ckackley

06:51 pm - What a crap day ...

So ..  Today started out odd before I even woke up.  I hardley ever remember a dream. Last night however I had one of the MOST realistic,lucid dreams I've ever had.   In the dream I was driving down a road. My cell phone rings. The following conversation takes place- 
Me: "Hello? "
Female voice:- "Mr. Kackley ? "
Me: "Yup."
FV: "Hi. My name is ( can't remember).  I'm your father's daughter. " 

In the dream I almost wreck the damned car and I remember thinking "I Need to remember that name when I wake up" 
Of course , I wake up a few seconds later very shaken and the name is the first thing that  disapears from my brain.  Needless to say it's 3 in the morning and the rest of the night was fairly sleepless. 
What makes this dream wierd for those that may not know is the following-   I haven't seen my bio Dad since I was 5.  I don't know where he is , what he's doing and I would imagine he's probably dead by now.  He was in his late 30's and according to some sources in his 40's when I was born. Mom was 19 . Needless to say we don't talk about Fight Club much.. 
I have pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I don't care where he's at or what he's doing.   I have  always been curious about the possibilities of other siblings though.  I've got 3 half brothers, 1 worthless step brother , and a step sister.  I'm not lacking in the sibling department at all. However I am NOTHING like any of them. We have no common interests, beliefs, or points of view.  I am about as much a black sheep as it gets when it comes to fitting in with them.  The thought that I may have some other blood out there has it's possibilities I guess.  
I was a little off all day due to lack of sleep, the heat, and just being generally shaken.  Then around 9 this morning I hear that a good friend had a son overdose and kill himself last night.  That is sad enough by itself. What makes it worse is that about two months ago this same friend had another son die of an overdose.  I can't imagine being a parent and burying my kid, let alone burying two. The fact that drugs were involved in both deaths makes me both angry and sad.  I've worked with both guys and they were hard workers and actually really "good" people. They just couldn't stay away from the shit .This same friend has another son that works for me on the construction crew I run.  I know he's been dealing with some drug issues as well and I just hope that having two brothers die will wake him up and make him get some help. 
So. Overall a shite day.  Time to go play guitar or something...  

Current Mood: confused

10:11 am - Home ownership

So ,  I've got this house ..  I always thought owning a house would be about having everything done, all the loose ends tied up , and everything just right.  I have discovered that in reality, much like the rest of this thing we call "adulthood" it's not about what you get done but what can be put off.   Money , time, energy . All of these things work against you to keep things from getting done that "to do" list.   So you put the unimportant things off and play fireman putting out the pop up emergencies.  A few weeks ago it was a leaky roof that thankfully turned out to be a worn out cover on a stack vent.  That is now sealed back up and once the drywall dries out completely I'll be patching a small chunk of ceiling.  This morning Jen and I finally got to do a few of the things we've been putting off.  We tore up a small piece of deck that we don't use and was in pretty bad shape.  Grass seeds been planted and all is well there. I went out this morning and bought an air conditioner for the basement.  It been getting pretty muggy down here and the AC should help with that.  The only downside is that we had to unplug my beer refridgerator to plug in the AC..   :-(    The past couple of weeks as money allows I've been replacing the sinks and faucets in the bathrooms. Only have one more to go and that will be done.  Next Sunday will be patching and resealing the driveway. I can't WAIT to do that.  
Oh well.  Next thing ya know the taxes will be due.  :-P 

Current Mood: satisfied

10:52 pm - Actual conversation I overheard at the register in a 7-11

On my way home from CS practice tonight I had a craving for Ho-Ho's.. So I stopped and grabbed a pack.  While I was in line the following conversation took place. 

Cashier-  How can I help ya ?

Patron- I need to prepay some gas.

C- How much?

P- Uhhh. $15.  (he digs through his wallet)  Well, all I've got's a 20.. Make it 20 ..

C- OK . Which pump are you at? 

P- The one outside.

C- No , sir. Which number pump.

P- Uhhh. It's that truck out there.

C- ( Irritated at this point walks across to look out the store window)  The white truck? 

P- Uhhh.  Yeah . The one with four wheels.  ( I'm thinking he meant 4 wheel drive) 

C- OK .. $20 .. Will there be anything else? 

P- Uhhh...  (Long Pause)  Cigarettes.. Give me some cigarettes .

C- (large sigh)  What brand sir ? 


At this point I had paid for my Ho-Ho's and had to get out of the store before I broke out in fits of laughter.    :-)    I'll never be able to move away from West Virginia.  I doubt any other state could entertain me this much.  
 

Current Mood: amused

06:04 pm - Pop music I can get behind !!

http://www.myspace.com/nico2kubiack

This guy does amazing stuff. I completely hate Brittany Spears. I generally think her voice is crap, but on this guys remixes it works really well. Give "Womanizer" a listen. The Fergie one is pretty trippy too.

10:19 pm - Music stuff ..

Just to let everyone know- The Mudvayne album "The New Game" is fucking awesome. Best album I've heard in a long time. I also picked up Korn's greatest hits. While I'm still not a huge fan of the entire band the rhythm section in that band can't be beat.
I now leave you with a group of men that I must track down so that I may eat their souls and gain their abilities. The bridge starting at 2:25 makes me sick .

Embedding disabled so here's the link .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5I4qP0u8lQ

On other news , Maddie now has a small plastic toy dog. It came with a Barbie doll. You feed the dog plastic pieces of "dog food" and the food passes through the dog and you lift it's tail to make it use the bathroom. What WILL they think of next ??

Current Mood: amused

09:50 pm - Which of these does not belong ?

Todays headlines struck me as odd when I checked the news on my cell phone at lunch.

1. GM files for Bankruptcy protection

2. French jet crashes over Atlantic with 288 passengers

3. Susan Boyle suffering from exhaustion

So I ask again . Which of these does not belong ? :-)

07:50 pm - A weekends quest.

So I bring to you today a tale of beasts and tormentors. Brave warriors and filthy knaves. Here I give to you the freakin' highlight of my weekend.
( Cut for space and foolishness . :-)  )
Some of this is true. Some exaggerated for benefit of a good story. :-P
There's some darker stuff percolating in my brain that I'll post on in a few days.
I hope you all had a good weekend ! :-)

Current Mood: amused

12:06 pm - Damnit .. I quit .. :-P

Stairway on an Iphone... Youtube is full of clips of people doing things like this. There's even a "band" set up.

07:50 pm - Sooooo tired ..

The Blueridge Beltane festival was a lot of fun. Except for the whole 48 hours and almost no sleep thing. Our neighbors were a bit loud. Pics are up from the show on the bands website, facebook, myspace, ect.
I left the campsite at 11:30 and met Jen and Maddie at my in-laws around 1:30 for a mothers day get together. We left there and went to my parents house for another mother's day shindig. It's a jarring reality check to go from hanging with a bunch of free thinking pagans all weekend to being around my family. As time goes by I realize how less and less I fit in. Not that I've ever fit in 100% but that small amount I had seems to be slipping. My mom brought out an experimental BBQ recipe called "Texas BBQ" to which I replied "Does it taste like republicans?" Not a single chuckle. Mostly puzzled expressions and odd looks. I think I heard some crickets chirp. :-(
So we finally get home around 6:30 and my car's unloaded. I think I'll be heading to bed shortly. We've picked up a fair amount of work so this week looks like it'll be back to the grindstone.
Happy belated Beltane everyone. Now go have sex .....  




Damn I'm tired ...

Current Mood: exhausted

03:21 pm - A huge helping of success with a side order of fail ..

( Guitar goodness behind the cut !! )

09:44 am - More guitar stuffs

Got some more work done on the guitar this morning. I got the frets and nut installed and also did the rough finishing on the frets with a hand file. I also got the holes marked to drill through the body for the strings. I switched bridges and am going back to my original string through body plan. A few of the frets are being a pain in the ass. A few want to keep popping out of the fretboard. I used superglue on a couple and it seemed to do the trick. Next up is to hit the fret edges with a sander, drill the holes for the strings and then paint it. I have learned that next time I'll be doing the frets BEFORE putting the body wings on. It'll make finishing the frets WAY easier. I'll probably invest in a "fret saw" as well. The coping saw worked really well, but a stiff blade that's a hair thinner would have been better.
( Pics here )

06:54 pm - Thought for the day. ..

Spending the day working with my Step Father and Step Brother makes me thankful that I don't have any memories of my biological father. If that's what a father/son relationship is like they can have it.
Tomorrow looks like more of the same.. Hooray .

Current Mood: irritated

06:01 pm - Guitar progress

Got the truss rod today and found a few minutes this afternoon to install it and glue down the fretboard.




I still haven't drilled the last tuner hole as I'm still undecided where to put it. It was suggested that I get a banjo tuner and stick it dead center of the headstock. That might actually not be a bad idea.
I dry fit all of the electronics over the weekend and drilled out a few of the control holes a bit bigger. I'll have a volume and tone knob along with a 3 way switch that I'm rigging up to be a "kill" switch since I'm only putting in one pickup.
Now it's a TON of sanding to get the neck profile done and the body smooth for paint. I Might even rough the neck in with a wood rasp then sand as I've got way more material than I originally planned on .

Current Mood: accomplished

08:28 am - Weekend and guitar update

So , a busy start to the weekend and a slow ending. Not bad at all. :-)

Saturday was the Aries music festival and though the turnout wasn't much, it was a fun night. This Saturday at the Brass Monkey should be a blast.

Sunday was spent putzing around the house and working on the guitar build a bit more. I got the holes drilled for six of the tuners and dry fit all of the electronics to make sure the holes/cavities were big enough. I also got the chunk of ebony for the fretboard in and cut it to match the neck. I had to order a truss rod, so I'm at a stopping point until I get that. I've run into a few problems in all this that I didn't anticipate. First off, and the most annoying is the ordering of parts for a seven string. Everything comes in groups of 6. I have a sweet set of black tuners and now I need ONE more. I've checked locally and can't find a single tuner anywhere. I really don't want to spend $50 on another set of 6. :-( The other problem involves the tuners but it's completely created by me. I'm making a Les Paul style guitar with the usual 3 on a side tuner setup. I HATE the way most seven string LP's have the 7th tuner stuck on one side or the other like an afterthought. I'm actually thinking of putting the tuner in the center of the head towards the top. It'll be all nice and symmetrical. We'll see though.

I've got a ton of things I could work on today. Work was called off due to a complete downpour of rain all morning, which also means that any other project I could work on is under water as well. Welding/cutting wet steal is an "enlightening" experience. :-P
Also, sanding a guitar body in the house is grounds for divorce I'd think.

We need the rain though . Can't complain about that. :-)

Current Mood: indifferent

01:42 pm - Black Label and Sevendust last night ...

Awesome bands !! Not so awesome of a venue . :-P

Joe, Jay and I invaded Ram's Head live last night to see Dope, Sevendust, and Black Label Society. The bands were awesome , and I think by now most of you know that I'm a huge Zakk Wylde fan. Great show , and the sound was decent. Being packed into a club like a bunch of sardines was not a ton of fun though. I'm a bit on the claustrophobic side and crowds in particular weird me out. I don't think I'll be heading back there unless it's a band I'm desperate to see. I'm thinking Nissan pavilion will be my 1st choice for a venue.

Now, off to learn how to play guitar behind my head, or with my teeth .... :-P Maybe both at the same time ..........

Current Mood: tired

04:03 pm - A conversation after pre-school ..

So I picked Maddie up today from preschool since the rain called off my work plans. I was informed by the teacher that Maddie was put in "Time out" today for touching another kid. Turns out the touching was her putting her arm around one of the boys . They have a clear no touching rule at school and the teacher was cool about it and Maddie seemed to not be bothered by the whole thing. We get into the car and the following conversation occurred ..
Me- How was school ?
Mad- Great! Did you know that Evan is my boyfriend ?
Me- He is ? What brought that on ?
Mad- I told him he was my boyfriend. That's how.
Me- Ahhh. Well, you know that you're not supposed to have a boyfriend in preschool.
Mad- Daaaad. It's OK . He said OK when I told him.
Me- *headdesk*

So I guess the bars go on the windows this week. Hell, she's not even 5 yet. I'm so not ready for this stuff. :-(

Current Mood: blank

06:47 pm - More guitar building news ..

No pics this time. I haven't done anything that cool. I did however finish sanding the body wings yesterday and glued them to the body. Today when I got home from work I took the clamps off and filled all of the various holes and uneven spots in with wood putty. Tomorrow I'm going to make a trip to a local repair guy and see if he'll sell me a truss rod. I can order one for $10 but I'd rather just buy it and have it. I did however order the fretboard last night. Scored a piece of ebony on ebay for $12. I'll probably pick up the frets while I'm out tomorrow as well.
Since I've got ebony on the fretboard my current paint scheme is a black body, black hardware, ebony (black) fretboard. Real original. :-P I've seen completely blacked out guitars before though, and they look neat. My other idea was for a white body and a black copy of my Aries tattoo on the body. Paints a LONG ways off, so I've got time to think about it.
If I have time tomorrow I want to sand the body the rest of the way and install the truss rod if I get one. I need to pick up a volume pot and jack as well. If I get all of that tomorrow I might even wire it up. Fretboard should be in some time next week. :-)
Gotta think of a neat design for the headstock too.......

01:13 pm - The guitar building saga continues ..

( Cut fo Pic Spam )( Cut for pics )

08:14 am - Geico anyone ??

So, the gecko lured me to their website .. They're actually $600 a year cheaper than my current carrier.. A bit cheaper on homeowners insurance too. Anyone have or dealt with the company ? I've had my auto insurance for 13 years and have never had an issue with them so part of me is kinda nervous to switch. Though the $600 a year is tempting as hell.
Work is still weird. So I was actually contemplating a vehicle trade while I still can. I'm completely unhappy with the idea of getting a gas sipping car. But, I know that as the economy improves gas prices will rise. It's already starting. So, if I'm in a better shape to commute it will open up my job prospects should I have to. I'm sure I'll have at least the same amount of room in a car as I do the Jeep . Jen's SUV has a receiver hitch for the trailer so we'd be in fine shape there.

Being an adult sucks. :-(

01:54 pm - Got wood ??

( Cut for friends lists .... )