Monday: New Site, New Guitar, and More

Well, I decided to fully jump over here and put my old Blogger blog into suspension. I still have a lot of background work to do here, but all the main "bones" are in place how I want them. Having said that, some things that are still on my to-do list are:

• Setup blog post archives.
• Rebuild my various tutorials, moving them to this site and off of Blogger.
• Build my Gallery backend.
• Add all my subpages from Blogger.

There are other tidbits, I'm sure — but that's the main gist of everything remaining.

As I've mentioned before, I'm making sure that all my pages adhere to XHTML 1.0 Strict and CSS3 validation standards, and so far it's been a breeze. I'm still adjusting to not having links automatically open in a new window, but oh well. Another thing I'm pleased with is that I'm no longer bogging-down the front page with a bunch of embedded Flash or JavaScript badges and banners. I think, as a designer and coder (and a web user), I'm getting tired of the slow-loading glitter and glamor — so I'm doing away with most of it on my site.

Anyway, it's nice to be working with such a dynamic and scalable content management solution again. I loved ExpressionEngine back when I was doing RAILhead Design, and the new version of EE is even better. Oh, and it'll also be nice to open the comments to non-Blogger users — I just hope I don't have to start policing them...

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I'm having hollowbody withdrawals. =/

With as many guitars as I have and I've gone through, I still haven't found the one that gives me the specific tone and flexibility I want when it comes to going from clean to overdrive/distortion. Currently, when I need that combo, I grab my Reverend Manta Ray — and don't hear what I'm not saying: I love my Manta Ray. But it still has a really electric tone to it when it's clean, and that's mainly due to the size of the body, the internal chambering, and the material it's made of.

I used to own an Epiphone Dot Archtop — and it was a great guitar, but it would never stay in tune. Back when I had it, I didn't feel like going through the trouble of replacing machine heads, pickups, etc., and since it was such and inexpensive guitar, I just sold it. But now I want another true hollowbody, so the search is on.

Right now, I'm quite intrigued with Gretsch's Filter'Tron pickups, and I love the idea of having a solid spruce top and a 2.75" laminated maple body like the Gretsch Country Club G6196T sports. I also like the Cadillac Green paint job.

Unfortunately, I can't find one in stock at any of my usual sources until September or later. Ugh. I haven't fully begun my hunt, though, so I may turn up something this evening...

•••••

We had a really great service at church this weekend. For starters, I was really pleased with the music. At first, I wasn't too keen on the set list since some of the songs were ones we've played to death, but our Worship Paster knew what he was doing when he picked them, and in the end, they synced perfectly with the message. We didn't have any technical issues to speak of, we pretty much hit every cue on time, etc. One of the benefits of doing songs we've played to death, of course, is that we know them like the backs of our hands — and that allows us to not have to follow a chord chart as much, which in turn allows us to play more freely and be a more active participant in the worship. That's always nice.

•••••

How cool was it when Ben "activated" the Smoke Monster? I totally wish I had my own Smoke Monster, but I wouldn't want to have to get all sooty every time I set it loose (yes, that was a hint).

Posted by on 04/28 at 11:45 AM

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On 04/29 (11:49 PM), said...

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