Quick update

Just A quick, not particularly eloquent, update on the happenings here in NC.

My hand is getting better. I have been changing the dressing every day and noting the daily snapshot in the healing process. I went to the doctor yesterday and when they un-bandaged it it looked really nasty; lots of loose skin just kind of floating about. Most of the blisters were ruptured at that point. But it was not oozy or anything. This morning it looked 100% better. There were just a couple of wrinkles in the skin, only a single blister left, kinda between my pinky and ring finger. It looks red but well on the way to healing . Now if I can just get the tendonitis in my arms to go away....

Karen's bowling league is in full swing. She is the treasurer/secretary. Basically collects the money and keeps the records etc. At this point they are in second place I think but I have noticed rankings can shift dramatically over just a couple of weeks.

Karen still does the Girl Scout troop's book keeping and records keeping etc. and now is also involved in planning the HS band's trip to New York this spring. In other words Karen is keeping busy.

Bob is doing well at school. He did get a job. He is going to be a campus bus driver. The hours are flexible as long as he works at least 18 hours a week. He has been in training the past several weeks. The instructors have been very impressed with him and have had him skip forward several days in the training schedule. He should get his license this week and start driving live cargo soon. "Driving a Bus is fun" says Bob. Other than that he has produced another DVD for the marching band; A compilation of all of the competition's and a few special other performances. He sells them for $30 each. He has 25+ orders so far. Not too shabby.

Tyler received significant awards this fall at the end of season Band awards banquet. Superlatives are awarded each week during the season; Squad of the week, Drummer of the week, Color Guard of the week, Person of the week.... At the banquet Tyler received, most notably, "Officer of the year" and "Person of the year". It is perhaps a small thing in the grand scheme of life but It was nice to receive peer recognition for the tremendous amount of extra work and pride he puts into the band program at school. Karen and I are very proud of our "Band Geek". Other than that Tyler did very well in school the first grading period. He missed having straight 'A's by 1 lousy grade point. He earned a 92 in AP Psychology, 93 is an A.

Tyler has sent in his College applications and is now holding his breath until sometime in January when he expects to hear from UNC.

Kyle did really well in band this fall as well. He had some folks a little concerned at first, not because of his playing abilities, according to many, technically he is one of the best players on the line. He was having some issues with marching. But by the first competition he and the rest of the drum line pulled it all together and won several awards in competition. Kyle has some work to do grade wise. Over all not terrible. Just one or two areas needing improvement. He is making an effort to bring things together. He has a new Girlfriend who is pretty special to him; Anna. A very sweet girl. Maybe she can get him to clean out his backpack once in a while. ;-) Other than that Kyle is gearing up for the tryouts for the school golf team. He tried out last year as you might remember but being that he had picked up a club for the first time just a month or two before, he didn't quite have the necessary club control. Good luck to him on that.

Michelle is busy as well. She has her first band concert tonight. She is playing clarinet along with 40+ other clarinet players. Hopefully after the concert she will have the opportunity to switch to Saxophone. The fall soccer season is done. The pulled it together for the last two games, showing enthusiasm and teamwork. They did not manage to pull off any wins this season though the last game was a tie. Michelle was the high scorer on the team for the season. She went camping a couple of weeks ago with the Girl Scouts; got drenched. We have not gotten much rain this year in NC. I think the rain gods were saving up for that camping trip. Michelle also had a really good first grading period report. Not all A's but from what I can tell the couple of the marks that brought specific class grades down were dubious at best. Who ever heard of awarding a test letter grade based on how fast a student ran the mile. Michelle ran it well within national, and I think presidential fitness guidelines but still received a B. Others parents reported their child received C's and D's based on the times their children ran.... I am still debating if it is worth rasing a stink over; not because a B is a bad grade but because it is just ignorant, IMHO, measure to base a grade on.

Well in a nutshell that is life in NC. Till next time....