Merry Christmas. 2009 is coming to a close and with it comes the promise of better days ahead in 2010. For those of you who have braved the crowds and traffic the past couple of weeks while trying to get ready for Christmas I bring you this, an empty mall parking lot. Very nice. I went out for a walk this morning and was amazed at how quiet and peaceful it was.

Wuzza!  I am sitting here drinking a mug of coffee and so it prompted me to post a mug of myself.  And here we are, day 6 of the post a day project, which is not so much of a project as it is an exercise to help me stay focused on writing.  You’d think that someone who wants to write for a living would be a little more motivated to do so but things are not always that easy.  My writing is very sporadic.  Rather, my ability to write anything of substance is sporadic.  For example, the last article that I wrote and submitted was 17 days ago and since then I have not been able to focus on writing another one since that time.  My dilemma is this, the things that bring me the most joy are creative and artistic in nature, such as writing and design but my “real” job that actually pays my bills and feeds me and my family is just the opposite.  I guess you could say that I spend every day bouncing back and forth between the left brain part of my life in technical support and then trying to switch over to the right brain part when I want to write, paint or do something creative.

Not always an easy task.

TGIF!  That’s right, today’s post a day is coming out later than usual.  Mainly due to the fact that I am exhausted.  But the important thing is that I have been able to sustain it for five days in a row.

Kudos to the Mexican Navy and their successful operation that was launched on Wednesday near Punta Vista Hermosa which is south of Mexico City and resulted in the death of Arturo Beltran Leyva, head of the Beltran Leyva cartel and one of Mexico’s three most wanted criminals.  His absence from the planet will not be missed.  And my deepest sympathies go out to the family of Navy 3rd Petty Officer Melquisedet Angulo Cordova who died during the operation.  With all the attention being paid to middle east terrorists I think the more deadly war on drugs is too often overlooked.  Wednesday’s actions by the Mexican Navy should serve as a reminder that there are real and active threats right here in our own country and our own hemisphere that need to be addressed with brute force.

And to end on a more positive note.  Pepsi has confirmed that it will not advertise in this year’s Super Bowl and will mark the first time it has not taken part in this increasingly irrelevant dog and pony show in 23 years.  Salute!