Got a trip planned and ideas are brewing. Alaska. Kind of a holy grail for me. I can't remember the first time I thought of it, but college made it much more important to me. Diane Cox (a wildly cool professor) told me that I needed to go there with an open mind...willing to go where it took me and stay as long as it took me to get there. I thought that was a powerful and inspiring, almost magical thing to say. So I am going through books and articles and absorbing whatever I can. It's exciting. I haven't planned a vacation fo myself in so long. Probably since a college roadtrip down South.

And I have been battling strange things in my head. How anxious am I to find someone? Well, I am really alone in some ways. It's a rough career in terms of trying to find friends. And I didn't grow up anywhere near here, so there are no old buddies. So it's odd. And most of the people I hang out with are involved with a woman, so I gotta be pretty secure to hang out with married/together couples. And I know I am getting there. But then the other side of the coin is this: It costs money to go out and do all these things. I know this. I used to do it a lot. And I really want to fix up my other Jeep. And I really want to find a great home. And I really want to make a special vacation. So it's more about balance than anything, I guess. Wow, that's anice thing to find out. It's less confusing than I thought!

OK. I am off to clean the house a little and think of something to do tomorrow. The weekend is here, and it is the last one of the year!