Okay..  I've never thought of this before, but, how convenient do you think it was for Samuel to climb up on a wall, built around a city most likely to keep people out?  Yeah, I don't think it could have been that easy.  How often do we find any reason at all to get out of doing what God wants us to do?  Well, God told Samuel he...

So two days ago, I found myself on the same stage with the same band I've been with for the past 5 (or so) years, playing pretty much the same songs. Except, this time, something was different.  As I walked around looking at all of the awesome vehicles on the grounds, there was just something wonderful.  I have no idea how to describe i...

Anyone who knows what Helaman 12 is all about is probably wondering how in the world I could label this chapter as "Happiness".  hehe... Yesterday, I was having a very interesting conversation about happiness with a dear friend of mine, and oddly enough, today's chapter was Helaman 12, which of course, talks all about the frailties...

Amazing...  It's almost unbelievable that in the space of less than 13 years, a whole nation can go from being wicked, to almost dying of hunger, to becoming incredibly righteous and prosperous, and then coming back to being so wicked that the combined armies of the Nephites and Lamanites can't defeat the wicked part of the people. I've bee...

So, a few weeks ago, the studio acquired a Jackson electric guitar and didn't really have any experience with it.  So a good friend and client of the studio came in and messed around a bit with it, and using a great dual-mic technique to get the most out of the amp, we managed to get a very, very nice guitar tone out of it. Soon, it will be ...

So, due to the success we've been having with the studio, we were able to upgrade our two in-studio guitars.  We bought a new black Crafter acoustic guitar, which sounds just awesome.  One of the new Herod The Fink tunes will feature the Crafter, and we're excited to get a final mix to see how it sits within the music. We also bought a ...

Amazing.  A couple of chapters ago, I was commenting on the sad state which Nephi found himself in, and the amazing faith he must have had to remain in a state of faithfulness to God, when everyone around him was wicked. I guess that's the way it goes.  God tries us to our breaking point, careful not to give us trials beyond our capabil...

Seems that the testimony of Nephi against the people of Zarahemlah was centered around their disbelief in Christ.  Interesting that, as soon a Satan has control over a people, Christ is the first doctrine which is attacked. Also the story of the finding of the murderer of Seezoram is interesting through the eyes of the foreknowledge of God.&...

Hey Guys, Okay so its been a really really long time since I last wrote anything.  I just recently remembered my password and that is a really big part of my reason for not writing.  I know this is suppose to be like a diary (right or wrong?), but I would perfer to think that its more of a letter to a best friend (hope that don't sound ...

So...  I remember Nephi coming back to his own people and seeing them in a state of wickedness, but I didn't remember that he had just been on a mission where everyone in the land northward rejected his word, too.  That would be an incredible test of faith in an of itself.  Only the most stalwart followers of God, in my view, could t...

We've done it.  We've hit the mother load.  The golden goose has landed. I had the opportunity yesterday to work with one of the most talented musicians I've ever met.  It's somebody I've highly respected the past few years, and have wanted to work with ever since I heard him play.  He's largely unknown, and has requested me om...

This morning, I ended up with a new toy in my hands and as luck would have it, I also had a couple of hours to mess with it. The device is a Logitech QuickCam Orbit AF webcam. I've always had a little interest in videography (nothing compared to my interest in audio, however), and from time-to-time I've tried to get various webcams to work in L...

My mom Is the best mom in the world. My mom is a super woman to me. We used to live in the hood .I really loved it but now we are out of the hood im not mad but my mom tried.And Im so proud of her . Now we are moving on to bigger and better things. My mom is a beautician. I love you mom forever and ever. ...

Name that tune... :) Man... I'm having a hard time thinking of what to write about. (as you can tell from my last post) Hmm..... Ya know... something I think I'm missing in my blog is the fact that I'm going to be a father (again) any day now. Sarah is due on February 10th and it's getting to the point where Collin Ryan Jones could join our...

This was in response to people NOT SUPPORTING OUR TROOPS AND VETERANS.  When the people calling our veterans scumbags and persecuting the people defending them - can defend our nation better than our veterans and soldiers, then they can say something.  and NOT BEFORE!!!! THE ARM OF OUR NATION! READ RIGHT NOW!!! and let me know wh...

Scramjet, a valued client of Advanced Budget Studios (and an amazing band, as well), has recently arrived in the top-ten list of a contest put on by X-96.  Please support them by clicking here and voting for them and their awesome song, "Tread Softly". Thanks, and thank you, Scramjet!  You guys are awesome!  ...

 So, this chapter seems to be about the rise and fall of the people, and the rulers who ruled both in righteousness and wickedness. It seems to mow through a genration with each verse that goes by - very quickly.  I guess this chapter would be a good one to illustrate the Lord's prophets making promises, and then keeping them through la...

I just got done watching this 10-minute video.  I don't even want to pretend I can play the drums anymore. A-freaking-mazing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHDjGtj18X0...

I just arrived home from a most splendid 3-hour church meeting. Yesterday morning I got a call from the elders' quorum president, in which he asked me to teach the priesthood lesson today.  I said yes, and got the information I needed to teach. The lesson was on "Obedience Born of Faith in God".  Well...  I spent about 5 ...

Wow... Three entries in a matter of a couple of hours.  I guess I've got a lot to write. A couple months back, I wrote about a pet-peeve of mine.  Has to do with a phenomenon whereby people claim something doctrinal which really has very little, if any, doctrinal basis at all. Well... I believe I remembered something else which just might...

So, I was on my way to work today, when my phone rang - displaying an unfamiliar number.  With everything going on in my life, I decided it would be a good idea to answer it anyway. Turned out to be a really good idea. Last week, I decided to take the time to draw out plans for the studio and turn them in to the city for approval.  I ...

Something I thought I'd write down, because it took me forever to figure out, has been a bug for at least a year, and nobody seems to be doing anything about it. The bug is quite simple really, and once you know where to look for it, it pretty much stops being a bug due to an extremely easy work-around. The bug is concerning network cards plugg...

While my wife and I were watching The Office tonight, we got wind of President Obama being on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, so we decided to stay up to watch it. Well, I just got done watching it, and before I forget, I have to write down some initial thoughts. To begin, I am by absolutely no means whatsoever any source of any credible politi...

I just got done reading an account of a guy who, for reasons having to do with his own personal HD video editing of his own personal HD videos taken by his own HD camcorder which I suppose he didn't steal, decided to purchase an HD monitor. Due to his desire to experience true HD, for unknown reasons, Microsoft decided to not let him. Although ...

The main thing that stuck out in this chapter was obviously the destruction of Ammonihah.  As I've stated in a previous post, I find it so interesting that one of the judges of Ammonihah was the one who mentioned that "even if thou shalt declare this city shall be destroyed in one day, we shall not believe it."  It was as if the...

Wow....   This will probably be a short entry, but I thought I'd write down what is the first hardware failure of my server! I built this server 3 years ago, and it has been serving up everything that is served in my house (mythtv, web (this site), ftp, ssh, music, photos).  Well... Yesterday evening, we tried to fire up mythtv...

Last Friday, we had the awesome opportunity to meet a fairly incredible group of girls.  They call themselves The Blue Aces, and after having listened to them strum a few chords, I'd say they've earned their title. Their manager contacted me after hearing a few samples from Advanced Budget Studios, and was interested in getting a pilot song...

So lately, I've been experiencing a lot of clients coming in, giving studio time as a gift, and to be honest, I think that is awesome.  As always, ya never know what to expect when a new client comes in, but I've gotta say, anyone who gives the gift of music is probably someone I wouldn't mind hanging around in the studio. As a way of saying...

Today during gospel doctrine class, we got talking about gratitude, and there was an interesting question posed, which I hadn't considered.  It was incredibly vague, but sometimes those are the best questions to ask.  The question was simply, "What do you think of gratitude?" At first, I thought it was a horrible question, b...

I've been working a bit on adding the possibility of video journaling to ILoveMyJournal.com. I'm not 100% sure if it will work well enough for those who are less technically inclined, but today I was able to get a proof-of-concept working. One of my journal entries now has a video (the video is of the UVSC Car Show put on yesterday). Just to ...