Category: Generic

The First Big Test

Today is the first big test of the latest weight watchers attempt.

Last night I was stricken by what my mother used to call The Hungry Horrors. I wanted to eat everything in the house. I did a decent job of fighting the temptation, although I wasn’t perfect. So far today the terminal case of munchies hasn’t calmed down much if any. That’s not good. Also, today is my telecommuting day. That’s not good at all. So… hungry horrors combined with being home alone all day…

Oh crap. If I were in AA I would seriously need to hit a meeting.

I can be strong. I can fight the temptation. I will rise above my stomach (which is really saying something because that dude is HUGE)!

Will Power!

NHL Thoughts

I had a couple of stray, random thoughts while following* the first night of the NHL playoffs.

  • No Bruins… I have a grand total of zero craps to give about everyone else.
  • Oh sure, Ottawa… Now you fricken lose! Jackasses!

And that is about it.

*When I say “following” I mean that I checked the scores at about 8:30, and then again around 10:00. I saw that the Ottawa/Montreal game was close and almost over so I listened to the last couple of minutes. Friggen Ottawa.

150 Years Ago Today

Why is April 15th such a monumental day?  The Titanic sank.  Fenway Park opened.  The Boston Marathon Bombing.  Jackie Robinson’s Brooklyn debut.  Congress ratified the peace treaty that ended the Revolutionary war.  My father was born.

It is also the day that President Lincoln died.  John Wilkes Booth shot him on April 14, but he died on the 15th.  In memory of that terrible event, here is a picture of Lincoln and Booth together about a month before the asassination.

 

Yes I know it’s a little like playing Where’s Waldo.  Where’s Booth?  Here’s the answer.

The First Shoe Drops

The Boston Bruins have relieved Peter Chiarelli of his job as General Manager.

That’s one.  What other moves will follow?  Let’s hope the search for a new GM is a short one.  We have a couple of months before the draft.  We’ll need someone in place by then.  I would imagine that Claude Julien’s days in Boston are numbered as most GMs would want to have their own coach in place.

As for players, Greg Campbell and Dan Paille were both told during their exit interview that they would not be resigned.  Both of them have had shining moments in a Bruins uniform, but it’s probably time for them to move on.

We will have to wait for a new GM before the big player questions are answered.  Lucic?  Chara?  Eriksson?  We’ll see.

Last Night’s Band Practice

Last night’s band practice was… different.  In a few ways.

It was the first rehearsal I’ve been to that was short a member.  Greg the singer couldn’t make it.  Kevin the drummer, Mike the bass player, and I decided to get together anyway.

Gear wise, I brought my Strat and… well… it’s wimpy.  I ended up playing through my lead channel all night because the guitar just lacks balls.  I may need to come up with some sort of alternate signal path specific to the Strat. Maybe a distortion pedal or something to beef thing up.  The instant I had that thought I realized that I’ve been whining about my Les Paul being wimpy since I put in the Classic ’57 pick ups.  Might a crunchy stomp box at the front of the chain solve that problem too?  Probably not, but it’s cheaper and easier than buying and installing a new pick up.

Anyway, that’s not what felt different last night.  Neither is the missing singer, really.  What was different was that we played very hard.  There was a level of intensity that hadn’t been there before and frankly it wore all of us out quickly. It took less than an hour for us to start feeling out of gas.  I think there was less discussion between songs, and therefore less time to recover before moving to the next thing.  Last night it was a case of someone throwing out a title, we crank through it, then as soon as we finish someone throws out another title.  During the second hour we actually took a break.  It was a five minute break that, thanks to talking about Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead, turned into 20 minutes.  It was necessary.  It let us finish off the night with a bang.

For me personally, I have to make some big changes to the way I do things, and I’m not talking about gear (for once).  It goes without saying that I need to practice more.  The other guys have been playing these songs for years now and have them down cold.  If they only practice as a warm up for rehearsal then that’s fine for them.  Not for me.  I take notes on the songs as I learn them and I am completely dependent on those notes.  I can’t make it through without checking the cheat sheets and that has to stop right now. Practice will solve that issue.

More concerning, I am not physically capable of just setting up and playing my tail off for two hours.  My hands cramp, my fingers get too stiff to play, my wrists hurt, my shoulders hurt, my arms hurt, my back hurts, my legs hurt.  A solid two hour rehearsal is almost too much for me.  I know I need to exercise more.  That goes along with dieting and should result in improvement with my legs and my back.  For my arms and my shoulders, I think the fix is to practice standing up.  I am into the habit these days of sitting when I practice.  I am not Robert Fripp so I should be standing.

My hands though… that is what scares me.  I think I’ve mentioned it here before. I don’t want to get to the point where the pain in my hands exceeds the enjoyment I get from playing.  I started doing a little research on things I can do to strengthen my hands and my fingers.  Two things come up repeatedly.  One is squeezing a tennis ball, or something similar.  I should be doing that every day.  When I’m sitting in front of the tube I should have one of those squeeze grip things in my hand.  They actually make one geared for guitar players that lets you squeeze with each individual finger.  I might have to get one of those.  The other thing I need to do is stretch before I play.  I was starting to get into the habit of doing just that when I joined Break Even for exactly the same reasons.  A few songs into practice and my hands would be killing me.  I need to get back to doing that.  My research has shown me a few things to try.  I need to never not do those exercises before playing again.  I need to make it as much a part of my routine as tuning up.  I very much want this band to start working in public again.  That means I have to be ready to play hard for four hours a night.  As it stands right now I don’t think I can do that.  I will get there though.  Definitely.  Count on it.

The First What?

Former First Lady of the United States, US Senator from the state of New York, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has officially announced that she is running for President.

There is really only one question left to ask.

Never in the short history of this great nation has the spouse of the President been a man. Hence, we do not have a male equivalent of the title First Lady. When Hillary becomes our nation’s second President Clinton we are going to need to come up with a new, official title for the first President Clinton, Hillary’s husband and former President Bill Clinton.

I’m going to throw my suggestion out there for everyone to see. I think the husband of our first female President should be officially referred to as The First Dude. Only “dude” should be pronounced surfer style so that it sounds more like The First Dooooooode.

I also think he should probably be kept out of the White House intern office. Just a thought.

Congratulations and best of luck to the next President of the United States, Hillary Clinton. May you mop the floor with all competition.