I Don't Want to Work

Not today, anyway. Had a rough night with the dogs - or rather, with just one dog, Kona. She has a habit of running outside (through the dog door) whenever she hears a neighbor's dog barking. Then she barks - loudly, I might add - for a few minutes until I guess she speaks her mind, then comes back inside. Normally this isn't too bad, but when I want to sleep, it's a pain. Especially when she does it over and over and over again.

So I'm here, at work, and on my second cup of coffee of the day. Nothing is scheduled, though I need to follow up on yesterday's clinic. Blech. I don't like some of my patients face to face. Now I have to call the ones that really screwed up on their drug screens? Double Blech.

I should have called this post "Attention Deficit Entry," because I've jumped from one thing to another when I should be writing this! Still, it could always be worse.

I was lucky enough to go guitar shopping last night while One Ring attended a meeting. I think I found one that will totally meet my needs / desires for the sound that I've been hunting for. I've really been influenced by blues inspired rock, a'la Pink Floyd, Eric Clapton (and every group in which he played - Cream, Derek and the Dominoes, etc.), and so forth. So I need a guitar that has at least two single coil pickups. I didn't want to sink the money into a Fender, since I'll never be able to afford an American one (over $1,000) and I haven't heard anything good about the Made in Mexico or China varieties. So I've been trying to find something with the right configuration for under $400 (the highest amount of money I can conceive that I can raise without hitting the credit cards). Here's what I found:

This is the Laguna 300AVB. It has everything I need - locking tuners, tremolo bar, single coil pickups (good ones, too!), and seems comfortable to play. Of couse, the finish isn't half bad, either. It's about $350, so it may take a few weeks to come up with the cash, but no worries. Rumor has it that I have a Christmas bonus coming, so I may be able to pick it up after the holidays. It's a guitar I can definitely grow into, since I forsee myself playing for some time to come.

And if that doesn't work, there's always this one. It's the Douglas (Chinese Clone of a Fender Fat Strat) SI-13. Cheap as all get out, but the reviews seem to be okay, and given my current skill level, might not be a bad choice. And at $109.95 - with a Floyd Rose tremolo and locking tuners, no less - it's ridiculously cheap. Probably too cheap, given that the body is made out of Paulownia wood, whatever the heck that is. Then again, maybe not. Here's what Wikipedia's entry says about some of its uses:

The fine grained soft and warp resistant properties also make Paulownia wood exceptionally suited for making wooden surfboards. Tom Wegener of Noosa, Australia, his brother Jon of Hermosa Beach, California, and more recently "Empress Surfboards" are amongst the shapers who pioneered its use. Unlike those made from balsa wood, the resulting surfboards do not need to be glassed.

More recently, it is used as body material for guitars . The light weight , and resonance of the wood make it perfectly suited as high grade tone wood .

And there you go. Well, I do need to get to work. Had a patient just walk in my office, disgruntled and blaming everyone but himself for his problems. Sheesh. Days like this make me wish I was back in the church ... almost.