Last week I attended a luthier camp

and began building a mandola from a kit made by Roger Siminoff. Click here to learn more about being a luthier

Home Ownership Info

Today a report is showing that the share of homes empty and for sale, known as the vacancy rate, was 2.5 percent, matching the year-earlier period and down from 2.6 percent in the first quarter, the Census Bureau said. The homeownership rate fell from 67.1 percent in the first quarter, the third straight decline. The rate reached a record high of 69.2 percent in the second and fourth quarters of 2004. It was when it was announced in 2004 that homeownership hit a record that I said to myself, "self, who's left to buy?" and promptly sold our home.

Millionaire tax returns

for the tax year of 2008, the IRS reports : "Tax returns of $1 million plus fell by 22% to 321,294"

USC athletic director Garrett out and Haden in

Amen!

How has touring changed?

A question posed to rock legend Pat Benatar . . . her answer - Not that much. I said to somebody the other day when something was going south with the sound equipment, "The entire world has moved forward and we're still in the dark ages." But the soul of touring and the heart of it is basically every day is like putting up a circus tent. All these crew members get up early in the morning, they put the show together, you go out there and you do it and the audiences come and you tear it down, get back on the bus. It's like a traveling road show just like it's always been and that's the party I really really love.

Dave Cox - rest in peace

When we lived in Fair Oaks, Dave became a friend, he represented Fair Oaks in the California Assembly and when termed out, ran successfully for the Senate. He was a good man and a Libertarian at heart. When Denny and I launched our tee shirt campaign, Dave was only too proud to don one of the tee shirts on Arnold's inauguration day.

The Hoover Dam Hwy 93 Bypass

On our trip, we crossed over Hoover Dam via Hwy 93 from Kingman, AZ side and observed the new bridge/bypass being constructed. Click here to read about the project and read why.