And so it begins.

My last day of work in Chicago was on Sunday. Chicago just happens to be 2 hours from Madison where some of my bestest friends reside. So I went there on Sunday night to hang out with the Fossen crew and Maggie and Jereme. The Hotel Fossen provided all the usual amenities: super tasty food, adult beverages, cute furry friends, wireless internet, laundry facilities, and of course, the best company a kid could ask for. There are lots of places on the road that feel just as good as home, but the Fossen house is the most comforting by far. Besdies, the spare bedroom there is pretty much mine, as evidenced by my award plaque that Heath hung up in there last August.

Since my employer is also based out Wisconsin, I decided I might as well pop into the office to say hey and catch up on a few things on Monday. That night the Fossens and I caught up with Maggie and Jereme over some hella good pizza. So I got a little work done and was also relieved to find that Maggie isn't holding against me the fact that I was a total asshole to her when she came down to visit me. I'm still sorry, Mags.

On Tuesday, I headed over to Milwaukee to see Railroad Earth and Yonder Mountain String Band at Summerfest. It was fun and the shows were good, but Summerfest is a pretty lame venue. I thought the sound quality was sub par and they also had these rows of metal bleachers in front of the stage that turned dancing and even just navigating the crowd into a perilous pain in the ass. I still had a good time though. You can't let stupid little stuff like that get in the way.

Wednesday was a better day, though. Some pals from work came over to go see O.A.R. It rained quite a bit before the show, but we were cool with that. We just stood under some tents and got our drink on. By the time the show started, the rain had passed and it had turned into a lovely evening for dancing with friends:



I've always liked O.A.R. despite what a lot of my friends think, but this was the first time I'd seen them live and I have to admit, I was a little disappointed. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that they also played the night before and that the venue wasn't that great, but the show wasn't as good as I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong though, it wasn't bad and we still danced all night:



Next up, crossing the big lake for a glorious reunion and four days of sweet music festival action.