I went for a long bike ride as the sun went down in an effort to decompress from holiday stress and to store up some relaxation in advance before dealing with more holiday stress. The sky was beautiful. My "alternative" playlist came up with consistently great songs in shuffle mode. And I got the workout I needed. But the ride ended on a sad note. While turning down my favorite nearby road, a dead-end, I saw a car ahead rolling towards me at coasting speed. At first I thought they were just lost or perhaps looking for a good spot to admire the view. But then the driver motioned for me to stop. It was an elderly man connected to an oxygen tank. He was very distressed.

I asked him what was wrong and he explained that he was looking for his wife's lost dog, which someone thought they'd spotted nearby, down in the wash, just north of La Cañada. He explained that she was a shut-in and that the dog was her constant companion. She had been disconsolate since she disappeared on the 23rd and refused to celebrate the holiday. Not being a dog owner, I'm not sure what the best approach would be to help this man.

For what it's worth, the dog is an eighteen-month-old champagne Lab that answers to "Molly." She's not that big, by Lab standards, and has a pink nose with a dark spot. "She looks a little like a pig," the man explained. What makes this tale even sadder is that the dog was severely abused before he and his wife took her in and might exhibit residual wariness around strangers. He has contacted the Oro Valley Police and the Humane Society, but I'm betting there's some social networking way to get the word out about this. Facebook? Craig's List? The man seems ill-equipped to make use of the internet and I'd like to help him. Any ideas?

The Hold Steady plays tonight at Plush. I'm going. Show time is 11pm, though it may be packed long before then. I'm going early anyway. I want to be there in time to see the opening act Illinois too, since they hail from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where I passed the happier days of my youth.

I'm going to the Devotchka show tonight at Plush. They are supposed to go on at 10:45pm. I should be there a little after 10pm.

For those of you who don't know Devotchka, they make great music that fuses a wide variety of genres. They also did much of the soundtrack for the film Little Miss Sunshine.

Tomorrow will be insane. The Rocky Mountain chapter of the MLA is holding its annual conference in Tucson, but I probably won't be able to go until Friday, because I have so much on my plate. There's the Michael Lerner talk in the evening. I'd like to rush over to Modern Languages to see the tail-end of the prose series reading afterwards, since my former office mate and generally wondrous colleague Aurelie Sheehan will be up last. I'm not sure I'll have time, though. And then there's this panel I'm on in the afternoon, right after I'm done teaching:

I can't promise greatness, but the preliminary discussion the panelists had on Monday suggested that our public conversation will be interesting. I might even get to mention Walter Benjamin! It should be over by 6pm. Oh, and the moth exhibition, which dances along the line between art and science, is impressive, bringing out the inner Nabokov in anyone who has an inner Nabokov.

I'll be at Plush tonight to see Califone, the subject of my next Tikkun feature -- already written, but yet to appear -- and a band worthy of your attention if catchphrases like "ambient Americana", "bluesy neo-Krautrock" or "postmodern traditionalist" excite your curiosity. They're supposed to go a little after 11pm. I hope to see you there.