We're in Muncie now, until tomorrow. We started in Indianapolis on Wednesday night since Mom was in the hospital still down there. Mom got out of the hospital on Thanksgiving Day, and we joined my parents in going to Portland to see my mom's side of the family. After that, we've been lazy in Muncie all day today. We hit a couple of flea markets with my dad while my mom was resting, and helped them decorate their new 10 foot Christmas tree in their new family room.

Other than that, we've been lazy, and it's been WONDERFUL.

Mom is doing really well so far. Today we took her to the mall, to Hobby Lobby and Menards, where she rode around in a wheelchair. Give her a couple of weeks and she'll be pretty much back to normal, I think. Her hair is just starting to grow back a little, which makes her pretty excited. She has to get through five weeks of post-surgery radiation, and she should be essentially cured.

Tomorrow, we're going to Indianapolis to see Amy's folks. There will be another feast for us there. We have been unable to be vegan during this trip, but we have both managed to stay vegetarian. I don't think we'll be crossing that line.

I put up a few more reviews on andy.theshears.com for your bitching pleasure.

Three New Restaurants:
Bella Avanti in Muncie, which replaced Psgetti to Go.
Cheeseburgers in Paradise in Muncie, a Jimmy Buffett themed restaurant, believe it or not.
Main Street Coneys in Kent, home of not-dogs with veggie chili for hockey nights.

Three Movies:
Bull Durham, an 1980s movie about baseball.
Man of the Year, our Ghetto (Holla') Dolla' fare from last night after everyone went to bed early.
Rent, the movie of the musical.

Two Records:
Oh, Inverted World by The Shins
To the Confusion of Our Enemies by Riverboat Gamblers

One Museum
Royal Ontario Museum, which I've been putting off finishing since I started this reviewing thing.

I also decided to just blatantly ripoff one of the best shows on cable (The Colbert Report) and post new lists, one board of "On Notice" shows people and things that generally irritate me, while the "Dead to Me" board shows people and things that just really piss me off. So sue me for ripping off an excellent idea. If I was creative, I'd be doing something creative and not writing in a dumbassed blog at 1:37 am during my vacation.


Anyway, that's the news from here. Feel free to send me free records so that I can review them for my website audience of somewhere between four and ten visits a month.

The good news is this: at least 80% of those people are from the valuable 18-49 age group, so tell your publicist today!