I kinda dig these productive weekends. It was pretty good, all in all--forgetting the two freaking hours I wasted in "The Princess Diaries 2." How is it that this sequel can be funded and released and everyone paid and yet the literary brilliance that is "All Things Right and Beautiful" has yet to be picked up? Tis a sad, sad world. Maybe if I looked like Anne Hathaway. Maybe if I just hooked up with Anne Hathaway. I'm single, after all. If you're reading this Anne, you could do worse. Maybe not a lot worse, but worse is still a possibility.

And maybe that's why I'm not suited for sales. Anyway.

Did some final tweaking and mixing and rerecording for "lilies of the field" and its associated tracks. It's starting to come together, kiddies. It'll be sweet, I tell ya. I also finished another remix of an Over the Rhine track. We'll see what they have to say about it (I e-mailed them a top-secret link) but when the NEP site gets tweaked a bit I'll probably throw it on there.

My new article has been submitted (along with a photo and brief bio--God have mercy on us all) to the Birdhouse. Seems that I might be attaining "regular" status up in the 'House, which is kinda rockin' in its own right.

New items have been added in the Store. Check 'em out. Good music, good books and good movies, what more can you ask for?

And in other newsiness: the Olympics have started. Once again the equestrian can weigh heavily on the hearts and minds of Americans everywhere (but especially in, say, America...) Seriously, who cares? The biggest story they could wrench from this go-round was Michael Phelps trying to be the best amateur swimmer since Mark Spitz.

Now I realize that sports seldom have meaningful implications for day to day life (when was the last time you had to hit an 88mph slider on your way to the copy machine?) but swimming? Equestrian? Table Tennis??? Might as well throw Yahtzee and lawn darts in while you're at it.

The Olympics was a novel idea for a Grover Cleveland (second time around) America and downright riveting during the Cold War, but now it just seems like a big block party where all the neighbors either don't care about each other or don't like each other. They're there to get their wieners and chips and then go home to watch TV. I guess if you're from Bulgaria beating out America or China or anyone for that matter is a big deal, but the Olympics hold our national imagination about as much as a PBS special on the history of grass (the lawn kind) in Poland. And why should it? The American "Dream Team" in basketball is more fun to watch because they're self-destructing and that's pretty much it. There is no great rivalry anymore and it consists of a bunch of second-tier sports when baseball season is in full swing and NFL preseason is starting. Not a tough choice--watch Pujols beat the living behoolies out of a baseball, a bunch of third string NFLers crunch it out for playing time or watch the international amateur handball finals?

I don't mind funding it. I'm not against having it. But seriously, do they expect me to care just because there's an American rowing team?

-Joe