The Big Think

Welcome!

Today I am 38

Today my blog is 4.

You’ll probably notice something different if you’ve been around here for any length of time. The place looks new. Actually, it is new. New carpet, new furniture (not much of that yet), and some spiffy new fixtures.

I applaud and thank my previous host for putting up with me these past few years, and while the price was right, there were some speed issues that made it necessary for me to make the jump. You’ll probably notice that the page loaded right up without a hitch. That’s because I’m now being hosted on some serious hardware. My good friend Sean has offered to hook me up with a great hosting service and I have gratefully accepted, so from now on you can expect some good response time.

You’ll also probably notice that this is the only post here. I have to get the old site archived and moved over to the new server. Until then it’ll be a bit bare around here but hopefully things we be back to normal in a week or so.

I wanted to make today the official rollover time for the new blog because it’s the fourth year of my writing here as well as my 38th birthday.

Yup, 38! Last year I talked about how weird it was to hit the “official” middle-age number of 37 (assuming a statistical 74). While I believe that the current generation can expect much more than that through medical breakthroughs, it’s still strange to reflect on how fast time is moving us all downriver.

This past year hasn’t seen many life-altering changes (for which I’m grateful), but I have got to experience some rather fun stuff. To wit:

Erin and I celebrated our 10th anniversary with a blowout trip to California (I’d link to the post here but it’s in limbo right now). We spent 11 days, splitting the time roughly equally between San Francisco, Sequoia National Park, and Napa/Sonoma wine country. Erin had never been to California and seen where I grew up so it was a fun experience for her. Like all of our vacations, when we got back she started planning on the return!

I also spent a back-breaking and totally exhausting three months completely remodeling my studio/office from a spare bedroom to a fully fleshed out recording space. To say that I’m giddy about it would be an understatement. Even three months later I still pause when I walk in here every morning and look around with pride and satisfaction. And I know how tardy I am with pictures. That was mainly because the old server was so slow. Now that I’m on a speedy site I’ll have the pictures up. In fact, I’ll make it my first priority.

I shaved my head. Yup, I went cueball. I had joked for a few years that I was going to finally shave the head and the beard but friends didn’t believe me. So on monday, February 26th I took a razor to it all. How long had I had the beard? Here’s some fun stats:

From and including: Friday, June 27, 1986
To and including: Monday, February 26, 2007

7550 days from the start date to the end date, end date included

Or 20 years, 8 months including the end date
Alternative time units
7550 days can be converted to one of these units:

* 652,320,000 seconds
* 10,872,000 minutes
* 181,200 hours
* 1078 weeks (rounded down)

Kinda fun to realize how long it had been. It was definitely a unique feeling to not have any facial or head hair. Made me look a bit thuggish as it was growing back in. Here’s me right after the deed was done.

And since you all know what I look like bald I guess I’ll never be able to shave it and hide from Johnny Law.

This year I also continued my audio career. I got to run the boom and do post for several really fun projects. It’s exhausting work but the crew is a hoot to work with and the director is top notch. I got hooked up with this gang a few years ago when I volunteered for Austin’s 48 hour film project. It was a propitious event that has had long lasting ramifications ever since. I’m very happy that it has led to work that is not only fulfilling professionally but also in line with my personal beliefs. I mean, sometimes you have to do the job just to get the paycheck, but when you’re able to make a living and do it working on projects that you believe in, why that’s just icing on the cake.

Got food poisoning. Ick. Either some bad pepperoni or something else gave me the worst case of food poisoning I can imagine. Well, I can imagine worse, but I wouldn’t wish that on an enemy. I could have done without that three days.

What else? Well, I put another year of Sing into the books. This one was, in my humble opinion, the very best show that I have seen in the past 17 years. I’ve always been really proud of all our work on the show, but this year things came together better than ever. I was really proud of all of the groups and thrilled with the outcome. If you’re in Waco the weekend of November 1st, come on down and see Pigskin Review (the best of Sing from last year). I think you’ll be entertained.

This year I also dipped my toe into Facebook after the site went public. It used to be restricted to college students but since it was opened up to the masses has become a great meeting place for everyone. I’ve gotten a ton of happy birthday messages from friends and clients.

Erin and I went to dinner with some friends last night and got to talking a little about work and life and I was reminded again of my good friend Barry. Barry and I have very similar job/life balances (he’s the other Sing arranger), and our conversations always seem to drift back to how blessed we are to be doing what we love. This past year has been more reinforcement for that and I’m grateful. No major illnesses (well except for that food poisoning bit), no unpleasant life surprises, and wonderful time spent with great people.