Thanksgoating - Day nineteen. Say cheese

@tohar1 So from left to right, the first guitar was the one I learned to played in high school in the 80’s. Kramer Stryker. I was in a really bad band with some buddies called Trix for Candy. My teen years are embarrassing

Middle guitar is a pretty nice Takamine acoustic/electric. I always said if I buy another guitar, I’m going to buy a used, well loved one. I’ve found, with instruments… you really get what you pay for. I bought it to play for my daughter when she was about two. It took a little time to knock the rust off, but she thought I was a rock star.

I got the LTD deluxe a few years later and paired it with a Line 6 Spider 75 amp. (I grew up as a Peavy guy… I think I see one in your photo) The pickups on the LTD with the sound profiles of the Line 6 make me sound so much better than my actual talent. I didn’t play for quite some time, but I’ve been picking up the Takamine recently when no one is home but me. It’s wonderfully therapeutic.

Is the guitar on the far right in your photo a B.C. Rich Warlock? My buddy had one in gloss black. That thing could shred.

@capnjb Yes, the red one is “Elvira” a mid-80s BC Rich Warlock that I bought new & have hot-rodded & modified to where it’s still my favorite axe. The blue (Pelham Blue to be precise) Les Paul is a Joe Bonamassa signature model. Really a nice sounding guitar! My wife bought me the bass two years ago for Christmas…a relatively cheap Ibanez 5-string…but still fun to play. It goes with the Orange bass amp. The two Peavey amps are used depending on what/where I’m playing…The Renown is a 2x12 with lots of power for volume if needed…sounds really good sitting atop a 4x12 stack that I borrow once in a while. The little Bandit–1x12–is fun for general plinking & plenty loud for the basement. I got the acoustic from a guy at work who needed some money…Decent little bugger that plays really nice. I’d like to buy a acoustic pickup to use with the little amp in the windowsill.
I think you should expand on the story of playing for your daughter…Rock star dad story sounds like a story for the masses!!

@tohar1 Nice collection. I feel like I’m turning into Johnny Cash. I should probably get a red one.

@chienfou Yeah, I believe I’ve mentioned that I’m a dork. No apologies.

@chienfou So the stormtrooper picture was early in the pandemic when the schools moved to virtual classes. My wife teaches pre-K and said I had to drop by for a surprise visit. I jumped in and was waving to all the kids and my wife just got up and left me there alone. I asked her how it was supposed to end, and she said, ‘just dance your way out’. So, I danced like no one was watching. Because armor.

@chienfou The Doctor Who door was a holiday decorating event at work. Most people did tinsel and bows and things, but I figured the door was already the perfect color, so I landed there. When my daughter really young, I taught her about the ‘sneaking’ angels. I was a little early to introduce her the Doctor, but we made a fun game of it. Later, she became a Who fanatic and this was her Halloween costume a few years ago. Can’t say I wasn’t a little proud.

@capnjb

Can’t say I wasn’t a little proud.

Rightly so. That’s amazing!

I believe I’ve mentioned that I’m a dork. No apologies

None needed.
The ST suit is great since it gives you license to do stuff you wouldn’t do normally…

@chienfou @capnjb And are those Perlick taps? (That’s what I use on my kegs. )

@chienfou @macromeh Indeed they are.

@chienfou So the beer taps… I haven’t brewed in some time, but I used to super geeky into brewing. I milled my own grain. I grew my own hops. I’d buy RO water and build it to the style of beer I was brewing. My daughter was an award-winning brewer at the age of four and I traded beers with another dad during baby class when my wife was pregnant. I can have a detailed discussion about beer.

Those taps I installed when my wife was five months pregnant. She agreed to let me punch holes in a perfectly good wall, so it happened. Very quickly I’ve got all the bits and bobbles to put homebrew on tap. Or local stuff and European stuff. I’ve had Dogfish Head IPA and a good German Pils running side by side. Beer is one of my favorite foods. Heh.

edit - I guess I didn’t answer the question about the plaque. It was just an inexpensive way to add some structural stability to my stupid project. I think I got it at Michael’s. Stained it, drilled it and the tap covers covered up the screws I used to secure it to the studs in the wall. The entire base plate probably cost me less than $10. The rest of the stainless-steel hardware was not quite as cheap.

@capnjb
Excellent. Beer is definitely one of my favs as well.
One of my favorite places locally is Tower Taproom. It’s a self-serve place of craft brews that charges by the ounce. You insert a card into the reader by the tap and it keeps up with your pours. The screen above each group of taps lists price per ounce and flavor notes. Tied back to the register so if you imbibe too much too quickly it cuts you off until you go to the register to get checked out.

I call it a beer ATM!.

@capnjb @chienfou Wow! Like a frozen yogurt place but better! Lucky you.
Here’s a better view of cpnjb’s tap setup:
https://meh.com/forum/topics/show-us-what-you-are-drinking-out-of#636d3d76161b246b70634043

@chienfou @Kyeh The thing that often missed in that picture is the jute bag that was staple-gunned (is that a word?) to a piece of plywood to become some basement artwork.

Spoiler alert… tomorrows post is going to be about coffee

@capnjb @chienfou
Oh, I did notice that - it’s very nice. So I suppose there’s more to it than mere decoration!

@chienfou @Kyeh Teaser trailer. The other side of the bag. (dun dun dunnnnn)

@capnjb
Ever been to the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin? They do a lesson to teach you the proper way to draft a pint of Guinness as part of the tour fee.

@capnjb @chienfou
Hmmmmm…!

@chienfou Nice. I’ve never been to Ireland but I’ve got an Irish wife. So, it’s on the list. I have had several business trips to the UK. And we have a favorite pub in Shrewsbury called The Nag’s Head. They had several different cask ales available, and I convinced the owner to let me bartend for an hour (didn’t even have to buy a pizza). I learned how to properly pull a cask pint. He got an hour of free labor, I got a free hour of life skills

@capnjb

Are there actually taps behind the wall connected to them?

@capnjb @chienfou
I’ve heard of those but since I no longer drink I don’t have any reason to go. Pretty cool, I love that I got to see it, thanks for sharing!

@capnjb @chienfou
We went to a self-serve taproom like that when we visited our son in the Bay area. They had Pliny The Elder on tap! I was impressed. (Pretty good burgers, too.)

@chienfou @macromeh Pliny on tap is a great find!

@chienfou @macromeh Someday I’ll tell you about the imperial stout that tried to kill me. You’re never really a brewer until you’ve mopped the ceiling

@capnjb @chienfou I look forward to the tale.
Beer seems to be doing me in at a much slower pace…

@chienfou @macromeh Spoiler:

movie guy voice

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the basement. When the house is quiet, and you are on your way to bed. If nothing is bubbling. DO. NOT. TOUCH. THE. BUNG.

BOOM!

@tinamarie1974 Amazon used to have something called ‘Explore’ where you could book a 1-on-1 tour with someone on the other side of the world. It was like a zoom meeting with two-way audio, and one way video from the host. We did several tours during the pandemic and got tours of Japan, Australia, Slovenia, Taiwan and others. Unfortunately, it looks like they just stopped the program at the end of October. This was at the Toucan Rescue Ranch in Costa Rica. We got a really cool behind the scenes tour and got to see a lot of beautiful birds, a peak at the vets working and spent a good bit of time with the sloths I’m disappointed to find out they stopped the program. I’m glad we got to do several tours.

@capnjb @tinamarie1974
can’t think of sloths without picturing this:

@capnjb that sounds amazing, wish I had known about it

@capnjb @tinamarie1974
That’s about the coolest thing I’ve seen in a while, I wonder why Amazon stopped the program too?

@chienfou We have one nearby. I thought it looked cool, so I surprised my daughter one day. She was probably twelve at the time. My wife and I were just there to watch (although next time I think we’ll suit up). Caitlin was the only kid in her session and when she finished her first flight, all the people in her group gave her high-fives as she walked past. She loved it.

@capnjb @chienfou I drive by that iFly fairly often and always think “what kind of crazy people are doing that?”

@cf1 @chienfou Only the best kind of crazy people. You should probably find out for yourself

@capnjb @cf1 @chienfou omg that looks amazing

@capnjb @cf1 @tinamarie1974
yeah, it was a blast when I did it. I always wanted to try skydiving and scuba diving. Got scuba certified and have done 50+ dives, but the closest to skydiving so far was the iFly in Orlando as I said above. Still may try a tandem jump some time. Maybe that will be my retirement present to myself when I turn 70!

My wife and I did a lot of snorkeling when we lived in Tampa. I’d love to get scuba certified but my parents thought it would be ok to show Jaws to a small child and that pretty much ruined saltwater for me. I might bring that up with my therapist on our next visit.

@capnjb
I’ve had the chance pleasure to dive with sharks on a few occasions and have snorkeled with some as well. Generally they aren’t interested in you if they can see you. One dive was in St Maarten where the divemaster was using pieces of raw fish on a 3ft piece of rebar that the sharks would swim by and grab. We were heavily weighted and on the ocean floor holding onto a ring of cinderblocks. I have some great pics from that dive somewhere. On one snorkeling trip on Cayman Brac with my wife (she doesn’t dive) we watched a shark about 20 yards away as we circled a coral head.
Haven’t been diving in a while due to … whatever… but still snorkel every chance I get. I LOVE being in the saltwater, esp in the caribbean.

@chienfou Heh… shark therapy might just be what I need

@chienfou I will say that swimming with an armada of rays is probably one of the best things I’ve done

@capnjb
Grand Cayman?

@chienfou I wish. This was actually at Discovery Cove in Orlando. My wife and I did a dolphin swim there when they first opened, and they had a reef they had built that was loaded with all sorts of sea life. Maybe 15-20’ deep. Most people just paddled about at the surface. I chose to dive deep because I was pretty sure there were no great whites in the water.

@chienfou Oh, there was a nurse shark. But I was ok with that. I’m a fan of nurses

@capnjb @chienfou years ago in Punta Cana I did a swim w dolphins, sting rays and sharks!! It was most of a day and it was fantastic

@capnjb @tinamarie1974
I’ll try to see if I can dredge up some pics as well.

@capnjb @chienfou Ha ha ha ha! I’d probably get sick all over everyone.

@phendrick No, then yes. Maybe.

@capnjb @phendrick
it’s due to the Coriolis effect…