I fired this baby up for the first time in about two and a half years a few days ago.  It is a Marshall Silver Jubilee Series 2553 JCM 25/50 (50 Watt Model).  This amp was produced in 1987 for that year alone.  It is also the chosen amplifier of Slash, formerly of Guns n’ Roses, however, he uses the 100 watt models.

In my high school days I found this at a small pawn shop.  It wasn’t even on display to be sold.  I was so busy drooling over all the cool gear that I wondered into the back room without knowing it.  The store owner found me back there looking at it.  He was holding it for another guy but he was taking too long to buy it so I told him I would buy it.  I put it on lay-away with the little bit of money I had and worked for months to pay it off.  It took me so long to get it that the lay-away period had expired but the cool pawn shop owner kept it for me and let me continue to pay for it.  When I got it home I still couldn’t play it because I didn’t have any speaker cabinet.  So being the determined, guitar obsessed guy I was I built a plywood cabinet big enough to fit one 12 speaker I picked up at a weekend flea market.  It took me many more months of working and saving to buy the Marshall cabinet at a local Guitar Center.

Sadly, as you can see, this bad boy has seen happier days.  Consequences of it being relegated to a shelf in the corner of the room.  All sorts of gunk has been spilled over it from, hair care products to beverages and even milk from my son’s baby bottle.

Here you can see the Marshall logo has been redesigned courtesy of my son’s unguided interest.  He has also pull off all the knobs from the front panel at one time or another.

…but, it still works and still sounds awesome.

1. When Mommy pretends to beat me up he always comes running to my rescue and shields me with his body.
2. Just like when he was a new born, I can still lull him to sleep by softly singing Silent Night.
3. He almost always gives me a big, tight hug and a kiss when I come home from work.
4. He almost always yells for daddy (instead of mommy, sorry) when he sees our truck pull into Grandma's yard when we go to pick him up.
5. He likes falling asleep on my stomach.
6. Mommy's cuddle time on the bed with him is almost always ruined for her when I climb into be bed with them because I start getting most of the hugs and kisses (sorry again mommy).
7. Couch potato days when he just sits and watches a little bit of TV with me, usually the Dog Whisperer on NatGeo.
8. He makes me throw him up in the air when he pretends he is Ironman about to fly off into the sky.
9. We both love a good escabeche, a spicy onion and chicken soup eaten with corn tortillas.
10. At bedtime he likes to take over my pillow and snuggle up next to me.
11. He likes to make me run all over the house with him, it's like mini marathons.
12. Sometimes we just look at each other and we both begin to laugh uncontrollably for no reason.
13. Most times he will willingly share his snacks with me but he always gives mommy a hard time.
14. Sometimes he likes to pee at the same time with me, sharing the toilet, and usually smiling and laughing the whole time.

From the days when my wife was pregnant I told her that I looked forward to the times when Squirt would be old enough to walk, run around, talk, joke around and laugh with me.  I admit sometimes its tough to find energy and patience but these are the days I have looked forward to for so long and I love my relationship with my 2 year old son.

I am sad to say Squirt came to me in tears today because his older cousins, 4 and 7 years old, didn't want him to play with them.  They were playing with those classic plastic soldiers that don't do anything except stand there with their rifles aimed.  Apparently, Squirt was knocking them over and over again while they were trying to build their respective army camps with the little soldiers.

Well, I couldn't bare to see the tears running down his cheeks so I stole some of their soldier, a motorcycle, two helicopters and two fighter jets.  For the next hour Squirt and I played on the living room floor with our hijacked soldiers.  After that, I had to leave for work but he was feeling better by that time.

While I did get some play time with my Squirt it wasn't easy seeing him excluded from playing with two of his best buddies.  I certainly hope that doesn't happen too much when I'm not there because he loves those two kids.  I swear, if I ever see some other toddler bully my boy at the playground I'm gonna have to deck him.  Ha, I kid of course, kind of.  An over-protective parent? Yes, indeed I am.

Ha, just like daddy, he is certain he knows how to fix it.

For a very long time my Squirt has had an on going problem with his sinuses.  It's hard to remember a day when he didn't have to blow his nose.  Thank goodness he has never developed any severe irritation from always wiping his nose.  Well, we finally switched doctors, got some x-rays and he is now on some new medication that seems to be working better.  A couple months of this and its back for another checkup to see if all is well.  Now, on advice of the doctor, we have to try and reduce any allergens in the house so the biggest change is finding new homes for our two dogs.  So its good bye for Cassie and Buddy.  And to think, just over a week ago I was thinking of getting Squirt a little puppy for his birthday coming up early next year.  Well, hopefully he will get better and maybe in a year or two we can consider that again.  Hey, we may be losing two family pets but we're gaining a healthier son so I definitely can't complain about that.