You know everything there is to say about marrying off a daughter, so I'll let the picture speak for itself. -MrMandolin

In about 16 days from now, I'll be walking my oldest daughter down the isle to marry a fella who is a fairly neat guy. (He'd BETTER be; especially to my oldest!). I married off my youngest a few years ago, and worry about HER every day as well, but the "firstborn" is a sensitive subject with me. The RSVP's come in every day now, and checks are being written as fast as crickets hop in my front yard. The phone rings constantly, with some plan or idea or scheduled event, and just like Steve Martin in "Father Of The Bride" I'm in "overwhelmed" land most days. It's a very good thing that my wife is in charge of the budget, so that we can survive this, and get her through four years of college as well. We could be (probably WILL be) penniless when this is all said and done, but there's always more money to be found if you work for it, so I know we'll be fine. Running around the house in our skivys is a plus I'm looking forward to, but I'd always be sure to keep the door locked, and not let my girls take their house keys when they move out. It is true what they say, that time goes so quickly, so my advice is to spend more time with your kids and spouse than your work. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying DON'T be a "hard worker" or anything like that, but to just prioritize your family while they still ARE your family. A day will come when you will look back and see that you gave up many opportunities you could have had with them. One more lil piece of advice I'll offer, because I'm guilty as charged......be sure that the decisions that you make with your kids are not driven by what is convenient for you. I mean to say that when you have to put aside something you'd "like" to do for yourself, in order to do something for your kid, PLEASE choose your kid FIRST. I didn't always do that, and I regret it. There would be years when I can do for "myself" once they are grown, but you can't get back the years when they were no taller than your kneecap and looked up at you with those big trusting eyes. Do your kids a favor and "be there" when it counts, and EVEN when it doesn't matter all that much. The rewards are terrific! -MrMandolin

Recently, I had an opportunity through my employer (my "Day Job" as a QC Technician), to leave my comfortable desk job, and go out in the field and help out the "Field Technicians" with a software upgrade to telecommunications Base Stations, associated with the cellphone towers that ya'll use, for making your cellphone calls. It was interesting to think that in that moment or so of control of the Base Station, that I could be affecting the lives of many users, in the sectors that were controlled by the very Base Stations we were going to be modifying. So there I was, along with a Field Tech who was showing me the ropes, on the sixth floor of an apartment house that needed special Housing Authority personnell to open for us, on top of ice and snow, in a cramped six-by-six plywood structure, squatting down, reading a laptop, and imputing data. For a fifty-year-old guy such as myself, "squatting" is not something I tend to DO for more than a five minute stretch. On this day, (yesterday) I ended up in the squat position for about an hour. Imagine yourself with weak knees (that's what happens when you turn fifty), squatting on top of an icecube, for an hour. Imagine that there is sunshine, but it is still early Spring, so the sun doesn't really do anything to warm you. Imagine that your fingers and feet and face are now frozen and you are trying to do imputs into a laptop which is down by your feet, because there is no suitable alternate location for the laptop. Then imagine that things don't all go well, or as planned, because one of the motors to the antenna fails to respond to the upgrade, and you know you will have to replace it. It is always a "good" thing to be able to have exposure to different facets of your job, or the jobs of others who work with your product, for your company. It stretches your understanding and helps you appreciate more, what your company product does, in the "field." "I" for one, will probably NOT continue to offer my services in this way, since it has been a long time since I did something like "squat" for an hour ,and my body couldn't take it. But it taught me that the folks who I see on rooftops from time to time, or up on a pole, or climbing an antenna, have a better stamina than I do, and go through a ton of grief sometimes, to keep the cellphone working for us, so that we can call "mom" to wish her a happy birthday! -MrMandolin

The intentional misspelling of "Weather" is for the sole purpose of highlighting my "Customer Service Complaint" that I sent to Heaven recently, for the foul weather we just had, here in New England. Here we are, just days from "Spring" and as has happened in years past, (not EVERY year, mind you), we have been hit by a late storm of the heavy, wet and Icy variety, that has really thrown a monkeywrench into our "thaw." Even the Daffodils had stuck their heads out, and now will be freaked out for a while. Along with the Robins, the finches (one that was in our house, flying around recently.....now THAT was an adventure!), and many other creatures that were already messed up by a long running Autumn. Really, we got off easy this year, as our "Winter" didn't start til the first of February, so you'd think we were dodging the bullet, but February and March have made up for the balm of January. Perhaps having more snow, (although it is only a month from my daughters' wedding and she is HOPING for a "Spring" wedding), will give me more of a chance to work out some of those more difficult chord changing patterns, and figure out how to shortcut a couple of runs on the mandolin. I thought of taking a picture of the snow and using it as the title shot for this blog, but you'd have the same disturbed look on your face as our Jack Russell has, so I took a picture of HER, instead! If mowing the grass can be put off for another few weeks, then I guess I'm a happy camper. Not that I'm lazy or anything, but just that "work" is hard enough than to have to add to it constantly. -MrMandolin