Today was another hot day in Long Beach, and without air conditioning, home isn’t the ideal place to work.  I have a powerful, but small, McDonald’s-color fan on my desk, attempting to keep my cool; the fan tries its best.  So it felt like I was slogging through work.

I spent most of the day sending e-mails and setting up interview times.  The week is taking shape.  But the highlight of my day was Berth 55, which is a classic fixture on the Long Beach docks.

What an amazing place.  I ended up sitting down with a longshoremen for lunch.  He didn’t want to give me his name, but he ended up providing some interesting background information about the ports, docks, unions, myths, etc.  It was great to sit down and talk to him about his most fond memories of Berth 55.  Heading back Wednesday to interview the owner.

Well, today was just another day in the journey.  Sent a ton of e-mails and reread some of Empty the Sun for an upcoming piece.  And it’s days like this that are important.  Even when it’s just slogging through, you have to keep coming back to the desk.