The last time I blogged from the Manchester area, I saw a giant cow. This time, I heard The Millers.

My buddy Josh Holmes recommended the soup-and-WiFi special at the Coffee Mill Cafe in Manchester near him. And I sat down to a nice roast beef and cheddar sandwich and a cup of potato soup; but while I was waiting, a guy with a violin case walked in. Then a couple of more some minutes later. No, it wasn't a Mob hit; it was the Millers, coming in for their twice monthly jam session in the back of the cafe. With their permission, I made a recording, which I'm editing now. With a little luck, I'll have some tracks up tonight.

Update: Here are the first three tracks. Keep in mind: I'm not an audio engineer. I recorded these only with my Tablet PC's built-in microphone. I wasn't necessarily in the best spot for recording (because remember, I'm not an audio engineer). And we were in a very fine coffee shop, which was conducting business and making coffee and otherwise adding noise to the mix. So these tracks are just a taste, a poor imitation of the real thing. If you would like a better taste, I recommend you try their podcasts. Or stop by the Coffee Mill Cafe, 2nd and 4th Saturdays from 2 to 5.

1 (12 MB download)

2 (15 MB download)

3 (10 MB download)

Update: Here are the next five tracks.

4 (13 MB download)

5 (14 MB download)

6 (13 MB download)

7 (11 MB download)

8 (8 MB download)

Update: Here are the next four tracks.

9 (11 MB download)

10 (11 MB download)

11 (10 MB download)

12 (11 MB download)

Update: Here are the next four tracks.

13 (17 MB download)

14 (13 MB download)

15 (9 MB download)

16 (9 MB download)

Update: And here are the last four tracks.

17 (6 MB download)

18 (13 MB download)

19 (13 MB download)

20 (10 MB download)

So I was headed back across the state; and I stopped at Wendy's for some dinner. (Their Ultimate Chicken Grill is my favorite there.) And I decided to take a break for a bit, and actually pull over to eat. So I rolled down the windows — it's still nice enough weather to do that in Michigan tonight — pulled out a book, and started to read.

But suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement. She ran into the brush when a truck pulled up, but came back when they left:



The look on her face said as clear as day: "You gonna finish that chicken sandwich?" So I tore off a chunk of chicken, and tossed it to her. She dug in:



And then I tossed her more, and more.



I was going to call her Andre, after the film; but seeing as she's calico, the odds are 3000 to 1 that she's an Andrea.

But eventually, the chicken was gone.



I tried tossing her some baked potato, but...



Miracle of miracles, she didn't hop in the car and come home with me. But then, I won't be heading home until Friday...

My good buddy Josh Holmes announced some major news this week: he's joining Microsoft as an Architect Evangelist.

As someone whome he hit up for a reference, I've been waiting a long time to say: Congratulations, Josh!

Update: Revised Josh's URL.