The weekend Thread

[Tig]

Boy, he certainly doesn't look 80!

Thx. I guess all those past years of smoking, drinking, and too much sun didn't do much damage!

 

[Brian Krashpad]

Thread revived!

Nothing Friday.

Saturday I got a "health statement" from my insurer, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, which contained a lot of indecipherable gobbledygook, so I called them, because it looks like they might be fixin to eff me over big time. Got no answers other than a confirmation that the appeal of the $30K hospital charges from last year's hyperbarics is still pending and has not been decided. Supposed to get a call back this morning at 11.

Also got confirmation from New Egg that they are finally sending my son the gaming computer he was supposed to get at Christmas. It came late due to weather, then crapped out within 24 hours, and then when we sent it back they gave us some ******** that what we sent back had never been in their database, and they were going to send it back a second time, which we made very clear to them was totally unacceptable. Hopefully it'll arrive in the next couple days.

So there's that.

Saturday night went to dinner with the missus here:

Mrs. K's fellow school teacher friend met us, we bought her dinner, as her daughter is a recovering meth head who cleaned her out and can't get a job, because now she has a record.

Don't do drugs, kids.

Food was good but Mrs. K said to hell with her ulcer and regretted that later.

Sunday morning I played in church for the first time since before Christmas. I brought this and used it for the run through, but kept it as backup during the actual service:

Fishing through the backroom, I found this guitar that I forgot I'd left there, my Brownsville Choirboy. I hadn't played it in ages so I used it for the actual service:

Came home from church and watched a Liga MX match. First goal was esepecially good, a triple-header:



Here's the other one:



And you?

 

[Eric]

Thread revived!

And you?

Wow, it's been awhile!

Friday played an acoustic show with the band in the wine-bar section of a local music venue that we have played before. No pictures, but it was surprisingly fun. I don't consider us very acoustic-y, but it turned out well and of the people there when we started playing (~30?), I think all but like 5 people stayed the 2.5 hours of the show, and some others filtered in during the show. Given that we didn't know most of them, that was kind of amazing. Received some really positive feedback too, which was encouraging.

Saturday my wife and I went tobogganing at a local park that has a lift for the sleds while you walk up the stairs to the top. We went on that for an hour or so and got some lunch at a nearby brewpub. Went to a local show Saturday night for a guy and his Americana band that I know. They played second and the first two bands were great, but I left during the last band.

Sunday went to church in the morning and afterward went to a local acoustic jam meetup. That was reasonably fun, though next time I think I'm going to bring a bass and practice amp instead of another acoustic guitar. Went to a bar that night and watch a little bit of the pro bowl before heading home.

 

[piebaldpython]

Well, over/up here in Philly, we've been dealing with cold like we haven't had here in 20 years. Sustained cold that lasted long enough for the Delaware River to freeze over (3/4-1 mile wide where I work) and I can't remember the last time that happened. Plus, we've had more snow this year that the past few years for which my back is ticked off about.

Krash....sorry to hear that you're getting danced around with BC/BS. Didn't know Mrs. K had an ulcer. Sorry to hear about that as those can be troublesome.

 

[deeaa]

Nuttin' much. Sang a few covers and started making videos for them, fat bottom girls, another one bites the dust and fortunate son. Went ice-skating on the lake with family.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk

 

[Eric]

Nuttin' much. Sang a few covers and started making videos for them, fat bottom girls, another one bites the dust and fortunate son. Went ice-skating on the lake with family.

I would really love to cover Killer Queen sometime, though I think I'm the only one in the band who has bothered to learn it so far. Another One Bites the Dust seems like it would be really difficult to pull off vocally.

 

[deeaa]

Hell yeah. Impossible to get it sounding anything like Freddy in those high parts...I just can't get that kind of dirt in my high voice at all. And it's really high even if it doesn't really sound THAT high when Freddie belts it out. I can sing it but I sound like a woman almost in those spots like twice as high, but it's just that I don't have that kind of depth. The song is actually in F so it's half step higher than normal rock songs.

I do suspect however that they may have recorded it in E and then sped up the recorder feeling it was too slow and that resulted in the pitch rise. Also would explain the VERY snappy bass and drum sounds. It'd be easier to sing half step lower as well.

Fat bottom girls however is just in my best range all the way thru.

 

[Eric]

I do suspect however that they may have recorded it in E and then sped up the recorder feeling it was too slow and that resulted in the pitch rise. Also would explain the VERY snappy bass and drum sounds. It'd be easier to sing half step lower as well.

Interesting. It's funny how that changes the timbre of instruments. I remember reading that the piano solo in "In My Life" by the Beatles was recorded and then the speed was doubled because George Martin couldn't play it fast enough. I guess that's what gives it the harpsichord-like tone that it has.

 

[deeaa]

Abba used it a LOT to get that ethereal chorusy vocal sound...they doubled the tracks and then ran the doubled takes on a faster running playback reel to add a slightly detuned high ghost. Must have been hell to align all those.

Some classics can be freaking hard to recreate due to very lax tuning etc. Standards. Like old black Sabbath...iommi tuned like 4 steps down and played everything way high on the neck, used extra light strings too. So all the guitar tunings are more like approximates. Listen to heaven and hell for instance with a tuner, the guitar/bass is very clearly sharp in the intro chords and then somewhere later more like flat. But the vocal is spot on tune and the difference between the two makes it sound much better. When we did it 440 normal tuning and accurate too, it sounds a bit off even if it is exactly at pitch...because we're used to hearing the original which is a mess tuningwise...

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk

 

[Brian Krashpad]

Nothing Friday.

Watched footie Saturday morning on NBCSN.

Saturday night I got a panicked email from my boss at the Family Law Certification meeting in Orlando. After they rejected one of my essay exam questions for being "too difficult," they had some doofus write a different question, then she (or they) didn't like or wasn't sure of her answer to it, so I got to "fix" it. Did that a couple weeks ago. The answer, as fixed, was approved, but I had retained the original answer's bullet point format, and the committee wanted it redrafted in essay/full sentence format. So I spent 90 minutes or so doing a format rewrite of the answer, because they wanted it in final form by the next morning. I find it hilarious that I'm writing questions for the certification exam. Of course, I'm ghost writing though.

Sunday played in church. Even though I'd missed Tuesday night practice because of a busted headlight, went off without a hitch. (We do run through everything beforehand.) Played the Casino with the Strat in reserve.

Picked up son from his friend's house on way home from church, after stopping at former office to check for any mail (wasn't any). Did some laundry. Watched world's most boring Super Bowl, snuck in a couple real beers amongst the N/A's.

And you?

 

[piebaldpython]

Hey Krash.....are those P90s in your Casino? What a great rock-and-roll slide guitar that would be if so.....for your inner George Thorogood.

Worked OT Sat and Sun. Chilled, relaxed, went to dinner at sis-in-law's on Sat nite. Lots of fun. Saw Super Bowl....aha.

The BIG news though is......another day off from work today because we are getting hammered with yet another snowstorm as I type. Looking at another 8-12" in Philly. My aching back.

 

[Brian Krashpad]

Snowshovel mojo sent! High 70's here. Had snow flurries one day last week! Floriduh yo-yo weather in full effect.

Yes, the Casino has always been a P-90 model, since when John Lennon used 'em back in the '60's. They're noisy with distortion or overdrive, but I luvs me my P-90s. The Casino was a gift from my church band, bought used off local craigslist with a batch of cool mods already done. The bridge pickup is the stock Epi P-90, while the neck has been replaced with a Rio Grande. Other mods include the Bigs, an added 5th pot that's a Gretsch-style master volume, and Grover tuners.

 

[Brian Krashpad]

Friday I went to a show with 2 bands with friends (one a former bandmate) in them, in support of the touring band, the great Five Eight from Athens. Five Eight listed me since they were short a 4x12 and I brought mine to lend them, but they ended up not needing mine since the other bands had one.

Here's a pic of Five Eight I took:

Here's a pic of me and the drummer for the openers, Gorilla Candy, taken by the grrl in the picture, Dusty:

Saturday I watched Premier League footie in the morning, then the Gators secure a Sweet Sixteen spot. In the evening I played at church for our monthly Saturday Night Praise music service. Here's my rack, though I only actually played the one in the front and the acoustic-electric in the back:

Sunday morning played the 11 o'clock, went home and fell asleep watching a Liga MX game, and mowed a part of the back yard.

And you?

 

[Tig]

MS 150
Saturday, up at 4:30, at the start before 6, rolled out with a few thousand others (15,000 total) at 6:45. There were 3 different starting locations for different day 1 distances. I decided to do the middle distance of 83 instead of 100 miles since my health and fitness aren't so good. Smartest move of the day! The early tailwinds switched to cross and headwinds after the first hour and then the heat and sun kicked in. Throw in endless hills and my legs started cramping... bad.

The longer I rode, the worse they got.

I managed to keep going since there is no quit in my vocabulary. At rest stops I couldn't do the normal stretches since the opposing muscle group would cramp instantly. I drank about 312 ounces of water and Cytomax during the ride, almost 2 1/2 gallons. Finished day 1 in time to beat the long lines to the shower trucks and got a life saving massage by a cute masseuse. The company tent was 40 x 60 with cots, tables and a tasty catered BBQ dinner. Got to know my company teammates over a beer before crashing out.

Our shadows taller than our souls.

Day 2 started early after a deep sleep, and the legs were already toast. Had to opt out of the longer 77 mile route because of the super steep hills in Bastrop State Park and the likelihood of rain. It is strange to see after most of the trees burned in the huge 2011 fire.

I took my time and stopped at most of the break stops to fuel up. My lowest gear is 39x23, which I spent plenty of time in at the top of most climbs. Again, the winds were mostly head and cross winds, but it was cooler thanks to heavy clouds. The rain held off until I hit Austin, but I like riding in it.

I'm way short of the fitness level I needed to ride this, but knowing my body well plus how to ride efficiently made up for it along the way. I can spend hours deep into pain thanks to my years of racing. I finished right around noon and rode a nice wheelie across the line. Luckily a teammate who raises over $10K every year gave me his spare VIP pass after the ride which let me shower in the no line shower truck.

That saved me from standing in a 1 hour line and hop on the bus back home all the sooner. The volunteers were amazing at every step of the way and none of this could have happened without their hard work.

I met lots of people from all walks of life, all ages, shapes and sizes, coming together to raise over $15 million (and counting) this year. No divisions other than speed. Everyone hurts about the same. I encouraged those who looks like they were about to give up to hang in there. It was fun. You see the people you are helping some times, and that pushes you forward.

I only rode about 149 miles on my medium routes, so I hope to up my fitness to ride the longest route next year.

 

[Robert]

Cool!

 

[sunvalleylaw]

MS 150
Saturday, up at 4:30, at the start before 6, rolled out with a few thousand others (15,000 total) at 6:45. There were 3 different starting locations for different day 1 distances. I decided to do the middle distance of 83 instead of 100 miles since my health and fitness aren't so good. Smartest move of the day! The early tailwinds switched to cross and headwinds after the first hour and then the heat and sun kicked in. Throw in endless hills and my legs started cramping... bad.

The longer I rode, the worse they got.

I managed to keep going since there is no quit in my vocabulary. At rest stops I couldn't do the normal stretches since the opposing muscle group would cramp instantly. I drank about 312 ounces of water and Cytomax during the ride, almost 2 1/2 gallons. Finished day 1 in time to beat the long lines to the shower trucks and got a life saving massage by a cute masseuse. The company tent was 40 x 60 with cots, tables and a tasty catered BBQ dinner. Got to know my company teammates over a beer before crashing out.

Our shadows taller than our souls.

Day 2 started early after a deep sleep, and the legs were already toast. Had to opt out of the longer 77 mile route because of the super steep hills in Bastrop State Park and the likelihood of rain. It is strange to see after most of the trees burned in the huge 2011 fire.

I took my time and stopped at most of the break stops to fuel up. My lowest gear is 39x23, which I spent plenty of time in at the top of most climbs. Again, the winds were mostly head and cross winds, but it was cooler thanks to heavy clouds. The rain held off until I hit Austin, but I like riding in it.

I'm way short of the fitness level I needed to ride this, but knowing my body well plus how to ride efficiently made up for it along the way. I can spend hours deep into pain thanks to my years of racing. I finished right around noon and rode a nice wheelie across the line. Luckily a teammate who raises over $10K every year gave me his spare VIP pass after the ride which let me shower in the no line shower truck.

That saved me from standing in a 1 hour line and hop on the bus back home all the sooner. The volunteers were amazing at every step of the way and none of this could have happened without their hard work.

I met lots of people from all walks of life, all ages, shapes and sizes, coming together to raise over $15 million (and counting) this year. No divisions other than speed. Everyone hurts about the same. I encouraged those who looks like they were about to give up to hang in there. It was fun. You see the people you are helping some times, and that pushes you forward.

I only rode about 149 miles on my medium routes, so I hope to up my fitness to ride the longest route next year.

Very cool! Great report! I did a MS 150 once or twice but that was a long, long time ago. Good on ya!

 

[Spudman]

That looks like it would have been fun. That's a lot of people out on the road all at once. It's probably half the population of all of Idaho.

Our local club has a couple of "go fast and puke" 100 milers coming up that I hope I'll be in town to do. We don't get the charity rides happening around here and I don't know why. We've got a lot of open, untrafficked roads around to do them on.

 

[Tig]

Yep, it was fun. I haven't ridden more than 60 miles at a time in 2 decades, concentrating mostly on short, high intensity stuff like MTB and track races. This was the 30th Texas MS ride. The last one I rode was in 1988!

My legs are already feeling better today. I'll work on climbing and loosing some weight the rest of the year. :dance

 

[Tig]

A photo of day 1. I'm about 160, 30 pounds above my racing days average weight. Losing just half of that would help on the climbs!

 

[Brian Krashpad]

A photo of day 1. I'm about 160, 30 pounds above my racing days average weight. Losing just half of that would help on the climbs!

I've got about 3 to 5 pounds on you, but the differential to my high school soccer-playing weight is the same.

Difference: you're exercising and I'm not.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

A photo of day 1. I'm about 160, 30 pounds above my racing days average weight. Losing just half of that would help on the climbs!

Looking at your photos, it makes me want to do one of these rides again. I love supported multi day group rides. Been a long time though. There was a Lung Association ride last year somewhere around here, but I don't see one for this year. There is a MS 150 way up in northern Idaho, or in Bozeman. Also, they have a variant of the one I used to do still in Washington. Not sure if I can pull it off with scheduled travel this year, but I sure would like to do a group supported ride.

 

[Brian Krashpad]

So, on this weekend's agenda: watching Premier League footie this a.m., as the relegation battles loom. Then off to sell the Gibby gigbag that my SGJ came in (I replaced it with a hsc) to a buddy of mine. At 5 we're meeting at the church for a run-through of tomorrow's sunrise service, then we'll follow that with a pre-service run-through of tonight's monthly Saturday Night Praise service, which begins at 7 p.m.

Tomorrow I'll play the sunrise service, then go to church somewhere else with the fam, then find somewhere for Easter lunch.

And you?

 

[sunvalleylaw]

For us, Anneka, my youngest, has soccer today in Boise, and my wife is taking her while I and the boys stay here. We will ski. Tomorrow, we will all have Easter festivities, and hopefully go up skiing for a few runs on the last day of skiing for the year!

 

[Brian Krashpad]

Anybody do anyfing at the weekend?

Sunday was my "off" day so I didn't play in church. Played hooky and watch the top of the table get all squirreled up in the English Premier league. Saturday morning our church band played at a fun run though. It was in the gym at the church I used to play at seven or eight years ago.

My li'l big rig:

Guitars (only played the Special):

Stage:

Band:

Me, looking very very old, haha!

It was fun. We played totally "cold," on no rehearsals. We played songs from our recent Saturday Night Praise services, though, so we were at least fairly familiar with the songs, and had our notated lead sheets. Surprisingly, no major train wrecks I can recall.

Anybody else do anything over the weekend? Do tell!

 

[deeaa]

Cottage w/boys. Just putting things in order for summer, cleaning the yard, bathing in the hot barrel, that kinda stuff. Relaxed going no rush. Will go back next weekend, maybe 2 nite stay. Loads of wildlife on the move, saw rabbits, mallards, other birds, a falcon and an owl, hedgehogs, frogs, an otter...nice.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk

 

[Tig]

Friday, went to my son's high school athletic program banquet. During the endless awards, they had a 2 song playlist, some Bruno Mars song and something I've never heard before. After the 25th loop it created a minor cerebral aneurism.

Saturday, rode just 1 1/2 hour before an eye exam. My eye pressure in both eyes is over 30, and with a family history of glocoma, I have to return for an exam by their MD. Grilled shrimp in butter and garlic, plus 3 rib eyes. Delicious!
Watched NHL playoffs.

Sunday, rode 2 hours is horrific winds. The tailwind coming home was 20-25 mph so I was flying! Took 2 dogs for their shots and a year worth of med's. $520.

Took Mrs. T to the Astros game with great seats in the Crawford box. They smashed the A's!

 

[Brian Krashpad]

Sounds cool Dee! You'll have to get some wildlife pics!

 

[deeaa]

This weekend it's already WAY more green. But no wildlife photography with the cell phone cam

 

[Duffy]

This weekend it's already WAY more green. But no wildlife photography with the cell phone cam

This is really cool Dee. Places around the Adirondack Mountains in far Northern New York have trees and lakes that closely resemble these scenes. Generally, however, there will be big mountains in the background somewhere.

 

[Brian Krashpad]

Those are cool pics Dee. I always enjoy your pics from the woods.