Stop the Randomness!

As you can tell, I haven't been blogging too much recently due to not a lot of things to say!  Everything is going well, but I just don't have too much to report to everyone.  As I've been reading other infrequent blogs and noticing a trend, it seems that I'm not the only one that is crawling through the winter boredom with just trainer rides and morning struggles to keep the scale from breaking under the weight of "the off season."  So, instead of a mind-blowing report about incredible physical feats of extreme fitness and hardcore workouts, I'll give you my favorite kind of blog...PURE RANDOMNESS!

Cajons:
My good buddy, Donnie Keele, the guy that made that rockin' ringtone for me, and I have been busy.  For awhile now, I've been wanting to build a Cajon.  If you don't know what it is, I'll tell you.  Basically, it is a wooden box drum that has a hole in the back, a snare on the inside, and a thin wooden front that you "slap" with your hands like a drum.  Here is a picture of a quality Cajon for your viewing pleasure:

And, if you're wondering what this wooden box sounds like, here is a little clip of someone playing a cajon:

So after watching some rough youtube videos and reading some simple instructions, Donnie and I got to work.  We actually spent the first couple hours in Lowes and Home Depot trying to get the correct wood.  The front, "Tapa," is supposed to be super thin, like 3mm thick, and that is a challenge to find wood like that.  We measured and cut all the pieces at my boss's house since he has a sweet table saw.  Then, we put them together in my garage.  Here is what they looked like after the first day...

Donnie's is on the left, and mine is on the right

We bought some snares and screwed them onto a dowel rod that runs side-to-side.  Here is a picture of the snare.  We cut them in half so that the cut ends are pressed up against the Tapa under tension.

After a whole lot of sanding, I stained the sides, top and bottom, and back with Ebony stain/polyurethane.  It only took about two coats in order to get it nice and dark.

Finally, I reattached the Tapa to the front and started playing.  It's so easy to play since it has about three different sounds.  There is a deep base sound when it is struck right in the middle.  Then, there is an accent sound near the top that has lots of snare.  Finally, there is a third sound where the wood slaps at the top corners.  It's pretty cool!  Here's the final product:

Sledding:
It is finally starting to feel like winter around here in Michigan.  Last Friday, we got our first big snow.  Berrien Springs got about a foot.  I actually really like snow...for the first day or so.  Then, after it gets all nasty and brown from the plows and cars, and it gets tracked inside, I get tired of it.  But, for a Saturday afternoon activity, Jenn, me, Donnie, Rachel (his wife), and Jonathan (a Seminary friend) decided to get some sledding action in.  We found a decent hill and got going.  My sister, Mindy, had given Jenn and me a sled, so we had to break it in, so here's a picture and video of how it all went down!

Beard:
The last post had a picture of my beard, and I wasn't going to talk about it, but after reading Matty O's post with a bunch of shots of his sweet beard, I had to throw one more out there.  Matt and I both agree that with a beard comes a responsibility to be business all the time.  Smiles and beards don't really go together...(ignore the above picture with the sled).  Here's the latest growth:

That's all the randomness I've got for now.  I hope your new year is already going smoothly with dreams and goals beginning to be achieved.  Blessings on your week!