Merry Christmas!

Who are we?

The Internet Monk answers the question, "Who are Americans?"

Tears

This post is a good reminder to me, the greatest of sinners - especially in an election year.

We won't forget

We remember Giovanna Gambale and all of the victims who died in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington DC on September 11, 2001.

Ibanez guitar project

Here's a picture of my latest project. It's an Ibanez SCA-220 that I bought cheap on ebay and fixed up this summer.

When it arrived, it became obvious that it had a rough life before coming to me. There were several scratches, the tone control was messed up, and there was what appeared to be candle wax on the fingerboard and around the back control cavity.

After a lot of sanding, a hand-rubbed oil finish, and some new Seymour Duncan pickups, it's a pretty different guitar. Here's some before and after photos.

This picture isn't very good, but if you look really close you can see what I believe are teeth marks at the top of the headstock. I'm telling you... it had a rough life!

Maybe it's just me... but I think they should come from the factory like this.

Back to School '08

Pictures of A's first day of kindergarten (sniff!) and Z's first day of 3rd grade.

Mom

My sister and I are visiting Mom and Dad in Charlotte, NC. Mom is on the downhill side of a year-long battle with cancer. She was diagnosed Christmas of 2006, and has been a real trooper. It is really sad to see her so sick, and hard to know the end is coming. I set up a blog for Dad to give updates on Mom that you can visit here: Dale's Updates. Thanks to everyone who has been praying for Mom this year.