We all do our best thinking in the shower.

I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s the warm water, maybe it’s the isolation or maybe it’s contradictory ideas that because it’s morning you have no real thought process and random thoughts just come and go.

Either way, this segues — rather clumsily I’ll admit — to this weeks column being a hodge podge of random thoughts that came to me over the week.

Chanting my name helps

The Austin Packers student section represents the growing trend of futbol (that’s soccer for those of you who refuse to believe that another sport held the term first).

They represent well both at home and travel well on the road. The Austin student body outnumbered Northfield’s Tuesday night at the Section 1A title game in Rochester, dare I say by more than two times.

They are energetic, supportive and often times creative with their chants, reminding me sometimes of English soccer.

It’s a fun atmosphere to be around and my words have absolutely nothing to do with the fact that they chant my name from time to time.

Pssst, it does a little bit of course. Everybody needs their ego catered to just a little bit and once I figure it out I’m totally putting on the guitar solo equivalent of photography. Also, I need to figure out a portable strobe light set-up.

The first fall salvos have been fired

I’ve already mentioned before that I have a love/hate relationship with the two trees in our backyard but as we get deeper into fall, a familiar battle is about to be waged.

It started about a week ago when I noticed an enemy incursion — a lone leaf spiraling from the heights of the bigger tree, showing off its now familiar bright orange, red and yellow leaves.

Pretty, yes, but an omen of what’s to come. A morning-long battle to reclaim my backyard from the occupation of thousands — MILLIONS (lets turn this up to 11) — of leaves.

They of course will fall before the might of advanced weapons of rake and garbage bags, but not before leaving me with back and arm pain.

Sooooo many leaves that will challenge just how much I enjoy this time of year. Often times it seems I get one section cleared just to turn around and see it coated again and if I’m really unlucky the squirrels will compound this with piles of broken nut shells at the base of the two trees, brought in from who knows where.

Jerks.

Laughing my way to healthy life

I’ve recently begun kind of working out which translates into (right now) using a stairmaster each morning before work in our basement.

You don’t know this because I haven’t taken a picture of myself, which means, I think, that I’m not officially working out.

It’s a challenge in that I have largely bypassed this part of my life ever since a brief flirtation with fitness in college.

I’ve thought about this before, even contemplated running … *insert large amounts of laughing* … ahem.

The nice thing about this is we have a TV/DVD player set up so we can watch stuff. Not novel, but it certainly helps and so lately I’ve been going through the “Archer” series again. The animated series is basically a tongue-in-cheek  take of James Bond and hilarious.

It also makes things roundly difficult when you are laughing and trying to use a machine to walk-step yourself to better fitness, reguiring a certain amount of balance. There is a very real danger of physical entanglement and quite frankly, my body doesn’t flex real well.

Random

Work at your computer while listening to music that has a piano playing.

Suddenly you’re a pianist. Try it. It’s kind of fun.

And finally

I’m afraid that the presidential campaign I’m running for my cat Buster — #MyCatBuster4Prez — isn’t going very well.

He refuses to acknowledge the issues of our country by sleeping in his cat tree all day and is easily distracted by issues not detrimental to this years election and voter concerns. His chief distraction being a long rope-thingy or any piece of paper that falls on the floor.

He’s polling better with kids, passer-bys and middle class voters concerned over economic development but his numbers are abysmal with bugs — mostly because he keeps eating them.

Still, there is time left and I highly urge you to consider a vote for Buster. He’s the only candidate that truly cares about your well-being … oh, your eating something. Never mind. He probably doesn’t care.