Mosfet Booster

Here's my booster, and the web site with the design:
AMZ

Build Your Own Guitar Effects

Okay, so it's time-consuming, frustrating and challenging. The advantage is, in a given design you can swap a resistor for a potentiometer, and get a variety of sounds that an off the shelf effects pedal won't have. Or, where you see a capacitor you might be able to add a multi-position switch connected to capacitors of various values for a multitude of unique sounds. Once you control the design, the possibilities are endless.

My only successful project so far is a mosfet booster that works great. When I first built it, the only container I had around the house was a specimen test vial from the hospital, but then I put it in a standard black box.

Some great projects are here, including my booster:
AMZ

Other designs can be found at:
Geofex
Harmony Central
General Guitar Gadgets
Vintage Guitar Effects

There's enough here to keep you busy until the wee hours.

Also for your edification, some of my favorite stuff:
Z.VEX
Blackstone Appliances
Fulltone
Voodoo Labs
Hughes & Kettner

Some of these sites have sound files of their effects...fun!

Postmodern Christianity

One author that has really been challenging me and making me think about the status quo is Brian McLaren. He considers himself a post-modern Christian, and challenges Christians to learn the new language and thought processes of postmodernism so we can more effectively communicate with those around us. These are the books I've read lately:

A New Kind of Christian and its sequel The Story We Find Ourselves In. These are fiction books based on McLaren's true experiences as a pastor in a church that likes to challenge modern thought. Excellent mind-stretching stuff.

More Ready Than You Realize. This is basically the history of an email exchange between McLaren and a woman he met, walking her through the difficult questions many thinking seekers are asking today. Very interesting stuff.

Get 'em here:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/002-6456511-8706465

Also, there's an interesting exchange between McLaren and Chuck Colson on McLaren's web site http://ww.anewkindofchristian.com/archives/000160.html in response to a column Colson wrote in Christianity Today, expressing an opinion that postmodern thought is a "dead end" http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2003/012/24.72.html.

Interesting stuff...