Greetings from Columbus

I am out of town! (Which is why I have time to post)

Spending a couple days in Columbus for OMEA (music teacher convention here in Ohio). Could wax philosophical about the oddities of any convention...suffice it to say, I think a fascinating study could be done about behaviors by different professions at conventions...you throw a bunch of people together who 1) all have something in common and 2) care enough about it to spend 2-3 days talking about it, and you have a recipe for weirdness to be sure.

The problem is that it's now about 10 below with a wind chill in the minus-20s. I'm not entirely sure, but this could be the coldest weather I've ever experienced in my entire life. And in a few minutes I have to leave the warmth of the hotel room to get to my car and hope it starts.

I am enjoying the solitude but it will start to get to me soon. See, here's the problem: I officially have NO FRIENDS in the state who share my profession. I am the lonely creepy guy. Brian is here but the band sessions are in a different part of the building. All my friends from college are either out of town, out of the business, or both. Karen my colleague at school...goes to KMEA in Kentucky. So it's just me. Which again, I like...for a while. But by Saturday I'll be very happy to get home with everyone.

In other news, I'm back on the eating right wagon - lost about 10 pounds so far, give or take. I want to try to get it down another 20 or so, and then see what I'm feeling like. We're seriously looking into purchasing a treadmill to give us that extra exercise boost...but that's quite an expensive purchase if you want a good one. We'll see.

Thanks to all the family who are helping Steph out while I'm gone. It's not easy.

More later - the other big news is that the summer trip is officially being put in place...reservations are being made, which means I can start talking about where all we're going. Look for that soon.

Into the cold...
Matt