Day 1 of my Journey: April 1, 2026
Todays date 9/11/26
Lately I’ve been trying to figure out what’s Changing in the World of Tech and the item at the Top of my List keeps popping up as :”Own Your Name” …. I felt pretty good about that as I’ve owned Rich Brierefor decades and was paying for a site…..but never used it.
The only thing I see popping up routinely is the Amazing increase in Cyber Nautyness .
That might not actually be a Word…but it IS definitely a Thing. :)
The general population of Humanoids is using Social Media but folks who are much more in-the-know than me are all in agreement that the #1 priority should be that YOU should own your name ………….before someone ELSE owns YOUR name.
That theft takes only seconds to accomplish, it’s happening as you read this and
I highly recommend that you get with the program. :)
https://www.whois.com would be a good spot to get the details. Click that link. It’s Free and Safe. See who owns YOUR Name. Do you Run a business? How often do YOU buy stuff online? Yup. Me too. While equally as important….MORE Important in fact, the Social Media Platforms we’ve all toyed with are Slowly Dying plus the fact that they sell everything about you to anyone who cares to purchase it.
Podcasts and Personal Sites are Blossoming.
Go ahead…Register your domain name after Googling it to see if someone else already owns it. It costs less than a “Happy Meal” and You might be quite surprised at what you find. None of us know what the future holds but I want at least a small part in controlling mine. There are plenty of options available and you do NOT have to publish a site to know that you’re protected. Are you at least a bit curious? If that’s the case, I’ll wait to hear what you discovered about yourself online. Perhaps You should be checking out that NEW Home Theater Music Gear you’re Gassin’ for as we wait? I know just the Place…..
Click the Pic
As a NEW Hyundai owner (4 weeks now) who was never needlessly shown a single "feature" of my Elantra, a car with 7 miles on it, still completely wrapped in Cellophane and built by a Company which I knew absolutely NOTHING about as I'd driven a Chevy Impala for 15 years and a Pontiac before that, I find the Cyber Tutorials on Youtube quite beneficial and recommend that you check them out as well. Why did I buy it? My Service guy, Brian, at Brad's in Chicopee, MA. refused to allow me to keep throwing Ca$h at my Corpse of a Car and suggested several Brands to look at with Hyundai being at the top of the list. I was bummed out.
I reluctantly drove my Impala to the Hyundai dealer Brian Suggested, said a Tearful Goodbye to my Chevy on the drive there to Gary Rome Hyundai (I Wept-the Car Wept-it was Nuts) and anxiously took a Leap of Faith. Having said that, this Hyundai channel on Youtube has 7,000 subscribers and I suspect that most of them at least did some homework and probably took their Car for a test drive before buying or leasing it. The Sales guy, Paul Maiolo, at the Hyundai Dealership I liked: GaryRomeHyundai , didn’t act like a Salesman. He walked me outside, opened the Car door, I Peeked inside, my Head Exploded a bit and 7 seconds later, simply based on the fact that I absolutely loved what I saw I calmly said..."I'll take it". :) Click on the Elantra pic above for a Quick Ride to Gary Rome. When I said that the “Salesman” didn’t show me anything, make no mistake, it wasn’t because he didn’t want to…in fact, he’s VERY knowledgeable …he simply didn’t need to. It was a case of True Love at First Sight. Am I still in love a month later? Yup……..
Would I buy ANY Car from the Flock of Dealers who somehow knew every move I was making and began reaching out to me at 3 a.m. on the very night that I fell in Love? Nope. Have they stopped TRYING? Nope. I had to BLOCK each of them in order to Escape. How did they even know that I’d looked at a Car? Cuz the Internet is a dangerous place and knows everything there is to know about us. Am I kidding? I’m not. You DO check your phone at every Stoplight and even take it into the Bathroom with You….Right? :). How do I know that? Cuz I don’t do either of those things. I’m the Geezer in the Car behind you BLASTING my Horn when the light turns Green cuz you’re not moving. I see you in YOUR rearview mirror….staring at your phone…..and the Goober in front of You is doing the same thing!!! Harassing Phone addicts is my Favorite Hobby. :) It’s a Geezer thing.
The Voice behind this particular Youtube channel I’ve mentioned claims to be many things and although it's not a big deal and most certainly a sign of the times we now live in, the Voice is a Bot…..not a Human. We also live in Fear of A.I. ...... yet I TRUST THIS Channel more than ANY Sales Person.......with the possible exception of Brian at Brad's……and Paul at Gary Rome Hyundai.
Click on Brad’s Pic………. Go Ahead….Be not Afraid. :)
www.richbriere.com
Everything I’m doing here is Experimental at this point…..
I’ll be adding in info a bit at a time for awhile in order to keep my stress level and yours to a minimum as I figure out how to build a web site. So far, it’s been Hilarious. I’ve already discovered that if you look at a site on a phone, it’s going to appear totally different than it would if you use a laptop or an iMac….which, by the way, is the Apple 🍎 device I’m creating this content with.
I don’t recommend spending time here on your phone. :)
I WAS a total Apple 🍎 Fan Boy until Tim Cook began kissing trump’s ass. While I certainly understand WHY he did it I’m fairly certain that Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, the founders of Apple, wouldn’t have sunk to those depths. That was a Crushing Blow to my Apple Happiness…pure Joy that I’d held close to my heart since first meeting Steve Jobs during a NAMM Show decades ago and being quite fortunate in being able to spend some time with him. Will I recover from the total Bullshit taking place online these days? Nope…not completely..but I’m learning how to deal with it. :) The Only Social Media Platforms I’m currently involved with as of 9/10/26 Youtube …..and Instagram …BTW…I don’t use fake names and have only one account.
I tried to like Facebook: aka ”A Place for Mom” but it simply sucked the life out of me, was boring as hell and became a huge time waster. I then tried Instagram and quickly discovered a bunch of Wienie Wankers using fake names and pretending to be Women so I’ve changed my approach there considerably. :). Social Media is going to be the death of Humanity as we know it. Although I don’t publish anything on Youtube I do have my Favorites……mostly Music Related and often I find myself trying to politely inform folks who should know better that one of my Favorite Bass Builders,
Rickenbacker is pronounced RickenBACKer …… not RickenBOKer. :)
Ernie Ball MusicMan Stingray Bass
I’m often asked why, if I spent YEARS working at Fender and going so far as to create the very successful RB Classic instruments with John Page guiding me as he was running the Fender Custom Shop at the time but has since moved on to produce his own brand of Truly Fabulous Instruments. You truly need to stop by his shop and you’re only a single click away. :)
Why do I prefer John’s Instruments as well as Ernie Ball Music Man basses along with MTD , Spector and several others for my personal use? Well…… The short answer is a simple one….My Dedication was always to Leo Fender……and the Instruments he brought to the World. …not to ANY Corporation. I’ve had several interactions with EBMM over the years and the Ball Family and their staff are people I respect and admire. Now that Fender is no longer the Company I knew and loved and owns several other brand names I was once connected to as an independent rep, I follow my Heart.
G&L: I feel fairly confident that we’ll never see any of Leo’s Final designs. G&L will simply Fade into the Night and it’ll be up to MusicMan to Continue to Remind us what Leo Fender was all about.
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Speaking of Donuts & Tradition
Donut Dip — What Foods These Morsels Be!
One of my very first real Jobs was working at A&M Sound…a Musical Instrument / Guitar Shop which WAS located right next door to this Place. 50 Years later Donut Dip is still Crankin’ ‘em out!…..When you stop in just tell them that the Bass Player sent you. :)
Should you happen to be driving through Western Massachusetts, West Springfield to be Precise. … Oh Brother! You’re in for a Tasty Treat. You can thank me later. It’s a Casual, family-run fixture serving a variety of donuts, breakfast sandwiches and muffins.
1305 Riverdale St, West Springfield, MA 01089 Phone: (413) 733-9604Hours: Closes 9:45 PM
Please note……. I’m not connected to Donut Dip in any, let’s say, Financial Way….
They’re not even aware that I’ve posted this Endorsement.
The Fact that they’ve managed to Thrive for Decades
while Corporate Joints are located on every street Corner is important to me.
July 16th, 2026 ~ My first Major Disaster
Let me begin by saying very clearly that I’m a firm believer in
“Everything Happens for a Reason
For those reasons I began writing some deeply personal thoughts on here several days ago bits of my Life. Before I knew it the sun was up and I’d spent 5 hours adding content to this site. I was feeling tired but quite pleased with myself as I began the Shut-Down process so I could go to bed. That process was going along quite nicely until I snuffed out my ever-present burning candle by placing the lid on the Jar. Apparently I wasn’t paying attention as my finger touched the Hot Glass and the candle began to slide.
Everything that followed occurred in just a few seconds.
The sliding jar candle hit the wick trimmer which I tried to grab for …. the trimmer began a perfect Olympic style end-over-end dive from it’s perch next to the candle and landed on my keyboard. Well, not exactly a “Perfect landing” as the trimmer itself had directly hit the DELETE Button on my iMac keyboard.
Not fully realizing what had just happened I simply grabbed the Trimmer, put it back where it belonged and continued the “Rich…. Go to BED!” process. I hit the SAVE button on the site and while everything I’d just worked on was “being saved” I went to brush my teeth. Upon my return the Save was complete and I decided to take one last look at my “Brilliant Post”…..only to find that something was wrong. Where was my work?
I hit refresh. Nothing. I checked my 🍎 Air which is set up to monitor everything I’m doing on my iMac in real time…only to find a nearly full page which I’d spent the entire night working on was now completely BLANK. I’m not gonna’ lie….I was mortified. My Blood Pressure shot up like a Rocket 🚀 and it was only then that I realized what I’d done. Look up one paragraph. See the Highlighted Words DELETE and SAVE ???? Well, they’d both worked exactly as instructed.
Will I make that mistake again? Possibly. Does the Wick Trimmer continue to live on the Speaker 2 inches from the Candle?
Yup. You can see it in the pic below. Will I now hit SAVE so this Publishes?
I will…… and my Air will tell me if I’ve been successful.
“Everything happens for a Reason”.
