A quick lesson in Guitar Center-ese

Update July 9, 2014: Good employees can turn things around. Check here. Update May 24, 2025: Updating some links. I recently purchased a keyboard at Guitar Center: an open-box Yamaha DGX-230 Portable Grand. (Update: this was similar to a Yahama PSRE-473.)  I’ve been working with a trumpet player who has a need for a keyboard player that … Read more

Free riding for fun and profit

AOL and I will never, ever be BFF. They even told me so. Here’s my story, going way back to 2000. This was a time when every American’s mailbox was absolutely stuffed to the gills with AOL discs. One fine mid-Atlantic day I wanted some internet access on my computer. I knew NetZero still had … Read more

Review of Complicit by Mark Gilbert

The author’s marketing firm was kind enough to send me a complimentary copy of Mark Gilbert’s new book called Complicit: How Greed and Collusion Made the Credit Crisis Unstoppable. I enjoyed the book.  It was well-written.  (Mr. Gilbert has written a regular column for Bloomberg News for over a decade.)  What this book brings to … Read more

Set your sights on open season preseason

Was chatting with a friend today who hadn’t been to a dentist in a while.  His teeth are apparently a lot stronger than mine are, as he’s never had a cavity, but he’s still a little leery about going there because of what he might need to have done. Fortunately, though, we both have some … Read more

Complement what Mr. and Mrs. Jones have

Our new subdivision has a lot of families with kids, which is a great thing for our five-year-old daughter.  Her new playmates, of course, have lots of new toys that they’re often very happy to share. At our previous house, the owners had bought a slide and swing playset that our daughter used a fair … Read more