I took a long walk today. First I went to one of the local taquerias for a burrito. It wasn't bad, but not really a stellar burrito. I'd like to try out some of the other places in the area to compare. While I was in that area, I was going to stop at a barbershop to get a haircut, but I couldn't find one in the location indicated on google maps, so I decided to get to the bulk of my walk to and through the park. Ironically as I headed there, I passed another barber, but it was only a few minutes to closing. Perhaps I'll make it over there on Monday or so.

The walk through the park was pretty nice, even though I wasn't really in it for enjoying the environment. Plus, it's still February and even though it was clear and sunny, it's kinda chilly in general. The time was also getting close to 5pm, so there wasn't much sunlight. Even so, it was good to experience the park, something that I've not done in over 2.5 years, since Katster and I took an excessively long walk down the length of it in '04.

Ironically enough, I came out of the park about where we started our walk on that day, since I decided to meander down to a music store in the Haight Ashbury district.

Unfortunately, the experience at the store wasn't the best. It was extremely cramped inside. with instruments - mostly electric guitars - lining every available aisle with only a slight amount of space to walk. Oddly, despite the sheer number of instruments, the selection didn't seem incredibly varied nor was there a well-defined organizational system in place. I wandered through the entire store before I found the electric basses, which were situated in a nook right by the entrance. The selection wasn't that great there, since it seems most of the space is dedicated to guitars. There was a sale on, but even so none of the prices seemed particularly stellar, at least compared to what I've noted for similar models online. I had a bit of a desire to test, but nearly every guitar had a big "don't touch" sign. I wandered out again and browsed through the books to see what beginning bass books were like. There were a few that seemed notable, so I may be able to pick one up.

Ultimately, I checked the time and saw it was a bit past six. I'd been at the store something close to an hour and the only time an employee had said a word to me was to tell me to leave my bag at the counter. So faced with the not entirely welcome behavior, pricy selection despite the sale, and lack of variety, I decided to leave and head home instead of waiting another 90 minutes for Aya to pick me up to go climbing.

My route back through the park differed a bit. It was dark by this point and I didn't want to stumble across anything, so I stayed off the footpaths and walked along the roads. Still plenty of sidewalk, but the light was pretty constant since there was open sky and fairly constant traffic. My trip took another turn for the worse as I got within the last ten or so blocks, though, since my right knee started to ache. It got pretty bothersome as I got even closer to home and I had begun to favor it once I arrived. It didn't feel any better when Aya got home about 40 minutes later, so I decided to forego climbing for the evening. It seemed odd, since the walk was long (~5 miles), but not excessive and I never went over any difficult terrain or had even a slight accident.

Still, though the trip was nearly a total bust, we did get some good news. Jesse had a job interview earlier and he apparently did well, since he starts working on Monday. To celebrate he took us out to eat after Aya and I showered up. We walked to a Korean barbeque a few blocks away. While literally just up the street, my leg hadn't calmed down during the couple of hours I was home. The meal was excellent and filling, but the trip back was even worse.

Right now, I'm hoping it's just muscle fatigue since I haven't done a lot of walking in quite some time. I'll probably need to dodge climbing for a bit, at least until it starts to feel better. And I'll probably need to start walking more regularly.

Once home for good (I'd declared that I wouldn't walk down the stairs again today), I began to browse the 'net for basses and such. Given that I'd like to approach a new instrument with a frugal mind, I've been eyeing various package deals which tend to have the bass, amp, bag, strap, and possibly a small instructional item. Prices for these things seem to run between $150 and $300, depending on company and quality. Ignoring the incredibly cheap ones (since I want frugal, not crappy), the best deal I initially came across was (ironically), from a store in Tacoma. I'm not sure if it's the route, though.

So far I've found two different Ibanez packs. The one I found at the Tacoma store goes for $200-$230 and seems very entry-level. The bass looks basic with nothing special. The other Ibanez pack seems to be about $290 regardless of location and has a slightly more complete instrument. I've tried to find reviews, but they seem pretty sparse for the higher end model and non-existant for the lower-end one.

For about the same price as the higher-end Ibanez pack there's a Fender/Squier pack. Fender is, from what I've found, the dominant bass manufacturer. The Squier models tend to use less expensive materials, making them less expensive. The Squier P-Affinity is allegedly the best-selling bass in the world because of this.

And slightly less expensive is a Yamaha pack. I'm assuming the Squier, higher Ibanez, and this are all aroud the same quality. It won't be a perfect bass, but to try out and start learning it should suffice.

Mid-way between the two Ibanez models is one from Ephiphone, which seems to be the Gibson equivalent of Squier.

Hmm... I'm not sure. It may be better to just get a bass and whatnot separately. I think I'll ping my brother to see what he'd suggest.