Friday, July 06, 2012

Aiden Words

Poor little guy has been neglected on my blog for 2 years now!  Its about time he made an appearance!  Here are some words he uses often!
"Da One" he says as he points to the item of his choice.  He loves to choose and has lots of opinions!
"Side" = outside
"Hih-hee" = Sissy! Big sister Melanie!
"Day!" = big brother Jakey!
"Queen" = Lightening McQueen*
"May-er" = Mater*
"Fin" = Finn McMissle*
"Koh" = Dinoco, or sometimes Francesco. *From Cars I and II
There are many more, I'll add them as they come to mind.  He is such a funny kid!

Guest Book for LEONARD GOLDSTEIN – Online Guest Book by The Washington Post and Legacy.com.

For those of you who might not have known, my friend and business partner Lenny Goldstein passed away 3 weeks ago. Many of his colleagues, friends, family, and patients have taken the time to make entries in his online guest book. Its still hard to believe he is really gone. I took some time today to read the entries. There are not many who are like Lenny. His memory and legacy will keep him close to us. I am reminded by his passing, and the unfortunate passing of others recently and in years past at this time of year, that life is precious. I am thankful today for all that I have. 

Guest Book for LEONARD GOLDSTEIN – Online Guest Book by The Washington Post and Legacy.com.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Germs! Eeeek!

Here is some info I have gathered in response to the current craze about germs.

The current state of worry all began with the flu epidemics of recent years, and research that shows that the flu virus can live far longer, especially on non-porous surfaces, than cold viruses live. Other research shows that we tend to touch our mouths, noses and eye areas a lot. Great, tell me something I don't know.

The important part of the latest research gets lost in our panic, though. People, if you are worried about touching the flu virus, or the cold virus, you better wear gloves all the time. Because that next doorknob, and the one after that, are just as likely to have that same virus that you successfully navigated in the bathroom. And, the viruses don't enter your bloodstream through your skin. You have to touch your mouth, eye or nose. So wash your hands, use hand sanitizer properly, but do it mostly when your hands are going to be closest to your eyes, nose and mouth. For more on this, here are links to a NYT column on virus transmission

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/15/health/15real.html

and a link to a study of how often we tend to touch our mouth, eyes and nose.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/15459620802003896.

Pay particular attention to the study's conclusion that states that there is not a whole lot of research that shows very clearly exactly how much at risk we are. It is more important to be aware of how to keep ourselves healthy. So better carry that paper towel around all day long! Or, better make sure that you are cleaning everything that goes in to your mouth, eyes and nose. I know I don't, but I try. Doesn't that count for something?

Carry on.

Sunday, May 08, 2011

Jakey words

Trying to remember some of his early words. Here we have
Mo-sir-sigh = motorcycle
"us" instead of "we", as in "where us going?"

Friday, April 15, 2011

2010 Jazz parts bass

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2010 Jazz parts bass, a set on Flickr.

Here is a bass that I assembled this week. This project is one that has taken on a quasi-epic element. I first purchased a fretless bass (my first of that type) last fall. The bass was damaged in shipping by UPS. That issue got resolved just fine since the seller immediately refunded my money. He eventually got a payout from UPS for the bass, and also got the bass returned to him by UPS, which was a pleasant surprise to him. After the basses return, he sold me the neck and bridge, which I installed on the agave blue Fender Jazz, Mexican version, aka MIM in bass circles. Stands for "Made in Mexico." I had purchased the blue bass immediately after I had received my refund for the the damaged bass. I liked the blue bass, but still the loss of the damaged bass lingered with me. That bass was exactly the design and color scheme that I had wanted.
But I did enjoy the blue bass, especially once I added the nice looking pearloid pickguard. So I kept it and played it happily. Then last week I was looking through the Talkbass classified ads in the "accessories" section and saw that someone was selling the body to a brand new Fender Jazz MIM in a sunburst finish. This body was from a "70's Classic" bass, a newer line that Fender has produced as a more custom version of their standard MIM basses. Usually carries a "classic" price as well, so I had not considered one prior. Didn't seem worth the extra money. But the seller wanted only $200 for the body. I contacted him to see if he would be willing to hold it for me while I tried to sell my blue body and pickguard, and buy his with those funds. I was able to luck into a local buyer for my body and pickguard very soon after I placed my add to sell my body. Um, that didn't sound right... Anyway, the local buyer was able to come to my office at lunch that very day. He liked what I had to sell, and we had a deal. From there I bought and subsequently received, this time safely from UPS, the new sunburst body and put it together during lunch this week when I received it.

The box it came in had a big old dent, so there were some anxious moments as I looked inside to see if the bass had survived yet another drop by UPS! To my relief, it had been very well packed by the seller, and was unscathed! So for $0 outlay on my part, I was able to upgrade from a 2004 standard blue body to a 2010 shiny new body, with a very nice upgraded pickguard in tortoise shell, my favorite design! See my other basses if you don't believe me! :-)

For anyone interested, the "Classic 70's" body has the pickup spacing of that era. The bridge pickup is positioned slightly closer to the bridge, giving the bass a slightly more edgy sound than the standard pickup spacing gives. Probably not noticeable to most listeners.

This model was popular, and still is, with bassists who like that "funk" sound. We'll see how it sounds with the fretless neck that it now wears. So far I like how it sounds through my headphones. And we'll also see how it sounds in the jazz band where it will be showcased as my "Jaco tribute" bass. Not a replica, just a nod or 2 to the legendary bassist and his bass, the "Bass of Doom" as he called it. Nods include fretless neck with lines and fret markers. He did not play the 70's model body, but his main bass looked similar to this one, minus the pickguard. His fret markers were dots, not diamonds as is the case with mine. And his markers were real whereas mine are vinyl inlay stickers.

For those not familiar with Jaco and his bass, Jaco is the only electric bass player in the jazz hall of fame. He is widely known as a genius and a pioneer in electric bass playing. His style has been copied by many bassists, and many of us list him as our top influence. his fretless sound was achieved primarily by playing the bridge pickup only, which is easy to do on a Fender Jazz bass.

Sadly, Jaco suffered from mental illness and was untreated for much of his life, resulting in chaos and instability in his personal and professional life. He was homeless during the last years of his life, and he took his bass with him on the streets, with no case, and abused it with now legendary neglect.
My bass story is a small reflection of the epic journey that he and his bass took, minus the tragic ending. Jaco sadly lost his life in a bar, beaten to death by a bouncer at a night club in Florida when he was not even 40 years old.

Jaco's Bass of Doom was lost for years after having been stolen from him prior to his death. It remained missing until very recently, when it re-sufaced in a New York City pawn shop. The shop owner laid claim to it, setting the stage for a legal battle that was avoided when the bass player from the hard rock group Metallica took it upon himself to buy the bass outright from the pawn shop ower and then donate it to Jaco's family, where it belonged. This act is indicative of the wide renown that bassists of all genres have for Jaco and his influence.

Below is a pic of the bass in it's current form.  I replaced the Gotoh bridge for a standard Fender bridge.  Simple, yet effective and way more effective in achieving a quality set-up.I added the diamonds to the neck.  They are stickers.  They still look great after 18+ months of regular use!

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Thursday, March 03, 2011

Aiden firsts

Michelle and I figured we better start writing down some of Aiden's firsts before they disappear from our collective deteriorating memory.

scooting - not crawling position but able to get across the room October-December
crawling - December 17th - army crawl December 24th for lifting up body some - mid January has perfected crawling
standing - holding on to things with us super close by December 30 - Pulling up some by January 1
2 teeth - bottom - December 30th
STOOD!!- 1/26

Sitting early October
Rolled everywhere for months
kiss sound with mouth - 1/24 - keeps blowing them to Sissy :)

Really getting good at pulling up and can balance for a second by himself. Can stand for extended period of time holding on to somehting or hold one finger of ours.

Feb 7 ate cornbread - first non-pureed food!!!! :)
Also learned how to sit down from standing without falling...and is starting to cruise again!

March 1st - really getting fast with the cruising - booked around the whole coffee table
likes to climb up the stairs of the slide and loves to climb up the staircases. Still not a fan of going down
Lights up anytime he looks at Jake or Sissy. Started a new game of stealing Jake's paci....cracks them both up!
Two new teeth! Front top left and top right molar.
March 2nd - ate cheerios for the first time. Jake is excited about Aiden eating real food. Jake likes to eat the baby snacks and likes to offer his half eaten portion to Aiden. Aiden's food list is growing - bananas, cheese, baby finger wheels, yogurt, LOVES corn - likes to "sing" while eating. The more he likes the food the louder he hums. Based on humming volume cheerios and corn are current favorites :)
Loves to make raspberries - cracks himself up while doing it too
Also loves to give Mommy big open mouth kisses. So sweet!

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Here is my Fender Jazz (Mexican made) fretless, with a new coat of Fret Doctor applied to the fretboard, and a brand new set of Mother Of Pearl diamond shaped inlays. Drool!

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Wednesday, December 22, 2010



This is a very cool pic of Elvis with a Fender Precision bass. This pic gets a lot of love in the bass-playing community!

Girls on the Run 2010



Melanie running in the Girls On The Run 5k, Dec. 2010

Tuesday, November 09, 2010

Some more fun words from young Jakey

"Dace" = Grace, Mel's good friend

"Sissy Dance" = Mel's dance studio

"paygow" = playground

"pasha" = pasta, his favorite food

"fietuck" = fire truck

"Iceytruck" = Ice Cream Truck, one of which he has yet to see live in person. But he has seen lots of pictures in books!

"Bus stop" = school bus. He is still working on the difference between the bus and the bus stop. Interchanges them when referencing them in a sentence.

Identifiable if not perfectly articulated words include:
cookie
juice (pronounced very slowly and deliberately so he gets it right, very cute to watch him say!)
pancake
waffle
school bus
sorry
come on, as in "come with me!"
"taa daa" with big raised hands, one straight over his head, and the other aimed at whatever he is referencing, for purposes of introducing whatever he is presenting when he says it. Also very cute. He does this for dinner. "Sissy, come on, dinner!" Then when she gets there, he gives a big taa daa with the hand gestures. Gets us laughing every time!
whip cream
pizza

Monday, October 18, 2010

Jacob vocab cont'd

More fun words from our big guy.

"Lie-kee-KEE" = Lightning McQueen from the movie Cars

"Hoo hoo truck" = ambulance/firetruck

"A-yah" (say the letter "A" and add "ya")= Aiden (baby brother)

"Kie" prounced like Cry without the "r"

Fog sounds like the f-bomb. Its Mom's favorite right now.

Also we had a good laugh when Aiden surprised us the other day and rolled across the room, onto Melanie's homework, and proceeded to drool all over it. A new twist on the dog eating the homework. Melanie's teacher understood and was very gracious about the whole thing.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Jacob's talk at 26 months (Jacob-saurus

I've been wanting to do this for a while. We have been getting lots of video of the kids, especially since Aiden was born, but I wanted to document the fun and cute things that Jacob says now, especially since his speech advances quickly the older he gets. Here is a glimpse at some of his words that we hear the most.

Today for the first time I heard him say "dog" when referring to his best friend, Blue Doggie. BD used to be known simply as "woof."

"Massey" = paci(fier)
"Shhhhooshe" - his painstakingly articulated and very deliberately executed attempt at "juice." This is one of my favorites, mostly because it takes him so long to get it out. He has to slowly form his mouth, then gently push that first "sh" out. I think he goes so slowly with it because he is trying to say the "j" sound each time. He just has not figured out how yet.

"Shoosh" a quicker version of "juice," this time it means "shoes."

"Shews" is his word for "Jews." Ok, I am kidding about that one.

"Sissy" for Melanie, who also is known as "Meh," not to be confused with his word for Mommy, which is "Ma."

"Boo Foo" is Blues Clues

"Shoo shoo" is train ("choo choo"). His current favorite books are all Thomas The Tank Engine, and he loves anything train-related on TV.

"Mice" is mess, one of his most frequently recited words. He is a very neat 2 year old. Sometimes.

"Bice" is bus. Another frequent word, particularly when in the car.

"Chuck" is truck, the word that is used for all non-bus vehicles on the road. He will get car sooner or later I am sure...

My all time favorite so far as to be his word for chocolate. "Ca-ca." I rolled on the floor for days when I first heard him use that one! Of course, now we all have adopted this word when asking for or referring to chocolate.

"Ah-mo" is Elmo, of course. His favorite TV character. He has not really come up with a word for Barney, but he still loves the episodes we recorded for him 2 years ago.

"Miwk" is milk

"Yan-yee" is Landry, our cat

"Ah-ga" is a word he used both for our neighbor Audrey (one of Melanie's best friends) as well as Ah-ga's younger sister Juliette, another good friend. Juliette is a good sport and tries to help Jacob learn her name. She takes it well that for now she had to share a name with Ah-ga. Now Jacob is able to say "Ju-ju" for Juliette, and Audrey is now just plain "Audrey."

"Ba-oon" is balloon

"Do-Do" is Diego, one of his favorite TV shows.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Monday, January 18, 2010

Jacob at almost 21 months

These days he likes to hold a tissue to his nose, covering his mouth, and spit into the tissue, mimicking the sound that is made when a person blows their nose. it is hysterical! He also loves to say "whoa" when something impresses him, like his sister's makeup for the Nutcracker show this weekend.

Download MP3's.zip from Sendspace.com - send big files the easy way

Download MP3's.zip from Sendspace.com - send big files the easy way

A download of several sound files recorded live with my new and very fun Zoom H2 recorder. Triple Double Jazz Band, 1-16-10.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Jacob at 17 months

Some fun things that Jacob is up to now, and some words that he is starting to use:
"Uh-oh"
Every time he sees someone close to the stove, oven or fridge he says "ot, ot." So he has learned temperature, but he uses the word "hot" to describe hot or cold. He does the same thing in the bath. Its a riot! And he blows on his food, but he does it using an "F" instead of a full-on, cheeks-puffed blow.

He yells out for people, when he wants them. But he pretty much uses the same word for everyone. Sounds like "Ahn" or sometimes "Ahnnie" if he is looking for Melanie.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Friday, August 28, 2009