As a writer, things happen, occasionally, that simply compel me to write. Events transpire, and no other way of dealing with it is possible -- except to write.

When I woke up on Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, I remember the events meant something to me immediately because I'm from New Jersey, and I remember driving down hills in nearby towns and seeing the Twin Towers. I wondered if it would mean something to others who were not from the area. I did not have the foresight to recognize the sheer magnitude of the events.

Obviously, I couldn't have been more wrong. It was a worldwide impact felt in places I did not know to exist. I do not dare compare Sept. 11 to the events yesterday; it was simply a way of explaining my feelings.

I woke up and saw the news of the events at Virginia Tech. At first, it was one person reported dead and one other person reported injured in a shooting at a dorm on Virginia Tech's campus. As someone who is not a student of VT, my immediate concern was for Carolyn. Once we found out she was OK -- I don't want to say I stopped caring, but the immediacy of the tragedy was lifted from my shoulders.

Then the day progressed. The number grew from one dead to 11 dead. Then to 20 dead, and, ultimately, to 33 dead. When a death toll rises as high as it did Monday, it's hard to comprehend. It's hard to grasp the scope of the effects.

It wasn't too long before Anne and I found out people whom Carolyn knew personally were among those lost. When such an immense tragedy -- the worst mass shooting in U.S. history -- becomes personal, it's hard to know how to act. And it wasn't even really personal for us, not like it is for Carolyn and her many classmates and friends. But still, we felt pain -- yet it is nothing compared to pain felt in Blacksburg these past two days.

I only know someone who knows people who were taken too soon, and this is the pain I feel? How does one even being to come to terms with losing more than one person at once? Three years ago today, Grandma Rosie died. I've struggled with her death every day of my life since, and now there are people who lost multiple friends when losing one person is too much.

These losses were forced. When my grandmother died, she had been sick for a few weeks. We spent time in the hospital, and while you can never truly expect the death of a loved one, we were, at least, prepared to deal with the finality.

A madman broke into a school building and stole more than 30 lives. How does one come to terms with that truth? I'm angry at Cho Seung-hui for killing these people, and I know not one of them personally. After ruthlessly stealing 32 lives Monday morning, Cho turned the gun on himself and ended his own life.

There will be no trial, no true means of determining what was going through his mind. While some will argue that by taking his own life, he punished himself -- I disagree. Can any of the friends and families affected really take comfort in his actions? The families and friends have been denied the chance to confront the assailant in court and demand an explanation.

No comfort will come from knowing he will be punished for his actions. He broke the laws of our country, and he broke the laws of humanity with his actions. And by killing himself, he took away our right to demand justice -- to demand a reason why.

I am furious at him -- for taking the lives of 32 people who were too young to die, for taking the lives of sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, friends and family. The anger I feel must be nothing compared to those directly affected by the murders.

For that, I am deeply saddened.

I am also saddened by the way the media has handled its coverage. I'll argue until the day I die the media has a right to question people and say what it wants, but as a member of the media myself, I'm embarrassed by what I've seen.

The first incident occurred at just after 7 a.m. yesterday. One person was killed and another was injured. Campus police justifiably thought it was an isolated incident. Officials had reason to believe the killer left campus.

On more than one occasion on N.C. State's campus, shootings have taken place. No campus-wide lockdown was put in action. No one was told not to come to school or to avoid campus because they were believed to be isolated incidents. Large college campuses like State and VT are the size of small cities. Crimes happen.

It would have been irresponsible to assume mass killings were going to take place. Only panic would have ensued. The police had a responsibility to act cautiously. University officials notified the student body of the events by e-mail. I've received similar e-mails from NCSU on many occasions.

Yet, CNN.com decided it was responsible journalism to print the subhead "Officials wrongly believed killer left campus."

Bravo, CNN. Way to try to blame someone for the acts of a madman. Police did not believe it was going to be a mass killing because if the killer wanted to murder as many people as possible, he started his day in a dorm with almost 900 students living in it. He shot two and left. It was not irresponsible to do what VT officials decided to do.

Sometimes, I'm embarrassed to tell people I consider myself to be a journalist. Today is one of those days.

For every low point, there is an unbelievable high, though. Glancing around at the innumerable groups created on Facebook.com, the amount of support and unity expressed by colleges across the country is inspirational to say the absolute least. Pictures are floating around with the VT logo on a black ribbon. Underneath the VT logo is the logo of various colleges, and underneath that are the words, "Today, we are all Hokies."

The best side of humanity often comes from its worst side, and that's been evident through this tragedy. I couldn't suppress the tears when I saw the pictures, and when I saw the number of members in such groups reaching as high as 27,000.

We are capable of some remarkable things sometimes. It will be indescribably difficult to move on and persevere through this tragedy -- that's just the reality of the situation. But through it all, Carolyn, VT students and everyone affected by this unspeakable act of horror, you are in the prayers of anyone who prays for the foreseeable future.

Hokies, the Pack (and everyone else for that matter) has your back.

I know! I can't believe it either! After almost five months, I'm updating again. I have some very happy news, and I figured this would be an effective way of telling as many people as possible.

Anne and I went to Asheville last week, and on the trip, we got engaged! We visited the Biltmore Estate for the Christmas tour of the house, and I proposed when we got back to our hotel, which was aptly named the Princess Anne Hotel.

There were rose petals on the bed and floor surrounding the bed, and there were candles on the dressers. It was very nice, and we are both very happy about the engagement!

That's all I've got for now!

So maybe everyone gets there eventually. I don't know. I'm thinking so. And I've apparently gotten there.

You just get to a point where you look at yourself and realize you've got to be healthy and be better -- look better.

For the past month or so, I've been running at least three to four times a week. I started out running only a little -- maybe a mile, a mile and a half. Now I'm up to three miles minimum. A few days ago I ran two miles in 20:42. Then I walked a half mile and then I ran the last half mile to get to three miles total.

Today, I ran three miles straight -- the first time I've ever tried that -- in 29:40. I'm going to start doing that at least every other day, eventually working my way up to every day. That's difficult for me because I push myself really hard; I just need to remind myself that I've never been much of a runner and I can't just get out and go.

I don't know what made me get there. I've been reading about Kirk's fitness stuff for the past few months. And I mean, whoa, he's nothing short of an inspiration. Kirk's done some amazing things.

And of course there are the standard personal reasons for it. It's just funny -- the change, I mean. One day I'm craving Papa John's, Taco Bell and McDonald's. The next I'm not thinking about them.

I found this 10-phase, year-long weight program online through Men's Health and it seems like it would be a really good thing if it's done properly, so I'm going to give it a go and see what happens.

So far I'm five pounds lighter than a month ago, so that's good.

Anyway, time to sleep. Annie and I are off to the beach with Carolyn, Danielle and Andy for the day tomorrow.

I shall return!

I forgot to add one thing -- and this is good stuff -- about the vacation.

It was a seven-day vacation; we were on the beach for five of those days (excluding arriving and departing) and I was on the beach for a minimum of three hours each day. Given all that -- NO SUN BURN.

For the first time ever, I did not burn at all. Now even when I do it's not that big of a deal. It's pinkish for a day and then turns to tan anyway (gotta love that Italian blood), but still. No sunburn at all. Now that's a good time.

It's been quite a long while. But it's been a busy few weeks. Where was I last?

Well I believe the last YOU heard was that I was going to New Jersey to visit the family. I did that. We drove up and stayed for a week. Everyone seems to be doing fairly well, I guess.

I went to Grandma Rosie's grave for the first time since June, 2004, which was two months after she died. I can't lie; that was hard. It was harder than I thought it would be, but what can you do? Just the way it goes. Never gonna get used to that for sure.

We all tried to tell my grandfather he needs to get hip-replacement surgery. He refused; so naturally, a couple days after we left, he fell and broke his leg and got the surgery done. He's still in the hospital and things SEEM well I guess. Who knows...I hate hospitals. Nothing good comes out of there when someone in our family goes in. I'm cautiously optimistic I suppose.

After I came back from NJ, I passed a few days and then was the REEL BIG FISH concert in Norfolk, Va. A-W-E-S-O-M-E. Yup, that about covers it. Here's the tally: seven years, six RBF shows, five cities, four states, three different cars, two four-hour drives and only ONE missed show in the past seven years when they came within a four-to-five hour drive

They were playing at Elon during my sophomore year at State and I couldn't go for some reason. I don't remember what that reason was, but it was there and that was apparently enough.

I've seen them in Atlanta (twice), Myrtle Beach, Winston-Salem, Charlotte and Norfolk. Just a good time all around.

I had to go alone this time cuz I'd already paid for my ticket when the people I was supposed to go with had to back out. So I went anyway and I had a great time. Really, really good show.

So that was Monday night, July 17. Friday of that week I flew to Florida with my family for a nice vacation in Pompano Beach. Apparently July is the "off-season" there because of the heat and humidity. I don't know. North Carolina is worse as far as humidity goes. Don't get me wrong; it was damn hot in Florida, but it didn't feel like I was going to drown in the air.

We kinda got hosed on the resort part though. We weren't able to book this vacation until April so we didn't exactly get first pick when it comes to places to stay. It was OK. I wouldn't go back there again, and I don't think anyone else would either. But the beach was nice and we went to some really nice restaurants, so that made up for it.

When I got back from Florida, Annie finally came back from her month in London. She really enjoyed herself and that's a really good thing. You'll have to ask her about it sometime. It really was an awesome thing.

I can't really think of anything else to report at this time. So in closing, I'd just like to let a special someone know, who I know reads this from time to time, that if I ever see you again, I will snap your fucking neck. Thanks!

I really want to try to update this more often, but you know how that goes. I shall try harder! In fact, I want to make it my mission to update at least twice more before school starts. And now that I've said that, I've doomed The Grossman Files to inactivity for another three months.

*sigh...later taters.

Well it's been a while, so I figured I'd drop by and give an update before I head to New Jersey with my family for the week.

First thing's first: Jon's wedding.

That's right...in case you've been living under a rock for a while, Big Jon got married June 24. It was a great ceremony, and it was a fun reception. I think that's about all you can ask for out of a wedding, so mission accomplished.

Jay, Dave, Jon's dad and I were the groomsmen, and I'm not sure if there's ever been a finer group of groomsmen. I don't think I'm alone in that sentiment either.

The only real hiccup was when Anne broke the heel on her shoe. So I had to run across the street -- fully dressed in my tux -- in the 90-plus degree heat to try to buy some crazy glue. Mission accomplished, but still. I ran into the gas station and the attendant asks, "ooOOoo...are you getting MARRIED?!"

"No, no I'm not. But someone is, I'm just here to buy glue."

Lisa looked great in her dress. (Don't all brides look good?:) Probably so.) It's just so funny. I remember when I first met her a few years ago. She was doing laundry and studying in a dorm at Presbyterian College. Obviously I had no way of knowing how things would turn out, but my how far we've all come since then.

But all in all, congrats kids. I couldn't ask for anyone better than Lisa for my best friend, and I'm sincerely thrilled for both of you.

Jon's wedding happened to take place the day after my 24th birthday. I'm 24 now. Unbelievable. When I turned 21, Aunt Phyllis called me and told me to take it easy and enjoy everything cuz I'm going to wake up one day and be 30 and wonder what the hell happened to the last decade. Well, that makes perfect sense now. Twenty-four. Mm.

Moving on...Anne's in London now. She's there for a month. I'm so happy for her. This is pretty much her dream trip come true. Needless to say, I've been a little bored for the last day and a half since she left...haha. But it's cool.

I'll have plenty to keep me busy for this month. This week I'm heading to New Jersey, like I mentioned. So that's good. I'm pretty excited about that. I like going there and visiting family. Plus, I'm really excited to go to the cemetery to see Grandma Rosie's grave. I haven't had a chance to see it since two months after she died. Now it's two years later. I really think it'll help.

Then I'll be back here for a week and on Monday, July 17, the REEL BIG FISH will play at the Norva in Norfolk, Va. Erik and I will be heading to that show and HOPEFULLY Danielle will come, too. This will be my SIXTH Reel Big Fish show. I never get tired of it. Such a fun band to see live.

I got my VIP ticket, which means I'm going to go meet the band and get the new triple-disc live CD/DVD album autographed. It cost me $45, but let's think about this. The ticket for the concert was $25. I'm pretty sure a triple-disc CD/DVD album would be at LEAST $12-$16, no? So I think meeting the band and getting autographs is worth the extra $4-$8.

Fast forward another week and then I'll be heading, with my family again, to Pompano Beach, Fla. That should be fun. I haven't had the chance to go on a beach vacation since our cruise to Bermuda two years ago. I'm pretty excited about it.

An update on the books I'm reading...I finished "Cat's Cradle" a couple weeks ago, and I really enjoyed it. I've got two other Vonnegut books -- "Slaughter-house Five" and "Breakfast of Champions" -- on my shelf now. I may end up reading all of his books. "Cat's Cradle" was a great story and it's just nice to read a guy who's such an awesome writer.

So Chris, I definitely recommend "Cat's Cradle." Right now I'm reading Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time." I gotta say I'm a big fan of this book. Now, I've always been mathematically/scientifically inclined in school and stuff, but I feel like some of this would still soar over my head if not for the way Hawking describes things. It's just really easy to understand. I've hardly had to go back and reread things, which is something considering all the physics theories he talks about.

After that I'm gonna read "2001: A Space Odyssey," and after that I figure I'll read "Slaughter-house Five." I just picked up two books by Umberto Eco, whom I've heard is considered "the thinking man's Dan Brown." Whatever man. I'm not a book snob. I read all four of Dan Brown's books and I enjoyed the stories. I know they probably won't ever be taught in high school classes, but I was entertained.

Nevertheless, the two books I bought -- "Foucault's Pendulum" and "The Name of the Rose" -- sound really interesting. I've written enough, so I won't type out what they're about. It shouldn't be too hard to find if you're interested.

Quick Allie update: She's great! She's got sit, lay down, roll over and play dead now. We're working on shake next. She's so smart. She's a little wild, but you just have to remember she's only 4 months old. She's getting so much better though, so that's good!

Well, that's about all I've got. I know most people probably won't get to read this for another week since I'll be offline all this week, but it's best to just get it down while I'm thinking about it.

Anyway, have a great week everyone and I'll be back in a week!

And I'm back. Allie is getting long very well. I'm happy to report that yesterday was her first accident-free day! So that's good.

She still won't bark to let me know she needs to go out. But that's OK. She just goes and sits by the door and waits for me to notice. And that's fine; it's better than pooping on the floor. SOMETIMES, she'll come and try to jump on the couch, but I guess that's only if she REALLY has to go.

It's been brought to my attention that the picture of Allie from my last update did not always show up. Here's a link to that picture:

http://www.thewolfweb.com/photo_photo.aspx?user=4713&photo=455844

She was approximately 10 pounds when I picked her up. Now she's more than 15 for sure. Here's a picture of her playing with her two beagle friends, Ella and Jessie:

http://community.webshots.com/photo/477579542/2439992060079884788sfMaAn

Yeah...she's a cutie. She can be quite the gremlin at times, though. Also, she likes to stand IN the water while she drinks it, as shown here:

http://www.thewolfweb.com/photo_photo.aspx?user=4713&photo=458524

So yeah; things are going well with Allie. :)

I'm also on a reading kick, still, and it probably helps that I don't have cable to distract me. Recently I've read:

"The Stand" by Stephen King
"The Godfather" by Mario Puzo
"Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
"The Plot Against America" by Philip Roth
"Sphere" by Michael Crichton
"The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I'm about to start on "Cat's Cradle" by Kurt Vonnegut. For my birthday I asked for Vonnegut's "Breakfast of Champions" and "A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawking. And I have "The Andromeda Strain" and "Timeline," both by Crichton, that I'm saving for my family's vacation to Pompano Beach, Fla., next month.

Also, Barnes and Noble has this leather-bound book, "The Complete Sherlock Holmes," or something like that. Anyway, it has all 56 short stories and all four novels that Doyle wrote including Holmes. And it's less than $20. So I might get that and put that in the hopper, too.

Went to Mr. Payne's retirement party last weekend. It was nice to see a lot of people I hadn't seen in a LONG time -- a semi-reunion, if you will.

Jay, Jon and I went out to a couple bars afterward, and I saw Mark Childers for the first time in like half a decade. Crazy. Then we went to a place near South Park and ANGIE BARNES DID NOT SHOW UP while her sister and brother-in-law did. Gah. I mean, c'mon Angie. I'm in town like one weekend every couple of months and you can't make it out to see me. Unacceptable. It's OK. I'm not mad at you.

So my birthday is in two weeks. (That reminds me; Happy Birthday to my cousin Kris -- exactly two weeks older than me). I'll be 24. I was talking to my mom on the phone the other day. Grandma Rosie's birthday is June 4. She would have been 79 if she were still alive. And mom and I were talking and that also means that Grandpa Pete's birthday is this month and he'll be 79. She says, "I can't believe he's going to be 79. Then again, you're going to be 24 and who the hell ever thought THAT would happen?"

And that about sums up how I feel about getting older now. Who the hell ever thought THAT would happen?

In case you've been living under a rock for the past few days (or you haven't seen my AIM away message) I AM GETTING A PUPPY!!

With the help of Anne and Mary (as a birthday present for me), on Tuesday Anne and I went to the Durham Animal Shelter to look at this adorable little puppy. Before we went, we were browsing through online pictures at our own apartments. I came to this one little puppy whose name was Kimmie. She's a black lab/border collie mix, and she's approximately 10-12 weeks old.

Looking at her, I thought to myself that if I were actually going to get a puppy, she was going to be it. The entire time, though, I was thinking I didn't like the name. My sister had a friend named Kimmie when I was in high school, and I just can't think of the name without thinking of that girl. Not that there's anything wrong with the girl -- I liked her perfectly fine -- but that's not a puppy name.

As I was thinking about it, I thought the name Allie sounded better. I sent the picture to Anne via IM, and she agreed this puppy looked good. She said, "Now that's a good puppy, but we'll have to pick a cuter name -- maybe something like Allie."

Ya don't say?

Needless to say, that about did it for us. We went to the shelter and, sure enough, she was still there. We walked by her kennel and she jumped up against the door as we walked by. Well, we just had to meet her.

We took her into the little visitation room and played for, I don't know, maybe 30 minutes. I don't know about Anne, but I'm sure she'll say the same thing; I was hooked on her. We walked out of the room and I told the desk lady that I wanted to adopt her.

The plan was to go to Charlotte this weekend for Mother's Day. Anne is currently in Blacksburg, Va., with Carolyn for Carolyn's 21st birthday (Happy Bday Carolyn!). We went around to pet stores and Target, buying all the supplies and stuff we'd need.

We went back Wednesday to play with her and she's just unbelievably cute.

Naturally, this story cannot end without its share of drama.

Anne left this morning (Thursday) and I decided to go back to the shelter to play with Allie. I brought along this little set of puppy teething keys to see if she'd like them. Well when I got there, they told me she was in surgery. Well that's fine. I knew she'd be getting spayed before I could take her home.

Well the woman there told me two puppies at the shelter tested positive for parvo. If you don't know about parvo, just know that it's a really bad deal. You don't want your dog to have it. Treatment can be really expensive, and if it goes untreated, there's an 80 percent mortality rate.

Anyway, she assured me the puppies were no where NEAR Allie, and Allie's had two parvo vaccinations so far. So that's good. But the virus is IN the shelter. There are no guarantees. That she had her surgery today is good and bad. It's bad because her immune system isn't full strength as it tries to heal her surgery. It's good because she'll be pretty much isolated while they watch her to make sure she's doing OK after the surgery.

The options were to risk leaving her at the shelter until Monday while I go to Charlotte. They reassured me they'd keep her as safe as possible. Well, that's not really good enough for me. The problem is that I wasn't prepared to have a puppy in my apartment today.

I was running around buying the stuff I needed, "puppy-proofing" my apartment and filling out the necessary paperwork with the apartment complex. I tried. I got everything I needed to get and hustled over to the shelter. But I got there five minutes after it closed.

So she's there. I'm trying to be comforted by the fact that she's probably isolated in a medical recovery area, away from her normal kennel, which itSELF was supposedly no where near the parvo puppies. I'm sure it's fine, but, hey, this is my child now, so I'm worried.

Anyway, I'm going to pick her up as soon as I can tomorrow, so come visit Allie!

Oh oh, by the way, my grades are in, too.

Crisis Communication: B+
Communication and Social Change: A
Mapping Communication: B

All told, that's a damn good slate for the classes I had. The professor for Crisis Comm is a notoriously hard grader that doesn't give out an A -- yeah, she's one of those. And Mapping Comm is EXTREMELY difficult. I found out this semester that people avoid that class at all costs. When they heard I had that class and the Crisis professor, I received condolences.

Needless to say, I'm pleased with those grades for my first semester in grad school!

Anyway, that's all for now. COME SEE MY PUPPY! Here's a picture of her (there will be MANY more to follow):

One semester down, three to go.

This week marks the end of my first semester of graduate school. How freakin' bizarre. I seriously cannot believe I'm going to have a masters at the end of this two years. That rules. It really does.

I turned in a 20-page paper today thus ending my experience in Crisis Communication for the semester. In approximately 25 minutes, I'll be going to give a presentation on Charles Berger's Uncertainty Reduction Theory and its application to the orthopedic services campaign of the Laurens County Health Care System. Sound like fun? Yeah, well so was the 15-page paper I wrote about it.

Regardless, after tonight, I'll be done with Communication and Social Change, which means only Mapping Communication remains this semester. Tonight and tomorrow morning I will be finishing up the 20-page paper on the social construction of terrorism maps in the mainstream U.S. media following 9/11. Thrilling, I know -- so was the research and writing.

I recently re-discovered the awesomeness that is 1990s rock. And not that crappy Nickleback/Creed/Limp Bizkit bullshit either. I'm talking REAL rock: Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Alice in Chains, Smashing Pumpkins, etc. I don't know what made me want to listen to it again, but I'm glad I did.

I just downloaded Daughter, Better Man and Yellow Ledbetter by Pearl Jam; Today and Bullet with Butterfly Wings by The Smashing Pumpkins; Plush and Interstate Love Song by Stone Temple Pilots; and Man in the Box by Alice in Chains. It's only a small sample, but it sure is awesome.

Spent the day at the beach yesterday. Sweet. Nothing like falling asleep on the beach, listening to the ocean when two papers need to be written. But that's cool. It was worth it.

Because school has been so busy lately, I haven't been able to read as much as I'd like to be reading. I'm on page 970 of The Stand. Only 171 pages to go!

I can't wait for Thursday. All the papers will be written and turned in, and I'll finally get the chance to clean my apartment. It's needed a good cleaning for a couple weeks now, but I've been distracted by papers and research.

Let's seeeee...oh yeah, how about I turn 24 next month? Bizarre. The years fly faster now; that's for sure.

That's about all I've got for now!

Later tater.

Yeah OK, I know. It's been two months. I'm sorry, OK? I'm sorry. Yeah, I don't know what happened. It's just one of those things, ya know? I totally meant to update five or six times recently, and then I didn't and I kept intending to, and then it was two months. You know how that works.

Oh well, what can you do? Nothing; that's what. So let's run the gamut here. I am indeed still in graduate school. Things are going well. I've got my three classes, which doesn't sound like a lot, or even enough to some, until it gets to this time of year and there are three 20-25 page papers to be written. But that's OK.

I turned in the first eight pages of one of them a few weeks ago. It was due at 6 p.m. on a Tuesday. I started it at 9 a.m. the DAY IT WAS DUE. Turned it in, got it back and the result? Out of a possible 300 points, I received ALL 300. Who's the man? I am, that's right. HA!

School is going well, in other words. :)

A few weeks ago, Anne, Mary, Darren and I went to Myrtle Beach for spring break. Boy was that nice. We stayed at this hotel on the beach called The Reef. It was a little cold, but I didn't care much. Sitting on the beach with a sweatshirt on is still sitting on the beach. And to me, that's all that really matters.

We did some pretty cool stuff. Ate A LOT of awesome food and had a hell of a good time. We ate at Yamato's, a Japanese steakhouse; Margaritaville, Jimmy Buffet's restaurant; and the Key West Grill. I probably gained six to eight pounds from it, but holy hell it was worth it.

That's where the title to this entry comes from, too. "Ridin' the dolphin." Yeah, there's just not much you can say about that. One of the nights we were there, we decided to go out to some bars now that Anne's 21. So we called a cab company--Dolphin Taxi. Anne, who had been refreshing herself with 3/4 of a bottle of red wine most of the evening, thought that was the funniest thing she'd ever heard. "We're gonna ride the dolphin!"

She drew a picture of the four of us riding an actual dolphin. "Can I give it to the driver when we get back tonight?" hahaha...yeah. I should report she did NOT give the driver the picture, but she DID say to him as we got out, "We just rode the dolphin!" to which he replied, "You certainly did."

Yeah. As I sit here writing this, I realize how much I miss writing. The work was fun, the pay and the location were not. I don't want to say that I'm going to write in this more often because we both know that's the kiss-of-death to it never being updated again. So yeah...there ya go.

Let's see...what else, what else? Oh, Jon and Lisa's engagement party is next weekend. That should be fun. I like getting to see folks I don't get to see much. Kinda funny, really. As soon as I moved to Raleigh, all my friends moved away from it.

In entertainment news, Anne and I saw "V for Vendetta" a couple weeks ago. What a KICK-ASS movie. Geez. I loved it. Revenge stories are my absolute favorite. That's the best feeling, and I love watching revenge happen to those who deserve it. It is such a satisfying feeling. So yeah, "V for Vendetta"--HIGHLY recommended.

I've also started reading "The Stand" by Stephen King. It's the uncut version, which means it's 1,200 pages. I'm 500 pages in and I'm not even halfway there yet. I didn't really comprehend how much reading I had in front of me until I read 400 pages. I looked down; I had just read a whole book. Four-hundred pages is a full-length book. And I still had 800 pages to go. Unreal. But I like it, so that's good.

After "The Stand" I will read Mario Puzo's "The Godfather." I'm pretty excited about that. But let's face it, I'm going to be reading "The Stand" for another three months.

That's all I've got for now! Seeeee ya!

I disappeared for like a month there, didn't I? I did. Oh but there has been pretty good cause for it.

If you scroll down a little ways, you'll see my goodbye column from The Chronicle. That's because I no longer work there! I'm back in Raleigh! I LIVE IN RALEIGH NOW! That's awesomeness if I've ever heard it.

How has it been a year since I went to Clinton? I don't even know. It's very surreal. I remember sitting at my desk on my last day at work a few weeks ago, but I'd cleaned it up already. All the little odds and ends and clutter that made it my desk were gone. It was back to how it was Jan. 6, 2005, when I arrived for my first day. The calendar on the wall across from the desk was still set on March/April 2004 -- the same as it was when I started.

Very weird. Boy does that ever feel like yesterday. I remember driving around town with Greg while he showed me the things I'd need to know and all that. And now here I am, I haven't worked in almost a month.

I'm back in civilization. I get to see friends now and do normal, every-day things. FRIENDS! I can have friends that live closer than 130 miles to me! So take note! If you live in/near Raleigh, I'm ready to do things. Bars, movies, whatever; let me know what's going on.

I'm a graduate student now. I graduated, I came out and was born into the real world, I took a look around and said, "No, thanks. Let me back in." And here I am. I'm back in.

Classes are going pretty well. They're interesting at least. Let's see, on Mondays, I have Seminar in Crisis Communication from 1:30-4:15; on Tuesdays, I have Communication and Social Change from 6-8:45; and on Wednesdays, I have Mapping Communication from 6-8:45. Three-hour classes are rough, but you get used to it, and, frankly, it's nice only having class three days a week. It all evens out.

Nothing too difficult; it's a lot of reading. Well, it's probably not a lot of reading, but it seems like it is for me because I'm actually doing it this time around, unlike undergrad. There are a few lengthy papers -- 15-25 pages -- but if I did ANYTHING this past year at The Chronicle, I'm used to/good at writing, writing a lot and writing a lot quickly.

Thursdays and Fridays have turned into my weekends since I work on Saturdays and Sundays, but that's cool with me. I actually have free time to MYSELF for the first time in more than a year.

My new apartment pretty much kicks ass. It's INCREDIBLY smaller than my apartment in Clinton, but I don't even care. I love this place. One thing you learn living in a big apartment is how much space you actually use. Yeah, I had two stories and two bathrooms and an office and a huge bedroom. And 80 percent of the space went unused all year, so I definitely don't mind having less. I actually prefer it for now.

This apartment is 600 square feet. It's the perfect size for me. Plenty of room for all my stuff and it's new and modern. Good stuff. You should come visit me so you can see it, too.

I'm pretty sure that's about it for now. I will try to keep this thing updated more often now that I'm settled into the apartment and into the groove of living, working and going to class again.

DON'T BE A STRANGER! I'M AROUND!

Here is my goodbye column for The Chronicle...awwwww.

The Grossman Files - Time to say goodbye

by Brian Grossman
Staff Writer

I guess it's time for me to report that it's the end of an era here at The Chronicle. Yours truly, the friendly neighborhood staff writer that I am, will be moving on and out of Clinton in less than a week.

Tuesday will be my final day here. I'll help close out the final 2005 edition of The Chronicle and then it's time to move out.

That's right. It's true. You see, I've been accepted to go to graduate school at N.C. State University in Raleigh.

According to the program schedule and curriculum, in two years I will be a Master of Communication, but you already know I am if you've been reading "The Grossman Files" and "Full Count."

I kid, I kid.

I've been here in Clinton at this job for a year now. I graduated from N.C. State on Dec. 15, 2004. I arrived in Clinton the first week of January, and the rest is Chronicled history.

It's no secret that journalists don't make a lot of money. We do what we do because we love it. Professors told me my first job wouldn't be about money at all. I would be "paid in experience."

How true, how true. I never really understood that until a few weeks ago. Looking back on this year, it's impossible to measure how much I've grown as a writer and as a person.

When I left school, I was a hopeful sportswriter. I'd never written a regular old news story before, but Greg and Larry decided to give me a chance anyway. For that, I owe them more thanks than any person has to give.

In my first three weeks on the job, I realized I had written more at The Chronicle than I had in two years on the staff of the school newspaper at State.

Months later, I can see how much I've improved -- not just in the quality of my writing, but in my instincts.

When I first started, I went to every interview the same. I wrote down a list of a few questions and a list of possible follow-up questions depending on the answers to the first list. I had a list of everyone I thought I might want to talk to and I planned thoroughly.

Now, I don't need to do that. I can think up the questions I need to ask as I go, which makes interviews run much more smoothly. I can think, write and ask questions at the same time, carefully noting a follow-up question as it comes to me.

I've written sports articles and columns, editorial columns, school stories, business stories, government stories and feature stories.

Paid in experience, indeed.

With that said, I need to say thank you to everyone that has helped me this year. There are far too many of you to name, but rest assured, if you feel like you've helped me at all, I'm grateful.

Thank you for being patient enough to explain things an extra time or two to a new writer who desperately wanted to get the story right.

Thank you to everyone who's worked at The Chronicle this year -- Janice, Shirley, Lyn, Lesa, Stacy, Mallory, Sissy and Lynne -- for making my home away from home during the week a fun place to be.

Last but not least, thank you to Greg and Larry. They were the two best bosses/editors I could have hoped for, and gave me a chance at the best first-job-out-of-school I could have hoped for.

Not only are they great editors -- they helped make me better with every story I wrote, guiding me along the way with helpful tips -- they have been great friends.

The point in my life when I came to The Chronicle was one of the most turbulent I've ever experienced, and they helped make my transition as painless as possible.

I will be forever grateful for that.

This is a great job. Writing for a newspaper is incredible. I would recommend this job without hesitation to anyone interested in writing. It's fun, it's exciting and you get to see things and hear things you'd never get to experience any other way.
I've had a front row seat to what will be the history of Clinton for 2005. Thank you for that.

It's been a good year for me, and I will surely miss the town and the people.

This town has given me a lifetime's worth of memories -- some really good, some really bad, but all worth remembering.

For that, I say thank you to Clinton and everyone who's made my tenure here memorable.

Grossman Files...case closed.

(Brian Grossman is a staff writer for The Clinton Chronicle. He can be reached at chroniclesports@charterinternet.com.)

Well, if for some reason you haven't heard yet, I GOT INTO GRAD SCHOOL!

I found out I got accepted Tuesday morning. In two weeks, I'll be MOVING BACK TO RALEIGH!!!!!! Man...what a year it has been. Thank God it's over now. I can have a normal life for the first time since like high school. And we all know how I felt about that one.

I'm officially a student again; I'm listed in the student directory and I'm in the PackTracks student database. As soon as the communication department sends me my PIN, I will register for my first graduate classes ever.

Man, graduate school. That's kind of a big deal. Isn't it? In high school and even some of college, it always seemed like something that was so far off and impossible to attain. And I'm going to be IN it now. I've been accepted.

When I applied to college the first time, man, I was so stressed out and nervous and worried for like three months. I freaked out about messing stuff up on the application and all that. And this, this was done in like a month. I applied in early November, interviewed and was accepted in one month.

It happened before I could even process what I was doing. If I had applied for the fall semester, the deadline is March. I would have been stressing out over it for months. And here I am, already in and getting ready to go. Unreal. It's better this way, I think. I didn't have any time to really worry myself about it.

But it's DONE and I'm IN and it HASN'T hit me yet. I'm going to be getting a masters degree. What the hell? I just came to grips with the fact that I have a bachelors degree. It's still kinda weird to look on the wall and see a diploma from a major UNIVERSITY. When did I graduate COLLEGE? Gah...and now I'm doing GRADUATE school? Unreal. No words for that. It hasn't hit me yet. I bet it'll hit me nicely when I get my first 20-page paper assignment. I remember sitting around the room freshman year with Jay and Angie after move-in, and Angie was like, "Guys, we're in COLLEGE now." It was crazy then, and it's crazy again.

From the friends that I have that have done the grad school thing, I've gathered that it's not all that different from regular college, there's just more writing. And if there's anything that I've prepared for over the past year, it's writing. I write -- a lot -- every day. A 15-page paper won't seem like that much since I write more than that every week now anyway. So that's good.

Anyway, so in two weeks I am moving back to Raleigh. It's very bizarre that I graduated a year ago tomorrow. These are very strange feelings. I know I'm happy now, but it's like I'm afraid to be. I'm still waiting for the catch. After a year away, I'm moving up the street from Annie. There has to be a catch, and I'm waiting for it. Yeah there's school and there will be work. I know. That's it?

Crazy. So on either Dec. 29 or Dec. 30 I will be moving into the Autumn Ridge apartments off Duraleigh and Pleasant Lake (www.autumnridgeapts.ws -- for those who are curious about them). Found the place this past weekend. It's a really good deal for me. Since I'm paying for everything myself, small and inexpensive sounds as good as anything.

The apartment I'm getting will be roughly 600 square feet, and the rent is $525. If I move in before Dec. 31, I could get an iPod, an XBOX 360 or $200 of my January rent. Yes, I know the iPod and XBOX provide more long-term enjoyment, but I already have an mp3 player and the XBOX, well, I wouldn't be able to afford the $60 games for it anyway. So I took the $200 off Jan. rent. Because I'm getting deposits back from Clinton, I might be able to pay all my move-in costs without dipping directly into my pocket. And that rules.

Oh yeah, there are no administrative fees either. Some places had this nebulous non-refundable $250 fee. Where does it go? I don't know and neither do they. Autumn Ridge did not. Furthermore, the security deposit is only $99, $50 of which I already paid when I put a deposit down to hold the apartment. So all in all, whenever I move in, I will have to pay $374 and that covers me through January. Clutch.

That sounds like it's about it. If you have any questions about anything, let me know! I'll be around!

Oh, and EIGHT days of work remaining!

I am so ready to get out of Clinton. That's really the bottom line.

I had my grad school interview last Wednesday. I think it went well. He said he just wanted to meet me and get a feel for what I wanted. On my application, I said one of my main goals is to work for ESPN. That concerned them because the communication program doesn't have any broadcasting classes.

I just had to tell them that's cool with me. That goal is more of a "in the future" kind of thing. It's not the only thing I want to do. If I end up writing for a big newspaper, or in advertising, or public relations or anything really, I just want to make sure I'm as prepared as I can be. And I felt like this program could do that. At least that's what I told him.

He seemed to buy it. I mean, it's true. Before I got this job, my only writing experience was in sports writing. I had never written regular old news story before, and that's like 50 percent of what I do here. I felt like I handcuffed myself only having one type of experience. Obviously that's all right now after a year here.

But between a degree in political science that includes a minor in journalism, and a masters in communication -- I feel like that covers just about anything I might be remotely interested in doing.

He said he would recommend me for provisional admission, which means I get in and as long as I don't screw up my first semester, everything is cool. He said this because my cumulative GPA is not 3.0 from undergrad.

I have a few thoughts on this. The program requires a 3.0 in your major, which I have, and a 3.0 over your last 60 undergrad hours, which I blow out of the water. Over my final THREE YEARS at State, my GPA was something like 3.6. My cumulative GPA is 2.98. Two hundredths of a point, and I need provisional admission. Whatever dude.

If I get in, I get in. And I'm still waiting to here. Dr. Jordan is the head of the communication program, and he said I should here sometime this week. Nothing yet. Of course, the final decision is not his -- that belongs to the graduate school admissions committee.

Hopefully his recommendation will go a long way there. And he told me since I have a strong GPA in my major and the last 60 hours, along with strong GRE scores (I got a 530 verbal, 650 math and 5.5 writing -- not bad for next to no preparation) that the 2.98 probably won't matter at all. He just wanted to be sure I understood everything that could happen.

Overall, like I said, the interview went really well, I think, and Dr. Jordan was a really nice guy. But here I am, on Wednesday, still waiting to find out about whether or not I actually got in.

I really don't know what I'm going to do if I don't. I mean, I'm confident about getting in, but I don't know FOR SURE. *sigh...I'm very anxious for quite a few reasons.

It's getting to that time where I need to let Greg and Larry know that I'm going to be leaving, I need to find an apartment in Raleigh and I need to figure out how everything is going to be paid for. I can't settle student loan stuff until I find out for sure that I'm accepted.

Then, when I find out how much money I'm getting from financial aid and loans, I'll be able to figure out how much I need to work. Of course, I'm going to work no matter what, but if I can work 25 hours per week instead of 40 hours per week and be able to live, well, that would be MUCH better.

Luckily, I found out a full-time grad school load is only nine hours per semester. So I only need to take three classes per semester to maintain full-time status and graduate in two years. That leaves plenty of time for working, so that's awesome.

So things are getting down to the wire. I need to know what's going on so I can handle it. But it's OK. I'm not stressed out because that will only make things worse. I'm going to do this, and I'll do whatever it takes to make it work.

Of course, the MAIN reason why I need to do this is Annie. We've been together for almost a year now, and I'm done with this. I can't do 300 miles and only weekends anymore. The potential of being only three weeks from ending this hell is driving me crazy. The past 11 months have gone by quickly, but it's been hard. These last two weeks have seemed as long as the first 11 months. The next two weeks will probably feel similarly long.

I can't do this anymore; I just HAVE to see her every day. That's why I say I don't know what I'm going to do if I don't get accepted. Even if there's a very small chance I get denied, which I don't know, there may be a GOOD chance I get denied -- but any chance is too much. I just need to know.

This past weekend, Annie and I went to Maggiano's for dinner. That was a pretty quality place. I recommend it highly. The service was unbelievably fast. There was an hour and a half wait, but we went to the one at Southpoint in Durham, so the mall was right there. We didn't even notice the wait because we were walking around the mall.

I am HOPING that I can go and find an apartment this weekend. Of course, I need to hear from State first.

Aaaaand....N.C. State was lucky enough to get into a bowl game this year. We'll be playing South Florida in the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte on New Year's Eve at 11 a.m. And I just found out from Daddy that we scored SIX TICKETS!!! So Daddy, Matty, me, Annie, Mary and Darren will be in attendance! Score.

So take this as a notice all you Charlotte kids, if you are going to be at a bar on New Year's Eve that allows people under 21 to get in, I WANT TO KNOW!

I think that's all I've got for now. If I think of more, I'll be back!

Gah...Larry made a mistake laying out the paper and he cut off the second half of my editorial page column. DAMN! It's OK, I'll just post it right here! So here it is:

The Grossman Files - Holiday memories

by Brian Grossman
Staff Writer

Who doesn't love the holiday season? There's always so much to get happy about and enjoy. Everyone has different reasons for loving this time of year, so I figured I would stop in and share mine.

I always loved this time of year as a kid because we celebrated Christmas and Hanukkah. My mom is Catholic and my dad is Jewish, so we got the best of both worlds. Because let's face it, to an 8-year-old, presents are the reason to love this time of year.

The best times were when Hanukkah, and its eight glorious nights of presents, would run right up into Christmas Eve. That meant my brother, my sister and I would get 10 days of presents in a row.

It's always fun to light the candles on the Menorah and then go turn on the lights of the Christmas tree.

Hanukkah presents started off small at the beginning -- maybe an action figure or something -- and got progressively bigger until the eighth present, which was either a large toy or some Nintendo game I'd been wanting. Then we'd get to open a gift on Christmas Eve, which was usually pajamas or something, and then of course Christmas Day.

That was always fun when I was little. Obviously now the reasons aren't that selfish, but what do you expect an 8-year-old boy to say?

Watching old home movies is always fun to do, too. My sister Stacy, a junior at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, loves to watch old home movies -- mostly to laugh at me, probably, but I digress.

We found one recently that was taken before Matt, my 16-year-old brother, was born. I couldn't have been more than 6 or 7, and my sister couldn't have been more than 3 or 4.

But we found our way to the Christmas tree in our one-piece pajama suits, complete with padded feet, and proceeded to examine the presents Santa left for us.

I don't recall the exact exchange, but somehow, the discussion ended with my 4-year-old sister calling my 7-year-old self a "silly billy goose." While the names we call each other have changed over the years, the same immaturity over Christmas presents is still there.

Every year we travel downstairs and find our piles of presents stacked near the tree. And good ole Matty has added to the fun. Come Christmas time, we're all kids again fighting over the biggest piles, even though our names are on them.

And it all starts with our Christmas Eve tradition. About 12 years ago, I watched The Muppet Christmas Carol on Christmas Eve. Since then, every Christmas Eve, I've forced this tradition upon my family.

Matt has picked up on it nicely, and my mom has played along, too, but I'm not sure if that's just because she couldn't move because of bad hips. Now that she's got new hips, we'll see how it goes this year.

My dad can't even sit still long enough to blink, so he's out before it starts, and Stacy sits through about 15 or 20 minutes before she proclaims that she's bored.

I don't care. I'm creating a Christmas tradition here! Have no fear, we'll push on through.

Another great holiday memory I have is of cookies. Around Christmas time, my mom always makes loads and loads of cookies. The chocolate chip cookies have always been my favorite. The best way to eat them is to grab six or seven at a time with a big glass of milk. Trust me, I know.

I know when I walk by the kitchen, hear Christmas music and smell cookies in the oven that fun times are about to be had.

(Brian Grossman is a staff writer for The Chronicle. He can be reached at chroniclesports@charterinternet.com.)


OK THERE YOU GO!! I'll update again later today after I've read the newspaper and done my usual Wednesday relaxing. Back in a bit!

WHOA it's a rare Friday update! Of course, this means most of you won't read this until next week since I'll be offline pretty much all weekend while I'm in Charlotte.

But that's OK, we'll get this down and be done with it.

Well it's the day after Thanksgiving, and while most everyone else is home enjoying themselves, I'm at work. But that's OK, too, that's just the way it is with newspapers. I wrote a sports column today and I wrote a preview story for Thornwell High School's girls' basketball team. I'm glad I got those out of the way.

Wednesday was rough, though. We have two special sections coming out with this week's paper -- From the Frontlines to the Homefront, a section dedicated to Vietnam and Korean War veterans, and Working Women, which highlights women working in Clinton.

I finished the five veterans stories last week, so that was good, but I didn't even really find out about the three working women stories until Thursday, which gave me all of four days to set up interviews and write the stories. Wednesday was pretty much dedicated to writing the stories. Three stories may not sound like much, but by the time I left work at 7:30 p.m., I had written six and a half single-spaced pages -- the equivalent of a 13-page paper for you college kids. That was a pain in the ass. But it's done, and that rules.

Not a whole heckuva lot to report right now. Thanksgiving dinner was great as always. We had salad, antipasto, lasagna and then turkey, dressing, green bean casserole, sausage and rice casserole, cranberry sauce and sweet potato casserole. That was a quality meal right there.

Oh, and I have an interview with Dr. William Jordan on Wednesday. That's significant because Dr. Jordan is the director of the Masters of Communication program at State that I applied to. They got my application and everything and emailed me saying they wanted to setup an interview to talk about my application and academic goals. Well I sure hope that's a good sign. I will surely keep you posted.

That's about all I've got for now. As soon as I get the go-ahead, I'm heading back to Charlotte. Annie is meeting me there cuz Grandma Etta is visiting from NJ, and Matty's 16th (!!) birthday is Sunday. Should be an experience to say the least.

I SHALL RETURN..but probably not for a few days. See ya!

Whew...it has been FAR too long since I last updated. But there are good reasons, I swear.

First of all, I work a lot. And this has been a busy football season, which makes a lot of writing for me. Not that I'm complaining, I like the writing; it just makes it hard to update this sometimes. But here I am and boy has there ever been stuff to talk about.

OK, I'm officially an applicant for the N.C.State grad school. Score. My application for admission and my residency application were turned in last week, and all three letters of recommendation have been submitted. I took the GRE last week. I got a 530 on verbal and a 650 on math, which isn't spectacular, but it's above average and I think it'll do just fine for what I need.

It's actually kinda funny. Throughout the test, I thought I had the verbal section in the bag and I thought the math section was kicking my ass. When I saw the scores, I had to do a double take. The scores will do. I'm not excited about them, but I'm not disappointed in them. I was hoping for better and I thought I COULD do better. But that's OK. There was a considerable amount of pressure there, too, because the deadline for application is Nov. 24 and you're only allowed to take the GRE once in a month, so I only had one shot to get a good enough score.

Here's the fun part. The grad school wants me to send two copies of my transcript to them. OK, cool, I can do that. Well, for those of you who don't remember, I went to N.C. State. So I have to send two transcripts from State....to State. Surely this won't be as simple as, say, walking the damn transcripts across campus. No no no.

I have to sign an official release form with the National Clearinghouse in Virginia so NCSU can release my transcripts TO ITSELF. And even better, THAT costs $20.

So I had to pay $20 to give NCSU permission to send my transcript to itself...ACROSS CAMPUS. Unreal. Gotta love that bureaucracy. But that's OK. So now we just play the waiting game and see what they say. I know I have three glowing recommendations from former professors and I think my personal statement is pretty good, too. Those GRE scores may not be spectacular, but they should be MORE than adequate for a liberal arts masters at State.

What else, what ese...

Oh Annie and I scored tickets to the NCSU/Middle Tennessee State football game Saturday. So that should be fun. I love underachieving, disappointing teams. Can't get enough. *sigh...we miss you Philip.

But yeah, I've pretty much just been a work machine over the past month. I don't know how it's almost Thanksgiving. I must have slept through October. I don't know where it went.

OH...Thanksgiving. That's one of the two days off I get. So that's good. I get Thursday off, and then have to work Friday, which doesn't sound like a problem unless you want to spend Thanksgiving with your family and your family lives out of town. Oh that sounds familiar? Here's my plan: I'm going home next Wednesday after work. I'll come back to Clinton Thursday evening some time and then I'm going back to Charlotte Friday after work for Matt's birthday weekend and Grandma Etta's visit. So that'll be fun.

Anyway, yeah me and Annie went to the zoo this past weekend and Matty came along, too. Mary and Darren were also there, but they didn't hang with us cuz we were hanging with a bunch of little kids. But the kids were cool, so that's all right. The zoo is always fun. We didn't get to see the lions or chimps, which is sad. Matt didn't get to see the family we adopted him from. But I'm sure we'll go back.

The polar bears were probably my favorite. They were just playing around in the water, which is probably what I would do if I were them, I think.

I can't really think of anything else right now, but if I do, I'll be back to share it with you!

Yup...it's been one of those days.

I don't know why I'm so tired today, but I am. But I guess I'm usually tired, so there's not really any news there.

I went out to my car this morning to go to work. And I couldn't. The car would not start. So that's nice. The engine would turn and turn and turn, but it just wouldn't start.

The battery was just replaced last month while I was in New York, so the theory was that maybe it was the alternator or the starter. I don't know. I don't do cars. I don't know anything about cars -- I don't WANT to know anything about cars. I can pump gas, check my oil and change a tire. That'll do for me.

Luckily, there's a maintenance shop right next to my apartment building. I walked over and a couple guys came back with me to look at the car. We figured out we needed to get it to the shop to really get it fixed again.

At that point, it started to rain, which I appreciated, of course. So in the rain, I'm pushing my car down the street along with five workers from the shop. Awesome, just awesome.

Anyway, it's at the shop now. And, from what I'm told, after $310 for a newly-recoded keylock cylinder, labor and tax, and I will hopefully get the car back this afternoon.

Greg has been nice enough to drive me around when I've needed it, so that's cool. And another good thing, whenever the car is ready, as long as I'm at my apartment, I can just walk over and pick it up. That Bishop Tire place right next door has made this relatively easy.

Anyway...that's about it for now.

See ya.