Tag: fun

Band Comp (for the First Time in 30 Years!)

My visit to Boise coincided with an event I had not participated in or viewed since October 1993: Band Competition.

I was surprised to see that the 5A schools had been divided into small and large divisions, but was glad they had, or the large divisions would have trampled the small-division schools. I was a little disappointed to see Borah was in the small-schools division. Bigger marching bands are more fun.

It was also nice that Boise High School (my dad and Barb’s alma mater, was also competing near the time of my alma mater (Borah High School.)

We headed down to whatever Bronco Stadium is called now, and were able to sit on the first level, which was reserved for the students, not the families.

The Big Thunder Marching Band (or some contingent of them) started us off with the national anthem.

We watched Boise (still a tiny program, just like when I was in high school) and Owyhee (huge band—for the small division—and really great) and then it was time for Borah to take the field. You can see the people in the pit already in place.

Back in my day, most marching band programs had a theme that tended to be tied to some popular piece of music. My sophomore and junior years we did Fiddler on the Roof and the Beatles, respectively. Based on the three schools I saw, this has changed to a preference for music that is not as readily identifiable. Which, fine, but what has been lost is the crowd reaction as they recognized the what song we were playing. The Borah band looks to be about the same size as it was my senior year, when we got a new band director and he had to rebuild the program. It was surprising to see how few drill team/flag corps there were. I counted four. Even when we were a small band, drill team could field about 30 people.

The full press forward, always an enjoyable part.

We left after Borah’s performance. Based on the three we saw, I would have placed Owyhee over Borah, but when I checked the results the next day, Borah was the division winner! Cheers to the Borah High Band!

Boise Sights Autumn 2023

Here are a few things from my Boise trip.

That feeling when you are sitting at the intersection that you won’t get your camera out fast enough to capture the wonder of the nearby car. Thankfully, I didn’t miss this one.

15 seconds of googling has not uncovered what this sticker is about.

And then I went to see the Eras Tour at the Flicks! It did not disappoint.

Look at this menu!

I had some wine, but no TS-themed drink.

I also enjoyed looking at these fun rice crispy treats.

Here is my commemorative poster I got as part of my (rather high) admission. There was a girl sitting behind me that didn’t get one because they ran out, so I gave mine to her.

I’m pretty much only Taylor Swift fan via what comes on the radio. But this concert was enough to make me into a Swiftie (a slight Swiftie). The pageantry! The dancing! The effects! The walking back and forth on that huge stage! It’s three hours that are well worth your time.

Also, I dearly love excited teen girl energy and there was a ton of that.

The Partial Eclipse at OMSI

Matt had the good idea to head down to OMSI to see the partial eclipse. Though the forecast was overcast, OMSI promised livestreaming in the planetarium.

Here we are waiting for the doors to open. We got there quite early and were about fourth and fifth in line. Someone who worked for OMSI was confused why a line was forming at eight on a Saturday morning. The people at the beginning of the line explained what was up.

The view from inside the planetarium. I enjoyed that timeanddate.com was the livestreamer. They are my online source for calendars and have for years.

We got views from across the country.

At some point, one of the people who had posted themselves outside announced that the clouds had cleared enough to see the eclipse, so the planetarium emptied. Here was the view without glasses.

Here was the view with glasses.

Here was my fun self portrait that was one of my favorite photos taken this year.

Crowd pictures.

I really loved this coat! So event appropriate.

The fun of photographing people watching eclipses is that they can’t see you taking pictures.

Some glasses adjustments are necessary.

I like to think it was one of these fellows who came in and said that the eclipse was visible.

Ole Bolle Troll

Someone at work clued me into this delightful public art project brought to us by the Scan Design Foundation: six trolls built by Thomas Dambo scattered throughout the Pacific Northwest. Here is the Portland one: Ole Bolle

As you can see, Ole Bolle is quite popular

The trolls are built from recycled materials, and you can see how nicely those recycled materials came together.

Look at that foot!

And that hand with fingernails.

Once you look in the door, you can see what the troll is after. I don’t blame him, especially that delicious looking cake.

They did a great job of making his face very kind.

Here is an attempt at a mom-and-me self portrait. No dice though. It was just me.

So here is mom with the troll.

We Escaped! From the Mysterious Museum

Some time ago, Matt brought home two escape room games. Exit has created at-home escape rooms, which are brilliant. For less than the cost of one person attending an escape room, one to four players can “escape” from the scenario. There’s also no having to work in teams with people you’ve never met before, a thing I don’t love about real escape rooms.

We worked through the various rooms and escaped from the museum.

At the end, you can fill out your certificate.

If you use the app, it keeps time for you, and then you can enter your information and get a star rating. We got 8 out of 10.

While card game “rooms” don’t provide some of the surprises we’ve found in physical escape rooms, this was a fun experience I would like to repeat.