Wildwood - Music Done Right

I probably played over 50 guitars in the six months since I decided I was going to have my dream guitar. My Martin is a fabulous instrument, but I found it difficult to play and uncomfortable in my hands. What I really wanted was a guitar that felt like an extension of my somewhat less than talented hands. My Ovation felt great to play, it was forgiving with just the right neck, but it could not produce the sound I was looking for.

Thus started my quest for a new guitar. I didn't much care what it cost, I would save up for it and wait as long as needed. I really just wanted to finally own a fine guitar that was just right for me.

Quality guitar shops in my area are getting few and far between. I would never purchase a guitar from the big boys, Guitar Center is too big and unfeeling. I wanted someone to sell me a guitar that was knowledgeable about the product, had some experience to share regarding finding the perfect guitar and if I had questions or a problem I wanted to be able to find that person and discuss it in person. Not some huge corporate behemoth that really didn't care about me or my purchase.

I visited all the guitar shops within a 60 mile radius, some stocked nice guitars others didn't have the first high end instrument on the wall. I already owned a Martin, those are not hard to find, I wanted something different in a smaller size. I researched all the brands meticulously and decided to try Breedlove, Taylor and Larrivee. I played many models of all three brands, only finding one that was close. A Breedlove OMM Revival.

One day while at a small store on the south side of Columbus, a store with NO high end guitars in stock, I asked where I might find a good selection of nice guitars. The helpful gentleman seemed apologetic, maybe even sad, but he explained that he could only stock what he could sell and that the high end models didn't move fast enough. He suggested that I visit Wildwood Music.

I immediately drove home and started researching this place, Wildwood Music. It had a bit of a mystique about it, apparently guitarists from miles around drive to this small town and visit the store. They indeed had a nice selection of Martins, Larrivee's and Taylors. We made plans to drive the 100 miles to the store the next weekend.

I compiled a list of models I wanted to try and was as prepared as I have ever been to get exactly what I wanted. I did bring the check book, just in case I found the perfect guitar but resolved to let it wait if there was any doubt. We were greeted by the owners of the store, Marty and Don. They were super friendly and knew just what questions to ask and Don listened intently as I described what I was looking for. There was an unhurried atmosphere, and I did not feel like I had to buy anything in order to get this priceless personal service.

We were there about three hours, I played a dozen guitars or more. As I tried one out, Don would come over with another and ask some more questions. It was almost like a personal assistant, trying to professionally guide the buying process. I enjoyed it immensely. What fun, getting my hands on all of these expensive, high quality guitars.

I kept coming back to a Larrivee OMV50 with a soft Venitian cut away and the perfect neck. The guitar was also beautiful with mother of pearl abalone inlay as the rosette and many more features like maple binding and a gorgeous Brazilian Mahogany. The top is Sitka spruce, actually from Sitka Alaska. I could go on forever, but the guitar is exactly what I had been searching for. However, I was not going to buy it that day.

Don mentioned that Larrivee is no longer going to produce the "10" series OM's, thus making the guitar I liked the best suddenly unavailable. With that knowledge I went ahead and bought the thing, put it in layaway and three weeks later went up and got it. I own it now and I must say it is a dream. The staff at Wildwood Music have got it right, I am sure what they do is very labor intensive, but the effect was that I bought a guitar and would happily recommend this store and this wonderful couple to anyone. They also sell banjo's and dulcimers. The store is in historic Old Roscoe Village near Coshocton.

If more music stores were like this one, I imagine fewer of them would be closing their doors. There is no substitute for great product AND great people.

Wildwood Music

Hot Dogs 'N Whiskey

We enjoyed hot dogs for dinner this evening. We washed them down with Whiskey. I had several nice Bourbons during the course of the evening.

Wild Turkey 101, Knob Creek (90 proof), Makers Mark, all mixed with as my friend Pete would say "good Bourbon, good Ice, good Coke".

The punchline is actually the build up to this dinner. Last night I knew we would have my daughter and probably a guest. I knew we didn't have much to eat in the house. I looked around and saw that we had 2 1/2 packs of bun length hot dogs, a can of baked beans and some buns. Thus hot dogs 'n whiskey was born.

We grilled out and enjoyed the hell out of a gorgeous summer evening and dined on Oscar Mayer and Van De Kamp. Mmmmm.

Just goes to show, even hot dogs are fancy if you are drinking top shelf Bourbon.

Maybe tomorrow I will skip the hot dogs and just have the Bourbon.

The People Want This - Warning: Tech Content

In my job I am partially responsible for vetting new projects, consulting on ROI and generally helping with the tech aspects of a new project. I gain an understanding of the business logic with all the stakeholders, then report what it will take in terms of programming, design, and maintenance to make it happen. There are endless meetings where we brainstorm new ideas, or look for ways to implement a new feature. There are other meetings where we look to the past and review what ideas are working and which ones are not. These are all common tasks for a project manager.

What has been bothering me lately however is the blind thrust of certain stakeholders to develop and deploy projects without the first clue as to actual user demand, or more importantly the Return on Investment. I hear it frequently, "a lot of people are looking for (fill in the blank)". Really? Are you sure? If my team and I move forward on this (fill in the blank) project we will be committing hours, time away from other projects, fees, payments and ongoing maintenance that we will have to budget for. Did you really do any research on this or are you simply stabbing in the dark on this one.

Here is an example, I recently had on of my freelance clients complain about the way his photo gallery worked. It is a simple affair on an inexpensive website. Just click on an image and the image will pop up and display the larger version for better viewing. I did not code new pages for each individual image, just a few simple lines of JavaScript that will display the image in a window. Since there was not an actual html page to edit, there was no way to show text or provide a "close window" button. He was unhappy about the lack of a "close window" link and stated in very blunt terms: "..there are many people that wont know to click the 'x' to close the window.." Wow, in today's world if someone is looking at his website and doesn't know to click the 'x' then we all have problems.

He had no empirical evidence, no statistics, no clue whatsoever if his statement was actually true, only that he himself felt that clicking the 'x' was too arcane an operation for most computer users to comprehend. Thus, I had to spend another hour coming up with a solution that both satisfied his odd demand and didn't break my time budget. This happens all the time in meetings at my real job too. I hear one old salt, who is a bit backwards when it comes to tech, always bleating about some odd item "people want". How does he know what people want? He deals in a fairly narrow level of expertise and to forever hear that the "people want this" just drives me up a wall. So assume for a moment he is correct, that means 200 people want it? 1000 people want it? Show me the evidence, the demographics, proof from others that do have the feature.

Second guessing what your audience wants in a web application is not a good way to conduct business. Sure, one reason I have a job is to satisfy the whims of management, but in today's economy when we are all doing more with less, I want to see some hard data before I make my team start on a project that will have minimal returns. Take the time to actually learn what "the people want" then track those metrics and confirm the hours spent were worth the effort.