"Sunrise, sunset"

Not to be confused with a "שאַדכן, שאַדכן" (matchmaker, matchmaker) type of scenario, but for some reason, Sunrise, Sunset popped in my head. It has no relevance to my sunrise pictures in the sense that no one is getting married, but sometimes I like to nick borrow words from lyrics. 

Sunrise pictures taken on a Friday morning (as usual) and given the team meeting we had Friday afternoon, this may be the last set of photos I take, as my shift has changed an hour. Instead of going in at 7 for market setup, I'm going in at 8 for regular duties.

All photos taken on an iPhon 6S. WYSIWYG

Unlike that part of waking up this morning to baby, if you ever wondered. Wondered whatever became of me. I'm living on the air in Cincinnati, Cincinnati, WKRP. I'm just a mash of things today.

Yes, I had the WKRP theme song in my head. Just when I wanted to look for a walkman and try to record that Power Rap tape to my computer.

I knew I had some sort of cassette player somewhere in my storage closet. It was a matter of finding it.

I did.

From what I can find on Amazon, this particular model doesn't exist anymore, in terms of "new". Someone is selling it for $10 with $4.77 shipping. Similarly, there is a Prime purchase of $24.74 and it's a slightly different model.

Either way, I tried the version I have, and it failed. I went into Audacity, started the tape, let it run and then tried to edit it in the end. Well.... the player is busted. Even with new batteries. Yes; it turns, it makes the typical whirring noises, but it just doesn't play.

Steven Tyler once suggested "just push play", which I did. Talk about a dummy version.

But the whole thing gives a really bad signal wave and just doesn't have any music coming out. Unless you count mechanical noise as music. I even tried plugging my computer speakers into the headphone jack. Same problem.

Guess it wasn't meant to be... unless I tear out my full recording studio and try to mess around with it. Then it comes down to "why? For what?" because I'm not tearing out my record collection; I've got no space for it. I need to move and create a music room from a bedroom. Until that happens, things are going to remain quiet.


Have a good Sunday.


Cheers;







See Also (aka various artists trying their hand at Sunrise, Sunset):

• Perry Como
• Eddie Fisher
• (the) Motion Picture Soundtrack
• Louis Armstrong
• Tony Bennett

"Work, work work..."

This morning I had to be at work at 7:30 to help put an indoor bocce game away. While I was waiting for my team mate (because we can't seem to get on the same page on how to put the planks away), I was outside and was watching the lagoon. I decided to take some pictures and although WYSIWYG, they came out really interesting.

All pictures taken on an iPhone 6S:

The other thing I wanted to share, and wish I had thought of taking video when I said "I'm totally blogging this!" is we got a "finders keepers, losers weepers" mail today in the department. It's been lost on the Island for a few days, but probably has been sitting in a back corner of an office for over a week. I noticed it yesterday.

It's on Amazon as "Voice Amplifier with Microphone Headset 18W Portable Bluetooth Speaker Megaphone Loudspeaker Voice Recording Power Bank Waterproof IPX5 for Outdoor Activities, Shower, Teaching (Blue-Wired)" and is actually quite fascinating.

Because it's Bluetooth, it can connect to other BlueTooth devices (like our smart phones or tablets), and can be hooked to something like a CD player for those old school kids (even my boss asked "what about an 8 track???" I laughed and said "probably. But you need a mixer at this point"). Seems for our purposes, we can use it to substitute the Chattervox some days for meetings. We were testing it out today, and my team mate said "it goes from zero to 100 in no time" as far as the volume is concerned. Although you can use the volume buttons on your device to lower or raise the music, the music can go from mute to 11 in one click, unfortunately. It's not meant to be used in a small office with the door closed, that's for sure. It'd be more for a big room of people and you want to hide the speaker somewhere out of sight. Would be worth taking out to parties or the beach in a big group. Small, intimate settings, no, unless you plan on using the headset microphone and giving a lot of speeches. Then the volume control on the actual speaker comes in to play. Headset sounds great for what it is, and I wouldn't suggest turning it too loud or you face screeching feedback. Learned that lesson at my desk, playing with it. Across the room were 5 tables of people playing card games.

I guess that's about it for now. Maybe if we have time tomorrow, I'll see if I can take a video of this new toy and upload it.

Until then, Happy Thursday!

Cheers;







See Also (aka music I was jamming to while writing | aka a lyric in the post title):
Escape to Margaritaville (Original Broadway Cast Recording)

Guess who's back | Spying on the neighbors

Toad: It's what's for dinner.

Yesterday morning when it came down to setting up the market at work, my team mate said "the frog is back!!" and lo and behold, he gained weight! Someone's been eating the fire ants.

Alas, he's back, hanging out on a vendor chair. Even one of the early vendors joked "is someone charging him table rent?" and we laughed at it. Considering this thing has been lounging on the chair every Friday like it's going out of style. Don't know what it is that keeps him coming our way, but he won't leave. Wonder what it takes for him to find a new home?

* Frog photos are WYSIWYG taken on an iPhone 6S

Later in the day, I had to pick up some tables in an apartment building. No big deal; something I do all the time. The difference? I had a helper with me, so I had him pick the furniture up while I went to count chairs on one of the floors. We store chairs all around the community I work for, as some of these buildings need a few here and there.

Well, I made my way up to the second floor balcony of the common area, and what did I find?  Two telescopes. One larger one (from Sears, no less) and one smaller one. What's the problem? The place these tripod peepers are located, are facing another building. Which means the residents of this complex are spying on their neighbors. Guess they need something to do during bad weather?

Before anyone gets up in arms about my insinuations over what's really going on, I am seriously hoping my readers are taking the thought as a joke. I know the people aren't watching for anything raunchy. All it takes is a tilt of the lens and you're looking at the sky. There are really too many trees in the way to really get a good look at a unit across the parking garage.

Take a look for yourself and make your own speculations:
(taken on an iPhone 6S. WYSIWYG)

Yes, I know I didn't get a proper vantage point of the parking lot, but it's a lot more fun to "make shit up" when you can. ッ😉


I guess that's it for now. Whatever you do, don't hurt yourself and try not to look into the wrong window...


Cheers;







See Also:
Title reference (Guess Who's Back - Eminem: Without Me (Album Version) [Explicit])
Title reference (spy theme: Surf Rock - Los Straitjackets - Espionage)
Title reference (spy theme: Classic TV - Dominik Hauser - Secret Agent Man (From the Original Score to "Danger Man"))
Telescopes - via Amazon

"Baron to the Lady d'Arbandville?"

"Baron de Munchausen"



Oh! The conversations we tell! My friend played "Baron" in an online word tile game, so I thought I'd be smart and hit him with an old school Cat Stevens reference. My friend kicked it back with something to the left.

Good times.

I know it's Friday and I've been posting pictures about a certain obtuse amphibian, but I wanted to throw some sunrise pictures up today. No, I didn't see Mr. Frog (I wasn't cleaning up the market) but it didn't stop me from asking about him. He wasn't seen today... we must have ticked him off last week.

Call it a slow news day, but these were taken at 6:48-6:49 this morning. All shot on an iPhone 6S and no filter.

Enjoy and behave.


Cheers;

Someone didn't do their research...

I've said it before in my blog posts, and I'll say it again: Although I'm sitting here writing an opinion of what I'm done or am currently looking at, I always do my research. I implore who ever reads my blog to do their own search as well, so that they may gain knowledge about whatever the topic at hand is.

Case in point:

Yesterday (while at work and on a 10 minute down time), I received a phone call. I typically don't answer my phone while at work, nor do I answer if I don't know the number. Seeing how the caller ID read out the phone number and location (San Diego, California), I gave it a shot and answered it.

I did not get the name of the person, as they immediately started running off the name of a book. The book sounds like some twisted version of a conspiracy theory's next door neighbor, and the name of the author doesn't ring a bell. The caller was looking for "Destroyer of Man by the author Dominic Owen Mallary". I asked the person to repeat themselves because the voice sounded like your typical chilled Californian, on top of the fact this call was unexpected - do I look like a book seller? Did I answer my phone saying "Thank you for calling Amy's Books"? No. Again, the unknown caller states they are looking for "Destroyer of Man by author Dominic Owen Mallary" and asked if I were Dominic. I asked what it was in reference of (because you know when you get these crazy calls, especially from someone in the US, you have to keep them on for a few minutes to see where it goes), they said they are from some publishing agency and would like to talk to Dominic. Am I Dominic, or do I know how to get in touch with Dominic? I said "I can not confirm nor deny who I am", and they responded that they need to know in order to complete the conversation and not further waste anyone's time. As much as I would have loved to keep the conversation going, again, I was at work. So I hung up.

My coworker heard my end of the conversation as she was sitting next to me. She heard bits of what the caller was saying as well, and all she could do was laugh. We both did. It was the most random phone call I've gotten in months, and the ridiculous part was how I kept the person on the phone for 5 minutes without stating my identity (and they stating theirs, except for the name of the publishing company).

Since I had a few minutes still, I did some Internet trolling. I found the book on Amazon (as I've linked), and pages of search engine results on the kid being dead. Honest truth - search this kid and you'll see he died a decade ago. My co worker asked if it's possible I have his number. I said "it's not. I've had this cell phone number since 1999. Long before he decided to off himself". Just because Worcester is in the same 508 area code as my cell phone, doesn't mean I job share with a metalhead (seriously... look this guy up. My co worker and I both agreed he looks like a creep, but he's a "gothic punk").

I don't know why I got the call or what the person was looking for, but when you ask for the person or if the receiving party knows the person, you obviously didn't do your research. The fact that the caller immediately said "I am looking for Destroyer... by the author Dominic..." means they just know of the title and not that he's no longer coming down for breakfast. The person was most likely looking to gain some sort of publishing rights to the book as they were so adamant on speaking to the guy. They could have very easily said "My name is such and such, and I'm with such and such publishing. I'm looking to speak with Dominic in regards to a previously published book", and go forth with the conversation. But that's also providing this person did their research because then they'd know the guy is pushing up daisies in North Cemetery, Berlin (Worcester County), Massachusetts.

It might be a case of miscalling a similar number, but who knows. All I know is what I've been saying for a couple years: Do your research and figure out what you need to do in order to complete what you want. I can't forward the call to Dominic - I don't know who he is, except that he was an Emerson College graduate, into punk and screamer rock, and a year younger than me. As well as he grew up in Worcester. I had to Google him to find this information, plus some. Maybe everyone should do some (even) basic searching, and they can get a multitude of answers... you never know until you look!

Take care of whatever you do and watch what you do - it may be the last time you do your routine...


Cheers;

He's got no ticket to ride...

... and it ain't fair!

Well, the frog was back at the market today. No cash, no purchases. Just different chair. My team mate thought he must be dead because it seems like this amphibian hasn't moved an iota in a week since we last saw him. Except the problem is the small fact he was on a different chair. 

It's so weird that there's an active market going on, and no one has mentioned that there's a good size frog taking a nap on one of the cushions. My team mate and I happen to stumble across this guy only when we're cleaning up. Oddly enough, we don't see him early in the morning. I guess we're not paying much attention when we're moving tables at 7 in the morning? 

Either way, I ended up taking photos and a video again; this time he actually jumped to the leg of another chair! It was funny as hell because we couldn't get over the fact he was still around and no one caught him or shooed him away, yet, he's so still that he must have wondered why we were interrupting his afternoon nap...

That's it for the updates right now.

Cheers;

Pictures or it didn't happen: 

all photos taken on an iPhone 6S with no edits. WYSIWYG.

A video for good measure:

Don't mind the background noise. It's a radio ad plus my team mate moving a table

Video taken with iPhone 6S. Thrown into Pinnacle Studio 18 Ultimate (software update = Pinnacle Studio 21 Ultimate Video Editing Suite for PC.

See Also:

Song reference in title - The Beatles: "Ticket To Ride"