Well, I made it back from France and was forced to take it easy the rest of the week to recover from jet lag. It really is tough being a graduate student :) Jeff and I went to see the Blue Man Group with some friends on Thursday then my uncle Mike (another of my Dad’s brothers) came to visit last weekend. I took him around campus on Saturday to enjoy the perfect fall weather. Fall is the best time to visit UIUC. The brilliant fall colors against all the brick buildings are amazing. The changing leaves more than make up for Illinois’ lack of topographical relief. We had a few drinks and carved pumpkins on Saturday night.

This week, my dad had his annual Railroad Environmental Conference at UIUC so he stayed with Jeff and I. I guess Illinois junk is better than West Virginia junk because my Dad has a knack for finding some strange item to buy and take home when he visits. The first year he came for his conference, he bought an apple press. I had a wisdom tooth pulled and had come home with my mouth stuffed with bloody gauze. My dad’s way of comforting me was to drag me to an old farmer’s junk barn in the middle of nowhere to check out a cider press he’d found advertised in the newspaper. I guess my mom never taught my dad the art of baby-ing children. Although I do at least get many gallons of yummy apple cider every year.

The most recent junk find is by far the best one yet. Today, my dad bought a 1950 Ford F1 pickup truck to restore. Its a pretty cool truck so I’m excited to see how his restoration progresses but I think this is another step closer to retirement (1) get your AARP card (2) get the old man reading glasses (3) start collecting projects to fill your time.........

Guess who's pumpkin in who's. I think Mike might have read too many Martha Stewart magazines. Unfortunately, the evil squirrels are slowly eating the faces off the jack-o-lanterns.