Sunday, September 17, 2006
weekend with the uncle
I took some much needed time away from Chico last weekend and spent some time with my Uncle Randy. Okay, so he's not really my uncle, but whatever, but he may as well be family. He was kind enough to come pick me up at my house and drive me all the way down to Vacaville in his fancy Lexus LS 430 with the "ultra luxury package". I still get a kick out of the bells and whistles that car has every time I see it. We picked up my sister from Davis and continued south until we reached Mt. Tamalpais, just north of San Francisco. We got a beautiful view of the city and the bay, but what caught our eyes was the beach down below. We headed down to Stinson Beach for the rest of the afternoon. Armed with fish and chips, long pants (great planning...), and sunny skies, we relaxed until it was time to get Sheryl back to work.
Now, there's something about Uncle Randy you should know. The word audiophile doesn't do him justice... he is so much more. Here's what he had to say to my dad a year or so ago:
I have been very amused since we were in Walmart
looking at the quadruple blade shavers. I tried to
convince you that it was just a waste and that 3
blades even was probable overkill and that it didn't
make sense to pay $14 or whatever it cost for the
blades. I continued to amuse myself after I went home
and started listening to my stereo. I had to first
turn on the sub-woofer amp, then one of my stereo's 4
power supply filters to turn on the other two amps
(two amps are necessary so one amplifies the high
frequencies and the other amplifies the low
frequencies....except for the super low ones which are
handled by the subwoofer amp). I decided which one of
my two Super Audio CD players I would listen to (I
have a third Super Audio/DVD player in the family room
but that isn't part of my main listening system).
After having all this warm up, I decided instead to
listen to my headphones (at least one of my four pairs
of headphones) through my headphone amp. It was much
easier to relax listening through my headphones and
really contemplate about how I helped you to avoid
such an extravagant and wasteful $14 mistake. Since
that time, I have purchased two additional monoblock
amps (so each speaker gets its own amp......sometimes
sharing is not so good) as well as an AC power
regenerator. Wasted too much time with all those
separate filters so now I will be able to regenerate
clean electricity at home and be able to bypass some
of the filters. Should have a much quieter musical
background so I can more easily contemplate how I can
help you be a more responsible consumer and more
mindful of the economic resources and the ecological
manifestations of your purchasing decisions.
Get the idea? You should see his room... seeing all that equipment in one place is a humbling experience to say the least.
Anyway, he had ordered yet another new Super Audio CD player to tinker with and it was scheduled to arrive via FedEx, so we stuck around for it to get there. When it did, he was (okay, we both were) more than eager to open it to see what it looked like, and - more importantly - how it sounded. Of cource he had to plug it in via a power filter, regenerator, preamp, and amp before the signal could be sent to the 7 foot tall, 4 inch thin Magnepan MG 20.1 speakers, not to mention the subwoofer which has it's own preamp and apmlifier. The verdict? It sounded better than his old Sony SACD player, but still not as good as his turntable. I wish I had taken a picture of that turntable... I don't even want to know how much it was (but it sounds damn near perfect!)
Alright, audio technomumble aside, I also got a new toy. It is a 2006 Trek 4300 Disc mountain bike from a local shop. I figrued that it may be a while before I get a car, so I might as well spend a paycheck on a new bike instead. It's nothing too special, but it works for me as an entry-level mountain bike I can futz around on and decide I want to get a real full suspension trek or specialized down the road. I took it up to upper park on friday and earlier today, and am more than happy with it. I'll take some pictures with it on top of the north rim trail or something :)
Until next time...