Crossing the Finish Line

Here's a video of Lisa and I crossing the finish line on Sunday, captured from the race cam!

We show up right under the timing clock 17 seconds into this video. Lisa's in a red shirt with blue hat and I'm in a bright green shirt with a black hat. Both running, side by side. We cross the finish line right around 23 seconds into this video.



Thanks to Adrian for telling me about this!

UPDATE: If you can't see the video, try this link.

My Maton

I received a delivery of a book and letter last weekend, and wow, I was absolutely blown away! My friends and coworkers back in Victoria, BC, Canada pulled together something really special here!

The book is awesome! It was just what I needed and really cool. It's filled with photos of us from Victoria along with letters from my coworkers and friends back home all bound together in a coffee table book. On the back cover there's a great quote by Plutarch: "The measure of a man is the way he bears up under misfortune".

The letters offered encouragement and really made my month. That book will stay with me and I’ll read it anytime I struggle or start to get frustrated. I had been saying to Lisa that I wanted to put together a binder with all the emails I received so I could pull it out when I needed it. These people beat me to it!

I hadn’t even noticed the letter in the box until Lisa got home as it was stuck to the packaging. We were both absolutely floored. They'd collected together enough cash to buy me a new guitar since I'd be spending some more time at home!

I took the advice in the letter and tried out a Maton on Saturday. It was heads and tails above anything I’ve ever played/owned. I really liked it. These guitars compete with some of the best made top end instruments on the market.

Maton handcrafts every guitar from Queensland Walnut and Queensland Maple. Both are excellent woods that give the guitar a really gorgeous and rich sound. This is a serious guitar, sort of one of those “once in a lifetime” purchases. Maton’s quality control practices are second to none. These guitars are made in Australia with Australian (Queensland) components and woods so it’s going to be a great souvenir of living here!

On Sunday, we called around asking every shop in town if they carried Matons. Most do as they’re Australian made, but few had any in stock. We finally found one shop that had 4 models in stock to choose from, including the one I’d already researched and picked out from looking online. We went straight away.

I was able to try them all out hand pick the right one. We got a GREAT deal on the guitar -- the "leg tap" powers and the fact that it was a gift really made them go the extra mile. I managed to get myself a brand new Maton 325 series, fresh from the factory, never been played, still in the box. It’s gorgeous. I also managed to get a leather strap (Maton custom), a stand and a Maton custom case for it. All in all, a 100% Maton package.

This really meant a lot to me knowing what kind of effort went in, so I really thank you all! What an amazing set of people you all are, thank you so much for your thoughts and the amazing gifts!