Just Checking In…

I don’t feel much like writing tonight. I don’t feel ill, but I am at a loss of words I think. This will probably turn out to be a long post as I get diarrhea of the keyboard when I get started. I always start out thinking I am not going to be able to write something and it turns into something big and wordy.

I was overjoyed that a new AM radio station opened in the Valley this week. I tuned in expecting Coast to Coast AM and other cool shows like that. It was Christian conservative radio. I was so disappointed you just don’t know. They have nothing to offer me entertainment wise except frustration. 

Tracy made a B on her listening test and I was so proud of her and so was she. She called me on the way home from class last night ecstatic.

I wanted to talk computer parts tonight as I have a cool order going in tomorrow (first of the month). I just sent Matt, at the pharmacy, an email with what I want. I won’t bore you with all of that, though. It is just some $200 THX-certified speakers for my gaming rig. I am moving the Infinity surround system back into the den so Tracy and I can watch TV and Blu-rays with surround sound. It was her request.

We had breakfast for supper tonight which was always a special treat when I was growing up. I just scrambled some eggs and fried some Clark Brother’s sausage. It was delicious. I also made a pot of buttery and creamy grits. I have cooking grits down to a fine science. It was rounded off by a pan of Mary B’s biscuits which are equally delicious.

I prank called my father tonight. I can mimic Trump’s voice to a T and I called my father in my best Trump voice warning him of Lopez Landscaping and undocumented workers. He burst out laughing when he realized it was me. “I’m not a crook!” I ended the call with. Dad wants me to call my brother and prank him next.

Hit and Run…

I did one of my classic hit and runs on Walmart today. I needed one more audio cable to make my home theater listening experience complete. I needed it for my 12 inch subwoofer. A female RCA to a Y of two male RCA cables.

“I’m headed to Walmart,” I told my father on the phone and I explained what I was doing.

He grumbled some as he was at work, but said okay.

“Don’t buy any beer or Benadryl,” he told me sounding exasperated. 

I grabbed my wallet, jumped in the car and flew down highway 29 at breakneck speeds ever cognizant of the police.

“Welcome to Walmart,” the greeter/loss prevention person said at the door.

I was already walking at about 5 miles an hour. I nodded my head with a smile and let them feel the wake I was creating in front of me. I know I had to smell like smoldering cigarettes and dog.

Electronics was my destination. I grabbed my $9.99 cable and headed straight to a free checkout person (luck be a lady tonight). I was home in about 25 minutes. The longest part was driving there and back. The bottle of water I had been drinking was still cold sitting by my computer when I arrived home. I had this severe singular of focus to get in there and out.

KFC Sundays…

They didn’t have my chicken pot pies last night so Charlie just got me two boxes of fried chicken. I about can’t chew the extra crispy, but I muddled on through somehow.

I managed to have a sparkling clean kitchen so Charlie had nothing to do but throw away two empty milk cartons.

I was extra excited when Charlie said he was bringing me a matching dresser and chest of drawers to my bed this weekend.    

Well I’ll Be a Monkey’s Uncle…

Charlie just called me from his way home from work. I grew excited at the sound of his voice.

“Andrew! I found your cables at Radio Shack,” Charlie told me. “I showed the printouts to the guy at the Shack and he knew exactly what you needed.”

“You weren’t going to give up were you?” I asked Charlie of his dogged determination in this matter. “Thank you so very, very much.”

“Well, I will be by your house in a little while,” Charlie told me. “It takes me an hour to drive back from Dadeville and I am on the road right now.”

“I’ll tell Maggie you are coming,” I replied. “She's going to love to see you.”

Charlie laughed.

“Do you want something for supper?” Charlie asked.

“Dad and I bought groceries last night,” I told him. “I have plenty of food.”

“I never asked you why you needed these cables,” Charlie said inquisitively. “I know you needed them for your home stereo I think.”

“I can play my video games in true 5.1 surround sound with them. Not simulated surround like Dolby Pro Logic,” I told Charlie. “I already have one cable and I needed two more.”

There's Beauty in the Breakdown...

I was going to have a serious nervous breakdown if I didn't sleep last night. Well, I managed to sleep one more hour last night giving me eight hours of sleep total. I feel as if I could rip the ears off a Gundar (Star Wars reference). I jumped out of the bed running about 4 am. I had a project to undertake this early morning. I was going to hook my home theater up to my computer to see what it sounded like. It was no small feat as my speakers weigh a ton and there are wires galore to hook up. I am here to tell you my computer has never sounded better. Right now, The Magic of Enya (in FLAC format) is playing over my speakers and it sounds marvelous.

He With Biscuit Travels...

Charlie will be along in just a few hours. He usually shows up around 9 am. Charlie asked me what I wanted for breakfast yesterday afternoon and I told him I wanted bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits and an orange juice. If the orange juice gives me heartburn as it usually does, then I am ready with a bottle of TUMs in the medicine cabinet.

HULK SMASH!!!

I usually back up my blog posts every week. If Blogger crashes or I hastily delete my blog, then I have all that I have written over the years.  I've been trying to incorporate all my writings starting in 2004 into this blog. Well, bloggers import content feature NEVER works. I keep trying and finally just emailed them and I hope they will email me back.

Digital Surround Sound Heaven....

I am busy scouring the web this morning looking for DTS and Dolby Digital encoded demo discs and audio discs. They are surprisingly hard to find. I did find Steely Dan's Two Against Nature and that thrilled me. It is downloading right now. I wonder what Cousin Dupree will sound like in digital surround?

I also just found Sting's Ten Summoner's Tales and that excited me as well. Hell, it doesn't take much to excite me these days. That album ranks as one of the top ones I have listened to many times.

We also have R.E.M. Automatic for the People coming down the pipe. R.E.M. announced they were disbanding several years ago and I remember it clearly -- a prominent band of my youth. The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight.

Rainy Night of the Living Dead...

Virtual Walmart Employees

It's just turned 4:30 am and I have just returned from a trip to Walmart or the entity I affectionately call Wally World. I waited for all of this rain to abate for awhile and a break in the rain finally happened.

I needed some RCA patch cables for my home theater (hooking up the minidisc player) and it has been bugging the hell out of me that my home theater is incomplete.

Oh, BTW, the cheap audio cables work just as well as the expensive ones. A word to the wise. Only audiophiles can tell the difference and that is quite questionable as well.

The Walmart employees were all like these automatons -- going through the motions as if having been programmed and manipulated.

"What's going on my brotha?" one abnormally friendly mulatto fellow asked breaking down cardboard boxes near the main aisle.

"Trying to beat this next batch of rain my friend," I replied back to him cheerfully -- too cheerful for this early in the morning.

I chuckled when I saw one fellow purchasing big rubber boots, or what some would call goulashes, ahead of me. He's going to need them as we have much more rain on the way. I hurried home before it could start storming in earnest again and all this rain coming off the Gulf of Mexico looks almost angry.

It's All In Stereo Now...

My cleaning and organizing binge continues. Tonight, I got my home theater set up (which was a bugger). I had wires running everywhere. It is a shame I don't use it, but it is working fine tonight. I was listening to a little Steely Dan a moment ago and that bolstered my spirits somewhat as I sang along with Donald Fagen.

"Back Jack, do it again. Wheels turning round and round."

I about panicked when my Blu-Ray player wouldn't turn on after all that work. Always check the simplest things first when it comes to computers and electronics. It was not plugged securely into the surge protector.

Vittles Have Arrived...

Papa has been by with supper and medications. He cooked yellow summer squash with Vidalia onions, his special green beans, cornbread, and cube steak and gravy. As soon as my medications soak in, then I am chomping down on some delicious soul food.

"The steak got especially tender tonight," my father told me. "You can eat it with a fork. I hope you enjoy it!"

I thanked my father profusely. Dad likes to get a little praise lavished upon him when he cooks as he did tonight. His efforts are always delicious.

Johnny, He Keeps Strange Hours...

I was at Wal-Mart this morning buying some much-needed items to get my home theater/stereo running up to snuff. It has been dormant for months and I have been lazy about getting it running again. It wasn't an expensive purchase by any means. I have very sorely missed listening to my collection of minidiscs.

There was just an inkling of light on the horizon as I walked into the store. It was quite cool this morning as well -- much more reminiscent of fall. I was glad to have brought a jacket with me.

I was there to buy speaker wire and a wire crimper.  I also impulsively got an HDTV antenna while I was there for the television in my bedroom. I can, at least, tune into Georgia and Alabama Public Broadcasting now on that television. I also missed the visceral feeling of playing my music without have to click on it within a computer.

Well, I headed for checkout and these mongrel people straight out of The Beverly Hillbillies seemingly had half the store's groceries in their cart. I moaned under my breath and steadied myself for a long wait. It really is the right hour to be buying groceries at Wal-Mart despite this morning's setback. Luckily, the employee bagging groceries quickly and astutely opened up the next lane to rush me through.

Frivolities...

I bought the new Star Wars film on Blu-ray when I was at Kroger last week. I just sat through another viewing of the film on my home theater. I was thoroughly pleased and entertained. My only real complaints were that Kylo Ren was such a wimpy villain (more like a petulant child) and also that the director used too many recycled plot ideas from the earlier movies. I know he did this to cater to the Star Wars diehards. I enjoyed the film none the less, though, despite these misgivings. Due to impatience and attention deficit, it is not like me to sit through a whole film like that.