SimCity, and why all the fuss?

I picked up a copy of the new SimCity over the weekend. I enjoyed SimCity 2000 and SimCity 3000, and absolutely loved SimCity 4 (not so much the Rush Hour expansion). Yes, I read all the hoopla on the net about this being the biggest failed launch ever. Yes, I knew what I was getting into, and yes I’m probably a glutton for punishment.

But, I also know the propensity for exaggeration. Gamers love to exaggerate, and the Internet as a whole blows everything out of proportion. Some days, the entirety of the Internet comes across as one snot-nosed, self-righteous, self-entitled Emo kid in dire need of an old-fashioned spanking. At least, the most vocal on the Internet do…

At any rate, I had been through Diablo 3′s famed “Error 37″ issues of launch week. I even went through Battlefield 3′s fubar launch week (which, to me, was worse than Diablo’s). So, I picked up my copy Saturday morning and loaded it. You want to know how many issues I had over the entire weekend?

Take care of your customers

It’s amazing to me how many businesses forget the simple tenets of Business Management 101. And through this long-standing Depression/Recession/downturn, there are still opportunities for entrepreneurs to capitalize on the pent-up demand from consumers with general common sense and good customer service.

I’ll share a recent example: I rushed to a local music instrument store (as I would prefer to support small businesses) after work for a guitar stand before they closed at 5:30. Small purchase, yes. I’d been there on other occasions for similarly small purchases like strings and picks. I walked in, waited to be helped, and asked how much the guitar stands cost there. $20 was the answer. Okay, a little steep for something that simple (I’m used to paying about $15), but not a deal-breaker. I asked where they were, and the worker there pulls a guitar off a stand in the corner and hands it to me. Visibly abused and beat up, with rust spots along the length of one leg (that wouldn’t close) and another leg that flapped loosely.

At this point, the “transaction” almost becomes comical. The price is not only $20, but cash only. And, no cash refunds. All for a stand that I question would hold up a garbage bag, much less a ridiculously expensive guitar. I replied that I was going to have to pass, simply stating that the stand was so bent and/or rusted that it wouldn’t move up or down. There were other offers for advice on how to force the stand closed or what-have-you, but I had already mentally checked out at that point.

Where does the time go?

The older I get, the faster time flies. That’s a pretty universal phenomenon, as I’ve heard the same lament from my father, and his father too. As I creep into my “middle-age” years, I want to make the most of my days here on Earth. There is a lot I’ve done in the past 40 years, but there’s still a lot more I plan to do.

The whole idea behind me creating an ‘evening routine’ (whether written or simply mental) is to get the most out of the time I have each day. I come home and noodle on my guitar or read some websites, and then wonder where my night went: my son will say I didn’t spend enough time with him, or my cat acts neglected, or I didn’t spend any quality time reading my Bible. So, I started out organizing what time I have available and what I want to do.

Ooh, pick me!

For someone that’s been playing the guitar on and off for the past 26 years, it’s fairly easy for me to get ‘complacent’ about some of my gear. As a whole, I think the guitar industry is sometimes reluctant to change due to the economics of guitar players (and, how we are reluctant to change). Look at the Les Paul, the Stratocaster, and the Telecaster. Those designs have been around now for more than fifty years, and still sell strongly year after year. Tube amplifiers are another decidedly ‘old tech’ area, but preferred due to warmth of (analog) tone. I prefer a great deal of the older tech and designs in guitar areas.

But all old tech aside, I know there are mountains of gear that I neglect in terms of technological advances just because I “stick with what I know.” Strings are one example. It’s downright maddening to try out new strings in different sizes and combinations. Even when you find a gauge you like, there are dozens of companies and each one has various nickel, steel, cobalt, coated, neon, glow-in-the-dark, etc. varieties to try. I don’t have weeks on end to string up one guitar with everything Ernie Ball makes, nor do I have the thickly padded wallet to do so.

So, I decided starting with picks would be a more economic place to start my gear experimentation.

I used the Fender confetti celluloid in Heavy for probably a decade or more. I liked the ‘normal’ shape, the thickness and the color/pattern. They were inexpensive, and got the job done. I’ve tried other shapes occasionally like the smaller jazz styles (Dunlop Jazz II, I think) or the Dunlop Big Stubby (anyone remember that one?), and knew quickly I prefer the standard shape. I also tried some Ernie Ball heavy picks, but found their plastic too slippery when things heated up.

Gear thoughts, the down and dirty

I’ve had the opportunity to spend a few months with my latest gear: the Ibanez S-420 and the Epiphone G-400 Gothic guitars, and the Blackstar H-1R amp. Now that I’ve really dug through the ins and outs of each, I want to post some follow-up observations.

First and foremost, the Blackstar is still cool as Hell. I may not be able to completely shape the tone, due to the sole ISF control and no high/mid/bass knobs, but there is a very wide palette of sounds available with that one ISF gadget. Even better, about 85% of it’s tone array is ‘usable,’ or pleasing to my ear. The 0 to 5% area and 90% to 100% area are a bit extreme for what I like, but everything else in the middle sounds both different and good. There’s also a boat-load of gain on tap, more than perhaps what I could even use.