Happy Friday

Happy Friday, everyone. Hopefully Friday has meaning for most if not all of us. It has extra meaning for me this week. Starting this month my company has changed it’s hybrid work requirements. Where it used to be that we had to be in the office for 20% of each pay period (basically one day each week), as of March 1st we have to be in the office for 40% of each pay period (basically twice per week). Today is my first, second day of a week. None of us our happy with this, but it’s a whole ton better than being back 80%, which is what we had prior to the pandemic shut down. Oh well. I’ll deal with it. I am still coming in every Wednesday. My group has Wednesdays as a mandate and the second day each week is at everyone’s personal discretion. I am sort of planning on making Mondays my regular second day, just to get it over with, but that didn’t work this week due to the contractors working in the kitchen. Friday was the only day that worked for me. Fortunately there was zero traffic today. I made the 40 mile drive to the office in 45 minutes. If only it were like that every morning.

In other news, the kids are on the ground. Bellana’s flight landed in Georgia (the US state, not the European country) before I went to sleep last night. Harry’s first flight landed in London well after I nodded off for the night, and his connecting flight landed in Scotland before I woke up this morning. All is well on both of those fronts. Here’s hoping they both have a great time on their trips.

I am taking advantage of the fact that I am 40 miles from home right now to make my way to IKEA after work. IKEA is about 60 miles from home, but only 20 miles from work. I will head down there as soon as I am free and go to the returns department and bring back a great big pile of stuff that IKEA included in our kitchen redesign blue print that we didn’t end up needing. There is a lot of stuff to return. A lot of stuff. If I get it all done tonight then we don’t have to worry about it, and with the money we get back maybe I’ll be able to afford a hair cut this weekend because damn, do I need a hair cut!

Anyway, here’s today’s photo-a-day picture. I took it before I did my workout this morning at about 5:40am. It’s only 9:14am now but it’s already felt like a long day.

Photo a Day

I took today’s photo a day picture before I did my exercise this morning because I knew it was an in-the-office day and I wouldn’t have a lot of opportunities for snappin’ pics.

Little did I know that just before I left the house, the cats would pose for me. I could have used one of these instead.

Oh well. Two Hipstamatic camera app pics of the cats because artsy and stuff. I can get behind that.

Almost Done, I Hope

Another day for the kitchen remodel project. Here’s hoping it’s the last day.

They are doing some touch up work on things that have otherwise been finished. They are hanging some stuff on top of the tile. They are doing a little painting.

I think that’s all that’s left to do. Once they are done we have to clean up any dust they left behind and then wash all of the dishes that have been sitting out collecting dust over the last week and then find a new home for everything in the new cabinet/storage setup.

I am so ready for this project to be over. I want my house back again.

Unrelated note… I used my good camera to take today’s photo a day picture. I will post it now for no reason at all.

Tracking is Done!

Well, RPM Challenge fans, I hit a major milestone for this year’s project. As of about 8:30am today, tracking is done! I put lead guitars onto seven songs. SEVEN! My finger tips are chewed up messes right now and I could barely play at all by the time I was done, but all of my tracking for all 20 songs is new complete. Yikes!

Now I just have to mix 12 songs. Oh… there’s the reality of the situation coming in to ruin my buzz. Twelve (12) songs left to mix by the end of the day on Thursday, and tomorrow is both an in the office day and a drive halfway across New England to go to IKEA after work night. There won’t be much time for mixing tomorrow. I was hoping to finish four songs last night but I only did two. Tonight and Thursday are going to require a lot of RPM Challenge work.

Yikes, babie. Yikes.

Keep the Stress at Bay

I’m feeling the stress creeping in and trying to take over. Between work, the kitchen project, contractor schedules, a massively massive imminent delivery from IKEA (almost 200 boxes of stuff), and the RPM Challenge… yeah… it’s getting to me a little.

No! Keep the stressing out at bay! Say no to stress! You Will Not Pass! This Far, No Further!

Okay, I snuck in some guitar playing this morning. It was bad, but maybe better than some of the crap I recorded last week. I am down to just lead guitars being the only tracking left to do so those move pretty quickly. I got through four songs. That’s good.

I have six songs mixed and finished. I have seven songs ready to mix (yikes!). I have seven songs waiting for lead guitar tracks (Double Yikes!). After that all I need to do is pick out the songs that will make the final RPM Challenge album submission, set a running order, and make some cover art. I took some pictures to possibly use for the cover yesterday.

All of that on top of remodeling our kitchen. Yikes!

Fun with New Frets

I played my ES-335 today with it’s new frets and it felt good. I still don’t have any calluses on the finger tips on my left hand so it was still painful as can be, but other than that it felt good. I put rhythm guitars onto the final two songs for the RPM Challenge and then I put leads on three songs. The third song was bad as I was reaching the point where the pain and rust were too much to get around. I hope to sneak in some more playing later today. I took a vacation day so I should be able to find some time. We’ll see.

Pictures!

All Fixed Up

I can’t wait to play this guitar with the band again. It’s been ages and ages.

Welcome home, my 1979 Gibson ES-335 Pro!

There is a new pot under that volume knob even though you can’t see it because it’s under the knob

Friday Morning Guitars

I promised myself I was going to do it on Thursday and then failed to do it. I did not fail on Friday though. I played guitar this morning. I put rhythm guitars onto three songs. Breath that sigh of relief!

I Could Not Care Less

Today is super bowl Sunday and I really, honestly, truly, could not possibly care less. I don’t give the faintest shit about football, the NFL, or any of it. Really, the only thing for me to look forward to is the aftermath of all of the maga asshole heads exploding the first time they put Taylor Swift on screen during the television broadcast. That is the only aspect of the game that is of any interest to me.

On the upside, it did give me the annual opportunity to crack my dumbest, most over used joke. I was talking to my father on the phone this morning and it went a little like this:

Dad: So, are there any sports on TV today? (He was kidding, of course)
Me: Well the Bruins played last night so no, no there isn’t.

Har har har, I’ve got a million of them. I’ll be here all week, be sure to tip your waitress.

In unrelated news, I got some good cat pics today.