New bass guitar
It was finally time to retire my old cheap Epiphone P-Bass guitar and buy a new cheap bass guitar. The only reason I own an electric bass is to lay down my own bass tracks in my home recording studio - so needless to say it does not have to be an expensive instrument.
A friend is visiting for a few days so we piled in the car and headed off to Warwick RI Guitar Center. The last time I went there (December 2004) I saw some cheap new basses there and hoped there would be some left after the Christmas season.
Fortune smiles: There were some. I grabbed a Yamaha RBX170-DBM off the rack, plugged it in and started thumbing it a bit. Sounded good. I bought it. Price: $180.00 after tax.
This is the first new bass guitar I've bought.. ever. My previous bass guitar was bought by my pop about twelve years ago - which just goes to show you how long ago it was I acquired one.
Emma dies
My cat, Emma, after being here since 1992-ish has passed away. A lot of my friends knew her.
Her reason for departure is kidney failure (I think). She was drinking a lot of water but never absorbed it.
The failure in her system seemed to happen suddenly... but what can you expect from an almost 13-year-old cat.
I'm sad, but.. at least she isn't suffering any longer. Her last few weeks must not have been good. I tried in my best effort to make her comfortable and can only hope it eased her pain a little bit.
Windows 98 Sucks
After rebuilding the Stinkpad Thinkpad 390 laptop (yet again) I finally got a stable installation of Windows 98 that works. As it stands it is now 100% finished and is going to stay that way. Sidenote: I should have researched laptops a little better before buying the 390. That thing is just too damn slow. I'm giving it to my pop so he can install his GPS software on it which will work fine on it. For me I need something with some more oomph behind it. Eventually I will buy a Dell Inspiron or Latitude. Probably a C610 model because I know the chassis very well and can fix any part that breaks on it (including the LCD).
Hats off to anyone who is still out on the 'net with Win 98 or 95 - because that is a bad experience at best. Some apps don't work right, games run extremely slow and the whole experience is just.. blah.
I'm glad I'm not running '98 on any of my PC's. It sucks. It's either XP or Linux for me, depending on what box I'm on at the time. (grin)
Diamond Darrell Dies
First of all, even though Darrell was always called "Dimebag" (originally as a joke when that started but the name stuck) I always called the guy by his original stage name "Diamond Darrell".
Dimebag Darrell, Four Others Killed In Ohio Concert Shooting
I have a lot of readers who come here who are not in-the-know when it comes to the rock/metal music world, so here's a 101:
Darrell was probably (depending on your point of view) one of the most influential guitar players to come 'round in the rock scene in a long time. No, he was no Randy Rhoads (early 80's) or Jimi Hendrix (60's) - however in his element he's ranked right up there with the greats of past. At a show that just happened he was literally shot to death by a crazed fan. If you're ever heard of the band "Pantera" he was the guitar player for that band. He was shot to death while playing with his current project "Damage Plan".
Several friends of mine are very choked up by this death.
What's more interesting is the onslaught of people trying to cash in on his death already.
See this eBay listing (edit: link is dead). It started at 12 bucks. At the time I write this it is up to 1800 bucks. For real. Check it out.
I will bet you that this will break $2000 before it's over.
Damn.
I saw several other eBay listings where anything "Dimebag Darrell" is absolutely soaring in price.
Nothing sells like a dead rock star.
Breakfast burrito
Ya know, in the morning I don't ask for much. I just want to be able to get to werk, finish up the day and go home. One thing that completely turns me off something fierce is when the cafeteria here makes things the WRONG WAY.
Example: A breakfast burrito. Very simple to make. My version of it (which I tell the cook specifically) is:
1) Take one egg
2) Put it in a bowl/scramble
3) Put it on the iron
4) Take ham, cut to strips
5) Place it on the iron next to the egg
6) Take mushrooms
7) Place it on iron next to egg
8) Wait about 45 seconds
9) Place 2 (not 1) slices of American cheese on the egg
10) Get a wrap, like a cheddar wrap
11) Put the egg flat on the wrap
12) Put the ham on the egg
13) Put the mushroom on the ham
14) WRAP IT TIGHTLY
Done. Takes less than 2 minutes to make.
Some idiot was cooking today.. a young kid. Must've not been more than 19 or 20. I told him the following "One egg, ham, mushroom and American cheese on a cheddar wrap." Sounds simple, right? He screwed it all up. And yeah, I complained to his boss about it.
The last thing I need when I get to work is to have my breakfast, which I pay for, made wrong. I ate the stupid thing, I had to because I was late getting to my desk to begin with.
There is absolutely no room for incompetence as far as cooks are concerned. Cooks should do things the right way, the same way, every time. No one likes surprises when they're paying for food - including myself.
Maybe someday I will find a good wife who will make me breakfast so I don't have to deal with this CRAP. Ugh.
[--edit--]
Some additional thoughts on this:
The above is why I cannot stand restaurants. I absolutely hate them. It is so rare to get a good meal out of one of those places these days. The plain fact of the matter is that if you want your food done your way to your liking, you have to make it yourself. The only exception to this rule is when you have someone cook for you who knows what you like, but that takes time obviously. And I hate waiting. (grin)