All kinds of stuff going on

I was actually right about the NFL playoff games on Sunday! I'd say that's pretty impressive considering I was dead wrong about both games on Saturday. Currently I'm 2-2 for the playoffs, that's not bad. I'll make my "picks" later this week for the upcoming Divisional Playoffs.

Until then...

The Giants are currently a 4.5 point favorite over the Eagles (My initial reaction was "huh?") Had this line come out the last week of the season I bet it would be 7. Did a pretty good win at Minnesota impress Vegas that much? Let's start my own manifesto. Reason #1 why I don't gamble on sports...... Vegas is fickle, but professional athletes are even more fickle. My, my, what a difference a couple weeks makes.

Carolina's a 10 point favorite on Arizona. Really? Really? I mean, they're a really good team, but 10 points good? Do we see why I don't gamble? How on earth could you put money on that and expect the Panthers to win by 10 points? I suppose if you really like drowning yourself in the sauce for 3 hours praying that Carolina runs it up on the Cards then this game (and the spread) would be for you. Honestly. Is Arizona's defense that bad? What? Did Kurt Warner forget how to throw? Did Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald forget how to catch? Really? This kind of line is almost disrespectful to Kurt Warner (a two-time NFL MVP who has been to two Super Bowls). I'll save the tangent for the post where I "officially" pick the games.

In other news, Heather and I are reading through a chronological Bible this year. The readings are really well laid out and the chronological part is very helpful. It's amazing that Genesis, Chronicles and Job all fit together. Then Chronicles continues to be sprinkled throughout a good part of the early Old Testament. I just think its great. Honestly, I can't imagine an easier way to read through the Word. Plus, the chronology takes out alot of confusion. BTW - For those of you who don't know...I came to Christ in January 2006 and was previously totally unchurched. Basically what that means is I don't know nothin'. This oughta help.

Some final notes and a video:

As it says in my header I'm a Bass Clarinetist. Since I don't play "professionally" (meaning I don't have a full-time orchestra job and I don't solo for a living) I have time to mess around with all kinds of cool things to learn. I write for myself and about 5% of it is actually good, but I typically tend to not play Bass Clarinet music since it's either A) Really, really, hard and crazy weird modern (Don't get me wrong, I like crazy weird modern music, but that can't be the only show in town, you know what I mean Vern?) or B) Middle School level stuff.

So, right now I'm working on the Fantasia for Alto Sax by Claude T. Smith. For those of you who are not band nerds...Claude T. Smith (1932-1987) is a thorn in the side of many a musician who has played his music. His credits include some of the most intensely difficult pieces you can imagine. (I should say right here that I LOVE his music, I've actually played Festival Variations and Eternal Father and I just couldn't get enough of them, but I still have to keep it real. This mess is HARD!) Even MY parts are hard...trust me, if the Bass Clarinet part is hard, other people are having some serious problems. He wrote many commissions for Military groups at whose expense he was (essentially) attempting to determine what impossible music sounds like, or at least that's how it feels. The parts aren't impossible, but playing them all together FEELS impossible.

Now we have the Fantasia for Alto Sax. It's not impossible, but you wouldn't know by listening to it. Now try playing it up a 4th on Bass Clarinet. Woo hoo! I know, I'm a glutton for punishment. Enjoy this performance by Kenneth Tse.