Well, I'm pretty excited by the fact that I have tickets to two great shows in the month of August. First on August 7th at Lincoln Hall I will be seeing one of my favorite current bands Blitzen Trapper after they play at Lalapalooza that afternoon. Here they are performing their most popular song "Furr" on Conan:

August 12th, I will be attending a showing of Once at Lincoln Hall that will be followed up by an interview with Swell Season by Jim Deragatis and Greg Kot (of Sound Opinions fame) followed up by a Swell Season concert! Here they are doing the song (Falling Slowly):

So, it's always nice to have something to look forward to. Also, I'm taking a short trip to Grand Rapids, MI Sunday-Monday to visit Aune Carlson. I feel like in some ways taking a trip to GR is a necessary step at this point in my life. I think it's kind of a context pilgrimage as I see the city where so many of my friends (Aune, Andy/Jim Meyer, Megan V. Hanson, the Petersons, the Tournells, Al Hollemans, I can't think of any more of the top of my head and I'm sure I'm missing some obvious ones) grew up. I'm looking forward to it.

I swear that construction on our road starts at about 5:30 in the morning. Nothing is quite as relaxing as getting ready in the morning while a steamroller and jackhammer are working seemingly on your front porch (on your frontal lobe).

I just had my first true code blue (the rest were people passing out after giving blood) today. It was definitely an interesting/eye-opening experience. There were a lot of people in that small room and then me standing outside looking stupid. Good thing it is one of my spiritual gifts (looking stupid that is).

I really need to paint my apartment. No more excuses. I should start looking at colors soon. Okay, I should go.