My off day was everything I hoped for. Both soccer matches were entertaining, I ate a few mangoes, I got a good (though slightly slow) run in, and I stopped by the eye doctor. (Still no proper fit but, hey, the visit was free and the doctor was friendly.) I also used a paper towel and some scrubbing bubbles to clean my K-Swisses. They look pretty hot.

No doubt, though, the highlight of the day was my maiden visit to the ring fingernail public library. Built in 1998, it is a gem. I had gone in expressly for one thing - any Haruki Murakami novel, at Gurs' recommendation - and made a cursory stop by the CD racks. Wow!

Among the things in the CD racks:
- At least three Elf Power releases
- Something by Guadalcanal Diary
- A few Public Image Limited things
- Guided by Voices releases Do the Collapse and Mag Earwhig!
- No Pavement records

Lots of impressive stuff, really, in a variety of genres.

So, I settled on three things as I browsed:
- Four Tet's Rounds
- Cee-Lo's "Cee-Lo Green and His Perfect Imperfections"
- Elf Power's Walking With the Beggar Boys

Is it good? Yup, the Four Tet is fascinating to listen to and the Elf Power record is tremendous. Or, at least, I like it as much as I liked their A Dream In Sound when I picked it up in 1999. Point is, nothing bad can come from an expansive and odd selection at the local public library, right? Free, dude, free!

I checked out Murakami's Kafka on the Shore. I cruised through the first 60 pages last night, and that's worth something. Very breezy and entertaining, it seems.

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Pitchfork published a report that Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeff Mangum is planning, maybe, on releasing music again. This would be about the greatest news ever.

It could suck, and it could not happen, and it could be a hoax, but it sure would be great to hear him wail into a microphone again. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea and On Avery Island and Jeff Mangum Live at Jittery Joe's and the 1996 Aquarius Records bootleg are almost equally amazing. Wow.

I'd settle for Jeff Mangum just yelling, I think. It'd be meaningful yelling.

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So I yelled at my boss today. He was spouting nonsense ("Major League Baseball is going to install a 21-year-old age minimum for draft picks") and I was feeling ill and had a headache and he was interrupting some work that I was doing and then he said, "The average major league baseball rookie is 29 years old," to which I said, "[Boss], you're wrong!" And then I stated facts and he stated misinformation for about five minutes, and I got all riled up. And then, like I always do after conflict, I felt shaken.

So, not because I was shaken, but because it was the right thing to do, I apologized before I left. It was good. A handshake. A statement from him to me of, "Don't worry. [Handshake] We're pals, right?" It was odd to go through but, damn, it was frustrating to have to listen to somebody be so wrong about so many things.

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Grammatical errors made in the press release I was editing when interrupted by this inanity:

Lack of subject verb agreement, in the headline
(i.e. [plural noun] "presents")
Inability to place the periods in the abbreviation "p.m."
Inability to place a comma between the day and date, on three occasions (i.e. Monday June 3, 2006)

The writer of this release is about a month of internship away from graduating college. Seems to me like she's ill-prepared for the workplace.

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I don't particularly like Tyrus Thomas, though I like him better than LaMarcus Aldridge. I like that Swiss dude, mostly because he's a Swiss black dude born in South Africa.

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Hilarious, or pathetic, or just sad back-to-back emails from my Dad from Tuesday night. (If this is deemed to be a breach of privacy, it will be removed.)

Sent: 10:41 p.m.
Subject: David's Wedding
[...drivel about flight plans and my brother's wedding. important drivel, but drivel nonetheless...]

Love, Dad............and MOM
[ed: that's his trademark]
P.S. The Cubs are going into the 9th with the lead!!!!!!!!

Sent: 10:53 p.m.
Subject: Cubs
Well, it sure didn't take long for the Cubs to blow the lead. Infield single, walk, error, error and sacrifice fly. So a 5-4 lead has quickly turned into a 7-5 deficit with only 1 out.

Love, Dad..........GO TIGERS!