Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Hey there. What's up?

I've not been visiting much. I don't know if I will get around tonight. Probably tomorrow.

What I've been doing lately is absorbing myself into my hobbies. I had completely torn apart a guitar amplifier that I'd made. You can read about that amp and other stuff
here.

I did some modifications and improvements with some military spec parts. I had problems getting it working again, but I'm smart and figured out that I had a power tube lug shorting out to a heater wire. It was so compact and hard to see that I couldn't find the problem until I resorted to turning everything on and attacking the guts with a chopstick to see what happened (very smart).

I accidentally got bitten by the mains supply while doing this. Fortunately, it wasn't the power transformer's secondaries that my thumb hit--that would have been 680 VAC rather than the house current of 120 VAC that I got hit with.

The other amp I worked on was the 1957 Gibson Skylark of mine. I just installed a negative feedback bypass to have the option of even order harmonics with my signal. Translation: I can either have it normal and deeper sounding or richer and chimey. I know you all feel me on this.

Getting lost in these things has helped me de-stress from all the family's and my health issues. I know it has kept me away from all of you, but I needed to do it.

I went back a year in my archives and noticed how often and how righteously I used to bring it with my posts. Hopefully, I will be able to do a bit more of that soon. It has been hard to tap into that part of me when I'm busy being a chemo zombie.

From a favorite Townes Van Zandt tune of mine:

"If I had no place to fall,
And I needed to,
Could I count on you
To lay me down?"

I can't figure out if he needed rest or needed to get laid, but the way he sings it is beautifully sad in his longing, gentle phrase.

Alright, I gotta get up early to get a bunch of nasty chemicals pumped into me. Laters!

8 comments:

Me Myself and I said...

It's all good. Sometimes we need some time away to focus on the things that make us happy :) (other than blogging!)

My work is about to go from 0 to 60 in 3.5 seconds...so I may be absent for awhile too.

leelee said...

Electronics are cool! and so are you.

HUGS!!

Mayden' s Voyage said...

Very cool-
and I promise never to drink and blog at your place again.
Don't ask if you don't know~

Hugs :)

Jules said...

Hobbies are comforting, and in times like you're going through we need to consume ourselves in comforting things. So, my dear, it's understandable that you have done so! Of course I miss you, but I understand. (HUGS)

Queue_t said...

I miss your visits too. hang in there , we really understand the need to be away from the blog for a bit. notice all these women?? where are your guy friends huh??

Outdoorsy Girl said...

Good work with Lil Bastard! I'm glad that becoming a chemo zombie hasn't interfered with your hobbies.

Thank God for hobbies. If I didn't have mine to occupy me sometimes, I think might lose my sanity. (well more of it.)

The Grunt said...

Celeste~ I always knew you were a high performance model.

Lee Lee~ Cool! It feels good when people appreciate me.

Cora~ HAHA! No worries.

Jules~ How can you possibly miss poor little me?

QT~ Yeah, where are all the dudes at?

O-Girl~ Sanity? What's that?

Sun Follower said...

ah...Townes van Zant... he inspired the Cowboy Junkies, you know.