My Apartment has its Christmas Glasses On

Since I'm in a new apartment I decided to do something I haven't done in a while..put up lights. I think they are festive enough.

Via iPhone

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Playing the Zilker Tree lighting

After taking a couple of years off I'm once again playing with the Austin Civic Wind Ensemble for the holiday season. James Barnard can actually play Euphonium, I fake it OK.

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If You Wondered Where Everyone from Cedar Park was Today

Here's the answer.
The one point loss to Lake Travis was heartbreaking for the kids but it was one great season.

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Yes We're Still Dressing Up the Band

This is the last month we can try for $25,000 for the Cedar Park High School Band to get new concert uniforms.  You can look a couple of posts down and see the details.  Needless to say we are hoping to finish in the top 10 this month and secure the money so we can have these new uniforms in house in time for UIL concert and sightreading contest in a few months.  Here's what you can do to help.  Click on the link below to vote on the web or you can text code 102114 to PEPSI, 73774, on your cell phone.  You can also find the Pepsi Refresh Project on Facebook and vote from there.  But let me tell you a secret.  You can do ALL THREE every day this month.  Now if you're not a band parent you may not want to make that kind of committment but it would be really cool if you did and help out a bunch of great kids.  They already play like champions.  We want them to look like champions too.  Please help us out and give the Cedar Park High School Band a New Year's Day to remember.

 

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Marching Season Ends

As a follow up to the post with the first video of marching season for the Cedar Park High School Band here is a video shot by parent Lenny Troupiano that ends the season at the last game.  This is close to the full show.  The only place that was performed was in Indianapolis at the Bands of America Grand National Championships.  The goal all year was to get into the finals so the band could fight for a top 10 in the nation finish.  That's exactly what happened.  The band finished 10 in the entire country and the students, including my daughter Amanda, had the time of their lives.  The parents and conductors are very proud of the band and all of the kids that made it happened.  I have never, ever heard a high school band play with as much power as this band played with in Indianapolis.  It was amazing, eventhough I was watching it all on an internet stream plugged into my surround sound from my couch in Austin, Texas.  I hope you enjoy the show.  It's amazing the number of hours that went into developing it and perfecting it and that's is what they did.

 

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Help Dress the Cedar Park High School Band

Yes they do wear clothes when they play!  Now stop HAHA.

 

This is an effort by the CPHS Band Boosters to raise money to pay for new concert uniforms for ALL of the band students.  Right now only the top band has school provided uniforms, the rest of the bands (three others) wear stuff provided by parents and they don't all match.  So help us out and vote.  You can vote once a day for the rest of the month.  Only the top 10 get the money so we will need ALOT of support from the community.

 

Thanks in advance my blogging friends.  Feel free to spread this around too.  You don't just have to vote for Cedar Park, you get 10 votes a day to spread around some other great charities.  A really easy way to help a lot of people.

 

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My Friend Rick "The Stick" Mireles

As promised on Facebook here is the eulogy delivered at my best friend's memorial service.  It's in all caps because it was written as a speech script and I have old eyes, the bigger the letters the better.  I hope you enjoy and it gives you a little insight into the life of a man who touched so many lives, hundreds in person and thousands on the radio in San Antonio, Austin and the Rio Grande Valley.  He was the best both on and off the air, has a wonderful family and lots of people who love him.  I was amazed at the outpouring at his memorial service.  There wasn't a seat in the house.

 

EVER SINCE I WAS ASKED TO SPEAK ABOUT RICK’S LIFE ONE THING HAS BEEN GOING THROUGH MY HEAD.

WHAT STORIES COULD I TELL BOTH IN FRONT OF RICK’S MOM AND A PRIEST?

RICK AND I ACTUALLY FIRST MET ON THE TELEPHONE. I WAS MANAGING EDITOR AT KRNN RADIO AND HE WAS DOING AFTERNOON TRAFFIC FOR US WHILE HE WAS WORKING FOR TRAFFIC CENTRAL. IT WASN’T A PLEASANT MEETING AND FOR THE LONGEST TIME I THINK RICK WAS SCARED OF ME. YOU SEE HE MISSED A TRAFFIC REPORT AND I CALLED HIM TO TELL HIM THAT I WASN’T REAL HAPPY ABOUT THAT.

HE LEFT TRAFFIC CENTRAL TO COME TO POWER 93 AT ABOUT THE SAME TIME I BECAME THE NEWS DIRECTOR AT KONO AND POWER 93. IT TOOK A COUPLE OF WEEKS BEFORE WE ACTUALLY SAW EACH OTHER IN PERSON SINCE HE WORKED NIGHTS AND I WORKED MORNINGS. EVEN THOUGH WE WERE NOW ON THE SAME TEAM…HE WAS STILL SCARED OF ME. HE THOUGHT I WAS A VERY SERIOUS NEWS PERSON NOT TO BE MESSED WITH.

HE SOON FOUND OUT THAT WASN’T THE CASE AT ALL, THAT WE EVEN HAD THE SAME KIND OF SENSE OF HUMOR, AND OUR FRIENDSHIP BEGAN.

WE DID EVERYTHING TOGETHER BACK IN THOSE DAYS…THOSE ARE THE STORIES WE'RE SKIPPING BECAUSE OF THE MOM, PRIEST THING.

IF YOU ONLY HEARD RICK WHEN HE WAS IN THE MORNINGS THEN YOU MISSED WHAT I WOULD CONSIDER THE REAL RICK THE STICK. HIS POWER 93 NIGHT SHOW HAD A BIGGER PERCENTAGE OF THE AUDIENCE THAN ANY SHOW BEFORE OR SINCE….SOME HOURS HE REACHED OVER 50 PERCENT OF THE RADIOS TURNED ON IN SAN ANTONIO.

SO WHY DID PEOPLE LOVE HIS SHOW? WELL IT WAS DIFFERENT, AND HE WAS DIFFERENT. HE INTERACTED WITH HIS LISTENERS AND WHEN HE DID REMOTES AND THOSE LISTENERS SHOWED UP IN DROVES TO SEE HIM HE TREATED ALL OF THEM LIKE HIS BEST FRIEND. HE WAS ONE OF THE MOST APPROACHABLE PEOPLE I’VE EVER SEEN. EVERYONE WAS HIS BUDDY AND HE WAS EVERYONE’S BUDDY. IT WAS PRETTY AMAZING TO SEE.

SOON WE WERE BOTH GONE FROM POWER 93, I WENT TO AUSTIN AND HE WENT TO THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY FOR A WHILE, THEN BACK TO SAN ANTONIO AND IN 1999 ENDED UP IN AUSTIN WITH ME. THAT’S WHEN HE MET EVA AND THAT’S WHEN MONDAY NIGHT WRESTLING NIGHTS STARTED. ONE OF US WOULD PICK UP SPICY FRIED CHICKEN AND WATCH WRESTLING. AT THE TIME RICK HAD ONE OF TWO PRETTY FAST CARS, A TRANS AM AND A WHITE CORVETTE. NOW IN HIS YOUNGER DAYS RICK MAY HAVE LOVED DRIVING FAST, NOT SURE, BUT WHEN HE HAD THOSE CARS HE LOVED TO DRIVE FAST BUT DIDN’T WANT TO DO IT HIMSELF. HE KNEW THAT I DIDN’T HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT SO USUALLY AFTER EVERYONE WAS ASLEEP IN THE HOUSE….IE EVA…HE WOULD SAY, HEY DUDE…YOU WANT TO GO DRIVING FOR A WHILE? THAT WAS SUPER SECRET CODE FOR I DON’T WANT TO DRIVE MY CAR FAST BUT I KNOW YOU WILL SO LET’S TAKE IT OUT AND YOU DRIVE REALLY FAST AND I HOLD ON LIKE I‘M ON A ROLLER COASTER. SO WE DID. MOST OF THE TIME WE WOULD BOTH COME HOME WITH A HEADACHE FROM IT BUT HE SEEMED TO LOVE DOING IT…OR ELSE HE WOULDN’T HAVE KEPT ASKING ME TO DO IT.

　

OVER THE YEARS HE WAS TRULY THERE FOR ME THROUGH ALL OF MY GOOD TIMES AND BAD. HE GAVE LOTS OF ADVICE…SOME OF IT WAS EVEN GOOD ADVICE. HE WAS SOMEONE I ALWAYS KNEW I COULD TURN TO AND SOMEONE I KNEW I COULD TELL ANYTHING TO. THAT’S WHAT BEST FRIENDS ARE FOR. THE SAME OF COURSE WAS TRUE FOR HIM. HE KNEW THAT HE COULD CALL ME ANYTIME AND I WOULD TELL HIM WHAT I THOUGHT, WHICH WASN’T ALWAYS WHAT HE WANTED TO HEAR, BUT I THINK HE APPRECIATED THE FACT THAT WE COULD JUST OPEN UP AND BE STRAIGHT WITH EACH OTHER AND KNOW THAT WHEN IT WAS ALL OVER WE WOULD STILL BE FRIENDS.

　

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Here We Go Again...Marching Season

School for my daughter gets out next week.  One of the great traditions is to have a preview of some of the music that the Cedar Park Marching Band will play during the 2010 marching season on the last Friday of the school year.  This year's show will be called Genius and from this little video made after only three days of rehearsal the music is going to be powerful as always with this band.  There are some band students from other schools that say this group plays too loud.  Having played in a band when I was in high school and having seen many of them over my years as Battle of Flowers Band Festival host I can tell you...there is NO such thing as too loud as long as it's clean and clear.  The biggest problem with this video is the band is so loud it overdrives the cheap mic in my Nano, but you will definitely get the idea.  Enjoy.

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The AP Awards

Had a great time catching up with lots of fellow broadcasters tonight at the Texas Associated Press Awards at the Headliners Club.
I haven't been to too many AP awards banquets since I was Chairman of the Board in 1990. It really was fun going to one again.
Thanks to my boss Paul Mann for letting me go represent the mighty KRLD Newsradio 1080. It was a good night for KRLD picking up 7 first place awards.
It was also good seeing a couple of my TSN affiliate stations do well in the awards and great to catch up with those guys too.
In the picture is my girlfriend Chris and I. One of the few times you'll see me in a suit.

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A Great Night

Thursday was my 20th year to be the announcer at the Battle of Flowers Band Festival in San Antonio. It's part of Fiesta Week and one of the bigger events of that week. It's a long story as to how I got there but I'll make it short. My father, George Wood, announced the Festival for 20 years starting in 1969. When he died in January of 1990 I was asked to take over. It made sense because I was on morning radio in the San Antonio market and fairly well known, although not as well known as Dad who had spent years on television in that market.
So here we are 20 years later and I have matched the 20 years that my Dad did the show. I also love the fact that in the 71 years of the band festival a member of my family has announced the show for 40 of those years.
It is really something I look forward to doing every year. It's also something that I still do to honor my father. I feel that this is something that was important to him that I keep doing as long as they will have me and every year I do it and every year I get better at it that is one step closer to doing it as well as he did it (and he was really damned good).
One thing I didn't tell you. Before he died my Dad called the producer of the festival that year and asked that I be allowed to host. He is really the person that got me the deal in the first place. That's why I say that it was important to him that I host the show...it was one of his last wishes.
Hopefully I'll be around to do another 20 more but when I'm ready to leave the show or when I'm ready to leave the earth there is another Wood in the wings waiting to host...and she would be the first Female to do it. Yes Amanda has already expressed interest. Way to follow in the old man's footsteps, it would be my honor.

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Trying Posterous

So I have moved this blog, at least for now, over to Posterous. It's really easy to use and really easy to post stuff on the go, including mobile pics, so I thought to myself...if it's that easy then maybe I will post more. So far I have posted two little short blogs and that's probably what I will be doing over there, little short bursts of thought that I can quickly type into an email, attach a pic and boom there ya go. So here is the link if you want to check it out. Posterous also has some pretty interesting folks over there, including several I already knew, which is something else that led me there. http://robertowood.posterous.com/

It's a Wonderful Time

It's mid February and so far it's been a pretty good year. There has however been some sadness. My daughter lost her Grandmother (my ex-wife's Mom) and a good friend also lost her father. Unfortunately that is the bad part of life and something that none of us can avoid.
The good, well my best friend went in to be tested for Cancer today, but those tests came back negative. Both of us were pretty sure they would come back positive, that's just our luck, but amazingly enough he does not have blood cancer as feared. They are doing some more detailed tests to ensure that initial diagnosis is correct but it should be.
For my health, well while my weight loss is slow I am continuing to build some good muscle and I am feeling really good. More energy and I just feel sharp and good.
Thanks to my tax refund I have a new laptop, and this is the first real writing I have done on it, and I will be able to afford Amanda's trip to Indianapolis next year. The Cedar Park High School Band will be marching at Lucas Oil Field next year for Band of America Nationals.
So all in all not bad so far, at least for me personally. I hurt for those I care about who are hurting but for a change my personal life isn't a mess. Of course now that I have written this that will change...that's my luck.