It's been a while

Lots to update since my last post.  2 amazing benefits, my birthday, and a trip to Ohio.

The benefit at Rubbles was an amazing time.  Thanks to all of the acts, Rubbles for hosting, staff for volunteering, raffle prize donors, and all of the people who helped put it all together.  Also, thanks to everyone who showed up, donated, and had a great time with us.  HB and I were blown away by all of your support, and had a lot of fun, too!  It was also great to be up on stage at Rubbles again, and even though I'm a lot weaker than I used to be, it was mighty awesome to get my horn out and play again.  After the show, HB, Dustin, Carrie, and I also had a bit of an adventure with a skunk.

While talking about benefits, last night, the Knights of Columbus Council 1616 in Kalamazoo, hosted a euchre tournament benefit for us.  Although I was pretty exhausted, we both had a really good time, and enjoyed ourselves.  Thanks to those who came out, played euchre, donated, and had a fun time with HB and I.  Apparently it was a really good showing of people as compared to when they play at other times.

Also, I should thank everyone for their hugs.  One of my favorite things in the world is a hug, and I've had plenty of great ones lately.  It really cheers me up, and makes me feel better, especially when I'm tired and not feeling well.

My birthday was a blast.  I started out the day by finishing up a few last minute details before the house showing, and then made my way in to Dustin and Carrie's house for the festivities.  HB met us after work, and we went out to eat at the Sushi Hibachi Buffet in town (it tastes about as good as it sounds, but I kind of like those kind of places) and I ate enough sub-par sushi (with no actual raw fish) to make my head explode.  It was great to pig out like that.  We went back to Dustin and Carrie's and watched some Rifftrax (the guys from Mystery Science Theater 3000's newest project) and Carrie made me a birthday cake.  She put a ton of candles on it, and still being a wind bag, I managed to get them all in one breath.

Friday morning I woke up, and headed to Ann Arbor to get my blood drawn and pick up Dan McDonald for our adventure to Ashland for the Maplerock Jazz Festival.  We made it down in time to catch the last couple of high school bands and the Ashland University Jazz Orchestra's rehearsal before the show that night.  Scott Garlock is the director of the band, and my former trombone instructor, and good friend.  He invited Dan and I to dinner with his family and the guest artists, which was awfully cool of him to do.  We ate some pretty good Italian food and had great conversation.  Dan and I got checked into our hotel and came back for the performance.

I don't know what Scott is feeding the trombone section since I left, but I was blown away.  The section was pretty darned good while I was there, but now they are eating nothing but hard-boiled eggs and human growth hormone.  They were outstanding.  The concert was really great.  It was also good to see some other folks that I'd gone to school with, as I haven't seen them in probably 6 years or so.  Scott then invited us out to the after showing hang out time with the artists, also very cool of him.  At this point, I'd been up since 5 am, plus about 5 hours of driving, so I was pretty beat.  Dan and I hung out until around midnight and went to get some sleep.

The next morning, Dan and I had breakfast with Scott, his fiance Emily, and his son Satch.  The food was excellent, but the service left something to be desired.  There was more great conversation to be had, and then Dan and I had to go.

Last night, I slept like I'd never slept a wink in my life.  I think I got almost 10 hours of sleep, which is unusual for me these days.  HB and Dustin went out and got breakfast for all of us, and we hung out and watched conspiracy theory documentaries on the history channel about the Kennedy and Lincoln assassinations.  HB and I came home and she mowed the lawn while I've been plunking away at this ridiculously long, and long time coming post.  We're going to get some dinner, and then it's back to Dustin and Carrie's to crash at their house again (we owe you guys big time), because in the morning, Dustin and I leave at 5:30 to go and get my shunt put in.  Hopefully this will mean that I won't have to make as many trips to Ann Arbor, and I can drain myself when I feel like I need it, rather than having to wait for the next appointment.  I'll update things when I'm feeling up to it this week.  The shunt is going to be a little tube sticking out from my abdomen so that I can drain things myself.  It sounds like it's going to be a couple of hour procedure, involving weaving plastic tubing through my skin and into my paritoneal cavity.  Fun times.