What a Pair

For those who didn't know, the amazing musician Meghan Coffee just got married, to amazing music photographer Zack Arias. I found out from her blog, where there's a link to photos that were taken in the Dekalb County Courthouse where the deed was done. I'm sure the wedding will be blogged all over the place, but I just had to point out the odd pairing on this photo (and no, I'm not talking about the happy couple themselves):
It seems that in Dekalb county you can file for the right to get married and the right to carry a weapon in the same place. Poetic, no?

Don't Worry About it...

With all the stuff in the news that is hyped as being cancer-causing, or world-destroying, or otherwise just BAD, we all need a little good news now and then. Here, for your education and entertainment, is a list of "10 Things to Scratch From Your Worry List".

You're welcome.

I think this pretty much says it all...

6715 VICKERY POST LANE
CUMMING, GA 30040
MLS ID# 3721442

Yep, if you follow that link, you'll see that "our" new house, built to our specifications, is officially up for sale - with an asking price of $15,000 less than the original price we negotiated.

When Pulte homes decided they were not going to renew any contingency contracts, they didn't waste any time. In short order, we got notice that our contract was cancelled, got our earnest money back, and got notice that our loan application from Pulte mortgage was cancelled (even though we were already approved). All the letters we got (no phone calls, no prior notice) were written as though WE had requested it.

All we can do at this point is hope this house sits for long enough for our home to sell, and for us to save up enough for a decent downpayment. Otherwise, it's the death of a dream.

Only time will tell how this turns out, but it's not looking like we're going to be moving any time soon. As usual, stay tuned...

Childlike Faith

The video here was a post on the "Laugh. Love. Learn" blog that was posted as a part of the "Creative Chaos" blog carnival at Carlos Whittaker's "Ragamuffin Soul" blog. Take a look, and a listen. Out of the mouths of babes...

Join the Dharma Initiative Today!

GAW: Dharma Initiative
Originally uploaded by Giant Ideas

For your education and entertainment, I present you with a recruitment poster for the Dharma Initiative. Doesn't it make you want to go to "the island"?

On the Phil-ip side...

Jamie & I were able to drop by the Tats For Tots party at Danny & Cindy's place last Saturday, but most of our evening was taken up with an awesome concert by the incredible Phil Keaggy.

The concert was a benefit for the Gwinnett County Special Olympics organization, and was the final leg in his "Master and the Musician 3oth Anniversary" tour, celebrating, well, the 30th anniversary of that record. "Master and the Musician" was an instrumental album, which was an unusual thing for a Christian artist to do at the time. In the concert, they played the album in its entirety, along with some other selected music from Phil and the amazing band that he brought along with him. Pics with varied exposition below:

Phil started out the evening with a mind boggling acoustic piece. He made that guitar do things I could never have believed a guitar COULD do. At one point, I thought I heard a percussion loop playing in the background. He then picked up a small finger cymbal, and hit it, once. I started hearing that cymbal strike, over and over. I realized then that he had actually sampled the rhythmic drumbeat and bass line he had just played at that very moment, and continued playing with the sampled-on-the-fly rhythm "track". It was amazing. He did that several times during the night, and each time it was amazing how he made it flow into the performance.
On stage i counted 12 guitars, 2 basses, a cello, a mandolin, a flute, a keyboard, and one mysterious beast I had never seen the like of before:
This is a "Harp Guitar". It was played in the concert by Tom Shinness, an amazing musician in his own right with multiple albums to his credit. It was made in 1913 by the Gibson Guitar company. Apparently at the time there was an effort to make this sort of instrument popular that never really caught on. The harp strings were all in a lower register, so most of the playing on them consisted of bass lines, but it still made for a fascinating performance.

Unfortunately, Jamie & I had to miss the second half of the concert, where more vocal performances were promised, but the part we did see was breathtaking. If you ever get a chance, GO SEE HIM.