1. It seems that a lot of us are going through some kind of a slump. I
don’t like it. I want to change it. Feeling melancholy in the middle of the
summer is not good.

2. My wife is due today. This is the first pregnancy that has gone full
term. She is not a happy woman right now.

3. I can’t begin to explain how much I miss being on the trail and how very
far away it seems to be until I will be on the trail again. This is a
preemptive thank you to Judy and Janessa who will be traving across the
country to come hang out in the mountains. It is a little strange that the
internet is gathering to go where the internet doesn’t exist.

4. I feel like I’m on an island. Just my family and I with bottled messages
arriving on the shores from time to time to remind us there is a world out
there beyond our sovereign shores.

5. When I leave work today I will be on vacation. I’m ambivalant about
that. My ambivalance pisses me off.