Posted: 11:18 pm
Wow, how time flies. Seems like only 3 days since my last post, not 3 months. So here’s what I’ve been up to:
First off, the tree has been significantly reduced. The main part of the trunk and many twigs are all that’s left. Not to mention several holes in the ground that are awaiting my repair and a now-broken playset that needs to be dissembled and hauled to the landfill.
In February I celebrated my 41st birthday.
In March Gail and I chaperoned on a trip to New York City, where the Linganore Marching Band was marching in the St. Patrick’s Day parade. This is the second time we’ve done this trip, and I have to say it was much easier than the first time because we didn’t do nearly as much walking. We left early on a Sunday morning via charter bus and returned very late Tuesday night (ok, officially it was Wednesday morning—about 1AM). The schedule is purposely packed full of activities so the students don’t have any down time while in the city. Which is a good thing, because it takes an extraordinary effort to coordinate a group of 150 people. On Sunday we visited the U.S.S. Intrepid. After spending about 2 hours there (not nearly enough time to see all of the attraction) we got back on the buses and headed to the hotel in New Jersey to unpack our bags. After only an hour we again got back on the buses and headed back into the city for dinner at Planet Hollywood. After dinner we visited Madame Tussauds Wax Museum (for 3 hours, too much time) and then gathered in Times Square for a group photo. Afterwards we returned to the hotel. On Monday we we took a three hour guided bus tour of famous sites filmed in TV and movies followed by lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe (breakfast was McDonald’s on the bus). Afterwards we went to the top of “Top of the Rock” at Rockefeller center—70 stories tall. Magnificient views of the entire city but it’s a shame the day was somewhat cloudy and gray. Then we went on a behind the curtain tour of Radio City Music Hall, where we saw the massive stage lift and got to meet a Rockette. At this point we were a little ahead of schedule so we visited St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Beautiful! Then we went to dinner at Jekyll & Hyde, a themed restaurant with no apparent air conditioning as it was as hot as blazes inside.Then we went to the theater to see West Side Story and then headed back to the hotel. Tuesday morning we again had breakfast at McDonalds while everyone packed up and checked out of the hotel. We spent about an hour in Chinatown then walked to the South Street Seaport for a quick lunch. Afterwards we met up with our busses and the students suited up in the uniforms. We drove to their staging area on East 48th street (and drove right past Ground Zero on the way) and us chaperones rode up to 90th street, which was near the end of the parade route. The band stepped off over an hour later than anticipated but they had a good parade, although at that point the parade had been going on for most of the day so attendance was down quite a bit. When they were done we loaded up the busses, got changed out of the uniforms and headed home, stopping at a “trough” (buffet) for dinner. A long three days but it was alot of fun. A bit of trivia: we went through the Lincoln Tunnel a total of eight times.
In April I ran for and was elected Secretary of the Band Booster organization. Gail was re-elected as Treasurer so we’re both going to be in the thick of things next year. I begin my term in May, right after our Band Banquet. I already have big plans, as I want to redesign and rebuild the band website (linganoreband.org) and I already signed the band up on Twitter (@LinganoreBand) and sent updates while we were on the NYC trip.
Other than busy periods at work that pretty much sums up what I’ve been up to. I installed a WordPress app on my iPhone so hopefully I’ll post more frequently.
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