few different items appear on today's agenda, and I'm too tired to attempt cohesiveness. So much to work on this weekend, tonight's looking like an opportunity to pick up our favorite Chinese food on the way home after work, then collapse and hope whatever I'm drinking doesn't spill.

*****Yesterday a co-worker whose strangeness often trumps even my own (due mostly to the fact that she's an older woman, past middle age, and her mind is probably on its way out to pasture) walked over to my desk carrying her trashcan. Most of the time she works in the office across the hall but they've got her filling in a couple hours a day on the other side of our office so I've had to sort of guide her through how things work over here. She placed the trashcan next to mine and told me she'd been back and forth to the bathroom a few times this afternoon but couldn't make it the last time and had to use the trashcan She wanted to make sure they'd take it so she brought it over next to mine. That's right, she threw up in her trashcan and instead of taking the bag out and throwing it out somewhere, just put it down 3 or 4 feet behind me. She then told me she was going home early because she was sick...but felt she needed to launch into a full-length justification of her decision. I told her to just go, if she's throwing up then there's not much else that really needs explained. If you're going to bring your puke over near me and just leave it, then no one really needs further explanation on why you feel you should be going home.

*****George W Bush will be in Omaha late next week to give a speech about Social Security. This could be my chance to take a sick/vacation day and get in on some protest action. What should I protest? The war in Iraq? The way his administration has handled it? His attitudes toward the poor? Corporate scandals? The economy? His actions toward education? WTO? G7? SpongeDon Squarefeld? Clearchannel? Bush Lies in general? What's interesting/scary is that I just want to do something, anything, to help give voice to the millions who get screwed over as a result of his attitudes and actions/inactions. Don't worry, FBI...I'm not a firestarter.

*****Big show tonight at Sokol Underground...Beep Beep headlining, with Two Gallants and Rogue Wave opening. Two Gallants I could never really get into -- write-ups I've seen often namecheck early folk/blues musicans like Skip James or Woody Guthrie but always hint at "modern interpretation) or something like that. Maybe I'm just not remembering correctly the actual music I've heard. I dig what I've heard of Rogue Wave -- Indie rock/pop out of San Francisco (record released by SubPOP) that lazy hacks like me say reflects late 60s rock/pop. Word is that they're super live. Beep Beep is one of those outfits always worth seeing. The question is, should we pony up the 8 bucks each? Will we end up just falling asleep partway through the first set? Tonight's one of those nights where I really would love to go see this show, but don't feel like going out at all. So we'll see.

*****Baseball season looms large ahead. I shouldn't be this excited, but I am.

******This weekend's outlook: Homework in both classes, of course. Stacey and I have to come up with a lesson to teach the kids on Sunday. I'd like to get a couple reviews done. A writing project popped in my head the last couple days and I'd like to start on that, as well. I recently found a blank book with blank pages and this project is pretty well suited to that. I was thinking the other day that I tend to find myself in busy area job situations and as a result, always find reclusive little hiding spots everywhere I go. I've done so all my life. So maybe I'll write about all the places I've hidden, be it backyard forts "in the pines," or walling my bunk bed in with blankets while rooming with 6 other guys at college...or locking myself in a bathroom stall on a less-used floor during most of my lunch hour 3 or 4 days a week so I can get some reading and peace. I've hidden from God in churches and hidden from lovers and authorities and dogs. I also want to get myself back in the habit of writing without a computer. Sometimes I need to hide from technology.

*****January 30 is Richard Brautigan's 70th Birthday. He died 20-some years ago, of course, killing himself with a bullet to the head. He's become one of my favorites, though, and you know this already if you read my journal much so I'll just stop with all that.

*****Engagement I read about first: Kate Bowman! Many Congratulations!
3 Kate Bowman memories:
1. Reading what she wrote for Bandoppler back in the online-only days. I always loved what she brought to Bandoppler and the thoughts she got me thinking, about social justice and searching deeper.
2. Running into her at a U2 concert at Notre Dame in the fall of 2001. Just plain fun.
3. While she was at Sojourners she absolutely had to write sometimes, and I always loved reading whatever it happened to be about.

******Jason of opuszine.com also got engaged this past week...he lives only an hour away so we get to spend time with both he and Renae from time to time and we think the world of them both. We're looking forward to this wedding quite a bit! Congratulations, you two!
3 Jason Opus memories:
1. "Steak & Beer Nights" (though neither are required) at various places throughout the years. Isn't it about time for another one, maybe last spring?
2. Shows in his basement. I remember MAP and Mr. 1986 and the Marianas in particular.
3. Driving to Des Moines to catch Unwed Sailor while listening to Jason and Jared talk about Mac computers most of the way.

*****As exciting as both the engagements are, I'm just a bit more excited about the birth of my nephew, which should happen early next week sometime. Feb. 1 at noon Eastern Time, as I remember correctly. Since his older sister insisted on lodging herself sideways and forcing a C-Section, my sister is just going to go the same route with him. They're naming him Benjamin Isaac -- Benjamin after my deceased brother and Isaac after...I don't know, but probably not Isaac Hayes. I wish I could see my niece and nephew more often, but I don't see moving to Georgia or Tennessee in our future. Anyway, those who pray, please pray his official arrival happens safely and that my mother's flight (I don't think she's ever flown before) goes well, too.