Review of Atlas Shrugged

So I keep saying I'm going to better about making posts on this blog, and then I don't; but today I am going to make another post about a recent accomplishment.  I have read all of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.  As almost anyone who will look at this knows I have been making some occasional posts on our other family blog - prayersforthefamily.blogspot.com and they have been about Melissa's accident and our little girl Ethne mostly.  I've posted a little bit about Ethne on this blog, but I decided to write about something else today. 

Atlas Shrugged is a book we purchased about 2 years ago after hearing a friend recommend it.  It was celebrating it's 50th year in print, so it seemed like it had to be good to last that long.  But after we got it I just never felt like I have the time to read it.  It's about 1,070 pages and typed in a small font, but by the time I did finish it, I was glad that I had read it. 

This book made it hard to listen to the news.  I would find myself listening to a headline about certain government regulations being imposed on prospering businesses and think, "Hey, that's whats happening in the book!" (with enthusiasm about making the connection) to, "Oh, that's what's happening in the book" (with a bit more terror).  So be prepared about what you will hear on the news while reading, because you will make connection.  Hopefully that doesn't mean we will go down a similar path. I figure that the best way to prevent it is to become aware of what is happening in our country.  I'm not going to get into a big political discussion about the right or the left; I'm just saying don't take other people's word as fact.  Go out, study, find facts for all sides, and gain an informed opinion.  Don't be afraid to get educated, read, and to grow.  Education seemed to be one of the themes of the book.  The people were treated as though they had no opinions and no education.  They were just to believe whatever they were told, but many of the different people you would meet knew better. 

In all, I recommend this book to everyone as an excellent read.  The story line is captivating, it will take you through every emotion from rage, to extreme happiness and everything in between.  Because it is divided into 3 parts, if you need to, take a break and read something else between each part - that's what I did. 

Pictures on My Phone

As the few people who actually read this Blog know, we lost our little girl in a car accident about 2 months ago.  If you do not know me or about the accident, please see the Blog created for our family at prayersforthefamily.blogspot.com for some of the details and miracles that have transpired as a result of this tragedy.  Either today or tomorrow I plan on creating a post there as well. 

I don't post a lot on this Blog, as you can see by looking through it, but every once in a while I have a solid resolve to try.  The desire to originally make this Blog in part came from my wife and her Blog, but mostly came from studying the scriptures.  I have always felt the need to keep a journal, but am only slightly better at making entries there then I am here.  I hoped a Blog would inspire me to keep better records of what was going on in my family.  It almost helped, but not enough.

Then, I believe it was around last summer.  I was studying the Book of Jacob in the Book of Mormon.  As I looked at the versed that talked about being given the records from Nephi - one record for the doctrine and one for the history of their people.  That's when it came to me, I should try to keep 2 records as well.  My journal can contain things of a more spiritual nature, while the Blog can be more historical.  By the number of entries I've made since then you can tell how well I've done with that.  Hopefully now I'll do better. 

In my occasional journal entries I've made lately I have mostly been writing down memories of Ethne because I never want to forget them.  While I've done that I have seen my entries get shorter and shorter, not because I am running out of memories, but because it's somewhat emotionally draining to try and focus on just her and the memories she left behind.  But it is of the utmost importance to me that I have them and that they are never forgotten by my family either.

I would like to share some of those memories with the world.  These memories are a little harder to write about because I see the pictures I am going to share everyday.  These pictures are a part of a slideshow background on my phone.  I have thought about just setting a background picture so they don't keep flashing in front of me so much; but at the same time I would rather experience the sadness of looking at her pictures every day, than pretend to ignore those memories.  So here they are for me to share them with you.  All three of you that will read this.  ;)

At Work with Daddy

The first picture is the "At Work with Daddy" picture.  When I was an agent with Farmers Insurance I occasionally would take Ethne to work with me.  Usually it was while Melissa was pregnant.  I would watch Ethne while she would go to her check up appointment.  She loved playing on the phone.  I had to find her a wireless phone that wouldn't be connected for some reason so she wouldn't tie up the lines or make any calls.  I would try to set out a blanket in the corner with some snacks and toys in the hopes that she would just sit there while I worked.  Fat chance of that ever happening!

She figured out how to open the door to the office and loved to play her usual game - Run Away From Daddy.  She would sneak off and go say hi to the other agents that worked in the office.  They all would come out of their office to watch her run away from me.  Everyone would get a good laugh out of it. 

I recently ran into a friend that worked there as well and he hadn't heard the news.  When I told him about the accident I think it hit him pretty hard.  He commented on remembering her running around the office and being so happy and playful.  There were a couple people who would try to say hi and she would scream at them.  It was usually with the girls in the office, but not all of the girls.

My boss while I was there, Tim, came to the viewing and it really meant a lot to me; as well as all of the others from Farmers who came.  I still feel that they are all friends, even if we don't work together anymore.

Daddy's Pillow

In the last few months before she died she made a discovery.  She could go get Daddy's pillow, bring it into the living room, lay down on the couch with it, demand a blanket, and just relax.  I use to use it as a tool to get her to walk in the house so that I wouldn't have to carry both her and Edward.  Knowing the pillow was inside waiting for her was enough cause to stop whining and start walking.  I would always tell her that she could come in and get my pillow.  I informed her that if she fell asleep before Mommy got home she could take her nap on the couch, otherwise Mommy would make her go to her bed.  She was usually still awake.  I think playing a little "Tiger Woods Golf" on the Wii didn't help her sleep much.   Especially when she was giving me five every time i had a good hit and yelling, "boo-yeah!"  I was so proud of how fast she learned to say "boo-yeah" whenever she gave fives.  She would always be so excited when she said it too.  It was our little game and she loved it.

I would always be reminded if something was off when she laid down.  If I forgot the blanket she let me know and I was not left in peace until I gave it to her.  It still warms my heart to this day to know how much she loved "Daddy's pillow." 

Melissa and I still talk about how she would go and get the pillow and it was bigger than she was.  You could hear her tripping down the hall, or even occasionally run into the wall because she couldn't see over it.  None of these things would deter her.  She knew that she wanted to lay down on my pillow and nothing was going to stop that. 

Feeding Daddy

One day while my parents were down I went with them on my day off to help Mike and Heidi work on their basement.  Melissa was unable to go that day and I thought it would be fun for Ethne to hang out with her cousins, aunts, and grandma while we worked on the basement.  She had a blast too!  At one point she escaped into the backyard and found the wading pool with about an inch or two of rain water in the bottom.  Loving to swim and play in the water like she did, she decided she needed to climb in with her clothes on and play in the water.  It was a little scary to not know where she went and to find her in the water, but she had only been there for a minute and I found the whole story quite funny.  I still do. 

When we took a lunch break we went to Apollo Burger.  I got a small shake for her to eat, but she wasn't to interested in it.  I tried the old "I'm going to eat it before you do" trick which didn't work.  Instead she decided that she wanted to help me by feeding it to me.  she usually didn't get that much in the spoon as she would dip the spoon in the shake and put it in my mouth.  It was to much fun not to take a picture of it to share with Mommy. 

As the day progressed she hated it when I would go down stairs because we made a lot of loud scary noises.  One clear aspect of her love for us is that she was very concerned for our well being all of the time.  If something scary happened she would cry in terror that something had happened to us.  One time as we were about to give Edward a bath we had him all undressed and he started pooping in the floor.  She saw it and instantly started to cry.  She was sure that something was wrong and that Edward was hurt.  We had to take her out of the room and assure her everything was OK.  When we took her back in to see Edward she was so happy to see him smiling and playing.  Her love for everyone, particularly her family, will always shine as an example to me.

Onion Salt Mischief

Being an innocent little girl, she never did anything wrong, but she certainly loved being mischievous.   She always seemed to have a look on her face like she was about to do something and we couldn't stop her.  This was one of those things that we didn't stop in time.  If I remember right, I wasn't even home for this.  Melissa sent me the picture so I knew what our daughter had been doing that day. 

This picture just reminds me of her half smile look when she was caught doing something, or thinking about what she was going to do next.  Something else she would do if she was home when I came home was run to the door.  Sometimes she would be yelling for me and she always had the most excited look on her face possible.  She would run up to me like she was ready to jump into my arms for hugs and kisses.  She would stop about a foot away, give me the half smile, and turn around and run.  This indicated that if I wanted her irresistible hugs and kisses, I had to chase her and go get them.  I always did, and she loved that I wold play along with her.  That's what I think of when I see this picture.

This moment was very typical of things that she might do, yet she was so cute the way that she did it we could never be truly mad at her.  I only remember being mad at her for longer than a few seconds once, and it is the darkest memory I have from my entire life.  I am still fairly young, but I don't think I'll ever have a much worse memory.

Neck Brace Freedom

This last picture isn't of Ethne, but it's a reminder of the day that I almost lost my family.  I thought I had more pictures on my phone of Ethne, but I'm not sure what happened to them.  I'm sure Melissa does on her phone.

This is of Edward in the hospital the day after the accident.  That morning they took off the neck brace and he was so grateful.  All he wanted to do was sit up and play.  You would've never known he was in an accident by his attitude.  He is a positive, happy little boy.  I hope he always stays that way.  I took this picture with my phone to have with me when I went to check on Melissa.  She was in and out of sleep and didn't remember anything we said to her.  She still didn't know about Ethne at that point, and we were waiting to tell until she was awake enough that she would remember.  By the time that moment arrived she had already figured it out.  Every time she woke up she would ask about the kids, and I hoped this picture of how well and happy Edward was would bring her joy, while I would reassure her that Ethne was safe and happy, which is absolutely true.  This photo helps me remember that all of my family was protected in a way.  My wife and son were left here so I could hold them, and my daughter quietly carried on to the next life where she could hold us.

Thankful For...

So i know it is somewhat cliche to make a list of all of the things you are thankful for on thanksgiving, but I still think its a good idea.  i just hope each of us take some time this thanksgiving to spend at least half an hour expressing gratitude for the things we have.  Every year I try to make a list of 100 things to be thankful for, and I try hard not to be repetitive from year to year; however, this year i would like to make a list of 100 people that I am thankful for.  This list is in no particular order and these might not be the 100 most important people in my life, but more than anything it is going to be a list of names as they come to me.  Know that I will include people I have not met, but have still influenced my life for the better.  While the first 10 or so will be obvious, some I may also include a brief explanation of how they have influenced me.

1) Heavenly Father
2) Jesus Christ
3) The Holy Ghost (while these first three may seem obvious and sometimes over mentioned, I could not be truly grateful for anything else if I wasn't first grateful for these three)
4) My wife - Melissa
5) My kids - Ethne, and Edward
6) My parents - Larry and Marilyn
7) My sisters - Heidi, Kathryn, and Eliza
8) My grandparents - Cyril, Maxine, George, Gloria, Leslie, and Kieth
9) My in-laws - Scott, Shauna, Michael, Josh, Jessica, Gabriel, and Issac
10) My great-grandparents - specifically William, Ethel, Reva, Lester, and Edith
11) My pioneer ancestors
12) Adam and Eve
13) Noah
14) Abraham, Issac, and Jacob
15) Joseph, Ephraim, and Manasseh
16) Malachi
17) Isaiah
18) Joseph and Mary
19) Peter
20) James and John
21) Lehi and Nephi
22) Alma and Alma
23) Sons of Mosiah
24) King Benjamin
25) Captain Moroni
26) Helaman and Sons
27) 3 Nephites
28) Nephi
29) Mormon and Moroni
30) Jared and Brother
31) Ether
32) Joseph Smith
33) Hyrum Smith
34) Emma Smith
35) Joseph and Lucy Smith
36) Brigham Young
37) Heber C. Kimball
38) Oliver Cowdery
39) Martin Harris
40) David Whitmer
41) Heber J. Grant
42) Joseph F. Smith
43) Hugh B. Brown
44) Spencer W. Kimball
45) J. Golden Kimball
46) Ezra Taft Benson
47) Gordon B. Hinckley
48) Thomas S. Monson
49) Wife's grandparents
50) Oscar Kirkham
51) Boyd K. Packer
52) Dieter F. Uchtdorf
53) Henry B. Eyring
54) Jeffery R. Holland
55) Quentin L. Cook
56) Reuben J. Clarke
57) David A. Bednar
58) Mission Presidents - Pres. Phillips, and Pres. Torres
59) Seminary Teachers - Chelson, Carlson, Johnson
60) Bishops - Frisby, Crapo, Stoddard
61) David Klepitch
62) Kirk Duncan
63) Aaron Miller
64) Denson Angulo
65) Mark Watkins
66) Bro. Hansen
67) Bro. Walquist
68) Kendal Nielson
69) Ryan Nielson
70) Kurt Reeder
71) Robert Tueller
72) Alan Packard
73) Jay Lawrence
74) Chase Owens and Family
75) Dale Bunnell and Family
76) Shawn Skrivner
77) Kim Ashcroft and Family
78) Military Men and Women
79) Derek Parry
80) Keven Lewis
81) Spencer Kinchelo
82) Charity Heiner
83) Nic Willitts
84) Kent Foote
85) John Riska and Family
86) Mike Bishop
87) Daniel Miller
88) Elder Morales
89) Kelly Olsen
90) Arcelia Parson and family
91) Bueno Family
92) Jaco Pastorius
93) Victor Wooten
94) Ray Brown
95) Charles Mingus
96) Louis Armstrong
97) Miles Davis
98) Niece and Nephew Samantha and Zach
99) Dave Ramsey
100) Steve Jobs

I could probably go on and list 200 more if it wasn't so late and I wasn't so tired.  If you're reading this and don't see your name, don't think its because I am not grateful to you, its just that there are so many people who have influenced me to arrive at where I am today that I couldn't possibly list all of you, but know that I thank you for your influence.

New Job and My Christmas Playlist

So this last week i started my new job at Convergys on their Hyundai campaign.  I've had mixed feelings about going into it, but so far it has been quite nice.  I've learned quite a bit about Hyundai, and have learned to really enjoy working for them and getting to know their company.  I've decided if I can I want to make my next purchase a Hyundai. 

Anyways, we've finished all of the basic knowledge training from the last two weeks and started taking calls last week.  Next week we'll be answering the phones.  I'm a little nervous, but mostly excited for the future.  I hope with this job to take advantage of future opportunities to grow.  I don't have much to report other than that.

In case you can't tell, I'm really not to good at blogging yet, and I never have any idea what I should post.  I guess I just don't think much in my life is that interesting to anyone besides my family; even then, I'm not sure if my family finds my life that interesting either, but at least they put up with me.  with that in mind I am now going to talk about my new Christmas play list. 

It's great!!!

I guess I should put more than that.  I started out with Duke Ellington.  He recorded an entire album based on the Nutcracker Suite.  I could only find the one track, but it's my favorite one on the album, so it works out. 

I have 2 tracks of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas because I didn't think it would let me add the Ella Fitzgerald version.  Then, when I posted it to my blog they were both there. 

You'll notice the next track is performed by the Muppet's.  I've always liked the Muppet's, so I thought that that would be a good one to include. 

Peanut Brittle Brigade is from Duke Ellington's Nutcracker Suite, but was performed by another group.

You will notice a lot of Ray Brown tracks.  I have a hard time decided if the Ray Brown Christmas album is my favorite, or if the Bela Fleck and The Flecktones Christmas album is my favorite.  For that reason you will notice a lot of Ray Brown tracks. Unfortunately, there aren't very many Bela Fleck songs on there because all of the recording that are available are live and not the best recordings.  If you have a chance to purchase their album (Jingle All the Way) I highly recommend you do.  I say the same for Ray Brown's album.  I believed its titled Christmas Songs with the Ray Brown Trio.  On this album, my favorite song is "The Christmas Rap." 

Winter Wonderland performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir was an obvious choice.  It reminds me of Mr. Kruger's Christmas, which is a family tradition every year at Christmas.  I wanted to find some more MoTab songs, but I forgot to find some after I posted the list.  Maybe I'll find some more later. 


I decided to include a Frank Sinatra track for my wife because she is such a big fan of "Blue Eyes."  Plus Christmas Waltz is a fun tune I wanted to include.

Stille Nacht I decided to include because in High School every year we played this version. 

The last track on there was one that I was just inspired to throw on at the last minute.  Bob and Doug McKenzie did a great job rewriting the 12 days of Christmas, so it needed to be included. 

I hope you enjoy the music.  Maybe there will be more to come.

Book Review - Fired to Hired

Those of you who know me know that I recently decided to close my Agency to go back to school and finish my masters. This also means that I need to find another job that will allow me to work around my school schedule. I have often heard Dave Ramsey talk about many various books to look into about finding a new job. So I went to the library and checked out some of these books. I just finished the first one - "Fired to Hired" by Tory Johnson. I found this book very helpful in realigning my perspective on what I would actually like to do with my life, and that is to focus more on the music industry as my goal career. I've looked at trying to get hired with some music companies since then.

Back to the book. I found this book very insightful and gave me some good ideas on what more I can be doing not only for now, but for the future if I find myself looking for another job. I particularly enjoyed what I learned about using social networking and seeing how its used today. I have opened a LinkedIn account and as you can see, I'm trying to restart my blog. I also found myself wishing I had read it before I had sent out so many resumes because I realized I had made a number of simple mistakes in writing it. So I ended up rewriting most of it.

There were a few chapters that I found less relevant to me and my situation. I think part of it relates to the fact that she runs Women for Hire - an organization that focuses on helping women find the jobs they want. I think it is a great business, but I did feel a few things in this book are more directed to women.

All in all, I recommend this book to anyone who isn't retired. You never know when you'll be looking for a job because you are fired, your business fails, or you just want a career change. Be prepared before you find yourself in that situation. I'll give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Long Car Ride

In case you can't tell from the title I am somewhat tired of riding in the car. Know that I am very grateful for my car. It took us all the way to St. George and got us home, but we've spent some time together. About 18 - 20 hours.

Despite the long ride it has been a good few days. We came down to Utah in order to attend a wedding for my wife's cousin Christiana (her husband's name is Corey). They were married in the St. George LDS temple. It was my first time at this particular temple and it was great seeing the classic architecture of the building. I immensely enjoy visiting all of the different temples available to us.

For anyone who is reading this and is unfamiliar with the difference between a normal wedding and a temple sealing/wedding in an LDS temple I will give you a brief overview of what happens. A temple for a member of The Church of Jesus Christ is literally God's house on earth. It were he goes to perform his work. We also go there to make covenants (agreements) with God. Basically we promise to obey His laws and commandment and we are promised certain blessings in return. These covenants are essential in order to enter back into God's kingdom after this life, but there are many people who have never had the opportunity to receive these covenants while they were living. This may be because they never were able to get to a temple. We still see even today many nations that still don't know about or understand who Jesus Christ is, and faith in Him is the first step towards entering a temple. We believe that everyone will have a chance to accept Christ in their lives if they desire to, but they need a body in order to be baptized, or accept these covenats. Those of us who are living have an opportunity to return to the temple and act on behalf of these people. We stand as proxies for them and are baptized, married, and receive those covenants for them.

Now before one can be married in the temple he/she must go through all of these steps. They must have faith, be willing to repent of sins (for many people this mean things such as giving up smoking and/or drinking, living with someone out of wedlock, or any other thing they feel a need to change), be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, and then they must continue to be faithful for at least a year (they will hopefully be faithful forever). At this point they are interviewed by a couple of different leaders in order to obtain a recommend that they are worthy to enter into God's home. They then promise to live a good gospel oriented life so that they may receive the grace sufficient to be forgiven of their sins. We receive these covenants through what we refer to as ordinances. You will hear many people say that these things are secret, but I prefer referring to them as sacred. Basically, the knowledge and ordinances performed in the temple are available to everyone, but before they can obtain them they must first prove themselves to be ready through faith and obedience. After doing this they are qualified to get married in the temple. In most weddings you are married "'Til death do you part." Its nice that you want to spend your life together, but why are you asking for a divorce when you die? Especially if you believe in an afterlife. We view marriage and family as an eternal entity. It shouldn't end at death, and we should want to be with our families longer then that. In the temple you are "sealed" together "for time and all eternity." Your family will continue after this life. Not only is it a pleasant thing to know about and feel, but we see it also as necessary in order to obtain the highest degree of heaven. In other words, you can get to heaven without it, but its better with it.

If you are reading this and have any other questions go to www.lds.org for more information, or just send me a message and I'll help out the best that I can.

Now back to the wedding.

In the ceremony, the officiator said some good things that I want to right down in case some day in the future they are trying to remember what was said, this is my way of helping out.

The part that stuck out to me the most was when the officiator talked about a what a help meet is when its mentioned in the scriptures. It basically refers to the fact that while the husband is the head of the house, the wife is to help him as his equal. He talked about a few other thing like how they are leaving their families and cleaving to one another. He obviously took time and talked to them beforehand and made sure they understood how the ceremony worked.

One other thing I hope they remember always concerning their recommend. There are three signatures provided showing their worthiness. He mentioned that the most important one is their signature. By signing their name they are attesting to their honesty and willingness to obey.

Afterward they had their first opportunity to perform a sealing ceremony for the dead as they stood as proxies for Corey's deceased grandparents. The spirit of peace and love was very strong at that point and time. Because of that feeling I can't help but think that his grandparent were prepared and waiting for that service to be done for them.

It was a wonderful experience that everyone present felt uplifted by. Congrats Christiana and Corey. Keep that day always present in your hearts!

Book Review - The Music Lesson

As many people who know me already know it has been my recent new goal to read more and learn on my own. Its especially important to me now that I'm out of college. To help me with this I made it my goal to read at least one book a month this year. So far I have read Arguing With Idiots; Shoot, Move, and Communicate (my grandfather's WWII memoirs); The Millionaire Next Door; First Things First; Perfectly Legal; How to Learn; The Talent Code; and How to get Strait A's. I have also listened to a few on CD as well including Common Sense, Lone Survivor, Tough Choices (Carly Fiorina's autobiography), and A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity. I am now starting to read Principle Centered Leadership.

The purpose of this post is to reflect on what I learned by reading The Music Lesson by Victor Wooten.

First of all I want to say that I absolutely recommend this book to anyone who wants to perform music. It is the story of what elevated Mr. Wooten from a bass player to a musician. A teacher who referred to himself as Michael. In the introduction he explains that the experience is very seemingly ridiculous and even he isn't sure if it happened or if it was a dream, but he accepts as a real experience and if you look at the musician that he has evolved to today you can't deny that, real or dream, it certainly elevated him into something admirable.

As I read it I felt like I gained understanding into who I observe that he is through his DVDs and music. I don't know if that makes sense to anyone else but me so I'll try to explain. The more I listen to his music, especially live performances, the more I appreciate his ability. What I enjoy about it is his ability to build emotion and intensity when he plays a solo; you know that he is listening to what everyone else is doing and knows hoe to react to them; he is a humble musician, which is extra incredible for someone of his talent; he has an easily recognizable standard of piece and spirituality, which includes believing in God and loving his family; and he wants to teach and help others so they can be great as well.

Here are a few ideas that struck me as I read to attribute in my practicing (along with renewed energy to practice more). Practicing technique in front if the TV has to be one of my favorites. Technique while you play needs to be so ingrained into our playing that we don't think about it. By being able to play correctly without thinking about it you are allowed to focus and listen to other things that are happening in the music. This can create more interaction.

As you continue to read the book you meet other characters and you can't help but laugh as each one is brought in. One of the characters, Isis, presents something that caused me to think quite a bit about space. They talked about how zero is the only number that can mean something and nothing. I'm not the best at explaining it, so read the book to figure out what I'm talking about. By the end of the chapter I couldn't sleep so I kept reading through the next chapter on listening. The book took a more reverent feel from that point on. I find that I sleep better with background noise so I'll usually turn on a movie or some music to fall asleep to. before I did I decided to listen to the silence of the night. I was the only one awake so when I started a conversation with myself my wife didn't call me crazy. It may seem weird, but sometimes I do my best/clearest thinking when I do it out loud. Something about saying it loud causes me to hear things differently then when I just think it. Some of the best papers I've ever written happened that way. Take some quite time and try it out one day. Its fun. Since that experience I've noticed space, or rests, played in music. I even try to play more rests when I solo. Its something I've heard more than once every semester I've been in collage, but rest can really add to the music.

Last lesson that I will mention that I enjoyed was his conversation with music. Music exists, its not our job to create it, but we should participate in it. Keep it alive by allowing it to live in us. I love music and have a different perspective on my role as a musician. I hope I stay true to it.

There's a few things that he doesn't say directly that keep you suspicious. He mentions that the only evidence he has that Michael exists is 12 bars of music that he may have written down. He said he hasn't shown it to anyone else, but each of the 12 chapters is started with a measure of music to a song on Mr. Wooten's Palmistry album titled "The Lesson." Either I missed where he said that that song is the one he got from Michael, or he's just letting you guess if it or not. My other suspicion is the first time he met JD Blair. In the book they go to hear some performers and meets a drummer who plays an amazing solo that consisted of almost entirely space. I believe it was while they were entering the restaurant or club (I don't remember which) and they are talking about "Regulating the groove." He then meets this drummer with incredible timing who regulates the groove. He doesn't mention him after that, but I can't help but think that it is JD Blair, aka. "The Groove Regulator."

I hope if you want to play music that you take time to read this book. It will change how you look at music.