smd-1

sudden mustache day -1. last look at the beard.

blood mountain

after a wonderful meal on thursday, my son zak (aka z, aka batman) and i decided to take a trip up to the north georgia mountains on friday. the weather was perfect - 50s and clear. we hiked to the top of blood mountain, took in the view, and took a nap. blood mountain is on the appalachian trail in georgia, and is about an hour hike up from the parking spot at neels gap. i can be at the foot of the mountain from my house in a hour. there was snow at the top and yes, z threw some at me. i'm gonna miss my hiking buddy when he heads off to college next year.

btw, notice my goatee that's all ready for sudden mustache day next week!

just remember...

...you are what you eat.

1. cut out aluminum foil in desired shapes
2. arrange the turkey in the roasting pan, position the foil carefully
3. roast according to your own recipe and serve
4. watch your guests' faces...

happy thanksgiving!

trinidadian invasion

the past 2 summers, i was able to go with others from FBC to trinidad to help with some music and worship leading training. a couple of days ago, 12 youth workers came to atlanta to attend a youth worker's conference. we've been able to return some of the hospitality that they've shown us by helping to take care of their needs while they're here. had a big get-together at joe's house last night with everyone - what a blast! as joe said, a picture of what heaven will be like.

see your future, be your future

now that's not nice

this week microsoft introduced the beta version of their new search engine intended to go after google and yahoo!. if you type in the search string "more evil than satan", your first hit will be google. i thought "that's not nice" until i read that google did the same thing a few months back. gotta love the competitive spirit.

btw, i found out about this from one of the few blogs that i check out pretty regularly called j-walk blog. My buddy joe (see polka praise) told me about this site a few months ago. definitely worth an occasional visit.

3 weeks to go...

...until "sudden mustache day." my goatee is back and ready to be shaved! dec 1, 9pm, starbucks @ mansell and alpharetta highway.

road (rhodes) trip

this past weekend i drove up to new jersey with my family to attend friends' daughter's bat mitzvah. it rained the ENTIRE way on the drive up - only turned off my windshield wipers while going through the tunnel in baltimore. the drive back was nice, but it looked like i missed most of the fall colors by a week or two. our friends are reformed jews, one of three major groups of judaism. you can click here if you want to read more about the groups.

about a year ago my buddy dennis (no blog yet) was up in philly rehearsing for a concert. the rehearsal was in a high school band room and he noticed a fender rhodes suitcase electric piano in the corner. knowing that i was looking for a rhodes, he asked if they wanted to sell it.

so...since i was in the area...i made a little detour to the high school, paid in cash, and loaded in the back of my van.

i must say that cindy (my wife) was a pretty good sport about the whole thing. especially since i "reminded" her about the rhodes on the drive up. i mean, i THINK i mentioned something to her a while back about it.

the rhodes i picked up was manufactured in 1977. right about the time that i was playing on the same type of keyboard in rock and jazz bands back in indiana. if you're not a keyboard player who used to own one of these, you just wouldn't understand. it's got a sound and a feel that just can't be matched. unfortunately, me and almost every other keyboard player sold our vintage stuff back in the early 80s when all the digital stuff came out. now we've all realized the error of our ways and are trying to buy them back.

trick or treat?

last night was halloween. was thinking this morning on the drive in about how my wife and i made a decision when our kids were born that since we were Christians, we wouldn't do the halloween thing. well, that lasted about as long as the first dressed-up kid showing up at our door yelling "trick or treat!" we both remembered how much we loved trick or treating when we were kids and quickly threw together clown costumes and took our kids out for their first night of trick or treating.

so here we are about 15 years later with a 17 year old son and a 16 year old daughter, and i think i can say that we didn't ruin them by letting them join in the fun. it struck me last night as i saw how excited my daughter still is about dressing up and going trick or treating. i'm really over the carve the pumpkin thing, but for her, it's become a treasured memory and a tradition that we cannot break. my son chose to stay at home and answer the door. from the other room where i sat, i could hear the kids yelling "trick or treat" and then one by one saying "thank you" when they received candy. i can think of a lot of other issues to get hung up over.