The Story

Jerry Solom has heard stories on this program about people who have unexplained passions, and he decided to share his own story. Jerry grew up about as far away from the ocean as you can get, but for some reason, he had always thought about sailing to his parent's birth country, Norway.

Incidents of road rage increase in the bumper-to-bumper traffic of the summer. Paula wrote in about her husband, Greg. On the way out of town for a much-needed vacation, Greg and Paula encountered an aggressive driver who nearly drove them off the road. Greg normally keeps his cool - he spends a lot of time on the road driving large loads. In this case he didn't: before too long, both cars had pulled over and Greg had the guy in a headlock. Also in this episode, HIV/AIDS is spreading across the American South, particularly among the African American population. This week, the Black AIDS Institute issued a report criticizing the federal government for not doing more to help.African American woman are the most vulnerable to infection. DeVondia Roseborough found out she was HIV-positive in December 2003.

Despite oocupational hazards like an explosion that blasted Garry Eiden 20 feet through the air, he loves working in the oil industry. But it was never something Garry wanted any of his children to do. Yet one of his sons, Tug, fell in love with the oil fields as a toddler. Also on the show: the beauty of a barn.

This summer, Chris McNaught had an idea. Inspired by a woman who had winnowed her possessions to a paltry 300 items, Chris decided to make an inventory of his own stuff. He counted all the items in his house and garage, and noted them on a spreadsheet. The result: Chris owned 2,000 items. So he decided to clean house. Chris says that his home these days is simple, uncluttered, and filled with only the most meaningful items from his life. Having given away more than half of his possessions, Chris is well on his way to owning no more than 500 things. Also in this episode: a composer heads to Antarctica for inspiration.