A little knowledge is a dangerous thing

It���s only been two weeks and the powers that be have demanded a re-design. Besides, I read an HTML book over the weekend. Henceforth, you (meaning me) will be spending inordinate amounts of time at Rising Like A Trout. Championship of Sexy, while much loved, has been retired. The jersey is on display in the arena. In five years, Championship of Sexy will be eligible for the Hall of Fame. Please vote for him as he gave 110% each and every day out there on the field. You can currently find Championship of Sexy either on the golf course or making appearances at one of the many Der Wienerschnitzel franchises he has purchased with earnings from his illustrious career.

Why "Rising Like A Trout"? It���s from a book by Wallace Stegner, one of my favorite authors. Go out and buy these two books immediately:

1. Angle of Repose ��� For the letters sections alone, this book will kick your ass. If ever there has been a better female voice written by a male author, I have yet to see it. This is a wise book about marriage, family, loyalty and the long-haul that could only have been written by a middle-aged person, as the lessons in it take that long to learn. And by learn, I mean internalize and implement, not just ���know��� in the intellectual sense. Being a mere 35 years old, I still don���t know what the hell I���m doing.

2. Crossing to Safety ��� The book where the new and improved title of this blog came from. This is a book about life well spent.

It should be stated that these books are the farthest things from cool. This is not to say that I am adverse to ���things that are cool.��� This may come as a surprise to you (meaning me). I mean, I have a picture of a fucking TROUT on my blog. However, I spend probably too much time and energy in a pathetic attempt to remain cool, despite my advanced age and parental status. My 10 year old son is just beginning to glimpse the cracks in my armor and is now pretty sure that his dad is a big geek. He is right, of course. But anyway, what I���m saying is that Stegner���s writing is big and solid and American and of the West (but not ���Western���) and is concerned with the Long-Haul. If anything, ���things that are cool��� by definition are not concerned with the Long-Haul. The Long-Haul is boring and can only lead to Death, anyway, so what���s the point in that, right? Death sucks. Oh sure, flirting with Death is kick-ass, no question, but actual Death is for suckers. And by Death, I mean stability. Stability is boring, you can���t have hot threeway action and snort coke off the chests of groupies when you are mired in stability.

But ���things that are cool��� get stale real fast, even things like snorting coke of the chests of groupies. (It got old for me just this past year.) So what do you (meaning me) do when the chase after ���things that are cool��� grows old? That���s where writers like Stegner come in. For one thing, his characters are actually old enough to be dealing with these types of issues. They struggle with maintaining dignity while being interested in new things.

OK, I���m losing my train of thought. More later���