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JL Sargent

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On 12/12/2020 at 9:09 PM, dtel said:

Thank you, we have never been but would love to go to Japan, but there garden pictures all looked way nicer than ours, there amazing.  Japanese Maples are my favorite plants, had 25 different varieties at one time but lost most of them from dieback.

If were ever up in the North West I want to visit the Japanese garden in Seattle 

 

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If you’d like to go to Japan, go for it!  The place is amazing.  I was lucky enough to be able to go there in 2010 and see my favourite band, Oreskaband.  They have since lost three of their six original members, so I may have seen them at their peak.

 

Anyway, the country is far south enough that plants grow like crazy, which partly accounts for the great gardens.  As well, when I was wandering around in the Akihabara district in Tokyo, I found a high end hi-fi shop on a small street.  They had lots of great gear, and I nearly bought a used Technics SL-1200 turntable there, but I had too much luggage already, so I passed, and bought a new one in Canada shortly after I returned.

 

I rented a car and drove to Kyoto, about 300 miles to the southwest of Tokyo, and it was a 7-hour drive.  It was a holiday weekend (Marine Day), with very heavy and slow traffic, so the return drive took me 11 hours, including stops to eat and rest.  Their highways are great, and most Japanese are fairly good drivers, unlike some Asians.  However, it would have been a better bet to take the Shinkansen (the bullet train), because it takes only 2-1/2 hours, and one runs every 20 minutes.  Also, the expressways are not freeways.  The tolls came to around $90-100USD each way.

 

The weather in July and August is very hot and humid, so Spring and Fall are better times to visit.  The food is great nearly everywhere, and the hotels are not that expensive, so it’s a mixed bag of reasonable and high prices.

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11 hours ago, Islander said:

and most Japanese are fairly good drivers, unlike some Asians.

 

Before my wife and I married, she was working in Nanchang, Jiangxi, China. We rode a bus out to one of the Universities where she taught a couple of classes, and got out close to noon. We were meeting a friend back in town, maybe 8 miles distant. She talked a cab driver down on his rate so it was only about $3 for the both of us. There were three or four lanes each direction, but it was pretty busy. The driver got over into the opposing lanes to pass a bunch of cars. Within five minutes I would have paid $50 for him to stop and let us out. 😬

 

He got right up behind a police car and honked his horn until the police pulled over out of his way... crazy, crazy...

 

 

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2 hours ago, Marvel said:

 

Before my wife and I married, she was working in Nanchang, Jiangxi, China. We rode a bus out to one of the Universities where she taught a couple of classes, and got out close to noon. We were meeting a friend back in town, maybe 8 miles distant. She talked a cab driver down on his rate so it was only about $3 for the both of us. There were three or four lanes each direction, but it was pretty busy. The driver got over into the opposing lanes to pass a bunch of cars. Within five minutes I would have paid $50 for him to stop and let us out. 😬

 

He got right up behind a police car and honked his horn until the police pulled over out of his way... crazy, crazy...

 

 

 

It's a different world over there.  This footage is from some of the roads on a university campus, if I understand correctly.  You'd swear they're driving with their eyes closed.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcsZxUDWCXg&t=34s

 

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1 hour ago, tlarwa said:

The lift bridge between Houghton and Hancock in the UP of MI.  One of my favorite places anywhere ... God's country.

120030864_3303229756426759_4478787024322290625_o.jpg

 

Wow! Been there... my older brother went to Michigan Tech, and we vacationed alot in the UP. It's beautiful up there for sure...all year 'round.

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3 hours ago, JohnJ said:

Nice six string!

Thanks. I like it.  Funny, just last night, I was reminding myself how I say it's nice than the Gretsch; but then I play the Gretsch and say "oh, this one is really good."  Totally different guitars. I really like the neck on this Strat.  It is definitely the most comfortable of any that I have. The action is pretty low, so maybe I'm just getting lazy in my old age. But I now have arthritis in my thumb, index, and middle fingers of both hands, so the low action is less taxing on my pinchers. 

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6 hours ago, BigStewMan said:

Thanks. I like it.  Funny, just last night, I was reminding myself how I say it's nice than the Gretsch; but then I play the Gretsch and say "oh, this one is really good."  Totally different guitars. I really like the neck on this Strat.  It is definitely the most comfortable of any that I have. The action is pretty low, so maybe I'm just getting lazy in my old age. But I now have arthritis in my thumb, index, and middle fingers of both hands, so the low action is less taxing on my pinchers. 

 

I know that feeling... that's why u need more than one instrument. Was looking at this today, Steve.

36622-1.jpg

036622_premiere_hb_sunburst_perspective.jpg

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1 hour ago, Marvel said:

 

I know that feeling... that's why u need more than one instrument. Was looking at this today, Steve.

36622-1.jpg

036622_premiere_hb_sunburst_perspective.jpg

that is very nice looking Bruce. I've noodled around with a Godin at the guitar store; but haven't owned one. it has a slight resemblance to this epiphone es-175 that I picked up many years ago. Epiphone's are not to be avoided -- mine is fantastic and I've heard others say good things about theirs. In my arsenal, it is definitely the best bang for the buck ... except the ones I got for free.  also, I really dig the hollow body sound.

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11 minutes ago, BigStewMan said:

 also, I really dig the hollow body sound.

 

I can't really afford a new guitar, but I've long been over just the high end models. Was wanting to get a larger body acoustic, but was looking at an Ibanez George Benson model (there are some different models), and liked one that has a florentine cutaway  very much an ES175 lookalike. Then I saw the Godin Montreal Premiere Sunburst HG. It's actually a little smaller than the Ibanez or Gibson. Just sorta went -- I like that!

 

PS... the Epis are great for the money. I used to have a Burny (Burney ?), made in Japan LP copy. Worth a fortune now... who knew?

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On 12/6/2020 at 4:59 PM, Marvel said:

 

Speaking of which, I was reading a nice wiki article about Owsley Stanley, a brilliant mind. He was the main person behind the Grateful Dead's p.a. system, as well as having the best LSD outside of Sandoz. Having lived mostly in the midwest, I don't know if I ever had any of Owsley's acid, but I never had any that was bad. 🤐  🤯

Kid Charlemagne.

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1 hour ago, Marvel said:

I can't really afford a new guitar, but I've long been over just the high end models.

a friend of mine is a professional musician and while I'm sure that he does have some higher end stuff, he doesn't ever speak of it. last guitar that I heard him speak of was a fender squire -- I think they cost about $300.  And he can afford better stuff, he gigs all the time and gets royalty checks from songs he's written. He's just not into buying something simply because of the name.  people would be surprised at some of the affordable guitars that professional use on stage. 

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On 12/16/2020 at 10:11 PM, Islander said:

 

It's a different world over there.  This footage is from some of the roads on a university campus, if I understand correctly.  You'd swear they're driving with their eyes closed.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcsZxUDWCXg&t=34s

 

I wonder what auto insurance is like in China, and do they assess points on licenses? Looks like a lot of these incidents are at the same intersection

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