Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Fender Princeton Reverb Reissue

Okay, this might be a long story, but about a week ago I was in guitar center looking for information about the Fender Princeton Reverb Reissue guitar amp. It is a "reissue" of their very popular 1965 version of this amp. I have been looking for another nice lower power amp that is more suitable for around the house - instead of using in a concert - and was thinking this might be a good option. The only problem is that no one locally has any of these babies in stock so it wasn't like I could play on one to test it out.

So, there I was, minding my own business in Guitar Center when someone came up to talk to me. I mean what in the world were they thinking, I was like, minding my own business! Anyway I asked some questions about the amp and after a short exchange (and some false information) the guy there was like "I can get you the amp for X". Now when he said X, I was like, hmm, that number seems a bit low from what I had priced out before and I wasn't absolutely sure if maybe I had incorrect information. Well, we were running a bit late and needed to leave (Denise and Deanna were with me). So we headed home.

Once home I logged onto some sites, to include eBay and noticed that the price I was quoted was $200 bucks cheaper than the normal "everyday low price". I thought, "Hmm" that odd so I called them back to make sure everything was good. So after talking to him and getting some clarification - it would be from a different store but it would be new but might have been on the floor. The guy said he would make some calls and call me back.

After about an hour or so I got a call back expecting some problem. There really wasn't a problem per say but he did say the one he was trying to get might not have been as "new" as he though so he searched the company inventory and found one at a store in Texas. He said the guys there said they just pulled it out of the box a week ago and that it was in great shape. I was like, "really, what if it sucks?" He was like, no problem it's new and if you don't like it just bring it back here and we'll take care of it. So I say go for it!

Alright - first issue, like a bonehead I didn't really call to follow-up until the end of the week. Guess what, they charged me for it, but the guys in Texas forgot to send it. So in a mad dash they got it in a box and sent it out.

Well today it showed up and I had prepared myself for problems, and you know what? Not one, the darn thing is wrong!  It is in perfect new condition with all "box candy" and such and sounds AMAZING!

The double best part about this is that for some crazy reason Fender has decided to increase their prices and I saved over $350 bucks on this thing. I mean like how often does that happen!

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Desirae's Birthday Party...

Desirae's birthday party was today and she has a pretty good turn out. Actually I think everyone that she invited showed up and it was a pretty full house. Denise had a couple of games planned but for the most part no one was really interested in them. She did wrangle all the girls into the backyard for a bit so that was kind of nice.

Mike had dropped of Aquaria and the plan was for us to take her back into town and go to dinner someone. Well, we got a really late start and were over an hour leaving so when we finally got into town it was nearly impossible to go anywhere "nice" for dinner. As it turned out though Desirae wanted to go to IHOP and for some odd reason they weren't busy! YA.

Anyway Desirae and Aquaria wanted Desirae to have a sleep over so we ended up dropped Desirae off there for the evening. So all it all it was a pretty good day.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Erhart visit...

Denise's sister and her family made the trek over the hill to visit one more time before they leave California. Soon they will be heading to Texas to help setup a ranch for a friend. So they came over today and we had a nice lunch, dinner and a good amount of time to visit. Denise was feeling the effects of staying up late from yesterday's girl scout outing on the base. The kids spent hours running around the house and playing various games. At one point they even played Monopoly.

Speaking out of girl scout outing, Denise and Desirae had a really good time and it sounded like it was a lot of fun. The only bad thing is that they both stayed up way to late and where dead for most of the day. Desirae did have the advantage because when they got home she went back to sleep. Denise, on the other hand, had to get everything ready for her sister's visit.

OBTW - I am getting on a roll with my photography again. I even setup shop while Denise was making the soup and photographed that, so I have put more images in the queues during the last couple of days then I did through the entire last year! Nothing is really moving, but it is really nice to be actively shooting again!

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Devin's Birthday Party...

Today was Devin's birthday party. Everyone was running a little late which caused Devin some anxiety but ultimately Anne with her kids and Madison showed up. Denise had setup a couple different games for the kids to play and with the weather the way it was everyone was pretty much stuck inside. Devin wanted an angle food cake with ice cream which is really pretty good. We also had a bit of an issue withe helium. Denise bought a brand new in-the-box kit which when I opened it had no balloons and the tank was empty. So after a mad rush to Tehachapi everything was back on track.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! We had a really nice day and just puttered around the house. The kids got their fill of Valentine's candy and had a pretty good time. We were thinking of some ideas with a single rose, which we didn't get to photograph, but I went ahead and shot the image above.

I hope everyone had a great day!

Tomorrow is Devin's birthday party and then later in the evening Denise and Desirae are doing a "lock-in" at the base for Girl Scouts.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Devin's turn!

So today after school Devin decided he was up for a little studio shoot. So we maneuvered our way into the garage and around all the lighting equipment and spent a few minutes making some photographs. He got tired of standing pretty quickly but he did a great job and seemed to have fun making some pictures. He is really making good progress and has now started taking his walker to school so he is using both the wheelchair and the walker. He is really working hard and we are very proud of him. He is also continuing with his physical therapy and that is going good. The only bad thing is all the bills from everything are starting to come in and that is a little unpleasant, but oh well...

I took today off and Denise and I (and Deanna) went into town for a small boondoggle. Basically it consisted of going to Claim Jumper's for a really nice lunch. We don't get to do much without all the kids so it's kind of a treat to get out together.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

The big 1 0...

Today Devin turned 10 years, the big "1 0". He was pretty excited about it (and a bit nervous, I mean he is in double digits now) and wanted to go to Ramons for dinner. So as soon as I got home from work we loaded everyone up and headed out to dinner. He ordered a "big person" dinner (and nearly made himself sick eating too much) with the serenade ending. Anyway he was pretty darn happy and I think he had a good time. His birthday party is this weekend so we have more festivities planned!

Desirae was sporting the shirt that Denise bought during our Las Vegas trip (for herself) that only made it one washing before it became Desersized. So now it's Desirae's shirt. Anyway it is a really cute shirt and Desirae looked very cute in it so I did a quick couple of shots before she had to change for bed. Having the studio setup reminds me just how much I like shooting like that and how much I wish I had a bigger space to let it set up all the time. Oh well, I still have Gene's Shop Envy...

Monday, February 09, 2009

Desirae, portrait

Today when I got home from work I thought I would try to use the studio since everything was set up. The first thing, the garage is freaking cold out there right now! I tried to take some shots of Deanna first, but after two clicks she was done. After dinner, and after showers, Desirae wanted to try a couple of shots so we went back out there (with the heater) and spent a few minutes making some photographs. Desirae is was really fun to shoot and she took direction very well!

Sunday, February 08, 2009

Well...

So basically everything fell apart this weekend on photo shoots. I did have a good time with Tom yesterday but everything I had planned to do was canceled on me. First somehow Nick and I were on different pages and he was thinking Sunday and I was thinking Saturday. So then I figured, no problem, we shoot on Sunday. Since I had an early morning shoot planned at the castle on Sunday I figured I should connect with Nick in town instead of here. But, toward the end of Saturday I got word that everything at the castle had turned blown up and the morning shoot was off. So this morning I awoke without a real plan as to what was going to happen. I setup incase Nick showed up, but that didn't happen. Since I had everything setup I figured I would play around with some guitar photographs. These didn't turn out exactly the way I had in mind but it was good practice. I tried to talk Devin into coming out, but he wasn't in the mood for it. Desirae has been sick so she wasn't game either.

So, like I said I ended up with guitar pictures... Oh well, now I have to figure out when I can reschedule with Nick and try again!

Saturday, February 07, 2009

Salvaged photo shoot....

Okay, so today was SUPPOSED to be a shoot with Nick. But as it turned out we had our days mixed up (I was thinking today - and he was thinking Sunday). I was unable to get with Tom to wave him off so since I had everything ready we did some studio training instead. Tom really hasn't had an opportunity to shoot with strobes and soft boxes he it worked out really well. Instead of everything being focused on a setup shoot we just kind of played around. Since mainly Tom was shooting onto of shooting the always ready Deanna he shot some stuff with me and Denise too. We were also able to get some really nice shots with me and Deanna too. All in all it was a pretty good afternoon of shooting and I think everyone had fun with it. Tom is now thinking about getting some strobes too so that could be fun if he decides to do that.

I had a morning sunrise shoot scheduled but that fell apart about twenty minutes ago. So the only thing left is the shoot with Nick and that is a tentative thing right now. So well just have to see how that works out!