i am still alive!

Apologies for my blogging absence. In the past month, the following has happened:

1. I started my new, full-time, un-corporate job.
2. I solved my roommate crisis and moved my friend Dan into my extra room.
3. I've buried myself in quintet stuff, including practicing and business research.
4. I drove home to San Diego, which is where I am currently (I leave tomorrow. I miss my snowy mountains!).
5. I discovered how snobby even only 6 months of MacBook usage will make you about PCs.

So, the job is good. Yeah, it's a lot of time, and when there are kids there it can be stressful. On the other hand, I leave early in the afternoon and don't have to go back, I seldom have too many tasks to complete, and I get an hour for lunch during which I can a)practice trombone in the gym b)go for a hike on the nearby south trailhead of the Crest Trail or c)take a nap in my car. My coworkers are not, perhaps, the brightest of bulbs, but they are sweet and overflowing with common sense. The kids I work with struggle with discipline issues but they are solid mountain community kids without those pesky inner-city attitude problems.

My trip home this year is short but still it's been fun. I spent the obligatory evening with Katie, Jon, and Eugene, and as always it was a ton of fun. I'd forgotten just how smart we are all, us RB kids. Sure, we picked up most of our street smarts from our subsequent college careers, but those book smarts- dang. We sure are well-read and well-educated. And we know how to keep secrets. A trip to Chicago is in the works for the four of us in February.

I have some posts in the works, I promise. For now, there is your confirmation that I am alive and well, even I'm suffocating what with all the oxygen and moisture in the air here in San Diego. Back to my pretty, snowy, friendly mountains tomorrow.