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AV3 Honor Bands Segment

All Southern!

I got a call a few hours ago and...

I'm in!

It's Cold Outside

What happened to this whole global warming thing? Palmdale clocked in at 3° F the other day. That's a tad chilly.

Life is trudging on as usual despite the cold. District honor band is coming up on Wednesday and Thursday so I'm really looking forward to those 45 minute drives out to Pete Knight. I might get a chance to play Tiny Tim (the Eb) so that will be cool. Although it might require a bloody lip and a few new reeds due to those altissimo notes.

Other than that nothing overly exciting is going on.

All the more reason that Canada is awesome: how many counties do you know of that have natural landscapes shaped like a face? Pretty cool.

A woman emerged from a Cambodian jungle last week after spending nearly 20 years there. Being deemed the "Jungle Woman" she's apparently having some troubles adjusting to society...I'm not surprised.

Sorry Darling, but Spain won't let you become a citizen, at least with that kind of name. A woman applying for Spanish citizenship was denied because her name was "unacceptable." I'm glad my name is fairly normal. At least I can become a Spanish citizen if I ever desire. I have no idea why I would want that, but at least the option is there.

I don't know if you've been attempting to follow any of the recent Telecoms industry mergers and such, but Steven Colbert explains it very well. Pretty funny stuff.

That's all for now...I need to start practicing my melodic minors for All State.

Be Safe...Don't Get Eaten

A Day Off

I could go for this three day weekend thing more often.

I'm still sick. Yes, 12 days later here I am. I do feel better, so I should be back to normal soon. Hopefully.

I was lucky enough to make All State again this year. But it gets better...Tani and Julian also made it, so congrats to them. Three of the same instruments from the same school. That is pretty awesome. It will be really cool this year not only because I actually know people, but it is the CBDA 50th Anniversary, so they are doing all kinds of neat stuff. Just like last year, I didn't make All Southern, but this year apparently I'm an alternate. So, if some bloke happens to dislocate his shoulder I get to fill in. Hey, it's happened before. Casey, Lauren and Brianna made Southern, so congrats to them also.

CES is this week in Las Vegas. So far nothing too revolutionary has come about. There's a few neat little things on the subject of High Def DVD's but it still appears to be a toss up between HD-DVD and Blu-ray. I'm an HD-DVD man myself, but who knows what could happen.

Too bad nobody steals our wireless connection. Following the example of this guy, I could have some fun.

You know those annoying people who always take up two spaces when they park? Well, here you go. I don't fully understand it but it looks pretty funny if true.

John C. Dvorak gave is prediction for the iPhone in typical Dvorak fashion. He basically condemned it to failure (as he has every other new technology since the 80's) and he also bashes CES. Kind of an interesting watch.

Well, that's all for now. I'm awaiting a phone call with results from my hip MRI, so that should be fun.

The iPhone

All State!

I Hate Being Sick

The title says it all. It's absolutely amazing how much snot the human body can produce. I was forced to take the day off, so at least I get a chance to catch up here.

Marching in the Rose Parade was an incredible experience. I have never done anything like that before; there were 1.3 million people lined up on Colorado Blvd, not to mention the 140 million others watching at home. Making that turn from Orange Grove to Colorado was simply astounding. There were people and cameras everywhere (I've never seen grandstands that high), and by everywhere I mean left, right, up and down (yes, there was a camera dude kneeling between ranks). It was an incredible experience and I'm looking forward to doing it next year.

The TV coverage was really good. Since we were the host band for the parade, KTLA did a three minute feature on us which was really cool. You can see just about everybody from QH. I also finally uploaded the article from the AV Press.

The day after the parade, my dad and I flew out to Colorado and met up with the rest of the family. We had a great time as usual, and even Matt was getting a tad vocal (at 2am…but it’s all good). I got three days and 30 runs of skiing in, so that was nice also. On the last day there was a foot and a half of fresh powder; I've skied in powder, but nothing like that...it was pretty cool.

All Southern auditions were on Sunday also (getting the picture why I'm sick yet? I haven’t exactly had time to rest). I think I did fairly decent, but it's hard to tell. The sight-reading was a little bugger, but other than that there were no critical errors or anything. Results should be in today or tomorrow (for All State too) so I'll keep you posted.

Steve Jobs in his usual formal attire of blue jeans and a ratty t-shirt announced the new name of Apple Inc. and the new iPhone to his scores of very loyal (and loud) fans. The iPhone looks pretty cool...the specs are pretty heavy duty, as is the price: $499.

Google Earth v. 4 was officially released yesterday. I haven’t had a chance to play around with it yet, but it looks pretty neat.

Live at the WIRED NextFest in New York City, an Infrared X-ray Machine displays your vessels and muscle directly on top of your skin by just moving your body under the beam. Pretty cool stuff.

Well, my nose is beginning to drip again, so I think I'm going to go pop a Sudafed and take another nap.

AV Press

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Rose Parade