Before I start, this isn’t a post about how awesome I am because I helped at the food bank today:) The truth be known, I didn’t have anything to do and they needed a big dumb guy to help move boxes, so that’s what I did. Laura and I went to the food bank to help pass out thanksgiving dinners. Each family got a turkey, pie and a box of canned goods. It was quite a joy to say hello and greet those people with a smile. We’d put the stuff in there cars and wish them a happy thanksgiving.

I caught myself saying “take it easy” or “have a nice day” and then got to thinking about what I was saying. I meant well by what I was saying but I’m sure a lot of those folks aren’t just taking it easy. There was a particular lady crying because her husband just got laid off and another women who told us she was just let go from her job. The second women tried make a joke of it saying “couldn’t they have waited till next week to lay me off”. I started trying to put myself in their shoes. What if I couldn’t provide for Laura and myself and had to go to the food bank or get food stamps. That would be so humbling and hard for me to do. Honestly though, if either one us lost our jobs it wouldn’t take long before we’d be there.

So you know for sure people in that situation can’t afford good health care or even child care for their kids during the day. I can barely afford insurance myself and I’m normal middle class america. It just makes me have a new respect for folks that work in the service industry for a low wage. They bust their butts for not much and I bet the stupid petty crap we worry about never crosses their mind. Like wireless internet, cell phones, cable tv or if they get to go out to eat. I sometimes wonder if progress and technology haven’t been to our demise.

I can’t wait to meet the Lord one day and find out how He intended this to be from the beginning. What a great day it will be.

This weekend my friend Evan Weatherford came to town. Evan is super vibey guitar player and I always love ripping his ideas off. Kind of got me thinking about how we all need to be around people that inspire us in different ways. I think it pushes us to be better, at least it does for me. I certainly don’t like being the guy who’s getting his butt kicked all the time:) Anyhow, Evan thanks for the hang and introducing us to some new Austin friends.

Hey everyone,

This seems like such a shameless plug, but it’s my blog so whatever:) I’m starting to teach guitar lessons again and getting really excited about it. It’s very rewarding to share things I’ve learned over the years with other players. If anyone is interested in taking lessons shoot my an email jimmieingramguitar@yahoo.com and we can work out details.

Thanks

Jimmie

Well for those of you who read my blog, this summer you probably remember me complaining a lot about my guitar amp. I finally got a knew rig and I’m loving it, it’s a samamp 45 watt head through a port city cab. So here’s a pic for all you guitar geeks like me:)

I don’t know if many of you know this, but I went to a school for the blind when I was a kid. That’s where I learned the guitar and playing guitar is how I make my living. What a blessing!! I’ve been wanting to give back for some time now. I’ve been talking about doing a lot of things for sometime now and I’ve always had an excuse as to why I couldn’t do anything. Well I’m tired of making excuses for not helping people. So I went and volunteered at the Austin School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. I wanted to teach guitar lessons for free but as it turns out they don’t need that. They need help with tutoring for regular school classes as well as pottery and wrestling. Since I spent most of my time drawing in class, I chose wrestling first then pottery. I can’t wait to hang out with these kids and encourage them.

We’ve been talking about loving Austin and really making a difference in our community. Austin Stone Church is one of the first churches I’ve really felt this way at. It just feels like you can’t be a light weight and go to church there. Austin is to easy to get around and has to many opportunities to just sit on your hands and not do anything. I normally feel super uncomfortable volunteering for things but not really at the School for the Blind or teaching some kid guitar lessons. There’s a lot of things I suck at but there are a few things I can do. I think we can all help someone even if it feels small to us. We just have to be faithful with what we’ve been given. Wish me luck on the pottery:)

After today I’m convinced that the DMV is just a little taste of hell on earth. It took them around 2 and a half hours to help 33 people or so. I over heard a man say they’re averaging about 14 people an hour. Sweet mother of moses that seems like a snails pace to me. Can you believe that?!?

When we had walked in the door I mentioned to Laura that this was the nicest DMV I’d ever been in. The building was new and didn’t smell like urine. I’d take the smell of urine and 20 crying babies for a little speed any day of the week.

So the moral of this story is stay away from the nice looking DMV, it’s a trap:)

These day’s it feels like everyone wants in your wallet and I’m tired of it. Don’t get me wrong, if you offer a good service or have a well made product, I don’t mind paying for it. On the other hand, Honda has programed the maintenance required light to come on at 30 and 60 thousand miles, so then I have to pay them 80 bucks to tell me my car’s fine and turn off the light. Well not this time, I got on google and looked up how to turn off the light and it totally worked. So there you have it Honda!! Maybe I could start a business and under cut Honda, I could charge 5 or 10 bucks instead of 80. I’ll have cars lined up for miles:)

Laura just put my dreads in this morning. I bought the fourth season of House and a half gallon of blue bell mint chocolate ice cream. We snuggled up to the tv and Laura got started. It took her about four hours to complete them. She’s a real trooper, thanks babe:) I still have a ton of work and time to spend with them before they get really cool looking. Here are some pics for ya.

My wife Laura had been gone for twelve days working with her dad and she finally made it back home. I have to say the first few days were fun because I ate unhealthy food and stayed up late and slept in til 10 or 11. It didn’t take long for me to start missing her though. As much as I hate waking up early and running or having to eat some form of veggie for every meal it’s good for me. I’m glad I have my amazing wife and that she stretches me and makes me a better man. Before Laura came into my life I blew all my money and pretty much got by on the skin of my teeth. haha. I’m glad she’s home.

“Dump the pump and ride the bus”, is the slogan for the Austin metro. I have to say that’s one of the things that excited me about moving to Austin, but it’s been a bit of an uphill battle figuring this bus system out. I’m learning how to relax and be patient, I’ve gotten on the wrong bus twice already. Now if I get on the wrong bus I just try and pay attention to see where it goes in case I want to go to any of the places on it’s route. I figured out I’m probably going to mess up a few more times and it’s not even worth getting mad anymore. I’m not gonna lie though, it’s pretty scary when your riding the bus and you don’t know where you are:) So if you come to Austin and need to use the bus just give me a shout and I’ll give you some pointers.