A thumpa-thumpa bing bang: It's been a good, short week. Short weeks are an almost legal necessity when returning from vacation so as to not blow one's mind out instantly upon return to the workforce. This morning I came in two hours late in order to visit the doctor about the sneezing/eyes watering/nose bleeding thing I've come to know as "damned cat allergies." She looked me over for a bit and then gave me a Claritan prescription and a magic nasal squirter thing with a picture of a rhinocerous on it. The instructions are ridiculously long, considering the only steps are inserting the tip into your nose, and then squeezing the bottle, but I got it all figured out and haven't sneezed in hours.

Odessa Chen was really, really good on Tuesday, but we didn't stick around for Eitzel since it was already after 11:30 and he hadn't taken the stage yet. Besides, we were still on East Coast time and were ready to get our sleep on. It was cool though hanging out with friends, paying reasonable prices for beer, and watching Odessa silence a room with her singing. I bet a pint of beer in New York City costs more than an equal measure of blood.

So yesterday I went into the bakery that I've labored at for a month and a half to check this weekend's schedule, and upon seeing my name on the bored, joked with my boss and said "Hey! I didn't get fired!" to which she replied "Nope! We all did!" That's right, the bakery that's been in the same place since 1986 has decided to call it quits a mere 45 days after I begin working there. The good news is that all employees who stay through September get $500, the bad news is that I haven't been there long enough to collect the severance. Damn, that was almost a plane ticket to Canada right there. So, weekend job hunting begins tomorrow. Will I peddle coffee? Flowers? Certified Organic Vegetables? Who knows, as long as it pays and gives me a hefty food discount.

PS: Oakland rules your ass.

So I've got those post-vacation-back-to-work blues today. Not that anything horrible has happened in the warehouse, just that I'd rather be on the Brooklyn bridge in the rain again, even walking around hungry trying to find an open restaurant in Brooklyn Heights and getting yelled at by angry construction workers. Anything, really, except the tedious do-this do-that work work work of my j-o-b.

Tonight though we're going out to The Make-Out Room to see Odessa Chen and Mr. Mark Eitzel play some music. I'm sure we'll drink to the planes and trains and buses of the Northeast.

labor day, front porch. oakland, calif.

The Polish Sleeping Pill: We're back from the East Coast, and this should be about the time where I talk about all our adventures and let you know what a good time we had. It's all true, really. We *did* have lots of adventures and a great time, but we'll save those for later.

Today was hot. It hit 90 in Oakland, which is a pretty rare maybe once a year thing. But if it helps the A's win 19 games in a row, keep the sun coming. Today is also Labor Day, the last holiday of the summer and the final time of our vacation, so Miss Rodeo America and I wiped the sleepy out of our eyes, bought a little barbecue on clearance ($9.00, man), lit a match, and cooked us up some kielbasa on the front porch. It was a great way to end the time off work, sitting there in the sun sweating and sneezing and watching the juice pop out of the sausages. So that's what's on my mind right now, New York, Rhode Island, and Boston stories will follow in the coming days. Thanks to all who put us up and helped us out.

The daily photo is back, it's where I'll stick lots of the vacation pictures. Look for the story link underneath when I get it working, now we're going to go watch The Godfather and drink Jack and Ginger Ale.

Some of these new Jets To Brazil songs sound an awful lot like Queen.