On the lighter side of things, two sports related topics have piqued my interest recently. The first is the recent retirement of Detroit Red Wings goalie Dominik Hasek, one of the best goalies of all time. But it's not his retirement per say that grabbed my attention. It was a quote in an ESPN.com article reporting on his retirement before it actually happened. Unfortunately, or perhaps rather coincidentally, they updated the article after his press conference and the quote has been removed but the gist of it is as follows.

Our NHL insider who broke the news to us of Hasek's retirement spoke only on the condition of anonymity because he felt that Hasek has earned the respect of being able to announce his own retirement.

The four questions

Life, in the grand scheme, has only a few components, as I see them:

1. Where we were? - Smart people want to know what happened. Knowing the history helps navigate the present.

2. Where we are? - Everyone needs to know how to find a niche in the now, be yourself, and contribute. Sounds simple. It's not.

3. Where we're going? - As humans, we are always in search of sustainable progress. If navigating the present is difficult, it takes a whole lot of of wisdom to forecast into the future.

4. Why we're going? - This may not be important to some people, but it defines how others approach everything they do.

Editor's Note: Our weekend guest writer series continues with Rita E. Garwood, defender of the defenseless, election-year addict, and faithful reader.

I'm addicted to election years. It all began in 1988 when my dad's boring nightly news ritual suddenly caught my interest. I remember watching the returns that November, armed with a traced map of the states and two colored pencils: one red, one blue.

As a seven-year-old, I didn't know why elections excited me so. I didn't even understand the issues. All I knew was that George Bush seemed to hate new taxes for some reason, and everybody turned on Michael Dukakis for riding around in a tank one day.

Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.

There is very little in life that we can control. I have learned through my time, that if you do everything in your power to be prepared and approach things with the right attitude, things will usually work out in your favor. There are always exceptions to this rule, however, but in most cases, I've found it to be true. There have been times in the past, and most recently, this week, where I did not adequately prepare myself for a task and approached it with the wrong attitude. To say that I failed miserably would be an understatement; my attitude and approach totally bit me in the ass. It's not that the incompletion of the task is a big deal; I'll be able to do it again. It's the way that I handled the situation that is eating me up inside. All I can ensure is that this brief lapse of character doesn't happen again.

Moonbuggy is a bizarre site that specializes in showing a random picture every time you go to the site. The above photo, Meatcar, was up when I went there today. Bizarre. jmj

Last night Barack Obama clinched the Democratic Presidential Nomination. In doing so he became the first Nominee from either major party who does not fit into the white male demographic. This is, to be sure, one of the most historic events in this nation's history. So why does it feel like it isn't that big of a deal?