Expensive Stuff

Name the most expensive personal item you’ve ever purchased (not including your home or car).

Daily writing prompt

Not including your home or your car… well what about upgrades to your home? Do they count as personal items? How about a definition of “personal items”?

Do windows count as personal items? If they do then the answer to this question is probably all of the replacement windows we had put into the house last April. It could be remodeling the garage into a primary bedroom suite. Do bed/bath suites count as personal items? What about furniture? There’s also the cellar, kitchen, and dining room remodeling we did. All of that stuff is really expensive.

While those purchases are accurate, they aren’t really in keeping with the spirit of the thing. At least I don’t think they are. That answer is probably the laptop upon which I am typing this post. It is a two year old MacBook Pro (14 inch M1. I know that because I looked it up when Apple had their M3 launch a week or two ago) and it probably cost about two grand. The most expensive item I own is probably the Les Paul Standard 50’s that Jen got me for my birthday. That probably ran her a little more than the MacBook. However, I did not actually buy that guitar, Jen did. Therefore I cannot use it as the answer to this question.

The most valuable personal item I own is probably my Les Paul Custom. The one that is still in the shop getting major surgery. I paid $550 for it in 1990. A quick search on reverb.com and ebay.com shows me that I could probably sell it for somewhere around five grand. I am not selling it though. That sucker is going into the casket with me when my number is up. My step son can have the rest of my guitars, if he’s still playing. Otherwise, Jen and the kids can sell them and split the money. The custom though… that one is going into the ground with me forever.

Computers and guitars seem like the correct answer to this question, but I feel like I am missing something. I can’t think of what that could be though. I guess that means computers and guitars are the answer I’m running with. You’re welcome.

November Music

After cleaning the kitchen, dining room, living room, and the hallway that links them all together today I did what anyone would do. I finally started putting some thought into this month’s music project.

It’s going to be two suites of about 15 minutes. Each suite will be a handful of songs. Each song will end on some sort of coda that is unrelated to the rest of the song. The next song in the suite will start with a variation of the previous song’s coda.

Dig it?

I have the bass and drums down for the first suite. It’s looking like it’s going to be about 16-17 minutes long. National Solo Album Month’s rules require a grand total of 29 minutes and change (the length of The Ramones first record). I’ve got a long way to go, but at least I made some progress. I want to use the guitar that is currently in the shop for most if not all of the guitar tracks, so hopefully I get it back soon. Otherwise I’ll just use a different guitar.

I’m probably going to fail this month’s challenge miserably, but at least I am putting in a little effort to make me feel good about myself, or some shit. Whatever, right?

Music!

Podcasts

What podcasts are you listening to?

Daily writing prompt

Woah boy, you’re getting a list for this one. I listen to literally all of them, figuratively. Guitar podcasts, sports podcasts, tech podcasts, and so very many television and movie podcasts. So many. So very, very many TV podcasts. You’re getting a list, folks!

Just looking at the Podcasts app on my MacBook Pro to see what is currently queued up. Here are a few (in no particular order, though it quickly becomes kind of alphabetical when I stopped reading off of my latest episodes queue and started looking at my list of subscribed shows. Also the ones that are in bold text are the ones I never miss an episode)…

  • Grumpy Old Geeks
  • The ‘Cast of Us (formerly known as The Walking Dead ‘Cast)
  • The Talking Dead
  • 60 Cycle Hum
  • The 40 Watt Podcast
  • A Little Bit Culty
  • Bald Move Pulp
  • Bastards of Boston Baseball
  • Caveat
  • Chasing Tone
  • Chewin’ It with Kevin and Steve (if they ever get around to making another one, what the hell?)
  • Children of the Watch: A Star Wars After Show
  • Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
  • Crime of the Truest Kind
  • Defenders TV Podcast on TV Podcast Industries
  • Fatman Beyond
  • Film Photography Project
  • Friends from Work: An Unofficial Marvel Podcast
  • Gig Gab
  • Guitar Nerds Podcast
  • Hacking Humans
  • The Ex Files
  • Interdimensional RSS: The Unofficial Rick and Morty Podcast
  • House Podcastica (along with about a dozen other shows on the Podcastica network)
  • Locked on Bruins Podcast
  • Locked on NHL Podcast
  • Locked on Red Sox Podcast
  • Locked on MLB Podcast
  • Mac Geek Gab
  • Marvel Cinematic Universe Podcast
  • Morning Bru with Billy Jaffe & Andrew Raycroft
  • Mugglecast
  • NecronomiPod
  • Puck Soup
  • Star Wars Explained
  • Star Wars Stuff Podcast
  • Strange Indeed
  • Sunny Sixteen
  • Thank God I’m Atheist
  • The Guitar Knobs
  • The Resistance Broadcast: Star Wars Podcast
  • The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe
  • The Truth About Vintage Amps
  • The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week
  • This Week in Science
  • What We Say in the Shadows
  • Who Back When
  • WTF with Marc Maron

That is maybe 10% of the podcasts I am subscribed to via the Apple Podcast app. There are a few others that I get to via the web too, but those aren’t in the regular rotation. I generally spend my work day with a queue of podcasts playing as background sound. It is not uncommon for me to play through about 7-8 hours of podcasts a day. Granted I am working at the time so my focus is not 100% and I miss a lot of content, but they are almost always playing.

Hipsta-Kitty: Shake to Shuffle

I couldn’t resist. They look so cute wedging themselves into that little space that is way too small for both of them. Five seconds after I took the last of these pictures they started fighting and looked like they were trying to decapitate each other. Yeah, welcome to our cats’ lives.

Personal Time

My company gives us all 16 hours of personal time each year. They also give us weeks upon weeks of vacation time. The difference is that the personal time is meant to be used in small chunks at short notice, while the vacation time, which they don’t actually call vacation time, can only be used in four or eight hour chunks per day and is supposed to be booked in advance. The other difference is that vacation time can be carried over from this year to next year if needed while the personal time disappears on January 1st.

What does all of this mean? I had five hours of personal time left in the bank and I used it all up today. Robbie will not be having any time vanish on January 1st this year. I started my weekend five hours early, babie!

How did I celebrate this happy surprise of a half day? I ate my lunch too fast and made myself gastric bypass sick, that’s how! Yes! Well played, Robert the putz! I had a hamburger again to have another test of the sugar free ketchup. Yes, it does taste like ketchup and no, it is not disgusting! What a treat! It was such a treat that I ate way too much per bite and plowed through it all way too fast and got something stuck in my stomach tract and had a full on case of the foamies.

I am better now that a couple of hours have gone past. I’m okay!

Happy weekend plus five hours of personal time, everyone! WOOHOO!