The following is something I wrote while on my trip last week:

March 29, 2007

An extraordinary day is drawing to a close. Today I flew from Salem to Palm Springs. I spent virtually the entire flight looking out the window. I was treated to some of the West's most spectacular scenary from 37,000 feet. Snow still cover the higher elevations of the Cascades. Mount Jefferson, the Three Sisters, the rim of Crater Lake, Mount Shasta, Lake Tahoe. It was beautiful. But my spirits got the biggest lift when the mountains gave way to the desert landscape.

As we approached the Coachella Valley, the California coastline was visible to the west, in spite of a haze that started somewhere over Southern Oregon and never abated. But seeing the coast as we were approaching the Coachella Valley surprised me. After alll the years I lived here I never realized how close the Pacific was to my desert home.

Then, there were the San Bernardino Mountains still sporting a dusting of snow. And after a few minutes, Mount San Jacinto came into view, also dusted with snow on its north face.

I was coming home.

But the highlight of the day was not seeing the scenary or even seeing Palm Springs again. Nor was it the warm air and sun on my skin.

It was seeing so many familiar faces and talking to old friends and former coworkers at The Desert Sun. I stopped in to the newspaper office to see Brian, my host for the weekend, and pick up a key to his condo. I ended up spending a couple of hours hanging out in the lobby, newsroom and finance department. I have missed these people. Many I haven't thought about in quite a while.

I smiled and laughed and joked more in those few hours than I have in a long, long time. I've missed this place. I've missed this weather. I've missed these people.

I haven't missed the pressure and stress of the job. But I've missed the desert sun and the warmth of the place and the people that made me fall in love with this community and made it my home. 

I got this after my friend Karly posted it. It looked fun, so I though I would try it.

The soundtrack of my life

IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?

So, here's how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button

NO CHEATING... STICK TO THE SHUFFLE


Opening Credits:
"Smooth" Santana, Featuring Rob Thomas

Waking Up:
"Stand By My Woman" Lenny Kravitz

First Day At School:
"These Are The Days" Sugarland

Falling In Love:
"Home" Tim McGraw

First Kiss:
"Chasing Cars" Snow Patrol

End Credits:
"Drive In Drive Out" Dave Matthews Band

I've been enduring a pretty nasty bout of insomnia lately, and I don't know why. It's almost like enduring the bad movie I found on late night TV. It's awful but I can't change the channel. I'm exhausted, but I can't sleep. Can't even seek sleep for some reason.

So here I sit, at almost 4 a.m. watching the movie "Twentynine Palms". Other than a few glimpses here and there of some terrain with which I am familiar, this movie has no redeeming value. It may be on the Sundance channel, but if there is any art to this I can't find it. Coming in to it in the middle probably didn't help.

The have featured numerous shots of the Chevron station in Twentynine Palms I have made a few stops at on trips from Palm Springs to Las Vegas. And there are a few shots of Joshua trees and Mojave Desert landscapes, which twinge my homesickness for the Southern California deserts. But beyond that, it doesn't do anything for me. It's a very boring film with no identifiable plot (again coming in in the middle fo the film probable doesn't help). This couple is out in Twentynine Palms for some reason, looking at rocks and driving around in a Hummer, yet they are styaing at a dive motel, where they go to argue and have sex. Pretty graphic sex too for an R-rated film, but it doesn't particularly look like good sex even.

Even my cable channel's information button offers no help in figuring out what this film is supposed to be about. It seems to be describing a different movie, a different "29 Palms" starring Racheal Leigh Cook, Jeremy Davies and Chris O'Donnel in a "crime caper about a bag of money stolen from a Native American casin and the qurky characters trying to get their hands on the loot."

There's nothing quirky about the one I'm watching.

I should try to sleep. Or at least find a good infomercial. Anything has to be better than this movie.

OK, I haven't been around much. I hope everyone has been well and had very happy holidays. I also hope 2007 is off to a good start for one and all.

I got some sad news the other day. I learned that a former colleague from my days in Palm Springs died recently.

Is it a universal feeling that when we lose someone we know that we never really got a chance to say goodbye? Is there ever a good way to say that?

Perhaps I am growing too obsessed with mortality. Could that be the beginning of a midlife crisis?

Yes mi amigos, I'm in Las Vegas. Just popping in to say hi and let you all know I'm alive and well and hangin' out in Sin City. OK, so my bank balance isn't doing so well, but we'll deal with that later.

Being here in this desert oasis makes me miss all my SoCal desert friends wherever they may be now.

OK, back to the casino. Have fun all!

I'm heading back to Nebraska today. I'm going back for the funeral of one of my uncles. My Uncle Don died Oct. 31. It will be a quick trip and I'm coming back Sunday night.

I hate funerals. I'm not looking forward to the public grieving aspect of the whole thing. But it will be an opportunity to see a lot of family members I haven't seen in many years.

Although I was born in Nebraska and most of my extended family is there, I rarely get back there anymore. I think my last two trips back there were to attend funerals as well.

Well, I better finish packing. I have a plane to catch.

In my lifetime Oregon State's football teams have beaten the USC Trojan football team three times. Once was in 2000, when Oregon State was a strong program and USC was having a down year.

The time before that was in 1967, which is part of Oregon State lore. That game is know as the "Giant Killer" game, when OSU defeated the No. 1 ranked, and eventual national champion team featuring a running back named O.J. Simpson.

And then there was Saturday. Oct. 28, 2006. The date when the Beavers stunned the nation by beating the third-ranked Trojans in Corvallis.

And I was there, in the stands. It was an emotional roller-coaster ride and a complete thrill.

Thanks to my friend and coworker Greg Hains, I got a ticket to one of the games that will likely be talked about for years at Oregon State.

The giant killers were back at Moo U, and a little country boy from Echo, Ore., got to see it live, not just on TV or highlights on ESPN.

So, several of the friends I have sent requests to to be added to their lists haven't responded yet. I guess they don't log in very frequently. So I'm still waiting for replies. But I got tired of my friends list looking so anemic, so I decided to see if I could add some "other" friends. We'll call those my iPod friends.

I decided to reach out to some recording celebrities (or their representatives, depending on who maintains their pages). So far, three have replied back -- comedian Dane Cook and country music singers Sara Evans and Garth Brooks.

I may have to watch Sara Evans again on "Dancing with the Stars." But don't tell my friend Diana. She will give me no end of grief.