So this is the part when I say...

What a beautiful morning...it's about 8:30, it's overcast and raining outside, perhaps only about 55 or 60 degrees. I'm on a layover in San Francisco today and I'm in one of the rare hotels that allow you to actually open the window. It's been open all night long and after a decent night's rest, I feel more refreshed than I have in months. The cool. bay air is exactly what I've needed and I have a real sense of rejeuvination running through me today -- MAN! I love when I feel this way...

So, as I was pondering what I am doing for the day, I was thinking about 2007. What kind of year will this new year be...for me...for my family...for the world?

I had to laugh the other day. I had just gotten into my car after a very intense (and long overdue) workout at the gym. I was feeling that great warming feeling you get when you have really worked it hard and your lungs feel like they are taking in double the regular intake of oxygen -- kind of euphoric. I got into the car and as the radio came on, the first thing the announcer said was (insert Walter Cronkite-ish radio voice here), "Tel-evangelist warns of catistrophic events in 2007!"

It turns out that Pat Robertson has stated for the record that God has told him that terrorists will target major U.S. cities with "mass killings" late in 2007, probably after September. He also suggested that, while God didn't come right out and say it'd be "nuclear" in nature, that it would be something very similar and that millions of people would be affected. Well, isn't that just enough ruin a perfectly wonderful day!

I was so disgusted that I immediately turned off the radio and began wondering if I should hide my head in the sand now and calmly chant "make it go away...make it go away!" or put my hands up to my ears and shout "LA LA LA LA...I'm not listening...LA LA LA LA...I can't hear you!"

Well, I'm sorry, but Mr. Robertson is not allowed to pee in my corn flakes and why should I let him? But this little anecdote got me to thinking about my current state of affairs.

As I have stated before on this blog, this whole experiment, if you will, of putting my life and thoughts out there for the world to see and read, to establish new relationships, forge new friendships and delve into the lifes and times of others here on the internet doing the same thing -- can it be for real? I mean, surely, there are folks I have "met" here and some that I will "meet" here in the future, whom I will never have the opportunity to meet IRL (for those of you unsaavy information superhighway novices out there, IRL is blog-speak for "In Real Life" -- there will be a quiz.) Should that discourage me and others for even making the attempt at reaching out to my fellow human beings and trying to get to know others of this great human family, to which we all belong?

And then there is the question of people's true intentions. I have also stated before that the true reason I am here is to connect with others. I have stated that I'm not necessarily interested in all my friends being like-minded -- where's the fun in knowing "clones" of myself. It is our differences -- in all aspects of our lives -- that diversity which makes life much more interesting and much more fun. Yet, there are those participants here on the web whose real purpose is to sell you something. I suppose that's what I am doing -- selling myself to the world at large, just to make a connection (sorry, Mom...I didn't MEAN to be a prostitute!) But others are more like snake oil hustlers, or get-rich quick scammers who would sell you your own shirt off your back to make a buck. And then there are the real crafty ones who charm us into a false sense of security until you become ensnared in their trap.

Yes, there certainly are many potholes in the road, foibles to avoid. And there are those out there (Mr. Robertson, are you listening) who'd like nothing more than to frighten us into submission or have us shutter our windows and board up our doors and cry "The sky is falling!"

Well, 2007 may have ALL those things in store for us. I say, Devil be damned! and full speed ahead. I will NOT enter this new year with my tail between my legs. No matter that the rain is falling and the temperature be on the slightly chilly side. I know that above the clouds, the sun is shining.

And that's how I hope to live my life in the new year. Pee in the corn flakes, not included!