I mentioned that whole “I’m sorry” thing, right?

Okay, a LITTLE overdue. Afraid I kind of disappeared there for…uh…a few months. Life goes that way. A lot’s happened. Sorry to leave you all hanging on the van tale. If there’s anyone actually still reading this thing, I figured I’d better get back to the story. Finally.

So back to the van trip adventure. When we last left off, it was Saturday, and I had left the old van behind at my friend Chris’s house, spent a little time at the party there saying good-bye to friends, and then headed back home to pack for the big two-week Southern Cali trip. Got the big Mom assist on that as she was in town for the journey, and that saved me, like, literally hours of time. Huge help. Got it all together, Mom crashed on my couch, and we got some sleep before the big day.

We got up, I went through my extensive checklist (I’ve never left home for two weeks before, I don’t think. 10 days was my limit before that), shutting off the computers, making sure the mail service was stopped, etc, etc. We loaded up in her rental car and hit the airport. We got there nice and early, though normally it’s a pretty quick procedure getting me through. There’s the special wheelchair handling thing at security where you get to go past everyone else, though you do get the obligatory pat-down stuff since you don’t get to go through the metal detectors. Well, this time around, turns out I was a security risk. I forgot about that…I had a one-way ticket, as I’d be driving back home. So it took some extra time while they went through my bags, and all the stuff in my bags. I never mind it. I don’t know why people get so pushed out of shape. It’s the age we’re living in, folks. Nothing’s going to change by you getting testy about it. And, like I said, we were there early. So I just let them do their thing, and we got on our flight to Burbank.

Nice memories flying back into Burbank. I had been to that airport just less than a year before, when I flew to the world premiere of “Serenity” in Hollywood, and got to see the film with the cast, the director, go to the after-party, etc. One of my favorite nights of my life, so good getting to flash back on that. The only rental car they had left for us was a P.T. Cruiser. I don’t think anyone actually OWNS one of those things. Seems like they’re only used as rental cars. Anyway, we got our stuff and loaded up (and, I would only realize later, totally forgot one of my bags in the confusion…), and headed into Burbank to visit some very special folks.

As Mom was coming with me for the night and we didn’t actually have plans until the next day at the shop, we had some time open in the evening, and Mom had been talking to some relatives I’d never met before (who happen to live in Burbank). These are relatives of my step-father, Jack…his Aunt Audrey, his cousin Leni, and Leni’s husband Bob. They all share a house there in Burbank (Aunt Audrey’s getting along in years so they all live together), and when they heard we were coming, and knowing that they live right by the airport we’d be landing at, they asked if we could meet up with them and grab some dinner. Mom had mentioned this to me, and I’d been hearing about these folks for years and had never gotten to meet them, so sounded like a great idea to me. Didn’t have to do anything that night but check in to my hotel, and hey…I was on VACATION after all, a fact that still hadn’t quite sunk in after the nightmare couple of months I’d just had.

So, only getting lost once, we found their house. I got to meet Leni and Bob, finally, but unfortunately didn’t get to meet Aunt Audrey as their house is a bit on the wheelchair-challenged side (steps and such). So we all loaded up and headed to downtown Burbank, and they had chosen to take us to the Burbank Bar & Grille, a local Burbank hotspot and a place they seemed to be regulars. Very cool and fun place. Live music every night, but we were there a little too early for that. So we ordered food and drinks (I got the Caesar salad with chicken…I KNOW you were dying to know…), and I got a chance to finally to know these wonderful folks after so many years of tales about them. How many chances to you get, at 37, to meet relatives for the first time? Had a great meal and a great time.

And then they hit me with something. They handed me an envelope. They had heard about the van quest, and had been directed to the web page and had read everything. And it turns out they wanted to help out. There were two checks in there…one from Leni and Bob, one from Audrey. And all involved were way, way too generous. I was—and not for the first time in the past month—speechless. These people, though related by marriage to me, had never even met me. And here they were making this amazing gesture. As I said…wonderful people. I had definitely waited too many years to finally make their acquaintance.

They also had an invitation for us. They had tickets that night to go to a symphony concert at the Ford Amphitheatre in Hollywood, a great smaller venue across the freeway from the Hollywood Bowl. The Los Angeles Jewish Symphony was doing a performance, with special guests in from Israel. While I was tired, I admit, from the trying week I’d just had (the trying month, for crying out loud), and had to get up early the next morning, I couldn’t think of a better way to start off the vacation—after so much non-stop stress for so long—than an evening of music in an open-air theater on such a beautiful summer night. We were in.

We went back to their house and left our rental car and took their van on a nice scenic drive through Burbank and Hollywood, driving by all the major studios and seeing popular landmarks. And then we took the very narrow windy driveway (had to deal with an oncoming truck at one point without there being room for both of us) up to the entrance to the Ford. Most people have to park down at the bottom, and while there is handicapped parking up top, it was already full by the time we got there, so Bob was just going to drop us off. So much of the goings-on up there before things started were symphony performers getting themselves ready for the big performance, just behind the fence that we waited by. Reminded me a little bit of my high school days in the choir, and the band and choir trips we took and performances we did. Except, of course, that they’re actually professionals and we were just high school kids. And I couldn’t even sing, for that matter. You didn’t have to try out for our choir, as it was such a small school, so I just got into it so I could lip synch and go on the trips. Don’t tell Mr. Thornton (sshhh!).


Bob, me and Leni at the Ford for a night of music

Their wheelchair seating area was perfect, up in the back above the other rows of seats, which works great in a smaller venue. And what a great venue, too. There’s the stage, but no wall behind it, just a lush, green hill with lots of trees and foliage, and beautiful stone stairways winding up it. It was still daylight when we got there, but, as Bob pointed out to me, as the sun goes down behind those trees it makes for an even more impressive sight, and he was right. It was a full house for the performance, and a wonderfully Southern-Cal mix of formal and casual. And, as I said, the weather was just perfect for it. I really, really needed that more than I realized. Just to stop running around, stop rushing, stop moving, stop worrying…just sit back in a peaceful place and listen to music for a while and not worry about anything else. Precisely what the hypothetical doctor ordered.

And what a performance. The Symphony was conducted by Dr. Noreen Green, who broke up the selections with fascinating historical details. The Symphony itself was wonderful. The first half was more traditional, much more what you’d expect. But the second half got unexpectedly insane thanks to the addition of Israeli solo percussionist Chen Zimbalista. This ridiculously manic, charismatic and supremely talented performer lit the place up with his one-man-band artistry, playing on the marimba, vibraphone, drums, symbols, and just about anything else he could get his hands on. If anyone had been dozing off from too many strings and horns, he definitely woke them all up. I’d never quite seen anything like him (guess I haven’t been to Tel-Aviv lately…). Another big visitor was Alon Reuven, also in from Israel, a world-renowned French horn soloist. Hey, I admit, I don’t know much about the French horn, but I know talent when I hear it. All in all, a fantastic cultural experience, and a much-needed break for my claim-locked brain.

We went back to Leni and Bob’s and got our Cruiser and said our good-byes, and I thanked them (certainly not enough) for a wonderful evening and for their amazing generosity in helping out with the van fund. My grandmother certainly appreciates it. Yet another of the reminders I’ve had through this thing of how many amazing people I have in my life—even the ones I’ve never met before. I’m sure our first meeting will certainly not be our last. Thank you, again, Leni, Bob, and Audrey, for doing what you did. It meant much more than I can say here. You guys are the greatest.

Mom and I then took off from their place to find our way to Van Nuys somewhere near midnight, I think. And yeah, we managed to get lost. So here we find ourselves late on a Sunday night, driving around a bad L.A. neighborhood, in a vehicle that just screams “I’m a rental car! Jack me!”, with the dome light on and looking at a map. NICE and safe. Eventually we found our way to my hotel in Van Nuys…the Airtel Plaza Hotel right next to the Van Nuys Airport. No, we didn’t fly into that airport, because it’s a business airport that only does smaller jets. The hotel is practically on airport property, so lots of business commuters, as you can imagine. Not only is it a very nice hotel with a great restaurant in it, an awesome lounge, and plenty of amenities, but it’s also a mere three blocks away from Driving Systems, Inc…the place I’d be spending the next few days of my life, and the place where my van was parked and waiting even then.

And it was only after we checked in that we realized we’d gone and left one of my bags on the carousel (what can I say? I’m not used to traveling with so many bags. I’m usually more of a carry-on guy). Mom, of course, wanted to head back into the night and got get it, but I talked her into waiting until morning. She’d have a little time to do that before our big appointment. The next morning, you see, was to be our first chance to actually see the blue-flaming van in person (and the whole reason my mother came along, to be there for that moment), and for me to start all the preparations to get it customized to me. Which would then, if all went as planned, lead to me buying the thing and driving it away by the end of the week.

However, as seems to be usual with my life, the Monday didn’t QUITE go as planned…

But that’s a story for next time. Stay tuned.

Michael
Waitress I believe I ordered the Van Page

You know, it’s starting to feel like my whole life is one big apology, I swear. But (yet another) one is definitely owed here. Sorry, everyone, for the big break in updates here. When I got home from L.A. I promised some blogging on all the events of the trip. That WAS the plan. However, I had gotten back to my life. And my life is complicated. Just as an example…I was at the office for 15 hours yesterday. Yes, that’s 15 HOURS. For those of you who work 8-hour jobs, imagine just shy of two of your work days, but doing them in one day. Yeah. That’s my job. So not just the job fun, but now a major deadline to take an exam at the end of the month for a license I need from work (something I’ve been putting off too long because of all the van madness, etc., but no longer can), so between that and everything else, I am pretty much booked every minute of the day through September. Excuse me, waitress? I think there’s been a mistake. I believed I ordered the LIFE.

ANYway, that’s just some of why I haven’t been able to get on here and get this all updated. Something else always manages to get in the way (and it’s rarely sleep). So I’ve been leaving everyone hanging, and again, I’m sorry. I know people have been checking back in and wondering what’s up. So I at least want to jump in here (got a little time here at about 1:00am to do so…) and at least start breaking down some of the news of what happened with the whole van thing!

So let’s start this day by day, and I’ll start with the Saturday before the L.A. trip.

So when I last updated you, I had done the Channel 3 thing with Tom Duhain on Friday night. And I also mentioned that my Mom was in town. Well, the L.A. thing had come together nice and fast, and I was needing to fly down to L.A. that Sunday. And you remember that blog I had written about what a pain flying was for me? I was just being informational there. I had neglected to remember that my Mom would be reading it. And now Mom didn’t want me flying alone to L.A. Moms…what’re you doing to do, right? That was part of it…but the other part was that Mom really wanted to be there to see the new van on the first day I got there, to be a part of it with me after this long journey. So she would be flying down for just one day. She’d fly down with me Sunday, stay there at my hotel Sunday night in Van Nuys, go with me to the first day at the van shop on Monday, and then go hop her plane back to Washington. And the other big bonus of having Mom come into town to travel with me was her being there to do my laundry, do some running around for me, and help me pack. Score! With the schedule I had the week before this, I had NO time for any of this stuff, so that was a huge time savings in the making.

Now, as I said, I was getting the new van. That still left me with the old van, and the question of, all of a sudden, what to do with it. I live in an apartment complex, so there was no space to leave it here. But my friend Chris stepped in for the assist on that one. He offered to let me store it for the time being behind his house, where he has about ¼ acre of lane. Awesome. And it also turned out that Chris was throwing a party there on that Saturday night before I left. And a number of friends of mine who hadn’t seen me in quite some time (thanks to my life being what it is) who had been a big part of the van funs wanted a chance to say goodbye before I took off to pick it up, and were going to be there. So this was my last chance to drop of the van before leaving town, and a must-go to see all these folks, so party it was, though I wasn’t going to be able to be there long.


Chris and me, party-style

I was headed over the party, and was coming up on my right turn to get to Chris’s house, when I noticed, out of the corner of my eye, a van shadowing me on the left. I also started hearing a horn honking, and could make out someone waving in the passenger window. Well, unfortunately, thanks to my physical condition, I can’t really turn my head, and thanks to the old van, wouldn’t have been able to roll down the window anyway to see what was up. Was it someone I knew, headed for the party, too? I didn’t know. But my turn was upon me, so I had to take it. I did, and the van kept going.

I took a couple of turns and pulled up to Chris’s house, where he and a couple of friends of mine were already waiting (I wanted to get there a little earlier to be able to pull the van behind his house without a party full of people in the way). Chris guided me in and opened the gate to the back property, and I pulled my old van across the grass back there and pulled to a stop next to the back fence. I shut it off, and I realized I was probably doing that for the last time in a long time, if not the final time. That was a big moment. I got some of my stuff together and went down the loud and clanky lift out the back, really feeling the weight of the finality of it all, that I was really saying good-bye to the old van. A reminder that it was really happening. A chapter was closing.

As I closed it up, Chris came walking up, and he said that there were some people outside to see me. Chris assisted me across the field back toward his back yard area where the party would be happening, and there waited a couple of folks I had never seen before. Well, turns out they had seen me. On Channel 3, the night before. These nice folks had seen the news story, and it turned out they knew someone who was selling a wheelchair-equipped van, and for cheap. Having seen the story, they wanted to get the information on the van for sale to me…and lo and behold, they’re driving down the road, and there I was! So they hunted me down to Chris’s house to give me the info. What a great couple of people! The problem was, the van they were talking about was selling for $5,000. Well, I can tell you now, if it’s the van I need with the Scott system in it, it is NOT going to sell for $5,000. I was trying to kindly explain this to them, but they were convinced this was exactly the one I needed, and I felt so bad that were so wanting to make this happen, and were sure this was meant to be! I ended up taking the phone number from them and thanking them, and I SWEAR, I was going to call this guy the next morning before I left for L.A., JUST to be sure, or at least to make the effort after their really gracious gesture. But I somehow managed to lose the number somewhere between taking it from them and getting home. Something else I felt really bad about. I looked everywhere, but was never able to track it down again. But that was my first evidence that the Channel 3 thing had really made a difference and was seen by a lot of people. The donations that followed afterward would really cement that.

The party itself was at the home of Chris and his roomie Stephanie. It had been put together a while back by Chris and my pal A.T. My friends Barrie and Jessica were already there (early birds, worms, all that). Others began to show. Rich (my ride home, as I would now need one since I was officially without a vehicle) made his way in. You may remember Rich from the whole Channel 31/Channel 13 thing. A.T. showed up, co-host with the most. Tim (who you may know best as the artist of the world-famous comic “The Nice Guy” (which I think…yes, as a matter of fact, I DO write that one…)) showed up as well, who raised a lot of van money through the Nice Guy art auctions. One of my old high school pals, Chris K., made it home from a day on the river in time to make the party. While Darcy and James would both eventually show, Darcy showed up first, and I would end up having to leave before James made it. Our main grill man Ken showed up to work the BBQ, as always. And JUST before I left, my old friend Jon showed. Most of the gang was in attendance. And it seemed that most of the other folks there that I didn’t know already seemed to know me from the van page. Yes, my friends had gotten the word around.


The old high school boys: Chris, Rich, Tim and me

As I said, wasn’t able to stay too long, but long enough to say same hellos to everyone, hang out for a while, talk about the upcoming van trip, have a great time. It was the perfect way to celebrate the last night in Sacramento before the big adventure began. But soon enough it was time to say good-bye and take off. I went out to the van with a box and cleared out the last of my stuff (stuff that tends to pile up over the years, you know) and locked it up. Had to take a few parting photos of the van. For all the trouble it had given me the past few years, it had been my transportation for nearly fifteen years. It had given me freedom, let me move out on my own, gotten me to work, gotten me to all kinds of places and into all kinds of adventures. And now our time together was finally over. Excited as I was to be moving on to the new wheels, it was actually kind of sad saying good-bye to the old.


Me and Darcy. Where the heck is James?

So Rich and I headed out, as I needed to get back home and he needed to get back to work. In my hurry to get out, I passed a girl coming into the party, one wearing a cowboy hat, that I didn’t take much notice of. It wasn’t until Rich dropped me off at home that it occurred to me I had recently seen a photo of a girl in a cowboy hat…my old friend Kim! Kim and I haven’t seen each other since about the mid-90s, but had recently found each other again on MySpace. We’ve been trying to get together to catch up, but my schedule was rough enough before the van fundraiser started. And now here I was right NEXT to the girl and went right by her! I called A.T. on his cell back at the party to find out if that was, in fact, Kim…and it turns out it was, as A.T. saw my number and just handed his phone to her, and she answered. Oops! So still trying to hook up with Kim. One of these days!


Say good-bye to the old van. Rest in peace.

So I got back to packing and getting all the many pre-trip things together. You’d be amazed how many things you have to keep track of and attend to when you’re leaving home for two weeks! But leaving I was…and headed for the big goal, at last.

Next time…the L.A. adventure begins, starting with a night in Hollywood, a big surprise, a symphony concert, a dangerous late-night drive through a questionable part of L.A., and more! Stay tuned for this and more news!

Take me to the SO frequently-updated Van Page

Sorry, first of all, that there's been a break in updating you all here. Really, really, really bad week...way too busy, way too many hours at work (did I mention that Monday I was at the office for 14 1/2 hours?), and in the middle of it, realized I'd let my driver's license expire (oops...never got a notice from DMV because I never got around to updating my address with them after I moved back to Sac. My bad...) and had to go in and take the written test to get legal again...which meant studying that driver's handbook we all love so, which took more time I didn't have. No time for much of anything. Oh, didn't sleep at all Thursday night, which meant by the time I got to sleep last night, I'd been awake for about 42 hours. I can't believe I actually got eight whole hours of sleep last night! I can't remember the last time I did that! So feelin' pretty good because of that this morning.

And also feeling good because the media news I've been teasing you with lately did, in fact, come together (and rather quickly). Sorry I wasn't able to let you all know in advance, but it really happened last-minute. Let me tell you about it...

So first off, this all started after I had the van page running for a little while. You may have checked out my Guest Book on here. Well, one night I got a private posting on there from Tom DuHain with KCRA News. Most people who live in Sac know who Tom is. He's been with Channel 3 news since the late 1960s, and is a very well-known face around here for all his reports. Tom, it turns out, had gotten the link to my page (unfortunately, he can't now clearly remember from who, but if I'm remembering right, I think Victoria told me her mom had emailed Channel 3...so if that's the case, Victoria's mom rocks, and made this all happen!), and checked it out, and immediately told me he wanted to do a feature story on this. Sweet! He left me his e-mail address and phone number to talk about it, and we swapped messages for a while, talking about the details, etc. This is definitely something he wanted to do, but this is the news business, and there's a LOT of news that's got to be covered, so it was understood from the start that it may take a while.



It was June 10th when Tom first contacted me, but since it was all still pretty up in the air, I didn't want to talk about any of the details of it on here. In the meantime, Channel 31 and Channel 13 wanted to do the story, so I let Tom know this to make sure that wasn't going to be any kind of problem (and he let me know it wouldn't). So Tom kept working it, and pitching and pushing the story there at KCRA, and trying to work in some scheduling for it.



Looked like it was going to go down last week. I got a call from Tom on my cell on Thursday (6/29), wanted to see if I was open that night, as he wanted to come out with a cameraman and do the story at my home. Looked like it was going to happen, but on my way home, got a follow-up call from him, apologizing, as just after that, breaking news had gotten in the way. So we got bumped. He wanted to try again for the next night, Friday night, but I didn't figure that was going to happen...Friday night before a holiday weekend, all kinds of stories on drinking and driving and firework safety and all that? Was great of him to try, but as I figured, we didn't have any luck that night.

So there I was frantically working at my desk yesterday afternoon...going on no sleep...and trying to figure out when I was going to get out of there to go meet my grandmother, aunt and uncle for dinner after work. And the cell rang, and there was Tom again, and it looked like it was finally going to happen. He again made sure to remind me about the breaking news possibility, but so far it was looking good. So, as we'd arranged the week before, we planned to meet up at my place around 6:30pm. Which would mean me leaving the office by 5:30pm, something I haven't done in a while (and I'd been there since 5:30am that day), so hey...bonus.

And I had to call my grandmother, as we were planning on meeting at a restaurant by my work, and tell her about the interesting change of plans. So she--and my aunt Kathy and uncle Stan--would just meet me at my place, hang out for the TV thing, and we'd head out to eat after that. So I thought that worked out pretty cool that they'd be able to be there for the excitement.

So of course my last call of the day was a woman who refused to let me off the phone, refused to accept my offer, argued every point, refused to release her vehicle, etc. Wish I was one of those kind of claim reps that could just tell people no and hang up on them, but anyone who knows or works with me knows that that isn't how I roll. Don't want to blow my secret identity here, but I am actually Captain Customer Service. So I finally rushed out of there and drove home really fast, or as fast as traffic would let me...in the middle of the afternoon heat with (you may recall) no air conditioning and windows that don't roll down. Was soaked in sweat by the time I got home, and had time to change my shirt real quick before my relatives showed up. And then a few minutes after that, there was Tom DuHain and cameraman Gary knocking at my door.

Tom, in case you didn't know, is an awesome guy, and really great for doing this. They got me mic'd up in record time and talked about how they wanted to do it. We started with a walking interview through my complex (thankfully there was a lot of shade to work with), with my rolling along and Tom walking with me. We worked our way over to the van and did some shots of me working it and talking about it. And, true to form, the wheelchair lift managed to screw up when I was trying to bring it down for them (hey, good timing for once...). Meanwhile a few neighbors of mine were looking on, probably wondering what the heck was going on and what Tom DuHain was doing in the parking lot. It was great watching Tom and Gary work, seeing professionals doing their thing. Tom was asking me questions and taking notes between shots, getting all the info. So we did the interview, and got our final shot with Tom doing his closing (with me rolling by in the background) in front of my apartment. And with that, it was done, and Tom and Gary had to head back and get the story put together before the 11:00 news. Well, technically, before the 10:00 news. Turns out this was going to be on both Channels 58 (10:00) AND Channel 3, as they have that kind of setup between them. Double coverage. Score!



So headed off for dinner with the family at Brookfields and got through that pretty quickly so we could all get to our homes before the news came on. I headed back and started working the phone to make sure people knew it was coming on (as I said...pretty last-minute stuff!). And all the while I was trying to stay awake. So I was on the phone with my sister during the 10:00 hour to try and help with that when I saw the story come on 58. No breaking news! Sweet! And though I wasn't sure I'd be able to, I stayed up for the 11:00 report on Channel 3 to make sure it made it on there, too. And it did. Mission accomplished.

In case I didn't mention, Channel 3 is far and away the biggest news station in Northern Cal, and reaches a number of cities. I've had a relationship with them for a few years, actually. They're also the station that runs the MDA Telethon every year, and I spent a lot of my childhood years down on their live telethon broadcast at one of our malls here in town. It used to be Channel 3's anchorman Stan Atkinson running that (who's since retired), and I was always impressed that Stan remembered my name every year. So here I am, all these years later, back on a KCRA broadcast...

Oops, I now I have to cut this short and run! My mother just got into town and arrived from the airport! Just wanted to squeeze this in and catch you all up on the exciting news (and exciting new total) while I could. And I wanted to say a big public thanks to Tom for his interest in my story and for not letting it go, and pushing it through to make it happen. Really, really appreciate it, Tom. And it's already making a difference. Always been a fan, but I'm an even bigger one now. And thanks, Channel 3 and Channel 58 for hooking me up and spreading the word! Not only did they do the story, but have a link to my site up on their site:

KCRA Channel 3

(Scroll down and look for "Daily News Extras" on the left).

And quick thanks here to Craig (you're the Rocket Man, dude), to Mary, to Stan and Kathy for your generosity and for being there for me my whole life, and to all the KCRA viewers who've starting jumping in last night and this morning...I wish I had time to thank you all individually! Thank you, thank you. And thank you, Shelly, for stepping up and spreading the word. That's the best thing I can ask for. Great to have you on board.

Got to run. My Mom says hi. More news soon!

Michael

Van page...getcher van page here...

Doesn't really feel like a holiday weekend when you don't get the Monday off, does it? I think we need to change the holiday to "The 3rd of July" . At least for this year...

Sorry I'm a little late getting something up here. It's been a very, very busy weekend (and a lot of it at work). Work has become even more of a nightmare. Taking up a lot of time. Which is why I'm going to be back there before the sun comes up today.

The new media thing didn't come together, or you would have heard about it. Still a possibility it might happen, so I'll keep it on the low-low for now. Still trying to work some other angles, but not a whole lot of time to do so. Picked a bad time to get into this, but hey...didn't really pick the time. Just happened, got to roll with it.

So to get back to it, and get to the office, but wanted to pop on the new total (passed the $14k mark!), and says some thanks to Rashelle (from that un-named company), to James (again!), to Tom (thanks, Mr. President) and to Jeffrey. Much appreciated, everyone one.

Hope everyone had a great (sort of) holiday weekend. Hope some of you work for companies that let you off on Monday, you lucky dogs...

Michael

If I were a van page...

Well, ALMOST had news tonight...but it came apart at the last minute. But still may be happening tomorrow. So I'll have to let you know on that. Stay tuned.

But due to that, ended up coming home early, which I TOTALLY didn't need to do, work-wise. So crashing really early to try to get up extra early to get in and try to make up for some of the loss. So off to do it! More tomorrow, I hope!

And thanks, tonight, to my fairy godmother. Funny, I didn't even know I had one...

Good (early) night!

Michael

Go to the van page but keep it down...I'm snoozing...