A Place for My Stuff

Deal or No Deal: the Ultimate Gamble!

Earlier this month I was playing the "Deal or No Deal" video game, and it came down to the ultimate gamble: I could walk away safely with the offer of 500 tickets, or go for a 50-50 chance of winning either 1 ticket or 1000 tickets. I took the gamble, and...

Making the Damn Gingerbread House

So we got one of these DIY gingerbread house kits. It came with six pre-cut slabs of gingerbread, frosting mix, decorating bag/dispenser with nib, and various gumdrops and candies for the decorations.

This was my first time making a gingerbread house, and it was both fun and a pain the ass to put together.

For one thing, the wall sides have to be filed down if you want a good fit. Then you have to prop each cemented wall in place along the way until they stick, two at a time. Then deal with gravity, symmetry, and parallel lines as you stick things on to the side. Finally you carefully put it into the carrying box and bring it to the relatives' place with some roof damage.

And of course, after you do all of this, nobody wants to eat the house because, well, "it just looks too nice".  Just like how nobody wants to be the first person to slice into a cake, or use "guest soap" in somebody's bathroom.  So they thing just sits there.  That's a piece of Christmas clutter that nobody thinks of: the gingerbread houses and other too-cute-to-use items.  I knew this was going to happen though, so I was determined to be eating it by the end of the celebration day. 

Smashing it was the best part.  My brother has the video footage, which I'm sure I'll be incorporating into a next year's "card".  Most of all, I do love gingerbread dunked in hot coffee or tea.  I know I'll easily eat this whole house myself.

But again, over all we certainly had fun making it. It gave me a new appreciation for the skill it must take to get a picture-perfect looking gingerbread house. I'm sure next year's will be easier.

Christmas Clutter

"When you stop and think about it, we're surrounded by specially scheduled days that circle and bombard us. Study your calendar the way Custer should have studied his war camp."

"CHRISTMAS: Keep the wrinkled wrappings, crushed bows, and snarled ribbons, sagging Santa candles, frayed pine comes, faded wreaths, broken bulbs and tree ornaments, every tree stand we ever bought, and the last two surviving pieces of the Nativity set (even if Joseph's head is missing)."

"For some reason we can't just enjoy the spirit of [any particular holiday] -- we have to "thing" it to death. It's as if we have to PROVE we're loving or patriotic or happy or thankful.  But the proof is in the feeling, not in the accessories."

- Don Aslett, "Clutter's Last Stand" p179-180

The only miracle of Christmas as far as I'm concerned, is how I've managed to avoid this being a big clutter day for me.  Oh it was certainly a big clutter day when I was a kid, getting tons of presents and not wanting to get rid of the old ones.  But now a days, there thankfully isn't much holiday clutter coming my way.  There are a couple of good reasons for this.  And no it's not just because I'm a godless heathen.

• My home isn't the location for holiday gatherings.  I've always gone to some other relative's house to meet up with my family and celebrate.  That means I haven't been obligated to decorate my home much, cook an entire turkey in my kitchen, deal with excessive wrapping paper, clean up after everybody, and so on.
• My parents, myself, and others have all scaled down the physical sizes of gifts.  My parents live out of state, which means either I'm flying out to see them for the holidays, or they're flying out to see me.  This means the visiting party can't bring too many huge gifts in a suitcase.  It also means they can't leave with too many huge received gifts on the return trip.  So for better or worse (in this case, better) this has forced all of us to keep the gifts rather small in physical size.  
• I've gotten more cunning at refusing to take home stuff I don't want.  I wrote about this a while back.  You can read the old entry here.  It's one of my favorites.

This was also the very first year my parents never gave me a stocking full of "stocking stuffers".  And that is a good thing.  I am well stocked right now regarding supplies lip balm, candy, gum, mints, and deodorant.  In some past years, I had to MAIL half of this crap back to me because I had no room in my suitcase.  This year, I could fit everything I got into a small shopping bag.  Nifty.

Damian Thorn is...a Gingerbread Man!

I took this photo of a display at Michael's arts & crafts store. Curious frosting on the foreheads, don't you think?

 

Hopefully nobody will find the Seven Cookie-Cutters of Megiddo.

Blizzard coming. Get your stuff!

Back in 1978, we New Englanders had what became known as "The Blizzard of '78".  It was rather horrific by New England standards.  Snow covering cars.  Power outages.  All that stuff.  Legend has it my father hooked up with a neighbor up the street to take a sled down to the supermarket and back to get supplies.

I have a feeling that the event left a permanent scare on the baby boomers here.  Because whenever a "severe storm" or likewise is supposed to hit, people crowd the supermarkets, as if they had to prepare for living indoors for the next 2 years.  Recently, we got one of those scares.  And as usual, not nearly as horrific as the panic was making it out to be.

Still, I was prepared.  I had food.  I had candles.  I new how to keep myself entertained without AC power (in addition to a charged iPod, I had lots and lots of these rectangular paper things called "books").  And I had flashlights, or as they're called in the UK, "torches".  Alas, there was no power outage.

It did however make me wonder how much injury I'd be causing myself if my power went out and I had to literally stumble across so many things in the dark.  In all fairness though, I know how where I keep my flashlights so that I can find my flashlights in the dark.  Let's take a look at what I have.

It looks like a Pepsi bottle, doesn't it?  Like the glass kind that nobody in the U.S. actually drinks out of any more?  Yeah, but it is a flashlight believe it or not.  Twist the top and the light shines through the bottom.  I got this as a cheap "stocking stuffer" Xmas gift about 8 or 9 years ago.  What can I say, it works.  Hard to get rid of something that does.  Although I tested it on the night of the big snow scare, and found that it didn't work.  Opening it up revealed two batteries on either side of a white cake of battery acid.  I replaced the batteries.  Works fine.  Problem solved.

Now we move on to the blue one.  It's one of those disposable ones.  The button even glows in the dark.  But boy, does the flashlight's lighting suck.  Still, it's bright enough to be practical.  Looks like I've found the flashlight to stick in the car.

Also, not pictured in the photo is a little twist-on light that I keep on top of the fridge, near the fuse box.  Takes 2 "AA" batteries.  Years ago I dropped it and the casing cracked, so it would no longer twist on.  However, duct tape came to the rescue, and it still works.  Maybe THIS is the one I should stick in the car, and toss the blue one.

And finally, we get to the one you see me holding in the photo.  I bought this at a local drug store.  It was with all the other "As Seen on TV!" gadgets.  Holy crap, is this little thing bright!  It lights up the area like Fenway Park.  Suppose to have 100,000 hours of usage too.  Hell, I should probably just buy one more of these and ditch the others.

My Loaded 8mm

As mentioned in earlier blogs, a while back I spent the time to convert whatever VHS I could to DVD.  Granted, I could have done this with my computer.  I had the equipment to do so.  And I could have made nice fancy DVD menus in the process.  But that would have taken forever.  Besides, not every tape deserves special treatment.  So at the time I just bought a DVD-R/VCR combo unit for dubbing.  Load in a disc, load in a tape, press the dubbing button, and wait.  This is what allowed me to dub literally about 90 discs of video.

So now, I'm on to another mission.  The old 8mm and Hi-8 cassettes.

 

(This photo was intentionally blurred for privacy reasons, of course.  I don't need to let the world know all of my private details like relative names, my places of residence, school names, etc.)

As I understand it, Hi-8 is just a higher quality version of the 8mm tapes.  Sort of like those "Super VHS" tapes that not too many people ever used, outside of professional video people.  They still fit and they still play in my old camcorder.  So I'm just going to refer to both as 8mm cassettes.

It took a little while for me to figure out how to get the combo unit to recognize the signal from my camcorder, but I got it.  Right now as I type this, the remaining 1/2 hour of a tape from 1988 is playing, featuring my brother's chorus concert from that year, Xmas that year, and some little league game.

Something tells me that I should have more tapes lying around somewhere.  Then again, I know these tapes weren't cheap, so it was common for us to dub the tapes on to VHS, then rerecord over the 8mm tapes.  So maybe this box of 25-30 really is all I have.

Looking over some of these, I have a LOT of related reflections (read: rants) I could potentially write about:

• Why do parents capture so much of this stuff? 
• Is little league more of an activity for the parents than the kids? 
• What was I like at the age of [insert number here]? 
• What happened to me between the ages of [insert number here] and [insert previous number, plus 1 or 2]? 
• Why do parents include kids who really don't want to be there? 
• Why are parents in general so technically inept with these devices?
• Can I watch these films and pick up little things that tell us what their relationship with each other was like at the time?
• Or their relationship with us? 
• What stuff should I dub for other family members?
• What, if anything, would I feel worthy of uploading to YouTube?  Keeping in mind that I don't want some born-again Christian schmuck who doesn't even know me to try to do some kind of bad psychoanalysis on me at age 11.
• And DAMN I had a thick Boston accent as a kid.

Stay tuned.

Crap, I fell off the wagon!

Sure enough, the attraction of good deals have gotten the better of me.  I bought some more clutter.

On Sunday night I was driving by the local BlockBuster only to find out it was their going-out-of-business sale.  At this point, all DVDs were a dollar each.  Naturally, I had to at least check it out.

As would be expected on the very last day, there wasn't a whole lot to choose from.  I'd say at least 80% of what was left were relatively new horror movies.  It wasn't just movies they were selling though.  They were selling EVERYTHING that they had left: clip boards, name tags, a little TV and even one of the cash registers.  In short, I got a stack of DVDs, two clip boards, and some sheet protectors (which I do use).

So far the only movie I watched was Curse of the Zodiac.  When it comes to movies, I'm actually pretty lenient.  I'm not a heavy movie critic.  I can usually find something that I like in just about every movie I watch.  And yet, I can honestly say that this is arguably the absolute worst movie I've seen in years.  It was painful to sit through.  I ended up having to fast-forward through most of it, because it was basically the same scene over and over again.  Not surprisingly it's #28 in IMDB.com's voted list of the worst movies of all time.

Then today I was at the local comic book shop and bought four movies on VHS, also a dollar each.  After all, I have a DVD/VCR dubber at home, so I can make DVDs of these, so long as they didn't have one of those damn copyright signals on them.  For those who don't recall my old blog about this: some companies were putting a special secret copyright protection on their video cassettes along with new recorders themselves, such that if you were to try dubbing the movie it wouldn't work, and you'd get a message on the screen saying why.

So I tried dubbing the first movie.  It had the signal.  Tried the second.  It has a signal too.  The third?  Ditto.  The fourth?  Same thing.  Damnit.

Also today I stopped by a local book store.  This place is insanely crammed with books.  And I really mean that.  Towers everywhere of horizontally stacked books.  But hey...50% off everything!  I picked up a couple of humor books that I've wanted and always wanted to get: Beavis & Butthead's "This Book Sucks", and Billy & The Boinger's Bootleg (including the 45rpm flexi-disc).  I also picked up Dianetics, just to see what the hell the whole fuss is about Scientology.  From what I've already learned about Scientology, I've decided it's not the religion for me (I already found the one that was, about a dozen years ago).  But at the same time, I'm not one of those compulsive Scientology-bashing conspiracy theorists.  Besides, it will be a nice addition to my world religions library which already includes Tao Te Ching, the Bible, Bhagava-Gita, etc.

Oh well.  At least I can say I have shelf space for all these things.  If I was on a 12-step program, I'd probably be hating myself right now.  But, whatever.  I'll get over it.  Considering that this was the kind of thing I used to do every week instead of every 6 months, I'd say I'm still doing well.

Why RCN Sucks

I have tried to switch to other high-speed internet ISPs, but unfortunately I don't seem to have many other options.  I've had both Verizon and Comcast representatives come to my building and say "Oh, we'll need to drill a hole through this wall to install the cable.  And we'll need the landlord's permission to do it."  Trust me when I say that ain't happening.

So I'm here to quickly rant about my gripes with RCN

• Their automated phone system is the slowest I've ever encountered.  They...slowly...repeat. Everything...back.  With...pauses.  What should be a 2 minute call ends up being 15 minutes.
• They charge transaction fees for all phone payments.  And more than your average ATM.  I don't use any other service that does this.
• Many years ago I had a dial-up account with them, and at least 6 months after I quit, they suddenly started billing me again.  Fortunately I managed to get the charge off, but seriously...what the fuck?!?
• They won't let me sign up for automatic payments with my credit card.
• And on top of that, they STILL have the automatic payment form to fill out on the back of the payment stubs I get in the mail.  You would think they would have corrected this after discontinuing the option for over 5 years.

I decided to search the web* for "Why RCN sucks", and sure enough I got somebody else's tragic anecdotes:

http://homepages.nyu.edu/~sab275/rcn_sucks.html

* - Yes, that's what the activity is called, "searching the web".  I still refuse to use "Google" as a verb.  Besides the fact that I think using brand names for general terms is stupid, it's not even my search engine of choice.  Are people really so dumb as to think there aren't any other ones out there?  Hell, Yahoo has been around a decade longer.

Blank Disc Stuff.

OK, not nearly as interesting as harmonicas.  But I sat here looking around at my enormous amount of stuff, and thought "What stuff can I write about?"  I turned to notice my stacks of blank discs.  Then I remembered I had even more in the other room.  I can imagine a child or a senior citizen asking "Why do you have so many?!?"

Sure enough, they're all different:

• DVD-R.  The typical blank DVD medium.  I'm usually using these for data back-up rather than burning movies.
• DVD+R.  From staples.  Because there's a subtle difference between "-R" and "+R", and my VHS-to-DVD dubber notices.  What is the difference between these types of discs?  Wikipedia can explain it better than me.  I noticed I had two stacks of these, so I combined 'em.
• DVD+RW. The rewritable kind.  I bought these so that I could further edit stuff when I'd dub VHS to DVD.  But then I found out the machien notices a difference between DVD+RW and DVD-RW.  I can't remember which ones it liked.  Probably DVD-RW, which explains why I'm still stuck with these other ones.
• DVD+R Lightscribe.  Lightscribe discs have a blank label so that if you put them in a Lightscribe burner, you can laser-etch your own label, right on to the top surface of the disc.  Rather professional looking.  I hope they keep making these.
• DVD+R (DL). Dual Layer discs hold twice the amount of data.  Useful when you want to cram 8+ gigs of stuff on to a disc, or want a higher-quality version of a long movie.
• CD-R vinyl.  These are CD-Rs with labels that look like mini 45rpm vinyl records.  Nice novelty when you're burning music for people.
• CD-R Lightscribe. Yes, Lightscribe for CD-R too.
• CD-R blank.  Stack of 100 cheap CD-Rs when I don't feel like using up my "good" CD-Rs.  I bought these for something like $14.99.  Lightscribes cost more, and not every burned disc deserves a well-made label.

I haven't tried "Black CD-Rs".  They look just like regular discs, only with a black under-surface.  I have no idea what the point of these were.  I never bothered with CD-RWs, since CD-Rs are so cheap to begin with that if I mess up on burning something, I have no regrets about ditching the bad disc.

And is it "discs" or "disks"?  I thought the ones in the shapes of CDs are "disc", and the floppies are "disks".  But I could be wrong.

But yes, I really will burn something on all of these discs eventually.  In fact, today's a good day to back up some data.  How about you?  Would YOU be ready if your hard drive failed tomorrow?  Something to think about.  Glad I could give you some cheer for the holiday season.

My Harmonica Stuff. Also known as "harps".

When thinking about other stuff that's my stuff and not clutter, I immediately thought about my harmonicas.  I've been playing the bass guitar for over 20 years, but in recent years I've been focusing more on harmonica playing.  I hate lugging around amplifiers, and when it comes to musical instruments, only the human voice is more portable than the harmonica.  Still I've acquired a lot of them over the last several years:

These aren't all of them, either.  I have at least 10 others in my car.  Plus a real tiny one.  That brings it to about 40 harmonicas.  Then there's also the one that's 6 feet under, which I placed in the casket of a friend who passed away in 2007.  Never mind all the harmonica books, two harmonica tool kits, and harmonica microphone I own.  Boy, I should have taken another photo.

And now to address the two big questions that I'm sure everybody is asking:

1) WHY do you have so many harmonicas, Bill?
2) HOW did you end up with so many harmonicas, Bill?  (In other words, why didn't you stop at 12 or 15?)
3) Do you actually play all of these, Bill?

The answer to the first question is pretty simple: most of them are actually different from each other.  To explain this, I'm going to break it down into different harmonica categories:

• Diatonic harmonicas.  The far majority of my harmonicas (and harmonicas in general) fall into this category.  The typical harmonica has 10 holes and is tuned to the notes of a particular key.  In "western" music, we have 12 keys.  And by "western" I mean pretty much ALL popular music heard over the last 200 years from European language-speaking countries, as opposed to weird exotic folk music out of India or the middle east.

Most instruments like guitars, pianos, and anything you'd find in an orchestra are made to handle music in any key.  Unfortunately, this isn't the case with the standard harmonica.  Like I said, each one is tuned to one of the 12 specific keys.  While it's possible to squeeze out chromatic notes from any harmonica, for all practical purposes it's much easier for a harmonica player to play a different harp for a different key.  By the way, if you find a harmonica, chances are very good that it's a 10-hole diatonic harmonica in the key of "C".  The "F#" is generally the highest pitched key you'll find, and the "G" is generally the lowest pitched key you'll find.  "C" is in the middle.

12 keys means having at least 12 different harmonicas, so that you're ready for any key that a song might be in.  The 12 harmonicas you see embedded in the case on the right-hand side are the 12 harmonicas I bring with me.  Personally I prefer Lee Oskar's brand for their tight construction, rounded mouth area, interchangeability of pieces, relatively easier note bending, and wide distribution across music stores.  Other players swear by other brands.  I also have the Steven Tyler signature harp which they only make in one key.  NOT a bad harp, actually.

• Chromatic Harmonicas.  I have two of these.  Unlike the diatonic ones, you can get all 12 chromatic notes out of a chromatic harmonica, thus the name.  It's essentially just a diatonic "C" harmonica with a button on the side, which when pressed will raise whatever note you're playing by a half-step ("semitone" for you UK folks reading).  So they can be good for playing those sorts of melodies.  Unfortunately they don't really sound right for playing rock or blues.  But I take along a chromatic harmonica in my case of 12 diatonics.  You can see the big chromatic in the top right of the photo.

• Exotic scales.  Lee Oskar makes a unique line of different scale harmonicas too.  You can buy them as whole harmonicas, or just buy the replacement reeds to make your own out of an existing Lee Oskar casing.  I have a minor-key harmonica, plus a harmonic minor one.  They sound beautifully different.

• Novelty harmonicas.  I threw these into the photo just for the hell of it.  A couple of these are really crappy children's toy harmonicas.  Though I also have an "echo" harmonica which has two rows of holes. Then there's the tiny harmonica key chain I got from the special edition of Aerosmith's Honkin on Bobo CD.  It's hard to play, but it DOES play.

Now on to the other questions.  How did I end up with so many?  And do I play all of these?  Well one of the disadvantages of harmonicas is that due to health laws, you can't really go to a music store and try before you buy.  Some music stores have little bellows devices so that you can at least hear that a harp "plays", but that's sort of like only being able to drag a rake across some guitar strings to see how a guitar plays.  You don't really get a "feel" for it until you hold it any play it properly. 

Fortunately, harmonicas are a lot cheaper than guitars.  So over the years I've bought different brands here and there to try out.  That's mostly why I've ended up with so many (in addition to the fact that there are different keys etc., as I already explained).  As for what I end up playing most of the time, it's just my case of 13 (what you see on the right side of the picture).  I also have a back-up case of 7 crappy harmonicas I leave in the car.

So that's a look into my harmonicas from a "stuff" perspective.  I'm sure I'll come back to this subject in the future.