time off

so i'm sitting here pretty frustrated. it seems there is never really time off. even being home from the road, there are emails and phone calls. unpacking trailers to sort out gear, fix things. you get the idea. well, this week off is no different. this is day number two of me working on my console, a Flying Pig Systems Wholehog IPC .


yesterday it was replacing a battery that keeps all the internal computer settings when the console is turned off. not a terribly hard job. its just that digging around in a console, even to do a simple procedure, can be a lot like surgery. it doesnt matter that the process is simple, there is always the chance something could go wrong. and what happens when something CAN go wrong? it does. just after replacing this simple battery... so my whole console stops working. i can get to my cues and such, but it wont play them. sparing you guys the boring details, i have been on the phone with Mitch Peebles at High End, the company that supports my console. after about an hour on the phone going through every possible scenario we could think of, he tells me to save what i can and reload the software. start from scratch. there is a possibility that my show has become corrupt. how, we havent figured out, but, we will find out soon. as i sit here writing this my console is getting a fresh load of new software. pretty nerve racking. if something doesnt come together right, i could lose everything and have to start over with all my programming. pretty lame considering we have a few pretty big shows coming up.

Nacogdoches Red Dirt Round Up
opening for Dierks in Red Rocks, CO
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opening for Gary Allan in Council Bluff, IA

anyways, it would be nice to not have to start over. here's to hoping!

well, the homefront is pretty much the same. as most of you know, vanessa and i are expecting. march 22nd is the due date. same as my dad's birthday and cody's dad's birthday. i'm hoping for a boy. i need a little more testosterone in the house while i'm out on the road. estrogen seems to permeate everything in this house. if it's a girl that will mean three girls all seven and under. that means when madison turns thirteen, there will be at least one if not two, teenage girls in the house for the next seven years. i can hear my hair turning gray and falling out. i'm excited no matter the outcome. it will have a little bit of me and a little bit of vanessa. hopefully it will take on each of our more shining qualities rather than the more stubborn sides that both vanessa and i have.

the girls are doing good. they seem happy to be back home from a long summer. happy to be in their own beds. happy to have their toys. happy to have mommy and daddy in the same place for more than a day or two. just happy. they seem really excited about the new baby. makenna asks to lay on the baby. she lays her head on vanessa's belly and rubs it while she lays there. madison asks if the baby got enough to eat whenever vanessa has a meal. they sure are cute.

well, its back to my console. it has finished reloading the software and things are still looking pretty weird. sounds like a trip to austin (where High End is located) is in the near future.