Hamilton and a MalletKAT

We treated ourselves last Sunday to Hamilton at the Paramount Theatre in downtown Seattle. We arrived downtown early in the afternoon to walk around and grab dinner before arriving at the theater. We took in the performance from the upper deck where the views were wonderful. While the music is fun to sing along too, the choreography was spectacular. The moving circle in the middle of the stage added an element of difficulty for the dancers/actors. We all enjoyed the performance. 

Autumn is the proud owner of a MalletKAT! A what? It’s an electronic percussion instrument that is a vibraphone, but so much more. We’ve been in the market for months for a vibraphone. She is trying to develop her mallet skills and, while practicing at school is ok and playing on the piano is fine, she needed a vibraphone. When I went searching for a vibraphone, I learned quickly that a halfway descent one is expensive! Also, they are bulky and a pain to transport. In comes the MalletKAT. While it’s not cheap, it does great for a vibraphone, is light, easy to transport, and offers so much more than just a vibraphone. She play with headphones too! Autumn has been practicing on it almost daily, in addition to her drums.  

The deck project slowed down the last couple weeks due to a couple factors. We are at the stage where we need to have cement poured for our patio and footings. The last few weeks were still having below freezing temperatures, which our contractor was not going to pour in. In addition, we had to do additional grading to ensure the patio was going to be poured correctly. In the meantime, Laura and I did some work on rebuilding our retaining block wall. We had to remove a bunch of blocks before they started grading last month. In doing so, we’ve been able to make a couple changes that will be an improvement. We should have concrete poured tomorrow (Friday). 

If you are in the area, head to Baguus Little Asia this Saturday! Ethan is performing 5:30pm-7:30pm.

Final Thought.

Write your congressman, congresswoman, and senators and let them know that they must stand up to those that are ripping apart our democracy. What is happening to the federal government is going to have generational impacts that rip apart the foundation of democracy. Our country will not be better for these actions. The marginalized will be pushed further away from society. Fewer voices will be heard as diversity is discouraged. Don’t stand for this. I guarantee that this is not what America asked for though Project 2025 was blatantly in your face. The current hits to the federal government isn’t a reorganization or restructuring, it’s ensuring that facism is instilled into institutions that have historically made our country great. Wake up, America. Protest if you can. Write letters. Support those impacted.