I headed out to see The Rural Alberta Advantage *twice* today. The first time at an in-store at the Fetus, and the second at their sold-out show at the Cedar. They were fantastic, as usual. I have complete drummer envy -- the guy was amazing. These guys had one of my favorite albums of 2009 (thanks to the suggestion that I check them out from my buddy Stacy).If you want to see more shots from the show(s), you can check them out here. At the end of the concert tonight, they walked out into the middle of the crowd and did a beautiful acoustic song. They said they had never done that in a place as big as the Cedar before, and damn you could have heard a pin drop. It was awesome. You can see it in the last shot in the set of photos that I linked to.

I caught the Romantica show at the Fetus tonight after work. I had never seen them before, and I thought they sounded pretty good. Mr. Plesser would really like them (a little more country than I usually go for). And I love their new album title, "Control Alt-Country Delete."

I took a lunch break today to run a few errands, and I had to stop and shoot down from the skyway. I loved the light and the reflections on the pavement (which you can finally see because the snow melted back a bit!). Our street at the house is still completely covered, but hopefully by the end of the week I'll see some pavement again.

Tonight Nyberg and I hit up Anchor Fish and Chips in Northeast for our monthly dinner. The food was great, but these mushy peas that I have pictured above were like Nectar Of The Gods. I mean, who would have ever thought *peas* could be this delicious? I realize they are covered in butter, but still. Amazing. Also, they are called "mushy peas" on the menu. I did not coin that name.Overall, I really liked the place. Great atmosphere, fun location and delicious food. But I should warn you that it was packed when we arrived at 6:15, and still packed when we left at 8:15. So be prepared to wait. And get the peas.

 These lovely tulips were on Courtnay's desk today at the office. I thought they were a great taste of spring. It's gonna be a long time before we see these babies sproutin' outta the ground around here.

I flew back to Minneapolis tonight just in time for Jamie and I to head over to the Jeremy Messersmith show at The Cake Shop. Do you know this was my first concert of the year? And what a great way to start. My favorite part by far was Messersmith's cover of Snoop's "Murder Was the Case." Yeah. You read that right.But this show was even more significant in that while waiting for my flight back home, my Dad revealed that he has never been to a concert before. Never. Ever. Can you believe that? I couldn't. So my mom was asking him for his favorite artists (because she's trying to get him to take her to Willie Nelson next month) and he said George Jones was his favorite and he might like to see him perform. And you know what? Messersmith covered a George Jones song tonight as well! It's funny how life comes full circle sometimes. And by the way, I can't think of too many artists that would cover George Jones, Elliott Smith and Snoop Dogg all in one night. But I guess that's the beauty of these intimate shows. All kinds of wonderful surprises.

We went to Eastborough Pond today -- which used to be a lovely little natural pond that I would shoot at when I was in high school. Since then, they have built up a bunch of rock walls and paths around it and added an island to the middle, which was pretty disappointing. But it was *covered* in ducks today. I guess this is where they all fly south to. And apparently the kids still feed them all, as when I walked up to them, they barely flinched.

Today I made it back to Wichita to celebrate both my dad and my grandmother's birthday. In the middle is Mimi, who turns 89 this week. I think I must have gotten a lot of my personal taste from her gene pool. We both love music, wine, college basketball, and as I learned tonight after a glass of Sherry, we both share a soft spot for Jewish men. She is quite a firecracker. And she's very patient about having her photo taken. To the left of Mimi is my wonderful Aunt, and to the right is my Dad.