On a holiday. Far away. To stay.

Since it's labor day, and I'm marking several insignificant dates in my life, I think I'm going to take this post to a personal level. Enough about Iraq, the hurricane, gas prices, and the environment.

I spent some quality time yesterday talking to two famous former Oxfordians and Western College alums, Maggie Wichman and Dan Pribble. The three of us reminisced over twenty minutes or so about what we missed about southwest Ohio. The conversation started with my extreme craving for Skyline Chili, and moved deftly through subjects I never thought I would hear in Somerville, Mass. We spoke about Bruno's, SDS pizza, the word, "Y'all," the slow pace of life in Oxford, friendliness, and the Western Woods among other things. It was incredibly refreshing to hear people talk about the things I know and love with such familiarity. To have such luck as to randomly stumble across two people with whom I went to school at a little program in rural Ohio is absolutely amazing. I am thankful to know that they feel the same way about the differences between our home now and our home then.

It's in the numbers:

158: Days I have lived in Massachusetts
131: Blog posts since I began
55: Hours that I work per week
751: Miles from here to Oxford
2156: Photographs I have taken since I first came to Boston
4: Friends and relatives who have come to visit me so far
1: Dates I have been on since I have lived here
0: Women from here that I have actually wanted to date more than once
235: Visitors to this blog since I began tracking
25: Gallons of beer made (and drunk) since I began brewing
14: Width (in feet) of my new room
3530: The pointless total of all the preceding numbers

New Ideas:

Before I go to work, I want to run some ideas by everyone. First, I am thinking about splitting this blog into two or three separate ones. That way I can keep different sets of writing together with as little overlap as possible. So when you click on the link to my blog you'll get exactly what you're looking for, be it news commentary, personal narrative, or fiction. Second, I think I'm going to register www.cellophane.com for the primary site address. For those who know, "cellophane" is my favorite word. Finally, I think I'm going to start an entirely new blog which will feature my writings from class. Since I'm taking writing-intensive courses, why not get the jump on everyone by publishing my coursework myself? I think posting my papers to a blog will not only help add good content, but encourage me to write more proficiently since my audience will be wider. Let me know what you think.

Ad Nauseam:

Have you ever watched the CNN headline news channel program with Nancy Grace? If you, like me, didn't know about this woman, you're in luck. She currently hosts Nancy Grace: Closing Arguments on Court TV and Nancy Grace on CNN. She is possibly the most annoying woman on television. Watching her coverage of hurricane Katrina with "heartthrob" Anderson Cooper actually made me sick. With Nancy's face, big hair, flaring nostrils and all, tightly framed in one part of the screen, Anderson reports about what sacrifices he made in covering the catastrophe. He went on and on about it: "We slept in the van... we don't know where we're going... it's about getting the news to the people.." Meanwhile, Nancy kept interrupting him by repeating his name in that nasal tone of voice, over and over again until he shut up. At one point, I counted five times. "Anderson! Anderson! Anderson! Anderson! Anderson! Where are these people getting fresh water?" It was painful. This woman should not be watched, unless you need to induce vomiting.


Well that's my Labor Day post. I hope you enjoyed it's meandering logic, and I hope you stay in touch for a more intelligent article and more pictures coming later this week.

Dr. Neptune ..... away!