JANESVILLE, Wis. -- I'm in the Hedberg Public Library printing some documents out. During the next few days, I'm going to be driving around the Midwest checking some things out.

There's a saying that you can't go home again, and that's true to some extent. Although things change, there's new experiences to be had. The last week with the family was a total blast -- my sisters are growing up so quickly and I was glad to see some portion of their lives.

I can't believe that they replaced the stadium turf at Poway High School with Astroturf. It's so green and springy and fake. I guess I liked marching and running on good ol' fashioned grass.

The UCSD Pep Band has changed a bit too. Most of the familiar faces I remember have moved on with young sprites taking their places. Still the band has the same ol' spirit that I'm used to. Bowling was fun too, especially once I figured out how to bowl the Mira Mesa Lanes. So sorry about the recommendation to eat at the 'bertos knock-off on the corner though.

Heading to Kenosha, Wis. on Saturday, I got to meet Olivia and her family. Olivia's taking a new job in Connecticut and it may be one of the last times I get to see her for a while. Her family is extremely personable and polite although the conversation drifted toward politics more than a few times (BTW, be sure to vote "No" on the casino. ;) )

Wisconsin in the fall is a beautiful sight with all the corn fields drying out and getting ready to be harvested for feed. One enterprising farmer has a "Bush vs. Kerry" corn field maze. Too bad I didn't have time to stop -- I bet it would've been interesting.

Time to hit the road again. Ciao.