Yes, I’m a baby-boomer. I subscribe to the belief that we were responsible for the best music ever created. That includes the best band (The Beatles), the best concert (Woodstock) and the best way to listen (nothing beats the raw sound of vinyl). More people of other generations listen and prefer our music over their own.

Now, don’t think this is going to be all brag, I’ll admit to many faults we also had, starting with the clothing. Looking back at the old pictures, one can only say, “What were we thinking?” or “Didn’t we have mirrors?” Bell-bottoms, wide collars, wide ties, paisley shirts, go-go boots, and (dare I say) leisure suits, uggh! It was a violent time as well. Vietnam, Nixon, the 1968 Democratic National Convention (“The whole world is watching”), Kent State, Mi Lai Massacre, Charles Manson & his family, Richard Speck and the 8 student nurses, Ted Bundy…so much for the peace and love generation.

I was influenced by the music back then, so I learned to play guitar (self-taught). I always loved to watch a good guitarist, like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Alvin Lee from Ten Years After, Terry Kath (the original lead guitarist for Chicago until he “accidentally” killed himself playing Russian Roulette, what a waste), Jimmy Page, Pete Townsend, Jeff Beck, the list goes on and on. They made the guitars sing. I noticed there’s been a resurgence the past few years, mostly getting back to the roots of guitar, taking it back even as far a Robert Johnson, John Lee Hooker and the original blues guitarists. I’m planning on putting up a Facebook Fan Page discussing the true Guitar players, and hope you’ll join me.

I also found a new program that some of my readers might be interested in. There are a lot of “Boomers” that learned to play guitar (most do it a LOT better than I) but there are also a lot that never did, and now regret it. They feel they’re too old to start, or don’t think they can catch up. Some also think that the programs out there are only geared towards the new music and either they don’t care for it, don’t know it, or don’t think they can learn it. If you fit into this category, I have some news for you. There’s a program called Adult Guitar Lessons, and it’s geared just for you in mind. It’s easy to follow lessons, and features the music of our generation (you know, the good stuff).

So, click on the picture below and check it out. It costs nothing to look, and it might be just what you’re looking for. Don’t spend the rest of your days with the “should’a , could’a, would’a's) Why shouldn’t you be the one showing off to family and friends for a change. Be the player instead of the watcher. And watch for my new fan page coming soon. (If you want to be notified when this happens, just drop an email to chuck@chuckstips.com, and I’ll be happy to send you the information when it comes available).

Our society is changing at such a rapid rate, I’m hoping we’ll be able to keep up. I saw a video promoting Windows 8.

I was really considering moving up to Windows 7 (still on XP…hated Vista) because of all the great things people have to say about it. But watching the promo for “8″ I got this overwhelming feeling of deja vu.

In junior high (sooo many years ago) I read Marshall McCluen’s “The Medium is the Message”, where I was first introduced to the theory of holograms. Then, in later years, I saw what he was talking about in movies (I love movies), and television shows, and now on PC’s. Superman showed a hologram where Lex Luthor was playing chess in his cell room, but had really escaped. Then Ahhnold’s “Total Recall, had a scene where a holograph was used to fool his enemy; Tom Cruise’s Minority Report showed us files shown suspended in the air and Tom could peruse the files in a virtual office, and the same setup used again in NCIS LA by LL Cool J. At last, our PC’s have caught up. Taking a hint from the I-Pad, we can now expand, move and open via the touch screen.

It’s enough to make a guy feel old! (As if my own body doesn’t remind me on a daily basis).  Now where did I put my abacus?

A very popular saying is, “He who dies with the most toys wins.” Well, in today’s society, it’s not always the easiest thing to do. There are so many new “toys” coming out, one can’t collect ALL of them (though many try!).

But progress on gadgets haven’t been reserved for the young or the affluent tren-setters.  Just go to the neighborhood grocery stores or even the dollar store, and there you see grandma in the electric buggy with a cell phone in her ear.

The day of the land-line phone is dead.  I was just reading that the new 4G phone will make it possible to hook up to your laptop, so you won’t need to go to an “internet cafe” or Wi-Fi enabled Starbucks to hook up.  The only thing preventing the phone companies from tearing down their copper lines which were installed personally by Thomas Edison from the back of a horse-drawn cart (for the gullible among you…NOT) is the family from the back-hills of South Dakota who have yet to have a television in their house, and rely on the operator to make an outbound call.  This, of course, can be readily remedied.  Progress has never been halted by technicalities, though they’ve been postponed for a ridiculous period of time.  As party lines, busy signals, rotary phones and pulse dialing have become a part of the past, being shackled to an inside telephone is going the way of the 8-track and vinyl records (although vinyl’s making a comeback, thank goodness).

This brings me to the point of my post (and none-too-soon for some).  The talk of the chat rooms are about the new “i-pods”.

To be continued…

Nice to see you.  Hope you can stay a while. I just poured a fresh cup of coffee.  Cream and Sugar? My blog is set up to present a casual atmosphere where you can come to and relax, strike up a conversation, ask questions and hopefully get the answers you’re looking for. I hope you sign up for my newsletter where I keep you up on what’s going on around the internet, whether it’s half way around the world, or just down the block.

Check us out.  We’ve been online since 2004, but have just done some remodeling and some major overhauling, but we’re still the same gang.  Visit our main site at Chucks Tips dot com. It’s currently under construction, but should be operating at full capacity before long. I’ll be bringing back some of my old posts soon, so watch out for those. And, as always, I’ll be letting you in on most of the major launches before they occur.  I’ll have a ton of free stuff for my members so be sure to sign up…after all, it’s free!

Well, I’ll keep this brief, so enjoy your stay and we hope to see you again real soon.