Tales from the Commonwealth
Quite a busy month for me here. In early August, I was commuting daily to Richmond to do some training and problem resolution for my company's office there. I ran out of gas in the middle of nowhere (Louisa county) on the way to work one morning and found myself completely reliant upon the kindness of strangers. A kind elderly man gave me five gallons of gas and directions to the nearest gas station, so I filled his gas can for him and thanked him profusely.

I drove the 25 hour marathon to Colorado to see my cousin Jerry and his family. I still bear the scars from his cat using me as a chew toy. We took in a Marlins-Rockies game (don't ask, I'm still screaming at the Marlins for blowing a 5-0 lead). It was bucket hat night, so we all got bright gold Jose Cuervo bucket hats. My friend Rob hung out with us for several days helping Jerry and me prepare the greatest meal ever cooked. We started with salmon filets. I hand squeezed lemons over each one which Rob proceeded to butter and season. Jerry grilled it up, adding shish-ke-bob potatoes and onions. Add the shrimp cocktail and pumpernickel loaf, and you can see why just the mention of the word salmon gets us going. I nearly ran out of gas several times on the way home, but thanks to God and pay-at-the-pump gas stations that were closed I made it back without incident. 

Sports
I've started managing the co-rec softball team, and we had our first practice last night. Let me say I hate soccer and all the unathletic brats who play it. Why do they have to tear down softball fields for these kids to run around on? There's more than enough room to put them in a field somewhere without touching our ball fields. Besides, only women and sickly children play soccer. And golf. You know we beat Europe in two world wars because we didn't play soccer.

Hairstyles
Got bored. Shaved it. It's in a plush stage.

This month
Reading - Entertainment Weekly's Fall Movie Preview
Listening to - Time of No Reply by Nick Drake

Contact
As always, I appreciate your thoughts and comments. You can email me at Shawn@somethingmonthly.com, or you can instant message using AOL's AIM program (look for The Folklegend). Don't forget to check out Something Monthly's message board!