2002-04-04 -

Outrage, Bass Hero and Oppressor

Sorry about the hiatus, dear readers. The one chance I had to post recently came at a time when Diaryland was down. Sometimes you can't win.

The major suckiness of this week was layoffs at the office. I still have my own job, but I had to terminate the employment of one of my people. He was a really good guy, with useful ideas and plenty of skills. Worse, I had to call him on his vacation and let him know. "Hey, when you come back from vacation, clean your cube out and don't come back." Not that I put it that way, but that's how it felt. Feh.

That made me Mr Mopey for the rest of the week. I didn't take this job so I could fire people who didn't deserve it, dammit.

Other than hating that part of my life, I've been doing well, I guess. I got my bass tuned up and plugged in yesterday, and did some practice work with headphones. As I've mentioned before, playing bass through headphones is a little like masturbation- OK for passing the time but ultimately unfulfilling. Bass ought to shake the walls, dammit.

In pursuit of that goal I went to a local "Guitar Center" store to check out the cabinets today. They spent an inordinate amount of time checking my bass and noting the serial number to make sure I didn't try to walk out with a different one. Then the salesman gave me a patch cord and told me to try whatever cabinet I liked, and walked away. I'm pretty sure I'd actually get *more* attention from the sales staff if I emailed some crappy web retailed. To hell with the Canton, MI Guitar Center.

Luckily, I still have the satisfaction of being the daddy. I disassembled one of her toys to remove the pennies she'd inserted into it, and she promptly proclaimed me her hero. Sometimes the parenting gig works out OK.

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