Things learned today.

Melting plastic with a soldering iron at 9:45 am causes people to say "what's burning?" in unison.

this c code:
int byte, a, n;
a = (byte >> n) && 0x01;
will not correctly set a to the n'th bit of the byte.
(hint: & is the binary and operator, && is the logical and operator.)

Nobody at Shure complains if a software guy and an intern spend an entire day trying to debug an analog circuit.

John Halverson can calculate the 3dB point of a simple RC filter in his head to within 4%.

Making a garden hose combiner requires: a length of hose, one splitter, and two female hose terminations, no males are required. Oops.

I just bought a pair of monitor speaker stands from Guitar Center. I should have got these a long time ago, but somehow I didn't. Anyway, they're not bad, but since my speakers weigh about 30 pounds each, I also decided to get some tie-down straps just in case. Although these stands are rated to 200 Lbs, I wouldn't want to put that much weight on them. Even 30 pounds seems like a lot. These guys have a fairly heavy base, but not that heavy. They seem a bit top heavy, but stable enough to make me comfortable... with the tie-down straps (available at home-depot, but only in red. I might dye them black if I really care.

I'm also planning on buying one of these bad boys. I think I'll wait until I get the studio set up a bit better, because I currently have no place to put it except maybe on top of the existing piano.