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I prepared a Petrof grand for tonight concert, after that, tuned two uprights at the Music school. Waited for the pianist before the concert, when she said everything is ok with the piano, wished her luck, and escaped home. It is 11 pm here, we are about 7 hours earlier than you. My best regards to all tuners wherever you are.

Mehlin spinet this morning. Still has the original plastic elbows. Must be the proper environment for them. Had 2 to tune at a local high school after school. They're holding a NYSSMA solo festival there tomorrow and Saturday...over 500 vocalists and instrumentalists. A Yamaha P2 (from the 1950's), and an early 90's Kimball studio. I last tuned them one year ago yesterday...so they were right at pitch, which was nice. The Kimball tunes really well. Every time I tune it I think to myself, "I wish all the Kimballs were like this one."

Tomorrow...just 2...a Steintertone 7' grand that takes forever to tune, and a late 20's Steinway L.

Saturday, I get to accompany 5 students at the above-mentioned solo festival, on the above-mentioned Yamaha.

No more than a brief fist fight would have produced. A knock on the upper right forehead that produced a pronounced welt that is all purple now and a low grade headache from the mild concussion that was a result (I think my head hit the steering wheel) only lasted a day and a half. The way I normally comb my hair covers it so that no one really sees it.

There are a couple of bruises on my left arm which will fade in a few days, a tender place on the left mid part of my left scalp and a tender part of my middle upper spine. The aches in my arms that were like those of an overly energetic day at the gym are now gone.

The consolation prize is that I will get the new car that I was planning on buying next year, next week! It will already be half paid for from the settlement. My car was really worn out with nearly 200,000 miles on it, so its value was low but my insurance company will pay me far more than I could have ever used as a trade in value or have got from it through a private sale.

The car was destroyed but the insurance company will be able to recover all that it pays out from the driver that hit me. It will also profit from all of the salvage value that my car had in it which was considerable.

I will also be able to recover the value of lost time and replace items that were damaged such as my vacuum cleaner and containers for parts and materials with new equipment. I will be able to replace lost work time for doctor and chiropractor visits with the full fee for the time I missed at work and the fees for the medical services. I will be able to employ another technician to help me sort through all of the wreckage, organize my inventory and start again with a new vehicle, new containers for tools and parts inventory which looked like they had been hit by a tornado.

Not a bad deal for taking a few knocks. Drive defensively! Avoid situations where something could happen, you don't need the aftermath! If an accident should occur, you will know that you did what you could to avoid it. Piano technicians typically log many more miles than the average commuter and pay for it through insurance premiums. Make what you pay count by never being at fault in an accident! Find a good insurance company as I have and stick with them. Don't go shopping around for lower rates, find a company that will be there when you need it.

Always wear you seat belt! Don't speed, don't go through yellow or especially red lights just to get to your destination a minute sooner; let traffic flow as it will and flow with it. Let pedestrians in crosswalks clear the intersection as is required by law. Give waiting left turners their chance. Put distance between you and big trucks. Don't get boxed in with no out on a multi-lane highway. Use your brake more than your accelerator. Keep your distance. On icy and snow covered roads, only go as fast as you can safely control your vehicle. Let an aggressive driver pass you. Call on your cell phone if you are running late (or early). As John Lennon said, "Give peace a chance".

But not while driving! Pull over, first.

(On vacation in Maryland.)

Bill:

Glad things are working out well for you.

Here is another driving tip: Keep your cool, you know, be equal tempered.

Forgot I had an appointment after work. Will have to go back home for tools. It will only make me 10 minutes late, though.

Well, I got my concert completed last Thursday as mentioned above. We left the venue during intermission at about 9 PM and we headed straight up to our cottages. We own two of them. Here are a couple of pictures. I had just set the trash out for pickup but was to lazy to go and move the cart before I snapped the first picture.

We had a great time arriving there at 11 PM. We stayed up until 3 AM with our neighbor's by the bonfire relaxing and laughing.



Here's a sunset to die for. Obviously the cottage by the lake is on the east side. Wonderful sunsets there.

Nice, Jerry! I'll be right over....

Thanks! Come on by Dave!

I like my steak med...what time? Nice sunset...nothing better than watching it set over the water....

Thanks, Jer. Got a piano there? DC system? Just wondering...

Heck no! No pianos up there! Don't want to see any either. Neighbors keep pestering me to tune theirs but I keep "accidentally" forgetting my tools! Must be old age! I finally said NO, stop asking me man! This is a vacation place not a work farm.

Monster, you're closer than Dave is! Come on by.

Today, I tuned a Chickering console, a Yamaha P202, the dreaded kind that likes to break strings anywhere and everywhere and a Schimmel vertical. Alllllllll donnnnnnnneeeeeeeeeee!

Tuned in an inner-city Baptist church this morning...I tune there every 6 months. Excellent Everett EV-60 grand, with climate system, in the sanctuary. Probably the most stable piano I service. Their other piano, a Wurlitzer spinet...not so much.

Finished, headed out to my car, heard a loud clap of thunder. Started driving through the city, on my way home for lunch. Watched the clouds start whizzing by. Watched the tree tops shaking violently. Watched the leaves start blowing off. Watched the tree branches falling onto the road. Watched the bolt of lightning hit next to my car. Flash, BANG!!!!! Pulled under a tree as the large hail began to fall. A fun ride home!

Played my first golf league match of the year this evening. New gap wedge. New putter. 9 holes. 2 birdies. 11 putts. 1-over-par. It's going to be a good golf season!

I like a good sunset! One of those days today. I ran over some debris on the road and 15 min later my tire warning light is on so I pulled into a 7-11. The right rear had about 15 pounds of air, so I filled it up and looked around, saw a tire shop kitty corner, and they put a new tire on. Then a string at E4 broke on my last piano, a 50's era Kohler with rusty strings. I was able to tie a knot, though and the piano rest of the tuning was a breeze.

Tuned 1 piano and then went to the dentist. YUCK. Chipped a tooth last weekend. Most of it is gone. Basically, I have 3 options. 1. Yank it and leave it at that. $150. 2. Root canal, core, crown, $1,960. 3. Yank it, put in a 3 crown partial. $2,760. Going for number 3. Time to save more $$$$. No dental insurance here! Well, I take it back, I forgot. They pay up to $700 a year, half of whatever the "usual and customary charges are" whatever they deem it to be, that is.... So, still, at least $2,000 or more. Heah. Be thankful if you DO have good insurance for nothing or pay very little for it.....

Removed the entire player mechanism from an Aeolian-made Carnes Playano from the 70s. Took about an hour and some bad language to get it all out into the garage. It wasn't as difficult as I expected. Then I was able to pitch raise it from 50 cents flat up to 440 and regulate some lost motion. In the end, it's just an Aeolian spinet...

Replaced the bottom screw shaft that goes through the pedal on a Yamaha console mute pedal as well as the turnbuckle that connects the two shafts together. How the one ever disappeared is a complete mystery, as I had to tip the piano way back to get the thing through the pedal. Removing the pedal on those is challenging.

Tuned a sweet little Kawai K-2, right at pitch after a year. Shocking on a new piano (2nd tuning)! The little boy asked me if I brought my cat, whose picture graces my "time to tune" postcard. Very cute kid!

Tuned a Kawai RX-2.

I tuned a Yamaha M something er another, 500 maybe?

And I tuned a Krakauer spinet that I last tuned in 1999. I was surprised that the tenor section was pretty much still dead on yet. The treble wasn't though. That had dropped by a good 30-35¢. I had to re-glue 1 busted off sharp, replace another that somehow, had gotten a hole in the middle of the top of it. Looked as if something acidy had been spilled on it or something, I don't know. Had to put a couple stickers back into the backs of the keys. They managed to pull themselves out from the backs of the keys. I don't suppose some lil kiddy finners had anything to do with that do you?

Sunday... Mother's Day. I have a dear sweet wife. We've been married as some of you know for 31 years this past March 10. I love her to death soooo, today, I opted to do all of the laundry for her. What a DUMB idea. Not really but, what a lot of work! I made NO guarantee's that the color's were matched perfectly prior to being stuffed into the washing gadget but, nonetheless, I did all of the laundry for her. It took me all fricken day too AND I even FOLDED it all! Man! I HATE IT. Give me a piano to tune any day of the week instead! She appreciated it though. I think? I haven't checked to see if any of the color's leaked through on the rest of the stuff yet.. I'm not looking either....

Wow, Jerry, you da man....or are you?

My wife works just about as hard as me, so we generally share domestic duties. Clothes folding is about my least favorite activity. It beats hunting for your morning clothes in the laundry basket, though.....

I love it when you take the clothes out of the dryer and find that new sweater for the niece's Barbie