This is just to say that the USPS website is officially worthless. Hmph.

In making setlists for their live shows, that is. So many bands play the exact same set, save a couple songs swapped here and there, at every show, and play mostly the same songs from older albums from tour to tour. Dream Theater (specifically Mike Portnoy) spoiled me as far as that goes. When MP makes the setlists, he usually makes the set significantly different from show to show. On top of that, he goes back to the last show they played in a particular city and tailors the set so they don't play the same material they played last time. To me, that says a lot. That's the work of a band that cares about its fanbase. I wish more bands would do the same.

I was digging a little, and I discovered that Toronto will be playing host to Kamelot, Epica, Sonata Arctica and Nightwish on 8/24, 9/15, 9/24 and 10/23, respectively. Looks like I'll be putting a bunch of mileage on the new car...! And that's just bands that have announced dates so far. I'm expecting dates from Symphony X, After Forever, Within Temptation and more, and hoping for Dream Theater. Thankfully, these Euro bands' ticket prices are very reasonable, otherwise I'd be in the po' house.

Black Label Society at the Town Ballroom, March 28. Bought my ticket yesterday. G3 (Satriani/Petrucci/GIlbert...a rare non-Vai G3), Massey Hall, Toronto, April 5. Just ordered my ticket. Should be a couple awesome shows!

As evidenced in my last couple posts, I've had a tinge of GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) lately. Well, it hasn't gone away. In the mail today was a Tremol-No, a device that replaces the spring claw in a standard Fender- or Floyd Rose-style tremolo setup and allows the player to use the trem normally, turn a floating trem into a down-only trem, or completely secure the trem, effectively turning the guitar into a hardtail.

Installation was a breeze (or, as much of a breeze as these things get for me). I spent more time tweaking the guitar's setup afterward than I spent actually installing the thing.

A quick play test before work showed that the Tremol-No does work quite well. I didn't notice any increased sustain when locked, although the locked state did seem to bring out more of the low frequencies. It did take a little getting used to, as I went for the trem bar a couple times with the T-No locked and threw it out of whack. I was already being more careful of that by the end of my quick test. I think I'm gonna have some fun with this thing.

Yep, I'm happy. :)

My old Moto V551 just wasn't cutting it anymore. It was giving me way too many problems. With neither the patience nor the money to get an iPhone when it comes out, I had to do something. Last night, I went out and got myself a Moto KRZR. I like it. :)

Last weekend, my car died. First suspicion was the battery, but further investigation led to the starter. Going deeper, a bad ground was identified. When this grounding wire was prodded with a stick, the car started right up. I took it to the shop on Monday, and they said (this is for all you skeptics) that they identified the grounding issue but that the starter also quit while they were working on it, so $200+ later, I have a new starter. All was well and good until tonight, three days later. I went out to move the cars off of the street, but my car didn't go anywhere. Sure enough, with a push on the grounding wire, it started right up. Needless to say, I'm not really thrilled with things right now. I'm working 14 hours and change tomorrow, and now I'm contemplating another 8 AM run to the mechanic.