Here is a great little story, enjoy!

A man and his dog were walking along a road. The man was enjoying the scenery, when it suddenly occurred to him that he was dead. He remembered dying, and that the dog walking beside him had been dead for years. He wondered where the road was leading them. After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall along one side of the road. It looked like fine marble. At the top of a long hill, it was broken by a tall arch that glowed in the sunlight. When he was standing before it, he saw a magnificent gate in the arch that looked like mother of pearl, and the street that led to the gate looked like pure gold. He and the dog walked toward the gate, and as he got closer, he saw a man at a desk to one side. When he was close enough, he called out, "Excuse me, where are we?"
"This is Heaven, sir," the man answered.
"Wow! Would you happen to have some water?" the man asked.
"Of course, sir. Come right in, and I'll have some ice water brought right up." The man gestured, and the gate began to open.
"Can my friend," gesturing toward his dog, "come in, too?" the traveler asked.
"I'm sorry, sir, but we don't accept pets." The man thought a moment and then turned back toward the road and continued the way he had been going with his dog. After another long walk, and at the top of another long hill, he came to a dirt road which led through a farm gate that looked as if it had never been closed. There was no fence. As he approached the gate, he saw a man inside, leaning against a tree and reading a book.
"Excuse me!" he called to the reader. "Do you have any water?"
"Yeah, sure, there's a pump over there." The man pointed to a place that couldn't be seen from outside the gate. "Come on in."
"How about my friend here?" the traveler gestured to the dog.
"There should be a bowl by the pump." They went through the gate, and sure enough, there was an old fashioned hand pump with a bowl beside it. The traveler filled the bowl and took a long drink himself, then he gave some to the dog. When they were full, he and the dog walked back toward the man who was standing by the tree waiting for them.
"What do you call this place?" the traveler asked.
"This is Heaven," was the answer.
"Well, that's confusing," the traveler said......"The man down the road said that was Heaven, too?"
"Oh, you mean the place with the gold street and pearly gates? Nope. That's Hell."
"Doesn't it make you mad for them to use your name like that?"
"No. I can see how you might think so, but we're just happy that they screen out the folks who'll leave their best friends behind."

ericbradley dot com will be running soon, keep looking for details!

the beautiful pages have returned, and am in full bloom

and so is this page, however not here for much longer. ericbradley.com has just been aquired, and while yes it is a plain and uncreative domain, hopefully with time it come as a style such as benbrown.com, yet with a lighter, gentler, third-lost generation touch.

saturday i misplaced my check-card, so thus tomarrow begins the bank game, as i attempt to call and setup everything necessary to cancel my current card and receive a new one. i am extremely upset at myself for the mishap, for the fact that i very upset at the time of misplacing it, and is still seen as a humorous mark by those in the situaiton. i am just glad i live in north manchester indiana and not chicago or new york.

the world is beautiful and exciting, and yet my world is so slow and plain. i long to leave, escape, explore. i want to enter a new culture, i want to discover new people, i want to taste something rancid and yet enjoy it. i want to sit down with a labtop, or notebook and write and write and write. and with that thought i long to doze away, and dream away.