The results are in...

Well, the bad news is that Jill beat me. (Though it was close!) The good news is that I beat my last run's time by 5 1/2 minutes. Which is huge. It was frozen out there, psycho cold and windy, but a lot of fun. Here are Jill and I post-race.



I also took this picture of Andy G, and I turned into an album cover and sent it to him. I thought it'd be fun to see what you guys could come up with. Here's the cover photo. What does Andy's next record need to look like/be called? I await your glorious replies.

Race Mix

I'm running a 5k at the Nashville Zoo today and I've programmed my iPod for the perfect mix. The first two sets of three songs will be about ten minutes each, so I can keep track of where I am. If I hit the finish line during U2 I'll have creamed my last time. If I hit it during "The End" I'll still have beaten it, but it will have been close.

Crowded House - "Don't Stop Now"
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - "Into the Great Wide Open"
Big Bang - "All The Time"
Pearl Jam - "Brain of J"
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - "I Won't Back Down"
The White Stripes - "Rag and Bone" (my current favorite song)
Arcade Fire - "No Cars Go"
Crowded House - "Nobody Wants To"
U2 - "Get On Your Boots"
The Beatles - "The End"

I figure I'll hit my old time at about the second verse of...

Beyonce - "Single Ladies"

So here's hoping we can avoid that. (Even though that song is kind of awesome.)

More to come after the race...

life at the studio

I've been having a great time at the studio this week. I've been writing songs with Andy Gullahorn and Steve Hindalong, and yesterday we finished up the electric guitars on Eric Peters' new record, which will be fantastic. Ben Shive is producing it, and we came up with some great stuff.

We also started enforcing a dress code...



You also need to know a little bit more about our assistant at Sputnik, Josh (aka the SoupSmith). He's a wonderful individual, a genius at many, many things. Life would not be the same without him, and that is a lesson he apparently decided to teach us yesterday...

The Reason

I got an email today from someone asking me "How do I know if I'm ready to make the investment to record an album?" I wrote him back quickly and then the rest of the day kept coming up with different answers to that question.

These different answers were showing up because I kept becoming aware of different ways I ask that same question every day.

I've been very blessed to achieve some big goals. I've played in an arena, heard myself on the radio, become friends with my heroes. But those are the kinds of goals that are pretty much out of your hands, unless of course you're crazy rich. A whole series of things beyond your control need to happen to lead you to doing those sorts of things.

Seeing it from that side, and thinking about that original question, I'm coming to realize that the goals we achieve that matter are the ones that we control. I'm much more hit-or-miss with that.

My hit: I started running to try and do a 5k last year. I actually did it and have lost weight and will lose to Jill Phillips handily in another 5k this Saturday. (3pm at the Nashville Zoo, if you want to watch. Gabe Scott will also be there and will run a marathon in the same amount of time.)

My miss: I've never written a novel. Barely even a short story. And why? What's stopping me?

Well, there are good excuses: I have two kids and a career that takes a lot of time.

And there are bad excuses: I'm tired, I don't really want to do it anyway.

And then, THEN, there are the reasons: I'm scared and I'm lazy. (Lazy, of course, just means I'm scared again, but of hard work.) I want it to be fun, but when I try it's not fun. It's hard. Because I don't know how to do it.

Practicing guitar was not fun. Playing guitar well is some of the most fun you can have on Earth. Why can't I take that knowledge and move it to another medium? The Reason.

So my answer to the question "how do I know I'm ready to make an album?" is probably the same as the answer to many other questions like it. Because you feel the need and it's become possible for you. And because otherwise you won't be ready yet, won't be ready yet, won't be ready yet and then one day it will be too late.

It's like getting married, having a kid, driving a car. You're never ready. You just decide to do what you feel you need to do, from my perspective this is called "obedience", and you do it as well as you can and you wait for something supernatural to bless it.

Now, I've got to go. I have an empty Chapter 2 to wrestle.

Cold and Sick

So last night our heat never turned on. It was below 0 outside and in the low 40s in the house. Bummer. Both of our girls have been really sick, and Alison and I haven't been far behind. I ended up missing a meeting today while waiting for the heat guy to get here. Bummer.

That said, it hasn't been the worst thing in the world getting to be with the girls today. Ella wants to type her name, so here she is:

ELLA

Caps lock was on, but she did that by herself. That's a big deal. Also a big deal is that tonight is the Battlestar Galactica season premiere. I don't want to admit how excited I am. Ok, now she's going to write another word:

DADDY

Took a bit to get the spelling there, but it's coming along. We're about to head to the doctor to get these ladies checked up. Hope you're all keeping warm.