Weekend edition.

I went for a run on Friday but I couldn't find my proper running shoes so I used the closest thing I could find lurking in my shoe pile. As it turns out, those "running shoes" have running activated razor-blade arch support and they left my feet in worse shape than they found them. Subsequent runs will therefore have to wait until I located some better shoes. That night, Anna and I met some friends at the Chop Shop to hear music and to get taken for a ride by a too-crafty bartender: I, having been spoiled by the honesty and affordable prices at the Barley Pub, trusted this man to pour the reg'lag folk wine when I asked for a glass of cab for myself and for the lady. I bought another round for us and one more for a friend (riches are relative and I felt flush compared to them) before learning that I was paying $12 per glass. Lesson: don't expect to be treated like a regular at a place to which you rarely go. Optimist's Take: this was a good reminder that I and my friends need to buy our wine at a supermarket and enjoy it at someone's apartment. Movies and board games to the rescue!

On Saturday, I popped into the lab to install a new 1 terabyte hard drive that I bought through the expense account awarded to me as part of my SURF grant. I never thought storage was something to get excited about until I had a bunch of important data to back up. Now I'm a believer. After some food shopping, I left for the gig in Portland. Moses, his friend Jimmy and I played a bunch of Tom Waits songs at a restaurant where Moses used to work; we didn't charge a cover so if Mr. Waits wishes to contact us, I hope it will only be to ask how the show went. If that does happen, I will tell him that the show went very well and that a captive audience of Moses' friends and former co-workers were appreciative in spades. I will even tell him that this may translate into a few album sales; if nothing else, all the song learning reminded me that I love his music but don't own any. After the show, skipped town and made it to Newcastle in time to catch the end of Jill's birthday party, getting there just in time to see everyone in peak form before we all fell asleep to the sound of the ocean. Not together.

Today was what normal people call a typical Sunday. As you know, I endeavor not to be a normal person but to at least have a normal person's schedule. I listened to NPR, I did laundry and I went for a walk up Henry Law Avenue, making sure to stop to talk to the horses and cows at the farm on the top of that hill. There are a few musicky things going down tonight: Jake's band is playing in Kittery and Scott Solsky is playing jazz at the Pub. The latter is free and Jake will be playing the Pub on Wednesday with another band I like so it looks like I'll go to the Pub if I go anywhere. I just found out that Kristin has a copy of Beetlejuice so the third option is to stay in and watch that.

Happy Northern Hemisphere Summer Solstice

Happy Da's Day.