I’m preparing for another trip to Phoenix, in the ongoing work as Trustee of settling my late father’s estate. The CPA I hired to handle the taxes needs a lot of paperwork, and I’ve been sorting through it all.
Just as I was about to call it quits for tonight, on SiriusXM radio Cousin Brucie played the one and only song in existence with my father’s name in the lyrics! It’s a sign from Dad, who really did believe in ghosts, that I’d better stick to the task at hand for a while longer. This time of year I’d rather be going to Alaska than Arizona!
Another selfie of a wound already? Yesterday afternoon I was in the backyard cutting down some overgrown brush. This morning I noticed something on my side. It felt strange, so I went to the bathroom to see what it was. A tick! I grabbed my fine-point tweezers and grabbed the little sucker. It was latched on tight, but I pulled him out with a firm yank and this was the result.
We have deer roaming in the yard every so often. Here’s hoping I don’t contract Lyme Disease.
Somebody declared May to be Skin Cancer Awareness Month, and in keeping with that I am having a full epidermis check in a couple of weeks. Today has been designated as Melanoma Monday.
As previously reported here, I was diagnosed with melanoma on my scalp, adding injury to the insult of being bald since my 20’s. In January the cancer was removed by a dermatologist who performed a procedure called “Slow Mohs.” If I were John Oliver I would say, “That’s what you see when watching the last movies made by the Three Stooges.”
I will spare you the horror of seeing how the wound looked at its worst. Here’s a picture of what it looks like now, four months later.
That small yellowish spot was the center of the cancer, where the deepest cut was made. It’s been getting smaller, but was still open until just yesterday. Only today is it finally starting to close up.
The stubble shows how far the plastic surgeon had to pull up the skin to repair the wound, making the hairline uneven compared to the other side of my head. I’ve been shaving it, not that anybody sees me in public anymore without a cap.
So beware of the Sun! It is essential for life, but like those other necessities, air and water, it can also be destructive.
Record Store Day ten days ago reportedly set a sales record in both the US and UK. As the CD format dwindles in popularity against online streaming, the resurgent ancient LP continues to gain strength. Ironically, one of the oldest and biggest names in phonograph cartridges, Shure, announced today that it is discontinuing its phono-related products.
Niles, IL., May 1, 2018—For more than 90 years, Shure has been committed to manufacturing and delivering products of the highest quality, reliability, and value. This commitment requires consistency in materials, processes, and testing, as well the capacity to react to fluctuations in demand.
In recent years, the ability to maintain our exacting standards in the Phonograph Cartridge product category has been challenged, resulting in cost and delivery impacts that are inconsistent with the Shure brand promise.
In light of these conditions, and after thorough evaluation, we have made the difficult decision to discontinue production of Shure Phono products effective Summer 2018.
Given our decades-long history of participation in the Phono category, we recognize that this decision may come as a disappointment to our channel partners and end users.
We are grateful for the support and loyalty demonstrated for Shure Phono products through the years and we are proud of the impact that these products have made on our customers’ lives and the reputation of the Shure brand. We believe that the proud legacy of Shure Phono is best served by exiting the category rather than continuing production under increasingly challenging circumstances.
Shure will continue to bring reputable, high quality products to market and we look forward to meeting and exceeding customer expectations on our current and future offerings. As Shure expands into new markets and product categories for audiophiles, our enduring commitment to premium performance and technological innovation will remain at our core.
I use a Shure M92E in one of my turntables, and fortunately I have several factory-sealed replacement styluses (nobody says “styli” anymore, do they?). My first Shure was the very popular and affordable M91ED, like the one pictured above. I was only seventeen when I bought it, and I remember being astounded by how much better it sounded compared to the bottom-of-the-line Pickering cartridge that came with the stereo I’d purchased months earlier with money from my part-time job. I recall the M91ED cost $20, which is equivalent to $120 today. For that much money the best cartridge currently available is probably the Nagaoka MP110, from Japan. Audio-Technica, also in Japan, continues to manufacture a line of cartridges, as does Ortofon in Denmark. They’re the two biggest remaining names in the business, with Grado holding its own in America, but not without some quality control problems that I have experienced myself. My A-T and Ortofon cartridges are both excellent and durable. Viva vinyl!
Now that I’m on the subject, I pulled out an oldie from college, my Ortofon FF15E. I figured I needed a cartridge from Denmark to go along with my Dynaco A-25 speakers from Denmark. Yes, I really did think that way. Still do, I suppose.
Ortofon FF15E
I’m going to give it a spin, despite the wear on the stylus from long ago, to hear how it sounds compared to my newer Ortofon cartridge. But right now I have to get back to not eating anything, because tomorrow I’m having a colonoscopy. You can read about my first colonoscopy, ten years ago, at this link. The prep this time around was much easier than the awful stuff I had to drink last time.
The plastic surgeon in Boston who closed the hellish wound on my head from melanoma removal gave me the okay to travel. So I’ve been in Phoenix for the past week, once again tackling the aftermath of my father’s death.
Sun City West, Arizona
The other certainty in life besides death is, of course, taxes, and that’s one of the things I’ve been doing here. I met with a CPA, who will take care of my father’s final personal income tax return, and then he will get started on the Trust taxes. I have to drop off some more papers at his office tomorrow morning, after meeting with my lawyer, and then I’ll be at a couple of banks to see about closing out accounts to be consolidated in an account Dad had back home that is now my responsibility.
Besides money-related matters, two of my sisters and I have been going through Dad’s house, deciding what can be tossed and what should be kept for an estate sale. We came up with 63 lbs. of paper to be shredded, and I hauled that over to a Staples store, which offers Iron Mountain’s shredding service at a cost of $0.99/lb.
Through all of this I keep going back and forth in my mind, thinking I might want to take over my parents’ retirement house — despite the fact that, thanks to skin cancer, the Sun is now my burning enemy. The pro|con list for buying the place from my siblings, who each own an equal share of the property, is about evenly split.
I should have been in Belgium the summer of 1975, after my sophomore year of college. Long story, about a girl, of course. Instead, I spent that summer working the night shift at a Cape Cod restaurant called the Hearth ‘n Kettle. I cooked, I bused tables, and I washed dishes. Back then the workers weren’t immigrants. The crew included the year-round locals and the summertime college kids. There was some flirting, and some of that paid off, but mostly we all just worked hard and got along.
A radio was always playing in the back room of the restaurant. The big songs that summer included “Love Will Keep Us Together” by The Captain and Tennille, “Rhinestone Cowboy” by Glen Campbell, and “Listen to What the Man Said” by McCartney and Wings. But the one that I never tired of hearing was, “I’m Not in Love” by 10cc.
