I live in the south, this is an irrefutable reality. This fact is especially apparent on holidays, particularly one where the accepted norms include barbcue, beverages and just about anything loud, fast and explosive. In a part of the country where, "hey y'all, watch this," is more than a saying, it is a life philosophy, the Fourth of July rules supreme as the holiday where the South revels in all it's Rebel glory. For this very reason, the Fourth is a particularly good holiday to stay home and hide out, which is exactly what I did for the better part of the weekend. Does this make me antisocial, a bit of a hermit? This quite possibly is the case. I am fine with that.

After being gone coaching the week prior, and coming home slightly sleep deprived and more than a little tired, I was grateful for a couple days largely alone. In this time I paddled, revisited my tech geek side, and followed the third World Cup in Augsburg. It was not bad. By the end of the weekend, I was slighly sore, had built a new website for my college advisor and had updated much of the back end architecture for this, my personal site.

Looking forward, after this week, life is going to pick up quite quickly. Sunday takes me to Houston, TX to teach a class. From Houston, I fly directly to Redlands, CA for two weeks of training myself. This time it is not a athletic training trip, but an intellectual training trip. This training is for work. Three weeks out of the boat, I am not looking forward to.

However, there is a fleece lining to this. In Houston, I get to visit a great friend whom I have not seen since leaving Pensacola while in the Navy. In California, I get to visit my best friend since sixth grade, his wife and year old son. It could just be the type of people whom I identify with. Whatever the reason, in my life few of my truly great friends are ever close by. It seems we all have a talent for moving, living and traveling.

This trip will bring me back to a few of the best from my life thus far. This, it is a very good thing, something I very much am looking forward to. As Poison said so succinctly back in 1988, "Every Rose Has Its Thorn." Yes, yes it does. However, unlike the song's author Bret Michaels, it is not in reference to a failed love affair with a Los Angeles stripper.