Thursday, August 14, 2008

Yikes!


Well, it turns out that I am on my way to becoming a guitar tech, I am getting more and more comfortable with various guitar related projects. I have fit, shaped and installed custom (pre-compensated) saddles and bridge pins of various materials on my guitars and other peoples, installed pickups on two, and repaired/re-installed a pickup on a third, can change strings fairly proficiently, perform minor set ups (mostly neck adjustments) and converse with a fair amount of fluidity about various parts of the guitar. While I know this is not a big deal to most, especially not other actual guitar players, it does represent some measure of success for myself. It wasn't all that long ago that changing strings wasn't on the list of things I could do and I just installed a 4 part pickup in a decent/high end (for me) guitar. It is a little scary drilling a hole through the top of such a piece of equipment, but I did it, and the pickup sounds terrific. Sometimes I guess I need to celebrate the small successes. It shows progress. Makes me feel like this old dog can still learn new tricks.

I didn't quite know how this blog was going to come out. I guess I was just excited about doing something right (the recent install) and wanted to share! So there you have it. Thanks for listening...

PS I also like to say that I got a new guitar out of the deal. I used to have just an acoustic... well I now have an acoustic/electric, nice...

Sunday, August 10, 2008

A funny thing happened the other day...

So I was thinking about how weird life can be, and all the little "coincedences" that are there is we bother looking for them... I even just posted a similar post about such a topic, but this one is more personal.

So the other night, I was driving... now my cd player in my car has been heading downhill lately, getting worse and worse as time goes by. Anyway, apparently it finally decided that it had had enough of slavery and quit on me, only I didn't know at first that it was done... I ejected a cd to put a new one in, only the new one didn't go in... Now at times I do behave like your typical guy and I must admit, as shameful as it is, that this was one of those times. Anyway, acting like a typical guy, I thought, "Oh, I must just have to push it harder..." (Let me here state the the "typical guy" is not necessarily a smart guy...) Well, I pushed, and I have no idea how it happened, but the cd literally crumpled in my hands once it got halfway in. I didn't even push that hard! I have no idea what happened... It was like the cd player waited and then calmly bit the cd in half. Not something you see every day. I must admit that it startled me. I mean, what just happened! I must have looked like a crazy person, breaking cds like it is nothing! At any rate, here is where the coincedences start (short of that day seeming to be the day when random things went wrong/broke like it was going out of style all day... you know you have had one of those days... please tell me other people have those days...?) The first being that I had randomly chosen an old cd to listen to that day, and it was the one that broke... The band was Our Lady Peace... And the album was Clumsy... oh the irony...

Did I mention that I was on my way to see The Incredible Hulk?

See if you can keep up... Or 6 degrees of Robert Downy Jr...

OK, I know this isn't a stretch, and I know it happens all the time, but I still find it interesting, and I am the one writing this blog so I guess I have the say on it...

So I have watched some movies lately and something struck me once again, just how interwoven Hollywood is and how we are to believe so few people are so many characters. Here is how it goes... I was watching Iron Man, which stars Robert Downy Jr. (And Gweneth, who is married to Chris who's band recently released an album which I have been listening too... but that is not the focus here, just a related tangent). Terrence Howard is also in Iron Man... I then saw Terrence Howard (who is referenced on a Common album by the way... but that is neither here nor there, except that Common was also in the movie Wanted...) Anyway, Terrence Howard was just spotted in a movie with Jodie Foster, The Brave One... And then Jodie was in a movie with Denzel, Inside Man, which has the same initials, sylables and last name as Iron Man... starring Robert Downy Jr... who was spotted at the end of The Incredible Hulk... Sorry, that last one was a stretch (actually, this whole post is a stretch), but Robert hasn't been in a ton of movies in the last few years so give me a break...

It is also weird that I seem to run into movie star chains like this on occasion and I seem to notice it every time so I just felt like I had to mention it, you know, put it out there...

Anyway, China just tied the US in water polo so I better go cheer. My country needs me...

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Ooops...


Well, it happened yet again... I accidentally just busted a groove all over my bedroom floor... It wasn't The Vanilla Shake this time, there was more hips and less shoulders... but it was definitely a groove of some sort... This has been known to happen from time to time, thankfully it usually happens in private, saving me at least some embarrassment. The thing is that I don't even know what song it was too this time! That means that it is getting worse... maybe it is this new found affinity to hip hop that I have picked up lately. I have yet to decide what I am going to do about my problem... embrace it, ignore it, or go through some sort of therapy and try to conquer it, make it my b**** if you will... we'll see...