A long and winding road

And thus brings to a close a circuitous path, which came to naught...

As part of my reward to myself for working a zillion hours per week (and bringing large amounts of cash into the family coffers), I decided to spiff myself by buying an effects pedal -- something I hadn't done in a while.

After some consideration, I'd decided on the Danelectro "Black Licorice", from their "mini" series. Basically, an octave-distortion pedal. Oddly, it wasn't available at any of the local music stores that I'd looked at online, so I decided to buy it off Amazon and have it sent to the U.S.

Found a few sellers within Amazon -- but only one of them actually shipped internationally. I placed my order. The shipping cost was nearly as much as the pedal (and pricier than other sellers that shipped internationally, for other pedals). But, 'twas the only one that shipped that specific pedal, so I was kinda stuck.

A few days later, got a message saying that there was a back-order. And a few days after that, got a message saying it was **still** on backorder -- but they'd waive the shipping. Sure!

Then, while browsing my local pawn shop, saw it for a similar price -- but (obviously!) no shipping! But, didn't think I could cancel my order, so I just shrugged.

Then, got an e-mail saying it was further delayed, but I'd get some discount on my future purchase with them.

And finally, they cancelled my transaction, saying they didn't know **when** it would be in stock. So, I nipped down to the pawn shop and bought it.


But wait! Took it home, tried it out -- and discovered that the input jack was gimpy: it worked fine if you pulled upwards slightly on the guitar cable -- but then would cut out if you pushed down. (I'm guessing the previous owner had accidentally stepped on the cable...)

Took it back to the pawn shop. They took it t the back room, said that they'd put a new battery in it and now it was working. I pointed out that the battery wasn't the problem, but the guy asked me to take it home and see. Fair enough.

Took it home. Nope -- not the problem. Brought it back.

This time, the guy said he'd send it out for repairs, would probably be a week. A week later, got a phone call saying that it would cost more to fix it than it was worth, so they'd just refund me the money.

I went in, and got my refund. Bid on a pair of other pedals on eBay (here in Australia), and got them (both within the same auction) for the same price as the pawn shop pedal.


So, hopefully they'll show up in a day or so -- and that'll be the end of the story. :)


--GG

An apt spiff

To commemorate the end of the recent project where I was pulling a lot of late nights, I wanted to buy something symbolic.

Originally, I was going to buy Volume One of an anthology of a zombie graphic novel series called THE LIVING DEAD. The symbolism was that I felt like a zombie after so many late nights.

But instead, I mail-ordered an inexpensive fuzz pedal (pictured) that had received a rave reviews in the free weekly music magazine -- because I had felt fuzzy in the wuzzy, and because I didn't own a fuzz pedal.

But, I do now! :)

Works well, sounds great.

Bonus: it's green.


--GG

Good karma perhaps

So, as a spiff to myself for logging an insane amount of hours (I get paid by the hour) over this recent project report -- and perhaps as compensation for my lack of sleep -- I bought two guitar effects pedals off of Amazon. These are lower-priced models, and ones that (oddly) you can't buy locally, here in Australia.

Placed the order about two weeks ago. From two different sellers, listing through Amazon.

One pedal was about forty bucks Australian, plus ten bucks international shipping: fair enough.

The other (pictured) was fifty bucks Australian, and forty bucks international shipping. YEOW!!! I exited out of that transaction -- but then came back to it the next day, figuring that (1) I really did want that pedal, and (2) there weren't any other sellers on Amazon that were shipping internationally. So, I went with it.


Two days ago, I got an automated message from Amazon, saying that it had been a fair while since I'd placed the order, and the sell had not yet shipped it (or charged my credit card), and that I could inquire to the seller if I wanted. So I did, politely.

The seller responded quickly, and said there was a delay from the manufacturer, so there was a back-order of a few weeks: they'd send me the item when they got them back in stock. I replied saying fine, no problem, just checking in to the situation.

The seller then replied to **my** reply, saying they just received their re-stock; they'd ship it out today; and that she was **waiving my shipping fees**!!! Again, this was the pedal with the (unreasonably?) high international shipping fee.


So, the more-expensive pedal will actually end up costing me **less** than the cheaper pedal. I'm O.K. with that. :)

Dunno whether she waived the shipping just because I was nice -- or whether she would've done it regardless. Either way: I graciously accept the overture. ;)


For the record: the one that was on back-order is a heavy metal -voiced distortion pedal, with an optional sub-octave component. The other one -- which should be arriving any day now -- is an auto-wah (sometimes known as an envelope filter).


--GG

Spiff me

Back when I worked retail, a ''spiff'' was the $10 bonus we got whenever we sold certain ''high priority'' brands of shoes. Now I call any sort of small reward or reinforcer of good behavior a spiff -- e.g., tossing the dog half a dog biscuit when he's on the way outside when we're locking up the house to leave.

So, as I mentioned recently, I've been putting in some long hours. Since I'm on wages (i.e., hourly), rather than salary, this is pretty much doubled my income for the month. So, I decided to spiff myself by getting a little something.


My wife bought a pair of shoes. Not my thing -- but fair enough.


I considered buying a stylophone -- a funky little synthesizer that you play with a stylus. Or maybe its cousin, a little drum machine thing. But, I know it's at least a half a year -- realistically a **minimum** of a year -- before I get back into recording. So I decided to go with something that's more immediately useful.

I cast about, looking for a triangular file that's at least 1/2" on a side -- for sharpening one of my larger-toothed handsaws. But oddly, no one seems to carry one! (Not the local ''big box'' hardware store; not the speciality woodworking tools shop; nor either of two ''tradesperson'' tool supply places.)

So, I ended up getting these (all ''used'' -- bargain!):

• my first mortise chisel (a **real** mortise chisel, which is heavier-duty than a ''sash chisel''); mine is pictured at the start of this blog entry
• my first moulding plane (examples of moulding planes), and
• another splitting wedge (very shallow angle: about 5 degrees)
  

The mortise chisel I bought online from a used handtool website that's here in Queensland; the other two I picked up from the antiques shop we visited yesterday (I bargained five bucks off the purchase...).


This is an interesting indicator of where music versus woodworking is in my life: given $X to spend, I spend it on tools, not music gear.

Although that balance will shift, presumably, over time.


--GG

Spiffing oneself

Well, The Lady bought a nice pair of shoes today. (She likes shoes ...) So she said that I'm entitled to buy my ''whatever'' as well. ;)

(Not the ones pictured; I just wanted a photo of some shoes.)


--GG

Treating myself

For the last week and a half, The Lady has been on vacation, and has done most of the child-wrangling -- leaving me time to make some progress on this woefully behind-schedule project at work (not my fault!).

Thus, I've been workin' some long, long hours -- and still have at least a week to go.

We're only on one-point-two incomes (or some-such) at the moment, since usually I stay home with the kids, and do my hourly (paid) work on weekends and evenings. So generally, we're pretty sensible with our money.

But, since I get paid by the hour -- and I'm logging far more than my usual 20 hours/week -- so I'm strongly thinking of taking a hundred bucks or so and buying... something.

I'm feeling -- I don't know... ''entitled''? Something like that.


Of course, the stuff I plan to splurge on would bore most people: a large triangular file, to sharpen a really large saw -- maybe a woodworking book or two.
Woo-hoo!!!

Such recklessness.


--GG

IMPORTANT ADDENDUM: Mentioned this to The Lady, who pointed out that I've been able to achieve these long hours only because she's facilitated them -- picking up extra shares of the housework, wrangling the kids, and etc. A good point, and completely true. So, I'll be sharing my "bonus money" with her.