Get off my LAWN! "Grumpy Old Farts"

[Jeff Scott]

A space like that shouts studio!

I was just thinking last night, it would have been better to demolish the room and start with all new everything.

It's good catharsis for the house, and for the soul to have something totally fresh and new. We still have a few major projects planned for our home so far, since we started all the work in 2006, I personally feel better energy, lots of (fill in choice of mystical energy word here) in the house now that most of the "cleansing" of the old spirits are mostly completed, here. At least, on the inside of the house; still lots of outdoor, gardening type stuff to do - try and reduce the grass and plant more indigenous plants, add a Craftsman style pergola along the front of the house, foundation repairs and a new driveway. Not to mention renovating the 2nd floor screened in sleeping porch into a small office/birdwatching observatory, and pending available funds, demolish the side den and formerly open back porch and build a small master bedroom suite on the 1st floor.

If I did anything like a studio, it would be a darkroom!

 

[Jeff Scott]

Cabbage rolls and coffee, mmm mmm good!

 

[GwenOnBass]

GOF Bait

​

 

[beans-on-toast]

It's good catharsis for the house, and for the soul to have something totally fresh and new. We still have a few major projects planned for our home so far, since we started all the work in 2006, I personally feel better energy, lots of (fill in choice of mystical energy word here) in the house now that most of the "cleansing" of the old spirits are mostly completed, here. At least, on the inside of the house; still lots of outdoor, gardening type stuff to do - try and reduce the grass and plant more indigenous plants, add a Craftsman style pergola along the front of the house, foundation repairs and a new driveway. Not to mention renovating the 2nd floor screened in sleeping porch into a small office/birdwatching observatory, and pending available funds, demolish the side den and formerly open back porch and build a small master bedroom suite on the 1st floor.

If I did anything like a studio, it would be a darkroom!

It's nice to have an old house with character that you can make your own through changes. Being able to renovate in your own time when the funds are available is a gift.

I always get a sick feeling in my stomach when I go past the point of no return and think, am I going to be able to pull this off?. It always turns out ok in the end but I worry.

 

[beans-on-toast]

GOF Bait

​

It's amazing how many of those items can still be found in homes. I also laugh when someone has something from the 80's and speaks of it as antique.

Kids today buy pants with tears all over the legs. I don't get the whole distresses thing, especially with instruments. They don't know what it is to wear cloths for years even when they are old and worn. When I buy a bass, I take care of it. I'd never want to inflict distress on it so that it looks old. Who wants to look old and neglected?

I've always patched jeans that wear thin. I was once in a Levis store wanting to replace the shredded and patched pants that I was wearing, someone offered to buy them. Years ago people would buy jeans and go though a ritual of breaking them in. Some washing to make them less stiff and fade them from dark navy color that they came in. Some girls would sit in a bathtub filled with hot water while wearing them to shrink them even tighter. They'd have to lie on a bed to do them up for a while.

I still have a bolt of Levis blue jean material that I bought years ago from a jean factory in the rag trade section of town. We were planning on re-upholtering a sofa. In the end we replaced the furniture. My wife uses it to make repro Levis skirts. There's a few designers around us that comment on the quality of the fabric. They can't buy original material like that today. Money can't buy you love when it comes to things like this.

 

[GwenOnBass]

Meebee GOFs all come pre-distressed with road wear as a qualification for GOF?

Yeah tell me about it. I just bought a new blue jean skirt that is pre-distressed and isn't even real blue jean material. It's made to look like I've been rubbing my palms on the thighs of old blue jeans before I cut them up into a skirt.

Personally, never cared to wear jeans. I was probably 11 or 12 the last time I owned actual jeans, before the right jeans had the right brand name on the butt. Jeans never suited me anyway. <shrug>

The pencil sharpener, now there's an iconic schoolhouse piece. And in class we have pencil chewers and pencils sharpened down to nubbins and pencil breakers (me) and what's with this Number 2 stuff. (I know what pencil numbering is, okay, but still, everyone does their Number 2 in school.)

Never write with a pencil unless you are sick in bed or in a moving vehicle is a rule I mind closely.

 

[beans-on-toast]

There was always some kid in school getting stabbed with a pencil.

Ever notice how well pencil on paper stands up over time. I often include notes in bags that are used for storing electronic parts. Some inks and markers will fade over decades, pencil is as clear as the day it was written.

Interesting to note that lead pencil is mostly graphite, a form of carbon, which is why it's so stable. There is also clay in the formulation. The higher the clay content, the harder the lead. Graphite is also used as a lubricant, this helps pencils slip over the paper.

Many people believe that a pencil can be used to safely poke around inside an amp. It isn't a good idea as graphite is a conductor. Better to use a wood dowel or some other insulator such as teflon (PTFE). Years ago, high power resistors were basically carbon rods.

 

[beans-on-toast]

Friday On My Mind

 

[GonePlaid]

 

[LBS-bass]

Friday On My Mind

TGIF! I have a very light work schedule today, only one job on the books that I'm about to head off to take care of. Then I'm free for the rest of the day, which is to say that I have plenty of time to practice for a show I'm doing tomorrow.

I used to love antiquing when I lived in Philadelphia. So many interesting things to see. I have no room in my home for any acquisitions so I avoid the antique stores now but I did really enjoy them when I was younger.

 

[beans-on-toast]

TGIF! I have a very light work schedule today, only one job on the books that I'm about to head off to take care of. Then I'm free for the rest of the day, which is to say that I have plenty of time to practice for a show I'm doing tomorrow.

I used to love antiquing when I lived in Philadelphia. So many interesting things to see. I have no room in my home for any acquisitions so I avoid the antique stores now but I did really enjoy them when I was younger.

Have fun at the show.

I hand over my wallet before I go into a store and want to ensure that I avoid temptation. Psychologically, it seems to do the trick.

 

[Passinwind]

There was always some kid in school getting stabbed with a pencil.

Ever notice how well pencil on paper stands up over time. I often include notes in bags that are used for storing electronic parts. Some inks and markers will fade over decades, pencil is as clear as the day it was written.]

We were actually required to keep our field notes in pencil in my old fisheries research gig.

 

[GwenOnBass]

TGIF! I have a very light work schedule today, only one job on the books that I'm about to head off to take care of. Then I'm free for the rest of the day, which is to say that I have plenty of time to practice for a show I'm doing tomorrow.

I used to love antiquing when I lived in Philadelphia. So many interesting things to see. I have no room in my home for any acquisitions so I avoid the antique stores now but I did really enjoy them when I was younger.

Philadelphia is to me one of the more intriguing cities I know. I mean that on many levels, actually, and with no mean familiarity with it' That entire East Coast Corridor from Boston to DC is some serious stuff yeah. The Amtrak through Connecticut offers some of the most amazing sights beyond some sincerely sobering New York views. Not sobering like Camden sobering tho ....

One serious bit of work in two hours, video conference calls on Saturday and Sunday. The doctor I was scheduled to see this morning is out on maternity leave. The doctor I saw Thursday is back from maternity leave. Welcome to our world kids, don't ask me, this is how I found it and decided altogether there are worse things to do here than play music

 

[GwenOnBass]

We were actually required to keep our field notes in pencil in my old fisheries research gig.

Americans invented the Space Pen so their astronauts could fill out their forms in zero gravity. The Soviets gave their cosmonauts pencils.

 

[GwenOnBass]

It's amazing how many of those items can still be found in homes. I also laugh when someone has something from the 80's and speaks of it as antique.

Kids today buy pants with tears all over the legs. I don't get the whole distresses thing, especially with instruments. They don't know what it is to wear cloths for years even when they are old and worn. When I buy a bass, I take care of it. I'd never want to inflict distress on it so that it looks old. Who wants to look old and neglected?

I've always patched jeans that wear thin. I was once in a Levis store wanting to replace the shredded and patched pants that I was wearing, someone offered to buy them. Years ago people would buy jeans and go though a ritual of breaking them in. Some washing to make them less stiff and fade them from dark navy color that they came in. Some girls would sit in a bathtub filled with hot water while wearing them to shrink them even tighter. They'd have to lie on a bed to do them up for a while.

I still have a bolt of Levis blue jean material that I bought years ago from a jean factory in the rag trade section of town. We were planning on re-upholtering a sofa. In the end we replaced the furniture. My wife uses it to make repro Levis skirts. There's a few designers around us that comment on the quality of the fabric. They can't buy original material like that today. Money can't buy you love when it comes to things like this.

That real blue jean material makes for hulla bass strap.

 

[Passinwind]

Philadelphia is to me one of the more intriguing cities I know. I mean that on many levels, actually, and with no mean familiarity with it' That entire East Coast Corridor from Boston to DC is some serious stuff yeah. The Amtrak through Connecticut offers some of the most amazing sights beyond some sincerely sobering New York views. Not sobering like Camden sobering tho ....

I often used to take the late Sunday night train from CT or Westchester Cty. to Philly when I was in electronics school. Note to self: don't buy out all the beer in the bar car and end up in Delaware.

 

[alaskaleftybass]

I often used to take the late Sunday night train from CT or Westchester Cty. to Philly when I was in electronics school. Note to self: don't buy out all the beer in the bar car and end up in Delaware.

 

[GwenOnBass]

Anyone who has ever been to Philly and not eaten a soft pretzel has never been to Philly.

 

[spiritbass]

 

[the harp unstrung]

Anyone who has ever been to Philly and not eaten a soft pretzel has never been to Philly.

I’ve still got a few Philly pictures from last winter...