The Decade in Review Part 1

Well, the decade began for me living by myself at my parents house, attending my second college, and living in Atlanta, Georgia (one of the largest cities in the country); and ends living in a rental house, married to my beautiful wife with my beautiful daughter, teaching band in Karnes City, Tx. (what I'm sure is one of the smallest towns in the country). Quite a difference, and ont all for the worse! Here's a few other things we said hello and goodbye to in the first half of the first decade of the new millenium (this is a really lenghty post, and if you just want to peruse it I've outlined several different categories in BOLD, enjoy!):

News:

2000:The decade started out with Y2k and the supposed end of the world. Do you remember the panic the media tried to incite. The oddest thing for me was that they seemed to know about the problem for almost two decades, and just at the end they decided to deal with it. Thankfully for us, no one even noticed.The first news story of 2000 that I recall fairly well was the IED ( a term that was unfamiliar at the time) that was blown up across from the New York Stock Exchange. It's interesting to me that as we look back over the past decade we can see all different kind of warning signs of worse events to come. From the files of "that didn't change very much" in April, Microsoft loses it's case and is declared a monopoly. Also, in April the Waco event of this decade occured when young Elian Gonzales was ripped from his home in Miami and taken back to his biological family in Cuba. Who doesn't remember that photograph of the man with the machine gun taking the young boy? In May we welcomed our 1 billionth person to the planet in India. A story that no one other than my Dad remembers, in August the HL Hunley, a Confederate submarine is raised out of the ocean. In October, the USS Cole is attacked by Al-Qaeda in Yemen. A true precursor of the violence to come. An interesting point from those that think that we will soon all be living in space: the end of October of 2ooo is the last time there is not someone living in space, there has been a constant human presence in space since. November is probably the most news-worthy month of the year as it started with Iraq not allowing in weapons inspectors, continued with the closest election ever for President of the US, Hillary Clinton is elected to the US Senate (the first First Lady to win public office, and also probably one of the first that had to move to the district she wanted to represent), Bill Clinton is the first sitting President to visit Vietnam. In December we first learn a word we will all come to dread: Chads. And finally for 2000, from the "you learn something new every day" file: a group called the Texas 7 broke out of a maximum security prison that is located according to Wikipedia, just to the north of Kenedy, Tx. It's actually in Karnes City!

2001: January of this year led off with one of those stories that shaped the decade when Wikipedia opened it's proverbial doors. Further in that same month, George W. was sworn in as the 43rd President of the US after much controversy that some will still argue over if given the opportunity. In March we were reminded of Chicken Little's warning: The sky fell a little bit when the Mir Russian space station fell from the sky. To conclude the greatest terrorist attack of the previous decade, Timothy McVeigh is put to death in June. In July the world's first self-contained artificial heart is implanted. It really is interesting to me how quiet the news world seems looking back on it for this year. It's as if we've either forgotten all the other news in light of the magnitude of what occured on that September morning, or everything else is blocked out of our minds. That September morning definitely changed our world forever. I remember the walls of photos, the flags that flew everywhere you looked, the fire and police workers all around the country collecting money, the big name benefit concerts and the church attendance soared. That last one didn't seem to last as long as the others, huh? The end of the year is categorized by events linked to that one: anthrax scare, plane crash in Queens, the signing of the Patriot Act, Shock and Awe, and one that can loosely be linked: the fall of Enron. Remember that the field the Astros played on was named after that company? Oops!

2002: The year of the palindrome. I don't know that that holds any significance, but people remember it. In January, the Euro is introduced, I believe it has surpassed the dollar in value, but I could be wrong. No Child Left Behind is signed in January much to the pains of educators everywhere. Thankfully it's up for renewal this next year and they have promised to take educator input and as we all know politicians are known for nothing else other than keeping their word, right? Daniel Pearl is kidnapped and killed within the first two months of the new year. March would bring the US invasion of Afghanistan. Followed soon by the trial of Andrea Yates who was convicted of drowning her own children and sentenced to life in prison. Also, news I don't remember, but is interesting due to location: there was a 125 car pile up on I-75 near Ringgold, Georgia. Yeah, I'm not sure where it is either. Probably somewhere where you wouldn't expect a pile up of that size. The Queen Mother dies and is buried in April. Jimmy Carter meets with Castro as the first President either in or out of office to meet with the dictator since 1959. Queen Elizabeth celebrates her 50th anniversary as Queen of England in June. An assassination attempt against the Afghan president occurs in September. In October, Congress approves a bill that allows the President to utilize the armed forces against Iraq. This provided years of campaign fodder for the people in office and the ones trying to get into office. Also in October, the Beltway Sniper spreads terror throughout Washington DC. Bombs are set off in two nightclubs in the Far East. The Homeland Security Act is signed into law possibly due to a Republican-led government. The end of the year is categorized by people searching for Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq. I think they're still looking, but they're probably being used against our forces in Afghanistan.

2003: In February, the space shuttle Columbia reminded us all of how dangerous space travel really is, and for those of us old enough to remember, it recalled memories of the Challenger. The SARS outbreak occurs at the end of the month. It's interesting to think about all the different illnesses and outbreaks that have occurred this decade without taking over the world. Invasion of Iraq occurs in March, and I think you can argue about it all you want as to whether it was the right decision or not, but I think we're live in a marginally safer world without a ruler like Saddam Hussein in power. Before the a month had taken place his palace was under American control. Had we realized the fight we were in for, we probably would have been more cautious. Especially since the speech given next month by the President which was probably the largest public relations mistake in recent history when he spoke with the banner behind him declaring "Mission Accomplished." May spawned more tornadoes in one week than any other on record in the US with the final total at 393 over 19 different states. The summer kicks off with the capture of Eric Rudolph, the mastermind of the Olympic Park bombings of 1996 and many other bombings. He was caught in the North Carolina mountains, where he had been hiding for over a decade. That was by far the biggest story of the summer however, as Martha Stewart is indicted for obstruction and using specific information to increase stock profits. It also came out that Martha wasn't the nicest chef in the kitchen. In other court news, the highest court in the land upheld affirmative action in colleges also in June. In July, a scandal broke involving a CIA-operative who had her cover blown by a Washington Post reporter, but really when compared to the last President's scandals, this one was very tame, athough it did put a woman's life in terrible risk. The summer continued with the skyrocketing of oil prices causing us the first signs of our economy maybe being in trouble, and it being a daily reminder for those of us who bought gas about three times a week! In October, one of the stories you would only expect from California (or possibly Minnesota): The Terminator became the Governator! Still a little strange, as was this story: Rush Limbaugh was an analyst on ESPN for like 3 weeks, before he opened his mouth too much for the guys there and was asked to leave. Shortly thereafter, he admitted he was addicted to painkillers. In November a total solar eclipse is seen in Antarctica....by one person; he wrote it down on Wikipedia so we would know about it. The year concluded with several stories including Saddam Hussein being captured, mad cow disease breaks out in the Northwest, a Christmas Eve bombing attempt is thwarted in Madrid, and a massive earthquake occurred in Iran killing over 40,000 people.

2004: This year began with the scream heard round the world by one very enthusiastic Howard Dean. I'm not sure he's crazy, but I am sure he screams like a girl and has provided right-wing radio hosts with a sound bite that has lasted almost a decade! The next month brought a life-changer for peoples all around the world when Facebook was founded originally as a college networking page. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King matches the most Oscar wins for a single film with 11 wins, although I think that some of the wins are for the film trilogy as a whole. The vigilence of the Spanish people towards terrorism led to 4 trains being bombed in Madrid killing 190. Just as serious was the prison abuse in Abu Ghraib. A different kind of sad occured in May when the last episode of Friends aired, on the plus side it was one of the best final episodes I've ever seen. In May, the dedication of the National World War II Memorial occured. In my opinion it was an outrage that it took so long for one of the bravest generations of people to have a monument to their vast accomplishments in the face of such hatred. In June, we laid to rest a national treasure and a man of great integrity, President Ronald Reagan. The 9/11 commission finally releases its report in one of the largest books I have ever seen on a book shelf, and people actually buy it. On July 4th of that year, the groundbreaking for the Freedom Tower took place, however it has yet to be complete. George Bush wins his second term in office in November. Once again, the year ends in tragedy when a tsunami hit the small island of Sumatra killing officially nearly 187,000 people, but there are still over 40,000 people unaccounted for.

2005: The year kicked off with the launch of a small internet site where you could share your videos with your friends. The name of the site? YouTube. Still one of the only places you can go to where you can see The Star Wars Holiday Special. For a story that hit a little too close to home was the Brian Nichols case where he was going in to be tried for rape, turned swiftly into a murder of three people including the judge who was hearing his case as well as his escape from the courthouse. He eventually ended up at the home of a young lady dealing with her own demons, but seemingly brought Nichols to the Lord through reading to him from the Bible and from Rick Warren's "The Purpose Driven Life." I still remember watching the news on that day and everyone in the state seemingly looking for the man. For some reason I was in the metro area that day visiting my parents and seeing the signs telling what type of vehicle he was driving; quite bizzare. Ten days later, the worst school shooting since Columbine occured in Minnesota. At the conclusion of March, the biggest story was centered around Terri Schiavo and how a person should be allowed to die. At the end of May it was finally revealed who Deepthroat was, due to him wanting to let his identity be known before he passed away. In July, we return to space for the first time since the Columbia disaster. They probably could have asked for better weather when Hurricane Katrina came through and was a disaster in every sense of the word: from the actual natural disaster, to the way it was handled by various government factions, to the sites that were lost or severly damaged in historically rich New Orleans. This was shortly to be followed by Hurricane Rita where all the people who had fled New Orleans then had to flee Houston. The effects were felt in a more practical way in Georgia where I almost had to pay over $5 a gallon for gas when pipelines were destroyed. Later in the year, news again focuses on the CIA leak from a few years prior and trying to determine who was leaking information. Also at the time, newly wed Prince Charles and Camilla visit the US.

In Sports:

2000: Trouble for all Braves fans when Time Warner, AOL, and Turner all merge and ruin any chance of any one caring about actual baseball operations being in charge. PS-This was also the last time the Braves appeared in the World Series. The Super Bowl went to the very end of the game with a tremendous stretch by a Titans player who almost broke the plain, but just missed and the Rams won the game.

2001: The first World Series played in November due to 9/11. Derek Jeter becomes Mr. November

2002: The Patriots win over the heavily favored Rams and begin their dynasty.

2004: Michael Phelps almost makes history with 6 Gold Medals, but falls short of the record by winning two bronze medals. The Montreal Expos are purchased by Major League Baseball. The biggest sports story of this year by far was the incredible winning of the World Series by the Boston Red Sox. Not only did they win, but they beat the Yankees in 7 games to do it, also down 3-0 in the series. Hollywood couldn't write it any better, don't believe me, see "Fever Pitch"!

2005: Lance Armstrong wins his 7th straight Tour de France and retires from racing. There's more from him later, too.

In Technology:

These aren't in any particular order, but here's my list of technological advances that have been made in the past decade:

Google, Wikipedia, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, blogs, iPods, mp3 cell phones, iPhones, smartphones, texting, HDTV, plasma screens, LCD monitors, Wi-Fi, Blu-Ray, HD-DVD, 3-D Movies, CGI, Motion Capture, and Pixar really perfects their craft.

In Music:

David Crosby helps Melissa Etheridge have a baby. Santana ties Michael Jackson with 8 Grammy Awards in one night. Metallica fights Napster. Bubblegum Pop music is in full swing with boy bands galore (N'Sync, Backstreet Boys), two feuding girls who were the best of friends on the new Mickey Mouse Club (Britney and Christina), and one group who I actually enjoyed their follow-up hit (Hanson). dcTalk takes an Intermission. Eminem releases his Marshall Mathers album and again falls into controversy, but the album is solid. Albums that had an effect in 2000: Radiohead, Outkast, and again U2.

In 2002, American Idol debuts and changes the face of music for at least the decade, and probably beyond. It would be an interesting study to find out how many people released albums who had at least made it to Hollywood week, and I'll always wonder if I would be good enough to make it. Also in 02, we had a shift begin with Avril Lavigne releasing her first album. The pendulum begins to swing towards rock once again.

In 2003, it was discovered that Pete Townsend and Michael Jackson both have troubles with enjoying the company of little boys too much. I wonder why it is that we forget about Pete, but don't forget about Michael? I guess it might matter if your black or white. I also discovered that playing a little Norah Jones makes it easier to set a mood, if you catch my drift.

In 2004, Luciano Pavarotti performs for the final time in an opera. Later in the year, Dave Matthews had a "crappy" time on the road. Ashlee Simpson gives a Saturday Night Live performance where she pays tribute to Milli Vanilli. Green Day makes a tremendous comeback with their album American Idiot.

2005 was the year of the huge benefit concert: The tsunami benefit concert was the largest outdoor concert since Live Aid, Audioslave performed the first free outdoor concert in Cuba ever by an American band, and of course Live 8 is the biggest concert of the year. We were also fortunate that year to have Jars of Clay release another album. Also throughout this decade, worship music took huge leaps forward with bands and worship leaders such as Chris Tomlin, David Crowder, Hillsong United, Matt Papa, Casting Crowns, Third Day, MercyMe, Newsboys, 33Miles, and groundbreakers Michael W. Smith, Stephen Curtis Chapman, and Amy Grant.

In Films:

2000-Gladiator and Cast Away, Star Wars Episode I

2001-Harry Potter I, LOTR I, Monsters, Inc., Shrek

2002-See the above ones, as well as Spider-Man and Star Wars Episode II

2003-LOTR III, Finding Nemo, and Pirates of the Caribbean

2004-The year of sequels in that all but three of the top ten films for that year were sequels (The Incredibles, The Passion of the Christ, and Shark Tale)

2005-Chronicles of Narnia, Star Wars Episode III, King Kong, Madagascar, Hitch, and Batman Begins.

Deaths:

2000: Charles Schultz, Tito Puente, Carl Sigman, Steve Allen, Victor Borge, Julius Epstein

2001: Dale Earnhardt, Stanley Kramer, William Hewlitt, William Hanna, Joey Ramone, Perry Como, Anthony Quinn, John Lee Hooker, Jack Lemmon, Chet Atkins, Aaliyah, George Harrison

2002: Dave Thomas, Waylong Jennings, Howard K Smith, Dudley Moore, Chuck Jones, Milton Berle, Billy Wilder, Layne Staley, Robert Urich, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopez, Sam Snead, Dee Dee Ramone, Ted Williams, Alan Lomax, Lionel Hampton, Stephen Ambrose, Jam Master Jay, Joe Strummer

2003: Maurice Gibb, Nell Carter, Ron Ziegler, Mr. (Fred) Rogers, Hank Ballard, Robert Atkins, Earl King, Noel Redding, Robert Stack, June Carter Cash, Johnny Cash, David Brinkley, Gregory Peck, Strom Thurmond, Katharine Hepburn, Buddy Hackett, Barry White, Buddy Ebsen, John Schlesinger, Bob Hope, Sam Phillips, Gregory Hines, Charles Bronson, John Ritter, Robert Palmer, Jonathan Brandis, Warren Spahn

2004: Reggie White, John Barrymore, Christopher Reeve, Rodney Dangerfield, Fay Wray, Rick James, Marlon Brando, Ray Charles, Ronald Reagan, Tony Randall, Estee Lauder, Pat Tillman, Jack Paar, Captain Kangaroo, Jerry Goldsmith, Elmer Bernstein, Ellis Marsalis, Janet Leigh, Ken Caminiti, Johnny Oates, Artie Shaw

2005: Johnny Carson, Sandra Dee, Johnnie Cochran, Anne Bancroft, Luther Vandross, Peter Jennings, Alfred Reed, Don Adams, Rosa Parks, Richard Pryor.

In My Life:

Finally, the reason you stayed around for this post for this long: Here's what happened in the first part of the decade in my life:

2000-Moved back to Athens, met Kayla in October, she wrote in her diary that she would marry me in December

2001: Realized on Sept. 11 that I would marry Kayla, attended her brother's wedding in Dec. and asked her parents if I could have their blessing the next day

2002: Proposed to Kayla on Jan. 12, married on Aug. 3, 2002 spent the best week of my life to date in Newport Oregon of all places. Graduate from Truett-McConnell with Associates.

2003: Began going to Compass, as well as Emmanuel College, begin in a SG in October

2004: Compass leadership staff leaves

2005: Compass begins to rebuild and we get more involved, Kayla gets pregnant in July. Trip with my family to Washington DC. I complete my degree program in December.

And if I missed anything, just check out this link.

Finally Something Blog-Worthy

So when you're a band director, you generally get a lot of junk mail in your box at school generally about using a particular company to sponsor all your school trip needs, or letting you know of performance opportunities around the state, or telling you about fundraising opportunities, but occasionally you come across a magazine or catalogue that you actually can use. I came across such a publication this week and am actually considering putting some things on my Christmas list to have for my students as rewards, books to read to make me a better teacher, or games I can use when I have to have a substitute teacher, but nothing, and I mean nothing prepared me for the following item:

That's right, it's a toliet seat shaped like a guitar. And please note that you can have it in either electric or acoustic! Now, I know that I'm all for putting music in and around your home and extending that to include decor, but I feel that if you think the best way to remind yourself of how much a music lover you are by making sure it's a part of your potty routine, then you may have a problem and need to seek professional help. The best part about finding this little slice of musical heaven was that on the very same page, right below this item was the following sign:

Now, if you're like me (and sometimes I hope you're not), your mind went to a logical conclusion. It was only after my wife pointed out that this sign could hang on any door did I even consider that it went anywhere other than that same potty door. I had a great laugh over this one, that there would be someone somewhere in the world that would have that sign hanging on their restroom door while sitting on a guitar-shaped toilet seat was an image that I couldn't pass up blogging about, and since nothing of consequence has occurred at school yet, I took this as my blogging opportunity (don't worry, we haven't had an away game, and I haven't had to move any percussion equipment yet, so there's still time to hear a funny story from football season). I have also come to the conclusion that one reason for my lack of blogging this summer is due to the ease of using another website.

I found myself many a time over the summer formulating a blog post only to have it come down to one or two sentences that could easily be explained through a status update, and therefore had no need of a full blog. One blog I did think about posting, but I don't have any pictures to go along with the experience, was how surreal it was for me to take my daughter to my parents house over the summer and stay in a place where I spent a lot of time as a young boy. It was very strange to see her doing a lot of the same activities in the same place I did them when I was around her same age. Thanks for sticking with me through this drought of time I call summer (the hottest on record for San Antonio in over a decade, thanks vortex of dryness!), and I'm sure like I said that with school starting back the musical musings will be coming with more regularity.

The Saga of Taken, and the Obligatory Obituary

About a month ago we received a free trial offer from Netflix where we could get 3 movies out at a time for 2 weeks, so naturally we signed up for it. We were enjoying it, although if we lived anywhere close to where there is a Blockbuster, we would probably do that one because you can trade them in at the store for a little more instant gratification, but I digress. One of the first movies that I wanted to get was the Liam Neeson movie "Taken" because I had seen the trailer and it looked good to me, even though Kayla doesn't really like thrillers, I had convinced her to watch it with me. You can imagine my excitement when I got the e-mail from Netflix saying that the movie would arrive at my house within a day.

So I go out to the mailbox the next day and sure as a sunrise (not sure that's an actual saying, but I'm using it anyway), there was a DVD in the box and I brought it in without really examining it because it's been over 100 degrees every day for the past week here and I didn't want to stay out for longer than I had to. Now, I must again remind the reader that we were allowed three movies out at a time and the next one on our list was one a DVD that Brenna had picked out to watch (you can probably see where this is heading). For one reason or another, Kayla and I didn't get a chance to watch my thriller that night, and so it came as a little bit of a shock to me to get an e-mail in my inbox the next day from Netflix telling me thank you for returning "Taken." A little confused, I go into the kitchen where we had been keeping all our cinema bounty and took a good look at what I thought was "Taken" only to discover Brenna's Little Einsteins DVD. While Brenna was elated, I was let down to say the least. So seeing that Netflix had received a DVD that we never did, I added it to the list again in hopes that it would arrive before our precious two weeks of free movies was completed.

Fortunately for me, about four days later I got another e-mail from the Netflix people saying that they had shipped "Taken" to our little address here in Karnes City, which made me think that if there was one person assigned to our account, they were probably thinking, "Okay, this movie may be good, but is it really a rent twice in one week good?" To which I would respond in words to unkind to write here, so I'll proceed with my story. We get the DVD in the mail the next day and I examined the envelope in the heat this time to make sure I wasn't going to have to call these people and tell them it's probably a good idea to keep customers by sending what they ordered, but they got it right this time and so I rushed back into the house before the sun could melt off my skin, with plans to watch this movie that night, so that either Kayla didn't have time to lose her nerve, or we had to send the movie back unwatched because our two weeks were running out very quickly.

I put the movie into the DVD player that night, and I should have realized it was not going to be an easy watch when I went to check out the special features and the one trailer listed wouldn't play. (Side note: Why go to the expense of including a special features tab and graphic on a DVD just to have one lousy trailer on it? Seems more cost effective to not put it in there and get my hopes up that there would actually be something interesting there) So we start the movie and everything is good for the first 50 minutes or so, and then the darn thing catches and I can't get it to do anything but stick right on the screen it's on. I can't rewind it, I can't fast forward it, I can't skip to the next chapter, I took it out and tried to clean it off, I did the old NES approach of blowing inside the DVD player, I even tried to go to the main menu and skip ahead two chapters and try to backtrack, and nothing worked. Now, this movie is only about an hour and a half long, so when you get fifty minutes in you're pretty much invested into the story and you want to find out how it's going to end, so the solution Kayla and I came up with was that I would go to our trusty Redbox at the Wal-Mart down the street and get it from there, even though it meant I would have to drive back out to the store the next day to return it.

So I go out there and get the movie (it always amazes me that people take their kids to WM regardless of the time, seven kids under the age of ten at 10:30 at night, moving on...) and get back, get it set to where we were and continue watching. About ten minutes from the end of the film, the same thing starts to happen again; it starts to catch and freeze. So, once I had recovered all the pieces of the remote control that I had chucked across the room I went and took the DVD out of the player, cleaned off a few smudges and finally finished the movie. It was a decent movie to be sure, but after all the hassle I'm not sure that God wanted us to see that movie. Maybe next time, I'll save myself the trouble and listen to Him. One more thing before I let you leave...

While this picture really creeps me out, I can only think how much more creepy it would have been had it been taken in more recent years. At least here, he still looks human. All I really have to say about the passing of the King of Pop is that it disturbs me that so many people in the news coverage have described him as an idol. Makes me kind of think we may be in for a smiting from the Almighty. And while I'm sure that he was totally messed up in the head, he did bring joy to millions of people, and revolutionized pop culture as we know it and not too many other people on the planet can say that. I pray that he knew Jesus before he left, and I pray that his family will find Him through this process.

We're begin the long road back to Georgia today to visit family and friends, so I'm sure I'll write more in the coming days, stay tuned!

Mixed Bag

This post will be just what I've titled it because there have been so many random things going on in our lives these past few weeks that I don't know how to link them all, maybe it will come to

me by the end of the post. Before we get started, can I say that it is pretty upsetting to me that I've only got about 5 weeks left on my vacation on this summer. I guess I have to remember that not everyone gets a summer vacation.

VBS:

So last week, Kayla and I were in charge of VBS music for the second year in a row, and it was really defined by one specific moment, follow this link (if it doesn't work, go to YouTube and type in "vbs 2009 gonna follow you) and imagine my wife doing the opening motions. My lovely wife is known for a lot of things: kindness, a great smile, teaching little ones really well, and taking care of a thousand things all at once and making it look effortless; but one of the things she hasn't quite mastered is the art of "cool dancing." Not that I did too much better, but every time I saw her doing that first move, I couldn't help but crack up. Fortunately for her I didn't take any video of her dancing, so you're left up to your imaginations.

In the end, we had a lot of fun teaching the kids and got our first glimpse of the difficulties that my grandmother must have dealt with teaching my dad in her classes. Brenna was old enough to be in the youngest class this year, but every time she came to us for music she didn't want to sing or do the motions, no matter how much we encouraged her to. We did manage to keep her with her classmates and not attached to us. She seemed to get the idea by the end of the week when the class performed for the parents, because she did all the motions and sang. We have also been singing all the VBS songs this week. It amazes me that she is able to sing on pitch most of the time, especially if she is singing with someone else. I won't call her a musical prodigy, but it is definitely in her blood.

In all at VBS we were told there were 50 commitments made by the kids of one sort or another. Pretty amazing that something begun back in the 1800's can still impact eternity in this day and age.

Facebook:

Or as I call it "summer crack," because I have spent all summer checking that silly website numerous times a day seeing what all my friends are up to and telling them what's been going on with us. I don't visit the website hardly at all during the school year, but with all the time I have where I don't really have any responsibilities to attend to, I have to fill the time somehow. And just like in life, it seems to be my goal to see how many people I can get to think I'm funny through my status updates. Hopefully I'll be able to dial it down some over the next few days, especially since we'll be leaving soon for...

Georgia:

That's right, the annual summer trek of the Jones family back east will be getting underway in about two weeks. We're driving all the way there which may be a little bit more tricky this year than the last time we did it because we won't be able to drive like we did last time with Brenna being a little older. I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone, but also really relaxing. It seems like for some reason that you don't relax as well at home as you do somewhere else. We're going to see some fireworks, visit with my family (including my grandparents from Virginia who haven't seen Brenna in person since she was a few months old), go to the zoo, probably go to the lake near my parents, and also go to Athens where we'll see our best friends in the world and go to our home church! That's why I'm packing the PS3! But before that, we have been blessed by Kayla's parents with...

Cousins Camp:

Brenna will be spending an all expenses paid trip in Houston visiting with her cousin from San Antonio, courtesy of her grandparents in Houston. That means that Kayla and I will have a whole week to ourselves free of the responsibilities of a 3-year old, so of course Kayla and I are going to fill our time by running errands and working! Maybe we'll find some time to ourselves to be a couple.

Swimming Lessons:

Won't say too much about this, other than to have you check Kayla's blog for all the misadventures Brenna and she have had trying to see if Brenna can learn how to swim.

KCFBC:

Those initials stand for Karnes City First Baptist Church, where Kayla and I are members. We haven't been terribly thrilled with having to attend a small-town church, mostly because the environment hasn't been what we got at our church in Athens. We have survived and thrived, though working in any capacity that we could to try and feel better about it. We have recently gotten a new pastor, however, and it has really changed the way the church feels to us. He is challenging and innovative and really wants to work to make an impact on the community as much as we can. He and his family are also wonderful in that they are right around the same age as our family and for the first time since we've moved here I feel like I might possibly have a friend that I can relate to and that will help me grow spiritually. So things are rocking along well in that area.

Well, if you have made it all the way down to the bottom of this post, you are to be commended, so here you go:

They'll never take our "FREEDOM!!!"

Make sure you read the fine print

(if you can't read it it says "also the bridge is out ahead.")

I've taught this kid before.

I've done this to kids before.

Or, our best lead just went in the crapper...

One of the (Many) Things They Don't Teach

Sorry for not updating in a month, but the end of the year was more hectic than normal, which I'll get to shortly (see next post).  First I wanted to explain the title for this post.

This past Saturday night at around 3:25 in the morning, I received a text message from one of my students that stated the following: "Did you hear about Sergio?"  Sergio is our percussion instructor who also graduated from the school two years ago and was attending college to be a band director or percussion instructor once he got out, but was having a great time working with our students on the upcoming shows for next fall and winter.

Having just completed the school year, my phone was on vibrate and I didn't hear that I had gotten a message until around 6am when Kayla heard or saw my phone doing something and checked it out.  I had a bad feeling about that message, but decided to wait until around 8 to call about it.  I called my student and he told me that the young man had died in a car crash around the time he sent the text message.  Apparently he was leaving a graduation party and was t-boned by a drunk driver.  It did not help that he was also under the influence of alcohol.  

The reason I titled the post like I did was that I have spent my entire time this week trying to find words to help kids when there are not words to be said.  I attended a rosary service yesterday and his funeral today and at both services I had students who would collapse into my arms sobbing because that's all the pain would allow them to do.  I have done a lot of praying over the last few days and just been seeking out how I can help these kids learn to deal with the tragic loss of this individual that they idolized.  I wish having attended his funeral today and with it being summer I would be saved from some of the tough times these kids may be heading for experiencing feelings they don't know what to do with and me not knowing what to do or say to make it better or help them process it, but we have a percussion camp scheduled in two weeks that this young man was going to lead.  That task has now fallen to the band directors of the two schools involved to not only work on music, but also on the very difficult lessons of life and death and how to use it to maybe let them see God's hand at work in it.

I also got a little frightened when I attended the services for this young man because when the family was allowed to speak to the congregation, they spoke of how music was his life and how it really defined who he was, and I was frightened because I know that someday that could be me.  Not to say that having music define my life is a bad thing in itself, but I want it to be said of me when I leave this earth that my music was only a means of drawing people closer to Jesus, that they might be saved because of something I sang or played or in doing so they would be in more of a mindset to make that decision.  Or in my daily working with these students that they would be able to see that my real boss is nowhere physically on campus with me, but He's in my heart and His eternal light is shining through me.  I'm going to make more of an effort to make sure those I come into contact with see those things in me (which is one of the reasons I wrote it down in this blog).

So, if there is anyone out there who has suggestions on how to make the grieving process easier to understand to teens or has literature on it, I would be greatly interested in it.  I just want to be prepared in case one of my kids wants to talk.  And they really should teach a class on this sort of thing.

The Results

Sorry it has taken me so long to update those of you who check this blog on the continuing trials and travails of this little journey I'm on, but it's been a little crazy at work and I haven't had any time until now to sit down and blog about "the rest of the story." So here we go:


The collection appointment I had contained only a few interesting points: The first was I was early for my appointment by an hour, which turned out to be a good thing since my appointment for the deposit was in this building:

That's right, it was a Cox (no pun intended) radio station! It was also up on the 13th floor, which if you know me was a fantastic place to do this so high up in the air and all. I'll spare everyone the details, but I will mention that there was a note on the door of the room I was in that stated that the magazines were for the patrons and were not to be removed from the rooms, this included the cleaning staff. Thought that was humorous myself, but I digress.

So later that week, I had an appointment with the urologist where I got the following results: He told me everything was normal except for two areas: First my motility was pretty low, my sperm don't move too well, and second the shape of the sperm was a little off.

TRANSLATION: My sperm are fat and lazy! They are living in their mom's basement becoming a level 32 warlock on World of Warcraft with a cheeto stuck to their face. My guys are allergic to anything that requires them to move anything more than their "thumbs" Their in clothes that haven't been washed in three days, but that's okay because that's the last time they cleaned themselves too. They're excited at the possibility of getting their own Discovery Health Channel show about how they get from the couch to the potty. I think you get the picture. When I was told this immediately, I had an image similar to this one in my head:

So there you have it, I'm working on getting my guys in shape and then we'll see if we're destined to have kids.

Some other family news that's going on currently or has gone on since the last posting: Kayla's having minor surgery on Friday, pray that she'll be okay (you'd have to ask her about the procedure, she's explained it to me a few times and I'm still not quite sure I get it), nothing to really be worried about, but again something that will hopefully help us get pregnant. Westin was sick last week, better now. And Kayla and I both got new phones: Kayla's LG Shine and

My Samsung Eternity

Last bit of info and then I'll get out of here: Brenna's birthday party will have a barnyard theme. Happy (or Hoppy) Easter everybody! And remember the reason we celebrate is Jesus rising from the dead, not Cadbury Eggs (although we're thankful for those, too).......so that's where my fellas get it from.....

Some Things....

You just have to blog about.  A word of warning: if you have stumbled across this page without knowing me, or you don't feel you need to know all the intimate details that make up my life, please feel free to check out any of my other posts, but this one is going to get quite a bit personal.

You may not know, but Kayla and I have been trying to get Brenna a sibling for about a year now.  The major roadblock has been that the doctor we have here is unwilling to provide us the shot we took last time to get pregnant for several reasons which I don't have the time or desire to get into at the present time.  Suffice to say that I had the most awkward and unusual experience of my short life this past Thursday.  Why has it taken so long to blog about this experience, you say?  I think once I explain this visit in its entirety, you'll see why.  So what I went to see a urologist in San Antonio (because we are in the smack dab middle of the back woods here and don't have anything near that type of doctor here) for a general analysis to see if something with my "boys" might be the cause of why we have been unable to this point to get pregnant.

So once I arrive in at this office and hand in my insurance information to the front person and then ask about going to the restroom because I've been on the road for an hour and a half, and they inform me that they will need a "sample" and might as well get it while I was in there rather than wait for the doctor to see me. That enough should have been enough to send this right up to the top of the awkward doctor visit list, but apparently they were just getting started.  Did you know they actually have instructions in these bathrooms on how to pee into a cup?  Did you know there are diagrams?  At this point the ladies reading this are saying, "well yeah!", but I'm guessing my fellas are as surprised as I was.  

So I get called back and after a few minutes of waiting I meet with the doctor who after some pleasantries tells me to please "drop your trousers and let's have a look."  Now for some of you this might be a part of your normal everyday routine, but for me that was the continuation of the strangeness, but I think the weirdest part was either he was so detached or I was that it really felt like it was myself checking things out in the basement.  How bizarre is that? 

 

Anyway, after the initial exam he informs me that he wants to take some blood samples and orders a testicular ultrasound.  Just in case you were wondering, not nearly as interesting and exciting as an ultrasound when there is a baby involved.  The tech comes into the room to draw my blood and two things had me a little concerned: first-they drew a lot of blood, enough to make me feel a little woozy, and second was the way they wrapped my arm up once the blood was out.  Apparently men are too macho to earn a band-aid, we're cool enough for neon gauze like the kind pictured to the left (mine was neon green), and she wrapped it with so much and so tightly that if I had been asked to play my instrument at that point in time, I wouldn't have been able to!  

So up next was the ultrasound.  I go into this room where yet another guy tells me to drop my pants (an all-time high for men telling me to take my pants off), and he informs me that my ultrasound will be "audited" by a female tech who is learning how to take the ultrasound.  They proceed to begin the procedure like I'm not in the room, but fortunately for you my ears still worked and I found out that they have to use really warm KY jelly so that the "boys" don't shrivel up and they can take good pictures, they also use A LOT of the stuff for some reason that was not explained.  They then take pictures of my guys from all different angles occasionally giving me a heart attack by saying  comforting things like "oh, that's interesting...", and "do you see that right there?", and my personal favorite: "Huh!"  The entire time I have two thoughts going through my head: 1) no wonder we haven't been contacted by other intelligent life, because honestly, what intelligent life would do this to one another, and 2) Please don't let Jesus come back with my fellas hanging out for all the world to see, I just think when I meet my Creator I would like to be wearing pants in some form or fashion.  Anyway, they finish up the exam and tell me everything looks fine, but they would like to see me for a semen analysis in a few weeks followed by a follow up exam the week after.  So, as uncomfortable as this may have been to read, it's kind of like therapy for me and really what is a blog if not therapy for the writer?  Stay tuned for more squirm in your seat action!

Holy Cow!

Don't say I didn't warn you!  It has been an incredibly busy month for me, and sadly for my family who I feel don't even recognize me anymore.  I have finally come to the completion of the largest part of my busyness.  TMEA Convention is over, UIL Concert Contest and Sight-Reading are complete, and next week I will have a few days of well-earned rest.  Unfortunately I do have a winterguard competition this Saturday and church on Sunday which is always busy, so I don't really get a break until then, but that's alright.  So without further ado, let me get you caught up:

The convention was not nearly as big of a deal as last year.  Highlights include a concert b

y the combined trombone studios of Texas Tech and Baylor Universities, a seminar weighing the positives and negatives between a small school and large school atmospheres and teaching in both, a performance showing how there is a rejuvenation of silent films and putting new music to them, a concert by the herald trumpets who play at all the President's major functions, and a seminar on how to use iChat to have a composer come to your rehearsal.  Lowlight was sad to say the Fellowship of Christian Musicians breakfast, a few reasons why: 1) no breakfast, 2) gripe session about modern worship music practices, 3) gripe session about parents, and finally 4) no useful information on how to start a FCM chapter at your own school. I actually ended up walking out of the room, I was so frustrated.  The rest of the convention went well, but there was nothing terribly spectacular about it.  In fact, I left early so I could come home and clean the entire house for my wife for her combined Valentine's and birthday presents.  All in all, a pretty good weekend.  Which led into...

UIL Concert Contest and Sight-Reading competition.  We prepared for this for three weeks after the Convention, including having a clinician come in and work with the kids one day followed by a pre-UIL competition the same week, and culminating in a concert for the public on Sunday and the actual event on Wednesday.  It was a little tricky because we had standardized testing on Tuesday before the event, so I didn't have a chance to have a rehearsal with my kids the day before we actually went.  Fortunately I work with some great teachers who sacrificed having their kids for a majority of the day so we could have an extra rehearsal.  We went and played before some really tough judges earning our group a III-III-III rating in the concert portion and a II-II-III rating in the sight-reading room.  I say the judges were tough because I feel my group deserved a II rating, but they only handed out a Superior (I) rating to one band yesterday among the forty or so bands they heard.  High school went today and earned a II-III-III in concert and an impressive feat in the sight-reading room earning a I-II-III rating.  Which means that one judge thought you did a superior job while another felt it was just an average job.  

With that done, I'm hoping to reconnect with my family over the next weeks and have my headaches that have been a constant companion of mine for the past two to three weeks due to stress I hope.

Well, like I said in the previous post I do have enough to keep me busy through the remainder of the year which is quickly approaching.  And not only at school, but also at church where I'm still leading music every three weeks and doing music for the youth every week.  Kayla is also working on getting talks every week.  Hopefully, we'll get through it alright and have some fun while doing it and somewhere along the way I can reconnect with my wife and daughter and not be so exhausted when I come in the door every night.  Well, that's all for now, almost.  I did forget to mention the horrible feeling of homesickness I had at the beginning of this week when we saw my friends back in Athens enjoy a rare snowstorm of between 4 and 9 inches on Sunday while I had to suffer through 90 degree weather here in the desert!  It was made even more painful as the pictures started to show up on blogs and facebook of some of our favorite people in the world playing with their children.  I guess that's the price we pay for having a job, which I'm very thankful for!  Okay, that's it.  As always I hope my blogging will be a bit more consistent, but you'll just have to stay tuned and find out!

It's the Most Busiest Time of the Year!

So welcome to my craziness!  Over the next month or so (until March 5th when Band contest is) I have one open weekend where I am not doing anything related to the band program.  Not only that, but for my wife's birthday I will be celebrating with a Band Booster meeting; for my birthday I will be celebrating with a Band clinic.  For Valentine's Day weekend, I will celebrate not with my loving bride, but with thousands of fellow Texas music educators at our convention and (lucky me!) with some of my students from school who are considering this same crazy life as a career when they graduate from high school.  This is on the heels of craziness from the past few weeks as I prepared along with my jazz band for our Solo and Ensemble Festival this past weekend.  As of the last rehearsal, I thought I was going into the performance with a solid III rating (average), so I was surprised when the results finally came back and it was seen that I along with my little band received a II (Excellent) rating!  I was bursting with pride for my little band, they really did outdo themselves.  I'm not sure I can take very much of the credit, other than having a little bit more control over what we played this year as opposed to last year.  They did really well!  

So, let's continue on with the craziness that is the end of this school year.  So after the convention and band clinic, I get to load up my 53-person 7/8th grade band and travel up the road to a school near San Antonio to have a pre-UIL concert where we will receive comments before the actual event.  Next up is the Concert Contest for both the 7/8th grade band and the HS band.  Once that has concluded we've got the 7/8th grade band preparing for their regional honor band concert auditions and performance.  Then we've got a spring concert to get ready for followed by the JH solo and ensemble festival and concluding with the band trips, banquet and graduation.  All that seems like it should keep me busy for around a month, but in actuality it's from now to the end of the year.  That's why at one point in this blog I said it's crazy to the end of the year because it will be here before I know it.  Well, now that I've caught you all up, once again it's time to go and I'll let everyone know how the great Texas Music Educator's Association Convention goes!

Happy New Year!

Been a while, huh?  Sorry about the lack of updating, but it's been a combination of not too much going on and when things did happen, not having time to write them down.  With that lame excuse out of the way, let me be one of the last to say HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!  Hope yours is off to a good start.

As for why I'm writing my blog at 10:30 on a Thursday, I'm at home with a mildly sick little girl.  I was going to title this post differently due to that fact, but my lovely wife beat me to the punch with her blog.  It has been a good few weeks with regards to life in general.  I was able to finally get some new shoes last weekend since mine had been slowly falling to pieces.  I also enjoyed some time off with my family because of the Karnes City Stock Show, not MLK day like the rest of the country.

Oh, don't tell me you're not familiar with the famous KC Stock Show?  It's not what my friend Billy thought that all the kids gather around and play the stock market game, it's actually showing cows, pigs, chickens, horses, goats, etc. for ratings and ribbons.  AND, because it involves so many of the kids in the schools, and some of the teachers, and it happens to fall the weekend before MLK day, we take off the Friday before and not on the Monday designated to honor a man who changed the course of American history.  No, we here in Karnes City feel that livestock are more of a relevant and important thing.  I'm really just teasing, but that's how it feels a little bit.  It might feel that way because I grew up 60 miles from where the man worked combined with Texas still not feeling like home, but I guess that's the way it goes.

One of the more blogworthy events that I haven't had time for is my family coming to visit us.  The final night of our Christmas visit in Houston we had no more room in our inn: My mom and dad, my oldest brother BJ, me, Kayla, Brenna, Annie, Westin, Kayla's mom and dad, and grandmother Nena, Kayla's brother Aaron, his wife Liz, their son Tanner and daughter Avery, and their cat Joey!  We were full to the hilt.  The next day my family came to KC with us to begin their Christmas/New Years visit.  What's the best way to kick off not seeing family for 6 months?  Why to break your host's television of course!  I'm just teasing my brother, but our television did break and we had to spend the first few days tracking down a new TV for us.  Thank goodness for Craig's List!  I was a little anxious about it as well, because some of you will recall the largest gift I received for Christmas involved the use of a television.  So not only had I just waited about a week to use my Playstation, then I had to wait another three days until I could play it because of not having a television!  It ended up okay, though.  While my family was here we got to spend the better part of an entire day in San Antonio.  We got to go to the Riverwalk and the Alamo and had a really good Mexican lunch followed by a really fun river boat ride.  They also had a chance to go to Goliad to see some more Texas history that has Georgia ties.  If you want to learn more, ask my dad.  We had a good remainder of their trip, even though it was too short.  It always makes me sad when they have to leave or I have to leave, but I really enjoy the time we're together.

Well, now you're caught up and here's what's coming up: the fabulous TMEA convention, Kayla's birthday, my birthday, and as always it's Concert Contest Season so you know I'm busy! I promise I'll do a better job of keeping this thing updated!  Thanks for stopping by!