Bela Fleck releases "The Hidden Land". From the Gazette: The music of banjo player Bela Fleck has always been about so muchmore than just the banjo. With his group, the Flecktones, Fleck has pushed musical boundaries and expectations for 15 years, and that continues with a vengenance on the group's latest release...Musically complex, the Flecktones--featuring a banjo, percussion, horns and a bass guitar--continue to mix bluegrass, jazz, pop, country and even classical music into a gumbo utterly beyond definition but captivating. The Hidden Lake starts off with a Bach fugue. The Flecktones start from a recognizable home base with the song,then take it to the extreme of improvisation and back, but it all makes sense within the framework they have created over the years that pulls listeners in with an endearing unpredictability.

Schenectady placed sixth in the team standings---beatings its previous high of 1th--and got third place efforts from its 200 free relay group (citing David and his team members)...Schenectady set nine school records over the three-day competition.

So today and yesterday were absolutely lovely. Sunny and warm. It was nice but now I wish I were down in the heat of Florida. I'll be sad to leave the luke warm weather in NC for the frigid weather in NY, but happy to be home.

This morning I had a Resting Metabolic Rate Test, or RMR. I had to fast for 12 hours and then go over to the Duke Center for the Living where they did the test. They put me in a semi-dark room and put a hard plastic bubble around my head. I then waited, sat still and rested, but didn't fall asleep, for 30 minutes. The test measures your breathing and somehow they are able to calculate the amount of calories you would burn in a day if you just sat on your butt. My RMR was completely average. This information is helpful for planning out calories and exercise once I get home.

We have arrived after a day of flying. Had a nice dinner at the Sweet Tomatoes to celebrate Mom and Dad Woods Anniversary and our arrival in Florida. The weather is in the 80s and much different from what we left in NYC. We are trying out the pool at Heritage Cove and then go to a concert tonight by a local muscian called Paul Todd. We are looking forward to seeing many others here shortly.