Back to School… again!August 24th, 2010

Yes, it’s true.  I finished Grad school and I’m still going back to school.  But this time, it’s faculty orientation!  It’s been fun to meet so many great people at the university and get a sense of all the opportunities that are going to present themselves throughout the semester.

In the days leading up to my orientation, my parents made a visit and had the chance to check out our new place.  They are great with (and sometimes a little obsessive about)  creating a beautiful looking yard, so we all got to work and cleaned up the landscaping.  Now it looks amazing!  Check out all the brush we ended up with:

We also went into Sioux Falls and checked out… what else?  The Sioux Falls!

Their visit wouldn’t be complete without a tour of the beautiful campus, which is less than half of a mile from our home!  We are so lucky to have gotten such a great location.

There is a lot of excitement (and some stress) that comes with a new position like this, and I am really looking forward to getting classes under way and settling into a bit of a routine again.  As the fall season approaches, Cassie and I plan on getting some house projects started as we try to get involved in the arts within the community.  For now, so long from the house.

All of these fantastic pictures in this post were taken by my parents!

Home Sweet HomeAugust 22nd, 2010

Here it is, our new home in Madison, SD.  Well, it was actually built in 1962, but it is new to us!
My parents came to visit over the weekend, and we all spent a lot of time making the yard look beautiful.  We are slowly settling into the house, and Cassie has a ton of ideas for projects to make the interior look really fantastic.

In job-related news, I am starting my first day of faculty orientation tomorrow.  It’s like going back to school all over again, and I’m really looking forward to it.  The anticipation has taken too long.  Then, after a week of orientation, there is Cassie’s sister’s wedding in Wisconsin, and then I’m back to Madison for the first week of class.  I’m gearing up for a busy week!

August WeddingsAugust 15th, 2010

Oh, it has been so long since I last brought out the updates, and oh so much has happened.
It feels like an entirely new life has started here in Madison, South Dakota. We made it here, our cats made it here, and our moving truck made it here, everything accounted for.

But, before I get into all of the fun details about the new place and the new university, I want to share a few thoughts about a really special weekend we were a part of last week. Our good friends Paul and Abby got hitched, so we drove from Madison (SD) to Madison (WI) to take part in the proceedings. In fact, Cassie was the photographer, and I was her always trusty sidekick. Here’s a couple of my shots of the groomsmen that I’m especially fond of:

The ceremony was really great, with fantastic music (of course), and our friend Mark was phenomenal as the officiant.  It was really great to see so many old friends from the college days at Oshkosh.  I am honestly so proud of our friends’ accomplishments.  So many people we know have traveled all over the country, from California, to Texas, to… well, South Dakota!

We are so happy for Paul and Abby and couldn’t be happier to see them together. (And we were there when they first hooked up!)  There’s also another big wedding day coming up… Cassie’s sister Amy and her fiancee Zach!  I’ll also have more on the new house and university shortly.  (I promise it will be shortly!!)

Drive-By Truckers and Visiting ChicagoJuly 14th, 2010

The days are quickly moving toward our big move to South Dakota.  But in the meantime, we have been taking opportunities to visit friends and see some great music!  The Drive-By Truckers came to DeKalb last week and put on an amazing show.  It was great to see a rockin’ show before we left.

Awesome Photo by John Statz

We also took the opportunity to visit our friend Tony in Chicago where we checked out the parks, went to some art galleries, had a drink at the House of Blues, and did some shopping.  It’s starting to become time to buckle down and get everything packed, but it’s not nearly as much fun.  I think I’d rather just work on projects and keep visiting friends, but the big moving day is near!

Tony’s album nearing completion, and a new trackJuly 7th, 2010

Tony Memmel’s new album, “Here we Go”, is in the final stages and we are really excited about how it is turning out!  As that winds down, I had the chance to work on a new track that I am calling, “Lonely Heart”.

Check it out on BandCamp.  This is a really cool website that I found out about from John Statz.  It’s a great way for musicians to get their music out to people in full quality and get compensated directly.

We are keeping very busy with house buying logistics and packing, so I’ll be in touch throughout the month to let you know how things are coming along.  On July 30th we’ll be in our brand new house!

Fun times at SummerfestJune 27th, 2010

It’s hard for me to believe, but we are soon to be homeowners!  We had an offer accepted on the house we liked the most and now it’s time to start thinking about all the things we need to do before the end of July.  But in the meantime…

It’s great to have a little time off to really start enjoying the summer!  We took a trip up to Summerfest and saw some of our friends play shows.  It’s hard for me to believe how many musically talented people we got to know during school.  We saw Tony Memmel & his Band, Jeremiah Nelson & the Achilles Heel, a band we like a lot from Champagne called ‘Elsinore’, and we had a chance to see Passion Pit and Sheryl Crow later that night.  And in the true spirit of summer, we saw the opening night fireworks show.  I’m feeling quite patriotic.

House Hunting in Madison, SDJune 20th, 2010

It’s hard for me to believe, but I am finished working at Bose and the Institute of Art.  We took off right away to South Dakota in order to start looking at houses.  Luckily, we have found one that we really like, and it just so happens to be the first one we looked at on the first day.  We’ll have to wait and see what happens!

We checked out Lake Madison today.  Cassie did some watercolor painting while I did some songwriting.  The lake was beautiful!  I think I can get used to living out here.  It is a very relaxed, laid-back lifestyle.  The drive from our hometown won’t be too bad, either.

I know I keep saying it, but I am finally going to have a lot of time to keep updating the site and stay on top of all that is going on.  July is going to be really busy with all the packing and moving work, but it will also be a lot of fun… We have some concerts lined up, Summerfest, and maybe some relaxation thrown in there.  It’s finally feeling like summer!

Headed to Madison, South Dakota!May 31st, 2010

Yes, you heard right.  I just landed a new full-time teaching position at Dakota State University.  They are a tech-oriented school with about 6,000 students and an absolutely gorgeous campus.  The program that I will be involved in is called “Digital Arts and Design” and I will specifically be teaching Audio Technology classes in their relatively new audio program.  There are also some possible opportunities for Cassie on the horizon, so we are very optimistic about the relocation and all of its potential!

Madison, SD is a small city with a population of about 6,000 residents.  It is located about a 45-minute drive north of Sioux Falls, which is the largest city in South Dakota.  Madison is a friendly and quiet little city that was actually named after Madison, Wisconsin because it is between two lakes.  It looks like Sioux Falls offers a lot in terms of arts, entertainment and dining.  We are also excited about the outdoor opportunities because of the nearby lakes and state parks.

We went and saw the actual Sioux Falls!  Awesome pic by Cassie.

It’s going to be a very busy summer with the move and plans for the future, but we are looking at this as the next big step in our lives.  It is certainly bittersweet because we will miss our friends and jobs in the area and will also be living farther from home.  This is, however, an amazing opportunity and I will be giving updates as we prepare for the move.  By the way, it’s also now summer, the weather is beautiful, so we are definitely going to take the opportunity to get out and enjoy it!

On a final note, we took a relaxing getaway to Galena, Illinois last week and stayed in the Farmer’s Guest House for the third time.  It was a great time and we came back feeling refreshed.  You can read more and see more great pics on Cassie’s blog.

A Weekend in Chi-TownMay 16th, 2010

My parents, along with my brother and his girlfriend all came to visit us and we took a trip into Chicago yesterday to do some exploring and see Josh Ritter play at the Vic theater.

Me, Cassie, Matt and Amber

We also had the chance to see Cassie’s MFA art show at a gallery in the city.  It was a really great show in a beautiful gallery.  Here she is with our friend Ann at the gallery:

They are hard at work at the front table.

Josh was great, as always.  The sound at the Vic theater is fantastic, and his opening act, Joe Pug, was also really great.  We ended up taking a late train home and didn’t get back until about 2:30am, but it was well worth all of the travel.  It is funny for me to think about how few families actually find a musician who they all like to go see!


Cassie and I have some of the biggest changes in our lives coming up this summer and I can’t wait to talk more about it!  For now, I’m looking forward to some sunny days and our vacation to Galena next week!

These great photos were taken by my dad!