ok, read it & weep: Road Atlas, another in a series of wal-mart stories, not trying to rake the dub or anything, just getting some ideas down on paper. let me know what you think.

i'm not sure i'm getting a lot of business here on the web, but that's ok...it's a good place to store them, and dredge them out to work on them occasionally, if i ever get time.

had an experience last week, when someone stole my blue sticker, and sent me into a short investigation of the entire parking situation on a large midwestern campus. blue is one of the preferred, the faculty sticker- maybe someone thought a guy with a 68 ford truck would have more of a sense of humor. well, now that they charged me $5 and a couple hours of my time, i have less of that. and the stories i heard will go well in my novel, if i never get that $5 back. they might be sorry they didn't dredge up an abe to hand over to me on the spot. after all, they'd caught the guy right away; i'm sure he paid that & more in fines and towing, i'm sure they had the money.

had another experience, actually visiting my son in the dorms of the univ. of kansas, over the computer i-chat, listening to his friends talk, play bass guitar, kibbitz on the online bog game, which we did ok on. the interesting thing about i-chat is the feeling that you don't have to speak into a mic- you're right there, you just talk. sounds better even than the cell.

and now, horrendous news out of virginia tech, and i can only think, what brings out another day, what gives me a right to see another one, when all those others can't? it is, maybe, that my daughter is coming, and that will be something, big news in a small world. try not to think of the scary stuff, i'd like to tell the 5-yr.-old, who got a run on fear from watching a tornado shelter go in, and still hasn't gotten over it. to the 14-yr-old i'll say, check the standings. both the indians and mariners are in first, though it may be temporary, so is life, all of it, april in particular. read the story.