He plays 7 instruments. He teaches high school front ensembles (3 of them so far) Yet he graduated in 2013. He is the one furthest to the left behind the timpanist playing vibes and going mover to the concert bass drum and gong. He is the youngest one in the front ensemble. He just spent two years in the lower B corps who won their division last year. Now he is playing with the 16 time and defending world champion.

They sent a smaller unit of 97 members to Holland, Italy, Switzerland and UK to compete in their league. They compete a couple years longer till age 25 I believe.
Over a thousand people auditioned for those spots.

My son will be playing guitar in Individual competition with the combo they put together. They almost had him play this year but scrapped the idea due to logistics and could not figure out how to fit it in the show.

Very cool! How old's Connor now?

He is 19. The youngest member of his section. (the pit)

I have not heard from him for almost two days so they must be practicing real hard for the Boston show tomorrow night.
They are staying in Rode Island now.

Cool indeed, you must be very proud.

That's great! Maybe he gets to travel to Europe in a year or so...

Summer heat's taking its toll. I'm up way too early and my sun allergy has spread to my lower arms.

Really? Never knew that...

It's really very hot out here now, 35 degs officially but a bit higher according to my thermometer... Today is also the start of the Tour de France in Utrecht.

I can't wait for this day to be over! two holidays I never celebrate. christmas and 4th of july. I am neither religious or duped by this crappy country that sold it's people down the river 45 years ago!

Itching with sun allergy and the storm they promised us is nowhere in sight. Pfffffff...

So, Huck, what was significant in the US about 1970?

Flares and Flo & Eddie.

That was during the Nixon years.

It just goes downhill from there.

Found some fresh yeast, means I can bake baguettes again! :drool:

They played with the Boston Symphony Orchestra yesterday and did 1812 overture. Here is their own music though. the first part is the drumline and hornline doing fun stuff then they start their actual show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW2QlHCxEAg

*fixed the link for you: - BBP*

Oh boy! I had a friend totally go off about a breakfast eatery and if you have the patience to read her missive she pretty much answers why she got the treatment she did:

"Has anyone ever eaten at Bar Carlo on Foster in Portland? If so, what was your experience? I've been going there for four years, and Dann's been going since they opened seven years agao, and we've both noticed their service and food getting worse and worse, and the waitstaff getting less and less patient. We ask for a little special treatment here and there, but nothing too extreme. With me, it's always "dressing on the side; milk instead of half and half with the coffee." Coffee is self-serve so I always go to the bar and request a tiny cup of milk. They never had a problem with it, until yesterday. A few weeks ago we had to send our scrambled eggs back, because they were raw inside; the griddle was too hot, cooking only the outsides of the food, and did not cook them through; my pancake was raw throughout as well. Those are the only two complaints I've ever had about the food. Yesterday their manager pulled us both aside and said she felt like they couldn't do anything right, and said things like "We just don't feel that you're happy with us, and we're wondering if it's worth continuing this relationship..." Needless to say, we were surprised. I told her not to tell us how we felt, but to focus on how she was feeling about us. She said she was unhappy, because we were unhappy. We said we were NOT unhappy and again said "Stop telling us how WE feel and tell is if there is a problem with something we have done." We showed up as a party of two, saying we expected three more to join us eventually but that we were instructed by our friends to go ahead and start eating without us. They said they don't seat until the full party is there, so we opted to be seated only as two, taking a very small table outside. I pointed to the table and said I wanted to sit there, and the hostess said okay and seated us. Our friends did eventually show up, and we invited them to sit with with us, thinking this was pretty normal for restaurants. They were busy, so I grabbed two of the self-serve menus for my friends: normal, you're supposed to grab your own menus. The waitress, who's helped us for several years and -was- one of our favorites, practically short-circuited when she saw there were to more people at our table. She complained to the manager that we weren't "following protocol" or some such. Okay, no problem, next time we'll know, right? Don't invite people to sit at your table AFTER you order... wait for your friends or go somewhere else. Okay, we get it. That was never the rule before, but now that they're far more popular, they've chanced the rules. No problem? Not so fast. The friend who sat with me is extremely allergic to onions, and she and her husband requested a salad with no onions, explaining in a concise sentence that she cannot eat anything touched by onions: the plate, the salad, and other food must not come into contact with onions. Server said, "okay, no problem." Her salad arrives. She takes one bite of a cucumber and starts having an allergic reaction: her throat starts to close up and her breath becomes shallow. The knife used to cut the onions was used on the cucumbers, without having been washed, probably in early morning food prep, prior to the place opening. An honest mistake. Her salad was sent back, but because she was at my table, the manager of the restaurant lumped this "incident" in with my having sent food back for being raw two weeks before, claiming it was just somehow impossible to please ME... She also brought up another "incident" in which I requested a plain crepe (almost a year earlier) when they were out of the crepes I requested. I said "It's okay, I would love just a plain crepe without any filling." She said she wasn't sure the kitchen would do it. I asked if I could pay extra for one, and she agreed to put in the request. The kitchen agreed, and I didn't think it was a problem, yet, yesterday, the manager brought up "the crepe incident," which I thought wasn't an issue at all. She claimed I was pushy and insistent. Yet, I was nothing of the sort. All I did was ask if they could accommodate me, when they were out of something else. They normally offer substitutes (such as Havarti for Chevre, when they're out of Chevre). It wasn't busy that day, and I don't feel it was out of the ordinary. But because she pulled me aside and felt the need to "discuss the situation," I agreed never to make any more special requests. THEN--get this: she says, "And there was this one time you only tipped five percent." I said "I've been coming here for years, and I always tip well. Dann overtips. He tips between 20 and 30 percent. I typically tip 15 to 20 percent. If I EVER undertipped, and all you have to cite is ONE incident, you need to look at my history as a customer and tell me if you remember any of the huge tips we've left, as that seems to be getting left out of this conversation. Our server hasn't come back to our table with our change yet. We are waiting so we can tip her." Our change was then brought to us. I said to the manager, "My math skills suck so please let me know what 20 percent of $73.00 is and I'll leave at least that much as a tip." She calculated it to be $14.60. I tipped our waitress $20.00, which is 28 percent. My server / waitress refused to make eye contact the rest of my visit, and I did not even get a thank you. I am a "bad customer" now and obviously unwelcome at this place. The manager and I gave each other a hug and I thanked her for bringing our indiscretions to our attention, saying we would be more mindful in the future; I also asked that they keep their issues separated from ours: I don't want to feel like uncooked food can't be sent back, or like we're asking for special treatment when pay top dollar for food that's inadequate. We aren't that picky, but we're not the Sunday hung-over types on Foster, who're maybe happy to eat whatever they're given, because they're not quite as discerning. There's more. The manager claimed that we just took the table we were at without asking anyone. Another misunderstanding. We said we wanted a specific table, because it was in the shade, and the hostess said "Okay, sure." She seated us. After all of this, we feel unjustly treated, and though we (used to) love this place, we're tired of waiting two hours to be served, and we're tired of the wait staff getting progressively less and less patient. Maybe it is time we do move on."

So I just came out and told her that if I were a server I would not want to wait on her either and after 30 years in the business I have heard it all. I have dined out with her and I can see why this happened.

Then she flipped out on me!

"Fuck you. I used to love you, but I just need to be rid of you for a while. Just please stay the fuck away from me. Stay out of my life. Don't call me anymore. Don't even fucking talk to me. Be well, and be real, but do it somewhere else. I can't afford to have people in my life who think they know me, and make gross errors in judgement about me, my intentions, and who I am or what I do or, especially, how I treat others. The way I am speaking to you now is not typical. You fucking earned it.
"

I also said that perhaps they should just stay home and cook. I really believe that if you have an allergy that bad then you should not eat out period.

She has since sent me a whole bunch of other stuff but I don't even want to wade through it.

Sorry Huck but I have to stop you there.
Everybody has the right to go to a restaurant. Nobody wants an allergy and that woman is the victim, not the perpetrator.

The customer clearly stated the severity of the allergy.
The waitress accepted the order. By doing that, she made an agreement with the customer that whatever food was served would be safe to eat for her. Did she check with the cook whether it was possible to have this to the extent

The restaurant is in the wrong, either for waitress error or the cook's error.


It's possible that you don't agree with the way she acts in restaurants, but from what you post here, it looks like you're making light of a life-threatening condition. Maybe just saying nothing would've been a better option.

Why do you literally quote everything she said, but only paraphrase what you say?


Somehow... I guess you don't have an allergy. I have no life-threatening food allergies that I'm aware of (there is one food that gives embarrassing red spots on my chin). I have sun allergy. Should I stay indoors all day in summer? Wear gloves, like I did last year but it didn't help much?

a peanut allergy is one thing but something as severe as onion? That is something that is everywhere in a kitchen and needs to be dealt with with severity. Breakfast cooks are the least trained of them all. It is a type of cooking that requires speed not culinary knowledge.

I had to paraphrase because she deleted the posts but I had copied hers to ask a friend what they think of her missive.

If the cook can't, then the waitress shouldn't have offered it. The waitress should've asked the cook if it was possible, and if the answer's no, apologize to the woman that the restaurant can't comply (and offer a complimentary coffee).
By making the suggestion that she could eat it while she couldn't, the servers put her in a life-threatening situation. She has every right to sue, as far as I'm concerned.

This training should be normal within the serving industry: the way of dealing with dietary demands. As a customer you are the one entitled to state what you eat, whether this is about a food allergy or any other form of diet or something as simple as the way you drink your coffee.

The thing is something like that you could have no idea weather just rinsing it off or a complete wash would do.

Read the initial rant. It is obvious that she has been antagonizing this restaurant for quite some time.

I dined out with her once and returned after we left to offer the waiter more tip money for the mess they left and showing up at the very end of the night.

My friend is the epitome of white privilege tech worker. Her final post to me shows her true colors.



"I'm still kind of mad... I do love you though. Maybe someday when you say something about not being able to understand a technical manual and I tell you you're just too stupid to understand user guides and you shouldn't even bother buying or trying to understand electronics or computer applications, we will be even, because it isn't the way tech manuals are written, it is just the stupid, uneducated, picky reader who has to be coddled and shown in baby pictures how to use software or new televisions. Just like the customer who has a bad experience in a restaurant is just too picky and too much of a difficult asshole to be taken seriously. Do you get my point?"