"Need" might be a little debatable, but I have a funeral to go to later this week and an event at work later this month and Mrs. bigboy insisted it was time for a new suit. My current suit is more than 5 years old and is a little on the baggy side and has a snag on the front of the pants. It was a cheap suit with the only tailoring being sleeve and pants length. She insisted that since I'm over 40 and not a 15 year old buying a suit for the homecoming dance that I go somewhere nice and do it up right. We went to Nordstrom and, while the sticker shock of paying close to what I paid for my first car for a suit still hasn't worn off, they do treat you right and take the time to make sure shit is gonna fit.

I don't own a suit. If an event requires a suit, I don't wanna go. I've learned lately that half the time, dudes don't even wear ties to job interviews anymore, much less a suit.

The last time I wore a suit was 3 years ago when my last remaining grandparent died hallelujah by and by. It would be time to buy a new one if some other big event was on the horizon.

I'm pretty sure I've never bought anything from Nordstrom, not even from their outlet stores in Grapevine or the other one off the tollway. They do have good looking clothes and stuff but sheesh. The staff is pretty silly too. I was kicking the tires on a lady's watch once as a bday gift for the wife at the NorthPark store until the lady quoted it for 7k. It was tough to not show

Bummer about the funeral.

Do we really need suits any more? I would like to have one, but I'm too cheap to buy it for a once-a-year thing. I think I have one that I bought 20 years ago. It looks bad.

I think I saw sport coats in Target on Saturday. I smiled at the thought of how awful one would look on me.

I own 4 suits. I don't wear them often, but they're nice to have.

I wouldn't have worried too much about a new suit, but I'm a pall bearer and my old one looks like shit. I've typically bought from K&G, which is fine if you don't wear them often and you're a normal body type. I'm short and stocky with big ass shoulders, so finding something that doesn't look like an MC Hammer outfit is a challenge. I've had mixed results with clothes at Nordstrom. I bought a lot of shirts there a few summers back during a sale and they didn't set me back too much. I've bought winter sweaters at the outlet too. I would have liked to pay less for a suit, but I price compared with Men's Warehouse and it wasn't any cheaper.

I didn't buy it, but I was gifted a fancy Ninja coffee maker and a grinder for Christmas. I've gone from not drinking coffee to a full-blown amateur barista in 18 months.

And I wore my suit for a Christmas outing a couple of weeks ago and the weight I've lost has it fitting like a damn clown outfit. When I took my belt off, the pants fell off without even unbuttoning.

Sounds like a good party trick to me.

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Come to Butthead.


and yes, I got the elite.

Good deal. According to the pictures, the elite comes with a pineapple.

Interesting. I look forward to your review.

We still use it every morning to grind enough beans for 3 cups of coffee.

Picked up an Apple Watch, Series 4 with the 44mm screen GPS + Cellular. I now have conversations on my watch a la Dick Tracy.

Can you use it to communicate with Rockme?

I like watches. Old school regular ones.

I used to wear a watch, but one day the battery died and since I carry a phone with me everywhere and it tells the time, I don't wear a watch anymore.

Samesies. I haven't worn a watch in decades. The Apple Watch is ghey for sure, but it's pretty sweet. Limitless watch faces, texts, phone calls, gps for tracking exercise, a freaking EKG, plus the huge douche factor. Since I started wearing it I can't tell if my bad hearing has gotten worse or if I just can't hear broke anymore.

I like the look of watches and I enjoy movies where a rich dude will open a drawer and choose a watch and cufflinks from his extravagant collection and I dream to be that sophisticated. But I hate the way they feel. Other than tracking exercise, I'm not sure why any of that stuff you listed is better on a watch than on a phone, but to each his own.

It's not necessarily better, but it's a convenience factor that (somewhat) justifies the price. Being able to leave the phone at home or in the car while I go on a walk or run into a store or whatever, and be certain that I'm not missing anything is kinda nice. Even leaving the phone on my desk while I'm up and seeing emails, texts or calls come in is just super convenient.

I probably went 20 years without wearing a watch. A couple of years ago, I got to thinking about the cool Swatch I used to wear in the 80s, bought one online, and started wearing a watch again.

About a week ago, the battery ran down on it and I couldn't find a replacement in any stores out here. I was surprised at how often I looked down at my wrist for the time and my watch wasn't there.

I got a replacement battery yesterday, and all is right with the world again.

I'm sure this has something to do with aging.

The Yonana machine out of the box doesn't appear to be the most durably crafted machine made and I will be surprised if it holds up for any length of time. It did occur to me that they blended the words yogurt and banana to come up with their catchy name and by "they" I mean Dole, as it has their logo on the box. If I was on the board for Chiquita I'd be plotting an art of war counterstrike with the Bananurt, a best in class ranked alternative, to thwart Dole's attempt at cornering the market on banana based yogurt machines. That said, if you buy one, go with the $40 one at Bed Bath & Beyond. I'd love to know the margins on these chintzy things. The machine reminds me of those Play-Doh fun factory press thingies that would poop out those soft serve strands of playtime awesomeness. I liked play-doh when I was a kid, did you? Anydanghoo, tonight I made a banana & cherry combo and threw in some cacao (pronounced kuh-cow) nibs to boot for a chocolatey crunch. I did this while hearing G Stefani going "it's yonanas y-o-n-a-n-a-s" in my head. The finished product made for a really pleasant dessert both in taste and appearance. Very fresh and texturally smooth.It is most like an even lighter, more whipped gelato. It is a bit of a beating to clean, kind of like how juicers are.

Quality of product-
Price for what it is- $$$$
Tastiness----------- .5

Man alive, there are so many choices for keeping up with weather. I've been looking at a Weather Underground station for a couple of years but I just haven't pulled the trigger. I can't put it on top of the house. If I mount it on a pole it would have to be pretty far away because the place is surrounded by trees. I don't really want to deal with that. But I really want one, dang it.

So this week I decided to compromise with myself and get a Thermapro Rechargeable Wireless Indoor/Outdoor Weather Station for $28.

It's 87.4 degrees right now on the front porch.

A couple of weeks ago I bought something called a Dynatrap on Amazon, $88. It kills flying insects like mosquitoes and some damn scourge called "no-see-ums." A blue light attracts them, they fly in and a fan sucks them down into the chamber of death where they starve and die. I've had it two weeks and it appears to be working.

The landlords were impressed, so they bought the exact same thing at Cosco today for damn 20 damn dollars less. Exact. Same. Thing.

Oh well.

I was thinking about getting a Dynastrap too but the misses says she never pegged me for a kinker and would probably never peg me at all.

Wait, watterwetalkinbout?

A few months ago it occurred to me that before I die, I should own a Fender Stratocaster. I've had a Telecaster for 20 years and I've enjoyed it, so why not get this cool guitar? Shopped around and finally settled on a 70s model that looked really cool. However, the damn thing won't stay in tune and I'm going to have to take it to the shop to be fixed. So half the time I play my old guitar and not the new one. But now I have a Stratocaster.

Last week it occurred to me that before I die, I should own at least one Marshall amp. Shopped around and bought the smallest tube amp they make, a practice model. Was $500. Plugged it in tonight and was quite underwhelmed by it. But now I have a Marshall amp.

That should be the last of the musical instruments for a while.

From now on, I'm just going to waste money on cameras.

I knew you played keyboard but I didn't know you played the gitter, hoob. I guess everyone does though. You still giggin? I'd love to see you tearing it up at a local VFW sometime.

I own 5 guitars and can't play worth a shit. I've picked it up and put it down since I was a kid but always ended up putting it down for years at a time. The last time I made a solid effort to learn was '99. I tried teaching myself classical style. I practiced 1 1/2 to 2 hours every night for about 9 months. I had memorized a little over an hours worth of music (if I did a lot of repeats). I was never any good but I was at least good enough to impress the future mrs gam and get her in the sack. After a while I would only pick it up once a week, then once a month, once a quarter, etc. I started losing more and more of the music I memorized. Now I only remember one etude and a simple version of Blackbird.

A few months ago I decided to buy a cheap Yamaha steel string acoustic and a stand that holds 4 guitars (the Strat stays in the closet) and set it up in the living room. I'm back to playing several times a week now, but this time I'm just doing chords and learning simple songs to sing to. Me and my nieces do a great version of "Let It Go". I'm having more fun learning this style, and had I did this from the beginning I'm sure I would have stuck with it more.

One question... I'm still so bad. How long does it take to get decent? And why can't I sing on key while playing? Music stuff is hard.

I don't know how long it takes to get decent, but some people take right to it and some don't. Remember our buddy, Larry? He's a pretty good player. Been playing since his early teens. He plays a lot of Grateful Dead, but we won't hold that against him right now. Before we got shitcanned, he gave one of our co-workers some free lessons and the guy figured it out right away. He was playing a song by the end of the first hour and learned all sorts of others by himself the next couple months. I tried to learn when I was 19 and I never got the hang of it. 30 years later and I can maybe play a 2-chord song after some practice (I pick it up maybe once a year.) Some got it, some don't. Just keep practicing. I have faith in you.

Ya I was at Larry's place a few times back then. I remember him playing guitar pretty well then (though he played bass in the band he was in). Of course, playing on an electric lets you get away with a lot of sloppy playing. Maybe I should get the Strat out of the closet and see what I can make it sound like. If it still works. It's been more than 15 years since I plugged it in.

Thanks, Tit. You've inspired me. You're my muse.

Both of you are better guitarists than me, even though I play mine semi-regularly.

I have the odd talent of being able to play several instruments but can't get past the junior high skill level. That's not false modesty, either.

I can't tell you how many times I've looked out on a dance floor and thought, how in the damn hell crap am I getting away with this?

My last gig was in 2010. If the right opportunity came up, I'd do it again. But it's not going to happen.

A kickass time was had.

I am not a better guitarist than you because few are worse than me. I'm actually not bad at piano/keyboard. I took to that more easily, though I never had any lessons and don't own a keyboard.

I remembered one more thing about Larry. He told me he never bought himself new guitars. He always got pawn shop/used guitars because that's all he could ever afford. So while we three spares own some decent instruments, this guy could actually play but always played on ghetto guitars. He took some of his severance and finally bought himself a really nice one. I don't what kind it was.

So, about that Marshall amp. It's underpowered and it sucks.

Started shopping for a replacement a couple of weeks ago, finally settled on a Marshall 40 watt tube combo amp, was $750.

FedEx brought it late Saturday afternoon and I had time to tinker with the settings today. I can't begin to tell you how much ass this thing kicks.

Hoobascoob, how did this thing work out for you? Did you get the 1/4, 1/2 or 3/4 acre model? Where did you put it that it was most effective?

I've had issues with mosquitoes since I bought my house (except for last year). They've always been REALLY bad. I've tried a "zapper" but it freaks out Cookie so bad he gets too scared to go outside. I've tried one with the chemicals but it didn't work very well.

Mosquito season is starting up and I really want to keep these bastards at bay.

I finally pulled my Mexican Strat and cheap Fender amp out of my closet last year. They still work just fine. I haven't played with them much though.

I did however keep playing my acoustic guitars, especially the Yamaha I bought. I do okay on the open chords now but I can't bar worth a shit. A, Am, A7, C, D, Dm, D7, E, Em, E7, and G chords are all in my wheelhouse, but B and F chords are my Achilles heal. I haven't bothered with power chords either.

Sounds like me, Hoob and Tit could start a shitty power trio. Couldn't be any worse than Rush. Let's get together and sell this thing out.

If you have trouble with barre chords, you can either try to extend your index finger further the fuck across the fret, like almost a full knuckle hanging off the edge of the neck, which helped me (tho I still suck), or you can try to hit that top string with your thumb instead and let your index worry about the lower strings.

But yeah B and F chords suck like a mug. I do love a G chord though.

I got the indoor one and it works great. Mine requires darkness and has to be put in a dark corner.

I wonder how well the outdoor ones work. My landlords got the same one I got and put it on the back porch. It attracted moths like crazy.

Yer damned right I bought me one of these!

My new estate sits on a half acre and I splurged and bought a new lawn tractor back in February. On the first Saturday of the corona-tine, I convinced Mrs. bigboy that I needed a dump trailer to haul shit around like dirt, brush, and bagged up leaves and whatnot. She thinks I look like a fucking hillbilly carting it around, but I actually feel like I get shit done when I'm using it.

They got Mexicans to do that shit these days.

Does she think your tractor's sexy?