25 Things That I Like & Are Cool

25. Music that mixes genres, especially if one genre is rock or country
24. The Amazing Race / Survivor / Apprentice triumvirate
23. The yellow marshmallow chickies you get at Easter.
22. Wrangler jeans
21. Cufflinks
20. Lyle Lovett & His Large Band
19. Watching fish in the aquarium
18. A fat cigar, a lawn chair in the shade, and nothing planned all day
17. A pond, a jon-boat, fishing rod, best friend, and nothing planned all day
16. Playing "Trump...or monkey" on David Letterman
15. Waking up 2 hours early and realizing you can roll over and zonk back out
14. The fanfare & excitement associated with a ship's return to homeport
13. Hot Links grilled over a fire
12. Really good bourbon, splashed over rocks, on a warm, quiet day
11. When the crap you ordered on the internet finally arrives
10. Having a tailor make you a new suit exactly the way you want it
09. Feeding your friends a really good meal
08. Cat in your lap purring while you watch TV
07. ACC Basketball. Any time, any team, any where.
06. Driving a back country road, windows open and Neil Young cranked up high
05. Being polite when no one expects it. The reaction is worth the effort.
04. Finding out that your nephew wants to be like you
03. Realizing you are not as screwed up as you always thought you were
02. A really, really cheesy pizza with lots of meat
01. Getting the words just right when I write

Oh yeah. There's a lot more, but you can see that I'm pretty easy to please. No one really believes me when I say my life is not about the money, but it really ain't. If everybody else in the world didn't insist on you giving them money for things, I could pretty much live without it. But others insist, therefore I toil.


10 Things I really like about Japan, and may or may not be "cool"

10. Gloria Gran Turismos

09. Recycle shops

08. Helpful public servants

07. Cheap insurance

06. Lawsuits are rare, a heartfelt apology and some gomen money usually salve any situation

05. Courteous drivers. Everyone is required to attend extensive driver training and afterward are considered to be professionals.

04. Customer service is top notch. Anywhere, regardless of price range.

03. It's a culture built on getting along. Everyone is pretty polite most of the time. No one steals from you.

02. Beautiful women. And I guess I'd be amiss not to mention the schoolgirl uniforms.

01. My favorite thing, and I would bring it back to the US if it were possible to do so, THE ABILITY TO MERGE. Traffic does not come to a stop here because when the sign says there is something ahead and to merge into one lane, everybody moves over into one lane instead of racing ahead to the choke point to engage in a Mexican Standoff. The same is true for unexpected events like a stalled car in a lane; as soon as it is noticed the affected lane slides over while the unaffected lane creates holes for them to move into. A little more ragged than an announced merge, but still, everyone keeps moving forward. I am sure gonna miss logical merges.

00. This is actually buckshot, and therefore part of an entirely different list. Sorry for the inconvienence.

Cornification, Out.
Travelin' Ed