Apparently the Oxford English Dictionary has blessed blog for inclusion in the definitive guide to the English language. (Thanks to Dane Carlson for the tip.)

I arrived in NC this afternoon after stopping overnight with my sister in Richmond. Not a bad trip, though I was afraid that the car wouldn’t make it over Old Fort Mountain without running out of gas. I screened O Brother, Where Art Thou? for my parents tonight—Mom thought it was funny, but I don’t know if Dad thought anything about it at all.

Tomorrow I’ll be looking for one of the ancestral Jarrett cemeteries and attending a function at the Marshall Depot, which my uncle and grandmother had a role in saving and converting into a spot for live music. Details later.

Does anyone else do this? I’m driving around by myself this week—Lisa has a houseful of friends in Boston for Kelley’s bridal shower—and this morning I found myself looking for a driving buddy. It goes like this:

1. Find someone going approximately your speed (in my case, look for the person who’s considerately passing the other cars, traveling about eight miles over)
2. Pass that person
3. Pull back into the right lane at a reasonable rate of speed, to allow that person to pass if they choose

If it works out, you can travel keeping pace with the other driver for hundreds of miles this way. I think it only works with other solo drivers though. On long drives it’s one of my tricks to keep me from going nuts and talking to myself.