I am very pleased with myself because I have two tickets to go see The Drive-by Truckers. I'm thinking probably most people who read this (if anyone does) probably don't really know who that it. Well, they're a really cool rock/blues/alt country group from Alabama. You should google them and go to their website and listen to some of their stuff. The guitar playing and song lyrics are extra cool.
In other news there are five new baby kitties out in the barn at the farm! We saw them yesterday and they just barely have their eyes open. So damn cute!!!!

So I want you all to go to the New York Times website and look under the Science section and click on the story "Who's Controlling Our Lives". Scary but probably true.

I want to put my house on the market and move to Swisher. I don't need anything more in a town than Swisher has. A nice small old house with a good cross breeze. Able to walk anywhere in town. And really good homemade pie. Oh, and a porch to sit and play my guitar on.

Here's a nice pic of me and Rob. Unseen is Mike. This is at the C & D Lounge in Mt. Vernon. It was Mt. Vernon Fun Days, or Mt. Vernon Heritage Days, or Mt. Vernon Reunion Days, or Mt. Vernon Drink A Lot of Beer Days, or something. The little bar was packed, way, way, way packed. And it was hot in the bar. Sweaty hot. But fun. And I played a little bit with the boys. Not very well, but I guess that's not the point.

I saw live blues in chicago. So there. And it was awesome. And this is a picture of it.

Did I say heat? I meant humidity. Heat I can deal with. Humidity, lots of it, puts me in a bad, bad mood. You just don't want to be around me if the humidity is high. So fair warning. Stay away.

This is a cool day. Why? Because we're supposed to have bad weather! So being the total weather geek that I am, I will be spending the day watching radar images and wishing I was outside. Yes, I'm at work. Which means I can't be out storm chasing. If I wasn't here I would go grab Carol and we would spend the day driving around looking for storms, eating tasty food in small town cafes. Doesn't that sound fun? I'm not kidding either! Instead, if a bad storm comes I'll just have to go into the Hy-Vee storm shelter, which happens to be the cold beer storage place. Hum....that's not a bad idea either!

You know how people go to school, get a degree, go out into the world of work, and how other people then assume they know what they're talking about? Well, that's not so much the truth. Good example? Me. I spent most of yesterday, and most of today (so far), trying to get my head around all the different vaccines that we are now offering at the clinic. I have a basic idea about what each is, and of course what they're for, but as the "expert" behind the needle, I need to know a lot of things about each one. What exactly they're given for, what the individual dose is, potential side effects, when you should NOT give the vaccine, if it's a series of shots, how far apart do you get them, how much each one costs, what age is appropriate for each one....and on and on...and on. Blah! Tetanus, diptheria, whooping cough, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, Hepatitis A,B,C, varicella, gardasil, pneumovax, zostavax and TB. And I'm sure I've forgotten a few. Please someone call me or email me with something to take my mind off this stuff!

What's wrong with this picture? Believe it or not, we did not even hear this thing fall and hit the fence. One board on the fence completely came down and now the tree is balanced there. Tomorrow is "play with the chainsaw day" ! Anyone up for a bonfire?

It's a night out in Shiroishi at the bar. I think one of maybe three bars in the town. Which is more bars than say, Tiffin has. In the pic are Mark, a guy from Canada who originally was in the JET program , then stayed and now bartends and teaching English, and Tsun, a wild Japanese friend of Mark's and Colin, and Colin. We had a great time sitting around (on the floor of course) in this bar while drinking sake and eating really strange food that I'm still not sure what it was that we ate. Part of it was good, part was gross. It helps to be slightly drunk while eating in Japan.