Arkansas Open Grand Champions!!!!!

Sorry for the delayed post, but I'm proud to announce that last Saturday The Houston Band defeated defending champions Jonesboro High School at the Arkansas Open! Jonesboro has won the competition nine straight years, but a dazzling show marched cleanly and played to perfection broke their winning streak. Of course Sam was ecstatic that the colorguard took ANOTHER first as well. What a great way to end the season!

Tonight the kids march the show for the last time at a home football game, in costume no less! Something tells me Sam and I will be choking up at the thought of leaving the group behind.

Wayne's World

Yep, it's a picture of one of the Xbox buildings on Microsoft's Millennium Campus. This building, Building E, is where Wayne works.

Home Sweet Home

Notice the mantle over the fireplace in Wayne's apartment. Pictures of the kids and I along with diecast replicas of the Porsche and the BMW.

Lades the Traveler

It was a long drive to Redmond, but Lady made the trip like a champ. I think Wayne's glad to have her as a room mate, too. Wow, hard to believe it's been a month already....

See for Yourself

Click the link to your right to watch Houston High School Marching Band's award-winning performance of "Cruisin" at Vanderbilt University!

Houston High School Marching Band Does it Again!

The kids and I traveled to Nashville yesterday to watch Houston Band defend its Chancellor's Cup award at the Vanderbilt Marching Invitational. Let me just say, THEY KICKED BUTT!!!!!

First place large division band, first place colorguard, first place percussion, first place field commanders, and three-peat winners of the Chancellor's Cup!!!!

The kids were all so excited, they spent an hour and a half in the Vandy parking lot playing tunes, dancing, jamming, and celebrating. We got home around 3 am. Long day, but ohhhh so much fun.

Chee and the Sprinklers

Up until yesterday, conditions have been so dry here that the grass crunched. Well one day Chris decided to turn on the underground sprinklers. Chee of course needed to go out while they were running. First, he barked at them, then he ran through them, then he tried to drink from them. Of course since they turn, he eventually got shot up the nose! Goofy dog....

Breaking News!!!

The Houston Band places FIRST at the Wolf River Classic!!!! The colorguard also took first which is HUGE because they've got a very tough routine. Sam called me on the cell right after awards shedding all sorts of happy tears.

I'm not saying this band is cool, but how many marching bands have you seen with a guitarist hanging from a radio tower complete with red blinking light at the top and a SMOKE MACHINE?!? When the last of five songs, "Freebird", started, the band parents cracked their red glow sticks and swayed to the vibe. A MUCH better idea than waving cell phones like we did the other week (laughs)!

Sam, Chris, your dad and I are soooo proud of you! And Sam, just over four months ago you were at Cleveland Clinic in severe pain. Look how far you've come!!!! Now you're practicing 12 hours a week and catching killer flag tosses! And CJ, wow, Mr. Smith can actually hear you play this year! Nice work, guys!

Redmond Report

Before he left town, Wayne set me up with a web cam so we can do video with voice over the internet. Of course Comcast can't set him up with high speed internet until October 12th, but we were able to play around with it during his hotel stay in Missoula, Montana. Yeah, I know we look dorky, not to mention hyper-nerdy, but it was cool to be able to see Wayne and Lady. You should have seen her cock her head and perk up her ears as she looked at my pictured and heard my voice. It was soooo cute!

After a week in Redmond, Wayne's starting to get to know the area. He's checked out the Ikea, a huge electronics superstore, and several neat food places we don't have here. He's also been getting settled in his apartment, which is only a mile and a half from the Xbox buildings. (Yep, there are multiples.)

He really seems to like his coworkers. They're a work hard, play hard group which should keep things challenging and fun.

In Tennessee, the kids are just beginning the most active part of their competitive marching season. They're show is awesome, so the season should be great fun. Transportation to and from work has been a battle, but my boss found me a carpool buddy in another division of TruGreen which should help. And on the weekends, I may be hiring a lady from work's son to help with errands and other odd jobs around the house.

I miss Wayne even more than I expected to (and I honestly expected it to be pretty bad). The kids are pretty off-balance too. I'm trying to get out there as quickly as I can, but the economy will delay things on the housing front. I'm applying for Microsoft jobs as well as working with a recruiter that does contract positions for them. Our hope is to make this time apart as short as possible.