Reluctantly crouched at the starting line...

I guess what puzzled me most was the fun I had. Nichole wanted me to run a 5K race for her birthday, so I grudgingly obliged. I often tell people I only run when being chased, which usually provokes a guffaw or courtesy laugh, but the truth is I really don't like running, its no joke at all. This race was our first, and we stuck out like sore thumbs. Both of us wore the free T-shirt thinking it was mandatory racing apparel, only to find everyone else in Nike racing gear, and wearing Ipods, which we also weren't sure would be allowed. Why wouldn't they be ??? So the Goughs were tourists in a strange land. Upon exiting the vehicle, I hit the ground like a jumpy war Vet and starting stretching in a vain attempt to fit in. There was a speaker system set up which was pumping some dope tunes, and everyone was swinging arms and kicking legs and there was a general feeling of nervousness and excitement in the air which was very contagious. We all lined up and the DJ counted down... 3...2...1.. GO ! Nichole promptly became a speck in the distance. What happened to sticking together? I thought as she disappeared. My thoughts wandered as I ran. How did Forest Gump do it? Simply amazing. I had a fat person pass me and was shaken back to reality. 27 minutes later I bolted across the finish line with lots of people cheering and the speakers bumping Zeppelin. Nichole was there as well. Fully dressed and showered.

The Joys of Reading

I was sucked into the world of literature in the 5 th Grade, where I have stayed comfortably ever since. During my reading of Where the Red Fern Grows I could feel myself chasing coons, with Ol'Dan and Li'l Ann at my side. I was moved for the first time to tears and laughter, by another world. I found that my daily mood was contingent upon what was happening in the novel, and it was exhilerating beyond anything I had ever felt before. The experience was deep enough to impact me forever. My good friend Les asked me the other night if I'd ever made a list of every book I've ever read and it made me think about the significant impact that books have had in my life. As I compiled the list below I thumbed through some pages and read marked passages, wishing my memory could store them permantly. For people who say they don't like to read, I say you haven't found the right book; Keep looking:)


Where the Red Fern Grows Rawls


I am the Cheese Cormier

1984 Orwell

Animal Farm Orwell

Lord of the Flies Golding

Lord of the Rings Tolkien

The Hobbit Tolkien

Death watch White


Seize the Day Bellow

Lost in the Barrens Mowat

DragonLance (100 books)

Hatchet Paulsen

The River Paulsen

Motherless Brooklyn Lethem

Our Search for Happiness Ballard

Jesus the Christ Talmage

Articles of Faith Talmage

Beleiving Christ Robinson

The Book of Mormon

The Bible

Handcarts to Zion Hafen

Heart of Darkness Conrad

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Twain

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Twain

The Great Santini Conroy

The Prince of Tides Conroy

Nine Stories Salinger

The Catcher in the Rye Salinger

Franny and Zooey Salinger

Sister Carrie Dreiser

Into Thin Air Krakauer

Into the Wild Krakauer

Dispatches Herr

We Were Soldiers Once and Young Moore

The Things they Carried O'brien

The Call of the Wild London

Night Wiesel

Just one look Coben

Tell No One Coben

Hiroshima Hersey

The Autobigraphy of Malcolm X Haley

1776 McCullough

Gilead Robinson

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Foer

Five Chimneys Lengyel

Ironweed Kennedy

Desert Solotaire Abbey

Ceremony Silko

Civilization and its Discontents Freud

The Cunning of History Rubenstein

Darkness Visible: A memoir of madness Styron

The Road McCarthy

Child of God McCarthy

Blood Meridian McCarthy

Close Range Proulx

For Whom the Bell Tolls Hemmingway

A Farewell to Arms Hemmingway

Endurance Lansing

Zorba the Greek Kazantzakis

The Dead Joyce

The Gulag Archipelago Solzhenitsyn

In Cold Blood Capote

A River Runs Through It Maclain

Touching the Void Simpson

Mawsons Will Bickel

Myths to Live By Campbell

Siddhartha Hesse

The Fall Camus

The Plague Camus

The Gift Mauss

The Red Badge of Courage Crane

The Future of Life Wilson

On Writing King

Minus 148 Davidson

The Land of Little Rain Austin

The Country of the Pointed Firs Jewett

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Pirsig

The French Lieutenants Woman Fowels

Grizzley Years Peacock

A Cockwork Orange Burgess

The Life of Pi Martel

The Art of Drowning Collins

The Apple that Astonished Paris Collins

The Trouble With Poetry Collins

2007's book list

Like all good things it went to fast and seems like a blur. Life lessons were learned this past year as the book team plowed through these novels. None were bad, most were great. I've added the book jackets below so you can choose those that sound appealing for your own entertainment.

If you find alot of money and a bunch of dead people around just go home. Oh, and never toss coins with Chigurh.

We should embrace all aspects of our everyday life with Zorba-like gusto.




Don't wander out after dark, for risk of being tolchocked in the rot and severely violated.




Food storage takes on a whole new meaning in a post-apocolypic world. Please pass the human leg.



We are cheating ourselves when we ignore the call to Seize the Day.

Being a parent is a daunting task. Damaging our kids for life is very possible.

Its hard to be taken seriously as a detective when you have tourettes hotdogbaileyessrog!!

911 was very real and very sad.

Being to smart can muddle your mind, but big brothers can help.

The Judge never sleeps and is always naked. They say he'll never die.

You can be 72 and still write the best novel in the world--if it has lots of trees in it.