It’s been difficult for me to write this post but I didn’t want to go too long without posting something. I got a message from the Lads sister Tanya last Tuesday that Joe passed away that morning. It was sudden and definitely a shock to the family. I still haven’t yet been able

It’s been three weeks since I’ve returned from my trip to visit the Lads and I’ve been a very busy bee. Right after returning from England, I got a call from a buddy of mine who just had lunch with an old friend earlier that day. They were chatting about the

I’m back in the air, flying home to Chicago. Lucky for you all I ramble even more when I write on an airplane! Saturday was our last day visiting with the Lads and their family in Fleetwood, UK. We had gotten their microphones up and working for them the day

Friday was a big day with the Lads and their family, spending about 10 hours with them. We got there a bit earlier than the previous day to be sure we had time to do everything we needed to get done. The Lads’ brother Sam was with us all day

We had a pretty great first day with the Lads. We didn’t get over to their house until about 1pm, Diane said it would be better to skip the morning as the Lads are better a bit later in the day. Sam and I stopped at a “chippy” called Chatties

After landing at Manchester Airport, I waited for Sam to get in from New York City. I had 5 hours or so to kill so I found WiFi, found an outlet near a comfy chair, and camped out with my computer. All along eating candy bars (Crunchie!) and crisps that

I am currently sitting on the plane flying from Chicago to Manchester, UK. We’re cruising at 29,000ft and have been in the air for about an hour. We should touch down in the UK in about six hours. I’m supposed to sleep, as the flight left at 6pm and gets

Today was one of those days where it seemed like nothing will work right. I’ve been building the mics for the Lads for the past few days but today was full of big problems. The first problem: those last-minute throat mics that my manufacturer got to me didn’t work at all.

MAKING THE MICROPHONES USB-COMPATIBLE I’m done building the belt-pack processors for the Lads’ throat mics. Normally, the Thumper TH100 throat microphone has a 1/4” unbalanced output connector (like a bass guitar) and is powered by a single 9V battery. This won’t work for the Lads because they will hopefully be

Today I built the two microphone belt-packs for the Lads. Initially, these are built exactly the same that I build my Thumper TH100 throat microphone belt-packs. Those are designed for beatboxers, but the Lads won’t be doing much beatboxing (although I plan to teach them a little). I’ll make these

WE LEAVE IN TEN DAYS! A couple weeks ago, I booked my flights from Chicago to Manchester for April 22-27 and for Sam from NYC to Manchester. I did go for the travel insurance, in case there’s some emergency here.   TESTING NEW MASKS Philips sent a couple of their

Fundraising Update We’ve raised just over $4000 so far, which is AMAZING. Thank you again to everyone who has contributed money and/or time in getting the word out. Every time a contribution comes in, I get an email and I get very excited. We’ve still got a way to go,

FUNDING UPDATE We have now completed our second week of fundraising and we’re up to $3,464 and 255 likes on our funding page (if only “likes” were worth $5 each, eh?). Thank you SO much to all the contributors & supporters so far. There are a lot of people reposting,

We had a great first week, raising $633 for the Lads Project. I’m so touched by everyone’s contributions, I do honestly get teary every time one comes in, no matter the size. I received a surprising phonecall in the middle of the night from someone, over the UK, interested in