Jeff’s Blog

Last night, we went to see the Colorado Rockies play the San Diego Padres. They played a great game, and very few innings had any scoring at all. However, the Padres managed to pull ahead by two, and despite a strong effort from the Rockies, the game went to San Diego in the end. It was still very enjoyable, and possibly the last one we’ll go to this year.

Our marching band just finished Band Camp for the 2007 season. We spend six hours marching and playing music for two weeks straight to kick-start the marching band season. It is always a lot of work, and all this week it was in the sun. Everyone gets very strange tan lines and sunburns, and your personal life ends when it begins. But it’s not actually that bad, and it definitely is necessary. When it comes time for the first football game or competition, everyone is thankful that we put that much hard work and time into our show.

Despite the fact that we just spent 60 hours on marching band, we now have three rehearsals a week. Two of them are three hours apiece, and one of them is five. Last season we had around 230 hours of total rehearsal time. But we also placed sixth in state. This year we’re a lot farther along, and it is going to be a great year.

I have just completed my three classroom days of driver’s ed. The program I took also offers the permit test right after the last session of the class, so I took that today, and I got 100%! I’ll go to the DMV building on Monday to get my permit. The class, however, was extremely boring. We got two morning breaks, two afternoon breaks, and lunch. In between breaks, we watched about 10 movies a day and read out of a printed learning manual for the remainder of the time. Overall, though, it was definitely worth it, and the other two parts of this driver’s ed program will be/were a lot better.

The first “phase” was skills. We learned how to avoid accidents and crashes, and what to do in various situations. We were behind the wheel from the start, and we got to push the car to the limits to see how it felt. Now that I can get my permit, I can take “phase 3,” the actual driving course where they take us around and teach us how to drive on roads and in traffic. That’s going to be a lot more interesting than sitting in a classroom and learning technicalities of traffic laws.

So far this summer, I’ve been up to a lot. I am working as a web designer at the BVSD again, and I got a raise this year. My old boss (the webmaster) left, and they’re still in the process of hiring a new one. Also this year, I got to bring in my keyboard and compose some background music for a podcast they’re doing, which was amazingly cool. I got to use Garage Band and make loops with my own bass lines, drum beats and other licks until it sounded like a song.

Along with working, I did C’s Jazz in Summer again this year, which was not as good as it was last year. It was still great to play jazz though, and the guitarist was amazing at playing blues. I’ve also been doing a salsa group with CCJA. There have only been two sessions so far, but it’s going to be really fun.

I also participated in Bike to Work Day, a yearly event in which many businesses provide free breakfast to people who either bike or walk to work in an effort to reduce pollution from cars and get people active. Finally, marching band has started again, and we’re really far ahead. We plan on doing very well in the state competition this year, and we’re well on our way. We’ll be marching and playing in the Independence Day parade this Wednesday as well.

Those are all the major things that have been going on; I also switched my blog to WordPress, but that’s not really important. This summer is a week shorter due to a school schedule change, and it’s already going fast, but it’s not that bad. At least I have something to do.

Today was the first day of Marching Band’s required Band Camp. I got there early to avoid having to do push-ups, and then we hit the field for four hours of marching with a break halfway for a snack.

The first day is also uniform fitting, so after about a half an hour of trying things on, I got my uniform labeled and ready. Then, I went back outside for some more enjoyable marching.

When we were done with that, it was lunch time. Luckily, we were able to go inside for that. And after lunch, we were also inside playing music.

I’m guessing that’s how the rest of the two weeks are going to go, minus the uniform fitting. It’s nice that we’re inside for the hottest part of the day, but it’s still tough marching that early and even in that heat.

Last Friday, my family and I left to go on a weekend camping trip because my dad had to work late on Thursday. We left somewhat early so we could do stuff that day. We tried two campgrounds until we found one that had a few empty sites, so we claimed one that was to our liking.

When we got there and set up camp, we had a lunch of PB&J, and spent the rest of the day playing catch and biking around the campground. That night we had an awesome fire, over which we roasted marshmallows and made s’mores.

The next day we had a great breakfast of scrambled eggs and sausage, and the dog enjoyed taking care of the leftovers. We spent that Saturday doing pretty much the same thing - playing catch and biking, but we also just sat around, relaxed, and enjoyed the peace and quiet of the mountains, with the occasional car driving by on the highway.

When we were cooking dinner, though, the propane tank for the grill caught on fire! We grabbed the fire extinguisher and put it out, and ended up going to a steakhouse in town where we had awesome prime rib, burritos and a burger, with sweet potato fries as an appetizer.

This morning, we had a similar breakfast, packed up, and took off.

We just got back from our four-day vacation to Steamboat Springs, Colorado. We drove, and it took about five hours to get there, which wasn’t bad considering we stopped for lunch which took forever along the way.

Right when we got there, we stopped in at F.M. Light & Sons to buy awesome hats. After we spent a little bit of time in there, we went to a restaurant where I ate “Wings of Death” and a BBQ Pork Sandwich, which were both really good. Then we drove to the campground where we spent two nights, enjoying campfires, playing catch, and boating on the lake.

Then, we went into town and checked into the La Quinta Inn after riding the Gondolas up and hiking, not to mention eating lunch right nearby. And that night, we went to see the rodeo. It was very fun, and during the Steer Wrestling one of the cowboys missed the steer and was in front of it, and the steer actually jumped over him! It was an excellent rodeo and we had a lot of fun.

The first day in town we left town and drove out to Dinosaur National Park, some of which was actually in Utah. It was very interesting. What is now the Green River used to run over a ton of dinosaur carcases which are now fossilized. A long time ago, people dug them out carelessly and quickly so they could be sent to a museum, but now the United States turned it into a National Park, and paleontologists who care about the historical element took over. These days all excavations have ceased, but you can see where they were actually excavating and are still examining - their building is now a visitor’s center.

After we checked out that part, we went on the Auto Tour around different parts and learned a ton about the geological past of the area. At the end, we went on a hike around an old homestead and into a canyon, which was also very cool.

This morning, the last day of our vacation, we got up, skipped the hotel’s free breakfast and ate at the third restaurant we tried, and had a delicious meal. I had incredible french toast with hot chocolate and actual fresh-squeezed orange juice with butter on the side and powdered sugar with syrup on top. Then, we went back to the hotel, hitched up our pop-up camper, and started the long journey home. Now, we’re back, and getting back to reality. It was a great vacation though.

I have been very busy pretty much since school got out. I’ve been working for the BVSD doing web design, attending Marching Band practice every Monday night from 6pm-9pm, and participating in C’s Jazz in Summer, a jazz improvisation camp. Of course, I always leave time for playing catch with my brother and dad, playing video games, watching Rockies games and occasionally working on version four of my blog.

I got a cell phone! It is an AudioVox Snapper and it is awesome. I can text and picture text and AIM and web browse. It is awesome.