This year was a year of triumph for me professionally and for our kids in marching band.
In January, I applied for an internal position at Indeed. I had missed doing IOS development since 2017, the last time I worked on the IOS app at Indeed. A position came open on the team. It was a promotion. And after interviewing, I got it! Started that in April, and am having a lot of fun.
In March, the family went to New York for Spring Break. We wanted to see Hugh Jackman in the Broadway revival of The Music Man. We also knew that the marching band was going to participate in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade later in the year, and we wanted to see stuff in the city that we knew we were not going to see in November. We went to the Empire State Building. We saw Randy Brecker at Dizzy’s Club at Lincoln Center, a teen-friendly jazz club. And we just walked around a lot. Had a blast.
In April, I went to an Astros game in Houston.
In June, I went to San Francisco to meet with my new team. Went to a Giants game as well.
I played in Cedar Park Winds, a local community band, primarily populated with band directors. It’s a great band. In July, we performed at the Texas Bandmaster’s Association Convention in San Antonio with Dareen Ketchens, a famous New Orleans jazz clarinet player. It was a superb musical experience.
Summer band started for the kids about the same time.
The kids had just about the best season a marching band could hope for. Vandegrift won the Texas UIL 6A State Marching Contest. Then, a few weeks later, the band marched in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. They continued to play for the Vandegrift Varsity Football team as they advanced to the finals before they finally lost.
On other news:
- On 1/1/2022, I weighed 298 pounds. On 12/31/2022, I weighed 248 pounds. I got as low as 242 pounds right before the holidays. My A1C and triglycerides came up as normal the last labs I did. My blood pressure is under control. I feel great. Jade also lost quite a bit of weight.
- In August, I started playing with the Austin Jazz Band again.
- Jade and I were both chaperones for the Macy’s trip with the band. It was hard work, but it was a blast.
It was a good year.
