Don’t hurt people. Emulate an idol. Love friends and family openly. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Question the validity of your convictions. Do a few things you thought you could never do. Always be honest when it counts. And spend a sunny day hanging out with a friend in a canoe!

I spent last Saturday with a good friend of mine, scouring ponds and bogs for an endangered turtle species (the Blanding's). We didn't find one, but we turned up loads of these little beauties. And observed lots of other wildlife.

It was a great way to spend a nice spring day.

What the hell is wrong with censorship regulations in the US?!

I was just listening to the "teeny-bopper" radio station here in Portland, Maine and heard two recent releases back to back; The first was by Ludacris, and in one line, he says "Cuz' President Bush could give a DAMN about Iraq!" (and they bleeped out "Iraq")

In the next song (by 50 Cent) there's a line that goes, "Homie, you a bitch, you got feminine ways. I heard you got 4 lips and bleed for 7 days!" And NONE of that was bleeped out! What in the world?!

Am I crazy, or does it seem totally bizarre to you that the FCC (or whomever) doesn't allow a political opinion, but they're apparently cool with rappers using women and femininity as an insult, suggesting that to be a woman (or feminine) makes you a piece of shit?

Recall your pained moments with as much nostalgia as the memory of a lover’s touch. Revel in pain, experience, love, and joy equally. Stand for what you believe in. You can always do better than just getting out alive. Who do I think I am anyway? Professing my private thoughts as advice! Screw my advice. Do your own god-damned thing.

Be the best at something. A connoisseur – then give it up. Revel in its painful absence and redirect your wounded love. Be a smiling Buddha. Hurt yourself and feel better or bigger because of it. Chalk it up to an enriched life experience. Harbor your experiences in your mind and cultivate them, keep them real, and recent. Remember.

Ok, who's going to help me build a simplistic but attractive website to advertise my fly-rods?

For those of you who didn't already know, (hopefully by now, that's nobody) I make and sell custom-built fly fishing rods for people.

But I'm effectively computer-illiterate and need some help.