Have things turned around???

Another hectic week has gone by and things just seem to keep getting better and better. The band had one awesome week of rehearsing. They’re really starting to pull it out and understand the work it takes to achieve goals. I’m not sure we’re there yet but we’re light years better than we were a week ago. I’m so glad we’ve had all the folks coming to tech us this week as we’ve had.

First, the football team played Cedar Park on Friday and WON AGAIN! The final score was Stony Point 28, Cedar Park 14. I need to remember to go get the paper today so I can read how surprised that all the area sports writers were so WRONG in their predictions. Happy birthday to Head Coach Chessher with this win! The band did great at the half time as well. They’re hard work is definitely showing on the field. They had some really great moments that even made the “nacho crowd” at the football games stop and watch. The really great thing in that is we weren’t playing to our home crowd. Our game was at Cedar Park. Their crowd was rowdy and didn’t really calm down for their own band’s show but they seemed to love ours. Very gratifying.

The band went to the Judson Rocket Review in San Antonio on Saturday. There were 12 5A bands there and Stony Point placed THIRD!!! I’m so excited for them. It’s been a long time coming but I think they’re really starting to earn a name for themselves. Funny thing is, because the way the contest is set up, we were in a clinic with one of the judges when the awards ceremony was going on. The kids didn’t find out how they did until after all the parents did. It was a great feeling to watch Brian tell them he was sorry they had to miss the awards ceremony, hope they got a lot out of the clinic…oh and by the way, we got third place! LOL. The room went nuts. Good stuff.

Monday, we have staff development all day. I wonder how many kids will come ’round the band hall and practice field to go over what they need to work on on their own. It would be a nice sight. Now, if they do, I hope they don’t over do it because we do have a rehearsal scheduled for 6:30-9:00. I also hope that they don’t relax with their success from Saturday. It was just a preparation contest for Tuesday. That’s the big one. The bands don’t get placed but they get ratings. This group has only once received a 1st division rating…but that year, many bands got 1st divisions (that don’t normally) because the weather was so awful, the judges were very relaxed about what they were looking for. This year needs to be the turn around for the football team AND the band.

Please pray that we get no rain on Tuesday. We want the 1 on our own merits this time. They’ve worked too hard for any gimmes.

The one thing you need to know about…

From the November issue of Glamour magazine:

…staying mentally sharp. The best brain-boosting activities:
reading, playing cards or board games and playing a musical instrument. A study found that doing these things three or four times a week reduced the risk of developing memory problems later in life by at least 35 percent.

Hmmm, maybe that explains why my memory in college (despite any partying I might have done and the lack of sleep that goes with it) was so much better than it is now. I thought it was just a part of getting older but maybe I can get back some of my memory edge if I get back to playing my horn! I’m actually playing in the school musical in January so I need to work now on getting my chops up between now and then. And, I’ve played a couple of times with the band lately and it sure feels good to play again. I think I really need to make time and take up Josh (the trumpet private lesson teacher at our school) on his offer of getting together and playing gigs with him.

The Rain in Spain….

It rained today, just as I got home. It felt good to walk in the rain. I hated that I had all my stuff ’cause even though my stuff is in their bags, they can still get wet and I didn’t want that to happen. I just wanted to dance in the rain. It felt so good with it falling on my face & body, almost cleansing away all that’s happened lately. I just wish it was cooler rain but we can’t have it all, huh?

Today, I was beat. I’m not too sure why, I got home after the booster meeting, ate and went to bed by 10 pm. I’m really glad that today was an early release day. Maybe the rushed feeling of an early release day helped to ’cause the exhaustion. Then again, I’ve been living on the verge of exhaustion for over a month now. It’s almost unavoidable for me this time of year. I’m just glad that my mom’s a massage therapist. Between the massages & wonderful talks, she can help ease the body aches I seem to experience with all the stress and exhaustion.

Only one more week until UIL Region Marching Contest. For this fall, this year, this is the big culminating event. If you’re in the North Austin area next Tuesday evening, around 8:45, please consider coming out and support the Stony Point HS Band. We actually perform at 8:45 pm so you’d have to be in the stands before then. If you’d like more details and/or directions, please feel free to comment or email me. We have a pretty fun show and would love all the audience support we can find.

Band is life, life is band (this week).

Wow, what a weekend it’s been! Friday, we didn’t have a football game because of the UIL 5 day rule and our opponent’s game this past Monday. The game got moved to Saturday at NOON but of course, we had a contest in Brenham at 10 am so that caused a bit of rushing around but it turned out to be just fine because we got there during the 3rd quarter to watch the team WIN THE FOOTBALL GAME!!!!! Go Tigers!!!!!!!

Cathy came up and went to eat with some of the band folks and that was fun. Today is the annual Sunday staff meeting after Blinn to decide what we can work on this week befor our last two contests next week. We are so close to getting a 1st Division at UIL that I can taste it. I hope the weather holds up this week and doesn’t rain out our rehearsals. We’ve got so many great people coming out to help…..

Power anyone?

About a week and a half ago, my dad tells me he needs a new video card. I’m still not sure exactly why he needs one — the reason has escaped me in this adventure I’m about to tell. Well, I agreed to help him find the video card at Fry’s and install it. How hard could this be? I’ve built my own computer (with some friend walking me through as I find the one different place I get stuck in each time) and installed network cards and other parts in others! We go to Fry’s and find the card that fits his price range and need. The one thing I didn’t notice until we got home was that it was a PCI card, but once I thought about it, I realized it shouldn’t make too big of a difference.

So, Sunday, I went to install it only to find that my dad has already done most of the work. He’s an electrical engineer and I remember he told me about building IBM Compatibles back before they were penned “PCs”. He did exactly what needed to be done but the computer just wasn’t booting up all the way. I sat down and went into the BIOS to find that there were a few options I could logically change so that it should make the thing work. Except, the computer kept freezing on me. Ok, go to the manual for the new card. Maybe it will tell me what’s wrong. Not enough juice in the power supply. It stuck in my head but I disregarded it because I figured if the power supply was below the recommended 350 watts, the whole computer just wouldn’t work correctly with the components it had in it. Continued to troubleshoot but to no avail. Windows just wouldn’t load up, even in safe mode. My next idea was to install from CD but we didn’t have a Windows CD at his house. 😦

Hmmm…who could help me? Ah hah! Krez!!! Left him a message but I was out of time to work on the computer for that night. I had to meet Allison to see “Chicago”!

Okay, so Tuesday, I go back to the house to finish this thing up, only to find that the power supply is only 250 Watts! Who would have thunk it? AND, the stores we try in South Austin (and they check with their other stores) and there are NO 350-400 Watt power supplies to be found within our price range ($40-50). It’s like the milk & bananas last week. A run on computer power supplies!!!

Today, I go to Frys and find a power supply — the right wattage and price! I’ve installed it and my problems are still not going away!!! Grrr…. Technology! *rolls eyes* I’ll figure this out. I just need some time & patience. I wasn’t going to find that today, that’s for sure. I’m just beat today.