Nathan

Oh yes, I know I said I would do this on Saturday, but you know how it is. I think Congress needs to come back from their vacation and address the fact that there are fewer hours on Saturday than any other day of the week. I know, they have been so swamped with matters vital to our nation, like steroid-using baseball players, and appologizing for slavery, but it's time they fixed this travesty.

Anyway, I was going to do more than vent on this one. As most of you know, Nathan (for those of you who don't know, that's my cousin) and his awsome family came from Arizona to visit all of us here in Oregon. Nathan and I grew up together, and he was my best friend, but after we moved up here, I sort of lost contact with him. So I was really excited when he told me that he was going to come for a visit.

I'm really grateful to his wife, Anna, who let me have Nathan for a whole day. We went shooting for a few hours, and then came back here to goof around on our Wii. I wish I had more friends like him. Well, really, I wish he lived closer. I don't know that I ever told him that he was kind of my hero when we were growing up. When I was a kid, I was painfully shy, and very unpopular, but Nathan was always my pal, and he always looked out for me. I always wanted to be like him. It was nice to see that he hasn't changed at all. He's still the studly guy I've always loved.

I am really hoping that he can come visit again in the future, or that I can go down to visit them in Arizona. Unfortunately, I don't get all that much vacation time, and most of it gets used when I'm sick, so it may be a while before I get out there. But at least for now, we've got email and phones.