socks

Baby Dedications - "This one goes out to Bobby and Sally and..." Well, we always enjoyed Way Baby Dedications and Weddings, too. Baby D's shouldn't have been an "event", and weren't intended to be such, although as we know, God only knows what they ended up actually becoming over the years. And they were designed to be completely voluntary, for those who wanted to do them and not compulsory in any way for parents or anyone else. They could be at an event - like before, during or after a meeting but they're dicey in any "meeting" context, baby's being as unpredictable as they are. If they can be done reasonably quickly I always found them to be enjoyable with the local fellowship, like a "branch" meeting but you never know how they're going to be so you have to be flexible, keep a sense of humor and most of all, quick. We always did them very informally and with something following like a breakfast, or dinner or something. Coffee, whatever. The idea of dedicating a child "to God" is a gesture made by the parents, entirely between them and God. So - that begs the question, why a "ceremony", be it small or large? The ceremony simply shares with those close to us and formalizes the hopes of the parents for their child, that they'll be goodun's before God. How that water flows under the bridge over the years can be rough in the best of lives so it's not a bad thing IMO for parents to stop and take a few minutes to do something like this. We did ours in the Way Woods the first year after he was born, during Corps Week. There were quite a few families there. The Boy, bless his lungs, screamed and wiggled and VPW was there, cracking up, all these babies - it was like herding baby cats. The Boy let out a whelp and he yelled "He's all boy huh?!" It was no biggie. And the best part of it was that when we actually did the dedication with a good friend of ours he stopped crying immediately and started looking around like "what's this? What's going on?" and then started laughing and giggling. Hey, he was ours, whatever he did was going to be fine with us at that point. :) And to add, we dedicated The Girl, too. She actually behaved quite a bit better, and even today is known for her deportment. He's 25 and turned our rather well, if I do say so myself. She is 23 and would make any Father proud. I'm the Dad, they're The Kids, The Mom and I - we've got their backs. Our kids have been the little cups to pour our love into year after year. The dedication itself was just one of many significant events we had together over the years. And probably the one he remembers the least, y'know? But I've always remembered it and always will. :)

Ok then you betcha! Fargo in 100 seconds.

Yah well, mmm! Tha's a SonofaGunderson alright it is! Oh yah. Well, I was thinkin' mebbe it bein' Sunday and all y'know, well that's the kind of trouble I don't want if that was me, I said to myself! So I figgered I'd post it up here, and so I did. Bein' that it's Sunday and all. Hmmm. Now it might be that there's an upgrade of sorts that one video wants, bein' that it's Diana Krall and all and she bein' so popular as she is, you figger well, they might have had it put on one of those there new digital formats, the kind they use up in the Twin Cities for the Weather and Grain Report on Saturdays, yah. Y'know, saw her down at the Ramada last year, the wife and I. Real fine show, doncha know and with the 2 for One deal on the Prime Rib dinner that the Vet's were doin' for the Hospital fund, it just made for a real nice night all around, doncha know! So well, you might have to upgrade to the latest Internet Explorer version and the Microsoft Media Player cause it sure does seem like that's what it's asking for, what with that funny looking little message that came up and all, least wise that would be my guess but I don't know about that sorta thing really, but y'know, that'd be my guess. Drive ya crazy that kinda thing, for sure. For sure. Well, gotta go. I'll be seein' ya. ...

Yah, it'sll play easy enough, doncha know, hmm mmm. But that one video, well, he's sort of a funny lookin' little fella, in sort of a general way, seemed to me. So's all ya gotta do is put the url in and it'll work but ya might go crazy if you can't see it, up there by the lake. Sorry, I got Fargo'd there for a minute. My method of choice is, after the video's loaded, copy the entire url field from your browser. Then just go up to the Insert Link button on the ADD REPLY screen and click on it. In the first window - the http url is already there in the window and highlighted. I delete it. Then I paste the whole url into the window and select OK In the next window, I name it and select OK. And then you're back at you post window and you can finish your reply. I've done the same thing you did A la, more than once so's I know how ya feel, yah. But I don't know about the MSN part, that one's kinda funny, in a general kinda way, that one. Hmm mmm.

Geese Spotter Guitarists and friends - g'day! Site I like to plug now and again - Truefire dot com This site has a lot of good information for guitarists. Worth browsing. The core of the site is the download section. Lesson material of all kinds can be downloaded, very inexpensively, some of it's free. A lot of the downloads are about a buck or so, pretty reasonable. All of the downloads have previews you can check out on what's in each lesson. There's also usually some kind of music or tab that goes with the lessons too. Lots of different musicians contribute, Andy Ellis of Guitar Player magazine is one I check out a lot. There's a lot of Musician's Institute contributors too, making it current and musically sound. There's a nice blend of stuff. You can register and set up an account and it's all pretty easy to do. There's also a site program "university" they have but you don't have to sign up for that to just be a member and use the site, or just browse it and preview, for that matter. You can also self-publish to the site if you have material you'd like to put up. New stuff gets added to all the categories pretty regularly, so it's a good place to check out as well as to consider making a contribution. They've got a page covering how to submit pieces.

Not sur there kiddo - Try this one......... oh - when you copied the url in , the GS window already has an http in it - your new url added on to the end of it so it's reading http://http:// = browser's confused. No biggie. Nice tune! Listening to it now. :) Again, more nice pics! Clapton looks healthy, having a good time. He's filled out a bit, looks good. Great photos!

Claptone! Yae! Well, boy how-dee. Spent an hour wandering around the local music store. Best part of a quiet period in this store is that all the young clerk-iers that work there cluster around the front register and do the Kid-Shuffle. It's immediately recognizable, takes no space to speak of. Hands in pockets, every 2 and 1/2 minutes the legs shift and the hands go in and out of the pockets, followed by a carefully careless brush back of the hair around the ears. There's a young girl working there now too, so there's that going on. 4 guys, one girl. I absorbed this energy for a couple minutes and started laughing, couldn't help it. I told them "okay - this looks like trouble waiting to happen here...." and they all did the Hunch-Nod-Grin Response of Affirmation and laughed too. Yup - unsupervised and in a store full of amps and guitars...."And lo the spirit moved across the waters, brooding...." I used to get a discount in the store, from the owner if he's there and he seldom is, or one of two salespeeps who were about my age and had worked there forever. Never any question, they'd just ring up a deal and it was all very gentleman like. Now, they don't unless they bring up my account. If your account in the system requires scrolling to get to the last transaction I think that triggers a small discount or something, but there's no rhyrme or reason to it now that I can perceive and they don't always do that, so it's usually sticker price for me now. Aaaaah. For the good ol' days'. But still, it's a fun store. Saw a Collins acoustic there today, very nice full sounding guitar, a brown Tobacco sunburst, very Gibsonish. Sounded great. Picks, some knobs, is about all I bought. Looking for a new floor pedal tuner, may buy a Korg DT-!0 online, tried one today and it seemed accurate, pretty durable looking. (Got a flu shot too. Pop goes the needle) * sniff snort snarkle *

Y'know Linda that may have been the case. Might've been a good one too. :)

Dangerous paper clips....

I"m with ya dmiller. I lived a lot of life between the ages of 13 and 18. And that was just for starters. There's several guitarists I heard around Northern California that I have no idea whatever happened to them but they were exceptional for their day. I remember one guy - Steve H###erman, who was a great 50's style guitarist, played a Strat and played around the SF Bay Area for several years and was 'the man to beat' on rock guitar, a prodigy of sorts, couple years older than me. Right in the middle of the 60s he got in trouble and went away for about a year, as they say. During that time, Hendrix came out with Electric Ladyland and the whole music scene was in the throes of a major shift. He'd been a pretty straight-up pop rock style guitarist, playing speed scales that were uncommon for the time. So then he comes out and was holed up in Alameda, pretty much out of the flow. Some friends and I went down to a place where he was staying, out by the water where various musicians would come through to jam. (Steve Miller's original drummer Tim Davis came through now and again I remember) Off in the back by the bay windows is a sleeping bag and a turntable, and a few albums and Steve's standing there with a new guitar, a Les Paul and he's playing around with Hendrix's "All Along the Watchtower" and doing one round after another of variations on the rhtyhm and lead tracks, over and over. It was moderately amazing, as his style when he left was completely different, solid body Strat stuff. Here he was catching up and the sound and tone he had playing through his Fender Twin is one I still remember, completely clean and clear Gibson liguid tone, just beautiful. He played with another band for awhile, "Littlejohn", that got some coverage, but after awhile I lost track of him. There's a lot of players out there like that - burners in their day. So we can only imagine what's "out there' now!

True story - I met Ed's Dad years ago in Miami. Came to vist Ed. Nice guy, had a great time talking, seems we shot some shoot about fishing if I remember right. First thing he asked me when Ed introduced us to each other - first thing - was about my last name. "What's the background on that name of yours". Absolutely true. I was dumb struck for a moment and had to curb my tongue but I nearly coughed up a lung right there trying not to laugh. I resisted the urge to ask him the background on his name. He was a nice guy, but it was just too funny. Writing is fun. I hope Jackie PseudoName does well with it. Why not? Her and Ed were the sweetest people when I knew them. I know there may be a lot of water under the bridge for them now, as for all of us but it would be great if they were using their talents for something constructive. I have fond memories of them. Ed was impressionable. Not that I'm some guru or anything but I always felt an urge to just "be" around him, try to remind him by my behavior and manner that everything was going to be alright and we were in Good Hands. I liked them for the time we had and hope their way is a good one. Maybe if they get some time away together and can live their own lives without others expectations leading them good things will happen.

Manipulative, kry. It smells like - well, money. Not that money's their main motivation, but of course there's registration information on the site where you can find out how to pay for upcoming events. So, I have to give them that - they're thinking of our best interests by offering easy information on how to get all paid up. Thoughtful, that is. It's hogwash, to my reading. I just read most of what's on the site and now I feel bad because I want that time back to do something more constructive like count the dust-bunnies under my computer. But now I do have a way to explain that bad feeling as it must have come from a similar past event, and I think I know just the bunny that caused it. So I do have that to take away I guess. But Christian churches are suckers for stuff like this. I file them under "Humor - Tips and Tricks to a Better Walk with Jesus". I'm sorry if that insults anyone. I guess I'd have to reassess what Shroyer did, whatever it actually was. I don't know if I'd send in I-Spies, if that's what happened. I'd probably just ask that they put that money for this stuff to a better use, like giving it to me. At least then they'd know what it went for - guitar accessories and possibly some landscaping for my backyard. No juiced books here, full disclosure, always.

Hmmm, in reading through the Theo-stuff site, THIS PAGE is worth reading. I hate to ridicule something I don't know much about but on face value, paragraphs like the one above are just asking for a spanking. Where do these people come up with this stuff? Is it just the writing that doesn't represent sound, reasonable logic or does the writing actually represent what they 'believe'?

That's a nifty site - thanks for the link!

Permission granted, but you only get 24 hours.

Oh yeah, Chas! That's some serious slap/snapping on that video! It's really cool coming here and finding all this stuff, thanks. A little light at the end of the tunnel, please, y'know? :) I have a thing I've told my students over the years, and that is that right now somewhere in the back of a music store sitting on an amp, or in a bedroom sitting on the edge of his or her bed, there's a guy or girl playing the guitar that no one's every heard of, that's better than anything we've heard yet and that'll make you cry at the goodness, someone that's going to smoke everyone in their path. And real soon. Or not, they may never be heard widely enough to be known. But they're out there, doing their thing. So, there's no point in getting down on ourselves for not being good enough - because we'll never be "THE Best" and there's no point in getting egotistical over how good we think we've become because we're never going to be "That Good" either. I preach Ownership. When you practice, read, listen, learn, do the work, feel the pain and the struggle and know the glories of acheiving some small piece of real estate you've bled for - be happy. Because you OWN that stuff now, no matter that you're not the first to have it nor the last to get it. But it's yours and no one - nobody - can ever take that away from you. Some stuff is earned, some stuff is given. All of the stuff is ours to share proudly!

Yes, they are very good to these eyes A la, though old they be, they still see! Chatty's done a fine job of getting them looking good. The lighting must have been a challenge, and it's quite an accomplishment to get something in a concert setting that looks as good as these. Y'done well! Kudos all around! I've gotten some good ones over the years, and for every "good" one that I could do something with, there's always at least 10 I can't, it seems. Without the light to imprint on that that film, there's not much there to lighten and that may be what happened with yours. Digital is even more dicey, although I've been amazed at what I'm able to get at times. I miss 35 mm sometimes and still haul the stuff out now and then but I don't miss the hauling when I slip my little 6 megapixel digital in my pocket and stroll merrily along. :) You really did get some good ones, and they're going to be pretty timeless in a few years, y'know? Aaaah. Life is good. I forgot - there's a repeat of those natural harmonics on the 9th fret - it repeats the 4th fret, which is a B 6/9, a B triad with a G# and a C#. Pretty nifty that, as it works in a some otherwise hard to apply keys, like E, A, and the relative minors of C#m and F#m and of course B. Wooten is a mastakillah though, I only use harmonics to embellish, he makes massive music with them. I really admire the dedication it takes to get those puppeez in line. It just takes time, hours and hours of going pling pling pling pong spoink, over and over and over. It's fun, in a very twisted way. And then it sounds so good!

Cool dmiller! Yeah, Wooten's a wiz. VERy hot. He's pretty much self-taught from what I've read Chas. There's natural harmonics that ring loudly on the 4th, 5th, 7th and 12 frets, and then repeat an octave higher above the 12 fret. Artificial harmonics can be created by tapping any note 12 frets (an octave) above itself on the same string and picking it. It can also be lightly slapped with the thumb typical of the way bass players slap to get a harmonic. There's a lotta music in those strings! (the pics ROCK by the way!!!)

I'm not with CFF. I won't be next. Why am I smiling? I don't know what I'm missing. The best phase of membership in any group of any kind is the Pre-Join phase. Before you actually sign up, everybody likes you, thinks you're great and can't wait to see you again. Need a ride? No problem. Can't make it? Oh no - we'll miss you! You're always welcome and pret' near always forgiven, because hey - you're not really fully "in" yet. You're a notch wating to be made. Once you Join, you're Old News. "You're late - we covered that last week, don't you care?!" You're Rank and File now and that pretty much describes it. Rank. Now file in and sit down. I offer this advice freely, however if you'd really like to master, not just learn the tricks of not-joining, you can pre-order my next book to be titled "100 Proven Ways to Be The New Guy and Other Tricks to Success". And remember - there's never any charge for any of my books, ever - to anyone! Just send 14.95 in USD to "signmeup@real_love.cam" to cover my voluminous shipping and warehousing expenses (all done for you!) and you'll get exactly what's coming to you - real soon!

Great photographs A la! Showed them to the Mom and she likes them! Good color, sharp. They're great. How do you get the focus when you're hopping around? I like the pants - our son wears the same kind with the cargo pockets. All kinds of things go in there, looks like Mayer's got a few items - cell phone? Picks? Capos? A good book for the plane? The EC and Bonnie photo is cool too. Very nice! His website has gone through some upgrades in the last year too and it's definitely styling. John Mayer dot com - all John all the time His blog has some nice photos too. Check it out for some full frontal humor. Looking forward to more! Good yob, Chatty! (glad the tune was enjoyed. I got another one around here somewhere with more of the feedbacky stuff on it)

Notawayfer - oh yeah, the interest rates are slash and burn. Check this out from that article: This guy deserves at LEAST a Nobel Prize, y'know? Thank YOU Ex. (an electronic preacher's gotta make a living too!) The Congregation of Them's That Don't Belong prayed over your Minimum Financial Response this morning when we didn't meet.

pond, I do tend to agree in certain respects. Particulary in that the acceptable level of integrity today has been lowered quite a bit. Basically, lower the bar and allow for less. But - not all. There's many examples of honest youth today as not. Where do we go with that? Family is the most effective thing I know to promoting that. Family is where the lessons are learned and the examples of life stick. The extended family of immediate relatives, church and friends is where it all happens IMO. School and work follow, we spend about what - a 1/3 of our time or more there. I think in a church you could expect to see a community of trust and honesty built. Or hope so anyway - and as you said T-Bone - community and integrity are the keys. Templelady - the Way does want the money. All intake, no outlet, make for stinky sludge. With our family there's only a few things I've tried to teach my children, that are important. Not endless recitations of John 10:10, not who to stand with or what ministry is true of anything like that. Just to be loving helpful people as best they can, to seek to do good. And to be honest and straight up in what they do. It's not easy, it's hard sometimes. Most of the time it seems. But you can't get there if you don't get up and out of bed and hit the bricks trying. The Way's knee-jerk attitude about debt completely gets them off the hook of ever having to extend themselves to anyone to do anything for them. Their doctrine seems to be "go out and get your own. And then give it to us". Of your own choice, of course.

Great responses, all. Thanks. The article and the banking system used hit home to me because of what you said kysilis - a community approach seems to be part of the success. It's big, but it's small. The individual approach to a person's need allows for a one-to-one peer relationship that may not be, probably isn't across the board, in conventional loan situations. The micro approach would allow for profit to be made by making lots of small loans, not a few (or a lot) of big, high interest loans. Risk management - key phrase. A high risk borrower could be a lot of things. "Bad" risk (doesn't pay or pay ontime) could always be refused or rated accordingly. This system seems to allow for high risk to be redefined to excluse lack of income or assets - you're poor but willing and say you'll be honest. Profits - now, granted this banking system is more philanthropic than your standard bank, but in concept it's the same - all banks have to make return on investment and reinvest. And the philanthropic approach is what makes it work. If the people succeed and make good on their trust, the bank succeeds. Collective grouping and sharing of assets works - this system works by targetinng a real niche market - those who need help the most, those who can't get it from any of the conventional sources. Yeah, at one time the Way expounded on this kind of concept, it's very very similar in some respects. Loans for business, for people starting out in life or attempting to build something were considered good "business" for the church. Money comes in, money goes out - to the members of the church. "Elders" would be there to assist and advise. Basically a community of people sharing it's assets for the benefit of everyone involved. But - it never happened. Which brings back the trust issue. Building a system that promotes that and helps bring the best out of people seeems to be a noble, worthy effort. Instead of telling people something can't be done because people will fail - which I believe is where the Way has gone over the years - you would work to build a foundation of success trusting people and grow from there.

Pix? :) Chas, the WAG is a new one for me, I checked their site and found some demos here - WAG Demos Thanks for the heads up! It's a unique concept. A board comment I read compared it to Danny's Theramin, as to how it controls the effects. It also connects to external devices of your choice that can be controlled with the finger ring. Pretty interesting! I've got an old recording of a tune where I used small amounts of my Sustainer to get a pedal-steel sound. It's a little rumbly, and the effect is used subtly. A lot of the sample on the Fernandes site are of all-out distorto-thrashing, which doesn't really illustrate the range of what it can add in small doses. You can check it out here - Caress...

An interesting link here - "The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh and its founder, Muhammad Yunus, for pioneering work in pulling millions of women out of poverty through small loans." The Way currently teaches that no debt is good. End of story if you aspire to be a Way Leader-azi. If I understand the posts of those who have recently left this instruction trickles down to all members, in varying degrees depending on the state. What this man did is very interesting. There's a quote from the article in that link that reads - "Yunus is credited by experts with a simple but revolutionary idea: The poor can be as reliable in borrowing as the rich, but only if the rules of lending are rewritten to replace traditional risk management with the power of trust." "The power of trust"...from what I've read of the Way's Debt Doctrine it's basically one-dimensional, based on a misinterpretation of the verse "Owe no man, etc." and a mish mash of records from the Old Testament. The power of trust to act responsibly and honorably is completely ignored. The honest desire of a person to honor and repect their own word and the word of another is given no value. Likewise the ability of one person or entity of means to assist another who would benefit from those means - is ignored. This guy's achieved some significant results he's being recognized for. It made me wonder - is the Way's real problem with debt based on their lack of trust and fear? That people, inherently, aren't to be trusted and cant be trusted? All the micro-management of even the most mundane aspects of life...? It would explain the failure of any long term collective success of the organization and the several restarts the Way's gone through since it began.