I may have found my sewing machine. It is a Singer, but was sold out before I got there. The store has several on back-order. According to the pushy lady at the counter, they get plenty of cancellations before the shipment arrives. If so, they will contact.
We held the club meeting this afternoon. Agent M was astounded by the Darlington, but we still did not get anywhere with the antenna. The club has ordered an antenna card which we know works to spec, and we intent to use it as a control to test our other work. We completed disassembling the HP printer for parts and I found numerous components that Agent M says are sensors. There are magnetic and infrared types. I don't know how they work, but I kept them.We had to take a hand sledge to the final stages of the HP. Those printers must be built largely by robots. The internal complexity is too much for hand assembly. Some of these parts are going into a "Leave Me Alone" box. If you don't know what that is, Google it. Part of the club meetings are spent examining on-line sources, since Agent M has a wall-sized flat screen miles ahead of my computer monitor, for now.
We viewed all manner of "LMA" boxes far more complicated than they needed to be. Some had two motors and integrated circuits. As a challenge, I sat down and designed a model with one (internal) working part. Like music, keeping things simple takes on a quality of its own. When I returned to the store that sold the type of box I needed, it turns out they put them on sale last week, then threw out the rest. Just my luck.
While wondering if my Darlington could work on cable TV signals, I watched a documentary on Hungary. I noted that Hungary is chock full of old men and married couples. There are no women at all between 6 and 24, and all the ones over that age very pointedly have husbands or children in tow. In an hour, there was not one scene of a single, attractive woman even in the distant background. They managed to present a public spa where the only women in bikinis showed all-too-obvious signs of child-bearing years. Tourist-wise, a most unflattering program, are you listening National Geographic?
I had contemplated taking in the free Friday movie at the public circle. Actually, it is not free unless you walk there. I've heard although it is family-oriented, the shows can be most entertaining and informative. Instead, I stayed home wiring a modified Darlington, trying to eliminate the ghosts. Me! The guy who never missed a party since junior high staying home on a Friday night. This is an outrage.
Last evening, Eddie tells me that Diamond Dave was going to sing some Karaoke, so I went up to Dixie to watch. I got roped into singing, which I'm not that used to doing for free. Diamond Dave did a couple of what I refer to as "big production numbers". You would recognnize these as heavily orchestrated Broadway tunes, the type of music that is more than difficult to reproduce on stage with two musicians. Think Disney music. He does them well enough for duo work, but I'm only considering a duo and he may want a larger sound. We shall see.
Jackie knows most of the staff at the neighborhood pubs in town. I tend to stay away because the neighborhood goes there. But he says the Wayside has a new barmaid that has a band, and they are playing there tomorrow. If bingo is light, meaning there is only the core crowd of professionals, I can call a little faster and be out of there in time to catch the second set. I don't always spell it out, but I really don't like not playing in a band. The past two years has been the longest dry stretch in my life, I think I've played something like six times. I could get my Friday gig back, but I'd rather play out some other places.
There are no shortages of ads for bass players, but when you read fine print, you can tell why the bands have trouble finding and retaining good people. Blues, Rock and Metal are brands that are older than 50% the music I play in my country act (in some cases far older)--but you'll never get anyone in a Rock/Blues band to admit it. It is an important attitude, that I know my music is just an act. Too many of the local groups seem to believe their own hype and are caught up in their music as a lifestyle. They appear convinced such idol worship improves their performance. It doesn't.
In my time, I've played all those kinds of music and many others. I've even played saxophone in a marching band. But since arriving in Florida, I have yet to meet a guitarist with a firm background in classical piano. I realize that piano is a specialized instrument, but face it, there were no Beethoven’s on the guitar. I've sight-read guitar music sheets and calling it "classical" music is fanciful, wishful thinking. Even Spanish flamenco guitar is the equivalent of grade five piano (at best). The guitar will never rival the piano for beauty, expression, and subtle complexity.
The reason I bring this up that if a more guitarists had a classical background, they would not be so quick to call themselves original. Maybe instead of seeing themselves as undiscovered heroes, they would expand their horizons. But, like I said, once their act becomes a near-religious experience, no Rock or Blues player is going to admit they've been in a forty-year rut with "Mustang Sally" and "Mary Jane".
Talk about unexpected, Agent M has a roll of co-axial cable with metal that will not solder. My video card was full or I'd have recorded it. The solder melts, but does not stick. We tried buffing the surface with sandpaper but the solder beads like water droplets on a windshield. Never seen anything like it. And Agent M seems to have an unlimited supply of solder and cheap soldering irons, so it is not like we gave up easy. Interesting, that. A metal that won't solder.
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