There is so much to say in this post that I feel I should prepare a lecture, with charts and graphs and a bulleted outline, so that each point may be covered in a full and fair manner.

But I won't.

Instead, I'll ramble. Those of you who know me well understand that this is a gift of mine, the rambling. And, usually, this leads to some great conclusion that invloves many of the fractious parts leading up to it. This, then, is in what I consider to be come vague correlate of temporal progression. Onward, I say.

1) Peeg and Stacy came to visit. For more complete accounts of what happened, see their blogs (linked on the right of this page). All I have to say is that the day they were in T-Town we had the perfect eating day: City Cafe for Lunch, Dreamland for Dinner, and Krispy Kreme for dessert. Oh my yes.

2) I finished my second year of graduate school. I pulled a 4.0 this semester, and my thesis will be done by the end of the summer. I have my comprehensive exam paper underway, and a dissertation idea is a-brewin'. AND I am still alive.

3) I saw Will get his Master's degree. Let me tell you something: my brother is an amazing person. In one year (thats the number 1) he has quit his old job, had a son with Meghan, gotten his Master's degree, and gotten a new job. AND he's still alive, too. Also LIAM IS THE BEST NEPHEW AND CUTEST BABY EVER. No contest. Seriously. Cutest. Ever.

4) Jenn and I celebrated 2 years together. I am a lucky, lucky man. She has yet to get tired of me, and the fact that we live four hours from eachother (She's at Vanderbilt Divinity School) hasn't stopped us either. And yes, you can enter the audience "awwww" track here. Mushy mushy.

5) Jenn and I went to Colorado for a week! We had an unbelievable time. I learned a few things from the trip, too. First, Kansas is flat. And long. Second, I can wear sandals above the fire ant line! Third, I want to teach at CU. Fourth, I love to hike and camp. I never really had the chance to find that out until I got to a place where I wasn't staring at the ground the whole time, looking for ants. And there's a lot to see besides the ground where we went. Like Lost Lake and Lily Mountain. We also stayed in a little Mountain Town called Nederland. Everyone there drives some sort of Subaru. No lie. On the day we left the town I counted 15 just on our way out. The whole reason for the trip was to drop Jenn of in Rocky Mountain National Park, where she's a Ranger in the Back Country Permit office. I hate that she'll be gone for three months, but I love that she's living out a dream of hers. It would be like someone paying me to play basketball or to be in a band with Will. She's been there now a week, and the last time I talked with her she said "I'm happy" in about the happiest voice imaginable. And I don't blame her. You should see the view from her cabin. We took many pictures, and I'll post some as soon as she can get them to me. She's looks purty nice in that uniform, I tells ya. Even if the pants are from 1983.

6) For number six I will put the many things I have inevitably left out. Fell free to fill in the blank here with adventures of your choice. But not too many. I have alot to do this summer.

And a few belated things for my relatives: Happy Birthday to Aunt Gayna, and Happy Anniversary to Will and Megahn.

Hmmmm... what else. Just now I ate some "Tabasco Hot and Spicy Cheez-its" as my afternoon snack in the office. They are good.

I hope everyone is well.
Peace,
Joe