PMOJO — Purdue Musical Organizations

March 10, 2006

And so Spring Break 2006 begins. The Purdue Varsity Glee Club web committee, which includes myself, John Kronberg, along with Peter Tarrant and Casey Kloiber are looking forward to keeping you updated throughout the next week during our stay in Southern Florida. Our trip began thursday night around 8:00 pm, and ended nearly 25 hours later in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The trip went as expected: lots of sleep and long periods of sitting. However, most of the guys were able to keep themselves entertained in between our stops to get off the bus and stretch. It was so nice each time we stopped because we could feel the temperature getting warmer. We were also fortunate enough to have avoided all the severe storms that had swept through the area earlier in the day.

Getting closer to our final destination, the mood on the bus quickly changed. Seeing the orange glow on the horizon from the bright city lights seemed to have gotten everybody in a great mood as we knew this meant we would be getting off the bus shortly. I do have to say thank you to all of our drivers on the way down, for without their hard work and dedication to the drive this trip would not have been possible. Reaching the hotel, we received our keys and many of us decided to call it a night. Tomorrow is a free day, so I expect many guys going to the beach and enjoying the city life. Until then, thank you for visiting our website and stay tuned for more details!

March 11, 2006

It is hard to believe today is technically day three of our trip, having left Thursday and traveled all day Friday. However, we were fortunate enough to have a free day today with no shows planned. Breakfast was served this morning between 7 and 9. It was buffet style, and consisted of eggs, pancakes, cereal, and pretty much any other breakfast food you can think of. Shortly thereafter, we had the opportunity to visit the beach. Keith, one of our bus drivers, was making shuttle trips back and forth from our hotel to the beach for most of the day. I personally went on this little excursion, and found it to be a lot of fun. I'm glad I remembered to bring sun-screen this year, since last year I learned from my mistake. The weather was beautiful: clear skies, ocean breeze and near 80 degrees. Some guys decided to jump right into the water, but others played a game of football right there on the shore. There were many stores along the shore as well, and this was taken advantage of when looking for a place to eat for lunch

Later in the evening, Brian Breed, director of PVGC and PMO, hosted a welcome reception in his suite. Here, we were able to mingle with all those who have come to Florida to see us perform. It was great to see so many familiar faces! Afterwards, dinner was on our own, so we all went our separate ways to find food. I went with Brent Watson, Ryan Schroeder, Kyle Hodges, Nick Clinkenbeard, and Dave Bukiet to the Azteca restaurant. It is an establishment located just down the road from the hotel. The food was great (I love mexican), and we were also able to watch some of the NCAA basketball tournament games as well.

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day, with us having two performances. One is at hometown native Chris Myers'church. Later that afternoon, we will be having an outdoor show downtown. Pictures of these first few days should be making their way onto the web soon, along with our new PVGC Times spring break newspaper, so be looking out for those. Until then, take care!

March 12, 2006

Today was another great day here in sunny Florida! The day started off early with another amazing breakfast provided by the great people here at the hotel. We had an early call time of 9:00 AM dressed in our tuxedos so that we could make it over to First United Methodist for the service. Glee CLub alum and Hall of Famer John Myers, father current member Chris, is the minister of the Church. After we sang for the congregation, we were treated to a delightful meal with all the great people who call First United Methodist their home.

Afterwards, the guys changed into something a bit more suitable for outdoor weather because we were off to Huizenga Plaza in downtown Ft. Lauderdale for an outdoor performance out in the sun. The soundcheck before the show brought many people to wonder what a bunch of guys all dressed alike were doing on the stage at this park, but when we got to the performance, they stuck around to hear the smooth sounds of the Glee Club. The crowd thoroughly enjoyed the performance, especially when we ran out into the audience and danced with the unexpecting ladies that had come to see what all of the commotion was about.

To close out the evening, we were hosted by Cheri and Don Whittington on the Intercoastal Waterways at their amazing home. They gave us food, fun, and let us explore their house as if we were family. Their dog was probably the biggest I've ever seen! Overall it was a fantastic day!

Tommorow will be another fun day with the Glee Club. With a later call time, we'll be able to relax in the morning, and then perform at Faith Presbyterian Church in Cape Coral later that evening. I'll let you know how it goes soon!

March 13, 2006

Today was a great day, although, it seemed to fly by pretty quickly. The call time for us wasn't untill 12:30 so we could wake up at our leisure, eat breakfast, and even lunch before we had to be ready to board the buses. Some of the guys even opted to catch some sun by the pool before getting dressed. I suppose as long as we're in Florida we may as well soak up as much sun as we can!

It was about a two and a half hour bus ride over to Cape Coral where we set up our equipment at Faith Presbyterian Church for what would be a sold out crowd. We even had to get more chairs for people to sit in! The show was fantastic and the guys got to meet many interesting people after the show.

Tommorow we have the entire afternoon to ourselves to visit the beach or go to the mall. In the evening we have a group dinner with Brian and all our guests that accompanied us to Florida. It should be a good meal, it definitly was last year!

March 14, 2006

Today was just as fun as I hoped it would be! We had the entire day all to ourselves to do whatever we wanted. A lot of the guys headed to the beach yet again to see if they could get a little more tanned. There was a small complication in the morning though. One of our buses was having some problems so for the trip to the beach, only one was able to take us and also come pick us back up.

It was another beautiful sunny day down here in Florida and the trip to the beach was spent well. In the evening though, all of PMO got together in a conference room at the hotel for an amazing dinner that consisted of food, fun, and singing. Brian had all of the tables create their own lyrics to a song and sing them in front of everyone. All of them were hilarious and some were even able to incorporate Sue McGee's birthday into their song. Overall, the evening was a big success!

After dinner, Chris Meyers had a reception at his home for all of the above 21 crowd for an evening of casual fun, and a lot of the younger guys went to an amusement park type place called Boomers. There were video games, go-karts, and even a roller coaster! No matter what was done after the dinner, everyone had a good time.

Tommorow we get to perform at Indian Creek Country Club, which is one of the biggest shows we get to do all year. We'll get to mingle with all sorts of important people as well as have an amazing meal. I'll be sure to write all about how things go after tommorow night!

March 15, 2006

Another great spring break, another fun time had at Indian Creek. Today was even better than I had expected. After an early leave time, we made our way over to Indian Creek Country Club to set up our equipment and sound check, just to make sure everything was in order. Then we got to head over to Bal Harbor Beach Club, thanks in great part to Les and Liz Graham for allowing us to do that again this year. We ate lunch and hung out by the beach and the pool for several hours and just had a good time.

After we'd had our fill of the beach, we made our way over to Indian Creek decked out in our tuxedos, ready to meet a lot of important people. After a good hour of mingling, we went inside for the meal which was amazing! Just after the desert, the Glee Club sang for everyone there and the people seemed to love us! After our show we lined up in a hallway that led to the exit and sang as people were headed out the door! The evening was a lot of fun for us and the members of Indian Creek Country Club!

March 16, 2006

Today we got to go to Port Royal Country Club just south of Naples to have lunch and put on a show for the members sitting out by the pool. The meal was as great as I remembered it being last year, if not better. We didn't get to spend very much time on the beach but that's ok, because after our free time at Port Royal, we headed over to Moorins Nursing Home to visit with Bill and Nancy Elliott and also put on a short show for the people who live there.

That evening, Brain took the Sirs out for a meal at The Knife Restaurant while everyone else got the evening to themselves. Everyone had a good time celebrating the last evening we had in Florida. Tommorow we have to check out and be on the road. I'll let you know how things go tommorow.

March 17, 2006

This morning we had to check out of our hotel rooms before we left to go to Sawgrass Mills mall. This mall was giagantic! We were able to spend three hours there for lunch and recreation, and that wasn't nearly enough time to see all the shops that this place had to offer. Every store you can think of was there. It was a great way to spend the afternoon.

After we all made it back on the bus, we made our way over to Marco Lutheran Church where we set up our equipment and we were given a very tasty meal provided by the church. Seeing as how this was the seniors' last spring break performance, the Glee Club had a little preshow meeting to wish everyone luck for the seniors' last time in Florida with the group. The show went off without a hitch and the audience loved it!

After the show it was homeward bound! A 25 hour bus ride lies ahead and then it's back in West Lafayette, just in time to get some homework done for classes on Monday. I hope you've had as good a time following us around we've had doing the traveling. This spring break has been amazing and it's sad to see it come and go so fast. Untill next year, this has been the Web Committe for the Purdue Varsity Glee Club.