00.000-08:00

I am trying out my new mail 2 blog feature so that I can create a blog post with my phone any time I want :) email me or sms text me if you get this.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Legend of the Seeker

2008-10-30T04:31:00.003-07:00

This weekend 'Legend of the Seeker' will air for the first time. I have my TIVO set to record channel wgn (307) at 4:00 PM on Saturday, November 1st. You can see the first 10 minutes by clicking play and if you want to see the first 30 minutes, it is available for free at itunes.

Brain Hemorrage anyone?

2008-10-19T19:23:00.000-07:00

The drink goes like this.

1/2 - 3/4 oz. Peach Schnapps
Float 1-2 Tbl. of Baileys on top
Drop 1 tsp of grenadine through the Baileys.

Life is good

2008-09-26T18:14:00.000-07:00

I've been contacted by a recruiter from proship entertainment. You know, the people who have the job I said I wanted 6 months ago. I am also now in a jazz band at the college. It seems the more I really commit to being in the music industry, the more it meets me half way. I said I wanted to be doing music for a living by the end of the year. It looks like it could happen. I will be talking with the guy from proship on Monday. I will likely be auditioning in a couple of weeks. If I get the job, I will be taking a leave of absence from work for a 3 month carribean cruise tour playing trumpet. If I like it and they like me, I may be making it a permanent career change :) Wish me luck!

For all you hopeless Notre Dame Fans

2008-09-20T07:52:00.000-07:00

Bud Light: Real Men of Genius - Hopeless Notre Dame Fan

For the last time...

2008-09-18T06:37:00.000-07:00

A post is a post! I may not actually put text in my posts. I might just put up funny videos. Regardless, it counts as a post. It is not cheating :P

Video Blog

2008-09-04T21:08:00.001-07:00

I will either post a video of myself, or a funny video that I found during my surfing. Here is a good one:

Changes

2008-08-29T06:46:00.000-07:00

Ok so I haven't updated this blog for awhile. That seems to be a theme with me :) I will try to be more diligent at posting regularly. I think I will just start recording a video and posting it from www.youtube.com instead of the typing. For one, it will be more fun to make and it will also be more fun to watch every day, or so I think...

What do you think? Let me know if a video blog would be something that would have you check out my blog more often :)

Welcome to Bloggity (yes it's a new word...)

2008-07-12T23:41:00.000-07:00

Ok so I have another blog now. It's 2:43 AM and I don't want to sleep. Ok maybe I can't sleep. I am copying over my 46 Gigabytes of music over my wireless network from my 300 GB hardrive to my new laptop. It says it has 2 hours left and it's already been 3. I am really happy with my new laptop. It's an HP with a dual core pentium processor, 3GB of RAM, a 250 GB hard drive, a DVD write with lightscribe, a built in web cam, a 5-in-1 card reader, and an attachment that will wipe my ass. HA! But it really is cool. Fastest computer I have played with yet. And that is fast considering I work on computers all day long.

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Now playing: George Baker Selection - Una Paloma Blanca - WHAT THE FUCK?
via FoxyTunes

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Now playing: Scorpions - Winds of Change - That's better
via FoxyTunes

Ok now I am tired... I will write more later...