And Now A Word From Our Sponsor

Before we begin I'd like to provide another update. I've taken my midterm exam (the course is a 15 week course compressed into 10 days) and my grade was 48 out of 50, or 96%. I hope the rest of school goes this well.

And now on to the days exercise.

I got this from my friend Kathleen. It's a game called “Brought to you by the letter…”. Here’s how it works…You leave a comment on this post, and I’ll assign you a letter. You write about ten things you love that begin with your assigned letter, and post it at your place. When people comment on your list, you give them a letter, and the chain continues on and on.

I have been given the letter H. It took some thought, but here goes.

Brought to you by the letter H.

Home. It really is where the heart is. When I used to travel all the time (120 or so nights a year on the road) I used to take vacations and not go anywhere. I'd stay in the house for days at a time and wouldn't even open the doors. And it was great. The comfort and security of being in your own place is something that one should never take for granted. Now with Mona and The Peanut and the dogs and the auxiliary dog (the cat) it's more than just my fortress of solitude, but that's plenty fine by me. I still get my quiet time during the day but I wouldn't want the place if it wasn't what it is n0w.

Hawaii. I've been there twice now for a total of nearly three weeks. I've been to Oahu, Maui and Kauai. Hands down I like Kauai the best. The scenery is nothing short of incredible. The canyons in the center of the island seem totally out of place, like part of Arizona somehow ended up surrounded by a jungle rain forest in the middle of the Pacific ocean. There are waterfalls all over the place, the beaches are great and the place is very quite and laid back. Not "touristy" at all. And the diving was pretty great too.

Heroes. On NBC. The first half of this season was a little weak, but it got better at the end. From what I read it looks like they've got one of the original writers or creators back on staff as a story consultant and they'll be getting back to form now that the new year is upon us.

Henry Ford's mansion. This is the place where Mona and I had our wedding reception. It was actually less expensive than pretty much all the halls we looked at and the food was fantastic. Seriously, best appetizers ever. We still talk about crashing weddings there just to get some appetizers.

Hardware and home improvement stores. These are places of possibility. In these stores I feel like I could build or do anything. I'm fully certain that if you dropped me off on the surface of the moon with nothing by my bare hands and the Lowes down the street I'd have a lunar hotel built a short time later. I'd be cooler than Martin Landau (bonus points if you get the reference, double bonus points if you don't google it). The stuff they have is just so freaking cool. Plumbing supplies and all the cool fittings, obscure little doodads, billions and billions of screws, nuts, bolts, nails, staples and every other kind of fastener. Miles of duct tape. And oh my lord the tools. So many tools. And tool related accessories. Saws. Drills. Hammers. Air Tools. Hammers. Levels. Big, giant, NASCAR garage size tool boxes that come with refridgerators, WiFi, and flat screen TVs! And those really super cool leather tool belts. Seriously, how cool would I look in one of those? Mona won't let me get one though. I think it's because of what it would do to my sex appeal. I'd never get anything done if I suddenly became totally irresistible to her. And whenever I went outside I'd end up having to use the hose on all the neighbor ladies, then their husbands would all be pissed and I would have to get them their own tool belts, which would be the start of a huge chain reaction leading to the complete collapse of civilization! Wow. I guess it's a good thing she won't let me have a tool belt after all.

Holodecks. Sure, I realize the Holodeck isn't real, but I want one. So does every other red blooded American man. Scott Adams, the guy who writes Dilbert, once said that if the Holodeck ever does come to be that the world really will end. I fully concur. But I am completely willing for that to happen if it means I can spend the rest of my life in a state of bliss while teams of highly intelligent nymphomaniac cheerleaders work hard every day figuring out new ways to be nice to me. Totally worth it.

Helmets. You might think that I'm reaching now, just trying to find words that begin with the letter H, but you'd be wrong. Very wrong. Helmets are the epitome of cool. If your job requires a helmet you my friend, are totally awesome. Who wears helmets to work? How about fighter pilots. Top Gun would not have been nearly as awesome if the actors flew the planes in those LPGA visor thingies. Storm Troopers. I would totally be a Storm Trooper. Medevac Nurses, which is why I want that job. Firemen. Soldiers and Marines. Hockey players. Knights. CHiPs. Face it, helmets = cool.

Hershey's Kisses. Specifically the ones that are caramel filled. Man are those good or what?

Higher Education. School just flat out rocks. College was and is so much better than working. I swear if I had just piles of money I might just spend the rest of my life taking classes and accumulating degrees. I love to learn stuff. I like to teach stuff. I like to hang out with people who are smarter than me (not that it's a problem finding them, but a lot of times they're conveniently clustered on college campuses).

History. The past fascinates me. The people, the places. I love to imagine myself in those situations, living from day to day. What would it have been like? What would I have thought? Who would I have been? And then realize how much living in the old west, or sailing in the Royal Navy in the early 1800's or fighting in either of the world wars would have sucked because (besides the whole war thing) there was no real medicine, toilets were out back blizzard or no blizzard, and every little thing that I do by pushing a button (microwaving food), turning a knob (for water) or flipping a switch (lighting a room) would require sometimes hard manual labor or at the very least extra time and work. But I like to read about those tough, tough people who did it way back when.

So those are my 10. Care to play?