Yesterday or today or whatever:
Monday the 10th was the first day of Spring Semester 2005, and my standing number changed from 06 to 07 which means after many, many years and a total of nine semesters of college, I'm at long last a senior in college. Only two more semesters to go after this one (six years to graduate egad).
Italian 1 was ok for hte first day. My prof is much better than my italian 1 prof last semester. Only once have I done worse in a class when taking it for the second time.
Art History 202 is probably going to be boring. Its all architecture and whatnot, which is neat, but I get a boring vibe off it.
HIST 001 (oh yeah) was cancelled. I've had specialty classes in both Greek and Roman history, so going back over the same stuff but condensed into one class plus other stuff makes this one an easy class. They really should have made it so people htat already took 200 level history classes can't go back and take 000 level classes.
HIST 143 is going to rock the casbah as it were. While the catalog calls it "Fascism and Nazism," this class is actually called NAZISM AND THE THIRD REICH. My prof for this seems really cool and was funny, which I always like. Like the third thing he said when he started talking was "Who doesn't like Nazis? They're just so sexy with the black uniforms and the silver trim and the death's head on their hats. Well, I mean the Jews and Gypsies and all those people didn't like them, but the Nazis are just so movie evil. You couldn't make this stuff up!" If I had a different prof, I'd be learning about Mussolini and Franco and all the other flavors, but I'll trade that for getting to watch Triumph of the Will on a giant screen as Hitler intended.
Tomorrow I have CAMS 044, which is Greek mythology. I know very little other than some guys hung out on Olympus and one of them was named Zeus.
My classes have a total of 19 books i have to buy. That's a lot of books, considering I usually only have about six a semester.
I'm all sore all over from being all hunched over walking around in the cold and wind all day. I made three round trips to campus today which comes out to about ten miles. Plus being largely immobile since December 17th meant my legs are being punished now.
I went to Office Depot to get a new desk chair, but I couldn't find anyone to provide me with service and allow me to buy the chair.
Wow! You are taking even longer to graduate than I did! That's an accomphishment! I took 11 semesters too (a little over 5 years) to finally get enough credits to move on. I changed majors 3 times before I settled in one long enough to take all the required classes... although when I left I was only about 4 credits shy of graduating as a dual-major. They have since changed the requirements of the major I was short on, so I would have to take a lot more classes in it now if I ever wanted to go back and finish that one up too.
It's funny... one of the benefits of working at this college is free classes if I want them every semester... I just haven't been able to bring myself to do it yet, although every year I kick myself for not taking advantage of it.
Next semester...
Working at college, never thought of that.....
I never did either... but when a staff position opened up in the area that I had worked in as a student on work-study they thought of me. I happened to be still living in the area, and at the time was between freelance gigs.
It works out great, since they know that as long as they keep me employed I can make payments on my student loans. :D
I'm really just laundering thier money for them.
w007! just got a call from my temp agency boss.....no work at jay group til further notice......i'll miss that job. :( i'll miss the sight of millions of bottles of listerine....and all my puerto rican friends. waaaaaah :( of course there was a position at the same place but in a further way place for 3rd shift.....and hells no! that's too far away and 3rd shift is yucky.
ok..time for me to literally go out and look for something more real i guess. meh...$6 an hour here i come. :rolleyes:
Six majors, three colleges. Its amazing I'm going to pull it off in six years at all.
We got our first real snow of hte season today. Its been a very mild winter and will continue to be one. At about 9:30 this morning, flurries were in the air. I went into class then and when I came out at about 10:30, there were almost two inches on the ground. By 11, it had stopped and we had three inches of snow. By now the temperature is climbing and its switched to rain. Its going to be 61 tomorrow. The weather machine must be broken.
well i got a scheduled tour of UPS next week. just filled out an online application to be a package handle or something sick like that. hopefully i can get this job, tho it's part-time....
On a somewhat related note, UPS drivers make excellent money.
But if you get a job as a sorter or loader I hear it can be a total pressure cooker... with a high burnout rate after a couple of months.
1/11/05
Not much to write tonight. Standard blah, boring day at work. Crappy commute home. More slushy precip predicted for overnight, which means an early morning to dig out before commuting back in.
Better try to go to bed early.
Maybe I'll try to write more in the a.m.
heh all i need is a few months, then i can reenlist and go to war. :)
the tep place called me back and said that i could go to work tomorrow..i dunno what the hell is up w/that, so i guess i'm still employed. which is good cause i am in need of money.... =\
I finally got past Cairo Station level on Legendary in Halo 2. plasma pistol + battle rifle helped alot.
Today update #2 because I'm bored and technically its the 12th now.
I bore of xbox live. I suck at the Halo 2, NCAA Football and Madden players are chumps that give up or pick only to use the best of the best teams or use the (legitimate) cheats available, and no one ever is around for me to play Tiger Woods against.
Here are some crummy pictures of my golfer:
http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/n/b/nbc112/darcy1.jpg)
http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/n/b/nbc112/darcy2.jpg)
http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/n/b/nbc112/darcy3.jpg)
http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/n/b/nbc112/darcy4.jpg)
In Halo 2, regardless of what I do, I cannot inflict kills and die with incredible ease. After the 900,000th time I shot someone in the face with a shotgun and they didn't die, I refuse to play anymore. I also hate being killed by people that, as far as I can tell, aren't anywhere near me. I just fall down and then all the sudden someone runs past my corpse. Its like they teleported in just for the occasion, didn't appear on my radar, and then killed me like my Master Chief was cleverly constructed from papier mache or however those french faggots spell it. I also hate any sort of CTF, particularly since the time three of my friends and I watched someone score without doing the important part of bringing the flag back to their base. We had encircled their flag dealie and no one ever entered the room to score. I was baffled.
@nute that's flag glitching....lemme guess it was on waterworks. :D
It was whatever they call Blood Gulch these days. I never play on Waterworks for some reason. I always wind up on Blood Gulch, Midship, Colossus, or Ascension.
http://www.bungie.net/Stats/GameStats.aspx?panel=stats&gameid=42111585)
Observe the game viewer. This was the round that made me give up. I couldn't buy a kill and I got frustrated to the point of being done forever.
yeah the cheating does get very annoying. try joining any clans? I've been having much more fun in minor/major clan matches, maybe you might wanna look into a clan?
01/12/05
Sitting on my ass watching my Live Aid DVD and hoping the mailman comes soon so I can try out my new Boss CE-5 chorus pedal before work...
1/12/05
I have a really old Boss chorus pedal. I rarely use it anymore, but it sounds nice.
I've always wanted one of those T.C. Electronic chorus/ flange pedals... man those things sound sweet! Expensive though.
I really don't play enough (except around the house) to justify spending money on gear when I already have stuff that works.
Just today a guy I work with (another person on our staff) who is a drummer brought up the idea of playing a show together. I played him the "Hot Dog Sally" mp3 to prove to him I can actually play. He laughed. I don't know if I impressed him, or just walked my way right out of a gig. Hmmm...
I found out the reason why the place I temp at closed down for 2 days....the people in charge decided to change the product. now i'm making boxes for and packing neospore....hm maybe i'll call the UPS thing off and see how much longer before the job completely ends?
11/13/2005
Went to see a mechanic about my car. He was surprised a '93 Ford Tempo was running as well as it is. The problem lies in my ETS whatever, all i know is that it controls the idle speed and it sometimes doesn't work right, forcing the car to stall. suck. but it wasn't doing it at the time, and since we think we have isolated the problem, he said it would be a quick fix.
Slacking on my Model United Nations work, need to fix that.
World of Warcraft is going well. Need to change the info in my sig,but i really stopped caring.
Soon i will have my associates in Political Science. Yay! Let the rush for power and wealth begin. >.>
Kinda got some credit card debt. about 500 USD, not much, but enoough to set me back a few months. damned money. Made a note to restrict pruchases for a while. need to save for trip to NYC for the M.U.N.
Originally posted by Cmdr. Cracken
Kinda got some credit card debt. about 500 USD, not much, but enoough to set me back a few months.
I'm like $45000 in debt.
A semester of college costs me $9861.
1/13/05
Almost forgot to post today!
The foggiest day around here that I can remember in a long time. Thick as pea soup. It was really cool! Made for some tough driving in spots though...
I've been thinking seriously about upgrading all my computer equipment. My newest PC is quickly approaching the 5-year mark and something will have to be done soon.
Those new under $500 mini-Macs have got me thinking that I could use one of those. I could run music software off of it, as well as make it a server for my whole network, dumping all of my mp3s and other media files to it (especially if I upgrade the hard drive when I order it, or get an external Firewire one...)
There are also those under $500 Linux laptops that have grabbed my attention. I really could use a laptop for certain things... but I don't want to pay the full cost for one. That's a possibility too.
Still, it's my main Windows desktop that I really need to do something about. I'd like to wait until the new BTX form-factor cases and motherboards really start to take off, since I think that's how everything is eventually going to go... but it seems they're a bit slow getting out of the gate, and I'm not sure I can really wait any longer.
I'm pretty sure that by summer I will have to do something about it one way or another...
didnt go to class yesterday as I have summer tires on the car and 2 of them are almost bald
and it snowed 2 inches, and the last 3 days rain froze everything to all hell
dont worry nute, undergrad for me is just finishing in may, 6 years, 3 schools, 3 majors, one degree
Originally posted by Zargon
dont worry nute, undergrad for me is just finishing in may, 6 years, 3 schools, 3 majors, one degree
I think something like 60% of the people that graduate from my college do it in six years anyhow.
01/14/05
I woke up just in time to watch the UPS guy pull out of the driveway with what I'm assuming was my chorus pedal, so now I've gotta wait 'till Monday to drive out to the @#$&ing airport to pick it up...
The good news is that I was up when my pedal boards came in, so while I don't have my chorus pedal for tomorrow night, I don't have to worry about replacing 10 dead 9-volt batteries on a regular basis anymore... Christ on a bicycle those things are expensive.
1/14/05
Sad day...
I took the day off from work and was puttering around the house when I got a call from my mom this morning telling me that my uncle is in the hospital. I didn't think much about it since he's been in and out of the hospital on a nearly constant basis for the last couple of years (more on that later.)
I knew something was up when she called back sortly after and asked if I had showered yet. "Get ready, I'm leaving work and am coming to pick you up. Print out directions to the Brigham and Women's Hospital from there too." That's when I knew it was bad...
See, my uncle had a full heart transplant 13 years ago. Then he got (and beat) cancer. Then he suffered through gout. Then, last year, he had to go on dialysis.
Well, today he got the message that this is the end of the road... that the doctors really can't do anything else for him at this point except try to make him comfortable for the next couple of days. His heart is finally going into total rejection, and all the arteries to it are almost completely blocked. Also, his blood pressure is currently so low that it is impossible for them to try to do the dialysis. So if his heart doesn't fail in the next couple of days, then his kidney failure is sure to kill him.
So we all rushed in to say our goodbyes. Unfortunately it's almost impossible to find the words in that situation.
He's actually pretty cheerful, and generally in better spirits than most of the people around him. I suspect he has been mentally preparing for this moment for a long time.
If he makes it through the night, we'll be going back in early tomorrow.
He's one of my favorite relatives, and one of my favorite people in the whole world. One of the truly nicest people I have ever met. I don't think I have ever heard him speak an angry or unkind word about anybody, ever. I know I've never heard him raise his voice in anger.
It's really too bad that the last years of his life had to be filled with such suffering.
There's more I want to say... but it will have to wait for now.
Sorry to hear about the edlib.
Thanks. I appreciate it.
1/15/05
Sorry to bring the whole thread down... but this is what I'm going through at the moment.
Pretty much more of the same as yesterday, only an even longer day for us. He's still hanging in there. (He insists he's gonna watch the Patriots play tomorrow. A true fan even to the last!)
It's obvious he's getting weaker... but there's some of his family that can't make it untill tomorrow, so I think he's fighting to hold on until he can see them all.
His daughter and grandson flew in from California this morning. At one point during the day the room was filled with all his grandkids, as well as most of the rest of his extended family that lives in this area. The room (on a ward in intensive care) typically has a limit of 3 people at a time... there were times today that there were at least 20 people in the room.
My favorite memories of him was when he helped me out on a couple of road trips I had to make with a band I was working with at the time. We had to drive down to the venue in a rented Ryder truck, set the band up, do the gig, tear down, and drive back. The first time was down in New Jersey, and then we went to Long Island. We had a lot of fun. Especially the night we found ourselves driving on the Long Island Parkway in a 10-foot high box truck watching the bridges go by with progressively smaller clearance hights, and finding the highest part of each bridge in the dark before we got there so that we didn't shear off the roof of the van!
Introducing him to the band was also a blast for us. When I had talked to them last they asked if I had been able to get someone to help me, and I told them that my uncle Dave was coming along to help out. I'm not sure exactly what they were expecting, but I'm Italian/ Irish,favoring the Irish side as far as skin tone goes (pretty much straight-up lilly white, not even olive skinned like my dad)... and Dave is Cape Verdean, black, and fairly dark skinned at that. Watching the wheels roll in thier heads as they tried to figure it out and trying to put the pieces together (for the record: he is married to my mother's younger sister) when he met the band gave us both a bit of a laugh later.
They also freaked-out big time when they learned of his heart transplant.
He was a master chef, and insisted on doing most of the holiday cooking... and nobody ever disputed him on it ever. His meals are some of the best I've ever had... some of the most memorable.
When my cousin Mike had his bachelor party, we all hopped in a van and went down to one of the big Indian casinos they have down in Connecticut. As we were walking in a bunch of people walking out recognized Dave. It was the first of several such meetings that night. Everywhere we went somebody knew him. And he made friends wherever he went.
He will be very missed...
EDIT:
Just got a call... his brother is expected in shortly. After that happens he has asked to be removed from all medications and treatments.
I've got an Uncle Dave too (mother's brother), and he's by far the one I'm most like...
My prayers are with you and your family...
As for my day... 01/15/05
The postal outlet my chorus pedal was sent to is in a drug store, so it was open today and I was able to go pick it up... Sounds *amazing* laid over my old DOD FX-50B overdrive. :D
We also named the band: The Ammon Republican Army, Ammon being the "town" (consisting solely of the 10 mile long Ammon Road) where our unheated "jam hut" is located. It's pretty much just considered part of the Greater Moncton Area by everyone else, but Ammon residents (specifically our bassist, who owns the shop we play in) will always tell you they live in Ammon, not Moncton.
Later in the evening, I found out I can play the drums disturbingly well for someone that before tonight hadn't held drumsticks for more then 10 seconds in his life...
I just sat down behind our drummer's kit while our bassist and other guitarist were goofing off playing Black Sabbath's "Electric Funeral" and jumped right in... And 30 seconds later they both stopped and looked at me like, "WTF!!! When the hell did you learn how to play the drums!!?"
Maybe I should buy a drum kit instead of that new amp... :p
heh i had the house free to myself this weekend...
I went out and bought Galaxies, waiting til next week for my bday present (new computer) to run it on...I ordered some pizza, watched Collateral which was a very good movie. And I played Halo 2 and levelled up from 7-9. yay.
also canged my avatar. :)
1/16/05
He went last night. I was there. It sucked. 'Nuff said.
Me and my mom headed back to the hospital after that call. It was just before we got back that they removed the I.V.s. We didn't have long to wait. In this case quicker was better.
I'm glad we got back when we did, when he was still awake.
I'm sad for us.
Happy for him.
Mostly relieved that his suffering is over... but sad that the suffering of those who loved him has only really just begun.
At least now there is something for all of us to hang our grief on. Watching someone die is an emotional rollercoaster... but now that it's over for him we can get everthing out of our systems that we've been choking back for a few days.
I've been seriously considering becoming an organ donor in his honor. I've never really considered it before, but I feel like I really do something to honor his memory and the gift that a stranger gave us that we could all have more time with him that we never would have had otherwise.
Thank you all for your concern, prayers, and well wishes.
edlib
I know all too well what you're going through, as it will be 10 years next month since my mother passed away. You have my deepest sympathies.
I got the specs to the computer my family's gonna get me. :D
Pentium 4 Processor 520 with HP Technology (2.80 GHz, 800 FSB)
OS: Windows XP Home Edition
Memory: 512MBDual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 400 MHz
Monitor: 17 inch (16 in viewable, .27 dp) E773c CRT Monitor
Video Card: 128MB PCI Express x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) ATI Radeon X300 SE
Hard Drive: 40GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
Drives: Dual Drives: 16x DVD-ROM drive and 48x CDRW Drive
I can't freaking wait to get it...it's a dell, but...alot better than this current computer, which specs are....
Compaq Presario...yay...
Pentium 3 600 MHz celeron
255 MB Ram (original 64 musta died...cause it used to say 320...)
10GB Hard Drive
Some integrated chipset ****...i upgraded to Geforce 2 MX but the card died.
had this computer since 2000. i've reformatted it several times...it's had its good moments.....like UT Classic, Delta Force, XWA, Jedi Knight, Jedi Outcast (up to the swamp level), Deus Ex....now I'm not playing any games on it, since the geforce 2 died, as I noticed it froze ALOT so i'd say...be online chatting and all of a sudden FREEEEZE...and I'm mad and restart....it hasn't frozen since i got back from basic training, maybe cause i haven't put any games on it since then...=\
I'm way overdue to get this new computer....and i can't wait. :D
Rogue15
I'd replace the CDRW drive w/ a DVD burner at first opportunity. They're pretty cheap now...on TigerDirect.com, you can get a BenQ dual-layer burner with software (Sonic mastering and WinDVD) for well under $100.
1/17/05
Still recovering. Feeling better, trying to get back to normal.
Watched the Pats dominate yesterday... but couldn't help but think about my uncle. He would've loved that game.
Afterwards I watched a DVD of "Michael" with John Travolta, wich was the last of the movies that were given to me for the holidays. It was cute in moments, but generally kind of shmaltzy and not really my kind of movie.
More shoveling this morning... not bad though.
Went to the store.
Picked up some DVDs (the new version on "The Manchurian Candidate", "MacArthur", "Moby Dick", "Enemy At The Gates", and one for my mom: "De-Lovely",) a couple of books ("50 Years Of The Fender Stratocaster" and Steven King's book 5 of the Dark Tower series "Wolves Of The Calla") and a game for my Gamecube (a bunch of old arcade games, with Pac-Man, Pole Position, Dig-Dug and the like.)
I'm not sure if I'm going to work tomorrow. My boss told me not to worry about it, but I haven't heard anything about the plans for the wake and funeral, so there's probably no reason I shouldn't go.
Originally posted by edlib
...and a game for my Gamecube (a bunch of old arcade games, with Pac-Man, Pole Position, Dig-Dug and the like.)
Namco Museum! I just picked that one up myself. I was playing some Galaga earlier :)
Yah! Looks good! I haven't tried it out yet, but I spent hours the other day playing the one with Defender, Joust, and Paperboy. (Williams?)
That one rocks!!!!!
It's amazing... some of the old games really are the best. What's great about them is that I can play one without investing hours, days, or weeks of my life to it like most of the modern games I can think of. Play for 20 minutes, put your name on the high-score chart, and move on.
I really can't fathom just how many quarters I must have fed into these games when I was younger. Now I can play them at home whenever I want.
Now I saw the other day that Atari is coming out with a console that has pretty much the entire 2600 catalog burned in, plus a number of 5200 and 7800 games as well. I have to say I'm somewhat interested... depends on how much it comes to, but playing some of those ancient games has an undeniable appeal. I feel like I'm going through my second childhood...
I liked playing those games when I was a little kid in the early and mid eighties, but I didn't really have my "arcade phase" until the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Street Fighter II days a bit later on. I wasted a ton of money playing Street Fighter II in the arcade on Saturday :)
I was the perfect age for the golden age of arcade video games. I remember them all. Every weekend my friends and I would ride our bikes down to town to go to the arcade to see what the new, hot machine was... and to blow most of our weeks allowance and money from paper-routes, yard-work and the like.
After we started getting home consoles this kind of tapered down, although all our birthday parties at the time tended to take place in places with a lot of games (the big local arcade was attached to a pizza-parlor... good planning on somebody's part! The pizza was lousy, but it didn't matter,.. we always ended up there anyways!)
Eventually, as we grew up, less and less of our modest income went to the latest and greatest electronic distractions. We got into Dungeons & Dragons for a while (hey! it was the 80's!) which chewed up a surprising amount of money on books, miniatures, dice, etc... then it was on to clothes, cars, guitars,.. and girls.
From that point on I pretty much lost track of the vid-gaming world until I was in my 20's and in college and bought my first real computer. That's when I learned about the X-Wing games... which combined my love for Star Wars with my long-slumbering interest in video games.
Which eventually led me here. The rest is history... :)
I actually owned an original TMNT arcade machine... Sold it a few years ago to buy paintball gear, and I kinda regret it.
1/18/05
Quiet day at home. I called my boss and he suggested I take the day off even though there really was no reason to. I didn't argue very hard.
Did a lot of reading and listening to music. Played some guitar.
Watched "Enemy At The Gate"
It was OK. I didn't realize it was based on true events... Interesting.
Ed Harris was great, although I'm not sure if I personally would have cast Jude Law in that role.
I thought the ending was a bit anti-climatic.
I have a wake to attend tomorrow, and a funeral to attend Thursday. I hope the weather holds out, since it's a bit of a long drive to both.
I gotta dig out my nice clothes in the morning. I seem to recall having then dry cleaned not that long ago, so they should still be in good shape.
It all depends if the cats managed to get into the closet where I keep them. If they did I guess it means a trip to the mall to pick up some new clothes that will end up sitting in there for months, sometimes years between seeing daylight.
01/18/05
A friend loaned me his Tool cd's, and I've been sitting here all night listening to 'em since I can't play with my new amp (everyone's sleeping). Man, those guys make some messed up stuff... I haven't felt this "deep" since I watched Apocalypse Now, Vanilla Sky, and Clockwork Orange in one long run...
As for my new amp... Fender Twin Reverb '65. Sounds better then hot sex on a cold morning. :D Compared to the 35W solid state Peavey bass amp I was jacking my Ibanez into before... It's like banging your hot older cousin, then finding out she's not *really* your cousin.
Finally, ed, that Don't Drink The Water album is ripped and uploaded... Everything's ripped at 192kbps, and the final size of the zip file is 73.95MB... I've PM'ed you the link to give your would-be listeners.
Originally posted by Nitro
Fender Twin Reverb '65.
I approve!
I have a Music Man 212 65 Watt... pretty much the same thing, although the Twin is sexier! :D
The only Fender amp I like better is the Vibroverb that my dad has... If I could get 2 of those to run in stereo... (insert Homer Simpson drooling sound here...) plus the name is kinkier.
:joy:
meh it's snowing.....i'm hoping the temp agency will call me and say there's no work and not to go in.....cause i don't feel like working and i don't feel like driving in this ****.
I've been thinking of buying a Valvetronix amp from Vox. Seems like a good way to get that tube sound with better reliability and not having to play at insane volumes.
edlib, have you ever used an Shure KSM44 mic? If so, what do you think?
We have the KSM 32 and 27s at work. The 32s are my first choice out of the mics we have for grand piano and marimba. They also sound great on guitar amps.
The 27s sounded real nice on percussion, and guitar (acoustic and electric.)
I haven't used a 44 yet,.. but I assume that it supposedly a step above the 32s in quality, as the 32s are to the 27s.
The KSM series are great mics for the price,.. and Shures are known for thier durability. The top of the line AKGs and Neumanns probably sound a little nicer, but cost at least 10 times as much, and I would never use them in the environment that we do.
I recommend them from the experience I have had. You could do a lot, lot worse.
The new Vox stuff is real nice too.
Last year we had a Beatles tribute band play, and all they used were the Vox Tube-Modeling footboards patched direct into the board, and they got some stunning tones out of those things. Very sweet. And beats carrying a bunch of AC30s around.
1/19/05
It's snowing here too. Just drove back from my uncle's wake. Driving was pretty sloppy. No plows out yet.
Saw some people I haven't seen in years.
Funeral is early tomorrow. Hopefull the roads will be well cleared by then.
OK, edlib, thanks for your input.
my car needs a new fuel filler neck, and I can't find such a part anywhere on the internet :(
You mean you might have to actually venture outside to get one from NAPAA or something? Wow, that sucks :( No one should be forced to go outside. There's things out there...
None of the chain autopart stores have what I need either. It is not fun.
My car's fuel filler neck has rusted a hole in it, mean that when I get gas about 10-15 fluid ounces worth of gasoline goes not get into my tank and instead pools on the ground under my car. As the roads get more nad more salt on them, it will only rust more.
Originally posted by Keyan Farlander
I've been thinking of buying a Valvetronix amp from Vox. Seems like a good way to get that tube sound with better reliability and not having to play at insane volumes.
If you're looking to bring down the volume on a tube amp try swaping preamp tubes to something with lower gain. A friend of mine did that with his Marshall and it made the difference between him being able to play in our shop, and him just being too damn loud... I might switch mind from a 12AX7 to a 12AT7, 'cause as it stands now I'm drowning out our lead guitarist's solid state Peavey without even trying...
More info on tube substitution:
http://www.torresengineering.com/realinonprea.html)