The Thread for Sunday, April 9, 2023. Easter.

Well, here it is, the crowning day of celebration for Christians. According to the Encyclopedia Brittanica, the origin of the word "Easter" is unknown. They write that it may be "derived from Eostre, or Eostrae, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring and fertility." Which, of course, has nothing to do with Christianity, but perhaps it's much more acceptable to people than "Resurrection Sunday." I guess if you're going to co-opt the pagan masses, it's better to align yourself with their beliefs and rituals than try to grind them into the dust.

Today, because it is Easter, I'll be going to church, and then to my daughter's for dinner and some face time with my grandkids. Last Thursday, I tipped over the first domino in my retirement plan by speaking with the V. P. of HR about it. I'll be spending this coming week in training, and next week I'll speak with my new, immediate supervisor and apprise her of my intention. How long I remain on board will then become the only issue.

Before I do anything else today, I have to wrap up my taxes. Fun.

So, happy Easter, everyone!

Happy Easter, everyone! We need to sign our tax form and get it back to the accountant tomorow. We are actually getting a decent refund this year. I can use it to restore our savings account, which took a hit when my stepson lost his job and we had to help them out for a while. OS, I'm starting to have those retirement conversations with myself. I officially turn 70 in August, so will start collecting SS, but plan on working a couple more years. I love the work, plus I can use the extra $$ to finish paying off my house which will make retirement a bit easier.

The family (at least the ones who talk to us) will be over for dinner today and that will be fun. Today I will also play with some new toys that Amazon dropped off yesterday - lots of fun stuff to review for the Vine program, including a new HP laptop and a new fishing reel.

Friday was productive, took a first stab at the first really new song I've worked on in a long time, as compared to recording an older song that's been stuck in my head for years. I did a rough run-through and then he played a bunch of stuff, but it was coming out as a reggae-pop, Blind Boys song and I wasn't happy. I then did a rhythm guitar run with my ES-335 and we "rocked it up" a bit. I'm much happeir with the results, although the singing is weak. I envision the chorus with a lot more and tighter harmonies. We'll continue with the plan of recording a numbeer of songs and then bring in some vocalists who will add the harmonies necessary to finish off the song. The bridge needs work, too... it doesn't flow well at all. Anyways, here's attempt #1.

https://soundcloud.com/user-78574690...social_sharing

By teh way, the lap steel Paul played is a 1948 Rickenbacker Lap Steel (under the "Ace" name brand). It is imaculate as is the leather case it came with. It looks pretty darn close to brand new!

I hope everyone has a great Easter Sunday.

I finally received our list of material to perform in the pit band for a local annual charity called Heart-A-Rama so I’ll spend the next week working on the tunes to familiarize myself with them before we start the nights of rehearsal that lead up to the two weekends of performance. Last year we passed the three million dollar mark for funds raised and this will be the 52nd year for this charity. It’s sort of like a local performance of Saturday Night Live and a lot of fun to do. This was our group last year with one of the performers.

https://scontent-ord5-1.xx.fbcdn.net...dg&oe=6438001D

Very cool, Laker.

We did our animal shelter duties this morning and played with the dogs and cats. Just love them.

Upon the suggestions of Tele Bob and Offshore A, I spent hours mixing and eq-ing my latest tune. I still have some hours of mixing work to do. The more I work on it, the more I’m learning.

Tomorrow, I officially start as a full-time reporter at our local newspaper. Not just a local news outlet, the company publishes niche magazines and chamber of commerce publications. Hard-boiled news will be about 1/3 of my work, but I look forward to all of it. I was a business journalist before I earned my masters and doctorate. And during the past few months, I’ve been writing guest columns for the paper.

Gardening today. A challenge because I’m having a rheumatoid flare up in my hips. My neighbors will hear lots of cursing. Since it’s Easter, I’ll try to take only Zeus’s name in vain.

a chilly but bright day here. furnace has been extremely dicey since Thursday. Actually ran for almost 35 minutes but just shut off again now. have to hit the reset button and hope it starts up again in 2 hours. I did that about 5 or 6 times yesterday. One time it ran for 7 whole minutes before shutting down. Have been running the oven and space heaters all day the last couple of days. It figures that by the end of the week, we'll be running the a/c as it's supposed to be in the 80s and almost 90 on Friday. We're meeting the HVAC contractor on Tuesday, and another one on Thursday. We've got window and siding people showing up, and we're waiting on an electrical contractor to submit a bid. Lot of stuff going on.

unable to play due to hands being so cold, sucks. Probably just as well that I rejected that amp the other day, would hate to have a new toy and not be using it. By the time it warms up, bro will be back home and working.

happy easter to everybody.

Played a show Saturday night, when I got home Mrs. OSA was still up and not feeling well. By Easter AM it was apparent she needed to go to urgent care, Once there they sent her to hospital. Spent Easter in the ED finally got home around 10PM. Turned out OK but with her history no chances were taken. Thankful we live in a place where we have good care available, you want to bitch about how long it takes but then again, we didn't need to take an ox-drawn cart three days to some outdoor clinic. Easy to gripe but sometimes you need to see the big picture.

Better half is going to be fine but she's obviously worn out today. I'm staying home to tend to her ( and maybe sneak in some puttering on the bass boat during my lunch break.)

Chuck

I had the good fortune of some unexpected cash this weekend and may finally buy that new Tweed Princeton Reverb with 12" speaker I've been lusting after for so long.

I mad a lot of progress with a new Cannondale bicycle I'm custom building for my girlfriend. An endless journey that has taught me more about bicycles than I ever wanted to know. But, it's beautiful. Custom fit to her size and riding style. And promises endless hours of cycling pleasure for years to come. Not to mention the health benefits. Gibsonjunkie and I are going to be the skinniest guys at the jam! LOL!

As far as Easter is concerned, I don't really care where anyone gets their inspiration from, as long as it's peaceful and beneficial to the rest of the world. We as human beings have a responsibility to each other to help leave this place a little better than we found it. Not go around acting like, "hey, everyone else is doing it so, I'm just going to take mine."

The people I have come to know as friends on this, and other forums all seem to exude this quality and it's great to know you. Easter or not.