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I’ve just finished the redesign on the main blog. It took me a bit longer than I thought it would. Still, I’m reasonably happy with the result. Please let me know what you think. The title to this post is obviously a shameless effort to show up on more google searches.

Life has been busy this last month, as I’m certain you have ascertained by the notable lack of posts. The reasons are varied and many. We took a trip to see my parents in Nebraska. The trip was good and it was good to see them. However, packing six kids in a Suburban for 6hrs one way is an exercise in restraint. Corwin had an allergic reaction to the cats and we had to leave early. Hopefully we can get him in to the doctor and get him tested and on some medication to mitigate his allergies. I returned to school as did my lovely wife. I started with 12 credits and unfortunately had to drop a class so I’m down to 9. You’d think part-time and 9 credits would be no big deal right? Well, it’s significantly harder than one might think. For some goofy reason, most of the classes I’m taking are 1-2 credits – only one of the six is 3 credits! I’m taking exclusively music classes this semester but I’d like to know who dreamt up the credit system for some of these classes…

We’ve been settling into a routine though Cher has gotten a new job AND kept the old one to preserve our benefits. I think she’s nuts but I love her and appreciate the fact that she’s working so hard to go to school and take care of us. She is simply the best. It’s tax season again… Hopefully we can pay off most of our debt with this year’s return and get a loan on the house. Send good thoughts our way.

We bought an electric piano, a Yamaha P120. It should prove a tremendous asset in that I really needed one to practice on at home. The kids are excited and looking forward to learning how to play too. We’ll see how long their enthusiasm lasts once the tedium of practice sets in. Still, maybe 1 or 2 of them will enjoy it enough to continue. I should also be able to record some more pieces for the AudioBlog. Right now I’m working on Dave Brubeck’s “Take 5” and Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag.”

I’ve been practicing a lot lately because most of my classes are performance based this semester. The exception is Theory II which I really just need to sit down and work on for an afternoon – probably tomorrow afternoon, in fact. Each instructor I’ve had since I switched my major to Music has had a different take on music theory. Obviously, there are only so many ways to approach any given subject. The trick is to discover the way the professor favors and structure your answers to reflect that point of view – which is why I really need to sit down and go over the book for Theory II.

I’m going to sign off now as, it’s getting late and I’ve been working on the blog for nearly 5 hours. I’ll write more soon.

RCS