She Did It Again…Or Hey, Mr. DJ Turn the Record On, I Want to Dance With My Baby

No, not her...but her, silly!

You know…my better half. My brown-eyed beauty from South GA. My very own Sweet Melissa.

   I am married to this lady. Don't ask me how. I'm still not sure exactly how. My college minister said I was marrying up, but this my friend, is way up. I, sometimes, tell people or students that my parents paid her. I, sometimes, think she had a moment of weakness or maybe a multitude of years where she was feeling especially philanthropic. I hope she got the hours. No matter what her reasoning was or is, I still did pretty well in the ole' marriage department. She has her faults, but in the scope of things...those are few and far between and compared to mine, they are what my students would describe as "weak sauce". 

   Anyway, the above lady, has a past. No, not that kind of past, but she has a past and what the good folks on Law & Order call an MO. And this MO has to do with her buying Christmas presents for me. Don't worry, this is my last post about Christmas. I, never intend for this place to be a venue where I brag, but when it comes to the gifts my sweet Mel buys me, I'm not sure what else to do except brag or talk about them with beaming pride. Her MO goes a little like this: she has me make a Christmas list, she looks at the list, and then she goes and buys me something I have never asked for, but end up loving and using a lot. If you'll remember, last year, she bought me this:

    I wrote a blog about it and you can read it here again. I won't give you the list of all the gifts she has ever purchased for me, but she bought me my first bow tie. She sent us to a David Gray concert. She bought me my digital hiking thermometer. She bought me my first pipe. You get it. She is a great gift buyer. I, now know that each Christmas, the box under the tree from her isn't going to be something on my list, but rather it is going to be something I didn't even know I wanted, but will end up loving. And this year, she did not disappoint, but she did follow her signature MO (mode of operation or method of operation). And now to the gift…

It's a briefcase…

It's a suitcase…

It's the proverbial "football"…

No, sillies…it's the Crosley Cruiser 3 Speed Portable Turntable with embedded speakers!

      I won't say too much about the gift because I really don't know much about it except it is an awesome gift and I have enjoyed having it. It make listening to music seem like an event when you take the record out, place it on the turntable, place the needle on the record, turn it on, watch the record spin, and wait for the sounds to come from the speakers. Sort of makes digital music seem like it is missing something. No, I won't go all super-hipster on you and look you in the eye and wax poetically about how records have a better sound quality than the music that streams from my iPod because that's simply just not true, but it is a whole lot more fun. FH and I one to put the record on, wait for the music, and dance for a while. Or all three of us love to turn it up loud and really shake what our momma's gave us which can be a little tricky if you find yourself in FH's velcro shoes because his mom is right there.

Listening and dancing to music is awesome!!!

      I have never come right out and said that I'd like a record player, but I know when we go to someone's house that has one, I always end up saying how neat I think they are and Mel has been listening all along. And this Christmas, she dressed up like Santa and put one under the Douglas Fir for me. We have been giving our one record a lot of play and at times I look over and at her and she's showing small signs of regret, but don't worry, FH and I are quick to remind her that she bought it for us. And we turn it up louder and press through!

An inside view of our player. 

   The actual player is made by Crosley. They make radios, cd players, and a plethora of other sound devices. It is a 3 speed player, which means that it can play 45's, 33's, and 78's, which is really just record sizes. A neat and very useful part of the player are the embedded speakers. This is the part of the player that usually gets it a lower rating or review with the chief complaint being they aren't loud enough, but DJ Moonlight Mel, Fancy Fingers Ford, and Dirty D have turned it up to the max and we aren't quite sure what situation one might find themselves in where these little speaks aren't quite loud enough for you. Well…we can think of a few, but we don't want to be there.  It also has adaptations for plugging in additional speakers, as well, as an outlet for headphones or earbuds. 

Our player at task. 

     We only have one newish record so far, but please know there are grand plans of building a little collection. My first record that I opened on Christmas morning is Paracosm by a group called Washed Out. We first heard them on our Andrew Bird Pandora station and my little sis SHA turned us on to the rest of their work, but we were already in love with their song that is used as the opening song for the show Portlandia. Don't worry, it is your typical record full of hipster (read: white, post-college, granola, outdoorsy) nonsense. We like it and as they say, "its got a good beat we can dance to." I am told there is an Andrew Bird album on back order somewhere, but it hasn't shown its head as of yet, but when it does we'll give Ernest Greene and crew a little break. But until then, we'll keep spinning the hits and dancing as a party of three in our dining room as we watch the fantastic looking maroon record spin. 

The Paracosm Album Cover

   Happy reading, but even happier listening,

   DAVID