You know, I'm feeling cheap lately.

I'm catching up a little after an unexpected expense (about three-and-a-half weeks of spending money) and that always makes me feel parsimonious. I can always overcome these feelings, but you know it's bad when you start trying to round down the waitress' tip rather than round up.

I had a good day of not feeling that way on Saturday when I got the chance to take my seven-year-old nephew to a hockey game. It was a college game, which is a nice price compared to the local NHL tickets, but even so, when you throw in dinner out (I had a coupon, so I was thrilled when he wanted to go to my "usual place"!), a treat at the game, and parking, the outing was over $60. I think that, when you're seven years old, a $60 outing makes you less than a cheap date!

It was worth every penny; he enjoyed it.

CDs listened to today:

• 24-7 Spyz: Gumbo Millenium
• Juraj Filas: Sonata For Trombone And Piano (At the end of the century)
• Dmitri Shostakovich: The String Quartets, disk 1
• Various Artists: Something For Everybody
• Bill Watrous: The Tiger Of San Pedro
• The Joggers: Solid Guild
• Richard Wagner: Prelude from Tristan Und Isolde
• Rand Steiger: Hexadecathlon: "A New-Slain Knight"
• Nine Inch Nails: The Perfect Drug
• Porno For Pyros: Pets