random update

01. The office kitchen is a very interesting place. In a way, it's kind of like having 50 roommates (or however many employees your job has) because people's bad habits become pretty apparent (e.g. not refilling the plastic utensils, leaving the cardboard paper towel tube instead of putting in a new roll, etc.). Occasionally, people will put up signs instructing people to cover their food when it's in the microwave or things of that nature. You know, common courtesy stuff? Over a year ago, someone put up a sign that read as follows:

NOTICE TO EVERYONE WHO DRINKS COFFEE

IF YOU TAKE THE LAST BIT OF COFFEE FROM A POT
THEN YOU NEED TO MAKE A NEW POT OF COFFEE

It was a little wordy, but I guess it got the point across.

A few months ago, someone put up this sign:

IF YOU MAKE FLAVORED COFFEE
PLEASE BE SURE TO LABLE IT

You have no idea how hard it's been to not put up a sign like this:

IF YOU MAKE A SIGN
PLEASE BE SURE TO PROOFREAD


02. On the way to work this morning I listened to a live Over the Rhine recording. It reinforced something that I've been thinking about for almost a week: I need to stop trying to find new music to listen to and start making some of my own. (It's a really good live set, by the way)


03. Speaking of that, I'm noticing that I am really out of practice at leading worship from a technical standpoint. I have to very purposefully alter my strumming from song to song. Otherwise, every song will sound the same. I think it's because I'm concentrating too much on singing loud enough for people to be able to follow along. On the other hand, this situation has forced me to try things I normally wouldn't, like strumming only the first chord of a measure and forcing myself to sing. Since my normal tendency is to concentrate on guitar and let the singing just happen, it's been good to switch it up a bit. And the end result is just what it needs to be: I focus on singing loud enough to lead, and focus on the words, not only the chords.

The set for Friday night is as follows:
- The Love of God
- Hail to the King
- Praise to the Lord the Almighty
- On Mountains High (or whatever it's called)
- Ancient Words

Those last two are a joke and are dedicated to Andrea and the Sillas


04. Also speaking of music and guitar, I rearranged my pedalboard (again) because of a new addition. It's a Top Fuel by Skreddy Pedals. I've never been happier with a pedal right out of the box. It sounded exactly like I hoped it would, no tweaking necessary. I haven't given it a proper test drive, but at least at bedroom volumes, I'm very impressed. I can't wait until our next practice.

For those who care, my new signal chain is as follows:

Guitar
Skreddy Top Fuel
Fulltone Fulldrive 2
Toadworks Death Rattle (v.II)
Red Witch Moon Phaser
Loooper 3-Loop effects router
- Loop 1: Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man
- Loop 2: Line 6 DL-4
- Loop 3: Boss TU-12
Amp

Maybe I'll do a full post to show off the new arrangement.


05. Andrea got me a Magic Bullet for Christmas. I've had at least one smoothie a week, and I'd probably average 3 or 4 per week, not including the couple times I've made nacho cheese, tuna salad, and guacamole. Very tasty.