Winter arrives/NIN

It's a frigid Sunday morning here in Missoula with the mercury currently at -4. We fortunately ducked the worst of the weekend blizzard and only got a few inches of the white stuff. As I look out the window, Mt. Jumbo has a nice thin blanket of snow on it. I must say it looks much better than the drab brown color we've been looking at. The pugs aren't impressed by this weather and they are in snuggle mode until further notice :-)

Well the semester has officially drawn to a close but it's not over for me yet. I had to postpone two of my exams until early January because of the pain my kidneys have recently been dishing out. Speaking of my kidneys, they are scheduled to be blasted with shock waves on December 19th. Not my idea of a fun at Christmas but it needs to be handled. Hopefully the procedure will break up my stones on the first attempt and we won't be looking at doing this a second time.

Winter break will be nice but I won't be idle for too long. Starting on January 5th, I'll be taking an online Photoshop course and I figured this would be a great way to pick up some fast credits. The course only lasts for two weeks and it should be helpful in my journalistic pursuits. I really don't have any other plans for break besides catching up on my Netflix.

I caught the Nine Inch Nails show as they made a stop in Missoula last Tuesday. They are much harder and intense than the music I usually listen but I thought they put on a great show. Reznor's vocals were awesome and his musical prowess on a variety of instruments was amazing. I really liked when Trent played an enormous xylophone. Very cool! I've attached a clip of one of my favorites from that night.

That's all for this update but I'll be back after my surgery on Friday. I'll have a little announcement to share when I come back with my next update. Take care until then...Mark

Oh by the way, the UM Grizzlies will be playing for the NCAA Div. I-AA football championship on Friday (12/19) night. You can catch the game from Chattanooga TN on ESPN2. Game time is at 8 p.m. Eastern.