cd/Bart

Easy like Sunday...afternoon!

2010-04-11T13:04:00.000-07:00

It is a beautiful Sunday afternoon and I seem to be stuck in PA's fine arts center for the afternoon helping out with the musical, but that is fine. My job is pretty simplistic in the fact that I just operate this rented huge Ipodish type machine and make sure the cues are done and entered in correctly. It is allright, and I don't mind volunteering, but the chaos that goes along with being a drama teacher doesn't really appeal to me, so I am sitting in the booth with my Iphone tuned into Adam Curry's Daily Source Code podcast trying to block out as much of the chaos as possible. I am a little OCD when it comes to discipline, and being a band director means that you are constantly in a position to lead and direct your organization, so I can handle that fine. I find the best way for me to help out at this point is to stay out of the way, keep to my job, and try to tune out the noise without letting it bother me.

Listening to podcasts, working on plans and the program for the Spring extravaganza (It is no longer simply a concert.), and drinking Diet Lipton Green Tea and Coke Zero helps. By the way, two things to post. The first is the working program for our Spring Extravaganza labeled as "The Evolution of Rock and Roll", that we are producing with the help of Tom Wood and Clearchannel's 94.9 TOM-FM. Here is our current program:

1900 - 1970
When the Saints go Marching In.............Traditional
You Really Got Me...............................The Kinks
A Groovy Kind of Love....................The Blue Belles
For Your Love...............................The Yardbirds
Mellow Yellow.....................................Donovan
Can't Help Falling in Love....................Elvis Presley
Don't Be Cruel.................................Elvis Presley
Ain't No Mountain High Enough........Nicholas Ashford
Brown Eyed Girl...............................Van Morrison
1970-1980
25 or 6 to 4..........................................Chicago
Shout it Out Loud.......................................KISS
Rock and Roll all Nite....................................KISS
Beth........................................................KISS
Stayin' Alive.........................................Bee Gees
Free Bird.....................................Lynryd Skynard
Eye of the Tiger......................................Survivor
Bad...........................................Michael Jackson
Africa......................................................Toto
Crazy Train..................................Ozzy Osbourne
Don't Stop Believin'.................................Journey
Open Arms............................................Journey
1990-Today
All Star.........................................Smash Mouth
Mambo No. 5.......................................Lou Bega
Macarena.........................................Los Del Rio
American Idiot....................................Green Day
Wake me Up When September Ends..........Green Day
Boulevard of Broken Dreams...................Green Day

Again, very excited for how this is shaping up. The other thing I wanted to post was the live stream for two of my favorite Podcasts: No Agenda and Daily Source Code, both hosted by Adam Curry, former MTV VJ and now political activist: http://www.noagendastream.com/

The other major thing that I am fighting right now is my weight, which has ballooned a little since my panic attacks earlier in the year. I am taking it slow and easy this time around, and not really pushing the fact that I need to lose weight as quickly as possible. I want this to be a permanent weight loss that lasts for years, and not months, if at all possible. Lifestyle changes!!

Things that I am looking forward to and starting to plan include the marching band show for 2010 for the PA bands, which will be a tribute to Michael Jackson, and our spring concert in 2011 which I believe will include a Skyped concert with a foreign band for Japan. Excitement abounds!

Again, if you are reading this, I hope that you are able to join myself and our bands at Pulaski Academy on May 6th starting at 7 PM in the Connor Performing Arts Center for our annual Spring Finale Extravaganza!

The Frozen Tundra of Thought

2010-01-30T02:16:00.000-08:00

My clock says that it is about 3:45 in the morning, and I am unable to sleep, so I guess I will spend a little bit of time talking to you, whomever that may be.

Today was a pretty great start to a surprising three day weekend. I received the call this morning about 5:30 about the school being closed, and was very happy to have a nice day to do nothing but sit and watch the ice and snow fall. In actuality it's pretty bad outside and I hope that my family and friends are all surviving and doing Ok. My mom and dad's power went out in Sheridan, but they are huddled in the downstairs area around the power generator that is giving them some heat along with the furnace. Michelle called in to work this morning to take the day off because she was afraid to get out of her driveway, so it seems that everybody is allright.

Most of my day today was spent washing clothes, talking to people on facebook, and just generally lounging around enjoying my new surround sound system and my new little entertainment center. It was comfy, and I am constantly reminded how lucky I am to have a roof over my head and am able to be almost 100% independent in these uncertain times. This is a much different United States than when I was born thirty years ago. (actually, now that I think and really compare the economics, it might not of have been that different after all.)

Physically and Emotionally, I am starting to feel thirty for the first time, and I am not sure how to take that. The food that I am eating it starting to affect my days more, the way that I treat my body is starting to affect my attitude, and, in general, I am starting to move onto another phase of my life. Its there and I see the corner, but, you really never know you turned it until you look in the rear view mirror.

Am I happy? For the most part, yes. There are always things that we can improve upon in our own lives, and I am still making mistakes and falling short every day. It is all a constant balancing act, it seems, and it is always just ready to tip over at any moment if you allow it. Does this have to do with relationships or being single? Nah, I accepted the fact that quite a while back that I am not the kind of guy that would get married. I am completely married to my job unfortunately, and that is about it. Will I regret that when I am seventy? Perhaps, but with the way things are looking, my generation will probably have to work until death just to keep food on the table. I am looking forward to submitting my application to Wal-Mart when I am seventy to be a door greeter! I will use Willie from the Maumelle Wal-Mart as my inspiration. :)

An aimless blog of thought for this evening. Thanks for tagging along.

Pride, Self-Confidence

2010-01-17T22:08:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite movies of all time is Donnie Darko. I love it more than any other movie because its meaning changes every single time that I view it. The first time I was simply blown away by the dialogue and the soundtrack, along with the bizarre ending. The second time, I caught a little more of the genius of the actual directing style, and what Richard Kelley was aiming for as far as characterization and the atmosphere. The hallway scene, where the private school is introduced while Tears for Fears "Head over Heels" is playing in the background, is absolutely one of the favorite movie scenes of all time.

The last time I took the time to view it, I really tried to understand more of Patrick Swayze's character involvement in the film and his parody of most "self help gurus" using his fear and love spectral analysis. Donnie's argument was that you simply cannot classify things in life into just one or two parts of a linear spectrum, but it really got me wondering:

How many of my decisions on a daily basis are based on fear?

Well, maybe not so much fear as pride. But can't pride almost run symmetrical with fear? Pride runs very deep in my family, and while some view it as only a positive, there are times when pride can blind, create tunnel vision, and cloud the decision making and creative process.

For example, in my last wind symphony class with the Upper School Band, we were working very hard on a piece and I made the mistake of saying that one of my flutes was playing a part incorrectly when it was one of the other flute players. The accused flute player told me that it was not her and the other flute admitted that it was her instead. Now, the students know me well enough to know that I am usually cool when I make a mistake, but instead, I got a little hot headed about it. It stuck with me for the rest of the day and I felt incredibly guilty for reacting like that and apologized to both students later on. Unfortunately, my personal pride got in the way, and blocked me from showing my students that it is Ok to make these kinds of mistakes. Even after all the degrees, college time, experience, and everything else, we are only human, after all.

It's funny though, you think that as you get older that these kinds of things would become easier to handle, but, in fact, they just become easier to mask and more complex to deal with.

Another thing that becomes more apparent as you get older is your self confidence. Right now, I am a thirty year old single male who is overweight and balding. I am usually not the most engaging guy when it comes to conversation, and would rather spend time in seclusion then go out with friends. My recent illness has shown me that I am not, in fact, superhuman, and have limits to what I can do and how far I can push myself. These things are not easy for me to get over sometimes, and like most people my age, we mask these lackings and cover it with anger, frustration, or, even worse, take it out on other people, especially those that I care for. It is something that I have to always work on.

I think its important for any student of any age to realize that there is not a place in time where growing and education stops (and especially personal education), and especially even after the formal side of education is over. I find that most of my best ideas about band concerts, personal ideas and discoveries, etc. come as I lay in bed at night, when all of the daily noise is subsided and out of the way. I think of formal education as that noise that lays down the lines during the day, and that time before you go to bed as the time when all of those lines start to cross each other to make connections that you could not hear before because so much was in the way to prevent these thought processes.

God only knows that there is so much that I need to work on to improve myself.

Remembering the old farm

2010-01-10T02:33:00.000-08:00

It's about 3:40 in the morning, and I can't sleep, so why not blog a little bit? Not much intelligent thought going into this one tonight, so I might just end up jumping into thirty topics, or I may just hit a few, who knows. When you are single and its Saturday night (or early Sunday morning, in this case), the world is yours to conquer, eh?

I think that most people have (in some variation or another) very special places that they always keep in their heart. I want to share one of mine with you. I do actually visit it quite often (probably more than I should), but it is always a quiet remembrance of what was, and what has become. My first visions that I can remember in life come from this place. Mostly what I vaguely remember is riding in this baby carrier that was placed in front of this rolling tram. This tram would roll up and down this huge corridor and I would sit there for hours at a time, staring blankly at about a quarter mile of chickens. Yes, numerous chickens. My dad, while working for the corps of engineers (after he retired from being a principal and coaching basketball), built a large chicken farm. This farm is located about one mile from this super tiny town called Story in west Arkansas. Story is about eighteen miles from Mount Ida, which is about sixty miles from Hot Springs, going towards Fort Smith. But, digressing, I remember riding on this tram, while my parents were working hard picking up eggs. When my parents were not looking, I would pick up a few of the eggs from right behind me, and throw them as hard as I could at these chickens. The chickens would go nuts whenever I did so, and usually I would get scolded from mom for doing so. Those are my actual first memories of my life.

Actually, I think my first true crystal clear memory that has stayed with me until today was when I took a sight test before I started Kindergarden at Mount Ida Elementary. I was supposed to say which animal that this arrow was pointing to in an eye test type machine. I saw a doggie and liked it so I simply said the dog every time the doctor asked where the arrow was pointing. I was, and still am, a weird kid.

We lived on the farm until I was about seven, moved to Dewitt, Arkansas where we swatted mosquitoes nightly for a few years, then ended up settling in Sheridan in about 1988. I still manage to visit the farm every now and then. Unfortunately, it is one of those things that is exciting for me and sad at the same time. Keith Smith farms, who ran most of the chicken farms of the area, closed down quite a few of the farms there, and our farm is basically abandoned. The old house is still standing and still has a pad lock on it, and there are things laying everywhere from some family that owned it after we moved on. Looking inside, there is an old computer that is laying near the window and I can see little parts of the ceiling inside starting to cave in. I imagine that some bank owns it after a foreclosure from someone, but that is just guessing.

It's peaceful though. It is hard to find an area anywhere in this day and age and just be able to hear nothing. Does that make sense? I think that silence is something we should all experience more often, as silly as it sounds. Visiting this farm by myself, in the dead of winter, it is amazing how quiet it is. It is kind of like when you first get your cell phone when you are young. You WANT people to call you. You WANT that noise in your life. Now, I wish I could throw my cell phone out the window half the time, even though I know I won't because my Iphone is both the love and the hate in my life. :)

It is my dream to go back to this farm to retire one day. And not just any farm. THIS specific farm. I want my last years on this wonderful planet to give back to this land that gave me so many memories growing up. Maybe I will grow a beet farm like Dwight on "The Office". Maybe somebody has been watching too many Office reruns on his DVR lately.

Other specific memories that come from the farm:

1. My brother jumping out of my closet, scaring me to death one night while I was just laying down to go to bed. I never forgave him, and he still talks about it every Christmas we get together.

2. Playing endlessly on my Atari 2600 and on my first computer, a Commodore Vic-20. Awesome machines, although the Commodore was basically worthless. You gotta love simple basic programming though! (10 Print "Bart is a dork", 20 Goto 10, run)

3. Listening in on phone conversations on our party line. Yes, it was 1985, and yes, we still had a party line. For those who are younger, in some remote places, you would actually share phone lines with your neighbors. We shared with my grandparents, who lived across the street, and with our neighbors down the road. And EVERYONE in our neighborhood played Dialing for Dollars on the mid day local news shows, so we all constantly checked each other to make sure that the phone lines were not tied up.

4. Lying to my school bus driver and telling him that my mom and dad said I could go to my friends house far down the street to hang out. I remember watching Transformers at his house, then having my brother come pick me up on the four wheeler, and then having my mom and dad freak out on me a little for not telling them.

So many other memories come to mind now, that I could probably keep writing all night. I guess everyone has this kind of place that they hold very sacred. This is just one of mine.

My Personal Experience with Anxiety Disorder and a Panic Attack

2010-01-07T21:03:00.000-08:00

The funny thing is that I can remember exactly when it started, and not much else afterwards. Or maybe I just don't want to most of the time. Pride runs strong in my family, after all.

It was after a band booster meeting that went really well, but followed a tough day at school. I had an argument with two of my superiors earlier that morning, and the anxiety of the day was building up through my body. About one mile past PA, at the K-Mart on Hinson road, it happened. I could feel my bodily extremeties go numb. There was a numbness in my hands and in my feet that I had never experienced before. My face went cold and I felt like I could black out at any moment. The first thought that came to mind was "Oh my god, I am having a heart attack." But, my breathing was normal and I wasn't feeling ill. In this half confused state, I called the first person I could think of on my cell phone. Eric answered. I told him something was wrong with me, I wasn't sure what, and asked him to just talk with me on my way home. All the while my heart felt like it was racing a hundred miles an hour. Once home, I just could not force myself to sit or be still. I simply found myself pacing. I called my doctor, and she said that I should be fine, just find a place to lie down. I tried, I really did, but it felt like it was getting worse. I immediately went upstairs to my neighbor and knocked on the door. Being the awesome guy he is, he let me in, and we just talked. He could tell something was wrong with me. I had no idea what was happening to me (Come to find out later, it was simply a huge rush of uncontrolled adrenaline). The only two things that were on my mind was heart attack and the fact that I could be dying. I finally asked him to dial 911 for me. I also called my friend Meg, who was already on her way. (My family was on a cruise, and I didn't want to bother them) The ambulance arrived, and did a check on me. My heart rate was fine and I seemed healthy to them. I did not understand what was going on at all. My body felt on the verge of something, but I was not sure what it was. We went to the emergency room. After doing some tests, it was found that I had experienced a panic attack for the first time in my life. After about an hour, I was starting to feel better, and I was released with my sister who took me back to our house in Sheridan.

Then the next morning I woke up. I will never forget the feeling. I woke up sharp at 9 AM and felt like my entire world had ended. Again, I was confused. I went through the rest of the day in a daze. There were times where I would cry at the smallest thing, where even something as silly as a serious movie or even a small conversation would set me off on a uncontrolled crying fit. For honestly the first time in my life, I felt entirely alone, and I had no idea why. My family finally arrived home, and my mother and father was extremely alarmed to find me in the state I was in. For some reason, my appetite had died out, and I found my stomach was completely clenched shut. There were many times where breathing was the most difficult thing to do. I could not force myself to be still or concentrate on anything for a long period of time.

Hours of medical tests were done, and nothing was found. According to the tests, I was completely healthy, and even more than I should be being a man of my size and weight, but yet I had gone through a week of feeling like my entire world had come to an end.

All during this time, I was at home, and not at work, but it was a living heck of a two weeks. I was never hungry, lost 20 pounds, could not bear to leave my parent's side, was afraid of driving, my body would not let me nap during the day, and I could hardly sleep at night, and I was just afraid. It felt like I was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

After giving the medications one week to start their work, I attempted to go to work. I was missing my kids and feeling extremely guilty for not being there to work for them. The band had to miss some away games because of my illness and it just didn't feel right for me to not be there. I can't tell you how long those days at work were, but they were probably the longest of my life. I honestly thought that I would have to give up my job at the end of the semester if things did not improve.

Things finally started to get better with time. The stomach untightened, and I found myself HUNGRY. Too hungry! It was the most WONDERFUL feeling in the world. The first night that I stayed in my apartment without fear was probably the best I have ever felt in my life.

Then I started finding other people out there that have had the same problem. Some messaged me through facebook, and even some people in my extended family started coming forward to talk with me about their experiences with panic and panic disorder. While it happens differently for people, it happens almost the same, if that makes any sense. But once you realize what it is, you can control it. Almost all of these people talking to me had never really talked to anyone about these kinds of problems before, because they were worried that people would think they were either crazy or incapable of handling their own personal lives and jobs.

When you experience something like this, it makes you have a new respect on how powerful your mind can be, and how, when it is out of balance chemically, it can change your entire life. It is hard for some people to understand that these are not character flaws you are experiencing, but simply a type of medical issue.

In today's American society where we have some many pressures put on us, don't forget the important things in life, and make sure that you have a strong and positive support structure around you. Before these attacks, I was spending at least 12 hours a day working, and not much else. It really IS important for you to have a personal life outside of work, and to realize how important your family and friends can be for you, especially in your toughest time.

Sometimes it does take something traumatic in your life to remember what really is important.

The Trials and Tribulations of being a small band director

2010-01-04T14:55:00.000-08:00

I love teaching small bands now, but hated it at first. When one graduates college as a music education major, one usually has this grand idea of stepping in front of a 300 piece band and just marvelling at their creation that came so quickly without much work under your guidance, and with 300 kids instantly looking up to you as their leader, overlord, and deity.

Then the real world sets in. One without any kind of experience either has to come off looking flawless in an interview with a principal or superintendent, or have a friend in the band directing field that they can be an assistant to. Sometimes they work up quickly, and perhaps is in the right place at the right time, and sometimes they are not. That is just life. Then one comes to understand that being a true band director is ultimately about 60% non-music related business and about 40% music related. This, of course, fluxes back and forth depending on what kind of situation one is in.

When one comes up to me and tells me that they guess I am looking forward to graduating a few of my classes so I can get my larger middle school and sixth grade bands up to the high school level to build up the numbers, I just smile and shake my head, usually pretending to agree to be nice, because that would be a normal feeling for most directors.

The truth is, I love this band right now just the way it is. Every student in the Upper School Band (all 17 of them) are playing at least at an 85% level of their personal ability. Most are in the 90 percentile range. They always give a great attitude in what they do (even if it is different or something they are against at first) and go out and ALWAYS perform BETTER than the time before. We have not had one performance that was worse than the previous in the past three years.

Now, sure, we are not going to go to concert contest with this group and make a 1. Judges will look at our instrumentation, see the lack of tenor voices, notice how our saxes outweigh the other members, and put down a predestined 2 or 3, no matter how great our group sounds. That is simply the way of things.

But that is not the point of why we do what we do, and it will never be as long as I am director. The PA Band is about providing a way for students to have an output from one of the most rigorous and difficult academic programs in the entire state. It is about learning to work with one another and show that even though we are not of the same blood, we can still work and function as a family. With a band of 17, I know each student by heart, and I have come to love each of them because of their differences, and how they have learned to come together as one unit.

I am going to cry my eyes out when I lose my seniors this year to that terrible curse known as graduation. They have been through so much, and have dealt with so much change. They, along with every other member of that band, have used these experiences to come together, and not let the negativity of the past pull them apart. There is so much more than any other person in that school realizes they have been through in their seven+ years of experience with the band director changes.

We have the best small band in Arkansas under 20 people. You can't tell me differently. And any director or person that looks down on us because of our numbers, you just simply can't understand how special this group is.

First post of the new year

2010-01-03T18:09:00.000-08:00

It has been a couple of days since the band got back from the Atlanta Superdome for the Chick-Fil-Et bowl. It was quite a bit of fun and all of the band students seemed to really enjoy themselves. I am really happy that, in the last three years, we are able to involve almost all of the upper school students in our trips. We started the trip last Monday morning at about 7 AM and had a moderately pleasant trip to Atlanta. Once we got to Atlanta, our bus driver made a small mistake of plugging in Peachtree Avenue in our GPS instead of Peachtree Strett. If you know anything about Atlanta, you know that every street in the city has Peach in it, so it put us just a little bit behind. We had a good dinner at Hardrock cafe, checked into our nice hotel (The Mariott right by the airport), then headed out to watch a 10:50 showing of Avatar in 3D. It was about two in the morning when we got back, but all kids were still in good spirits the next morning.

The next day consisted of visiting the Georgia Aquarium, The CNN Center (with the tour, of course!), the World of Coke, then closed the day with a fun time of bowling and video games at Dave and Buster's. It was pretty neat. Wednesday consisted of a long mass band rehearsal with the retired director of bands from Illinois, Gary Smith. Following that, lunch at the Discover Mills mall, then back to the hotel to prepare for a fun night of food and dancing at The International Convention Center. Again, quite a bit of fun.

The last day of these bowl games are always tedious for the students, so its important to keep things as upbeat as possible. The kids handled it well, and seemed to enjoy the performance on the field. It was Michael Jackson themed, and was really great arrangements that the Illinois band has done before. It sounded awesome. ESPN being the wonderful network that it is, chose not to show any of the performance for the parents, so a DVD will be ordered for all of the parents to check out. The trip back was fun, and it was neat to watch the kids rock in the New Year with a little bit of Jamaican music. :)

Over the past three years, I have come to truly love all my students at PA. They are a good bunch, and I guess I perhaps live a little bit through them, so it is easy to forget myself in all that they go through. I left my bag which had my keys and some other items in it at the dome, mostly because I was so concerned about missing something with the band in their transitions to different locations and such. I tried my hardest not to act too upset around the kids, but I am sure they all picked up on my disorientation. Being around them and celebrating the new years with them all really helped pick up my spirits towards the end of the evening, however.

Well, we are back now, and I have spent the weekend relaxing and preparing for the first week back at work tomorrow morning. My panic attacks have really settled down since November, with only one attack since this time, I am starting to learn how to handle myself whenever I feel this illness starts to set in.

Personally, 2009 was a rough year with many challenges along the way. When you are the kind of person who I am, who keeps things mostly to themselves, is very introverted, and lives mostly alone, these problems can be magnified many times over. There are so many people who have extended arms to me this year and kept me sane. I appreciate and love you all. I definitely do not deserve the opportunities that are thrown my way.

Here is hoping that you have a happy new year! Lets work together to improve our world.

A Fistful of Quarters

2009-11-29T11:01:00.000-08:00

I am currently checking out The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (My friend Eric let me borrow it). It is a fascinating look at the real life competition that goes in video games, specifically classic video gaming, and even more specifically Donkey Kong. It paints a very fascinating picture of the main contenders for the title while making them very interesting characters. It feels much more like a movie than an actual documentary.

My own goal now is to visit the Twin Galaxies Arcade located in Ottumwa, Iowa. :)

Long live the gamers!

Thank you for the memories Bill!!

2008-06-27T23:30:00.000-07:00

I have spent most of the day, when I have not been busy working band camp, catching up on all of the news concerning Bill Gate's departure from Microsoft. While I do not condone Microsoft's tough arm policies on competition when it comes to its overall corporate strategy, I am an avid fan of Windows and a huge admirer of Bill Gates himself. With the departure of Gates (though he will still remain active on the Microsoft board as lead shareholder) we find ourselves in the transition to cloud computing and in the process of moving away from more concrete desktop applications.

My computing days started around 1993, right before the initialization of Windows 95, which changed the way that PC users optimized their usage. In 1993 I also had my first view into internet usage at one of my friends houses with America Online. I can still remember how it felt to initialize my first instant message with someone that I had never actually met before. Windows 3.1 was the great operating system of the time, and my parents purchased me an Acer 386 PC with 2 megs of memory, I believe. I used that computer for five years before finally graduating to a Pentium 1 in 1998 while attending undergraduate school at Henderson State University. In 1996 or so I made an error and deleted an entire partition on my 386 and had to figure out for myself how to reinstall windows 3.1 and learn that wonderful DOS language!! One of the great ways of learning on computers is just digging into it and making mistakes, and then figuring out how to fix the boo boos that you have caused!

I have had many adventures on my PC ever since, and have come to love the Windows operating system. While most users view Vista as a mistake by Microsoft, I can tell you that I am happily satisfied using Vista Home Premium on my current setup, which is a Dell E1705 Inspiron at 1.73 Ghz with 2 gigs of memory.

Thank you so much for what you have done for the computer world Bill, and thank you more for what you are doing in your efforts with the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation!

Gates Departure Links of Interest:

LA Time Story:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-microsoft28-2008jun28,0,2384625.story

Microsoft's Bill Gates Departure Videos (Good stuff here!):
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/billg/videos/

Gizmodo's Gates Retirement Party:
http://gizmodo.com/tag/Bill-Gates-Retirement-Party/

The Macintosh Dating Game....with Microsoft!

2008-06-25T10:27:00.000-07:00

I found this very surreal....check it out!

HP "Call Center" coming to Conway

2008-06-24T14:56:00.000-07:00

HP has announced that Conway will be getting 1200 new jobs by 2009 at a brand new "call center" type plant. These service type positions will have salaries that range in the 40K range, which is actually very good for specialized call centers. Although during Huckabee's reign we had many job announcements in the Delta areas, this announcement has been very blown up, and most likely simply due to the ongoing economic crisis. on AETN.org, you can listen to the Arkansas week podcast which has a very fascinating pros vs. cons of this situation (the cons stated are mainly the amount of incentives that Arkansas is giving HP to bring the plant to our state.) Any news of increases in jobs in our state is great news at this point!

More information: http://www.thecabin.net/stories/062108/opi_0621080018.shtml

Arkansas Week Feed: http://www.aetn.org/podcast/arkansasweek.rss

Bobby Jindal, possible VP Candidate and former....exorcist?

2008-06-12T10:25:00.000-07:00

I received an opportunity playing at ULM's graduation last year to hear Mr. Jindal speak. He is a very charismatic leader and loved by the state of Louisiana as their "savior" from corrupt politics. I found this link and information taken directly from an essay that Jindal wrote:

----
The students, led by Susan's sister and Louise, a member of a charismatic church, engaged in loud and desperate prayers while holding Susan with one hand. Kneeling on the ground, my friends were chanting, "Satan, I command you to leave this woman." Others exhorted all "demons to leave in the name of Christ." It is no exaggeration to note the tears and sweat among those assembled. Susan lashed out at the assembled students with verbal assaults...

Whenever I concentrated long enough to begin prayer, I felt some type of physical force distracting me. It was as if something was pushing down on my chest, making it very hard for me to breathe. . . Though I could find no cause for my chest pains, I was very scared of what was happening to me and Susan. I began to think that the demon would only attack me if I tried to pray or fight back; thus, I resigned myself to leaving it alone in an attempt to find peace for myself.
---

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/06/bobby_jindals_dance_with_the_d.php

3G IPhone Long Term Costs

2008-06-11T17:59:00.000-07:00

So the IPhone hits the market on July 11th, and Paul Thurrott gives us a great explanation of how much it will really cost after the two year required contract extension and the minimum 200$:

http://community.winsupersite.com/blogs/paul/archive/2008/06/10/iphone-3g-price-cut-or-price-increase.aspx

I will break it down as he has:

Cheapest model (8 GB) with lowest service plan (service plans are all raised ten dollars a month now for data services):

2120$

Before: 2280$, a savings of 160$

So even if you get the 16 GB model for 299$, you will still save 60$ over a span of two years compared to what Iphone patrons are paying now.

While the Iphone is definitely showing that Apple is still the leader when it comes to presenting your basic consumers what they want, remember that the Blackberry is still the leading smart phone on the market today with about 50% saturation, due to heavy business use.

WWDC Coverage Links

2008-06-09T11:32:00.000-07:00

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/09/live-from-sf-apple-ceo-steve-jobs-unveils-new-products/?ref=technology

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-9960064-37.html?tag=bubbl_1

http://www.mahalo.com/Steve_Jobs_WWDC_2008_Keynote

LIVE Audio:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/wwdc-2008-live-keynote-audio-stream

Job cuts at Lucasarts, a division of Lucasfilm

2008-06-07T11:54:00.000-07:00

Over 100 jobs cut from Lucasarts, who is incremental in the development of all of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones video games.

http://www.theforce.net/latestnews/story/Turmoil_At_LucasArts_115188.asp

Impending American Economic Crisis

2008-06-06T23:03:00.001-07:00

My friends, I am severely concerned for America about her our short term future, and what its long term affects will be!

Gas has risen to 138$ (over 10$ in one night!) a barrel and the unemployment rate has risen .5% in one month! Food prices are up, Car manufacturers are have to cut tens of thousands of jobs, and Arkansas' own Alltel empire may be faced with many job cuts, which will deeply affect Little Rock area businesses.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/07/business/07econ.html - Job losses and Surge in oil prices

http://www.forbes.com/special_contributors/2008/06/05/verizon-alltel-acquisition-tech-cx_pco_0605paidcontent.html - Verizon purchases Alltel

An interesting insight on net neutrality's future

2008-06-03T09:09:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2XPiqhN_Ns

Pretty scary!

Sunday Evening out on the balcony

2008-05-04T19:15:00.000-07:00

So its Sunday evening, and I am out on the balcony with my computer fighting Windows Vista once again. I made the decision last week to go ahead and upgrade my computer again after Service Pack 1 was released. The one "mistake" that I made was forgetting to do a clean install, instead of upgrading. BIG mistake when installing Vista. My hard drive is frying like mad because of it, and it is kind of annoying me, but I will get over it.

I will probably do the clean install here pretty soon, but will wait until after our spring concert on Tuesday. Windows installations take great amounts of patience on my part. Once my laptop goes obsolete this time next year, its mac all the way. If I really did know what I was doing at an extreme level, I would have gone all the way with linux by now. I need stability in my operating systems, not a nagging nanny UAV system asking me if I am sure every time I click something. Boooo on that one microsoft.

Busy week this week personally. Tomorrow we have the honors night at 7 PM at PA, then we have our annual spring concert the next night at 7 PM at PA as well. The concerts should come off very well. We are doing this British Invasion type of concert. Lots of Beatles music. LOTS of Beatles music. The students are having quite a bit of fun with it all, and I am enjoying it after a very busy concert contest season. After that it is just a coast on into the summer. Just a couple of band camps on tap for this summer and a move into a new apartment.

I think I am going to pack up my tent and do a little traveling around this summer, while roughing it. I have always wanted to do that, and without any ties, it is actually quite easy to do that as a teacher!

Here are some links that you need to check out:

www.twitter.com.....all those updates you are seeing me do now are because of this service. Very addictive, and very useful if you know who to friend on it. Check it out, and then friend me over at www.twitter.com/bwharrison.

www.iwantsandy.com...simply the best e-mail notifying system available. It keeps me up to task! Give it a try....very free.

also, you might want to try www.jott.com, I have heard good things about it, but haven't got a chance to try it. It is like e-mail by phone I guess. Again, very free.

Ok, rant time.

About a year or so ago, I got very deep into this philosophy of why the traditional system of bands and music making simply does not work. It is a system of ultra-conservatism brought over through the years from the World War 2 era. Think of the current band system comparative to the current Social Security system, for example.

I think the future of music education needs to move away from the large ensembles into more chamber music. I think to overall conception of this would be shot down immediately by most band directors because of the idea of competition and the idea of the larger band settings and the music that is created from this medium. If once could work a system of rotating schedules throughout the day so that a schedule could be worked for the use of all musicians in a school, then it would succeed. From this system of chamber ensembles, one would see a large scale growth in the musicians themselves. Gone would be the days of 8th grade bands, 9th grade bands, and on up, and in replacement we would see quintets spread out throughout the day and chamber woodwind ensembles that would be able to work on music that is within their specialization, and not just the stuff that Bruce Pearson writes in his standard books or training music that is not worth the paper it is written on. Beginning Bands, split into homogeneous groupings, of course, would still be in place to work on the fundamentals, but once you pass that year, growth would be exceptional and noticeable.

Start big and work smaller.

1st year - homogeneous full classes (trumpet classes, percussion classes, etc.)
2nd year - respective smaller choirs (brass choirs, woodwind choirs, Percussion Ensembles)
3rd year on - Breakdown into smaller ensembles (quintets, quartets, etc.)

Of course, this system would require a large shift of paradigm in the system of band directors throughout the country. Mainly in the idea of marching band. While marching band does have its place in the music world (DCI), and does offer for great personal character growth in most situations, the fact of the matter is that almost 95% of marching bands have no real philosophy and are just a waste of time for most band students. Much of that has to do with band director's and their thoughts and uses of the marching band. Once again, like I stated.....a major thought shift would have to occur.

Another problem of the system is the large scale scheduling problems that would occur. BUT, on the flip side of this, it would be easier for smaller schools to find openings for certain students. For example, when student A can't take his band ensemble class during 4th period because of an AP course that is offered, then maybe you could fit him into another quintet at period 5 during an open hour for him. This kind of thought process does make it possible, if you have a a counselor that is willing to take it on a one-on-one basis.

It is my belief that if a system like this was set up, and if the students psychologically accepted it, then it could work. I guarantee a system set up in this nature would offer the students exceptional growth in the side of music education, and offer the director a chance to work with students more on an individual basis, if done in a correct model.

Just some re-hashed thoughts for the evening!

Money management and the early years

2008-05-04T00:10:00.000-07:00

I have many, many pet peeves that surround my life. I have come to deal with many of them through different means, including vast doses of passive aggressiveness, but one thing that continually bothers me is families and individuals attitudes towards money and money management.

My generation and the one before myself grew up in the last throws of limited communication. This means that communication was done through smaller communities, and the things that were known about your place in society was known through television programs such as Donna Reed and The Cosby Show. This is what families received as far as information, and if your family and society did not reflect this, then you were doing something wrong.

The negative aspect of this comes from the idea of people being very closed lip about their financial means, even to their own children. Simply put, what this ultimately does is keep children out of the aspect of financial control and creates a situation where kids have no idea about the value of monetary aspects and have no idea how to control their own personal influxes of finance once they arrive at the age of leaving their parents own financial aid!

This, in my opinion, has lead to many of the individual financial problems that we are facing in this country today. I believe that the average amount of debt in this country is around 8000$, and I guarantee that much of this debt comes from when children and young adults that start out on their own and then have to spend years paying back. Multiply that by the fact that we are facing a very rough economy right now and you have young adults, once they realize their faults, do not have a choice above paying their credit card minimum monthly payments!

As one who has grown up in the way of the dark side as seen above, I have started using several sources to help in my abolishment of money issues (Never leave yourself just one option, always go for the deuce AT LEAST!). I use several budgets to help control my spending. If you have to write down your expenditures, you will be forced to think twice about what you purchase. If you do know how to use Excel's calculation features, I think that is a good start.

I think another thing one can do is decide what is most important in their lives and become a minimalist to all other things. To help with my budget, I found that I was not watching much television, but was spending most of my entertainment time online. The solution? Cancelled my Comcast Cable (horrible customer service anyway), and I invested in the 9 dollar a month Netflix, which allows me to watch shows online all the time along with getting a DVD in the mail whenever I want. TV needs are solved. Also, with most all shows popping up on their respective websites, I never miss my favorites (Battlestar Galactica, Lost, etc.)

Another thing one can do is figure out which Credit Cards have the higher interest rate and pay those off first. If you have room on the lower interest rated ones, transfer. I believe most cards have programs that help enhance that through introductory rates. I have some friends who actually put their credit cards in water and freeze them in the freezer. I guess that would really help with impulse buys as well!

Also, beware of those introductory credit cards when you are in college! Speaking of college, one thing that I can never emphasize enough is asking your parents for help financially BEFORE resorting to the calamity you will create by taking out personal student loans! When you break out on your own, there is going to be a want for independence, and you are going to want to prove yourself worthy of living on your own. Do not fall into the easy trap of going for a personal loan just to buy that XBOX 360 or that new stereo system. (For myself, it was a PS2!) If you take out a college loan, expect to be paying it back for a large majority of your life! With ever expanding interest rates, YIKES! One other thing about college....it is wisest, unless you are still living at home, to stay in a dorm, and not venture out on your own until you actually have a degree and at least a 30K a year job. Once again, there is always a temptation to expand yourself, live with your friends in that townhouse, or what have you. Take into account that when you add in rent, electric bills, water, sewage, food, gas to get to school, etc, it becomes a very rich endeavor from just staying in the dorm and walking to class!

If you make wise financial choices your first few years out on your own, I believe that you will do nothing but enhance your own personal experiences for the future! Invest in your future, not the moment!

Break it down

2008-04-28T21:07:00.000-07:00

So I have recently rediscovered some old Pet Shop boys videos that I find absolutely fascinating. For some reason, music from the 1980's has always had a soft spot on me, and these guys pretty much ruled back during that wonderful little decade. That creepy guy on the "Always on my Mind" video always makes me smile for some reason.

"What have I done to deserve this?" - Quite possibly my most favorite music video of all time. It hits home.

The great band trip of 2008 has come and gone, and it was quite a bit of fun for my students. I enjoyed it as well. St. Louis is an interesting city. There is quite a bit of history there, and fun is basically a drive away at Six Flags, the zoo, a minor speedway, and an interstate that goes both directions while still going east, if that makes any sense at all.

I am honestly REALLY looking forward to having some me time next weekend, however. I am a true, hardcore isolationist. I do pretty good in front of large groups speaking (especially the last two or three years) , and especially do well in front of bands, because that is what I do, but it always takes quite a bit out of me. I have to balance it out.

Lets see, awards concert next week, honors night next week as well, middle school band trip coming up in just a couple of weeks (I gotta start working on that Thursday), and then cruise into the summer.

life is a great mod.

DCI presents its Countdown!

2008-04-22T19:46:00.000-07:00

Drum Corps International (DCI) will present its annual countdown simulcast at movie theators throughout the nation this Thursday night starting at 7:30 PM.

If you are a drum corps fan, or just a veteran of a marching band in years past, you should enjoy the event! More information can be found at the link below:

http://www.dci.org/countdown/

Total Waste of time :)

2008-04-19T00:34:00.000-07:00

http://tinyurl.com/5d7hqs

Sweet.

'nuff said.

ABC Democratic Debate

2008-04-17T20:39:00.000-07:00

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4669713&affil=katv

It seems that ABC has gotten quite a bit of negative press for their presentation and questions presented at the Democratic debate that has taken place. While I can see the idea of trying to unify the democratic lines on more of a unilateral motion, I think that it was probably a very obvious move. The link for the debate is above. If you get a chance, watch it and read some of the comments (Over 7000 are negative) concerning the debate. Other links about this story are here (In tinyurl format):

http://tinyurl.com/5hp8qf

http://tinyurl.com/42xp5s