Keyboard Shopping

Winter took a long time to get here this year, but it finally did arrive. There was a bit of snow in the morning on Friday -- no big deal because it had melted off by mid-day -- but the real indicator was the wind in Waterton Canyon. If my life were a cartoon (no comments from the peanut gallery, please), it would be the kind of wind that stripped your body down to a skeleton and made the remaining bones rattle and drip icicles.

I wasn't quite ready for that.

I intended to go for my normal Saturday morning long run, and had dressed for winter. Tights, jacket, gloves, hat, etc -- the same outfit I've worn up the canyon in the worst weather I've faced. But when I started up the road, my body and willpower simply failed. I've run in such conditions before, but dadgummit, I haven't yet adjusted to this new season. My face was frozen, my legs refused to move properly, and my attitude was more suited to an epsom salt bath than an assault on Everest. I turned around before I reached the half-mile mark.

Well, I hadn't completely given up; I thought I might still be able to accomplish my run down on the flatlands within Chatfield State Park, where there was more sunshine and fewer hurricanes. As I passed through the parking lot on my way to the other trail, I greeted Joe, Kristen, and Emily as they set out to begin their run up the canyon. They were dressed properly, too, and intended to do soemwhere between 7 and 9 miles. I wished them good luck and headed onto the path toward the lake.

There was still plenty of wind, but it didn't have the knifelike quality of the undiluted canyon blast. I felt like I could run out here without danger of the frostbite, death, and the eventual mummification that would've certainly happened in the canyon. But my legs still refused to cooperate. I couldn't manage more than an anemic hobble. After only another half mile, I turned around and headed back to the car, thoroughly depressed and deflated.

And guess what? There were Joe and company, shivering & scraping frost from their faces, same as I had been. I told them that the flatlands were less deadly, and Kristen wanted to go try it, but the others voted to go for pancakes instead. Majority rules. They invited me to go along, and after a brief discussion and enthusiastic persuasion, I agreed.

My original plan for the day had been to run for several hours, and then take Tanner out to a nice lunch for his birthday. But the run was short, and I was about to fill myself with IHOP delicacies...so when I talked to the boy, we decided that it would be best if he dined with his mother first, and then joined me to go keyboard shopping.

That's right; after weeks of asking him what he wanted for his birthday, he finally revealed that he'd appreciate a parental contribution to his "keyboard fund". He's been using my Yamaha Clavinova for his gigs lately -- it's a full-sized digital piano, and while it sounds great and has excellent capabilities, it's really designed to be a household furniture item and not a touring performance instrument. You have to take it apart and reassemble it for each show, and besides, it's something like 10 years old...the new stuff on the market has far greater capabilities.

After enjoying hotcakes & eggs with my friends, I zipped home for a nice warm bath (including a short, watery nap). I also had time to accomplish a few chores before Tanner called and said he was ready to bop over to Guitar Center. On the way there, we discussed the features he was looking for -- the number one priority was the number/quality of voices and adjustability of those sounds, and beyond that he was looking for ease of sound control, playability, portability, and finally...price.

I enjoyed watching him test the various instruments. Normally, I'm not really a "shopping" kind of a guy, especially when I'm just watching somebody else shop...but this was more like entertainment. Not really a free concert; he didn't play entire songs. But more like a PBS documentary or a clip from "Spinal Tap", with quite a few "What the heck does this knob do?" and "Ooh, that's an interesting sound" moments sprinkled in. He went into the store leaning toward Yamaha or Roland, but ended up spending the most time playing with the Korg M50.

Tanner appeared to have made his final decision after a couple of hours of noodling around on all the keyboards. But since he didn't actually know how much money he could use from the band's bank account, we couldn't commit to a purchase. Besides, when you're talking about that much money, it's always good to take what you learned, supplement it with some Internet research and temper it with a good night's sleep. So we left the store with new knowledge and a better idea of the target, but otherwise empty hands. After I dropped him off, he was heading to band practice, where he would discuss the financing and probably make a final decision. We decided that we'd talk tomorrow after the swim meet, and possibly go back to the store to make the purchase. My financial contribution would serve as both his birthday and Christmas presents.

I spent the rest of the day cleaning up around my condo. I was hoping to motivate myself into going out for another attempt at running -- after all, the weather had improved considerably -- but I ran out of time. Besides, I have a swim meet on Sunday. I'll tell you about that tomorrow. Have a great day!