Hello. Piles of paper, empty coffee cup and mints... a view in the cube.

I got out of bed this morning, but never woke up. Was it the bourbon, the Chimay or the smoke? Hmmm? Maybe the combination. Sometimes my head just isn't big enough for all of the party favors. You know, sometimes you can drink and smoke for hours and get a good buzz. Then other times you have a couple of drinks and you're sideways. I've always credited it to the contact high you get from the people and the environment you share.

We were out last night, Hump Day, and made a run through Hysterical Fourth Street...the uh, entertainment mecca in Sioux Town. At midnight, most of the bars were closed and the ones that weren't had plenty of available seating. In the last 2 years, things have really died on Fourth Street. A couple of years ago on Wednesday night, you couldn't find a place to park, now you could park an entire fleet of cars anywhere up and down the street. I think a city needs locals with disposable cash jingling in their pockets for this type of area to work. Sioux Town obviously does not have that. I also believe that a lot of the citizens in the area would rather sit on their ass watching reality TV, than step out into the nightlife.

While we're discussing how apathetic Sioux Town is, I heard an interesting comment the other day. A friend of ours who has lived in town for over 15 years said that he didn't know many people at Saturday in the Park (the local festival that draws over 25,000 people every year). Are the majority of the 25,000 out-of-towners? When you ask people what they thought of the festival, many of them tell me they don't go. What!!! You don't go to a FREE outdoor music festival that features top national touring acts right in your backyard?

I'll never figure Sioux Town out. Why am I here? Oh yeah, the merry little band of freaks that make living here cool. Thanks, you all know who you are.