I wish I were back at Rock Island already, and I haven't even gotten going yet. Damn.

Already my mind is cluttered with every little concern I had when I left. It's amazing how it just all came flooding back. All the worries, deep thoughts, plans, strategies and concerns I had when I left, that I left here, have greeted me again. That sucks, because I was hoping that the week away would clear my mind and keep it clear. Instead, it just hit "pause" and now "play" has been pressed again.

My mind has been working overtime already, trying to figure out what to do today...and the next day and the next. The problem is, my motivation is still on Rock Island setting. I just got up, reluctantly, but really not knowing what I have to do, just knowing I have to do SOMEthing.

I have to work tomorrow, which likely will suck worse than normal, especially what with the blackout. I realized that I bet we didn't get any information or stories from any of our New York-based people, and that those things will be in late, ready to edit on Sunday. On top of that, Tuesday will start a week from hell, as we are behind on the prospects book we publish and we'll be putting out our preseason preview issue, the biggest issue of the year. So, I'll probably have to slave well into the evenings this week at work. I bet they try to tell me to come in on Monday too. Too bad for them, I have a dentist appointment.

Ah well...off to try to be productive.

I'm back. Some thoughts, likely in a disjointed fashion, since I'm dirty, need a shower and need to unpack.

Apparently I missed the entire Northeast electricity grid go down and some virus run rampant through CPUs.

I have no sympathy for those without power my age. I haven't had electricity since Monday. :P

Rock Island rocks. Period. The entire time I was there, I didn't have to think about ANYthing at all back here. Nothing. It was so relaxing. There were no animals bothering us...just flies, but they weren't biting flies, so they were more a nuisance, really. There was a raccoon on the island, but he stayed and harrassed some folks just younger than us from Oak Park who took ZERO precaution to prevent the thing from taking their food. All Mr. Raccoon had to do was wander to their site and have his way. We were appreciative for the stoned, drunk folks from Oak Park who I tried to teach astronomy to on Wednesday night on the beach. We went out there to watch the meteor shower (which was cool, but not supremely impressive because of the full moon), and they (about eight of them) were out there drinkin' and sitting...they overheard me telling Pete, Barb and Will the different constellations, and called us over. We chatted for a while, but it was no big deal, really...just found out they were Oak Park H.S. graduates or whatever. Will and I hung out with them a bit on Thursday night, but it wasn't really that much fun, truthfully. I barely even knew any of their names. They did have little musical instruments though, and they gave me a drum or whatever, but that lasted a couple minutes, and that was that. They offered me a swig of their Jim Beam...I pretended to swig but didn't actually drink...how the hell was I supposed to know what was in there? ;) They were weird, but they weren't idiots, at least as little as I knew them.

The stars were amazing, though, when the moon hadn't risen yet. We had perfect weather--not too hot, not too cold. No clouds. It was perfect. I got some sunburn from being on the beach, hiking a bit and waiting at the boathouse for Will to arrive on Tuesday.

We ate burgers, kielbasa, brats, not-so-EasyMac, pudgy pies (grilled sandwiches of all sorts made in hand-held sandwich grillers), oatmeal, cereal, etc. Next time, we're thinking of keeping it to granola bars and sandwiches, because the pudgy pie makers are soooooo damn versatile. We were happily impressed.

Overall, much fun was had by all. Did a lot of sitting around and just chillin' by the fire or on the beach or whatever. Gerard visited briefly on Tuesday, which was nice. The four of us went to Washington Island on Wednesday and checked out the Lookout Tower, and it was clear enough to see Rock Island and the other surrounding islands, which it wasn't last time, if I remember right. The stupid thing was still rickety, but at least I wasn't alone in my fear of heights this time. :) Heard that "The Albatross," the greasy-spoon joint with the best milkshakes around, had burned down a year or so ago, which made me a bit sad, but saw that they had rebuilt it almost to exact perfection, and I was happy to see that. Took Barb to the doctor for a bug bite of some sort on Wednesday as well, but she was fine after taking some Benadryl given to her, which is good. Thursday, Pete and Will and I were hiking back from the lighthouse on the island when I said I was thinking about how weird it would be to be out here on, say, Sept. 11, and then not know about it until we got back on Friday. How weird it would be for the world to go on without you even knowing it, particularly the world changing without you knowing. So, when the ranger told me this morning while we were waiting for the ferry, I walked back to Pete with a big smile, saying, what did I talk about yesterday? Well, the world has moved on...the Eastern Seaboard is blacked out. We found out later, at lunch, that it was actually only about five states and a bit of Canada (which is still a lot), but I was thinking the entire Eastern Seaboard. I was disappointed I couldn't rub the loss of Tivo in Laz's face, too. :P

We sang songs, which I kind of expected, with me, my cousin, Barb and Pete in the fold...you can expect music. We especially kept singing (me and Will) "Spider" by They Might Be Giants. We quoted movies, SNL, did impressions, made up impressions, and a billion other things. I was mocked for being crabby, because I kept pretending to turn around and yell "Shut the FUCK up, we're trying to be loud over here" at our camping neighbors, all of whom were very quiet, even the kids. Barb was mocked for making innocent, but horribly innuendo-laden, misleading statements all week (She can share them with you on her blog, if she wants, but the words "box," "teabag" and "brown-eye" were the punchlines). Pete was called Chronos and Photos, a real Greek and made-up Greek god, because he had a watch and was the official photographer. And Will was mocked for micromanaging the fire once he arrived, constantly pushing logs all over the place instead of just letting it burn. But see, we all got and took the jokes, because we knew they were jokes and knew we could turn them around on each other as well. It was a great, relaxing and fun atmosphere. I can't wait to do it again with more people.

Now, though, I must shower.

Goodbye everyone! :)

Well, it's just past 12:15am. I'll be up in about four hours to pack, do some last minute grocery-ing and get movin' on up to Rock Island. For those of you wondering just where this is, go to Yahoo maps and search for Washington Island, WI. Then click just northeast of Washington Island. The green state park island is Rock Island. You can also go to Reserve America and search for it there...it gives a more detailed description of the island.

It seems, thankfully, that we'll have less stuff this time than we did last time I went. That worries me, though, because it makes me think we're forgetting something. Ah well, if we do, we'll have to make do without it I guess. I hope that the Perseid meteor shower (which typically peaks like, Aug. 12, I think) is strong this year. The moon is getting fuller and fuller though, which makes me think it'll be tougher to see meteors--but it's so dark out on the beach that I should be able to see some. Plus, the lake in the moonlight is just beautiful and awe-inspiring. :)

If I remember, I'm going to try to keep a journal of things...not that there will be too much to talk about, since we're going up to relax. What can I say, right? But anything eventful, we'll certainly let you guys know.

Anyway, this should be my last transmission for a while. At least until Friday night, depending how tired I am when we get back. So, enjoy whatever else you guys will be doing this week...working, vacationing yourselves or whatever. Seeya soon... :)

By this time tomorrow, I had better be in my campsite, relaxing and eating or at least cooking dinner. One or the other. The camp should be up and going and the vacation part of the trip should be beginning. At least, that's the idea, I hope.

Oh yeah, so that means this space will go mysteriously quiet until Friday sometime. Boy, a week without Andy. I'm sure there's some of you out there who would love to have that all the time. :)

Anyway, we are leaving Bolingbrook tomorrow no later than 7am. There will not be a repeat of the last time I went to Rock Island (with three other people, strangely enough), when I misjudged the tourist traffic through Door County and we missed the last people ferry by minutes. We were stuck behind some old lady going 25 mph the whole way through Door County, it seemed. Fortunately, we then had to find some nice boaters to take us across for the same price...the first asshole wouldn't do it for cheap, so we said fuck him. Then we found some older guys--brothers who had just bought their boat for fishing. They said they'd take us across.

Suffice to say, I was pretty stressed the rest of the evening as we scampered to get the campsite in order and cook dinner as nightfall approached. It's hard to cook meat in the dark (even on an open fire) with just flashlights...not easy at all. Or at least it wasn't that evening.

So, we're starting about 3 hours earlier (maybe 4, I can't remember) this time. And if that doesn't work, I'm giving up going to Rock Island. I'll find somewhere else to camp. There are plenty of places.

I was thinking of this on the way to work today, so I'll share.

I'm a patient guy, for the most part, even if I act impatient sometimes.

But, I simply can't stand waiting, especially if there's uncertainty involved.

I can't stand waiting for something to happen, especially if there's a chance it might not happen the way I want or at all. I also can't stand waiting for the inevitable.

I learned at an early age that if I want things done, to be active about it. Prod the situation along. I'm not a proponent of the passive way of life, for the most part. Yes, there are things that are worth waiting for or things that activity is not necessary. Those things I can wait for.

But, if I want something done or want something to turn out some way, I've always been an active person. It's hard for me to keep my mouth shut or not do something to prod things along. That's why you'll occasionally see me being anxious about something...because I know it's going to happen, but I can't do anything to make it happen sooner.

I'm not speaking of anything in particular (my brain kind of simply wanders when I'm driving), but I guess that this camping trip would be a nice example. Here I am, at work, destined to be frustrated throughout the day because I can't get out of here fast enough, no matter what I do. The faster I get out of here, the sooner I get home and can get Barb and Pete to my place to get the camping plans officially finalized and then to sleep and off to camping tomorrow.

Time simply kills me. :) There are certainly other situations and aspects in my life that this rule applies to, but none of them as clear examples or worth noting here. Besides, I can't type on this all day, or work will go slower. :)

Ahhh, the weekend. When few people post to their blogs and even fewer read them. Fantastic. Never do I feel more lonely in the world than when I look to see maybe two of my friends' blogs updated. :) I'm lame, I know. :)

Got stuff bought for the camping trip. Got my car emptied (not cleaned, but that's OK). Got my neighbor to take care of the dogs. Ate lunch too. And the Sox lost.

All in all, a fantastic day. Tomorrow should be even better. Yippee. Work begins every Sunday from here on out.

Now I'm sleepy...so off to bed I go.