Here she goes... first blog post.

I work at the Virginia Museum of Transportation. If you haven't been to VMT, this sounds very impressive and perhaps even a bit vast. To posit the latter would be fairly accurate, but the former lacks in substance what it exudes in appearance.

I have a girlfriend I love dearly. Unfortunately, she lives 225 miles away and that situation isn't likely to change any time soon. She works for the government for big money and fantastic benefits, and loves her job on top of that. I love my job, too, but I make very little money and I receive no benefits.

I instruct the pit percussion unit at Patrick Henry High School. Unless you live in the area, you haven't heard [of] us, but it's a great gig. It makes me feel like I'm actually doing something with my education.

Ok, speaking of education, here it is. I received my B.A. from Roanoke College in music (musicology to be precise, but that degree option didn't exist when I was a student there). I did some graduate work at the University of Georgia, but only until I realized that I didn't want to become a professional musicologist. Hey, I was 22; I was entitled to change my mind, right?

So, back here to Roanoke. After I came back, I had four jobs in two years, voluntarily leaving each one until I landed at the museum. I sold shoes for a while, I was a middle school band director, and then I was a handyman for a music store. Now, I'm the Director of Finance and Retail Operations for VMT, which as I mentioned earlier, is far more prestigious in pronunciation than practice.

I'm taking cooking classes in an effort to curb my tendencies to horribly mangle perfectly good food. I've ruined Easy Mac, that's how bad it was. I'm told by my friends that this particular accomplishment is exceptional, and shouldn't be changed. My belly begs to differ.

All that said, I'm putting up this blog as the narrative component of the next few days/weeks/months/years of my life. How can a music major continue to handle the lion's share of a museum's finances? How can a devoted Roanoker leave Roanoke to be with the love of his life? Can a musicker learn to cook without poisoning his family or friends?

We'll find out.