Merry Christmas

A belated MERRY CHRISTMAS to my numerous readers ;). We certainly had a good time this season. I wish I could post pictures of our tree before Christmas Eve--we always have tons of presents and this year was no exception. Grandpa and Grandma gave us a nice Yamaha keyboard, and a couple of other things, including the money for our amp. And Jonathan and I finally got a tuner!! It's really nifty--clamps right onto the instrument and is about 2"x3/4". I certainly kept busy with all sorts of projects as soon as school was out. But it's not over yet, because Sarah's wedding is on Saturday, and we've got to be prepared to play for a while.

Something pretty funny happened this morning. I got out of bed at about 8:45, and rummaged around for my navy blue t-shirt. I found it, but when I tried to put in on, discovered that there were no holes to be found. Somehow a pillowcase had found it's way into my drawer! Very weird...

I hate to make too many promises--I beleive I said I would post my research paper soon--but once I figure out hosting, I'll post some pics of my banjo. It looks great, sounds better, and weighs a ton. And I may experiment with posting some of my artwork, but we'll see.

Last night we watched Rich Christiano's movie Time Changer. Overall, it was pretty good, but the main character's scripting and acting needed some work. His new movie Unidentified is due sometime soon.

Once again, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and don't get your hopes up about a new post before January!

Nickel Creek, Narnia...

Last Tuesday, Jonathan, Dad and I (with Pete and his Dad as surprise guests) went to a Nickel Creek concert in Portland. As I’m sure most of you know, it has been very very cold lately, and we froze while waiting in line. After a little while, Jonathan, Pete and I ran off to get some coffee, and ended up in a place called Peet’s Coffee—they charge more than Starbucks. By the time we got back to the line, our coffee was getting a little cool, but downed our $3.30 pretty quick, and they started to let people in. A few burly guys were searching bags—we all got by, but Dad had to convince them that his camera was alright. And then, when we got up into the theater, there were no chairs—we stood for a total of about 4 hours (maybe more). After a long wait, we were dazzled by the overstated skills of violinist Andrew Bird. Finally, Nickel Creek came on stage and started off with the first track off their new album, “When in Rome”—cool song, but the lyrics are weird. Chris Thile was amazing! He played effortlessly, making few (if any) slips even during his antics—if you see any of the pics/video you’ll know what I mean. It was a lot of fun. I just hope the band doesn’t go in the direction Chris seems to want to take them.

On Friday night, the older 5 of us went with Jeff to see the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. I was amazed how true it was to the book and its message. The CGI was really cool, and the kids acted surprisingly well. They set up the ending for a follow-up, so they’re bound to make several more. It’s great to see a Christian movie get the popularity and attention its getting.

Along the same lines, PJ is starting on The Hobbit!! After LotR I have no doubt he’ll do a great job.

We have the Gileskirk final tomorrow, so I’m going to recede into my corner to cram. Once school’s off, I may post more often.

Oh, I mentioned J and I were getting pickups installed. We got our instruments back along with an amplifier--they sound great!

Hello (that was lame)

My very first post!! Here goes...

I sent my new banjo (as of June :) with Jonathan to Pioneer Music in Portland, where we'll get pickups installed. Sarah Stiers' wedding is in less than a month and J and I were requisitioned to play for the reception--thus the need for some amplification. We'll see how that all goes.

The week is already pretty full. Tommorow's the Nickel Creek concert, Wednesday is set aside for Christmas shopping, and Friday we'll probably go to see Narnia.

Sometime soon I'll post my finished research paper (once I finish it...) about the demise of landscape art in the 20th century.

Anyway, I'll work on all this later--the template needs some help.