Gobble gobble

Gobble gobble. Gobble gobble, gobble gobble. Gobble gobble. Gobble gobble, gobble gobble.

Gobble gobble. Gobble gobble, gobble gobble. Gobble gobble.

Gobble gobble.

Gobble.

Finally

I was beginning to think I was bad luck. The Thrashers are 8-10-1 this season, which means they've won 8 of 19 games. Not very good. In the past, we'd have to wait until the Thrashers were on national TV, or played the Bruins or Rangers, to get a chance to watch them play on TV. Because they aren't a particularly popular or incredibly good team, they usually had 1 game on national TV. This year, we bought the hockey package from our cable company so we can see every Thrasher game that's televised. I missed a few games. Of the eight wins, until last night, I saw only 2 of them, and in both cases, I was busy doing other things as well, so I missed a lot of the games I "watched" anyway. For example, the first win I "watched", the Thrashers beat the Capitols 8-1. I missed all eight goals they scored. The second win I "watched" was a 5-0 shut out of the Penguins. I only saw two goals in that. Of course, though, any game I actually sat down to, and paid full attention to, they lost...including a 7-5 loss to Pittsburgh when the Thrashers lead 4-0 after 10 minutes, and a 7-3 loss to the Islanders when the Thrashers were down only 4-3 with like 12 minutes to play left in the game.

I was beginning to think that by watching the games, I was just slightly altering the flow of the universe, and this new flow was such so that the Thrashers could not win hockey games. But last night the flow of the universe changed in a good way. The Thrashers played against the Flyers in Philadelphia. They led 3-1 after the first period. After the second, it was 5-3 Flyers. Michelle kept saying that we should not watch the game, so the Thrashers might win, but I said, "No woman! Now go make me a pie!" She didn't, but it looked liek we were headed for more of the same-me watching the game, the Thrashers losing the game.

With under 3 minutes to go in the game, the Thrashers scored a goal. It was now 5-4. The Thrashers were on the power play. They pulled the goalie. With 7 seconds left, they tied the game! In overtime, the Thrashers scored and beat the team with the best record in the eastern conference! And I watched the entire thing! I was not bad luck, they Thrashers just aren't that good. Hopefully they get better.

Other news: I got the metal guitar in. It is sweet, but I had a hard time figuring out how to tune it without getting the floating bridge all out of whack. Soon I'll post "INSTRUMENTS PART 2: Batman Returns" and you can see a picture of it. Any suggestions for a name?

The Ordeal

The title of this post was supposed to be, "INSTRUMENTS: PART 2, Jason in Space"

Unfortunately, things didn't go as smoothly as possible, but I guess they could have been worse.

I recently purchased a new guitar. I'll post a picture when I get.

Actually, it arrived already, but I had to send it back. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's go back in time a little bit.

do do do do do do do (flashback music and sounds -- like chimes in wind or something)

I called a particularly helpful and reasonably priced merchant of fine musical instruments. I have purchased many things from them. I tried to haggle a little with no avail. The sales guy must have read the book, Secret Powers of Negotiating by Roger Dawson. I explained how I have spent lots of money on things I bought from them. He told me that the manufacturer sets the prices on guitars. He wouldn't even throw in a free guitar stand. What a jerk.

Anyway, 2 days later, the guitar arrives in all it's glory. Only: 1. It's packed loose within the merchants standard box, 2. It's damaged.

My thoughts were:
1. Does the guitar manufacturer send the guitars to the merchant in boxes? Why was this guitar loose?
2. The damage was a smashed bottom of the guitar. The paint was even missing. I found no paint chips in the box, so this guitar was packed after it was damaged. It was NOT damaged in transit. I wondered if they sent me a scratch and dent guitar.

I called them up, ready to chew them out. The woman on the other end of the line was 100% helpful. I didn't even get a chance to use my prepared line, "I know where you live. I hope you can sleep well tonight. Ha ha ha!"

They sent me a new guitar. I should get it today, plus they are paying to send the damaged guitar back. Also, I noticed on the UPS tracking page that the damaged guitar was shipped in a box weighing 5.60 pounds, while the replacement is coming in a box weighing 15.30 pounds. Which, I guess, means the replacement is not coming loose in the merchants box only, and that it will arrive inside a manufacturer's box too. I'm also going to guess they sent me a dent and scratch guitar the first time--hopefully by accident, because..."I know where they live. Ha ha ha!"

INSTRUMENTS: PART 2 The smell of Fear will be posted soon.

INSTRUMENTS: PART 1

Keeping with the original intention of this blog, this post is to keep everyone up to date with my acoustic instruments. (I'll do the electric instruments later, after I get the Jackson.)

I'll start at the beginning, because that's a good place to start.

The first acoustic I ever played was my dad's Guild, but I have no picture of that and it wasn't mine, nor is it a guitar on my wishlist. The first acoustic guitar I owned was Chico.



Chico is an aptly named Spanish Classical Gianinni Student Guitar. He was built in 1969.
See:

You need to look inbetween the B and G strings (second and third from the right.)
Chico's so old that I'm afraid to tune him up to standard tuning, so the strings are actually the Bb and Gb strings. I got him from a guy my mom used to babysit, or from my Grandma-I can't remember which. If he's from Grandma, she got him at a tag sale for $10.

I played Chico all throughout college. He was my favorite guitar, but now he's retired. See how much he's worn:


Since Chico retired, I got Hector. I only have one picture of him because he is relatively new. Hector is an Ibanez Classical. He has a pick up in the bridge. He can never fill the shoes of Chico. Never! (But I still like him.)


I got my steel string acoustic-electric from my paw as a gift, which is, of course, the sweetest gift anyone can give you. This guitar is a Johnson Dreadnought Guitar. I had a hard time coming up with a name for this little fella, and then one day Michelle and I were watching Bloomberg TV. (We do that sometimes because we are strange.) The guy on TV was talking about securities involving piers and shipping and such. Michelle burst out laughing and said, "What a funny name!" Of course, under the commentator's picture was not his name, but what he was talking about: Wharf Holdings. Thus, this guitar was named Wharf Holdings (unlike the Star Trek 'Worf') to commemorate her silliness. I tune him 1/2 step flat so I can play along with G 'n R and Alice in Chains, or Coheed and Cambria.


Last year, I bought my first high end acoustic (but not my last.) I was insprired by my dad's Guild, so I bought a Guild too. I love this guitar more than Red Fusion. It is not acoustic-electric, but I have Wharf for that. I tune it up to 'concert pitch' so I can play along with Tony Rice (yeah right) and my other peer master guitarists.


You can probably recall the effort I had to put into to name this guitar.

That's all the acoustic guitars I have--for now. Here's a picture of my father's mandolin. He let me borrow it for now, but if he forgets, I'm gonna keep it for longer. I call this little guy Skinny.


Also, I am indefinitely borrowing my uncle's acoustic double bass. This beast is still missing a string and I need to call Von Schmidt to get the bridge replaced, but I still tune up the remaining strings sometimes and pluck some jazz or jam out to some swing. This is simply known as 'The Reverend.'


Here's a shot of the whole crew:


Next time, I'll show you my electric instruments.