It's Monsoon Time!!

FINALLY after watching news reports for the past ten days about the EVIL monsoons and how they were raining watery doom upon the greater Phoenix area... FINALLY after enduring ten days of one hundred and ten degree temperatures... FINALLY tonight it is storming outside, the likes of which I haven't seen since the latest "Anderson Cooper is Here" special report on CNN. Heavy winds, heavy rain, and lots of thunder and lightning.

As soon as it hit, I went outside to help Dick shore up the house (i.e. shut all the windows), and then went out to the carport to observe the storm firsthand. The rain was falling so hard it was like there was a curtain of water falling from the front of the carport. I sequestered myself just beyond the splash zone and started shooting pictures... we'll have to wait until the storm dies down to see how they came out, as the picture transfer software is on Mom's computer, and since that's plugged into the wall, she doesn't want that on. I'm really grateful for the laptop, and I'm extremely grateful that I was able to get the sound working on the laptop, as I'm sitting in here listening to some good music while typing. I feel like a king right now.

Downloaded some music today -- picked up some Husker Du on the recommendation of a friend -- and holy cow, is it awesome. I also grabbed a Stone Roses song that I've been wanting to listen to for a while, and also an album by an Italian group called Finley. They're pretty good -- they sing in English as well as Italian. They're Italian stuff tends to be heavier and darker, and their English stuff pretty poppy. I burned a CD of them for the ride to the hospital tomorrow.

I'm starting to think -- especially after listening to the Finley -- that I should really focus on writing to my strengths, and there's probably a market out there for rock songs that are written around a bass line with piano/keyboards. Heck, I can do that.

Can't forget about the Stephen visit today -- Mom drove, so Michelle and I got to sleep during the ride up. We had a really quality visit, and the doctor says we should be able to transfer him to Tucson either Thursday or Friday, which will be great. I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but we are really looking forward to a return to normalcy, and getting back to our own house will help that out very, very much.

I'll try to get pictures of the monsoon up later... hopefully I got at least one or two that turned out OK.