At least the weather is nice

Yesterday was totally laid back. I did almost nothing but a bit of computer, reading and a lot of TV. Anne made me a nice breakfast even though it was at 5pm. She went out to get Chinese food. That’s ok, as it gave me more time on the computer.


I was looking for a Canadian distributor for the Nord C1 combo organ. it’s a Hammond B3 clone and from what I was listening to on YouTube, it sounds identical in every way to the original B3 without the drawbars. To top it off I’d like a Nord Wave synth and behind me a Roland Hpi-7 arranger piano and I’d be in business. But we’re talking about 6k just for the Hp alone. Altogether about 12k. I like everything about the C1, its sound retro feel.


Still working through Icewind Dale and I’m having fun with the story. Its taking on some interesting turns. So far I’d say this trilogy is well worth reading but I’m a long way from writing a review to say the least.

Yesterday I ended up watching a highlight hour long show of the past weeks highlights of Raw/Smackdown/ECW. I used to have something like this when I couldn’t get cable to watch Raw back in 1993. I think the show was called (today) WWE “Extreme.” Now I can’t always sit there and watch 2 hours of Raw and Smackdown every week. 4 hours is just to much especially when the Oiler’s are about to kick off their regular season. A one hour package deal while having my brunch fits in really good.


By now we’ve all heard the $700B wall street bailout didn’t go through. And this reflected badly in the markets today. Oil took a $7 hit and things were down across the board. I believe though that oil will move up towards the $100 mark by the end of the week. As far as “Decision 2008” goes Dion is really low in the polls. He says Canadians will change their minds when the first English language debate is under way. I think this is Thursday. Dion could be the most eloquent and likable guy in the world but he’s selling his carbon tax and nobody in their right mind wants that.


Today, I’m back on the job thing putting my 4 hours in. So far there hasn’t been a big announcement about the DNC list and that takes into effect Tuesday. All day Saturday I was using the disclaimer and it didn’t affect my sales at all.

Anyway Bloggers, that‘s all for now


e. Jim

This morning

I looked around at vintage keyboards from the 60’s,70’s. Ever since the British invasion of Rock n’ Roll of the 1960’s the keyboard and learning how to play had always been lurking within my consciousness. It was a seed that was planted but I never went on to become a gardener. Until in my later years. I had the attitude “I can do that when I’m older.” I’m learning now before it’s too late. So I discovered some months back a great site on Vintage keyboards. Then while searching for their sounds on YouTube I discovered “The Rhodes Mark 7.” This is an amazing instrument but I always thought it was in the camp of the Vintage Keyboards. It looks vintage but upon doing some research I discovered this is a recent release from Rhodes. The thing about musical keyboards is for the most part, they sound differently. A Vox Continental sounds a lot different then a Hammond. Reed organs sound a lot different then electric keyboards and so on. The Rhodes has a distinct flavor, think Stevie Wonder. The Rhodes has more of a bubbly Jazz type sound to it but it’s really rich and phat. I discovered later that this is a current model Rhodes has had out now for a few years. There’s not a lot of bells and whistles to this thing. I love the sound of a Rhodes piano but the Mark 7 is a little beyond my price range. I was looking at vintage keyboards on Ebay and it looks like some lucky guy on Ebay is going to get a Farfisa for under $500 bucks. So far nobody has matched his bid within the last couple of days. I should place a bid but I have other things to do with my vacation pay.

Most important is to get an external hard drive for this computer so I can start backing up my hard drive before I get the “Blue screen of death" again. Also with my vacation pay I want to get some writing enhancement software. I know the program I want. I’ve been on their mailing list for the past year now.

I don’t know about Pizza just yet. With 17 CC’s again last week I think what I’m going to do is work a couple of extra shifts this week. Tonight, I’m really going to push for the CC’s. I don’t mind the paper balls, it’s the yelling and laughing the customer can hear in the background where I’ve been sitting. But if I got the 17 CC’s that would have been $35 + $25. $60. That’s about half of what I need for my hard drive. I want to go in for 1pm tomorrow and work those 7 hours and do the same for Wednesday. This way, I’ll have 29.5 hours in.

Now maybe the Rhodes Mark 7 is realistically out of reach for me. Unless I win the lottery. I’d stand a better chance of being a victim in a pedestrian accident here in Edmonton then winning the “Big one.” But the Yamaha PSR. S900 is more within my reach. At $350/month as of August, $1,500 plus my vacation pay. Well that’s the idea anyway. But I have other things to get like 6/49 tickets and Science Fiction books at American pricing while I can. Best I can do is shell out $200/month. I’d be looking at 9 months. Next April. I’ll be popping into the store once a month. It’ll still be there.

As for tonight, it’s Monday night Raw.

Anyway Bloggers, that‘s all for now

e. Jim