March 12, 2007

Rob has an addiction. It's no secret and he's been warned about the side effects by people who are recovering addicts. Rob is a gear-aholic and I am an enabler. When we met in 1986, he had a really nice boom box to play his Howard Jones and Chicago cassettes on and I was really impressed. Shortly after we met he completely disassembled the boom box just to see what was inside and to see IF he could put it back together. As long as I've known him he's been on a quest for the perfect speakers and the perfect sound. He started out with Radio Shack components and either traded them or sold them at some point along the way and step by step graduated to the next better speaker/amp/eq/etc. He is always very creative about how he acquires the increasingly better gear and it usually doesn't come out of pocket. He's a wheeler/dealer and there always seems to be someone who is willing to trade and/or buy just what he needs just when he needs it. This is the latest and greatest acquisition:

The picture doesn't do it justice but it is a Ramsa 840 40x18 monitor console with two power supplies. It is HUGE.

Shortly before he found this amazing bargain on E-bay he found some fabulous amps he couldn't live without so he sold/traded/bought/swapped/etc a bunch of gear so he could finance this new purchase. While all of this makes for a better, bigger, more expensive sound system, it also, in the long run, brings bigger, more expensive events and he has great instincts so I put on my blinders and say, "whatever". BUT, there is a lot of time and energy and sweat that goes into all the swapping/switching/changing when these trades/purchases take place. This is where it can be called an addiction because he absolutely THRIVES on all of it!! It makes my head spin and makes me tired just thinking about it, but he will spend hours and hours planning and soldering and whatever it takes to perfect the sound coming out of his speakers.

I'm afraid Gloria may inherit these tendencies. She had a great time helping Rob put new ends on the cables for the new amps.

In this picture she is telling me how she is going to spend all the money Rob is going to pay her for all of her hard work:

Peas in a Pod:

Dale's fiancee', Brandon, is on spring break and drove down for a visit. She is going to school to be a veterinarian.

Brandon brought her beautiful Great Dane, Vanilla:

Gloria thoroughly enjoyed visiting with both Brandon and Vanilla!

Zach may be inheriting some of Rob's tendencies as well as he has been sorting his old Pokemon cards and preparing to sell them on E-bay.