Hey, Steve.

When I left Oregon for Atlanta, most of my things were packed away, not to be seen until I settled somewhere (18 months later, it turned out, topic for another day). I could take whatever fit in my trusty 2013 Subaru Legacy. I was in the driver’s seat, and Zeke and his things took most of the passenger seat. Even with most of my sports equipment in storage, space was at a premium. There were a few things I truly needed, and I had space to bring a few touches of home, things that would help make wherever I was feel comfortable. One of those familiar touches was my collection of hats, which has only grown since those nomadic Atlanta days.  I think about my hats often – it’s a fun choice to start each workday and many weekends – but I didn’t think to write about them until February, so I’ll start with the hat that inspired this post. Newark Eagles This is the first hat I can recall buying and not immediately wearing. I picked them because of a hometown(ish) connection, Newark be...

I was watching random things while washing dishes, and one of them stopped me: Call Me (Weird) Al At first, I thought it was the joke—how he softballs it in there and how excited the audience is when they realize what’s happening—but as he kept going, it was clear there was something else. I missed playing this song. It was one of the more fun Pep Band songs, and it’s responsible for one of my favorite Pep Band memories. I’m still figuring out what this site will do for me. At least today, it’s a place to get out a story. Maybe I’ll write more about the band, but for now, I’ll point you to Elmo’s old site . In the Pep Band, we played about two dozen songs regularly, and we played them a lot . Some of the mellophone parts weren’t the most critical, so we could play around a little, maybe play the written part most of the time but add in some fun lines here and there. I say this because I want to illustrate just how well-worn those tracks were, how easy it was to memorize (at least ...