Cliffs Riffs - Stuph n Nonsense

This story starts with a sad part - someone vandalized my motorcycle in early June. I noticed a "crinkle" in my gas tank one day and upon further investigation found that not only had the tank ben dented or bent, but the clowns also did some damage to my frame where the tank attaches. Yadda yadda yadda - call my insurance company and they work a deal with the Beemer dealer in Grand Rapids for a new tank. Life is good - well, except for the fact that BMW takes MONTHS to get a gas tank painted on over to the US of A. (It has been on order since the middle of June.) No mind you, my bike is not an antigue - it is a 2004! They produced the Rocksters for several years, but only in 3 colors: green, copper, and white. So hows come BMW can't just have a tank or two primed and ready to paint one of three colors? Where is the highly touted German engineering brilliance? Anyhow, in the ensuing weeks, the worst part of the bend starts to leak gas - let me tell you having ga...

I purchased the Tascam DP-02 as part of a package from Guitar Center almost a year ago. It was a great package with some powered Fostex monitors, a microphone, mic stand, and cables (see above picture). It is currently offered at $650 for the package or you can buy the Tascam alone for $350 from GC. What a fantastic deal. The Tascam was easy to use right out of the box - once upon a time I recorded jingles on a Fostex reel-to-reel 8 track machine - the controls are very logically laid out and with some help from the manual I was up and recording in no time at all. My efforts are strictly hobbyist - I would recommend this Tascam to anyone who wants a small recording studio on a budget. There are two inputs and a total of 8 tracks. I have recorded the following with very satisfactory results: vocals via mic, guitar(s), live drums and percussion, Roland SPD-S, Korg Kaossilator and Kaossilator Pro, and other accoustic things mic'ed in one way or another. The onboard effects add even...

If you have ever had the urge to create electronic music for yourself, this little baby can help you realize your dreams. Or if you just want to have some musical fun. The flexibility for the money is fantastic - I think I paid $400 at Guitar Center and it has been worth every penny. The only flaws that I can think of would come to light when playing live - it takes some time to load your saved set-ups. (So if you are doing lots of live gigs, have two of them so you can always be set up in advance.) It has self-contained beats and drum presets that will let you make your own. It has some killer synth sounds - big phat bass and some nice leads. There is enough here to keep ameteurs and hobbyists happy for days. I am strictly a hobbyist and I am sure that there are features and abilities of this little wonder that I have yet to uncover, but after owning one and using it to record some electronica on a Tascam Digital Recorder, I would have to rate it a 9.5. One of the best purcha...

The folks at Pilot had me in mind when they came up with these pens made from plastic water bottles. Well done! I hate plastic water bottles - we have way too many of them and most of them end up in the dump. Pilot takes empty water bottles and turns them into pens. I needed a couple pens for my desk at work and since I have big hands I like fatter pens. These are perfect. Used one all day yesterday and I am a happy camper. I have to give the gel ink a bit more time to dry, but other than that teeny hurdle, these pens are great. Way to go Pilot. 1/2/12 - Happy to report that I just found the G2 gel refill at Staples . 

Picked up a 2.25 oz bottle of this roll on a couple of weeks ago and am very happy with the way it works. I bought it because I want to stay away from products that keep me from sweating, i.e. anti-persperants. I figure if my body is designed to sweat, then it needs to do that. ON the other hand, I own and operate a retail jewelry store so running around with stinky armpits is not on my short list to business success. For the first couple days I used Crystal under one arm and my up-to-now favorite brand (Mitchum) under the other arm. Even switched arms because I have read that many of us perspire more from one side or the other. Using my totally un-scientific "Sniff Test" I could not tell any difference at the end of the day, so I began to use the Crystal product exclusively. Very happy with it. Just the other day I did some much needed roof repair. I was in full-on August sun at 80 some degrees on a black roof - sweating like crazy all over my body, but my pits were not st...