It's Fall So It Must Be Marching Band Contest Season...

A Visual Look Behind The Band Festival

Loading of the Equipment Truck

Loading of the Buses

One Band Director Texts Another

Equipment truck arrives at the event first and

blocks off bus parking spaces with hat boxes.

Bus driver settles in for the long day

Unloading of the percussion truck

Bass drum cases

Bass drum harness (a work of art)

Light post becomes a drum mallet stand

The pit warms up before lunch
While across the parking lot another band warms up
Mallets continue to warm up
Band boosters prepare for lunch time
Pit awaiting their turn to take the field for competition


Band enters the field


Pit gets set-up

Opening set and the show begins




After the show it's to the stands to await the results


Walking away with a 3rd place trophy


Fresno State University "Bulldog" Marching Band entertains everyone

First the Dance

then Blow the Walls Down

After what has been a long day the bands exit the stadium and head home. But they will be back again in a few weeks to do it all over again.

The Marching Band Member's Creed

On, on, I will march on....on beat, on stride, on key, on song.

On muddy field, through dewy grass, o'er cobblestone my heels will pass.

Through gale and hail, heat and snow, my feet won't falter, never, no!

I will march on to main street proud, then on to game day's cheering crowd.

Till all my steps and notes are gone, I will march on, and on, and on...

(Thanks to the Fremd "Band of Vikings")

"Tule Fog"

TULE FOG

Here is what the NOAA web site has to say about "Tule Fog";

One of the most dangerous aspects of the rainy season throughout the San Joaquin Valley is the Tule fog. It forms on clear nights when the ground is moist and the wind is near calm. On nights like this, the ground cools rapidly. In turn, the moist air above it cools and causes water vapor to condense. Once it has formed, the air must be heated enough to either evaporate the fog or lift it above the surface so that visibilities improve.
The visibility in Tule fog is often less than 1/8th of a mile, about 600 feet, but can be less than 10 feet. Visibility can vary rapidly in any area, with sudden decreases to near zero in only a few feet. It is situations like these that often lead to multi-car accidents where one car follows another into a fog bank.

TULE FOG from the drivers view

When driving in the fog one should us low beams on headlights as the high beam will reflect back on the drive from the fog and reduced visibilty even more. You should drive at safe speeds which are usually below the speed limit.

Early today there was a major accident on Hwy 99 North just south of Fresno, Ca due in part to the fog. Visibilty was only about 500 feet in places in the early morning hours of Saturday.

Over 100 vehicles were part of the massive pile-up which killed two people and injured another 40+ people. Over a two mile stretch of Hwy 99. All three North bound lanes were closed for over 12 hours. A total of 108 vehicles, including 18 big rigs, were involved in the collisions.

The combination of fog and excessive speed by many vehicles was suspected to be the primary cause of the pileup, an official said. Officials considered it one of the worst accidents on California 99 in at least 10 years. Many people had to be extricated from their vehicles, including at least one person whose car slid under a big rig at the northern end of the crash scene.

Silver City, NM...

Silver City, New Mexico

Silver City is where my sisters family lives. This past week I spent a little time with my nephew walking around the historic downtown area.

Silver City Daily Press

St. Vincent de Paul Church - built in 1874

Main Street Silver City

Chamber of Commerce Building

Hester House -
You will find great fudge here

Warren House built in 1885

Bridge from downtown area to Billy the Kid cabin

Birding Trail Sign at the end of the bridge

Downtown is home to The Big Ditch, which until a turn-of-the-century
thunderstorm was the town's Main Street. After the flooding, "Main Street"
had been turned into "The Big Ditch".

Time to go...

Billy the Kid

I went to Silver City, NM earlier this week to visit family. On Wednesday my nephew spent some time with me walking around downtown Silver City. Next to the visitors center was a log cabin. This is the site where Billy the Kid lived from 1873-1875.

In 2003 Ron Howard produced and directed the movie
"The Missing" in and around Silver City. When filming
was complete the cabin built for the movie was given
to the town of Silver City.

Inside the cabin

Billy had metal covers put on the windows
of the cabin so he could fire a gun
in safety. Window from inside the cabin.

Window from the outside

Jeff Foxworthy's Take on Teachers...

A friend sent this to me today and I thought I would pass it along here.

HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU ARE A TEACHER ?

1. You can hear 25 voices behind you and know exactly which one belongs to the child out of line.
2. You get a secret thrill out of laminating something.
3. You walk into a store and hear the words "It's Ms/Mr. _________" and know you have been spotted.
4. You have 25 people that accidentally call you Mom/Dad at one time or another.
5. You can eat a multi-course meal in under twenty-five minutes.
6. You've trained yourself to go to the bathroom at two distinct times of the day: lunch and prep period .
7. You start saving other people's trash, because most likely, you can use that toilet paper tube or plastic butter tub for something in the classroom.
8. You believe the teachers' lounge should be equipped with a margarita machine.
9. You want to slap the next person who says "Must be nice to work
7 to 3 and have summers off."
10. You believe chocolate is a food group.
11. You can tell if it's a full moon without ever looking outside.
12. You believe that unspeakable evils will befall you if anyone says "Boy, the kids sure are mellow today."
13. You feel the urge to talk to strange children and correct their behavior when you are out in public.
14. You think caffeine should be available in intravenous form.
15. You spend more money on school stuff than you do on your own children.
16. You can't pass the school supply aisle without getting at least five items!
17. You ask your friends if the left hand turn he just made was a "good choice or a bad choice."
18. You find true beauty in a can full of perfectly sharpened pencils.
19. You are secretly addicted to hand sanitizer and finally,
20. You understand instantaneously why a child behaves a certain way after meeting his or her parents.

NFL - AFC South

Well my favorite college football team (UF) has not done very well the last few weeks. However my favorite NFL team has been doing pretty good this season. The Jacksonville Jaguars are currently in 2nd place in the AFC South with a record of 4-1.

AFC South Standings

1. Indianapolis 5-0

2. Jacksonville 4-1

3. Tennessee 3-2

4. Houston 3-3

Next week Indianapolis and Jacksonville will play on Monday night - think I will try and watch that game at the local sports bar.

BCS Week 1

1st BCS Rankings for 2007 are out:

1. Ohio State
2. South Florida
3. Boston College
4. LSU
5. Oklahoma
6. South Carolina
7. Kentucky
8. Arizona State
9. West Virgina
10. Oregon
11. Virgina Tech
12. California
13. Kansas
14. USC
15. Florida
16. Missouri
17. Auburn
18. Hawaii
19. Virgina
20. Georgia
21. Tennessee
22. Texas
23. Cincinnati
24. Texas Tech
25. Michigan

It has been an interesting college season so far. Lots of losses in the top ten in the last few weeks. Surprise of the season for me has got to be how well South Florida is doing. Looks like Florida has another power house college football team.

Vocabulary Lesson...

Numbers, letters, and words used for gang purposes

13, XIII, X3, S, Sur, Sureno - Words, numbers and letters that Southern gang members use

14, X4, XIV, N, Norteno - Words, numbers and letters that Northern gang members use

123 - 100 percent white

187 - Penal Code for murder

Barrio, Varrio - Neighborhood

Beer Run - To take beer from a store without paying for it

BG - "Baby Gangster", 12 years of age and under

Blunt - Getting high on a large marijuana cigarette

Bomb - To cross out or write over a rival gang's graffiti

Buster - Derogatory term referring to a Norteno, 14

Chante - House

Crank, Go Fast - Methamphetamine

Crib - House

Cuete - A Firearm

Dove - Rock Cocaine

Drive-by - When a gang cruises by a target and sprays the area or people with gunfire

Full Bird - One pound or one kilo of cocaine

Get Down For Your Set - To fight for your gang

Gig - A party

Half Bird - one-half pound or one-half kilo of cocaine

Hood - Term for neighborhood

NFL - Norteno For Life

NLR - Nazi Low Rider

Placa - Spanish slang term for Peace officer

Qu-Vo - What's up?

Rat Pack - When a group or gang beat up on a person; more than one person jumping another

Scrapa - Punk, tramp. Derogatory term referring to a Sureno gang member

Sewer Rat - Derogatory term referring to a Sureno

Tish - Smoking a drug

Transformer - A Norteno gang member turning Sureno or vice-versa

Trucha - Be cautious; look out; be on the lookout

Wannabes - An inaccurate term mistakenly used by lay people to describe people they believe are not official gang members but behave like them. There is no such thing as a Wannabe since these individuals are actually considered associates of the gang.


That is it for today's gang vocabulary lesson. See and you thought teachers just covered boring things at staff meetings.