Meet Minnie

I have been wanting to purchase a new guitar for some time now but have been torn as to which guitar to buy.

The decision was between a new acoustiic electric for church and a 3/4 size travel acoustic guitar.

The thing is, my Ovation guitar that I play at church sounds great. It needs a little TLC but other than that it works well. Every Sunday I lead our worship band and the congregation and I like the way it sounds. But I never bring it home because it is too much of a hassle.

Lugging intruments around is something I didn't mind doing for a number of years but now that I have an office at Church I leave my guitar there ready for me when I get there for rehearsal or for worship.

So naturally I should have just gone with the 3/4 sized guitar but I couldn't justify it. It's not like I am travelling all that much these days. Why would I buy a little guitar as opposed to a large one?

Well, an after noon in Guitar Center answered that. I knew I did not want to replace my main guitar and if I was going to have a guitar at home to practice songs on, why get something crazy big. Why not get a well made a guitar but a smaller size and be able to bring it with you wherever you go? Makes sense right?

When I was in the store I played a Baby Taylor that felt really good and sounded good too! I really had fun playing it and was almost sold when my son grabbed a Mini Martin and told me to try that.

You had me at the first strum! Wow! The feel, action, sound, and even smell of this mean was amazing. I found a sales associate and told him I wanted to take her home. He checked his computer and they had a brand spanking new one in the back for me. He brought it out in the box and in it was a sweet gig bag that protects it well.

I made sure I picked out a nice strap, got a tuner, stand, and a capo. Having everything I need at home and with me wherever I go was essential. 

And now I play Minnie all the time. I leave her right next to my computer so I can look up music online and rock out whenever I want to. It sounds amazing and plays like a normal size guitar.

Hopefully some of the songs that have been creeping and crawling around in my head will make there way onto her strings and an actual song will be born.

But for now I will strum and pick and hug my new baby.

You Tube Tuesday #243

I am music lover as you know and this is one of the coolest videos I have seen in a while.

It's a history of lyrics that aren't really lyrics at all and wow, can this girl sing!

Enjoy!

Hold the Gin

Saturday morning started with the worst leg cramp I think I have ever had.

The only way to describe the feeling that I felt like my muscle was being torn off of the bone. It was like something was trying to pull my calf muscle off of my body.

I tried to stand up but when I moved than my thigh muscles started cramping.

My wife yanked off the covers and grabbed my foot to try and point my foot towards my face to release that muscle but she couldn’t do it. She pushed with all her might but the muscle would not give.

I was shouting it heard so bad (sorry neighbors). I finally jumped up onto the floor quick enough for my thighs not to cramp and tried pushing my foot into the floor. My toes were pointed downward in a deformed way and my calf muscle was still constricted. I held onto the desk so I would not fall and finally was able to put all my weight on the foot and the cramp stopped.

I walked all around the house and kept stretching the muscle as much as I could.

I usually have terrible leg and hand cramps when my bg is high. I was 135 when I finally checked and my Dexcom showed that I was lower when I woke and the stress probably brought it up a bit.

My wife had heard that Tonic Water can help with cramping. I did what any nerd would do and checked the internet. Turns out there is some benefit as long as you do not drink too much. There is a mineral in Tonic Water that can cause some nasty side effects but one glass a night is not a big deal.

I picked up some diet Tonic Water and choked down one small glass last night. Who knows if it helped or not but I did not cramp at all although since Saturday it feels like there is a giant knot in my calf. When I walk it hurts a lot. I keep trying to massage it out but does not seem to be working.

I can deal with a limp for a while as long as I don’t EVER have to wake up like that.

Oh my gooses, it hurt so bad it was making sick to my stomach.

Have you ever had leg cramps like this?

Three Out Of Four

Remember when you were a kid and you would play that game with your friends? The “Question” game that I think all kids play, and adults play with kids and some adults play with adults!

It’s when we ask each other about what we wish our future could be. Maybe which career we would choose or if we were stuck on an island what breakfast meat would we bring with us. You know, stuff like that.

Whenever I played this game my answers always stayed the same.

“Do you want to get married one day and be a dad?”

YES! Even as a little kid I knew I would be a dad one day.

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

My answer was always, “an actor.”

I loved being other people and personas. The way an actor can bring a story to life and make you feel what the character is feeling. I love that.

I have been able to be in a few plays in my after school days and even was able to direct one! I am definitely not an actor but that is still my dream.

“If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?”

My friends would say, “The Moon,” “Disneyland,” or “Chuck E Cheese’s.” Not me though. My answer was the same from when I was a wee kid in Pre-School all the way up until High School.

Australia.

I have had a fascination with Australia all my life. Maybe because it was so far away. Maybe it was the Koala bears. Olivia Newton John? I am not sure but my dream was to visit Australia.

When I was in 8^th grade and playing drums in band we had a special meeting with the band director from the high school I would be attending the following year. He came in and told us that the high school band is planning a 10 day trip to Sydney Australia in two years and that all of us would be able to go as long as we were still in band and raised the funds.

I flipped. I loved being in band anyway and was going to be in drum line in high school. Not to mention AUSTRALIA!! My dream would finally come true! YES YES YES I AM IN!

We ended up going to Sydney the summer before my Sophomore year. We performed all over the Sydney area and were able to stay with host families instead of hotels which was awesome in my book.

The family I stayed with had 4 kids. Some were older and some younger but all were awesome. They fed me vegemite (yuck) and took me to some beautiful mountains sightseeing.

My host “mom” was a huge fan of Days of Our Lives. As was my mom, sisters, grandma, and pretty much everyone in my family. So since we had one TV I would end up sitting there watching it with them during the summer. The funny thing was that the show started two years in Australia after it started in the United States so when the dude with the bandages on his face was cruising around town and no one knew who he was, I did.

I filled “Mom” in on all the story plots she wanted to know about and suggested she make some friendly wagers with her friends as to whether Bo and Hope stay together or not.

The band played at a half time show during a Rugby semi final game and we toured all over town. It was amazing a total dream come true.

*side note* You should know that my future wife was also on this trip and I was already totally in love with her but she didn’t know it yet. You should have seen me trying to get her to notice me. So pathetic! HA.

It was an amazing trip that I hope I am able to make again one day.

But today I get to meet up with one of my friends from online who is coming from Australia! Simon, which many of you know, is here in Los Angeles and as soon as I can get out of work and through traffic I am going to head on over and hang out with my pal.

Simonpalooza as many of my friends are calling it officially happens tomorrow in Kansas City with a bunch of friends meeting up to meet Simon! How cool is that right? But today I get to meet him as he makes his way across the country. So cool.

So as for dreams go, I am married, I am a dad, I have been to Australia, and now I need an acting job. Three out of four isn’t bad right?

Tomorrow Be Diabetes Free

Tomorrow's the day to leave all the diabetes talk behind.

October 7th is “No D-Day” and it means we spend one day not writing about, tweeting about, and Facebook status-ing about Diabetes!

We are more than a disease, a lot more and tomorrow is a day to share some of that. There are many facets to each one of us and since we do talk so much about our D lives, we maybe miss some other cool stuff about each other.

Maybe talk about your family, or your favorite past time. You could post about a great vacation story or a favorite movie.

Tell us a little something about yourself that you want us all to know! 

If you do post about it, be sure and add it to the No D-Day blogroll. It’s located at www.ninjabetic.com/nodday2011 That way there is one place to find them all!

The other side of this non-D coin is Twitter and Facebook. How can we possibly tweet about our day when we have diabetes? It’s easy, don’t mention it. There is more going on in your day than diabetes and tomorrow is a day to share it!

It’s actually not that easy avoiding D-talk all day but, I think it is a positive step in seeing that life is more than diabetes. We are more than a disease!

We give diabetes a lot of attention, let’s spend one day and give the rest of ourselves the spot light.