Found another pic that's cool...

I like this one...sort of funny....taking last summer here at OCFA.

Apparently I doctored it up a little. Anyway--see the dude with the cap on backwards in the snare line? He freaked me out one day. Comes up to me and tells me that he goes to drum corps shows here in southern California and didn't put two and two together but then it all made sense to him--I was THAT GUY that announces. So--he's like a financial guru dude here the OCFA, but he's loves marching band and drum corps. Never marched corps but always goes to shows and what not. True to his word, saw him at a show this past summer. Pretty cool, hanh?

And ONE MORE PIC--OK?!?!?!? Jeeeeeeeeeez...

This is our new SHIRT and PATCH design specifically designed for us. Pretty cool, hanh?? My buddy and dispatcher here at OCFA, Josh Goldmark, designed it and is coordinating the production of the patch and shirts. VERY impressive. Now I've been here twelve years, and SOME futile efforts have been made to do some team building around here--but I love it when someone grabs the freakin' bull the juevos rancheros if you get my drift and just freakin' DOES IT. That a boy my Hebrew Brudda From Anudda Mudda Shalom!!!!!!!!!!! This patch ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!

Now...

I am PERSONALLY offended however by the liberties taken to photoshop MY HEAD into the area of the orange as recently had been done by an unnamed cyber-assailant who works in our I.T. department. Suffice it to say, it was DOUBLY hurtful when you consider that this computer so-called PROFESSIONAL actually shares a drum corps heritage with you--yes, that's right. This so-called upstanding employee used to teach the Velvet Knights back in the 90's. WAY after me--the old veteran from the 80's. But still...a brother Velvet Knight. Tsk tsk...Of course, I had a Division Chief email me this morning commenting that I should be feeling PRETTY GOOD about things, because this is the first time in HIS career that he's ever seen an employee's likeness used for a character in a patch or shirt--referring to the large, orange head as seen above.

Right.

That's what a DIVISION CHIEF said to me.

Lovely. What am I going to do? Tell him to take a long walk off a short pier??? NOOOOOO!!! I said, "Yes sir whatever you say sir may I have another sir???"

OCFA. You just gotta love it.

Hello there!!!!! How 'ya doin? So much "stuff" has been going on over the last several days since my last update--I'm so sorry for taking so long to get back to this BLOG. Blog. What a funny sounding "thing". BLOG. How ya doin' today? Oh, I feel sort of BLOG today. Hey--we're being attacked by the vicious alien BLOG. I mean...what???

Anyway--hey. What up? What it be like? Get down, get funky--now get back up. Here's a pic I want to share...ready...here it is...

This where I was on Saturday morning--the Kingsmen Alumni Corps (KAC) performed as an opening act for the world famous NAMM Show at the Anaheim Convention Center. This picture is looking north--and you can see the tympani right there on the left side--the tenors behind them--the snares, and then--a little difficult to see but definitely there was 95 brass players and about 40 flags behind them. Now--this may prove impossible--but I'm IN THIS PIC. Find the drum major. He's the guy that seems elevated center right in the pic. Now--if you draw a line at a 45 degree angle DOWN from the right side of the drum major, you can clearly see half of my head. LOL!!!

Why was I there? I am the self-proclaimed "Voice of Southern California", and the KAC contacted me about 2 weeks ago asking if I could announce them to the crowd. It was VERY cool. I'm thinking about doing a review of the performance up on Drum Corps Planet. Anyway...it really was a SPECTACULAR performance. There were HUNDREDS of people outside listening to the corps, and they were hyping big time. They loved it, and so did the KAC. Great job by them.

Here's another quick pic for ya...This is my Sarah Bearah--sitting in the pilot's seat of her Uncle Jonathan's C-5 up at Travis Air Force Base. She's such a cutie. What a great little post Christmas trip we took. It was fun, especially for the kids. The tour of the C-5 was pretty fascinating to say the least. It was HUGE. It's a double deck plane, the lower half obviously being the cargo hold, and the top half being the crew quarters and the cockpit. It's really nasty in terms of cleanliness--really old--but wow. Pretty roomy!! Jonathan allowed me to go up another ladder just outside of the cockpit, and I was LITERALLY on top of the airplace, about 5 stories up off the ground. I won't be doing THAT again anytime soon.

And one last picture...My two most favorite children on the planet. This was taken about 4 months ago, but this is typical of the two. Michael and Sarah are just inseperable, which is actually pretty cool. I know siblings fight and don't get along some times, and that's to be expected. But I know that sometimes siblings aren't EXPECTED to get along. I will be the OPPOSITE of that as a daddy. I will EXPECT them to get along and be friendly and loving towards each other. And, I'll try to run a "fair and equitable" household so not one or the other feels slighted. Is this Pollyanna of me??? I don't know--but I DO know that right now I'm really digging this whole DAD thing!! LOL!!!! I love watching my kids play and how they interact and their personalities...it's great. Loving it.

Ok...well...that's it for now. There's a ton more to talk about, but I'm a little short on time. Career is going well...family is obviously going well...I'm healthy...fat...but healthy...and started announcing again for WGASC...and what else? That's about it--this is a boring post but hey. It's free!!!

Thanks for reading.

I've only just begun....TO HURT

Yes ladies and gentlemen...yours truly climbed aboard the old scale in my master bedroom, and was aghast at seeing the number 280 staring back at me. After I was disarmed by my wife of sharp implements as I was trying to end my life right there on the spot, I made a decision to--pardon the French--GET OFF MY ASS AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!!!!!!!!!!! I've had a membership to 24HR Fitness for about 8 years, and actually VERY successfully used it 7 years ago to lose a ton of weight and get in the best shape of my life (thanks to Bill Phillips and Fit for Life!!!). But then...CHILDREN happened. And stress. And a promotion. Yeah. Before I knew it--5 years later to be exact--I had gained 40 pounds....AND...I've gained 60 since I was married in 1995. 60. SIXTY!!! The freakin' number that comes after 59!!!!!!!! 60!!!!!!!!!!!

FAT ASS!! I know I know...the number 1 thing I've doing by deriding myself is going against all conventional wisdom that says you should LOVE yourself and be KIND to yourself, yadda yadda yadda. Whatever. I'm fat. I can't deny it. I'm tellin' ya the truth. Fat. And HORRIBLY out of shape. Well...after a couple of lurches and false starts over the last few months...let me tell you about my work outs.

Last week...worked out on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. All early morning. All at the 24hr Fitness in Brea (where the old Brea Improv used to be...where I liked to hang out and dream that someday maybe...wait...never mind....I'm not funny). THIS week, the Orange County Fire Authority started a 2 day a week Tues/Thurs in the parking lot circuit training using medicine balls, those big ass balls that you sit on, then these other balls called "slam balls"...and by just doing in place lunges, squats and various exercises...in 45 minutes....I was yelling "I WANT MY MOMMY!!!!" Holy CRAP on a plate. I was sweating my ass off. I'm actually getting ahead of myself. I worked out Monday morning at 24hr Fitness, then did the first day of this circuit training madness at work, then, Wednesday morning, did a REAL good work out even though my body felt like I had been hit by a truck from the previous day's workout...and then...TODAY. Thursday. During lunch, I head on down early, and this crazy exercise physiologist expert ran our butts through even MORE exercises. I had NO idea that one could hurt oneself so exquistitely by barely moving. I thought you like had to run a freakin' marathon. NO!!!! Actually, a marathon would be easier probably.

So...I'm now in my office. A little lightheaded. Very sore, especially my fat quadriceps and my hugmungous RUMP. But I hear pain is good. And that for all that pain, muscle is building, and for all that muscle building, it needs fat for energy. Well...in THAT case...you just go on little sore muscles, build away and chew up my fat. I would like to someday entertain the possibility that hanging on to my 38 inch pants was not in vain!!!

Oh...and by the way. People have known me to be a giant Diet Coke whack. I am. Or. Was. I'm off of it. No more. That aspartame sweetner is too suspicious for me. Heard it's been linked with lots of strangeness in the human body, one of which is, strangely, WEIGHT GAIN!!! So I'm off of it. COMPLETELY. Lots of water. My head hurts. Constantly. But I've had three seperate people tell me that once your body figures out you're not drinking that crap anymore, BAM! There goes the weight. WHATEVER. All I know...is by the end of January, if I don't see the magic number 275 on my scale, I swear to GOD I'm looking for the nearest cliff.

I'm back...

Had a pretty uneventful holiday vacation, granted to me at the literal last minute by my pretty cool boss. Was able to spend Christmas morning with just me, the wife and the kids opening presents and having a QUIET day (as opposed to last year's Christmas Hell on Earth 2006 production....and that's NOT an overexaggeration). Next day, packed the Sequoia and drove to Vacaville and spent a few days with Nyleen's brother in his house with his kids and wife. My kids + his kids = LOTS OF NOISE. Considering I'm like the loudest person on the planet and I love loud music (especially drum corps), what's a bunch of noise by kids? Well...perhaps I'm a little pre-menopause or something...but it drove me nuts. Oh...and the non-stop 50 mph winds with 40 degree temps. That drove me nuts too.

New Year's Eve was spent laying on my couch watching Season 5 of 24, and then turning it off long enough to watch the ball come down with a VERY VERY sad Dick Clark stumbling through the countdown. Don't mean to be mean, seeing as though my dad is a major stroke survivor, but SOMEONE somewhere in the production booth could have, I don't know, accidentally turned Dick's microphone off. Gooooooood Lord. 20, 19, 12, 15, 10, 9, NEW YEAR!!! Come on Dick. We all love you. Don't leave us with a memory of you drooling on yourself and screwing up the countdown.

The holiday's are always bittersweet for me. I had a GREAT time watching my kids and being with my family on Christmas morning. No doubt. But tugging at me in the back of my mind that I was keeping at bay was that nagging feeling of my past--and the Christmases of my youth. Then I started missing my mom, who's been gone for freaking TWELVE YEARS NOW. Holy COW. TWELVE!!! And New Year's...I don't know. I must be some kind of a freak. I always get melancholy around New Year's. And I have NO REASON TO BE!!!! Isn't that dumbest thing? Can't explain it.

But this coming up year looks to be exciting both in my career, my business, and my family. The career is going fine, but we're about to embark on a CAD replacement for the Command Center, and I fully believe I will be in the thick of that project team. For my business, things are REALLY looking up. I have my new computer set up (complete with my 24 inch DELL widescreen monitor! It ROCKS!!!!!!!!!), and ready to start learning Pyware 3D Java. All 11 bands are on board for next year, plus several more prospects. Possible website coming. Got word from a long-time friend and "composer in residence" in China that they are wanting to start a marching band program out there to compete in the World Show Band--and they may be flying me out to meet with the school administrators. I'm announcing for WGASC. I may be announcing for DCI this summer for the Division II/III folks, but not sure yet. Will be judging my ass off again I'm sure. Writing for 2 corps...maybe 3. Just BUSY BUSY BUSY!!!!

Sorry this blog entry sort of sucks. I'm distracted here at work where I probably shouldn't be writing in my blog. But it's...it's....my 15 minute break. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeah...that's the ticket.