Tournament Season

Too much Caffeine!

I'm going to be taking a bit of a hiatus for a few weeks.  It is tournament season for me and my school's pep band.  We are going to be very busy supporting our basketball teams.  This doesn't leave me much time to think up and write blog posts.  I'm not going away permanently, just into tournaments are over the first part of March.  Please browse through our older posts and leave comments, I'll still respond to them.  Thanks for stopping by!

Starting the Year With A Round Of Power 90

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I have always made a point not to make New Year's resolutions.  Mostly because I've never been able to keep them.  In fact the only resolution I was able to keep was a resolution not to make a New Year's resolution.  I was in college, thought I was being clever.  Anyway, I thought this year it might be good to start the year off with another round of Power 90.  I have already done one round last summer and lost a good chunk of weight doing it.  This time round I hope to lose the last 10 pounds or and gain some muscle mass and tone.   I am planning on upgrading to P90X this next summer but I can't afford to buy it right now, though I think another round of Power 90 will work just fine.  Last time a flamed out a bit the last month so hopefully this time I will not miss any workouts.  If anyone is interested in joining me in a round of Power 90 let me know.  It is a lot easier doing any workout if you have someone to do it with and keep each other accountable!  I would love to have some buddies to go through the program with.  Just leave me a comment if you're interested.  I'm starting this round of Power 90 tomorrow.  Hope everyone is off to a great start in 2011.  Happy year!

Band Geek's Guide to the Gridiron

(Please note that the following is the Editor's overly anal and fussy perspective on college football.  Aaron just wanted me to scream and flash the crowd cam.)

A few weeks ago, one of our former students, Roy McKenney, mentioned that he was the drum major for this year's marching band.  He told Aaron that they were performing at the home football game at the University of Montana in Missoula, MT.  (Roy has lost 35 pounds, by the way!  Go Roy!)  Since we, the Geeks, would be in Missoula for our education conference, we elected to stay an extra night and watch them march.  There was only one problem.

Janet had to watch a football game.  She also had to ignore Aaron's chihuahua-like leaps of joy.

I received my Master's from U of M, so I guess I'm supposed to cheer for the Griz.  I went to classes over the summer, so I never was exposed to the psychotic fan fervor that defines U of M.  I had never been to a major sporting event, and I would probably feel more comfortable getting a root canal.  During a root canal I would just have to lay there and be sedated, and I would know exactly how to to behave.  Football game?  Not so much.

I decided that I would document and study the behavior I saw at the game so I could figure out how to act at any future sporting events.  I tried to see everything from a neutral standpoint.


First, I noticed that I missed the memo on what color to wear.

Our seats were in the student section, and I soon learned that the word "seat" was a misnomer, as there wasn't enough room to sit.  We stood sandwiched in with thousands of students, most of whom were working on their own type of sedation, though the drug of choice seemed to be Everclear.

Some seemed to be channeling the spirit of the bear, a ritualistic gesture designed to incite the murderous power of the beast to said football team.

This guy seemed to be channeling the spirit of a condom.

Also present were walking, dancing avatars for the team.  As cool as it was, how a guy driving a mini fighter jet in a bear suit will make them more likely to win, I haven't a clue.

There were several of our former band geeks present.  Roy, the drum major...

Logan, Roy's little bro, playing trumpet.  (2nd from left, center row.)  Logan lost a great deal of weight, as well, though I don't know the amount.

Andrew, another former student, playing saxophone.  Andrew doesn't need to lose weight.....dammit.

Here's the most puzzling aspect of the game.  I get the basic rules.

Get the ball in the other team's end zone.
Prevent them from doing the same to yours.
Don't die.

Ok.  Got it.  But does anyone else find it even a teensy-weensy bit hypocritical to go to these games to see guys get the piss pounded out of them, and then be all concerned when they get hurt?

Then again, band geeks everywhere owe a debt of blood to the players on the field.  Few would come to see the band by itself.  Sadly, no one has figured out how to make it a contact sport.

And then there was RUN!!

As I think I've said before, I'm a music teacher.  This weekend I'm in Missoula at a music convention.  This is actually one of my favorite events each year because I get to see a bunch of my band director buddies from other towns.  However it't been rough on my diet and workouts.  UGH!!

I ate horribly today.  And I felt gross because of it.  I guess I should be happy that eating badly has that effect on me now.

One of my students who's participating in our All-State Music Festival is also a cross-country runner.  The state meet is Saturday right after the music festival is over.

Since she needed to get some running in, and our hotel had a few treadmills I thought it'd be fun to join her running.

Now do realize that I've been working out regularly since June, so I'm in much better shape then I use to be.  But I've been doing Power 90, not running.  So I wasn't quite sure how that would translate.

Turns out it translates well.  I was able to run 3 miles easily.  I never lost control of my breath and I actually felt like I could have kept going.

This is exciting news to me since I've had this thought in my head for awhile now that I'd really like to be able to run races someday.  Well a 5k is in the cards now!  I think I just found a new life goal.  I would really like to be able to run a marathon someday.  In fact, I will run one someday.  Yeah for music festivals and treadmills!

Band Geek Recipe

Hi.  My name's Janet, and I'm a carnivore, and I despise fish.  Fish is pushed in most diet plans for very good reasons.  It's high in protein and good fats.  It's low in bad fats.  Whoopee for fish.

When my dad was in college, he got rip-roarin' drunk, ate an enormous seafood dinner, then promptly decorated the floor.  As a result, fish was never allowed at our house unless he wasn't home, which was almost never.  Not that you can get fresh seafood in Wibaux, MT....  At any rate, my reaction to most kinds of fish is only slightly less violent than Dad's.  I had super fresh halibut in Alaska, and fell in love.  That's about it.  I was a good girl and tried my husband's fish creations, but he hadn't quite figured out how to tell if it was done.  Guess which piece I got.  Ewww.

There's a lot of debate about what place beef has in a healthy diet, which I will rant about in an upcoming post.  One of the best, healthiest meats I have access to is deer.  Personally, I would rather gnaw on a bloody bone than eat deer steak, but I love deer sausage.  Sure, there's a little pork added to make it stick together, but it's still low in bad fats.  I can't give you specific numbers because it's made with game sausage, but I can tell you that it's high in protein, fiber, and iron.  

My husband and I have developed this recipe after years of experimentation.  We have also noticed that we lost weight when we have it regularly for lunch.  The tomatoes kill the flavors in the cabbage that I find mildly unpleasant, and it reheats for lunches wonderfully. 

The downside to this recipe is that it's geared toward a very specific sausage.  We have our game processed at Shafer's in Billings.  The Smoked German Brats are very strong and salty, and making them into soup diffuses the salt and spices into the vegetables.  It's heavenly, and even folks who don't like game love this soup.  The sausages are cooked, so if you want to try it with another brand of sausage, shoot for pre-cooked and strongly flavored.

Schafer's Sausage Soup

2 packages Schafer's Smoked German Bratwurst

Lots of water-sorry, I never measure
1 tbs shallot pepper

2 cans of stewed tomatoes, undrained
2 packages frozen spinach

1 head of cabbage, sliced.

Slice the sausage into 1/4" rounds.  Place in the crockpot and fill approximately halfway up.  Don't forget to give a few pieces to the toddler jumping up and down on your leg.  Add the tomatoes and the shallot pepper.  Set the crockpot on low and let it stew for a few hours.  

When the water has turned a nice golden brown color, or about a half an hour before you would like to serve, add the spinach and cabbage.  Let the toddler sneak a few pieces of meat.  He really likes meat.  Serve once the stew is again hot and the cabbage is tender.

A Romp through Skeeterville!

A couple of weeks ago I invited a bunch of my students, both current and former ones, to a game of Ultimate Frisbee, the game traditional for band geeks, orch dorks, and choir goobers alike.  I set up a event on Facebook and got about 16 of us together.  After much debate, we decided to play at a place called the Experiment Station, which an agriculture museum and laboratory.  A lot of events are held there, and there was a nice, open grassy area on which we could play.  It was great to see some of my former students, one who just graduated from college.  That little fact is making me feel old!  The only problem was...mosquitoes!!!  LOTS of them.

We've had a wetter than normal summer and the bugs are loving it.  The moment I stepped out of my car I had at least 8 of them on my legs.  Of course these are the type of mosquitoes that laugh in the face of repellent and merely point and snigger at Skin-So-Soft.

They're all like, "Hmm what's that wonderful smell?  I know!! Human meat with a slightly tangy sauce of OFF!!"

"Watch out though," said Zippy the mosquito, "humans can pack a huge punch once in a while!"

"Naw, no worries," said Bob.  "There's only a few of them and oh, 16,000,000,000 of us.  HAHAHAHA!!!"

The game was a ton of fun, though, and I was able to keep up for the most part.  We play a non-competitive version, so we don't keep score.  Anytime one of the teams scored, we simply change sides and kept playing.  It's a great game for getting exercise because you run, and run, and run some more.  I played it a lot in college and H.S. and we introduced it to the Huntley Project kids.

Three years into my teaching career I took over the band program at my school.  We are part of an organization called the Tri-County Honor Band.  This group is basically an honors band made up of the best players from all of the small schools in the area.  It rehearses for three months and then goes on a week long tour.  The first tour we went on I found out that other students really enjoyed playing Ultimate.  This was also when I discovered how completely out of shape I was!  I played with them for an hour.  The next morning I could barely get out of bed, and my legs hurt for a week afterward.  This was when I realized I needed to change my lifestyle.  Granted, it took me another three years before I actually did anything about it, but that was the moment I knew I didn't want to be fat and out of shape the rest of my life. 

I started working out regularly on June 8th, 2010.  My starting weight at that point was 230 pounds.  YIKES!!  As of this morning I'm down to 208.  My eventual goal is 195-190.  Things are going well.  I feel great!  Except for the bug bites!

Q2 KTVQ | Billings, Montana - News, Weather, Sports | The Midlife Chryslers... behind the scenes

Here's the Q2 KTVQ news clip from our St. John's gig last night.  Pretty cool even though I'm only in about 2 seconds of it.  But these guys are an absolute blast to play with.

Q2 KTVQ | Billings, Montana - News, Weather, Sports | The Midlife Chryslers... behind the scenes

Old-Guys Rockin

In addition to being a band director, I also play in two separate bands.  I play saxophone for a rock band in Billings called the Midlife Chryslers.  I also play guitar and sing for a Celtic/folk group called Banish Misfortune.  What's really funny is both groups are constantly debating new names.  For example, the newest name that my folk group really likes is, "All Folked Up."  Kinda catchy, and the rock group comes up with a new one just about every week.  Unfortunately, the rock band is fairly well known around are area and I think we are pretty much stuck with our current name.

The Chryslers just played a gig last night at St. John's, which is an assisted living/nursing home complex here in Billings.  St. John's started hosting a Thursday night concert series a number of years ago.  The concert series runs all summer and is free to the public.  They like us because our average crowd ends up being 3,000 plus.  The concert was a blast, as usual.

We even got a little local media coverage this time, though I'm only in a couple of clips since their main focus was on the doctors who make up the majority of the band.  I'm going to post the media clip separately from this post.

The only problem with playing in a large rock band is the amount of time it takes.  We started setting up at around 2:00 pm for a 7:00 pm gig, and I got home afterward at 11:00 pm.  By that point I was too tired to even want to think about doing my workout.  I suppose missing one day isn't going to hurt me all that much, but I was still not particularly happy with myself for not getting it in before I left my house at 1:30.  I guess that's the way it goes sometimes.  Collectively my two band have 3 more gigs in the next couple of weeks so I'm really going to have to watch my schedule and get my workouts in.  This will be good practice for when my normal job starts back up again at the end of August.

Tired Thoughts

Working out this past week was tough!  The program that I'm doing is called Power 90.  It's a six-days-a-week workout designed by a gentleman named Tony Horton.  It starts out nice enough.  You do three days of the sculpting circuit training and three days of cardio with one day off each week.  The program is divided into 8 levels.  Levels 1 and 2 aren't bad.  They teach you the moves and slowly allow your body to get used to working out six days a week.  I just switch over to levels 3 and 4 two weeks ago.  At this level the intensity and length of both workouts are increased.  I'm tired.

My time commitment has jumped from about 35 minutes each day to around an hour.  This really wouldn't be that big of deal, except that I've been working out in the evenings.  I'm a bit of a night owl and I can't seem to get my workout in before ten o'clock.  I should be doing it right after my son goes to bed at eight.  I can't quite seem to get myself to do it then, though I'm not sure why.  Anyway, I'm being a stay at home dad this summer and my wife is working at a hardware store.  My son is an early riser, usually 6:30 or so, but sometimes as early as 5.  I've been going to bed around 12:30 a.m.  Not much sleep time for Aaron.  I don't think I can sustain that for the rest of the summer.

On the bright side, I'm about half-way through my program, though I need to find one to do after this one is over that's a little shorter for when my schedule gets busy again when school starts.

From the wisdom of magnets comes this thought

My good buddy Steve has a set of those refrigerator magnets that you can use to spell out different sentences and words.  His happens to be a troll word set.  My favorite saying that we wrote out was, "You Are Suck!"  That is totally how a feel right now.

My Celtic band had a gig tonight for a bunch of kids.  It was a ton of fun, but two other groups that were suppose to perform backed out at the last minute.  So we went from warm-up act to main event.  Normally, I'd be thrilled about that.  Not today though.  I failed to mention that this was an outside gig, on a baseball diamond, in 106 degree weather!  So we played for an hour non-stop in blazing sun without any shade.  Yeah, you are WAY SUCK!!  In the end we had a great time and the kids loved it, so I guess that's the most important thing.

It also meant we got home late and I hadn't done my daily workout yet, though I'd argue that playing an hour in intense heat was a workout.  I learned a valuable lesson in  sticking something out tonight.  It's now 11:30 at night and I just finished an hour of cardio.  UGH!!  Every core of my body said go to sleep and skip your workout.  But there was this one tiny little voice in the back of my head saying don't do it.  You're doing well, don't start slipping now.  Thank goodness that little voice won out.  I proved to myself tonight that I can do this even when it gets hard and I don't want to.  That being said, I probably didn't workout quite as hard as usual, but I did it.  That's all that matters at the moment.  "You Are Suck"; maybe, but not tonight.

Aaron's Story

My name is Aaron Morgenstern, and I’m a 30-year-old music teacher in Billings Montana.  I’m married to a wonderful wife and we have a two-year-old son.  I play in two bands, one as a saxophonist in a ten-piece classic rock band, and as a guitarist in a Celtic/Bluegrass/Whatever-We-Want-To-Play band.  I also sing in a semi-professional vocal ensemble.  These three activities, being a father and husband, and my day job take up most of my time, much to the chagrin of my wife.

I have made very little time over the last eight years to take care of myself.  I wasn’t in great shape in college, but I was young enough to be able to rock climb on a regular basis and play ultimate frisbee with my friends twice a week, eat pizza, and still keep my weight reasonably low.

That all changed when I started my career.  Being a band director is a great job.  I love working with high school students, crazy, I know.  Unfortunately, music at the H.S. level is a HUGE time commitment.  It’s not uncommon for me to be to school by 7:30 in the morning and not get home until 10:30 or so in the evening.  Between concerts, pep band, and other music trips, the hours can be quite long.  I still love it, but it has caused me to pay very little attention to my health.

I weighed somewhere around 200 pounds when I started teaching.  This year, at the end of the school year, I tipped the scale at 230 pounds.  YIKES!  I didn’t feel all that well anymore, and when I would play ultimate frisbee or rock climb I could hardly move the next day.  There was also my my wife and son to consider.  Being a parent has completely changed my perspective on life.  I love being a father and I love my son.  I realized that if I didn’t do something now about my health, my son could potentially lose me to some horrible disease long before he should.  There is a strong history of type 2 diabetes on both sides of my family.

My wife has gently be prodding me to do something about my weight and health for several years.  (Ahem.  The Editor, I mean, wife, wasn't exactly gentle.)  My biggest excuse was not having the time to do it.  Sounds familiar, right?  My doctor has a great quote in his office:  “People who don’t make time for diet and exercise now will have to make time for illness later.”  That was me.  So, I finally decided to do something about it.

My sister in-law had a copy of Tony Horton’s Power 90 fitness program.  She lent it to me and I’ve been using it for about a month and a half now.  I was going to buy his P90X program, but it’s hard to say no to free.  I’ve actually been able to stick to it.  It was hard at first, I was a lot more out of shape than I thought I was.  I was pretty much constantly sore the first week.  I felt just like I did after I would go out a play a game of frisbee or some other physical activity.  But it kept getting better, each week I wouldn’t be quite as sore and I started to notice that I felt better.  I had more energy, which is good for keeping up with a two-year-old, and the workouts have gotten easier.

I’m not quite halfway through the program of 90 days, but, as of today, I weigh 215 pounds.  I’ve lost 15 pounds since June 8th.  I think that’s pretty good for 6 weeks of working out.  I still have a long way to go.  Figuring out how to keep healthy habits during the school year will be tricky between eating fast food on every pep band trip and trying to make time for workouts in an insane schedule.

But, I finally feel up to the challenge.  Getting in shape has become a bit of an obsession.  ("A bit?" the Editor asks, thick with sarcasm.)  My younger sister just ran a half-marathon.  I’m starting to think it might be possible for me to do that at some point in the future.  As of right now I’m very motivated and excited about how I’m feeling and starting to look.  Good luck to all of you on your own journeys.  Let me know how you are doing.

Aaron and Janet are Ready to De-Pudgy-fy.

The band geeks are doing fat camp, Beachbody-style.  We teach band, choir, and general music just outside of Billings, MT.  We were introduced to Beachbody products at our school and from our family members.  We had heard a lot of good feedback from several different people, some of them from the military, who use P90X to train while deployed.  We're here to tell you our stories and use you to keep us accountable.