Over Thanksgiving, I managed to sneak away to Boston for my 25th High School reunion. It was great and disappointing at the same time. Great to see some of my old friends that I've missed since leaving Brockton so long ago. It was especially great seeing Lewis and his wife. Lewis was a close friend from 4th grade on. We used to play trumpet together in the early days. I'd love to hear what we sounded like back then. It must have been horrible. I remember talking after concerts about how I'd screwed up (or, often, not played at all), and Lewis would claim to have messed up (or not played) at the same place! How could our parents have stood it? (Actually, I know how. More on that later.) Here's what Lewis has done with himself since.

Well, it was disappointing for two reasons. The obvious was that there just weren't enough people there. With something over 1100 graduating seniors, there couldn't have been more than 150 at the reunion. There were a lot of folks I'd hoped to see again. The second disappointment was how poor I was at talking with everyone. That's rather normal for me, I suppose. It was great hanging out with Linda, Robin, Kolleen, and Jeannette, and I'm so glad I did. But I got contact information from exactly two people who were there. Sigh....

Anyhow, for those of you who weren't there (and those who were), send me some email and say "Hi". It's been too long.

And yes, I did wear my Rockies hat in Boston, though not at the reunion. I didn't want to start a fight while wearing a suit.

Thanks to Jeannette for the pictures. Besides not getting anyone's email addresses, I also left my camera in my room. Lame. There were some cameras on tables, so there are now pictures up at classmates.com. That's cool.

Well, I've put up a selection of photos from our vacation this summer, and cousin Kenan's and sister Ruth's weddings. The two weddings couldn't have been more different. I certainly enjoyed them both, but they did highlight the diversity in my family. Ruth's wedding makes me proud to say that I'm from Massachusetts.

Wow, winter and spring are long gone, and summer is in full swing. Fireworks are in just 3 days. Tim has had his tonsils taken out (and my throat is sore). Emily is taking swimming lessons. Scott and Tim are taking piano this summer. WWDC has come and gone. The iPhone is out (and I'll get one for free in a month).

I went to spring training for a couple of days. Teresa and the kids went to Disney World for spring break (and I got to ski). The Rockies were horrible, then they were great, and now they're horrible again.

I'm riding my bike (and bought a new one). The garden is in (late, as always). Teresa is moving her genealogy to the Mac (her Dell notebook continues to fall apart).

Wow, what a month! It all started with Tuba Christmas down in Denver. 343 tubas and ephoniums playing Christmas carols in Larimer Square. The music was actually rather difficult. I couldn't play half of it with only two hours of rehearsal. I expect next year will be better. Here are some more photos up on flikr.

Then, as our family was about to descend on us, the biggest blizzard that I can remember in Colorado hit. It meant lots of canceled plans, and stranded Ellie's family in their cold and dark house.

Nevertheless, we had a great Christmas. Ruth and Jen came out sporting new rings. We're all waiting to hear when the big date will be! As always, Lora helped cook up a storm. Jeannette and Steve came out the day after Christmas and stayed the rest of the week. The cousins had a great time playing together. Here are some photos of the week.

Scott got a euphonium, so I needed one too. This instrument was made by Boosey & Co. in 1928. That's old! It shows lots of wear. But it also shows lots of love, plays beautifully and has a wonderful mellow tone. It's been re-plated in silver rather recently, so it's really pretty. It also has a fourth valve (that takes it down a fourth) that's played with the left hand. That is taking some getting used to.

I also picked up a very scary looking Holton tuba on eBay. It actually plays quite well, but it's too ugly to show a picture. And it kinda smells too. Once I restore it a bit, I'll show some before/after shots.

So, next Sunday, Scott and I, and other kids from his school, are going to take part in Tuba Christmas in Denver. (It's at 1pm in Larimer Square.) We're both really looking forward to it. I had planned to go to it back in 1983, when I was in college. But it just didn't work out. I'd kinda forgotten about it since. It should be a blast!

Well, Scott's entered 5th grade. And with overcrowding at Eagle Crest elementary he's now going to Altona Middle School. It's somewhat scary having him in the same school with 7th and 8th graders. But... he gets to be in band!

At the beginning of summer he tried out different instruments. The teacher helped point the kids to whichever instrument they could get the most notes out of. And the winner was the baritone. He really wanted to play tuba just like dad, but tubas are a bit big for now. Perhaps once he hits high school...



In the meantime, dad gets to play baritone too (actually, it's really a euphonium). It's been a lot of fun so far, but I sure don't have the chops I had back in college. (Yeah, I actually majored in music for a year before getting out with a math degree.) It turns out that back in school, my tuba professor made me take up the euphonium too to help me improve my upper register. I never quite got it.

With both boys and Teresa sending a lot of time playing RuneScape, I never get a chance to use the iMac. With today being the last day of school for them, computer time will only increase! This year marks the first year they'll be home for the summer. We'll see how that goes. Work's so busy, I doubt they'll distract me too much.

Speaking of work, this past month marked my tenth aniversery of working out of the house. 3 1/2 years at Symantec, and 6 1/2 at Apple. Yikes! It also marks twenty years since graduation from college. Getting old.... It's "been a while" in more than one way.

As most of you know, Teresa has spent a lot of time over the last few years doing genealogy research on the Ewing's and DeBerry's. She's starting to put it all up on the web. Look here.

Last Sunday, 2/12/06, Emily had her first day skiing. She went to Kinderhut at Breckenridge. She had a wonderful time. She fell on her first run, but after that there was no stopping her. Except for lunch, she wouldn't go inside. Teresa says she would try to pass the other kids in order to get more time on the slope.

Here's a picture of her ready to go in the morning:



And here are some movies from the day.