You never know...

...who you will meet at the pool at 5:30 a.m. Normally too groggy to speak and focused on the task at hand (swimming), we early-bird regulars rarely speak. That really is a shame, though, because it stands to reason that if we share the common insanity that swimming year-round at an outdoors pool before sunrise requires, then we probably have more in common. Or, at least, we have other unique and quirky characteristics.

Take my new friend, for example.

Mustachioed Swimmer: We must be crazy to be out here at this hour.
Me: Crazy is being out here in February.
MS: Well, in my line of work, we're all a little crazy.
Me: What line of work is that?
MS: Computer systems maintenance...IT.
Me: Yeah, that's a job requirement for that industry, isn't it?
MS: (chuckles) Yeah. And I'm a blacksmith on the weekends.

How many of you have met a real, bona fide blacksmith? He even offered to make a tomahawk and teach me to throw it!

Lesson here, kids: talk to the person in the lane next to you. They might offer to teach you to throw a tomahawk.