Baboon Pirates

Scribbles and Scrawls from an unrepentant swashbuckling primate.

My Photo
Name:
Location: Texas, United States

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Big Cigars And Secondhand Guitars

Spending Money Like A Drunken Democrat!

Interesting day so far. I ventured out to the Studio Movie Grill up in Copperfield to see 'The Bounty Hunter' at the morning matinee. I get the feeling that Jennifer Aniston is a neurotic mess in real life, but damn if she's not nice to look at for 2 hours...

The grilled chicken salad I had for brunch while watching the flick had a nice little bonus. A thumbnail-sized piece of clear plastic somehow got mixed in along with the balsamic vinaigrette, and I discovered it when it brought my lettuce munching to an abrupt halt. No damage done to my pie hole, thankfully. I imagine it must have chipped off the salad tongs or some other kitchen gadget. The manager just about shit his drawers when I handed it to him after the show. I'm sure for a moment he thought I was going to whip out a Torts attorney, but I just asked him to be sure and check out the kitchen for wandering plastic shards.

Following the show, I moseyed down Hwy 6 to a couple of pawn shops. I've been shopping for a guitar to replace my old Silvertone archtop. It's not likely that the Silvertone's neck can be reattached and remain playable, so I've been on the lookout for a used Ovation, Washburn or Takamine acoustic/electric in good condition.

I found a nice Takamine at the first pawn shop, but they just wouldn't budge on the $350 price tag. The second shop had more reasonable prices, but nothing I was too interested in. They had a great looking Seagull acoustic, but I'd really prefer to get one with a built-in pickup.

I did score a couple of nice finds at the 2nd shop... A DVD of Michael Caine's 'The Italian Job' in primo condition, and a nearly-new Canon A1000 digital camera.

I'd almost decided to go with a Panasonic Lumix, but the opportunity to stick with a Canon made the decision a no-brainer. I'm already familiar with the camera's basic setup and controls, and even though I'll need a different flavor of memory cards, the $70 price tag was too good to refuse. So, I'm back in the digital image business!

After the pawn shop hops, I stopped in at Cigars of the World on Hwy 6 just north of Clay Rd. for a couple of Gurkha sticks and a jar of humidifier goop for my humidor. They had some of Kinky Friedman's cigars on hand, and I couldn't resist picking up a couple to sample along with the Gurkhas.

Only Kinky could name a cigar "The Texas Jewboy"! I got one of those, and a "Kinkycristo". The bands are fantastic. Now that I think about it, I think I'll start covering my humidor in cigar bands...

As I was checking out, I saw they stocked some Gurkha ball caps, and in a typical impulse buy, I grabbed one. My 'El Capitan' hat I got from Zippo has seen a lot of miles, and you can never have too many ball caps.

So, newly crowned with my spiffy Gurkha Cigars cap, I head to Office Depot to get a memory card for the camera, and while waiting in the checkout line, I catch a really strong aroma of cigar. Hmm... I have yet to light a stick this week. Must be the guy in front of me.

Back in the truck, there's that cigar smell again... And arriving home, there it is again! Must be the neighbor burning a stogie.

Nope. It was me. Well, it was my new hat. If you hang a fabric ball cap on the wall of a cigar lounge for an extended period of time, chances are it's gonna soak up some of the "ambience"...

Heh. Now I just gotta figure out how to de-smokify my cap! Maybe I'll take a picture of the process with the new Canon!