Personal Vaporizers (a.k.a. E-cigs)

I have been a cigarette smoker for far too many years and have tried to quit many, many times. However I am weak when it comes to beating this addiction and always seem to relapse. Yep, being dumb in your youth still can haunt you in your adult life. -sigh-

Low and behold a new product comes on the market to help people get away from cigarettes. Enter the personal vaporizer (PV) otherwise known as an E-cig (electronic cigarette).

Here are a few pics...










An "E-cig" is an electrical device that creates a vapor to be inhaled which contains varying strengths of nicotine or even none at all. They come in many sizes and color configurations. Some look like real cigarettes and others that look like something from your toolbox! No, they are not the asnwer to nictine addiction. Just a safer, arguably cheaper, and public friendly way of receiving the nicotine that one is addicted to.

Now, the first thought everyone has is "What is the point? You are still feeding a nicotine addiction!" Well, that is true. However, by using a PV you are eliminating the other 400+ chemicals you were putting into your body. That includes carbon monoxide, tar, arsenic, formaldehyde, and many other known carcinogens. I think simple logic would indicate this has to be healthier than any tobacco cigarette on the market.

I have decided to give these things a try to just see if if they can get me away from the real thing. I suggest that if you know a smoker that wants to quit and has tried all the different methods without success that this might be something for them to look in to. For more info they can check out the E-cigarette forums. The one piece of advise I can give is to do as much research as possible on the subject before just jumping in.

Time To Move On

As some of you may know, I was the match director for the Arizona chapter of ACTS. The operative word there is "was".

I had been wanting my assistant to take things over for the past 4-5 months but he wanted no part of it. Frankly, I don't blame him. For the most part it is a thankless job and a lot of responsibility and headaches. The very reasons I wanted out myself. I am happy with and proud of what I accomplished for our chapter. It has survived and grown in every aspect but it was time for me to move on.

Anyways, a situation arose that allowed me to pass the torch to another of the core members. I know the match is in good hands with him. We already have a great crew in place and he, the new MD, has the vision to see what makes a match good. Over the past 15 months of me being the MD ACTS has grown more than I had hoped for and I see this trend continuing under the new leadership. I think we are in for some great matches here in the very near future!

The Unreasonable Man

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the conditions that surround him...
The unreasonable man adapts surrounding conditions to himself...
All progress depends on the unreasonable man."

George Bernard Shaw

FREE NRA Membership

If you haven't joined the NRA because you don't have the money, now is your chance to do it for free! Yep, a free 1 year membership.

Now I'm not a huge NRA supporter but they are the largest organization out there for firearm owners. Maybe if we get enough of us "no compromise" people in we can change them for the better!

So, join up and let your voice be heard by clicking the link below!

FREE NRA Membership

This was posted by a member on a musician forum I visit but figured it could help plenty of other people when doing transactions on the internet. Hope it helps someone!

I get about 2 or 3 requests a month from people asking me to help them track down someone who has ripped them off on a transaction on eBay, HC, Bassgear, etc. I'm more than happy to help out, but the one thing I have noticed is that a lot of people don't protect themselves as much as they could. Here's a little checklist to go through that I posted over on the Dudepit that can help you guys avoid a lot of grief when doing a deal with someone you don't know.

In the future, I hope everyone here checks out people before they do business with them. A lot of you guys here buy and sell a lot of gear, and if you know the person...great. But if not make sure you get a home phone# a work phone # a cell phone# home address etc. check out the info too. Call the person. If you think they gave you a cell# as a home or work # - check it out here:

http://www.fonefinder.net/

It will tell you if it's a land line or a cell and what city it goes to.

Reverse the phone#s and addresses they gave you to see where they go. Argali is really good for this. You can also reverse the address.

Just go to http://www.argali.com/ and download their program.

If you think the address is a mail drop you can check that out as well at http://www.finaid.com/scholarships/maildropsearch.phtml

If you want to find out who owns the address they give you to send payment to you can also go to http://www.skipease.com/property.html

Select the state and county of the address. A lot of them have online databases, but you can call the tax assessor as well and find out who owns that property. These are just a few of the free online resouces you can use to protect yourself and verify the information the seller gives you is accurate. Ask for references from other people they have done business with. If I'm shelling out $100 for an effect pedal or $3000 for a bass, I want to know if the person is honest or not, Make sure the info they give you checks out before you give up any of your hard earned cash. An honest seller won't be offended in the least when you ask them for this info.

Also, using https://www.escrow.com/index.asp is a good idea on any large purchase.