An Update On Bertha
The letter to Bertha was written in the early morning the day of the Squier launch, and I set it to auto-post later in the day. I do that quite a bit, because it helps me space out content in a more regular manner.I left the house at 8 a.m. At 8:20, my good friend John Harwood texted me:
Is it 9:00 yet?
He was going to hit Best Buy the minute they opened, as he had been clever enough to order online for store pickup that morning. It was a genius move, because almost as soon as the guitars hit available inventory, he had one reserved.
Just after 9, I got a phone call. "I'm standing in front of a Sqier, and it's not mine," he said. "I assume you want it."
"Yes, I do," I said.
I met him at 10:30, paid him for the guitar, and handed him a 360 MIDI PRO-adapter.
That requires some explanation.
Months ago, he told me that he just wasn't interested in the Squier. Having known John for a long time, I knew that this was a filthy lie. I knew that as it got closer to launch time, that he would be fully as desperate for this product as I was. So I bought a second adapter--one for me, and one for the inevitable moment when John would realize his mistake.
So John couldn't have played his new guitar without the adapter I had, and I wouldn't have a guitar if John hadn't gotten me one. It was a contemporary verison of Gift Of The Magi, although John didn't sell his watch and I didn't cut my hair.
After I got home that afternoon, I checked my e-mail. Bertha had sent me a lovely e-mail telling me that my guitar had shipped and would be delivered the next day. I went online, checked my order status, and was told in no uncertain terms that it was out for delivery today.
That was wrong. It came yesterday. That was still one day after people who had ordered days after I did, and I still hate you, Bertha.
So now I had a second guitar. Local resident and frequent contributor David Gloier (who learned to play guitar after being influenced by little plastic instrument games) e-mailed me to vent about the Squier supply issues. So I told him I had an extra one, and did he want it?
He did, but he didn't have a MIDI adapter. No worries, I said. I've got an extra one of those as well.
Yes, I had wound up getting three MIDI-PRO adapters from three different places, just trying to cherry-pick the first available stock. Then they wound up shipping so closely together that I couldn't cancel the orders. I knew, though, that they would come in handy, so I kept them.
It's all worked out strangely well.
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