Please Stand By

My laptop crashed last night.  Not sure what's wrong or when it will be fixed or replaced.  In the meantime, my posting might be non-existent for a while.  

I've got some good stories from the Utah trip.  I'll try and get something up eventually.

Spring Break!

After four or five years of trying to make it happen, I'm meeting up with a bunch of friends from the MMB trumpet section this weekend for fun on the slopes near Salt Lake City. We were finally able to find an extended weekend that worked for ~10 people and a condo to rent for the period so that we can all be in one central location.

I may not be a big fan of skiing, but I am super excited for my Spring Break in the snow. It's likely my only vacation from work between January and June this year, so I'm going to make the most of my time off.

Have a good few days of work (suckers).

Real Men of Genius

Bud Light Presents: Real Men of Genius
(Real men of Genius)
Today we salute you. Mr. Mayor Who Thinks He Is Above the Law
(Mr. Mayor Who Thinks He Is Above The Law)
Fighting hard to raise the lofty standards of the city of Detroit through six years of blood, sweat, and tears
(We're finally better than Newark!)
Sure you do so much for the city, but life can be tough when everyone is trying to keep you from nailing your chief of staff
(She's hotter than your wife!)
Your keen instincts tells you to lie about your affair in court. But when the two cops suing you for wrongful termination win a $6M award from a jury and come forward with evidence that you committed perjury, you settle with them. For $9M of city funds.
(It's not your money!)
So crack open an ice cold Bud Light, Mr. Mayor. 'Cause we all know, if you are elected to an office, you can't be expected to avoid the temptation of having sex with your chief of staff, firing cops who bust you, or lying to a judge to protect your sorry @ss.
(Mr. Mayor Who Thinks He Is Above The Law!)


Yes, I just made this up myself. No, it's probably not that funny. But at least it beats another pointless rant from Gary!

I find the irony about Kwame Kilpatrick's scandal extremely rich in the face of Eliot Spitzer's rapid descent from his 'rising star' status in the Democratic Party. Between the perjury that he committed when sued for wrongfully firing two cops who busted his extra-marital affair with his chief of staff, the fact that he lied to the city council about the details of the $9M settlement the city paid on his behalf, the loss of confidence from almost every major business leader and politician in Detroit, and his arrogance in the face of yet another embarrassing scandal, Detroit will soon be rescued from this nightmare. I have thoroughly enjoyed watching a spoiled brat get what he deserves.

And to top it off, I can not believe he actually said this at his State of the City Address.

Rich.

I'm a Band Dork

I saw a commercial the other day advertising the show Blast!, which was coming to Hartford for two shows this weekend. I don't really have any marching band-type friends here, but I wanted to go see this. I had heard good reviews, but really knew nothing about the show.

Thankfully, FlyingV was willing to keep me company for the show, since it was probably going to be somewhat up his alley (with the percussion stuff). As it turns out, we both absolutely loved the show. It was fantastic! It had a very distinct drum corp flavor, which is expected given that almost every person behind the music and visual design of the show has significant Drum Corps International design experience. It was a very entertaining show.

Many of the musical pieces were the same as pieces I've heard performed by top drum corps or major college marching bands (including one that is well known within the MMB). The arrangements were different, of course. There was a sweet percussion section late in the first act that was pretty kick-ass too.

The only thing I wasn't a huge fan of was the sound system at The Bushnell. I felt like the on-stage microphones distorted the sound a little bit. I was sitting on the stage, but I was hearing the sound from the speakers more than directly from the stage.

For as much as FlyingV enjoyed the show, he was having an absent minded evening. First, we went to the wrong section to take our seats (he had the tickets in hand, so I am blame free). After told that we needed to go to a different aisle, we took programs from the usher and walked over to another entrance. Upon entering the correct section, FlyingV, with program in hand, thanked the usher for directions to our seats and asked for a program. The usher gave him a 'are you crazy' look, since both of us were already holding a program. Well done, FlyingV. He had a couple other absent minded moments during the evening, but that's the only one I remember.