One year ago today: April 16, 2014, crowdfunding comments.
Five years ago today: April 16, 2010, semi-typical day.
Six years ago today: April 16, 2009, Mel shells out a billion.
MORNING
This is my new muffler. See addendum.
I awoke with the sniffles, so there was no morning for me. But let me tell you about last night. I went to the open mic, and it was not quite as open as it was supposed to be. I did not enjoy myself at what goes into history as my first “bass solo” at a coffeehouse. I know what some are thinking, but those were not coffeehouses, or I had a guitar player, or it was a three-song set, or it was in front of a trained audience. This was a milestone for me.
So, she wants me to wait, as there are no customers. I wait an hour, during which I must have told her five times I am not a guitar player, but she gets it stuck in her brain that I do. Then, a few people trickle in so she gets on stage and announces me. Whoa, I told her, I need at least 15 minutes setup time. The PA was brand new and nothing was set. I need three channels. Bass, vocals, drums.
At 9:45 I’m ready to play my full half-hour, as agreed last week. At just after 10:00 a Japanese lady walks in with a guitar. Now the first lady wants me to finish up because the new lady “doesn’t have much time”. Hey, ma’am, she just got here and I waited a full hour. Let me finish my slot. She also appeared to not understand an open mic is first come, first serve and that she cannot tell people what to do. If a bongo player is on next, she cannot demand that he read poetry, type of thing. The audience knows.
By now, there are around eight people present, I’ve got them eating out of my hand. But the fifth thing wrong was the temperature up on stage was around 120°. After a few minutes, I had sweat pouring off my forehead and beads dropping off the end of my nose. When I told the lady about this, her reaction was that I was lying. That I was somehow trying to con her. My shirt had a V of perspiration down the front and back, but she reacted like I was telling her wild stories.
What went right? The audience loved it. Mind you, I’m cautious still because there is no way to tell how much of a role novelty is behind. I did the quick survey afterward and found none of the crowd were musicians. The frequent response was that they notice I “don’t play bass like the other guys”. Which is completely true. Question: how would non-musicians know that? Ah, answered many times in earlier blogs. To play my style, my left elbow has to be constantly “wagging”. A couple of them said I played the bass “like a guitar”, but they are likely hearing my “rhythm bass” effect.
Will I go back there? We’ll see. They even charged me $4 for the coffee. This show was very influential on my thinking about shelling out for the Fishman PA system.
NOON
“Okay, smile when you open your present . . . . No, smile and look at the camera, dum-dum.” --Sam Halpern
Get ready for more gears because I am going nowhere for the day. First suspect? My new prescription. I’m the type that has every side-effect on the label. But this one is new. An upset tummy at the same time as a ravenous appetite. Figure that one. I had to cancel my planned surprise trip to Miami this morning. Instead, I got a PopSci magazine and I’m heading for my armchair. There is a point in every divorced man’s life when his armchair becomes his best friend.
Did you hear about the navy exercise off the Florida coast? Good, because the news was quickly blacked out that an old French sub built in something like 1980 theoretically sunk a US task force including a nuclear carrier. The problem is not the weapons, but that the US military has become just another job. Since the Korean War, every major conflict the US stuck its nose into has been a fiasco. I support the troops, but not the politics. I said I support them, I didn’t say I like what they are doing.
Here’s the photo. The USS Sitting Duck.
Now, if you don’t mind, I need to get back to reading up on gears. That’s one topic where I agree the best people to work on them are engineers. Today I am looking a bevel gears. Can such things even be cut with the equipment I have? My tummy tells me I have all day to study that topic.
AFTERNOON
A PopSci afternoon, reading all the same articles as I did when I was ten. You know, the flying car, the Dick Tracy wristwatch, the backpack that’s not a backpack. It’s all there this month with a couple of items mentioned right in this little old blog, (PopSci was one of many who received my plagarism e-mail a few years ago.)
Who remembers my wish for a 3D circuit printer? Some people have finally made one, meet the Voltera V-One. At $1.500, this is within reach. However, like anything new, I wonder why the advertising does not show any examples of the finished product and a few other bad vibes. Why didn’t I build one? Well, the prototype took a team of grad students and $200,000 (crowdfunded), two commodities in very short supply in Florida.
This month’s feature article is the use of insects as food. Those of you who eat tomatoes and peanut butter are likely unaware that you already are. But that’s the kind of thing that makes you glad PopSci changed from deep and informative writing to short one-page quips of mostly spectacularism.
PopSci trivia says there are only 4.705 AM radio stations left in America.
And how about that thread going that 90% of Florida is either “a scam artist, a millionaire, a sugar baby, too lazy to learn English, a bum, a drug addict, a pedophile, an ex-junkie, a Cuban, a Haitian, a charlatan, an angry New Yorker, and a host of other odds and ends”. I posted my contribution that if the guy doesn’t like it, he should move to Canada. Because people raised there think that situation is perfectly normal.
EVENING
I stayed put, deciding not to take in the foreign cinema. The feature is about a dog that organizes a rebellion. It’s one of those themes that makes me question if it is worth the eight bucks. Blog rules say I must report the most interesting thing or theme, so let me decide what that would be for tonight. I ran some real estate projections. A customer at the bakery bought a condor for $82,000. She painted it and sold it for $130,000. Of course, everybody was a-buzz. I could not get them to understand, that condo never made it to the listings. There was something funny going on how lady got it for so cheap.
Flipping is going on in Miami again. But this is a mystery, since the banks won’t finance it. I deduce it is the same as in the 2005-2008 era, where it is existing speculators playing with their own money. The problem is, it raises the expectations. For the few properties that are selling, Miami has one of the slowest markets in the land. Most houses are on the market for months before they sell. Myself, I am averse to speculation until I get my own place. I know, I should have gambled in 2012, but I’m not a gambler. Except with women, but even then, I don’t touch the risky ones.
I took a close look at gear “transmissions”. In fact, if you watch this video from around the 2 minute mark, you’ll know what I know (this video is a repeat here, but I did not understand it well before). I actually understood what’s happening, me, the most unmechanically-minded of the lot! Forget the syncro-mesh part, I’m happy just to follow the spinning shafts. I was looking for videos of uncommon gear trains.
And why not? A week ago I never thought I’d be able to set a train of gears in motion. I come away with the impression that inventors were more clever before 1940, though I recognize during that era, inventing was one of the few ways left to get rich. My present study of gears will be like most of my studies, that is, when I reach the point where I know I could build one if I had to, that’s good enough. That’s why you don’t hear much about navigation these days. I know I could find my way to anywhere on the ocean if I had to. It would be crude and inefficient, but I’d get within 55 miles on the first try.
ADDENDUM
Okay, the new scooter, as recently repaired. That muffler is noisy and I was only vaguely aware of how much difference it makes to have it matched to the motor. I’ve nearly popped a wheelie or two by obeying my accustomed driving habits. Maybe the shop did something else, but the engine has much more pep. I guess I like it, but they should clear such an upgrade with the customer first.
The [new] muffler makes that characteristic (and attention-grabbing) “R-r-r-rupp’ upp-upp-upp” sound, even when idling. Don’t get me wrong. It is kind of neat. I like it. I would have liked it even more in 1980. So I’ll drive slow until I get over it. Who knows, maybe I’ll learn to constantly rev it like a Harley man. Then I’ll get all the girls, just you wait and see. “R-r-r-rupp’ upp-upp-upp”.
This, folks, is what you get when you let a pro shop install your new muffler--you take in a scooter and get back a race car.
Last Laugh
MORNING
