yesterday jared and i found a few free piano's on craigslist. there were two we really wanted, one was exactly the same as the one i grew up with in my house, the other a beautiful console. sadly, no one answered the phone when we called about those.

regardless, we drove across town with a new pack of tie-down straps (a toll designed almost entirely to make you angry, those things are a pain to use) and picked up a piano. it's a kimball made in chicago sometime in the 1930's.

it was in decent shape, although very dirty and out of tune. we spent most of the evening trying to figure out how to get it OUT of my truck and then taking it apart and cleaning it. there are a lot of parts on the inside of these things. here are some pictures of the process.


'the only manufacturer thus honored' is a pretty lofty claim.


tons of dirt and grim on, between, and under the keys. we took each key out, brushed them, cleaned the ivory and wood, cleaned the pegs, and vac'd all the dust and dirt out from underneath.




i think someone spilled an entire pot of coffee inside this guy.


every key. luckily each one was numbered, so getting them back in correctly was not quite as difficult.


mostly finished product.

a few keys still stick in the higher octaves and it is desperately out of tune, although in tune with itself at least. but all in all, not bad for the cost of a pack of tie down straps and a 30 mile drive. everything is functional and with some tuning i think it will sound really nice.

just thought i would upload a poster that i finished making today for an art show in gainseville. i'm really happy with it, about 3 days of work and revisions. the original was flashier and had a lit more going on, but a few font changes and color palate revisions later, i ended up with a more minimal modern style that i really like.

if you're going to be in gainseville you should go check out the exhibit, i've seen the photographs and they are really amazing.

full-size version of the poster can be seen here if you're interested.

orlando.

i'm here.

i spent the first week alone at the house. i'm staying with my friends jared and megan until it's clsoe to the time their baby is due. the first week was strange because i neither left the house or spoke to anyone for about 8 days. i spent a lot of time sorting through my things... i got rid of a lot of stuff when i moved but wanted to trim down even more. aside from that it was mostly playing the piano and watching scrubs dvd's on my laptop... no internet or tv here.

i've been out a number of time applying for jobs, apparently orlando is 42 on the list of 50 worst metro cities to try and get a job in. there are 6 unemployed people to every 1 job opening. after two months trying to find work in orlando while i was living in tallahassee and one from orlando, it finally paid off. i got hired at gap after one interview. working at the mall / in retail isn't my first choice, but it's a job and they were very nice at the store. apparently they usually look over applicants for about a week after interviews, but they called me before i was out of the parking lot to offer me a job.

i have one other interview in the works for a company called district lines that makes t-shirts, websites, and merchandise primarily for bands. they do a lot of screen printing and web design and i know one of the owners, so i am hoping that will work out as well.

other than that just more music practice as usual. i'm making a lot of progress with the guitar and working back at being able to play the piano well. next thursday i head back up to tallahassee with jared to play a show at the engine room with a band from orlando, the winter sounds which should be a great show. if you're around please come out and see us play! we've recorded some new stuff and will have that on our myspace soon.

-h