celebrate – Page 3 – The Boring Old Man

Here, there and everywhere…a quick catch-up

I’m feeling a bit neglectful of the ol’ blog these days and I just got back to town, so I figured I’d re-cap the last 10 days or so…

The first week of October was not unlike a big punch in the face. Work was ridiculous and on top of the ridiculousness of the day-to-day stuff, we were also hammering out the operational budget for next year. Now, I wear many, MANY hats in this gig, and do a lot of different things, but accounting is something I simply despise. I recognize that it’s a necessary evil, but I just really loathe that part of the job. A week of eyes glazing over and constant, recurring headaches, it was unpleasant to say the least. The Polyphia show was supposed to be the highlight of the week, but that was a bit of a bust too, so the week was just grueling. There was a light at the end of the tunnel though, an impending road trip, kicking off on Sunday, October 8th.

Sunday, October 8th we hit the road to Anaheim, CA for an out of the ordinary trip. For the last 25 or so years, the Mrs. and I have wanted to experience a Disneyland Halloween, and this year we finally did it. We tried to make this trip last year but our planning started only 3 months ahead of when we wanted to go and there was NOTHING available. Seriously, nothing. So this Halloween excursion had been on the books now for 10 months – a long time to wait! And to be honest, I’ve kinda lost my appreciation for Disney over the last few years, between them gobbling up so many other companies and intellectual properties, putting out crap movies and all their “woke” nonsense, I had considerations of calling the whole thing off. Nonetheless, a Disney Halloween was a bucket-list thing since I wanted to go long before the company started going down hill…

The last time we’d been to Disneyland was for our daughter’s 5th birthday – she’ll be 30 this coming February – it’s been a while!

We were expecting long lines and exorbitant costs for everything, and we grossly underestimated both. I’m a maniac for roller coasters, but waiting 2 hours (no, I’m NOT exaggerating!) for a 2 minute ride takes a lot of the fun out of it. Honestly, I have mixed feelings about the entire thing. When we first got there I found myself grinning ear-to-ear at the “magical” aspect of the place. Part of that was nostalgia, but really if you take in the architecture and the design and the special little touches everywhere, it really is unlike anything else in the world.

But the crowds! Good grief! It was just a non-stop, undulating sea of people everywhere you turned. And let me tell you, after seeing thousands upon thousands of these folks doing their best to make it an awesome day for themselves, I started to lose what little faith I had left in humanity.

This is not to say that no fun was had, there were some fun moments…just hours of waiting in “cattle chutes” in between those moments of fun. The Mrs. and I decided upon our departure that we won’t be back unless we end up with grandkids to take. Even then, it would be a tough sell…

On the bright side, we did get to ride the “Incredicoaster” at the California Adventure park on our last day, and I just gotta say WOW!!! Hands down the best roller coaster I’ve ever ridden – by a country mile!

As for the Halloween aspect, the main reason we went, it was underwhelming. There were a lot of decorations put up for it, some pretty stunning in fact, but overall it wasn’t all that different. Maybe the 80 degrees and sunny weather kept the Fall spirit at bay, I dunno. All I can say is Halloween didn’t seem to make it any more magical than it already is, it just brought in a ton of extra people.

After roughly 48 hours in Disneyland across 3 calendar days, it was back home for a layover/re-pack/car swap and a single work day for the Mrs. (and I got to put in some volunteer time at the school too, while she was working). On the 12th we set out again for one of our favorite destinations, Pismo Beach, CA.

I’ve said before that Half Moon Bay is our “home away from home”, but Pismo is a close second. The fact that one of my oldest friends lives there AND I can always count on him to head out into the surf with me, makes Pismo a very welcoming destination indeed.

This time around we tried out a few new places – the new food destinations were awesome, the outdoor hot tubs at Sycamore Hot Springs, eh, not so much… Nonetheless, we had a really relaxing time and I got to surf two days in a row, which almost never happens!

Pablo (right) and the B.O.M. (left) heading into the Pacific!

The whole reason for this trip was in celebration of the Mrs. and I hitting our 32nd (!!!) anniversary. Still having a hard time wrapping my head around that one… Add to that another 3 years together before we got married and we’re approaching double the years together than years we’d lived up to that point. It is staggering. Heck, our daughter is nearly 10 years older then we were when we got together, how time flies, eh?!?

We got back home late Sunday afternoon and the girls had a spa appointment to go to, so I headed out to my studio for some much needed drum time. I decided before I left on this trip that I wanted to change things up with my kit, and started tearing it down before I left. Last night I got a new, much smaller configuration set up and took it for a test drive. It’s pretty close to a “standard” set up now, which kinda rubs me the wrong way, but I’ll keep messing with it ’til I find a set up I love…Or I’ll go back to the “everything but the kitchen sink” set up, cuz I’m weird that way…

Monday was back to the grind, sadly. Morning commute traffic, 444 emails waiting and back to trying to solve everybody’s problems “yesterday”. Thank goodness for the recharge!!

All in all it was a great week, in spite of the hiccups, and I’m feeling invigorated and ready to seize Fall – my favorite season!

Thanks for stopping by!

In Memorium: Uncle Jack

Yesterday the Mrs. and I attended a “Celebration of Life” gathering in memory if my dearly departed Uncle Jack.

My Uncle Jack was a really special guy, the life of the party and a friend to everyone he met. He married my father’s sister when I was but a small kid and I’d say of all the extended family I’ve got, we spent the more time with them than with any other relations, on both sides of the family. I always, ALWAYS looked forward to a visit with Uncle Jack and Aunt Mary.

Yesterday my Aunt asked folks to share stories and such of Jack, but I found myself a little too emotional to speak. Although he passed some time ago, I suppose yesterday was the first time it felt real and I really started to process his loss. Anyhow, I thought I’d share one particular memory of him here, for posterity. And maybe eventually, I’ll let people in my family know about this blog and share it with them.

This is a story- one of many I’m sure- that captures just what a special guy Uncle Jack was…

So, many decades ago, I must’ve been maybe 10 or 11 at the most, Aunt Mary and Uncle Jack invited me to go on a camping trip with them and some other family friends. I was so young, I don’t remember any of the details insofar as what lake we were at and exactly how long we were there, but what I can remember – clear as day, as though it happened last week and not 45ish years ago – was Uncle Jack taking me out to learn how to water-ski. Now, I was NOT an athletic kid by any stretch of the imagination, I was NOT a good swimmer and I’d never been on a boat, much less been dragged behind one attempting to stand up on a pair of skis. As you might imagine, things did not go well for me. But Uncle Jack was beyond patient, and kept encouraging me to keep trying. Well, I did. For a while. But I simply couldn’t get the hang of it and the excersize ended in frustration and embarrassment for me. I felt humiliation, though I didn’t even know that word back then. They hauled me back into the boat after I gave up, exhausted, bruised and beaten. All I wanted to do at that point was go home.

Now, this being the 1970’s, the usual adult response to this would have been to mock the kid for being a “pussy” or make fun of their failure to “toughen the kid up”. Not Jack.

Instead of making fun and letting me wallow in misery, he threw me in the driver’s seat and taught me how to drive the freakin’ boat! The next thing you know, I’d forgotten all about my humiliation and I’m having the time of my life pulling other folks around on skis, feeling like king of the world driving around this hot-rodded, kick ass ski boat.

The rest of the trip went without another skiing attempt for me, but I drove that boat every day and had the time of my life on that trip.

That’s how it was with Uncle Jack. He loved life and wanted everyone around to love it too. He was a very special man and I’ll never forget him.

Godspeed Uncle Jack. I’ll see you on the other side, and we’ll take another long overdue boat ride!

Road Trip! Pismo Beach, CA.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This post is being published about a week late… I guess in the thrill of it all, I forgot to hit the Publish button… I’m going to go ahead and post, as this blog has become my “backup hard drive”, and helps me remember what I did last week. Without further delay:

Loaded up the wagon with the board, wetsuits, assorted delicious things for eating and drinking and the Mrs. and headed 3.25 hours south for a few days in Pismo Beach!

Easy drive, perfect weather, not terribly crowded…so far so good! Pray for good surf!

Our home away from home for the next few days…

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Independence Day!

Be safe out there!

Double Nickels today…

Hit another milestone today, the 55th year of my existence begins. Ugh. Hard to believe.

It’s been a good day tho. Took some time off work. The Mrs. treated me to donuts (a blueberry fritter, no less!) and I spent a slow morning doing odds and ends before heading to my studio for some drum time. Even took the time to replace my severely worn out snare drum head.

Early afternoon I picked up the Mrs. from work and she accompanied me to a local legendary record shop, Streetlight Records in San Jose. I’ve been going there since maybe 1982 (the old location that was in a converted house!), but the last time I was there was ’19, before “the Plague”. I had a nice time flipping through the racks, and was happy to see they are really leaning in to the vinyl Resurgence! I found a vinyl copy of an instrumental Beastie Boys album, and left “feelin’ like a kid again”. The icing on the cake was stopping off for a Slurpee on the way home! Good Times!!

In the evening our Girl came over for pizza – my favorite – and some classic comedy movies. A quiet but delightful night!

On top of it all were well wishes from family, friends and even a couple co-workers.

All in all, I couldn’t have asked for a nicer day!

Thanks for stopping by!

In Memorium: James M. Dakin

It has taken me a long time to write this, but as we’ve reached the anniversary of the passing of Jim, I feel the time has come.

James Dakin, better known as “Lord Bison” to his loyal Minions, was a one-of-a-kind author and blogger, and turned out to be one of the best people I’ve known.

I first came across his website (bisonprepper.blogspot.com) back around 2014 and became an immediate follower. I’d been going down the prepper rabbit hole for a few years and felt very knowledgeable in the subject, but when I found Lord Bison, everything I thought I knew about preparedness was turned on it’s head.

Jim’s perspective on the world, and the direction it was headed may have been completely different from his contemporaries, but he made very valid arguments from outside the box.

He wrote numerous non-fiction books on the subjects of preparation and frugality, I couldn’t tell you exactly how many, but I’ve got at least 8 of them. And he posted a couple thousand articles on his website. To say he was prolific is an understatement!

One of the amazing things about Jim was the he truly “walked the walk”. He traded in comfort and complacency for a life off grid, living without a vehicle and making due with only the barest minimum. And despite his austere life, he never begged for donations, he didn’t monetize his website, and in fact after some time he started posting his books on his own website and giving them away for free. What he wanted most was to share his experiences and philosophy with as many people as he could. Financial reward was never his motivation.

In 2020 Jim and I started corresponding via written letters using snail mail, as he’d “cut the cord” from internet access and had transitioned to a monthly newsletter subscription (which he did at cost – supplies and postage only!). We sent a couple dozen letters back and forth over the months and I got to see a side of him rarely seen in his online work. I found him to be very kind and compassionate. He was very open and curious about life in “civilization” and he spoke very lovingly of his family – both his children and his “NOL” – his shorthand for “New Old Lady”. I felt a true friendship with him.

In May of last year, his monthly installment didn’t arrive. This was unusual, as you could always count on Jim’s timeliness. I didn’t think too much about it – could have been delayed, lost in the mail, who knows. But when June came and I still hadn’t heard from him I got a sick feeling inside that something was wrong. I sent a couple letters which went unanswered, which was also unheard of. I called the two phone numbers I had for him, but both had been disconnected. I queried other Bison fans I knew and none of them had heard from him either. Jim had simply disappeared without a trace and we were all concerned.

In November of last year I received an email from his son, letting me know Jim had shuffled off this mortal coil on May 5, 2022. Unbeknownst to me or evidently any of his other Minions, he’d been suffering from a lifelong condition, which had worsened suddenly and led to his untimely demise.

While I think deep down I already knew he was gone, the confirmation hit me like a brick upside the head.

These days as we have front row seat for the dumpster fire that is present-day America, I can’t help but wonder what Lord Bison would have to say about it. Whatever it was, I’m more than sure it would be tempered with humor. That was one of Jim’s magic abilities, no matter the dire situation he could elicit a laugh.

In hindsight I can’t help but think that Jim knew he was on borrowed time. That would explain the frantic pace at which he produced. He had a lot to say and a short time to say it and I am so glad I was in the right place at the right time AND in the right headspace to receive his work.

Lord Bison, I wish there had been a chance for me to say goodbye. You changed me for the better through your writing, and for that I will be eternally grateful.

Godspeed my friend! I’ll see you on the other side!

James M. Dakin, AKA Lord Bison- author extraordinaire!

Persistence Pays Off!

Just shy of a year ago, I lamented in a post about putting off what you need for so long that the item is no longer available. We’ll, in my case it wasn’t something I needed, just something I really, REALLY wanted.

Well, I’m happy to say that after 50+ weeks of relentless hunting and several strikeouts, I’ve finally obtained my unobtanium guitar!!

At Christmas I was convinced that I was never, ever gonna get my hands on one of these beauties, and came very, very close to pulling the trigger on an alternate. The thing was, this guitar WAS my alternate in the first place! And I’ve dreamed of owning a guitar like this since about 1982! Anyhow, thankfully I talked myself out of it and just a couple short months later I found THE guitar I wanted – used, but you’d never know by looking at it! And the best part is I picked it up with a factory hard-shell case (a pricey option!) for less than the guitar alone would have cost me a year ago, had they not been discontinued. Small blessings! So yeah, I had to hunt for a year but in the end I saved over $300, not too shabby!

It’s not very often that I’m the recipient of “good luck”, so I’m really relishing this moment.

Now I need to start practicing!

Thanks for stopping by!

Playing catch up!

To say the last month has been a whirlwind would be an understatement!

It seems as though things have been firing on all cylinders lately and half the time I don’t know if I’m coming or going!

Work has been busy – the end of the fiscal year, plus the start of a new one brings all kinds of mind-numbing nonsense, but overall things are going well on that front.

The Mrs. had a bit of a health issue that got us into the Urgent Care facility a couple weeks ago, but thankfully that’s all resolving nicely and she’s getting back to full function without any further intervention.

My gym routine has been pretty solid. It took a minute to get back in the swing of things, but I’m feeling confident again and getting stronger by the week. I haven’t got to the point where I’m enjoying it again, but I don’t dread it every morning either, so I consider that progress!

My musical stuff has been going slower than I’d hoped, but again I’m still progressing. My playing continues to improve and I’m slowly but surely getting acquainted with some new gear that will help me continue my pursuits.

We just recently returned from another trip up to Oregon, which was fantastic! It was our daughter’s birthday recently, so she and her BF headed up to Gold Beach and we joined them up there for a couple days, just relaxing and enjoying the quiet.

Our view from the patio soaking tub…Not too shabby!

And most recently, just a couple nights ago in fact, we got to see our favorite live band – Magic City Hippies – at one of our favorite venues – the Fillmore, which was absolutely amazing! This was the 6th or 7th time seeing them and they continue to get better every single time.

So yeah, it’s been a bit of a blur, but in a good way.

More to come, thanks for stopping by!

One Year!

Today marks the one year anniversary of the first post I made on this blog.

My sincere thanks to the 554 visitors that have stopped by in the last year. I appreciate the company!

Have a great weekend y’all!

Thanks for reading, come back soon.