May 14th, 2011

Friday was a short day at Logan High,  we were dismissed at 12:10 to watch a spectacular don't drink/text and drive presentation given by the local law enforcement officers.  They had wrecked cars, simulated drunk and dead teenagers,  and the other survivor gets medic-evaced by the helicopter that lands on our football field.   The temperature rose to a blistering 78 degrees in the bright sunshine.  The students in the audience were acting like they were dying of heatstroke..... Sissies!   Even the slight cool breeze didn't keep them from bitching and moaning.   Most were busy texting on their "cellies"  while the police spent over an hour presenting a very excellent, realistic crash situation with sad music, sirens, 911 calls etc.    I was enjoying the show, save for all the moaning of these heat abused students.
Notice the snow on the mountains in the background?  Two weeks ago we had a three day snow event here....in May!   Mountain weather is very interesting to me.

Gotta love the last two weeks of school, especially when one isn't going back for at least a year!

I came home around 3PM and found out that my friends Chuck and Melissa were coming to stay for the night,  all the way from Northeastern Wyoming!   I was happy to hear the news,  but I really wasn't ready for it.   No biggie,  I had an extra room ready and let my landlord know that two of my friends were bringing two large, well trained, dogs into my house for the night.

  I managed to squeeze in a half hour of sax practice,  although I've been playing two -  three hours per night since my downstairs neighbors moved out.   The improvement one makes while practicing this many hours is apparent.   Music that I couldn't touch two weeks ago is easy to play now and I need to update my music library,  for more challenging pieces.   I really enjoy just playing blues scales and creating my own songs, especially after a few beers and I can let it loose.    Been alternating between my old Tenor "King Zephyr and my new 1949 vintage King Zephyr alto sax,  that I picked up on EBAY last week for only $500 bucks.    I can't imagine all the parents that buy crappy student instruments on payment plans,  when they could go out and buy a true professional horn for a third the money.  

   I took Chuck and Melissa (and dogs),  up to the trailhead of "Dry Canyon",  which is an excellent place to throw the ball to the dogs.    Lots of uphill climbing for the puppies,  which makes them much mellower when visiting my house later on.    We watched a gorgeous sunset which my camera failed to really capture.  This is all I could get out of it:


Then we all went to Chile's,  and finally got a chance to sit down and shoot the breeze.   Saw my friend "Mike" and his Chinese wife "Nina?" who looks like a model.   They are both excited by me teaching in China next year.   We came back to the house and watched a couple episodes of "News Radio",  which promptly put my tired self to sleep.   I fell asleep leaving my guests with nothing to do,  so I guess they went to bed.    Overall,   another day in paradise..