My new best friend.

Hello friends!

I'm at home in Houston, listening to the Wall-E soundtrack and the rumbles of the incredible thunderstorm outside. The lights are off and every few minutes the room lights up with a flash of lightning.
I think it's time to introduce all of you to my new best friend, my new Martin traveling guitar. If you plug your ears during the b to f# progression in the verses of Thy Word by Amy Grant, she sounds pretty good :) Above is an artistic rendering by Anne Sisk.
But I should tell you all about how we met. We were at a crazy Austin party, then locked eyes across the crowded room... oh wait- no, wrong story. Let's see. How did it really happen... I had been mourning the loss of singing with the amazing catholicgroove choir every sunday night, and as everyone in the group encouraged me to keep groovin' my way to Alaska, I was feeling a little wimpy as just two vibrating vocal chords and a diaphragm. I decided I should pick up the guitar again, and since I was in the music mecca, Austin, I should probably get one there. And boy was I on to something. I mentioned it to my friend Mark, and he was like, "Are you kidding? My co-workers are going guitar shopping today! You can go along with them." They whisk me off to an awesome pawn shop that specializes in guitars. The shop clerk was awesome, showing some good beginning guitars, when this cute little guitar caught my eye. It was love at first squeal: a Martin traveling guitar at half of the retail price, and the clerk dude invited us out to see him perform at Antone's that evening, which we decided we should definitely go to after stopping by a salad drive-through, with "green goddess" salad dressing, new guitar in hand. Sitting at Antone's, listening to singer songwriters crooning with all their talented might, I felt that I had the full Austin experience. Eileen is happy. :)
One more Austin story: Mark and I had dinner at the original Whole Foods (it reminded me of the ritzy Safeway near Stanford. Only bigger.) Departing, I get a call from Rathi, but while I'm chatting with her at an intersection, a homeless woman working the intersection starts shaking her fist at me and yelling for me to get off the phone. It seems that in Austin, everyone is working for the world to be a better place.