Well i guess I'm in a bit of a talkative mood right now. I just feel like typing for a bit. i apologize for the lack of punctuation and capitalization. lately my life has been a bit plain. i do pretty much the same thing almost every day. i bike to work, assemble bicycles, sell bikes, then bike back home where i check my e-mail and just kind of space out looking at sailboats and little cabins on the internet for an hour or two. after that i watch some TV, mostly just change the channel back and forth looking for something that actually entertains me, which i never find but none the less search for which takes up another couple hours, then i read until i fall asleep. so obviously im a little worried. granted one or two days a week i spend large sums of money at the bars. so ive pretty much lost my way in my grand scheme of things. i lost my license a few years ago for DUI, and just never bothered to get it back. ive been half assed trying to get it back for about a year. ive just never been one for red tape, i hate paperwork, and "the system" just doesnt make any sense to me. its not like i didnt learn a lesson or anything. believe me i will NEVER drink and drive again. actually the only reason i even want to get my DL again is so i can join the merchant marines and start a career. i catch a lot of shit from pretty much everybody i know for wanting to become a merchant sailor. my friends and family all think its a waste of time and dont really do anything to encourage this goal. but thats ok nobody thought id finish my bike trip either, granted i probably wouldn't have if mike hadnt have been riding with me, but still. im determined to at least try being a sailor. the main reason i want to work at sea is so i can learn as much as possible about traveling the worlds oceans. my true life's dream is to sail around the world and live aboard a sailboat. most of these dreams are to be blamed on books, ive spent the last eight or ten years reading fiction and non-fiction books about merchant marines, circumnavigatiors, pirates, how to guides, etc. now im planing on building a small sailboat in my carport. hopefully i can use it to learn how to sail and then eventually sell it for a small profit so i can build a little bit bigger boat for coastal cruising. ive always been a bit of a dreamer i guess, but it keeps me occupied. unfortunately lately ive hit a bit of a tarpit. i havnt really been very productive lately. im hoping to change that. i guess thats part of the reason i decided to start writing this, i always think better while i write and it helps me make decisions. i also have some land down in TN ive been trying to buy. i havnt made a payment on it for a while because money's been a bit tight since my roommate left. but i believe all these things will change with the new year. ive got a pretty sweet plan for the next couple years, i just cant get the first step started. i just need to catch a break somehow. well, i guess thats all i have to say right now. if somebody actually reads this feel free tell me to shut up and stop whining.

Holy Crap.

This is so freakin cool!

I just really like this mans words.

A Rolling Stone There's sunshine in the heart of me, My blood sings in the breeze; The mountains are a part of me, I'm fellow to the trees. My golden youth I'm squandering, Sun-libertine am I; A-wandering, a-wandering, Until the day I die. I was once, I declare, a Stone-Age man, And I roomed in the cool of a cave; I have known, I will swear, in a new life-span, The fret and the sweat of a slave: For far over all that folks hold worth, There lives and there leaps in me A love of the lowly things of earth, And a passion to be free. To pitch my tent with no prosy plan, To range and to change at will; To mock at the mastership of man, To seek Adventure's thrill. Carefree to be, as a bird that sings; To go my own sweet way; To reck not at all what may befall, But to live and to love each day. To make my body a temple pure Wherein I dwell serene; To care for the things that shall endure, The simple, sweet and clean. To oust out envy and hate and rage, To breathe with no alarm; For Nature shall be my anchorage, And none shall do me harm. To shun all lures that debauch the soul, The orgied rites of the rich; To eat my crust as a rover must With the rough-neck down in the ditch. To trudge by his side whate'er betide; To share his fire at night; To call him friend to the long trail-end, And to read his heart aright. To scorn all strife, and to view all life With the curious eyes of a child; From the plangent sea to the prairie, From the slum to the heart of the Wild. From the red-rimmed star to the speck of sand, From the vast to the greatly small; For I know that the whole for good is planned, And I want to see it all. To see it all, the wide world-way, From the fig-leaf belt to the Pole; With never a one to say me nay, And none to cramp my soul. In belly-pinch I will pay the price, But God! let me be free; For once I know in the long ago, They made a slave of me. In a flannel shirt from earth's clean dirt, Here, pal, is my calloused hand! Oh, I love each day as a rover may, Nor seek to understand. To enjoy is good enough for me; The gipsy of God am I; Then here's a hail to each flaring dawn! And here's a cheer to the night that's gone! And may I go a-roaming on Until the day I die! Then every star shall sing to me Its song of liberty; And every morn shall bring to me Its mandate to be free. In every throbbing vein of me I'll feel the vast Earth-call; O body, heart and brain of me Praise Him who made it all!

--- Robert Service

This is the "Caliber 35LRC", which i would eventually like to sail around the world and live aboard. This is my ultimate dream in life, while most people mortgage a home and land, all i want is a boat and the freedom to sail it anywhere in the world.

This is the "Vacationer", the second boat i want to build. This is a much larger boat than the GIS. The GIS was 15ft while this boat is 26ft. The Vacationer has a small interior cabin with galley and room for 2 to sleep comfortably. I plan to use this boat as a means to learn a little more about extended cruises of up to one week. While not technically a blue water boat it would certainly be capable of coastal cruising and I may be able to sail her as far as Florida! Anyhow it will be a fun project if i ever get a chance to build it.

This is the "Goat Island Skiff", the first boat i plan to build. It's supposed to be fairly simple and inexpensive to build. I think it will be a good practice boat for me to learn both boat building techniques and sailing skills.