The Whirlwind Continues

It's that time of year, when those of us caught in the perpetually recycling net that is academia are torn between tearing our hair out and jumping for joy.

FINALS!!!!

Actually, for those of us who teach, finals aren't that big of a deal (shh... don't tell anyone!), but the two weeks or so leading up to finals are a bit of a nightmare, especially when you have concerts to attend, conduct, or play in every day, as is the case with me.

It's not the performances that are the issue, it's the time that goes into the final prep... making programs, scheduling last minute rehearsals, making sure the venues are good to go, all of that needs to be done in order for a performance to be a success.

In addition to that, I've been judging at some district public school music festivals, which has kept me on the road over weekends.

And the keystone in my castle of madness is that Lauren and I BOUGHT A HOUSE! Talk about a big step. After we signed the papers, we left the realtor's office and I turned to Lauren and said "Holy @#!%, did that really just happen?"

Yep, it did. And I couldn't be happier. The place is in great shape, Lauren and I can LIVE TOGETHER again, and money will be going into equity instead of just going into some landlord's pocket every month. And before you get all "owning a house is hard work you don't know what you're in for it'll own you as much as you own it there goes all your free time be prepared to dump all your money into the house blah blah blah" on me, I'll let you in on another dirty little secret: I like doing the house stuff. I like yard work. I like that if something breaks, I can do it myself instead of calling a landlord and hoping they can get to it before the place floods. I like power tools and painting and building things and decorating, and I find it rewarding beyond belief. Other than a big fat mortgage, there is not any part of owning a house that isn't an improvement over renting as far as I'm concerned. Truth be told, even the mortgage won't be too much of a stretch for us.

I know I'm new at this, but let me hang onto my optimism for at least a few months.

The new Casa de Calkin, as of the closing on May 30:


This dark and fuzzy picture courtesy of my iPhone coupled with a less than stellar Nebraska day.


It's going to be a busy summer: I've been contracted to play in the Cedar Rapids Municipal Band again this summer, I'm going to the International Tuba/Euphonium Conference in Cincinnati in June, I've got some wedding and church gigs lined up, I have two new courses to develop and, of course, there's the whole moving to our new pad thing.

Hopefully I find some time (and money) for a little golf every now and then.

Big Things and Small Things

It's been a busy few weeks, to say the least, and it's put me in a bad way, but more on that later.

Spring Break was the week of March 3-7. Far too early for it to be called "spring" anything in Northeastern Nebraska, but I digress. I spent the majority of that vacation in the car, having gone to Lincoln for Nebraska Bandmaster's association the first weekend, then working the Wayne State Middle School Music Festival on Tuesday, then driving to Iowa City to visit my wife, and finally heading to Omaha for a concert on Friday then back to Wayne that evening.

A bit about that concert... I got a plea over TubeNet a couple of months ago from a member of a band called Slavic Soul Party! who desperately needed a tuba or sousaphone for their Omaha gig on Friday, March 7. I agreed to bring one of Wayne State's sousas down and they promised me free tickets to the show. It was an amazing experience. SSP, to boil it down, take the Eastern European brass band tradition and blend it with aspects of modern music (funk, rock, jazz, etc.) and the result is surprisingly spectacular. Anyone who digs a good groove would like SSP. Check their website out.

The following week I got to attend Tubonium6, at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN. Tubonium is a tuba/euphonium convention hosted annually by Paul Budde, Professor of Tuba and Euph at GAC. I've attended Tubonium for the past few years and each year has been a fantastic experience. This year's guest artists were Dan Perantoni from Indiana University, Brian Bowman from North Texas and John Stevens from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

I returned home from Tubonium late Saturday evening and immediately began preparations for John Manning's recital here at Wayne State. Being my most recent former teacher at Iowa (and just a great guy) John offered to do a recital and masterclass here. Naturally I accepted, and so on Monday (St. Patrick's Day) John presented a recital and asked me to play on some duets. We had a great time, as you'll see from the photos we took:





(In case you're wondering, that's my M-W gang sign, for the brand of tubas I play: Meinl-Weston.)

So basically, I've been running myself ragged over the past few weeks. In addition to that, the water heater died at my place over the Tubonium weekend and so I was bathing 18th century style, using hot water from a pot I heated on the stove. So the crazy schedule combined with no hot water combined with a brief return to winter temperatures conspired to make me pretty sick, which is where I am now. I took one day off (all I'll allow) to recover which, sadly, hasn't totally happened yet. When I got to take a hot shower on Wednesday (my first one since Saturday) it was a near religious experience. I stayed in for like 20 minutes, which Lauren will tell you is a LONG time for me.

Speaking of Lauren, the best news of all from the previous few weeks... she gets to keep her job at Percussion Source! She'll be able to work remotely from Wayne, which means out financial outlook is quite good at the moment. The next step is buying a house, and we're closing in on that, too.

Hooray for progress!

And the Winner is...

...me! This morning I was officially offered the full-time tenure-track position here at Wayne State!

So now that main trial is over, and the new struggles can begin:

1.) Lauren now must figure out what will happen with her employment. We're hoping that she will be able to continue with Percussion Source, remotely. If that is not possible, we will need to actively look for work for her in Wayne and neighboring communities.

2.) House hunting. We have something in mind, but we need to work out the little details, like finances, moving, etc. Unfortunately, this is going to depend on Lauren's situation, so this is not something that is going to resolve itself quickly.

I'm thankful for all the help I've gotten along the way so far, from friends, family, students and colleagues, and all those who were pulling for me. It means a lot to have such great people in your corner.

D-Day approacheth...

So tomorrow is the big day, so to speak. Tomorrow is my "Campus Visit," which is to say that I have a whole string of interviews, etc. that I have to do all day, as well as pretending I'm new to Wayne State, which is downright silly, all things considered.

I understand the rationale. All candidates must be considered on a level playing field, or as near as is possible. In reality, the proceedings are skewed (albeit slightly) in my favor since I've been here working with these students and faculty since July.

So the day's schedule includes separate meetings with the Dean, VP for Academic Affairs, Music Department Chair, Position Search Committee and (refreshingly) some students. In addition, I have to perform a half-hour recital, teach a lesson and direct the Wind Ensemble.

All in one day. It's a marathon, no doubt about that.

Still, I'm not really worried. I'll just show up and do basically the same things I always do, in the same place and with the same people I usually do them. Except for the interviews.

The other candidate (there are only two finalists, myself included) will be in town on Friday, so I'm going to do my best to be out for much of that day. I think I'll take the Rev. Ray up on his lunch offer. Hopefully sometime next week I'll know what direction my life is going to take, which would certainly be useful information.

I HATE ELI MANNING

.....a lot.

The Calm Between the Storms

I finally have a little bit of time to devote to writing, as my schedule is experiencing a brief lull into normalcy.

This past week was a busy one, since it was my birthday and my wife came to visit from Iowa and my mom came out from Vermont. That was particularly exciting since I hadn't seen her in two years or so. Unfortunately, it happened to be the busiest weekend of the early part of the spring semester for me, but c'est la vie, which I think is French for "shit happens."

Saturday was the Wayne State College Honor Band. This is where area high school musicians send in tapes for auditions, and We The Faculty choose the Best and Brightest to form three bands: one for middle/jr. high and two for high school. I was asked to direct the high school symphonic band for the festival, which lasts one day. Rehearsal begins at 8:30 am and the concert is at 4:30. With such little rehearsal time this has the potential for disaster, depending on the repertoire chosen, the skill of the players and their preparation level prior to the event.

Fortunately, my kids were GREAT. The arrived prepared, they worked their butts off all day long, and they did a fantastic job in the concert. To say I was relieved would be an understatement, since I had never done one of these things before, at least not with my back to the audience. I felt a great deal of accomplishment in what we were able to achieve. All of the responses were positive, I was able to do a bit of networking and I hope that it further cements my appeal for continued employment at Wayne.

Speaking of which, Lauren, Mom and I went out to do some preliminary house shopping during their visit as well. There are a lot of available properties in Wayne, but one in particular jumped out at us and, frankly, I've been daydreaming about the house all week. It's become something of a preoccupation for me, I'm afraid. It's an old house, c. 1916, but it has been impeccably maintained and has recent renovations throughout. It's got everything we need: multiple bedrooms with potential for music room, office and den/library space, a game room (yay bar and pool table), a spacious yard with TWO porches, and a two car garage. Best of all, all of the work it needs (seemingly) is purely cosmetic so we could move in immediately.

All I need is a job.

I really want to stay here. I love my work, I like the town OK, the college is great, the students are awesome, my colleagues are easy to work with, I almost live on a golf course, there's a bike trail nearby... The only thing missing is, well, civilization. No, that's not the right word. I can get anything I want, but it requires an hour-each-way drive if I can't find it in Wayne. I guess the right word is "convenience." That's the biggest drawback to living here, but it's a very small price to pay to get everything else I want, in my opinion.

OK, almost everything. There was always the lingering hope that I'd find a job closer to my family. Seeing my mom or dad once every two years is not nearly enough, to say nothing of my extended family. Still, if we have steady income and a house with four bedrooms, visits will be much easier...

So now I'm back into my normal groove, with one glaring exception: my "may I please keep this job" interview will be next week.

Hooray for life-changing events, and GO PATRIOTS!!!

Living Someone Else's Life

I'm not where I thought I would be. That seems like as good a place to start as any, since it's the plain truth. As recently as June of 2007 I thought the following fall semester would be spent finishing my academic work at the University of Iowa, with dissertation Hell to follow in the spring. You know, business as usual. Then I received a fateful email (to abuse a cliche) from John Manning, my Iowa mentor, stating that a one-year teaching position had become available at Wayne State College, a small institution in an even smaller town in Eastern Nebraska. I knew nothing about the college or the area but applied anyway, since I was looking for some real world teaching experience and, potentially, a permanent position.

To my great astonishment I was offered the position in record time. It was a bittersweet moment for me; sweet because I was on my way to the culmination of all the work I've done for the past ten years in college, and bitter because I'd have to sacrifice a LOT to make this dream happen, as is often the case with dreams.

Since it was only a one-year guaranteed position (with the option of reapplying for continued employment) and Lauren already had a great job in Iowa, where she had in fact recently been promoted, we made the "executive decision" to live apart for one year. At the conclusion of that year we would live together again, in Nebraska if I was re-hired, and in Iowa if I was not.

It's a strange thing to give up one's marital status for a year, without in fact giving it up. Of course we're still married, but coming home to an empty house (and an empty bed) every night leaves a lot to be desired. See, I'm a husband, and I try to be a good one, and that is part of how I define myself. Leaving my wife and my home (and it IS my home... I may reside in NE but the old adage is true; home is indeed where the heart is) has been more than a minor aggravation for me; at times it has been, well, sad, depressing, all of that.

At least I was able to bring some of what makes me me along for the ride. I have my music, I have my own place, I have my own things... at least, I did. Until January.

I got a great offer in November. I was asked to house-sit for another faculty member who is on sabbatical from WSC for the entire Spring semester. Naturally, I jumped on the opportunity to live rent-free for a semester and besides, I get to live with a cat again which is a big step up from a completely empty apartment. Living rent-free is great. Living in someone else's house is more trying than I would have thought.

It's not quite the same as being a houseguest, because you're not anyone's guest, really. You're living in their house, in their absence. The first night I was there I felt like an intruder, as though I had broken in to steal from these people. I had to close the blinds because I felt like there were eyes on me, as though I did indeed have something to hide being there. Even the cat eyed me with suspicion at first (until he realized I was his new food distributor, anyway. Now we get along fine).

Part of my job is to drive their car occasionally so the battery doesn't die and the hoses don't dry out. So this morning, as I was driving someone else's car from someone else's house to Norfolk to buy food to put in someone else's pantry, it hit me: I've stolen someone else's life. Entirely ripped it off. I'm no longer myself, and the transition took less than six months.

In July 2007 I was a married college student in Iowa, who lived in a two-bedroom townhouse with his wife and two cats and drove his 2005 Ford Focus to school each morning, and drove a bus for money on the side.

In January 2008 I'm a single (it feels that way sometimes, though I'm still a husband, albeit a long-distance one) college educator living in a four-bedroom house with one cat and someone else's stuff, and I drive a 1992 Dodge Caravan. Oh, and the gal who's on sabbatical? I took over her position as faculty adviser for the German Club.

My paycheck is larger, my bed feels larger (and colder), and I frequently wake up not knowing where I am or how I got there.

But at least I still have my music.

Here we go again...

OK, so I deleted my old blog (which hasn't been updated in forever) and started a new one. Why? Dunno. Just another way to shamelessly spread myself across the internet, I suppose. Plus, this one will be better for keeping in touch with family and all that. So anyway, welcome to the new blog.