After not getting to watch Broncos or Vikings for a few weeks, yesterday brought on the other difficult scenerio of having both on at the same time. I spent the entirety of the early NFL schedule flipping between Atlanta where the Broncos played a close game and won and Tampa (City of, not the Bay because it's hard to play football underwater) where the Vikings played a close game and lost (congrats Tim).
Interestingly enough, the Colts (my third fav) were playing at the same time as these early games which meant I was totally invested in early games but not in the late ones except where division and wild card standings are concerned. I did get to watch the last few plays of the Colts win when CBS cut to the game, but would have loved for one of the three to be televised in the later time slot. Oh well. The Steelers/Chargers matchup was a hard fought, entertaining substitute and I enjoyed watching the Chargers fall to two games behind the Broncos.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Saturday, November 08, 2008
First "Winter" Commute
Okay, it's not officially winter for awhile yet, but riding in the snow and wind to work yesterday sure seemed like it. I don't mind winter riding too much because with the right bike, tires and clothing, you can still enjoy it and know that almost everybody else is stuck inside spinning in one place bored out of their minds. Granted, I'll do a fair amount of that myself soon, but would like to continue to commute whenever the schedule allows.
Yesterday when I got up, I was very much on the fence as to whether I would ride or not. Temps were hovering around 30 which is no big deal and it was still fairly wet from the previous night's snow. We got just enough snow to cover things up and give the impression of winter, but I didn't have to scoop the drive which is always a blessing. Again, the right gear and even the wet conditions wouldn't be unthinkable to ride in.
The thing that gave me pause was the wind. Every once in awhile it would gust, howl and whistle in any window or door that gave the slightest hint at not being completely sealed in a way that was reminiscent of storms from the depths of winters past. The prospect of riding directly into such an adversary was not a pleasant one.
I spent most of the morning in a state of limbo where the ride was concerned. I did have a little work to do on the bike installing a new stem and I decided to spend a little time working on a presentation I'll do for a few kids at Xander's school next week about the bike being a solution to many life issues like obesity, pollution, access to clean water in third world countries and access to markets for poor farmers in remote areas of the world.
As I revisited so many of the thoughts that others have had on the topic and looked at studies of obesity rates and automobile pollution, the idea of riding to work took on fresh meaning and sticking my nose into the wind became an act of rebellion against my own culture of comfort and against a society that thinks that just because gas prices have dropped a bit means that giving thought to bike commuting is no longer a necessity.
So, resolve renewed, I got dressed, packed up the back pack and headed out. I opened the garage door and big flakes of snow were just beginning to fall again. In the wind protected cul de sac where we live it was an idyllic scene that carried a romantic association from some of my winter rides from last year.
The one advantage of the wind is that many of the streets and areas of the bike path that I ride were fairly dry with only minor drifting. I had opted to keep the standard knobby tires on my Gary Fisher Rig (single speed mountain bike with 29" tires instead of the more standard 26" tires that you usually see). I do have a set of studded tires that are a little thinner that I will break out once drifts harden and ice becomes more of an issue.
Things were plugging along well as I rode the bike path along the southeast part of town. The trees took the brunt of the wind and I actually found myself a bit too warm. Once I got off the path, the wind had a clean shot at me and I began to pay for my efforts. To add insult to injury, the beautiful falling snow transformed into sleet that was driven into my face as I methodically pushed on. By the time I got to the store I was greeted by the incredulous nature of my coworkers as they greeted me with what could only be described as varying degrees of pity and admiration.
I seriously had to towel down when I hit the rest room to change. This was one of those occasions where if we had a shower at the store, I would have used it. I had purposely dressed a little warmer than I originally thought I should believing that I needed a little more time to allow my body's conditioning to the cold to develop. After all, I did ride 30 miles in my summer kit (short sleeve jersey and shorts) less than two weeks ago. What I didn't factor in was how much harder I was going to have to work against the wind and how much heat I would personally generate. I was a sweaty, gooey mess. It didn't take me too long to get myself presentable again and I set about the day's tasks.
I was quite pleased to see that when I left the store at 9:30, the wind was still out of the northwest, still blowing hard and knew I'd have an easier time of it on the trip home. I had forgotten how different it is riding at night with snow on the ground. Areas where my little 12 lumen commuter lamp barely outline the path and obstacles during the summer were quite well defined due to the luminescence of the city reflected off of clouds above and snow below. It was really an enjoyable ride home only lacking the soft snowfall which would have put me in winter commuter bliss.
So, the first test passed, my goal will continue to be to ride to work whenever the schedule and my personal safety will permit it. The payoff is always better than the cost on days like yesterday and I hope to see a lot more winter riding this year.
Yesterday when I got up, I was very much on the fence as to whether I would ride or not. Temps were hovering around 30 which is no big deal and it was still fairly wet from the previous night's snow. We got just enough snow to cover things up and give the impression of winter, but I didn't have to scoop the drive which is always a blessing. Again, the right gear and even the wet conditions wouldn't be unthinkable to ride in.
The thing that gave me pause was the wind. Every once in awhile it would gust, howl and whistle in any window or door that gave the slightest hint at not being completely sealed in a way that was reminiscent of storms from the depths of winters past. The prospect of riding directly into such an adversary was not a pleasant one.
I spent most of the morning in a state of limbo where the ride was concerned. I did have a little work to do on the bike installing a new stem and I decided to spend a little time working on a presentation I'll do for a few kids at Xander's school next week about the bike being a solution to many life issues like obesity, pollution, access to clean water in third world countries and access to markets for poor farmers in remote areas of the world.
As I revisited so many of the thoughts that others have had on the topic and looked at studies of obesity rates and automobile pollution, the idea of riding to work took on fresh meaning and sticking my nose into the wind became an act of rebellion against my own culture of comfort and against a society that thinks that just because gas prices have dropped a bit means that giving thought to bike commuting is no longer a necessity.
So, resolve renewed, I got dressed, packed up the back pack and headed out. I opened the garage door and big flakes of snow were just beginning to fall again. In the wind protected cul de sac where we live it was an idyllic scene that carried a romantic association from some of my winter rides from last year.
The one advantage of the wind is that many of the streets and areas of the bike path that I ride were fairly dry with only minor drifting. I had opted to keep the standard knobby tires on my Gary Fisher Rig (single speed mountain bike with 29" tires instead of the more standard 26" tires that you usually see). I do have a set of studded tires that are a little thinner that I will break out once drifts harden and ice becomes more of an issue.
Things were plugging along well as I rode the bike path along the southeast part of town. The trees took the brunt of the wind and I actually found myself a bit too warm. Once I got off the path, the wind had a clean shot at me and I began to pay for my efforts. To add insult to injury, the beautiful falling snow transformed into sleet that was driven into my face as I methodically pushed on. By the time I got to the store I was greeted by the incredulous nature of my coworkers as they greeted me with what could only be described as varying degrees of pity and admiration.
I seriously had to towel down when I hit the rest room to change. This was one of those occasions where if we had a shower at the store, I would have used it. I had purposely dressed a little warmer than I originally thought I should believing that I needed a little more time to allow my body's conditioning to the cold to develop. After all, I did ride 30 miles in my summer kit (short sleeve jersey and shorts) less than two weeks ago. What I didn't factor in was how much harder I was going to have to work against the wind and how much heat I would personally generate. I was a sweaty, gooey mess. It didn't take me too long to get myself presentable again and I set about the day's tasks.
I was quite pleased to see that when I left the store at 9:30, the wind was still out of the northwest, still blowing hard and knew I'd have an easier time of it on the trip home. I had forgotten how different it is riding at night with snow on the ground. Areas where my little 12 lumen commuter lamp barely outline the path and obstacles during the summer were quite well defined due to the luminescence of the city reflected off of clouds above and snow below. It was really an enjoyable ride home only lacking the soft snowfall which would have put me in winter commuter bliss.
So, the first test passed, my goal will continue to be to ride to work whenever the schedule and my personal safety will permit it. The payoff is always better than the cost on days like yesterday and I hope to see a lot more winter riding this year.
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Brief Sports Rant
I have watched more Cowboys and Giants games this year than all of my favorite teams combined. Not that there's anything wrong with the Cowboys and Giants mind you, but neither team is remotely regional and there have been numerous times where either team has been featured when the Broncos were playing a late game on another network that was showing some crappy, third rate sport was shown instead. They have been pre-empted by beach volleyball (only watchable during the olympics), rodeo (sorry Marilyn) and today's offering "slamball" (really!!!???).
My beef is somewhat with the network, but mostly with our local CBS affiliate who decided to claim Kansas City as our local market instead of Denver after YEARS of Broncos football. It used to be that Chiefs fans had to put up the rabbit ears and pull a signal from Sioux City to watch the Chiefs, but now we get to watch their cover-your-eyes-awful team play as the local franchise. Granted, the Broncos haven't been much to brag about either and are currently struggling against Miami, but at least they have a winning record.
In the past, I would work around the non-airing of Broncos games by tuning in online to their local radio affliliate and listen to streaming audio for free, but the NFL shut that down two years ago and now I'd have to pay to even listen to them. Direct TV's monopoly-esque Sunday Ticket is not the ticket for me either because of the cost. We don't even have cable, opting instead for broadband internet.
Of course part of the issue is my work schedule as well. I am scheduled every other weekend, although I only wind up working one Sunday a month. I know of at least two Broncos games that I've missed due to work this season and I wind up missing the Vikings almost every weekend that I work (they are the local Fox affiliate's NFL franchise).
Oh well. I guess I'll take a nap through the rest of the current NFL sweethearts' matchup. Giants/Cowboys... I couldn't care less.
My beef is somewhat with the network, but mostly with our local CBS affiliate who decided to claim Kansas City as our local market instead of Denver after YEARS of Broncos football. It used to be that Chiefs fans had to put up the rabbit ears and pull a signal from Sioux City to watch the Chiefs, but now we get to watch their cover-your-eyes-awful team play as the local franchise. Granted, the Broncos haven't been much to brag about either and are currently struggling against Miami, but at least they have a winning record.
In the past, I would work around the non-airing of Broncos games by tuning in online to their local radio affliliate and listen to streaming audio for free, but the NFL shut that down two years ago and now I'd have to pay to even listen to them. Direct TV's monopoly-esque Sunday Ticket is not the ticket for me either because of the cost. We don't even have cable, opting instead for broadband internet.
Of course part of the issue is my work schedule as well. I am scheduled every other weekend, although I only wind up working one Sunday a month. I know of at least two Broncos games that I've missed due to work this season and I wind up missing the Vikings almost every weekend that I work (they are the local Fox affiliate's NFL franchise).
Oh well. I guess I'll take a nap through the rest of the current NFL sweethearts' matchup. Giants/Cowboys... I couldn't care less.
Monday, October 20, 2008
New Glasses
My time is short this morning, but I told Mom and Dad that I'd get some pics posted of my new glasses today! Josiah told me he was ordering some prescription Oakleys and that the deal was a good one, so I opted to update as well. My last pair was about three years old and showing a good amount of wear and tear from daily abuse.I opted to go with two pairs; one for daily use and one for days when I am commuting. I usually wind up having to take a second pair of glasses with me to work when I commute because my everyday glasses are a little too small to get adequate eye coverage on the bike. With the commute glasses, I'll have something sporty enough to wear on the bike, but still decent enough to wear all day at the store.
Speaking of, I'm off to do my first commute in the new glasses...
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Last big ride for the year
At the beginning of the year I set a goal for myself to ride to each of our parents' houses from Sioux Falls. Mitchell was easy as Sioux Falls/Mitchell was the first scheduled day of the Tour de Kota. Yankton finally happened in July and again in August since we just happened to be headed that way anyway.
That only left Prairie Hill Farm where my folks live, south of Hartley, IA. I anticipated it being the longest ride of the three and probably the most difficult to schedule because it would take the bulk of the day and a quick turnaround for home that night wouldn't give us any time to visit. It also usually is a route with the most amount of headwind. I decided to schedule a vacation day on Friday for the ride and stay through Saturday night with the fam.
Thankfully, the ride itself proved a bit more friendly than I'd hoped with temps in the 80's. Definitely more hills than any of the other rides, but they were mostly in the first twenty miles. The wind, which had been probably 10-30 mph out of the southeast on Thursday (which would have been a headwind the entire way) shifted and lost a little intensity so that I was probably riding in twenty mph winds out of the south/southwest. This meant I still had stretches where I had to fight it, but the headwind sections probably averaged out at about three or four miles with the longest being six miles.
I made stops in Rock Rapids, George, Sheldon (my hometown, for lunch) and Primghar, taking my time resting and refueling as much as I could without dragging the ride out too long. The only bad stretch I had was from about Archer to Primghar (about eight miles) where I just sort of hit the wall. I realized right before Primghar that I hadn't taken my Sport Legs supplements when I stopped for lunch like I had intended. Sport Legs are supposed to help stave off the production of lactic acid so that you feel fresher longer and I definitely think they help. I've said on a couple of occasions that if they are a placebo, then they're a placebo I'll continue to take.
I got my second wind and finished strong, rolling into the farm after 3:00 where the folks were sitting on the deck outside the studio waiting in the pleasant warmth and breeze of the afternoon. We sat on the deck until Dad had to go to an art show opening that he had a few pieces in, at which point I headed into the house and cleaned up. Amy and the kids arrived sometime after 5:00 and we had a good visit. We actually slept in on Saturday, had a lazy day with the family and gigantic buffalo steaks for dinner.
Schedules when school is in session make it almost impossible to do any real riding, so I'll be amazed if I can scrape together even a handful of 30-40 mile rides until next spring, but I was happy to have a good ride and achieve a goal that seemed doable with a little work at the beginning of the year.
That only left Prairie Hill Farm where my folks live, south of Hartley, IA. I anticipated it being the longest ride of the three and probably the most difficult to schedule because it would take the bulk of the day and a quick turnaround for home that night wouldn't give us any time to visit. It also usually is a route with the most amount of headwind. I decided to schedule a vacation day on Friday for the ride and stay through Saturday night with the fam.
Thankfully, the ride itself proved a bit more friendly than I'd hoped with temps in the 80's. Definitely more hills than any of the other rides, but they were mostly in the first twenty miles. The wind, which had been probably 10-30 mph out of the southeast on Thursday (which would have been a headwind the entire way) shifted and lost a little intensity so that I was probably riding in twenty mph winds out of the south/southwest. This meant I still had stretches where I had to fight it, but the headwind sections probably averaged out at about three or four miles with the longest being six miles.
I made stops in Rock Rapids, George, Sheldon (my hometown, for lunch) and Primghar, taking my time resting and refueling as much as I could without dragging the ride out too long. The only bad stretch I had was from about Archer to Primghar (about eight miles) where I just sort of hit the wall. I realized right before Primghar that I hadn't taken my Sport Legs supplements when I stopped for lunch like I had intended. Sport Legs are supposed to help stave off the production of lactic acid so that you feel fresher longer and I definitely think they help. I've said on a couple of occasions that if they are a placebo, then they're a placebo I'll continue to take.
I got my second wind and finished strong, rolling into the farm after 3:00 where the folks were sitting on the deck outside the studio waiting in the pleasant warmth and breeze of the afternoon. We sat on the deck until Dad had to go to an art show opening that he had a few pieces in, at which point I headed into the house and cleaned up. Amy and the kids arrived sometime after 5:00 and we had a good visit. We actually slept in on Saturday, had a lazy day with the family and gigantic buffalo steaks for dinner.
Schedules when school is in session make it almost impossible to do any real riding, so I'll be amazed if I can scrape together even a handful of 30-40 mile rides until next spring, but I was happy to have a good ride and achieve a goal that seemed doable with a little work at the beginning of the year.
Monday, September 22, 2008
A season for new music
I decided that I needed to dig into a little new music for use at church and received a few iTunes gift cards for my birthday last month to assist me in my endeavors. So far, I have to say I'm pretty disappointed in my options where corporate worship is concerned. It's not that there isn't some good music being made, it's just that so little of it seems to have application for where I'm at.
I've come to the conclusion that I'm going to have to set to work and write what I can't find. It's not a new revelation to me, it's just that finding time and energy between one full time job, two part time jobs, volunteer commitments with both kids' schools and simply trying to be husband, father and friend is proving to be a difficult endeavor. I'm only able to write anything today because Xander is home sick from school and Amy's recital is this week. Not a good week for her to be around sick kids.
But, I did find a few things worth commenting on...
The first is John Mark McMillan's "The Medicine." I have to thank Hal Swift for indirectly putting me in touch with this artist since Hal loaned me a CD from another artist that included McMillan's song "How He Loves" which has been working me over for the last few months. We decided to introduce it at church about a month ago and in the process of tracking down resources, I came across McMillan's site which includes a music player with songs from his new album. I waited patiently until the album became available on iTunes (again, the gift cards) and downloaded it. Easily my favorite of the latest round of acquisitions including offerings from Charlie Hall, Matt Maher and Coldplay (all of which have merit of their own).
The thing I love about McMillan is he has a great sense for poetic lyricism set to creative melodies. The production is at times, raw and visceral, at times eclectic and experimental and at times simple and straight forward. At times I'm reminded of Mason Jennings, at other times Waterdeep. Certain songs continue to roll around in my head either because they stuck melodically or because they ignited a thought in me that simply needs to be meditated on. There are even a few that I expect to see us incorporate into our worship settings at Mercy.
Today brought another great find. This one for free!!! Phil Whickham has become one of my favorite singer/songwriters in modern worship and he has released a free album of live acoustic settings of some of his best songs mixed with traditional hymn interludes that I'm listening to as I write. Singalong is free just for signing up to receive email updates from Phil and is a great, low risk introduction to his music. "Singalong" is a great showcase for the songs and is a good resource for anyone looking for songs for acoustic worship.
If you like what you hear or wonder what the songs would sound like in all of their envisioned, studio glory then definitely check out his self titled album and "Cannons" which I think are two of the better artistic efforts in the worship genre in recent years. "You're Beautiful" has become one of our favorite modern anthemic hymns and "True Love" is still the song that I wish I would have written. Absolutely stunning imagery.
If anyone has any other suggestions (other than Michael W. Smith or Chris Tomlin) for me to check out in pursuit of great new congregational songs, then please feel free to leave a comment.
I've come to the conclusion that I'm going to have to set to work and write what I can't find. It's not a new revelation to me, it's just that finding time and energy between one full time job, two part time jobs, volunteer commitments with both kids' schools and simply trying to be husband, father and friend is proving to be a difficult endeavor. I'm only able to write anything today because Xander is home sick from school and Amy's recital is this week. Not a good week for her to be around sick kids.
But, I did find a few things worth commenting on...
The first is John Mark McMillan's "The Medicine." I have to thank Hal Swift for indirectly putting me in touch with this artist since Hal loaned me a CD from another artist that included McMillan's song "How He Loves" which has been working me over for the last few months. We decided to introduce it at church about a month ago and in the process of tracking down resources, I came across McMillan's site which includes a music player with songs from his new album. I waited patiently until the album became available on iTunes (again, the gift cards) and downloaded it. Easily my favorite of the latest round of acquisitions including offerings from Charlie Hall, Matt Maher and Coldplay (all of which have merit of their own).The thing I love about McMillan is he has a great sense for poetic lyricism set to creative melodies. The production is at times, raw and visceral, at times eclectic and experimental and at times simple and straight forward. At times I'm reminded of Mason Jennings, at other times Waterdeep. Certain songs continue to roll around in my head either because they stuck melodically or because they ignited a thought in me that simply needs to be meditated on. There are even a few that I expect to see us incorporate into our worship settings at Mercy.
Today brought another great find. This one for free!!! Phil Whickham has become one of my favorite singer/songwriters in modern worship and he has released a free album of live acoustic settings of some of his best songs mixed with traditional hymn interludes that I'm listening to as I write. Singalong is free just for signing up to receive email updates from Phil and is a great, low risk introduction to his music. "Singalong" is a great showcase for the songs and is a good resource for anyone looking for songs for acoustic worship. If you like what you hear or wonder what the songs would sound like in all of their envisioned, studio glory then definitely check out his self titled album and "Cannons" which I think are two of the better artistic efforts in the worship genre in recent years. "You're Beautiful" has become one of our favorite modern anthemic hymns and "True Love" is still the song that I wish I would have written. Absolutely stunning imagery.
If anyone has any other suggestions (other than Michael W. Smith or Chris Tomlin) for me to check out in pursuit of great new congregational songs, then please feel free to leave a comment.
Monday, September 08, 2008
A lot of catching up to do
August was a blur. I had a trip to Trek's Backstage event in Madison, WI, school started, we had our big Mercy Celebration at church, I made the jump from running youth cold weather at work to running men's cold weather and I'm sure a bunch of other stuff happened.
The highlight was probably the trip to Wisconsin. I got to go ride cool new stuff, meet some folks including Gary Fisher (one of the fathers of mountain biking) and get a first look at the stuff that we'll be selling next season. The demo day that we had in Waterloo at Trek's headquarters was definitely the most fun. We had a chance to ride some killer trails and I took the opportunity to ride a few bikes including Trek's Top Fuel 9.9 SL which is their best of the best, full suspension, race bike. It weighs about 20 pounds and just begs to be ridden faster and faster. We also got to demo road bikes, so I took a Trek Madone 6.9 Pro out for a spin with Bontrager Aeolus 5.5 wheels and Shimano's newest version of Dura Ace (so new the Shimano boys were actually installing it on the frames at the event). I absolutely loved this bike and only regret that I was so slagged from the mountain bike demo that I really couldn't throw too much into the road demo.
Another highlight was our Mercy Celebration at church. We moved the service outdoors, had free food, played about a 45 minute set in the afternoon and had inflatables and yard games. The turn out was pretty decent and the amount of advertising that we did has carried over in terms of first time visitors into September. We're loving things at Mercy and are excited to see what the next season will hold.
The move of cold weather departments at work was one that I had considered previously and when I heard that Kalie was leaving to take a youth ministry job in town I decided to put my hat in the ring. I really enjoyed running the youth section but it really begins to ramp up in late July into August which means that I lose a lot of focus when it comes to running the bike department as well. Men's cold weather really hasn't even hardly started, so in terms of seasonal flow, the switch to men's should compliment bikes quite well. We've had a great bike season although we were playing catch up pretty much all season. Bikes were in high demand between gas prices and stimulus checks so it will be interesting to see how next season plays out.
Xander started third grade and Amy and I are in the classroom again for our volunteer time. Xander's school requires one half day per week per student commitment so Amy and I alternate weeks. It will take a little time to adapt to a new teacher and new ways of doing things, but it should be a good year.
I also started teaching trumpet at the University of Sioux Falls this morning. I didn't have any students last year, so it's been a year and a half since I taught last. I really am looking forward to it as it will force me to practice more and stay connected to that part of my personality. It's easy for me to neglect the trumpet with everything else that I have going on, but it was my first passionate connection to music and it's nice to return home.
Hopefully September won't escape as quickly as August did, but here it is the 8th already and I'm just reconciling the end of August. Yikes!
The highlight was probably the trip to Wisconsin. I got to go ride cool new stuff, meet some folks including Gary Fisher (one of the fathers of mountain biking) and get a first look at the stuff that we'll be selling next season. The demo day that we had in Waterloo at Trek's headquarters was definitely the most fun. We had a chance to ride some killer trails and I took the opportunity to ride a few bikes including Trek's Top Fuel 9.9 SL which is their best of the best, full suspension, race bike. It weighs about 20 pounds and just begs to be ridden faster and faster. We also got to demo road bikes, so I took a Trek Madone 6.9 Pro out for a spin with Bontrager Aeolus 5.5 wheels and Shimano's newest version of Dura Ace (so new the Shimano boys were actually installing it on the frames at the event). I absolutely loved this bike and only regret that I was so slagged from the mountain bike demo that I really couldn't throw too much into the road demo.Another highlight was our Mercy Celebration at church. We moved the service outdoors, had free food, played about a 45 minute set in the afternoon and had inflatables and yard games. The turn out was pretty decent and the amount of advertising that we did has carried over in terms of first time visitors into September. We're loving things at Mercy and are excited to see what the next season will hold.
The move of cold weather departments at work was one that I had considered previously and when I heard that Kalie was leaving to take a youth ministry job in town I decided to put my hat in the ring. I really enjoyed running the youth section but it really begins to ramp up in late July into August which means that I lose a lot of focus when it comes to running the bike department as well. Men's cold weather really hasn't even hardly started, so in terms of seasonal flow, the switch to men's should compliment bikes quite well. We've had a great bike season although we were playing catch up pretty much all season. Bikes were in high demand between gas prices and stimulus checks so it will be interesting to see how next season plays out.
Xander started third grade and Amy and I are in the classroom again for our volunteer time. Xander's school requires one half day per week per student commitment so Amy and I alternate weeks. It will take a little time to adapt to a new teacher and new ways of doing things, but it should be a good year.
I also started teaching trumpet at the University of Sioux Falls this morning. I didn't have any students last year, so it's been a year and a half since I taught last. I really am looking forward to it as it will force me to practice more and stay connected to that part of my personality. It's easy for me to neglect the trumpet with everything else that I have going on, but it was my first passionate connection to music and it's nice to return home.
Hopefully September won't escape as quickly as August did, but here it is the 8th already and I'm just reconciling the end of August. Yikes!
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