BD had been encouraging me to buy a Martin, as my infrequent attempts to play the Epiphone resulted in out-of-tune noise. It is not a bad guitar, but certainly not a Martin. She has known I have wanted one since we have been together, and has encouraged me to strive to make that dream come true when I had the chance. I had decided that this year, if I was careful, I would try to buy a Martin, and had been looking at a new HD-28 online and at the guitar shop in town, Southern Guitars. A new HD-28VS would be much out of my price range, but talking to Southern Guitars yesterday the guy tried to explain to me that it would be a better investment to purchase one he knew about instead of a new HD-28. To make a long story short, he knew a guy that deals in high-end guitars (BD's first questions was, "Is it stolen?"), and had a pristine Vintage Series available. I went to the shop yesterday over my lunch hour, played it, and fell in love with it...not a mark on it, not even those fine, hair-like scratches on the pick guard. The finish is unblemished with no scratches, dents, dings or any kind of marks. The case is immaculate, and I noticed that the little envelope that held the keys to the case was still sealed. In fact, I learned that the warranty had never been activated, so the guitar has never been registered with Martin! I might be so lucky to even benefit from Martin's Lifetime warranty!!

Anyway, I got it! I am a truly happy camper. BD has stood behind me on 2 of the 3 things I have lusted after for the past 40 years, and helped me obtain my Pilot's License (#1, and she got the first ride...which took some prodding to tell you the truth...), now my Martin (#2), and at the end of January or first of February #3 will be in the garage (I'm buying a Harley-Davidson Softail Deluxe...dream #3!!). If it wasn't for her, and her encouragement, I don't know if I would have ever had the focus needed to tackle these things one by one... I am indebted to her for that, and will always love her for showing me the way to realize these dreams!!

You can sort'a see the Herringbone scallopped edges around the body of the guitar and the sound hole. It's beautiful. The VS part of the model refers to it being a "Vintage Series" guitar, meaning it is built as closely to the same way the "28" was built pre-war. It was not what I was going to buy, but as it turned out...

This is a Martin HD-28VS guitar, something I have wanted for about 40 years...Martins are the best guitars made, in my humble opinion, and since the first time I played one I hoped that one day I would be able to own one. I have owned an Epiphone for about 25 years, and it's been a good little guitar, but it isn't a Martin...nothing is.

This is one of my "dreams" that have, over the past 4 years, come true!

This is the little village of shops and restaurants outside the Hyatt hotel we stayed at for the conference. Couple of nice restaurants, but most of the restaurants, fast-food or nice sit-down restaurants, were very expensive...BD and I had a single scoop of Ben & Jerry's Phish Food ice cream apiece and it was $9.

This was the view out our hotel room in San Diego. I DO NOT like heights, and we were on the 18th floor, but the view was worth the angst of the height...as long as I looked OUT and not DOWN!!

Had a beautiful sunrise Monday AM...long day Sunday returning from San Diego, but worth the trip I think. Spent some time with my Buddy Bob Martin and his wife, Karin, at the San Diego Zoo, a lot of good work at the conference, and a nice visit with BD's Mom in Long Beach for a couple days after. I love the sunrises in Winter...the color is such that I don't believe a human artist could envision the mixture and apply it...makes you think.