day 24

January has been the longest month. It is now 24 days since I had my last cigarette. Time has slowed down considerably since last year. My guess - my metabolism slowed. My reflexes slowed. It's going to be tough at my tryout for the Mets this year. You'll notice that most of the very best baseball players smoke or take tobacco or some other substance that comes in unmarked bottles.

Baseball customs differ depending on culture. I know, or at least I heard a baseball commentator say that spitting and chewing tobacco in Japanese baseball was banned. I can understand that. It's not elegant. But what are the rules in other places where baseball is played. Can you chew on coca leaves in Colombia? Wow. Those must be some games.

Do they play baseball yet in Iraq? Wonder what the drug of choice would be for Iraqi baseball players? Probably just strong coffee. Hey, it's not so crazy. The president has compared Iraq to Japan a million times to show how former enemies can become friends and even play our game. So why not Iraq?

Baseball could be the key to the whole world-wide mess. We don't invade any countries that play baseball anymore, do we? Okay, maybe we did try Cuba once, but that was the exception that proves the rule.

Think of those guerilla fighters in the mountains of Afghanistan and what an advantage they'd have if we could draft them into the new pax American baseball league. Only problem is finding some of those suckers.

Day 24. The mind does wander.

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Oh. In case you're wondering what's going on in my photography world - all printing. Doing a mind-meld with the 4800. I didn't know it could actually measure the paper thickness for you. Yes - it can. See manual for more. The printing extravaganza really has to do with what settings work best with the Silver Rag. I go through this process every time I switch to a new paper. And don't tell anyone but I enjoy it.