muito obrigado (that's many thanks in Portuguese)

We made it back to the good old usa in one piece. Our plane had a little trouble but it was escorted back by some eagles holding giant American flags in their beaks, so it turned out ok. I won't bore you with any more of the details but I highly recommend taking a trip to Portugal if you have the means to do so. If the beautiful cities and lovely people aren't enough to entice you, then keep in mind that they have some amazing record stores (I brought back almost 40 records), 99 cent wine, and more cool knock off shoes than you can ever imagine. And the cutest dogs in the world. And the coolest old men that totally rule every town square.

I just discovered this morning that I won the reader's choice award in the SN&R as well as the writers award. I'm touched. I think it's funny that I beat Weintraub. I didn't even expect anyone to vote for me. Of course I voted for myself 300 times before I left, but still. After DB told me the news this morning I felt compelled to post today even though I'm not back at work just to say thanks dudes.

I'm glad to be back in Sac. So far today I had a delicious bagel with lox and then for lunch went to the Sunflower with anonymous. Tonight I'm going to Nishiki.

I'm not sure what all's going in Sac coming up. I know the Bananas are going on some weekend minitours, including to SoCal, maybe this weekend and I'm going. The Halloween show is set for November 5th. Joel and Hillary's nuptials (such a gross word) are coming up and it promises to be the wedding of the year. I still have no costume in mind, which is stressing me out.

Maybe some people already heard about this, and it's pretty sensitive issue to some friends so I'll try to handle it as such, but a local DJ has lost his night at the Press Club due to the use of a highly inflammatory and horrible racial slur during a heated moment. Well, duh, you'll probably figure it out, it was the N word. Anyway, it seems like it's pretty well known locally and from what I hear it was handled appropriately by the management at the Press and he lost his night instantly. Too bad, this seemed to be shaping up to be a good thing for Sac, although it was on a wednesday, so I still hadn't made it there yet.

That reminds me of Lyme Regis, only because those dudes had been making the scene at that night, and I wanted to mention that I saw them on the last night before I left and they sounded fucking great. I hope they play more locally. Their songs are catchy as fuck.

I'll be back at work tomorrow posting and trying to live up to my rep. The pressure is intense. Now I know how Lance Armstrong feels. Just the pressure of trying to get it up to fuck Sheryl Crow would probably break a lesser man. That last sentence doesn't really fit in to my point.