Besides looking really awful, the worn-out bridge was killing my tone.  I noticed this especially when I loaned my bass to another musician who had broken a string. With the exact same amp, cables, and petals, his tone just died when he switched from his bass to mine.

So, I finally decided to fix the problem, and it was really easy and inexpensive.  I did a google search for ‘fender jazz bass replacement bridge’ and came across a company called Stewart-MacDonald who sells lots of replacement parts for stringed instruments.

They had a Gotoh Standard Bass Bridge that seemed to be essentially a direct replacement for the worn-out bridge that I already had. Plus it was only $23.46 plus shipping (which put it just over 30 bucks), so I went ahead and placed the order.

3 days later, the package arrived. Installation could not have been easier. I simply removed the strings and the screws that secured the old bridge and cleaned off all the residual rust that was stuck to the body of my bass.  Then I matched up the new bridge to find that the screw holes matched up perfectly (the new bridge even came with screws that fit the existing holes).  There were also 2 additional screws at the front of the bridge which my old bridge didn’t have, so I drilled a few pilot holes and inserted the included screws. I feel that these additional anchors add great stability and maybe even some sustain.

After I restrung the bass, I noticed that the strings were pretty high on the fingerboard (probably because the old bridge had had bent up over time), so I adjusted the tension rod until the action was just right. My bass plays and sounds SO much better. And the best part is that whenever this bridge gets all worn out I can just replace it again. Here’s a picture of the new bridge with the old bridge next to it to give you an idea of what I was dealing with.

We’re preparing for the new baby, and this weekend we decided to paint the baby’s room. We wanted a forest motif, so we called up my good buddy Rob Doty and he helped us paint a beautiful tree with an owl and acorns. It turned out really great!

The only plant that doesn’t seem to be doing so well is my zucchini.  About a week ago it started getting kind of yellowy around the leaves.  Then, the fruit that had started to develop started to wither and eventually fell off.  There seems to be some life yet, but it’s not looking too good.  Anyone have any suggestions?

Herbs

My herbs are kicking some serious butt.  I’ve been using basil, chives, cilantro, and taragon around my kitchen.  I’m still waiting on my parsley to fill in a bit more, but it should be ready to eat soon.  The only herb that I was unsuccessful with was rosemary.  A few tiny plants popped up be just sat there for weeks not growing, so I pulled them out and planted dill in its place.  The dill is coming up nicely.

Veggetables

I noticed the other day that my peppers were beginning to resemble, well, peppers.  I’m thinkin I’ll have Jalapenos, by the end of next week.

I’ve also got several large green tomatoes.  I’m guessing that some will be ripe in the next few weeks.  I can’t believe how fast these things have grown.

But the biggest success so far is my cucumber plant.  This picture almost doesn’t do it justice.  This cucumber is seriously 6-7 inches long and it seems to grow a TON every day.  I wouldn’t be surprised if it were ready to be picked by the end of the week.

First I hiked through a grove of aspen trees… probably one of my favorite kinds of trees because of the awesome white bark.

There were also about a million tiny streams formed from the melting snow higher up the mountain.

I also played hide and seek with a yellow-bellied marmot.  This one is the lookout.  As I crept up the mountain, this one was standing tall and let out a loud chirp and dozens of prairie dogs dove for cover under the rocks.

And based on the number of tracks in the area, there must be thousands of moose on this mountain.

And the views from up there are just awesome!

“When did you take this?” she asked.

I couldn’t remember, so we checked it out further and determined that the picture had been taken only six days ago, but the plants had grown 50%-75% larger in that time!  I really couldn’t believe it.

Check it out for yourself.  The first pic is the one that was taken 6 days ago and the second one is one that I took just now.  It’s crazy that vegetable plants grown in pots can grow so fast.

Laryn and I live on a tiny lot.  Actually it’s only 1/4 of a full city lot, and the house is technically larger than the lot should realistically sustain, so there really isn’t much real estate for setting up a suburban garden.  I realize that I’m going to need to get creative if I’m going to really produce enough food to offset what we typically buy at the grocery.

Here’s what I’ve done so far…  I dug out a large bed in a sunny spot adjoining my house and deck to use for larger plants and bordered it with cinder blocks.  Here’s what it looks like…

And here’s the plan for how I will turn this bed into a garden that should supply produce through the summer and fall.

I’m also going to be growing lots of herbs and vegetables in pots on our porch.  Here’s where we’re at so far…  We’ve got cilantro, chives, taragon, basil, rosemary, and parsley in one set of pots on the porch…

And we also planted green peppers, banana peppers, and jalapeno peppers in pots at the other end of the deck.

I’m also planning on planting some zuccini and squash on the south side of our house, where there should be ample space for them to grow.  I’ll keep you all updated as I undertake this project.  Does anyone have any recommendations for things that I should plant?

Ingredients

COATING (SUGAR, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED PALM KERNEL OIL†, COCOA PROCESSED WITH ALKALI, WHEY, NONFAT MILK, SOY LECITHIN, SORBITAN MONOSTEARATE, SALT, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, POLYSORBATE 60), SOY PROTEIN ISOLATE, PEANUT BUTTER (PEANUTS, HYDROGENATED RAPESEED AND COTTONSEED OIL, SALT), CORN SYRUP, INULIN, FRUCTOSE, SUGAR, RICE STARCH, POLYDEXTROSE, RICE CEREAL (RICE, WHEAT GLUTEN, SUGAR, DEFATTED WHEAT GERM, SALT, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, WHEY, MALT FLAVORING, REDUCED IRON, NIACINAMIDE, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE [VITAMIN B6], RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2], THIAMIN HYDROCHLORIDE [VITAMIN B1], FOLIC ACID, VITAMIN B12), DEXTROSE, CONTAINS TWO PERCENT OR LESS OF CALCIUM CARBONATE, SOYBEAN AND PALM OIL WITH TBHQ FOR FRESHNESS, GLYCERIN, SORBITOL, SALT, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, ASCORBIC ACID (VITAMIN C), SOY LECITHIN, MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, XANTHAN GUM, POLYSORBATE 80, D-ALPHA TOCOPHEROL (VITAMIN E), NIACINAMIDE, ZINC OXIDE, REDUCED IRON, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B6), VITAMIN A PALMITATE, RIBOFLAVIN (VITAMIN B2), THIAMIN HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B1), ALMOND FLOUR, PARTIALLY DEFATTED PEANUT FLOUR, WHEAT STARCH, VITAMIN B12, FOLIC ACID, BHT FOR FRESHNESS, VITAMIN D.
† LESS THAN 0.5g TRANS FAT PER SERVING

Read the full nutritional facts here.

So, the coating looks like it mostly composed of sugar and fat, and the middle is mostly corn syrup, fructose, sugar, and high fructose corn syrup.  In what world is this a healthy thing to eat?

I don’t care how much protein these things have in them.  If you eat foods with that much processed sugar in them, you will not lose weight.

Looking for a healthy snack?  Try eating an apple.  Need protein?  Eat a handful of almonds.

I wrote ‘Vibe’ about the feeling of the final shavasana… That feeling of totally letting go.  This is just the rough demo.  I intend to record it with sitar and tambora samples as well as tabla drum samples.

Enjoy!

Download Vibe Now

So, 3 weeks ago I started doing Yoga every day.  Well, almost every day.  5 days a week.  And this is the hard hot kind of Yoga that kind of hurts in a good way.

I initially started doing it to get a little more fit and hopefully gain a little agility.  Little did I know the true power of Yoga.

Yoga is far from just an exercise for the body.  For me, Yoga is exercise for the mind and spirit as well.  I’ve noticed countless benefits from my Yoga practice.

I sleep much better.  I feel stronger.  I’m more relaxed.  I’m better at sales.  I’m more productive with my time.  I’m more peaceful at home.  In fact, it seems that all the things I always wanted for myself are coming into fruition.

So why don’t I care about my gut any more?

I feel stronger and more agile.  I’ve lost a lot of my back fat.  I’ve gained muscle tone.  This excites me.  I’m sure at some point my gut will start to subside, but I’m honestly not working towards that any more.  I’ve got new goals now… getting better every day.

Because of the crazy amount of stuff that I post on all these sites, I decided to outline some topics that I will be covering in the future on this site.

1. Yoga – I recently started practicing vinyasa flow yoga pretty rigorously and it’s really been transforming a lot of my views on life… as well as making my body stronger than it’s been in years.  I’d like to chronicle this journey through posts on this site.
2. Minimalism – Two things happened last September.  First, A&E started airing a show called Hoarders, which documents people who compulsively collect and hoard things.  Second, a blog called mnmlist.com was launched that outlined the principals of minimalism.  This combination made me realize that I had WAY too much stuff and I’ve been spending a lot of my time since then reducing the amount of possessions that I keep.
3. Music – While I’ve got several online outlets for all the music projects that I’m involved with, I want to use this site to help promote my songwriting and solo shows that I occasionally do.  Fun stuff.
4. Spirituality – I don’t go to church particularly often.  I’ve always been extremely interested in spirituality.  Recently I’ve been reading the Bible several times a week, as well as Hindu, Buddhist, and Jewish texts.  I’ve got lots of ideas about how I live my life that I’d love to discuss.
5. Food – My wife and I are extremely against commercial food production.  We strive to find workable models for consuming healthy natural food.  This is a huge issue for us.  We avoid eating factory farmed meat and eggs as well as non-organic fruits and vegetables.  Not easy to do in March, but we do our best.
6. Life – Listen, there are a lot of facets that make up a human being.  This is my place to explore every facet.