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In the past few months, I’ve heard and read a lot of stories about companies recalling toys made in China. Most of these toys have been recalled because they contain high levels of lead or other chemicals that make them unsafe for children to play with.

Obviously, this isn’t new, and I’m sure this has been going on for years and years without the attention it is now getting in the news. This really makes me wonder how much lead and other dangerous chemicals I came into contact with playing with toys as a kid. I’m sure the rules have become stricter over the years, but as we’re seeing, the toys of today are being recalled for safety reasons, so I believe the toys of the past were even more dangerous.

I don’t really know what else to say about this, except I hope I don’t die an early death because I used to play with lead-infested toys…

While in Nashville a few weeks back, we saw a great band from Philadelphia called Hoots and Hellmouth play at The Basement after my girlfriend Amy LaVere was done her set. These crazy guys play some great music and really entertained the crowd with their harmonies and unique sound.

I’ve heard their lineup changes, depending on when and where they are playing. At this particular show, they had two guitarists, an upright bassist and a guy playing a mandolin. They also brought in these big sheets of plywood with tambourines attached to them, which acted as some really cool stomping platforms. Take a look:

Check out this little video clip I took with my digital camera:

I had a checkup at the doctor’s this morning, and while I was there, he suggested I get vaccinated against pneumonia. I remembered hearing about such a vaccine about a month ago when I was at the diabetes centre, but I didn’t really know much about it. My doctor explained how he recommends “Pneumovax” to certain people, such as the elderly, and people with certain diseases, like diabetes. It was free and he was ready to do it on the spot, so I went ahead with it.

This afternoon at work, we had flu shots. My doctor assured me there wouldn’t be any problems getting two vaccines in one day, but he said it would be best to get the needles in opposite arms. Both injections were no problem.

So far, my left arm hurts quite a bit. That’s the arm I got my flu shot in. The other arm feels fine. I feel pretty invincible right now, being double-vaccinated.

Update: It’s now the next day, and both of my shoulders really hurt a lot.

During the Nashville trip last week, we hit up The Basement, which is a cool little club in the basement of a book store. We went on Friday night, and there was a big crowd there to see Amy LaVere play live. She plays bass, and has the cutest voice ever. She is a little sweetie, and I think I’m in love with her.

I only managed to get a couple pictures of her, and they’re not even that good, but you can check her out on her Myspace page.

This past weekend, two friends and I went down to Nashville for a few days. We left Friday morning at midnight driving 14 hours through Ontario, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and finally making our way into Tennessee Friday afternoon.

We had a great trip, checking out the sights and sounds of Nashville. We drank a lot of cheap beer ($2 drafts, $6 pitchers), checked out a lot of bars and heard a lot of great live music. A couple of the more memorable places we went to were Coyote Ugly, which is the famous bar where girls get up and dance on the bar, and The Basement, which is a small basement bar where the cool kids go to see live bands.

We toured Vanderbilt University, saw the Opry Mills Mall, where they have a huge Gibson guitar store and factory. On the Sunday, there was a Titans vs. Panthers football game at LP Field in Nashville. There were 69,143 people at the game, and there were Titans fans all over the city for most of the day.

Overall, it was a really fun trip, and we got to see a lot of cool stuff, even though we were only in town for three days. Take a look at some pics:

Printer’s Alley, a famous downtown street where many of Nashville’s publishing and printing companies started:

The General Jackson riverboat on the Cumberland River:

A couple from Coyote Ugly:

LP Field during the Titans game: