New bass rig

Got my new bass rig today. It's a Genz Benz Shuttle 6.0 head on top of a Genz Benz Neox 212t. The Shuttle head rules. It's 600 watts into 4 ohms, and it weighs all of 3.75 pounds. The reason they can make them so light is that it uses class D technology and a switch mode power supply. It converts alternating current to direct current really fast so it doesn't store a lot of energy (hence no need for giant transformers and fans). At least that's what I understand it to mean. The Neox 212t cabinet is REALLY light at around 50 pounds, and has neodymium speakers rated at a total of 4 ohms, which are way lighter than the typical ceramic magnet speakers. The porting makes the cab have a lot of bass response and it can handle the extreme low end that the Shuttle puts out. I am really happy with this rig!!

I scored the cabinet for pretty cheap from Dave at Easy Music Center. I also picked up the head at Easy, but it was priced the same as any online retailer.

In front of the cabs are my two basses - an Ibanez Prestige BTB1005 5 string, and an MTD Kingston Heir 5 string fretless. I love these basses!!

Tonight's dinner

was an herb and onion roasted chicken with wild rice, and grilled asparagus with a tomato and mozzarella topping. The tomatoes are from Aunty Candy's farm in Oregon and taste awesome!!

U8B Fall season is halfway over

and I gotta say, this is a great group of kids (and parents as well). We are not supposed to keep score, but so far we have not lost a game. However, I am wondering about my coaching skills - I think the reason we score a lot is because my more dominant players are coming up from the midfield and dribbling in to score. I really need to work on them to stay in position more and pass to the forwards to score. Though it's hard when the forwards don't stay in the forward position.

Pesto Rosso

This was lunch - a homemade crust, with pesto rosso (a brown-red pesto with roasted peppers and tomatoes) as the base, and hearts of palm, roasted asparagus and lots of chopped garlic. The kids had plain marinara and cheese.

Old guys rule

Audio proof of Saturday night's jam (anything that starts with "Old guys"). Lots of Guinness was drunk. All told, we must have played 30 or so songs, none of which I've ever played before. I don't profess to think any of this sounds necessarily very good, but we had a lot of fun anyway. And to John's credit (he's the drummer), he literally hasn't played drums for 4 years, and he still kicks butt.

Good as new

We went to Sears today to buy a new microwave, so that we don't have to look at the burnt one too long as a reminder of my stupidity (not to mention we use our microwave often). It was pretty easy, as my friend Gary advised me it would be. I encountered some small but not insurmountable problems. The mounting bracket had slightly different mounting points, but I didn't want to redrill through the Corian backsplash. So I just drilled new holes in the mounting bracket instead to match the holes in the Corian. Thin gauge steel is easy to drill through. The other problem was that for some reason, there was metal sandwiched between the two cabinet bottoms, that I had a hard time drilling through. Metal shards were flying everywhere as I was drilling. Note to self: invest in a pair of safety glasses soon.

My next door neighbor is a good man. He came over and helped me unhinge the old and very greasily burnt microwave, then took it to the dump for me.

Before:



After:



I also bought a new wok from Macy's. I'm not gonna be scorching oil anytime soon though.

Tone deaf dudes

I jammed with an old friend tonight, and his two former bandmates from a popular local band in the 90s. It was fun - I mostly played bass, but I also played guitar and drums. It seems like I'm becoming the bass player guy now. And yes, I do realize there's a toe growing outta the side of my bass.

Yes, I am an idiot

I almost burnt my house down. I was going to prepare dinner, so I heated the wok with some oil on it. I go to the potty and when I come out, smoke is billowing everywhere. Flames are shooting out of the wok and approaching the ceiling. My wife and I panicked and I yelled for her to get some towels. As she ran to get them, I turned and found some washcloths, doused em in water and tossed them in the wok. Fortunately that smothered the flames, but not before my microwave got toasted. At least the cabinets weren't damaged.



















Next time I want that smokey wok taste, I'm gonna go to Maile Chinese Restaurant.

Second goal for E

E scored his second goal at today's game. He is really starting to develop both his offensive and defensive skills. I am totally proud of him. I picked the PERFECT season to coach, having seen his first two goals in four seasons!!

He shoots....




















He scores!!!!

I think I'll change my name too

So my second favorite candidate in the election is J Stop-Rail-Transit Maly. Yes, that is her real name. No, I don't believe that's what her parents named her.

Seems like everyone and their mothers are running for office on the Stop-Rail platform. It's like the only decision that a Mayor makes is about Mass Transit. When someone is SO serious about an issue that she changes her NAME? Now that's conviction.

On that note, I think I'll change my middle name to One-Parent-Stay-At-Home

Can I have some of what she is smoking?

In honor of the Primary Elections tomorrow, I want to give a shout out to 19 year old State Senate candidate Resa Tsuneyoshi, who answered the following question in an interview:

6) What is the No. 1 quality-of-life issue facing Hawai'i, and what would you do about it? It should be mandatory for one parent to stay home with the children. This parent would be in charge of instilling values and disciplining the children; at the same time, more parents would be available to volunteer in the schools. In return, the parent would receive a tax credit according to the working parent's to offset any loss income.

This is a GREAT idea!! When can I hope to start receiving my subsidy checks so I can quit my job?

I'm glad I got lines

Whoa, am I glad I got lines on my fretless bass. I would be so lost without em. Not to mention my intonation would be all over the place. I'm just glad my band tolerates the fact that I want to play fretless exclusively. Especially since my hands have converted over to fretless and I actually find it harder to play a fretted bass these days. I even find it hard to play a 4 string!

eBay shenanigans, part 1

Two weeks ago, I posted an eBay listing for a guitar I was trying to sell. Within an hour there were bids, and within a few days bidding had risen to $1900. There were about 17 people watching the auction, which ended last Friday. Within the last 3 minutes someone had put in a bid and met my reserve of $1950, and he ended up winning the auction.

Immediately after the auction I e-mailed the guy thinking that he was sitting at his computer. No response all weekend. Then on Monday morning I get an e-mail from this guy. He claims that someone hijacked his account and bid on my guitar, so he would appreciate if I deleted his bids. I immediately respond that he should contact eBay and tell him someone hijacked his account (if this was indeed true). He later tells me that there is nothing he can do, and asked if I would just say that we agreed not to complete the auction so that he wouldn't get a strike against his account.

No way am I going to do that. If he just bid on it and had buyer's remorse, why shouldn't he have to deal with that? And if he indeed got his account hijacked, then he needs to deal with that as well. So tomorrow, I am going to file a non-paying bidder claim with eBay and hopefully I can get my money back for the final listing fee.

Now really, who the f$#& would hijack an account to bid on something at the last minute and then not pay for it? If this clown had the class to tell me that he had buyer's remorse, I would have agreed to file the mutual non-sale claim to get my final listing fee back.

And on a related note, is anyone interested in purchasing a Gibson Chet Atkins Country Gentleman? Just make sure that if you tell me you're going to buy it, that you actually plan on following through.