Quiet

I have been quiet. I really haven't had all that much to say lately. I have been overloaded with information. Sometimes I see no reason to add to the cacophony of absurdity, the vanity of babble. The foolishness of ego-driven opinion. The hollow emptiness of words.

Time Machine

I have been keen to try Time Machine, and I have been on the lookout for a reasonable deal on an a backup drive. Today i found one at Circuit City. I found a Western Digital MyBook 500GB drive for $99.95. I snapped it up and headed home. There was nothing to setting it up and now my Mac is backed up automatically. I am happy with this process. As a fairly non-technical person, this seems a quick and complete backup solution. I was doing some manual backups to my other external drive, my portable one, but I have some peace of mind knowing that all my stuff is secure.

Orientation Complete

Today was the final day of Katie's orientation at USC. She has also registered for classes for her first semester, and we basically have all of our ducks in a row. It has been an extremely busy couple of days, with a tight schedule, and not much wiggle room at all. The time has gone by very quickly. I was hoping to get together with some old friends, but as it turns out, we simply didn't have the time. We will be back on a regular basis though, and I am sure we can do that next time around.

We have a very early flight tomorrow, which means we will be at LAX by 6AM or earlier. Ugh.

The USC thing being done is a major load off my mind. I'm sure Katie is relieved to be done with all the rigamarole as well.

If any of my buddies are reading this, sorry I didn't get a chance to see you, but I'll be back soon and will try again then!

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RIP George Carlin

Greetings from L.A.

We have arrived in L.A. This is a pic from Jim's house Sunday afternoon. We are here for Katie's USC orientation this Tuesday and Wednesday. We are all pretty wiped from the trip, but I believe as the evening comes on we are starting to rally. It's hot here, but not the humid hot in Myrtle Beach. It is supposed to cool down by about twelve degrees, and then down seventeen degrees by the day after tomorrow, which is my kind of weather. I love this town!

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Pics From Last Night's Show @ Fresh Brewed

Rog and I had a blast playing at Fresh Brewed last night. Thanks to all the great people who came to the show, old friends and new.

Here are some pics...

Me, Orson Welles, Roger

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!

I lost my dad on my twenty first birthday. That would be July 8th, 1984. It seems like another time and another life, yet in other ways, it seems like just yesterday. It has now been almost twenty four years since then. That means that I have been alive longer without my dad than I was alive with him. I miss him every day.

People, enjoy your dad while he is here to enjoy. Because all that can change in the blink of an eye.

Vote Republican. Get What you deserve.

Test

This is a test for ScribeFire, the Forefox add on. It allows you to post from your blog directly from Firefox. At least it's supposed to. So here we go.....Testing, one, two, three. Check two, two.

SXSE SHOW

I played the SXSE Music Feast at the historic Train Depot in downtown Myrtle Beach last night. I opened for Dangermuffin, a band out of Charleston, who rocked, and were awesome dudes to boot!

My brother Roger was kind enough to back me up on keyboards, despite the fact that he had a gig later last night at Wild Wing Cafe with his band Sick Stooges. After my show, we went to see them, and a good time was had by all.

Rog and I played about an hour's worth of my songs, and we also played "Hurt", the Trent Reznor song that my hero Johnny Cash made famous, as our final song.

Seth Funderburk from Sea Note Recording did a bang up job making us sound presentable!

Thanks Jeff Roberts, and all the fine folks who made this wonderful event happen, and continue to keep the series going, and all the great work this organization does for Horry County Schools.

The first four pictures are from the SXSE gig. The last picture is taken of Sick Stooges at Wild Wing Cafe later in the evening. My brother rocks!

Decline Of Empires: The Signs Of Decay

I found this highly provocative and compelling. Sobering. Infuriating when I think about the sad state of affairs we are in, and the lies that are shoved down our throats by our supposed government and the big business that owns it.

This is long, but worth a look.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Happy Mother's Day, you brave and beautiful mothers! I hope your day is blessed and happy.

Fight On!

It's official. Katie has chosen The University of Southern California for her College career. As soon as we walked in to the campus I could tell it was special.The school spirit was off the charts, and I know Katie likes that a lot. We toured the entire place. The student who was walking us through was really nice and helpful, which was cool. We sat in on a sample lecture on neuroscience, which was fascinating. The professor who was doing the lecture was extremely gifted, and he knew how to keep us interested. I was also happy to know that the classes are not super large. That was one of my concerns, but that is not the case. I am not a huge sports fan, but their little football team is supposed to be pretty good as well! It should prove to be a wonderful life experience for Katie. It's ironic that she is going to L.A., as it is where I grew up. Another benefit of Katie going there is that I get to visit quite a bit. Next up is the orientation sometime this summer. Away we go in to a new phase of life. I am happy for Katie, as well as a bit nervous about this big change. L.A. is a long way away, but she seems excited about going, and I am happy for her and excited for her as well.

The only problem is, being here in South Carolina, I have to be constantly telling people that the USC I am referring to is the other one. The real one (I kid, Gamecock fans). That should be fun.

Boston

A few more pics.

Boston

Here are a few images from our recent Boston trip. We went up to take a second look at Boston College now that Katie has been accepted and was offered a generous financial aid package and scholarships. It is coming down to crunch time for her, as she needs to make a choice here by May 1st. Katie, her friend Juliana Carter, Betsy and I had a great time on this whirlwind trip.

Live Now - Forget the Future.

I want to expand my horizons without any mind to the outcomes. I leave the outcome to God, as I consciously live in the present moment. I give up the illusion of the future as salvation; as a diversion from living fully today. I give up the false security of the future. I always put things off for some imaginary time when I have it all together. I now realize that that time will never come. The time is now. Get up and live. Rise up in the swelling tide of possibility. Flow with the creative spirit. Don't put off embracing life now. Enjoy what life has to offer; participate now in the Divine nature. Be the solution. Be. Abide in Christ, and don't hide your light under a bushel. You are the loving manifestation of a holy God that is love itself. You were brought forth in love. Everything else is false. Everything else is ego-based. Live in the light of Now. God wants to use you in your life where you are right now. You are a part of God. Yesterday is gone, and tomorrow will take care of itself. Seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. You need not be concerned about the outcomes anymore. You do not need to put your hopes in a future you cannot control. Let go. Die to self, to ego. It is when you truly die to self that you finally really come alive. You will see with new eyes; everything will be shining and radiant. You will see the spark of life in all things. Everything will be washed and you will be able to finally see things as they really are, free from the filters of ego, artifice, self-seeking, and ambition.

CREATE SOUTH WAS A BLAST!

The CREATE SOUTH conference was a blast.
Here's a shot of Roger Yale and Paul Reynolds having some geeky fun!

Market Common Corporate Nightmare

Betsy and I went down to the new Market Common yesterday afternoon. It's a new corporate nightmare in town, with shopping, dining and living all pre manufactured and artificially created down at the old airbase. We had a look around and quickly left. There is no reason whatsoever to return. I have seen enough. It's the same kind of bullshit that most cities have. Like the Grove in Hollywood, or the Santa Monica Promenade. Or the Faneuil Hall marketplace in Boston. That kind of phony corporate shopping environment that turns my stomach. Inorganic. Forced. A tourist trap. A marginal Yuppie paradise. Like a commercial biosphere of materialistic poison. I shall not return. I just saw Into The Wild last night. I have had many moments of questioning just like Chris did in that movie. He was more messed up than I am, and I used to eat acid like candy!

I guess I'm just in search of the real thing. Where is authenticity?

Dr. King - We Will Always Remember You.