Quick Thoughts 7/12

• Will the Cubs fire Dusty Baker?  I, for one, would rather that he is allowed to finish up the season, and then cut ties with him.  It seems inevitable that he won’t be back next year.  He got off to such a great start in Chicago, but things have really gone sour the past couple of years.  It sounds like Greg Maddux will be traded pretty soon too.
• I picked up the new Live album, Songs from Black Mountain, this week.  They have a different, mellower sound on this album that I really like.  Throwing Copper had always been my favorite Live album, but this one is right up there with it.  If you used to like Live, but haven’t heard their newer stuff, or if you never really cared for them in the past, this might be a good album for you to check out.
• Want to go to a major city in the midwest, but don’t want to spend a lot of money?  Check out this article on Megabus.  They offer bus fares as low as $1 from Minneapolis to Chicago.  (But it looks like the normal rate is between $30 and $50 each way.)
• While perusing the Clinton Herald, my old hometown newspaper, I came across this article about the job responsibilities of a Happy Joe’s worker in Clinton.  That sounds exactly like what it was like in my days working there.  It could really get crazy-busy there on weekends in the summer...especially around the 4th of July. 
• We’re heading off for a mini-vacation this weekend at a lake in Willmar, MN.  It should be relaxing, but it’s going to be awfully hot.  They are calling for highs this weekend around 96, and the cabin doesn’t have air conditioning.  Hopefully I can catch some fish, but it might have to be an early morning adventure with temperatures that high.  The lake has quite a few walleye and northern.  I still haven’t caught a northern yet in my life, so hopefully I can accomplish that this weekend.  We’re going with some friends, and they said that you can hear the Sonshine Festival, which is also this weekend in Willmar, from the lake.  Sweet!