Last night, after having dinner with my friend, Matt, I decided to stop at the grocery store near my house on my way home. As I was standing in line at the check-out, it turned out I was standing right next to Mike Bibby . I wasn't even paying attention and probably wouldn't have noticed it was him had Matt not said something to me. Upon inspection, I did realized I recognized him; the huge diamond in his left ear kind of tipped me off. I guess it's true; he lives in my neighborhood. I think he owns one of the mansions across the street from me. It sure is tough, you know, living among celebrities. I wonder if he'll ever have a garage sale... ;)

Yeah, everyone at work knows who I am, but now apparently I'm famous... and not for the right reasons. Gossip... Don't believe everything you hear. I'm no floozy!

Hey, I logged onto Myspace today and noticed the featured artist on the homepage is Matt Nathanson! Way cool. I first saw this guy on YouTube several months ago; I watched a video of him performing one of my favorite Patty Griffin songs "Forgiveness." I was intrigued... so I watched a few more clips of him performing, and I was totally hooked. He is amazing. I just found out that he released his latest album last week: "Some Mad Hope." Check out this guy's music.

Check out this video: All We Are



Add to My Profile | More Videos

Vacation over. Back to work again. But, man, did it ever feel good to do whatever I wanted for a week. I'm now sitting in the Denver airport, waiting for my connecting flight back to Sacramento. I don't board for another hour, so perfect time to reflect on last week.

Saturday, July 28th, I went to gluten-free day at Whole Foods, picked up a few samples, some snacks for my trip. Then I went to Davis for the annual American Cancer Society's Relay For Life. I walked an hour in the scorching heat, and then performed on the little stage. I got to play four songs, and I was really proud that I did my best (even though hardly anyone was paying attention). Then I was off to see Carrie Underwood perform at the Dixon Fairgrounds. Man, I had no idea the traffic was going to be that bad! It was rediculous! I ended up parking by some construction building and speed-walking about a mile to the fairgrounds. I missed the opening act (Carolina Rain) but made it just in time to see Carrie perform. I had a second-row seat, so it was pretty nice. She was terrific.

Then Sunday morning I was off to the Sac airport to fly to Des Moines. With no sleep, I was pretty tired. But that didn't matter because that night my sister and I saw Keith Urban at Wells Fargo Arena. Man, was that an awesome concert--by far the best large-venue concert I've ever been to! You can see pics from both the Carrie and Keith concerts on my flickr site or my myspace page.

Monday I visited Iowa city with my sister and took some silly pics. Then I spent the rest of the week doing random things around Adel and Des Moines: saw the movie "Once" (I highly recommend), went to my sister's bead store and made a couple bracelets, went to a cool vintage clothing store downtown, saw the movie "Hairspray" (not as good as the live show, but still a great movie), helped my sister with her friend's baby shower, had a coffee at Caribou Coffee, walked my dog and ran with him out in the country, was forced to watch WAAAAY too much CNN, and slept in a lot.

Overall, it was a nice trip. I kind of wish I had just a little more time, but then I'm not sure how much more CNN I can really take. So, I'm glad I'm headed back. I need to make money. And take care of my animals. And escape Iowa's crappy hot and humid weather!

Weekend Update:

Friday night was fun and scandalous (just the way I like it). After work I went out to celebrate a friend's birthday at Press Club. Disco night fever, dancing, singing, partial nudity... Maverick, I hope you had a good time. ;)

Now some sad news... While I was out carousing about town, Shirley Baker finally bit the dust. It was a long, slow death, and I'm just very grateful she's finally out of her pain and misery. I felt so badly for her, but there was nothing I could do to help her anymore. I had tried everything possible, and she was definitely a fighter... the hardiest fish I've ever had. Now she will swim freely in the big river in the sky. Now I will focus my attention on my recent additions to the tank: Mike and Carol Brady, two neon tetras. They make a cute couple. Too bad Mike's gay...

And tonight I got a hole-in-one at Scandia at the famous windmill! Yeah! Sorry, Adam, you showed a valiant effort, but you just can't compete with a mini-golf champion. :)

Theme of the weekend: options. It's funny how sometimes life gives you so many options all at once. It's very liberating to know you're not stuck. On the other hand, it has proven to be very difficult as well. I think indecisive is my middle name. And although all these choices are great, I can't help but feel that the real thing I truly want is still out of reach. And I don't want to settle.

Settlin' by Sugarland
I ain't settlin' for just gettin' by
I've had enough so-so for the rest of my life
Tired of shootin' too low, so raise the bar high
"Just enough" ain't enough this time
I ain't settlin' for anything less than everything.