Casio AW80 and AW81 (with instructions on how to set)
I bought this, sold it, then bought it again - this time for keeps.
The first thing I'll say is that the Casio AW80 watch comes in several flavors. White dial, black dial, resin strap, metal bracelet, nylon strap, different case colors and so on. But no matter how it looks, they all function the same.
The AW81 is functionally the same watch as the AW80. They all use Casio module 2747.
This is the second time I've bought this watch. I sold it originally a while back, but then re-bought it because it's the only ana-digi that has all the functions I want on a cloth strap. Okay, actually that's not true. There is the Timex Expedition T45181 that also has a nylon strap, but I prefer the Casio.
Since nobody has ever documented this properly, I'll instruct how to set time/date and how to use the telememo feature.
How to set the time and date on the Casio AW80
I'm going to describe this so you can set the clock and date in the fastest possible way.
Setting the digital clock
Do this first before anything else.
Long press of top left button activates time setting, starting with seconds.
Short press bottom right button to reset seconds to zero.
Press bottom left button to go to DST (Daylight Savings Time) setting, which will either be ON or OFF.
Press bottom right button to switch DST to ON or OFF, your choice.
Press bottom left button to switch to hour setting.
Use top right button to decrease hour, or bottom right button to increase hour.
Press bottom left to switch to minutes setting.
Use top right button to decrease minute, or bottom right button to increase minute.
Press bottom left button to switch to year setting.
Set year using top/bottom right side buttons.
Press bottom left button to switch to month.
Set month using top/bottom right side buttons.
Press bottom left button to switch to date.
Set date using top/bottom right side buttons.
Press bottom left to return to seconds.
Press top left to exit settings.
Setting the analog clock
Repeatedly press the bottom left button until you see H-S on the digital display, then stop.
Long press the top left button until the digital display starts flashing.
At this point, the analog clock can be set using the bottom right button and ONLY that button. A short press increases the minute hand by 20 seconds. Pressing and holding the bottom right fast-scrolls the time forward.
The easiest way to set the analog clock is by following this example:
If the digital time reads 10:09, you know the next minute is 10:10. Adjust the analog clock to about 10:08 (it will make sense why you do this in a moment). When the digital clock shows the next minute, 10:10 and 0 seconds, you have 20 seconds to set your analog clock exactly to that minute. Adjust your analog clock to 10:10 before 20 seconds have elapsed, and both the digital and analog clocks will be perfectly synchronized.
You will notice that the AW80 doesn't have a seconds hand. You will also notice the AW80 moves the minute hand every 20 seconds (at 0 seconds, 20 seconds, 40 seconds) that follows the digital clock. This is why you have a 20 second window to synchronize both clocks to-the-second.
"Home" screen a.k.a. main timekeeping screen:
Short single press of top left button switches between digital clock and day-month-date display. If your AW80 doesn't do this, you're on the H-S screen and not the home screen. Press the bottom left button and then you're back to the home screen, and your top left button will toggle between clock and day-month-date.
Short single press of bottom right button switches between 12-hour and 24-hour digital clock.
Single press of top right button is the night light, which illuminates for 1.5 seconds.
Creating, editing and deleting telememo records
This is a feature that lets you store up to 30 records and is notoriously difficult when you don't know how to manage records. It is easy once you actually know how to do it.
Each record can contain a name of letters and/or numbers, and a phone number of just numbers.
The first thing you usually see on this screen is TEL F:30. That means Telememo with 30 records available to be written to.
Each record can have a name of 8 letter/number/symbol characters, and a number of 16 number/symbol characters.
Entering a telememo record
The way this works is that you enter the name first, then the number - but you have to use all 8 spaces before getting to the number. This will make sense in a moment.
Press both right side buttons to start a new record so the top of the LCD displays three hyphens (---), then long press the top left button until you see a flashing line. Use the right side buttons to enter the first letter or number, then press the bottom left button to move the cursor right. Use the right side buttons to enter the next letter or number, then press the bottom left button to move the cursor right.
When finished with the name, press the bottom left button repeatedly until the cursor jumps from the right to the left. When this happens, you have reached the end of the name field and are now in the number field. The cursor will be slightly skinnier. Enter the number the same way you did the name.
When finished with the number, press the top left button to save the telememo record.
On the telememo screen, each record can be scrolled through using the bottom right button. You will only see the name of each record and its record index number below that. To view the number (as in the number you entered) for any record, view the record first, then press the top left button to view the number you entered for that record.
Editing a telememo record
View the record you want to edit. Long press the top left button. When the display starts flashing, you can start editing the same way you entered the record originally. When finished, press the top left to save/exit.
Deleting a telememo record
View the record you want to delete. Press the top left button until the digital display starts flashing. Press and hold both right side buttons. CLR will momentarily appear on the display. When the display is blank, release the buttons and the record is deleted. Press top left button to exit. Press bottom right button to examine if there are any other records you want to delete and repeat deletion process if desired.
Where can a telememo feature actually be useful?
This feature is most useful for real-world (meaning not online) things.
A few examples of memos you could use:
The combination to your padlock. If you name the memo PAD or just PL, you know what lock that number combination goes to.
A door with a keypad that requires a PIN for entry. You could name that one DR.
Using it for its intended purpose, storing phone numbers. If you use multiple phones and can't synchronize the contact list between phones for whatever reason, you can use the AW80 instead to retrieve phone numbers.
True, there isn't any way to protect the data in the AW80, however that's only a problem if a) somebody else has your watch, b) they actually know how to use the telememo feature (highly unlikely), and c) also know from your entries what they apply to (also highly unlikely).
In other words, safety of the data within the Casio AW80 is "security through obscurity".
The music store is not as good as you remember it
Some people pine for the days when then were record stores everywhere. They shouldn't, because I remember how it truly used to be.
A documentary that I recommend watching is All Things Must Pass: The Rise and Fall of Tower Records.
Here's what's going to happen when you watch that movie. For the first third of it, you're going to see a whole bunch of Americana, feel happy and might even wish you were there during those early days. The middle third is all about business. All that Americana you saw? Gone. Now it's all about cashing in. Then comes the final third when it all ended. And this is the part of music store history that I remember.
Buying a music CD for any album in the '90s was usually $14.99 + tax unless it was some bargain bin thing. Assuming a 5% sales tax, you spent $15.74 on the low end. If it was a new release, the price jumped to $18.99 ($19.94 with tax included) or even as high as $21.99 ($23.09 with tax included) for a single disc.
If you think that's expensive, the equivalent of that in 2022 dollars is spending between $35.89 and $52.65!
True, you could still buy the cheaper tapes (as in compact cassettes) for a while, but then all the record stores pulled the tapes entirely. In the end, if you wanted to buy that music, you had to spend full whack on that plastic disc.
When MP3 file sharing happened on the internet, yeah it's no wonder everybody flocked to it. Every song you downloaded saved you about $2.25 ($5.13 in 2022 dollars). It didn't even matter if the compressed audio quality of the MP3 was worse than the CD because hey, it was free.
Strawberries was the New England version of Tower Records
Tower Records never had a presence in New England as far as I know. There were a handful of music stores in New England where I grew up, and the one closest to me was Strawberries. That was the place you went to locally in town to buy music.
I remember the last very last CD I bought from Strawberries. Megadeth: Rust In Peace. I don't remember the exact price, but it was a lot just to get the stupid thing. I was mad having to spend as much as I did. In fact, before I went in the store to make my purchase, I sat in the car for a moment and debated whether it was worth even buying. Yeah, I bought it. I could have bought 4 t-shirts instead, and I'm not kidding.
The high price wasn't just a Strawberries thing because any store that sold CDs was jacking up the prices back then.
The '90s music store experience wasn't great
A music store in the '90s was no different than a computer software store. The only difference was the product. And in reality, the software store was better because at least they had bigger boxes with great artwork on a lot of what was sold.
The best way to describe a '90s music store aesthetic is "industrial standard". Take a commercial space, put down some commercial grade carpeting, install a bunch of shelving units and stuff those with CDs, put up a few posters, maybe have some neon signage on the wall, done. Absolutely nothing special or magical about it. A ton of '90s stores all followed this same formula. Zero character.
Anywhere to sit in the store? No, and that means it wasn't a hangout because there was literally nowhere in the store to hang out in.
Any "listening stations"? Yes. You could walk up to a little station, pick up some crappy headphones and listen to what the store gave you to listen to. And half the time the station didn't even work or the headphones were broken.
It's a good thing music stores died
For anybody that wants the music stores to come back, just remember how it ended before. It wasn't pretty. All the music was ridiculously overpriced and the stores were nothing more than examples of '90s soulless corporate retail crap. The few that carried into the 2000s didn't change at all from what they were in the '90s.
Believe me, you do not want to go back to CDs and tapes. Stuff your phone full of tunes or just use a cheap portable MP3 player.
What do those who pine for record stores truly want?
The complete music buying experience from discovery to purchase, which involves more than just the music store. A lot more.
From the '50s to the '70s, the way new music was heard was either on the radio or television. A song was released and promoted through one or both of those platforms. You heard it, wanted a copy, and ran on down to your local record store to buy it. That's how it worked.
From the '80s all the way until the bitter end in the 2000s, music videos (MTV, specifically) was the main way music was sold. Radio was still in there as a promo tool along with television and some movies, but the music video was front and center. You saw the video on television, wanted a copy of that music, went to the music store and bought it.
The music store, in reality, was the final step of the whole experience.
Was it possible to discover music only in the store so you could have the whole discovery-to-purchase experience in just one place? For some years, yes, but not by the time the '90s rolled around.
The old school experience is in discovery
Music stores how they were are gone, but new music discovery is still doable, and easy. All it takes is a few deep dive YouTube searches for original song and/or original song [insert genre here].
While true this isn't the same as going to the music store and thumbing through CDs, you can still feel the magic of finding new music you haven't heard before. Ultimately, it's that which people are chasing after and not the store itself.
...and I returned it
The guitar I bought didn't work out, so it has been returned. And I'll now reveal what it was.
The guitar was a Mitchell MD200. Mitchell is a house brand for Guitar Center and Musician's Friend.
Now before continuing, I read the horror stories some people had with the MD200 upon receiving it.
Mine was no horror story. In fact, there was absolutely nothing wrong with the guitar other than a few design quirks that I'll get into in a moment. "Design quirk" doesn't mean "broken". Again, nothing was wrong with the guitar at all. I just didn't connect with it.
There are 3 design quirks with the MD200.
The neck side pickup height is difficult to adjust. In the way the pickup is mounted, you have to have a long and thin Phillips head screwdriver to get to the two side screws to avoid hitting the pickup or the body cavity.
The pickup select switch has a little weirdness in the middle position. First and third position act as they normally would on most guitars. The middle position is the weird one as it cuts off the neck side volume control, and at that point the bridge side controls the volume for both pickups at once. Whether coil tap is on or not, the middle position always acts that way. When I first discovered this, I thought something in the electronics was broken. Nope. With the middle selected and volume up, I tapped both pickups with a screwdriver as a test, and yes, both pickups were on - but volume was exclusively controlled by the bridge side volume only.
The string length behind the bridge rings a bit when certain chords are played, similar to how a Jazzmaster would.
As for the rest of the guitar, 100% A-OK. I mean that sincerely because I was looking for problems and couldn't find any. Paint was good, tuners smooth, no sharp fret ends, great feeling neck, comfortable player, it was all there...
...except I just couldn't connect with the guitar. The magic just wasn't happening.
I actually do recommend this guitar
For a lot of people, this would work well. I'm not kidding. It's inexpensive, it's totally loaded with genuinely good features, it's light in weight, setup is easy and the thing just works.
I couldn't connect with the MD200 personally, but you might like it.
Remember, I was purposely looking to find problems with this guitar. All I could find was what I detailed above. Just a few quirks and nothing more.
However, I strongly recommend that if you buy this, order it. Most of the horror stores I've read concerning this guitar is from people who bought floor models. You are far better off buying this guitar new-in-box fresh to ensure 50 different kids didn't get their grubby mitts all over it before you touched it.
I am 100% certain the reason my MD200 had no problems (again, just quirks) is because it was box fresh. The likelihood of you getting a good one increases dramatically if you buy it that way.
Alternatives
Said honestly, there is nothing that can match the Mitchell MD200 at its price point considering the features it has.
However, if you want alternatives, there is the Ibanez GRX20 as I said in my last article. There is also the Jackson Dinky JS11, Jackson Dinky JS12 and not much else.
There is the Ibanez GRX70QA if you're willing to spend a little bit more. I tried this guitar. It played very well and it's one of the lowest cost (if not the lowest cost) HSH pickup layout guitars you can get.
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.