Shenanigans Welcome

Michael Vick signs with the Philadelphia Eagles

2009-08-13T19:13:00.001-07:00

Like most Eagles fans, I'm trying to sort this out in my head, so I thought I would put some thoughts down on paper. I welcome your feedback and opinions on this.

OK, so while I don't condone anything that Michael Vick did, he was prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for the crimes he committed. Vick served his time without incident and has done everything asked of him along the way.

I think we need to look at this as a football signing. From that standpoint, this could be great for the Eagles. Vick was a superstar talent when he last played in the NFL. It seems that Vick paid his dues, is remorseful for his actions, and is ready to return as a public figure.

The endorsement of Tony Dungy was a huge reason for me thinking this way. Dungy's reputation in the league is that of a man of God who treats every living creature as his equal. Not to mention he's an excellent football coach! I don't think that Dungy would put his reputation on the line for Michael Vick if he wasn't completely sure that Vick was reformed in some capacity.

Just a few thoughts of mine, and granted it's very early since this news broke. I'm anxious to hear your thoughts. For myself, 2 more things this weekend will continue to help form my opinion. 1) The Eagles press conference on Friday morning at 11. I hope they will talk about how they plan to use Vick on the field, and what support they will have for him off of it. 2) The 60 minutes interview on Sunday night with Vick and James Brown (The football analyst, not the Godfather of Soul).

I just want to reiterate that what Vick did to those dogs was a repulsive act and he deserved every bit of the punishment he received. But, the American legal system is there for a reason and with him serving the time he was given, does he deserve a 2nd chance? I'll leave that up to you.

A-Fraud

2009-02-18T10:57:00.000-08:00

After watching Alex Rodriguez's press conference yesterday, I stopped feeling so bad for him and started getting mad.

10 days ago Rodriguez was mentioned in a Sports Illustrated story on steroids and was accused of using during the 2001-2003 seasons. The following Monday, he held an "interview" with Peter Gammons of ESPN and admitted to using some sort of Performance Enhancing Drug (PED). Gammons failed to push anything but basically let Rodriguez talk about his reasons for taking this PED the amount of pressure that he felt when signing the largest contract (at the time) that any MLB player had ever signed. He proceeded to talk about the reporter from SI, Selina Roberts, and how she "stalked" him and his family and that the Miami police had arrested her and forced her off of his property on multiple occasions. Rodriguez did what he wanted to do. He started pulling on the heartstrings of and Americans who had their hearts broken time and time again by their baseball heroes. He made Americans, myself included, start to wonder f the steroid era was ever going to end.

It will not end until MLB implements drug testing to the highest level - blood. Without testing blood, players can still use such drugs as HGH to enhance their level of play. How much do these drugs help? I don't think we'll ever have an answer to that.

Alex Rodriguez was supposed to be the savior of baseball. After Barry Bonds "broke" the career Homerun record, those who thought he cheated said "Don't worry! A-Rod is coming! He's going to break that record and leave no doubt as to who the true HR champ is!"

Now how are we supposed to feel?

After his initial chat with Gammons, more and more facts started coming out about Rodriguez's lies. Selena Roberts was never arrested on his property. He used a substance from 2001-2003 that he KNEW was illegal.

A-Rod died yesterday with his phony accusations and apologies. His "cousin" supposedly provided him with a PED called "Bole" which is sold over the counter in the Dominican Republic, but illegal in the United States......

Let me repeat that.

but illegal in the United States......

Wouldn't that tip you off?

A-Rod is no more. A-Rod was the savior of baseball. He was going to pull us out of the dark days of the steroid era and into a new time of clean baseball. All that remains is a mere shell of the "greatest player who ever played the game."

A-Fraud - Alex Rodriguez - 3rd basemen for the New York Yankees

MIKE ARENA thinks facebook is taking over the universe.

2009-02-15T05:36:00.001-08:00

Facebook is a juggernaut. Every time I jump on this behemoth they try and pass off as a "laptop," Facebook is usually my primary destination. It is a central point for me to catch up with old friends from high school and college AND see who has recently been recruited as a pirate or a vampire. It is an easy way to make people aware of fundraisers the band is doing or make them aware of my 25 greatest random moments (even if I haven't filled out that survey yet).

Facebook is slowly making any and all social interaction mute. There is no need for formal emails or phone calls, just post on my wall! Thinking about going to the bar and hanging out? Don't bother, you can buy me a drink on here! When my birthday rolls around it can really help you out. You don't have to go buy a card - just post a friendly "happy bday" on my wall. Now you don't have to interact with the person at the card shop or grocery store. PLUS you can buy me a present through Facebook. This saves you from any interaction with the clerk at whatever store you were going to buy me something from!

This is just one frightening example as to how Facebook is taking over the universe. I'm on board and if you're reading this, you probably are too. The succubus that is Facebook continues to grow with every friend request. But don't worry people. In a world of text messaging and email there always has to be another level. What could possibly be the next tier of descent for our society? Only time will tell.... unless someone has already posted that update! I better go check...

Update to end all updates!

2009-02-13T04:42:00.000-08:00

Wow - this got away from me a bit! I haven't had a good update since February....2008! A lot has happened over the last year and some has been pretty significant.

In April of last year we were living in Malvern with Chia and Meaghan. On April fools day - of all days - we hear yelling outside the apt, but figure it was just the usual loud kids that come through there. Then a girl comes up on our porch yelling that there's a fire in our building and to get out. Heather gets up and looks out and sees flames coming from the 3rd story window and freaks out. She runs off to find the cat who can be any number of places and bangs on Meaghan's door to get her out. I poke my head out the window, kind of confused and not really convinced of what is going on (keep in mind it was April Fools Day and things were happening much faster than I am describing them). Then I saw the window above my head blow out and the flames shooting out. That was convincing. Heather got the cat out and we put her in one of the cars then tried to get the rest of the people out of our building. There was no master alarm for the whole building so most people had no clue what was going on. Over the next couple of hours we watched as our apartment building burn. The fire fighters did a great job as soon as they got there and contained the fire to our half of the building. The 3rd floor was lost, but the 2nd had mostly water and smoke damage and our floor was only water damage. LOTS of water, but we still got really lucky. After the fire, we moved into my parent's for a couple of weeks and then moved into our new apartment in Exton where we currently reside.

In May we got married! May 24th was a pretty sweet day! Not a whole lot to describe, but the ceremony and reception were at Downingtown Country Club in Downingtown, PA. We had an outdoor ceremony, which was amazing and presided(?) over by Heather's family's pastor Rev. Iski. It was really cool to have someone who knew us and our family so well perform the ceremony and make it so personal. It was a great day with family and friends followed by a crazy night of drinking and dancing and Heather's grandfather drinking a bottle of Jack. Somehow his being ill later on was blamed on the spinach salad... suspect at best... After the wedding it was off to Ft Meyers, Florida for the week. That was awesome! A week of hanging on the beach sipping cold drinks and enjoying doing absolutely nothing.

On the marching band front - Ruch retired at the end of the school year and was succeeded by Lorraine Huddy, an East alumni and former classmate! This season was very different for all of us not having him around to guide us through, but it was a good experience. The kids responded really well to Huddy and her ideas and approach. We quickly put together a show that we felt would be competitive and headed into the season. I got the opportunity to write the show for us this year which was a lot of fun. Despite it being my first competitive show, I think it ended up going well. We finished in 6th place at finals out of the 18ish bands in our division. It was just nice not to finish last and top 6 is always respectable. Now we're just getting going on indoor percussion/guard season and have our first show tomorrow at Archbishop Wood. Robart decided that it was time for him to focus on other things and we brought in Pierson from Kingsway to help us out with the indoor season. So far so good and its been great to work with him finally!

Work is going well. I am still with Music and Arts and still in NJ. Still hating the commute every day, but what can you do? It's a job and in this economy its hard to complain about that.

Back on the political front - Barack Obama became President of the United States! If you've read this before, you know that I was a supporter of Obama and am excited/optimistic about his plans for the country. You never know how it will shake out (and if you ask my Dad we're heading into the fires of Hell) but good luck to all of us over the next couple of years. We're not out of the woods yet.

OH! And the Phillies won the WORLD SERIES!!! It was one of the most memorable events of the year (after the wedding of course Heather) and has only gotten more exciting as time has gone on. A group of us went into Philly for the parade and ceremony on the Friday after they won and had a great time with a million or two of our closest friends.

I think that's about it for this year. If I forgot something , you'll have to let me know. Hopefully I'll blog more often. I really do enjoy it. We'll see.

The Phillies are STILL world champions!

Bluecoats

2008-08-12T06:37:00.000-07:00

I just had to throw this out there - yes that is "Rocky"

Amazing PTI Moment

2008-04-01T17:40:00.000-07:00

When Will Chris Berman Learn?

2008-02-12T17:45:00.000-08:00

Chris Berman strikes again

STOP TALKING WHEN YOU ARE IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA!!!!!

Super Tuesday

2008-02-07T16:48:00.000-08:00

Well, Super Tuesday has come and gone. Obama had a great showing! He won the most states and the most delegates on the day, but is still behind a bit in the overall delegates total. I am optimistic that the 4 states coming up in a couple days will help pull him closer.

John McCain has all but solidified his nomination on the Republican side. He destroyed everybody on Tuesday. Not much more to say about that.

Heather and I have recently gotten into the show Lost. Alex was kind enough to let us borrow the first 2 seasons and we have been flying through those discs! The show is strange but very addictive. I am hoping to get caught up in time to watch some of the new episodes from this current season on TV. With the writers strike still going on and nothing much on TV but American Idol, Lost has been a nice change of pace for us.

Rumor has it that the strike might be over soon, possibly as soon as this weekend. They really want to get it resolved before the Oscars which are on February 24th.

Why is this month spelled so strange? F-E-B-R-U-A-R-Y. Seem strange to anyone else?

Work is going really well. I am loving the freedom of being on the road and still involved with music. It is a lot of driving since all of my accounts are in New Jersey, but with the company car on its way, that won't be a problem for much longer. No more car payments, no more insurance payments, no more gas, no more maintenance. That is going to save SO much money in the long run.

Spring has always been a nice relaxing time for me, but this spring has been anything but. Don't get me wrong, I love being busy, but between the new job, East indoor and the wedding things have been really insane. So what did I do? I added one more thing. I had a conversation the other night with a woman who has been working with the Philadelphia Soul Arena Football Team to organize a pep band and drum line to play at all of the Soul home games this year. It sounds like things have been going well and the numbers are picking up, but the rehearsal time and space are limited. I am heading into Philly after Indoor rehearsal on Saturday to check out the rehearsal and see what the status is and where it is going. I offered to help in any way I could and the organizers were all too happy to accept. So, if anyone is interested in being a part of it, you would get into all the home games for free and get to hang out and play fun pep music with people of all ages. There are openings on all instruments, especially drum line. I think Kevin might be the only one who reads this and he is already coming, so prove me wrong haha.

That's it for now. More shenanigans later.

Chris Berman Goes Crazy

2008-02-01T16:26:00.000-08:00

Another reason why you should NEVER do stupid things when wearing a mic in front of a camera. This is from 2000 Monday Night Football. I especially enjoy it because of my strong dislike for Chris Berman from ESPN.

Florida Primaries

2008-01-29T18:41:00.000-08:00

Today's Florida Primaries were interesting to say the least.

On the Republican side, Giuliani appears to be on the verge of dropping out of the race while McCain is pushing ahead and starting to make a case as the front runner for the Republicans. On the Democrat side, Clinton beat Obama.... badly. Congrats to Hillary, but it really means nothing. Because of Florida trying to get in their primaries before "Super Tuesday" all Democratic delegates are null and void and not counted into the race for the nomination. Neither candidate spent much time in Florida for just that reason. Only 4 states are allowed to hold their primaries before Super Tuesday and Florida is not one of them. For breaking that rule, the Democratic party will not accept and Florida delegates at their convention in August. This basically means that Florida would not play a part in the 2008 election unless the Democratic nominee acknowledges them, which they would be stupid not to. Florida has proved vital in past elections (need I remind you of CHADs??) and to turn a deaf ear on them could prove suicidal politically.

Also - The next round of debates are this week. Republicans on Wednesday - Democrats on Thursday. Both are on CNN starting a 8pm. Tune in and get involved!!

Silly Democrats... Go Obama....

On the home front - I start my career tomorrow. I was offered a position with the Music and Arts Center as an Educational Sales Rep in South Jersey. It's a good start in a growing company - benefits, company car, nice salary... I can't complain. Plus, I'll be able to continue teaching marching band in the fall which is excellent.

Election

2008-01-24T09:21:00.000-08:00

I have participated in the last 2 Presidential elections, but never really followed too closely. I voted based off of opinions of my Dad as well as the LITTLE bit of research I may have done.

This year I have jumped in with both feet. I have been watching a lot of stuff on CNN and reading on the major news internet sites about the different candidates, their positions and beliefs. I don't consider myself an expert on Politics in any way shape or form, but I do have this message: GET INVOLVED. Do some reading, find out who backs you up as much as is possible in modern politics and GO VOTE FOR THEM. Vote in the primaries and the major election. Just go out and do it.

I am not one to preach Republican or Democrat, but I will admit I am registered as a Republican. Basically, my Dad is 100% Republican and when I registered, I figured I was supposed to vote the same way. No offense Dad, I appreciate the fact that you have gotten me interested in politics at all! However, this year I have done the research and done my reading. I am supporting Barack Obama for the next President of the United States of America. That is all I am going to say about that, you can like it or dislike it and you are more than entitled to your opinion.

I just want to reiterate my point from above. Read a little, Watch a little, take 5 mins a day and check CNN.com. DO NOT just go into that booth blind in November. If you are not registered to vote, DO SO NOW to ensure your eligibility for the 2008 election. Another source I found helpful to point me in the right direction was The Electoral Compass. It will ask you a series of questions about different issues and then tell you who most supports and least supports your views. Take the quiz and take your time, really think about the 20 something questions. It will help!

GO VOTE!!

Long time no post

2007-12-04T17:57:00.000-08:00

OK well...

Sorry about that. Blogging got a bit away from me for the past... 3 months?! Oh my, where did that time go?

Oh well first things first

Totally worth it.

Marching Bands update -

Avon Grove - This was my first season teaching at Avon Grove High School and can safely say it was one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had teaching high school marching band. The kids were great and worked a lot harder than I anticipated. I think I WAY underwrote the drill difficulty for them, but they simply raised the bar for next year. This year's show was The Lion King. A safe show for a non-competition group to still entertain, but they really blew it out of the water. They still have a long way to go, but with some hard work and a harder show next year, the sky is the limit. Next year's show is Tommy (the rock opera by The Who) a la 1990 Blue Devils. I am VERY excited to do this show and think it offers a lot of possibilities visually. One of the best compliments I received from the director this year was that they had the opportunity as a staff to add visuals at holds and such. Apparently this was new to the program and they usually simply stood still like a typical football band. It may sound small, but it meant a lot to me that we were efficient enough and the drill was taught clear enough that we had time to do that. With this being my first time writing the drill, I learned a lot about the capabilities of the performers and staging and all that junk. Next year proves to be even better!

Take a look at our show - This was from the home football game vs. Coatesville.

West Chester East - East's show this year was West Side Story. It was a very well written show both musically and visually. I don't think we have ever been as on top of the design of the show as we were this year. Starting in April, we got together as a staff and worked our way through the show top to bottom and tried to design a successful show with was both entertaining and competitive. We thought we had succeeded. The judges thought otherwise. They didn't get it for most of the season. The drill was designed to portray the sharks (brass) and the jets (woodwinds) battling against each other until the climax of the show where they finally came together in unity and walked off the field together leaving a baritone soloist playing the tune to Somewhere. 9th out of 9. On the bright side, I have never taught a finer brass line. My Captain was excellent and took a lot of things upon himself to help the line succeed which made my job a lot easier. From day one, we tried to do everything from a championship approach and succeeded. We beat a lot of horn lines all year which were larger than us. Overall, screw the judges. I love those kids and they worked really hard. Too bad we are in a crappy circuit that doesn't recognize when one group truly beats another. I'm not saying we should have been 1st - but we definitely shouldn't have been last....

I don't have a video available from this yet, but I should soon. In the meantime, here's a few neat pics:

Wedding Update - Heather and I are moving through the whole wedding planning thing quite nicely. We set the date (May 24, 2008) found the place (Downingtown Country Club) for both the ceremony and reception. Heather also bought a dress.... and then another dress when she liked one better. We found a photographer (Campli Photography) and did a session with him for engagement photos. I would LOVE to show you some of them, but can't copy them in here. SO, if you're interested go to www.campliphoto.com and click the link on the bottom which says "Portrait Proofs." Enter the session ID "Keefer" which is case sensitive and ignore all of the bad ones! We also found a florist compliments of Heather's Grandparents! We really have a lot done, but there's still so much to do. One major thing is a DJ, so if anyone has any suggestions please send them along!

That's about it for me. That's the major update, but hopefully it won't be another 3 months until you hear from me again.

Strength

2007-09-12T06:34:00.000-07:00

We laid Heather's Mom to rest on Monday to end the saga that has been this week and to start the healing process. It was a very difficult day, but I could not have been more proud of Heather for her strength all the way through the process. She even read a poem at the funeral service. As she was told by a number of people, "I never could have done that." I've played for funerals but never had to speak. In my opinion, speaking is a lot harder. Musically you can lose yourself a little bit and hide behind the stand to not see all the people looking at you but when its just you and a microphone in front of all of those people... yikes. I am so proud of her and her family for the strength and love they all gave each other through all of this. There aren't too many families like this one and I am very excited to become a part of it.

Tuesday was September 11th. Its been 6 years since that horrible day. It was a normal day just like any other. At least it was rainy for the morning. It allows you to feel the mood you want to feel on a day like that. I'm sitting here now watching World Trade Center for the first time. As much as I hate Nicholas Cage, this is pretty well done. The confusion and drama of the day seems to be captured in the way you thought it might actually have happened. Who really knows what it was like down at Ground Zero that day, but at least there is something to try and capture it.

Things are going pretty well otherwise. I am extremely proud of the kids at East for the way they have been working the past 2 weeks. It paid off on Friday night with a fantastic performance at the OJR football game. This week has been choppy with having off today for the Jewish holiday and then a game on Friday. Avon Grove had rehearsal on Tuesday. I swear those kids have zero energy to rehearse well by the time 6:30 rolls around. I was running around like a crazy person trying to keep their energy up and get a little bit of worth out of the 3 hour rehearsal. Its really a shame that they don't apply themselves because they could be a really decent group. They are at times and they play VERY well, but they don't apply themselves mentally or physically.

I leave you today with a video that was passed along to me by one of my students and is just simply awesome and rediculous. I'm a nerd, but I do so love DCI and Phantom Regiment.

Enjoy....

Difficult Week

2007-09-07T11:09:00.000-07:00

Well, to say the least this has been a difficult week. Last Friday Heather and I received a call saying that her Mom was being taken to the hospital after being found unconscious. Neither one of us even panicked too much since her Mom was frequently in the hospital. We went to the East football game and out to eat with the staff and received another call from her Uncle this time saying we should get to Hershey. Without any further delay, we hurried out there to meet up with Heather's grandparents and see her Mom.

Bonnie Konek was still unconscious and would remain so. She passed on Tuesday morning after several days of fighting before being removed from the machines which were assisting her (as was her wishes.) After a difficult weekend of ups and downs and a lot of tears, Mom Bonnie could finally rest after years of pain and sickness. There was some upside to it after all. She can rest...

I have been debating with myself for several days as to if I would even post about this on here. As much as these blogs can be a forum for public opinion, they can also be a spot for venting and emotion. I chose to use this blog as the latter. As little as I knew Bonnie, she was always someone who had a great love for her children and was willing to welcome anyone into her life with open arms. She did this to me the moment Heather and I started dating. She was the first one we called when we got engaged and it hurts most that she will not be there to share in the events of our lives. Marriage, kids, all will be a little bit strange without Mom Bonnie there to share them with us.

Always in our hearts, never far away... we will miss you...

Jimmy Kimmel Clarification

2007-08-29T18:16:00.000-07:00

So, I really have been overwhelmed with the amount of coverage on the internet and other media outlets about Miss South Carolina and her rousing speech on Education and the lack of available maps in America. There have been a lot of interpretations of her speech, but I think Jimmy Kimmel really hit the nail on the head with his clarification of Miss South Carolina...

Everything else is going really well. I survived the 2 weeks of band camp insanity and so did most of the kids. Avon Grove was in the Poconos and it was awesome. We were totally secluded from the rest of the camp and could focus on the job at hand. We got all but 3 sets on the field marched and playing. Not too bad and about 15 sets ahead of last year apparently. We put the last 3 sets on last night at rehearsal back at school. It was quite an experience to go through the whole creative process and see people moving in dots instead of dots on the computer screen.

East's camp went well. Despite the crappy weather, we got all of the drill on the field. We are performing the first 3 songs tonight at the first football game. They are doing a really nice job. The brass line is already playing at the level they were at the end of last season. That excites me to see where they will go from here. There are still a couple of kids who are just not buying into it and aren't getting any better. I have to find a way to motivate them. Any suggestions?

The East football team is supposed to be in for a looong season this year. That does not excite me. They have a new coach for the first time in 20 some years and he has a very young group of starters. They are going to be a far cry from the playoff team of last year.

Plus , there hasn't been anyone close to Matt Schaub... Go Texans!

The hardest thing this time a year is to try and NOT get too excited about the Phillies. This is almost impossible to do after they completed a 4 game sweep against the Mets yesterday. One of the greatest games of the YEAR!! This weekend they are in Florida against the Marlins who always play them tough. 2 games out of both the division and wild card. Should be an exciting finish.... but I'm a realistic Philadelphia fan.... I won't get my hopes up TOO much.

Education Reform

2007-08-25T20:11:00.000-07:00

I think we all need to get behind Miss South Carolina and her plan for reforming the American Educational System.

Shenanigans are everywhere

2007-08-11T18:42:00.000-07:00

Shenanigan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A shenanigan is a deceitful confidence trick, or mischief causing discomfort or annoyance. The term is usually used in the plural, shenanigans. However, in some regions, shenanigans can merely refer to harmless mischievous play, especially by children.

The origin of the word is unknown but possibly originates from the Irish sionnachuighim, meaning "I play the fox."

Shenanigan or shenanigans can refer to:

To "call", "claim," or "declare" shenanigans is to rhetorically and ironically label something as officially deceitful, improper, or otherwise incorrect.
Shenanigan Kids, a 1920 animated series by Bray Productions.
Deception or tomfoolery on the part of carnival stand operators, e.g. seen in the South Park episode Cow Days
Shenanigans (television), a 1964-65 children's television game show.
- Shenanigans (game), a board game published in 1964 by Milton Bradley based on the television program
Shenanigans (computer game), a computer game produced in 1983 by Mark Data Products, written by Bob Whithers and Stephen O'Dea
Shenanigans (album), a 2002 compilation album by Green Day.
Shamrocks & Shenanigans, a song and a greatest hits album by the hip hop trio House of Pain.

There have been several shenanigans today.

This morning I woke up and went down to the Italian Market with my Dad and some other family. I've been there a bunch, but never after I got engaged. I think there is some kind of right of passage in my family that is never spoken of. Getting engaged/married is equal to your life ending. You are no longer allowed to have fun unless you are with the guys doing things like the Italian "Men's Night" at the Club or hanging out down at the market. Don't get me wrong, I am extremely excited about getting married. And I laugh at people saying "why would you do that?" But they keep coming.

Shenanigans - Marriage is gonna be pretty freakin sweet. If you're not happy, you probably are with the wrong person. Don't assume that I will be unhappy just because your life sucks.

After I got home, I worked on the Avon Grove show some more. I thought all I had to do was incorporate the color guard and take a couple of kids out of the drill who had dropped since I was given numbers. WRONG. I get an email from the percussion guy talking about all these changes and what the music is doing for his parts and about some rediculous drum rack that is being built. We're not the Blue Devils people, this is a shitty group with an even shittier drum line. There is no reason to go all out like this. Then he wants to put the pit on the active field instead of in the PIT.

Shenanigans - If you wanted all of this stuff in the show, you should have informed me about it 2 months ago when the chain of emails were going around about the drill and design. Trust me, I didn't exactly go all out in the writing. 1. It is my first full outdoor production and 2. THE GROUP ISN'T VERY GOOD!!!

Heather is away right now for her final trip with the family she is nannying for this summer. I know it may sound mushy or whatever, but I really miss her a lot. We can't talk much cause the crazy mom and kids keep her so busy. Plus she is out on Arizona and 3 hours behind. She is always my go to when things are stressful, so it has been a difficult week with no venting.

The Phillies have been fighting back this entire game tonight. It is now the bottom of the 9th with one on. Time to finish rooting.

New Blog

2007-08-10T17:40:00.001-07:00

Well, I realized today that I miss having a place to put my thoughts and feelings. I'm always reading my friend's blogs and thought this one would serve my purposes well.

Things always get busy for me this time of year, but this year is a little different. I am still teaching at West Chester East with the marching band. We are doing West Side Story as our theme this year. It promises to be a championship caliber show. I am confident with the group we have on paper plus the staff and the program we put together that we have the potential to be very successful this fall. It always boils down to the kids, their desire, and their commitment to excellence. They have always had the desire, but only time will tell if they want to take the next step toward success. I just know that every year at Finals we have kids disappointed that they didn't get a higher placement, but the next year rolls around and they are still making the same mistakes that we corrected all the previous year. This year I was also presented with my first opportunity to write drill for my own show. I was contacted by the director at Avon Grove High School about writing and teaching for their production of The Lion King. It was an opportunity which I could not turn down. They are strictly a football band, non-competition. And they're really not all that good. However, it provides me with the opportunity to go through the entire creative process on my own and write a show according to my own parameters and desires. It was quite an adventure, but I am really happy with what I put out. We start camp on Monday with new member basics and some sectional work and then go away to the Poconos for 4 days on Thursday.

Soooo the next few months promise to be interesting to say the least. I'm going to try to update this as I go with randomness, things in my life, and (of course) marching band.

Feel free to put any and all comments on here. Just like the nature of a blog, I am not here to censor your opinions and comments.

As always, Shenanigans Welcome!