Time management is something that everyone can do better, from musicians to students to business executives. I found this article in an email news letter that was sent to me (from Total Success in London):

Many of us claim our days are never wasted. “I’m very organised” we say “I know where I am going and what I’m going to do”. If you truly feel that way then you are in the minority. Most people become frustrated with a day that is unproductive . We would all like to get more done in a day. The idea of time management has been in existence for more than 100 years. Unfortunately the term “Time management” creates a false impression of what a person is able to do. Time can’t be managed, time is uncontrollable we can only manage ourselves and our use of time. Time management is actually self management. It’s interesting that the skills we need to manage others are the same skills we need to manage ourselves: the ability to plan, delegate, organise, direct and control. There are common time wasters which need to be identified. In order for a time management process to work it is important to know what aspects of our personal management need to be improved. Below you will find some of the most frequent reasons for reducing effectiveness in the workplace. Tick the ones which are causing to be the major obstacles to your own time management. These we refer to as your “Time Stealers”.
Identifying your time stealers
· Interruptions - telephone
· Interruptions - personal visitors
· Meetings
· Tasks you should have delegated
· Procrastination and indecision
· Acting with incomplete information
· Dealing with team members
· Crisis management (fire fighting)
· Unclear communication
· Inadequate technical knowledge
· Unclear objectives and priorities
· Lack of planning
· Stress and fatigue
· Inability to say “No”
· Desk management and personal disorganisation

Fortunately there are strategies you can use to manage your time, be more in control and reduce stress, but you can analyse your time and see how you may be both the cause and the solution to your time challenges.

  ¶ 11:42 PM

From pro drummer and radio personality Jae Sinnett, some helpful advice for budding musicians:

Technique: Why do you practice? Objectively decide how you view technique and practicing and how it works for YOU. Develop a syllabus for your practice routines to help avoid repetition. With perseverance, maintain a consistent, patient and productive practice regiment. Practice, practice and practice. Listen, listen and listen. Embrace the fact that practicing should make things easier and not for purposes of velocity or showmanship.

(the full article is here). If you're looking for some cool musical ideas, Jae Sinnett has posted several sample tracks of his band's work on his web site.  ¶ 1:12 AM

I just stumbled upon a site called archive.org, which has a huge amount of live tapings of concerts that are free to download. If you've got high-speed Internet, you will love this site!

One cool place to start is to download some concerts from The New Deal, who are a live house band that I mentioned earlier this month. But there's bound to be lots of other interesting bands out there on this site.  ¶ 8:50 PM

Sheryl Bailey is a "world class bop guitar player" who studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston, and now based in New York, she keeps a busy touring and teaching schedule. Her web site has got some tantalizing music samples. From her web site, she is quoted as saying, "I believe tone is your calling card. Touch is more important than equipment, and whatever you do to develop that, should be your focus."

I also came across the web site of young Australian jazz pianist Matt Baker, which describes his already impressive career in the world of jazz. Unfortunately, no samples of his music are available on his web site. From his bio: "in July 2003, he performed in Switzerland at the Montreux International Jazz Festival with his trio. The trio was selected as the house band, to perform seventeen nights straight in the Montreux Jazz Club. Matt also represented Australia and gained fifth place in the Montreux International Solo Jazz Piano competition."  ¶ 11:11 PM

Found an article from the Times of Malta discussing how Maltese jazz pianist lack formal education. Mentioned in the article is world renowned Dutch jazz pianist Mike Del Ferro, who has a great web site here (which includes sound samples).. Mike has an impressive discography as well as a busy world touring schedule.  ¶ 12:50 AM

Like spiders? Don't believe that some spiders can be beautiful? Try this interesting site about Japanese spiders.

(this link was pointed out to me by my friend AC)  ¶ 12:38 AM

A band called The New Deal, described in this article at Jam Bands, is on the leading edge of mixing electronic sounds into jazz to create live, improvised, danceable house music. I just put on their debut album entitled "The New Deal", and I was so entranced that I listened to the whole thing in one session. I will say more later, but for now, just check them out (visit the New Deal website here)!

Listening to their album makes me wonder what kind of synth / vocoder / keyboard gear their keyboardist Jamie Shields uses. Did a bit of searching and found this gear setup page. More info is on their discussion board.  ¶ 2:22 AM

My food diary is where I post recipes and photos of the food that I cook. I've updated it with something new!

Sacchettini Alfredo with Fresh Cauliflower cooked by Chef Geoff
  ¶ 2:31 AM

With all the cheap camcorders and video editing software out there, there's bound to be a few creative people who actually make interesting videos, and put them on the web. It's easier said than done, but one website I found that has some really funny and original stuff is "Douggpound". My current favorite is his video entitled "Sports Drinks". Douggpound also does music (a creative fellow he is), and an example of some crazy electronic music is an MP3 entitled "Laguna".  ¶ 12:03 AM