I've Been Working, But Not Here

So, I've taken on some freelance writing jobs and I'm officially out of time to write here...yeah, no time at all.  I'll chime in every now and then to keep things updated, but as of now I'd probably be better off if I just got to work.

Please check back in every now and then to see if I have anything new going on.

Peace...

A day without a perdurable is like a day without sunshine

Yeah, I know, sounds weird, but I like the idea.  According to the magic of the internet a perdurable is:  Very durable; lasting; continuing long.  Like a perdurable truth....something that you can teach your kids or, if you teach school, your students.  Something like "Perfect practice makes a perfect performance" or "Anything is possible."  (Personally, I like the Adidas slogan 'Impossible is Nothing', but my kids don't really get abstract advertising yet.)

The perdurable for the day:  John Wooden says "Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It's courage that counts."  

My baby has courage.  The FP is 4 we go hiking today and she walked up to 3 different people today who were walking their dogs and said "Can we pet your dog please?" with no trepidation whatsoever.

We've always said our kids were fearless, but this is just the coolest thing...they have little to no fear.  It will serve them well.  

I wish I was fearless, but you know what?  That's what I can wish for my kids to have better than me.

Peace.

Doing More Of My Own Thing

It just so happens that I'm not with a High School Marching Band Staff this fall. I guess the economy has hit even healthy non-profits so I'm out of work at the present time in the whole marching band area. When I got the word I was NOT pleased and not sure what we were going to do. After a week to reflect I've pretty much landed a freelance gig writing on men's fashion, shoes and fragrances, gotten good feedback from other bands about helping them out, and gotten my materials out to a bunch of local schools so I can pick up some more private students.

At the end of the day I felt alot more free. I was reminded a few years ago that I have unique talents that could be harnessed to enrich kids and produce income for my family. The example that was given to me was a lady who held a camp in the woods one each summer for middle and high schools kids and she cleared more than I make in a year in that one week. That's not bad.

So, everything seems to be falling into place. I was telling my Pastor about this and he came out of the blue with this idea for using this campground that's right here in Metro Atlanta. I mean, I have a good idea in hand, I don't need to have hundreds upon hundreds of kids attend to do well for myself on it, it'll be something I love doing, and I don't have to go to the hills of North Cacalack or Tennessee to do it? That's what I'm talking about!

I guess the thing that makes this the easiest is the idea that I have an entire school year to figure this thing out, prep it, promote it, fill it and do it. Even on the smallest scale I could have 10 kids come to my first event, hold it at a church and do quite well for everyone involved. That's promising.

That's doing your own thing. Everyone forgets that even the biggest started small. I guess we're starting real small.

Getting Back in a Groove.

So, we reconciled on one more last hoorah at the Dis in August.  This should be a fun trip where we're going to be exceedingly organized and be able to do everything we want to do.  We found a picnic lunch option at Animal Kingdom, we're taking the kids to Sanaa, Heather's going to have free time at DHS and I'll have free time at Epcot.  Quite perfect I think.

I haven't posted for a while here because I started a sports blog called "The MM Sports Link" 

Plus, I just started a blog for my Bass Clarinet material called "The Bass Clarinet Guru"

Please check out my other stuff as I branch out into the blogging world.

We've got alot going on at home with the summer rolling along and my attempts to expand my musical teaching pursuits.  I'm looking for more private students and multiple teaching jobs with local marching bands.  Needless to say, it's busy around here.

Keep in touch!

Peace.

I'm moving all the Sports!

So, I decided yesterday that I was moving all my sports stuff to a different blog.  Basically, everything ishard to find here with my personal stuff and the sports together.  So here it is:

The MM Sports Link

I'm also adding it to my blogroll in case there you forget about it.

Enjoy!

Man, I wish I could do this more often...

So, we had a loss of a job in the family.  Not a major one, but still a significant amount of money every month down the toilet.  This couldn't be helped.  Companies are cutting all over the place. All I can say is, at least I'm a teacher and musician (meaning there's lots of ways to supplement my income.)  So, it's a solveable problem. I'm going to pick up some more private students when the school year starts, but I found a ton of writing jobs online that looked fun.

If you can tell from reading my blog you probably realize that the jobs I most wanted related to sports.  I actually posted an update on twitter on that said "I wish I could write sports blogs all day."  Man, if I knew how to make money on that I'd do it in a heartbeat.  I'd be like the Sports Guy lite.  But, I'm not moving to LA and buying Clippers season tickets!  I can't!  (I mean, I'm a Lakers fan.  That would just be sacrilege.)

So, I'm thinking of actually doing a sports blog, going all the way with it.  I also thought about writing on music, but once again, how does one ACTUALLY produce income based on advertising from a website.  That has got to be a hard deal.  I'll tell you, I don't see how you would do it.

So, we're working it out.  

On a happier note, we're going to Augusta for our anniversary next month!  We've been to Savannah a few times, but that's just too far when we're going for one night.  Augusta seemed like the next best place.  Before you even ask, NO I'm not going to play golf or get anywhere near Augusta National.  Two things you need to know about me:  1)  I don't play golf.  2)  I have a high respect for the game and that's why I don't play it.  

Not to get off on a tangent here but I can't help it.  I was in an instrumental methods class in college.  That's the one you take your senior year to LEARN HOW TO TEACH.  In that class my professor (also known as college band director) suggested that if we wanted to get connected to people and become influential as music educators we should learn to play golf.  ARE YOU SERIOUS!?!?!  Ok buddy, if you like golf, fine, play it.  It takes WAY TO MUCH TIME!  I like being at home.  That's why I bought a house....to live in it!  This is the same person I used to tell at like 9 or 10 at night when I was still in the music building to go home.  Constantly.  At least twice a week for 3 years.  Now I know why he can't teach.  He's trying too hard.  Being in your office all the time doesn't make you successful...it makes your family lonely.

Alright, back to Augusta.  I found this cool B&B near the Riverwalk(the room has a balcony and an antique sleigh bed, how cool!?) and a cool restaurant to eat dinner and a very cool cafe to eat lunch at on our anniversary.  I'll report on it when we get back.  I've never actually been there, so it seems like Savannah-lite.  Heather will be pregnant and possibly feeling it when we go so just a nice light city and a little walking should be nice.  I'll give Augusta this, it's so small that you just find a pocket and stay in it and you're cool.  Everything is bunched together.  It's not like living in Atlanta where it takes 30 minutes to get everywhere.  Yuck!

So, if you know how to make money writing a blog, please tell me, I'd totally do it...and like it!  Otherwise...peace. 

Showtime!

Your 2009 NBA Champions....The Los Angeles Lakers!

I told my dad last night when we were over for dinner that we were going to win.  He knows sports, but he tells me they won't close it out tonight.  I remind him that Orlando is probably done.  I didn't think they'd lay down...but they'd do a form of it.  Guess what?  They did.  They gave up.  The only thing that's heartening for them is this.....

I read a tweet from Rachel Nichols who said that Dwight Howard made Jameer Nelson sit on the bench and watch the Lakers celebrate.  They're clearly planning for next year.  I don't blame them, but Dwight better work on scoring if he wants that to happen. (Oh, and free throw shooting)  Dwight, I feel bad for you because you're going to have to contend with this young Lakers team every year for a while, and LeBron, and Chris Paul, and the Nuggets. 

Bill Plaschke says that the Lakers should be able to pay Trevor Ariza and Lamar Odom.  Man I hope so.  If so, we can do this 3-peat thing again.  Maybe more.  We know Kobe's going to sign a new monster contract in 2010 and this nucleus will be together for a few more years.  YES!  Please just be warming up.

Congrats to Kobe for being named the Finals MVP.  Go home and sleep.  Until October!  I'm tired of hearing how many games you've played in the past 18 months.  I'm sure you are too!

Trevor Ariza...I hope the Magic feel stupid for trading you....because you couldn't shoot!

D-Fish....I extolled your virtues on my blog previously and nothing was cooler than to see you and Kobe share that moment right when the game ended.  I don't think anybody could have come into the league at the same time as a player like Kobe and done more with such a great player.  People say the Lakers fear Kobe.  I don't know if that's true, but he definitely respects you.  Maybe when Phil retires you'll be the new head coach of the Lakers?  Please?

Thank you Dick Vitale for railing against the idea that Phil can't coach and he just wins because he has talent.  That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard too Dickie V!  I guess Bob Cousy and Bill Russell weren't talented.  Or those doofuses from UCLA..Walton and Alcindor.  Yeah, they stunk!  (Really?!?!?!)

Let's get you to six so we can have the Jordan conversation Kobe....  I just heard John Barry say that the closest thing to Jordan is Kobe.  Ok......let's get all the way there!

Ok, I'll do it!

I've never any of these things before, s I'll do this one.

104 Things About Me:

1.  I go by my middle name.

2.  I'm a junior....thank goodness I go by my middle name or I'd be "junior this, junior that" all day long.

3.  I'm an only child.

4.  Even though I'm an only child my Father is 7th of 8 children and my Mother is 1st of 4.

5.  Even though I live in Atlanta I don't think it's the greatest city in the world.

6.  And I secretly wonder why so many athletes and famous people move here.

7.  And I think Chicago is actually the greatest city in the world.

8.  I've had asthma since I was 7.

9.  It stopped me from having athletic stamina.

10.  But it didn't stop me from playing a wind instrument.

11.  It's never acted up while I was playing.

12.  Except when I played a concert in college where the auditiorium we were playing in was filled with smoke from a fish fry.

13.  I briefly considered getting a performance degree and going to a conservatory.

14.  As much as I'd like to learn to play other instruments I just haven't mastered the one I'm on yet.

15.  I scored over 100% on a District audition in High School.

16.  I've played in Carnegie Hall.

17.  I've never had any formal training using vibrato, but I've used it without complaint for the past 15 years.

18.  I always wanted to learn to play jazz, but I was never allowed to join jazz band in High School or College.

19.  I have a 5 octave range.

20.  I wore contacts for about 2 years.

21.  But they got old really quick.

22.  My "thinking face" looks confused.

23.  I was a dork in High School.

24.  No one's surprised by that.

25.  I love Sour Cream and Onion Chips

26.  We used to have Charlie's Chips down here, those were my favorite.

27.  I ate croutons out of the box when I was a kid.

28.  But I liked Cheezits even more.

29.  I wasted alot of years not eating things that are really good.

30.  I stopped wasting time when Heather taught me how to eat.

31.  Especially broccoli.  Man am I an idiot?

32.  Until this October I had no idea what an Arnie Palmer was.

33.  I've probably had a dozen or so since then.

34.  When we go out and lamb is on the menu I don't pass it up.

35.  Because I know I'll be jealous when Heather orders it.

36.  Except at Sanaa at Disney. (I had the Short Ribs) 

37.  The first time I "met" Heather she was 17 and I was 19.  I'm not sure if we ran into each other two years earlier.

38.  I didn't actually know I was meeting her since we were at a music camp.

39.  I was a counselor and she was a student.

40.  We met again two years later.

41.  I asked her to marry me the first time we talked on the phone.

42.  Here we are 3 kids and nearly 10 years later.

43.  I used to be really annoyed by Christians.

44.  Especially Christians who kept telling me I needed Jesus because I might die tomorrow.

45.  It took 10 years after first hearing that for my Pastor to explain that you need Jesus so you can live tomorrow.

46.  I went to a formerly Baptist university.

47.  I say formerly because they don't have any ties to the church now.

48.  And because I've never seen so many drunk people in my life.

49.  I don't drink.

50.  I don't smoke either.

51.  I've never done drugs.

52.  I get tired of people of who don't get that having a wife and children is more important than their crap.

53.  I teach.

54.  I wish I taught High School.

55.  But I'm not crying about it.

56.  I've had 26 different Principals and Assistant Principals in 9 years of teaching.

57.  I once had to explain to an administrator why Woodwinds are softer than Brass instruments.

58.  I've marched the Orange Bowl Parade.

59.  I was on the outside of my row.  Even my friends from Illinois saw me on TV.

60.  I once had to knock a drunk guy down with my instrument marching to a football stadium in college.

61.  In my family, I'm the person who gets on the horn and gets stuff done.

62.  I thank God everyday that I married Heather.

63.  I honestly think she's the only person who would even consider laughing at half the things I say and do(even if it is begrudgingly.)

64.  I know I'm not funny.

65.  But sometimes I like to pretend that I am.

66.  My High School Band went to Midwest the December after I graduated.

67.  I went with my Community Band 7 years later.

68.  I knew I was good when my Band Director referred to me as a"killer".

69.  I wish I liked Hockey more.

70.  My favorite sport is Basketball.

71.  After that it's Football.

72.  Baseball comes in 3rd.

73.  I'll follow any sport that looks remotely interesting.

74.  We love the Olympics in our house.

75.  I participated in the Ceremonies at the 1996 Olympics.

76.  And I played in the Cultural Olympiad.

77.  I'll never forget when they announced that Atlanta was getting the Olympics.

78.  Heather cracks me up.

79.  At least once every 2 or 3 days she says something that's so funny it makes weak and I'm on the floor laughing.

80.  Actually, Heather makes me weak in the knees.

81.  I never really understood the infield fly rule.

82.  Heather showed me that Softball is the only women's sport that is as entertaining or more entertaining than it's men's counterpart.

83.  I've been a Lakers fan since the 1983 Finals.

84.  I've been a 49ers fan since the 1983 NFC Title Game.

85.  I've always been a Braves fan.

86.  All of this in spite of the fact that I am a native Georgian.

87.  For the longest time, MacGyver was my FAVORITE TV show.

88.  It recently was supplanted by NUMB3RS.

89.  I have no desire to be at work constantly.

90.  I wonder why other people do.

91.  I hate it when parents refer to watching their kids as "babysitting".

92.  Good artistry impresses me, regardless of the field.

93.  I still wonder why Pete Rose isn't in the Hall of Fame.

94.  My kids are hilarious.

95.  Our cats are afraid of thunderstorms.

96.  So am I.

97.  I hate it when dentists lie and say they are "fun".

98.  I love good music.

99.  I hate bad music.

100.  I hate it when people don't take pride in their work.

101.  It makes me feel better when I see someone that does.

102.  I am a great seller.

103.  Heather's better than me.

104.  I love Heather desperately.

The End. 

HA! I knew I was right!

Went out last night to watch Game 4 of the Finals. Had a good time with the company (James from Ramblings of a Beggar) but the game was driving me crazy.

Bill Simmons (The Sports Guy) writes Retro-Diaries for games that he enjoyed or puzzled him. I'm not going to steal his idea (that would be crap) but I do want to do something like that. I'll call it 20/20:

8:50 p.m.: Order some chili-cheese fries. Heather says I ordered them because she wouldn't let me eat them...actually, they just sounded good.

What this really means: As James said, we feel manly when we eat Chili Cheese Fries.

8:55: James arrives and we start talking. For 2 guys with 7 kids between them, we've got plenty to talk about.

What this really means: Guys with kids are more interesting than you think!

End of the First half: I look up and we're sucking. Losing by 12. At this point James says "Do you think the Lakers have a comeback in them?" to which I answer "They better!"

What this really means: My stomach is starting to reject my Open-Face Roast Beef Sandwich.

Beginning of the Second half: Still talking

What this really means: Guys with kids have alot going on.

James asks me who makes me crazy on the Lakers: I say "Bynum, because he needs to gain 50 lbs, like yesterday!" James says he was thinking Lamar Odom, because he's so inconsistent. I shoot back with "Yeah, he's just an inconsistent player. I can handle that."

What this really means: Andrew Bynum makes me crazy.

Now James asks me my favorite question: "Why is Derek Fisher getting more minutes than Jordan Farmar?" Jordan's the future, but D-Fish is our 2nd best defender (IMO) and at the end of a game if a shot needs to be made, he'll drill it."

What this really means: Derek Fisher is my only hope right now.

Moments later: The Lakers are within 4, I look up, realize they're within 4 and breathe a sigh of relief.

What this really means: That sandwich is looking up!

Moments after that: Pietrus is just standing in front of Kobe with his hands at his side. It's like they're having a conservation in the middle of the game. Maybe Kobe was smack-talking in French, who knows. Then Kobe jacks up this sideways 3 right in Pietrus' face without Pietrus even making an effort to defend, and it goes down anyways. Kobe more than likely smack-talks some more in French just for emphasis.

What this really means: For all the good he's done, Pietrus is actually a doofus.

All by the last 5 seconds of the second half: We talk, James moves his chair to get a better view and my head is swirling because I can't believe we're going to lose.

What this really means: Sandwich took a nose dive!

5 seconds left: Kobe mauls Dwight and I'm dying because I really think we're sunk.

What this really means: I hate being wrong.

Dwight goes to the line: I'm cringing just waiting for the first free throw to drop so I can ask for our check.

What this really means: You caught the cringing part right?

Dwight misses the first one: I'm thinking "If he misses the second one Derek Fisher is going to make him pay.

What this really means: He's not ready, even is they win this game.

Dwight misses the 2nd: and I'm tapping my foot faster than I ever have. The nervous energy is ridiculous.

What this really means: If he doesn't win a championship his entire career will be defined historically by Free Throws.

The Lakers inbound: The ball goes to D-Fish and Jameer Nelson doesn't bother to play defense. The shot goes down. James remembers what I said earlier and stares at me in disbelief with mouth agape. I love this game!

What this really means: I was right!

Overtime starts: and just hoping for a miracle, because the Orlando Cockroaches(I mean, Magic) just won't die.

What this really means: You caught the cockroach part, right?

31.3 seconds left in overtime: D-Fish drills another 3. I could see it coming. He got hot at the right time. James isn't shocked this time.

What this really means: I was right twice! HA!

Moments later: Pau takes a sick run down the court and dunks with Pietrus leaning into his back. At this point I think there was a language-barrier. Pau with his Spanish accent and Pietrus with his Frenchiness. More than likely Pietrus said something like (insert bad french villian accent)"Hu, hu!!! Why must you dunk on us like theeeeeeeeeeeees!" and Pau said (insert Zorro here) "Because I squash bugs like you for sport! Hahaha!" I'm just sayin'.

What this really means: If I didn't already hate French, I would now. That whole exchange was ridiculous.

The Lakers go up 3-1

What this really means: This series is officially over. Sorry Orlando, better luck when Kobe, Pau and D-Fish retire.

Ok, you got your one....

I was right, initially, that the Lakers would win this series in 5 Games. I should have stuck with that prediction....... oh well.

But let me tell you this...The Magic shot 62.5% in Game 3 from the field, amazing. Good job. I never said they were a bad team. But, is anybody talking about how the Magic shot an NBA Finals record 62.5% from the field in Game 3 and almost lost? Anybody? Really? If it were me I'd be saying "Uh, I'm glad we won, but no one will ever shoot that well again and we still almost lost. DANG!" I'm not making a homer statement because I'm a Lakers fan, I'm speaking the truth. If the Lakers had done that I'd be HOT right now. No joke. That is totally unacceptable. You needed miracle-level defense to stop the Momba and barely won. Ouch!

I remember being in Orlando during the Eastern Conference Finals and listening to the homer picks like "The Finals is already over, the Magic are SOOOO much better than the Lakers!" I don't care how big of a Laker-hater you are, that just isn't true. So now we'll see if I'm right.

I'm going out with James from Ramblings of a Beggar on Thursday to see Game 4. I fully expect to watch an entertaining game that the Lakers win handily. Not easily. I never said the Magic sucked. But we will win handily. Enjoy your only Finals win Orlando Magic, we all gave you one to be fair. Please don't wait another 14 years to make the Finals again, we do like you, just not against MY Lakers.

Peace

Whew! Two down two to go!

I watched the entirety of Game 2 last night and I am feeling much better(now that I'm recovering.)

We played a tight game with an Orlando team that didn't even try to win Game 1 and then turned around and did as much right as they could.

They didn't play a perfect game and neither did we, but they allowed themselves plenty of opportunities to get a decent cushion and they continually missed free throws and easy looks.

Then, they almost won the game on an inbounds play that was brilliant (actually, those are Kobe's words, but I agree) and then that opportunity was squandered by Courtney Lee. Reflecting on the game I bet alot of people are going to be saying "Oooh, the Lakers are in for a fight now....oooh my gosh!"

Really, are they really in for a fight? Without Rashard Lewis' outburst in the first half the Magic would have been down an easy 15. Again!

Do they play better in Orlando? Oh yeah. We were at Disney World during Game 6 of the East Finals and I listened to the entire second half on the radio(while charging Heather's Zune in the car) and I've got to tell you, Amway Arena is loud. Half the time I couldn't hear the local announcers. But, can the Magic win Game 3 just because they're at home? I don't know.

I'm, hopefully, going out to see Game 4 on Thursday and I would love for that to be a game to finish a sweep of this series. Orlando is a really good team, better than Cleveland, but they aren't better than the Lakers.

Last year we found out that the Celtics were better than the Lakers in The Finals. This year we're finding out that the Lakers are the best team in basketball. I heard Stephen A. Smith make that comment in April ("The Lakers are the best team in Basketball.") and as good as that made me feel I was curious. What about Cleveland, Boston and Orlando, who were torching the East?

Well, we found out. Boston is nothing without KG (they better thank their lucky stars they didn't lose to Chicago), Cleveland is a LeBron who doesn't know how to close and a bunch of garbage, and Orlando is the most talented team in the East whose only real matchup advantage against LA is Dwight over Bynum.

Last night I heard Mike, Mark and Jeff comment more than once that Stan Van was probably begging the officials to let the players play through fouls in the post so Andrew Bynum wouldn't get into foul trouble because then Lamar Odom would come in and he was KILLING them. Man I hope we can pay him this offseason. I fear that if he leaves it might be like James Posey leaving Boston.

Bynum is part of the future with Pau and Trevor Ariza(who is playing like an animal in the playoffs) but I don't expect him to get it at 21. After he gains 50 pounds of muscle, then I'll be expecting it. In the meantime, Magic fans can enjoy their one matchup advantage as the walk towards another loss in the NBA Finals. I was being nice when I thought we'd win 5 because I thought Orlando would win Game 3 at home. No longer. If you saw how deflated they were after Courtney Lee missed that layup (a hard one, but still, a layup) then you'd know what I mean.

Lakers sweep.

Back from the Dis

Well, we got back from another great trip to the Dis, and the last one for a while.

We went down Thursday morning and checked into Coronado Springs. It's a pretty resort, but the rooms aren't any nicer than the rooms at any other moderate (we've stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter and Riverside, those rooms were much nicer.) We made out way out to Epcot and got spend the night in World Showcase. We'd never really gone into the park and JUST done World Showcase, so that was nice, to just walk around and soak it in. We got to see Miyuki make candy art. It's absolutely incredible. She just makes animals out of this starchy sugar in no time flat. You can tell that she's work tirelessly to learn how to do it and worked even harder at being really good at it. We were hoping to get picked for her to make us something cool, but alas, we got there a little late, but it was still a good show.

We had an amazing dinner at the Tangierine Cafe. It's the counter-service restaurant in the Morocco pavilion but it's super-expensive and you get a TON of food. We had exactly what we had the last time we were there Shawarma Combos. Lamb and Chicken cuts with Couscous, Taboulleh, Hummus and bread. Uh, yum!!!!! It couldn't have been better.

The next day was Magic Kingdom all day. We had an incredible lunch at the Crystal Palace. We met all the characters really quickly and the FP even got to walk in the dance party with the characters. It was really cute!

It was also the day that Heather took the FP to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. This time she picked the white all-princess dress. It wasn't princess-specific but she looked so beautiful in it. Heather took pictures of her after they were done in the boutique and you could see a bride in her since she was in a white dress. I took the little kids back for a nap then came back and met the girls for a night in the park. We were bushed, especially the girls, and we crashed when we got back to the room.

Next day was Hollywood Studios...Heather's favorite park. We had a decent morning, but the kids were being crazy. When we got back for nap (I didn't think we'd need one) Heather suggested going somewhere for dinner outside of DHS(we had Hollywod and Vine booked.) I didn't want her to give up her favorite park (but that ended up working out.) So, the JB didn't want to sleep so we went for a walk and starting thinking about where to eat dinner. I made a call into Dis Dining and at first I tried to move our Hollywood and Vine reservation later and found out that Maya Grill(the sit down place at Coronado Springs) was 2 dining credits. Then, on our walk, I found out that Maya Grill was only one credit. So, I took it.

Well, the JB and I had walked to El Centro, the main building where everything(including Maya Grill) is. The front entrance of Maya Grill is right next to the door we came in and out of everytime we went there. I look over and I see a hostess at the desk talking to a guy in a chef's jacket. I walk over and ask if they do specialty desserts. The chef, Marc, responds "Well, you got any ideas about what you'd like?" I come back with "Well, you've got the chef hat on!" Which he did, actually a cap that said chef on it. So he and Alexandra, the hostess, start throwing out the house cakes the bakery has and eventually they say Strawberry Shortcake. Well, now you're speakin' my language! Marc even said he'd cut from the cake a portion for the right number of diners and redecorate it for us. Then we were talking about why we're celebrating Heather and Russian comes up. They say they've got this Russian girl that works outside at the bar right next to the lake. She agrees to come talk to us because they thought it was cool the Heather was learning to speak. So they all conspired with our server, Edwin, who was great to bring the cake in and everything. It thought it turned out very cool, and the cake was very much like the cake we had on my birthday at Citrico's.

The next day was Animal Kingdom and our night out. Animal Kingdom is a short day in our family. We hit the character spots in Camp Minnie-Mickey early and found out that Safari Daisy is only there from like 12-1, after which point she goes to MK and spends all of Donald's money (even though they're not hitched!) We had a great breakfast at Tusker House where Safari Daisy is one of the characters, YAY! Daisy isn't Heather's favorite character, but Donald is mine so I figure Daisy is appropriate, especially in a specialty outfit(which is hard to find since they're park-specific.)

Then we had out night out. We ate at Sanaa at Animal Kingdom Lodge. It's in Kidani Village which is HUGE!!!!, just like everything else at Animal Kingdom Lodge. We parked where the Security Guard told us to go and followed the elevator to the Lobby where we were told to go, then we thought we were going the wrong way down the hall, so we took the steps back downstairs and ended up in the Employee Break Area. They were shocked to see us. But, two guys who worked the kitchen at Sanaa took us ALL THE WAY back to the front where the restaurant is. They were very nice, and they even admitted that they didn't know the door we came out of was there until we came out of it (as Heather said, we passed through the Mystic Portal.)

The meal was incredible. We had a bread course with a Tamarind sauce, a Cucumber Raita, and a Roasted Red Pepper Hummus. Uh, yum! Then we had a selection of 3 salads(Red and Golden Beets, Chickpeas and onions in a viniagrette, and okra and tomatoes) and Heather had a Tomato Soup with Paneer Cheese. Well, after we ate all of that our server (they call themselves Merchants) asked if we were going to try for our entrees. Are you kidding!?!?!?! We're all business about food in this family! Heather had a Lamb Rack with a pilaf that was very cool and I got Beef Short Ribs, Basmati Rice, and Spinach with Paneer Cheese. WOW! Heather's taught me alot about eating and I would have never gotten the Spinach in the past, but this time it put my meal over the top! Oh, then dessert. Heather had a orange infused layer cake with saffron sauce and I had a Chai Cream. Wow!

So, ready to explode we went to MK and hung out. Had some Dole Whips. Went back to the room late and crashed.

The next day we went back to Epcot so the FP could do Soarin' (her favorite ride, and mine.) We made our way back into World Showcase and met Mulan, got Miyuki to make us candy this time (a green tiger) and had some eats in China (I had this cool Beef Noodle Bowl) and then Heather headed off to DHS by herself. I took the kids to Club Cool and tried some Coke products(I love the Kinley Bitter Lemon) and then we went back to the room. By all accounts Heather had the best time of the trip, for her, in DHS. I am so glad she had a good time.

We got Heather at DHS after nap and headed over to Downtown Disney. We had a really great meal at Wolfgang Puck Express. It has got to be the second best Counter-Service value on the Dining Plan because it is SO expensive. We found a lovely set of earrings for a friend of Heather's and then it was sleepy time.

We finished off our trip in Magic Kingdom. We were able to get the FP on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad twice and I was able to take her on Splash Mountain (and avoid the mega water cannon.) We got back on Buzz Lightyear and we were abl to eat at Liberty Tree Tavern in the Benjamin Franklin room. We drug ourselves back to the car, but not before anice man in the Art of Disney store entertained the CCM for quite a while while Heather waited on me and the FP to come back from BTMR.

All in all, a great trip. Now we've got to put some real space between now and the next trip. Heather docked at the Beach Club on her boat ride to DHS from Epcot and she's in love. Maybe that's where we're going next...

Salon Music for Bass Clarinet

I remember being at BOA Summer Symposium in 1999 and hearing Timothy Mahr talking about wanting to be a composer. I think he even does clinics on this topic now. His premise was simple: If you want to be a composer, then be a composer! That's it. Just do it. (I think some guy from Oregon might have thought of that one first)

Anyways, I always WANTED to be a composer, but I had these grandiose ideas that I could never get on paper. So, a couple of years ago I gave up the grandiose ideas and went with something I could control...I started writing for myself. In the past 18-20 months I've probably written 100-150 pieces for myself. Some big, many small. All of them for me, solo Bass Clarinet, that's it. (Well, I did write a Concerto for Bass Clarinet, but not this nutbag Corigliano-style piece, something much more neo-classical) So, I've got all kinds of music laying around that's just for me. Then I realized something.....

I can actually do something with this stuff!

Alot of my music is, on some level, extremely difficult. 9 times out of 10 that would be due to range issues, occasionally it would be for some extended technique. I've thought about recording and, the more I write, the more I want to record. It's all my stuff. I'm not being sized up against someone else. Not that that's a bad thing. There are tons of really good Bass Clarinetists out there (you'd be surprised, unless you're on of those people, or know one of them, then you'd know because playing at that level on this kind of instrument speaks for itself.) But it's like being a popular musician, you play YOUR stuff, not someone else's and when you DO play someone else's stuff it's out of respect. I really don't care how my version of "Echange" would stack up against Mike Lowenstern's (his is very good by the way.) I care a whole lot more about MY playing, MY sound, and MY style. I didn't spend four years in college working with a style-meister just to sit here and copy people.

That's my big problem with popular music and ESPECIALLY with Christian music. People copy each other in very eerie ways. I heard a song on the radio today that I was sure was Sheri Carr. All the idiosyncracies were there from Sheri's singing and yet the artist was someone else. Huh? I mean really? That would be like me performing "Echange" and playing it EXACTLY the way Mike Lowenstern plays it, so much so that people think it's him. That's disrespectful to him (because I'm basically misrepresenting myself) and to me (because I'm better than that. Really, everybody's better than that!) Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but at some point you lose yourself in that.

So, by doing MY thing, and doing it well I cultivate a style of playing that is altogether unique. If we didn't have anyone doing this musically we would never change periods, styles, or ideas. All the original ideas in music are not taken, we just have to willing to look for new ones.

That doesn't mean you can't be influenced by people, but it does mean you have a responsibility to yourself to do something more inspired than a straight transposition of something that's already been done. You could even release an album of hymns, but you'd still have to play them YOUR way with YOUR sound.

This means that if you're into contemporary techniques, you should use them, and if you're not...DON'T! Not everyone can do everything. Not every pro owns every piece ever played..they pick and choose their spots. You should pick and choose yours too. That's what I'm doing, fighting my own battles. Fighting an unseen opponent, the radio in your head, will drive you to distraction...

So, I'm the Salon Music for Bass Clarinet guy. Call me Schubert, Chopin whatever but I'm not comparing myself to anyone, just me.

Peace.

D-Fish vs. Mike Bibby

So, here in Atlanta you can listen to 680 and be bored to death, or listen to 790 and have people talking who are actually thinking of intersting things to talk about. So, the other day they're discussing how much of an effect Mike Bibby has had on the Hawks. Monumental! Then they say, well, would the Lakers be where they are with Mike Bibby instead of Derek Fisher? And they conclude yes!!!?!?!?!

Are you serious!?!?! Mike Bibby is a good player who played well like one time in the playoffs for the Queens...I mean Kings. He's never hit a big shot in his life. D-Fish on the other hand has hit a myriad of big shots. And, I don't care if he's old and has lost more than a few steps. If something needs to be done, he can take care of it. Hit a 3 at the end of the first half to give us the lead, decapitate someone to send a message, whatever. Personally, this argument is stupid. Why don't we just do the Kobe/LeBron Muppet video with D-Fish and Mike Bibby "Hey Mike, have you seen MY 3 championship rings? You know, each one of these cookies represents a championship ring that I myself have won!" Enough said.

You know what else, I'm tired of hearing about how great Chaunvey Billups is and how he's this great facilitator and how Kobe is this selfish little boy. Last night, Kobe scored 41 and had 5 Assists. Chauncey had 18 points and 7 Assists. I'm over it! I'm not saying he isn't a great player, because he is, but he's not Jesus to Kobe's Herod. It isn't like that. Let's get real. MJ had garbage around him except for Scottie and he was NEVER villified for taking over. And this sin't because I'm a Lakers fan, it's because I'm tired of hearing about this mess.

While we're on the subject of mess. Can we talk about officiating? When is Chauncey gonna get called out for flopping!?!?!?! That foul on the 3 that got called on Kobe is one of the biggest flops I've ever seen!!! When will he get called out like everyone else? Yes, Kobe flops, and it drives me nuts, but I'm tired of the Lakers getting a bad rap because everyone's so comfortable calling him out and no one else. When will the NBA be investigated by someone for shaving points and manipulating the outcomes of games. It's getting old. When the Lakers win the NBA Title I want it to be fair and square.

I do have something positive to say, about the Nuggets. Nene and Chris Andersen are MONSTERS! I'll take either one of these guys any day of the week! What I don't understand is why the Nuggets don't funnel everything through these two guys. This series would already be over if George Karl were smart enough to figure this out. But, since he's such a genius I guess he knows something I don't. Or, he's not and he's getting more credit than he deserves. Either way, he's the curse. The Bucks might have had a chance against the Lakers in '01, except he couldn't get them to the Finals. The Sonics could have beaten the Bulls in '96 if he had figured out that Gary Payton could guard MJ. I had forgotten about this until Bill Simmons brought it up the other day in a very nice column he wrote on espn.com. I'm with you Bill! George Karl is a curse, just like Starbury.

You know what, why don't we just start an All-Dirt team while we're at it. I've seen Chauncey do things these playoffs that make me lose all respect for him. So, we'll have a 3 guard lineup with D-Wade, Chauncey and Rajon Rondo on the All-Dirt Team. Who's going to step up and take those 2 spots in the front court? We'll have to see. (In case you can't tell, I like CLEAN, physical Basketball.)

I can't TOTALLY whine about television programming....

Alright, I don't just latch onto any TV show anymore. It's got to be REALLY cool for me to even consider watching it. Nowadays I catch most of my TV online after the show's already aired. We do watch TV here but it's sporadic on "appointment" TV.... So, when I made appointments to watch "Life" and "Knight Rider" and then both shows get cancelled, I'm not happy. "Studio 60", cancelled. "Committed", cancelled.

So, when I read that "Life" gets cancelled I lament, just like everyone else "Why do all the well-written shows get cancelled?"

Then, I remember that I've missed the ends of the last couple of "NUMB3RS" episodes and totally missed the season finale. Well, about 80 minutes later I'm caught up and realize...THIS is my favorite show! (not of all time, but it's getting there, that's another story.) Not only that, it hasn't been cancelled! It's a juggernaut, it always performs well and it's probably the kind of show that runs until the creator decides it's time to stop. (A situation people can live with.)

There's something oddly believable about this show. The way the characters are written, the way they're acted. You actually learn about the people they've created for this show and you care. It's more like reading a book, where there's time to learn about everyone and everything that's going on. I don't get it completely, but I love it.

The way they move people in and out of the team that the show is centered on is crazy. When I think about it, the team has changed alot since 2005, and not all at once. The young actors they bring in are people I've never heard of but can really act! It's almost like "The Magnificent Seven". All the guys in that movie were younger and relative unknowns when they came on the big screen.

Here you've got Rob Morrow, who most people have heard of before, David Krumholtz (who was the manager with the slicked-back hair in "Ray"), Peter MacNicol (who is pretty famous in his own right ("Sank you Lord!") and Alimi Ballard (the quizmaster from "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch". Do you know how long it took me to figure out that was him!?!?!)

Oh, and did I mention Judd Nelson? He's so very cool that I can't even describe how he makes the show for me. There's something about it that is just so cool you can't help yourself but love him. The best thing about Judd Nelson is that he's been in everything. He was the Executive Producer who lost it on national TV in the opening scenes of Studio 60 and he had his own show "Dear John." He's just great. If wasn't such a funny, laid-back dude he could have easily been the creepy character actor in "The Game." He's everywhere!

Combine all of that with the fact that Bill Nye the Science Guy works at the fictional college where Charlie Eppes teaches and you've got a really cool show.

I guess the best part of the show, in the end, is how the show is written around the relationships of the cast. The way everyone relates to each other makes every second of the show intriguing because you're always learning about the characters. Everything on this show moves on relationships. That's what's so cool. Can't everyone relate to having a crew, a family, somewhere where they fit in? And if they don't, isn't that what everyone wants? Jesus works for that too :o)

I suppose it's not all bad, TV that is. Not ALL of the well-written shows get cancelled and NUMB3RS is still on the air.

You beat us by 30..haha, we beat you by 40!

The playoffs are in full swing and I'm wondering what's going on. I mean, let's face it...the Cavs and Lakers are on a collision course for the Finals which will probably go 7 games. But, the other day when the Rockets beat the Lakers by 30 I was NOT happy. WTH?????!!!?!?!?!?!?! Who is this Aaron Brooks guy? He needs to jump back and the Lakers needs to step up. Well, they did. We beat the Rockets by 40 yesterday. I know, it's pitiful.

So, what's the deal? Can we just turn the switch on and off game to game? If we're that good we will surely win a title no matter how well LeBron has the Cavs playing (I know, their coach is Mike Brown, but he's not Phil Jackson, ok?) The problem is that I think some of the guys think they can flip the switch DURING games. Um, hell to the no!

We have no business toying with anyone at this point. This is not exactly a "Season lacking in other good teams." Back in the day the Lakers would toy with teams until the finals. The Bulls toyed with everyone, because they had no competition. The Rockets of 94-95 did the same thing. Have we looked around and seen all the goodness in the league this season? Ughhhh! Wake up gentlemen.

If only we had a way to press everybody all the time, they'd never be able to outscore us. I've secretly wondered why the press wasn't used more anyways. I know it's tiring, but come on people, you're whole job is to work out and play a game...how tired can you get?! Then I watched a couple of pros try to it and I realized that most of these guys either don't care or can't do it. You'd be shocked at how much better Mario West looked running a press for the Hawks than anybody on the Miami Heat. However, I let it go but I had no answer for that, then Bill Simmons had a back and forth with Malcolm Gladwell and Part I gives a fabulous explanation for the lack of pressing and a great way to utilize it.

Now, moving on to Urban Meyer. I never had a problem with him until this morning. I read this article and realized that he is a jerky jerk. You mean to tell me that since you just got to Florida then you can tell former PLAYERS that they are either for or against you? Are you serious? Here's what I want to see...Urban Meyer put on some pads and play at Shane Matthews' level. I think you can figure out the rest.

So, I'm over this

Earlier today I blogged for the first time in a while and breifly mentioned the poor officiating in the NBA. Well, I took the kids upstairs for a bath and saw the end of the Nuggets-Mavericks game 3. The entire time I had the game on the Mavericks were up. With hardly any time on the clock the Nuggets pushed the ball the Melo whilst and after he was obviously fouled he drilled a 3 pointer to win the game. Right in front of the official, the Mavs bench and Mark Cuban. The game ended and the Mavs stormed the court and I was expecting something along the lines of the Melee at the palace a couple years ago.

Fortunately, that did not happen (although it would have been funny to see Mark Cuban getinto it with the official he was CLEARLY looking for.) When is David Stern going to stop the madness??.....when he retires and we get a commissioner who cares that WE care that the officiating sucks. As I said this morning...it drives me nuts. I have the inkling that I'm going to be complaining about this alot between now and the last game of the Finals. Uggghhhh!

Man have I been lazy

SO, I haven't updated in a while...mainly due to laziness. So, things be going on.

School's soooo close to being out. We'll have end-of-year performance next week and then it's all downhill from there. Needless to say, at this point, I'm over it.

Heather's learning Russian. She's having sort of a midddlife crisis. Which, isn't really midlife since she isn't yet 30, but hey, what can you do!? Alls I can say is this...Russian is hard. Just hearing drives home how insanely hard it is. Yeah...

I watched all or part of every game of the Bulls-Celtics first round series. Somehow, I get nervous thinking of what kind of a springboard that would be for the Celtics (especially since they beat my beloved Lakers in the Finals last year after getting stretched in the first round by another unworthy team, the hometown Hawks.) Now, we've lost game 1 in round 2 to the Rockets and won the next two only to see Derek Fisher get suspended for playing hard, but Rajon Rondo (now known as Bruce Bowen Jr.) doesn't get disciplined for attempting t decapitate Brad Miller. Now, I know, the Lakers also benefit greatly from a crooked league's desire to have only the best and most-marketable teams in the Finals and their every attempt to sway results is so obvious my 4 year old could figure it out if she knew how much of a Lakers fan she is. BUT, I don't want the benefit! I want the Lakers to earn it fair and square! Period, I hate bad officiating. It makes me want to not watch, but I can't help myself.

Now the Nuggets (who were my dark horse way when, and begrudgingly so) are WAY better than I thought they were...the Spurs are old and washed up just like I thought and we clearly have a Lakers-Caves Finals coming. I want 7 games baby!!!! They steal on, we steal one, we win a title on their floor!!! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Ok, I'm better.

As the school year closes down I'm thinking of what projects I'm going to have my private students working on this summer. I've got an 8th Grader who's sound needs to be repaired. She could do anything if we could fix her tone!!!!

A rising 12th Grade Bass Clarinetist who I want to beat over the head with hard etudes and harder literature.

A rising 10th Grade Bass Clarinetist who needs to learn to be secure and work harder than she is now. Without school to get in the way, I think we cna make inroads.

AND

A rising 12th Grade Clarinetist who has agreed (without seeing the part) to start working on the Corigliano Concerto. Now, if you're not familiar with the piece I would post a video, but all I could find was some video of a kid playing it....AND I want Richard Stolzman darnit! Anyways, Stolzman recorded the piece and you must go purchase the recording immediately!

So, because it's so hard she has no idea what she's gotten herself into, but she is more than technically capable, she just doesn't know it yet! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I feel better now...

Man, is this dude right or what!?

So Heather was heading out the door for the gym. She asked if I minded if she stayed for a dance class....of course, I had no problem with this. Then, in her "only Heather" cute way she said "nothin' left for me to do but dance!" and added a little shimmy. Then I said "Yeah, you know the words to everything" which she does. Then I said "I bet you know the dance for the video" the Jamiroquai video where Jay Kay is dancing in a room filled with moving tracks. Then she responds with "Yeah, ok" so then I said "I'll find it on YouTube."

So I found it. Only one problem I was talking about the "Virtual Insanity" video and she was talking about "Canned Heat" which is the music for the final sequence of "Center Stage" (by far one her favorite movies.)

Now, I remember when they won Video of the Year at the VMA's for the Jamiroquai video and I remember listening to this song on the radio, but I never knew what it was about. Dude, he wrote this song in 1996 at the latest. Did he ever hit this one on the head!?!? He's talking about genentic engineering, false teachers, governmental oppression, eroding liberties, reliance on technology, the final frontier of prayer, very heady stuff.

Plus, this dude's white. Now, I need to preface this with...I'm white and I know it. White folks don't typically have soul.....this white boy got soul. Dang! And he's talking about serious issues....pretty cool stuff.


Virtual Insanity - Jamiroquai

So, it's been awhile.../Have you got it down yet?

My lovely bride informed me that I haven't updated in a few days. Well, it's been hectic. We had a VERY long spring break (at least that's how it felt) and have been back to school for a week. I've been busy people!

Well, we've had an interesting last couple of weeks. We were in a conundrum over what to do with our Tax Refund money. We were going to Disney, then not, and now we're going again! Heather had this intense feeling that the money wasn't for us. Well I prayed and journaled and read over tat until small group last Thursday when a friend of yours was talking about a mission going to do in Ethiopia working with orphans. apparently, when she got the fundraising info she only had like a week to raise $1700. Bleh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, as she continued to explain that she's not freaking out or anything like that and that she had about half of what she needed I heard God say "Give her the rest of the money!" So there you go, that money wasn't for us!

Then Heather felt as though she should gift a missionary couple who just moved back here after 10 1/2 years in Russia, so we did that. Then she planned to stock up on grains and stuff like that (cuz we're crunchy you know!) and then we still had some left over, THEN we decided to take a shortened version of the trip to Disney we had planned.

It felt good to get so much mileage out of that cash, especially since almost all of it was going to Disney before we did any of this. Yay God!!!

We've only got like 25 days of school, or something like that. People keep counting down. Not the students mind you, the teachers! I really hate that. I mean, I never really did that very much, but when I sold shoes I had an older co-worker who had been in retail for like 40 years and one night we closed together and as we were counting down the last couple of minutes before we figured we'd be released he said "It sucks counting your life away." Needless to say, I don't do that anymore. I'll count down to trips, but not endings. That's crappy. Bleh!

Now, we've got just a few more weeks of school and we've got drama all over the place. Apparently, it's all top secret so I can't tell you, or I'd have to, well, you know... Who knows what'll happen next year.

When were had resolved not to go to Disney I was thinking about getting a new mouthpiece. Even when I knew I had the money for it I couldn't resolve to get the stupid thing. What's up with that? I play a Selmer D (actually 2 of them, but you know that if you've been reading ;o) and I just couldn't bring myself to try something new. I no resolve and no peace about it. I even had an offer from a prominent mouthpiece maker to be one of his first customers of a new line he's making out this new space-age-like plastic rod that I thought would be cool, but I couldn't pull the trigger.

Well, in the meanwhile I hadn't played since the Thursday before Spring Break and I didn't play again until the Thursday after Spring Break, so that's two weeks. But, when I didn't crack the case, I sounded great! I even had a revelation on a note in the "Sopranissimo" (that's my term for notes that only I and a few other freaks play on Bass Clarinet.) I was actually shooting too high for a Double A. Dang people. I mean, now I'm in Lenny Pickett territory everyday (no joke, just watching the video below makes me want to practice that like right now) and I not even "trying" to get up there. I think this is one of those instances where I got behind the right mouthpiece at the right time.




I can hear all the dejectors. "EEEEWWWWWWWWW, factory cut mouthpieces are nasty and inconsistent." Um, yeah, but they're close enough and I don't think Selmer's going under anytime soon since they're owned by Steinway, who, in fact, is the largest instrument company on the planet. Plus, even if they did, there would be 4 gagillion mouthpieces on the market anyways and a million people willing to copy the ones I have. So there, haha you mouthpiece snobs.

Now, I'm not getting down on mouthpiece snobs. If you're a mouthpiece snob, I understand. I teach this unbelievable Clarinetist who's a junior in H.S. and plays on a Richard Hawkins. I don't think she's giving that puppy up, and I don't blame her. Besides, I'm a ligature snob. I have two vintage Harrison/Hurtz gold plated Bass Clarinet ligatures. You think I'm giving those things up? Yeah right! I'm even thinking of getting the Rico "H" Bari Sax version only because they bought the patent from Harrison's widow.

I also have a kid who is younger and just got a brand new Leblanc Rapsodie Clarinet. Very nice horn, it totally heavy like a tank, I love it. It's just like my basses, those babies are rock solid. He's loves that instrument, but it didn't instantly make him better. It's just gonna make it easier to do what I want him to do. No we see the problem.

I ain't never gonna buy nothin' that I feel like is going to "make me better" because I know better. Maybe I'll invest in some different ligatures or different reeds because they alter response, but I'm certainly not going out to get a new horn or whore myself out to a bunch of new mouthpieces. I can play doggone it! I don't need that stuff to make me better. I can handle a slight change in things here and there as an experiment, but I not expecting a miracle.

I keep thinking back to all the work I did in High School to get to where I am. I can't recreate that work with a new ligature, mouthpiece, or instrument. And that's why I couldn't commit to a mouthpiece. Everybody acts like their mouthpiece is going to instantly change the way you play. BALONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is NOT! Learn to how to play and you'll know how to play. The one thing that drives me the most crazy is when people who have professional "cred" act like a particular piece of equipment "allows" them to play things. It does not! Maybe the reason it "allows" you to do certain things is because the confluence of circumstances for YOU means that that piece of equipment "allows" you to play something you're actually not that good at. Heavens no, we wouldn't want to admit weakness would we?

I've been toying with Double A (as I said before) for 10 YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was in college when I stumbled on this note and now that I need it I've been getting back on it again. (It's happens 3 times in the Smith "Fantasia" and it's the last note and I refuse to play it down an octave.) As soon I got it to speak regularly yesterday I changed reeds, then, I changed mouthpieces and then I changed ligatures and I used the 2 reeds, 2 mouthpieces, and 2 ligatures I had in all combinations I could and kept playing the note to make sure it wasn't a fluke. That's how you know you've got it down. I even played it on a Rovner, by far my least responsive lig, and it still worked. Lenny would be proud.

ahhhh, the search is partially over

We've been wondering what to do with our tax refund for weeks now. Originally it was paint the house, then they came in way over what we had coming in, then we were thinking one more Disney outing, now we're giving it away! Just gave a missionary some $$$ for their support for a mission to Africa! Pretty cool stuff. Now we're wondering if we're not supposed to go to Disney in the fall and what else we're supposed to do with the rest of this money (since we only gave away a third of it.) I've been told things about bikes and all kinds of other stuff, who knows.) Fun times.

This is one of those times when you're seeking, reading, praying and not sure what to do and then the opportunities are dropped right in your lap. Why can't this stuff happen faster? :o)

so, I didn't make it

Apparently NABLOPOMO will have to wait. The kids are alot more fun than trying to remember to post everyday. We had a super productive Monday, a nice restful Tuesday, and we're going on an adventure after Heather goes out tonight. Only with kids could WalMart, Office Depot, HHGregg, and picking up a part at a car dealership be fun!

Superior Performances 4.2.09

Though unfinished, I wish I could write something that is incomplete and this good. Enjoy.

Franz Schubert Symphony Unfinished - 28:19 Complete

The Final Four picks

Ok, I just keep being wrong lately. I suppose that I can't stop picking now.

UCONN and Michigan St. should be a barnburner. This Sutan dude for Michigan St. is an animal. He posts people up, he's a short range jumper, he can take it to the rack, it's crazy how good he is. I'm leaving out the other great players on their team, but dang, he's good. Plus, I have a strong distaste for UCONN. I mean Thabeet is great, and AJ Price is excellent, but MSU's coming on baby. (Then again, I said that about KU and they got SMOKED!)

Nova and UNC is one of those either UNC kills Nova and or Nova stomps on UN's face. I want to see a Nova/MSU final that I know Nova can win, but dang I'm nervous about UNC and Nova.

Alright, it's a done deal, banking on a Nova/MSU final on Monday Night.

It's Nablopomo time

Since I've never done "officially" done nablopomo (though I did post the first month of the blog's existence) I suppose I should give it an official shot.

The men's group that I've been meeting with at church once a month on Saturday is having it's first meeting outside of church that I could attend (the first one was when we were on my birthday trip) so that should be cool. Learning about the fundamentals of headship is a big deal to me right now. I've got all kinds of things going on learning about where God wants me with regard to my career but all of that is wrapped up in headship because I'm not going to sell my soul to a school just so I can have the privelege of over-rehearsing and veiling it under the heading of "professional learning" or "getting outside of my comfort zone" or "not being a snob and sitting at home". So yeah, it's complicated. More tomorrow.

Ever talk to God?

Ever done that before? I mean, it sounds crazy...like, we knew someone who said God would call her name audibly at night and wake her up and talk to her. I don't mean like that.

Prayer journaling is about the best idea ever. Sometimes you sit down and say "What do I do?" and you get a response...Maybe a verse, maybe an answer that leads to another question. Other times you could sit down and you're writing out God's questions. Yeah, I know, then you HAVE to answer, then you get lead to some other verse and some other idea that you weren't really thinking of to begin with.

It's much more edifying to "talk" with God than to talk AT Him. I love it. Now all I have to do is memorize Proverbs 22. Yay!

RIP...my bracket

Ok, so Syracuse lost and Memphis lost...my title game is toast. A moment of silence for my once promising bracket

...........................


Ok, I'll repick everything because clearly some folks were not as good as I thought they were and other folks were much better than I thought.

Louisville and Michigan St. looks like fun.....for Louisville. They just beat Arizona by 400,000 points. You don't think they sent a message to everybody? I mean dang, I was away from that game for a couple minutes and turned it back on and they were up 25! Michigan St. ate my surging Kansans alive, but Louisville is higher on the food chain here.

Pitt/Villanova will be easy to call. The first hard foul in the lane from Nova and Pitt won't know what to do inside. They're great inside, but not AS good as Nova. Nova in a not-so-big-shocker.

After seeing how OU dipatched my Orangemen I'm starting to wonder if they can beat UNC. Let's make it simple...Blake Griffin is a better player than Tyler Hansbrough by a light year. Enough said. OU in a semi-upset.

UCONN will get run around by Mizzou. Missouri is WAY better than I thought. I don't even like UCONN. Mizzou in a sorta-shocker.

Superior Performances 3.27.09

Alright, alright, I know I've been on this theme for 4 weeks now, but this is the last and best of the 4.  This is the Madison Scouts in 1998 and my personal favorite of their shows.  (It's just a me thing, I'd be willing to bet people would actually fight over '95 and '96.)  This show has some classical elements in it that are really funny to hear in this setting, yet cool.    It's kinda like "A 5th of Beethoven" (If you're old enough to remember that.) (One of the funniest things I've ever seen is a dude dancing to this, in bellbottoms, in the very empty band room...in 1993!  Yeah, we were freaks.)     

But I digress...

The show literally has a bit of everything and, IMO, closes out the glory days of the scouts.  I really wish they could just go back here and do the 4 shows I've shown you over and over.  Drum Corps fans (not the technocrats) would be falling out in the aisles if that happened.  Alas, I fear the glory days aren't coming back, and it's a shame because, as you've seen, they were great.  Enjoy.

 

I don't get it

I spent the whole day dealing with random crazy stuff at school and I come home and think..."Hmmm, Gonzaga's gonna beat UNC aren't they?" Now I'm really confused. I'll say this: UNC will probably win, but if Gonzaga wins I won't be surprised.

All the random crazy stuff at school is related directly to people's lack of desire to take action. Just get stuff done, please! Uggh!

That's all.

Easy Sweet 16

So, I got 15 of 16 games right. I can't believe the Marquette kid stepped on the line...I totally could see an end to end final play like Gonzaga had the other day. Oh well, still, I did pretty good.

The Sweet 16 always gets somewhat clearer and somewhat less clear all at the same time.

For example, there is no reason in the world Louisville should lose to Arizona, however, I'm not in love with Louisville like I was. Granted, I think they'll win but I don't think they'll have an easy time of it.

Pitt and Xavier? Dude, I was lovin' Pitt, but now I'm lovin' Xavier too. Agggghhhh, which way is this gonna go? At the end of the day Pitt just has too much firepower....Fields at the point, Blair and Young inside, how can you pick against that? I'm not going to, but if they lose I won't be surprised.

Kansas and Michigan St. is a little easier for me. I thought Kansas was GETTING hot when I made that pick in my original bracket but now they ARE hot. So yeah, I really like Mich. St. and Tom Izzo rocks but I can't deny Kansas....if they get much farther I may be picking them to repeat.

For me, Nova and Duke is cut and dry. Nova is better than everybody thinks. Duke is good, but not THAT good right now. Nova going away.

I picked UCONN to lose to Purdue way back when and it was really just because I don't really care for UCONN and I didn't think they could hold up without Jerome Dyson...and NOW they are probably guilty of MAJOR recruiting violations. I always thought they were dirty, but now it's coming out.

UNC and Gonzaga is intriguing. I picked UNC originally because I thought they would lose to Syracuse in a barnstormer in the Elite Eight. Then I heard Scoop Jackson today say that the matchup of Ty Lawson with Pargo (Gonzaga's point guard and who's brother is a tough-as-nails NBA player) is not in favor of UNC. If Ty Lawson is not 100% they might lose. I'm torn. I'll decide right before gametime.

Missouri and Marquette is going to look like a track meet. asically, they play the exact same game. That's fine, because Memphis is still gonna win. Sorry Missouri, the curse of Tyus Edny is still upon you.

Syracuse and Oklahoma is easy for me. I love Syracuse and I love them more with every game. Blake Griffin is going to be a rich kid playing pro ball, but he ain't no match for the Cuse. Period.

Hopefully I'm right.....

Round 2

See that? That's what happened after the First Round (Enola Gay) flew over my bracket the last two days. Ugh!!

How in the world does Wake lose to Cleveland St.? I mean, they once had a coach who signed an extension and the next day got caught with a hooker coming out of a crackhouse. Doesn't that like automatically exempt you from winning meaningful games in the tournament?

Zona had to go an win a game and now they have to play everybody's bracketbuster, so now I have to pick them. Ugh!!!

Tennessee couldn't keep it together against Ok. St. Ohio St. lost to Siena in overtime. Are you kidding? Western Kentucky wins and somehow I get Wisconsin, Michigan, Maryland, Texas A&M and USC right? Well, we'll try again for the 2nd Round.

Louisville creams Siena
Arizona had better beat Cleveland St.
Kansas should beat UD
Michigan St. has no excuse against USC
UCONN smashes A&M
Purdue can take Washington
Marquette spanks Mizzou
Maryland might as well lay down against Memphis
OU will throttle Michigan
Syracuse can easily beat Arizona St.
Gonzaga could play the game in lawn chairs and beat Western Kentucky
LSU will die a grizzly death at UNC's hands
Duke will run circles around Texas
Nova can handle UCLA
Xavier will squeak by Wisconsin
Pitt will hand it to Ok. St

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it...until the bombers fly over again.

Superior Performances 3.20.09

Again, sticking with the theme.  This is Madison's 1996 show "A Dream Corps Fan's Dream Part Dos."  I love that back in the day this actually WAS a Drum Corps Fan's dream.  Nowadays a drum corps fan's dream is stupid props, bad programming, generic boring playing, and high scoring(but I've already ranted about that enough, for today.)  I think just title alone is worth the price of admission because it totally has the audience primed for what you get:  Loud, Loud, and Loud, and I'm all for it.  Personally, I think this is the year they stopped caring about placement and just did their thing, and I'm so glad they stopped caring.  With that said, enjoy!

So far...

So far I've whiffed on Miss. St. (sorry Starkville) and Butler (stupid, stupid, stupid!) However, I was right about Maryland and Michigan, so that's not too bad. Nova finally woke up...and they better have since they almost gave me a coronary!

I'm not staying up all night for all the games, but suffice it to say, VCU and WKU are NOT going to win. They can't or I'm really in trouble on my bracket. More tomorrow when my bracket gets blown up even more.

Round 1

I'll work on these games by seeding to make it easy:

1- We all know a 16 has never beaten a 1 and never will. Enough said, they all move on. Let's get over the intrigue of "This might be the year!" Uh, no.

2- A 15 has beaten a 2 a couple of times. I said a couple of times. The only person who's going to correctly pick a 15 beating a 2 is a guy's wife who says she likes Binghamton's colors. That's it. Personally, I'm not buying. 2's move on.

3- Yes, I know, all the 3's move on too. Mizzou is good, I've got Cuse in my title game, I've got Nova in my Final Four, Kansas is the defending champ. I can't argue with that, neither can you.

4- Mississippi State WILL beat Washington! Why? (I know, an upset, stay with me!) Well, Washington is in the Pac-10, you know, the power conference. Right....right??? Ok, the Pac-10 sucks, Miss. State almost won the SEC tournament (granted, the SEC sucks just as bad) but they almost DID something, the new Miss. State is a little honked off (enjoying the Golden Girls reference are we?) and they'll pull off the upset.

5- Upset alert! I know, another one! Wisconsin over Florida State. I know, Tony Douglas is the man and he will be a very rich man one day playing pro ball, but what else is going on at FSU? They beat UNC!? Really? Is that the same UNC with no Ty Lawson and the weakling, I mean, Tyler Hansbrough? Yeah, that win doesn't count. Wisconsin is good and Bo Ryan ain't playin' around. Mark it down folks.

6- My wife is from Dayton, so I have an affinity for the Flyers, but UD gets stuff done. They go to the tournament alot, they win first round games, they make runs, they always play well and I don't see Joe Alexander or Kevin Pitsnogle on the floor for WVU, nuff said.

7- Michigan, Maryland, and USC all moving on? I know, this will probably break me, but I just have a funny feeling about their opponents. Do you mean to tell me that Clemson (yuck!), BC (double yuck!) or Cal (triple yuck!) can get it together to beat Gary Williams (a coach with a title who brought his team around this year) John Belein (the only reason we care about Joe Alexander or a guy named Pitsnogle) and Tim Floyd (who is NOT an idiot.)????? Really. I know that Maryland wasn't great this year and the Pac-10 and big-10 sucked massively this year, but come on, don't you have a bad feeling about picking BC, Clemson, or Cal to win even a moderately important basketball game.

8- Here we've got 3 8's losing to 9's. These are NOT upsets. 8's and 9's are supposed to be evenly matched. Once again, I just have a funny feeling about this. BYU, LSU, and Ok. St. I mean, BYU? No way. LSU, they couldn't even win the sucky tournament of their sucky conference which they won in the regular season (BTW - I love Trent Johnson, just not his team right now.) Ok. St. The only thing I remember about them was Eddie Sutton saying that they could have beaten Ga Tech in a 3 game series after they lost in the Final Four in 2004. There you have it, old reliables! NOT!!!!

Just a quick note about my Final Four. Louisville, Memphis, Villanova, and Syracuse are all programs I LOVE! So, I am slightly biased, but when I read the brackets I have a hard time picking against good ole Jay, or Jim or Rick or Johnboy. I am extremely torn about my final game outcome with Memphis beating Syracuse, but I feel like this is Memphis' second chance just like Duke had in '91, only Memphis will have a different opponent. I just don't see how, if my bracket is right, that they'll let it get away again.

More when the second round comes and my bracket has been bombed by the Enola Gay of the NCAA...the tournament First Round.

Tourney Time!

Here it is, the only bracket I'm doing this year. I've done 5 million brackets per year in the past and the first one always does the best. Then, I start second guessing myself and mess witht he first one and probably ruin it (before the first round.)

I know the picture isn't very big, but there it is, if you click on it you'll get a larger version.

Game previews to come!

I like this tidbits idea

So, Heather had "tidbits" the other day, man what a good idea, so I'm stealing it! But I'll be nice and at least change the name of it, let's go with......."Well........"

Well........

- I'm watching Memphis had Tulsa their hat and it pretty amazing. Tulsa had it close for about a second, then Memphis got out front, then I went in the kitchen and the lead was 10, when I came back the lead was 23. Yeah, Memphis is pretty good.

- I saw Villanova's buzzer beater the other day. That's totally the way to play basketball. They kept it tight with Marquette, and Marquette played a great game, and even though they had almost no time at all they waited long enough for Marquette to make a mistake, and it worked!

- I would have liked to have seen the 6 OT World War III between Cuse and UCONN, there's a couple of problems with that. 1) I was 6 OT's, I can't stay up that late, I'm an old man now. 2) I really like Syracuse, always have, but I don't dislike UCONN enough to see if Cuse can hold on. 3) I LOVE Big East basketball, always have, but I don't love it that much. 4) I hate the angry face Jim Calhoun makes, I mean he looks like his face is morphing into a Gremlin. I just can't take it.

- I'm ready for the tourney, but I need to find a bracket I can fill in and post to the blog, if you know what to do, let me know.

- Just once in my adult life I'd like to see a basketball game officiated correctly. The officiating is 10 bagillion times worse in the NBA than it is in the NCAA but the NCAA still sucks really bad.

- I just finished rewriting the part for Claude T. Smith's "Fantasia for Alto Sax and Band." The transposition to Bass Clarinet isn't bad, but it's a complicated piece and moves pretty high on the horn. Plus, there are alot of alternate fingerings at work and I needed a prettier part with all the alternates written in.

- Additionally, I found good alternate fingerings for Altissimo A and Bb, they're going to be a life savers.

- Someone needs to hire me to design Bass Clarinets for them, that's all.

We're getting warm

I came of age in the land of the warm-up.  In High School we would spend whole classes in the warm-up process.  Hours upon hours were spent warming up the ensemble.  Nothing could be more interesting, or boring, depending on your point of view.  
Warming up is the ONLY thing you can do for yourself that is GUARANTEED to make you better.  I can, and will, go on and on about what you can do to improve, but none of it is a guarantee, they're just really good ideas.  This...this process that not enough people take enough time on is the one common thread that runs through all great wind players.
I'd said if you interviewed some band kids you'd find that most of them are quite bored by the warm-up process and find little value in it, they just know that their director insists on it.  I was never one of those people.

Where I come from, the warm-up is the only thing we've got, kind of like when we tell our kids "You'd better be nice to your brother/sister because one day they're going to be the only thing you've got."  If you don't have a warm-up, you don't got nothin'.  

I can hear the arguments now "But, if you warm up all the time you won't have any time to rehearse!"  On the contrary, Bass-Confucius say "If you warm up regularly your band will sound good enough to rehearse."  "If you warm up all the time and then you can't get in a warm up at a crucial time then the band will suffer."  Bass-Confucius say "If your band warms up constantly and you can't get in a warm up before a big show your band can walk off the bus and win the show (my Alma Mater has done and will continue to do this at least once a season.)  "Oh my golly good gosh!  I have to get married to a warm up routine as soon as possible or our band is going down the tubes!"  Bass-Confucius say "If you get married to a warm up your band will become so inflexible that they won't be able to take a shorter warm up when it is warranted."
To me, these are big "DUH"s if you're a band director, but what if you are just practicing by yourself?

Today, I went up to school to teach a couple lessons.  I brought out my short horn (in case you don't keep track, and you should ;o), it's a 1959 Leblanc 400) and didn't have a ton of warm-up time.  I felt kind of hamstrung my whole lesson because I didn't get to warm-up AND I was playing a horn that I don't play everyday that I haven't tailored my reeds to.  A good 30 minutes of warming up would have solved my problems.

I know, I know, you're thinking "Well, if I played the same horn everyday I wouldn't have those problems."  Oh contrare' mon ami!  If you play the same horn everyday and you HAVEN'T been doing this then you STILL need a lengthy warm-up.  You basically have no idea what the instrument will do from minute to minute, but you are warming up regularly you will become more and more aware of what the instrument will do when you put air in it.  Moreover, if you continue to do that and you, by chance, are playing a different instrument one day you won't need AS MUCH time to get acclimated.  Even if you're playing a leaky horn you'll be able to isolate the leaks almost instantly as you warm up because the feel won't be right.  You see, you can diagnose AND learn control at the same time.

I know, I know, now you're thinking "Yeah, that's cute, I can't play a leaky horn, it won't do anything."  Ah, Bass-Confucius say "If you've been hammering your warm-ups, you'll get to the point where you can play anything in any condition in a serviceable way."  Now, I'm not saying you'd go out and play a recital or an audition on a leaky or otherwise "broken" instrument, but you could get through a concert or marching band show or a practice session without it being a total wash.  Let's say you can reasonably repair your instrument, now you know what's wrong.  I've got that problem right now on my 400, and I'll get around to it, but I still have the 430!

Now, what if you don't have a leaky horn and everything's fine?  Well, get to it!

What....

You don't know what to do.  What kind of stuff you should be playing to warm-up.  You're unsure if what you're doing is working, or going to work.  I have a solution!

Warm-up the way you did in band.  Don't get cute, just do things that work.  An example:
 
(all in written pitch)
 
Long tones on the C, F, and G scales.  No skimping, do them all and really work it.
 
Equality of tone is highly essential here.  If you're not careful you could spend a massive amount of time realizing all the notes you have that are not equal in tone to the notes around them.
 
5 note segments in all major and minor keys (at a moderate tempo, play each one 3 times before stopping)
-  You may slur
-  or slur 2 tongue 2
-  or tongue 2 slur 2
-  or mix them up (play Slur 2 Tongue 2, then Tongue 2 Slur 2, Then tongue 1 Slur 2 Tongue 1 consecutively in one rep.)

You could very easily alter the articulated notes from legato, to staccato, to marcato, to a "swallowed" note that almost ends before it begins.  You could get lost in this if you really wanted to.
 
Chromatic Scale (all slurred from E to C, no fancy pants extended range)     
 
Remingtons (movement in half steps downwards from a tonic)
-  I prefer starting on open G, that makes the pattern:
G, F#, G, F, G, E, G, Eb, G, D, G, Db, G, C
-  Then change the tonic to C:
C, B, C, Bb, C, A, C, Ab, C, G, C, Gb, C, F, C, E, C, Eb
 
Playing the remington studies is the easiest way to hear if your pitch and tone are stable.  It's also the best embouchure workout there is.  Try not opening your mouth the breathe, but breathing through your corners and never really releasing your embouchure until you're done.
 
Now, I know this is simple stuff, but that's it.  Some variation on this stuff will do.  Just don't run off with some pretty warm-up, you'll get bored quickly, change is a good thing in these situations. 
 
How long should it take?  Well, if you're really working it you could go for a solid hour and not realize it.  Seriously!  This stuff is important!
 
You'll start to see a difference when you really start working this out.  It's a maturation process that will net a wonderful long term result, but won't necessarily blow you away in the short term.  You've got to be patient.  I spent 3 years warming up like this constantly, another 4 playing 3 hours a day on my own and the last 9 holding to a warm-up of AT LEAST this level every time I play.  No joke.  Try it!

Superior Performances 3.13.09

Alright, so keeping with my theme from last week here's more Madison.  This was my first exposure to the Scouts and it was the first Finals that I followed (P.S. - '95 was a good year to start following!)  This is a day in the life of a bullfighter, except the bullfighter has the loudest corps in history following him around and he never actally fights any bulls, but you get the idea.  The playing is great and for me the simple color palette in the guard works.  Plus,  you can see how far afield judging has gone that they were in 4th place this season.  If they did this show now (as I'm sure they still kinda do) they would barely make finals (as they have for a few years now.)  This is still the glory years of the Scouts, so please enjoy!

Sleep, blessed sleep

So, we're still busted in this house.  I don't what the deal is.  The JB woke up at 4 and screamed in our faces til 6 this morning.  I mean, dang girl, if you're tired, go to sleep!

Heather's working really hard at the gym, so she's really busted too and the kids just sat around after dinner tonight.  I mean, busted!

Please pray for recouperative sleep in this house, cuz we need it baby!

In the interest of enjoying music and sleep, try this:

Stop-action tonguing

So, I was in a lesson today and saw an interesting little article in my student's folder from a big-time Clarinet professor.  They had all these articulation exercises written in and one in particular was intriguing...

There were 4 eighth notes each followed by an eighth rest.  The instructions written were:

Do this for 5 minutes and move up one notch on the metronome each week, but the music was titled "stopped tonguing."  I love this stuff!

So, one can only assume that "stopped tonguing" means stop the note with your tongue and then move on.  Ok, I can get down with that.  So, how do I do that?

I look at it this way.  Tongue the note, release the tongue in order to sustain the note (yes, you are sustaining it, even if the note is mega-short) and then come back and stop the air with the tongue.  

That means you're supposed to be doing 3 things to play one note, a note that might even be a half count long.  That requires alot of control.

Control implies that you have to sound good, so, if you're having tonal issues (I mean, like you're just NOT HAPPY with your sound, then wait for this.)  If you're cool, then control is pretty easy to obtain.

Definitely, just playing nice, easy, open notes with simple rhythms like 8th, 8th rest, 8th, 8th rest, etc... is a good idea.  Definitely, set a certain amount of time you will venture to do this.  You can do this in minutes (I'll do this for 5 minutes) or you could say "I'll do this for 24 bars."  However, you can go two steps farther.

Step 1)   Practice something with stopped notes.  You could be practicing just about anything and, as a part of working something out, you just stop all the notes in that passage just to get in the groove of stopping notes.  

Step2)  Try it in an ensemble setting.   If you're in a band or orchestra you could use this technique in musically appropriate places.  Using the stopped tongue as a device to further separate (not shorten) notes is a great way to use the stopped tongue, cultivate it, and add ammunition to your articulation arsenal.

Stopped tonguing increases pressure in the back of your mouth, so it will feel funny but it's fun to do if you really get into it.  Try it sometime!

Progress Anybody?

Alrighty, for my birthday Heather took me to Disney World.  Yay!

I know it's been a month since my birthday but I've been recovering from the trip of trips.

It was a total surprise and I honestly had no idea that's what we were doing.  I could sit here and recap the whole whirlwind trip, bit by bit, but that would take forever, since it was the best trip ever!  I'll just recap the super-highlights to make you jealous.

We were on a duck hunt, since Donald Duck is my favorite Disney character, and boy did we find some Donalds.  We met Frontier Donald at MK and Three Caballeros Donald at the Mexico pavillion at Epcot.  There are tons of "Hidden Mickeys" throughout the park, mostly due to over-exuberant cast members, but there at a few "Hidden Donalds" as well, so we were searching for those and going on anything that we wanted as much as we wanted since the kids weren't with us.  

We got a last ride on the TTA (Tomorrowland Transit Authority) since it's shutting down when they refurb Space Mountain.  The best part of this ride is that you go inside Space Mountain and when the lighting is ideal you can see the whole coaster.  Good stuff!

We got drenched on Splash Mountain by a mega water cannon right at the beginning of the ride. As many times as I've been on this ride, this water cannon has never been this robust. Usually it spits a little water, that never makes it to you, when a log goes over the falls.  Yeah, that day, it was on "super drench" because we got nailed.

We met Drizella and Anastasia who are hilarious!  Let's face it, the best job in the world is being a totally rude obnoxious person all day long and people loving every second of it.  Come on, you know you love it.  They even had a great conversation with Heather about Cinderella's rodent-made dress. It was priceless.

We toured Epcot World Showcase on a Segway (which is really fun to ride once you learn how to use it.)  We finally got on Spaceship Earth together and got a picture of ourselves on the new touch screen on the ride.  

We even suffered through the worst ride in all the parks..."Stitch's Great Escape."  Yeah, it's bad.  I actually hadn't even seen the movie (though I knew what it was about) and after seeing the movie I hated the ride even more because the movie is D-U-M-B DUMB!  We even asked the imagineer why certain things actually get made into rides and he really had no words for that.  Just goes to show you, all business is politics.

We rode the Tower of Terror together, which we've never done, and Heather loved it, she was laughing every time it took us up to get a glimpse at the park (which is funny, because you then plummet about 10 stories in a free fall before it takes you back up for another go.)  We found the 100,000 point target in Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin (Heather hit it 4 times on our last go 'round.)  We hooped it up on Toy Story Midway Mania and a ton more.  We're a super team, and kidless we moved like lightning through the parks(actually, even with the kids we move like lightning, so imagine how fast we were this time.)  There's nothing more satisfying than knowing you're going to get to do everything you want and then some.

We had some unreal meals.  I discovered lamb a few months back and was not disappointed at Citrico's with the lamb rack and the unreal birthday cake.  I've still got the white chocolate Donald that was on top of the cake (he was highlighted with gold leafing.)  We ate with an Imagineer(who was really sweet and really fun to talk with) and I had a vegetarian lasagna that was to die for at Chefs des France.  There was a Mushroom Bisque, a Cobb Salad, this unreal roast beef sandwich at Liberty Tree Tavern, just great stuff!  Every meal we ate was off the charts, I could go on and on all day, but then you'd be too jealous and stop reading, and we don't want that.

The one gem that we discovered was the Carousel of Progress.  It's a 20 minute ride that moves you from the turn of the centry to present day, chronicling all the household advancements that have been made in that time.  The stages are great, you learn alot, and the song "There's a Great Big, Beautiful Tomorrow" is a keeper.  As we speak it's running through my head.  If you ever have the fortune to go, please don't miss this attraction, we feel sacreligious for not having found it sooner.

Needless to say, I had the time of all times with my beautiful bride :o)