A view from the top

I haven't participated in the activities of the marching band since Mark graduated last year. Until last weekend. HSE sponsors a band invitational in the fall. It was that time of year and I decided to volunteer. After all, I ran the concession stand two years in a row so there was no other job that could have been more time consuming and exhausting that day.

Much to my excitement I was asked to be the assistant to the scorekeeper. I know, you're thinking how amazing that was. Me too. They needed a math expert. I arrived at the press box after helping set up the concession stand. Our friend, Randy, needed someone to manually check the scores and wanted someone he could tolerate to be around for four consecutive hours. That was me!  I came with my solar calculator in hand. It's the same calculator I used 20-plus years ago to average grades when I was teaching.

Once in the press box, Randy explained how I was to add the scores by hand. What I did not have was a highlighter because there are several different scores and when certain ones are added up they create the final scores for categories like music and general effect, etc. I am not a former band geek so those details never concerned me. Until that night. Fortunately I was thinking quickly and made a code on my sheets with stars, circles and triangles representing which columns had to be added together. Randy, on the other hand, had an Excel spreadsheet on his computer.

Everything was working just great. I had a cushioned chair. I got to see all of the bands. There were band kids offering me all sorts of snacks and drinks. I had great conversation with Randy. And we were having fun! I was thinking that the lack of highlighters would be my only challenge until it got dark! The judges decided they liked it better with the lights off in the booth. Uh, oh. Solar calculator!

In between bands I would quickly add scores before the lights went off. Once they did, I was challenged by my old eyes and cell phone calculator. Randy and I had a great system going. We even found 2 errors in addition that the judges made. But my strive for perfection ended about 9:00 when I made 1 mistake. Remember...I have issues with perfection. But come on, it was dark in the booth. Fortunately Randy and I had a system of checks and balances. He entered the scores in the computer, I did it by hand and we compared our results.

Note to self: Definitely sign up for that job again next year. Bring a light or at least get a battery operated calculator. Plan to enjoy lots of yummy snacks while watching the bands for free!

Comments

[Pat - the brother in law]

One would think there's an Excel program that could be written for this, then you wouldn't have to rely on a solar calculator and if your band looses by a point or so, they can blame it on Microsoft.