"Hello Cowgirl In The Sand"

Dad and Vivian left this morning to head back home. Their visit went well, despite a few setbacks:

(1) No parking available at the Springfield Metro Monday, so we couldn't go to DC then. We decided to head to Shenandoah National Park instead. Which led us to

(2) My car decided leaking all of the coolant out all over the pavement again would be a good idea. Turns out my car needs new radiator.

So we went to DC yesterday instead (Dad drove), my car is in the shop again getting repaired, and I'm going to be out another $500. Good thing Michelle's paycheck cleared overnight.

Dad's visit was good beyond that, though. We had dinner with Michelle's family last night, and her father and mine seemed to get along pretty well.

The presents Michelle bought for my birthday finally arrived in the mail yesterday. She got me some cool stuff: the first two volumes of Warren Eliis's Transmetropolitan, the two new Neil Young live archival releases (from Massey Hall and Fillmore East), and the bluegrass tribute to Radiohead (much cooler than you'd think). Dad got me a toolbox chock-full o' useful tools, such as wrenches and pliers and a hammer and screwdrivers and a cordless power drill (which is gonna be lots of fun). So that was pretty groovy.

Anyway, the day so far has been spent doing a whole lot of nothing. I think I'm going to work on organizing the bedroom this afternoon. We'll just have to see.

~chuck

Song of the Moment: Neil Young, "Old Man (Live)"