Our good friend, Dana, created this cute little tribute and sent it to me. I couldn't have done it better myself.

The Bluest Monday of My Life

Today was by far the bluest Monday of all Mondays I have had to live through. My wife and I had to make the difficult decision to euthanize the oldest of our four Maltese pups today. Missy had just turned six last November and we swore we'd see her live at least another six. The complexity of life had different ideas about that.



It all started when I took her to the vet last Wednesday afternoon after noticing that her urine was a dark brown color. The vet had no luck getting a urine sample from Missy that afternoon, so she asked that we bring her in the next morning to leave her for the day. My wife noticed that she was somewhat lethargic that next morning while walking her, and the vet subsequently found her pack cell volume (measurement of red blood cells per volume of whole blood) was dangerously low.


Later that morning, at the vet's suggestion, I left my job for the day to transfer Missy to a 24 hour pet emergency hospital nearby. They almost immediately gave her a blood transfusion.

For those of you who do not know, hemoglobin is a protein that gives red blood cells their red color. Hemoglobin, and thus rbc's, are necessary for the transport of oxygen molecules from your lungs to the rest of your tissues, organs, etc. If you run out of rbc's, your body basically dies from oxygen starvation.

The doctors had pretty much decided Missy was suffering from an acute onset of Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia. Her own body was basically attacking her red blood cells and destroying them faster than she could regenerate them.


Anyway, like I said, my wife had dropped Missy off at our regular vet that morning on the way to catch a plane out of town for work. Needless to say, by the time she landed at her destination, the news of Missy's condition had reached her and she immediately reboarded another flight back home.


Basically, after a four day and night roller coaster of two blood transfusions and regimens of multiple steroids and antibiotics, Missy's PCV dropped dramatically overnight last night. The doctor suggested we get to the pet hospital as soon as we could to discuss Missy's prognosis this morning. After a hard look at the facts and a deep gut check, we decided to take Missy over to our regular vet in order to put her to sleep.

Our vet reminded us that an extra day bought at the vet is NOT a quality day for our dog. I've done this once before, but it was a dog much older and much more ill. It's one of the hardest things I'll ever have to do letting go of a pet to ensure they never suffer physical pain or distress for a second of their life. Every vet we spoke with said her chances of recovering at any point is no better than 50% and I just couldn't leave her one more night in that cage at the pet hospital.

As I was holding her in my arms that blue Monday morning at the pet hospital, she didn't let my wife out of her sight, even as she struggled to keep her exhausted little eyes open. I truly believe she didn't want her mommy to leave her there one more time. I've never seen her so at peace when my wife was holding her. I believe that's where she wanted to be forever from that time on. She rested her head on her shoulder like nothing else mattered.

As we waited in an office at our personal vet I was holding Missy and the minute she heard his voice , she wagged her tail for a few seconds. I hadn't seen her wag her tail in days. I believe she knew he was the one that would make it all better. And he did. Marcie held her like the teddy bear she was for about an hour after she fell asleep that final time. It was a chilly and overcast day. It was the bluest Monday I've ever known.

Re: Music From a Closet

So, I happened across this Washington Times article written by Scott Galupo called Music From a Closet. Very interesting read and some pretty good points. This article makes good coverage of the overall impact that technological advance has had upon the recording industry, but I feel the author left out another very important issue.

There is always a trade off in production quality and musicianship once the general public begins to start making their own home recordings. I have no argument with that side of the coin. But I see a huge upside to that trade off that the author fails to touch on.

For years, the potential for many talented artists and songwriters to get their material heard has been all but out of reach financially. But technology is cheap and that has leveled the playing field considerably. A whole new world of possibilities is now open to the array of sonic creativity and talent that might have remained undiscovered without such technology. It's revolutionary to see how artists are no longer hostage to the status quo set by big corporate record companies.

I also have one quick rebuttal to a point the author makes about chance collaborations that only occur when artists are working at the same time down the hall from one another in these vanishing big studios. What about the collaborations now possible among artists worldwide via the internet? I've done a bit of collaboration with another artist by shooting mp3 or wav files back and fourth and importing them into Pro Tools sessions. Now, if I could only get Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway to respond to my emails.

One of these days, I am actually going to make this blog somewhat of a congruent endeavor. For now, it's just sort of a random collection of musings and thoughts. It's taking me some time to get into some sort of organizational approach to the blog, but maybe I'll hit my stride soon.

With that in mind, I actually do have plans of continuing this guitar instruction thing as some sort of loose series that some of you might actually enjoy and find useful. So, keep checking back often. I hope to have a few vids and tabs up to expand on the first lick by the end of the month.

Other than being busy with the rest of my life, my only other excuse is that I've been fighting with this friggin' Pro Tools LE again. Took me about two weeks of troubleshooting and discussion on the Digidesign User Conference, but I'm actually back to working with my recording sessions. I've been working on a few demo songs for my little solo project that I hope to complete someday. My perfect world scenario would be to release 3-5 songs through a website launch and build a little band to play out locally a little bit. I'd like to see that happen by summertime, but we'll see how it goes.

Maybe I'll post some clips of a few of the demos that I've been working on just for kicks and feedback. I'll have to think about that one.

Anyway, in my pursuit of better home recording skills, I've come across a few cool sites and blogs on the subject. This one is really cool with helpful hints and other interesting nuggets of info about recording and sound production...http://www.hometracked.com/.

Can't hardly wait

U23D hits the theaters here February 15. Color me excited!

Blues lick # 1

Here's a simple little lick based on the A minor pentatonic scale. It's easy, but it's all how you play it. It's gotta have a little soul or sass if you want it to really sound interesting. Click on the image of the tablature to enlarge in a new browser window.

Shakin' out the cobwebs

I'll be getting back into teaching guitar lessons pretty soon. I've got some requests from a few people already. It's like I have my own waiting list. Ah, to be in demand. But what's the hold up? I know, I'm such a procrastinator. But I'm getting organized and getting focused on the task at hand so I don't disappoint.

Maybe I'll create my own guitar resource website tailored to the adult beginner. I'm finding that there are many adults that have an interest in learning guitar for the first time in their lives. Whether it's something that they've always wanted to do and just never taken the time out for or if it's a completely new interest, I think these people need to know that it's a short distance from knowing absolutely nothing to actually playing their first tune. I don't exaggerate when I tell you that anybody can do it, especially if I can do it. It just takes a good measure of heart and determination.

It's like starting back to the gym to get back in shape. The first few weeks and even months can be especially challenging. You get sore, tired, and even discouraged. But if you stick to it and stay consistent, eat right and get plenty of rest, your mental toughness can match and even surpass your physical limitations. That's really the key. You must keep a positive attitude and mental approach. I really believe if you do that, the physical side of the skill will follow.

So get that guitar out of the attic. Go buy that six string you've been drooling over at the music store for the last, however-long-it's-been. You can do it, and you can have a blast learning. It's fun and you're never too old to start!