Start out awesome. You can get good later.

Ladies and Gentlemen.. the music of "The Deep Vibration"!

Thanks and credit to Paste Magazine .com

http://www.pastemagazine.com/action/paste_station?station_track=track_10290_1457&mode=normal

http://www.thedeepvibration.com/

http://www.myspace.com/thedeepvibration

Check that crazy hair...!

Russell Brand.

Culturally astute as I am known for being, I had no idea who this person was when I first saw him in a promo for yesterday's Letterman. (Promos for Letterman being, for those of you not in the know, where we cultural astutians pick up all the good stuff.)

And I was like, "Check that crazy hair--who IS this person!?"

So I just now did about 10 minutes of intensive research, and here's what I'll say:

Go to Wikipedia and look him up for yourself.

Baring that, go check out this video. I'd say it's a pretty good overview of the Brand that I've come to know (again, in the last 10 minutes). Plus, I found what he had to say about freedom and living to be really interesting. Taken, particularly, in the context of grace and the following of Jesus. My favorite was what he said about getting past the initial hedonistic implications of a life lived free of fear.

Which is totally worth doing.

To everything, there is a season.

My personal favorite, currently, is fresh garlic. Although I'm a long-time fan of onions. Which is at least related, I guess.. so probably anything in that family would go over well with me. Garlic, onion, chives, leeks.

But that's not why you called.

A new season, unrelated to garlic, is upon us here in the Cap house, and I thought I should take a moment and reflect. (This would be your moment that I'm taking, so I hope you're not too busy. Or too difficult to entertain.)

Deb accepted a job today.

(B'JAM!)

So we are officially no longer in danger of having live in a cardboard box underneath an overpass.

Not that we ever really were. Seriously. God's been plenty good to us, in one way and another, and we haven't really suffered any financial hardship. The only way we've suffered is emotionally, and that, really, is our own fault. We knew in our heads that everything was going to be fine, but sometimes even when you know things in your head, it's hard to convince your heart.

And so begins the next season of life.

It's not such a big deal, I guess. It feels like we've never been in stasis. Not since we began all this business back in the early 90's. But this is a little different. It's been about 15 years since Deb and I have been pointed, as persons, in these directions--her as a career woman, and me as a musician (which is where the bulk of my focus will be, but i'm still going to have to be a painter, writer, etc... or we'll probably have to find that overpass, after all).

Fifteen years--a long time by most standards, and with a lot of additional complications. There's a family here this time. All the kids and school stuff still needs to happen. Budgets still need handled. Calendars must still be kept. Mortgages must be paid. And then, of course, we're 15 years older, too. I'm not a person who believes that there's a time of life by which you're required to have all your crap together... but if I were... it's about here.

It's a new chance to succeed. A chance to fail. A chance to have faith, to fall down, to stretch and grow and learn new things about ourselves and the world and God, and how those all fit together. It's both exciting and terrifying. There will probably be some crying involved. But I guess it's also the most satisfying part of life, and the most satisfying way to live.

If you can get over yourself. Which is the biggest challenge in it all. : ]

And those are my reflections today, at least right now, on the situation at hand. I'm sure I'll have a few more, 'cause I'm a guy given to reflection and analysis. That's just how I roll. But for now this is where I stand--excited, frightened, very proud of my wife. (Who is, you know, totally The Best. Period. And she's going to do awesome, because she is awesome. I'm completely psyched for her.) Standing on the edge. Glad to see the end of this passing season and ready to bore headlong into a new one.

Buoyed by grace. Thankful for love.

And pretty sure that garlic isn't even really, technically, a seasoning.

food, love and rock and roll -- i've got it good

Try not to envy me; I'm sure it's not permanent.

; ]

It turns out

...I still know how to rock.

How I became the world's most productive copywriter

He's so dreamy!

A little boy from Emma's school drove past as Deb was picking her up:

Emma: Mom, do you know that boy?
Deb: No. Do you?
Emma: No.. but I want to.
Deb: (pause) Why do you want to know him?
Emma: Because he is a real boy.
Deb: Well, aren't the boys in your class real boys?
Emma: Yeah.. but he is a rocker boy! That's why I want to know him. I saw him play air guitar on recess! I play air guitar!

I swear I can hear the sound of the motorcycle under her window right now.

FINALLY open

Hey kids and kiddettes... The Simply Amish Furniture Boutique is now open for business!

Or at least it will be in 2 minutes.

:-]]

the narrow world

What's happening in the narrow world?

Funny you should ask:

* Deb is done with school for the semester (Yay! Only three more to go..).
* Markus has started summer baseball (I got to be the catcher one night, and the coach called me "Mr." despite my scraggly hippy appearance).
* My new job is awesome (I've got a full week under my belt now, and am starting to feel more comfortable in the production-writing environment {Did anyone know that "it's" is not a possessive and you shouldn't try to send it to print if you don't really mean "it is"? that's just crazy!})
* Deb and I are going on vacation for 3 days (No kids, no phone, no internet, no agenda).
* Coffee from Peru rocks.
* My new job is awesome (The people are super-cool and we all got together for barbecue at the studio on Friday night).
* I've got the new guitar up and running (I have considered selling it, but I am also considering keeping it as a "kid guitar"--although it is hideously heavy).
* People appear to be flowing like water out the door of my previous employer.. it's weird, like I was the cork or something (I miss Dave & Amy, though {but Amy's keeping me in-the-know, and Dave's keeping me in-the-crazylinks).
* I love Brant and Greg (but not necessarily in that order {though they are allowed to compete for my affection}, and in a totally not gay kind of way).

Also, my new job is awesome.

I need to arrange a couple musical equipment purchases--if I ever figure that out, I'll let you know what I'm up to. And I think I need to mow my lawn. The lawnmower runs like a muscle car now, thanks to a friend of a friend, so that should be fun.. I hope all the chrome doesn't frighten the squirrels...

In celebration of Deb being done with classes, and me settling into the new job, we're cleaning the whole house. This makes me tired. Although, really, I was already completely pooped. It's like this whole last 2 - 3 weeks has gone by at lightning speed. I'm not sure why that is.. I guess probably just the whole "changing careers" thing, coupled with the "finals week" thing for Deb.

Oh, and for anybody who doesn't know, our health insurance stuff all turned out fine. Looks like we're going to have plenty of financial margin to save up against the day when we may need to go through a period of not having full coverage.

We lost our last, almost-finished game of Myst IV when I had to turn in my old ThinkPad--but getting to play the whole thing again on a brand new MacBook Pro makes it OK. Here is a picture I just took with the MacBook...