I guess my secret's out.

Amazon seems to be fully aware of what a nerd I am.

I got this in an email from them today.



Is it that obvious?

Posted in the section Personal | # |

Wow, today's one of those news days that money can't buy.

In Vacaville, California, a man found a pit bull in his car. In the engine. Yeah. Picture here. That's pretty odd, I'd say.

And in my own hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the 600 block of South Queen Street has been shutdown by a spill. What spilled? Vegetable oil. I'm just picturing all the cards skidding around the road, sliding in the oil. In my mind, one driver finally gets out of his car, only to slip in the oil and fall hilariously.

Posted in the section Stupid Stuff | # |

A few folks have emailed me or left comments on the site to ask how Sybil, my Parkwood Hybrid, is doing these days. In a nutshell, she's great. In a slightly larger nutshell, I'm happy enough with her that I sold my Rickenbacker, and those of you who know me well know that that's not something I did lightly.

I've been playing Sybil regularly since the beginning of January, once a week at church and once a week at worship team practice. I will occasionally pick her up and home, but I mostly use my trusty old Alvarez White Fusion when I don't want or require any amplification.

She's holding up quite nicely. A few weeks after I bought her, she developed a nasty buzz on the second fret, so I had to take her back to Guitar Center for a quick adjustment. And last week, I noticed that a small screw attaching the Parkwood logo plate to the headstock had come loose, but that was easy enough to fix. You know, with a screwdriver.

Otherwise, I have no complaints at all. I love how versatile this guitar is. When leading worship at church, I really appreciate being able to switch over to electric for a song or two, or even keep the acoustic and electric channels going at the same time for a really unique sound. And switching between modes is a snap. It's great for when you want a nice, soft, acoustic intro, but you want that little extra kick when the drums and bass come in.

Speaking of that extra kick, the Seymour Duncan Mini-Humbuckers have a great sound, even when going direct to the PA system with no amp. And the acoustic sound is really, really sweet. It's a brighter sound than what I'm used to (my Alvarez has a rich, dark sound that I've come to adore), but not at all unpleasant. And through my FloorPOD, it sounds absolutely amazing.



In the looks department, Sybil is a knockout. The Australian Blackwood top with Light Vintage Burst finish is just gorgeous, and the somewhat understated chrome controls add a bit of elegance to it.

Since I purchased Sybil, Parkwood has pulled the plug on its hybrids. From what I understand, they were a limited run made exclusively for Guitar Center and they're totally sold out. They should definitely make more. Parkwood got everything right in this guitar, and I couldn't be happier with it. Looks as though Sybil may become a collector's item.

But the hybrid market is getting more saturated. In addition to the Parkwood, I've already written the Taylor T5 and the Ovation VXT. I've also read about Michael Kelly's Hybrid Special, which weighs in at about $599, but I've not personally tried one.

Epiphone has also gotten into the game with the Les Paul Ultra II, which looks like a regular Paul but has a chambered body to get the acoustic sound. It sells for anywhere from $599 to $699 and comes in a variety of very Les Paul finishes.

Finally, Ibanez has launched a hybrid, too: the Montage. Its price range is about the same as the Epi and the Kelly, but it has some nice features for the money, including a built-in tuner and XLR outputs. It also features onboard reverb, chorus, distortion, and other goodies, although I can't in good conscience recommend using the effects built into any guitar. Just rubs me the wrong way.

So anyway, there you have it. I'm loving Sybil and I think she likes me, too.

Posted in the section Music | # |

Posted in the section Stupid Stuff | # |

Top 278 Star Wars Lines Improved By Replacing A Word With "Pants".

Some samples:
These aren't the pants you're looking for.
Search your pants, Luke. You know it's true.
I cannot teach him. The boy has no pants.
He has no time for smugglers who drop their pants first sign of Imperials
Lock the door. And hope they don't have pants.

And the best one of all: I find your lack of pants disturbing.


Since this is a family friendly weblog, I should point out that the link contains some innuendo, but it's pretty freakin' funny.

Posted in the section Stupid Stuff | # |

Events described in the Alanis Morissette song that are...

Posted in the section Stupid Stuff | # |

Here are some pictures from our 2008 Paintball excursion, set to "Prowl" by Jawbone Hill. Enjoy!

Posted in the section Personal | # |

As I was tucking Jonathan into bed tonight, we read today's entry in his "God and Me" book, a little devotional book for kids his age. Tonight's devotional was on creation. Here's a brief excerpt of our conversation.

Me: Do you know who made all the trees and plants and beautiful flowers?
Jonathan: [referring to my father-in-law] Pops?
Me: No.
Jonathan: [referring to my niece] Emmi?
Me: No.
Jonathan: [blank stare]
Me: It was God.
Jonathan: Oh. Where does it say that?

Posted in the section Faith | # |

And now my Rickenbacker is gone. I ended up with just shy of twenty serious inquiries, including people asking if I could ship it to California and/or Indiana. In the end, a really nice guy drove about two hours each way to try it out. He fell in love on the spot and gave me more than asking price, in cash. I think he and his sons will give it a good home.

For nostalgia's sake, here's the last picture I took of my Rickenbacker.

Posted in the section Music | # |

So I put my Rickenbacker up for sale on craigslist last night. Within 24 hours, I've had seven serious inquiries about it. Wow! I didn't think it would generate that much interest. But truth be told, it's a great guitar. I just don't play it much anymore, since Sybil came to town.

Posted in the section Music | # |