I just returned from a half an hour sitting in my doctor�s waiting room where there were 23 golfing magazines, two National Geographics (most recent issue: November 2002), 1 book of Bible story cartoons for kids, 3 copies of Highlights and a three-year-old Better Home�s and Gardens. And did I mention that I forgot my book?

For as much as I pay for insurance every month, I want some decent magazines in the waiting room, dammit!

But actually, as waiting rooms go, this is pretty pleasant. There�s a little manmade lake outside which looks downright bucolic. And I noticed for the first time today that someone had left a rowboat on the other side. Now this is essentially one of those industrial park fake ponds. What is the purpose of a rowboat in such a location? Do doctors use it for recreation on their lunch hours? Is it for stress testing? For hauling patients with delinquent accounts out to sea to threaten them (this last suggestion is in honor of today�s designation as National Talk Like a Pirate Day)? Alas, I have no answers. All I can tell you is that I would have been far happier rowing around the little lake than reading back issues of Golf Digest.

And now that I am back from my visit with a medical health professional, I am holed up in my basement office, eating candy corn and drinking my 2nd cup of high-octane coffee since lunch. Hmm. Perhaps the good doctor should have some health and fitness magazines in his waiting room. Maybe I�ll suggest it. Right after I eat this pile of bacon and smoke a couple of packs of cigarettes.

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