Change is in the air

The Blues have a new owner.

And I, as of 3:30 today, am officially a full-fledged A/V Nerd.

What more could a guy ask for?



Dave

Pick it Out

Banjo shopping is harder than I expected. For starters, the prices aren't as evenly dispersed as they are with guitars. I know I can find a good axe within the $400-600 range. With banjos, it seems like I can either spend a few hundred bucks on something that's "eh," or go right up to the thousands for something "wow." I actually saw one that listed for over $20,000. I can't ever see myself dropping that much on any instrument. I've come across a few that seem like they might work, but I suspect my best bet is to go sit down and play with a few to see what seems best. And by 'play with a few,' I mean, 'pick at some strings because I have no idea how to properly play a banjo.'

Of course, that means I have to sit down and learn how to play the thing from scratch, since I figure a lot of what I know from the guitar won't carry over. But I could be wrong. Either way, I'll have to dedicate some time to really working on it. So we'll see. I don't want to drop a chunk of change on something only to have it sit around and collect dust.

Speaking of chunks of change...apparently the only reason I bought a new stove was so I could bake cookies for everyone at work. I must have missed that bit when I got it from the appliance store. Because I have all this time to randomly make baked goods. I haven't even baked myself anything yet. Which is annoying. it's one of those 'things,' I suppose. I got a spiffy new stand mixer for Christmas, but haven't used it as much as I'd like. I get a new stove/over, and I've hardly had time to really cook anything. Conversely, I got a new car and use it all the time. Weird, huh?

Spring is here and we're supposed to get 2-4 inches of snow tonight. In St. Louis speak, that means 4-8 inches or nothing at all. I would not be surprised, however, if Opening Day is snowed out. It has happened before, so you never know.

I need Real Baseball, though. Spring training just doesn't do it for me, for some reason.

Cowboy Mouth this week. Double dose of the 'Tones next week. Life is good.



Dave

Slow and steady

A brief timeline of my tenure here at the library:

July '03: start working

Janurary '06: get a 'proper' chair, like the rest of the department, and only then because someone else left

March '06: get a phone installed

You know, not like I'm in a hurry or anything.


The Cardinals won their spring training game against the Damn Yankees today. I didn't get to watch any of it, alas, nor did I have any nifty inner monologues. Sad, really.


Dave

30 Seconds in Hell

Who knew that 30 ticks off a clock could be such an interminably long time? Maybe not in and of itself, but 3 hours worth of 30 second countdowns in a 'virtual waiting room,' hoping against all hope for an opportunity to buy some Cardinals' tickets is an agony heretofore unknown in these parts. I mean, these are baseball tickets, fer God's sake! Up until last year, really, buying seats for a baseball game was a regular old sbu walk. Go to the stadium, head to ticket window, and grab a couple nosebleed seats. But go and open a new stadium, and everyone and their mother is in on it. And, in the end, victory was had not once, but thrice (!) on this end, and once on the mother's end. So four games will be attended, and hopefully, it'll be a team worthy of the time spent staring at a little window with a countdown.

Back when we would spend the weekend at dad's "flat" on Tesson Ferry, we'd occasionally hit the nearby antique mall to go...antiqueing. I don't recall exactly what we would find, but there were usually a few things that would always catch my eye.* So it was with great expectations that I headed to an antique mall/consignment center near mom's house this afternoon. And, thankfully, it did not disappoint. Plenty of old egg beaters, cast iron skillets, and crappy movies abounded. I saw at least 4 copies of Titanic laying around, which makes me wonder what all the fuss was about. There were, in one box, no fewer than three copies of the old NES game Blades of Steel, which we owned at one time. There was a horribly beat up ukelele. And, I kid you not, there was a set of ceramic thimbles with all 12 disciples painted on them. Yes! Simon, called Peter! Matthew! James! And, in all his glory, Judas Iscariot! And they were all smiling, so far as I could tell. I swear, if they weren't $8, I would have bought them.

I have not much else to say. Special hello to Aunt Diane, who made her first, and likely only, visit to this little section of the Web. Shout out to the Gooch, who had 2 of the Cardinals' four hits today.


I was very professional. You're fired.
Dave





*Usually my left. My right eye is too smart to be fooled by such goings-on.