I've just taken my first step into a larger vinyl record world...

Thine ears have heard the glory of the sound of music – no, I’m not referring to that old movie about the Von Trapp family *rolls eyes* - rather, good ol’ vinyl records. 

I love music…all kinds of music...it re-energizes me.  Additionally, I would say about 95% or so of my favorite music was recorded during the pre-digital days, so I had been itching to go back and listen to vinyl records and their analog sound again.  There were two things holding me back though: 1) the vinyl records that I remembered hearing back in the day never really impressed me sound-wise because we never had a fancy sound system, plus I was too young to really appreciate good audio recordings anyway (I listened to crappy 8-tracks and cassettes for pete’s sake!) – and – 2) I’m rather frugal by nature, and the thought of buying new equipment and re-buying expensive albums I already owned on CD/mp3, made me a bit hesitant to say the least – though the collector in me had been wanting my favorite albums on vinyl anyway just to have.

Well, after feeling a bit down and stressed with life (why I get that way, I don’t know, I actually have a lot to be thankful for) I needed a bit of a pick-me-up.  So, I took the plunge and jumped (in a budget-friendly way) straight into the deep end of the vinyl pool.  I got a turntable, decent cart/needle, phono amp, SpinClean record cleaner, and a handful of new and old albums, and started my journey into a whole new/old world of sound.

And what an amazing new/old world it is!!!

As a frequent lurker on the various “audiophile” sites/forums, the two constant themes you hear in regards to vinyl’s superiority over the CD/mp3 format is: “warmth” and “dynamic range” of the soundscape.  As two examples in response to that I thought - “Well, I’m really happy with the sound quality of my Ozzy-era Black Sabbath Deluxe Edition/Remastered 2009 CD’s from the UK Sanctuary label, as well as my 2011 Remastered CD’s of the Queen albums from the 70’s…is a vinyl recording really better than those?”.  There is a fair amount of “vinyl snobbery” on those sites, so I had to separate the “wheat from the chaff”, so to speak, in the information I was taking in.  Anyway, as my first vinyl purchases, I went and bought all 8 of the Ozzy-era Black Sabbath albums that Rhino recently re-issued on 180 gram vinyl from a site called Acoustic Sounds.  These albums had received good reviews on those same audiophile sites; the original UK pressings, as much as I would love to have them, are a bit too pricey for me.  On Ebay, I was lucky to happen upon a set of original Canadian pressings of the Queen albums from the 70’s (News of the World wasn’t included though, dang it!) at a good price, so I went for it (also, the sound quality of the old Canadian pressings seem to be held in the same high regard as the old UK pressings).  After a cleaning in the ol’ Spin Clean record cleaner, they all looked fantastic.  So, how did these new/old vinyl albums sound?...

The magic of vintage Star Wars toys...

Grab a nice beverage, get cozy, and settle in for a post that meanders into odd places a bit more than I thought it would when I began writing it…

I really like documentaries.  I think I first became a fan of documentaries after seeing Ken Burns’ The Civil War many years ago (heck, I even bought the DVD set).  So, not only have I since watched everything I could get my hands on that Mr. Burns has done (thanks, Netflix, for helping me accomplish this!) but I also now love watching all sorts of things by other folks – there’s nothing like watching something that’s both entertaining and educational *cue a cheezy, old Saturday-morning “The More You Know” and “Knowledge is Power” moment*.  Honestly, if I were to ever meet Ken Burns, I’d probably transform from a calm-normal-dude to giggly-teenage-girl-meeting-some-lame-boy-band…I mean, c’mon, he made the fucking Dust Bowl interesting!  But I digress…

I’m a life-long Star Wars nerd.  My earliest childhood memory goes back to the day when I first saw Star Wars at the old Glenwood Theater here in town.  I don’t remember many details (mainly just R2-D2 and C-3PO walking through the desert, and the Jawa’s), but my mom tells me I sat still for the entire 2 hours (which apparently was a first for me), wide-eyed the whole time.  The following year, the amazing Star Wars universe that had only existed on screen and in storybook photos opened up and sucked me in as Kenner released toys(!) from the movie.  With these toys and my imagination, I could now re-create scenes from the movie and create all sorts of my own amazing adventures!

My first Star Wars toys were received on my 4^th birthday.  Additionally, my baby-sitter was a wizard cake-maker, and for that birthday she created what is still my all-time favorite cake – a miniature R2-D2!!!  Check out two of my old photos from that glorious day many years ago (along with my added commentary):

Odd Bedtime Thoughts...

During the day, I go about my business in a normal way just like anyone else…and if I can make someone smile or laugh at some point during any day – great; if I can make myself laugh, even better.  As much as we may try to concentrate and absorb only the “good” in the world, we’re also still constantly bombarded by all the crap, ridiculousness, and head-scratching stupidity of the world – though we may try to ignore it for sake of sanity, we still absorb it too.

Case in point, almost every time my head hits the pillow at night to go to sleep (even if I’m dead tired), my brain says – “Hey! Not so fast!  We have some weird things/issues to ponder over!”).  Ugh! Ok.  It’s at this point that I’ll start to think about various things that usually involve the classic taboo conversation subjects – politics, religion, morality, money.  I just don’t know if I want to share any of those thoughts…as we all know, opinions are like assholes – we all have one and we think ours is the only one that doesn't stink.

Though, other times, it’ll just be weird things that pop into my head – for example:  If the word “Boo!” wasn’t associated with ghosts, would it still startle us when we heard it?  Has anyone ever heard of a ghost actually saying “Boo!”?  Also, why do people who say they don’t believe in ghosts also still get startled when they hear the word “Boo!”?  Hmmmm?  Yeah, stuff like this is what delays my nighttime slumber.

Other times, I start to envision myself in ridiculous scenarios – for example:  

Believe It...or Not! - Just realized I'm in my very own WABAC machine...

My house isn't filled with countless gears, buttons, switches, or blinking lights, but based on what I've been enjoying lately, I think I may have inadvertently created my very own WABAC machine... 

Current reason I'm thankful for being literate
A Curious Man: The Strange and Brilliant Life of Robert "Believe It or Not!" Ripley - I've always been a big Ripley's fan, though as a young kid in the early 80's, I actually thought Jack Palance was "Ripley" since he was the one who hosted the show.  Anyway, a biography on this guy's fascinating life was long overdue, but it was worth the wait - Neal Thompson has created a fantastic read!  I'm not even done with it yet, and it's already one of my favorites.  The early 20th century world still held so many secrets,

New Volbeat - Hard Rock/Metal have a gunfight with Spaghetti Westerns



Denmark's Volbeat are currently my favorite hard rock/metal group going right now (sidenote: when the legendary original Black Sabbath (minus Bill Ward - still pissed over that) return with their new album on June 11th, all the current whipper-snappers of hard rock/metal will "kneel before Zod"!...just saying).  What I like about Volbeat is that they're not your run-of-the-mill rock band...they take some of their favorite genres of old music and give it a new, metallic, twist.  They're sometimes referred to as "Elvis Metal" - not sure I agree with that (I hear more Johnny Cash at times), but then again, I'm a super (duper!) Elvis nerd so I refuse any dilution or twisting of The King.  Anyway, Volbeat's entire catalog is great, though I must admit each of their previous albums are a bit uneven - there will be a few really kickass numbers, then a few "fillers", then a few more kickass numbers. 

However, their latest Spaghetti Western-inspired album is fantastic from the opening track to the finale!  Perhaps their inspiration for this album is why I like it so much:
A.  I'm a big fan of Spaghetti Westerns
B.  I'm a

Feeling warm on a cold day...

This morning on the local news, they had a report that was pretty damn cool.  It was about a blind dog who had his own guide dog...I had never heard of that before!  Was this common?  Had I been living under some sort of ignorant rock?  Apparently, I had been, to some degree.  I got on YouTube to see if there were any other videos like this and - yep, there were more examples of heartwarming tales like the one I saw this morning.

Besides the ones featuring one dog leading another dog around, there were even examples of a cat leading a blind dog around.  But the one that really got me was the story below (looks to have originally aired about a year ago):

Awkward Family Photos...so hilariously good!

Ok, I know this site has been around awhile - but, better late than never, I gotta say it - Awkward Family Photos is the best!  It's one of my favorite sites right now - never fails to make me laugh...and not just a little "ha-ha" giggle either; rather, more often than not, a full-blown, "Oh shit! I can't catch my breath and I'm about to stroke out!" tear-filled, thunderous guffaw!

Those pictures...Jesus.  Then the captions/stories underneath...so good. 

An "Alien Grey" head in new Mars photo?

Ok, so I'm checking out the new hi-res photo from the Mars Curiosity rover over at NASA's JPL site.  I'm scanning around, taking in all the little rocks and surface features - marveling at it all (yeah, I'm a nerd, I know), half expecting to see R2-D2 and C-3PO walking around out there - it looks a bit Tatooine-ish after all.  Well, anyway, I'm scanning the picture and I have to do a double-take.  I can't believe what I'm seeing as I burst out in laughter (wasn't drinking anything so it was a dry laugh - monitor and keyboard stayed liquid-free).

Curiosity begins (and continues) on Mars!

Yes!  Success!  The Mars Curiosity rover is on the ground!  A few black and white pics have already come back and I can't wait for all the pics and info. sure to come.  Congrats to all the incredibly bright men and women involved with this project - y'all are amazing!

Man, that was exciting!

Ok - now - let's continue the Mars exploration and (someday) colonization of the red planet.  But also - let's get a big-ass drill sent to Jupiter's moon, Europa, so we can peer underneath its vast sheets of ice and see what kind of ocean is lurking beneath.

Reminiscing about my favorite girl…

Sometimes people come into our life and have such a profound impact in such a short time with just their “being”, that – even though we may not get to spend as much time with them as we would like or even get to know as much about them as we would like – at some point, we just have to sit back, accept, and appreciate that somehow, for some reason, we were deemed special enough to be blessed by someone truly special – even if just for a moment that is quite fleeting in the whole scheme of things.

In the Fall of 1980, when I started 1^st grade, just such a special person came into my life only to exit far too soon when I moved away in the Summer of 1983 after the end of 3^rd grade.  She had long brown hair; big brown eyes; a beaming smile that could light the darkest of Grinch souls; and an angelic niceness tempered with a heaping helping of sass and cleverness to keep one in line (which I needed at times).  Her name…Melissa VanOsdol.  Such a powerful, unbridled joy I felt with her that I’ve never felt since – oh, I’ve searched for that same feeling…through many avenues – but, 30-plus years later, it’s remained elusive.

She was the first girl to tell me I was “cute” (hello, ego boost!).  She was the first girl to say the words “I love you” to me who wasn’t my mom or grandma.  Obviously, the expression/meaning of those words when you’re the age of a 1^st grader are comprised of a far lesser complexity than when you’re an adult – but – it still evokes a special feeling just the same.  Along these lines, she made this birthday card for me in class which I’ve kept in a safe place after all these years:

Outside of card

Inside of card

I do regret, as innocent as those three words were at the time, that I never said them back (to be fair, I’ve never said those three words as an adult either – they’re powerful words, more valuable than gold, so I keep them locked in a box labeled: “Open only in case of an extraordinary woman who is cool with my nerdiness”).

Anyway, that 1^st grade year was pretty calm.  I don’t recall doing anything stupid, thus, I don’t recall Melissa and I ever being mad at each other – it was just a really special friendship…but always a bit different from the norm (I’ll explain later).  A lot of my memories of that year have faded away, but there are two that still stand out quite vividly. 

In the latter half of that grade (early 1981), Melissa was talking and giggling a bit too much for the teacher’s taste.  Well, back then, teachers still took us out in the hall and paddled us for misbehaving (I was never paddled…thank you).  She was taken out to the hall; our class got silent; and soon we heard the SMACK of the wooden paddle.  A few moments later, she came back in with tears in those big brown eyes…it devastated me.  I wanted to run across the room and give her a comforting hug and kiss right then and there.

The second memory happened after the school year was over and we were on Summer break – I’m pretty sure anyway – the event timing is fuzzy now, but the details are forever (I hope) engrained into my brain.  Well, I received an invitation to her birthday party (I was the only boy invited).  I wasn’t able to go on the day it was being held, so my mom drove me over to her house a couple days before the party to give her a birthday card.  When she answered the door, she was eating little powdered sugar doughnuts and had powdered sugar all over her face – sporting her patented beaming smile the whole time.  It was so funny!  I never mentioned to her that she had powdered sugar all over her face – I just gave her the card, shyly blurted out a quick “Happy Birthday!”, and just as quickly, turned and went back to the car.  I heard her say “Thank you!” as I walked away and the door shut soon after.  To this day, when I see those little powdered sugar doughnuts in stores, I think of that moment and get the biggest smile on my face.  That memory is one of my most prized possessions.

1^st grade class photo

UPDATE 3-18-2015:  Out of respect for the privacy of my old grade school classmates, whom I've always cherished (even the ones I didn't always get along with way back then - haha), I have removed my old classroom photo.  If I knew for sure that people would be respectful, then I would keep it up - but for now, it will stay down.

2^nd grade: 1981- 1982

2^nd grade began the series of “tug-of-wars” in our relationship.