fred zappelin

Especially nowadays when the "in" thing for alot of folks is to buy the 4000 sq ft McMansions for big bucks and pay over 10k a yr taxes. (I live in the lower Hudson Valley NY where this has been going on for the last 8-10 yrs) We bought our little 900sq ft house in 1993 for 72k, I have done many many improvements that have cost well over 50k total and I am still in the process of completeing my basement into a studio/entertainment room for my family (wife & two kids)...Most folks are into their second house by now buy we plan on staying right where we are until the kids are outon their own. I live 60 miles out of NYC...I love the city life but their are sacrifices especicailly if you plan on having kids. They need a place to play etc...IMHO.... I`m very driven now to build this studio/entertainment room for me and the kids ...it will include a PA system, liights, smoke machine, Roland electronic drums, all my guitar crap, a keyboard, my old vinyl records, 42 " flat panel LCD TV etc....My home has a finished attic where the kids now have rooms, I have three chickens , a dog, cat and a good size yard with a pool..I commute 35 miles each way to work and I actually enjoy the ride most days....I think happinesss can be found in small packages but one needs to live within thier means in order to be happy. Too many people are caught up in keeping up with the Jones` if you get my drift.. To put it into a musical perspective : most of my guitar heros Rory Gallgher, Jimmy Page, Hendrix, John Lennon etc...These guys weren`t into "boutique" pedals and amps and tons of guitars with custom pick-ups and the like...from what I have read they didn`t get into those aspects as much as they got into the song...Clapton downsized his collection in a big way to fund the rehab cenetr in his name....Angus Young ...SG into Marshall...fini !