I�m staying home today since Stu and I are so far ahead on the jobsite that we have to give the other lads a chance to catch us. It�s a curious game played by construction companies, sort of a Contractor Tag. The guy on the bulldozer pushes dirt around for a while and when it�s done, he hollers �Tag! You�re it� and we jump in and start building a house or something until we get to the roof, when we tag the roofer, then he tags us and so on.

So if you think my job is mostly fun and games, you may be right.

The weather is finally starting to warm up. I can take a lot of these mid-sixties temperatures. It will relieve me of the burden of having to complain incessantly, both here and in person, about temperatures in the teens and a 40 knot wind coming off the Chesapeake Bay (by the way, we here on the water are fond of referring to wind speed in knots. Makes us sound all nautical and stuff). Naturally, having warm weather leaves me free to bitch about the heat, but I can promise you I�ll be a lot happier about hot weather in general. And knot-filled wind in August is a lot more palatable than in January.

My pro football team is making some incredible off-season deals that promise me unrequited joy come September when they squash all opponents in their path and head into the Bowl. Which they once did four times in a row, and lost. Leaving me a bitter and unfulfilled man, given to weeping and gnashing of teeth. They�re doing well this year. I like having that going for me.

I pulled into the gas station this morning and the cashier took my money and said �Have a good day out there. Take good care.� In such a way that I felt she genuinely meant it. In such a way that she and I both understood that �Out There� meant the mean old world at large, and that it was capable of being conquered. I think seeing people, even complete strangers, who are able to use vocabulary and expression which is a little more advanced than the standard �Uh� or the drawling and machine-like �Have a nice daaaaay� is something to take hope from. That maybe everybody is not completely and listlessly devoid of some semblance of human emotion and the ability to verbalize it..

Fishing. It�s close. I can almost feel a slippery set of gills under my fingers, and the cork from the end of a bait casting rod in my hand. As tonics of spring go, so goes the bass. And the anticipation is, as always, as much fun as the actual event.

Weddings. By this time, having completed a weekend, two of my buddy list people are (my assumptions run rampant here) happily linked and able to check �Filing as Married� on their income tax. Weddings make me happy. Weddings ought to make everybody happy.

I just found the last cold beer in the �fridge. Which is a good thing if, for example, you thought you were out of beer. I�m just saying.

My eldest Beth took a trip over the weekend to Charlotte. You know, that toddlin� town in North Carolina? She�s been there many times for different reasons. Difference being, this time, she went on her own. Totally on her own, and in her own car. A 5� hour drive. Am I nuts? To let her go that far by herself? I know lots of parents who would look at that notion and tell the child �Hee. Yeah right, you want me to be the one who says you can drive 300 miles on your own. Get a grip.� But she�s 18, she�s pretty responsible. She�s a good driver. She checks in frequently and without complaint. Then again, it wasn�t so long ago that the only thing she might be doing for 5� hours was wearing a diaper. You know? It was a symbol of trust, and I gulped and said okay. I really could do little more than hope for the best. It turned out fine, and that�s a good thing.

Maybe with a few more good things this will turn out to be an exceptional week.

Maybe if I continue to look for them, it�ll happen all by itself.

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