Anything that you have to officially name “fun” is probably not run by people that are fun.

Every inch of our carnival experience has been terrible. No one is nice, or clear in their directions to you. It’s like they took all the people that normally work at Mcdonalds but got fired.

We are not on the ship yet….. See hopefully this “fun ship” will turn it around.

And we might be a little tired and a little grumpy from staying up all night. But probably not.

 Elisa and I are SO EXCITED because we are about to start our vacation adventure.

She (sort of) lied to me and told me I had to take off work to go to her family reunion, but she was actually planning a secret cruise.  How awesome is that?  Really awesome.

We’re starting it off right, by going to see Batman tonight at midnight.  How cool is that?  Really cool.  We leave for the airport at 3am.  We are truckin right through it all.

You’re only young once…..  LET’S DO IT!

JeffEkblad

Any guitar players out there who have any remote interest in tone, and/or the David Crowder Band should check out this link (david crowder band recordings).

It allows you to hear just the guitars from the recordings.  I’m tellin ya, their tone’s are gnarly.  I mean, most of em sound terrible by them selves.  But when you go back and listen to the final version, it’s definitely in there.  Not every song has the sweet solo’d guitar mp3 support, but a lot of cool ones do.

The guys right pretty cool parts too.  Electric players who are “too cool” to use a capo should be taken out back and shot.  These guys have capo’s every where, and that’s why their parts sound awesome.  Sweet open riffs in any key.  Don’t tell anyone, but I’ve been doing this on my recordings for awhile.  The capo makes it easier to play difficult parts with long stretches and keep the tuning better.  Shhhhhhh…….  People think i’m a good guitar player.  Don’t ruin it now!

If not, here’s how to fix it.

Six ways to make people like you

1. Become genuinely interested in other people.
2. Smile.
3. Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
4. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
5. Talk in terms of the other person’s interests.
6. Make the other person feel important - and do it sincerely.

(from how to make to make friends and influence people, by Dave Carnegie)

Remembering names is the hardest thing in the world.  I’ve tried and failed so many times it’s sad.  The last mishap was me calling my guitar students Dad “Neil”in front of his entire family and friends when his name was actually “Todd”.  This is one of those guys who is killer nice and would never stand up and say, “Hey moron, my name is Todd”.  Which means that it went on for a good 12 minutes before someone corrected me.

Do you make other people feel important?  Have you tried?

Have I ever made you feel important?  Well, I’m going to keep trying.  And trust me, it’s WAY easier to get what you want that way. 

I spent a lot of time trying to figure out which midi controllers to buy.  I’m pretty happy with my purchases, but when you see something like this, you’re just like: “zam!”

Click here to see the Audiopad