As I noted in my last post, I had some time off from the day job and was using it to finish up some projects around my home. I swapped some furniture already, the couch, some lamps, and the tv stand. I still have a few pieces to be delivered. There are some new side tables coming and new accent chairs. I will be excited to get them I’m also excited to have finished up some of the projects that I have been working on.
One of the things I have been working on for about two years is changing out most of the light fixtures in my place and replacing the ceiling fans in the two bedrooms. I have had the light fixtures for two years. Finally, a couple of months ago I ordered the ceiling fans. Once they arrived I put in a call to an electrician to come out and install them all. I will do a lot of things myself, electrics are not one of them. I scheduled with the electrician to do it during the week I was going to be off work from the day job. I wasn’t going anywhere so I might as well do it then. It took them about half a day to change out four lights, a chandelier, and two ceiling fans. And it looks awesome. I’m so happy. Not only does it look awesome the lights solved a problem I was having, especially in my kitchen, it was too dark. Now I have light again.
I shared the picture of the new tv stand in the last post. I actually finished that up while on vacation. That took a little longer than I expected to put together. I like it so much better than what I had.
My other big project that I worked on was painting my bedroom. You have probably heard, or read, my rant about this tan color that was on all my walls and I could no longer stand. Just to make it clear, that color was on the walls when I bought the place, I didn’t put it there. The bedroom was the last room with that color and I have finally finished painting the bedroom. Unfortunately, that color of tan is really hard to cover. It has to be neutralized first. That meant a total of 3 coats of paint for each wall. And as I don’t have a spare sleeping place, I decided to work on it a bit at a time. I spread it out over the month and worked on it at the weekends. I’m glad I did it that way as there were days that when I finished my joints then spent the next day or two screaming at me in protest. I’m really happy with the color, and now the new ceiling fan. It’s nice and peaceful in there and I generally think I rest better.
I did get someone to come and pick up most of the old furniture and the boxes of donations. That was nice to see. They didn’t take the couch though so I’m still working on how to get it out of my garage. Now, I also have some light fixtures to go with the couch. I have one more possibility I’m going to try before I give up and just have someone haul it off to wherever.
There was one more ‘clean out’ project to do. One I’ve been working on mentally for a year or more. I had a bunch of music gear that I was ready to trade in. One day, I thought, ‘I’ll take that in while I’m on vacation’. I was going to do it on Wednesday. But the Wednesday before, on my lunch hour, I suddenly had the urge to clear out the stuff in the music room that was going to get traded in. I put it all in a pile in the dining room. I then called to find out, with the social distancing and such, if I needed an appointment. A few more questions and I was able to find out that the gentleman I had worked with in the past was still working there and would be in on that Friday and Saturday.
So, Friday, after work I loaded the car with all the things to trade in and made my way to my local Sam Ash music store. I got some help with hauling it all in and then while they assessed the value of everything I got a chance to try out the Fender Jaguar.
You may remember from some of my posts last year, that I was having trouble with my fretting hand and arm and wanted to try out a guitar with a shorter scale neck. The Fender Jaguar and Fender Mustang, from what I found have the shortest scale neck on a standard size commercial guitar, 24 inches. I do like the shorter scale. It was quite comfortable and easy to play. I found all the switches, and location of some of them, not as friendly. I know there are lots of people who like all the switches. I’m not really one of them. So, I passed on the Jaguar.
There was one other thing I wanted to look at, a steel string acoustic guitar. I was trading in a Takamine Dreadnaught that was really too big for me to play comfortably. I couldn’t play it sitting down for very long so I would play it standing up. I had also come to not care for the tone of the instrument. Because of that, I wanted to replace it with something that fit my body better and had a tone I like. And that was what I looked at after the Jaguar.
The gentleman at Sam Ash, knows his stuff and was able to help me find several options that filled my needs. Even with limited stock he found several guitars that were more my size, not dreadnaughts, and had good tone. It ultimately came down to sound because the one other request I had for it, having a cut away, turned out to not be a deciding factor. I bought one without a cut away, that fits me really well, sounds great, and I can comfortably play for way longer than I should. It’s a great quality guitar and will likely be the last acoustic I purchase. Oh, and just for those in the know that want to know, I got a Martin.
And with that the last of my guitar and music quest has been completed. I have some great, good quality instruments that I enjoy playing and expect them to keep me happy for a long time.
And you all were worried after the last post that you wouldn’t get to read about the fun music and art stuff anymore.
Now with those projects complete, I’ll be moving on to the less exciting and more grown-up project of replacing appliances. Though I will also be starting another fun project.
I have that 24 move poomse I have to design. What is that about? The Master where I take Taekwondo, as part of the third-degree black belt or third Dan test requires you to demonstrate the knowledge you have gained by creating what some call a creative poomse, or form. You create your own form using the knowledge you have acquired over your time studying Taekwondo doing the formal poomse as well as hand techniques and other drills. It must utilize more advanced skills and be of a degree of difficulty fitting a black belt. As I understand it, I will need to do another one in five years when I test for fourth degree. To put this requirement in perspective, fourth degree (fourth Dan) is Master level. So, by achieving third degree, I will be one step below Master. I have about a year before I am eligible to test for third Dan. I want to work on creating the poomse starting now so I have time to refine it in design, and then to refine my execution of it.
I’m still working on the PowerShell for work. I had plenty to do while on vacation and didn’t make that my focus. Though before I started vacation, I was finally getting into the main part of the course I bought on the subject. And, in the book I have been reading, I am past all the basics section and moving into the more advanced, and possibly more useful section. I’ll be getting back to that really soon. I won’t have a lot of excuse not to. The upgrade project I have been working on at work is just about complete, at least this phase of it. That means, I’ll be expected to get back to my PowerShell and scripting studies. I’m good with that.
That is the excitement for now. Next time I’ll tell you about the guitar course I’m working on. And who knows what else I’ll have to share.