A post NOT about New Orleans

Or Democrats, for that matter. Just a few random thoughts. The things that keep me sane, if you will.

There's a hawk that has a nest close to where I work. When I step out for a coffee break, I can sometimes see it circling on the thermals, hunting. There's just something wonderous about seeing it circle, soaring in the sky, never beating it's wings but flying non the less. It's one of the things I look forward to during the day.

I just finished watching "Master and Commander" again for the umpteenth time. It's one movie I never get tired of. Part of it is that I love to sail, although I get to do it rarely. One of my dreams is to sail on a tall ship. It's a dream that's rather far off, as I'll have to learn a hell of a lot more than I know now in order to do it, but sailing on smaller ships has whetted my appetite for it. If you've never sailed, on a ship big or small, do it. There's no noise other than the wind in the sails and water against the hull. Right before I enlisted for the first time, my father, brother and I went on a three day sailing trip on Lake Coeur d'Alene. It's a trip I'll never forget.

I'm running once again. My back has healed up to the point where I can restart some of the activities that I was doing before I screwed it up. It's about damn time, too. I feel like a fat-ass, having not run in a month and a half. I went on my usual route, and I was huffing and puffing up the hills that I had sprinted up two months ago. It's frigging hard to get your endurance back when you lose it, but at least I can start getting back in shape.

Is there a happier face than the one on a dog that's getting it's belly scratched?

I went snorkling on Labor Day. Labor Day. What a weird holiday. You celebrate labor by taking the day off. Anyways, I went to a beach named Cerro Gordo, and snorkled past coral reefs that I've only seen on National Geographic before. Coral, fish, sea urchins, you name it. I swam between two reefs that went down about thirty feet on either side. My buddy Joe dove down and picked up two huge sea urchin skeletons, as well as a starfish that weighed about eight to ten pounds. We let the starfish go, and kept the skeletons. If we had seen any lobsters, we would have kept those as well, but there was nary a langosta in sight.

Have I mentioned that my wife kicks ass? I think it's been a while, so for any new readers I might have, here's your official notice. My wife kicks ass. Just so you know.

Despite all the mayhem in the world, my personal life is going pretty damn well. So just in case anyone is wondering, I'm not negative or raging all the time.

And now it's time for me to hit the rack. See you all later.