Back Again - Sorry for being gone so long

Hey All,

Finally getting back to the good ol' blogging, and hopefully this will become more frequent.

So, what's new in my world:
- Life around the house is good. Been paying for a lawn fertilization service, and have found this to be beneficial. The only problem is that I need to mow the lawn more often, and it's not a favorite chore of mine. Oh well.
- A couple weeks back, me and my wife went to Chicago to catch a tour stop by Iron Maiden. They are currently flying around the world in a custom 747, and are playing music from their 1980s releases. The show was fantastic, and the crowd was great. Good time.
- Have some upcoming music and gigs scheduled, so keep tuned in for info on this.
- Been spending way too much time playing Mario Kart for Wii.

Current concerns and thoughts:
-The mainstream media has gone completely bonkers over Obama. I can't understand how they conclude that a first term Senator with next to zero other leadership experience is somehow qualified to run our country. I'm not confident the general public will get over their excitement over Obama, but maybe. Trust one thing: Washington will not allow anyone to make any real change to the way things are done, regardless of what Obama is preaching.

-Wondering what the future holds for the music industry. In the past, music lovers were primarily interested in achieving the best quality products they could afford. It would now appear that "convenience" has superseded quality. It's generally agreed that an MP3 file is a substandard music format, when compared to the standard audio CD. However, (partially thanks to Apple) all we hear about is how digital downloads are becoming more popular that CDs and will eventually replace them. I'm not sure I like the sounds of that, but I can see "convenience" win out. I do wonder what many people will do when their PC or iPod crashes, and they don't have backups of their music. Sure, iTunes allows you some multiple download options of purchased music, but I still tend to think many will be disappointed. Personally, I own an iPod 160GB model, and do find it more convenient for transporting my music library (it has cut back on the mass of CDs floating around my car and office).

-Wondering how long it's going to take for the public to start making any real changes in their daily lives, to the point where it levels off the current price increases. General economics will teach that supply and demand drive price. At this time, it would appear that the higher gas prices is starting to impact the price of food and services. Eventually, people will have to start cutting back on the non-essentials, and we will start to see a shift in the supplies. This will naturally force a drop in price, and the pendulum will start swinging the other direction. I'm just curious how long it will take before we will hit that point. I certainly don't expect the government to have any impact (except to make it more problematic).

Well, that's about enough for now. Looking forward to summer, and keeping you posted.

Thanks for reading,

Hammster