The young man who requested this one wanted to show love for his ‘hood via a railroad crossing, which symbolized the meeting of the two areas he spent time in. To try and match the impressiveness of his rather inspired request, I found a photo of a rail crossing signal online and switched out the text. I can’t wait to see this one healed so that I can add it to my “Best of…” section of my portfolio.

Specs: 32 keys, 45 voices, 45 background rhythm styles, each with intro, ending and breakdown variations. Effects: pitch-bend, vibrato, portamento, sustain. Can be used as a self contained keyboard with standard ‘80-s built in FM synthesized sounds, or as a fully featured 16-channel MIDI keyboard. Intuitive, uncomplicated operation ideally suited to live performances on stage. Powered by 6 AA type batteries (not included), or 9 Volts DC mains power adapter (included). The remaining details can be found in the included original user manual. If you’d like to see, you can download it free from the Yamaha manual library. Goto http://www.yamaha.co.jp/manual/english/index.php, search for SHS10.

Package includes: the original box & packaging (cardboard age is showing, styrofoam is dusty), keyboard unit (clean, all functions fully operational, volume slider sometimes causes a bit of static-like feedback on movement - a problem that has existed since it’s purchase back in 1999), original Yamaha power unit (perfect condition), original Yamaha key-tar strap (leather ends of strap are quite worn from use, but still functional), original user manual (very dog-eared, no pages torn or missing).

The praying hands with dog tags and the pit bull were a bit iconic, but the infinity heart was a pretty original idea. The young man who requested it on behalf of his wife (whose name appears in the banner) receives full credit for thinking it up. I thank all of the people who stopped by and allowed us to mark them up, and I hope to see your healed results in the future so that I can get some better pictures.

Not surprisingly, the item he wanted us to power for him was none other than the un-transportable TV from the previous night / asshole. According to the TV’s new owner, it was received as payment for helping it’s former “owner” fix the flat tire on his truck (you know, the one he couldn’t use to carry it earlier? Hmmmm…). Equally unsurprising was the fact that the TV didn’t work. I offered the poor gentleman my deepest condolences as I locked the front door behind him and returned to my work.

I’ve made the following point a number of times to the people I work with/on/around several times, mainly because I have yet to receive an answer: What is it about the word “TATTOO” written in the pink neon gas-filled glass tubing that takes up the majority of the shop front window that says to every passerby “Through that door lies the solution to my most petty and random plea for convenience. I must go unto those who work within and interrupt their tasks with my nonsense”? If I had a dollar for every crackhead that asked us to store their gardening equipment in our back room while they tried to sell stacks of random music CD-R’s to everyone in the building, I’d be living up to whatever expectation the neon radiance has apparently burned into the backs of their cranial cavities. If I could only harness the power of the Glowing Word and command whatever forces that draw carloads of DUI suspects out of their poorly parked cars and into our lobby and demands that they ask us to use our single toilet before walking half a block, past two sufficiently dark alleyways, to fill their bladders further at the nearby strip club that contains a multi-stationed toilet for each gender; with a power of that magnitude, I could rule the world! Bwah ha ha ha ha!!

“‘Skewmee! Skewmee muh manh!” I heard over my shoulder as I was leaving the shop at about 1:30am. He jog-walked up to me, introduced himself and began his pitch by inviting me three storefronts down the block to show me his exciting deal. It was a 17″ RCA TV that he said he’d carried from his apartment in the nearby residential district over five blocks away. It became too heavy for him to continue carrying, so he was offering it to anyone within earshot for the extremely desperate price of only $25. When I turned down his offer, he explained that he really needed the money to score an ounce worth of his favorite drug and dropped the price to $10 dollars. I explained to him that he was dealing from a very Anikin-Skywalker-on-the-hillside-esque bargaining position and that he really couldn’t expect a sale. When he asked why I had to be all like dat wit him, I pointed out the major holes in his plan of attack.:

• He left the apartment, that he said earlier he’d lost and been thrown out of, at one in the morning with a TV he could no longer muster the strength to carry, with the intent of of taking it to a destination he couldn’t give. Why, that didn’t sound suspicious at all…
• As he at one point told me, he lacked the strength to carry the TV any further. Why should anyone bother to pay for something that his body’s natural need for sleep will eventually force him to leave behind anyway?
• He was attempting to sell this TV on a block that, according to the brightly illuminated signs, contains three different pawn shops. Again, suspicious? Nah…

So why didn’t I just hand him $5 and take the TV? Part of me thought of driving over his ass and just taking the TV anyway. But I have a problem with helping to promote the stealing and sale of goods in the hood. I have sacrificed far too many panes of auto glass to a subculture that in return has given me nothing but uncomfortable rides to work on seats full of embedded glass micro-slivers that all the post-robbery vacuuming failed to remove. Fuck those people and anyone willing to support the destruction of the homes and lives of others in order to avoid paying full price for a CD or some kitchen appliance or another.

Today’s media highlight included a viewing of a DVD a co-worker recently rented entitled “Penetration Angst“. Penetration Angst is the story of a young brittish girl who has a penchance for getting raped by random men every few hours. This would probably be a bad thing, were it not for her demonically-powered, flesh-eating, attack vagina. Of course, the down side is that her fear of having the men in her life that she truly cares for irretrivably sucked into her negative zone causes certain intimacy issues. This drives a wedge between her and the long time attempted-boyfriend (stalker) from her neighborhood, driving him into a torrid love affair with one of a pair of siamese twins who have diametrically opposed sexual morals. Make sense so far? Didn’t think so. I will have to own a copy to add to my collection of tattoo-customer-quieting DVDs.

And now, I’m off to the wonderful world of Home to check on my water pressure and work on memorizing the lyrics to one of my new all-time favorite songs: the Catheter Song from the film “A Mighty Wind“.

And speaking of that spam i’ve been getting, a few of them have “from:” addresses that contain thirtyfivethousand.com. Is that just a function of the shitty lille robots that crank this stuff out or has something gotten it’s virtual little mitts into my mail account setup? Time to follow the arrows…

I made a stop by Circuit City today in an attempt to solve a keyboard problem I’ve been having. The problem comes from working at my desk all day with the daylight from the window providing visibility. As the sun goes down, so goes my ability to find the white characters on the all black keyboard that I need for pulling my shortcut keystrokes in Painter. If I get really busy, the change in ambience can sneak up on me and I’m bent over with my nose an inch above the space bar hunting for the ctrl key before I know it. I could just get up and hit the light switch, but if I’m rolling, I don’t want to risk that momentum for something as meager as saving my sight. Enter the Saitek backlit USB keyboard. What a great idea!!! Although the inspiration for it stems from the world of computer gaming, everything about it’s design is based around being easy on the eyes. In a well lit situation, the keys are a reflective silver with black characters; not too different from the all white keyboards most of the planet has seen before. In low light, two available levels of blue illumination define the keys and the characters on them, making hunting and pecking as simple and easy as it would be with the room lights on. Not quite as “clacky” as the old Dell keyboard it’s replacing, but nowhere near as mushy or quirky as the Virtually Indestructible version. It’s also pretty quiet; might work well in a learning / student apartment environment. I’ll miss the convenience of the VIK sleep, wake, and power keys (just have to roll ‘em up and save ‘em for the road…), but I think the Saitek and I will get along.