Tag: nephew

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The Tremolo Pedal Was A Huge Hit

The tremolo pedal that I bought my nephew last Christmas (wow Christmas seems like it was so long ago) has made a big impact on him and his music. Music has always been such a big deal in our families lives and I am glad to help nurture anyone’s interest and abilities in the family, when I can.

The house was always full of music back in the day. My mother didn’t enjoy a quiet house, so there was usually a radio on in various rooms and levels of the house. Something that I try to continue to do here today. I don’t like a quiet house either and since I live hear alone it is a constant battle, while trying to conserve electricity.

guitar centers boss pedal
Boss TR-2 Tremolo Pedal
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Dozens of Reviews

Afters looking at over a dozen different online reviews and music stores I have decided a Martin 12 String Acoustic guitar would be a great birthday/Christmas present for my nephew this year. He has been using an old beat up guitar that his father found for him at a flea market years ago and I think it’s time that he had a nicer acoustic guitar to play on. He is a good kid and if strumming a guitar keeps him busy and out of trouble then so be it!

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Nady-HM-10U Headset Mic

With the Nady HM-10U being marked down to such a decent price, as well as getting the headset without having to pay for shipping and handling, just makes sense to go ahead order it. My nephew has his 13th birthday coming up next month and I think, no I know, that he would be thrilled with this gift idea that I have managed to come up without having to do much asking around and/or digging.

I hope the look on his face when he opens this gift, will be an exciting one. Hopefully it will be a Kodak moment that could possibly be captured by someone with all the cell phones and iPads, that everyone has on their person most of the time.

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Affordable Bass Tabs

Good that that the bass tabs aren’t as pricey as I first thought they would be. You see my sister’s youngest son, my nephew Jeff, is going to be celebrating his 16th birthday in the second week of July. We are throwing him a good sized party to celebrate the birthday of all birthdays.

Sixteen, old enough to be behind the wheel. Hopefully close to being out of high school and most guys start shaving and trying to deal with what to do with all the facial that is sprouting all over their face. LOL!

Two more years and you will be legal,  you can vote and join the military if that is your choice. Five more years you can legally drink. And it’s all down hill from there!

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Water-Based Fogger

One thing that always gets me is when I see someone on TV singing and/or dancing while there is a fog machine(s) spewing all this stuff into the air that they are trying to utilize to stay alive while entertaining. I’ve always heard that it makes it a bit more of a challenge for the artists so I don’t understand why they allow these interesting and entertaining pieces of technology to be used.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not the kind of person that thinks the government needs to tell us what we can and/or can’t do. All of the rules and laws that are increasingly being passed, in an effort to “keep us safe”. But to me it just makes sense that this is a safety issue, something that should be addressed. I was looking at a Fog Machine the Chauvet Hurricane 1300 which is the one that my nephew is currently saving up to purchase.

He is in a band. A typical “Garage Band” that has an occasional booking that they want to start using a fog machine for to “step it up a bit.” Of course he won’t listen to me or anyone else about the concerns of using a fog machine, so I figured I would learn a bit more about them on the computer. I’ve got to say that I was surprised at how affordable they are.

You know the old saying “If you can’t beat them join them”? Well there you go. Do I have to say anything more?

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Gonzalez Reeds And Other Family Dinner Chit Chat

Since I’ve never even had the opportunity to actually see or place in my hands any type of Clarinet, much less the Gonzalez reeds that my sister’s middle son was trying to explain to me at dinner at their place over the weekend. It felt good to get away from the house and the farm, with no major holiday or family events being celebrated, just a night away from all the critters and chores that keep me pretty chained to the old homestead the majority of the time.

A nice home cooked meal is always a welcomed change. One that wasn’t placed into some type of Tupperware and brought over for me to re heat by one person or another, usually my sister. I was able to sit and watch TV with my nieces and nephews, while smelling all the wonderful aromas that were floating out of the kitchen. It’s the small things like that which people that are suddenly on their own and secluded from most of the world.

Dinner was awesome, sis is a wonderful cook, something that my mother spend a lot of her time teaching her to do. So most of the dishes are from our mother and they taste just like home!

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PA Systems

Brent, who is the author of a valuable website I just found online that gives so much good information about everything you ever wanted or needed to know about PA Systems. And if he can’t provide you with what you want you can find even more information by clicking on any of the numerous provided links that he has taken his time and researched to find more. After all more is better, right?

I remember going and picking up one of my sister’s kids from school to take him to an important dentist appointment that she couldn’t take time off of work to take him herself. I had to sign in on a small sized computer at the front desk. It wanted to know my name, the relationship to the student and it took my picture. It was pretty impressive technology for a back country elementary school that has been forced to work even harder on really pinching pennies just like all our schools around the country with the economy still in such bad shape.

I understand the need for tight security around any and all schools these days. It doesn’t seem like a week goes by that there isn’t a reporting of some type of violence, usually a shooting and people being hurt and killed. It’s just madness and schools are struggling keeping their security as tight as possible to keep all students and employees safe from all the crazies roaming the streets that are determined to cause death and destruction in our schools.

What was really weird though was when I had finished with the sign-in procedure on the school’s computer and had my picture taken and took the printed name tag that it spit out for me to have on my body, the receptionist had to use the school’s very out-dated PA system to contact my nephews teacher to announce my arrival and to send him on up to the office for me to sign both of us out and leave the school hours before the last bell would ring. Their PA system sounded just like the PA system did in that same school (the same school that I attended back in the day). Her voice sounded rough and broken up, with a lot of popping and crackling along with other irritating noises they used to bug me back then and come to find out, still does.

I remember I asked my nephew about the PA system, of course he is oblivious to the whole entire subject. When I asked him what the normal morning announcements were all about in his school each morning, he couldn’t provide me with anything at all. Guess his ADHD makes it hard for him to concentrate and listen so early in the morning. I remember getting a lot of good information each day from the morning announcements, but that was me and my nephew doesn’t seem to be interested. To each his own I reckon.
 

 

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A Decent Bass Equializer Pedal

It’s so good to get a hand written thank you card in the mail these days, it just makes me think that they are cool enough to take the time and effort to write the card, address the card, put a stamp on it and then get it to a mailbox. When these days in just a matter of minutes you can shoot someone a thank you and or a card with all of today’s technology communication options.

The reason I bring this up is that in today’s mail there was a thank you card from my 19 year old nephew for the bass eq that we, the aunts and uncles, all pitched in a bought for him as his High School Graduation gift. He is a good kid and he deserves a decent Bass Equalizer Pedal, and so much more, but that’s another story.

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Interning For The Summer

My oldest nephew is heading overseas in seven weeks or so, for his summer intern job in Amsterdam. My sister has been working closely with him over the phone and by instant messengers to help him find cheap accommodation Amsterdam by using a web site called www.shortstay-apartment.com and searching their database for an apartment or even a room in Amsterdam for the month of June. They are on a shoestring budget and would much rather spend the money on activities to take advantage of being in Europe for a month rather than spending it all on some place to sleep.

Last year the same nephew spent the entire summer as an intern for a big law firm in Philadelphia. He agreed to take the position without knowing much about the actual job function. He just trusted his college liaison to place him in a company that would further his interest in helping the environment. Philadelphia is a great city for young people. It has a lot of history, culture, and professional sports to keep people active and stimulated. The cost of living is high because of its location on the East Coast and so near to New York City. But for a lot of people, Philadelphia is a lower cost alternative to living in NYC or the north Jersey area. This year he is traveling to Amsterdam and working with an engineering company. He is looking forward to learning about the European approach to generating, using and saving energy.

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Basket Fillers

Stopped by Wal-Mart this afternoon to see if they had any early gardening supplies, but they are a little slow to stick their garden center and I came away empty handed. However, I decided to check out a few other items while I was there, and I found a few things to add to my basket. They have a new aisle of cheap crap that sells for $1 or $2 and they called “Basket Fillers.” That made me laugh – these poor Wal-Mart shoppers are so in need of direction that the Evil Wally Empire has started labeling things with suggestive names. Think you’re finished shopping? No – your basket is not full enough. You need some basket fillers – go over there and get you some.

I did pick up a pair of pajamas for my nephew. He is a Star Wars fan thanks to Uncle Adam, and there were some new PJs with Start Wars characters on them. My nephew is 6 years old, so I guess he’ll wear a six 6. I don’t know – how am I supposed to keep up with what size clothes everyone wears? At the checkout lane, the cashier looked a little frazzled, so I tried to cheer her up. Fridays and Saturdays have got to be the busiest days at Wally’s World of Wonder. I made a couple little jokes while she was ringing up my items and couldn’t get a smile out of her. Then she picked up the size 6T PJs to find the price tag and I asked her if she thought those PJs were the right size to fit me. That made her laugh – finally.