Today, for almost the first time in two months, I wondered what I am doing in this profession.

There are really two reasons for that. First, it was a not-very-busy day after a hectic week, and when I'm not challenged my mind goes to pot.

Second, what I actually have been doing is interviewing candidates for various offices on the November ballot. This is both a rewarding and tedious task. Reward: I get to know much better individuals (well, men -- they're all men) who are in public office or who are community leaders that want to be in public office. This initiates relationships and potentially makes my life easier in the future.

However, it also means listening to half a dozen versions of what's wrong with ****town and half a dozen visions for its future. The problems seem so overwhelming when you hear about them all day long.

One guy today -- he was nice, he had the best of intentions, but the things he wanted his local government office to accomplish are things not even the federal government could really control.

A fact of life as a journalist -- your work is never done. What you did one day you will do all over again the next. You witness firsthand as problems are solved and created.

I wish I could write more about this city, but I'm too afraid people from here would find my blog. Another person today talked about what a small town this is, and I wanted to stop and interrupt him. This is not a small town. It's freaking bigger than LeMars. But small's all relative. It is the smallest town around with its own school district.

I think I'm going to learn to drink tea. Winter is a good time for that.