Daily Photos from Irkutsk, Siberia. Nestled along the western edge of Lake Baikal, Irkutsk is a dream travel destination for me and MRA. Brrrrrrrrr!

It finally seems as if the holidays are over, and for once, it's a welcomed feeling. I really need to get back to the work routine and the music routine, and hell, even the website routine thing in order to stay grounded, and since these holidays were much busier than those in the past, I now know why people stress out about them so much.

Which isn't to say that I didn't have good times though, I almost had *too many* good times and it really wore me out. Miss Rodeo America's brother took the train down from Eugene for New Years, and even though he was delayed !!8 hours!! we still got him to run around with us. I also persuaded Kate and Frank to hit up the East Bay for a Monday-before-New-Years-eve cocktail romp. Good times down on Alameda island arguing over songs on the juke and drinking enough soda to keep me awake to hear them when the finally came on.

We also had a great lunch (although the restaurant smelled like a bathroom) with Armando and his super cool wife down on Haight street. Going down to visit them in Asheville has become a highly desireable future roadtrip for me and MRA, they were to of the nicest/talkiest folks I've met in a long, long while.

I also had my brother over for a night, and we took him to a great dinner with some good drinks and then forced one of our favorite MST3K episodes on him. Having him around again was great, and I'll still hold on to some hope that he'll move back up from Los Angeles someday.

Thanks to everyone who came and visited, and tomorrow I (thankfully) head back up to Sonoma County to do my normal delivery route on my normal day. I'm looking forward to it.

wendell. 1988-2003

He made it through the day, but has been having trouble since then, and so my mother took him to the vet to have some tests done. Turns out he had a tumor, and when my Mom woke up this morning he was in a lot of pain, so she took him to the vet and pet him while he went to sleep for good.

I feel OK about it, knowing that I gave him a good life when I was a kid, and my Mom took great care of him when he got older, and that he was never abused and that we didn't prolong a painful life for him. It's a sad little day for us here in California, but if I just pet my kitties and fold my socks, I'll get through.

MP3 of the week: From now on, I'm getting all my song ideas from the DJ at my favorite SF restaurant. Download it... YOU CANNOT RESIST (No Can Do).