I know this movie has made its rounds, but I also know many of you have NOT seen it. This world is full of lies that are so deep they appear to be truths. You owe it to yourselves to see this and hopefully begin to free your minds from systemic enslavement.

So...I have to say that there may be hope- after writing my last blog on these guys, I got a call from a very apologetic and sincere rep from Music123 named Beau(sp?). He had done his homework and knew about my band, so I can only assume he saw my previous flame. Well, they gave me a full refund on my entire order! For once, a company does the right thing in the end. I guess the internet isn't completely useless after all! Someone out there just got some karma points.

We go on around 9:30...

ROCK CHALK... JAYHAWK... KU!

I...am a JAYHAWK if you didn't know. I remember their last NCAA championship win in 1988- I was still in Kansas City finishing up my senior year of high school before making the move to Lawrence. They have been chasing the dream ever since. They always played well through the season and choked when it got tough in tournament play. NOT THIS TIME! This 75-68 OT victory against Memphis comes 20 years after the last win of such magnitude...
OMG GREAT JOB! I'm still screaming and jumping up and down as I type.



Photo by Mike Yoder- from the roof of the Eldridge Hotel looking south in downtown Lawrence.

I'm going to describe another one of my online ordering nightmares now. Long ago I placed an order for some special drum heads from Musician's Friend. All items were "in stock" and would supposedly ship the next day. After nearly TWO MONTHS I disputed the charges and returned my partial order, because basically they were never going to ship the remainder. They were moving their warehouse in Kansas City at the time and had a million excuses why they screwed up my order. No problem- I told myself I would never order from Musician's Friend or rather Musician's Enemy again.
Fast forward eight months...
I'm playing guitar with 3-Way Switch now and my amp needs some new tubes. I decided that since I can't find a matched quartet of 6L6GC tubes anywhere in town, I would order from an online source. I found Music123 and decided to order from them. They had what I wanted and the prices seemed great, so why not. Here's a big why not in my book- little did I know they are MUSICIAN'S FRIEND in disguise! I ordered a quartet (4) of 6L6GC power tubes and five (5) 12AX7 preamp tubes. I received a box within four days containing five 12AX7 tubes and ONE (1) 6L6GC power tube. I rolled my eyes and gave them a call. I talked to someone that promised me they would get it right and he'd send the remaining tubes. I remind them that it's a quartet (4) of matched tubes and I didn't want a mismatched set...I planned to send back the orphan tube. They said don't worry about it. Okay. Days later I got a box and I started salivating thinking I could finally retube my failing amp. DENIED! One (1) freaking tube in the box.
UGHHH!
Not nearly as nice or patient this time I called back and I got someone who apologized profusely and upgraded my shipping to 2nd day air for yet ANOTHER "quartet." The day was Friday, the order was to arrive by Tuesday. It's Tuesday, I just got off the phone to ask them for a tracking number and you know what? The order hasn't even left the damn warehouse. They now have 36 hours to get me my stuff before I cancel the whole order and make them eat return shipping on my partial order.
Q: HOW DO BUSINESSES LIKE THIS STAY IN BUSINESS?
A: I...don't...KNOW!!!
Don't buy from Musician's Friend. They have horrible customer service and their warehouse is not in touch with their website or what it offers. Sometimes you get what you ordered and sometimes you get someone else's interpretation of what your order should be. If you have had good luck with them, all I can say is eventually your luck will run out and when that time comes...prepare for ultimate frustration.
BUYER BEWARE these are all the same company online: musiciansfriend.com, guitarcenter.com, music123.com, musician.com, privatereserveguitars.com, LMI, and giardinelli.com

A tiny person weighing only six pounds and on a liquid diet cries constantly for more. "Gimme more- waaaaah. Gimme more- waaaaah." So, for those of you unfamiliar with the diaper duty (or doody)- how many diapers do you think a newborn goes through in a 24 hour period? Four or five? Seven or eight? Maybe ten? I'll put the answer in the comments of this post while I "contemplate this on the tree of woe." The answer might startle you no-baby having, "nestled-nasty" neophytes out there.

Viv and Azi taking a nap. When Viv graduates high school, Azi will be in 4th grade. Some people think we're nuts for having our kids so far apart, but I think we're borderline geniuses because of it.

The Clash knew what they were talking about: "career opportunities are the ones that never knock." Sometimes you have to take a chance.

Things are always changing at my house...never a dull moment. With a new baby, many a remodeling project and a band that's getting ready to record, I thought to myself... "why not switch companies too!" I decided to leave Prudential Northwest Realty and try something different in the real estate world. Megan is still an agent with Prudential and I have passed on my domain, jetcityrealty.com, to her. I however now work for a real estate search and referral site called Estately.com. This is my one-month anniversary! Why the switch? 40% foresight, 20% boredom and 40% cash flow. The subprime collapse, new lending guidelines and nervous buyers made for a weak 2007. Many of my deals slipped on closing dates due to lenders over-promising and under-delivering. Frustration with crappy LENDERS is probably the number one reason I left the sales end of real estate. I moved my license to a company that refers business out to other agents and I couldn't be happier about it. The risk exposure of TWO sales agents in a household is great and enough to keep you up at night- having just one of us on the sales-end of things seemed like no-brainer, risk management.

Estately is a great company where I can utilize more cerebrum and gain useful brokerage experience in the process. We are growing quickly and I'm tasked with researching and planning much of this growth. It's been a few years since I've worked for a tech company, but it's quickly coming back to me. And unlike working for Amazon, the small infrastructure means things get done with fewer SNAFUs along the way. Seriously...don't get me started on what it was like to work for Amazon.com.

So here's the first post of possibly many for all of our family and friends out there who are anxious to know what's going on: Megan had the baby (it's a girl) 5:35PM 2/22/2008! Both Mom and baby are healthy and doing fine. Azi Faye Brannock is a full-term feather-weight, weighing in at only 5lbs 3.7ozs but she is 18.5” long and heavy enough to go home!

Megan had an interesting labor. She had contractions off and on for about a day and a half. I worked from home just in case and had the car packed with all of our stuff. Typical overly prepared, worrisome Dad. We arrived at the hospital after calling our doctor to get a go ahead. Before Megan could say “sesquipedalianism” nurses were asking if she was ready for her epidural. It is precisely at this time that things became...humorous. They admitted her, gave her the epidural and within 20 minutes, Megan was all smiles. She had occasional uncomfortable contractions, but proceeded to read the March edition of Lucky Magazine while undergoing the most difficult part of labor. She was freakin' crowning before someone told her “hey, you'd better start pushing!” Literally two little pushes and a big push later, Azi was born.