Straightened out

Yesterday afternoon, I jumped in my car and drove to Greenville to see my favorite chiropractor. It's totally worth the 2 hour drive each way to see him (and his delightful co-worker), since there is nothing like having your spine in alignment. The first semester of grad school was not kind to my spine, especially the hours hunching over a desk, but I now have a plan to counter-act this. Yay for foam triangular blocks. I had a very nice drive up, a very good visit, and I got to go to Whole Foods to buy the only gluten-free pizza crusts worth eating. As I was driving home I was thinking about how this really is the land I'm from. While born in Wisconsin, and trying to resist being a "Southerner" most of my life, this really is my roots. South Carolina has its own charm, and it's nice to be back here. However, not nice enough for me to be okay with the extreme humidity of the past few days. But last night was pleasant. I must say, I never noticed the extreme light pollution, especially in Columbia, until I had been in Ithaca to see the difference. I've been noticing how the sky doesn't ever actually get black, and then last night I saw the pink glow on the horizon before turning into grayness. I do love the stars and the dark night sky in the middle of nowhere like Ithaca, or the beach for that matter. We saw amazing stars our first night at the beach. And in case you ever need it, a long distance flashlight does very well as a pointer in the night sky. Laser pointers can't work, since they never hit anything, but flashlights work very well at pointing out stars.
Today was a very productive day. My mom and I ran errands and shopped and did very well. I got my car fixed, my Haifa farewell video on DVD so I can watch it whenever (instead of searching for a VCR), new clothes and sweaters so I will be warm when I return to winter, and some fun shoes. All in all, a good day.