Lately I've been playing a lot of guitar, probably (well, certainly) because I recently bought two from a guy that was having his first baby.  The first, was a mint Guild Bluesbird, with a AAA top, and the second, a Larivee D4.  I have to say, that the Larivee is the sweetest guitar I have ever played or heard, at any price.  Pure sex.  The ( Read more... )

Got two new projects yesterday.  Big, complicated, technically challenging.  Big big budgets.  So, I'm going to build something really cool, and build it right.  How do you make a geek happy?  Give him a budget that ends in "million" and tell him to build it the way he thinks best.  Oh man.  I'm loving my job these days.  Beats the shit out of ( Read more... )

Nope, not dead.  Still out here doing my thing.  Maybe a little too busy, but meeting a lot of new people, having some fun, working my ass off, but getting a lot of satisfaction from it ( Read more... )

Well, it's been two weeks now, though I still feel pretty out of it.  I had no idea how hard it would really be.

The hospice called, and said "not more than 72 hours", so I dropped everything and ran for College Station. They underestimated her, of course.  She had a much larger wellsping of strength than they knew.

Though it has been a 15 year ( Read more... )

Well, after a 5-year layoff, I returned to competitive shooting this weekend.  Surprisingly, I didn't suck as bad as I thought I would.  Some of the old skills are still there, just a little dull.   I think I'll get back on track fairly quickly, assuming I can get my  head together ( Read more... )

It's the time of year when the Christmas shows are all on, loaded with cliche'd and homespun fantasies about the season. Angels, Santa Claus, all about doing good deeds. Rather nice really.

I have been thinking about Christmas lately.

When I was a child, Christmas was all about my Mother. She was strong in the Church (but not wierd about it). ( Read more... )

I sure would like to find a little spare time somewhere. The last 2 or 3 months have just been crush time ( Read more... )

And, just as if someone had slowly turned up the volume on a favorite song, there you are. It was easier than I thought it would be, despite the months of effort ( Read more... )

You know, I think every now and then, it's a good thing to step back from your own beliefs, and spend some time reading and trying to make sense of the thing you are propounding. I've participated in numerous debates lately about the war, the middle east, and so on. Mostly, I've felt compelled to attack the absolute ignorance of fact so many ( Read more... )

Lately, it's become very trendy again to be anti-war, particularly among the under-30 crowd. I suppose this was inevitable, as Hollywood and the music industry once again began doing the "make love not war" schtick. I guess that's one of the more interesting aspects of age, since I well recall the Vietnam war, and how that all spun into a "you're ( Read more... )