What a great trip!

We had a very rich, wonderful time in Colorado this past week. Grandma's memorial service was just right, and after a couple of days in Denver, we enjoyed a few days in the Rocky Mountains.

From eating out on the town and toasting Grandma's memory,

to cooking out and enjoying our "Magic Fans" from Eric,

to hiking along bridle trails,

to enjoying stunning views of mountains, forests and lakes,
to just hanging out on the back porch of our cabin to watch the hummingbirds,

we had a great time with the family. See all the pics on my website here.

Colorado, here we come!

Tomorrow we leave for a week in Colorado. Paul and I will be joining Eric & Rusty plus Mom, Ron, Phyllis, Alec, Peter and Roxanne for a second memorial service for Grandma in Denver. I was really disappointed I couldn't make the first one in Portland last December due to my cast & crutches, plus 3 jobs. I am going to be playing selections from Phantom of the Opera because it was her favorite music ever.

We've decided to make a vacation of it and will be staying in a charming place in Estes Park called Idlewilde by the River for a few nights. We'll spend our 2nd wedding anniversary (8/17) in Denver at the posh Hotel Teatro and maybe see a show or have an elegant dinner. We won't be returing until the 18th, and I anticipate a total internet vacation the entire time, not a bad thing.

Here are my reflections on Grandma that I will be sharing during the service.

One of my earliest memories of Grandma was the Christmas I turned 5. I was in my ballerina phase, and I wanted a ballet tutu more than anything in the world. When I opened my present from Grandma, it was this wonderful creation she had made herself--a skirt made out of stiff pink tulle, decorated with an array of colorful poufs commonly used to scrub pots and pans. *holds pouf as visual aid* I gasped in my excitement, "It's a ballet dress!" She laughed her famous laugh and said,"Oh, no, it's a Silly Grandma!" I thought it was the most beautiful skirt ever.

We always lived far away from our grandparents and didn't get to see them very often, so a visit to their house was a Really Big Deal. Grandma would bend over backwards as a hostess, wanting to make sure we were comfortable, well fed and had enough to do. When Grandpa would sometimes get fussy or grumpy when we inevitably got on his nerves, she would say, "Oh, he's just being an old fuddy-duddy!"

I was kind of an uptight kid and she was always loosening me up. Even in my 30s she spent several years encouraging me to try margaritas, which I didn't like at all at first. Now it's my favorite drink ever, and I always think of her whenever I have one. She was very proud of "corrupting" me at last.

Peace to you, Grandma. My life is better because you were part of it.

Bush or Chimp?

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Hazardous Waste

I never thought taking out the trash could be so dangerous as it was last Tuesday. These things always seem to happen to me when home alone. Paul was at Joy & Dale's, at a barbeque which I could not go to because I had Troy's ballet class to play for and then the piano competition to attend.

So I got home around 9:45 and thought,"I'm gonna get the trash now so it'll be done before Paul gets home." Everything went harmlessly enough until I took the kitchen bag out of the can. It was heavy and over-filled so I set it down on the kitchen floor. I took a step and ended up stepping on the bottom of the bag. Next thing I knew, something really sharp had cut the inside of my big toe, deeply I might add, as most of my weight was on that foot at the moment of impact.

It was the worst pain since I broke my foot. My immediate, instinctual response: a yell that made the walls vibrate, lots of cussing, and bursting into tears as blood started dripping all over the kitchen floor.

I was freaking out, hopping to the bathroom to get a kleenex or 3 to staunch the flow. Poor Mouchie was very upset by my antics. Usually when I yell like that only when he pounces on me while I'm running up the stairs, an attempt at behavior modification. Every time you scratch me, I will cause you to lose some of your hearing. This time I had to reassure him that for once it wasn't about him, but he still looked like this:
I limped upstairs to my bathroom where the band-aids were, but it was nowhere near ready for that. I went through about 10 kleenexes. Every time I took my finger pressure off so I could get another one, it would start gushing again, leaving giant drops of blood (like 1" in diameter!) all over my bathroom floor, some of which landed on my pristine white bathmat, upsetting me further.

I was still cussing and wailing like a frustrated infant when Paul called about 15 minutes later. I tried to calm down so as not to alarm him unnecessarily, so I just told him the short version. By the time he got home it had finally stopped bleeding and I was able to cover it with a band-aid, but if I bent the toe a certain way or accidentally put any weight on it at all, it felt like a burning hot poker.

I am so sick of foot pain, and it doesn't help that this is the same foot I broke. I couldn't walk much until Saturday. Now, a week later, it is just starting to feel halfway healed. So much for getting in better shape for hiking in the Rockies next week. I am glad, though, that it happened last Tuesday and not tonight, so it should be almost normal by early next week.

An Approximation

You wouldn't know it, but I've been growing out my hair for the past 8 months. I had a super-short pixie cut for about 3 years and loved it, but decided I wanted something softer and more girly, still easy but not The Mom Haircut (TM). I don't want to be mistaken for one of those women who've Just Given Up.

After a few hours last winter perusing online hairstyle websites, I found this cute style:

I figured, oh, by April or so, my hair could resemble this more or less. What I had forgotten to consider was that this model's hair was at least 3" long at the back and sides, whereas mine was about 1/2". Four haircuts later, as of today, here is my version:

It's cute and I love it but it ain't just like the picture. And this is after Steve styled it for me today. Who knows if I'll ever be able to duplicate this on my own. You'd think after 27+ years of actually caring what my hair looks like, I would've had enough practice by now, but you would be wrong.

High-Profile Gigs Coming Up

The Gospel Choir I've been playing for is going to sing 20 minutes' worth of music this Sunday at Archwood UCC for a "Raise the Roof Gospel Service" that is part of the Black, Gay and Proud Celebration 2005! It doesn't even matter that I'm not Christian, black or gay--I know it's gonna be great, it will have wonderful energy and I'll meet some great people.

Also, this week I talked with Mary Verdi-Fletcher of Dancing Wheels, and on October 1 I'll be playing at their 25th Anniversary Gala at the Intercontinental Hotel Cleveland, which by the way I can walk to in 10 minutes from home. I'll be accompanying actress Patricia Neal as she sings "Send in the Clowns" and playing background music for the silent auction and dinner. Mary said she immediately thought of me and didn't even call any other pianists. :-)

The First Cut

It's amazing I can even string 2 sentences together. Since Wednesday afternoon, I have attended 12 rounds of the competition--that's 39 hours of music by 30 pianists, only 3 hours of which I missed due to what little work I still have.

Yesterday afternoon I was seated next to a woman whose girth threatened to overflow around the armrest. I'm not small myself and we spent the next 3 1/2 hours trying not to invade each other's Personal Space Bubbles. I'm glad I didn't miss the round as it included three of the eight semi-finalists later picked by the judges, but I came home feeling as if I had spent the afternoon in the middle seat of a packed airplane.

Sometimes you've just gotta take a break. Since the competition is being broadcast live over the radio, I decided to listen at home to the first half of last night's round. WCLV's reception is so sucky it won't come in on any of our radios (except the car), but fortunately you can listen to it via streaming audio online. I blissfully stretched out on the couch, drinking a cherry coke while I listened, then took the five-minute walk to the theater after intermission.

When I got home, I finished picking my eight semifinalists so I could later see if I agreed with the judges' picks. I knew it would take at least 45 minutes before the announcement broadcast, so I settled in the office. The minutes crept by. 11:15 pm and we still hadn't heard.

Paul offered to make dinner and bring it up to me so I wouldn't have to leave the computer and miss the announcement! Of course I told him how sweet I thought that was. He just said it was nothing millions of wives of TV sports fans don't do every Sunday.

Minutes later we heard the announcement live, and four of my picks made it. On to the semi-finals today!

Destination Vacation--Across the Street

This year, the Cleveland International Piano Competition is being held at the Bolton Theater in the Cleveland Playhouse for the first and probably only time because of remodeling at its usual site at CIM.


It's my lucky year because:

1. I'm almost totally off work and in town during the entire competition
2. I can afford a splurge, and
3. The Playhouse is a 5 minute walk from our house!

Since this magical planetary alignment may never again be replicated, I've splurged on a subscription to all the rounds for a total immersion experience, about 50 hours of live music in the space of 12 days! I've been listening for about 6 hours a day during these first rounds, and though it is a lot to digest and sometimes wears my brain out, I have heard a lot of exciting piano playing.

Some of these people are half my age and all can play circles around me. In earlier years this might have dragged up feelings of inadequacy (i.e., There But For Procrastination, Lack of Sufficient Drive, and Laziness Could have Gone I). But I love and am good at what I do in my little niche of the music world. Since I don't particularly enjoy the tedious kind of practicing it takes, I don't think the competition circuit/concert pianist path was meant to be my destiny.

But these pianists! Everyone here has already won numerous other competitions, and it's easy to see why. For the most part, they all have huge dynamic and color ranges and something compelling to communicate. There's a lot of music I haven't heard before, or at least don't know well. Sometimes a little part of my brain, always on the lookout, will think, "Hmm. I like that melody. I bet I could fit that into something for ballet class..."

Primate tendencies

We were eating tuna salad sandwiches for dinner, and Paul got a blob of food stuck to his cheek. I picked it off his face instead of saying something. He immediately used a napkin to wipe, saying, "My sweetie has primate tendencies."

It finally occured to me to ask after all these years, "Does it bug you when I do that?"

"Sometimes."

"Sorry!" I said. Wow, the first time he's ever admitted something I do bugs him, and I had to ask or I would never have known.

He said, "Sometimes I think it's sweet, but sometimes I get a parental vibe from it."

"Makes sense," I said. "And if I licked it off your face, I guess it could have a.....
....sort of 'puppy dog' vibe to it, couldn't it? Not the sort of vibe you're looking for."

Exactly. "We'd like to keep the bestiality or incest vibes out of our vibe repertoire, right?" he said jokingly.

Inspiration struck me. I can just see one of those supermarket checkout line mags geared to tired housewives, like Women's Day, Good Housekeeping, etc. They always have the same headlines every month--Melt the Pounds Away in 14 Days While Eating Anything You Want (next to a picture of a birthday cake in the shape of a train) , How to Get More Energy, Protect Your Kids From the Bogeyman o' the Month, and my favorite, How to Get That Spark Back Into Your Marriage.

Relight the Passionate Fires in Your Marriage With These Easy Bestiality and Incest Roleplaying Games!

New Hits for My Brother in the Deep Recesses of Google

I was reading an entry on Eric's blog the other day about how different search engines have such varying results when searching for one's own name. He is very happy with Yahoo and MSN Search because on both of them, his blog is the first hit for his name.

Having almost a whole day off today, I was inspired to play with search engines. Haven't done this in ages, but I started putting quotes around the names I searched for, which dramatically improved the results. All of the results for my name were actually about me, and thanks to Dad's handiwork, www.karint.com made the first page! Wohoo!! I guess there aren't any other Karin Tooleys out there. :-)

There are a few other Eric Tooleys, however, one of them a teen abstinence crusader, much to Eric's chagrin. However, there is also an athlete and a coffee cup artist, whose site I thought is pretty cool.

I found some pretty cute photos of Eric and Rusty, evidently from a wedding they attended a couple of years ago:

I know, I have waay too much time on my hands today, but this was fun. Besides, it gave me another excuse to link to your blog, Eric!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Check this out. I have finally figured out how to include more than one picture on a post. :-)

Yesterday we had a great time with the Bokuniewiczes. After waking up around 9:30ish, the seven of us gathered around the newly clean and uncluttered kitchen table and breakfast bar while Paul made toast and fried eggs and I prepared coffee, orange juice and fresh fruit.

Paul, Marina and I practiced our trio together for the first time. It actually was pretty smooth going for the most part, each of us having practiced and listened to the CD for the past couple of months. After an hour and a half, we decided to quit while we were ahead, knowing it would be fine for today's performance.

I love that we live so close to everything. We were able to leave at 2:40, drive the 4 miles to downtown, find parking, walk to Jacobs Field and find our seats at a leisurely pace, and still be on time for a 3:15 baseball game.

Check out Paul's hat:
He, Tom and Marina all graduated from Oberlin, so this Oberlin Conservatory hat was a hit.

Here's another gratuitously cute couple pic, courtesy of Marina:

This panorama shot came out really skinny because I stitched it from 7 pics.Paul and Marina are close-up on the left.It was a gorgeous day, sunny, in the 80s and not humid, our seats were in the shade, and the Indians won in an exciting 9th inning. All the pics from yesterday can be seen here.*

As far as the performance at today's service, it went pretty well. Not flawlessly, but that didn't bother us. It was Paul's first public performance in 20 years, and I thought he sounded beautiful. In fact, I think the music was the high point of the service! :-)

They Bokunowitzes decided to go home today instead of tomorrow, so Paul and I have spent the afternoon reading the paper and doing a little clean-up, a very atypical Sunday for us. Usually we would both be working! The downtime feels good.

*My website, www.karint.com, now has my full name as a header on it and a link to this blog, making both much more visible on search engines. I didn't even notice until I uploaded the pics today. Thanks so much, Dad! xo

Toilet tsunami

After a wonderfully fun day rehearsing the Reinecke trio, attending the Indians game, and going out to dinner at The Diner on Clifton, there was a clogging incident. I was running the dishwasher at the time. (This is important later, I promise.)

Tom went upstairs to get our Jet Plunger, used it to pump a ferocious blast of air down the toilet--
--and the toilet started vomiting up copious amounts of water all over the bathroom floor! Poor Tom yelled a request for towels. They hardly made a dent, as the water was now at least an inch deep. I brought up rolls of paper towels and the wastebasket. He turned off the valve for the tank and plunged again, and it overflowed even more.

Oh, by the way, Paul had stopped by work to check a machine, so it was just clueless me at home. What do I know about this stuff? So I called the plumber who offers emergency service day or night, who said they would put out the call and someone would call back soon.

Our poor guests! My first reaction was to tell them I clog up the toilet all the time (that's why we got the Jet Plunger in the first place, the regular one sometimes couldn't make a dent in my disasters!) and it so easily could have been me that this happened to, if they hadn't happened to be visiting this weekend. I wasn't even freaking out, and felt the urge to lighten the mood with jokes. Shit happens!

When Paul got home, he immediately knew something was wrong, because water was dripping out of the light fixture all over the garage. Unfortunately, most of our shoes were directly in the line of fire, so we moved them as quickly as possible. When he came in and took in the situation, he immediately realized the running dishwasher was contributing to the overflow, so we immediately stopped it.

Well, our wonderful plumber just came and snaked it out at about 12:15 am. This whole situation was just striking me funny--it was like a bad movie comedy. (Later I had a hard time falling asleep because I kept getting giggle fits for 45 minutes.) I said our toilet has an eating disorder--bulimia. And Irritable Bowl Syndrome. I tell you, I was really on a roll. Paul and I suggested it was worth the investment to purchase and install 3 new power-assisted toilets next month. "All three?" I had to ask.

"Well, you do use the one in the bedroom," he says. :-D

Somebody loves him!

Here's a pic for your enjoyment. This is an illustration for the post below.

Is Karl Rove gay?

We've been cleaning up the house like mad for our guests this weekend. It looks beautiful. Just think, if we cared enough, it could look like this more than once a year! They were supposed to be here about now, but Marina just called from Toledo, where they got stuck having a blown-out tire repaired. I told them not to worry, we usually go to bed around 12:30-1:00 am and don't have to work tomorrow, so they can come as late as they want.

The other night, Paul and I were speculating on Karl Rove's personal life, or rather, complete lack of one. Most of Bush's crowd feels it's de rigeur to get married and have kids, and apparently, he's done neither. Paul thinks maybe he's gay and in the closet. A hypocrisy expose is always entertaining, so we googled "Karl Rove gay," hoping to hit paydirt.

738,00 hits! Most of them, disappointingly, only linked Rove and the phrase "anti-gay agenda" or somesuch. I did, however, find some interesting out-there lefty blog entries here, here and here. Maddeningly, everything is still just speculation. It's actually not surprising that the spinmeister would have such control over information leaked about himself. I found a couple of sites that said he'd been married twice and had a son, but others saying he'd never married. Well, if he had married and really had a son, what I want to know is, how come this is never once mentioned in any bio? I find that very strange.

I did find a little gem in my surfing that just made me laugh, it was so "pink" and silly. I emailed the link to Trent (of Pink is the New Blog), and he included it in the news section of yesterday's entry! In his words: Who knew that GWB had a blog of his own. :-D

Coming up for air...

It is such a joy to be posting from home again. We got our new motherboard installed on Monday, but did I celebrate by immediately posting here? Heck no. I was too busy catching up on all of my daily email newsletters from the New York Times and salon.com, two of my favorite sources for news. Also, the hilarious Pink is the New Blog, my favorite mental junk food.

When not on the computer, I've been practicing the Trio for piano, oboe & horn in A minor, Op 188 by Carl Reinecke (hear samples here). A couple who knew Paul from Oberlin days, Tom Bokuniewicz and Marina Jaffe, are coming to stay with us next weekend, along with their 3 college-aged boys, while on their national baseball tour vacation. Marina was an oboe major at Oberlin. She doesn't play that much now but is really looking forward to us getting to play some chamber music. This was Paul's idea. The piece isn't that hard, but certainly isn't simple and has required some practicing. We even have a performance opportunity--we'll be playing it for July 24's service at the UU Society of Cleveland.

Hello from the library

Our online access is still out. Since three days over the past week were not business days, the new motherboard for our computer won't be delivered until tomorrow (Friday). The Best Buy repair guys are already booked tomorrow (of course) so if we're lucky, the earliest the computer can be fixed will be Monday. At least they called today to tell me. I was beginning to wonder if the trouble ticket paperwork actually went through.

So here I am at the library, where I have exactly 60 minutes per day I am allowed to log on. It's amazing how much more efficient I've been, doing only the essentials (checking and answering email, checking blogs of family and friends), with maybe 15 minutes left to read a few articles. It makes me realize how much of my time usually gets sucked up by frivolous internet surfing.

I've had time to clean up my office (a tri-annual ritual) in anticipation of a visit in 2 weeks by two of Paul's out-of-town Oberlin friends plus their 3 college-aged sons. It's funny how I'm somehow motivated to clean up for company but not very much if it's just us benefitting from it.

Body Worlds

Yesterday we spent the 4th at the Great Lakes Science Center. We went to the BodyWorlds 2 exhibition, a bizarrely fascinating collection of real human bodies preserved by a process called plastination, and displayed in such a way that you could see all the muscles, systems, etc. as well as bones. Some of them were posed doing things like ice skating or spear throwing, to show how the muscles look different when stretched or flexed.

This is one of the things some people find controversial about it--it was part science, part art, and part sideshow. I, of course, have no trouble admitting to morbid fascination. I also felt awe, amazement, occasional ickiness, and even a sense of the holy. There were also a few animals--a horse, camel and rabbit. I couldn't help but notice how similar the basic building materials were for the humans and animals--only the form, size and shape varied. It seems undeniable to me that we all descended from the same common ancestors.

Technical Difficulties

This week I've learned that I have a very low irritation threshhhold when it comes to malfunctioning technology. Well, actually I already knew that, it was just more forceably brought to my attention. For months, our DSL connection has been finicky and unpredictable, disconnecting on a whim, sometimes several times a day, often freezing and necessitating restarting the computer. Now, I know it isn't supposed to be this way, but you do sort of get used to it.

Well, this past Tuesday, I had left the computer on while leaving the room to do something else. A thunderstorm came through, and I didn't think about the (still plugged in and connected) computer until after a thunderclap that sounded so loud and close it was scary. We didn't lose power or anything, but I heard the telltale error squeal of a lost connection. I shut down the computer as usual and thought nothing further of it.

Unfortunately, the modem (3 years old) only showed the power light and never connected again. I called the DSL tech support line. After a check of our phone line showed nothing wrong, I ordered a new modem, thinking, Oh, they do wear out eventually, and this ought to solve the problem. I even paid extra for next business day delivery.

Well, the new modem came yesterday. I set it up, turned everything on, and--still no connection. Suddenly, the room seemed unbearably hot. I was muttering the phrase "What a pain in the ass!" with alarming frequency. Paul came in to help, uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers for the ethernet card. We tried different ethernet cables. No difference.

At this time, a DSL tech support guy called, having tried to ping our modem. Perfect timing, I thought. He was really helpful. After eliminating every other possibility, we concluded the ethernet card must be bad. Paul opened the computer only to discover that there was no separate ethernet card, it was all part of the main motherboard. So much for running to Best Buy for a spare part.

Luckily, I found the computer's receipt from Best Buy and 3-year In-Home Service Contract we had sprung $200.00 for, which still has another year+ on it. I called the number, and it was like being in the First Class ticket line at the Airport. Only the Little People have to haul their computers out to the store (which then have to be shipped to an authorized repair facility and shipped back) and wait about 2 weeks to have a functioning machine again. Not us! I did some troubleshooting with this guy, too, reconfirming the bad ethernet card diagnosis. He says they will order the part, then when the part comes in, a serviceman will call to make an appointment to come to our home and install a new motherboard, all at no charge, probably sometime this coming week.

Even though we still can't get online at home (I'm typing this in the library), I just feel better knowing what the problem is and having done what it takes to fix it. I must say, this involuntary internet holiday hasn't exactly been a bad thing. I've been spending a lot more time practicing and reading. I think this means a cutback in Idiot Box time is called for.

"You've Got Sense!"

David Sedaris was in town yesterday promoting a new book, and since I didn't have to work, I was able to go to Joseph-Beth Books at Legacy Village to see him on his book tour. It was supposed to start at 7:00, but I heard he usually works the crowd for about an hour beforehand so I showed up at 6, carrying my copy of his book Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim that I bought in Milwaukee last year while visiting Darcy.

The fifty or so chairs were long-since filled (later I heard they were gone by 5) and about 100 or so people were milling around, many holding their copies of Sedaris books for signing. Booksellers were writing our names on post-its to stick on our title pages to make it easier for him to personalize them. The official signing wouldn't start until after his talk was over. I walked around for a bit to save my foot from standing >2 solid hours. At 6:20 he showed up, a slight little man in a white shirt with khakis and a tie with tiny pink flowers. He stuck aroung the seated people at first, signing some of their books, sometimes handling money. This struck me as unfair--not only did those people get to sit down the whole time, they got first class access, while we in coach could only stand and watch. That is, if no one taller than 5'6" was standing in front of us blocking our view.

I had brought my camera, hoping to maybe get a pic with him, or at least of him. The MC announced there would be no photography, not even cell phone cameras, because David would rather have a root canal than be photographed. That is so in character for him, I should have known better.

He started working the standing crowd, and finally came to a stop about 5 feet from me, saying, "I will sign anybody's book right now for 5 bucks." I didn't have to think twice--out came the wallet. When it came my turn, he read my post-it, asking, "Is it KaRIN?" I didn't correct him, giving him mental points for at least knowing it was different from "Care-en." While he's drawing a face in my book, he says, "That's one thing I like about you, KaRIN. You've got sense!" I heartily agreed. I think it was the best $5.oo I've spent in a long time.

I got to be Paul's roadie

I can tell my ancestors came from the Frozen North because it's hotter than two rats humping in a wool sock and it makes me feel lethargic and averse to the outdoors. Since June 5, we've had only one day under 90, none under 65 at night. I'm sick of the heat already and it's barely the middle of June! It's that time of year when all the schools I work for let out for the summer, so I am underemployed and spending a lot of time at home enjoying our central air conditioning. I keep it at around 80 during the day, though, as we'd both rather feel a little hot than open a $300 electric bill next month. One good thing about the heat, though--my foot hardly aches at all. I can see why the dancers like it--muscles feel more loose and relaxed.

Yesterday was my first day of being totally unemployed, so I was able to give Paul a helping hand. The Lakewood Y, where he does most of his martial arts teaching, just closed last Thursday for demolition and rebuilding (supposed to be done in early 2007). They've moved all the workout machines to a new space about a mile down the road, where there is also a storefront studio for classes. They were supposed to move to the Beck Center, but it fell through and they had to scramble for an alternate space in a short time.

Paul cancelled his Sat. classes and he and some of his students went out there to check the new place out, see if they could help, etc. The new place was still a mess, no subdividing walls had been built yet, and nowhere near ready for them to move Paul's mats yet. They went back to the old site and their old studio was still untouched, as no one from the Y had remembered to collect the mats. Paul was getting worried as he was supposed to be teaching 48 hours later!

He got in touch with the program director, who agreed to meet him at the old site at 5 pm Monday (yesterday), so Paul and whoever else could come could move the stuff themselves, since the new place should be ready by then. I was able to come and help, since I was free at that time for once. 4 of his students came too, one of whom happened to have a truck as big as a small moving van, so we were able to transport it all, sweep the petrified dust bunnies off (that was my job), and haul them into the basement of the new place in about an hour and a half.

Lucky for us, this was the one day it was only 80-85 degrees. The floor mats are 1 x 2 meters and probably 25-30 lbs apiece, sort of awkward but not hard for 2 people to carry one at a time. Paul was concerned that I not hurt my fingers, but I was fine. I don't even feel it today, so I know I didn't overdo it, although I am the least in shape of any of the helpers! It was sort of fun in a sweaty, filthy kind of way, and it felt good to be there for Paul.

It looks like his teaching schedule will be a lot lighter for a while. The one studio has to accomodate a spinning class, aerobics, etc., so he only gets the studio on Mon. and Wed. nights. It's a pain for his group that because of the spinning bikes, they can't just leave their mats on the floor but will have to put them down and take them up for every single class. The space is really small and has a pole right in the middle. He will have to combine levels and some of his students aren't very happy about it. He knows that if he finds a different space, the Y will just drop his program altogether and at this point, he would lose money with overhead, few students, no staff, etc. and he's not ready to run this as a small business.

The siver lining is that he will have Tues. and Thurs. evenings free so we can have more time together, maybe even eat dinner before 11 pm those nights, and he'll have more time to play his horn. I feel for him, though, because his teaching is very important to him.