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Another Catch-Up Post, News, Etc.

Let's start with a bang, shall we? Last post, I mentioned I had some some cool news to announce regarding a change in our family. That change? My wife is resigning from work, too, so that we can turn our full attention on RAILhead Effects! Risky and exciting — but somehing we've both wanted to have happen for a while now — and we're totally stoked! But just so you know, we have a backup plan, so don't worry about us if things never get massive — but I don't expect us to have to worry about that.

Anyway, it'll be cool for her not to have to put in 50 hours a week at a 7:00am to 4:45pm job for a change.

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We had a 3 hour meeting with our CPA yesterday, and it was great. I know that sounds like an oxymoron, but it's true! We needed some help getting QuickBooks setup properly, so he showed us the ins and outs of using it, as well as all the other fun stuff regarding taxes, exemptions, etc. One point we rested on for a while — and I bring it up for my fellow small business owners — is that you all should have filed tax exemption certificates with your vendors. I think I may have mentioned this "tip" before, but it's worth bringing up again, because it can save you LOADS of money. The purpose is to keep from paying tax on things twice, so if you buy something that will in turn be sold by you, and you're required to charge tax, you don't need to be taxed on your initial purchase of the item.

For example, I buy components from Mouser, which is based here in Texas. Since the parts I buy will go into a product I sell, and those items are taxable, I don't need to be charged tax on my purchase of those parts because I will be collecting tax at the point of sale. For us photographers, the same applies for stock paper, ink, framing cards, etc.

I'll throw out there, too, that if you're a small business and you think you're doing your taxes correctly, I'll wager $1000 that you're not. There are so many loops and strings of red tape, there's no way your Average Joe/Jane can file taxes properly (until you fully understand everything). Do yourself a massive favor and go see a legit CPA — not the dude or gal at H&R Block. Spend the money on the real deal, because chances are, they'll save you whatever their fee will be.

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I've decided that I'm going to get a tattoo, and it's going to be a modified version of our Family Crest. Here's a rough draft:

The critical inclusions are the red lion, the boar's head, the fleurs-de-lis, the 3 green, five-leafed Potentilla rose plants, the iris, and the motto "Juncta arma decori," which means "arms united to glory." The numbers at the top are the birth years of my Dad, Mom, Brother, Sister, me, and then my wife (my Family Clan). I'm also deciding where, exactly, I'll get it — but I'm leaning toward all around my right shoulder or right, upper shoulder/back area.

As for who will do it, I'm planning on making a little mini-vacation so that an artist at High Voltage Tattoo in Hollywood, CA can ink it — but I haven't decided which one yet. I'm leaning toward Dennis, Khoi, Nate, or Hanna (especially Hanna). We'll see. For those out of the loop, High Voltage Tattoo is the ink shop featured on L.A. Ink on TLC. Nothing against the local guys, but there's a lot of detail in my design, and I really want a "top-of-the-line" artist to do the work.

I still have to tweak the shape of the shield and motto banner, but the above is the basic idea.

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Speaking of art and stuff, I finalized my RAILhead Effects stickers:

You now get one (two) in every order, and I'll be selling them from the site too. Cool!

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That's it for now...

Posted at 8:19am CDT | Permalink | Comments (2)

February Already?

Time flies, no? Let's play a bit of catch-up...

First off, the trailer for the new transformers movie can be seen on the movie's official site. Transformers: Rise of the Fallen is set for release 6-29-09, and I'm really looking forward to it. Another movie that I'm somewhat interested is the upcoming G.I. Joe flick, G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra. We shall see...

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I have another massive announcement to make about a cool change in the family — and no, we aren't having kids. I can't let the lid off just yet, but it's cool to us, so I'll share soon.

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The input on my subwoofer isn't being triggered via the receiver's LFE output like it should, and it's ticking me off. Don't you hate it when that happens (the LFE, not the ticking me off)?

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I'm adding some new enclosure designs to my guitar effects pedal lineup: etched art. I don't know if I'll do this for all my pedals, but I know for sure I'll be doing it with my PURE Clean Boost. I haven't officially released or announced, but here's what it looks like:

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I'm loving watching Adama get his groove back. Can I get a witness?

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LOST? Awesome. I thought I'd hate it, but the more I think about where they're going, the more I'm liking it. Far out? You bet. REALLY far out? Correctamundo. Do I like it? Heck yeah.

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My wife washed my favorite flat cap for me the other day — without my "authorization" — and I thought she ruined it. Apparently wool + Woolite + water makes wool stink. Holy crap, did it stink. I was really peeved about it, knowing how hard it would be to replace that hat — but now that it's dry, it's all nice and clean smelling. It stunk like zombie brains for a day or two. Why? Beats me.

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Here's a custom build I made for a guy in Australia:

He wanted 2 tap-tempos in one shell, positioned as you see here. The switch closest to the player is short, and the far switch is taller. Both outputs are at the top. Custom builds are booming right now, which is totally cool — I just need to take more pics of them before shipping them out!

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Okay, time for bed now. I'm exhausted and don't feel like proof-reading any of this, so hopefully it isn't too bad....

Posted at 11:24pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (2)

Something New…

I've been spending far too much time in the cave that is my effects shop, and the dark has birthed something quote monstrous:

Keep your eyes peeled for more...

Posted at 11:36pm CDT | Permalink

Sneak Peeks

Here's a sneak peek of some upcoming, new, guitar effect designs I'm thinking of releasing:

Check out my effects site here: RAILhead Effects.

Posted at 9:15am CDT | Permalink | Comments (0)

Friday Random

Today we started Dad's Phase 1 clinical trial (MLN8237) cancer medication. So far, so good — no complications at all. We'll have a second dose before he crashes tonight, then we're back up here for more blood work. There's nothing in this medicine that should affect his pulmonary system, but he's still pretty apprehensive at just the thought. We're praying and hoping he won't even know he's taken the medication outside of it killing what little cancer remains in him.

If you're the praying type, please continue to badger God, asking that He extend His mercy and compassion even further upon Dad. The cancer is dying, but we need his lungs to recover. Please pray for divine, supernatural healing.

And while you're praying, please remember Liz, my good friend's Mom. They're waging their own battle with this crap, and they would appreciate the prayers.

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I'm in the process of releasing a new line of my effect pedals, meaning: same guts, different exterior. The Wife and I are working on some prototypes, and if I like them, I may go for it. The pricing will probably stay the same, but the look will be totally different. Our mental ideas are really cool, so we'll see how things pan-out.

I've been having a great time building custom pedals for several repeat customers. I'm really looking forward to finishing a 5 channel effects loop for a client — it'll be my biggest build yet, weighing-in at a whopping 10-inches in length (horizontal). I'll be adding a gallery to RAILhead Effects in the near future.

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To complete our home entertainment system, I snagged some sweet new gear: a Polk SurroundBar 50 (The Wife won't let me run speakers all over the house, so I had to use a sound bar), an Onkyo TX-SR806 receiver, and a Polk DSW MicroPRO 1000 subwoofer.

The SurroundBar 50 can max out at 150 watts per channel (it sports 5 channels), and provides a crazy-accurate 5.1 surround experience. This mother is potent. The Onkyo pushes 130 watts per channel and handles 7.1 (which i may get to one of these days). I also like the 5 HDMI inputs, and so far, I am totally loving this receiver. As for the sub, I wanted something small enough to fit behind our TV since The Wife refuses to let me have visible gear. It's powered with 1200 watts, so it pushes all kinds of low-end rumble — and it's really tight and articulate.

I'm still finessing everything, but even right out of the box, it sounds dadgum incredible — and it gets plenty loud for our large living area. I'll post some pics soon, since I'm sure you're all dying to see it. =)

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24 has begun, and may I say, I am LOVING it. I'd like to be Jack Bauer sometimes. Well, I'd really prefer to be Charlie Crews, but Bauer would be cool, too.

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Okay, that's it — my back and rear are killing me from sitting in this chair at MD Anderson for so long, so I'm going for a walk...

Posted at 6:32pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (1)

Late-Night Ramblings

It seems like it's been months since I posted anything — but it's only been 10 days. Crazy. Boat-loads of stuff is happening, so do the rundown...

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We begin Plan B on killing Dad's chemo this coming Monday, and we'll do by starting a brand-new trial drug: MLN8237, a novel Aurora A Kinase inhibitor. Less than 3 dozen people have used this drug, so no one is 100% sure how well it will work — but it's a good place to start before going back to more standard regimens. Since MLN8237 works on a more molecular level (by basically confusing DNA at a cellular level), the overall toxicity to the human body should be dramatically less than standard treatments. This is good for Dad, as we don't want his breathing to get any worse. This also means we will be spending a lot more time on the road, getting blood work twice a week — sometimes for 6 hours a day. But of course, the Family would drive to MD Anderson 10 days a week if it means Dad will get better — so no biggie!

Please keep him in your prayers and thoughts. Sometimes we must go through the valley before we stand upon the mountain of God.

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Everybody and their brother is ordering my red Pulse Tap-Tempo with Dots. What's up with that? Not that I'm complaining, of course — but I would have thought metallic blue would be the big seller. I have 6 more to make this weekend, plus Peaches and ios. Thank goodness I don't have a 9 hour a day job any longer, as my effect building is growing more and more.

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I want a saltwater aquarium, but my wife won't let me have one. =(

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Sunday mornings are my favorite mornings, because I'm usually the only person up and outside on our block. I like how, sometimes, when you walk outside on a calm morning, you're just surrounded by this blanket of silence. It's a feeling similar to when a storm or cyclone quickly sucks the wind out of an area, and you feel silence — literally feel it. I love that feeling. That suspension. That absence. It's what I imagine stopping time would be like, and in those moments, I can hear whatever I want, see whatever I want. It's what I imagine Eden was like, oh so many years ago. Suspended — able to hear all, see all, notice all, ignore all. Precisely tuned to everything around you — but able to switch off the noise of Life. It's what I imagine crawling into God's arms is like: supremely calm, insulating, comforting, at peace amid the chaos.

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I've had to turn down 14 photography clients this month, and I hate it. And I don't mean to say I "hate it" because I'm too busy doing other stuff — it's just that I'm unable to take on new work right now, so I hate having to turn them down. Such is life.

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My Lunesta has finally bested the over-caffeination I indulged in, so I'm off to bed only to rise early...

Posted at 12:30am CDT | Permalink | Comments (1)

So It’s 2009…

Well, it's 2009 and it doesn't seem all that different from 2008 — or even 2007, for that matter. Nevertheless, last year was a good one — mostly.

For the geek in me, after a couple of years of waiting, I finally bought the Mac Pro Tower I always wanted: the top of the line 3.2GHz Quad Core with an 8800 GT 512MB video card, 1TB of internal storage, and 16GB of RAM. That was a nice treat, and something that's already paid for itself twice over.

The musician in me also bought the guitar I've always wanted: my Gretsch G6196T Country Club in Cadillac Green. Pure honey. Oh, sweet Moses, I love this guitar.

The entrepreneur in me started RAILhead Effects: my own line of custom guitar effects. RHFX has been awesome on all kinds of levels, and I cant to see what 2009 brings us!

The philanthropist in me fell in love with the children of Kenya, and this brought about the birth of Charity4, my "vehicle of advocacy." 2009 holds BIG plans, so stay tuned for that!

The son in me came under stress, as we found out Dad has cancer. The last half of 2008 has revolved around getting him better, and the battle is still being fought — and we are all hopeful and confident we will see victory. However, it's been rough seeing Dad get sick and to watch him be so uncomfortable. I hate seeing him feel bad, and I hate that he's going through this — but I love how it's brought our already crazy-close family even closer together.

The employee in me resigned from my position at my Dad's old company so that I could be available to help Dad and Mom with all manner of things. That was odd: being 35 and resigning from a really, really great job. Thankfully, my parents have a few other small business, and I was able to be hired to work as a sort of Financial Manager for one of their partnerships. We're still getting things rolling, but once everything is moving, I have a feeling this will be one of the busiest jobs I've ever had (next to working for UPS, of course).

The husband in me spent another wonderful year with my best friend at my side — for 11 years, and counting.

The photographer in me scored loads of great jobs, clients, magazine prints, book publish shots, web content exclusives, contest wins, etc., etc. I haven't been shooting as much over the last several months (for obvious reasons), but 2008 was my best year ever.

So, looking back, 2008 was great — but it had its share of bad with Dad getting sick. 2009 looks promising on all fronts, and I can't wait to see what Life will throw at our family — and how we will deal with it as a unit. I'm looking forward to my first International travel and mission trip to Kenya, where I'll get to see some of the wonderful children I've fallen in love with. I can't wait for what lies ahead for Charty4 and RAILhead Effects. I can't wait for my Dad to be cured of cancer. I can't wait to see what God will do, and how He will move. The fortune I got in a fortune cookie a few weeks ago sums it up best:

"A refreshing change is in your future."

So be it.

Posted at 6:24pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (1)