I actually did not intend to take three weeks off from writing. But the past two weeks have been hectic to say the least.

Comings and Goings

So let’s start with a trip to St. Louis with my oldest. We went to Six Flags, the Missouri Botanical Garden and the Arch. The botanical garden is one of my favorite places to walk. It is incredibly peaceful, there are tree, plants and flowers from all over the world, and there is even a great pond where you can feed the giant carp. I’ll put pics up as soon as I have the chance to upload them.

Then it was off to Utah for almost a week, where I served as faculty at a summer academy. The annual pilgrimage to salt Lake City is very refreshing; I get to spend a week with colleagues and friends, and get to see some incredible scenery. I also went to my first Rodizio (Brazilian) grill. We liked it so much that we went back the very next night.

After getting back from Utah, it was back to St. Louis to again see the boys (Rush) play on the second leg of the “Snakes and Arrows” tour. That makes three times for this album… Chicago, Indianapolis, and St. Louis. Again, pics are forthcoming so look on the “Photos” page.

After that, I took a week off to spend most of it with my kids. We did the typical summer day activities… visiting the park, going to the Discovery Museum and lots of other things. I appreciated quickly how hard it is to raise three kids alone… even for a week it tests one’s patience… especially when the little ones are “that age”. But it was a blast and I wish I had another week to take off with them.

Now I am back to work and “normal” life, though I have some trips in the waiting… perhaps one or two professional trips and then my oldest and I are headed to Maryland for the wedding of my best friend since childhood. 45 years old and finally getting married… good for him.

I’ll catch up on world happenings later. For tonight, let me just end with this…

Rush takes over the Colbert Report

This was great… Alex, Geddy and Neil took over The Colbert Report tonight…. they showed up for the last ten minutes of the show, but the whole first twenty minutes was a spoof on a Rush fan’s obsession with the group. Hmmm…sounds familiar. The boys played “Tom Sawyer” (predictably), but it was just great to see them… it was their first appearance on American television in 33 years.