Wrap up.

Since I've been negligent in updating, I'll do a round up and try to squeeze in what I can remember since the last post.

First thing, I want to congratulate Sal's wife Morgan on her amazing success at a lifestyle change!!! I've tried to make a change before, and it is the hardest thing to stick to. She's lost over 140 lbs! I've never met Sal and Morgan in person, but I hope to one day *cough* Meet n Greet 09! *cough* :)

Last Thursday night, my neighbor and I rode our bikes out to "Bike Night" in downtown Tuscaloosa. After perusing the cool bikes on display, including some custom painted bikes, some Big Dog choppers, many Harley's (one with a cool neon light setup), we went into one of the bars there to grab a beer and shoot some pool. There was a band playing called Handshake Promise. They were playing covers from '80-'90's rock and metal bands (and a couple by The Who), and they were excellent! The singer could wail, and the guitar player didn't miss a note, and they played some tough songs. It was a good night for riding, cool and breezy.

Since that neighbor is moving at the end of June, and my other neighbor that was buying a bike has already moved, I'm pretty pumped that my neighbor across the strret bought a bike. He bought a Suzuki Intuder 800. It's a sharp bike. I'm kind of partial to the way they look for some reason. He has already put it back up for sale, however because he wants to upgrade to an 1100 or 1300cc. We took a ride last night down to Bryant-Denny stadium. It was a good night for riding again. It's just about too hot to ride during the day already...

Mom and Dad have a computer and high-speed internet! Now I can get some MP in while visiting them... ;-) They wanted a new computer since they've received their "stimulus" check, so I ordered them a new Dell and had it shipped to me. I stripped it of some fluff and installed some free apps for them. I took it to them this weekend and set it up and installed their DSL modem. I think they are pretty happy with it. I know my niece loved it as she didn't want to quit playing with it all weekend.

I bought a key fob remote for the Nissan. It was $93, plus programming fee from a dealer. I bought it off of eBay for $9.95 including shipping and looked up the programming directions on the web. That worked out so well, I'm buying Mom a replacement for her Infinity because hers is broken.

I've mailed off the title and registration and Bill of Sale for the Mustang. Only thing left is for the buyer to arrange pick-up. I'm not as sad as I thought, but I have moments where I know I'll miss it. I just hope it goes to someone that will fix it up and take better care of it than I did.

Nickel & Dime

Why can't I buy a "kit" with everything needed for my device to work the way it was intended? Electronics should come with basic cables necessary for different applications. To be specific, I just got around to installing the Sirius Sportster radio that I bought several weeks ago. I ran the antenna and the 12 volt power cord through the dash and out right where I wanted to mount the dock. The kit has the receiver, antenna, power adaptor, remote, dock, and suction cup mount included. Even though my truck radio doesn't have an aux in jack, how much could it have been to include a male-male mini cable and a mini to RCA cable? Those things are like 2 bux at Radio Shack? And if you know your device has a crappy FM transmitter, go ahead and include the FM direct adapter that plugs into the radio's antenna jack. I know electronics can't come with EVERY possible cable needed, but these should have been included here. Now I'll need to buy the FM direct adapter, and once it gets here, run another wire through the dash.

Typing about the FM transmitter made me think about another issue. I hate the radio available around here where I live. There are about 15-20 channels that come in clear, at least 7 or 8 are crap country, 1 is classic country, 3 of them are classic rock, and the rest are pop, soul, or talk/public. I like the classic country station, NPR, and maybe one of the classic rock stations. There is just no great radio available. So with that in mind, let me tell you this. There is not ONE selection on the FM dial that is sufficiently static-free for me to use the FM transmitter in the satellite radio receiver... There is some kind of crap bleeding onto every friggin' point on the dial, and there still ain't jack to listen to. One of the reasons I bought a Zune and the Sirius receiver in the first place.

That'll be the day

I love Buddy Holly! I listened to the Greatest Hits CD I have the other day, which got me thinking about this post. For a bit of a background, I, like a lot of others my age, enjoy a wide variety of music styles, or genres if you will. More explanation than that really deserves it's own post, and I'll add it to my notes for future reference. I also discovered in college that I very much prefer to see a great band in a club setting rather than in an arena. This led me to follow closely a few bands that produced several great records, but never made it "big." This is also a subject for a future post, perhaps in the same one as above. But, what I realized is that sometimes it is difficult, if not downright impossible, to capture the energy and sound a band has on stage when recording in the studio. It'll turn out to be a washed out, less heavy sound, more on the pop side than anything recorded live by the same band.

Which leads me back to my love of Buddy Holly. My wife kind of makes fun of me, and I think she mainly hears the songs as bubble-gum and dismisses them as such.* But I listen to the songs, and I picture Buddy and the Crickets in my head. I can see Buddy up there with his Strat, his Fender Pro or Bassman or Twin Amp sitting behind him. Those amps are LOUD, to say the least. I can envision those guys playing a live show, with that equipment turned up, getting all of the distortion we're used to hearing today. I bet those shows were full of sound and energy, which would explain all of the screaming teenagers and the complaining parents. :) I would like to talk to someone that attended a show all of those years ago to see how they remember it.

On top of that are the great songs. Buddy's country roots shine through and his minimalistic riffs and hooks are just catchy. Add to that songs like "Everyday" with the celeste (xylophone sounding thing) and Jerry Allison slapping his knees for the percussion, and it just becomes brilliant.

There are many acts that I'd love to time-travel back to see perform live, The Who (with Moony of course), Elvis, Buck Owens with Don Rich, The Beatles to name a few; but I believe Buddy would have to be up there in #1 or 2, possibly only behind The Who.

This made so much more sense in my head than it does here in print. Hopefully some of you music enthusiasts get what I'm saying. Right?...

* - Not that I'm accusing her of being the only one in the house that's ever done that. The biggest example I can think of offhand is "No Rain" by Blind Melon. I saw the video a couple of times and heard it on the radio and dismissed it as pop drivel and quit listening to it. Many years later, I watched the "Behind the Music" on Blind Melon. And just seeing some of their live performances and getting a personal insight into the band kind of opened my eyes to them. Now when I hear that song, I turn it up instead of turning the station.