Today is a *grateful* day.

The sun is shining.

I still have all my fingers and toes.

Beethoven wrote a really good 2nd movement to the 7th symphony.

I had Honeycomb cereal for breakfast.

I made time to take my dog out for a poop this morning.

I finished my annual performance reviews and still have my wits about me.

I still work with clever people.

My boss is over a thousand miles and one country away.

I got my DVD ROM drive to work on my laptop.

I cheered someone up.

... and tomorrow's payday.

Cool.

Yesterday, Napster was overtaken by the hounds. You ran a good race, Shawn. Thanks for getting us started.

I've always enjoyed George Carlin. As I get older, I've learned to enjoy him for different reasons.

At first, it was because he was shocking. He obviously grew up in a very different environment than I - the language, expressions, mannerisms, and presence seem to seesaw back and forth from a calm, reflective social commentator to a foul-mouthed, substance-abusing, wrong-side-of-the-tracks beligerent. But as I listened to more of his monologues, I began to hear something deeper.

He wasn't the first comedian I'd ever heard swear on stage, but he was the first one to intellectually explore how people use and interpet these words. He takes no snobbish approach to the language and behaviors that are used in everyday life, by everyday people. Instead, he looks at our actions and expressions, puts them into a totally different context, and shows how funny people are being every day without even meaning to be. He seems to be comfortable laying in the mud, talking the talk, and still looking at what we all do naturally with the objectivity of a pure academic.

He gets laughs through the absurdity of showing us to ourselves. Some of his best standup routines are ones that take the scientific approach to vulgarity. The seven words you can never say on television, for example. A brilliant and shocking bit on how these words have been banished from the airwaves, all due to the thoughts behind the people that use the words. he talks about the phonics of the words, their origins and the concepts behind them, too.

A thinking person's comedian. Just don't let your mom hear you listening to him.

I've decided I don't get enough personal e-mail. I get loads of stuff addressed to me, but it's all business-related or advertising. Valentine's Day is coming - send me some mail and tell me that you love me.

... and today, I let all of my employees live. Even the ones who thought it was OK to work from home without telling me beforehand.

God, give me strength.

(grumble, grumble)

I spent a wonderful, glorious weekend in the newly renovated basement. It looks ultra-great. (speaking of ultra, whatever happened to Ultrashag?) It's not totally done yet, but it is soooo close, it was worth just wandering around down there, imagining where my office chair was going to go, how I was going to have things set up, etc.. The walls are painted, the trim and baseboards are up, the carpet is in, the doors are hung (with doorhandles), the plumbing is all in place, and it feels REAL comfortable. We haven't paid the electrician, the painter or the general contractor, but that should happen this week (ouch).

... As I just read the paragraph above, and look back at past No Comments, I realize how different my priorities have become from what I might have held dear even five years ago. Why is this project so important to me? Perhaps because it holds a place for me to retreat to, a sanctuary where things are how I like them, where I left them and untouched since I left them.

As little as six months ago, I made a decision to make a go of the life that I have found myself in. Many people (men, my age and position in life, I'm guessing) have tried to express the sort of things that they are feeling right now. Some run away, some change in radical or goofy ways, and some philosophise. I like to think that I fall into the last camp. The last four years have seen me metamorphasize from a young adult (in mind mind, at least) into an older adult. I went through some very rough times, times that saw me forsake my family to persue my own shadow. That shadow was me, but it was cast by a man who had less respect and regard for the true well being of those I associated with. I like to think that time has made me wiser.

Time to head for bed before I get all mushy and philosphica-

Oops. Too late.