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  • “Some weasel took the cork out of my lunch.” W. C. Fields

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    I managed to break a cork off inside the bottle of Merlot that I opened last night. 

    It hasn’t happened in years, but it took me back to a time when I worked food service and we served those dinky little bottles of wine. Looking at them, I was never impressed with how people ordered them at a pizza joint or a greasy diner. Of course, those dinky ones wouldn’t have a cork, so I’m trying to remember how it was that I served someone a nice glass of Chardonnay or Zinfadel with bits of cork floating in it?

    While my memory is foggy regarding exactly where I was, I do recall my manager being dumbfounded (rightly so) that I would not even notice little bits of cork in the glass. What can I say, I’m an idiot. 

    But there’s something to be said for life experience teaching you stuff. Your boss asks you, “Have you ever sliced onions?”, and you answer in the negative because you don’t want to lie. Boss looks astonished and says, “Well, okay, here ya go” and demonstrates.

    Some people are naturally good at food service – I am not one of them. By “good”, I really reference the amount of thought that it takes to perform a given task. I over think a lot of things including slicing onions. So I was never that great at it.


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  • “Skill and confidence are an unconquered army.” George Herbert

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    I’ve been slowly….very slowly….working my way back into practicing my guitar. 

    For no apparent reason, I listened to the Guitar Zero audiobook a week or two ago. I think I caught a few interesting points, but since I haven’t been a “beginner” in about 20 or so years, a lot of it I couldn’t relate to. I did pick up on the notion that as you age, learning is easier to absorb in smaller bite-sized-chunks. I can relate to that. 

    I picked up a DVD a few weeks ago that has a bunch of licks played out. I’m extremely lucky in the sense that it really doesn’t take me long to pick up the lick (good ear) and I usually just skip past the slow version of the lick – my issues always fit into, “How can I push this lick into a solo when I’m jamming with somebody?”. That part I’ve never been very good at.

    As my time is definitely more constrained (amazing how yard and house work can eat up spare time), sitting down and learning a solo note-for-note isn’t that appealing. Every once in a while I get a hair up my ass and do it anyway. 

    The first time I met Unknown Hinson, I asked him what I needed to do to be a better guitar player. He said, “Play an hour a day. Hyeah, hyeah.”  The inner me would LOVE to play an hour a day, although I need to find a teacher that can correctly guide me.

    My noodling is just that, noodling. There’s something to be said for concentrated, focused practice. 

    Although, noodling has been good for coming up for some riffs for recording. Time to get back into that groove. 


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  • “Ever since dying came into fashion, life hasn’t been safe.” Proverb

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    Hoppy July 4th. So far, I have the day off. This could change at any moment.

    I’m going through all my bookmarks – yes, those things that occasionally save your place on the internet. Usually, they’re all pointing to dead links, etc. So I’m looking at some of them and determining if they still exist. If not, “ Baleeted.”

    Some of the links go to some really cool T-shirt websites. You know the ones, the ones that have such cool designs you never thought you’d see in a million years. It makes you feel like a kid – picking out the coolest design.

    Unfortunately, there are very few of these t-shirts that don’t make you look like an oversized kid. Or, rather, a middle-aged balding gentleman who can’t seem to grow up. While anybody can buy those shirts, it doesn’t mean they should. I’m all for geek chic, within the proper age range. Much like the Twilight Zone episode I just glanced at, with Cliff Robertson – I thought, “Boy, that top hat looks great!”


    However I’m realistic enough that I know that I can’t rock a top hat. Very few people can.

    Slash.


    Ummm. And Charles DeMarr.

    And……uh…..Abraham Lincoln.

    That’s it. The only three people who can rock a top hat.

    I guess that’s about it. For me Steampunk is cool in limited doses, but walking around Texas in a top hat and tails in the middle of summer not only looks foolish, you’re severely risking heatstroke.

    Speaking of inappropriate – how many older white guys out there are wearing white tennis shoes? As a rule I don’t purchase white anything, but since it was pointed out to me I notice it a lot more. Guys out there, look in the mirror before you go out. Shirt? Check. Pants? Check. White tennis shoes? Turn around, try again. If all you own is white shoes, save one pair for yard work and buy something else.


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  • “Books have the same enemies as people: fire, humidity, animals, weather, and their own content.” Paul Valery

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    I’m killing time before we head out to the “company picnic”. Great idea, although the loner in me tried to avoid committing to it for as long as possible. Avoidance for good reason, while they wisely moved the start time from 4pm to 6pm, it’s still looking to be about 98 degrees when we get there. Ouch.

    So, not only do I get to be sociable while sweating, I have to lose about 6 hours of my day attending this thing.

    Hence, I’m just killing time.

    I got one of my guitars worked on last week and picked it up today. It’s my first/oldest and it had been playing very badly for a while now. So badly that I’ve been considering cutting it loose if I couldn’t get it to “act right”.

    Image

    I’m pretty spoiled (okay, very spoiled) but my previous guitar techs would do the work for about $25 while I would wait. This was a new guy that I’m not sure I trust yet. The end result cost twice as much as I thought it would. It plays tremendously better (saved from the block!) but I’m not sure that it really required that much work.

    I know the ins and outs of setups, I’m just not good with truss rod adjustment so that’s primarily what I figured the problem was. It got a nice polish and he oiled the fretboard – but I can do that myself. I just didn’t want to fight the guitar every time I played it.

    There’s a new show on Discovery called “Fast and Loud” that’s based on a shop here in Dallas. They put together some cool rides, and for sure it makes me miss my old ’69 Camaro. I’ve been hunting up Craigslist and found some really nice Chevelles (cheap). I’ve come to my senses for the most part. My current money pit (house) trumps a new money pit (classic car). Since I’m a dude, I can pretty much justify sticking a classic in the garage for future restoration, but as much fun as it is planning a restoration…..it’s freaking hard work. And expensive. Hard to justify sheet metal repair, but I guess that’s the trick. Find the good bodied cars that just need the engine work – which is relatively easy.

    Soo…that about wraps it up for me right now. Pretty quiet.


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  • VernTown Soundtrack: Part II

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    There were lots of similarities. I think my record player was blue. The two “good” records that were mine were “Meet the Beatles” (which I listened to endlessly as the sun hugged closer to the horizon and the cicadas droned on and on in waves) and a Beach Boys “Surfin USA” which I again, marveled at the sad melancholy of “In My Room” contrasted with all the other peppy surf songs. The other two house albums that I snaked from my mother’s “collection” were Blood, Sweat and Tears first album (Spinnin’ Wheel) and the soundtrack to Hair (the 60’s version). The rest of my parent’s albums mostly included classical which I couldn’t wrap my head around at the age of five.

    I had my own little weird collection of Batman records, the definitive Jungle Book soundtrack – which I admit I also had no idea I was listening to Louis Prima et al. I still remember the Vultures barbershop harmony on “We’re your friends”. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy covered “I Wanna Be Like You” a while back, and it was okay, but hard to beat the original.

    In later years, we also graduated to a stereo with a record player, which we were told to take special care of – mainly because they didn’t want to buy another one. My dad would go to the library and check out tapes and records for us. I listened to a LOT of 50’s covers. Like the NOW CD’s, it would gather a huge amount of 50’s material onto one tape. I listened to those endlessly. After writing this I have to realize that I need to give my father (a civil engineer) a lot more credit for furthering my interest in music rather than my mother (an actual musician). I spent a lot of time listening to music thanks to him. Thanks Dad!


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  • “It’s time to reappreciate the original software: paper.” Dale Dauten

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    I’m really getting to the point where I don’t feel like I’m accomplishing anything because I spend so much time on the computer. The hourly watching statistics for TV in the American household could apply to the Internet in my case. Sad.

    But, I do want to relay a few things.

    * My abs hurt like hell. For father’s day, I decided my daughter and I should go bungee jumping (first time ever). Whoo. It was interesting.  She decided that she was only going to do one ride. The Skyscraper. As we were buying our tickets, they told us the Skyscraper was out-of-order. I climbed up the seven story tower to bungee jump and waited as they got all the equipment ready. While I waited, there was a guy fixing the Skyscraper. I’m not sure what was scarier – the fact that I bungee jumped, or the fact that we went on the Skyscraper right after they had fixed it.

    Here’s a video of the Skyscraper (note, this is neither me or my daughter):

    As to the bungee jump, it was scary (I won’t lie). Throwing yourself off a seven story scaffolding is scary enough. I closed my eyes halfway down.
    I’d do it again though. I think it was the Skyscraper harness that made me tighten up my abs. Ouchy. Fun ride though.

    (I hate heights)

    I wouldn’t suggest that bungee jumping cured my fear of heights, but it made me look at it differently. I’m looking forward to going again to see what it’s like the second time and see how I get more comfortable with it.

    * The lady next door whose dog barks a lot is having a hard time. There’s some cats in heat that have found that her side of the fence is a safe lovin’ zone, and dog free. They start yowling, the dog goes nuts and she has to start banging on her window to distract them. We can’t stop laughing when we hear it.

    * I don’t have a third point but it always feels like I should include one.

     


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  • “It really all started with New Orleans.” Ginny Bishop

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    Since I actually don’t get out much, I’m pleased to say that thanks to the burlesquers, they introduced me to a really cool dive/not dive bar that I really like out in Deep Ellum.

    The Black Swan Saloon outwardly is a non-descript end of one of the strips, across from Trees and next to La Grange. The first time I went in, I wasn’t even sure I was in the right place. No signage! (Obviously stolen image from google, since there’s a watermark right in the middle. I digress)

    Once you get inside and see the containers of fruit soaking in booze behind the bar, you pretty quickly realize that this isn’t a normal bar. The vibe is cool and Gabe, the owner, is really set on making some really fresh and unique drinks. I’ve read a lot about the cocktail culture in Houston (ala Anvil) And actually, the only reason I thought to write about it was that he introduced me to a new cocktail last time. The Vieux Carre, which translated is “Old Square”.

    Gabe suggested it after I had ordered a Sazerac – which historically is considered the USA’s first cocktail.  I was really impressed that he had the actual Herbsaint absinthe as called for in an “authentic” recipe. The Vieux Carre is a lot like a Manhattan, but a little sweeter. A typical Manhattan has a weird tinge for me, but the Vieux Carre (pronounced “Voo-Car-Ay”) was a lot  smoother and a great sipping drink.

    The other thing I usually drink there is a Pecan infusion – which is bourbon that has had pecans soaking in it. Good stuff.  The atmosphere is really laid back, and I’ve found myself talking to random people who aren’t in my “scene” and generally had a great time.

    Check it out if you’re down in Deep Ellum.


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