It’s been a while…
It’s been a while since the last time I posted something here… I guess I’ve gotten to the point where I got too busy, or too lazy, or both. Anyway, I’m trying to get back into the swing of things.
What have I been busy with? Work, of course. But outside work, in June through August, I was in Rogers Little Theater’s production of “The Music Man” playing Olin Britt, the bass of the barbershop quartet. (If you’re not familiar with the musical, here’s some info). That timeframe includes auditions, rehearsals, and performances. Met and worked with a LOT of very talented people. Had an absolute blast and would love to do another one with them. Had looong rehearsals (Sundays through Thursdays) and we did about 11 shows.
I’m currently in Alexandria, Louisiana (my hometown, sort of) visiting my folks. My mom just had heart surgery where they replaced her aortic valve. That was last Wednesday, August 19. She’s still in ICU but doing fine. I’m not sure how long they’re going to keep her there before she gets transferred to a regular hospital room. Today, they’re going to implant a pacemaker. At first they weren’t sure if she’s going to need it, but her cardiologist decided that she does. This has been a bit stressful for all of us… the waiting and all the unknowns, known risks, etc. I had initially scheduled vacation days for August 18 through the 23rd, but it looks like I’ll be extending my stay here to make sure my mom’s OK. (On that note, I need to e-mail work about this.) Also, need to help my dad out as well when she gets home from the hospital (still don’t know when). My mom’s progress is going well, according to the medical staff. I try to see her at least 3 times a day in ICU. The restricted visiting hours is a bit frustrating for me, but that’s just how it is.
Now that the musical is over… when things go back to “normal”, I probably need to start on another after-work activity. I had planned on working on some iPhone app development. My friend, Christina, had done it and now has an app on iTunes! I’m just lagging behind due to other stuff going on. Like I said, I’ve been pretty busy. Now, I just need to… (1) get a Mac, (2) go through the downloaded video tutorials, (3) whip myself into coding… I’m a programmer by education/training (and worked as a programmer for about 8 years), so this isn’t much of a stretch for me. It’s just getting into it and putting in time, in addition to the other interests that I’m pursuing now. I’ll just have to limit my sleep from average of 6 hours down to 5 or maybe 4. Maybe skip some lunch… Ok, that’s not going to happen. I can manage the sleep deprivation, but not starvation!
Maybe I should blog about my iPhone app development adventure. Not that it’s going to be an interesting read for everyone–but I’m sure it will be something that I can write about, now that most of my daily life is kind of boring to write about (not to mention READ about).
Let’s see how I’m going to keep up with this blogging thing. I can’t seem to keep up (or finish) anything!
Well, at least I finished 6 videos of backstage snippets from our Music Man production. Oh yeah, that’s another thing that I was busy with… making these videos. It took time, you know. I had posted these on Facebook. I uploaded these to Viddler.com so I could keep them “private” (as opposed to making these available on YouTube). But the video quality of the playback on Viddler isn’t as great as that of Facebook’s. Anyway, here are the videos…
RLT’s “The Music Man” Opening Night (And After)
After the Show — Gusano’s! (RLT’s The Music Man 2009)
Rock Island Dressing Room (RLT’s The Music Man 2009)
‘Til There Was You – Lip Sync Rendition (RLT’s The Music Man 2009)
