Well, I spent Sunday and part of Monday in Youngstown . . . I had a good visit, in terms of Emil's father's condition; he was awake and alert for much of the time, and we all even watched the Super Bowl. (Kathy and I both have watched the Super Bowl twice - once at Hope Lodge, and now this one. We agreed: No more Super Bowl parties.)

Kathy is spending a lot of time fantasizing about retiring in Youngstown, because the cost of living is so cheap. Myself, I find Youngstown incredibly depressing and would never want to live there, a point of view she wasn't hearing.

I remembered the conversation this morning, though, because, having discovered that Emma's school meeting is next Monday, not tonight, I all of a sudden have the evening free. So I looked in the Ann Arbor Observer to see what's going on tonight. Turns out there are 33 events listed, and they run the gamut from concerts to Senior Citizen Scrabble. (The Scrabble event for non-senior-citizens takes place on Wednesdays; I wanted to go this week, but alas, I have a meeting that will conflict . . . ) Of those 33 events, 26 are free. There are several that interest me, including:

• Two different knitting groups, one downtown and one at Arborland.
  
• A lecture at the library on "Searching for New Medicines" by a prof I knew at Pharmacy.
  
• A film at the UM Institute for the Humanities.
  
• A meeting of the Washtenaw Ski Touring club.
  
• A cello concert.
  
• A concert by the University Philharmonia Orchestra.
  

Of course, I'm also interested in the Spanish reading group and the German discussion group, but since I don't know those languages, I'm not including them in my list . . . I should also point out that I could ride my bike to any of these events; they're all within 3 miles of my house (and most are within 2.)

So, yes . . . it costs considerably more to live here than it does to live in Youngstown (or most other places), but gee. I think the extra costs are more than worth it.

Ah, well, I better go grade papers or I won't be going anywhere tonight . . .

(I'm leaning towards the cello concert. The blurb promises Bach partitas.)