Author: Benford

And so we start again…

It seems as though there are more people out there reading my blog than I realized. I was told last week that I need to blog more because they enjoy reading my blogs. Thanks so much…now leave a comment so I get MY immediate gratification! LOL

First, I’d like to start by welcoming my friend Daniel Montoya, Jr. back to Austin! He’s been doing the grad school thing for two years and I thought it was feel like FOREVER for him to get back. And in some aspects it does and I guess since we chat via conventions and Facebook, it doesn’t. Either way, welcome back to the great ATX, DMJ! ~CB700

Speaking of conventions, I just got back from TBA. I was concerned before hand that I wasn’t going to get a lot out of it because there were so very few clinics that seemed at all appealing. Turned out, I went to more clinics at this year’s TBA than I had in the last few TMEAs or TBAs! The Michael Haithcock series as well as the “Big Ten Has Beens” series were very informative. TJEA had a good turn out at our meeting and lots of exciting things were announced. Don’t worry, once I get the minutes back from Brent, the secretary, and the guys at TMEA help get the new website finished and live, I’ll post them to the new TJEA website. I also got to hang out with friends I don’t normally get to hang out with…as well as meet new friends. Jose (trumpet) and Chris (horn) from the Boston Brass were a complete HOOT to hang with! It was fun being Jose’s tour manager for about 15 minutes. That’s about all I could put up with before I “fired” him from my services. Hah Hah!

Being back from TBA means band stuff starts up again. We’ve had our Band Leadership Camp the last few days and full band camp starts on Monday. We have 3 weeks then school starts up. I can’t believe it’s already time. Where did the summer go? Oh yeah – band stuff all through June! Oh well. Nature of this lifestyle (it’s not just a job, ya know?).

I am glad to say that I’ve been keeping up with my swimming and hitting the gym as often as I can. I think it’ll be hard to get work out time at the gym in in August but I mainly joined to swim so that’s okay. As long as I can get in the water, I’m good.

Well, that’s it for now. I’ll add a few pictures once I get home and can get them from my camera onto “the internet”. I’ve been doing a lot of playing on Facebook this summer but I think now that school is starting back up and there’s no access from campus, I’ll be blogging again more. I have picked up using Twitter a little but mostly, I Twitter for the band. I hope all everyone has a nice rest of the weekend and a great next week.

Love you, mean it!
~C

Homemade Peeps

I think I might try to make homemade Peeps sometime soon. Since I’m not sure if I can make it to the opening of the First Peeps Store in Maryland…

What’s up?

Wow, June is almost over and I haven’t updated in almost a month. So, here’s a quick run down of how things have gone:

  • The school is over and I’m glad to be in “summer vacation” mode…
  • …except that we have been with kids the last few weeks so summer vacation hasn’t really started yet.
  • My friend Catrina had fractured her arm but was signed up to do the Danskin Triathlon. I decided to help her out by being a part of relay and swimming the 1/2 mile loop in Decker Lake. Even just breast stroking, I swam it in 27 minutes, 43 seconds. Our final team time was 2 hours, 8 minutes and 52 seconds. Out of 106 relay teams, we ranked 75. Not bad for only 2 weeks notice of being in a relay! I enjoyed the swim and think I might just have to do more swimming like that….
  • After school ended, we had a few rehearsals and headed to the great State of Hawaii. Aloha! Pictures are available on my Flickr.
  • I got back from Hawaii and got AT&T U-Verse installed. I am enjoying it immensely! Especially since there is an iPhone App so I can program my DVR from anywhere.
  • We had our Squad Leader training sessions for Welcome Week that starts on Monday. The leadership played through the opener and we’re pretty stoked about next year’s show.
  • The Texas Drum Corps Preview was last night and again, I had the honor of being the MC. Every corps was better than last year! I’d like to welcome Memphis Sound (to become Forte in 2010) to Texas, too.
  • Welcome Week starts on Monday and goes all next week from 8 am – 12 noon. Once that’s over, Summer Vacation will officially start!!!!

    • So, that’s it. It’s been pretty non-stop but we’ve had an amazing trip. The pictures are foldered by day and there are quite a few captions to say where we were each day.

    Happy Father’s Day
    to all the great dad’s out there!

    Memorial Weekend Fun

    I had so much fun this weekend. First, we started with a gathering at my house for my birthday. We grilled chicken, sausage and veggies, there was a delicious pineapple cake (I love pineapples – thanks Thura) and lots of munchies (thanks to everyone). It was yet again, another great birthday celebration.

    On Saturday, I slept in then cleaned up the house a bit, I headed down to Buda to see my friend Jeff C and have some dinner. His house/property is beautiful. Lots of Buda there – it’s nice to see the old things restored then enjoyed like that. We sat, chatted and caught up for hours. Good food, wine and conversation. An ideal Saturday evening, actually. Even the drive to and through Buda was nice. Thanks, Jeff!

    On Sunday, I made a pasta salad that I hadn’t made in years but it’s a great summer recipe (see end for ingredients) and headed to Kerey & Jeff M’s house for a Memorial Day BBQ. Again, lots of great food, conversation and drinks to make this lady a happy one.

    Today, I finally got up and headed to the gym. It’s been about a week and a half since I’d been but it was good rest for my body. Did some leg work and swam, then headed home to clean up. Jeff C and I went out to the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum then to the Austin Wine Festival. He’d never been to the museum so it was neat and watch him learn all over again. Jeff and I went to high school together so learning together is something we do well, I guess! 🙂 I hadn’t been there in a few years (with the exception of seeing Star Trek the other day – review for another blog entry) so it was nice to see some of the changes to the exhibits. I do enjoy a day at a museum…too bad the Blanton wasn’t open. The Austin Wine Festival was nice as well and we found a few wineries that we enjoyed. One told me that you could taste the granite in their wine so I passed. Nothing like paying to lick a rock! YUCK!

    A fun filled weekend with great friends. I can’t wait for the summer to have time for more days like this! Sorry there aren’t any pictures – I haven’t been as much in the picture taking mood lately. Hopefully, that’ll change.

    ——————————-Pasta Salad Recipe——————————-center>

    This is a recipe that is made with approximates, which is why I don’t include any amounts. All the veggies are sliced thin (I used a mandolin) except the peppers which I diced.

    16 oz Garden Rotini pasta, cooked and chilled.
    Zucchini
    Yellow squash
    Cucumber
    Kosher pickles
    Red bell pepper
    Gold or yellow bell pepper
    Ham – cut to bite sized pieces
    Turkey Breast – cut to bite sized pieces
    Zesty Italian dressing (it really does need to be the “zesty” one)

    After your pasta is chilled and everything is chopped or sliced up, combine. Best to let sit for several hours before serving. If I use 1 of each veggie and all the pasta, this recipe can actually yield 2 large salad bowls full. Enjoy!