Im tired of this darn covid virus

[JOYCEfromNS]

My click finger is a little sore from deleting political posts - so please folks there are lots of political forums on the Internet to display your political chops -  its kinda tiresome here; you know who you are for gawd sakes please stop it

[carruth]

Sorry, was not trying to be political.
Just thought my Larrivee Forum friends may want to know about recent developments down here in New Zealand.
I can see that people in the USA are really upset about the virus.
I read that the number of people that have died in the USA has just gone past 200,000.
My heart goes out to all those families that have been effected.
To answer the question about testing in New Zealand, any one can have a test free of charge, and you are really encouraged to do so if you have any cold like symptoms.
We all know that the Virus can come back at any time.
Like everyone, we are praying for a vaccine, but at least for now, things are almost back to normal, and I have a cool music festival to go to in two weeks time, provided that pesky virus does not flare up again.

[JOYCEfromNS]

Sorry, was not trying to be political.

Peter were any of your posts deleted 

[carruth]

   None of my posts were deleted.
I read your post above and thought it polite to say that politics were not in mind when I wrote my posts on this thread.
We are all in this Virus disaster together.
Most people in New Zealand have every respect for the USA.
We all know that we would be speaking Japanese if the USA armed forces had not come to our rescue in WWII.
So many of your boys paid the ultimate price for our democratic freedom.
I highly recommend the film "Greyhound" that is out on apple now. The film is about a USA destroyer trying to protect the convoys sent to arm and feed Britain from German submarine wolf packs in WWII.
For me the film shows the very best of why the USA is such a great country.
We are living in very difficult times.
I sincerely hope the USA can resolve all the difficulties being faced right now, and that the democracy, that we all enjoy because the USA saved the world in WWII, prevails.

[Mikeymac]

  None of my posts were deleted.
I read your post above and thought it polite to say that politics were not in mind when I wrote my posts on this thread.
We are all in this Virus disaster together.
Most people in New Zealand have every respect for the USA.
We all know that we would be speaking Japanese if the USA armed forces had not come to our rescue in WWII.
So many of your boys paid the ultimate price for our democratic freedom.
I highly recommend the film "Greyhound" that is out on apple now. The film is about a USA destroyer trying to protect the convoys sent to arm and feed Britain from German submarine wolf packs in WWII.
For me the film shows the very best of why the USA is such a great country.
We are living in very difficult times.
I sincerely hope the USA can resolve all the difficulties being faced right now, and that the democracy, that we all enjoy because the USA saved the world in WWII, prevails.

Carruth,

Thanks for your positive words. While none of us personally paid the price, some of our relatives obviously did, three generations or so ago. We also look up to their courage and commitment to keep us and others free.

I believe we'll get through this - but it won't be easy. We seem to have created a generation that feels it is owed everything, and that somehow life can be pain free. I guess they have to grow up and face reality just like everyone else. I lived overseas for four years as a youth (my dad served 23 years in the U.S. Air Force); we lived outside Madrid, Spain. A beautiful place, but NOT the USA. Made me very appreciative of our great country when I got home/back on U.S. soil (at age 16).

Blessings on you and yours, friend! 

[eded]

My click finger is a little sore from deleting political posts - so please folks there are lots of political forums on the Internet to display your political chops -  its kinda tiresome here; you know who you are for gawd sakes please stop it

But references to Election Day, insurrection act, and sheeple don't qualify as political oriented posts?

Reduces my sympathy for your aching delete finger.

Ed

[ducktrapper]

Let's let the late, great Willie P. Bennett get the last word in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTG53yRhOhg      

[gtrplayer]

We seem to have created a generation that feels it is owed everything, and that somehow life can be pain free. I guess they have to grow up and face reality just like everyone else.

The woke but godless, the arrogant but ignorant, the violent but physically unimpressive, the degreed but poorly educated, the broke but acquisitive, the ambitious but stalled — these are history's ingredients of riot and revolution.   VDH

Willie P. Bennett...Nice song/performance  Just a guy, a mandolin and a good song, I long for those days.

[ducktrapper]

The woke but godless, the arrogant but ignorant, the violent but physically unimpressive, the degreed but poorly educated, the broke but acquisitive, the ambitious but stalled — these are history's ingredients of riot and revolution.   VDH

Willie P. Bennett...Nice song/performance  Just a guy, a mandolin and a good song, I long for those days.

We miss Willie terribly. Hanson is a treasure. 

[Mikeymac]

The woke but godless, the arrogant but ignorant, the violent but physically unimpressive, the degreed but poorly educated, the broke but acquisitive, the ambitious but stalled — these are history's ingredients of riot and revolution.   VDH

Another BIG fan of VDH here. 

[Mikeymac]

Well, I was exposed to COVID last Saturday (I had a graveside service, then went to the family's home for some "lunch".)  One of the family members then went back home (out of state/our of Minnesota) and she, along with her husband, tested positive for it (he had symptoms).

So I went in Thursday (when they let me know) and got the "up the nose" test - yuck! Finally heard back a few minutes ago that I'm negative: "Virus not detected" said my online chart. (And I haven't had ANY symptoms.)

Dodged a bullet - especially since - if I tested positive - I could not conduct church tomorrow.

Anyone else been through this recently?

[eded]

Well, I was exposed to COVID last Saturday (I had a graveside service, then went to the family's home for some "lunch".)  One of the family members then went back home (out of state/our of Minnesota) and she, along with her husband, tested positive for it (he had symptoms).

So I went in Thursday (when they let me know) and got the "up the nose" test - yuck! Finally heard back a few minutes ago that I'm negative: "Virus not detected" said my online chart. (And I haven't had ANY symptoms.)

Dodged a bullet - especially since - if I tested positive - I could conduct church tomorrow.

Anyone else been through this recently?

Whew.  Best wishes for continued non-detection!

Ed

[old folky]

I work at a pulp mill in Bailyville, Maine and we just had our annual outage.  With over 400 contractors from over the U.S., and us, doing the extra work, it was  inevitable that one might have the virus.  Well as it turned out, there were 15 contractors that did.  So far only 2 of our employees have tested positive out of around 350.  I, myself, was negative, but my wife was sent home as she works at a Veterans Home until we found out.  Strange, as all persons entering the mill have their temperature checked.  Maybe, that's not the cats' meow of a way to do it...scary

[Mikeymac]

I'm at the point with this now that I'm getting mad  .

We could've done the 2-4 week shutdown (to prevent hospitals from getting swamped), kept older people out of public for a bit longer and allowed herd immunity to happen. We would've been done with this thing months ago.

As it stands, people are spending too much time alone...not even getting together with friends for meals in their homes (or at restaurants in many cases). This is causing lots of loneliness and depression. And...we're now not getting immunity from other things that would normally float around in the air and, through exposure, make us stronger.

And I also don't believe the numbers - they're being inflated in various ways (including how they're being reported) to scare us and keep us locked down. But that's the kind of talk that would get this thread closed, so I won't go there...

[Strings4Him]

Study Sweden's response to COVID.

[Mikeymac]

Study Sweden's response to COVID.

Indeed. I'm losing respect for many people I know who are walking around like scared, masked rabbits these days.

Really? Is this what we've come to? If so, our country is doomed - and our enemies know it!

[Strings4Him]

Indeed. I'm losing respect for many people I know who are walking around like scared, masked rabbits these days.

Really? Is this what we've come to? If so, our country is doomed - and our enemies know it!

Many are waking up.  Many are not buying into the narrative any longer.  Lots of double standards.

[ST]

Coping mechanisms - well, there's always retail therapy.

I love playing with other people, and where I am, there are a lot of restrictions on playing live music.

I have the Digitech Trio+ | Band Creator and Looper. You can strum the chords to a song, and it will automatically generate bass and drum parts in lots of genres. And there's a built-in looper. I would never use this on a live stage, but it's wonderful for exploring new song ideas and rehearsing. But you have to come up with all the ideas, and things can get stale without input from other people.

I've been updating my gear, and the most recent acquisition is the Positive Grid Spark


I ordered mine (special coupon deal 20% off) and got it in five days. That's shipped from California to Canada. I mention that because Positive Grid had problems meeting the demand for months and months and they got more than a little criticism about that. Things seem to be moving now. Five days!

This thing is a laugh barrel of monkeys.


I didn't need the Spark amp - at least not for the hardware. I already have the Yamaha THR30II Wireless .  

You can read more about that in New Amp Day - Yamaha THR30II

The fun part is the Spark app that pulls backing tracks off the web and displays the chords while the tracks are playing. There have been other devices that did similar things (play backing tracks and run guitar amp emulators) like the Boss JS10 eBand player.  The Spark has thousands of guitar tones and backing tracks compared to hundreds with products like the Boss JS10 (so five years ago).

The Spark sounds good for a living room amp. It would be okay for a gig (yeah someday) in a coffee shop, but I wouldn't put it up against an energetic drummer.  If you play electric guitar with a partner who plays acoustic, it would work in a small venue. Around here (Vancouver, Canada), in the venues permitted to have live music, the music must be no louder than "normal conversation." If people have to raise their voices to have a conversation, then the music is too loud. That's the new reality. And in a lot of respects - I don't mind.

On the other hand, for a living room amp (without all the features of the Spark app), I prefer the Yamaha THR30II. With the wireless built-in and optional transmitter, built-in rechargeable battery - it's nearly twice the price of the Spark. But to me, it sounds better, and it has more output options. The other day, I took it to an outdoor gig. I used the Yamaha THR30II as my personal guitar monitor and ran a line out to my Bose S1 Pro.  I got the tone from the Yamaha and the dispersion from the Bose. It sounded great. There's no line-out from the Spark.

I didn't *need* to buy the Spark. The Spark app is free (Android and IOS), but there are some limits if you aren't a licensed owner of the hardware. So I basically bought the full version of the app, and the amp was free.

Sure, I'm tired of COVID-19. However, it has kept me from spending money driving around and hanging out in haunts of the ne're-do-wells. And that has financed a few frivolous diversions.

[Mikeymac]

Looking forward to when we get back to this...

Sports were patriotic and stadiums were full...

[Silence Dogood]

Looking forward to when we get back to this...

Sports were patriotic and stadiums were full...

Sadly, I believe professional sports have been permanently ruined by the political zeitgeist. This is sad because millions genuinely enjoy such events and seek them as a respite to the ugly realities of life.  I think of all the dad/son trips to the game when it was all about a beer and a hotdog and enjoying something innocent together.  That's gone. I'm not sure where it all goes from here, but I believe the status quo has changed.