So I bought another guitar...
It's been ordered...
...meaning I don't have it just yet. I'm also not going to say what brand or model it is. The reason I'm not mentioning brand or model is because I have absolutely no idea if this guitar will be any good or not since I broke personal guitar buying rules to get this thing. If it's good once I get the guitar, you'll hear more about it later.
I've not played this model at all, nor have I ever seen one in person. This means I have no idea what it feels like, very little idea what it sounds like (other than a few scattered YouTube videos) and only have seen it on a computer screen.
The personal guitar buying rules I broke were a) see the actual guitar in person in the color you want with your own eyes, b) play it so you know how it feels with your own hands, and c) hear how it sounds with your own ears in person, preferably through a crappy little amp (because if it sounds good there it will sound good through anything).
I didn't do any of that and instead just bought it.
Was that stupid? Yes. But I did it anyway.
Why did I buy it? The price was simply too good to pass up for what it offers. This guitar, which was already priced well to begin with, had the price further dropped another 41% for a Monday-after-Thanksgiving sale. That was a big reason I went for it, but the design of the guitar combined with the rock bottom price is what sealed the deal.
This guitar should be selling for at least $500 but it's nowhere near that. You'll understand why as I describe the features.
In this guitar is an H/H pickup set (the neck side is a humbucker in single-coil size) with a push-pull coil tap for single-coil like tones. That alone isn't all that impressive. But what is impressive is the electronics design, because there's a built-in way this guitar defeats the bridge side pickup overpowering the neck side. The knobs are volume-volume-tone instead of volume-tone-tone; this is a very simple yet very effective way to make the pickups "live together" volume-wise without any overly complicated electronics, and is very thoughtful design. If the bridge side is too loud, no problem, just adjust its dedicated volume control. Problem solved.
Both pickups use rails. This means absolutely no volume drop no matter what is played. For harder play, sometimes the wound strings get momentarily softer in volume. When that happens, the string is vibrating wide enough to be slightly away from the pickup pole piece it's hovering over, resulting in volume drop. A rail cures that 100% since the string is hovering over a rail instead of a circular piece. No matter how wide the string vibrates, the volume never drops.
Offset abalone inlay fret markers. Guitar companies, for whatever reason, usually charge a ton of money to get this look.
"Extra" carve on the inside of each cutaway for easier higher fret access.
24 frets on a neck with a super flat fingerboard radius while at the same time not having a paper thin neck.
What does this all result in? A guitar that can play rock while at the same time easily achieve Telecaster-like tones for for clean stuff, all with easy play anywhere on the neck and no volume drop anywhere.
Again, this is a thoughtfully designed guitar - assuming it plays well, which it may not. I won't know that until I receive it.
The only other guitar I know of with a (mostly) rock bottom price that can do this is the Ibanez GRX20. You will look at that and think, "Wait... that guitar can't do single-coil sounds because it doesn't have coil split nor tap." Wrong! That guitar has a 5-way select switch, of which two selections are single-coil settings.
While not as thoughtful of a design (only one master volume, one master tone), the GRX20 does have one of the best switching systems for the H/H pickup layout. The 1-3-5 positions are standard. It's 2 and 4 that are oh-so nice to have. One is the same as a Strat "quack" pickup setting on a Strat, and the other sounds very similar to the neck-only pickup setting on a Strat. No fancy electronics required. You literally just flip a switch.
And yeah, I almost bought the GRX20. But the guitar I bought instead has more Tele-like tones with the coil tap. I already have a Strat for the "quack" stuff and it's fine. With the guitar I ordered, I get Tele-like tones in a modernist design at a rock bottom price I couldn't refuse.
Yes, I broke personal rules to order the guitar I did. The design of it along with the really low price really made a lot of sense to me. Will it be any good? I have no idea. Maybe it will be good, or it may be terrible to the point where I just return it. You'll have to check back here later on to find out what I decide to do with it once received.
Why are barbers these days so terrible?
I thought this was something just due to my age, but it's not.
A big reason why Wahl hair trimmer kits sell so well is because there's hardly anybody left that knows how to cut men's hair correctly.
I just buzzed my head recently. Simple cut using clippers only. First, a #2 attachment with blade in retracted position all over the head in multiple directions (especially around the crown) so everything is the same length first. Second, a #1 attachment with blade in extended position on the bottom half of the head to blend up halfway. Third, a #1 attachment with blade in retracted position on the bottom third of the head to do a little fade. Clean up afterward, done. Clean and neat.
The only people left that know how to cut hair this way and do it properly are old guys that own their barbershop. A lot of these men are retiring or have retired.
A modern men's barbershop is a complete waste of your time and money to go to. These guys will charge you 50 dollars for some idiotic cut meant for a teenager and not a man. The "barber" will completely screw up what is supposed to be a simple haircut. You could even ask for the simplest cut in the world, the high and tight, and he'll find a way to screw that up.
After he's done making you look stupid, he'll smear some sort of scented chemical crap on your head that you didn't ask for that starts itching in minutes (they never ask if your skin is sensitive to certain chemicals or not).
After that, you will be charged 50 bucks and expected to fork over a 20% tip, which is another 10 bucks. This means you just spent 60 bucks to look like a complete idiot.
A modern salon is also a complete waste of time and money for a men's haircut. Most salons have only female stylists. I don't have a problem with that. What I do have a problem with is when I get in the chair and the stylist says, "Oh, wow! This is my first time cutting men's hair!" Translated, this means, "I have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA how to cut your hair, so I'm just going to guess and hope for the best!"
This happens a lot.
During the cut, the stylist will ask you, several times, "Is this okay?" Again, this is because she has no idea how to cut men's hair correctly. What I'd like to answer that with is, "HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW?! YOU'RE THE FRICKIN' BARBER!" Of course, I don't say that out of courtesy, but I'm thinking it.
The end result of the stylist's cut is, of course, wrong. The only positive thing about the experience is that you pay less than you would at a modern men's barbershop. But in the end, you still leave looking worse than when you went in.
Want to know why a lot of female stylists have never cut men's hair? It's because many men have abandoned the salons completely. After a man gets his hair cut wrong enough times, he stops going.
If you're a man, over 40, and are sick and tired of bad haircuts, get a hair trimmer and start buzzing your own hair
I explained above how I buzz my head, but if you've never done it before, there's an even simpler way to do it.
The easiest men's haircut in the world
Wahl hair clippers with #3 attachment and blade in retracted position, i.e. "pulled back". That's it. One length over the whole head.
How to avoid two big beginner's mistakes
Beginner's mistake #1 is forgetting to go in all directions, especially around the crown.
The crown of your head is that little circle part on top near the back. Most guys have just one crown, although some have two. Obviously, hair doesn't grow out of there in one direction. You have to buzz in all directions so that all the hair ends up being the same length.
Beginner's mistake #2 is using the blade the wrong way.
When buzzing, the color chart you see printed on the trimmer is supposed to be facing away from your head. Where the attachment is concerned, you do not push the tips into your head. Instead, you use the long side of the attachment to glide over the head, just with a little pressure.
The color chart on the trimmer actually matters
That chart isn't just for show.
The reason I say use a #3 attachment is because that's the blue one, 3/8". I use a #2 (1/4") and then a #1 (1/8") for fading. Generally speaking, 3/8" suits most guys. It's short but not super short.
Also, there is a reason you can extend or retract the blade with the black lever on the side. By extending, you can add a half-inch, which is helpful for blending if you want to try that, although you don't have to.
Is any prep required before buzzing hair?
Yes. Wash your hair first with shampoo first and thoroughly dry. You do this to make buzzing easier and to prevent the hair trimmer blade from getting jammed.
Bad cuts happen, but...
Everybody gets a bad haircut once in a while. But it would seem in modern times that bad men's haircuts happen a lot. I've seen the aftermath of bad cuts on other guys.
The older gents who have mostly gray/white hair who unfortunately went to the modern men's barbershop are especially embarrassing. I can instantly spot one who just got out of one of those awful shops. Hair is full of some chemical goop, combed in some weird way, and styled to look as if they're going to grab a skateboard and start hitting the ramps. That guy just spent 60 bucks and looks like a fool. It's sad.
This is why it's better to buzz your own hair:
A hair trimmer more than pays for itself after just one haircut.
Even if your cut doesn't come out perfect, it's still better than paying some guy 60 bucks for something that would look even worse.
You can get a haircut whenever you want. No need to make an appointment because you're the barber. No need to drive anywhere because all you have to do is walk to the bathroom. How often should you buzz you hair? Once a month is good enough for most guys.
If you're sick of the bad haircuts, start buzzing your own hair. I'm certainly glad I did.
Hoarding does make more sense now
At the time I write this in November 2022, there are still two things that stick in my mind from not-so long ago, as in under 2 years ago.
That time when paper towels and toilet paper vanished from store shelves, and that other time all the aerosol disinfectant products (such as Lysol disinfectant spray) vanished from store shelves. Yes, both came back, but neither came back quick.
Very recently, a toilet bowl cleaner I use (one I like very much because it does such a good job) stopped appearing on store shelves. I won't even say what brand it is just in case I find a bottle of it elsewhere. For the time being, two bottles of it were acquired after looking around, and that should last a while. However, any time I see a common household product I use suddenly become hard to get, I run out and buy several of the whatever-it-is; I do this whether news reports a shortage of the whatever-it-is or not.
Is this hoarding? Yes. True, it's just 2 bottles of cleaner. Not exactly a big hoard by any means. But those 2 bottles were bought because of my experience with common household item shortages in the not-so distant past.
If somebody has 72 rolls of toilet paper in their house (bought as four 18-packs) and/or 32 rolls of paper towels (bought as four 8-packs), I won't even make fun of them even if there are just 2 people living in the house, because I know. I get it. I understand why they have a ginormous amount of paper product. It's because they remember when it was unavailable and don't want to be caught without again.
It's not even a money issue, because this stuff isn't expensive. It's an availability issue. Even if you make six figures a year, it doesn't matter, because if Everyday X Product isn't available, it's just not available, period. The only way to get around that is to stock up in advance when Everyday X Product is available.
Back in my childhood, I do remember older people from that time that did the hoarding thing. They would buy a year's supply of anything they used even on a semi-regular basis. Paper products, cleaning products, toothpaste, brushes, you name it, they had a ton of it. I would see those large quantities of product in their homes and thought it ridiculous.
I don't consider it ridiculous now, because again, I get it. They dealt with a shortage of everyday stuff in their younger years and learned to prep after that by buying in bulk. It didn't matter whether they would use the stuff or not. What mattered was having whatever Everyday X Products they needed just in case of a shortage.
Stocking up that way now isn't as crazy as it used to be. Not crazy at all, actually.
Does this mean hoarding everyday items is now the smart thing to do?
What is a good watch for winter?
My answer to this question is the exact opposite of what most would recommend.
Usually, when one thinks of "winter watch", the standard answer is to wear something tough, like a G-SHOCK or maybe a Glycine Combat Sub, Victorinox I.N.O.X., Luminox or some such.
These are all fine choices, but it's not what I use for the colder months.
My watch of choice for the cold is the small, thin and ultra light Casio AQ230.
Why? Simple answer. It's one of the thinnest watches I have that slides under the cuff very easily.
When I'm wearing a sweater or coat, wearing a thick watch bothers me. When putting on the sweater or coat, a thick watch can get caught going through the sleeve. After that, if I leave the watch in front of the cuff, the watch gets pushed into my hand. If I put the watch under the cuff, it doesn't feel comfortable at all.
Thin, light and on a metal bracelet is the best combo for a winter watch
Thin means the watch slides under the cuff. Light means you're not bothered by the weight. The metal bracelet also makes for easier sliding under the cuff since there isn't any strap tail sticking out.
Winter is the only time I can actually tolerate a metal bracelet. While I do love my "I don't care" W735H watch, its thickness and strap get in the way when I'm wearing long sleeve stuff.
Other options for thin/light/bracelet watches:
Casio A158. Cheap and widely available. And to note, it is thinner than the A168.
Casio A700W. Like the A158 but with a far superior amber night light and ridiculously thin at 6mm. (Yes, really.)
Casio A500W. 5 alarms, countdown timer, a whole bunch of time zone options, decent amber night light.
Citizen Eco-Drive Paradigm "Super Titanium". Analog, 10mm thick, smoothed edges all around and the light weight of titanium. Also has a sapphire crystal that is AR coated. It's Eco-Drive so it's solar, meaning you'll most likely never have to change the battery.
Tissot T1274104404100. Yeah, not exactly a model name that rolls off the tongue. However, this is also titanium and has an 8.5mm thickness.
I haven't upgraded to Windows 11 (and probably won't)
It was bad enough "upgrading" to 10...
...but I'm at the point where the Win10 OS on my computer runs more or less the way I like it.
When I switched from Win7 to Win10, that was awful and I immediately wanted to switch back to Win7, but couldn't because my 100% purchased (yes, I bought it) and licensed copy refused to "activate", so I was stuck with 10.
After some time, using some helpful tweaks and figuring out how to disable a bunch of crap, Win10 then became usable. Mostly. What I basically did was everything possible to make Win10 act like Win7. There's still some Win10 crap I have to deal with, but at this point it's minimal.
I know the clock is running for Win10. What is the official "end of life" date for Windows 10? October 14, 2025.
Could I still run Win10 after that day? Yes. For how long? Probably a few years. But I know I can only do that for so long...
...which means I'm thinking about Linux once again. I was very close to switching over to it back in '21. Oh-so close. But I couldn't because there are a few Windows-specific things I need for my daily computing life, so Linux wasn't a doable thing.
At this point in late '22 however, things have changed:
More stuff runs on the phone now
A simple example of this is printing. To the best of my knowledge, all wireless printers can be accessed with a phone app now. If my Linux distro of choice decides it doesn't want to talk to the printer, I can copy the PDF to the phone and have it send the print job.
Another example is browsers. I use Firefox which has add-ons in it. But I also use Microsoft Edge bone stock and plugin-less specifically for instances when a web site just absolutely will not work without a browser that allows everything. But sometimes that doesn't even work. When that happens, that's when I grab the phone and use the site's app. When their site doesn't work, the app will. And if the app doesn't work, then I 100% know the site is having a problem on the site's end.
Were I running Linux, same situation. If whatever browser I'm using won't load the site, grab the phone, run the app.
I could list other examples, but you get the idea.
The realization that if I absolutely need Windows for something, buy another computer
This sounds stupid, but it's not.
You can get a laptop for under $200 new easily.
If there's a thing I need Windows for, it's actually cheap enough just to outright buy the hardware and only use it when needed - which in all honesty would not be that often.
In other words, a Windows laptop would act the same as having a specialty tool in the toolbox. It doesn't get used often, but it's there when you need it.
More software is "rent me only"
The technical name for this is a subscription service. An example at the time I write this is anything Adobe. You can't buy the software, but you can rent it. Adobe Photoshop will cost you $31.49 a month.
Only once have I ever actually rented software, and it was for a navigation app on the phone. It was an annual subscription thing for something like 20 bucks, but before buying, I asked myself, "Am I willing to throw away 20 bucks just to see if this works out for me?" My answer was yes, I spent the money, discovered that I didn't like the app and didn't renew the subscription.
That was the last time I rented software.
Both the online-account-required and rent-me-only crap introduces the problem that the internet is necessary just to do stuff.
Right now with my Win10 installation, if the internet cuts out as it periodically does, I can still use my computer. Edit my documents, watch some movies either downloaded or on DVD, edit audio, edit images, whatever. I can do all that without any "INTERNET REQUIRED, LOGIN NOW" roadblock.
If however my PC required internet just to work, would I even be able to get into my computer? Yes, but at the same time no. I could probably login, but parts of the OS would be unable to function, and any software that required an online login obviously wouldn't even launch.
With the phone, yeah I can understand the online-required/account-required stuff because it is, obviously, a mobile device. But my PC is not mobile, nor do I need it to be, nor do I want it to be.
Ultimately, I may give Linux another go to specifically avoid the online-account-required and rent-me-only crap.