Back and blogging, Part I: The Trip

Hello there.
I'm back online, though bear with me as I catch up on everyone's e-mails and blogs. In the meantime, I present to you the first installment of what I've been up to, along with a quick anecdote from today:

So I was driving around this afternoon, flipping stations on the radio and I come across this hip-hop song, which I later find out is called "Lonely" by Akon. It's not a particularly good song, but what captivated me was that it included a chorus that sounded very much like it was sung by Alvin of Alvin and the Chipmunks. This brought to mind several questions:
1) Has Alvin decided to go solo?
2) How do Simon, Theodore and Dave feel about this?
3) Could the other two chipmunks join up the guys from NSync that Justin Timberlake left behind when he went solo? Maybe they could also join the members of Destiny's Child that Beyonce ditched. They could form a group called Can't Make It On Our Own or something like that.
4) Why would you pair a chipmunk with a hip-hop artist?
5) Then again, why not?

So anyway, the trip out to Virginia went as well as a 1,803-mile trip can go. Suffice to say I was tired of being in a car by the time I got here. And thank goodness for books on tape, or I would have driven myself insane. But I definitely recommend Bill Bryson's "I'm a Stranger Here Myself" and Alice Sebold's "The Lovely Bones."

After leaving Duluth with a heavy heart and not just a few tears, I made my first stop in Wisconsin for a fun visit with relatives I hadn't seen in years. Then I made my way down into the heartland to visit K-Mac. We hung out with her very cool, very fun RFT crew, and the next day we visited our alma mater. Our inner journalism geeks were in luck, because the judging for Pictures of the Year was going on at the time, which is a lot more interesting than it sounds. They look at all the entries for the year's best photos from around the world on a big screen and, in moments, the judges decide which ones stay for consideration to win an award and which ones are out. For spot news, they looked at more than 600 photos and whittled it down to about 40 in an hour or so. It's fascinating to see what the judges think separates an average or even good photo from a truly great one. We closed out our time in Columbia with dinner with an old friend (I ate toasted ravioli -- a treat I haven't had since college) and a quick tour of campus to see how things have changed. A fair amount has been updated but, most surprising, who would have thought the MU Student News would still be around?
Wonders never cease.

The next day, I decided to take a short detour into Metropolis, Ill., home of the Superman museum and an annual Superman festival in the summer. I suspected it would be pretty hokey and wasn't disappointed. The city's motto seems to be "Metropolis: We're Unique!"
Not exactly words to inspire you to book a vacation.
Besides the big statue of Superman in the middle of the city (but no Daily Planet -- what a wasted opportunity!), there's a museum that's basically one guy's overabundant collection of Superman-related items. There are props and costumes from the numerous TV and movie incarnations of Superman, more action figures and comic books than you would have ever thought possible (including the old comic spin-offs that focused on Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane and were HORRIBLE). But I did buy a Superman T-shirt. I'd like to say it was out of pity for the poor woman behind the counter who, I'm pretty sure, hadn't seen anyone in the place all day, but really it was because I've always wanted one. And, admittedly, I'm glad I checked the place out.

My curiosity sated, I headed through Lexington for dinner with an old college pal and on to Charleston, W.Va. The rest of the drive into Norfolk the next day was uneventful until the last 20 miles, which took an hour and a half because of accidents, construction and general traffic problems. It was excruciating -- partly because after five days I was so close to the end I could taste it, and partly because I really had to pee.

What will Brian find in Norfolk?
What if he doesn't like it?
Will the Joker's dastardly plan mean the end of the copy editing crusader?
Tune in tomorrow to find out -- same blog time, same blog channel ...