Its Just not That Much Fun Anymore

Its Just not That Much Fun Anymore

A cranky opinion for

CRANKY OPINION SATURDAY

 

I really enjoy this blogging thing.  You are able to exchange ideas, try your hand at creative writing and meet new people. 

For me, in the beginning it was easy.  New people were joining the community every day.  There were blog-hops to meet and be met.  Commenters were nice and respectful.  I followed and was followed by bloggers from places I knew very little about, bloggers with diverse ideas and with unique viewpoints.  There were bloggers who were very old, bloggers who were very young, bloggers of means and bloggers who had little.

There were also bloggers who only followed as a means to get more followers for themselves, and bloggers who thought they could make money from blogging.  Perhaps that worked for some, I doubt for very many as I seldom see these people anymore.

It seems to me that this blogging thing has lost its luster.  Fewer people seem to be joining, many seem to be dropping out.  Posting regularly is not easy.  Those first bunch of posts might be, but as the years go by you run out of interesting things to say.

With the current animosity in American politics, it also seems necessary to take sides whether you want to or not.  Post about almost any innocent thing and you are liable to get snarky political jabs inserted into some comments.

I have had people stop following because they don’t like my perceived positions, and I have unfollowed some very nice people because they continually pluck nerves that I prefer to have the media pluck or not pluck.  I’d like my casual reading be casual reading.  I like discussing some topics, but this blogging venue is not really well designed for conversations; it mostly works for those who wish to sing with the choir.

Anyway, for whatever reason, this blogging thing is not that much fun anymore.  That and I've pretty much run out of material.

Time for a sabbatical.  I reserve the right to post something if I damn well feel like it, but probably will slowly drift away.

I might be lurking…probably not.

I don’t expect to make a comeback; you won’t have Cranky to kick around anymore.

Keypad drop!

 

Shopping With Mrs. C

Shopping With Mrs. C

I own four suits, two sports jackets, three casual slacks, two nice slacks, a bunch of shorts, a couple of bum-around pants, eight dress shirts and a bunch of casual shirts. 

I wear a suit maybe twice a year, nice slacks once or twice, dress shirts three or four times maybe.

I wear shorts, or bum-around pants almost always with a tee shirt or golf shirt.  I should not need to clothes shop ever again.  I have clothes I will probably never wear, but I have them “just in case.”

I do wear a pair of casual pants as often as once a week.  I wear them when we go out to eat at a restaurant fancier than “Red Lobster.”  Of the three pair, one doesn’t fit correctly, and the other two I can never find.  They are usually somewhere in the guest closet mashed in-between the suits I never wear. 

A typical night before going out to dinner goes like this,

“Gad Damn it, where are my nice casual pants?”

“In the guest closet.”

“I can’t find them, all I find are the pants that fit funny and I am not wearing them…ever!”

“Oh for crap sake, I’ll get them…here, right on the bed, not put away from after our vacation.”

“Damn it, I need several more pair, just so I can find the dang things the few times I need them!”

The other night we went to Kohls to shop for two pair of casual slacks.

We weren’t sure of the length I take so Mrs. C picked out slacks in 30 and 32 length.  She picked out four styles so that was eight pair.

“Go try them on.”

I went to the try-on area and every door was closed.

“For crap sake, all the changing rooms are closed, I know they are not all used, why don’t people leave the door open when they are done?”

“Just look for one with no feet.”

“I’m not crawling around looking for feet!  Why do people close the doors?  It’s like at a party I stand outside a bathroom door for 15 minutes because the last idiot who used the toilet left and closed the door!”

“Here, this one is open.”

That changing room was a mess.  The cardboard and tissue innards of several shirts were all over the floor and several un-purchased shirts just hung up and left.

I'm shopping with pigs.

I determined I was a 30 length and modeled a pair for Mrs. C.

“The right length is 30, let’s just get a pair of the tan and a pair of the black.”

“Let me see the 32 length.”

“They’re too long.”

“Just put them on, and let me see the other styles also.”

“I’m not trying on another 8 pair!  These two are fine.”

“Just let me see them and I also found a few that are similar but cheaper.”

The problem is, women love shopping for clothes.  Men have a limit of maybe 6 minutes and I had gone five minutes over my limit.

“Just try them on.”

“You know how you get when I suggest throwing anything away?  That’s how I am right now, I’m done lets just buy these two and get out of this place, it is giving me the heebie-jeebies.”

“You’re a big baby…and a jerk”

“Guilty, now let’s get outta here!”

The black pair fit funny, they pull up in my butt cheeks a bit…I will probably never wear them…I will also never tell Mrs. C.

What a Deal

What a Deal

I am always looking for a good deal.  I am about to purchase a new 12 string guitar…Happy Birthday to me.

The guitar I want is not cheap.  It would be nice to find a bargain.  I got very excited when I received this email form the friendly neighborhood guitar store:

Hi Joe,

Just a reminder—there are still a few days left to use your coupon for 16% off a single, non-sale item. Visit your local Guitar Center, guitarcenter.com or give us a call at 732-257-8500 and we'll be glad to help you get the gear you need at a great price.

Michael Depko
Manager
Guitar Center East Brunswick

16% on the guitar I am looking at would result in significant savings.

It seems there are a few exclusions:

Exclusions and limitations: $500 maximum discount. Not to be used in conjunction with other coupons, promotions or offers. No cash value. Excludes discounted and clearance items, price matches, used/vintage, tax/shipping charges, scratch and dent, Gift Cards, String/Stick Club and musician services (Pro Coverage, Repairs, Rentals and Lessons).

Products from the following manufacturers are excluded: A Designs, ADAM, Aguilar, Allen & Heath, Alvarez, Ampeg, Antelope Audio, Apogee, Apple, Arturia, Ashdown, Ashly Audio, Avantone, Avid, BAE, Beetronics FX, Blackstar, Bose, Boss, Burl Audio, Catalinbread, Chapman, Crate, Cusack Music, D.W. Fearn, Dangerous Music, Dave Smith Instruments, Dean Markley, Earthquaker Devices, Earthworks, Electro-Harmonix, Elysia, Empress Effects, Epiphone, Ernie Ball Music Man, EVH, Fender, Fender Custom Shop, Focal, Focusrite, Fostex, Friedman, Fulltone, Fulltone Custom Shop, Gallien-Krueger, Gibson, Gibson Custom, Golden Age Project, GoPro, Heritage Audio, ISP Technologies, JHS Pedals, Keeley, Kemper, Korg, Kurzweil, Kush Audio, LaChapell Audio, Lag Guitars, Lewitt Audio Microphones, Lindell Audio, Mackie, Manley, Meinl, Metric Halo, Millennia, Mojave Audio, Moog, MOTU, Native Instruments, Neumann, Nord, Novation, Orange Amplifiers, Pettyjohn Electronics, Phoenix Audio, Radial Engineering, Randall, Rane, Reloop, Reverend, RME, Rockett Pedals, Roland, Royer, Ruach Music, se Electronics, Serato, Shure, Slate Digital, Slate Pro Audio, Slate Media Technology, Softube, Soundbrenner, Squier, Steven Slate Drums, Studiologic, Suzuki, Taylor, Teenage Engineering, Telefunken, Teletronix, Toft Audio Designs, Tube-Tech, Voodoo Lab, Vox, Walrus Audio, Wampler, Warm Audio, Westone, Xotic Effects, Yamaha, ZT.

The guitar I want is a Taylor.

Damn!