My enthusiasm for this current trip is admittedly low (and if you read between the lines and determined low to be a fancy way to say non-existent, well then yes, we are on the same page). It has been a long year. The long-ago mentioned horseshit in my office has continued to simmer under the surface. There has been a spate of bad news concerning the loved ones of some of my closest friends in the past month, including (but not limited to): the death of one's grandfather; the second (failed) attempted suicide of another's sister and the diagnosis of cancer for the father of another.

Given all this, what I'd really like to be doing is hanging in the Garden State, spending time with family, friends and my couch.

Instead, I returned to EWR this morning for a midday flight to Phoenix. I spent almost six hours sitting next to a woman who engaged in a trifecta of my least-favorite airplane behaviors: 1) wearing too much perfume; 2) allowing her largesse to spill over into my seat; and 3) leaning over me to look out the window.

So I didn't step into the sizzling Arizona heat in the greatest frame of mind. Particularly considering I stepped out sans one of my bags (although that did lessen my load as I boarded the shuttle bus to pick up a rental car, so thanks to Continental for that consideration).

After engaging in some retail therapy, I headed for my home-away-from-home for the week. While driving, the sun started to set and the moon, a perfectly large sphere on this Arizona evening, started to rise about the mountains.

While enjoying that view (which would be significantly more impressive if I knew how to operate my camera in anything beside broad daylight and bars), I happened to look in the rear-view mirror and realized a spectacular gold and rust striped sunset was happening behind me.

So, things aren't all bad here.

They'd just be a lot better if I had a toothbrush...