Only twelve days until my 31st birthday. That would be eleven shopping days, wink wink nudge nudge. How did i get to my thirties? Where did my twenties go? Well, i can't say it wasn't a fun ride, i just wish it lasted a little longer. But i'm nothing if not comfortable with my current situation.

It was another weekend of chores ... taking the Jetta to Fremont at 7:30am Saturday morning for a couple of recall repairs, coercing the dogs into going to the vet for a checkup, bathroom fixture shopping with Veronica, ordering voice-over-IP internet phone service to replace our current land line, ordering DirecTV to replace our current digital cable, and getting rid of the last of the yard waste from my previous weekend of lawn, hedge, and tree trimming. I also squeezed in a shitload of video game playing (mostly Lumines and Winning Eleven 8 International), breakfast with dad at Stacks after dropping off my car, and dinner with my parents and Hilary, Jeff, and Veronica at one of the last Emil Villa's BBQ Pits, in Hayward.

Hrm ... maybe i passed judgement on the Mars Volta too soon. Being in a less proactive mood with regards to my iTunes random music selections, i let "Cassandra Gemini" from their latest sprawling album Frances the Mute play. And play. And play. And play some more. The 31 minute epic succeeds in capturing the energy that was so effectively channeled by the late, great At the Drive-In.

V loves to remind me of my hater-ish tendencies, but c'mon ... i don't sound like this, do i? I guess if you're a math major in Utah you've got a lot to be pissed off about. I wax on about things i like as much as those i don't like, don't i?