Yep I am alive and I actually having a lot of fun back in the good old US of A. Every once in a while I do miss bits of my European life, but not the muck I had to wade in to get to the fun parts. On to the tidbits:

• I 'forgot' to wish my sweetie a Happy Birthday on here last week. I actually didn't forget, but I couldn't find the picture I wanted to post and gave up. I guess that is the love you get from me now Nikki. Can't find the right pic, so no post, ha. She had a good birthday btw.
• I love Ben Harper's new band and CD. Probably one of my favorites CDs of late, but I have been desperately needing some good music lately
• Redbird baseball is a rollercoaster this year, but entertaining to say the least
• Why am I having a lot of fun? B/C I guess I am glutton for punishment while I relive some of the (productive) things I experienced in college. Working small odd jobs can be quite fulfilling and a lot better than dealing with some of bureaucratic bull I dealt with. Sometimes it very good to step away from the center of a storm to realize how big of a storm you are in. I have always been a type of person that understands the forest while still focusing on the tree. Now I realize that even if I can control my part of the world, at times there can be storms that cannot be controlled and should be left alone.
• Since I am back to pseudo contractor life, there is more beer around. That is where the above bull comes from. German beer tonight, Franziskaner Weissbier, thumbs up from this guy that usually doesn't like German beer.
• On a good note, several interesting job thingies floating around, but I think I am going to be choosy while I can.
• Best quote of the day "Looks like Ahmadinejad took a page out of the GW Bush election strategy. Nice to know we aren't the only country whose right wing will rig elections". That W guy can still raise the hair on the back of my neck. I guess he is hiding in a hole somewhere counting all his money he made off of oil and wars.
• And finally to lighten the mood a bit, a few pics and the first may or may not have been me and JR working last week. Maybe we should try that method.

I am going to try to get around to posting a bit more. I have some old pics that I need to go through and such. Plus it keeps me from picking on the old bulldog for a bit (Cooper, not anyone else that people may be thinking.) Ha, yep I like my mood.