Birmingham Chronicles, Day 1

I was right: A long stretch of interstate with nobody but my dog in the car is a very good way to distance from a long stretch of work with too many things going on.

Now that virtually all my music is on iPod, I didn't plan well knowing that I only had 6 hours of battery life. I did get to listen to talk radio in east Mississippi and west Alabama, which really is it's very own little slice of entertainment. Resolved: Get one of those iPod chargers that work on the car lighter plug-in. As an added bonus, that should make my collection of iPod add-on gadgets complete.

Lloyd did great on the drive but he wouldn't sit in the back seat and rest. So I decided to put his blanket in the passenger seat, he happily rode shotgun. He really likes getting out and running around at the rest areas at every state line, whether or not he has any "business" to do there.

I passed a church van that said this on the back: First Baptist Church of Snohomish, WA. (above the church name) "Fueled by Faith" (below the church name) "Geared by Grace" Ugh. I'm not sure you can get more hokey. Of course, it's like most ads I see on TV, too. Usually when I watch some bad ad for a decent product I think, "There were a series of meetings about that, and not one person realized how ineffective and goofy it is?" I also wondered what they were doing in Louisiana (they were a long way from home) in a van, but then I remembered they were likely there to help with some form of hurricane rebuilding effort, so I cut them some slack.

I saw a car with a British Columbia car tag. It made me remember a time when my girls were little and we played this car tag game to keep them occupied. Within a ten-minute stretch they found a B.C. car tag, a Native American one, and one from both Alaska and Hawaii. After the first two, I told them I was unimpressed and bet them banana splits that they'd NEVER find one from Hawaii. The celebratory rejoicing when the next car we passed about three minutes later was indeed from Hawaii was worth the trip to Dairy Queen.

My sister had prepared dinner and it was warm when I got here. Cell phones are good for that kind of timing.

My sister had stopped by a local wine store and had a glass of wine ready for me after dinner. Sisters from so close to Napa Valley (who is also a wine snob) are good for that kind of timing.

I watched the Stars playoff hockey game and they're officially in deep trouble. How do you give up a short-handed goal in game 2 of the playoffs with 2 minutes left of a game you DESPERATELY needed to win?

This morning, going through the sports page of the local paper, the topics were of Auburn and Alabama's payments to the entire football coaching staff. Also of a college football bowl game coming here next December. Oh, yeah. And Talledega's got a NASCAR event on Saturday. Did I mention the NBA & NHL playoffs are underway? They did do okay with baseball, though.

I slept in until 7AM. I haven't done that since...well...the last time I was here. I feel like I've wasted half my day.