Another good posting from Jim Shepard, About.com's guide for the Powerboating section. In lieu of New Year's resolutions, he's posted "A Powerboater's Wish List", and it's the sort of good old, tongue-in-cheek humor that hits pretty close to the mark.

• Fuel - Make it cheaper!
• Rain - Keep farmers happy during the week and boaters happy during the weekend.
• Boat Ramps - How about an always open ramp "whenever I want to launch or retrieve my boat?"
• Weekends - "Weekends should be longer, starting on Wednesdays and ending on Tuesdays."
• Weddings - "No weddings should be scheduled for prime boating weekends. If you just have to get married in the middle of the summer, don't invite me. I promise I won't feel left out or disappointed." (Gotta love that one!)
• Calm - Although he wants "flat, dead calm" water, he'd begrdgingly "settle for waves 6-inches high or less. Preferably less."
• Destinations - "Once I have arrived at my destination and it's cocktail time, I want a soft, cool evening breeze coming off the lake over the aft deck."
• Boats - "How about a boat that always looks a lot better than I thought it would when I take off the cover in the spring?" (I'll second that!)
• Systems - "How about having all the systems and all the equipment on the Big Old Boat in working order at the same time?"

Seems like a perfectly reasonable list, right? Of course, he does finish up with a real pipe dream, something about bikini-clad beautties reclining on his boat like in all the glossy advertisements. Hmmm...