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  <a href="/blog/blog/3656854/my-10-step-plan-to-save-the-earth">My 10 Step Plan to Save the Earth</a>&nbsp;
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  <div class="message"><div><span class="font_regular"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">During the bleak winter months, it's kind of difficult to think of saving the planet because if you're anywhere there's snow and ice and rain and clouds, you kind of forget there is an earth under all of that "cover." But now it's April and Earth Day is fast approaching. I'm fortunate enough to be spending this month in rural Iowa, where a steady week of rain has turned the grass green; daffodils are starting to creep out of the ground; Canadian geese are honking as they fly over the roof; and squirrels chase each other in the backyard. Seeing all of this nature gives me a peaceful feeling, but just one quick drive to the city later today will remind me of how devastating an effect all of us humans, with our amazing technology, can have on the environment.  So I've put together a simple, 10-step plan to save the earth in my own little way . . . </span></span></div>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); min-height: 14px;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">1. <b>Stop buying plastic water bottles and use stainless steels bottles filled with filtered tap water instead.</b></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); min-height: 14px;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Maybe I'm way behind on this, but only within the last year or so have I discovered that most of the bottled water we drink is actually just bottled tap water from various cities around the country.  If you look at the "source" label on the back of most water bottles, you'll actually see that it comes from some municipality - there is nothing that distinguishes most water from whatever you'd get from your tap anyway.  Here are some frightening facts from <a data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://thewaterproject.org/bottled_water_wasteful"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(85, 26, 139);">thewaterproject.org</span></a>:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">    •    Bottles used to package water take over 1,000 years to bio-degrade and if incinerated, they produce toxic fumes. It is estimated that over 80% of all single-use water bottles used in the U.S. simply become 'litter.'</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">    •    Recycling is only feasible in limited circumstances because only PET bottles can be recycled.  All other bottles are discarded.  Only 1 out of bottles are sent to the recycle bin.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">    •    U.S. landfills are overflowing with 2 million tons of discarded water bottles alone</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">    •    It takes over 1.5 million barrels of oil to meet the demand of U.S. water bottle manufacturing.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">    •    It is estimated that actually 3 liters of water is used to package 1 liter of bottled water.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"><br><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">So my plan is to get a "six-pack" of stainless steel bottles and use a Brita pitcher.  As much as possible, I plan on "pre-packaging" my water before I go on long trips and then just filling up along the way from (gasp!) the tap.  A person could also get a Thermos-style water jug and take that - which is okay, as long as you use it over and over again.  Both the stainless steel and Thermos-style jugs keep water cold and are a great alternative.  If you think about this from an economics standpoint, when you buy bottled water, you are really throwing your money away because you're paying at least double for tap water!</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); min-height: 14px;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">2. <b>Don't drive one day a week.</b></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); min-height: 14px;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">This step is a little challenging because no matter how hard you try some days <i>not</i> to drive, there is always something that comes up.  My plan is to launch "Two-Foot Tuesdays," which means that on Tuesdays if I have to leave the house, I will do my best to walk wherever I go (difficult because I live at least a mile out of town, BUT it's potentially good for my health and fitness plan).  If I HAVE to drive somewhere, then I want to make that trip as short as possible and perhaps trade-in no driving for another day.  Often, for me, if I'm not playing a show, this day is Sunday.  I do enough driving when I'm on tour, staying home every now and then is a <i>good</i> thing.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); min-height: 14px;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">According to an article on washingtonpost.com:  "Leaving your car at home just two days a week can reduce your greenhouse gas emissions by an average of two tons annually."</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); min-height: 14px;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">If you could save two tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually, think about how much money you'd save in gas itself by not driving just one day a week?  Other options for not driving would be to ride a bike or carpool one day a week.  Every little bit helps.</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">3. <b>Grow a garden.</b></span></p>
<div class="captioned justify_center"><img src="//images.zoogletools.com/u/82989/c4111caedddeb992e44cdde654e4f1827576e52a/medium/img-2723.jpg?1429198232" class="size_orig justify_center border_" /><p class="caption">Dad, Sister and I in the big green veggie patch!</p></div>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"><br><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Growing up, my mother always grew an enormous patch of various vegetables in our yard and one of my fondest memories of summer is sitting out in it eating sugar snap peas straight off the vine.  One of the greatest advantages to being in Iowa again is the opportunity to dig in our black dirt and make something grow. I’m going to take every advantage I can of it this summer!</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); min-height: 14px;"><br> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Gardens are GREAT on so many levels.  Here's just a few of the advantages of growing a garden</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">    •    Growing your own vegetables saves money at the grocery store (you can freeze and can extras at harvest-time and, as singer-songwriter Greg Brown says, "Taste a little of the summer" in the dead of winter)</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">    •    Most store-bought produce travels thousands of miles in  packaged in cardboard and plastic - growing your own garden potentially reduces carbon emissions and waste from packaging</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">    •    When you grow your own garden YOU control the amount of pesticides and chemicals that the produce contains</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">    •    Gardening is an EXCELLENT form of exercise and great mental therapy</span><br><br><br><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">4. </span><b style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Recycle</b></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); min-height: 14px;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">This one is kind of a no-brainer, but I often find myself randomly throwing stuff into garbage cans at gas stations when I’m traveling with little thought of where this<br>“stuff” is going once it is collected by the trash man. Obviously, not buying plastic bottles will help, but so will buying items with less packaging. If you’re not recycling these days, I’m sorry but you somehow managed to miss entering the twenty-first century.</span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">5. <b>Pick up litter</b></span></p>
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<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Yes, folks.  Once a month, I plan on donning a pair of plastic gloves, grabbing a garbage bag and doing some outdoor “cleaning.”  It appalls me as I take my little country walks, that there are still people ignorant and lazy enough to throw their trash out the window.  If you are littering - STOP IT.  You might have a “Smart” phone, but you are an idiot!  Here are  some disturbing statistics about littering from <a href="http://www.litteritcostsyou.org/9-interesting-facts-and-statistics-about-littering/"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(85, 26, 139);">www.litteritcostsyou.org</span></a>:</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); min-height: 14px;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">    •    9 billion tons of litter ends up in the ocean every year</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">    •    $11.5 billion is spent every year to clean up litter (mostly by the government - i.e. YOUR tax dollars)</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">    •    The most common object found during litter clean-up is fast food litter. (no comment)<br><br>If someone you know is a litter bug, use this video to remind them that littering is bad: </span><a contents="Litterbug Litterbug Shame On You" data-link-label="" data-link-type="" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM22dhuce_s">Litterbug Litterbug Shame On You</a></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); min-height: 14px;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); min-height: 14px;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">6. <b>Buy thrifted clothes OR buy high-quality clothes.  Donate them back.</b></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>(Note: this step probably does not apply to men because you tend to wear the same thing OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER again until it is in</b></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>shreds or SO OLD it is stylish again)</b></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); min-height: 14px;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">I  have been a thrifter for most of my adult life - mostly because I LOVE vintage clothes and the thrill of the search.  I’ve also had excellent luck scoring really high-quality designer clothing at thrift stores for little next to nothing and these high-quality items have lasted a long, long time. You might think when you are buying “knock-off” fashion - cheaply made clothing that emulates designers top looks (from places like H&amp;M, Target, Forever 21), you are making an impact, but really all you are doing is contributing to a global problem. Even though I don’t have a high clothing budget and I LOVE variety in my wardrobe, I am working really hard this year to only buy new clothes that I know are well-made - otherwise they have to come from the thrift store.  When I’m done with them, I don’t throw them away unless they are not wearable - I take them back to the thrift store to be “recycled.”  Even the unwearable clothes I recycle by using them for rags. Here’s some scary data about the damages “cheap fashion” causes (from: <a data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1964887/"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(85, 26, 139);">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov</span></a> “Waste Couture Environmental Impact of the Clothing Industry):</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); min-height: 14px; text-align: justify;"> </p>
<ul>    <li style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“The manufacture of polyester and other synthetic fabrics is an energy-intensive process requiring large amounts of crude oil and releasing emissions including volatile organic compounds, particulate matter, and acid gases such as hydrogen chloride, all of which can cause or aggravate respiratory disease.”</span></li>    <li style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Much of the cotton grown in the U.S. is exported to China where it is milled, woven into fabrics, cut, and assembled according to the fashion industry’s specifications.  Workers receive between twelve and eighteen cents an hour in poor working conditions.  These articles are then shipped across the ocean, back to the U.S. for sale. That’s a HUGE carbon footprint.</span></li>    <li style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">“According to the EPA Office of Solid Waste, Americans throw away more than 68 pounds of clothing and textiles per person per year, and clothing and other textiles represent about 4% of the municipal solid waste. But this figure is rapidly growing.”</span></li>
</ul>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial;"><br><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">CHOOSE QUALITY OVER QUANTITY</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial;"><br><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">7. <b>USE GREY WATER</b></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">In addition to my vegetable garden this summer, I plan on having a little kitchen herb garden.  If I collect the water I use from washing dishes - i.e. the “grey” water - I can use this for the herb garden and other plants.  It is better than wasting good “fresh” water, especially when you think of droughts happening in places like California.  Again, every bit helps.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">8. <b>Use non-chemical cleaners and personal products.</b></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">There are a lot more options in this area than there used to be and one really great thing about using the non-chemical cleaners and personal products is that most often they’re locally made by individuals.  Vendors at farmers’ markets often sell items like handmade soaps, facial cleansers and even laundry detergents.  Not only are you <em>not</em> dousing yourself in a chemical bath when you use them, but you are supporting your local economy when you buy them.  If you can’t find non-chemical items for purchase, there are lots of websites devoted to the topic with “recipes” for cleaners and personal products you can make yourself.  Vinegar and baking soda, for example is a great cleaning agent; and, one of my favorite facial “masks” is just a combination of honey and avocado!</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">9. <b>Plant a tree.</b></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">Perhaps <a data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.cleanairgardening.com/plantingtrees.html"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">CleanAirGardening.com</span></a> says it best: “Trees are like the lungs of the planet. They breathe in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen. Additionally, they provide habitat for birds and other wildlife.”  Other advantages of trees are that they help reduce runoff and soil erosion, the shade the provide lowers house temperatures in the summer  (according to the Arbor Day Foundation shade provided by just one tree is equivalent to 10 room-size air conditioners running 20 hours a day!)  Trees also can reduce noise pollution by absorbing sound.  My plan is to plant one tree this summer.  According to <a href="http://RedBeacon.com"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">RedBeacon.com</span></a> the average total cost of planting a tree is $164 and the average price goes down with each tree you plant.  It seems like a lot of money, yes, but I’m sure I have blown that much on a monthly electric bill running the air conditioner a time or two!</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px; font-family: Arial;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">10. <b>Unplug</b></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35); min-height: 14px;"> </p>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; text-indent: -36px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(35, 35, 35);"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">As much as possible, I’m going to try to “unplug” from all of the technology </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">that bombards me every day! This literally means unplugging things when I’m not using</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px;"><font color="#232323" face="Arial"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">them, but also just not using them.  I personally find it refreshing to work by natural light during the day  and not turn on the television (sometimes for days at a time).  Getting away from the computer and my phone also helps me focus on the outside world - practicing my instruments, writing things by hand, going for walks, doing yard work, and making handcrafted items.  There is a great amount of joy to be had from doing things by hand - such as chopping food or sweeping a floor, as opposed to “saving time” by having some gadget doing it.  Humans were made to move and to toil to some degree - doing “work” is good for us!  Of course, like most of the other items on this list, there is an economic advantage to making some changes.  </span></font><a href="http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/06/20/12-household-appliances-you-should-unplug-to-save-money/" style="color: rgb(35, 35, 35); font-family: Arial; letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(85, 26, 139);">www.dailyfinance.com</span></a><font color="#232323" face="Arial"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> says that 5 to 10 % of your residential energy costs are spent on devices that are plugged in 24-hours a day.  Some good things to unplug include coffeemakers, lamps, toasters, televisions you don’t use every day.  Some items, like cable boxes and computers are harder to unplug - putting these on a power strip can ease the hassle of plugging and unplugging.</span></font><br><br><font color="#232323" face="Arial"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Well, there you have it, my ten steps to save the planet!  Obviously, there’s a lot of work to be done! I’m going to don my 100% organic cotton cape, put on my recycled plastic tennis shoes, grab my stainless steel bottle and get to work as a new Eco SuperHero!  How about you?  What steps will you take to save the </span>planet <span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">as we approach Earth Day?</span></font></p>
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  <a href="/blog/blog/2623177/pete-seeger-and-purpose">Pete Seeger and Purpose</a>&nbsp;
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  <div class="message"><p>The day Pete Seeger passed away I found myself driving around Big Bear, California on the verge of tears.  This struck me as odd because I would never consider myself  a particularly passionate fan of his.  I've never owned one of his recordings and I never saw him perform live.  A few years ago, I did watch a documentary on the banjo and was struck by the work he did to bring American folk music to the forefront of our society in a time when it was slowly fading into the annals of history.<br><br>Perhaps the biggest reason his death struck me so profoundly is because it reminded me that as artists we have a role to play.  That role is to make the world a better place to live; not only by creating beauty, but by using our voices to speak out against actions that are wrong.  I admit that for the sake of diplomacy, I often keep my mouth shut about the way I feel about current issues.  In the polarity of our society, one risks alienating others if his or her opinions are too strong. No matter what, there is a difference between right and wrong.  When the freedoms and basic human rights of others are in peril, change is necessary.  Pete Seeger - along with other artists he was able to recruit to his causes - was able to work for this change.  His death reminded me that I possess this power if I choose to use it.<br><br>The truth is, we all bear a responsibility to make change in the world.  Some of us have the opportunity to do this more publicly - as writers, musicians, and actors, for example; but even those who exist "behind the scenes" can have an impact by our simplest of actions.  We all have a purpose - Pete Seeger's was "to show people there's a lot of good music in this world, and if used right it may help to save the planet."   What's your purpose?</p></div>
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  <a href="/blog/blog/2494136/cost-benefit-analysis-of-loyalty">Cost-Benefit Analysis of Loyalty</a>&nbsp;
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  <div class="message">Growing up in a town of 2,000 people it was hard <em>not</em> to be loyal to local business owners.  On our quaint Main Street there was a small grocery store (that to this day still sells just about everything), a butcher-shop (owned by my grandfather and then my aunt and uncle), a restaurant, a hair salon, the bank, a television and radio repair shop, and three bars (every small town needs at least this many!!).  If we wanted choice we had to drive 20 miles into the nearest city and back then it seemed like too much hassle.<br><br>Over the years, the landscape of that Main Street has changed - the butcher shop is no longer open, and there are two hair salons, as well as a chiropractor's office (there are now only 2 bars, one having burnt down) - but these businesses' contribution to the local economy has not.<br><br>The world of commerce is ever-changing and our ability to get goods at discount prices from big box stores and websites like Amazon often leaves us foregoing the smaller mom and pop businesses.  I guess you can't take the country out of the girl because I still try to support small, local businesses as much as possible - so much so that I found myself recently in Cedar City, Utah (a long way from Epworth, Iowa and Los Angeles, California) picking up 100 copies of new posters from a local printer because I liked the way someone else had had them designed for a show I did there this summer!  <br><br>In addition, I still try as much as possible to support the same music store in Dubuque, Iowa where I bought my first guitar.  There's nothing like being able to walk into the store and chat with my old friends there about what I'm doing, where I'm traveling and what my needs as a musician are.  I'm sure I haven't spent as much there as <em>some</em> people, but over the years between new P.A. systems, guitar strings, mic. stands and all of the rest of the accroutrements that go along with being a singer-songwriter I've thrown down some bucks.<br><br>People often argue that it's cheaper and easier to go into a big-box music store (I'm sure you know which one I'm talking about).  I don't deny this - it is and I will acknowledge that on occasion I have walked through their giant glass doors while on the road to buy a new cable or capo to replace the one that fell down my cup-holder and into the dark recesses of my car's chassis never to be found again (don't ask).  But you know what?  A big-box store will never repay your loyalty the way someone who knows your name will.<br><br>I mentioned in an earlier blog that I recently got my guitar some badly needed TLC.  Without going into too much detail, I will tell you that I did take that very guitar to the aforementioned music store.  Let's just say the price for that repair was <em>very good</em> (assume for yourself what this means) and you know why?  Because for years I have gone out of my way to support a business owner who has supported me - in what I need by way of gear and also just by general encouragement and comraderie.  Even though I have probably not always gotten <em>the best deal</em> on items by price, I have gotten the best deal in the form of a wonderful business relationship. <br><br>This all serves as a very good reminder to me that the price of loyalty often outweighs the cost of goods.  It's important to reward loyalty and  I want to do even more this year to reward my loyal fans!  What rewards would you like to see as a result of your loyalty?  How has your loyalty to others paid off? Who do you need to be more loyal to?<br> </div>
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    <p class="post-info"><span data-time="2014-01-30T13:54:57-06:00" title="January 30, 2014 13:54">01/30/2014</span></p>

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  <div class="message"><span class="font_large">bought something you thought you needed only to get home and discover that you already had that very same thing packed away in a drawer somewhere?<br><br>I can't tell you the number of times I've returned from Staple's only to discover I already had a package of stickie notes still in the wrapper or a box of Ticonderoga pencils stashed away somewhere.  The same scenario has happened with purchases of white t-shirts, black tank-tops, guitar picks and nickel-cadmium batteries.  <br><br>With this in mind, depending on how I choose to view it, I am either half-disorganized, or half-organized.  I prefer, for the sake of optimism, to say I'm half-organized; but either way, letting even the smallest bit of clutter and chaos into your life can cause massive wastes of time, energy and money.<br><br>In a society where we are constantly being marketed to, it's easy to consumer more rather than maintain.  Part of maintaining naturally includes repairing broken things instead of just buying new ones.  This also, of course, means knowing what you already have.<br><br>Due to a heavy tour schedule and a fairly constant change of apartments in L.A. (don't ask) my childhood bedroom at my parents' house has become somewhat of a stockpile of my "stuff."  While spending several weeks there over the holidays, I took a good, hard look at my possessions and made it a point to "go over" things.<br><br>This included putting office supplies in carefully designated drawers; making piles of books I intend to read and get rid of this year; books I intend to read and keep and arranging my extra clothes by item in the closet.  I sewed on new buttons, polished leather boots (like  the awesome Frye motorcycle boots I graciously took from <a contents="Jalan Crossland" data-link-label="" data-link-type="url" href="http://www.jalancrossland.com">Jalan Crossland</a> last summer when he offered them because they were too small - and a size too large for me, by the way, but they have <em>good </em>karma) and cleaned out old purses.<br><br> I finally got my guitar some well-needed repairs and in the process of this, I discovered an old watch of my Grandpa Bill's he wore shortly before he passed away.  After several years of talking about it, I finally got the battery replaced and bought a new strap for it (now I don't have to look at my phone to check the time during gigs - I swear I haven't been checking text messages).<br><br>Ironically, it really didn't take me as much time or effort as it might seem.  More than anything, it took the decision to confront things and take inventory.  As a result, I feel quite content and resolved to make 2014 a year in which I take care of what I already have.  One of my goals is to "use and do" as opposed to "buy and consume."  Changes I plan on seeing as a result of this mentality are more organization - if you've ever seen my car while I'm on tour you know why!  I also intend to see more money in my savings account on New Year's Day 2015 and to feel more at peace, more simplified.<br><br>So . . . are there things in your life you need to assess and organize?  Are there things you need to repair?  Have you managed to tackle clutter and chaos?  How did you do it?  What things changed in your life as a result?</span></div>
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      <span class="last">
  Last<span class='pagination-decoration icon icon-last'></span>
</span>

  </nav>




</template></turbo-stream>