Sick

Hey there folks! Becky and I are both sick right now; please pray for both of us to be well again soon. Nothing serious, cold/flu symptoms but it really sucks. Not only do I feel physically sick, but my whole world seems out of whack. Pray that I can get back on better footing physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally. I guess the sickness just makes everything feel kind off kilter.

I'm fortunate enough to be able to access our company system remotely from home on my laptop so I can stay home tomorrow and still get some work done. I'm never really "off" from work; even when I'm home at night and on the weekends. I keep my phone with me pretty much at all times and I have to answer it if it rings. If I have a crew out somewhere doing a show and they have a problem I get a call and I have to try to do whatever I can to fix the problem.

Just a few minutes ago I got a call from my friend Keith who is our Senior Project Manager. The Clinton campaign was calling him trying to put a few shows together for tomorrow in SC. I had first contact with Hillary's people late last year and then handed them off to Keith since he handles President Bush and all of our political clients. So he and I were talking about personnel and trucking, trying to figure out how to make these events work.

I always have access to our Production schedule so I can see who is going where and when ( I could never memorize it each week, it's just too much). A lot of times I have to move people, gear and trucks around to accommodate the ever changing demands of our clients and also to facilitate taking on new business that comes up from week to week.

Anybody else have an "always on" kind of job?

The only time I get away from it is when I take real vacation time. Lately that has been multi day Appalachian Trail hiking trips. I'll see if I can dig up some photos from a previous AT hike.

Well, I meant to post about being sick and ended up talking about work and hiking; oh well.

Take care everybody!

My Random Thoughts For Free...

I really wanted to post tonight but I couldn't think of one particular thing that I had anything really profound to say anything about. So tonight I serve up a heaping healthy portion of whatever is on my mind at the moment; and all of this won't cost you a dime!

Don't say I never did anything for you....

NUMBER 1 My New Blog

I am very grateful for the warm welcome that many of you here in the blog community have given me. I feel like this new blog has been a success so far and I really do appreciate you all reading my posts and commenting (remember, NO LURKERS!) It has been a lot of fun so far and I hope to keep the whole thing going for quite awhile.

NUMBER 2 Guitar Hero

Anybody else out there playing this fine game? I LOVE GUITAR HERO!!!!! I bought it for my PC because I can't find anyone anywhere who has a Nintendo Wii console in stock. This game is really a blast, I highly recommend it. I probably enjoy it so much because it gives me the chance to rock out like I can really play guitar! Don't let the expensive guitar references fool you; I don't play nearly well enough to warrant owning a $2500 guitar. If you haven't tried Guitar Hero yet then I think you really should; six string fun for the whole family! That is if you're idea of "family" time includes riffing on a small plastic guitar to tunes from bands like Poison, Black Sabbath, Fog Hat, Heart, Pearl Jam, Slayer and others. Oh yeah, you also get to watch your "character" rock out on stage wearing a bikini top and a g-string visible from the top of her low rise leather pants, and then there are the pentagrams, depiction of Hell and the final guitar battle fought between yourself and the Devil. Wow, did I type out loud that I really love this game? Just don't tell anybody that knows me from Church or Camp...

NUMBER 3 Tonight's CNN Democratic Debate

Becky and I watched pretty much the whole thing since it was streaming for free on my laptop from CNN.com. I also watched it because my company helped produce the extravaganza. You probably didn't notice it, but all the lights and the truss hanging from the ceiling were provided by Production Design Associates (affectionately known as PDA). If you thought that the candidates were particularly well lit, (not that you thought they were drunk or high or something like that) then you can thank my company. I am the Logistics Manager and I make the production schedule and handle trucking and gear movements, answer my cell phone a lot and help other people solve problems I didn't create.

But I digress...

It was an interesting debate between Hillary, Barak and some lame sounding, phony looking, $400 hair cut getting dude that was sort of off to the side...

Oh wait, that was John Edwards!

Is he running for President or was he the winner of Burger King's latest promotional contest entitled, "Get To Be The Person Who Sits On Stage With The People Who Are Really Running For President Contest"? He really seemed out of place, sort of the token candidate because the stage would look lopsided on TV with only two people up there this early in the game.

The two candidates and John Edwards spent a fair amount of time heralding how they would be able to beat John McCain in the general election. I found it interesting that they felt so strongly about McCain winning the Republican nomination.

The two candidates spent a lot of time bickering with each other and then John Edwards reminded everybody that he was there and that part of the award for winning the Burger King promotion was that he would get to say something, then the two candidates obliged him for a moment or two.

Becky thinks that it would be good for Hillary to get the nomination because she would be easier to defeat in a general election than Obama who seems to have support from lots of different camps where as Hillary is despised not only by Republicans and Conservatives but also by some Democrats and Liberals. I say this because I have personally spoken with several Democrat/Liberal folks who have very strong anti-Hillary feelings.

Who knows, we'll see....

Ok, that about wraps it up for tonight. Sorry for such a random, somewhat lame post.

Until next time...

Lurkers Beware!

I was told the other day that I am a "lurker". Becky said that's when someone reads a lot of other people's blogs but never comments on them. I had to admit that I was in deed doing that but I thought that was just called being lazy or maybe nosy, but certainly not "lurking". That makes it sound like I am hiding in the shadows of the internet waiting to garrot someone with a CAT 5 cable.

The first blog that I officially "lurked" at was Michael Polutta's Soundtrack blog. I don't remember how I found it in the first place but I was quickly hooked. I still owe my boss a paycheck for all the time that I spent at work reading Soundtrack. Maybe that's why blogs are blocked at our company now....hmmmm......did I write that out loud?

It was great reading and I told my wife Becky about it. So what did she do? She quickly went and read all of the posts herself. Not only that but she COMMENTED!!!!! Which was something I had not done up to that point because I am a "lurker".

So.....

She got all the recognition from Michael for reading his entire blog from the very beginning, while in reality it was me who accomplished that feat first.

So what's the moral of the story?

Never leave home in the morning without eating breakfast and look both ways before picking your nose in public (you want to make sure that no one misses it)...

Oh yeah, and also...DON'T BE A LURKER!!!!

Some of you will notice that I commented on your blogs tonight, no more lurking for me! Hey who's that over in the corner with the CAT 5 cable?

Where's The Wii?

Anybody know where to buy a Nintendo Wii console in Charelston, SC? I called everywhere I could think of this afternoon and nobody had them in stock. Becky and I really want to play Wii Sports and Guitar Hero! This is becoming a moral imperative! (Well, not really...but you know what I mean...). Seriously, if you know where I can get one leave me a comment and let me know. Thanks!

In The Big Inning

Ok, ok, I have my own blog now; are you happy? Seems like everybody and their dog has a blog these days. I kept telling myself that I really didn't want my own blog, that I didn't have time for a blog (busy, busy, busy) and that it wasn't that cool anyway...

Denial...not just a river in Egypt... (now there's a country/western song just waiting to be written...)

So here I am writing my first post. I would like to thank my beautiful and creative (dare I say beautifully creative?) wife Becky for helping me set this up and taking the pictures and cropping the pictures and using Photo Shop to improve my skin color, cover up my zits and place a different head on my body.

That's right! That's not my head in the Profile photograph!

Well; it is my head but it is not the head that I was using when she took the photo of the rest of my body. Becky took several photos of me and then combined the best body shot with the best head shot; pretty cool huh? Bet you never would have known if I hadn't told ya...

And by the way I don't have multiple heads that I take off and switch around depending on my mood or the weather or what I happen to be doing at the time; I just meant that the head/body combination that you see in my photo never actually existed together at the same time.

Well actually they did; it was just the look on my face coupled with that particular body that was... oh never mind...

In case you are wondering; my blog is named in part for my most prized earthly possession; my Rickenbacker model 360 - 6 string electric guitar! I have been playing guitar since I was 12 and the Rick 360/6 in Jetglo (read: black) has always been my dream guitar. It is the guitar played by Peter Buck of REM on almost every single REM record ever made. It is an essential piece of the early REM sound (Chronic Town album thru Document). I have carefully modified mine by adding an additional pick-up (vintage style; what Rickenbacker calls a "Toaster Top") in the middle of the guitar between the two original "pups" (that's guitar lingo for pick-up). This gives me access to even more wonderful combinations of sweet, sweet Rickenbacker tone.

I got this guitar in July of 2007. It was expensive (read: $1500) and Rickenbacker just raised the price on all their models (if you want one now it will cost you $2500). I have my benevolent and caring (dare I say benevolently caring?) wife to thank for this righteous acquisition. It was my birthday and since she doesn't work (outside the home) I thought it was a bit odd that she would go and spend my money ( I know, I know, in marriage it is always "our money" but just roll with me on this thought) to buy me a birthday present. So she agreed to let me buy the Rick. I found it at Annie's Guitars and Drums in Savannah, Georgia. I was going to order one from a local dealer until I read the Rick forum on the Rick website (http://www.rickenbacker.com/; this is a great site by the way if you want to learn more about these guitars) and learned that some people who had put in orders had been waiting for one or two YEARS and still hadn't gotten their guitars yet. There is currently a huge demand for these instruments and since they are all handmade in Santa Clara, California (no overseas manufacturing) they ain't exactly cranking 'em out by the truckload. So I decided to go grab the one in Savannah before Becky changed her mind about the whole thing. It turned into a wonderful day trip. We bought the Rick then walked around downtown Savannah, visiting the Cathedral of St.John the Baptist, Lafayette Park (did I spell that correctly?) and the Riverfront.

So now I play my Rick every chance I get! And even if I don't really have time to play I will open the case and just stare at it for a few moments (really I do, just ask Becky). It has been immensely satisfying to own such a wonderful guitar. When you spend that much money you figure it better be worth it. Well if you are a guitar player and have been thinking about buying your very own Rick....

I highly recommend it.

Well there you go; my first post. Hopefully it won't be my last. I will do my best to post as often as I can (as long as I am not busy staring at my Rickenbacker). Thanks for stopping by; feel free to visit and leave comments anytime you are in the cyberhood.