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Songs From Another Life

I’m reposting this because I was listening to it in the car today and it brought me such joy. As I wrote below, it harkens back to a time in my life when life was…simpler. A happier time, a feeling these last seven months have (hopefully only temporarily) robbed me of.

This is a playlist that I put together a few years ago and burned onto CD as a holiday gift for my surviving friends from the 80s with whom I shared these musical memories. These songs—mostly from the mid-to-late years of the decade—in addition to the pop hits of the day, comprised the soundtrack of our lives as we transitioned from life in Tucson to life in San Francisco. It puts me in a…strange…headspace, so I don’t listen to it very often, but sometimes it’s just what the doctor ordered to remind me that life has not always been the psychic clusterfuck we all currently find ourselves living through.

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Short Road Trip

I didn’t end up spending my vacation sitting at home after all. Yesterday we got in Rabbit and took a short trip north to Prescott, where I dropped off my Technics C01 series amp, preamp, and tuner to a guy there who does restorations on vintage audio gear. He came highly recommended, and even though don’t expect to get the stuff back before the end of summer, I’m sure it will sing.

I originally found him because I was looking for a tech to give my new-to-me Kenwood receiver a thorough going-over, and I couldn’t find any local specialists. A brief inquiry on Audiokarma and I was given Randy’s name. After a few back-and-forth emails we agreed on a price and since I was “local” I could simply drop the unit off to avoid shipping charges.

The more I thought about it, however, the more I realized after several weeks of listening that there’s really nothing wrong with the Kenwood, and if anything was in need of repair, it was the Technics stuff I got back in 2018. All this stuff is now over 40 years old and undoubtedly needs adjustments and parts replacements, but the Technics were more in need through my direct observation of bulging capacitors in the power amp. (The Kenwood looked fine after a thorough visual inspection.)

So that’s what we did. Also meeting the guy in person helped assure me that my Technics were in good hands.

I’d forgotten what a hike it was to get to Prescott. I swear the town itself is as far from I-17 as the turnoff from I-17 to Prescott is from Phoenix.

After dropping off the components at Randy’s home/shop, we headed back, grabbing lunch at a barbecue place on SR69.

I’m now officially two thirds of the way through my vacation, and I am not looking forward to Monday—especially since it’s the first day of being physically back in the office on an alternating weekly schedule of 3 days a week in office followed by 2 days a week in office (the remainder being WFH).

As of today, 977 work days total—not counting vacation and or personal leave days—until I can GTFO of the workforce and start drawing full Social Security.