Feels like...Washington State

Took a drive up in the mountains last night with the family to scout out some camping sites. I couldn't believe how green everything was. Yes, it's spring but a typical spring in Utah lasts about one week. Everything has a greenish hue to it until the weather turns hot. After that everything turns brown. With the low clouds and high humidity, I could have sworn that we were in driving through the northwest.

The river near the camp site we chose was swollen and in some places overflowing it's banks. I'm crossing my fingers that the campsite we chose is still around later this summer.

On the way back it started raining.

Typical Utah rains go something like this: It rains for five minutes then the sun comes out. If it's a big storm it might rain for 10, sometimes 15 minutes.

Not this storm.

The rain was coming down in sheets and it didn't let up. The whole 90 minute drive home I was gripping the steering wheel and praying that we could just make it home without hydroplaning into another car.

It was still raining when I drifted off to sleep a few hours later.

Marathon Girl has always wanted to move back to Washington State. Weather-wise she just got her wish.

What would I do with $150 Million?

Salt Lake County has a $150 million dollar tax surplus. County government officials are flush with excitement as the determine how to spend the money.

I have an idea.

How about a tax cut?

Of course 'tax cut' is the dirty six-letter word in Utah politics. Addicted to money like a smokers to nicotine, Utah politicians love to spend, spend, spend.

It works like this.

You take all of your hard earned money, put it in a basket and the politicians here will take whatever they want. Never mind that it's your money. Never mind that coffers at both the state and local level are overflowing with surplus money. Politicians here view it as their money -- not yours. Money that they need to use to keep their political cronies happy. That's why Utah has the ninth highest tax burden in the nation.

A tax cut in Utah?

It will never happen.

So Much For the Garden

I fear the garden that Marathon Girl and I planted two weeks ago is history. I awoke this morning to discover a half inch of snow on the ground. Should know by Saturday whether or not the tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant made it. I'm not too optimistic about it. I've lived in Utah most of my life. I can recall some cold weather in May and a quite a few snow storms in April but I can not recall it snowing in the valleys this late in the year.

Blog is a Word

Is it just me or am I the only one who finds it odd that Blogger's spell check doesn't recognize the word "blog"?

Global Warming: We're all going to die!

An article in the latest issue of Nature states that the planet's air has become much cleaner over the last two decades. You'd think this would be good news. After all we all know how global warming works. Sunlight comes to our planet and gets trapped in all the nasty man-made pollution and bounces around and heats the planet. Right? This is what's been drilled into our mind since the environmentalists told us this was a big deal.

Well, apparently more solar energy arriving on the ground will heat the Earth's surface and add to global warming.

Which way is it?

Let's be honest here. We have a hard enough time knowing what the weather is going to be like 10 days from now. Weather is so incredibly complex that we don't have the ability to know whether the plant's recent warming is due to 1) man 2) a natural warming trend 3) the sun, 4) all of the above or 5) none of the above.

But I don't want the global warming enthusiast to lose hope. I'll be doing my part this weekend to aid their cause. I'm going do drive several hundred miles in a Hummer, let my lawnmower idle in the yard, and burn all the plastic I can get my hands on.

An Open Letter to Mike Maroth

Dear Mike Maroth: The Red Sox roughed you up in the fifth inning yesterday. The two-out grand slam was enough for them to win 5-3 and hand you your second loss of the season.

Yes, baseball can be rough and even great pitchers such as Roger Clemens and Nolan Ryan gave up grand slams occasionally.

But I have an idea. One that can get you back on the winning side of things.

Me.

Wait. Don't stop reading. Hear me out.

I've seen you pitch twice. The first was your second major league start. You were facing the defending World Champion Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix. You pitched eight solid innings and allowed only three runs. You pitched better than Curt Schilling! It was a great game. And I was glad to be there to watch it.

The second time was the next year in Denver. It was a dark year for the Tigers. They lost 119 games that year. But on that day you shone. You pitched six strong innings and allowed only three runs. I cheered loudly from the mezzanine behind home plate as the Tigers won 7-5.

Remember those games? See the connection? I was there. You won.

My proposition is simple. Fly me out (coach is fine) to every game you pitch. Home games, away games. It doesn't matter. I'll be there. I'll sit in the stands and cheer for the Tigers. With me in the stands, you'll dominate. Just think. You could become the first 30 game winner since 1968.

This is a win-win situation.

Think of your career. Think of the money you could make after wining 30 games.

Think of the only Detroit Tiger fan in Utah.

You deserve it.

So do I.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Your fan,

Abel

Who I am

Let me tell you who I am. I've been blogging for over three years. I started my original blog soon after losing my wife and daughter. Time passed. I remarried 15 months later to a woman I refer to in this blog as Marathon Girl. We have one son and are expecting another in October.

There are several reasons why I've decided to move.

The first is that my original blog has lost its focus. Issues involved with my first wife or issues that come up that deal with being married to a widower have, for the most part, diminished.

Secondly, I've been working on a book, Running Forward, for almost two years. I completed a draft of the book last fall. Though several agents expressed interest, none accepted. Currently I am working on a final rewrite. My goal is to have it completed by the end of August and make one final push to have it published. If no one takes any interest in it, I'll publish it a little at a time in this blog or on my website. I am hoping that this blog will serve as a good repository to flush out frustrations associated with writing it.

Finally, after owning abelkeogh.com for five years, I'm ready to do something with it. I'm looking to turn it into a repository of writings, thoughts, and a marketing tool for my book (if it's ever published.) The fact that I can make this blog part of my website was the final reason I decided to move.

Crossing my fingers that all goes according to plan.