The Other White Male | JimJulian.org
Fender CD-140SCE Acoustic-Electric Guitar
Jul 5th
After all of my on-and-off guitar training over the years, I wanted, and really needed, a decent acoustic to complement my other musical endeavors (where I’ve gotten much further along), and get serious about guitar again. I also wanted an alternative to my nice, humble, Schecter Omen 6 electric.
Well my new Fender CD-140SCE acoustic-electric guitar is an amazing value, and a damn nice guitar by any measure.
My requirements for a new guitar were simple, but important to me:
- around a $300 out-the-door price
- good acoustic-only tone
- electric-ready-to-go
- good preamp for the above
- easy to change battery for the above*
- and… a tuner built-in to the preamp section!
Well, I got all of these things with this Fender. And I couldn’t be happier. And, I haven’t missed a night of practice! BTW, I’m spoiled by the on-board tuner.
P.S.: Mine is in natural, not black (which is also really nice).
*Yes, I’m old enough to remember the days of having to take all of the strings off (!!) to change the battery on some original acoustic-electric designs.
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Easy Slow Cooker Chicken with Salsa
Feb 7th
No pictures today. This was too simple and too good.
I put together an easy slow-cooker meal just using odd items on hand, and it really turned out great! Delicious, really. It started while staring at a just-defrosted bulk-pack chicken breast and half a jar of salsa. What to do? Here’s what:
Get, prepare, and dump these into your slow-cooker:
- (4 pieces) Chicken Breast, Thin Sliced
PREP: Just trim any fat or other undesirable stuff. - (1 medium can) Tomato Sauce
PREP: None. - (1/2 jar) Salsa, Medium Strength
PREP: None. - (3 small) Onions, Yellow
PREP: Peal, trim ends, cut into lengthwise quarters. - (1) Green Pepper, Long-Style
PREP: Core, cut lengthwise once, cut slices. Lots of half-circles. - (15) Black Olives, Small
PREP: Cut each in half once, width-wise. Nice and big that way.
No salt, pepper or spices. Regular tomato sauce has enough salt, and the salsa, of course, has lots of everything.
Cook on low 4 1/2 hours. Really succulent that way.
SUGGESTION: Make four cups of white rice to pour the final result over. Easy with a rice steamer, brutally hard without (one appliance I’ll waste valuable counter space with!). Below is the one we ‘splurged’ on. Worth every penny.
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Gave My First Music Lesson
Jan 16th
It started simply enough. I have been wanting to get back into a regular band, and (only partly) to that end I have asked a few close friends, all non-musicians, if they would be interested in learning to play anything.
I’m a decent drummer and a decent singer, and I know enough guitar and keyboards to teach someone the basics. I was willing to start someone off with something.
After another declined, my friend Glenn was in fact very interested, but completely skeptical if he could actually learn. He and I are on the verge turning 50 years old, and he said “Isn’t it a little late for me” and “I don’t know how to read music”. This is especially surprising in his case, as he is basically as young-at-heart as I am, and in addition extremely physically fit. He’s no slouch.
My approach was to sit Glenn down and spend a few minutes just discussing music in general and then to walk through a song.
- Roles of the musicians.
- Rhythm, harmony, melody, lyrics.
- Song form. Like a story, like a poem.
- Basic drum notation; some standard notation.
Walking though a few mainstream rock songs, and covering the ‘intro’, ‘verse’, ‘chorus’, ‘bridge’, etc., became a real eye-opener for him.
I gave him a live demo of me playing for quite some time, explaining everything as I went along. Used a bit of my handy binder of carefully-organized practice material. Then it was Glenn’s turn. I talked about 2-way, 3-way and 4-way independence, and really emphasized that this was going to be like learning to ride a bicycle. He could immediately see that.
N.B.: I’m way out of practice. I motivated myself here!
We discussed the importance of using a metronome (no matter what kind of musician you are!) and demoed several of mine (Korg TM-40 and the Boss DB-88).
Finally, we walked though some catalogs of drums, acoustic and electronic, as well as practice pads and practice pad kits. We walked over to the shelves I have laden with all of my music books mentioning that “this is a lifelong activity”.
Quick stop – we went back to the basement for a quick demo of my V-Drums, where I mentioned that if it weren’t for them, I would never would have been able to practice quietly. Hint. Hint. Hey, there are relatively cheap ones now!
I taught myself to play the drums using the “Ultimate Beginners Series” on VHS. I was a great way to get over the basics. A year later I got a good teacher and took regular lessons for a good few years.
So, after we spend about two hours, I had a box ready for Glenn with all of my “Ultimate” books, disks, and videos. On permanent loan…
Any similar teaching experiences? Who wants to be next?!
ASIDE:
This is technically not the first music lesson I’ve given. I’ve been teaching my son Rocco music on and off for a few years now. Of course it’s a completely different dynamic. Neither the teacher or the student are intimidated. We adults can be so weird!
Pancakes Done Right
Jun 21st
Here’s me working on Father’s Day. Just wanted to make pancakes.
I measured exactly and used the wire whisk on my KitchenAid mixer – minded the classic advice on the package: “Do not beat out the characteristic lumps in the batter; over mixing will toughen pancakes”.
Timing is everything; therefore, don’t start until the griddle is HOT. It can’t be changing temperature while you are working. Use a medium-low heat; it will be enough if you pre-heated properly.
http://www.vimeo.com/5267001Use Crisco® shortening instead of butter or oil on the griddle. Don’t flip them until you see steady bubbling.
It’s hard to beat Aunt Jemima Original Pancake & Waffle Mix for wholesome goodness; UPC number 030000050408.
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One-Pan Chicken
May 12th
This chicken meal can be made in one sauté pan.
My goal here is a good basic meal and efficient cleanup. I said “efficient” not “easy”, although it’s easy in the end. The trick is to:
- Prepare efficiently.
- Clean as you cook.
My small rant here is that I hate to sit down and eat, then clean up. I hate that. I really do. So… while I’m cooking… I’m cleaning… Hey, the sink is right there! The “one-pan” will be all that is left.
As far as cooking this, I like to sauté the items in order of their “hardness”, and group them accordingly. Hardness: how long it will take to cook. Before hardness is any meat, especially chicken. Here I have setup:
- Chicken.
- Diced potatoes and sliced garlic.
- Coarse sliced onions and thick-sliced mushrooms.
- Diced tomatoes and cut celery.
Start with some oil. Add the sauce and spices as you go.
Part of a well-equipped kitchen is to have some tempered glass preparation bowls (“prep bowls”). I have about seven small ones. I’ll review them with some details in another post. Clean, cut and dump stuff in.
Fancy oil? Fancy sauté sauce? I don’t think so. How about store-brand vegetable oil and store-brand Teriyaki sauce. Is this going to be ‘branded’ some fancy Asian meal. Heck no. It’s dinner. And fancy spices? Sometimes, but not this time. How about pepper. The Teriyaki sauce is already loaded with salt.
I always cook with fresh vegetables. There is no point to ‘cook’ canned items, which of course are already cooked.
http://www.vimeo.com/4701652So click on the first picture thumbnail [below] and you will be carried along. There is some video too (and each are a very exciting few moments, may I say!).
Time to eat! Take your plate to the stove and fill it. Cleaning that pan is my only chore.
Staples Wireless Notebook – Never Needs Batteries!
Mar 21st
You can’t have enough technology in your life, so I though I’d pick up a new notebook – wireless of course!
It looks great with my Apple mouse on it, don’t you think? UPC number 718103051767.
Happy Birthday to Me – March 5th
Mar 5th
Well, I’m another year older.
Perhaps I’ll take a picture of myself everyday until my next birthday…?
Ultimate Pocket Pen
Nov 13th
I carry this every single day: the F-301 Compact pen, by Zebra. It’s great because collapses to half the size of a regular pen, so it can fit in a front pocket of jeans or slacks.
Pull apart and put the two ends together to create a full-sized pen.
Having a pen wherever you go is important, and this makes it easy. Highly recommended.
“Converts from pocket-size to full-size!”
Fine point (0.7 mm), black ink. Pack of two pens; nice for the price. Here’s a close-up.
UPC number 045888274129.
Baked Chicken and Vegetables
Nov 10th
Here is a great tasting and healthy chicken and vegetables meal, cooked and served in one dish. We had this tonight. Like a lot of GREAT recipes, I made it up as I went along. It was really tasty and filling.
Pay attention to the thick cuts and other preparation details, it’s worth it for the end result. And while there is a bit of preparation work here, the ‘one-dish cooking and serving’ part helps a lot.
You can get away with easily using the frozen chicken that you may have bought in bulk at your local BJ’s or Costco. No defrosting, Just lay them in.
Ingredients
- Chicken Tenders, frozen, 6 pieces
- Celery, coarse chopped, 1.5 cups
- Red Onion, coarse cut, 1 cup
- Mushrooms, thick sliced, 1 cup
- Plum Tomatoes, sliced, 2 pieces
- Tomato Sauce, 2 cans
- Mozzarella Cheese, part skim, thin sliced, 0.5 cup
- Vegetable Oil, 0.25 cups
- Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder, Oregano
Crockery
- Corning Ware casserole dish, large, short, square, covered.
Prepare
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Prepare all vegetables, place all except except tomatoes in bowl and mix.
- Pour oil in covered dish, place chicken pieces down.
- Bake for 10 minutes.
- Open cover.
- Put vegetable mix on top, 1st can sauce, tomato slices, 2nd can sauce, and cheese.
- Sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic powder and oregano.
- Bake for 20 minutes more.
- Remove from oven and serve hot.
Below, the old Shadow Iris CorningWare pattern is the one we got when we got married.
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Motorcycle Trip 2007
Aug 26th
Last week, I took a motorcycle trip with my friend Jeff in the New Jersey and Connecticut area. It was not just a fun adventure, but significant for me in that “touring” (luggage, overnights, etc.) is a big dimension of motorcycling for me.
Oddly enough, when not doing a trip, I like to ride alone – more often than not.
I certainly have the right motorcycle for it: a 1993 Suzuki GSX1100G standard-style bike. Upright seating position. I mean bolt-upright, like sitting in a chair (not laid back like a cruiser, and not laying down over the tank like a sportbike). Being a large-displacement inline four cylinder plus a shaft drive, makes it one of the last of a style called UJM or ‘universal Japanese motorcycle’. All four major Japanese bike companies copied each others ideas ‘quite thoroughly’ on this. I went with the Suzuki.
Its a heavy bike (~600 pounds) with a significant seat height (~31 inches). I’m 5′ 6″ with a 30″ inseam. You do the math. I’m on my toes at a stoplight and the bike isn’t light. Having said this, it’s quite awesome on the highway. Being in the left lane of the super-slab with 53′ long trucks passing by is no problem. The engine is tuned for low-end torque and passing ability. It’s quick, but it’s not like a sportbike.
The sad part is while the bike was made for a hard-luggage option, the bike and the options were discontinued soon after I bought it. At this point, years later, I made a big effort hunting down a quality aftermarket set, but all told it would push around $1,000. An email to the German manufacturer I looked at had some holdover inventory left for this bike. But, I decided to go a different way using soft luggage (strapped all over the bike).
The soft luggage worked quite well, actually. All of it is from Rapid Transit, and it’s really good stuff. Tank bag, saddle bags, tail bag. Nice.
Yes, I set up my battery-operated, weather- and shock-resistant GPS (a Garmin eTrex Vista HCx) on the handlebar.
This was emphatically setup up just as a guide, with a nice bunch of “waypoints” (pins in a map) programmed it. We weren’t led-around by it!
Any, yes that is beer on ice in the sink. We couldn’t pack a cooler on the motorcycles; how else was it going to be kept cold?
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