Not the Week I Expected, Season 2, Episode 9

This week was not the week I expected it to be.  I did make some progress on my To Do List, but we will come back to that shortly.  Last week, one of my doctoral student friends asked me if I would be willing to host some of her brass quintet members at my house for the week.  The quintet members hailed from all over the country, were descending on Philadelphia for a week of music making, and needed a place to stay.  Since one of my roommates is no longer living at the house, I agreed that her quintet members could bunk in the empty room.   I rather enjoyed having them around this week.  Granted none of them live terribly close (the closest being Gaithersburg, MD), but I made some new music friends over the course of the week.  Now that they have all departed for their homes, the house feels a little empty.

I learned a new word this week in my reading.  Intimate (v.): to hint at something.

I had a giant success at Temple Prep this weekend.  I have a student there who rarely pays attention, has trouble reading music, and is often not dialed into the activity of the day (a percussionist, go figure).  This week, I did a lesson where we were writing music.  I had the students write their own rhythms and then gave them the opportunity to present the rhythm to the ensemble and conduct the ensemble as it played the students' rhythms.  Well, when I asked for volunteers, this percussion student was the first one to raise his hand.  It felt so good for me that he was actively participating and learning music.  Hopefully this continues as a trend in his progress!

Last week, I presented a Spring Break To Do List.  Let's see how I did.

• Write my Statistics midterm paper: didn't even read the instructions.  This is priority #1 for me this week!
• Write the outline for my NAfME session: I did some reading on my topic and developed a few materials I will use in the session, but I got no work done on the acutal outline.
• Do my taxes: sort of.  I did as much as I could.  I realized that PGCPS did not send me my W2.  I imagine it got lost in the address change.  And since it was snowing and PGCPS closed last week, I couldn't get in touch with them to request a new copy.  I will get that done this week.
• Finish reading the creativity book: I read half of a chapter.
• Write a research proposal for my research project: done!  I actually completed something!  I was unclear what statistical models to use to analyze my potential data.  But, I found 3 that look promising.  I will discuss them with my stats professor next week.
• Buy a tablet: I did this one too!  I found a very reasonably priced tablet that, while not powerful enough to do much serious work, will be just fine for reading scholarly journals online and checking my email.  It will be here on Tuesday... I hope.
• Sleep: Oh, you better believe I got this one done!

New for this week: I am getting my fat ass back in the gym!

 

I am going to take a lesson from my adviser, who does her reading and work on the treadmill.  I will take my reading with me to the gym, park myself on a bike or treadmill and read while I sweat.  Lets see how long I can keep this up!  Just to keep myself honest, today's body weight: 210 lbs.  I am going back to bringing my lunch and dinner every day.  That combined with the gym should get me back in shape in a jiffy!

I applied for a summer job at the Phialdelphia Zoo.  More on that if it develops into anything.  

Update: I will not be in Maryland on the 14th anymore.  The Category 5 Wind Ensemble concert has been moved to March 22nd.  I won't be able to play, but you should totally go hear the concert.  It will be awesome!

Important Dates:

• Wind Symphony Concert: March 11 at 7:30 pm at TPAC

• Wind Symphony Concert: March 22 at 7:30 pm at the Kimmel Center

• Mitch speaks at NAfME conference: October 25-28, 2015 in Nashville, TN

Well, sorry for the brevity of this week's blog.  I guess that is what happens over spring break.  This coming week is jam packed, so strap yourselves in for a monster post next week.

That is all for now.  Future Dr. Mitch, out!