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Bee in Her Beer

27 Wednesday Jul 2016

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Storytelling

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

empty nesters, Skype, Twisted Pine, voice teacher, Wildflower

twisted pineBrit had a bee in her beer at Twisted Pine’s open mic night.  For reals.  It was nearly empty and she got a free refill.  She should have received a full dinner.  Brittany has been taking her voice students to perform at Twisted Pine on Tuesday nights for months.  Saturday, she drives to Ventura, California to take acting classes through September.

open mic night

We don’t often get out to see Brit perform with her bands.  As empty nesters this week, we had the freedom and the time to get out.  Tuesday nights are for her Wildflower students, she sang a song since we were in the crowd.  She has some amazing students.  I suspect they will miss her as much as we will.  Some will continue taking voice lessons with her via Skype.  Modern age education.

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The Graduate

17 Sunday May 2015

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running

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Tags

2020 Wine Bar, Bolder Boulder, Erie 5K, Shoes and Brews, University of Colorado, Wildflower

grandparentsReally big weekend. In-laws in town. Brit graduated from CU Denver yesterday. Party today. And, because this blog is all about me, I won my age division in a 5K this morning.

This weekend is certainly all about Brittany.  Karen and I are so proud of her.  Kids grow up in college and Brit was no exception.  She demonstrated strong intelligence, tenacity and work ethic.  She worked her way through five years of college and graduated with high grades and zero debt.

proud papaHer Papa started a college fund for her that paid her tuition for nine semesters, including her dorm expenses the first year.  Brittany took over payments for her living expenses her second year with restaurant jobs and paid her final semester tuition herself from her salary teaching voice lessons at Wildflower.

The really cool thing is that Brittany already has been working in a professional capacity for over a year at Wildflower, teaching voice lessons.  With her classes complete, she can increase her hours.  She’s pictured here with her Papa after gifting him with a stole of gratitude for all his support.

Shoes & Brews RunnersMy race this morning went about as well as I hoped.  Karen admonished me for racing on such a busy weekend, but I would have run anyway.  I wanted to get in a 5K that would set my expectations for my pace in next weekend’s Bolder Boulder 10K.  The Erie 5K did just that.  Most interesting to me are both my first mile and my overall pace.

podiumMy overall pace is meaningful because I shouldn’t expect to run any faster for a 10K.  I ran a 6:42 pace today, I think my second fastest 5K ever in 20:49.  And I ran the first mile in 6:29, which is way too fast for me.  I was breathing hard and slowed down to 6:58 for my second mile.  This tells me that if I maintain about a 6:50 pace the first mile in the BB10K, I might be able to hold that as an average pace all six miles.  I was able to recover this morning and return to a 6:40 pace for my third mile.  Recovery in the Bolder Boulder, after a too fast first mile, is harder because of the hills.  Experience suggests I won’t be able to make up lost time until maybe the 4th or 5th mile.

Dad & BritThis weekend is far from over yet though.  We still have a party for Brit at 2020 later this evening.  And we have two more high school celebrations to attend next weekend before the race on Monday.  And Brittany has to host a big performance with her students at the Boulder Creekfest next weekend too.  I hope the summer slows down at some point.  I have a relay in Snowmass in June.  Ellie flies to Washington DC for a leadership event in July.  And I hope to climb Long’s Peak with my neighbors in August.  At some point, I need to finish planting my garden.

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Ellie Live

09 Friday Mar 2012

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Ellie Rose

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Global Sound Studio, Monica Augustine, Telluride, Wildflower

I made it back from Texas last weekend just in time to catch Ellie’s first live performance.  She sang Taylor Swift’s “The Best Day” as if it were her own.  Her best friends came along for the recital along with her big sister and fellow performer Brittany.  We all had tears in our eyes near the end.

It was unbelievable just how comfortable and confident Ellie appeared onstage as she sang.  Normally she’s a fairly cautious if not shy little girl, but she seemed really at ease.  I have no idea how a 9 year old kid can remember all those lyrics – this song has quite a number of verses.  And it was such a sweet song for her to pick.  We all felt like she was singing to each of us personally.

We signed Ellie up for singing lessons, not just because she walks around the house all day singing, but because her sister enjoyed it and we thought she would too.  You do that with kids.  You sign them up for stuff until they discover what they like.  This was a home run from the start.  We’re a bit more experienced at this after Brittany and knew an excellent voice instructor.  Monica Augustine is simply fantastic.  She hugs Ellie every session and they have a blast.  But she also teaches her everything from getting good rest and nutrition to all the vocal basics which I can’t really describe.  Monica runs the Wildflower School of Voice and wrote a song I love and still listen to regularly on my playlist – Telluride.

Here’s a pic of Ellie’s three biggest fans having a post performance dinner.  And now the Mahoney family has two incredible singers.  I should say three with Karen.  Karen played guitar and sang for me on our very first date, and the rest is history.  Check out the Youtube link above to see Ellie’s performance.  I know many of my friends and family already have – she has nearly 150 views to date.  And if you haven’t seen Brit’s Youtube site, click on this link.  She’ll sing you a song if you request one.

40.137598 -105.107652

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Leaving Texas

01 Thursday Mar 2012

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Storytelling

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

ABIA, BCRT, hospital, Monica Augustine, travel, Wildflower

I fly home tomorrow from ABIA at 1:30pm on Southwest flight 365. From a foodie’s perspective – one of the world’s best airports. I’ll plan for lunch after passing through security. I have to pay a small fare increase for delaying my return a week – but hard to complain with a $200 round-trip ticket. That’s like a dime per mile. And my return flight is now direct and no longer transfers in Houston.

I had some fairly straightforward expectations of this trip. High-level – spend quality time with my mom. She’s 78 and has more than her fair share of maladies slowing her down. I thought I could get into her routine. Handle things as they come up without the rushed pressure of the holidays. And of course I could become aware of important financial matters – at the level of logging into her online accounts, etc. – as I will be the executor of her estate. I even thought my brother might benefit. He lives with her but has his own house and no doubt would appreciate a month off.

And my expectations were mostly met initially. It’s almost spooky how we both start our mornings with coffee and the newspapers. We even subscribe to the same stuff – local paper, WSJ and Barrons. Although I cancelled my local paper recently because I didn’t have sufficient time to read it. And our favorite network is CNBC. But it’s like a holiday here because my mom has CNBC on 24×7. Ellie won’t allow that at home. My mom and I have totally different personalities, but oddly similar interests – cooking and gardening included.

I even got to hang with her friends. We meet the Desormeaus and Bill Scott for breakfast each Sunday morning and then attend church. I’m now friends with Dave and Barb on facebook. Dave is an ex-IBMer. Both are mile-a-minute New Yorkers who won’t let me buy a meal. Bill turned me on to the free version of anti virus software Microsoft makes available for download called Essentials. I used it to replace Norton AV on my mom’s computer. Norton was slowing it down more than any actual virus or spyware. The result was fantastic and the bonus is it’s free.

My mom generally went to bed early but sometimes she’d stay up and we’d watch the first season of Downton Abbey which I bought for her on DVD for Christmas. What old lady doesn’t like that show? Otherwise I’d do some work or put on my Marshall headphones and listen to a playlist while cruising facebook or blogging. This is a pic of me blogging this post right now – but is indicative of me any night of the week while here.

I also got to cook for my brother and sister a few nights, as well as my mom’s very good friend Irv. The first time I cooked pork chops, I followed my mom’s recipe. The second time I did it my way. Same thing for a couple of roasts. I like my pork chops style more but my mom taught me a thing or two about cooking a roast. She liked my grilled asparagus and steamed spinach with garlic. And I squeezed in the Austin Half Marathon which turned out much more pleasant than last year’s run of the Austin Full Marathon. I’ve been running almost daily on the Brushy Creek Regional Trail – an amazing path that meanders for nearly seven miles along Brushy Creek and Harry Man’s Road.

I have to thank Karen for holding down the fort in my absence. She drove Ellie to her singing lessons on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Held sleep-overs for Ellie’s friends. Took out the garbage and picked up after the dog. Her thanks is that she is now one step higher up on Jack’s pecking order. We called every night but I couldn’t get Karen to match Ellie’s technical aptitude with communication. Ellie would video call me with facetime from her iPod Touch. I used to be concerned Brittany wouldn’t know what an album was. Ellie won’t know how to call without video.

It was Karen who convinced me I needed to take this trip now. Not a day goes by she doesn’t miss her mother who passed away entirely too young. And now the three weeks have stretched out to four as my mom became ill. I had to call EMS to take her to the ER. After nearly a week she was finally moved from ICU to a regular room and she was able to come back home today. Turns out working a week from the St. David’s Round Rock Medical Center wasn’t much different from working from my mom’s house – or my own basement office for that matter. Maybe Dell contributed but their wifi is totally pervasive throughout that campus and even the acceptable use policy statement works lightening fast. That hospital kicks ass over any airport I know of. Man, I can’t even complain about the AT&T signal for my iPhone.

My mom’s tremendous circle of friends all came through for her. Next door neighbor Beverly didn’t just bake me chocolate chip cookies – she dropped off a bag of over three dozen. I’ll be taking some of those home with me. I continued to meet the Desormeaus and Bill for breakfast. And I haven’t been sitting alone at the hospital. Mom has a wonderful support group.

The exercise wasn’t entirely bad for me. It started badly. As I called each family member outside ER the first day, I had to take longer and longer between calls to maintain composure. I called Karen last and couldn’t speak. My throat locked up and when it finally loosened, all I did was basically sob. I doubt I completed a full sentence the entire call. It was fairly pathetic but Karen understood. What was good was that I started to perform my mom’s routine of getting the mail, processing bills, monitoring online accounts. That will help me later on.

I’m excited to return to my family. No doubt this trip was more of a hardship on them than me. They experienced winter. Karen was a single working parent. I missed Ellie’s first science fair where she came home with top honors, but I’ll be home in time to catch her first public singing performance. It’ll be at this sound studio in Boulder but Ellie takes lessons with Monica Augustine at Wildflower School of Voice – a super voice teacher who is already teaching Ellie to compose her own songs. If Ellie lets me, I’ll post video of her performance on my YouTube account.

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