Category: Out & About

Brain Dump Before Bed

I don’t know what to write about anymore since band has resumed being the center of my life. And I’m not sure who all reads my blog anymore, anyways. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not necessarily considering taking it down right now but we all just seem to be so busy. Or maybe the fascination of keeping up a blog has dwindled away. Eh, whatever.

We start school in a week so that can only mean it’s Staff Development week. We have some LOTS of new staff this year (head principal change) so there will be new faces to really not get to know. I just found out how many people are on faculty at SPHS. There are around 100 at the 9th grade center and 200 at the main campus. With the 3000 kids and other staff (custodial, cafeteria, etc.) we have on top of that, we’re a small city!! Amazing.

Things have been just chugging along nicely. Our show this year is called “From Earth to Sky” and it’s all about flight. The kids are really diggin’ the music and the drill is going to be amazing. If nothing else, working on the show is going to be a lot of fun!!!

Despite band having started back up again, I’ve still had a night or two out with the girls. My friend Crystal keeps things quite interesting, I’ll tell ya! Oh, and Monica & I went out dancing the other night. That was REALLY fun and just what I needed, too. Since my gallery still isn’t fixed (like someone is gonna come along and fix it for me or something), I’ve posted an album or two on MySpace. Yeah, yeah…I know…it’s still the work of the devil but sometimes, you have to dance with the devil in the pail moon light….. OH, I also created a gallery of Fashion Don’ts that I’ve collected recently.

So, I think that’s pretty much it for right now. I’m awfully tired tonight. It’s been a long week. Tomorrow, lots of laundry and other chores around the house. In reality, I’ll probably sleep in and get a load or two of laundry in. Eh, it’ll be okay. Rest is probably just what I need anyways. Well, take care.

Almost the end of summer

This has been a very relaxing, yet productive summer. It’s almost time for me to get back to work full time and I think I’m alright with that after this great summer I’ve had. Ken being here all summer has been great, too. Having someone around to help with daily chores is so relaxing!

I have my garden boxes built but because of the rain, I didn’t get a chance to set up the soil and start any gardening. But I think I’m okay with that because the summer isn’t the planting season. But, if I had to build the boxes I wanted and do the gardening all during the spring, I’d never get it done. Also, this lets me spread out the cost of putting together this size of garden (I built two 4×5 foot boxes) will be fairly expensive. When it comes time, I’ll plant both seeds and seedlings. They will both be filled with edible plants.

Moving from the organic to the techincal, my iPhone is wonderful! There have been a few reports about things not going well for people but none of them have affected my phone. My favorite question so far from people has got to be, “Is it true that the battery is useless after 300 charges?”. And just so you know, no. It’s been reported that after 400 full charges from a battery that has been completely drained, the life of the battery is lowered to 80%. Tell me what re-chargeable device isn’t affected that way after 400 dead to full charges. *sigh* The only problem I’ve had would be keeping my contact list straight since I’m syncing it from two different places. When you sync from both Yahoo! Contacts and Plaxo, it tends to create duplicates in the Address Book software on my iBook. But I think I’ve got that straightened out.

I loaded everything back into my office at work on Monday. I’ve finally put certificates, etc. on my walls and realized how cool an office can actually look! LOL. I’m not quite done with putting all the papers in their places and I need a few picture frames but I’m back to a regular work schedule now.

So, Texas Bandmasters Association Convention this weekend. DCI San Antonio on Saturday, too. Seems like most of Saturday will be at the Alamodome ’cause there are so many corps I want to see this year. Good thing that there are only 2 clinics that I want to really go to I’ll miss during that time. Heck, those two are scheduled at the same time so I’d miss one of them anyways!

Speaking of drum corps, there is no telling who is going to win at this year’s World Championships in Pasadena, CA. Any of the top 3 corps right now could take it and any of the next 2 or 3 corps could push up to 3rd place. It’s a great season for drum corps and I can’t wait to see the shows on Saturday!!

Okay, I really should get up to work so I’m going to sign off. Have a great rest of the week and weekend!

Texas Drum Corps Preview

This Saturday, June 16, 2007 is the Texas Drum Corps Preview at the State Capitol Building. Scheduled to appear are:

Austin Stars (DCA)
Crossman (DCI)
Frontier (DCA)
Gulf Coast Sound (DCA)
Revolution (appearance tentative depending on Spurs scheduling) (DCI)

For more details and the rain location, see the Austin Stars website.

In case of rain on Saturday (it’s forcasted), they will move the Preview to Manor High School.
The decision will be made by 5:00 pm on Saturday.

Check the Austin Stars website for the posting or feel free to call me and I’ll know.

Dormin’ it.

This week, I’ll be dormin’ it at San Marcos Hall on the Texas State University campus for the Middle School Band Camp. I’m the Jazz Ensemble Conductor!!! I’m really exciting to work with these kids – they seem really excited to be here and playing their horns for the week. It’s going to be pretty refreshing, I’m sure. Anywho, I finally got “the internet” working in the dorm room so I’ll be able to update here and again during the week. It’s not easy getting on the world wide web on this campus!

One thing I do have to say before I log off for the night – this room sure is drab and I’m glad I don’t have to live here all year. How many shades of green can you put into ONE ROOM??? And I thought the mono-chromaticness of my house was bad. I’ll be sure to post a pic of all this green.

So, stick around for more updates from Ol’ San Marcos. Love ya, mean it!
~C

Weekend

This weekend was so wonderful!

On Saturday, we had our TMEA Region meeting but it only lasted 2 hours (I thought it was going to be a marathon all day thing) and everything went really smoothly. No arguments for the most part. Always a bonus and not always the expected.

The saxophone section had their First Annual Kite Day that afternoon. Not only did they play with kites, they had bar-b-qued burgers, volleyball, water fights (I managed to keep dry), cards, dominoes, etc. I went and hung out for a few hours and had so much fun! Most of the parents were there so it was a nice time to catch up on stuff that wasn’t just band related.

I really didn’t want to leave when I did but had to because Trish was playing with the Austin Civic Orchestra that evening and I was going to the concert in So. ATX. Amongst a few other very beautiful pieces I wasn’t previously familiar with, they were playing The Planets in their entirety! Considering this is an orchestra made up of many people that aren’t professional performing musicians, the concert was really quite well performed.

After that, I met up with my best friend Cathy and also with Daniel Montoya, Jr. at Opal Devine’s Penn Field and we had a fun time there, too!

Saturday seems like it was a busy day but really, it was all very laid back and comfortable. Just what I had needed.

Sunday was my birthday. I know you’re asking, “Why didn’t you remind us before this?” but honestly, I’ve been so stressed and tired that I didn’t want to deal with planning or doing much of anything this year. I really wasn’t feeling the whole birthday celebration need thing. I think I’ve mentioned it like twice this month on my blogs and that’s been it. *sigh* But it’s okay…

When I woke up, I layed in bed, watching some TV and hanging with the cats. I was going to go out and get myself some breakfast somewhere but then Cathy called, wanting to go have brunch so we did. We actually ended up having lunch at TGI Friday’s. Have you had their Pecan Crusted Chicken (Cathy’s dish) or their Cedar-Seared Salmon (mine)? Holy Cow, they’re both quite yummy!!

After lunch, we headed to Target ’cause I was hoping to get another lounge chair (hopefully similar to the one I already have) for my backyard because we were planning on hanging out in the backyard for a while…no luck. Everything they had there was either not a lounge chair, for a small child or just plain boring. *sigh* Regardless, I got my first summer reading series book and some 5 lb. hand weights. Still a successful trip. 🙂

Daniel then met us at my house to give me my birthday present – Home Depot Dollars!!! Thanks, Daniel!! 😀

Cathy left shortly after and my family came over. We went to the Sedatole’s house because they were grilling steaks and invited us over (I guess I could say for my birthday). They bought me a yummy cake and we had a really nice time.

As you can see, the whole weekend was really laid back and relaxed. Thanks to everyone and their Birthday Messages in all forms! They meant the world to me. I hope you have a fantastic week!!