Wiky art show

Today is a day for which Dolly has been preparing for several weeks. And she's prepared well. Today is the first day of two for the Wiky art show Dolly has organized and curated. The show is meant to showcase the works created by students in Dolly's art class from last week. Not many students showed up today, but quite a few members showed up to pay homage to the new emerging artists in the community.

Dolly and I got everything ready for today starting around 8 this morning. There wasn't much we had to do at the house apart from loading the paintings and related paraphernalia into the car. We then met Dolly's co-worker and friend Cindy at the band council chambers and started setting up everything. Cindy had to run to the W.H.O. to pick up a few easels. Once she returned Dolly and I headed to Andy's to pick up snack trays and other needed supplies like S-hooks. We spent more time in Andy's than I had expected, but we weren't in the store for more than 20 minutes. Dolly and I then made a beeline back to the band council chambers and unloaded the car. Community members began showing up not long after we arrived. The art show began around 9 and ran until about 3. It will follow the same schedule tomorrow.

I spent most of my time during the art show hanging out with Dolly and helping her in any way I could. Helping her involved moving tables and paintings around and running errands. Apart from that, I admired the work of the students in Dolly's class. The quality of the work the students, many of whom had never painted before, never fails to amaze me. In face, some of the pieces were so good that various community members wanted to buy them. Dolly sold a few of her paintings, and a few of her students made sales as well. I had hoped that someone would buy the painting I produced, but no such luck. But I'm pleased that one community elder spoke to me about my painting.

Dolly and I unloaded leftover snacks and drinks at her house once the show was over. And once the action period had passed, we napped for what was probably an hour. It seems both of us slept well last night and had plenty of rest, but it was still nice to be able to lie down and get some shuteye for a while. Napping during the day is a habit I'm hoping to pick up during this trip. I've done a fair bit of research on sleep lately, and it sounds as though napping every now and then is healthy and doesn't necessarily interfere with nighttime sleep.

I've done little for the remainder of the day save for watch TV, eat, and work on Dolly's computer while she's at bingo. She learned today that she, Cindy, and Candy will have to turn their laptops back in to the W.H.O. sometime early next week. So Dolly asked me to back up her personal files from the the Toshiba laptop she's used for the past several weeks. I finished with that task a little while ago, and I also did some system maintenance on Dolly's desktop machine. Dolly had about 2.25 GB of personal data on her laptop; most of that data was music.

Dolly's at bingo right now, and I hope she's having a good time and winning. Even if she doesn't win anything, the important part of the experience is that she has fun. Still, winning something would give her some extra spending money for the trip to Toronto on Saturday. Regardless, it sounds like Dolly will be home in about 20 minutes, and I'm sure she'll have plenty to tell me. In the meantime, I'm enjoying surfing the 'Net and watching the TV show Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader? Today has been another fine day, and I'm looking forward to another good night of sleep tonight. And I hope I get plenty of rest tomorrow in preparation for the marathon day on Saturday.

First snow I've seen this season

In spite of feeling tired today and dealing with my first dose of the season's winter weather, I've had a pretty good time today. I was able to see what Dolly's been doing for work for the past several weeks, I've enjoyed good food, and even received an early Christmas present from Dolly.

My head hurt quite a bit when I first climbed out of bed today, but the pain dissipated quickly after a bowl of cereal and a quick visit to the shower. Getting cleaned up in the morning is how I always like to start my day. And it doesn't seem to matter how much or how little I sleep; taking a shower helps me start the day.

Dolly and I headed for her office at the W.H.O. a little before 8:30. Rather than head directly for the office, we stopped by Karen's Coffeemat for some breakfast sandwiches. Snow hadn't yet begun to fall, so we were able to progress down the hill to the Marina with little trouble. But the snow started flying within a few hours and the ground and air outside quickly turned white. I can't say for certain how much snow Wiky got today, but I think it was probably three of four inches. It's still snowing some outside, but the streets are fairly clean. I'm pleased with the job the Wiky street department has done. Even though roads heading to places like Cape Smith are pretty clean.

I felt fairly energetic for the first spell of the morning, but tiredness set in by about 10. I didn't let the tiredness hold me back, though. With Dolly's help I explored the W.H.O. offices and spent time surfing the Internet on the office's wireless network. There wasn't anything specific I was looking for, but I was able to get some research done on digital cameras like the one Dolly gave me today as an early Christmas present. In the meantime, I visited with Cindy and other W.H.O. staff and enjoyed learning about the office's activities.

Dolly and I took a lunch break around 11:30. I originally thought we were going to head to Andy's to eat lunch, but Dolly had a different purpose in mind. We made a beeline for the Source in Andy's and looked at digital cameras. My plan was to pick out a digital camera, but Dolly said she wanted to buy a camera for me for Christmas. I was hesitant at first to let Dolly do that because of the expense involved. But Dolly insisted and said she would get me a camera if I bought memory cards and a case for it. I ended up picking out a red Fuji Finepix Z10, and I've enjoyed it immensely thus far. And it should suit our purposes well when the time comes to shoot photos in Toronto. I should have plenty of memory, too. I was able to pick up two Lexar 2 GB Secure Digital cards for about $60. I also picked up a nice small LowePro camera case.

With my new camera secure in the back seat of the 3, Dolly and I headed back to Karen's Coffeemat to pick up some lunch. Dolly ordered some chicken noodle soup and I had some spaghetti. I was only able to eat about half my spaghetti because I wasn't feeling the best. But the food was still good and it didn't go to waste. Dolly's son Matt ate what I wasn't able to finish. In the meantime, I did my best to acclimate myself to driving through snow and ice again. And I'm pleased with how my Hancook snow tires have performed thus far. Driving technique is still paramount, of course, but I feel confident in the quality and ability of my tires.

We spent only a few more hours at the W.H.O. offices before we headed back to Dolly's for the afternoon. In the meantime, though, I became acquainted with the camera Dolly gave me by shooting photos of Dolly and Cindy at work. I also helped Dolly with a few computer problems and did some research about what I needed to do to fully set up Dolly's new wireless router.

Speaking of the router, I was finally able to get the Internet working with it this afternoon after a short nap. I learned by searching the router's online manual that Dolly's Internet wasn't playing well with the router because of a mistake I made in one of the settings. Once I corrected the mistake, though, the Internet worked flawlessly. And it continues to work flawlessly now. I feel good about such an accomplishment; I like to try to accomplish at least one thing each day.

Since I finished setting up Dolly's router, I gave Matt and Lulu a quick ride to Cape Smith and then had some beef and macaroni stew for supper. I've been at Dolly's art class for the past couple of hours and we'll be heading back to Dolly's place here in a bit. And it sounds like I'll bake some cookies as soon as we get back to Dolly's place on Peltier's Trail.

My day may have started off rough, but it appears that it's going to end well. I've enjoyed the time I've spent with Dolly and others today, and I've finally gotten over the shock of seeing snow for the first time in several months. And I expect tonight will be a better sleeping night than the past few have been. If I do get some good sleep tonight, I should be in good shape for the next few days. And I'll continue to enjoy myself in all possible ways in the meantime.

"Fig and goat cheese is hot..."

Dolly and I pulled into Wiky this evening around 5:30. We didn't have much time to relax at her place before we had to head out again, but it was possible to take a bit of a breather. Dolly had to be ready to teach her painting class by about 6:30 this evening; in the meantime, I snatched up what rest I could and set up Dolly's wireless network. The network is up and running, but I'll need to manually configure the router so the Internet connection will work through the router. My plan is to finish that tomorrow afternoon after we finish working at the W.H.O. for the day. There's going to be painting class again tomorrow, so we should be in the office only until about 2.

I was able to get some fairly decent sleep last night, but it didn't seem like it was quite enough as the day wore on. Dolly and I were ready to check out of our hotel by about 10. We would have vacated our room fairly quickly, but our exit was delayed by a little computer problem. The hotel doesn't have wireless Internet, but I was able to connect to the Internet via the included Ethernet cable. Unfortunately, one end of the cable was missing a tab that normally would allow me to disconnect the cable from my computer. Since that tab went missing, though, I was unable to disconnect the cable and it's still attached to the MacBook. One of the hotel staff members tried to help me in removing the cable but it was no use. I may have to wait to get the cable removed when I return to Brookings. In the meantime, the hotel staff gave me a 10 percent discount on the room for my trouble.

Dolly and I enjoyed a quick breakfast at Husky again before we did some shopping at Wal-Mart and headed back to Wiky. Dolly bought some tops for herself and Angel and I picked up some additional cold medicine. The final stop we made before we left town was Tim Horton's on Highway 17 East.

Traffic was fairly light this afternoon and we were able to cruise comfortably around 115 km/h. We left the Soo by 1 and arrived in Espanola around 3:30. In the meantime, we made a quick stop at the Tim Horton's in Blind River and then didn't stop until we reached Espanola. Dolly and I spent a fair bit of time in Espanola before heading onto the island. Dolly bought some easels for the art show she's running on Thursday and Friday and we bought some snacks and other groceries for the house. With the car loaded to the gills, we arrived at Dolly's house a little before 5:30. Ross, Matt, and some of their friends were at the house and greeted us when we arrived.

As I mentioned before, Dolly and I headed out for her painting class around 6:30. And it was then I discovered I don't have my digital camera. I searched both my car and my bags but couldn't find the camera. So I can only assume I lost it somewhere along the way. And I can only assume that I left it at the Days Inn in Sault Ste. Marie. I'll give the hotel a call tomorrow, but I'm not feeling too hopeful my camera will be found. So it looks like I'll be shopping for a different camera in the next few days. I've heard the Source at Andy's has some pretty good deals on cameras right now.

I really enjoyed Dolly's painting class tonight. Before I arrived I didn't really have any idea what to expect. But I was in the mood to try something new, so I picked up some canvas and some paints and started working. I was able to almost finish a piece this evening, and I'll likely finish it tomorrow or Wednesday. The class was originally supposed to end tonight, but other members of the class requested that the class continue for a few more days so they could finish their pieces. I'm glad the class will continue.

It's been quite a day today, and it's certainly been full. And it's been good in spite of mishaps with my laptop and with my digital camera. The trip as a whole has been good, and I'm looking forward to more good times over the next several days. Now, if only I can get a decent night's sleep...

In the Soo

As planned, I traveled from Escanaba, Michigan, to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. I left the Upper Peninsula town a little before 10 and arrived in the Soo about 1:30. The trip itself was uneventful save for a bit of a hold-up at the U.S./Canada border. Snow flurries fell from the sky throughout the journey and the road surface was wet at times. But neither the snow nor the moisture on the road acted as obstacles to my travels. The only thing that slowed me down at times was traffic.

My eyes opened for the first time this morning around 9. I didn't plan to sleep that late, but I can't complain about taking the opportunity to sleep some more. Over the following hour I got cleaned up and packed and loaded the car. And before leaving Escanaba, I headed next door to Hardee's to take advantage of a breakfast special. The fast food joint was offering two bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit sandwiches for $2.22 and I couldn't resist. And I washed down the two awesome biscuits with an order of orange juice.

The only stop I made between Escanaba and the Soo was to get gas in Engadine, Michigan. I stopped at the Mobil station I frequent on trips like these, filled the tank, and picked up some Diet Mt. Dew. Apart from that brief stop, I put the pedal to the metal for the entire three-hour trip.

When I arrived in the Soo on the Michigan side, I did as I always do; I paid the toll to cross the International Bridge and then stopped at the duty-free shop to change money. I handed the attendant at the currency exchange station roughly $150 in U.S. dollars and received about $145 in return. It's been in the news a lot lately that the American dollar has gotten weaker in relation to foreign currency. But I didn't realize the Canadian dollar is now worth more than the American dollar.

I then crossed the International Bridge and headed for the stations where border guards check people before they proceed into Ontario. I was surprised to find there was a bit of a line of cars and that there was only one border station of maybe half a dozen was in use. It didn't take long to get through the line, and I noticed that some vehicles went through more quickly. I also noticed a fairly sizable proportion of the vehicles were being asked to pull over after leaving the border crossing. And it turns out I was one of those driving vehicles that were pulled over. To my knowledge my car wasn't searching, but the amount of goods I'm carrying seemed to concern the border guard. Still, the guard held me up for only about three minutes while questioning me at his station, and the immigration officer with whom I spoke didn't hold me up long. I was grateful to leave the immigration office without further ado. This border crossing wasn't as easy as other recent ones have been, but I can't complain. The experience could have been worse.

After getting through the border, I started heading down Highway 17b in search of a hotel. There were plenty of options available, but I decided to seek out a room at the Days Inn. I've stayed at the Days Inn before and found the rooms were nice and the price wasn't bad. It took fewer than five minutes to get a room, and once I had the room I unloaded the car and settled into the room to rest for a bit. I felt hungry by the time I checked in, so I drove around the Soo a bit and ended up at a Wendy's. I drove around some more after finishing at Wendy's and ultimately came back to the hotel, where I've spent most of the afternoon resting.

During the drive today, I was concerned that I would be really bored spending so much time staying in my room, watching TV, and resting. There have been times when I've felt bored, but overall it's been a nice experience. It's not often that I take time to simply kick back and relax, and in some ways I feel refreshed. I've had some time to clear my mind and prepare myself to the days ahead. And I should have plenty of energy for when Dolly arrives via Greyhound around 11:30 this evening. Suze Orman is on CNBC right now, so I think I'll finish watching her program before I do anything else. Once the show is done, I'll head out again and run some errands, such as pick up some Coke for Dolly, and wait in eager anticipation of Dolly's arrival. It's going to be so awesome to see and spend time with her again. In the meantime, I need to remember to rest myself and take good care of myself in the midst of all the fun.

An early start to my trip

I was hesitant at first to leave for Sault Ste. Marie this morning, but now I'm glad I did. My original plan was to leave early tomorrow morning and make it to the Soo tomorrow evening. And I would then meet Dolly at the casino at noon.

Dad suggested yesterday that, if I were hungry to get on the road, I leave today rather than tomorrow. At first I thought I would leave Brookings in the afternoon after eating lunch at Arlington; Dad convinced me to leave this morning instead. I made it as far as Escanaba tonight, and I'm happy with the progress I've made. And that means I only have to spend about three hours on the road tomorrow to get to the Soo. And Dolly will be in the Soo tomorrow night as well, so we'll have more time to spend together. I'm happy with how everything has worked out so far.

Today turned out to be a really good traveling day. Traffic has been light and the weather has been cooperative even during the evening hours. And I can take comfort in knowing I'm lodging in a comfortable, familiar place. Tomorrow's forecast looks decent, and I should have no trouble getting into Canada tomorrow so long as there are no hold-ups at the border. I'll probably leave Escanaba tomorrow around 10 in the morning and get into the Soo by 1 in the afternoon. After crossing the border I'll get a room for the night and will hang out and rest until I meet Dolly at the Greyhound station around 11:30. Our time together tomorrow will be somewhat short given the late hour Dolly will arrive. But that's all right; the important thing is we'll be together.

My day has been a quiet one, both outwardly and inwardly. I spent most of my drive time flipping back and forth between National Public Radio, songs on the radio an songs stored on my iPod. And of course I spent time checking out the country around me. I wasn't able to see as much as I could during my last trip up this way a few months ago, though, because it gets dark so early. The sun was pretty well gone from the sky by 6 this evening Eastern Time. I crossed into Eastern Time just before reaching Escanaba.

As is often the case, a good deal of the miles passed today in thought. My mind didn't focus on any particular topics, but I did take some time to reflect on experiences of the past few years. I also devoted thoughts to my overall health - including the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual aspects of my being. Of those the ones to which I cogitated the most are my physical and spiritual healths. I feel good about the plan I have in place now to lose 20 pounds over the next three months. And it occurred to me that I need to do a better job of going easier on myself and not put so much pressure on myself. I have a feeling that if I'm successful in doing that and living in such a way, life will be easier and more fun. It's not that life is overly hard or isn't fun now. But taking things easier can only make life better. And my health will improve as a result.

There's not much more to say tonight than I've already said. It feels good to be in the U.P. of Michigan today, and I'm pleased with how far I've traveled today. Tomorrow should be an easy travel day, and it will be fun considering I'm once again in familiar surroundings. And I can't wait to see Dolly again tomorrow. Another adventure has officially begun.

From sickness to health

My state of good health seems to have returned for the most part. I no longer feel the nausea that plagued me for most of yesterday. And the gout pain in my right foot is dimishing pretty rapidly. I imagine I'll be back to normal within the next few days - just in time for Thanksgiving and for the trip to Wiky on Saturday.

In spite of the gout pain and the sickness resulting from taking the colchicine, the weekend was a good one. It was good to be able to relax on Saturday morning and early afternoon, and I had a lot of fun and laughs at the Sports Car Club of Siouxland banquet Saturday night. I was filled with good feelings as I found myself surrounded by so many friends and comrades. Taking the top award in C Stock this year was something I enjoyed, too. More important, of course, was spending time with friends.

Yesterday was no picnic despite the fact I spent most of the day lying around. I did a lot of resting both at my house and over at Dad's, and I was able to get in a lot of TV watching. Overall, though, it was a rough day. I had to cancel my 30th birthday get-together because of the nausea and the still-sharp pain in my right foot. It would have been good to see friends on a day like yesterday, but I wouldn't have fully been able to enjoy the party or everyone's company when feeling as sick as I did yesterday. As much as I hated to do it, I'm sure calling off the party was for the best. And I can always reschedule the party for some date in the future.

Today has been a much better day than yesterday was. My day got off to a later start than a normal workday would, but that's all right. I feel as though I was able to get plenty of rest last night, and it's only through rest that my body will be able to repair itself. Before heading into the office, I had some more blood drawn to check my uric acid levels. In visiting with Dr. Warren this afternoon, I learned my blood uric acid levels are now normal, so the last of the gout should pass quickly.

After my first visit to the clinic today, I headed to the Office for Diversity Enhancement to put in a few hours. I didn't feel 100 percent today, but it did make me feel better to be able to get some work done. I mainly sent e-mails to and received some from a few folks on campus about entertainment and booths for the Festival of Cultures. And it's festival booths on which I'll be working over the next few days. I'll be gone for a couple of weeks starting Saturday, and the office won't be open Thursday or Friday. So I'm trying to get as much work done before Thursday. I'm lucky that Sandy will help me in recruiting individuals and groups for booths.

I visited Dad for a few minutes after I left work and before I headed to the clinic. Dad was resting and watching TV when I arrived. Our visit was brief, but I think it brought Dad some comfort to be able to see me before I went about my visit.

The office visit with Dr. Warren was a good one. He confirmed that it's all right that I've stopped taking the anti-gout medication Dr. Holm had prescribed on Saturday. He also decided to indulge me in an experiment. I've been taking blood pressure medication for a couple of years now and have thankfully experienced no side-effects. However, I'd like to live a life free of medications, so I'm going to take steps to control my blood pressure naturally. Those steps include exercising more and changing my diet. Dr. Warren suggested I try not taking the medication for three months as I make my lifestyle changes. He'll follow up with me in about three months to see what effect, if any, the lifestyle changes have on my blood pressure. If my blood pressure is normal without medication, I won't take it again. If my blood pressure hasn't gone down, I'll simply go back on the medication. In step with my goal of controlling my blood pressure naturally is the goal of losing 20 pounds over the next three months. It'll definitely take work to lose the weight, but 20 pounds really isn't that much and shouldn't be that hard.

I headed back over to Dad's for a while after finishing with Dr. Warren. We visited and watched TV for a while longer and checked how the stock market performed today. Today has turned out to be another down day, but Dad and I have resolved not to worry. The market will always go up and down but over time generally follows an upward trend. We're confident we've invested in good companies and funds, so there should be little about which to worry.

After taking leave of Dad, I headed to Jimmy John's to pick up a turkey sandwich and then headed back to my house. I savored the turkey sub as I caught the last few minutes of the Discovery Channel show Cash Cab. Once I finished the sandwich and the show, I opened up the two cardboard boxes containing the 7X8 tom and 14X16 floor tom I picked up from Guitar Center on Saturday. I tuned up both drums and added them to the set and tweaked their positions for about an hour. It feels good to know that my five-piece drumkit now has two more pieces, and I'm going to enjoy playng a larger drum setup than I have in the while. I enjoy having extra high and low tonal colors that I've added to my palette of sounds. And having a bigger drumkit simply looks cool, too.

Dan Merchant and I e-mailed a few times today regarding band practice this week. There was some confusion regarding whether Leafy Spurge band practice would be tonight or tomorrow night. Dan and I convened tonight and worked on some ideas for a new song; Dan, Jonathan, and I will work on music again tomorrow night. Jonathan wasn't able to make it tonight because he was attending a funeral in Watertown. I hope he's able to make it tomorrow night, especially considering we won't meet again as a group for a couple of weeks.

It's been a peaceful evening here at home since I returned from band practice. I'd like to be able to play my drums more tonight, but I don't think my neighbors would look upon that too kindly. So more playing will have to wait until tomorrow. In the meantime, I've enjoyed some good Web surfing time here on my MacBook and another fine chat with my dear Dolly. It's hard to believe that I'll be able to spend time with Dolly again in less than a week, and we'll have more adventure together on the road and in Wiky. I can't wait. In the meantime, I'm going to take good care of myself to make sure I'm in good health for the trip and for life beyond the trip. And I'm going to enjoy and make the most of being in my 30s, a new decade of life.

Getting over this cold

I've been sick with a cold for about four days now, but it seems as though I'm getting over it. Good sleep hasn't eluded me the past couple of nights, and getting that much rest can only help. Getting some exercise, like all the walking I did yesterday and today, seems to be helping, too.

In spite of feeling ill the past several days, I've felt good; my emotional state has been good. And today is no exception. I'm happy with how things in life are going overall, and I'm content that I'm continuing to grow and develop as a human being. It's also heartening to be reminded of how many wonderful people I've been blessed with in my life.

It's been a fairly quiet day, and I'm thankful for that. Normally I'd like to be more active than I have been today. Since I'm still in the recovery phase from this cold, however, I'm glad to have some slow time to collect my thoughts and rebuild the strength of my body. I rose from bed this morning about 10 after 8 and I was in the office by about 9:30. Of course, before I headed into the office, I stopped by the Hy-Vee gas station and fueled up with 44 ounces of Diet Mt. Dew.

There wasn't a whole lot to do today, but there was work to do nonetheless. I spent most of my time putting together some booth sign-up forms for the Festival of Cultures. And once I finished putting the forms together, I made about 60 copies on pastel paper. Apart from that, I watched some online videos with Sandy and we talked about plans for signing up booths for the festival. I imagine we'll jump into that phase of festival preparation sometime in the next few days. Sandy's going to be gone on Friday, so I'm guessing we'll start either tomorrow or Thursday.

Speaking of Thursday, I ordered a party platter for the office for Thursday. Thursday is my 30th birthday, and one of the ways I'd like to celebrate it is sharing a snack with the office that day. I e-mailed invites to all of my office mates, and it sounds like most everyone should be able to partake of the food I'm going to bring. It's not really going to be a party, per se, but it's something I hope everyone will enjoy.

I left the office around 11:45 and then headed back to my house to change clothes. My first thought was to go for a swim in the SDSU pool. But then I thought it might be best to take things kind of easy and go for a walk. With my iPod in hand, I walked about three miles around the HPER center track over the noon hour.

During my walk I developed a strong craving for tacos, so I picked up Dad after my workout and we went to Wal-Mart to get taco supplies. While we were at Wal-Mart, Dad also gifted me some flannel sheets along with the supplies to make the tacos. I'll wash the new flannel sheets when I get home from Dad's today and then will put them on my bed tonight.

It didn't take long to prepare the tacos; the only part of fixing our food that took a while was to brown the hamburger and add the taco seasoning. Our meal was ready within a half-hour, though. And Dad and I took our time and savored the food I prepared. I don't know how many tacos I ended up eating, but I'm fairly sure I won't need to eat much more for the rest of the day.

As for the rest of the day, I'm not sure what I plan to do. The U.S. stock market is already closed, and it sounds as though Dad and I are going to recover what we lost yesterday. I'll probably hang out with Dad for a while longer and will then return home to play drums and hang out. I'll also wash the new flannel sheets he gave me and figure out what to do with the rest of the evening. I may go for another walk, but I'll probably stay in and play drums and video games and maybe get together for Brian; I don't yet know. Regardless, I'm going to indulge myself in activities I enjoy and do what I can to restore myself to my usual good health. In the meantime, I'm enjoying the good feelings I'm experiencing and am looking forward to the future.

A day to rest before the weekend

It's hard to believe another week is almost over. And it's even harder to believe I'll be 30 a week from today. How time flies. In the meantime, I'm concentrating on getting plenty of rest tonight so I can be full of energy and life for the trip to the Twin Cities tomorrow.

Before I went to bed last night, I had thought I would get up early and maybe go for a swim at the HPER Center before heading into the office. I awoke naturally around 7 this morning and ended up staying in bed until close to 8. It would have been good to get up and hit the gym first thing, but I decided to postpone my workout until the noon hour. I didn't go swimming today after all, but I was able to run and walk for about a half hour.

Today, it was pretty quiet around the office. I didn't get all that much work done. Then again, there wasn't all that much work to do. I was able to visit with Al about a few things for a few minutes, and I was able to send some e-mails pertaining to entertainment for the Festival of Cultures. I also e-mailed the advisor to the interior design group on campus to see if the group is willing to design our booth setup again this year. Apart from that, I spent most of the morning visiting with Sandy about general Festival of Cultures business. We both left the office around 11:30; rather than return to the office after lunch, I headed over to Dad's place for a while to take care of some business.

I don't know that I worked myself as hard today as I had planned but do feel I was able to get in a decent workout during the 40 minutes I spent at the HPER Center. After taking a walking lap around the indoor track, I picked up my pace to a jog. My goal was to cover a mile running, and that's what I did. I didn't time myself as I had a few days ago, but I'm guessing I did the mile in about 12 minutes. I'm not so much concerned about speed right now; I'm more interested in building strength and endurance. With each run, the exercise becomes easier. After finishing my mile run, I walked for the remaining 25 minutes.

After leaving the HPER Center I headed back to my house to throw some clothes in the laundry and pick up my Vanguard checkbook before picking up Dad. Dad wasn't especially hungry, so we went to Jimmy John's so I could have a sandwich. From there, we went to the Brookings County Courthouse so we could pay the license and registration fees for our cars. I took Dad home from there and returned to my house.

My health has been good in spite of my tiredness the past several days, and I'm grateful for my good health. At the same time, though, I've noticed my overall sense of well being isn't as strong today as it usually is. So I resolved to take life easy today and not push myself too much. I spent about an hour this afternoon playing drums in my living room before heading back over to Dad's place for supper. I did end up playing for about a half hour. But during that half hour I spent a lot of time tweaking and fiddling with the position of my ride cymbal and one of my crash cymbals. It's a funny thing; I've been playing drums for more than 20 years now, and I still tinker with my setup to see what feels comfortable and what works best. I may have a mild form of obsessive-compulsive disorder - I don't know. But I do know that I feel good about the changes I've made today, and I'll continue to use my current setup so long as it's comfortable. The key changes I made were to sit closer to my bass drum, to move my ride cymbal much lower than it is now, and to flip-flop the positions of my ride cymbal and right-hand crash cymbal.

I didn't really feel sick by the time I finished playing drums, but I didn't feel all that well either. What I ultimately decided to do was forego Praise Team practice tonight knowing I'll be OK for the next gig by making next week's rehearsal. I really have to back out of commitments like that, but I do need to look after my health. And my way of taking care of my health tonight is to rest, relax, and get plenty of sleep.

I called my friend Pam Merchant and told her I wouldn't make it to Praise Team practice. Of course she was concerned about my condition, but I assured her that I would spend my evening resting and kicking back. And that's what I've been doing. Dad and I had a little something to eat and we then spent a few hours visiting and watching TV at his house. And during the drive home I realize I feel better than I did earlier this evening. But the best thing for me to do now will be to crawl into bed.

Tomorrow will find me behind the wheel on another road trip. It won't be a long trip, though; I'm only heading to the Twin Cities again for a few days. My mission for this forthcoming trip is to have my Pacific 12"X14" rack tom converted to a floor tom. All that will need to be done to make the conversion will be to drill some holes in the shell and have the legs and leg hardware installed. I could probably do the work myself, but I'd feel better if it were done by a competent professional like the guy at Ellis Drum Shop is going to do on Saturday. In the meantime, I'll have another good visit with my uncle Gene and will enjoy tooling around the metro area. In the meantime, I need to discipline myself and make sure I get plenty of rest.

Good days are back

This past weekend was a good one, and I'm really grateful for that. The past few days have given me a chance to recharge and reevaluate the happenings in my life over the past week. As a result, my overall disposition is once again good. And my sense of general wellness seems to have returned.

Apart from taking time to rest and indulge in activites I enjoy, I found myself given to some reflection this weekend. Some of the reflection took place in solitude whereas other time I looked back on the past week while talking to close friends like Brian and Dolly. I realize now that my feeling down in the dumps a few days this past week was the result of a few different factors. The key factor was tiredness; I know that when I get run down and become very tired, my emotions and spirit as well as my body weaken and can't ward off negativity as well as they can when they're well. As a result of my tiredness, my working myself too hard, my attitude went in the toilet.

Another factor in my not feeling well this week relates to my insecurities relating to things like my competence in all I do and my development as a human being. It all boils down to one central struggle, though, and it's a struggle I'm sure I have in common with virtually everyone else ... the struggle to live a life unconstrained and undefined by other peoples' views of who and what I should be. A Dakota elder once told me during one of my many visits to the Lake Traverse Indian Reservation in northeastern South Dakota that "every man does things his own way." I agree with what the elder said, and for the most part I've felt secure and solid in that belief within myself and have lived my life accordingly. But again, when I get worn down and weak as happened this past week, I sometimes lose sight of that belief and everything in my life seems to suffer.

I now feel like I'm back in a state of equilibrium in all aspects of my life. Sure, there are always things I need to work on, but my overriding sense of well being and inner peace has been restored. It feels good that the bad feelings I experienced last week have passed, but I also realize they're a lesson to me. I think the lesson I'm supposed to learn from all of this is to take better care of myself - my complete self - and be more proactive in dealing with negativity when it creeps into my life. Other than that, I just need to keep on truckin' and working on being the best, strongest man I can possibly be.

Apart from all the reflecting I did this weekend, I had time for fun as well. I spent most of Saturday and the early afternoon playing drums at my house and fixing lunch for Dad and me. Brian and I caught a 4 o'clock showing of American Gangster in Brookings, and then we hung out at my place and his place for a while. We first stopped at my place for a short while before we picked up a couple of pizzas from Domino's and then headed over to his place to watch TV. There really wasn't anything spectacular on TV, but it was good hang out with my old friend. Because of both of us being busy, Brian and I hadn't been able to talk much last week. It was definitely good to catch up.

I again spent most of this morning at my house working on various projects and then heading over to Dad's to hang out. We spent some time at Dad's house before we headed out to run some errands around town. There were a couple of goals I wanted to accomplish, and I was able to take care of both during our jaunts around town. Dad had a mission he wanted to accomplish as well; he wanted to get me an early birthday present if I were interested in his idea. My birthday isn't until Thursday the 15th, but Dad thought today would have been an opportune time for him to get me what he thought I would want.

Late last week, I told Dad about the fun I had had playing Guitar Herol III on the Merchants' Nintendo Wii on Thursday night after our band practice. Without any further prompting from me, Dad began scouring ads to see if the game would be on sale. When I went to his place this morning, he showed me that Wal-Mart had the Guitar Hero III game and guitar controller combo on sale. I told Dad I liked the idea but wasn't ready to jump into something like that just yet because I didn't feel I'd done enough research into game consoles. I used to be a big gamer when I was a kid, but video games have changed so much and have become much more complex than when I last played them heavily about 15 years ago. Still, I humored Dad in his idea and we headed to Wal-Mart to check out what was available.

We weren't able to find what Dad was looking for in the electronics section, so we visited with one of the staff in that section and she took us to where the game/guitar combo was being sold. When we arrived, we found the game/guitar combo was available for the Sony Playstation 2, which was also on sale. It took me a few minutes to make a decision, but Dad's encouragement to get the game/guitar combo and a Playstation 2 solidified everything for me. Dad got the Playstation 2 and the game/guitar combo for me for my birthday, and I've already had a good deal of fun with it. I'm pleased that the game didn't take long to set up, especially with my friend Brian's help. And I'm even more pleased in feeling that I made a good decision in getting the Playstation 2 for the price for which we purchased it. The game system should give me a lot of bang for the buck and should provide a lot of gaming fun. Because it's been surpassed by the much more expensive Playstation 3, new game titles for the Playstation 2 are starting to diminish. But the game library for the Playstation 2 is still extensive, and I should have no trouble finding (either for rental or purchase) titles in addition to Guitar Hero III that I'll enjoy.

Around mid-afternoon, I headed down to Sioux Falls to meet up with my friend Mike. We didn't spend much time together because Mike wanted to get back to studying for his nurse anesthetist classes. But we had enough time together to go to the Empire Mall to find a sweatshirt he wanted and to have a snack at the mall food court.

After I dropped Mike back off at the library where he was studying, I headed to Barnes & Noble for a bit to see if my book was available for sale there. I found it wasn't, but the customer service person with whom I visited gave me the name and phone number of a store representative with whom I'd like to talk about the Sioux Falls Barnes & Noble carrying my book.

I headed for the Godfather's Pizza on Kiwanis around 6; the restaurant was the site of our latest Sports Car Club of Siouxland meeting. My friend Dustin was standing in the parking lot waiting for people to arrive, and soon others joined us. After we hung out in the parking lot for a bit while some of the guys finished their cigarettes, we headed inside and got down to business. Our meeting really didn't last that long, but we were able to cover a fair bit of business. We mainly discussed plans for the banquet and whether the club is going to stick with the SCCA or move to NASA next year. Either sanctioning body would be good, but NASA seems a lot more appealing to most of our crew. With our business finished, we all jumped in our cars and headed home.

It's going to take me a few days to adjust to moving the clocks back an hour early this morning. It's not quite 10:30 here in Brookings, but to my body it feels like it's closer to 11:30. That said, I'm going to "close up shop" for the night and climb in bed. I'm gratefuly for the way this weekend has turned out, and I'm going to continue to work to make this coming week and my life beyond it as good as I can make it. In the meantime, I need to rest myself and take better care of myself. Everything will fall into place.

Strange days

The past couple of days have been kind of weird. Outwardly things have gone as well as could be expected, but things have been a little messy on the inward side of things. I don't know if it's the change of weather from warm to cold or something else. Something just seems kind of ... off. And I'm at a loss as to what it could be.

Today turned out to be a pretty good day; it was definitely better than yesterday. Whereas yesterday I had the feeling I was walking around in a daze and had random moments when I wanted to cry for no reason, today is more level and I feel more composed. The day's activities were similiar to those of yesterday, but my feelings are better today.

In order to catch up on my rest, I slept in a bit so as to give my body some time to recover from all the physical activity of the past few days. I haven't been used to working my body as hard as I have the past several days, and it's possible that all of the exertion has finally caught up with me. Still, it felt good to hunker down into the warm embrace of my bed while the rest of my house was cold. And it was nice to not feel like I have to leap out of bed to be someplace first thing.

I finally climbed out of bed a little before 9, got cleaned up, and was in the office by 10. There hasn't been much to do with regard to the Festival of Cultures, so I've been putting in only a few hours per day. And the morning was quiet; all I really did was visit with Sandy about a few festival details and then sent and replied to some e-mails. I left the office by noon and headed over to Dad's place to see if he wanted to meet for lunch.

Dad and I did go to lunch; we ended up eating at the Ram Pub. And as we ate, we didn't really speak all that much. There was nothing wrong or anything adverse going on between us. It simply didn't seem as though that many words passed between us. When we did speak, though, we covered our usual topics like investments and what's happening with various relatives.

Around 1 I took leave of Dad and headed back to my place. And I haven't seen Dad today since. I did speak to him on the phone for a while a little before Leafy band practice tonight, but I likely won't see him again until tomorrow.

Anyone visiting me this afternoon would have found me spending all of my time cleaning and re-organizing various parts of my house. I can't explain why, but I've been on a real cleaning kick lately. My house hasn't had a good, thorough cleaning in a while, and that's how I spent my afternoon. I still need to do some cleaing and rearranging in my office, but I was able to finish most everything else this afternoon. I dusted, vacuumed and mopped the floors, and cleaned both bathrooms. I'm surprised by how much I was able to get done in a short period of time, and I feel good about the work I've done. There's always more I could do, but I think I'll save those kinds of tasks for traditional "spring cleaning."

To finish some of my re-organizing, I headed to Wal-Mart around 4 to pick up some plastic tubs in which to store clothes. Four containers seemed like enough, but I now realize that getting a couple more would have been good. Maybe I'll pick those up tomorrow. After I finished with my business at Wal-Mart, I picked up a turkey sandwich from nearby Jimmy John's and a package of Cheeto's from the Kum and Go on the corner of Sixth Street and Medary Avenue. I then headed home and enjoyed my supper before packing up clothes and heading to band practice.

I arrived at Dan's and Pam's place about 15 minutes early. Pam and I visited briefly before Dan and I headed downstairs and started setting up our equipment. Once everything was in tune and plugged in, Dan and I began working on a new song. Jonathan arrived about 20 minutes later, and he began adding lyrics to the new song we wrote tonight. We wrapped up our practice around 7:30 thinking Dan and I would need to head to the church for Praise Team practice. The three of us adjourned upstairs and started watching Parker play Guitar Hero III. And it was while we were watching Parker play that Pam informed us that Praise Team practice had been cancelled. It sounds as though a relative of our leader, Teresa, was involved in a serious agricultural accident today and may have a broken back. My thoughts and prayers are with Teresa and her family.

When we realized we didn't need to be anywhere right away, I asked Parker if I could try my hand at Guitar Hero III. The game came out just a few days ago, and I thought it would be fun to try my hand. Since I'm not a guitarist and have never played the game before, I asked Parker to cue up an easy song. The easiest song in the game is Foghat's "Slow Ride." I ended up playing "Slow Ride" twice, and my second attempt was better than my first. I was fairly well familiar with the game's guitar-shaped controller by the time my second shot at "Slow Ride" came around.

From the moment I played my first few "notes," I found myself really enjoying the game. It was fun to try to play along with the song presented by the game and it really tested my hand-eye coordination. A fun side-effect of playing at the game at the Merchant house was all of the comments from onlookers like Dan. Everyone, including me, laughed at my playing the first time through the song. And it was funny to hear comments like, "It's a good thing he's got a sense of rhythem" when I kept missing notes. In any case, I had a great time playing the game, and I hope to have a chance to play it again at the Merchant home soon. And who knows? Maybe this game will inspire me to get back into video games, and there may be a Nintendo Wii, XBOX 360, or Playstation 3 in my future.

I'm back at home now, as I generally always am at the end of the day. It's fun to think of the good memories I've made today, and it's nice to be able to enjoy sitting and living in a clean house. Tomorrow's Friday, and I'm hoping the stability in my life I've enjoyed for a long time will begin to return again tomorrow. Life up until the past few days has gone so well for me, and I want to hang onto those good feelings for as long as I can. Everything will sort itself out in time, I'm sure. But it's a mystery when one is cruising along well and then suddenly feelings sour for seemingly no reason. Apart from figuring out the cause for such feelings, if there is in fact a cause, is to keep plugging away and stay positive.