My first out-of-state blog.

Just last night I created my blog, today I'm posting from another state! On my son's birthday trip to the Gibson store. One thing I'd recommend if you have kids: do stuff with them. It really makes a difference. Out of letters, will elaborate l8r.

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Ok, continuation (I'm back in town now, by the way). "Out of letters" - the MMS message format only allows a certain number of characters in the message (well, from my phone at least), so that's why I was "out of letters," and I couldn't remember the e-mail posting address for my blog, so I had to live with the MMS limitation.

As I was saying, I have taken to having a "trip with dad" on the kids' birthdays (sometime near, anyway). Since often Dad is the one who's not making enough time for the kids (and that's something I'm trying to work on, really!) it gives a chance for the child to have some one-on-one time with Dad, that child getting my full and undivided attention for a day (or more if the trip is overnight or longer, which so far has only occurred once). A couple of weeks ago my daughter and I went to see Phantom of the Opera in a nearby city. Both trips (then and today) were wonderfully fun. But, more than fun, it's a great time to build the relationship between father and child, a relationship that all too often these days is left undeveloped (or underdeveloped). Oh, and yes, I also do the same thing with my wife on her birthday! (Does that mean I get a day all on my own on my own birthday?)

Today we used my handheld GPS receiver (a Magellan eXplorist 500 LE) for our "maps" to the Gibson Store at Opry Mills, from there to the Guitar Center in Nashville, and from there back home. I let my son navigate. That made him the navigator. Now, navigators and alligators must be related (they both end in "gator"). But what if your alligator was also navigating? Would it then be a navalligator? Would you end up in a swamp in Florida? Would you be eaten along the way? These are questions that you can ponder during your next road trip.

Today we came home with no alligators. We came home with an Ibanez instead.