As it almost always does. It seems that any people regardless of almost any background will talk about sex. It may not be a positive conversation, but it will be the topic at some point.

But sex is a dangerous topic. In mixed company it can get you in trouble, fired or even sued. ( i always find it so interesting what people choose to find offensive.) So, if talking about sex can land you in that kind of hot water, if it is so taboo, why do we gravitate to it? If my employer told me that it was absolutely imperative that the subject of how photography effected art in the ninteenth century not be discussed it wouldn't phaze me at all. Well, unless i worked in an art museum or gallery. If i were told that talking about the migration of canadian geese were inappropriate in mixed company i doubt i would bring the subject up again. But amongst friends the conversation always reverts to sex.

My wife and i recently went on a rare much needed night out with adults to check out the power and light district. We went with a woman i work with and her...well, her whatever.

While down there one of the first things my wife and i noticed was that it was full of pretty people. People dressed to impress and seduce. Men and women alike primped to partake in the bar scene mating dance. I looked, my wife looked. Hell how can you not? After all, you don't visit the nelson and look at the floor. Occasionally my wife would point out someone particularly impressive for my benefit. The male half of our double date got a little caught up in it and started "bird watching" with us. This did not sit well with his date. By the end of the evening every time he turned his head she would promptly redirect his focus back on her.

it's late for this i know. by now the smell of gunpowder has cleared from the neighborhoods and all the burgers and dogs have been eaten or thrown out. people have sobered up and returned from the lake and gone back to work.

i grew up always having a party at my parents house on the fourth. fireworks, hot dogs and beer. good times always. when i became a fire fighter i spent my first fourth at the station, no fireworks. i felt a little withdrawal, especially since i could smell the mayhem and hear the tiny acts of arson being commited all around me. not being able to get in touch with my inner pyro i got online and did something i'd never done before and found myself starting my own personal tradition. one i invite everyone who reads this to do as well. it will take less than a half hour.

For those of you who haven't opened a paper, watched CNN or even Fox news, today is earth day. Now, i am not an authority on the environment by any stretch of the imagination and i hope this isn't going to come off as a rant, but, for those of you who have seen the news today earth day is marked by an historic event. Oil prices have now reached one-hundred and twenty dollars a barrel. Gas prices around the country average at three fifty a gallon. Now, what does this mean to us? Well, other than costing more to get back and forth to work, it means higher food prices. It means higher costs for consumer goods and services. It all takes fossil fuels to plant and harvest or raise our food. It takes fuel to ship it to the stores. It takes fuel to supply power to the stores, businesses and our homes. Higher prices contribute to recession and as people shell out more to do the basics they will hold tight to their money instead of spending it on more frivolous pursuits. So, my earth day contribution is this. For those who still dismiss the colossal amount of evidence supporting fossil fuels damaging effects to the environment. You need to be interested in conservation, if for no other reason than to take power away from the oil companies. There are several viable solutions that need to be implemented (and no, I'm not talking about ethanol). Hydrogen energy can provide fuel for engines in cars and even supply electricity for battery operated devices, but it needs public and government interest to get developed at a marketable expense. There are millions of rooftops for solar panels and millions of acres of land where windmills could be erected. We are no longer at a point where we need oil. Oil is now at a point where it needs us.