there's more to life than this

Back from retreat! I learned a few things -- but mostly reinforced the obvious assertion that people who choose to live in the desert are crazy. Ok, some of them have arthritis that benefits from the blazing temperatures not unlike the fires of hell, but mostly I still think they're crazy for living there. We spent most of the retreat indoors, as spending any time outdoors might have resulted in melting into the pavement. Despite slathering on sunblock I still managed to get a little burn (I forgot my scalp, ouch.).

Bonding with work-peeps was fun, but I have to say that my experience yesterday morning of feeding ducks was even better. On the way to our morning meeting we stopped by the snack shop for some caffeine -- and were immediately accosted by a swarm (gaggle?) of ducks, well trained in the art of begging to snack shop patrons. I immediately squatted down and started quacking at them -- and the snack shop guy called me over and gave me a huge handful of hotdug buns to feed them. So unshy were they, they were walking all over my feet trying to get as close as possible, some of them even jumping up to try to get closer than his fellow ducks. Even better, a mom duck and itty baby ducklings came over too. A., you were of course totally on my mind while all this went down. I wisht you coulda been there.

So glad the weekend is here -- altho there will be domestical demands I intend to spend much of it drumming. And reading.

I am also happy to report that a few of our tour dates are confirmed now, so that makes for peace of mind and adventures to look forward to. And Guitar Center dude (ok, actually his name is Guy) called while I was away to tell me my new heads are in -- woo hoo!