BMW Rules ... The world as I see it

A cautionary tale

noreply@blogger.com (Beamer) — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 15:49:00 +0000

Part of the problem with the Internet is the fact that it is forever in Flux, forever changing, sometimes for the better some times not.

Email lately has become very very security conscious, at least Google, Yahoo, and Hotmail. Yes, I use all 3. Why you may ask?

Because I am partially crazy I guess. Actually the Hotmail I opened because of the storage on Skydrive, because at 1 point in time I was coming close to filling up my hard drive and needed badly to get some stuff off the Hard drive. Then I found a great deal on a 2 terabyte external hard drive and bought that and my storage problem was solved.

Anyway, this morning I was using one of my Google email accounts, (Yes I have multiple Google email accounts) and it needed to update my security info, Fine and dandy. Lo and behold, there was an email account for a backup email account (Security stuff for Google) and I no longer had access to that account. Part of the change of the Internet. It went away. I didn't want it to, but it did.

So, then the fun really started. It is a long drawn out technical bunch of hooey which I finally got resolved, but just be careful with what you use for security info. The ever changing Internet can come up and bite you where you sit and it is not a whole lot of fun.

If you still eat at Taco Bell

noreply@blogger.com (Beamer) — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 08:19:00 +0000

Like my youngest son, you may not want to click on this link.

Lucky You ...

noreply@blogger.com (Beamer) — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 18:50:00 +0000

I have decided to share with you all the fun I have been having lately with trying to get My Movie collection taken care of.

Yes, a Movie collection.

I blame my wife for it.

There was a time when I could have cared less about Movies. Then I got married to someone who loved movies. She was mainly focused on older movies, black and white film mainly. I sat there and tried to watch some of these with her on TV. VHS at this time was not in our realm, aka too expensive. So if you missed the beginning of the movie, too bad. If you couldn't catch the end of the Movie, better luck next time. Old school movie watching. I couldn't really get into it.

All that changed once we finally got our own VHS machine. Recording movies and being able to watch them at My leisure made a huge difference. Thus I got hooked into Movies, big time. Capturing movies and reviewing them later became habit. Then I got a brilliant Idea.

What about taking the movies from VHS and putting them onto DVDs?. There had to be a way to do that. It took a very long time before we actually pulled that off, but we finally got a converter to record DVD's from VHS.

The first DVD Recorder we bought got quite the workout, and then it bailed on us. I was only about 1/4 of the way through the VHS tapes of Movies I had recorded. So eventually we bought another DVD recorder and got most of the VHS collection transfered to DVD. As it was, it was pretty good timing, with VHS going the way of the Dinosaurs and DVD being the accepted format for Movies at present.

So lately I have been trying to make up a data base to keep track of what movies are on what DVD disc. I had a really goof thing going with a freeware software program, then the freeware became paid for and all the data I had recorded into the freeware version became Null and Void, Unless you paid their ransom fee and switched to their paid program.

Pc Vs Mac

noreply@blogger.com (Beamer) — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 19:45:00 +0000

Hey Lady Part 3 ...

noreply@blogger.com (Beamer) — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 02:28:00 +0000

"I do have this other image of some of your grating."

"I want it gone as well."

I think it got deleted as well. I just wanted to get away from this lady and her band of merry men.

She wanted to know why I was doing this, what enjoyment can I possibly get out of doing this, and again she said she was going to get her camera. I asked her if she wanted to take a picture of Me.

"No."

Well, then I knew she was crazy. I am walking away from her and she is still going on about what enjoyment could I be getting out of this.

I said. "Well, I guess I am Crazy." I asked her if she knew about Photo Blogs.

She gave me a blank stare. I asked her if she knew about the Internet.

"I am very wise about the Internet." I gave up. I was getting no where and My golden Hour was dwindling down to a few minutes. I finally got away from her. I saw a neat image a few feet further and turned back to her.

"Look I'm Taking a picture. You better call the cops."

I turned the corner at the end of the Block and though how it must going to be a full moon out tonight.

Part 3 of 3.

Hey Lady Part 2 ...

noreply@blogger.com (Beamer) — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 02:16:00 +0000

So, I start explaining about my Photo Blog and how I need to keep getting images to "Feed the Beast" as I like to call it. I am in a public alley way. There is a fence between me and the two guys and the two dogs. I wish them a good day and start walking down the alley looking for more shots. I only have a brief period of time with this golden hour thing.

I walk to the end of the block and head south. I cross a three lane street and as I am halfway across the street, a group of people have gathered in front of the house with the missing landings for the second story of the back of the house. Someone whistled loudly and I looked over at the group of people. They were waving for me to come over.

I finished crossing the street and took a few more images. I got across from thee gathering and a lady had what looked like my business card and was asking me something about what I was doing. I crossed back over the street. She is holding onto my card and is asking me what "this" is all about.

"Uhm, it's a free business card from Moo."

"What does this mean? It's all gibberish."

Actually, there are different Addresses to different things dealing with Me on the Internet. I said "It is a business card (again) and it has different ..."

"Why are you doing this? You are taking pictures of my private property. You came onto my property and took pictures." Crap. This didn't sound good.

"What if I got my Camera and went and took pictures of your property? Is your address on here?"

Actually there are for addresses on there, but that isn't what she was wanting, apparently.

Again she said "What if I got my camera?" My golden hour was dwindling.

Look Lady I wanted to say, take your private property issues and shove them where the s=* Don't S&&6.

But what I said instead was "Here, let me delete the Image of your House, ok?"

I found her junked up property on the camera and hit the delete on it. The image pixilated to a blue field. I was hoping that was going to be her pound of flesh.

"There you see, all gone."

Part 2 of 3 parts.

Hey Lady ...

noreply@blogger.com (Beamer) — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 01:52:00 +0000

I guess you didn't give me a chance to tell you about my regular Blog. You probably wouldn't understand about regular blogs either. Even though you claim to be so wise about the Internet.

I know that doesn't make much sense to you. But there may be one person that gets it, although I doubt it.

I was out this afternoon during golden hour, the optimum time for taking images with a camera. The setting sun just throws off such a nice golden glow and does wonders for photography. So I am out getting some more shots for my Photo blog, I am walking down an alley in old town Kern, an older part of Bakersfield that is seen it's better days. There was great hoopla of getting this part of Bakersfield back on it's feet, but that was before the economy turned upside down. Now it is just sad.

I came across some Iron grating that made for a neat shot. I took it. I then walked a few feet and there was the back of a 2 story house with doors leading to nowhere. The upper floors were there but there was not a thing past the doors for anyone to walk out on. It looked scary and ridiculous. It was unusual and it ended up in my camera.

Two dogs came running as I am taking the shot, followed by two guys.

One of the guys said "Can I help You?" over the loud barking dog. I already had my shot.
I asked him what just to make sure of what he said.

"Can I help you?"

"Nope." I reached for my wallet to give him one of my free business cards I got from Moo. It's not really classy but it was free, so I can't complain.

Part 1 of 3 parts.

Radioactive Boars (Part 2)

noreply@blogger.com (Beamer) — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 22:22:00 +0000

Various links to various articles about this problem -

Yahoo News

Google search - August 30th, 2010

Independent Blog

This can't be good news

noreply@blogger.com (Beamer) — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 22:02:00 +0000

This has been translated by Google from French language.

The original Article

The number of animals contaminated with cesium from Chernobyl is increasing in Bavaria.
It's not a joke - almost 25 years after the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, the German wild boar remain heavily contaminated by radioactive fallout from the Ukrainian Central.

And the compensation paid by the government to hunters is increasing.

424,650 euros.

According to the Ministry of the Environment, Berlin is the sum that paid last year for hunters and hunting associations to ensure that the highly contaminated wild boar meat is sold in markets.

In 2006, these compensations were only 240,000 euros.

A ten times higher radioactivity standards

The origin of this increase: the sharp increase in the number of wild boars in the country, and the fact that their food, including mushrooms, remains heavily contaminated with cesium .

These radioactive particles spread over much of Western Europe after the accident of Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986, reports the German Federal Agency for the protection against radioactivity.

"In some regions, particularly in the south, the radioactivity of wild boars is ten times higher than the standards," said Florian Emrich, spokesman for the Agency.

Up to 1300 Bq / kg

"Nobody made seriously ill from eating wild boar meat," said Florian Emrich yet.

But in areas at risk, hunters are required to analyze boar slaughtered for their meat could possibly be withdrawn from circulation, as a precaution.

According to the Agency for Health and Food Safety of Bavaria , 9 of the 56 boars tested last year and had a much higher level of cesium to 600 becquerels per kilo of meat allowed for consumption. Up to ... 1300 becquerels per kilogram.

Thiws is one comment below a similar article-"
farewell - 12/08/2010 5:14 p.m.
"Reaching up ... 1300 becquerels per kilo" terrifying, no? It should give some orders of magnitude in all this before shouting to the health risk: a man of 70kg, is 7000 Bq (because of his bone and potassium carbon-14), 1 kg of fish 1000Bq ... Opium Breton fortunately you are not otherwise pretty granite stones adorn your home safely ... 1000Bq per kilogram there too) Finally, for greater accuracy should refer of Dose (whose unit is Sievert) is the unit used to measure the effects of radiation on the body (whatever its origin). For example, in France, it receives an average of 2.5 mSv / year. How do I Tchernobyliens boars eat to absorb a dose of 1 mSv? That information would have been helpful to know in order to better inform the reader about the character "alarmist" (or not) of this information ..."

I was unaware

noreply@blogger.com (Beamer) — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 06:36:00 +0000

That the Link I had with a site by the name of Clearspring.com was bringing up an error message. The site has been removed post haste. I don't need you guys having to worry about stuff like that here.

It would seem I am Not going to win

noreply@blogger.com (Beamer) — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 19:56:00 +0000

April 19th, 2010

I don't know if you have seen it or heard about it, but today for some reason seems like I am to find out way more about KFC's Double Down than I ever thought possible.

What I am not going to win is this battle I have created where I do not consume a KFC Double Down.

I now it is going to be greasy and fatty and not good for me. I know that. Granted there is the grilled version that will be much less fatty and greasy, but where is the fun in trying to resist the healthier version of a Double Down. Besides, My stomach doesn't work that way.

No, if given the choice, My tummy will always choose the less healthy version of what ever food is being offered. That is where my great intellect and savvy brain power steps in and says "Hang on a minute - Let me analyze this."

My stomach is a tricky beast though, and very sneaky, either that or my brain is asleep from hunger sometimes, uhm, many times.

So I am presently on page 5 of this guys review of the Double Down. I was going to blog about this guy writing 3 pages on this "sandwich". That was 2 pages ago. Granted there are lots of pictures, and he does have a creative writing style, but 5 pages on a KFC product? Maybe he is getting reimbursed for this lengthy article. I don't know.

Having gotten to the final page and realizing this guy is just plain old going overboard with his writing, I can tell by the Pictures that maybe this battle won;t be so hard to win after all. His pictures do tell quite the story.

What in Gods name will they think of Next?

My day ...

noreply@blogger.com (Beamer) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 07:55:00 +0000

Little tidbits of what I went through:

I am wondering weather it is a full moon today. There was some rather odd behavior about and that would help explain stuff, but not really.

I was attempting to drive to a location. I had probably 3 blocks from said location when part of the weirdness reared it's ugly strange head. I was trying to make a left turn from a signal with a left turn arrow. I got the go ahead arrow, and started to turn left. At the same time, what I believe to be a homeless person on a bike turned right and ended up right in front of me. He wanted to go very slowly (perhaps drunk) and didn't realize I was behind him. (The car is rather quiet running at Idle, which is what I was doing.)

I eventually reached the Parking lot I was after and turned right to get away from the drunk homeless guy on the bike. I reached a blistering 5 MPH, when I got behind a large red SUV. This lady was trying to decide which way she was to go, I believe. Straight or Turn Left. She put on her left turn signal, then went straight any way. Interesting. (This was all taking place in the Parking lot full of parked cars.)

She turned off her signal and proceeded to crawl forward, then at the next turn, decided to go left. Yay! She didn't signal, but I didn't care. I zoomed through the parking lot when I encountered the next odd thing.

This lady was walking betwixt 2 rows of cars having a senior moment trying to figure out where she was parked. When I first saw her she was going straight down the middle of the row, then she walked over in front of My car. Then she walked away from the front of my car, back towards the middle, looking for her car. Again My car in silent mode (Not really) Idiling, waiting for her to decide what the frack she was going to do. Then back in front of my car, then suddenly to the left. I guess she finally found her car, poor dear.

The only problem was she was about 20 years old.

Then during the time spent Walking to the building I was going to, I almost got ran over twice. I was so glad to finally make it inside and in one piece.

Unfortunately, I was 15 minutes late to get done all of what I had started out to do.

Dear Pharmaceutical Assistant ...

noreply@blogger.com (Beamer) — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 07:37:00 +0000

If you do not really know of what you speak, it behooves you to either A.) Find out what you are talking about or B.) Shut up and quit talking. Just say you don't know and tell the customer to talk to the Pharmacist. Thank You

Reentering the realm of Pizza delivery Day 2 part 2 ...

noreply@blogger.com (Beamer) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 09:18:00 +0000

So, I then am In my car. Listening to the stereo. This isn't good.

I finally get to where I think I can drive, that is until this truck pulls up along side of me with Loud exhaust.

Wow, that sounds good.

I pull into the next empty parking lot, about 5 blocks from where I had been. Geez!

Some time later I finally get back to the Pizza place and see my boss. He sends me home about 5 and a half hours early.

I was watching NASCAR today, some 18 hours after being in that hallway, amazed at how good those engines sound. I don't think it just pot in that smoke. Who knows what else I was inhaling.

Reentering the realm of Pizza delivery Day 2 ...

noreply@blogger.com (Beamer) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 08:44:00 +0000

I showed up for work the second day all ready to go. I clocked in and went out on my first delivery.

A piece of cake.

Went back and quickly got sent off on another delivery. Great. Job Security.

I found the location and found a place to park a few yards down the street. It seems like I had delivered Pizza Here many many Moons ago. Seemed vaguely familiar. The front door led to a common hallway that the four apartments inside went off of. The thing that really hit me as I entered into the doorway and the hallway was the amazingly strong odor of burning Hemp.

Mary Jane. Marijuahana. Weed.

Illeagal activity.

Oh my Gawd that is strong. So I find the apartment that I need and I knock on the door.

And I wait. And I breathe in. And I wait. And wait.

Then this young lady opens the door. She had apparently ordered a fair amount of food (Munchies) and I am pulling box after box after bag of food from the inside of this black warming bag. And she has a young child trying to exit the room he is in and enter the smoke filled hallway. She takes a box or a bag and then grabs the youngin and heads him back into the room.

She repeats this process about 5 times. I am still breathing in. Out in the smoke filled hallway. Breathing.

She wants to hand me some money, but I want to give her a total before she does that. I find the total and tell her what it was and she hands me a wad of dough. I tell her to have a good night and turn away from the door. still breathing. Funny, I don't smell the Pot smoke any more. I count the money and stick it into my pocket.

I'm not sure but the door seems a bit different as I open it. Wow, that's odd. I go to walk to my car and notice the oncoming car sounds really really nice. Neato.

Then I get behind the steering wheel and notice my Car Stereo just sounds amazing. It does sound good normally, but this is sounding fantastic.

Wait a minute, I am stoned. Not slightly buzzed, not just feeling good, but like how am I going to drive stoned. I have to drive, so I drive.

About 1 block.

Nope, that's it. Christ, Now I have to do is call my brand new boss and try to explain to him the where's and the why's and the I don't believe this crap type of stuff and Hope he understands and don't fire my butt on the spot.

I get my cell phone out and call. I manage to get past the small echo of my voice coming back to me in my ear for some reason, which really really sounds good. I explain to him, I think, what is wrong. I find him asking me about 3 or 4 times if I am going to be late getting back. I guess I finally answered him. I hang up.

Then for some reason I think it would be a good Idea to call my wife and let her know what is going on. She doesn't answer and I find myself leaving a message of some type on my answering machine, after I stop listening to my amazing voice speaking to me about leaving a message after the beep.

(Cont.)

Reentering the realm of Pizza delivery ...

noreply@blogger.com (Beamer) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 08:11:00 +0000

After a very long hiatus from the delivery of Pizzas, I have officially returned. This company is totally different than the last one I worked for and the times are certainly different.

One big difference is the fact that now there is a Hot Bag that the Pizzas stay in as I walk up to the door. It's a very good idea and keeps the temp pretty constant for the time The Pizza leaves the Kitchen to the time it arrives at the Customers waiting hands.

It also led to a problem at the first customer I had on my first day back at the delivery Job. Part of the problem I had was about 3 fold.

Number 1.) The customer is at the open front door waiting for me and I am only halfway to the door. Normally no problem. This time though, I still had to get answers to questions in my head from the guy riding with me to show me how to deliver pizzas.

Number 2.) The guy that is supposed to be walking up to the door with me to show me how to deliver the pizzas is still down on the street waiting by my car. Normally no problem, but he can't hear the questions I am firing at him as I am walking towards the customers door.

Number 3.) Force of Habit I guess - I hand the waiting customer what I had in my hands, which years ago would have been his food, ready for the eating. Now what I had handed him was a black somewhat flexible cloth bag that resembled nothing of a pizza or the box it was retained in.

The customer says to me as I blindly handed off the Package to Him "I don't want this."

I am looking behind me wondering where my answer man is. He is quickly making his way up the sidewalk, trying to answer me. I turned around to see what the Customer was talking about. I turned to face him, and he hands me back the "package". I am thinking why doesn't he want his pizza, then look down to see the black bag.

"Oh shit." I said to myself, hopefully not out loud.

I found the opening to the Hot bag and opened it up to get his pizza out.

By now, my questions were pretty much mute, since the delivery was pretty much done. The guy hands me a wad of money and says he wants 10 bucks back. No problem normally.

Anyway, you get the picture. Luckily the rest of my night went some what smoother.

But then there was day 2.

(Cont.)

Jimicolors at it again ...

noreply@blogger.com (Beamer) — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 18:41:00 +0000

The Lady Is Truly ...

noreply@blogger.com (Beamer) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 17:10:00 +0000

Amazing. Kathy, if you only knew what your blog has done for me over the years. I have discovered things about Human Nature that I would never have discovered on my own. I know no one in my actual life that has encountered many of the things you have encountered. The Humor you possess is just great. (Must be why you have so many comment on your posts.) Your observation skills are pretty impressive as well.

Thank You Kathy. I am so happy you decided to stick to your blog and hope you stay with it for many years to come.

Providing Good customer service

noreply@blogger.com (Beamer) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 21:48:00 +0000

I feel Good Customer service is a very important part of dealing with a Business. When encountering bad customer service or no customer service, I may be turned away from dealing with that business and depending on how bad the service, I may even start telling others of the lousy service or put it on my Blog for the Internet to read.

With Live chat system, you are one step closer to helping your customer at a crucial time in the online shopping business. You are there, available to assist your potential or real customer when his questions arise on the Internet about your business. This could help a great deal in making sure you have a happy customer and one that may return time after time to use your business.

Some truly amazing drumming ...

noreply@blogger.com (Beamer) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 02:06:00 +0000

Sept. 22nd, 2009

Harmonics on the Ibanez

noreply@blogger.com (Beamer) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 01:47:00 +0000

September 20th, 2009

This was created the same day as the LGW Blues recording. A lot of what comes out of my amp is just off the cuff - kind of let it fly attitude. And this is what flew. You will also hear one of my Flangers at work here also. It is the Electro Harmonix one, Something I have had with me since about the 4th year of Playing Guitar.

Finally, some digital representation ...

noreply@blogger.com (Beamer) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 16:00:00 +0000

September 19th. 2009

This has been something that I have been after for a very long time. For one reason or another, it never took place. That now thankfully is in the past.

I recorded this on the 18th of September. This was on the second day of jamming after about a 3 year hiatus from the Guitar, It wasn't that I didn't want to play, it just kept getting placed on the back burner. The Guitar that I am using is an Ibanez, which is about 5 years old. It hasn't been played nearly enough, but hopefully that will change.

The other Electric guitar I have is A Royal Artist. This Ibanez weighs easily twice as much as the Royal artist, but the royal artist is a semi hollow body, where the Ibanez is a solid body Guitar. The Solid body is like a totally different beast in so many ways, but mainly the rigidity of the guitar is what I find is the biggest difference, The hollow body flexes some what in the relationship with the neck of the guitar as your playing and adds a whole different element to the guitar and what you can do with it as you play. I haven't ever tried to manipulate the neck on this one. I don't think it would do me much good.

Steve part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Beamer) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:48:00 +0000

One thing I noticed is that Steve's name is very similar to Steve's name from the previous post. Two totally different Steves, just to clear that up.

Steve finally Got an amp of his own. it was a huge cabinet with four massive speakers below the amp itself and heavy as all get out. It was also some off brand that worked about 3/4 of the time. This was probably a year or do after we first met up. Steve's lead work was coming along fine and it got much easier for us to get into tune with each other.

I don't tune in the normal way. I tune apparently in an open G. It is a what is called a power chord and works just fine for me. It drove some guitarists that I jammed with crazy. I wasn't playing guitar buy just being able to lay my finger across the neck of the guitar and produce a chord. I was supposed to manipulate the strings in such a manner as every other guitarist. I tried that many times. Couldn't get it to work. Then I saw Footage of Woodstock. There was a Black guy playing at wood stock that used his thumb to lay across the neck. I can't remember his name right now, but I think the song he played was Here's come the sun. Once I saw that, I started detuning strings till I got the right mixture to produce an open chord. I actually only have 4 notes different going across the neck, with six strings. But It has worked for me. Still, it drove some folks crazy.

Personally, I think it was due a lot more to Ego than what or how I was playing. Usually the one's that complained the loudest, I could out play them and they didn't like it. My lead work was coming around, as was my technique with the pick. There was also something else that I developed that I absolutely Loved.

I heard a song in my head, and then I was able to reproduce the sound of the song through my Amp. I will never forget when that happened. I was at my Mom's house. T had my amp set up in the living room, with the parents gone for the weekend. I had a very long patch cord. I was getting a drink of water in the kitchen. I took a long drink, while I came up with this tune for some reason. I set the glass down, grabbed the guitar and played it on the guitar. I heard it coming out of the amp in the Living room. I was amazed at being able to do that.

I hadn't ever tried before, playing a song IO created, But that opened a flood gate. I started creating more and more songs in my head and would work on recreating them with th4e guitar. It worked many times, and many times it took quite a bit of work to get the song recreated, but I would usually get eventually. I especially liked it when I started playing songs that I didn't have to create in my head. It became like my fingers were doing the creative work on their own. (Continued)

Steve Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Beamer) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 02:39:00 +0000

Digging deep, going back to the stone age, I need to Introduce you guys to Steve. Steve and I made some amazing music together, for many years. He started with a fender Guitar Copy, white, with a maple neck. In contrast I had a Mosrite Copy, a semi Hollow Bodied guitar that was quite similar to what Ted Nugent used for many years and may still do. Been awhile since I have seen Ted play. My guitar, when we first met was in it's natural colorage. It was a sunburst stain with a deep yellow paint job over most of the body. It looked great if you were into Country western music, but I was into, and still am into Rock and Roll. Preferably fast loud progressive music of my own creation.

But it certainly wasn't that way when we first met. I had probably been playing guitar for about 4 years. I could play, sort of, and I knew how to tune it real good, which helped tremendously. Steve had a great ear for tuning as well, so if nothing else we were always in tune when we played. At first, Steve was able to out play me. He could play rhythm and lead guitar,which I was totally jealous of. I could Play rhythm, mainly and totally sucked at playing lead. I had the one amp, A Fender pro reverb amp which I still have. Its a beautiful marvel of Human engineering and provides great amplitude to the music I provide to the front inputs of the Amp. 100 watts, 2 - 12 inch Celestion speakers, a solid heavy frame and that great Fender name. It has Tube technology which doesn't really fit hand in hand, because tube amps are not technically advance, and their in lies their beauty.

Tube amps, especially this Fender, has such a nice warm tone to it, which you would be able to hear, if I din't have the guitar plugged into anywhere from 2 to 4 different "toys" before the music finally hits the amp. The sound has traveled from my guitar, through a distortion unit, which has taken the original sound and transfered it into a rough rock necessary sound. It also goes through either one or two flangers (which I am not even going to be able to describe what the effect is within this blog. Some day when I have a day or two I might try to explain it, but it iis so much easier to just hear the effect in use. I think it is amazing.) Then last might be a waa waa pedal, but not very often. (to be continued)

Mental Health ...

noreply@blogger.com (Beamer) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 05:03:00 +0000

I just watched a great movie called the Soloist. If you haven't seen it yet I give it two thumbs up.

But it got me to thinking about 2/3 thirds through the movie about My life and how I could relate to the Los Angeles Times writer in the movie. Dealing with an individual that wasn't all there mentally and what I have gone through in that regard.

Steve came to mind, but there have been others. I got to live right next to Steve. He was always taking meds for his illness. I'd wouldn't want to think what he would have been like if not for those meds, But I'm not sure they had the mix quite right back then. I knew Steve long Time ago. The stories I could tell and may just cover some of them.

I will Never forget one year near Halloween. Probably 2 weeks before the 31st of October, Steve came over to my house. It was probably about 50 yards from his front door to my front door, if even that. Steve cam knocking, well, his way of knocking. He'd come to the front door and stand. We , the wife and I, usually had the front window curtains open, and Steve had to walk by the window to get to the front door. If I didn't see him walk by, well ... Anyway, this day I saw him walk by and then stop by the door as he would do.

I wanted to show him my new Mask I had gotten for Halloween, so I let him in. He sat down and didn't say anything, as was usually the way it went with him. I had to start the conversation.

Me: How ya doing, Steve?

Steve: Ok.

Me: So whats new?

Steve: Nuttin.

Steve was a great Talker. Not. Unless he had had his coffee. Oh My gawd. The it was the complete reverse. I think the caffeine did something to his meds. because you literally couldn't hardly get him to be quiet. But this day he wasn't talkative.

Me: I got a new mask for Halloween. Hang on, I want to show it to you.

I went into the next room and got the mask and put it on. It was a great hairy latex creation that fully covered my head. It had a great open mouth with sharp latex teeth and a large red tongue and I had add some paint to the teeth and added some red to the pointy ends of the teeth to make it look like blood. I thought it looked awesome.

So I walked into the living room with this thing on. I was going to let out a loud growl, but thought better of it. Good Thing. Steve had gotten up out of the chair and was facing the large window facing to the west, by the front door. I just stood there, just inside the living room, and waited for him to turn around.

He finally turned and saw my mask, and he freaked out on me. He let out this blood curdling scream and stared shaking and fell into the chair where he had been sitting and covered his face with his arms. He let out another scream. Instantly, I took off the mask, threw it into the room where it had been and tried to comfort him. He was shaking something fierce.

Some ten minutes later I finally got him to uncover his face. He looked at me and wanted to know where the monster went. I explained to him again and again about the mask, that it wasn't real, that it had been me.

Once he calmed down, he got up and walked out the front door with out saying a word. I followed him to our gate and he yelled at me not to follow him, to stay away.

We never spoke of the mask again. Steve had to of been in his late 20's. I spoke to him the very next day and everything was cool, just like he hadn't freaked out or anything. I lived Next to Steve for about another 2 years.