A couple of other blogs

Hey! Look at this!

I wanted to link to ForkLift, the purveyor of a Cubs blog. Read here his analysis of the Derrek Lee/Hee Seop Choi trade. He comes from left field, and anybody who manages to work the phrase "Sturm and Drang" into a discussion about baseball (next post down) is alright in my book.

Also: Voluntarily in China is the blog of a Middle Tennessean who has lived in "China" for the last couple of years. He's there teaching, and had planned to stay a year. In the meantime, he's found a wife, and has ended up staying there for all this time. It's quite a good read, I thought.

The writer says he's from the "sticks of Middle Tennessee," which could be any number of locations. When I hear "the sticks of Middle Tennessee," however, I can't help but think of Cannon County. Which may be unfair. Cannon County regularly shows off its fine and wonderful arts and musical tradition. And it's fast becoming an out-of-the-way place to set up home for many who've come to Nashville to work.

But those folks seem to be far outnumbered by a number of folks who carry with them an ignorance so vast, so deep and so unrelenting, yet worn with so much self-righteous pride, that it threatens to overtake us all.

I base this on my experiences in customer service with folks from that fine county. A typical exchange:

Me: Well, sir, the couch is wet because it's raining and you didn't cover it up before you brought it to us. We can't take it.

Them: Well, it wasn't raining in Cannon County!

But I digress.