aint no cure for the summertime blues

have been checkin in here regularly ... just to keep an eye on yall. its been real dead the last week. i was wondering if eveyone forgot about bass trem fan??? except for yesterday / lastnight, there havent been any posts all week.

i understand ... its summertime and we're all busy with stuff. why not start a thread with what our excuses have been, where we've been, or what we've been doing besides posting messages here. i'll start .........................

real estate.

amy an i have been looking at houses. i only have one requirement ... basement; for band practice and to have a shop to build basses. we are trying to buy before dec. 1st to get the tax credit, but we also want to buy the right house. i dont know how many foundations i poked with a screwdriver and they crumbled. if we dont find the one before december, we'll keep looking ... real estate is pretty cheap right now. this will be our first home so we're real excited.

a house costs money ... so i havent spent any money on projects lately. i still need (will always need) tools and parts. the p bass is as finished as its gonna be for a while. i got the pegboard black brass veneer done. nice! other than that, i have 2 basses that are sitting mid project, so i havent had much to discuss here.

we're going to arizona in sept ... we been busy planning that too. grand canyon here i come.

I've been checking here regularly, but I haven't had much new stuff to talk about, so I guess I haven't been posting because no one else has been

I have also noticed the lull in posting activity, but this is the way of message boards. Sometimes I see a whole flurry of activity, and other times, it settles down a bit.

MadMike, I think that's a great plan for you and Amy. With the market still low, you would probably have an easier time getting into a place now than you might in, say, a couple of years.

I got to visit the Grand Canyon back in the 80's. Arizona has it's own special beauty, for certain. The heat of the day in summer wasn't so great, but I can remember watching these spectacular evenings at sunset where the skies over the mesas would turn into this amazing kaleidoscope of pinks, reds, and purples. My sister's in-laws live down by Tucson, and they go down there once a year to visit.

When I moved up here to Washington, one of the major plus sides is that I now have a shared interest in my in-laws house. It's a 2400 square foot tri-level home located about 100 yards from the beaches of Birch Bay. There is a small shop attached to the house that Linda's folks have told me I can use for my bass-related exploits, and my plan is to one day sheet rock the walls, re-do the electrical, and bring in some more tools and work benches. We had also originally planned to build an additional room for my son for when I have him here with me on visits, but now Linda and I are planning on building a second master suite over the garage, and giving Dylan our old room. Our new room will have it's own full bathroom, and possibly even a wood burning stove. And I am also trying to engineer a ham radio shack so I can do my amateur radio thing. One day the house will pass to Linda and me.

Last night, Linda and I went out to dinner, then to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It's another great chapter in an awesome series!

Today we are all going down to Oak Harbor for a picnic that is for my mother-in-law's 50th class reunion.

And tomorrow is back to work!

yo eric,

i think i have a certian degree of ignorance just cause of the simple fact i never been there. amy and i have also shopped around to book our next years vacation with the availability to us from a timeshare gift. we were thinking of comming out your way. not all the way to washington but we're gonna chek out the oregon coast. newport or tillamook. that seems not all that far from your neck of the woods. i have no idea of what oregon is like. is it similar to washington? people have told me its all like nowhere else in the world.

plans for your house sound great. sounds a whole lot bigger than what amy and i are looking at. we dont need big ... we just need our hominess, room for the cats to play, amy needs a garden and an office / darkroom and i need a basement. we'de love to have a fireplace ... perhaps in the next home.

Not to worry, MadMike. Neither Linda nor myself have ever been to PA, so we also share our own degree of ignorance.

What's Oregon like? Weeeell....I have to warn you that this opens up a can of worms for me, but I will try to be fair. But first, let me vent a little. Forgive your aged, insane host for a bit, if you would please.

Every time I drive down to California from here in Washington, several things happen once I hit the border with Oregon. For one, the speed limit drops from 60mph to 50mph, and it will randomly bounce back and forth all along I-5, meaning that you experience sudden changes in the speed limit, like, you'll be going along where it says 60 mph, but then after only a few miles, you get hit with "Reduced Speed Ahead" signs that seem to pop up all the time. It goes back to 60mph, then a few miles later, it drops again, and so on, and so on, and so on. I cannot tell you how much this irritates me. OK....maybe I'm annoyed because Oregon is where I got my only speeding ticket, but I don't think that's all there is to it.

As if the speed limit changes weren't enough, it seems that the state of Oregon has a windfall of cash to repair I-5, and that they've lost their minds in doing so, because we pass at least two dozen spots spanning a few miles at a time where they are ripping up the freeway, and the speed limit drops yet again to something like 40 mph. This might not sound like a big deal, but when you consider that the state is only 308 miles from top to bottom, it quickly adds up. And it has been this way for at least the last two years.

Then you discover that the people who designed the freeway exits and concrete islands surrounding gas stations, grocery stores, etc., were all on crack. I cannot begin to do the description justice, but it's like they make it so you have to always drive in some exaggerated circle to finally get to the entrance around the back of whatever place you're trying to get to. The freeway exits all take you in this wide loop in it's own lane that makes it impossible to get back onto the freeway unless you go down the frontage road (again, in some exaggerated circle) for several blocks. I'm not even joking here. My father-in-law went with me last month, and I was able to show him several examples of this all along the I-5 corridor. Linda has always known these things, and she (like I wish I could do) closes her eyes as we pass through the state, hoping it won't take all day to do so.

Then if that weren't enough, some rocket scientist decided to pass a law forbidding you the driver from pumping your own gas, period. Every station has attendants who pump it for you, and they are trained to behead you on sight if you so much as reach for the nozzle yourself. And why, you ask? Because they had heard some stories about "people in California pumping their own gas while their cell phones were on, and they blew themselves up, so only "specially trained gas station technicians" can pump gas for you...."



In all of my 40+ years being a native Californian, I have never once heard of anyone blowing themselves up at a gas station with a cell phone. So you might say "why is this a bad thing? Full service gas? That's a good thing!" Yeah...it would be...if they actually hired enough attendants to handle the business, which they don't, so you end up standing there for ten minutes waiting for the guy to come around and pump your gas, remove the nozzle, and get your change and/or receipt.

OK...enough ranting about Oregon.

Yes, it is a lot like Washington in terms of beauty. It is lush and green, with lots of trees and pretty mountain ranges. The areas along the coast are particularly so, and are in fact, some very popular tourist stops. There are definitely a lot of nice vacation spots to be found.

But...may I suggest a vacation in Washington instead? Where you can actually drive at a decent clip along roadways that make sense and aren't being repaired every day for two years, and where you can pump your own gas?

growing up in southeastern pa, your description of the i-5 corridor and not being able to pump your own gas sounds like new jersey.

great things come from new jersey ... like ... bon jovi.

... and bruce springsteen.

its a great place to vacation at the shore ... if you can ever find your way there thru the maze of jughandles and tolls.

the spped limit thing sounds to me like a municipality or district trying to speeding ticket issue themselves some revenue. we have something like that here ... its called delco. you cant get your car above 35 in the whole county. if you do ... "pull over! keep your hands where i can see em! ......................."

philly is just a constant traffic jam. i dont go down there anymore.

but sure ... i'de reccommend someone to visit.

Well, I was in Missouri for a week with no internet. That's my excuse.

Hahahaha Eric you sound so fond of our southerly neighbor! I can't say I blame you. Weird place. I'd probably fit in there. But in many ways, it's a lot like Washington, just a different flavor on Northwest than Washington, you know?

MadMike, if it's in your head to come out here, I'd love to hang out with you for a little while. If you, me, and Eric could kick it somewhere in the NW, that would be sweet. In January, I'm going to have a driver's license and I'll be game to take a trip pretty much anywhere!

And best of luck to you on finding a house, bro. To be on that road must feel good!

Yes! Great suggestion, Martin! MadMike! Come on out here, and we'll hold a small, quasi BTF summit thingymabobber!

sure ... i'll keep you guys up to date with next years travel plans. traveling across the country and meeting up in person with people you've met online is cool ... unless its murderers on craigslist ....

i post on craigslist ... ... but amy wont lemme kill the lamos who show up to audition ...

yes, heading down the road to home ownership is cool ... and scary as all get out. i've attempted to make commitment decisions that involve big investment before and ended up failing or regretting it ... new cars, college, business ownership. i really think i've just had bad luck. i'm hoping, going into this with amy, will somewhat circumvent my series of bad luck and home ownership is my thing. we'll see.

cant someone just GIVE me a house?

If they do just give you a house, ask them if they'll buy me my dream rig!

Hmm...what would that be, Eric? I smell 8x10s....it smells...toasty.

aww naw, thats part of the deal! give me a house and give me a rig too!

Subject: Re: aint no cure for the summertime blues <<< ya there is but Eric don't like us to mention what that cure is since this is an all-ages board...

Aah yes....

You can think about saying it....but don't do it!

amimbari wrote:

Subject: Re: aint no cure for the summertime blues <<< ya there is but Eric don't like us to mention what that cure is since this is an all-ages board...

WAIT! I know what he's talking about! Its ***%$%*BEEP*$$#%CENSORED@*$&#, isn't it?

you naughty naughty boys.

Yes I am.

*squirts whipped cream and drizzles chocolate sauce on himself*

Chowderboots wrote:

Yes I am.

*squirts whipped cream and drizzles chocolate sauce on himself*

we used to do much more "theatrical" things with whipped cream, rather than waste it on that idea....

Kugelspot wrote:

amimbari wrote:

Subject: Re: aint no cure for the summertime blues <<< ya there is but Eric don't like us to mention what that cure is since this is an all-ages board...

WAIT! I know what he's talking about! Its ***%$%*BEEP*$$#%CENSORED@*$&#, isn't it?

<<<< ya, "sometin like that"

amimbari wrote:

Chowderboots wrote:

Yes I am.

*squirts whipped cream and drizzles chocolate sauce on himself*

we used to do much more "theatrical" things with whipped cream, rather than waste it on that idea....

Yeah, well...we don't any more.

amimbari wrote:

<<<< ya, "sometin like that"

Schpoople!