Thanks Mike/Rikki,

Nothing here is copyrighted... yet! Maybe Paul McCartney will do that for me. (Isn't he the one that copyrighted the "Happy Birthday" song?) I have been told that I need to write a book, and one day maybe I will. I write this kind of stuff at work and pass it around the underground. You know the one, that email list of friends who you trust not to pass it on to anyone with "senior" in their title, or with letters (VP,CFO,CEO,etc.) after their name. One day when I get picture posting capabilities I will post some cartoons that I drew. One is of a dog sniffing Santa's butt on a street corner, and the caption says "sniffy knew it wasn't the real Santa Claus." (Guess you had to see the picture)

By the way, I checked out your site, and I was very impressed at your views on life. Your story about your friend who passed on in his youth really inspired me. I have the fortune of having a job that allows me to travel all over the world. It is a very stressful job, but I'm never too busy or too stressed to stop and appreciate a sunset. My peers are stuck in that "corporate" mode. They use words like "functional operating plan," and "operational contingency." I try to be more realistic. In the dreaded conference call I like to be the one that says "this is our plan for when we don't screw up, and this is the one for if we do screw up."

Uh, where was I going with all this? Oh yeah, as I was saying, thanks for posting your story on your site and inspiring folks like me.

By the way, got any good plans for a surfboard? My grandfather built boats, and when he passed away I inherited a lot of his tools and plans. I found an old Popular Mechanics plan for a long board that was glued up from pieces of balsa and maybe mahogany or cedar. Unfortunately my folks managed to donate the books to the library without my knowledge. (They also traded all his tools for some cabinet work, but it pains me to talk about it) I'd love to build a wood surf board, although my surfing skills are rather limited. Any input?

Thanks again,
Malcolm