Actual winter.

Drove up to Duluth yesterday to visit the folks for the weekend. Turns out winter has been hiding up north this season. It's about 17 degrees, and they have about 2 feet of snow (after most of it melted away last month). It's awesome.

Several things to discuss in this entry.

Discussion #1: Neil Diamond. He's back from the gutter, and he's brought someone with him! He released a new album "12 songs," produced by the legend Rick Rubin (see: Johnny Cash: The Man Comes Around). You can totally tell Rubin put his mark on it. Anyway, it's pretty good. Neil Diamond has a great voice, and these songs aren't as overblown and grandiose as his classic stuff.

Discussion #2: Geocaching. A new hobby. Alison bought a GPS unit off of Ebay this week, and we've started geocaching. It's a pretty big thing that' s taking place worldwide, where people hide stuff in the wilderness for other people to find. The whole family (alison, me, mom, dad, dog) went for a hike in Hartley Park, and after searching in the underbrush for awhile, mom stumbled upon an ammo box full of strange little trinkets, and a log book. I wrote in the log, and we left behind a deck of cards, and took a miniature Carolina Panthers mug. Sound stupid? Probably is...but it's kind of fun. That, and it gives purpose to your hiking. Let's hear it for technology encouraging exercise. Screw you, video games. Up yours, blogger.