Well, I have to introduce everybody to somebody. I am sure that many of you were wondering how long it was going to be before I got one of these. I could here the people thinking to themselves "Such a successful and charming and good-looking (Yeah, right!) young man like him...certainly he shouldn't have any trouble getting one." Well, it took a good while, but I have found one that compliments me nicely, appreciates my company, likes to go for nice quiet drives, likes to play music, and is primed for a night out on the town.

Now, how many of you think that I am talking about a girlfriend?

You are all wrong.

It is my new car. My 1998 Suzuki Esteem Wagon. I love to drive it, it loves to be driven. The gas mileage is great (>30mpg) and it has a deceivingly generous amount of space. It is so nice to be able to go to get milk or bread when I want to, not when the Blue Line wants me to. I drove it off of the lot on Friday afternoon, and went right by a bus stop replete with weary travelers waiting for their turn to board the rickety beast and just hoping that the drunk-to-sober ratio is low.

Well, if you go to http://www.qsl.net/kc0hoj/bmh/contest.html you can see a picture of the car, as well as your chance to get involved in naming the car. I look forward to all of your submissions.

Well, life (and thus, my emails) will get a whole lot more interesting now that I am much more mobile. I am driving down to Delta Junction, or farther, this evening as the weather is still nice, to get a good look at some of the Alaska Range. I might try to make a weekend trip down to Valdez or at least Glenn Allen in the next couple of weeks, just to see a bit more of the state that I haven't seen.

This is great! I love being able to get up and not have to say..."If I skip breakfast, I can make the 7:45, but if I have breakfast, I will have to wait for the 8:15." I just grab my coffee and bag, and walk out the door whenever I feel like it. Woo-hoo!!!

I drove to the top of Ester Dome yesterday to take some pictures and hike around for a bit...and I will be posting them on the website very soon.

Just in case you need that address again, here it is:

http://www.qsl.net/kc0hoj/bmh/home.html

GOINGS ON

Well, the school year has begun once again. My dear alma mater, UNK is back in session. So is Cornell, where my good friend Emily Balcetis (who just got added to the email list) is working on her graduate degrees in Psychology and Notre Dame, where Marie Lopez del Puerto is spending a year impressing all of the American students in the physics department. Well, as you can imagine, I have been doing my part to help indoctrinate Marie into a college football mindset. She has had plenty of help on her end, too, Notre Dame being what it is. Unfortunately, the season didn't start so well as the Irish had to run headlong into the very impressive first-half Huskers this past weekend. A fun game to watch, actually. It was fun to see the Huskers with a bit of fire in their belly for a change. That defense is very good.

Unfortunately, the weekend wasn't quite as good for Michigan fans...the Wolverines played a tough U-Dub Husky Team in Seattle, and lost a close one.

What else is happening...let me see. School has begun once again here as well, which has drastically increased the population of young folks, which is both good and bad. There are more young ladies, but there are also more young men. And while the roads are a bit less congested with RVs, the manic driving habits of young people has seen its upsurge.

Well, a short update today, but before I leave, there is the usual matter of...

INJECTIONS D'HUMEUR

"Mr. Halverson, you look awfully exhausted! What happened to you?"

"Well, Doctor, it was that medicine you gave me. You said to take it for three days and skip a day, and all of that skipping wore me out."

Get your submissions in for the Great "Name Brian's Car" Contest soon.

Later,

Brian "Mobility Rules!" Hartmann