I was up early enough to get in an hour’s practice. Who remembers “Heartache by the Number”? I thought it was by Hank Williams, but it is Don Williams. Does that make me half-right? I had the TV on again, and saw a Steve Martin movie called “Chubby Rain”. Not one of his best, they film a movie without the star being aware he is in it. These are exciting times.
How about a picture of the new mic stand? It turns out the fitting was standard, so I was able to pick this “Made In China” model up for $18. Did I mention the fitting y’day? Yes, I did, so carry on. The stand is nearly identical to the type I first bought when I was 14, and around the same price. When all the conversions are made, that means these things have gone down in price by 85%. That is, they now cost what they should.Dickens called. He wants to head out of town with the family, so I’ll be minding the shop for ten days. I can use the extra income, although I just know a big shipment of dog wigs is going to arrive any day now. First come, first serve. This comes at the right time for me, business has been incredibly slow. I’m going to set up the old Linux computer to his DSL. You know, I’ve got an extra Netgear router around here somewhere. Then if Damian arrives, we won’t have to queue up for the Internet.
I may have planned in excess of the capabilities of the Internet. I read the chapters on PHP usage, and I underestimated the language. It can accept user input, and use that input to display web pages containing information based on that input. However, those pages must already exist, a situation I was hoping to avoid. What I need is a language that takes a single blank web page template and fills it up with information as the user clicks along.
It turns out that PHP is probably not smart enough to accomplish that. Nor do I know of any other language which might do so, or anyone I can ask for advice. (There is Art, but he won’t be any help. He is the type of person that won’t tell you how to add two numbers unless you tell him what you are adding and listen to him tell you why you should not be doing so because somebody else has already added those two numbers before.) I stopped at the computer store in the Dania Mall. They were closed and it seems they are always closed, but if anybody would know, it is them.
Howard called, and I must get after my passport again. He has that tour of China and if he is allowed to bring a consultant, that person would be me. I have no idea what is involved but I would not turn down an expense-paid tour of the largest emerging market on the planet. I will dedicate tomorrow into finding out the details of exactly what the passport office wants. They insist I bring somebody who has known me over 25 years, and no such person exists out here.
I’ve burned the CDs for the show tonight. The mix is much nicer and I’ve got an entire new set of crowd-pleasers. I’ve tested the microphones, noticing that you have to be directly in front of the unit for the best sound. Must have something to do with the way they are manufactured, I don’t know. I’ll see you after the show.
Later. It is past midnight and for the first week my income from music passed my income from computers. Tonight I made $70 plus a lousy $5 in tips, but in total, far beyond what I used to make at it. The place was empty despite reasonable advertising and one old gal flashed me. Not bad. I am going to need even more material, as I run through it pretty fast when things get hopping.
I have 52 tunes and now estimate I will need 76. The DVD is hard to work in the dark, so I need one of those tiny lights, or some way to disable the buttons that are not to be pressed. There is one pesky button that refuses to start the song from the beginning and I can’t figure out its purpose. Yes, I know that a laptop is the answer, but no way am I leaving a laptop on stage, although even an old Win 98 model that would work for what I need.
I set up in the corner [at tonight’s show] instead of along the wall, a mistake I will not repeat. This is gross, so skip it if you just ate. There is a local, nicknamed “The Troll” who sleeps on the floor at night. That corner is where he crashes, often as early as eight o’clock, while there are patrons at the bar. Well, you see, now that corner kind of smells like a troll. Yew.
Back home, Jose had been waiting outside for hours for me to show up. He’s used to me being home evenings and needed my socket set. Poor guy waited out there for hours, since I didn’t get here until past 11:00 p.m. Plus, he was trying to work with some Mickey Mouse light, so I hauled out my 50-foot extension cords and set him up a decent system. Adam showed up and together we went over the engine.
You see, Jose had finally got the transmission replaced. Cost him $800. During the process, the mechanic must have forgotten to re-hook one of the sensors. The “check engine” light kept coming on, and you can’t leave that particular light on in case of a serious problem. None of us know where the “Ambient Air Temperature” sensor is located. I told Jose to find the manual on the Internet, because even with two lights, you can’t find anything like that in the dark.
Anything else today? Ah, yes, the music lesson. The little lady, Jessica, turns out to be a good singer. She sang in a choral group in school and does natural harmonies. I explained that she’ll have to memorize the melody notes to sing in a band. Basically, she got through four songs tonight, so it is all pulling together. She has what I call a “sweet mellow” voice, no harshness at all.
I’ve been making an error for most of my life and I will correct it now and in the future. I did not know there was an improper way to write “AM or PM”. I was taught that either was acceptable as long as you were consistent. Wrong. The correct abbreviation is “a.m.” or “p.m.”. I could do a Runt and argue violently that such stupid rules are meaningless and not new age enough (not designed to ameliorate his terrible record). Alas, I cannot go back with a search and replace because you can’t do that once they are published.
ADDENDUM
The Runt is back in the news for being a total prick, rattling the bars of his cage on the Internet. Everything we write labeled “Johnny” is attacked with swearing and abuse, the only conflict resolution mechanism he ever had. We’ve discovered by adding a horizontal rule (the HTML "HR" command), he thinks he has “decoded” our system, when, in fact, we have a lovely file of everything he’s posted. It will be held for the correct moment. He is usually so inebriated by noon, he does not realize he is quoting us. As pointed out, he could easily put a stop to it all by simply minding his own business. It has never dawned on him we can out-type him by twenty times. He did not learn his lesson on the musician’s list, but sheer stubborn stupidity is part of what makes him the Runt. That is also today’s trivia.
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