I'm 44 and came to the guitar late in life. Late like the fall of 2007. I have loved music all of my life but as a kid was "too cool" to take any lessons. My older brother and sister both took lessons and I guess that my parents got tired of forcing them, as they never forced me to take any. I always had a twinge of regret in the back of my mind about that. That twinge became more profound when my brother picked up his guitar for the first time in 25 years and began writing and recording his own music. That twinge of regret (thankfully) became overwhelming when I realized that my youngest (who had taken some acoustic guitar lessons, then quit to take piano) really wanted to play an electric guitar and so I got him a Les Paul Jr. set up. In the past every time that I had thought about guitar I thought I was "too old" to start. Well, I had been thinking that for 13 years and realized that I started to ponder guitar the year my son was born and he was taking up guitar and I still hadn't!! So, on a whim, I bought myself a Squire Tele that turned into a M.I.M. Fat Strat. I finally realized that my interest in the guitar was really in acoustics and have bought and sold various guitars and now own a Taylor 810ce, 510, and a Stanford PSRD-28. I love them all and enjoy the difference in the guitars. What little I've learned, I've taught myself, but figure I'm doing fairly well for how new I am to guitar. And the real bottom line is that I'm having a ball and am truly mentally and emotionally stimulated by the learning process. Oh yeah, I'm also physically stimulated by the sweet smell of a guitar! MMMM rosewood, mahogany, and spruce.

I also have been interested in photography since I was a kid. I like to take pictures that inspire my sense of nostalgia. Most of my photos are on film but I did finally buy a digital SLR. My specialty is old barns and I love old "Chew Mail Pouch" barns which used to dot the Ohio and Pennsylvania landscape when I was kid. Today they are almost all gone. If you are interested, click on my "Images" link and watch the slide show of some of my photos.

The photo below is my favorite ever. It was our Christmas a few years ago.