Record Player Guy

I'm not sure when it happened, but it was sometime this year. Though I got the record player, an Audio-Technica AT-LP60, which I understand is a decent, entry level turntable. Steve Reeves gave it to me 2-3 years ago? I can't remember; I had set it up and was like, "so?" It sounded like music, but it was tuned a little quicker than 33 1/3 RPMs.

Anyway, I put it away in the basement closet, until Haley asked for it to take to college last year. Where it sat in Bellingham. I think she let her ex borrow it, and then she brought it back, minus the Audio-Technica pad on the table.

For some reason, I put it on my new desk setup and started using it? I had a couple Rush records hanging on the wall, so I listened to those. For my birthday, Haley got me the Lady Gaga record, Mayhem, only because I saw her perform on SNL and was blown away. The record itself is pretty good as well.

Since the summer, I've gone a little crazy with the records. I went to Barnes and Noble with Marci one night and came home with Moving Pictures and Weezer's Blue album. The total was like $60 or so. And then a few weeks later, I picked up some records from Easy Street, the Value Village, a bunch at Triple Play in Grand Junction in early October. Though I think I went there before Easy Street and VV. Then last week, in SF, I picked up 3 more records.

On Friday, I met with James Sonderegger, who I worked with briefly at EC One when we moved over there. He got another job that paid what he was used to getting (250k!) and bounced. But he and I hit it off and he ended up giving me something like 50 records. Maybe 10 of those I'll keep or listen to; the rest are pretty much junk, but I may give em a listen.

Who knew this would be so fun? It's pricey, but I'm enjoying this setup with my cheap ass Monoprice speakers. The hisses and pops do give it some excitement. And our new PITO record sounds great on it, forgot to mention that!

2025-11-17 Microsoft Ignite Day 3

Earlier start today, arriving at the Chase Center by 7:45 only to find out they didn't need me until 9 or so. Oh well. When I finally met up with everyone, they had taken the original E450 off the floor and put the CLA 250+ on. They really wanted to show the prototype car. But the problem was that the screens would shut off at any given time, so with that issue, we had to decide which car we were going to use.

I did contribute a little, finally, confirming that we could do a Teams call from the E450, just like the one we have at EC One. Then there was a bunch of sitting around. I'll just FF through the details as there aren't many.

A woman named Teresa, but introduced herself at T, was awesome. I think she was the floor manager or something. I just loved her energy and vibe, don't know how else to say it. She would be awesome to work for. But she commanded a group of dudes to move the cars. That exercise was cool to watch. Very precision, with the dudes working in lockstep with each other.

I got to watch Collin deliver his bit again from the floor. I shot a video of it and Judson came up behind and took a photo of the rear end of the car for the "IGNITE" license plate.

Around 3, I decided it was time to go. I decided to take a Waymo into SF to check out Amoeba Music in the Mission District. I had been there before with the Forest Ray dudes, but I wasn't using a record player. Getting the Waymo was easy enough. It came to Chase, I jumped in and off we went. It drove competently and almost aggressively. I was able to wire in my Spotify and listen to music, which was nifty. Also, no awkward silences and probably the best part, no tip afterwards! Def recommend, will do again.

Got to Amoeba and looked around and as usual, I forgot what I wanted to look at. They had some Rush, only one Aimee Mann (Lost in Space, which I bought), one Juliana (Made in China, which I didn't), one Hold Steady (Open Door Policy, which I didn't) and so many more. I looked in Styx and they had 3 copies of "Paradise Theater" so I examined all of them and bought the most expensive one ($12.99) as it was in the best condition.

And then perusing through a "not yet filed' box, I came across "Chipmunk Punk" by the Chipmunks, and of course, I had to grab that because we had that growing up. When I took it to the counter the attendants were all excited and laughing about it. I bought a packing cardboard, wrapped it up and walked up and down Haight street. So many thrift shops and I didn't stop in any. I don't need anything, so it was just to get some steps and look around. I grabbed another Waymo from the corner of Haight and Asbury, and headed back to the hotel.

I got back around 5:30 or so and then walked down to the waterfront to have dinner at the Boudin Bistro. I got a crab and corn bisque bread bowl and a ribeye steak sammie. Pretty good food. Headed back to the hotel and got packed because Collin said to show up around 7am. Got everything ready and I was in bed and reading by 9:30. Crazy.

More pix, probably in reverse order.

Waymo picked me up at the nearby Ben & Jerry's

Cool van

Cool corner

Outside Chase Center

I guess I didn't take many pix yesterday.

2025-11-16 Microsoft Ignite Day 2

The day started early, and I had time to kill, so I went for a run around the hotel. I took a bunch of hills and stairs and saw some cool sights. I knew Lombard Street was near the hotel, but as I ran, I ended up right at the top of it. I walked down it and took some video and pictures. I headed back to the hotel 2.5 miles later and got cleaned up for work.

The ride in on the Lyft was wet and sunny, with glare off the streets and sun in the sky. Glad I wasn't driving. I showed up and had some breakfast and then headed over to the Mercedes in the bowels of the arena. Sean and Ross were there and they did some tinkering with it. I tried to get the phone Sean provided to connect with the car, but it wouldn't work. I forgot to mention, Mercedes brought over a prototype or pre-release car, a CLA 250+ with AMG stylings. It is chalk grey and fastback style and pretty cool, but ultimately, not my style.

I hung out there and tried to be useful, but ended up blogging the travel day adventures and just sitting around. After that got boring, I tracked Collin down and had lunch. We then went up to the suite level, where he was practicing his talk track for his presentation. I tried to get the Seahawks game up on the TV, but of course, they only had the 49ers vs Cardinals locally. I ended up doing some work, tried to stay busy, read a bit of the Ioniq 5 manual, and just sat around. Collin went to meet up with Leah and the DL guys in a different suite, so I just sat there and read the manual.

Eventually, the Seahawks game ended and I saw no spoilers, so I sat in the suite and blasted my way through it. Sadly, a missed FG to end the game, really lost on 4 INTs by Sam. D looked great and it would have been a fun game to watch in real-time.

Went downstairs around 6 to have a quick dinner. I sat with a young kid named Mohammed, who introduced himself, and he was working the event running cable for a camera on the floor. Nice kid, hope things work out for him. From there I went to the floor to hang and watch the testing and practice for Mercedes. I was not needed, so I bounced to the hotel, walked to In-n-out for a second dinner, then buttoned things up for bed. Talked to Marci for a few minutes and that was that.

I really don't need to be here. I am out of my element a bit, but I've met some cool people. I wish I had more to offer here, but I think I'd just be getting in the way. The lack of communication is annoying as well. I don't want to get back to work and have Paul say I was seen as sitting around the whole time. There has been little to no guidance and the expectations set were quite low. It turns out we may not even do any of the stuff I can help with, which I guess isn't my fault or problem, but it still rubs.

Anyway, more pictures, in reverse order.

The Mercedes in question on the big stage

The view from the suite

5 Waymos in a row

so artsy

Looks like GTA 6

Bottom of Lombard Street

Middle of Lombard Street

Ran to the top of the hill where this court was

Cool house

Running up those stairs after running up some hills

Park sign

Top of some hill

I think that's Alcatraz

Starting off the morning

2025-11-15 Microsoft Ignite pre-show run up and travel day 1

Of course, the weekend I get a new car, I am drafted/voluntold to go to San Francisco for a work event. A week ago Friday, at work, we had some engineers/PMs come by EC1 to get the download on how the Mercedes Benz demo worked and is presented. They took videos, crawled underneath and did their research. I offered some suggestions about how we did it for the ES team and afterwards, Paul indicated that he might want me to go to CA to support the following weekend.

I didn't put much thought into it. I figured pretty much anyone could do it, I just had more experience and some practices from the team that I could assist with. It could've been done via Teams or a call, but whatever. I went on with my weekend. Monday and Tuesday rolled by, no updates from anyone. Then on Wednesday morning, I got a ping from Paul, who was in Munich, indicating he wanted me to get down to SF for Friday. I spent much of Wed talking to Tristan, getting plane and hotel set up. I offered to the team first, but all three of them had prior obligations. Truth be told, I was the best candidate to go, but I wanted to make sure they had a chance to say yes.

Anyway, after getting the tickets and prepping to leave Friday, on Thursday, Paul said to not come down until Saturday. This was after confirming my flight, so I had to cancel that and my originally booked hotel and find new stuff. Luckily, the Saturday flight was at the same time and I was able to book a hotel without much issue. It was all a little frantic and annoying, especially since Paul was traveling and no one really had any info for me as to when I should really show up. I booked a 7am flight leaving Seattle and then I realized that was crazy, so I pushed it back a couple hours. Just a bunch of busywork to make sure I could get down here.

Saturday morning I hired a Lyft and got to Seatac, jumped on the plane, and got to SFO by 12pm or so. Of course, no updates as to what to do, so I headed to Chase Center directly. Once there, I came in the players and press entrance and got to go through some of the bowels of this arena. I met up with some people and generally tried to make myself as unobtrusive as possible. I found Sean and Ross from Deeplocal, who are a partner firm that helped design and install the MB demo. Collin showed up later and we sat and chatted and planned for that.

Overall, I contributed a little bit while onsite. Being in the arena was cool and seeing the madness around the setup, as well as the scale, was pretty impressive. A lot of talented people in the building doing all sorts of things. I am just a guy who is here, but it's not as daunting as the Amazon things were back in the day.

Around 5, I finally took off for my hotel, the Marriott at Fisherman's Wharf. I picked it because it was close to the water, about a block or so. Sadly, the hotel itself wasn't that great. Not bad, but not special or anything. I checked in, found my room, then walked to the water to have dinner at an Italian joint called Cioppolino's. I was gonna get the ribeye, but I didn't want to exceed my per diem, so it was a cup of clam chowder and a seafood fettuccini instead. A ton of food, and I pounded it and was so stuffed afterward. I walked up and down the waterfront for another hour or so in a light drizzle, hit up Walgreens for some contact lens solution, then headed back in for the night.

I did some expense tracking for the trip, and then borrowed Riley's Apple TV to watch Pluribus. After that, bedtime. It's weird being away from home; less to do means earlier to bed, I guess. Here are photos, apparently in reverse order.

walking around after dinner

cool storefronts

some arch

ferris wheel

$29 for adult entry to Ripley's

cool mural

part of the arena setup

back stage

Steph Curry plays here

tunnel to the floor

Golden Gate bridge

Granny on the subway

riding the subway over

NCD: 2023 Hyundai Ioniq 5 Limited AWD

In March this year, I wrote about the Ioniq 5 by Hyundai: Blog link

I've still kept reading about them, taking pix of them in the wild, looking at how I can afford one or get one. I figured I'd wait until next year. As of now, I'm about 5-6 payments away from paying off the Alltrack, doubling down after paying off Haley and Riley's cars in the past few months. After that, I have approximately $700 freed up to save, put towards more debt, whatever.

I visited a website for a small local used car lot in DT Bellevue. They always have nice cars and earlier this year, I struck up a text convo with a guy there about an Ioniq 6, which I also liked. It was an EV, cheaper than the I5, and quite fetching. But, I already have a sedan and I really wanted to get something a little bigger than the AT. Anyway, I wasn't ready then, so I told him no thanks, and on I went with my life.

Later this summer, I reached out to Knight, who always has car dealership hookups. I talked to his friend at Doug's Hyundai and had him work out some numbers. It was for a lease for a 2025 SEL or SE version of the I5. The Limited was off the table as it started around $59k or so. As it was, the SE and SEL were still pretty expensive. But there was the $7500 EV tax credit to take into account, through Sept, at least. Even with that, I wasn't ready then. Besides, a new car is a nice to have, and I love my GLI and it has treated me well.

With Riley's car being bratty in CO, he and I have discussed giving him the Jetta. I'm down with that, he just needs to get the Fiat here and take the Jetta there. I figured I could then take the Fiat for a trade in for $1000 or whatever to put towards a car next year.

Anyway, last week, the guy from the dealership in Bellevue cold emailed me with a, "you up?" type email, seeing how I was, if I was still looking. I told him I wasn't, but after checking his site, came upon an I5 that I wanted to check out. I sent the email on Saturday morning and heard crickets.

It was Gravity Gold Matte in color, had the cool ass black wheels, and was a Limited model from 2023. Basically their top-of-the-line at the time, with all the features, plus the premium $1000 paint option. The pictures looked great but I didn't hear back from him. So yesterday afternoon, I emailed his shop again and got an immediate response. The car was available and I could check it out. I figured, why not, so I stopped by on my way home.

I walked in the shop, said hi to Patric, he scanned my driver's license, tossed me the keys, and let me go. I inspected the outside of this car and it appeared immaculate. It was getting dark, so I had my flashlight, but even with that, I could not find any flaws in the paint or body.

so pretty

I jumped in the car and it was so cool. Interior was in great shape from the driver's seat. Black leather, looking fresh. I messed with some of the settings and then started it up and got going. Surprise to me was a head's up display on the dash showing my speed. Other surprises were the left/right blind spot cameras in the dash as I signaled. The LED strip on the front bumper was there, as seen above. Also seen above, no drilled front bumper! Have always wanted no front plate, now I get to roll without one.

Too many cool things to list, I drove down 112th towards Bellevue Way, then to Coal Creek, got back on the freeway where I stepped on the e-gas. So quick and planted on the road, Incredible! I got off and dropped the car back off. Had Patric run some numbers to finance this bad boy just to see. He had it listed at $31450, and I was just stoked because full-price on this just 2 years ago was close to $60k. 50% off? I had to take a flyer on it. Premium paint, top trim, local, low miles (11k!!), pristine condition? Pretty much a no brainer, but man, I had to think about it.

I went home with the numbers and applied and got pre-approved for a loan with BECU. I slept on it, not knowing what my APR would be on that loan. For the Alltrack, back in 2018, pre-covid, we got a 2.94% APR. That will never happen again, so I called BECU this morning to confirm what I got. The guy said I qualified for 5.99%, which these days, I guess is decent. Knight said it wasn't bad. Monthly payments would be about $550-ish for a 72 month loan.

I called Patric to see what rates he could get me and he said he'd check. I then asked if I could come check the car at lunch as I forgot to look in the back seat, the trunk, under the hood, etc. I wanted to see it during the day and make sure it all passed the eye test.

When I got there, I noticed a couple small things: front passenger tire missing a schrader valve cover; a couple grommets missing from the ceiling in the back; a scuff on the passenger-side mirror. Not enough to deter me, but I felt better knowing it was not perfect and it wasn't me putting the first scratch on it.

Just look at it!

I went to talk to Patric and had him work up numbers with the fresh new APR I got of 5.49%. For 72 months, no down payment, TTL rolled into it, monthly was higher than I wanted, but still manageable at $588 or so. I signed a bunch of paperwork and told him to get it ready for me to pick up tonight.

I went back to work, did a bunch of planning for a last-minute trip to San Francisco to support Ignite (more on that next post), supported a Judson event at EC1, then raced over to pick up the car. I left the GLI there and took the I5 home. I barely squeezed it in the garage, had dinner, then took Marci to pick up the Jetta. We took that over to Mom's house, after clearing some space in the garage, hit up Safeway, then brought it home.

I tucked it back in the garage and tried opening the tailgate with the garage door open... and promptly hit the gate on the door at its apex. I think the gate is OK; it was wet and covered in drops so I couldn't see. I hope there's nothing bad there. I can adjust the opening height, so I'll have to do that tomorrow. I spent some time in the car setting stuff up as well. I don't think I can do wireless Android Auto with my stupid little dongle, so I'll have to go back to a USB-C cable until I can figure that out. Otherwise, the phone connects fine with the car, the GPS is great, the car is fast.

I heard some creaking in the back going over bumps. I left the car in "on" position after walking away, not realizing why the car was beeping at me. There are so many things to set up and learn about this car and I'm super excited to do so, but I won't fully be able to dive in because of that trip I mentioned above. I'll have tomorrow to mess around, then on Friday, I'm off to SF until Tuesday.

For now, I'm super stoked and I need to find a frickin' charger as Patric said it was $175 extra, even though new, the car comes with one. I have to check the trunk before I ask for one, so I'll update when I know more about that.

In the meantime, I haven't had a new car for ME for a minute. Maybe since my 2001 GTI. Even though this car isn't new, it will be my primary car, instead of it being Marci's. Now we can set our sights on an ID.4 for her in the next couple years. Let's see how it goes!

2025-11-09 Sunset Grooves at the Central

Based on our last gig at the Central, they asked us to come play a Monday night after a Seahawks game. But then they switched and had us play after a Sunday game, so there would be only one band per night. We played last Sunday, after the Hawks destroyed the Cardinals, something like 44-21.

We showed up around 3:30 for a 5pm-ish start time. Lucked out with great parking, brought in my gear and got set up. We had about 2 hours of music and by the time we got sound checked and ready, the game had ended and people started streaming by. A couple people working the Central said to get started to capture the people, but some of us were still getting dressed, so we missed a bunch of people.

Prior to starting, Eric wanted to be stage left, where I usually play. Part of the problem of the Central stage is that there's a support beam stage right, which means little to no room for anyone but a guitarist. And Eric didn't want to be in the back by the drums as he's sensitive about his hearing, so up front he went. Not that big a deal, there was plenty of room for me on the drum riser.

I brought the black P bass and the Hog as a backup. I had recently put some rounds on the P and figured I'd give it a go. I think it sounded pretty good, except via my IEMs, because there was some wild interference in that corner. Unless I stood a certain way, I would get what felt like delay or cutting in and out of my IEMs. I don't know if it's the control plate on the bass or what; usually ol' Goldilocks gives me that sort of trouble. I played through, it was OK, I guess.

I think the first set went pretty well. Marci, Hay and Blake showed up towards the end of the set, so I chatted with them during our break. We started the second set ok, but had some goofs throughout. Keys starting in the wrong key, drum breaks not counted properly, vocals missed during a band break on "Silly Love Songs," that type of thing.

Despite it all, we had some fun. Cathy Pants showed up and sang a little on "Evil Woman" and we plowed through and finished. I guess we did well enough for some rich dude to say he wanted us to play his birthday in Cabo in Feb. The band chat is all lit up with talk about getting our passports, etc. I'll wait to see if we can get a date and deposit. As of now, I'd say there's a 25% of something happening.

Keeping it short; I'm writing this on Wednesday after the show and it's getting late. Time for bed.

2025-11-01 Planets in the Ocean at Turntables & Trails

This gig fell into our lap a few weeks ago. Robb said a guy who runs a store in Lake City that sells audio equipment and outdoor equipment wanted us to play a show. The place is called Turntables & Trails and a lot of cool bands have played there recently. We were joining our pals, the Rallies, as a 2-band bill. Lucky for us, Dusty's band, the Purrs couldn't do it, so we got the add instead.

$20? Yup.

It's been a busy couple weeks for the PITO boys as we've been busy with life stuff and haven't gotten together for a minute. Except for the last two weeks, so I guess we're OK? Last Thursday we met up to rehearse as our buddy Brian in the Rallies and Full Life Crisis does videos and wanted to record us. He booked us a few months ago, so we met up last Sunday for that. Two to three hours later, he had recorded us doing 4 songs and it was great.

But I digress. Last night, after a busy week of travel for Cass, a test pressing for us from the record company, the video from Brian, it was time for our next and possibly last gig for 2025. I showed up a little later after I dropped off my non-working Ashdown amp at a repair guy's house in Magnolia. Sheesh, traffic was a joke last night.

Front half of the store as they were setting up.

The back half of the store.

As I showed up, the Rallies were getting set up. Ben was nice enough to offer his little Bag End 15" with Ampeg SVT III or something. I'm just glad to not have to bring gear. Ben showed up with his sweet P and they sounded great during soundcheck.

I was sort of concerned being in basically a room with a PA, but the owner, Spencer (I think?), ran sound and it was just fine. The Rallies sounded great, from instruments to vocals. Then again, not much volume was needed for the small space and the moderate turnout. We were competing with the incredible World Series game 7 and other gigs around town. There were a handful of folks for either band and it seemed to be OK after all.

The Rallies took the stage first despite getting top billing on the poster. I guess Steve the singer wanted to be done earlier because he's older (I was told). Even though the gig started at the old-friendly hour of 7:30 or so (pushed back from 7), we let them go first. No big deal. They put on a professional, gentlemanly set of polished pop. Brian, who recorded our video, and is living the early retirement life of chasing music, is the new guy and he's a great fit for their band. Very solid and pro on guitar. Ben sang like an angel on backing vox and Lee on drums is simply solid and a great foundation. Steve sings great and anchors the band with his acoustic guitar. They just work.

The Rallies

Marci came out with Blake for the show. Haley couldn't make it, she was working a long shift. And Blake had to leave early because he was meeting Hay for a bar crawl in Pioneer Square, which was a bummer, since we were going second. He ended up staying for a few songs and took Marci's car home.

We took the stage and it was a lot of fun. Ben's amp sounded great for his bass and I feel like it sounded pretty good for me, playing the gold bass last night. And even though the Rallies are a rock band, we are a LOUD rock band and I was a little concerned at first. But then I thought, f it, we're loud, let's do our thing.

Robb comically didn't print set lists, which was fine. The whole feel of the gig was like playing in someone's house. It was pretty casual and friendly. I was cracking dumb jokes and having fun. I'd turn around to talk to Cass and everyone could hear what I was saying. It was a good time.

Playing in and around a bunch of vintage audio equipment was cool. I enjoyed looking stuff as I was playing. It might be cool to go back there sometime and load up on records and or record player gear. I'll have to save my record player update for another post, but within the last month, I've bought about 20 LPs. Who am I anymore?

Afterward, lots of kind words from Dave, one of the guys that helps to run the place. He posted a video of us to Facebook and was excited that a Seattle musician from way back (Gerald Collier, Best Kissers in the World) who also said some nice things about the "rhythm section." People in the room liked it and we are excited to make the connection with the crew at T&T. Hoping we can get up there again in the summer and pack the place out.

Next up, Sunset Grooves playing after the Seahawks game on Sunday, at the Central.