But now I've come back again...
...and posted at http://motownbilly.blogspot.com/

please come and visit me.


I've missed you.

I'm moving:
http://motownbilly.blogspot.com/

Alison and I are coming out of our spring illnesses just in time for finals week and then a 2 week road trip. We've got vague plans to meander our way south and west. We've got a couple of thumbtacks on the map, as it were, and we know we'll be ending up in Tennessee with the climax of Dollywood. Much, however, is up in the air. The general map has us driving about 3-3.5 hours a day, which allows for multi-day stops here and there without terribly long days to make up for it. We'll swing through Kentucky, where I'll visit the Maker's Mark barrel with my name on it (literally) and visit the homes of all our friends who live in Nashville but won't be there during our trip, but for the most part, we'll just go where the road takes us.
If anyone has any knowledge of places worth a visit (or websites that give details on local fairs/festivals/flavor) please do tell. Suggestions for on-the-road entertainment/road-trip success are also very welcome.

The egotistical part of me hoped we might win, the realistic part of me thought we'd at least make it to the final rounds. Nowhere in there was the get knocked out right away option, but sadly that's what happened. Much could be said about the crappy set-up of the tourney, but such is how it was.

After our ousting, our program (students and teachers alike) grabbed the bag lunches provided and left. We walked a few blocks to the closest dive bar and drowned our sorrows. I think it was the first time in decades there was anyone below retirement at this place, and they were quite thrown by us. A good time was had hanging out, and like I said the format really wasn't indicative of competency, but nonetheless it feels sucky to lose.

Philly went from cold to muggy in one weekend. This is the "seasons" that everyone purports to miss when they leave the east coast?

I've been one of 2 folks from my class selected to represent the program at the annual "Tech Bowl" competition between RT schools in the PA/NJ/DE region. If we place, everyone in our class will get extra days off of our final clinical rotation, so everyone's REALLY keen on our doing well. It's next Friday, so there's a week to review/cram 2 years worth of classes, on top of standard assignments/tests.
It's flattering, I guess, but past performance is no indication of future gains, and this goes against everything I've been led to expect about the academic reward system, where doing well means having to work less. Instead, I'm now casting about for coffee shops that stay open late as when I'm at home the temptation to reclaim my well rested place in the fat of the bell curve grows overpowering.

16 Pretty Breakfast Club Candles

Senior Dinner Dance, 1996

That hand on my thigh, like all things in high school, was platonic.

On Tuesday I finally got a haircut, almost a year's worth of shag cut away.
The next day, rather than cutting the bread, I sliced open my pointing finger, requiring my first trip to the ER (for my own emergency needs) since college. There's 7 stitches of truth to that Sampson story.

This weekend it got up to 60, but then it snowed 8 inches and now it's in the 20s. Alison and I joined up with our neighbors to plant tomatoes and herbs into an indoor starter kit in anticipation of final frost, but I'm not sure spring's coming this year.

"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.