Wmcmanus

Modest Matt, former lead singer of Modest Mouse. ^^

Happy belated birthday, Crapster. Hope you had a good one.

That's good to know! I've not heard a peep from them. Would have thought there would have been an email that confirmed my order at least, which was made on June 13th. I just logged into my account with them and it shows up a 4 Day FedEx shipment and "in process" which I guess means that it is being held up because something is out of stock. Bummer. I was hoping it would arrive at mom's house in Illinois before I hit the road for Alaska, which will be on Monday.

Ya, but my grandmother made the BEST rhubarb pie, as in size 7, bold and all caps! So take that.

Same with tyrion.

Can't make this one, Mike. I should be in Alaska at that time, assuming I don't crash somewhere along the way. Are you getting the Smyth SVS? It would be a buzz for people to be able to do their personalized profiles at your place so they can hear it for themselves.

I know this may seem strange, but I think they're kind of expensive!!! At least a lot more expensive than I think they ought to be for the excellent but not in any way Earth shattering sound quality. I agree that under meet conditions the HF2 seemed to be every bit as good. I've got my pair now, but can't seem to quite listening to the HD800 for some reason.

You actually did that? You must have been really bored that night. It's funny, because I've never really felt "guilty" as such about spending my time the way I've wanted. Although I've had a couple of girlfriends, including the present one, who've said "You and that computer..." or have wondered "How much can you possibly write about headphones?" I guess I'm more interested in audio related topics than my other hobbies because I've never really questioned my involvement at Head-Fi or other audio sites, but I'm really shocked when I think about how much time I've spent at a car site--despite that fact that it's a small fraction of the time I've spent at audio sites, and the fact that I've learned things there that will save me money and possibly even save my life (in terms of driving tips and the importance of fireproof race suits, etc). Whereas the car guys I know would probably feel just as odd hanging out in places like this.

I don't have any issues with the TV as such, but I just don't find it to be as interesting as so many other things that I like to do when I have "alone time" (music, full feature films, online forum discussions, and just reading as much as I can--and by that I mean books!). With TV, for me at least--with a somewhat addictive personality which I can't really help--I just keep surfing through the channels and find that I'm constantly watching 3 things at a time. Not much of it holds my attention for long, but because there are so many channels, once I sit down I can't turn the stupid thing off for hours on end. So I decided 20 years ago that I'd be better off without it, and have never looked back since. I just now found a Strat-o-matic forum, because I wanted to do a Google search to find pics of those old games we used to play as kids. I was telling my 11 year-old nephew about it, and he wanted to see what the game boards looked like. We used to play day and night all year long, but mostly in the summer months as soon as the sun went down and we had to be indoors. In the day, we were playing what we called "sideball" which used 14" air filled balls and sawed off baseball bats (no longer than 20" long) which you would swing with one hand, much like wiffle ball. Anyway, the point is that we had a couple of all consuming hobbies that all of the kids in the neighborhood who were into sports were a part of. I think that in some ways, music lovers turned audiophiles are just big kids with different but very similar passions, but there aren't typically a bunch of other big kids in your neighborhood who share those interests, and that's why you end up online. I'm not going to join any of those online Strat-o-matic leagues though! For one, I don't know much about who the best baseball players are today (or basketball, football or hockey for that matter). My knowledge about such matters dried up in the late 70s. But as scary as this may seem, I'd rather hang out with headphone geeks than middle aged online sports fanatics.

All good points, and I'm glad that moderation is working for you. But I just wanted to clarify one thing: I didn't mean to imply that I've been thinking my life is out of balance or that spending time online has distracted me in any real way from the things I like doing in life. First of all, I've never been married nor do I have kids. Plus, I've been semi-retired for nearly 6 years and I live in a place (Cayman) where I've pretty much seen everything and done everything there is to do. I've got a lot of friends there, but very few of them identify with my various hobbies, and thus I've quite enjoyed the time I've spent online at various places. Since I have far more time on my hands than most people do, it has never really been a "problem" for me. I've been to a zillion audio related events in the U.S. (mostly Head-Fi meets, but other things as well) and to a couple of track days. So I've integrated my "online life" with my "real life" in that I regard many of my online friends as real life friends. Plus, it has been nice to meet and stay in contact with so many Americans! Having lived in the Caribbean for 13 years, it's important to stay rooted with my origins, if that makes any sense. Otherwise, I'd eventually begin to feel disconnected. I feel that I've got the best of both worlds because of my friends and family back home and the time I spend on the road in the U.S. But I love the laid back Island life too, and feel totally at home in Cayman where I know everyone and everyone knows me. That sounds pretty familiar, except it is usually a quote associated with work, and to me, "foruming" is mostly fun! So I don't necessarily think of it as a HUGE time waster. I've never been a gamer, for instance, so I've not suffered those perils that you've described--you know, spending endless hours mindlessly absorded in a game with no human interaction at all. I see forum time in an entirely different light than gaming. In fact, it's a whole lot better than watching TV!!! I've not had cable TV since my first year of law school in 1988 and at this point don't even own a TV. Instead, I get most of my news from the internet and newspapers (yes, I still read those) and from visiting people who have their TVs on. More importantly, when I'm foruming, I'm also listening to music which is far more interesting and relaxing that watching that crap that passes as "programmng" these days! About all I'd really need a TV for would be sports, full featured films, well produced mini-series like HBO puts out, and Discovery channel, History channel (and the like). But I can get most of that on BluRay these days (other than big sporting events which I watch at bars). The "you guys actually know each other" is a big clue! I can see where you would want to moderate your time online if you've never attended a meet or had the chance to get to know anyone with whom you've interacted online. For most of us, it kind of changes once there are some stories to tell...

This is something I've been reflecting on of late, although not in a terribly somber way as the title of this thread may suggest. I guess living overseas (especially in a small place like Cayman) and being an audiophile don't really go hand in hand. The youngish ex-pats are on the beach, scuba diving, and hitting the bars. They don't have houses, they're not "settled" and don't ever expect to make Cayman their home, and they're definitely not thinking about going off-Island to some geeky headphone meet! On the other hand, the more "settled" population in Grand Cayman is, well... settled. Settled in their ways, settled with their work lives, settled with their circle of friends, and settled in the notion that their sleepy little Island is the center of the universe. Well, at least their universe. It's not a lot unlike where I grew up in the middle of Illinois, except that now I'm surrounded by water instead of corn fields and the women all have those nice ebony and bronze skin tones instead of being pasty white like me (so at least that's a good thing). But as I think about it, I'm pretty sure I would have become a forum junkie no matter where I was living, even if it was New York City or San Francisco where it doesn't make any sense whatsoever to even begin to attempt to categorize people. If you're an audiophile, or a car nut, or an avid watch collector, or if you're into cigars, or building computers, or camera gear, or model railroads, quilting... if you're into anything at all that is hobby oriented, you'll eventually become a forum junkie! At the Atom Club, where I've been a member for 2.5 years (yes, I'm an accountant, so the .5 is important), it indicates the "Total time logged in" next to your avatar. At present, I've been there for 23 days, 7 hours, 35 minutes. I've got a little over 1,500 posts, not that numbers should mean anything there, or elsewhere. But I guess I'd be the typical new Supremus type of guy. A regular, and someone who identifies with the place, has been to a couple of Club-sponsored track days, has made some real life friends, etc. It's a great forum and they're a bunch of great people... but wait a minute! Allowing for 6-8 hours of sleeping each night, that means I've already spent a full month of my life there! That's in 2.5 years and 1,500 posts. What about that other place where I've been hanging around for nearly 8 years and have 10,000+ posts and have been involved in many other ways? How many months has that consumed? And what about the Steve Hoffman Forums, the AVS Forum, the time I've logged at Audiogon, the Big Lebowski Forum, some Canon sites, and who knows where else? Am I alone in this regard? I mean, you guys have really put together a nice forum here. I like the neighborhood bar idea, and many of the avatars seem extremely familiar to me for some reason, so I'm suspecting that this crowd will identify with what I'm saying. I know for sure that there are a lot of people who are reading this that have been active in at least two headphone forums, so I suspect you've spent some forum time elsewhere as well... So what's my point? Where is the question? Why does it matter? No point, really. Plus, it probably doesn't matter. But I do have a question: should I be felling a sense of pride or shame when I see that I've been logged on at the Atom Club (or name your forum) for nearly a month of my life? In a way, it's a good thing because it takes each member's active involvement to build a community. Right? (You've all done this here, and should be proud of what you've accomplished as a group, and thus--to a certain extent--be proud as individuals, in terms of your contribution). If so, then why do I feel like a social retard every time I think about the fact that my one month "celebration" is within sight at the Atom Club? I feel worse still, when I consider that my time spent there is merely a drop in the bucket relative to my total forum time this past decade. But the internet is pretty much the only place to find like-minded hobbyists, no matter what your hobbies might be. An interesting paradox... what are your thoughts on the matter?

This was very helpful. My sweep included 22 SACDs for $199.60 (which included 2 for free). I'm off-Island at the moment, but I suspect some of them may end up being duplicates in my collection. If so, I'll give away those (or their redbook equivalent) here, but that won't be until September. Ray Charles & The Count Basie Orchestra Ray Sings, Basie Swings Erich Kunzel & Cincinnati Pops Orchestra Tchaikovsky: Nutcracker - Selections From The Ballet Michael Brecker Pilgrimage Spyro Gyra Good To Go-Go The Gene Harris & Scott Hamilton Quintet At Last Erich Kunzel & Cincinnati Pops Orchestra Russian Nights Monica Mancini Ultimate Mancini Erich Kunzel & Cincinnati Pops Orchestra Masters and Commanders Randy Brecker And Michael Brecker Some Skunk Funk Al Di Meola Consequence Of Chaos Art Pepper Gettin' Together! Cannonball Adderley & Milt Jackson Things Are Getting Better Erich Kunzel & Cincinnati Pops Orchestra Great Film Fantasies Spyro Gyra The Deep End McCoy Tyner Land Of Giants Erich Kunzel & Cincinnati Pops Orchestra The Never-Ending Waltz Spyro Gyra Wrapped In A Dream Isaac Hayes The Isaac Hayes Movement Monty Alexander, Sly Dunbar & Robbie Shakespeare Monty Meets Sly And Robbie Albert King I'll Play The Blues For You Sonny Rollins Quartet Tenor Madness Los Angeles Guitar Quartet Spin

That's fuckin' interesting, man. (I've been watching the Big Lebowski a bit too much of late after discovering another forum where I'm still listed as a "Fuckin' Amateur": Lebowski Fest > Achievers > Achiever Forum - check that, I'm "Not Exactly a Lightweight" now.)

So I guess I have my answer. That's fine. I was just curious as to whether they really caused any problems at the meet, except for the fact that they showed up in droves.

Chicago is kind of a thing unto itself. Quite frankly, most people from Chicago aren't concerned with the rest of Illinois, and most people from the rest of Illinois aren't too concerned about Chicago.

I didn't really see any problems with Monster having a bunch of people there, but then again, I didn't spend much time in their room. Tyll was nice enough to give me a chance to hear the HD800 on a number of quite nice systems on Friday night so I had sort of done that and figured I'd let other people have their time with them during the meet. So aside from there Noel having his little scooter thingie and the fact that there were a lot of Monster reps (who were apparently loud at times, at least according to the guy at Tekzilla), was there any real problem with their presence? I mean, an alternative view could be that Noel saw this as an opportunity to reward his guys with a fun weekend, and to allow them to wander around the place and learn more about other headphones and the hobby in general. Had Tyll brought a crew of 15 from Headroom, I suspect most people would have been happy to meet them. What I'm trying to understand is whether there was anything in particular about their presence that was a 'bad' thing for the event, aside from the fact that it was Monster and people don't like their approach to business--so basically people were annoyed with it because it was over the top?

Neil Young's "Archives Volume One" box set on BluRay arrived today. I've never seen a box set anywhere near this huge before. It measures 12" H x 7.5" x 7.5" -- just way over the top and unnecessary. But the good news is that the content is outstanding, including an impressive book that comes with it that documents the entire '63-'72 period. That, and a normal sized box within the jumbo box that stores all of the discs. Sad thing is I can't listen to or watch any of it for now! No access to a BluRay player until I get back on the road and get my PS3 hooked up again.

Exactly, he just takes over. Must be his basic personality, and it certainly worked with ELO. Just not with the Willburys. For all of that talent, they still couldn't quite put it together in a way that really worked. I guess the rest of them were having so much fun that they really didn't care too much about the output, as such. With Dylan, it always seems good to have as few people around as absolutely needed, which is why this idea really intrigues me. It should be right up his alley to sit down and collaborate on song writing with Paul, and then figure out the rest of it in terms of production once they've come up with something worthwhile. The man needs his space! He's even told his own kid that, and never seems to want to work with him on anything.

Well, thank goodness they don't have Jeff Lynne in the middle of it to screw everything up! This should be fun. Dylan's 'Together Through Life' album is a definite keeper, IMO. He still has something to say, whereas Paul seems to have run out of gas of late (unless he's done something relevant since 'Memory Almost Full' which didn't do a thing for me).

Seems like a lot of people have been saying this same thing. That has been my experience at all of the national meets, actually. I'd be supportive of a 3 day event and think we have sufficient numbers these days that it would probably go over quite well.

Sans the tattooed head.

Hey, I'm over 10,000 behind my pace! No, the thing is, I've managed to get into a bad habit of reading/responding, reading/responding, and then going back and merging all of my continuous posts. But I don't have those powers here!

Those really are gorgeous! Nice to have friends, huh Vicki?

Ya, he's getting quite the knob job there. That actually (almost) happened to me a couple of years ago. I walked into the Westin in Grand Cayman one night, totally unexpected. There I am in full glory with my fully tweaked out Santa suit (it's kind of an Orpheus of Santa suits if I don't mind saying so myself, no details left unattended). Anyway, there are two hot white chicks sitting there at the lobby bar, along with a couple of guys. I'm not really into white chicks these days, but I've been known to make exceptions. They quickly took to me and were rubbing themselves all over me. I played along and made some innocent enough, but not exactly kid friendly comments to them, all in the Santa voice of course. No kids were around so it was safe territory. The next thing you know they're talking about having me up to their room for a 3-some. I said, "Ho ho ho... wouldn't your husbands get upset?" pointing to the guys I thought they were with at the bar. Then one of them said, "No, Santa, she's my husband!" and was dead serious about it. But they weren't really interested in doing to Santa thing. They were just playing around with me. They did start kissing though, when I challenged them to. Nice looking women, I'm telling you. I was mostly afraid that they would try to use their toys on me, and Santa is strictly an exit only kind of guy. Should have done it... one of those rare opportunities that doesn't come twice. I've had my ES-1 since last September and have yet to plug it in. No lie. It's not that I'm uninterested, it's just that I needed some time to decompress from the waiting game. It only took a year and a half, which is a nanosecond in Mikhail time. So I figure I should wait a couple more years to let it ferment. The SDS-XLR sounds pretty good though. I've had it for the same period of time and have listened to 2 CDs on it so far. Don't know why, because it really is stellar. I'm sure the ES-1 is as well. I'm planning to give them some serious time this Fall when I get back. I'd love to do that. I've been thinking about it actually, and would love to get 20-30 people together. It would be great to have more but that's not realistic given the cost. Fewer would be fun too, but the incentive for me would be to have a sufficient number to justify the hassle of moving my entire setup to a hotel for a week. I'd love to hear my MBL system breathe a little more. The room is deep and high enough but could use some additional width. Plus it would be hard to create enough space to allow everyone to have appropriate access to all of my headphones, amps, etc. But a quick in and out in 3 days would be a shame in a lot of ways. You would need more time if you really wanted to do a "meet" (as such) with serious listening time, and also see the place and spend time on the beach. I'd say 4-5 days would be about right. The best part of those pink ear molds was the little tampon strings they use to pull them out of your ears. I thought that was a nice touch. You can see them in the pic if you look close. Oh, and 2 of my 6 chins as well. That's always a pleasant reminder.

Ya, I figured that much. I don't believe we ever met over there (in a virtual sense, of course). I kind of like the thin skin greeting I've been seeing here, BTW. Anyway, thanks for the greeting.