A Strange, Sad Day

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge baseball and college football fan. Well, I have spent the better part of two nights now awake past my bedtime because I'm trying to get more information on a certain baseball event: the sudden passing of Skip Caray, longtime announcer and television personality for the Atlanta Braves baseball team. Now, I may not have been the biggest Skip Caray fan, in fact, I thought several times when I heard him do call-in shows that he was downright rude to the callers. However, he was one of the reasons I fell in love with baseball at a young age. He made it possible for a 7 or 8 year old to sit through a 3-hour game with little complaint because he helped you understand the game as well as made it interesting to listen to. And to those of you who heard or saw those games in the mid-80's, they were everything but entertaining and interesting! It's odd to be affected so much by a man I never even met, but I felt like I knew him through spending so many summer nights listening to him do the games. One thing he was the absolute best at was calling the game the way a fan of the team would, calling the Braves "we" and "us", and if they were doing great, giving memorable calls and praise, and if they were terrible, either making light of the situation (i.e. calling the forthcoming double play because that's how bad we were), or getting downright mad when we weren't playing up to expectations. His voice and personality will surely be missed. Thanks for the great calls, Skip!.....

Larry Munson's immortal, right?

Happy Anniversary!

To my lovely wife:

You are by far the most beautiful of God's creations. How you came to choose me over all others is something that will boggle my mind until my dying day. You are the most intriguing person I have ever met, who continues to challenge me, to make me a better person than I would be without you in my life. Your support of me through the years through good times and bad has been invaluable to my well-being. You have one of the sharpest minds and greatest senses of humor of anyone I know. I love how we can speak entire conversations without saying a word, or how we can sit in comfortable silence. Thank you for your trust in me to lead our family and to listen to God's voice. Thank you for your trust in me. I praise God each and every day that I get to wake up next to you. There is no doubt in my mind that you have been placed in my life to be a daily reminder of how good God is to me. You understand me better than anyone else I know and you accept me fully knowing more of my faults than anyone else. Thank you so much for dedicating yourself to God, to me, and to our daughter. I love you more than I will ever be able to convey in words, actions, or song. I'm so glad we were married and I look forward to each new adventure we take on together in this life and the next! I love you!

The Following Takes Place Between 9:30 AM and 10:30 AM

Previously on "24":

Pat: "I need you to see how secure my plant is, you're the only one I trust to do this, if you are caught you are on your own, your country cannot help you."

Jack (me): I accept this prestigious mission, sir.

So my friend Pat asked me last week if I wanted to help him test his factory's security procedures. He promised to pay me (for a teacher this is a helpful piece of info.) so I told him sure. What he wanted me to do was try to break into his plant any way that I could. I met with him yesterday for lunch where I received information on what they considered to be weak points of entry and also where I was to drop my package if I succeeded. What we didn't go over very well was an exit strategy. This is something I realize as I'm frantically trying to leave this place without getting into some trouble that I couldn't talk my way out of, or if I came across someone who was a shoot first, ask later kind of person. For my mother and grandparents who read this, I did have all kinds of documentation should I not be able to talk my way out that would ensure that I would be able to leave the plant without being "taken down" or arrested.

So anyway, I go in and try to hit one of their weaker points that we had discussed earlier, after around 20 minutes, I decided to give that up, so I proceed to the front desk and use the old, "I have to go to the bathroom" trick which works every time. If you are a teacher, or a student, you are very familiar with this technique, I'm sure. It goes something like this: "I have to go to the bathroom" Translation: I am fed up with being right here and want the opportunity to wander around at my leisure and see what sort of havoc I can raise without being under the watchful eyes of anyone in authority. So, I go to the bathroom, and am a little concerned because the receptionist's desk looks directly down the hallway and she can see when I leave. Fortunately, she was not at her desk when I stepped out, so I was able to continue on my way.

I make the drop, and head out to leave. If you remember, towards the beginning of this story, this is the weak part in my plans. I head out towards a gate I know is coming up in hopes of finding it magically open and I can just walk out and be on my way. I know I don't want to go back to the front because I'm pretty sure the receptionist would rip my head off before waiting to hear my explanations. So as I'm walking, I hear someone behind me who is obviously trying to get my attention, so I employ yet another technique I have learned from my students, the "unless you call me by my full name, I will pretend I do not hear you desperately trying to track me down" technique.

I make my way to the gate which is not magically open, so I head for an open door and tell the person there that I am trying to find my way back out to the front and that I got separated from my party, he kindly points me on my way, and viola (not the instrument, but the French saying), I'm back cozy at my house having completed my mission.

I must say, I did receive a call a few minutes ago from my friend Pat who let me know just how close of a call I had because they were already looking for me before I left the property. I must say though, that I am very grateful to Mr. David Baldacci, Mr. Jack Bauer, and my students (past and present) for allowing me to take on and succeed in a mission of this nature.

So TBA (Texas Bandmasters Association) convention went really well at the beginning of this week, the only downsides were the name, which I covered in the last post, and the fact that Brenna and Kayla were unable to accompany me due to potty training. It would have been fun, they had free babysitting, a game room, a barbecue night, a luncheon for spouses, clinics on finances for the spouses, and several other enjoyable things for the whole family. It was kind of a way for all the band directors and their families to come together, have some fun, and learn some new information before we began this crazy thing called the school year.

The one interesting, out of the ordinary, event that took place was when I went to get the signature of someone who worked at TBA so I could get credit for doing my professional development hours. I go down to the booth they tell you to go to and no one is there, everyone has already left for the day, or so I thought. I see this one elderly couple coming out of one of the offices off to the side of the area, and go to ask them if they know of anyone who could sign my sheet. It turns out that this couple is the one that the entire convention is honoring for their service to TBA by having a reception as well as having a piece commissioned in their honor and performed as a world premiere at the convention. I was able to talk with them some in what I hope is a memorable way in case I need to have him as a reference at some point. All in all a good trip. Now it's on to band camp in earnest next week with outside marching and everything, so I'll be sure to keep everyone posted as much as I can.

And to those of you who would worry that I might give up the life of an assistant band director for the glamorous life of a secret agent spy, don't worry, I just finished shaking!

The Saddest Thing in the World...

Well, probably not, but it's really sad if you're a teacher. And even worse if you are a band director. You've probably guessed it, the end of the summer. How have I managed to live the last remaining days to their fullest knowing that I hit the ground running next week with Texas Bandmasters Association (TBA) Convention, followed by a month of band camp, you ask? Why, by playing video games until all hours of the morning, checking Facebook (which my wife has newly discovered), and blogging at one o'clock in the morning when any sane person would and should be in bed, especially when they've got a wife as hot as mine to snuggle up beside! Ah well, at least I'll be a little productive tomorrow when we go to the grocery store and I mow the lawn. I've also been able to spend quite a bit of time with Brenna, who has been in a Daddy kind of mood this week. Kayla seems to think it's because she can sense marching season coming and knows that I won't be around all that much until November or so. But hey, at least I am gainfully employed! That couldn't be said at this time last year for those that remember. Alright, let's backtrack just a little bit now...

Yes, Texas does have such a thing called the Texas Bandmasters Association. I don't know, to me, if you're going to have a title like that, you should at least pass out super-powers to go with it. I mean, seriously, what band director wouldn't love to be called a bandmaster and have superpowers which entailed having any ensemble you listen to play in tune (particularly beginning band, yikes!). Okay, maybe that's just me, but it's like we as a group don't realize how dork-ish we already are, we've got to make it worse by calling ourselves Bandmasters? I digress...

I'm really excited to work on lesson plans for my general music course this next semester which will focus on movie music. I'm still trying to figure out what shape I want the course to take, but the beautiful thing is I've got an administration that is allowing me the opportunity to do it. I really do enjoy my job when I don't have to deal with certain people. I'm also hoping that because I'm not still a rookie teacher here in TX, and I do have my certificate that I can show to anyone because I finally finished paying off the loan to get it (not really, but it did cost something in the ballpark of $500 to certify myself here, because apparently my GA certification isn't good enough for the big, bad state of TX.), that I will be able to gain some ground in the respect department, now that I don't have to learn so many ropes this year.

This last topic will pertain to the next job I have. While I may have to live in the town I teach in when I change jobs, even though I prefer to live at least one town over, I refuse to live on another main street of the town I work in! This past week, I had some very sweet students of mine (I do type that with sincerity and not sarcasm), stop by to see where I had been over the past two weeks and to make sure everything was okay, which I appreciate. What I don't appreciate was the fact that they stopped by 15 mintues after Brenna's bedtime, so imagine if you will having our sweet-dispositioned doggy yapping at the front door, while my wife is diving under covers because she has already gotten herself into her pjs, I never left my pjs, because let's face it, it's summer, trying to answer the door without waking my sleeping beauty and act polite, but not too polite to the three teenagers who I found on my doorstep. TIMEOUT: I'm very glad that the people who read this blog pay no attention to grammar, as I'm sure that's one of the longest run-on sentences I think I've ever composed. TIME-IN: (Nice Saved By the Bell Reference!) If I don't say it, no one will, since you people are apparently allergic to leaving comments! Follow up this little situation THE NEXT DAY with some of the same students who came during nap time to borrow the phone to call a friend about a dog that may or may not have died! Just a few of the reasons I will not be living on main street in the town I teach in at my next job. Tune in next week for a full report on the Monumentally Epic Gathering of the BANDMASTERS!

I Feel the Need...The Need for.....Blogging?

So our trip is quickly coming to an end, and I'm starting to feel a little torn.  Torn because I'm feeling the need to get back and get to work on what I want to accomplish in this upcoming school-year, but I also enjoy getting to spend so much time with my family.  Brenna is certainly starting to feel the need to return as well, she's been asking for Annie and Westin and to go to Brenna's house all day today.

I was able to go see Hancock today.  A good film, but it could have taken just a few more minutes to delve into some details that they chose not to go into.  I'll spare those details until a later date to give everyone an opportunity to see it.  Will Smith is a good enough reason to go see this movie.  Having said that, I would give it a 3.5-out of 5, good enough for a matinee, not good enough for the prime-time price.

I get to play trombone for my parents church tomorrow, and I feel that I really should have taken a few weeks out of my summer to practice some.  Now don't get me wrong, I don't sound like some of my students or anything, but I don't sound as good as I know I can.  I'm very fortunate that my parents are friends with the band director here and he was gracious enough to loan me his personal horn to play.  I'm looking forward to playing with my mom as she accompanies me.  It's very nice to have someone who I don't have to practice hours with because we've played long enough together that a few short practices are all we really need to work off the rust.

I think that's about it.  I'm still thinking about some of the ideas my friend Billy brought up to me for Compass' new series, and mulling over what I want to say, so stay tuned.

The Time Has Come (and Past), and Come Again

I feel I need to apologize for the lack of posts to this blog in the past few months. The end of the school year was quite hectic, and right as summertime finally arrived, our faithful computer of five years finally bit the dust. We then went through a few more months of getting the computer repaired and back in our hands, so here at the end of the summer break (yes I have to go back on the 28th of this month, even though the kids don't return until the 25th of August; more on that in a moment) I felt the need to update our life.
So the end of the school year went well, and felt even better knowing that I would be employed at the same location when the next school year came around. In Karnes City we had a very warm spring-time, except for the one day in late April when the temperature dipped down into the 50s and the wind was blowing at around 25 mph. Needless to say this was the day we chose to have our concert, which wouldn't have been such as issue if we had not had it in the park! We also had the bright idea of making it the longest concert of the year with each group (HS concert band, JH concert band, 6th grade beginner band, 5th grade recorder ensemble, and the jazz band) all of which played around six pieces each. It was one of the most uncomfortable days I have spent in a performance situation. Hopefully next year will be neither too hot or too cold.
After the concert, the end of the year went well without too much drama. So we got to June and promptly sent our little one off to Houston to stay with her grandparents so Kayla and I could finally celebrate our 5 year anniversary almost when we're ready to celebrate our 6th year of marriage. We went to South Padre Island and had a wonderful time. We took a sand castle lesson and basically got an opportunity to reconnect with one another in a way that we haven't been able to in quite some time. Pictures of our excursion can be seen on Kayla's blog (http://www.meeplusthree.blogspot.com). One of the more memorable experiences we had was on our way home getting stopped in a border patrol checkpoint. The one question the officer asked us was "Are you citizens of the country?" of which we replied in the affirmative, and as we were driving away we found it odd that he didn't ask us which country we were citizens of. "Yes sir, we are citizens of the country, of course that country is Denmark, but whatever..."
We were also able to fill time in June through helping out in our local church by putting our musical expertise to the test in leading the music for Vuh-Vuh-VBS (for those that did the SBC version of Vacation Bible School, that's a little inside joke that I hope is humorous and brings back fond memories. I know it will for Kayla if no one else). We had a wonderful if exhausting week and it's always fun to interact with kids as they get to know Jesus through music. There's just something within most of us that draws us closer to God when we sing to Him than in most other forms of communication. I may be biased. The sad thing for me was that during the time leading up to VBS, we would have people come up to us either before or after church gatherings and tell me how glad they were that I was going to be leading the music for Vacation Bible School, when in all actuality it was my lovely wife who had volunteered and done all the leg work and taught a vast majority of the classes, but because of my position, people expected that it was me that was in charge. Fortunately after the week was completed my wife received some much needed "mad props" for all her hard work. UN-fortunately, our little one's schedule was thrown to heck through having both parents working in VBS and staying in the nursery each night. The first night was the worst. You can read more about that adventure again on my wife's blog mentioned above. Needless to say she did not get back on a normal sleep schedule until about the end of the first week of July, just in time for....

Over the River and Through the Woods...

So my child had just gotten back to a normal sleeping and daily schedule and we take her on the trip from Karnes City to Houston to Nashville to Epworth to Comer to Epworth again to Nashville again to Houston again to San Antonio to Karnes City in a whirlwind two weeks! We left our house in Karnes City on July 6th and will return on the 22nd in the early evening. And yes, we have spent time in each of the cities listed above. We drove from KC to Houston on the 6th and stayed with Kayla's parents until Tuesday morning, the whole while having our daughter running a 103 degree temperature daily, but we thought it started to go down when we left for the airport where we flew into Nashville because the tickets were $2oo cheaper than flying into the ATL. My parents picked us up and we drove to their house in Epworth. We spent time with them from the 8th until the 11th filling up our day with adventures to the local library, park, and neighbors house where we picked blueberries and apples right off the bush and tree. Now if that doesn't sound like a lazy country summer afternoon, I don't know what does. We left from my parents house on Saturday morning on what could possibly be our most fun and our saddest portion of our trip. We drove down to Athens to spend time with our wonderful friends the Neals and their new arrival, go to our home church (www.compasschurch.com), and spend time with our old small group. Along the way we saw my oldest friend from school, Kayla's horse guru, my grandparents, cousins and aunt and uncle, a few horses, and several of our favorite haunts in Athens.
I was also able to participate in one of the events I miss the most being so far away from Athens, the Compass Creative team meeting. This simple act of allowing myself to be creative in a church environment is one thing that I have sorely missed in our new surroundings. There are no real creative opportunities in the church setting we're in right now, other than possibly having a say in which hymn we sing and which verses we do. It was nice trying to figure out how to utilize video, painting, music, dance, and other creative expressions alongside title-ing upcoming series' for optimum impact as well as remaining biblically based.
Back to the trip. We spent what seemed like much too little time with Billy and Stephanie Neal and their new one Elijah with Kayla helping out Stephanie through reassurance and providing companionship as she is becoming a wonderful new mother, and I assisted Billy in becoming a new dad by sitting my child in front of a television while he and I played our way to saving the galaxy. Don't worry Kayla, it was only for one Curious George episode! We left today with much sadness. It is always very difficult to leave such good friends, especially when we don't have any as special to us where we are now. We can, however rest secure in knowing we are where God wants us to be. We have a few more days here with my parents followed by another trip to the Nashville airport back to Houston, then we go to San Antonio for lunch with Kayla's parents and aunt and uncle, then back to KC, where I will try to enjoy the last week of my summer vacation.
Starting on the 27th and 28th I get to attend the TBA (Texas Bandmaster's Association) convention in San Antonio, followed by a full month of band camp. To me, this seems excessive, but maybe that's how they do it in Texas. I certainly hope not; I don't think I can live with my summer so short. Anyways, now you're caught up and hopefully I will be more diligent in my blogging duties. I've said this before, and will say it again for those who have made it all the way to the end of these long blogs, please leave comments even if they are "I've read your blog." Just so I can know someone, anyone is reading this. To all those we were able to visit with during our travels, we were so happy we got to see you all and we dearly miss you (more than we will ever be able to put into words), and thank you all for your hospitality. I can't speak for the rest of my family, but you guys are what will always make Georgia home. Talk to you guys soon!