Shenandoah Visit

Visited Shenandoah University (College and Conservatory) this weekend. Well, visited and auditioned. Because the school is close enough, we made a day trip of it. We probably would have gotten a little more out the trip if we stayed overnight like we had at other venues, but it was probably for the best, as Laura was too sick to go anyway (way too sick :( ). So CB and I had a "nice" trip. It had more of a whirlwind feel. This is our final audition.

Couple of snapshots. You won't find CB in any of them :( as we were separated almost the whole time. I wanted to get a posed shot or two, but we ended up in a bit of a hurry on the way out. Perhaps we'll have another opportunity...



I did a walking tour with other parents during auditions. Led by rookie tour guides, the tour featured dramatic cautions about pop-up squirrels and mutant ninja geese. Theatre majors, gotta love 'em.

Weekend Basketball Feb 24, 25

Rec league basketball is over. The organization and league leadership was very disappointing: teams were assigned, not drafted, and there was unnecessary disparity. Then there was bad behavior. But it's over.

We advanced in the Towson travel league with a first-round overtime win. It was an exciting game, and I was too distracted to get any decent pictures. What I got is below. I'll add Sunday's game if I get any of those.



So there should be two games in the slideshow above. The white jerseys are from the Towson Travel League (we're Blue). After the Panera fun pictures, there are a couple of shots of this weekend's travel game. More exciting than the Towson game, I once again got WAY too distracted (obnoxious?) to remember to take pictures.

The Sunday game was "more exciting" because it pitted us (Forest Hill 13-14 "B") versus our "A" team. The distinction between the A and B was straight by age: "A" is the 14 year olds, and "B" is the 13 year olds. So the A-team certainly believes they are much better than the B-Team. Arguably so: the A-team is undefeated in regular season play so far. Well, they were.

We "jumped" out to a 2-0 lead on CBs free throws, then fell down to a 9-point deficit before coming back to tie the game at half. On the strength of solid defense, spirited team play, and 84% free throw percentage, we went on to win 51-39 handing the A-team their first loss of the season. CB scored about 20 I think. Very exciting. There may have been some personal animosity that made the victory so much sweeter, but no need to dwell on such things. We had a great game.

Chris makes the cut: AAU Basketball

Congratulation Chris for making the Chesapeake Bay Breakers 14U AAU Basketball Team!!!

College Visit: Baldwin-Wallace

Had an excellent visit to Baldwin-Wallace in Ohio. The conservatory has an awe-inspiring musical theatre program. A few images from the trip:

My Picasa-based attempt:

I'm still fumbling around with picture posting, feel free to share your ideas.

Littler Basketball

Had a blast checking out my nephew's basketball game a few weekends back. Leading scorer, oh yeah... Final score? Don't remember.

Some cool cats in the crowd:

Hanging out after the game

Same Weekend, Basketball CB

Fortunately, Chris' basketball game was on the way home. We made the Saturday night game and the Sunday afternoon game. Some pics from the games. Not real good pics, but consider the source...

Runner in the lane

Outside shot, not quite a 3...

Sunday's game

With the game well in hand, the starting 5 is on the bench.

College Visits, continued

We had already visited, applied, auditioned, and been accepted to Oklahoma City University, school of Music. Solid potential there.

This weekend, we visited Catawba College, Theatre/Musical Theatre. We have applied, been accepted, and have visited before--the motivation for this trip was an audition for scholarship. Unlike the OKCU trip, CB stayed with one of the students on campus. We even ran into one of her friends from Tidewater, Eleanor (Grease; Bye Bye Birdie...). We saw a double feature of
Shakespeare, including an all-female As You Like It, and an all-male MacBeth. Very enjoyable, very impressive. Hadn't realized how liberal a liberal-arts school could be...

Couple pictures:

So this is college?! OK, this is unfair. It may look like she is getting her morning dose of java before heading off to an 8:00 lecture, but it's just badly timed unposed photography. We were enjoying a breakfast at the "original" Port City Java before going to campus for the visit. I don't actually have any pictures from on campus--what was I thinking?!

If you're coming up I95 in Virginia and have to go, don't stop here. Our ladies found a strange man in one of the stalls. Weirded out, they left quickly, but not too quickly to hear one of the workers call, "Hey, are you in the ladies' stall again?" Ewwww. We found a Wawa...

You'll know you're in the wrong place to go when you see the old Esso gas pump...

We have a few more colleges to visit, then ultimately, A DECISION!!!

February Church Music

I have the honor of leading the "informal" church service (praise and worship, vs "traditional")on the first Sunday of the month on the piano, which means I get solo prelude/gathering music, offeratory, communion music, and postlude, as well as various group praise pieces, prayer response, doxology... I pick the solo pieces, the rest are assigned. This week's pieces (Italics are the solos):

1. These Things Are True of You
2. We Bring the Sacrifice of Praise
3. He Is Exalted
4. Blessed Be the Name of the Lord
5. Father, I Adore You
6. Pass Me Not
7. (Doxology)
8. I Need Thee Every Hour
9. Commune With Me
10. Be Thou My Vision
11. Make Me A Servant
12. Jesus, Name Above All Names
13. Safe In The Arms of Jesus

The Pass Me Not piece was kind of neat--it is played as a Blues Shuffle. (I am not yet sophisticated enough to post a recording.) It was well received I think. Anybody like or dislike any of these? I'd be very interested to hear your favorite Hymns, or Praise Music.

New Years Resolutions, better late than never...

I've been working on a basic series of New Years resolution. I had decided that it wasn't all that important that I have them figured out by 1/1, but it's been wighing on me a bit that I hadn't nailed down the list, then I caught the Peanuts cartoon that I mentioned a few posts ago. So here goes, the embarassingly simple list that I have a tough time completing every day.

1. Brush teeth morning, night, and floss with those floss-picks at night. (No surprise, it's the flossing that's the one I tend to "forget")
2. No alcohol. I'm not at all anti-alcohol, but I'm not sure I haven't had an alcoholic drink in the last two years that I ultimately didn't regret (mostly through headaches). I'll think of it like an allergy, but my pride won't let me believe that it is really an allergy. And no, this one's not a daily struggle for me.
3. Stand up straight/don't slouch. I think two things make this difficult for me, both sitting for a period of time kind of reaching forward: playing the piano (I also tend to lean forward and squint, I find) and working at work, since I have a row of papers in front of my keyboard in front of my monitor, and my mouse is up by my monitor.
4. Updated: Take my vitamin(s).

That's me, how about you?

Near Miss in Florida

Very happy to report that our family in Florida missed the latest tornado pass through Lady Lake that you may have heard about on network news Superbowl Eve.
CNN reports:
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/anderson.cooper.360/blog/
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/02/03/florida.storm/index.html

Linda works admissions at the hospital that will take most of the victims from the area hit by the tornado. They live about 5 minutes from Lady Lakes. I'll add more if I get updates.

Update: It turns out that the Lady Lake Church of God, destroyed in this storm, was their church of choice. See Aftermath Image, Orlando Sentinel