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It started out innocently enough. I began to think at parties now and then — just to loosen up and be a part of the crowd. Inevitably, though, one thought led to another, and soon I was more than just a social thinker.
I began to think alone — “to relax,” I told myself — but I knew it wasn’t true. Thinking became more and more important to me, and finally I was thinking all the time. That was when things began to sour at home. One evening I turned off the TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life. She spent that night at her mother’s. I began to think on the job. I knew that thinking and employment don’t mix, but I couldn’t help myself. I began to avoid friends at lunchtime so I could read Thoreau, Muir, Confucius and Kafka. I would return to the office dizzied and confused, asking, “What is it exactly that we are doing here?” One day the boss called me in. He said, “Listen, I like you, and it hurts me to say this, but your thinking has become a real problem.
This gave me a lot to think about. I came home early after my conversation with the boss. “Honey,” I confessed, “I’ve been thinking…” “I know you’ve been thinking,” she said, “and I want a divorce!” “But Honey, surely it’s not that serious.” “It is serious,” she said, lower lip quivering. ”You think as much as college professors and college professors don’t make any money, so if you keep on thinking, we won’t have any money!” ”That’s a faulty syllogism,” I said impatiently. She burst into tears of rage and frustration, but I was in no mood to deal with the emotional drama. ”I’m going to the library,” I snarled as I stomped out the door.
I headed for the library, in the mood for some Milton Friedman. I roared into the parking lot with George Wills on the radio and ran up to the big glass doors closed. To this day, I believe that a Higher Power was looking out for me that night. Leaning on the unfeeling glass, whimpering for Emerson, Thomas Paine, James Madison, anyone of their caliber, when a poster caught my eye. “Friend, is heavy thinking ruining your life?” it asked. You probably recognize that line. It comes from the standard Thinkers Anonymous poster.
This is why I am what I am today: a recovering thinker. I never miss a TA meeting. At each meeting we watch a non-educational video; Then we share experiences about how we avoided thinking since the last meeting. I still have my job, and things are a lot better at home. Life just seemed easier, somehow, as soon as I stopped thinking. I believe the road to recovery is nearly complete for me.
Today I took the final step…I joined the Republican Party.
I just added a new silver 2011 Hyundai GLS Sonata with tinted windows into my fleet of vehicles (the picture is identical to what I purchased). It’s my first new vehicle in ten years. My Honda Passport is getting ‘long in the tooth’ and I wasn’t feeling comfortable taking it on longs trips so I made the leap to a modern day set of wheels.
I had planned to keep the SUV so I felt a sedan was the best choice. After researching all of the offerings in the mid-size range, the Sonata quickly surfaced as the best choice for the price, offered interest rate, bumper to bumper and drive train warranties, and best ”stock” equiped vehicle in its class. Can you say “Blue Tooth on board”? Best of all it’s propelled down the road by a very powerful four cylinder engine and will get an outstanding 35 mpg on the highway. Lastly, the dealer experience was fantastic. I had dreaded the experience, but the salesman was perfect!!
I JUST BOUGHT FOUR NEW GEOCOINS AND THEY ARE AMAZING !!!
   
It all started when I found the Osiris coin in a cache called Beautiful Thrill. A very fitting name due to the fact I was very thrilled to have found such a beautiful coin out in the ‘wild’. From that point forward I was obsessed … I HAD to find out where I could buy this amazing coin. My search brought me to the online geocoin store, The Geocoin Store. I also found out the coin was one of four in set called The Lotus Compass created by Jackalgirl The coins in the set are called Nepthys, Aten, Osiris, and Set. I purchased the entire set and now they’ve been added to my geocoin collection. If you would like to discover them, just send me a message via my twitter account.
The story behind the coins goes as follows:
The inspiration for this coin comes from the glorious Middle and New Kingdoms of Ancient Egypt. Lotus buds and flowers (Nymphaea caerulea), symbols of creation & rebirth, are used to create a compass rose around the central disk of the sun. The directions are represented in four forms of text: hieroglyphs, Gardnerian transliteration, English, and an approximation of how the word might be pronounced (based on the study of both Middle Egyptian and its still-extant descendant, Coptic). South is at the top, as it was represented in Egyptian art (and, in fact, the Egyptian word for “south” also means “up”).
On the reverse, the classic representation of Aten (the sun disk, represented in the way made very famous by the artisans of the Amarna period) is, of course, geocaching, as any self-respecting sun deity with eons of time on its many, many hands would probably be doing. Aten has found an ammo can and is signing the log and — what’s that? A bug is escaping!
Last weekend I went down to Ajo to visit the parents. Had a fun filled visit. We took the Childs Mountain tour. Below are photos taken on the ridge line.
Childs Mountain was an old Air Force radar station which was built in 1959 and deactivated in 1971. Now the FAA has ownership of most of the equipment up there.
On the way down I hid a cache I called “Tweet Like You Know What You’re Talking About” and while I was in Ajo I hid another “3200 Bones“.
A guy walks into a bar with his pet monkey
 photo credit: Martin Pettitt
He orders a drink and while he’s drinking, the monkey starts jumping all over the place. The monkey grabs some olives off the bar and eats them, then grabs some sliced limes and eats them, then jumps up on the pool table, grabs the cue ball, sticks it in his mouth and swallows it whole.
The bartender screams at the guy, “Did you see what your monkey just did?” The guy says, “No, what?” “He just ate the cue ball off my pool table – whole!” says the bartender.
“Yeah, that doesn’t surprise me,” replies the patron. “He eats everything in sight, the little jerk. I’ll pay for the cue ball and stuff.” He finishes his drink, pays his bill, and leaves.
Two weeks later he’s in the bar again, and he has his monkey with him. He orders a drink and the monkey starts running around the bar again. While the man is drinking, the monkey finds a maraschino cherry on the bar. He grabs it, sticks it up his butt, pulls it out, and eats it.
The bartender is disgusted. “Did you see what your monkey did now?” “Now what?” asks the patron. “Well, he stuck a maraschino cherry up his butt, then pulled it out and ate it!” says the barkeeper. “Yeah, that doesn’t surprise me,” replies the patron.
“He still eats everything in sight, but ever since he ate that cue ball he measures everything first!”
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