My Apologies

If there are any loyal readers left, please accept my apologies for the blogging drought. I feel really bad about the absence of posts for the last week. (I won't apologize for the poor quality of the writing that I do post, nor for the egregious lack of entertainment value; you knew the job was dangerous when you took it.)

You have probably speculated that I was called away to help the Rockies get back on track...or perhaps you thought I was unexpectedly invited to go on an African safari with Regis Philbin and Jesse Ventura. Maybe you guessed that I had been struck by lightning, or turned into a zombie by Yaphet Koto, or joined a Kool-Aid cult and was preparing to catch a passing comet to Nirvana. Well, those are all things that may well happen in the future, but the truth is that I've just been busy...and tired.

After a few months of extremely light workload at my office, things have picked up. And when I actually have to think while at work, it makes it more difficult to get anything done in the remaining hours of the day. I like to think of my brain as a high-performance race car -- somethat that operates at an impressive level...but burns fuel at an enormous rate and occasionally bursts into flame and piles into a wall. (Of course, others have compared it to a Slinky...able to roll down stairs fairly well, but likely to miss a step and need another push every now and then.) Whatever the analogy, though, the truth is that if I'm fully engaged in working hard at the office, I sometimes struggle with accomplishing much at home.

Then when you factor in a late-night "From the Mouth of Cthulhu" concert, and a 500-drive across Kansas the next morning after only 3 hours of sleep, well, you can imagine that my intellectual fuel reserves might be low. And that's not even taking into account the draining effect that being in Kansas has on one's energy (and soul). By the time I returned to Denver, I was in dire need of some recovery time, extra sleep, and a few days off. But no, it turned out that things were still quite busy at work, and with an upcoming lake swim race to train for, fairly demanding in the exercise department as well.

I hope it doesn't sound like I'm complaining, because I hate it when people point out that I'm getting all whiny and wimpy and just need to suck it up. The reaction I'd prefer is "Oh my goodness—the poor fellow does indeed have the most excellent reasons for being a slacker -- we should support him by continuing to read his blog, no matter how lame it gets or how often he disrepects us by shirking his writing tasks." Yeah, that's the spirit!

Besides, there are still interesting stories to be told. Not just about Kansas (yes, the Giant Prairie Dog is still there) and about alternative energy, rock n' roll, and lake swim training...but also about the challenges of keeping kids in college, working on aerospace proposals, and dealing with skin problems resulting from too much sunbathing as a teenager. It's all right here, folks, so please stay tuned.

Thanks, and have a great day!