The Personal +/- of the last 24 hours:

• Wednesday drive in Sonoma County (+)
• Blown speaker in the truck (-)
• Getting toys for Bunny the cat's birthday (+)
• Going back into the office after driving (-)
• Finding out I'm broke at the pet store (-)
• Finding some money and buying 200 crickets (+)
• Relaxing and kissing Miss Rodeo America on the living room couch (++)
• Sharks defeating Colorado (++)
• SLEEPING! (+)
• Waking up (-)
• Bad coffee that tasted slightly of cherry (-)
• Yo La Tengo songs on a windy morning in the car (+)
• Going to work (-)
• Annoying co-worker leaving for the day (+)
• The new DJ Shadow record (+)
• Solo lunch of Thai curry and chicken and peanuts (+)
• French Hotel Latte (+)
• Depositing money in the bank & smiling at a happy baby who smiled back and giggled (+)
• Bright Eyes songs in the car (+)
• Going back into work for three more hours (-)
• Jim O'rourke singing (+)

As you can see, my +'s are now in control, and I'm feeling damned good.

Amscray News: We started overdubs last night, holed up in the chilly and small kitchen at the Amscray house, recording equipment on the table, and keyboards and wires taking up most of the rest of the room. The raw tracks sound pretty damned good, but recording all my parts could take awhile due to the unlimited amount of sounds I can make and then deciding which ones are right for which songs. It's a time consuming process which tries my patience and my abilities, but I think I'm up for the task. Tonight we go back to work.

Have I mentioned yet that we're going to the Minnesota State Fair this year? I hear they carve Miss Minnesota's bust out of butter. There, I can survive eating only foods on sticks. It will be hot and muggy, and it will be wonderful.

PS: Sorry this site was down all night, I goofed.

The Shins were great on Friday night, we scored a couple fine seats right before their set, so I had a great vantage point looking down at the band. They played almost all of Oh, Inverted World, a few odds and ends off singles, as well as a Flake Music song and a Jesus And Mary Chain cover. It was nice to see a band having a blast onstage, loving the packed sold out audience on the last stop of their tour. I bought a couple CDs, Miss Rodeo America got a t-shirt (supporting the artists, yo), and all in all had quite a good time. Charlie took some pictures at the show which made up for me leaving my camera at home. Oops.

The rest of the weekend was wonderfully busy, took a trip down to Santa Cruz for a bit on Saturday, saw my friend's new fly apartment on a huge hill in Oakland, hitting up San Francisco for some new shoes (pictures later, I have to brag), playing some music this afternoon, and finally watching the 1968 film Bullitt where Steve McQueen chases people all around San Francisco. Not a bad weekend if I do say so myself.

MP3 of the week: New stuff from Doves that rocked my socks off while driving to get dinner tonight. Simple and grand, just like the beginning of Spring in California.