Halloween 2018

The first year in probably 20 years that I’ve dressed up for Halloween. 😉

Naperville in the fall

Online Buying from other people (Reverb.com, eBay, Facebook, etc.) Don’t be an idiot

I had an amplifier listed for my shop, on Reverb.com, a site dedicated to selling musical instrument gear. It was a like new Mesa Boogie amp, with additional warranty still left. These amps sell for $1549 brand new, and are American-made amps. A gentleman (I’m using that term loosely) badgered us on price, offering more […]

Dear Apple: if you don’t care as much about Mac hardware……

Stop worrying about how thin and light it is. I would like to return to the days where I could actually upgrade the RAM in a laptop, even change out the drive (hard drive, SSD, whatever storage medium was in there). Now there’s such a race to make these things “Internet appliances” and not actual […]

The weird undercurrent of cheap gear in music

There are a number of products out there considered to be “great bang for the buck” pieces of gear these days. The BOSS Katana is a digital amp that’s taken the guitar world by storm, mainly because it’s a $225-$500 amp series that actually sounds good, and yes, can be gigged with. For what I […]

Why the iPhone is the worst invention ever.

Think of a piece of technology, and much of the time you can also think of a drawback. Sometimes it’s significant, sometimes it’s minor. For example, the car. Sure, it’s fun to drive, it gets us from point A to point B. But it pollutes. It can be the catalyst of much destruction. It’s expensive. […]

The Problem with Facebook

Here’s what I struggle with on Facebook. I have 194 friends, from different generations, different walks of life, different religious and political backgrounds/preferences. With occasional exception, I don’t have issues or arguments with people. I don’t always agree, but it remains pretty cool. What I do get sucked into are debates with friends of friends. […]