02-17-08 Houston TX: 2300 hrs. I was supposed to be in Birmingham AL now but one flight was late and here I am, camping out at the airport Marriott. I have done a really bad job with keep up with these entries. Last year’s were constant but trivial for a major part of the time. Such is life at times though. I will try to get more posted now. I have been running around a lot and things have been interesting but when it comes time to write some of it down here, I looking for some sleep and don’t get to it. I have about 8 hours of phone interviews out of this hotel room starting at 0900 hrs. and then I will take a night flight to Birmingham AL to start the tour on Tuesday night. Up until this afternoon, I had been in LA for the last three days. Basically, enough time to clean the clothes, repack them, do some office stuff and little else. I put some more music on the I-pod and grabbed some new books to read but past that, I just basically waited to get back out on tour. The trip to South Africa is still resonating in my thoughts. I think it will be a long time for that to settle down. It’s always amazing to me how different a place can be to what you’re used to. It’s hard to believe it’s the same planet. I started to get that feeling when I started making trips to Africa and places like India and Afghanistan. It’s really something else to be in one of these places and then hours later be on an American street. I know many of you have had that feeling. I also think that many of the people I saw should be living better. I bet there’s enough to go around. It wouldn’t be the worst thing to find out. I have never gotten so many birthday e-mails. I think I answered all of them. Thanks a lot for remembering me, old man that I am. I have a long day tomorrow so I am going to get some sleep.