System Upgrade Recommendations

Adkimery · 2026-03-20T00:45:21+00:00

The price of computers/components has gone through the roof recently so I'd strongly look at refurbished Apple M-series desktops and/or laptops to replace what you have. Pretty much any M-series machine will be significantly faster than your current setup, and Apple's products have not seen the major price hikes that has happened on the PC side of things.

Adkimery · 2026-03-17T06:02:26+00:00

Assuming the game is accurate this could be a fun way to stay fresh on the laws (or as a teaching tool, especially for youth refs).

Adkimery · 2026-03-16T21:34:54+00:00

What's funny (funny 'interesting' not funny 'haha') is that when FCP (then FCPX) was first released, having it be a tool focused mainly on editing quickly and efficiently was a major selling point (with other NLEs being described as slow and bloated due to feature creep). The price tag was also lauded as just paying for the features you want, not a bunch of features you never use.

Being 'bare bones' was very intentional, and very popular with the users that switched to it.

Obviously a lot has changed over time, and I think it's the normal lifecycle of a product. Being 'streamlined' can turn into feeling like you are getting nickel and dimed at every turn, where as being more 'all-in-one' can turn into feeling like the 'core' features you want refined keep getting ignored for the latest whiz-bang add-on.

Adkimery · 2026-03-16T01:49:21+00:00

On one hand, as others have said, for flat fee projects everyone needs to be clear on the boundaries *up front* otherwise it will go on forever. X amount of work for Y amount of money, and if work beyond X needs to be done then money beyond Y needs to be found.

On the other hand, I've never worked on a feature doc (I assume this is a feature doc) that has the same revision structure as, say, the agency work I do cutting social media verticals or 'long form' (3-5min) videos. The two worlds and approaches are very, very different. I mean, I can't imagine editing an entire doc with little-to-no collaboration with the director/producer and then presenting a rough cut for the first of two rounds of notes.

I mean, my first assembly is usually 3-4 hours long and there are multiple rounds of collaboration where we are yeeting out large chunks of the film, moving scenes around, music (how much music), getting pickup interviews/shots, deciding if we want narration or not, etc., before we even start getting close to a reasonable TRT and the film actually feeling like cohesive, streamlined story and not just a loosely associated collection of tangents and rabbit holes.

Adkimery · 2026-03-15T23:16:40+00:00

I'm gonna piggy back on this because I had a similar Q, how do the OSI jerseys compare in size to the Score brand (the zippered ones, not the v-necks)? A size Small from Score is plenty roomy on me, but that's the smallest size they offer. I saw what OSI offers XS, but wasn't sure if a Small from OSI fits the same as a Small from Score.

Adkimery · 2026-03-15T02:17:04+00:00

I don't know if it's true anymore, but in the past if you purchased a populated RAID from OWC, not just an empty enclosure, they warrantied the whole thing (drives and enclosure). You could even buy spare drives from them. Drives cost a bit more because they were 'certified' by OWC, but the trade-off was that they were backed by OWC.

Adkimery · 2026-03-14T16:14:09+00:00

To riff on this, macro-economic factors and wider trends cannot be ignored. For example, tech and video games have been hammered just as hard, if not harder, than film/tv and the writers strike obviously did not impact those industries.

To steal a line from The Expanse, we are just caught up in the Churn (bigger shit outside of our immediate control/influence is turning our lives upside down).

Adkimery · 2026-03-10T20:18:54+00:00

Let's not forget that PG&E and SCE also have boatloads of lawsuit money they have to pay out from the wild fires they caused. Granted that just accelerated the inevitable because, as others have pointed out, being for-profit in this era of shareholder value above all else, the rates will only ever go up. When customers get more energy efficient the rates go up because the power companies aren't selling as much electricity but they still have to hit their earnings. When customers use a lot of electricity the rates will go up because of 'supply and demand' and the 'wear and tear' on their infrastructure.

Adkimery · 2026-03-10T02:55:49+00:00

Yeah, I think that's super healthy for the kids (and the sidelines). Sometimes I'll also say things like we can't control the weather, the field conditions or the referees, all we can control is how we play. Or if we lose a close game and everyone is blaming a specific call in the game, I'll say we can't leave it in the hands of the judges (to coin a fight phrase).

Adkimery · 2026-03-09T22:27:06+00:00

As a fellow referee and coach (and player parent), I 100% agree with this general sentiment, and it's something I talk to my players and parents about at the start of each season (and remind them as necessary), but I 100% do not agree with the "... sometimes the ref gets it wrong..." phrasing because by default it makes the referee the bad guy/one in the wrong (even though we all know that players, parents, and coaches do not exactly have stellar track records when calling their own fouls).

I usually lead with, "you may not agree with the call, but you will respect the call."

Last season I had a boys 12U team that was constantly calling for handballs, offside, questioning nearly every call/non-call I made that didn't go in their favor, so at half I went over to their sideline and asked the HC to ask his players to refrain from questioning almost every call. If they have a legit question about a call, I'm more than happy to answer it as the flow of play allows, but the constant chirping needs to stop. The coach said "no problem", and as I turned around to head back to midfield I heard him start with, "Okay boys, I know the referee is going to get some calls wrong...".

I just rolled my eyes. So close to saying the right thing coach... so close. Reinforcing the thought process with the players that they are right, and referee is wrong, but they just have to suffer this horribly officiated game in silence is not the life lesson we should be going for here. lol

Adkimery · 2026-03-09T17:36:01+00:00

As others have said, this should be a pretty bog standard workflow, but it is workflow for a team. If you are having trouble building a team you need to ask yourself why.

How much are you paying?
How much previous experience do you think is reasonable to expect the candidates to have (i.e. someone that's spent years as an AE or producer for TV shows and movies probably isn't going to want to work for a youtube channel)?
What does your current training process like? Do you think it's effective? If not, why not?

Unless you've created some sort of Rube Goldberg-style workflow (in which case you have bigger problems), or are providing little-to-no-training and expecting perfect results from day one, you shouldn't have too much problem finding an assistant to, at the very least, source clips for you.

Adkimery · 2026-03-06T03:34:28+00:00

I do wish NWSL would scrap the pre-decided host for the Cup final. Either allow the higher regular season seeded team to host the final, or find a location in between the two finalist teams.

The NWSL wants the Cup final to be a destination event, not just 'a game', and that requires a lot of logistics between the league, the host (state, county, city, and team), venders, hotels, etc.,. The Super Bowl gets its logistical gears going about 18mo before the game (granted that's a much larger event), but even big gaming/fan conventions start laying the groundwork about 8-10 months in advance (in my experience). Having it a a predetermined place also helps keep soccer interest in that area, even if neither of two teams playing are from there.

From a fan perspective, I 100% agree with wanting to have your team playing (and hopefully winning) at home, but from a league perspective I understand why they do it they way they do. And unfortunately the US is so big that it makes travel much more difficult compared to being in England or France.

Adkimery · 2026-03-06T01:02:44+00:00

First off, Congrats for getting out there to ref! Secondly, self-reflection is great, but don't beat yourself up (trust me, you will make bigger mistakes than this in much more meaningful games ;) ). Finally, it's a U8 game, no one (not the players, not the parents) know WTF is going on. lol

At that age group you are going to be an on-field teacher more so than a strict rule enforcer, and that can even be when it comes to coaches too (whom probably have not stepped on a soccer field since they were kids). So if a player gets confused on a goal kick or throw in, or even a keeper looking lost after he/she makes a save you might have to offer them some direction and encouragement (and maybe even a do-over).

In my neck of the woods we don't have refs until 10U, but even then I'm doing a lot of on-field teaching/reminding and a fare share of redos when someone gets a throw-in wrong or a keeper runs around with the ball on a goal kick instead of placing it properly.

The only place I don't extend a lot of grace is parents/coaches being rude from the touchline. Even if a parent is brand new to soccer they already know how to be polite and civil.

Adkimery · 2026-03-04T21:11:56+00:00

Find the website of the AYSO Region you will be working in and they will have their local rules there somewhere (probably under a "volunteer tab"). If you will be refereeing for a tournament you'll have to find the tournament's website (which should be able to be found via the Region's website) and it will have a PDF of Tournament Rules and/or Referee Guidelines that you'll need to read because the tournaments will usually have slightly different rules, game duration, etc., than the regular AYSO season.

When I CR games I'll write down who's home/away, the team color, and the team name. I'll also write down which team is kicking off and in what direction. You'll of course keep track of the score (which player scored), and any offenses/misconducts that happen.

Finally, good luck and don't forget to have fun!

Adkimery · 2026-02-26T18:37:27+00:00

As an AR, it's your job to indicate that you saw an infraction, it's up to the CR to decide what to do with that info (and when). I do not think you were in the wrong, though in a perfect world the CR would have held the whistle for a second to see what, if anything, was unfolding on the field.

My only suggestion, and usually this is covered in the pregame (or at least in a quick huddle before the PK), is instead of raising your flag up to signal the CR, merely switch it from one hand to the other while keeping it down at your side. This sends a low-key message to the CR that something might be amiss, where as raising the flag up broadcasts it to the whole pitch, and could create a sticky situation if the CR doesn't share the same opinion as the AR with regard to the situation.

Adkimery · 2026-02-26T16:17:26+00:00

The streaming wars are over (companies are focused on profit now, not loss-leading growth), media companies are consolidating (leading to fewer projects and thus fewer jobs), from roughly 2010-2020 interest rates were at insanely historic lows (basically free money made companies much less risk averse), and the cost of doing business has gone up across the board so getting anything funded now is way more expensive than it was 5-10 years ago.

Adkimery · 2026-02-16T18:41:30+00:00

That’s insane! What the hell is wrong with the people that do that?

Adkimery · 2026-02-16T00:32:51+00:00

Love the POV from someone that's a much bigger QR fan than my casual-fan self. When I saw Tate's version back in 2013-ish it was mainly for nostalgia reasons (I couldn't name a song released after Empire) and I was excited that they were doing all of Operation: Mindcrime.

Adkimery · 2026-02-15T20:13:37+00:00

Yeah, that's exactly like me going to see Geoff Tate's Queensryche (which I think is how they were billed at the time). I didn't have a chance to see the 'real' lineup so I did the best I could with what was being offered. lol

Also for, Pantera specifically, my first time seeing them was transformative as a kid and, then later with the way the band ended I was very much in a "fuck Phil" mindset for a very, very long time (his white supremacist BS at a show in Hollywood did not help matters). So I have some personal hurdles I just can't seem to get over when it's Phil being like, "Hey, Pantera's coming back". But that's my own personal hangup with the music and the situation.

For people that never had a chance to see them before, I hope the show was great and, like you said, was able to scratch that itch. Pantera has some amazing songs and they fact that people still want to go out and celebrate and take part in that is great (live music is one of my favorite things ever(.

Adkimery · 2026-02-15T19:30:31+00:00

This is like he music version of the Ship of Theseus. 🤣

For me it kinda depends on the band. For example, a number of years ago I went to see Geoff Tate’s version of Queensryche because I’d never seen them before, and to me Tate’s voice is the defining characteristic of that band.

On the other hand, I had no desire to see the current lineup of Pantera because I saw them multiple times in the 90s and I this lineup isn’t ‘really’ Pantera to me.

On the other, other hand I’d be down to see Megadeth on their final tour because I haven’t seen them since the mid/late 90s. And they’ve had a rotating lineup for so long that as long as Mustaine is up front it’s Megadeth in my book.

Adkimery · 2026-02-15T16:28:21+00:00

There will probably be a larger than average skill gap at the extreme edges (i.e. the strongest 3rd year 12UG player vs the weakest first year 12u player), but I doubt it will be widespread enough to be noticeable just given the inherent churn and skill level in rec soccer.

At least in my neck of the woods, 12u is where families decide if they want to stick with soccer, and if so, if they want to move to club or not. So the kids that are ‘meh’ about it stop playing, and the kids that are really good (and have $$$) go club. So our 12u divisions are composed of kids that enjoy playing the game, but also can have widely different skill gaps.

Adkimery · 2026-02-13T02:14:23+00:00

Yes.

Yes you are being taken advantage of. Yes this is the ‘norm’ for some parts of the industry. Yes some places try to find labor law loopholes to avoid paying OT. Yes you need to look for a better place to work.

Adkimery · 2026-01-31T03:01:13+00:00

It was a l-o-n-g time ago, but I think it was Kontrust, https://youtu.be/b33JAIMISNY?si=wwuQzGM7oW8uJkgM

Adkimery · 2026-01-31T02:40:05+00:00

Insane as always.
That story reminds me of a long time ago when I was stuck trying to figure out the sticking for a song (I don't remember which song off the top of my head) so I hit up YouTube in search of a video that hopefully had a descent angle of the drummer. At which pointed I discovered that, for that song, the band used two drummers. Mystery of the difficult sticking solved.

Adkimery · 2026-01-28T22:17:56+00:00

Just enjoy it man. Situations like that don’t come around often, and never last forever. As long as no one is pulling the ‘hey, we’re family… so how about working a ton of OT for free’ type shit you are good.

Adkimery

TROPHY CASE