I-Man played a bit yesterday on his Euphonium (not Baritone) yesterday and I am somewhat pleased at how easily he is producing a sound, and has now latched on to the tuning note... I know.. a long way from Drum Corps but, it doesn't look like he will struggle with producing a tone or controlling the instrument. Ryles is having a bit more of a struggle, although it is clarinet and it is a harder instrument to produce a tone initially on... we have have to be careful not to let her get discouraged.

This morning I went with I-Man and Ryles to school for their Men who Matter Most breakfast. So Fathers, Grandfathers.. guys who are important to the kids... we were all sitting in the cafeteria @ 7:30am eating sausage biscuits and coffee. kinda amusing seeing the kids introduce gentlemen to their classroom bussies, showing us their cubbyholes where they put their stuff during class, etc. "This is my desk, daddy!" and "this is where I get on the computer" was amusing... But I do realize it was very important for them. And it gives you perspective of what is important when you see all these guys doing this for someone else....

another day, another class... last night the Tau class started theur journey officially. It really looks like a strong group of kids.... diverse cross section of the band program, which will serve the Fraternity well.

Currently, the chapter has a lot on its agenda. the usual service stuff is there but they seem to have gone on a philanthropic tangent recently, which i hope doesnt lead to burnout within the leadership of the chapter by April. It seems that I always have to fight that burnout toward the end of the Spring Semester, when the class load, warm weather and expectations of the Fraternity all come to a clash. But the current leadership is strong so I feel confident it will manage itself nicely... I had thought I would not go to SED convention this year, but I have changed my mind as it will be a great time to work with the future leadership and start setting up for the Fall....

so we got back from the SnoCation and I promptly got some sorta sickness... just getting over it.

Yesterday, however the kids officially started lessons on Baritone/Euphonium for I-Man and Clarinet for Ryles. I dont know if they will eventually follow in band as far as we did, but we shall see...

So... I am currently sitting in a cabin in Gatlingburg, as the Family Vacation is winding down... tomorrow, I will head home, eventually. It has been a fun adventure with Nanna, Papa, Uncle Wes, Aunt Ashley, Cousin Madison and Aunt Ellen... It started with a cabin switch due to roads being supposedly impassable to our original cabin, but they upgraded us for no additional charge to more bedrooms, etc. and it actually ended up working out well, upon reflection. We then hit the sloped at Ober Gatlinburg, along with seemingly half the East Coast ( at least Tennessee and half of Clemson) as well... lines were extremely long but eventually we were able to get on the snow. In the meantime, I-Man and Ryles went ice skating for a bit and learned about the phrase "hurry up and wait", which didnt seem to sit well with them... Ryles did a short period of skiing before heading back home with Nanna and Papa ( did I mention the tram ride 2 miles up the mountain?) but I-Man pretty much put on the ski's and fell a couple of times before flying down the intermediate slopes. I had to stay with him constantly else he would have tried to go up to the advanced slopes and try to replay Winter Olympics Super G or something... That was yesterday... we eventually ended up doing night skiing... today we went back with Uncle Wes and attempted snowboarding with I-Man. It was a little bit more challenging to him than I think he thought it would be... eventually, we went back to ski's and he started barreling down the intermediate slopes at breakneck speed again... upon return to the cabin, we went out and did a little shopping and got Ryles some new boots and sneakers at the outlets. Tomorrow, we leave the cabin and will probably hit more shoppin before coming home for the real world again...

I think the gathering went well, and I learned some things to note for the "next time". it is always good to spend time together without theimmediate responsibilities that always seem to pull us away from each other... I ponder this type of stuff... we are not guaranteed tomorrow...

SNOWSTORM 2011... SNOWMAGEDDON!!!!

well, It dumped some serious snow here today... looks like about 8 or 9 inches for us here at our house. I havent seen that much here since the 80's... I must agree with my friend Kim that my thoughts on snow are pretty much that its cool to go see it and maybe ski in it or watch the winter Olympics, but it aint cool when it falls in your town. Yeah, its pretty and all for about 20 minutes, then try to go somewhere and the roads are all jacked up, everything is closed, and you STILL have to go to work. Maybe back in the day when you got out of school, it was another level of cool on top of the pretty.. but now I have to worry about if the kids will have school or not, and how that affects daycare for us... or if they will get out early, and who will watch them for us if Jessica has to work as well... oh, and then they ever so slight worry of a power outage, and all that goes with it. So.. I dont give a crap if it NEVER snows here again. it can snow up the road all it wants, but the fact that the roads with be treacherous for the next 2 days annoys me. But the kids enjoyed it immensely, playing with the neighbors kids and sliding down the hill toward the creek and all that kids usually do in SNOWSTORMS of the CENTURY....

I think one thing that I found interesting was that after we were able to get my car down, then back up the hill away from my house and parked a quarter mile away so I can go to work tomorrow after all this crap freezes, I walked back in the snow drifts back home and actually had 4 people stop and ask me if I needed a ride. I thought that sorta nice stuff from strangers had completely died away for many reasons... while I turned every offer down ( i was not going to ask any of them to actually drive down the hill then back up it to get to my house), i was pleased that people actually still did that sorta thing.

so... anyways... moving along...

So thanks to Harwood for letting me use his lift again to facilitate an oil change on my Jetta yesterday. Also got my coolant level back up, and saw that my right rear tire was about to shred apart. This led to a last minute trip to walmart to get two new rear tires... happened to run into the frat president and a couple of other brothers. always interesting to hear of their exploits... eventually retrieved my car after observing the full scale panic that is on due to the Snow Storm of the Century that is about to happen here. wait.. didn't that happen a couple weeks ago?

We then had Cubed steak, rice and gravy and biscuits for dinner.... about as complete a dinner as you can get. we then went out with Ryles telescope and looked at stars... actually saw jupiter with uranus in front of it as it was VERY bright in the western sky right now. the telescope Santa brought her for Christmas is more powerful than i imagined it would be... i am looking forward to taking it with us on our upcoming trip...

Today has seen us take down the Christmas tree, and all other decorations. Always kinda sad when that happens as it means a special time is pretty much past and back to the day to day drudgery is upon us... I am now grilling hamburgers for lunch and am pondering if this snow will really be as bad as they say. I am pretty much OVER this snow stuff... it was nice when I was twelve... now all it means is inconvenience, and potential power outages ( and inherent cold )... my workplace doesnt stop for snow. they WILL be open, no matter what and if you dont show up, you get to use up a vacation or personal day, or simply not get paid for the day... oh well..

for some odd reason or another, my son wants me to put back together his bunk bed.. not sure what the allure of a bunk bed is. SO I will have to get that out of the shed this weekend. But the reason I remember this is that every night I go into his room, I find all these books he is reading on the bed.. "Star Wars The New Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels" is always there these days, but the one that has ALWAYS been there is "My First Bedtime Bible", which I am positive he looks at EVERY night. I am intrigued by this because we are not in any way an overtly religious family and rarely, if ever, see the inside of a church. But I sense that I-Man, way moreso than Ryles, has a spiritual side to him.... which is hard to see when he is calling one of his classmate an "eFF'er" on the playground...

Also gotta try to winterize my car, change the oil, etc. in prep for a Ski Trip next weekend with the family...

2011... lets try again...

Resolutions for 2011...

1) take comprehensive pix of all immediate family members... that would be my wife, I-Man, Ryles, Aunt Ellen, Uncle Wes, Aunt Ashley, Cousin Madison, Uncle Jerry, Grandma, Nana, and Papa. I want to have a solid record of pictures that stand up to scrutiny 10,20 years from now... so that means that if you have some issue with me taking pictures, get over it... in the future, others will be happy that we have a record.

Measurement: A portfolio of photos for everyone for The Holidays

2) Lucha Libre... by November 1st

Measurement: Halloween

3) solidify our family financial plan for the next 10 years... when/where/what are we spending money on, and how....

Measurement: December 31st, take stock of progress

2011?

Resolutions for 2011...

1) Terminate my Dr. Pibb obsession

2) Nacho Libre ... or Ignacio

3) Take the plastic off my Droid ( seriously, I still have the plastic on it after over a year)

ok... so the new year is started. what to do... any resolutions? well, not really, but kinda. any big plans? not really, but kinda.

no huge summer plans for the kids this year, at least right now. I think I am going to try to have the twins spend at least a half week with the grandparents during the summer... and will look to plan a big birthday surprise for them in December...

maybe look to spend less this year and utilize the resources we have accumulated (games, books, skateboards, telescopes, etc.) for fun ideas and activities...