TRIP MUSIC

We are now back home after a couple days spent in Columbus, Ohio with Jill's dad and his wife Christine. It was nice to get away for a few days and we spent our time in a variety of ways - checking out what we didn't see this summer at the Columbus Zoo; hiking around a park on a really nice day; heading to a great comics shop (more on which soon); playing Catchphrase and Scrabble (man, I was horrible); eating lots and lots of good food; and just hanging out and relaxing. Just what we needed.

As usual, I packed up 24 CDs and my iPod. Unusually, I stopped at Best Buy on our way out of town to by the new disc from The Racontuers. Here's a list of what I listened to it the car to, around, and from...

The Raconteurs/Consolers of the Lonely
Aimee Mann/Lost in Space
Nada Surf/Lucky
Wilco/Sky Blue Sky
Gary Louris/Vagabonds
Weezer/Pinkerton
Iron and Wine/The Shepherd's Dog
Tim O'Reagan/Tim O'Reagan
Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks/Real Emotional Trash - iPod
Nick Lowe/Jesus of Cool (Reissue) - iPod
Material Issue/Freak City Soundtrack
The Mountain Goats/Heretic Pride
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers/Hard Promises
Vampire Weeked/Vampire Weekend
Kathleen Edwards/Back To Me - started in the car and finished at home

That leaves me with 12 discs of stuff I didn't listen to, which I'll work through over the next week or two driving around town in my car (amd may or may not mention here).

THANKSGIVING TIDBITS

We left for Pennsylvania at around 11:00 last Wednesday, since Jill had to teach part of her day. We also had my mom with us this year, as my dad had to teach a class on Wed. night (he drove by himself on Thanksgiving and got there when we were getting back from dinner). Our trip took us 11 1/2 hours with weather and traffic and stops. A long haul. At the other end, though, I got to see my cousins and aunts - it's the one time a year we can all get together.

I went out with my cousins that night, to a local brewery. I tried a citrusy beer called Wit's End and we filled some growlers with other beers. We went back to the hotel and played cards untiil 3 in the morning, the latest I stayed up all weekend.

That pretty was the theme for the weekend - hanging out, having some beer (the scotch ale and the nut brown ale were personal faves), playing lots of euchre and Sorry, and eating. Lots and lots of eating. I could talk about the seafood bisque and the mashed sweet potatoes and the scallop martini and the turkey sub and so forth but I won't. Instead, I'll mention the five kinds of pie I had - blueberry crumb, apple crumb, shoofly, grape, and raspberry. Wonderful.

I had such a good time. It was really hard to come back to reality...today is the first day I feel like I'm ready to be back at work (after working two days already). I wish we all lived closer and could see each other more but I guess the holiday wouldn't mean as much that way either.

Oh, we managed to make it home in 10 hours and 10 minutes and that included sitting in a line at the toll booth leaving Ohio for a half hour. I was able to watch the Bears come back and beat the Broncos and got a fair amount of laundry done.

I listened to the iPod a little bit while we were there - a little shuffle, A.A. Bondy's American Hearts, and half of Radiohead's In Rainbows. Here's what I played in the car (lighter than usual since I talked to my mom on my first driving leg on Wed.)...

Arcade Fire/Funeral
Band of Horses/Cease To Begin
The Beatles/Rubber Soul
Iron and Wine/The Shepherd's Dog
The Jayhawks/Sound of Lies
Ben Kweller/Ben Kweller (just over half)
Material Issue/Freak City Soundtrack
Tim O'Reagan/Tim O'Reagan
Tom Petty/Highway Companion
Sea Wolf/Leaves in the River
Bruce Springsteen/Magic
John Vanderslice/Emerald City
Wilco/Sky Blue Sky

AWAY

We're heading to Ohio for a few days, starting tomorrow. That's the reason for a bunch of posts today and why you won't see any posts until the end of next week (that includes "Sunday Shuffle"). So, everyone have a good week and I'll see you in a while.