While it's a pleasure to bring you stories and pictorials of various things I encounter here, that's not all that's happening. Harry is one swell fellow and he brought down a computer desk so I could get the computer off the dining table and now it's set up in a much more civilized way.
It's been taking some time to get the sound of the Boss GT-100 (the black box on the floor) dialed into what I want as you can't just plug into the thing and sound like Van Halen, assuming, of course, that you have any interest in sounding like that. First you verify what it sounds like by plugging headphones into the GT-100. Next you plug the headphones into the audio interface (the white box under the computer) and then finally you plug them into the output speakers to verify the sound coming out of the computer is what it was going into it. This involves a gigantic amount of knob-twiddling which excites me as much as cleaning grout in the bathroom.
However, the knob-twiddling is working and last night I got the best sound out of the guitar so far and this resulted in the best playing I've done since I got here.
There are still other problems as the power supply for the vocal effects (the purple box on the floor) will fry on Euro power. It would cost twenty+ euros for a transformer but it would cost less to replace the power supply with one that will not need a transformer and can plug directly into the wall here. The same is true for the Boss RC-50 looper. Hopefully both of these problems will be solved in the next few days after I get mobile.
There's news on the vehicular front as Harry said he could get me a scooter, a 50-cc fireball of a motorcycle. I'm not convinced that it would be sufficient as Greeks are pretty godawful drivers and there's not much evasive potential in a 50-cc scoot. Going up to 125-cc or 250-cc would be safer but would also be more expensive. There's no question of a car due to the much higher cost of the vehicle and also the cost of insurance. Whatever happens will be in the next few days as Harry and I will go into town today to clear the purchase with the police and this is required because I'm not Greek. It's not a big deal, just a necessary formality.
The motorcycle situation should be kind of funny as I haven't ridden anything with a displacement smaller than 750-cc for twenty years but it'll be fun and it'll definitely get it done. Getting a bicycle had been suggested but it's too far into town and riding on the same road with drivers who can't even dream of staying in a lane would be tantamount to suicide. Besides, yer frozen food would be thoroughly defrosted by the time I got it back here.
3 comments:
Any chance you've annotated your chess games? It's be fun to look them over. Really enjoyed the pics of the olive oil factory. And your Nothing is Real conversation reminds me of past conversations we've had, only ours had less anger and more laughter. I'm enjoying your Greece experience, reminds me of Hawaii with a Mediterranean flair.
The anger is a dork who cries like a girl if he's offended but says the virtual world isn't real and nothing matters if he gives offense. Malaka (laughs). (That's not the same as malakas but both apply!)
Whoops. Sorry about neglecting to reply to the chess question. I'll typically open with the King's Pawn and do a standard build from that while Mary will try all manner of radical approaches. None of it is annotated, however. It wouldn't be a bad idea to bring a notebook with me (paper rather than computing device) just the same as carrying a camera so maybe annotation could happen. (I refuse to carry any computing devices with me anywhere. I have a phone but it's cheap and stupid and there's no chance I'll carry the laptop or the iPad with me. Just won't do it!)
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