Sometimes....

When you have a child you lose almost everything that had made you you. You're now a role model, a teacher and if you're worth anything at all, you aim to be the best you can. You give up any dreams you might have had of traveling abroad having adventures, not being tied down and basically living the life you thought you'd have when you were in college or high school, all because you want to provide the best surroundings, the most stable surroundings for your child.

At least, I do.

But when I was a kid I saw how miserable my dad was with his job and hoped that I would never have to be like that. He wasn't a happy man. He doesn't strike me as the happiest now, either even though his life has changed radically since I was a child.

Now here I am, providing stable surroundings and trying to be the best dad possible but I feel like... like I'm not doing it right. Like there's something I'm missing. I don't think I'm a failure, but I feel like it.

I feel awful.

Right now.

I don't know, right now it seems like the only thing that makes life worth it is my little girl and I'm losing touch with myself little by little. I lie all the time, or exaggerate, but what's that but lying really? I do it all the time because I don't think my life is that interesting to begin with. I see people's eyes drift off and in order to pull them back in, to get some attention, I start blowing things up.

Sometimes their eyes don't wander and I do it anyway because the story's not that interesting to me. What does that say about me? That I don't even interest myself. I'm left alone so often except by two people at work. I think they come around only because they're bored.

I just feel worthless and I wonder if my dad felt the same way when I was growing up. Did he feel like he was failing little by little because he couldn't find something, SOMETHING that would help him in his quest for something he didn't even know he was looking for? I wonder why he couldn't have kept a journal growing up, all through his life explaining his rationale for certain events, laying out his feelings like he never did verbally. It could really be a help, I bet.

I just can't seem to get a grip on what's going on.

*sigh*

Oh, The Quirks!

My iPod is in a state of degeneration. This isn’t really a bad thing, really. When I was a teen we were evicted from our house not because we were in the wrong but because the house was so dilapidated (military housing. Go figure). This was also not a bad thing because the move let me get to know my wife and when ti rained it no longer rained INSIDE.

Anyway, I’d go by the old neighborhood, now wrapped in chain link fence and watch nature take back what was once its own. Grass got longer, then weeds, then bushes, etc. It was fun to watch.

And it is fun to see what is happening to my iPod. Originally the battery died and once I replaced it it worked fine, but then the screen started not working. I found that if I squeezed the sides together really hard the screen would work, so that problem is fixed. Now it’s randomly pausing which is always fun. I think “is this a silent part of the song?” Then I look. Nope, just paused. Well, then I feel like a douche since apparently I don’t know my own music.

But as far as the life goes, it’s lasting quite some time. Longer than I ever expected it to considering the moves, the jolts, the relocations, the absence of use, the ridiculous amount of use at times, etc. Even at its original ridiculous price (500.00 four years ago) it’s coming out to be something like 34 cents a day and dropping. That isn’t bad at all. And there are no moving parts, no clickable buttons. Everything is touch sensitive with dedicated “buttons” in a line above the scroll wheel. This is their smartest design to date, in my opinion.

So kudos to Apple for totally screwing me out of the opportunity to get a new iTouch.

Meanwhile, in iTunes land, Genius is… well… Genius. I love it. I clicked on a few songs I liked, clicked the genius button, it made a playlist of fifty and most of the songs work well together with only a few exceptions (but how is iTunes supposed to know I don’t like a song?). Great stuff. I love seeing what a machine thinks I’ll like and a little scared at how accurate it is.

So in summary, there’s really great stuff with iTunes and iPods now and I’m excited to update, but for right now, that looks like a ways off. Like I said though, kudos to Apple for making such a long lasting product!

I will say that those of you out there who don't care about the updates but are looking to get an iPod on the cheap should go out now to Best Buy or the like (BB is the cheapest place I've found) where they are blowing out their inventory of iPods for really good prices. 80 gb iPod Classics for 200.00. That's the same cost as an old 8 gb nano or a new 16 gb nano and you get a bigger screen and more storage space.

Blue Monday

Ah, Mondays.

The bane of some people’s existence, but to me it’s the day furthest away from the next time my least favorite day comes around (Sunday). I do think Mondays should be half days though in order to ease you back into the work week (except for guitar stores that must remain open all day since most are closed on Sundays) and to make you feel a lot better about the fact that you’re wasting your life away from your family and the things that matter just so you can afford to eat. I tell you, sometimes I think it would be so much sweeter to be a wild man, but then I think that I’m nuts. Civilized life is sweet.

But there are a couple of things about Monday that really upset me:

Football fans.

They spent all Sunday watching football and soaking it in, soaking it all in, remembering their favorite and least favorite plays so on Monday they can come to work and talk (loudly) about how great this was, how much this sucked, how many yards were run by X and how they couldn’t believe Y caught such a sub-par throw. I am not interested and it’s distracting, honestly. You know the Bose commercial for their noise-canceling headphones where it says “concentrate on work?” That’s what I need. I need everyone to leave me alone and just email me their work requests. I can listen to music or even my study guide and do the work completely oblivious to football.

And what gets me going MOST about it is that most of the people that sit around every Monday and talk about how great the games were (because they all watched the same games) is that there is a way to avoid this that might be even more enjoyable than meeting on Monday and gabbing like sorority girls piecing together and recreating the previous night’s drunken exploits. I say this: watch them together. I’m sure someone has a garage where they can put a TV (if there isn’t one in there already) and they can all come over with coolers full of beer, get sloppy drunk, watch the big games yelling and screaming at the TV, braiding each other’s hair, dropping hot wax into cold water to see the face of next year’s wide receiver, whatever they do.

Then on Monday they can all come in, hung over and nod quietly to their cohorts as they shield their eyes from the harsh glare from the ceiling lights.

Mondays might suck for them, but you can bet by Friday they’ll be talking about how much fun Sunday’s going to be.

Another pet peeve:

Co workers. Not all coworkers, mind you, but the ones that ask you to do something on Friday and then on Monday morning ask if you’ve done it. As if they were the only ones with a weekend and think that maybe you live in the nook under your desk and use your computer as a space heater. Mmmm, I live to work, so much so I shirk away from going home to wife, daughter and potential relaxation in order to stay at work and try to call people who might be of the same mind set as me to get whatever you need, done.

Overall, I don’t mind Mondays at all, but football fans and annoying co workers upset me.

So How Big Is A Bushel Exactly?

Greetings, folks! Because Blogger (for some reason) does not put the last uploaded pictures UNDER the ones you had uploaded previously, we're going to do this in reverse. I'll just explain everything and TRY not to give anything away. !slkof ,stlebtaes ruoy elkcuB

Ah, what a great weekend. Everyone's tuckered out but there's still a pretty lengthy drive home to make. Just so everyone knows, there's a "scenic point" on 515 on the way to Ellijay. Don't stop, unless it's the dead of winter and everything is dead because that would be the only time that the vegetation wouldn't block your view. Basically, we woke Annie up to walk around for two minutes and get back in the car. They're still smarter than Middle Georgians though.
Now... This is a good story. We went to an apple farm (there's a million of them near Ellijay) and wanted to pick apples. I hate to admit it but can't tell a ripe apple from a non ripe apple when it's on the tree. That's the city in me, I guess. I know not to pick them off the ground though. Anyway, you pay the entrance fee to the orchard and you can pick the bag you want to take in with you. The choices are 1/2 pick, pick, and 1/2 bushel. While standing at the counter, you can turn around and look at bags of apples that have already been picked in sizes that match your options so you can say Jeez, there's no way I need a 1/2 bushel or even a pick. I'd probably be satisfied with the cheaper 1/2 pick bag. Kim did not do this though. She thought I gestured to the biggest bag while I was saying "pick the bag you want to get," (Maybe she thought I didn't want to look like an apple addict to the woman at the counter) and she picked the 1/2 bushel. We didn't' even fill it all the way and it's as big as Annie. I knew no one would believe it, so I took this picture. Just call Kimmy Kimberlee Buschel Southard. Heh heh.

When I was a kid, I read my history books and there was this one picture from the gas crisis of '79 (I believe) that had a line of cars that was going on for a mile or longer and cops were there to keep control, and citizens had not only their cars to fill, but gas cans in their hands too. From what I understand, we grabbed the auto manufacturers by the balls and said no more. We wanted fuel efficient cars which apparently meant smaller cars. But over time gas got cheaper, and we were "seduced by horsepower" as a friend described it. And now look at this.

I never in my life thought I would be waiting in line for gas and thinking that they just might run out of gas by the time I got to the pump and have that thought be a serious one. I never thought I might be stranded in a strange town because there was no gas for X amount of days and how is this going to effect my life and work? While in Ellijay though, there was only one gas station that had gas and the only reason they had gas was because they were getting filled right then. There was a line. Not as long as the line we saw in Woodstock, GA, but a long line and there was a lot of patience involved on everyone's part.

Let me say right now that I am proud of every single person there. There was no yelling, no horn honking, everyone was very patient and very accommodating. As an example: in order to not block the road (the actual road next to the station) I had to pull up close to the person who was in line for gas but this blocked a person who had just gotten done pumping who was going the other way. So I reversed, then pulled up BESIDE the guy who was in line to pump before I was and then when the person who was looking to exit took their leave, I reversed again and resumed my position. The people behind me didn't try to cut in and took the same cue as I did. Even when the tank was on the side opposite 99% of the other cars there, there was very little friction and one guy took it upon himself to guide folks so that neither of the cars who were facing each other hit each other. It worked out and to the citizens of Ellijay I say that even though your town is absolutely beautiful, the kind of town I would move to in an instant, THIS is what impressed me the most.

Kudos.

Annie got to sleep between Mom and Dad which meant that when SHE went to bed at 6:00 at night the lights had to go off and there would be no journal time. That's fine and all, but it was tough for all three of us because Annie knew we were awake and we knew she was awake and we just wanted her to sleep and she probably wanted us to leave the room so she could sleep.

Sorry, sweetie.
Annie picking apples. She has developed a habit of finding a rock, any rock really, and holding onto it as long as she can. I don't mind, just so long as she keeps it out of her mouth, but I just think it's cute.
That's us in the orchard. Annie was tired and the grass was too long for her to walk in so I had to carry her most of the time (not that I'm not trained to do so. I have developed the parent stance and have discovered a masculine form of hips for Annie to rest on. I'm... not really sure how to feel about this). You'll notice the huge bag full of invisible apples amongst the five or so that was picked. That was all that was picked by us.:-)
I was not able to get this cow to come close for Annie. It just wouldn't do it. But Annie laughed and moo'd (she actually moo'd to the cow and baa'ed to the goats) and the cow came over. Apparently Annie can talk to the animals and has developed a bovine friend.

This was waiting for us in the hotel we stayed at (the one in Ellijay and a very nice stay if you're ever in the town. Very friendly folks there.
My view. The hotel seemed not to have that many guests and we had asked for a room with a view when we booked the hotel online. Instead of putting us on the front side, with a beautiful panorama of the mountain tops we got to watch this guy do whatever he's doing. Am I bummed? Not AT ALL. We didn't spend too much time there anyway.

I will say that while there, I planned on going to a local's favorite restaurant, but because of the gas I didn't feel like trying to find it and then it was getting to be Annie's bedtime so we had to get delivery and the options were Dominos and Pizza King. We chose Pizza King not only because I have fond memories of it as a kid, but because they don't have it in Warner Robins so there's at least a little bit of interesting there.

Annie has shown another trait of her dad's. She is a knob turner. When I play guitar I'm always messing with the knobs on my guitar and amp. I can't help it. I'm never completely satisfied which is why I'm happy when they strip away my options leaving me with just my fingers and a pick.

Annie found the temperature controls in the room and went to turning and while I might expect a kid to turn knobs and enjoy it, she started DANCING to turning knobs and bobbing her head to a beat all her own and was visibly excited to be doing this. I honestly think she spent all night dreaming of turning the knobs in the morning.

I, uh, ate Cooter Chili. Honestly, who could turn down an invitation to try such a thing? And let me say (I mean no disrespect) that while they may have won people's choice awards many times, I was not impressed in the least. It was actually one of my least favorite chili's.
This was Annie trying to go down and Kim wanting to get a cute picture of her.


Annie in her car seat. She's so freaking awesome.
OK, we went to the chili cook off at Stone Mountain (same place as the crafts fair earlier). 10 bucks at the door and you get to sample more than 300 different kinds of chili and vote for your favorite. They put the chili in these tiny plastic glasses, like little shot glasses and some booths gave spoons, but honestly, after a couple booths, you have a stack of cups in your hand and you're just waiting for the next trash can to come up so you can unload. You also (probably) have a beer in your hand (they seemed far more available than diet Coke) so a few spoons isn't welcome. Just open your mouth and put it down.
Like that.

The chili was actually very not impressive. I like Kim's better than most of the ones there which makes me think we should enter this next year. But maybe I'm messed up because my favorite didn't seem to have any votes in her box and the people's choice was gross. Do I not know what's good? I don't think so. Honestly I think the people's choice won because of their name. A bunch of drunks must have thought it was funny and put their votes in the box.

Speaking of the chili, I was surprised by how few had any spice to them. Maybe they were playing to a wider crowd. I don't even like spicy stuff and wasn't taken aback by the chilis that say "hell chili" or whatever. "Flaming hot chili that'll rip your throat out." It might have been hot for a while, but it went away pretty quick too.

The cook off was attached to a concert too. One band played John Mellencamp songs (I'm a fan of the Rain on the Scarecrow and Dance Naked CDs) and one played AC/DC songs. The John Mellencamp band was pretty good from what I heard and the AC/DC band seemed to be pretty good. Of course they had their own Angus up there, hopping around. I've always been a fan of theatrics so I enjoyed it but I discovered a disturbing trend at shows:

The sound men who control the volume are deaf.

I know, that probably sounds weird. I mean, you don't hire blind folks to direct traffic, so why a deaf guy to control the volume?

And they might not have started out deaf but by the constant shows they controlled, their hearing MUST have gone because they keep turning everything up. Musicians are no better either. I'm not saying it should be background music, but at 100 yards away from the nearest speaker I should not have to yell at my wife and leave because it's too damn loud for my daughter. That's what happened too. Annie was digging it, I was digging it, Kim was getting a HUGE kick out of watching a fat drunk guy dance even between the songs but the second they turned it up too loud and didn't turn it back down, we were out of there.

Music's too precious to me and seems to be treated the same by Annie for her to develop hearing damage because some jackass doesn't know what's too loud and what's not.

This is a wench. No, really. She was very nice too. I asked if we could get on her pirate ship and pose for a picture and she happily obliged. She didn't have to, but she did and I was grateful. I mean, check out this picture! Annie seems fascinated with her necklace, too.

On the way up to Ellijay we stopped by Woodstock, GA for some food (I was hungry even after all that chili) and we saw this Waffle House. It wins the award for most classy Waffle House I've ever seen. Kudos WH!

And that's our trip. Ellijay is beautiful, the chili at Stone Mountain was great, and that's one more adventure down. Kim and I are determined to see more of this state and enjoy it to the greatest extent because this town... It's horrible. But please, don't think that just because Warner Robins is like the finger system coming out of a house (google THAT) you should never visit the state. You should. But keep in mind that the closer you get to the middle, the heavier gravity gets and colors will start to fade. It's like a toilet, honestly. On the edges you're fine, but the closer you get to middle the more likely you're going to end up in a shitty area.

It's Been A While

I've actually written many a blog, but have been hesitant to post them. They just didn't seem good enough.

But this one's different. While it might not be good, it is a statement that soon you will be able to see more cute pictures of Annie and the increasingly liked Georgia.

Just to let you know, anything worth while is at least 45 minutes away, so these little adventures that look so good on film and pictures with scenery that make you think "Georgia isn't so bad" is all not located here in town.

This town sucks, plain and simple, but we're trying to tae advantage of the STATE and I don't think the entire state should be shunned just because its "international city" is lame lame lame.

I'm sure at least some of you out there will dig it.

Until later!

The Dunce Award Goes To Colleges (Macon State College)

Confession time: When I went to college I attended a semester and passed all of my classes. Wasn't too tough or anything, but during that semester I found a second job and got wrapped up in trying to have enough money to eat and go to school and was so worn out from the constant work that I didn't really go to class the next semester. Or the year that followed.

I did a horrible job with college. But you know what? They still got paid.

I didn't go to a single class my last semester there and they still got their money and it was just like someone DID go to class except there was no one in the seat and they failed. Not a big deal financially since them getting their money was not dependent on my attendance or the final grade I received.

But now some colleges are saying that if you miss four classes you automatically get an F. Four. Four out of more than 24. I can say that this isn't so unreasonable if you're dealing with healthy kids straight out of high school but there is also a rising upswing of adults that are attending college now. Moms and dads in their late twenties, thirties, forties and on. Everyone needs an education and should be able to get one if they pay for it.

Because they're PAYING for it. All the college has to do is supply the opportunity for the student to go to class by having that class go on as planned. That's it.

Before I became a dad I didn't get sick very much. Now, I get sick all the time. My beautiful baby girl gets sick all the time and no matter how often I get sick from her she seems to find new germs to bring home that my body either can't defend itself against or hasn't had the luxury of previous defence and immunity.

Basically, I'm dying.

But Kim's even worse because she's going to school right now and with Annie getting sick that means she can't go to daycare which means my wife has to stay home with a sick baby (or by then she's sick herself) and miss school. Since my daughter gets sick about oh, every two or three weeks odds are pretty great Kim's going to surpass that four absence rule.

Applause to the college (sarcastic clap here) for being stupid enough to consider such a ccccrrrraaaaazzzzzyyyy situation as a parent trying to go to school to make a better life for their family. I'll tell you right now, when I start going back to school (which shouldn't be too much longer) and someone tries that crap with me, we'll see what happens. I'm not afraid to call bull and if someone caught wind of a ridiculous rule like this and a student that failed because the night prior their little girl was so sick she couldn't sleep so as her dad was holding her on the couch and soothing her she puked all over him (all OVER him!!!) and couldn't go to daycare the next day, I'm sure someone would be interested.

It's absolutely ridiculous.

Quite Possibly A Dream

When I was a child I experienced something that was awesome, so awesome that even though I've gone there a couple of times I still to this day can't shake the feeling that I dreamt it all those times, that such a place doesn't really exist.

Somewhere in Indiana, I don't know where is something like a zoo. I don't think it's really a zoo but a wildlife refuge where animals that can't be released back into the wild are kept. A good example of this (because we went to one today here in Georgia) was a hawk we saw today with one wing. Obviously it wouldn't last long in the wild though it probably would put up a hell of a fight. Anyway, this zoo (for brevity's sake) is very interesting, full of animals that you don't mind looking at. Today we heard someone say that it's only a raccoon in one of the cages and they moved on. Didn't even pause to look. This struck me as sad somehow. I know raccoons are commonplace, when I was in college I would watch them crawl out of trash cans in the middle of the night, but that doesn't mean they aren't special.

Everything is special.

Moving on though, after the animals it somehow broke off into a small amusement parks, complete with small roller coaster, not much more than what is intended for small children. You usually see them at county fairs and the cars are usually caterpillars. There are the usual suspects like teacups and all that too.

Then it breaks into a water park.

If this place does exist it would be best to take a taxi there and back because you have in your grasp a full day's events. You'd probably be so worn out by the end of it that you would need that taxi back or you'd fall asleep behind the wheel.

Could such a place exist or did my overactive imagination just make it up?

I think it exists and when I find out where it is, I'll let you all know where it is.

Guitar Giveaways

I'm a fan of Slipknot. I'd say I'm one of two people I know that actually enjoys the band. They're too heavy for most of the people I hang out with.

While deployed I saw that they were giving away Jim Root's entire rig (save amp) and I was impressed. This is a Fender Jim Root Tele, strings, and I think five pedals. Kudos to whoever won it. I registered but I guess I wasn't picked.

And while I want the Jim Root tele for metal madness and pedals to have, to try out, (at least two of them would have stuck around) I was more impressed by the size of the giveaway and the fact that this is probably what he really uses. The only way they seemed to pull any punches was by not including his amp, and Orange Rockerverb, but maybe that has more to do with Orange than Slipknot.

By the way, the Orange Rockerverb is a great amp for metal. I think the gain rivals Mesa Boogie and sounds more... alive. It has more soul. I'd buy one in a heartbeat if I was looking for a metal amp. I tried one out in Tucson and I thought it was going to blow up but I think that might have been my fault. Maybe I plugged it into the wrong cab. I did feel like it was going to blow up and I was literally going to die though.

Anyway, I saw Guitar World is giving away Mick Thompson's set up now, too, except... there are more pulled punches. You get his signature guitar, but you get the cheap version, not the version he would actually use. You get a pair of pickups (because you'll need to swap out the ones in his cheaper sig for ones he actually uses), a strobe tuner (not the one that was in his rack which looked like a Boss Chromatic and you get his amp CABINET but not the actual amp. No pedals.

That sounds like that's not his rig at all.

But even so, it's way better than the usual "we had them sign this Squier Strat so you can win it!" deal.

So kudos for the effort. but if you're going to go all out, go all out.

I Sway Like The Reeds

I listen to the Penny Arcade Podcast. It’s one of my favorites. But lately because of computer problems I haven’t been able to stay up to date. That and when exactly am I going to listen to it? I don’t really like listening to my iPod when I’m awake and with Kim because I like spending time with her and I’m not going to listen to it when Annie’s awake because I don’t see her enough as it is what with work and her early bedtime. I wont’ listen to it when I’m going to sleep because I’ll no doubt miss the end. It doesn’t take long for me to fall asleep.

So at lunch, when I usually stay in the office I listen to podcasts. You never know what’s going to be featured so it’s always best to listen to it when manning is at a minimum. I was in the mood for something I had never heard before so I listened to Sarcastic Gamer’s podcast and loved it. It made me want to get back into gaming. Honestly, I would trade or sell my Wii to get an Xbox 360 NOT because I don’t love the Wii but because I think Nintendo is a tricky bastard in their business techniques.

I have to keep the Wii of course because of the few games on it I really enjoy but honestly, I have more fun with the 360. I could probably get Kim to play with me on the 360, though what game that would be I don’t know. She’s not big into shooters (neither am I but GOW is pretty amazing), but I’m sure there’s something out there we can play together. And we could sit on the couch and not move around so much. Even though it’s fun for a while, sometimes you just want to play games and relax, not work up a sweat practicing your boxing moves. It’s also a ton easier to turn on and off. What a trivial thing, I know but when you can turn it off and not have to worry about also turning off the wireless sensor, life is sweet. A lot of batteries die because a house occupant forgets to turn it off.

Relaxing...

Not Relaxing.

But anyway, the point of all of this is two days ago I was ready to never push the power button on the Wii and now I’m itching to buy a whole new console (and one more game for the Wii). I’m easily swayable.

I know what I want to buy when I come back from my next deployment! Something 2/3 of the family could really enjoy!

Hm...

It's almost a guarantee that when you step up to write a blog without any thought about what it may be about it'll turn out to be something special.

For me, there will probably be tangents, mucho tangents, and the train of thoughts might not flow together so well, but that's the price of spontaneity.

In an effort to ease you, the reader's, pain I've thought for about three seconds and will write about one topic, musical catalogs. I'll also interject random (or not so random) picture of guitars to keep you visually stimulated so maybe you won't become bored. Kim, you don't have to read this since it's about music.

Kim gets bored with my constant ramblings about music.

Now then. On with the wreck of a blog:

I should say the new MF, specifically. Last year around Christmas they sent out a big catalog for the holidays with big pictures of guitars. My problem with it was that the guitars were the same guitars they've been featuring for the last year, just with a bigger picture.

But I am not one to sit and complain to myself or just to counterparts and friends. I believe in constructive criticism and emailed them and said that while it certainly emphasized a "special" issue, it was the usual suspects we've seen forever. Why not spice it up? Even if you kept the same sized pictures and just put more guitars in it, it would have been an improvement.

Now there are those that might say that they put the usual suspects in there because the usual suspects sell, to which I ask "How will anything else sell if the potential buyer never sees it?"

I think as far as the holiday issue goes, it should be mailed out in September and be THICK. I'm not expecting over 5,000 pictures of guitars but a lot can be fit in a thick catalog in ANY field that they want to work whether it's guitars, pedals, basses, amps, accessories, etc. etc. By giving the buyer more of a selection you are upping the odds that they will find what they want or something that best suits them causing them to buy said item. You drive up your sales by offering more of a variety.

I would also emphasize (heavily) more reviews on MF's website which would mean someone would have to review a lot of guitars.

I know, I know. There are already reviews of guitars on the site. True. But they're done by faceless people out there on the Internet and you run into statements like "My best friend owns one and I played it once. I thought it sucked compared to my guitar. He should have gotten one like mine. You should get one like mine." You see stupid stuff all the time and while it is nice to see a wealth of amateur reviews, it would be not only nice but SMART to hire a person to review guitars. That's their job. Hire a team of thirty, and when you get a guitar in, set it up, let them review it, attach the review to the web page with the model and see what happens. A professional, with a face and maybe even an e-mail address would have his review up there to satisfy moms and dads, and potential buyers.

How about a buyer's guide on-line? How about, based on the reviews, you were to ask questions that get more and more specific and end up with a selection of, say, ten guitars that would probably suit the bill of your wants. Maybe something like this:

Favorite music: (clickable) classic rock, hard rock, heavy metal, country, acoustic, bluegrass, finger style, etc.

Favorite body shape: Les Paul, Stratocaster, Telecaster, Explorer, Flying V, M, etc. etc.

Favorite pickup style: Humbucking, Single coil.

Favorite pickup power: Passive, active.

Favorite body wood: Maple, Alder, Mahogany, Ash, etc.

Now, obviously these questions would get very specific and would require an explanation to go along with it. Mahogany has a very warm tone to it that sounds darker when driven and is heard on such examples as Godsmack's first album, etc. as a form of guidance.

Those are a couple of my ideas for them.

The newest issue opens up with a two page spread showing a ton of guitars including 62 strat style guitars, 16 Le Pauls, 16 Telecasters, etc. etc. and I thought awesome. They're knocking out the usual suspects in one fell swoop and is going to present the audience with something a bit different.

Nope.

Actually they went the other way where they not only didn't show you anything new, but also took away the information attached to the usual suspects! And the guitar section was a mere six pages.

Booooooo.

It is a free catalog so I can't complain too much but it seems like they could do SO much better. Look at Elderly's catalog! That's how it should be!

In my idea box for MF is also a specialized issue going out every two or three months. One time it'll be nothing but guitars, the next it'll be bass, then drums, then stage stuff, then recording stuff.

Instead of trying to offer everyone a little of something and leaving them hungry for more (much more), let's binge!

C'mon MF! You can do it! The potential is there! You can have any of my ideas for free. Feel free to take them, use them and see what happens. I'm sure it'll help out sales even in these trying times.

Annie's Birthday!

These are a little mixed up so bear with me: This is the one year money shot. Face full of cake, totally happy about what's going on.

This is me after getting the living room ready for Annie's birthday party while she was napping. As you can tell, I was only mildly excited.

Annie with her new doll. She seems to dig it but there's something she loved even more.

DRUMS!!! Oh, how she loves the drums. She walks around with the sticks and is constantly beating on the drums. She hasn't mastered how exactly to hit them so right now it's more like she's stabbing them, but still. I've never seen her put up such a fight when we had to leave.

The cake. Kim did a great job with a white cake and mixed fruit jello inside it. Tasted very tropical and turned out kind of pink which is what she was going for.

Whale sharks. From when we all went to the aquarium on the 12th for her actual birthday.

All Annie wanted to do was run around and meet strangers (and touch the fish).

During the party when she first discovered balloons.
Annie with the drums.

Annie's baby and rockhopper penguin.

Annie with her rockhopper at the penguin.
Looking up. We were in a tube looking up at the sharks and rays and all that.

They have this screen where all these fish are swimming and if you touch one you can get information about it. I touched one randomly and it turned out to be this. Fate?

The shark I touched.

This very Nemo looking creature is actually named Deepo and Annie didn't really know what to make of him but seemed to like him once we were around him for a bit. Me, I'm not a HUGE fan of costumed strangers touching me.

Annie in her birthday shirt. One candle on the cupcake!

Annie with the sharks and rays (the friendly ones).

Outside the whale slide. I guess we came out its mouth which means we went in... Oh. Oh god.

The little tunnels I was talking about. It gets smaller further inside.

I'm in the tunnel with Annie looking at Mommy through the water.

See? I promised lots of priceless pictures and look. I delivered. Hope you liked them!