I have been off for a few days, and I have been trying to relax a little. Graduation was last Friday night, and summer session starts the 28th.
Travelled to my mother’s house Sunday night to pick up our latest addition — the 1962 Kay upright bass. It worked out beautifully. My mom was on the way home from Myrtle Beach, where she was vacationing, and she was driving right by where the bass seller was located. The transaction went smoothly, and she carted it from East Tennessee to Middle Tennesee. Spent Sunday night noodling with the bass and got up and made the trek home Monday morning.
When I got home, the kids were all outside eager to see the bass. When we got in the house, I was pleasantly surprised to see the living room had been rearranged to accommodate the bass. All the kids tried it out, and I was shocked to see how into it they were. They each got the hang of it quickly, and so did my wife. Our youngest told her, “Welcome to the band, Mom.” Tears were in her eyes. We ran through a bunch of songs together, and it was great to have that bottom end rounded out for us.
Yesterday afternoon, the kids’ swim clinic kicked off, so we hung out at the pool registering new swimmers and getting caught up with old friends.
Today, I had intended on going to the office and working on the dissertation — revising my first chapter — but it was so nice just relaxing that I just hung around the house, played music, and did some odd chores, ones that I have been putting off. I uploaded some pics from the clinic to the website, too. I had a good workout on the treadmill and second son worked out on the Orbitrek to keep me company.
I ran the two little ones to swim this afternoon and will run by the city pool this afternoon to check on the swim clinic there.
Other big news is that I pulled the trigger on a stratocastertoday, too. I found a 1996 American Standard in Sonic Blue with a rosewood fretboard, OHSC, and some case candy. It’s located in the southern part of the state, so hopefully it will not take too long to get here. It’s an original axe, although the seller e-mailed today to tell me that the saddles had been upgraded, but he is sendiningthe originals along, too. I am not sure why anyone would upgrade the saddles on an electric guitar. I may have them switched back and sell the “upgrades.” Tell me this is not the coolest of colors Fender ever came up with:
I will do a whole review of this stratocaster as soon as I get it and put it through the paces. I am looking forward to getting back to adding some strat tones to my recording. I’ll dig out the amp, pedals, and Line 6 pod, too. The 13 and 12 year old boys are pretty stoked about this, too. I may upgrade cases in a bit. I really like the vintage tweed HSC that Fender puts out. Nothing sweeter than seeing a clean strat lying in a tweed case. I seriously considered a Gibson Les Paul Studio in the faded cherry/mahogany finish, but when it came down to it, I could not see myself living without that signature scooped out strat tone!
That’s all for now; I am going to weigh in this afternoon. Hopefully, it will be a good one, despite the ice cream sundae I ate last night . . .
Bad weight in — 224.5 . . . no more ice cream.
