Spring Concert

Things have been mad busy over here. I've been heading up publicity for the Capitol Pride Symphonic Band's spring concert on May 11th & 12th. It's been more work than I anticipated! We're starting to sound quite good though, and I think the hard work will pay off. Hope to see you there!





DC's Different Drummers (DCDD) is happy to present the Capitol Pride Symphonic Band's Spring Concert, Song and Dance, on Friday and Saturday May 11th & 12th at 8:00 pm at the Church of the Reformation. Song and Dance is a trip through Broadway, Hollywood film music, songs sacred and profane, and dances that will inspire you to click your heels and tap your feet.

Featured in the concert is the symphonic band arrangement of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, an energetic and lusty work that is perfect for Spring. Other works on the program include Williams's The March From "1941", Grainger's Irish Tune from County Derry, Ravel's Bolero, and a medley of Disney tunes. This concert gives our musicians a chance to shine with some delightful solos.

Tickets are on sale now in the DCDD Box Office and at Lambda Rising. The concerts will be held at the Lutheran Church of the Reformation at 212 East Capitol St. NE. Please see their website for detailed directions.

More information: www.dcdd.org or (202) 269 - 4868.

Scenes from Maui.

I wish I was still in Maui...it was much more beautiful than Oahu and very relaxing. What happened to spring on the East Coast? And why is everyone in DC so impatient and rude...?

This is the view from our lanai. It's the west side of Maui we're looking at. Look closely: windmills are visible on the ridgeline. They were very cool. Every morning we sat here and had breakfast, then maybe took a walk on the beach or went for a quick swim.

Our sunset view. Ahh.... The sun is setting over Molokai.

These were man-eating sized waves on the north shore! The pic doesn't do it justice, but I like the light and haze blending together.

I wish I could!

The question is here.

Remember that small-town life?

Last Friday I sent my tax returns to the Feds, DC, and VA. What a pain! For DC and VA I had to use these kookie tables and formulas to calculate the percentage of my earnings by when I lived in those states (if that's what you want to call them; after all, my license plate states Taxation Without Representation).

In the mail today I received my returned (not filed) tax return from the Culpeper County Commmissioner of Revenue. They had corrected my tax return in red and sent it back for me to rewrite and mail back. So now I'm getting $76 back instead of $70. I wish someone would correct my tax returns in red for me every year....

Thanks goes to Marc, who had the smart idea of looking up our Maui condo using Google Earth! It does a great job of showing what our view was with the water and mountains opposite. There's even a photo marked so you can see what the sunset looks like from here! I remember those shadows the palm trees cast on the sand... What a fun tool for reliving your vacation. Try it yourself; the address is 800 S Kihei Rd, Kihei HI.

Waikiki Sunset

This never gets old. You might be able to spot the surfers in the lower left picture. They're there everyday from sun up to sun down.

I will miss this when I fly back to the mainland today :( Our flight is at 8:35 pm and we get in at 2 pm tomorrow.

On our drive around the island we stopped at the Dole Pineapple Plantation.

Say aloha to marc!

We had lunch on this little beach on the north shore. There are beaches everywhere on Oahu.

This is the carved Buddha statue from the temple in the previous post! He was a big guy.

More from Oahu...

This is a beautiful north shore beach where we spent the afternoon napping in the shade and staring at the beautiful view. At first you think you will get bored of an unchanging view...no way. We also stumbled upon a cute bakery that made super sandwiches and snacks.

We found the Byodo-In temple by chance even though I had seen pictures of it in brochures. Inside is an enormous carved Buddha. There was also a 3-ton bell outside you could strike before entering the temple. Very peaceful. The temple is a replica of a 900-yr old temple in Japan. This one is built entirely without nails.

A view from Diamond Head crater! There were armaments up here just before WWI. It's a steep and hot climb. Waikiki and Honolulu are in the background.

Aloha!

I am visiting the islands of Oahu and Maui (where my friend is getting married this weekend). These are pictures of Waikiki waking up...every morning I am wide awake at 3 a.m., 4 a.m., 5 a.m., and then can't sleep anymore. We're six hours behind the east coast.

Here's a view of the mountains from the hotel room. Marc and I will be exploring them and the other coasts when we rent a car today! I'll be happy to get out of the city and see the natural side of HI.

My first Hawaiian sunset! We are staying on the 22nd floor, which has an amazing view of Waikiki.

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A layover in the vegas airport! If i hit it i may not come back. . .

Official time...

Race: 1:24:11
Pace: 8:26
428/902 in my group.

The winner:
46:01 @4:37 pace

Any of the weeks surrounding Easter are not a good time to be around Washington...way too many visitors. And the weekends of the National Cherry Blossom Festival are certainly the worst times to be on the Mall. But how can you avoid seeing the blooms at their peak or the kite festival?

Spring is beautiful here!

go me!

The weather cooperated today and it was a good race day! I finished in 1:24:19, which was 0:01:19 behind my goal of finishing in 83 minutes! So I ran about an 8:26 mile...not bad unless you compare it to the leaders who ran < 5 minute miles! I'm happy and feel good, which is great considering I didn't spend all the time I wanted training.

10,000 people racing, but the finish line was fun when the announcer said, It's Jeff S. everybody!

Maybe I should have been running harder and fiddling with my camera phone less? I was having a good time (at least for about half of the race).

I met up with Janet from band (also a clarinet player) at around mile 7. She's got legs!