Whenever you move you find random things. If each move were measured by these finding, our most recent move would have been considered a triumph!

Stalker Letter to Kate. Reader advisory: all misspellings and grammatical errors are that of the creator. The transcriber of this important historical document did everything physically possible to copy the document accurately, even when this was ridiculously challenging.

Dear Kate,

I feel guilty because I was told that I made you feel uncomfortable. I was told it was the way I was holding you. If thats true will you PLEASE forgive me.
I have a couple of lines from a song stuck in my head that I believe pertain to you:

Your love is like a river
Peaceful and deep
Your soul is like a secret
I could never keep
When I look into your eyes
I know that it’s true
God must have spent a little more time on your

I hope you can forgive me. If you could write back with your answer, it would be much appreciated.
There is something you ought to know. This is hard for me to say, but if I don’t I won’t be able to live with myself, I have a crush on you. Ever since I laid my eyes on you. I will name some of you rbest qualities. For one, your gorgeous. You are the most gorgeous woman to ever walked the face of the earth. You are also nice to everyone you meet. Even guys like me. You seem to be intelligent. You are great dancer, unlike me. You seem to have high standards. I love that in a woman. If any guy makes you uncomfortable, tell him to back off. [sic]
I hope that If your already have a boyfriend or if you don’t want me, then maybe we can still be friends. I want to ask you to keep being the wonderful person that you are.
I feel something different about you, like we should both go out when we are 16 (double dates of course), but this will probibly never happen. You are just a wonderful person.
I love you, Kate, and nothing can change that now. You might think I love you just for your body, but that’s not true. I also love you for you sweet spirit. I love your outgoing personality. Your the kind of woman I want to marry in the temple. I doubt that it will be us, but it just so happens that you are the most gorgeous woman. PLEASE forgive me for anything I have done to you. I hope you are living the young women’s values.
I know we aren’t dating age but I still love you and nothing or anyone can change my mind. PLEASE don’t lose those gorgeous curls. I believe God did spend more time creating you, because he created a gorgeous angel. You look like an angel straight from heaven. I think “fine” is an understatement. I would have told you this at the dance, buy you kept avoiding me when I got the courage to tell you.
If you are already spoken for, maybe we can be friends. Maybe when we are both 16 we can go on a group date and go dancing. I want to let you know I will plan creative dates. I don’t know how you’re taking this so PLEASE write back and tell me. I know that you don’t feel the same way as I do.
Here is a poem I wrote for you:

Kate
Gorgeous Angel
Loves to Dance
Sweet Spirit
Beautiful

Let me give you some advice. Never let your standards fall for anyone. Pray always, whether you feel you need to or don’t. Read the scriptures daily, PLEASE don’t lose the curls.

Love,

-----Name Removed-----

P.S. I can’t stop thinking about you.

I can now formally announce that I have been appointed Adjunct Instructor of Low Brass at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa. Currently there are trombone. euphonium, and tuba students. I am excited to work with these students and help them develop the skills necessary to be competitive in the field of music.

Earlier this week Kate and I got to meet our newest nephew, Shaden. Christopher and Ixchelle came over to Holly and Kevin’s house; we had dinner and just chatted for a long time. Here is a picture I took of Shaden with a stuffed panda from Build a Bear.



Last night we all went to Denver to watch a Rockies game. Unfortunately the Rockies lost, but we had a great time and enjoyed some Rockie Dogs!

I only remembered to take pictures of the drive from Iowa to Colorado a few times. Here they are:

Why So Serious?


You Know You Are in Colorado When......


The authorities list hackey sack on the list of things not to do indoors.

We are having a good time. More pics to come.

A stape of the freelance musician diet is the wedding gig. Usually these are pretty lame - we are asked to play music that any 8th grader could get through (not as well, I hope!), and then we usually only play for five to ten minutes out of the two hours we are there. Today is a completely different situation! A fellow trombonist is getting married today and he has asked us to play trombone quartets! We are playing some great literature and I even get to play alto trombone on a couple pieces. Best wedding gig ever!

This is so full of win that I’m bursting at the seams to share this video! It’s two of my favorite things: original NES Super Mario Bros. and weird crap. I have actually always really liked the theramin since I first heard about it in my Intro to Music History class more than a decade ago.

To read about the theramin, check out the wikipedia article here.

Awesome thumbnail...................WHAT?

Perhaps it was that studying with Buddy Baker at UNC set in motion my practice habits for years afterwards. Mr. Baker was very big on the Daily Routine: a series of excersizes one practices each day, stretching his abilities daily and covering all the bases, ranges, and techniques of the trombone. I did this religiously at seven A.M. for my entire undergraduate degree. Things got more complicated after getting married. Kate certainly didn’t care for me playing at seven A.M.; we moved to a new place without access to a school of music or practice rooms; and we had apartment neighbors so I could only practice at more courteous hours. With Voxman Hall under post-flood renovation I find myself in the same situation. It is always sticky moving to a new place. Hopefully our new neighbors will be understanding. If not, too bad for them! (just kidding, I really do try to be concious of our apartment neighbors). I look forward to the time that we can own a home so that I can practice at seven A.M. (on the other side of the house or in my sound proof room) or I can practice at midnight if I want. Oh, if only! Hopefully that time is not too far off. For now, it’s 10 A.M to 5 P.M.

Today my iPhone told me “No SIM Card Found”. D’oh!! It was at a really inconvenient time; it always is. Luckily, the SIM card just needed to be replaced. No need for additional support or waiting to have it fixed or replaced by Apple. Dodged a bullet there!

There is something to be said for the joy of being busy. Many people hate having lots of things on thier plate; I, on the other hand, hate not having tons of things to do. When I am not running a million miles an hour I feel like I’m not doing all that I can be doing. This week has been particularly busy with moving and all the things that go along with that. I feel nothing but joy for how much has been done! Luckily, this week has been one of productivity. Sometimes we all get busy, but with things are not the most productive. At certain times in my life I have been more effective of a planner than I am at this stage of my life. I can recently acquired a few different iPhone applications that promise increased productivity (all of these apps are free downloads from the iTunes App Store). In the coming weeks I am going to play with each of them, test them, and hopefully find a winner. When I decide to do something I usually go full-steam (at least for a while....). At any rate, I hope to enjoy long periods of productivity in the coming weeks, months, and years!