Observations Part 10: When will they figure it out?

A story of impulse shopping at its worse

I am an avid guitar player on the side. My "normal" hobby lately is contributing to this blog but music was always my first love. What would be normal about blogging to strangers? All 6700 of you people that is that have visited since October. I am totally digressing...

Saturday, me and some friends, Misa and Christian, went off to Guitar Center of Sacramento, featured in the above photo, to look at some music stuff. They were interested in a PA system for our little music get together and I was, well, lost like a little kid in a toy store.
I wandered through the Marshall Stacks and the death metal wannabe guitars to the back to look at some acoustic guitars. Why? "Did I really need a guitar?" the voice of Kristen reverborated in my head. I already had a few and she complained that I never play them. Anyhow, ignoring the voice like I ignore it when it comes to taking out the trash, I pressed on to the back to find a guitar worth an impulse buy.

And there it was, a jumbo, 12 string, with an eletric pickup and tuner, solid top and bad. "Oh... just what I was looking for," I exclaimed. I picked it up, sat back and wailed through "Lie in Our Graves" to hear the thing groove. The sound coming out this guitar was impeccable. I looked at the price, $699 with a instant $25 rebate off the price. List was $998. So I did my guitar store math and listen up if you ever shop for a musical instrument: List, minus 30% is what you should pay but bargain for 10% off the discounted price. Huh? So they had the price at $699 which was technically 30% off the list but I offered $629. Well... the dude didn't go for it but he was willing to go to $650. So I asked him to throw in the case and well he screwed up, forgetting it was a jumbo and not a standard sized guitar and quoted me $69 for a $149 case. Fine $719 plus tax, which brought this thing up to $770 something. I worked it, the salesdude worked it and we were there....

THEN... the inevitable happens. "Do you take Discover?" I ask. "Of course", the salesdude says. So I pull out my new Discover Card key chain, explaining the card looked funky but it was what Discover sent me as "a new card". Bad news, the thing doesn't fit into the card reader. I quickly dismantle the key chain as any skillful person would in a state of panic. "Dude, "I say,"Just manually enter it!" Then slow motion starts as the salesdude calls in his "manager" to qualify me, my card, and my purchase. About this time, Misa strolls on in to witness this, joyous and all with her and Christian's purchase of the PA. She tries to stuff my card into the reader with her nimble fingers to no avail. "Shit," she says," Dude, why can't they manually enter it?"
"I don't know," I say repeatedly, watching the drama building as a crowd suddenly forms mysteriously in the small acoustic guitar room. Turns out, the manager dude, is the Store Manager Dude. I figure to myself, he's got it. He'll run my card as I spread every known form of identification out along the counter. NO... The store manager dude has to call it in. His exact words to whomever he called, "Dude, am I like gonna get fired if I accept this card?"

Moral to the story: I don't get my guitar. Guitar Center is run by wankers. I sadly walk, defeated, passed the cheaply made, copies of Ibanez death metal guitars, and the blaring Marshall stacks, where every known version of a Korn song is being played. Christian and Misa, say in the car as they drive me home, "It wasn't meant to be, man."

Turns out though it was: Same guitar, purchased on Ebay for $449 yesterday from a dude in Iowa, with 40 bucks in freight added. I'll post a picture when I get it. Ebay is so freaking sweet and my PayPal account accepts any form of credit!

Pass the Heineken, please: The trials of Karoake night

Gangsta's Paradise


When do cheap beer and Sake, and about a thousand pop, rock and rap songs fed through a Karoake machine go bad?

View the photo graphic evidence here.

Guarenteed to raise a smile, Billy.

Happy Easter!!!

The Passion of Terri Schiavo?

What are we coming to now? CNN has a pull asking who should decide for Terri and 73% say her husband. Then over on Fox you have 36% wanting the Supreme Court to decide. You have a Yahoo! story "with Experts" saying the video where the picture above comes from is a "lie" about her actual condition. Jeb Bush having experts saying she was misdiagnosed. Our friend over at Cao's Blog with great incite and stories on this matter. In fact, bloggers everywhere are throwing there hat's into the issue. It's a topic at work and with my co-workers. It's on the radio, including sports radio. My wife and I debate it. I am sure my friends snicker or praise my thoughts. It goes on and on.

Anyone get what's going on really? Michael Schiavo (see link) wants his wife dead and has flat out given her family no choice in this matter. Think about this for second. Whether or not Terri is a vegetable IS NOT the issue. You readers should not be convincing yourself or me that this is the reason. This I almost guarantee! Give up on that thought process. What you have is a guy, Michael Schiavo (see link), a total selfish human being, who only thinks of himself. He is not unlike, Scott Peterson or OJ Simpson. He only cares about his NEW family with his girlfriend and not a care for his in-laws. I thought about this today. If your spouse was in Terri's situation would you deny your in-laws the choice to care for their child, if they felt so strongly about it? 99% of you would NOT! Michael Schiavo (see link) has turned his back. What if Terri really told Michael she did not want live this way? Ok.. Fine... But would Terri want Michael to turn his back on her family? Absolutely not! If you put yourself before your family you are an evil person.

I have read where people are fasting until Terri's food source is returned. Commendable! I get it, I support you and you are not crazy. I have also read the analogies regarding Christopher Reeve who couldn't eat or breath on his own. The only reason he survived was because he could communicate. The Million Dollar Baby analogy? Hillary Swank's character wanted to die! Terri's case? Nobody knows for sure. Battle lines are drawn and if you polled Americans, they'd want Michael to call thing off and go away. Simple as that.

An interesting observation. It's Easter Week and it looks as if this thing, if not resolved the Schindler family's way, Terri could pass away over the weekend. Are we creating martyr over one man's selfishness? What could he possibly be gaining from his outcome that we're not seeing? Is there more of a reason why this happening now, this week, or is it just a coincidence?

Revelation about Wacko Jacko...

Quick blog here. World Famous and World Infamous Michael is putting on a show every day in that Santa Barbara courtroom. The child-like(ing) man is as guilty as this guy was and is gonna get away with it like that guy did because the poor kid's mom is as freaky Michael is.

One thing I need help with however, is what happens day in and day out before and after this trial. It's not the umbrella seen pictured above that he carries to block the sun or the eye's of God or simply because his face melts. It's fact there are literally hundreds of fans with absolutely no lives supporting the guy with their cheers outside the court room everyday. It's like there is a velvet rope getting into this thing and these losers have no real life other than committing themselves to this freak of nature.

My question, do you know anyone who is a Michael Jackson fan? I am not sure I know one and I am pretty sure, the 99.9995% of the people that read this don't know of any either. Ponder that for a minute or so... and then wonder why he's gonna be acquitted. Freaky Deaky!

What can you learn from Terry Schiavo?

I am not going to turn this into a political issue on my blog but I feel the need to comment on it. Her husband Michael is a heartless man and most likely a liar. He stated that his wife didn't want to live this way, from what I have read, almost 7 years after the accident. He is, however, commendable for not taking money. Numerous millionaires have offered him millions of dollars to "just walk away". He is obviously getting huge opposition from Terry's parents and siblings and the family are also commendable for caring so much. Then you've got what I think the main issue with Michael is: Guilt. I mean, think about it, you get married, for better or worse, sickness and in health and all that jazz. When you get married you don't visualize something like this happening. Medical science has now intervened and well you are stuck just like Michael. I am not trying to show empathy for the man. I just feel it is a terrible situation and something more positive could have been done.

With that said, what can you learn from this? I think you ought to sit down and write or document what you would want if you were in Terry's situation and let your family know where that documentation is. The sooner the better, if not now. You then protect a grieving family from losing it's privacy and it's freedom.