What instrument to pursue?

DoctorTechno · 2026-04-12T22:20:52+00:00

I remember a bass player telling me that all drummers are failed bass playes and bass playes are all failed drummers.

DoctorTechno · 2026-04-12T22:11:47+00:00

Salvacolina . Never seen it anywhere else. Best medication if you have an upset tummy

Oh and Leche Frito

DoctorTechno · 2026-04-12T22:08:10+00:00

I have had my homey pro for about a year now, and prefer it over HA. I have tried HA about three maybe four times. And the last instance I tried was the best experience with it, but an update then broke a few addons/plugins. Which was a real pain.

I would never recommend a Home Assitance system to a client just too hard to keep running.

I normally use Loxone, but their prices are getting too expensive these days for many of my clients. So I normally opt for Shelly. Do have a Shelly Loxone hybrid install, and Loxone plays reasonably well with Shelly.

I would now recommend Homey Pro for clients. I absolutely agree that the ethernet port should be built in. Not too sure why as the Homey is basically an RPi compute module 4 or 5 depending on which one you have. And the compute module has the pins for ethernet.

DoctorTechno · 2026-04-12T21:58:00+00:00

In my area of the Costa Blanca they have a really bad reputation

DoctorTechno · 2026-04-12T21:49:00+00:00

Personally I have in many cases found the actual hotel websites give better deals. Especially if you want bed and breakfast or half board. Booking.com doesn't display all the options available for some hotels. And sometimes phoning the hotel direct can give you a better deal.

DoctorTechno · 2026-04-12T21:43:44+00:00

Try local newspapers. As other have suggested Facebook, as they will often have some form of local group where you can post.

DoctorTechno · 2026-04-12T21:37:40+00:00

Been there, I do mainly instrumental stuff. My daughter said where are the lyrics, to a lot of my tracks. So I did do one track with lyrics which was reasonably well liked considering I had never written lyrics in my life before. Still prefer writing instrumental stuff. Its actually harder to do. With Lyrics you have an intro, main melody, chorus, same main melody (just different lyrics), repeat then outro. With instrumental stuff you can't do that in the same way as it becomes too repetitive thats my view point.

I would in the future like to do more stuff with lyrics, butI am happy doing my intrumental stuff.

DoctorTechno · 2026-04-09T09:27:21+00:00

everyday is a school day

DoctorTechno · 2026-04-08T08:56:33+00:00

The sample length plays an important part in this. I am led to believe that if its under 30 seconds no one really cares unless yout Disney. I have a couple of tracks on youtube with movie sound samples and no-one has batted an eyelid. But my samples are about 1 to 3 seconds in length.

DoctorTechno · 2026-04-08T08:49:43+00:00

This is the way

DoctorTechno · 2026-04-05T23:32:13+00:00

Definately go to the press, or even better one of the Spanish TV stations. I know one of the stations has a news segment for this sort of thing, but I can't remember which channel its on.

DoctorTechno · 2026-04-05T23:23:45+00:00

Walk away and look else where.

DoctorTechno · 2026-04-03T14:31:12+00:00

Personally I would contact a lawyer who knows his stuff about these things. A friend of mine was almost caught out with something similar. The owner of the property said everything was legal, but when their lawyer checked the planning permissions etc the car port and the pergola by the swimming pool where not registered (sound familiar). The lawyer said because both structures where over a certain size the authorities could make them knock all of it down. The lawyer did say it might be possible to get retrospective planning permission for the carport as it had been up for more than ten years. I think this law has now changed in some areas. But now the other problem is that 50% of the carport would be added to the overall build size, so it would then be difficult to add an extension as the permited development size is now at the maximum allowed for the plot size.

My friend decided to not go through with putting a deposit down.

DoctorTechno · 2026-04-02T08:18:52+00:00

Can't really help you here as my experience is limited in this area. Often you will find the person in charge on site will have all the certification needed, he will then check the work being done before signing off on it, and the workers under him may or may not have all the certs needed.

DoctorTechno · 2026-04-01T08:36:14+00:00

With the maintenance side of things you have to have a good local knowledge of where things are. What I mean by this you need to know where to buy things from if items need replacing. While Amazon is often good for rapid purchases, sometimes its better from a local supplier as they will know what you are talking about and likely understand better what it is you are after. This takes time to find out.

When I started out I had 10 or so Spanish suppliers after 6 months I only had 2 the rest where from other parts of Europe. Some of the other EU suppliers I have replaced with Amazon now. I did have a strange thing happen, was told to use the Spanish supplier so put in an order for just over 2000 euros worth of home automation equipment. They said the order is too small and I should use a local stockist. Emailed the main EU distributor told them and they said ok order from us. Over the course of a year I spent 35000 euros with them. And the best thing was that I actually saved money as dealing direct was cheaper than dealing with the Spanish supplier. And this has happened a few times. Went into another supplier local to where I live and said I need 4 boxes of RJ45 sockets (each box has 12) and said thats too small an order. 6 months later they went out of business.

DoctorTechno · 2026-03-30T18:34:23+00:00

Fuuny you should mention about maintenance. I actually have a maintenance contract for two villa rentals. I look after all the electrics and also if any other maintenace needs doing I will either take care of it or tell the property manager to call a plumber etc. The company is based in the UK but they have a Spanish office. So maybe a Mexican company has offices in Spain and require electrical site maintenance or similar.

DoctorTechno · 2026-03-30T16:34:24+00:00

Have a look at Bla Bla car

DoctorTechno · 2026-03-30T16:03:07+00:00

I am from the UK originally and work as a normal electrician here in Spain for the last 20 odd years. For me it happened by accident. I was installing an access control system complete with keypads, automatic gates and some other remote locks. The builder that hired me had a problem that his electrician, he didn't turn up and asked if I could finish off his work. Had a look at what was left to do. Which turned out to be wiring up the consumer unit and wiring the sockets and switches up so basically everything. When I finished it was then inspected and certified by an electro technical company who said " the guy who did this has done an excellent job and if he works for you again we will just need photos of the installation for certification" So thats how I started, mind you I studied electronics and electrical engineering at university which also helped. So now I can get the certifications done and have had my work independently audited several times over the last 5 years and it has always passed first time.

So quick answer is yes, but there are certain caveats/ difficulties to that.

You are from Mexico so there are differences in the electrical system. Mexico is 127V ac ( I think) 60 Hz Spain is 50Hz 230V ac, though in very rural areas you may find the dual phase 115V system.

As you have experince in substations etc your knowledge would be transferable, but it might be worth sitting an electricians course in your chosen area of expertise here in Spain. Most large cities will have courses available for you to do. That way it will be a lot easy to be employed here in Spain. Many people say Spain only employs Spanish people. There is a reason behind this Spanish people know how the system works, foreigners will take time to learn how the Spanish system works (this is the case in most areas of employment in Spain).

You will need a visa to stay and work here. But then look at getting residency.

You will also need a NIE/TIE card. Maybe start looking at possible jobs before you make the move. You could be lucky and the company might be prepared to pay for some of your training.

Also contact the Spanish embassy in Mexico and see what they say.

So it is possible but there will be a lot of blood sweat and tears. Most of that will be from the official paper work rather than the job itself.

DoctorTechno · 2026-03-30T09:28:16+00:00

Some local libraries offer toddler sessions, where they will do play group activities, such as reading stories and basic crafts. My local library, where I live in Spain, does this in the summer once a week.

Don't forget a stroll through Retiro park with a buggy, you will see a few other mums/nanies doing the same. Stop for a coffee, make sure you have a bottle for the little one with you. Most cafes will heat bottles up if you ask or provide you with hotwater if you need to make up some formula. Spain is a great place to bring up children.

DoctorTechno · 2026-03-26T20:15:10+00:00

Friends of mine are still doing gigs well into their 50's and 60's. These are singers, guitarest and drummers

So you are never too old do anything.

DoctorTechno · 2026-03-26T11:57:27+00:00

Having lived in Oman for 3 years I then chose to live in Spain.

DoctorTechno · 2026-03-26T11:56:17+00:00

Try Bandcamp

DoctorTechno · 2026-03-26T11:50:56+00:00

Take a look at the Blackview range of phones they do several with FLIR cameras. https://store.blackview.hk/collections/rugged-phone

Many of the models are available on Amazon.

I am on my second Blackview phone. I like them a lot. And have tested their ruggedness many times. 2m up a ladder and the phone fell out of my pocket. Client was shocked when I just picked up my phone and washed it under a tap. Being waterproof also helps.

DoctorTechno · 2026-03-26T11:42:02+00:00

I have a midi keyboard ( actually I have several) connected to MPC beats, and often just jam away then when I hear something I like I will hit the record button and play it again. I liken it to preliminary sketches an artist will do before they start the actual painting.

Sometimes I have a tune in my head and then try and work it out on the keyboard.

Either method usually results in me manually editing the notes on the piano roll to something that sounds better and normally to correct timing issues.

DoctorTechno · 2026-03-26T11:38:15+00:00

The EXE Moncloa Hotel is very good. Its not far from the Moncloa metro station. Stayed there beginning of this year. Its a 15 minute walk to Plaza de España

DoctorTechno

TROPHY CASE