Sheesh,

I’m so creative that I simply post the damn day of the week. *NOT*

Jules is having a baby girl. Jesus, I remember her from way back when. Amazing progress!!!

Life is a big journey. I recall posting about all sorts of things that seemed relevant at the time. I have watched many of you grow (and some disintigrate).  

I don’t have anyting in the tank today.

Changing gears.

I played drums with a local band the other day to fill in for their absent drummer at practice. Kinda nice. They asked me to sign up after the session was over. Oh sure, I can play the drums and like to do it every so often.

Will I join? Nahhh. I have my own band although we aren’t doing anything. My drummer? Oh man, he is one sick player…Makes me go straight to the guitar.

I often wonder if I should hit the circuit once more before I retire for good?

Who knows? I’m just grateful for the gift (or curse) of music…

Part of me wants to tell Shark stories. I better not.

Will they be true? Most of them….

Peace,

Bobby

Bullet points.

This could be short or could be long. I don’t know.

1)      Racism. I‘ve seen some discussion on the subject in KCL. All it takes is one human being who is different than another and BOOM you have potential for conflict. Education is the only way to solve racism.

2)      Straight A’s continue for Jovana, our exchange student. The kid should be an engineer. Unfortunately, they have no use for Engineers in her country. Engineers, Physicians and Lawyers are not well paid in Montenegro.

3)      Kelly has been pounded with snow these last couple of weeks. Friday and Saturday they are getting 15-26 inches of snow after having snow all week up in DC. Folks, we are from the beach where the snow never goes…It has officially freaked her out.

4)      Me? Oh I have completely lost my mind. I had two rentals come vacant at the end of January. One is rented already (Wonderful turn around and picked up 45 more bucks a month in rents.) The other? I should have it ready to show in the next two weeks. Those folks were not the cleanest humans on the planet. I will pick up an extra 45.00 bucks in rent there as well. Lots of work. Many long nights!!!

5)      Nurse Ratchet? Um, her mentor and old physician co-worker passed away suddenly about 2 weeks ago. He died of a massive heart attack. They worked together the day before he passed. She has cried everyday since. Not pretty. Actually, I have never seen her depressed. She is CRUSHED.

6)      My brother is working with one of the producers of Lady GaGa on some music tracks. They both went to Berklee together. Frankly, this is his big break. The downside? My brother is a monster in the studio. In fact, he has his own studio in his house. Killer. We are having a divorce party for him on the 8^th!!! It is official.

7)      My little sister? I love her. She is just back from a business trip to Atlantic City. She was excited. Me? You can keep Atlantic City. She has already fallen off the wagon on her running and diet.

      Hopefully, I can fix my golf cart tonight or tomorrow. I snapped a strut off jumping some dunes awhile back. Were we out of control? Yes. Was it fun? That cart should be outlawed.

9)      Superbowl? I see the Saints winning it unless Peyton Manning gets red hot.

10)  I miss you all very much. I still read you but have not logged on to comment or write. I think that status will be consistent for awhile.

Peace be with you,

Bobby

I like -
1) I LOVE the smell of salt in the air. I especially love the way salt collects on our skin while we play at the beach all day.

2) I like running. I literally run wherever my little mind will take me and I rarely run the same path twice. I run for time and heart rate. Its all I have left now that my Soccer days are over as a player.

3) I am a tone freak. Heavy Strings, Tube amps and vintage guitars are a combination made in heaven. I have a sound that is as unique to my guitar playing as it is to the sound of my own voice. My guitars all bear the scars of this discovery process. I am all about Music.

4) Put me in the water. I love to surf, swim, scuba, snorkel…You name it. Swimming in a pool just doesn’t cut it.

5) Love, Love, Love hot sauces!!! D’elidas from Panama is hands down my absolute favorite but I have to import it from Panama myself!!!

6) I have all but quit drinking but I still love the taste of A few libations. My favorite beer is Dogfish Head 90 minute IPA. I was once a big Rum drinker and have a sizable collection. Save yourself some time and trouble and get you a bottle of Santa Teresa 1796 from Venezuela.

7) Musicians, Artists and Athletes - I get on well with folks who have this sort of intellect.

My daughter - Um, the sun rises and sets on that young lady. it is so cool spend time with the new improved version of myself. Lately she has taken to crushing me in the pool and over the road. I only wish I could sing as well as she does and I’m a good singer. She is an absolutely lovely human being.

9) My wife - She is the go to person for anything that is fun in my life. She loves adventure. She is beautiful and absolutely brilliant. I have not met anyone like her before or since. I am a lucky man.

10) For some reason I am great with plants. I view it as a curse actually. While I love plants, I am stretched to my limit. Everywhere I go they seem to follow me.

Certainly this isn’t everything. If you choose to fill your life with love there will be many things about you that will find their way into your very soul.

May the Spirit of Christmas be upon each of you!

Peace,

Bobby

“If you resort to name calling in an argument you automatically lose” - Fijufic

I curse pretty much all the time unless I’m in a heated discussion or argument.  For the sake of this journal I also make sure I keep the lingo fairly clean. In 3d its another ball game. I NEVER curse while making an argument or point.

It has been wonderul having my daughter nearby. She is making me run with her this evening and I suspect she wants to go for about an hour.  That sounds like 6 or 7 miles. GRRRRR…Tomorrow isn’t much better as I think we are all going to swim laps for an hour or so.

I get the sneaky suspicion that my kid doesn’t want me to keel over anytime soon so we exercise together.  Pretty darn crafty that young lady. I think she is just keeping an eye on me.

We all went to dinner yesterday and then to see Avatar in IMAX 3d.  Wow! In terms of visual effects it was one of  the coolest movies I have ever seen.

Snow?  Ha, not us. Everywhere but here folks.  We are just under the snow line.

Christmas?  I’m ready.

Be careful for what you wish. I once lamented about being on the top 10 list  at Jayess for a few years. I eventually got on the list perpetually. The best way to get off that list is to have the website blow up. Now I can write in relative obscurity. This is a wonderful thing.

I look forward to 2010. I have several ventures all coming together at one time. I’m excited and nervous.  Here we go!!!

Peace be with you,

Bobby

Factoid - In my house, if you know which teams are playing on Monday night football, I’ll give you 5 bucks…This includes my wife, daughter and exchange student.

I rarely get hit but sometimes it happens.

I’m exhausted from the weekend. The Foundation raised almost 8 grand to give to the families who suffered with flooding during our last nor’easter.  Saturday was long and I didn’t get to bed until 3am…Literally a three ring circus!!

I attended 6 parties over the weekend.  At one party I played about 20 songs and everyone listened or sang along. *Whew* the drunks were out in full force!!

Anyhow, I am exhausted. 

May the spirit of the holiday be with you!

Peace,

Bobby

Ronin called me in tears after her visit to the museum yesterday. They got on the DC metro and went to complete an extra credit assignment for their Western Civilization class. As an added bonus Kelly visited with her little Jewish friend Annie.

Both were emotionally destroyed after leaving some 3 hours later….

Many of us go into a museum and peer around for a little while until we get bored and leave. Uh, not this place. The sheer magnitude and terror that permeate the building are unforgettable. Minutes turn to hours as you devour the timeline and the events these people suffered.

How could someone do such a thing?

Where does the hate come from?

I don’t know… I do know that hate is alive and well in the 21st century.

For as long as human beings have differences there will be a small subset who can find fault with these differences.

Stay vigilant.

Peace be with you,

Bobby

I heard her singing last night. She sings like a bird really. I can sing but I cannot sing like she does.

Well, let me just tell you that once you become a seasoned musician you will also have a few favorite pieces of equipment. I am guilty of this behavior. So is she… I could wax poetic about amp circuits, pickups, microphones etc.

Anyhow, I hear this loud shriek with Kelly calling me upstaris into the music studio (Over the PA system so you know my deaf a** heard her)

Her *favorite* microphone in the whole wide world has broken. I have done a few repair jobs on it in the past and it has held up to live performance like a champ. Unfortunately, this microphone is no longer manufactured. Electrovoice makes nice mikes but this one is special.

Yikes!!! It has physically fallen apart…It is worn slam out.

I know you are probably thinking to yourself that you should just use another microphone? After all they are the same you must be thinking.

Uh no.

Ask any musician worth their salt and you will find this microphone thing to be a real issue. I have certain favorite microphones I use with my guitar amplifiers. (Shure SM57 for those of you who are afflicted for my amp only). I have different vocals and so I use a different vocal mike.

Recording studio mikes are another story for another day. Don’t go down that road. It isn’t pretty.

So what are we doing this evening?

Apparently, we are hunting for a microphone…

May the spirit of Thanksgiving be upon each and everyone of you. I look back at Thanksgiving past and see the pictures. Looking forward, you will find that there will be loved ones who can no longer make the celebration.

We are here but for a short while. Make every minute count.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Bobby

Here is the kid and the mike in question….

My kid is back in town because her English Class was cancelled for today. I love it when Kelly is home.

We are going to practice some new songs tonight just for the sake of playing. I always look forward to these moments with my daughter and bandmates. 

We went to dinner yesterday evening and had us one heck of a time with our family and friends. Good lord Mabel went off on the Dish TV people last night when we had a thunderstorm. Secretly, she hates ALL providers be it cable or satellite.  Kelly recorded her and it was hysterical. I felt bad for the customer service associate who handled that call. Apparently, Nurse Ratchet is very serious about watching Gray’s Anatomy… I managed to do a little four wheelin’ on the beach with friends so my streak of never watching that show continues.

Flock of Seagulls concert tonight if it doesn’t get rained out. They were different then and I’m sure they are differerent now. I can play “Space Age Love Song” and “I Ran”. Cool tunes. Love the sound…

Tomorrow we work on the rentals all day and then Sunday we have to go to my cousin’s baptism. The good news?  She lives in Nags Head so maybe me and the kid can hit the water after lunch if the surf is up…we will need our wetsuits. BLAGH!!

Peace be with you,

Bobby

Frisco Beach on Cape Hatteras July 2009.

Perspective is a real eye opener. Sometimes, I take for granted the things we do and see.

We have a foreign exchange student from Montenegro. She is the youngest of three girls that have stayed with our family in some form or fashion. Saska is 31, Sanjice is 29 and Jovanna is 17.

They come from a very nice family. They personally know the Prime Minister and all that stuff…Anyhow…getting back to Jovanna.

Hmmm…She is very reserved and only opens up around our family. There is absolutely nothing athletic about her at all. N-O-T-H-I-N-G. There is no teaching her how to surf. Too dangerous. Can she sing? Um, nope. I am polite because I hear her singing when she is happy (Which is often). Ladies and gentlemen; she can’t sing. God bless her pointed little head, even teaching her how to ride a mountain bike hasn’t been easy.

She does speak several languages and can even translate that old Russian in Syrillic if you need it. She is a very applied student and makes straight A’s in all of her classes so far including her AP courses. I have told her that she needs to join some clubs to increase her base of friends at school. Meeting people and making the transition to friendship is difficult for her.

Our trips to The Outer banks and to DC have blown her away. Montenegro is small and they don’t usually take road trips like we do. College life here is very different than their college life.

At the end of the day she tells me all of the neat and unique experiences she has enjoyed with us and that she looks forward to all of the adventures yet to come.

Life is all about the experiences….

Kelly joins us this weekend. I am looking forward to it.

I hope that you and those you love have a wonderful Labor day weekend.

See you on the beach.

Peace,
Bobby

I use that term to describe someone who has gone crazy.

Mabel has “left the reservation” for instance. I don’t think I have ever seen Nurse Ratchet cry so much in the span of a month….

The good news? Kelly has acclimated to her new living arrangement. Her first classes begin today. We have already heard several stories of alcohol related incidents at school which have resulted in trips to the ER in one case…Kelly has always told us most everything that goes on in her life and college is no exception.

We have always been close and remain close. Now we spend lots of time sending absurd picture texts or short recordings to each other via text messages. She sent me one of a can of Ravioli for instance. I sent one of a concert in the park last night.

They have one diner on campus that is only open from 9pm till 4am for instance. That is crazy. Then of course the other stuff that makes you bite your tongue. Late nights rule college campuses across the country.

I *think* she comes home over Labor Day weekend. Hard to keep that kid away from the beach I swear.

The surf was up at the S turns this weekend but I didn’t go because I no longer have my surfin’ buddy to join me. Maybe next week? Who knows? In terms of watersports she is still my go to girl. I managed to spend time with my wife, sister and friends all day yesterday.

I sense the fall weather continues to creep into the picture. I imagine we will give up the beach stands by the time November rolls around.

Peace be with you,
Bobby