Living in Twilight

...So the Steelers won, although the downright lousy officiating left a bad taste in my mouth (I don't think it changed the outcome of the game, the Seahawks dropping 4 passes and missing 2 field goals took care of that). I was watching the game at a friend's house with him & his Bengals posse, I was seriously tired of the whining by the end of the night.

Glad to report that Mom is back home and doing okay, it will be a long recovery but in some ways she already seems to have improved from her pre-surgery condition - we were sitting in her hospital room talking while waiting for her discharge paperwork, and I noticed she was sitting with her legs crossed - she hasn't been able to do that in about six months. They should be taking her staples out sometime in the next few days, I'm going to drop by this weekend to check on her.

Unfortunately, absolutely nothing interesting on the internal combustion front. I've been jonesin' for a ride on the bike, and then we get a cold snap that makes that a total impossibility. I found out my stepdad will be going to bike week this year, but haven't had a chance to talk to him about it yet.

The only other news of interest is what the UPS man brought me:

Hamer Archtop in Bullion Gold.

Musician's Friend was closing these out for $199 and I don't have anything with dual humbuckers, so I thought I would give it a shot. It was backordered for two weeks and I think it came directly from the factory to me (it was still covered in sawdust). I took it in for a professional setup and it plays like a dream, the guys at the shop were very impressed with it and blown away when I told them the price I got it for ("That's gotta be way below cost!"). I've also got a compressor pedal & a mini-amp on the way, I'll post some pics when they arrive. Oh yeah, I forgot - I also got in on a deal from 357 Customs - this is a chopper builder that has an association with several musicians, most notably Zakk Wylde and Toby Keith. They had a deal where if you ordered a $150 MP3 player from their merchandise section (no, I don't know why a motorcycle builder is selling MP3 players), you allegedly get a free Zakk Wylde signature Epiphone guitar, which sells for $800. (They did a similar promotion about a month ago, but it was if you bought gift certificates & die-cast models). Needless to say, there was much discussion in the guitar forums about whether or not the deal was legit - after clarification from the company and Wylde's camp it appears that it is, but the guitars aren't scheduled to ship until March, so we'll see. (I was looking for an MP3 player for a Luddite friend of mine who has a birthday coming up anyways.) After that, I'm swearing off any gear purchases (at least until my tax return arrives - there's a Washburn hollow body I've had my eye on...)