I’m watching our two kittens, Lenny and Niles, play with the extension chord of the old Mac Performa 631CD (which I had to set up in order to grab an old resume file for my wife). My email connection is so slow tonight, that I’m posting here instead. I worked today on thetares.com (nothing has been uploaded yet). I’m phasing out white backgrounds and frames from my web-design life (though I’m still making an exception for nested framesets, like the one I used for the ETS site). The Tares site was one of my first frames-based sites, but now I’m formatting the whole thing with tables. And I eventually hope to use some kludge of JavaScript and PHP to include parts of the content on the fly. For right now, it’s still a static site, but it will use less of the browser window and load much more quickly. I’ll also have more control over the look of it (and design is all about control).
On a music gear note, I noticed that Godin guitars is making a five string version of their incredible semi-hollow fretless electric bass. It’s one of the most “upright” of fretless electrics out there. It gets the boomy lows and the papery highs that comprise the sound of an upright bass. That’s something to dream for (though I wish they’d make it in a six-string version).
Speaking of sixes, I feel quite at home with my Carvin LB76 (thanks Vicki!) after only a month or two of playing it. I should have bought a six years ago. For a while I just couldn’t afford it. Then I got on this kick where I wanted the best six in the world (for me, a Ken Smith), since all low-dollar sixes I’d ever played were worthless. Then I discovered the Carvin (and Carvin evangelists are as common on the web as libertarians, so I was skeptical) which has got to be the best bang for the buck out there–especially if you buy it used. I got mine for an insanely low $500 + shipping. (It lists for around $1200 new; you can typically find them on the net in the $800 range). It came with some really light weight strings. But after a new set of D’Addario’s and a little truss rod tinkering, it really plays well all over the neck. And it opens up a lot of room for the stuff I like to play. My Fender four string is still the best for slapping, but for most everything else, I’ve been relying on the Carvin.
[The youngest kitten, Niles, is absolutely insane right now. He’s blazing all through the house, messing with everything in sight]