From the Mind of MandoRon

Occasionally, my son Jett has been known to sport a fauxhawk.  So when he asked me to shave his head today (he wanted to be bald like dad…) I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to give him a real mohawk.

So I shaved most of his hair off and put some “product” in his hair to give him a mohawk.  He looked realy cool!

But he hated it.  He made me shave the rest of his hair off…

Oh well.  At least I got pictures.

Seven years and nine months ago, my wife was having outpatient surgery.  The nurses were acting really odd that morning as they got her ready.  After about an hour, the doctor comes in and tells us that there was a change in plans. 

I was thinking “crap, he’s got to go deliver a baby and we’ll be here all day.”  He told Andrea that she was pregnant, and he wouldn’t be able to put her under using general anesthesia.

Apparently, they always test women of child-bearing age before surgery just in case.  The nurses didn’t know if it would be good news or bad news so they waited and made the doctor tell us. 

He knew that we’d been trying for years and that Andrea had been undergoing fertility treatments.  We had just recently given up because they weren’t working, and had started talking about public adoption.  In fact, the fertility doctor had told us that it was impossible for her to get pregnant that month.  Guess he was wrong!

Andrea went to the store later that day and bought several pregnancy tests to check for herself.  When we made an appointment with the fertility clinic for an ultrasound confirmation, they told us we were crazy but we could come in anyway.  I thanked the doctor after the ultrasound, but he said “don’t thank me, I didn’t do anything.”

Andrea was in shock for at least a month.  Serious disbelief. It was kind of funny actually.  She was also mad at me because I called everyone I knew while she was in surgery, and she didn’t get to tell anyone.  Not that she was capable of doing it anyway in her state of shock.  When we found out that Jett was coming, I did let her tell everybody.

Nine months later, Jada Noel came into our lives.  Her middle name is Noel because her conception was nothing short of a Christmas miracle. (FYI - My son’s middle name is Immanuel because Andrea’s due date was Christmas Eve.)

Here name comes from a Seventh Day Slumber song called “Jada”.  I emailed the band after she was born.  They thought that was pretty cool.

Today she turns seven.  Not quite a girl, not quite a woman.  Or at least it seems that way somedays…

Parenting is really hard work some days.  We have a huge responsibility to raise kids that will not only not be a burden on society, but actually contribute and help make the world a better place.  That weighs heaviliy on me.  They are little sponges that pick up everything, both good and bad.  She makes me a better person.  She’s my blessing from God.

Andrea and Jada are watching Dancing With the Stars because the Jonas Brothers are making an appearance.  I wasn’t interested until they came on and one of them was playing electric mandolin, an 8-string Epiphone Mandobird.

Wednesdays alway make me think of Eskimo Joe’s.  Every Wednesday they have the Hump Day Special, and you can Little Joe burgers cheap.  Two of those and some cheese fries and you’re good to go!

The cool (and edgy) people over at Deadly Viper have a new thing going called Love Takes Balls.  This is all part of their People of the Second Chance campaign.  I’m honestly struggling with this a bit.  I agree with the spirit of it.  But my Southern Baptist upbringing is welling up.  I can’t say that I’d be comfortable wearing a t-shirt with the logo on it. 

I’m working on a couple of cool things for the blog.  In order to get some “real” content (which I’ve been struggling with as of late), I’ve invited a couple of people to write some guest posts.  Should be some cool stuff coming in over the next month.  I’m also pondering a recurring Musician Monday where I interview musicians.  Stay posted.

My dad saw Santana in concert last week in OKC.  He sent me a link to an article in the Daily Oklahoman.

This quote jumped out at me:

“… if we can bring music, which we will do our best to do, that would allow people to look at each other through the eyes of Christ. Then there will be more kindness, compassion, patience, understanding, sweetness, all the things that are missing right now because there’s too much fear on TV, too much anger, people each other and fighting each other.”

As a musician, that is quite a mission - to change people’s lives with our music.

The mandolin is sold, but feel free to read anyway…

It’s time to part ways with the mandolin that put the “mando” in MandoRon.  I’m selling my first mandolin, a Kentucky KM-380s.  It’s going on the market because I don’t ever play it since I bought the Breedlove, and I need to fund an in-ear monitor purchase.

The specifics:

Kentucky KM-380s mandolin in good condition.  I bought it new from E.M. Shorts in Wichita, KS in April of 2004.  There’s no significant issues that I’m aware of.  There is a small discoloration area on the binding where the body attaches to the neck.  It was that way when I bought it.  There are several small dings on the bottom side where I had a Fishman carpenter jack attached until recently.  Other minor stuff like pick scratches and small dings here and there, but nothing significant.  Some tarnishing on the tailpiece.  I’ve got corrosive sweat.  It could probably easily be shined up.  Also the fingerboard extension was scooped by a woodworker friend of mine.  He did a great job.  It looks like it came that way.

It comes with an A-style case.  I paid $55 when I bought the mandolin.  I think it’s a Canadian brand.  It’s in okay shape aesthetically, but structurally good.  The mandolin is a loose fit in the case, so I use a cloth/towel to get a snug fit. 

I’ll also throw in a nearly new Levy’s strap and a package of D’Addario J74 strings because the strings need replaced.  (Or I guess I could put the new strings on for you.)

[links deleted after mandolin was sold via the classifieds at mandolincafe.com]

More pictures…