Travel Review and More

Hi Kids, Well, I made it back yesterday from Tennessee and though I would enlighten you on my experiences there. Memphis: All I have to say is YIKES...not at all what I thought it would be. In my head I pictured a quaint little town with little old guys on rockers out in front of barber shops.. Elvis streaming from storefronts. Back to reality---it was a ghettofied, trash-infested, run down, icky place. Note to City Mayor and City Planner of Memphis: Suggestion: Cleaning up all the trash, building on all the empty lots, and getting down the highest murders per capita rate in the US may do wonders for your tourist situation. Oh yeah--if you could actually put a few restaurants in, that would be great too--Popeyes, Burger King and Wendy's can get a little old. On a side note: St. Jude Children's Research Center is all it is cracked up to be. The money we donate--does a lot of good. There is a ton of fine research going on at St. Jude. Nashville: Now this is definitely a place I could see spending some time. Their downtown area is super clean, safe and easy to get around. It would be a fun place to be with friends--we could head over to BB King's Blues Club, Tootsies (famous country bar), the Charlie Daniel's Museum. Not to mention, the people were super friendly and courteous. (Simple manners go a long way!! Door holding, please and thank you--all good things.) It was definitely funny being called a "Northerner" and hearing what people thought about the two wierd democratic candidates (there were a couple of comments about how this country isn't ready for a black president, nor a woman president)--I heard a drunk old guy even mention getting his gun out to shoot up all these "Northerners"...... All in all, it is good to be home. A couple more things--to the clinic in Las Vegas that was "cutting costs" by reusing syringes. YOU are the reason that the rest of the world thinks the US is a bad place. How greedy could you be? You sure as hell better have a great lawyer (and insurance) because you are so000 going down. I just realized that I have a special anniversary coming up in a couple of weeks----10 years of living in Minnesota---who would have thought? I had planned to get my Masters Degree and then head back to Arizona. I never got the masters degree (maybe some day?) Now I am married and have two kids. Funny how life has different plans for you. Life is good.