Monday's Missives

• Just came in from working on the yard and getting some sun and was surprised to find my two oldest sitting in the den watching a movie together like human beings and not strangling each other or setting the furniture on fire.



• They were so incognito I thought they must be getting in late from the school bus.



• Literally



• Three of my neighbors have jeeps.



• Luckies



• The one I owned in my previous life would punk theirs in a minute.



• That's alright though, good things will come back to me- right?



• Please say yes.



• Always fascinates me to see people who are business owners who seem to have no interest in being in business. Went in to an antique store yesterday to look for books. The guy rolled his eyes and sighed like he was dealing with a mentally challenged guy the group home gave 5.00 dollars to and took shopping for life enrichment therapy. I've done well at other antique stores buying books- high percentage of what ends up in them is often history,autobiographies and biographies which is what I'm into and the prices are often cheaper than a used bookstore. I would guess I've spent at least say, a couple of hundred dollars at antique stores for books in my life and have bought other things from that particular store in the past.



• Never again.



• Speaking of books, Recycled Books in Denton TX RAWKS! They must have a million books in stock and are very helpful and have a laid back atmosphere and attitude. Music and DVDs were too expensive in the past but, I'll see if there's been a price correction since I've been there last.



• I love how the store snakes around, in and out of other spaces they've acquired and up stairs and down into the basement.



• I'm going to go spend money there this weekend.



• They have a rare books section that makes me salivate and rock back and forth wishing for a lottery win.



• Think a good investment maight be in a big DVD collection from someone who changed over to Blueray and a new DVD player. Going to keep that one in the back of my mind.



• I love how the people we fight (and will always be fighting) essentially equate women with a piece of property that carries children and in our military culture they are equal in rights and opportunities to men. On my crew in Iraq my assigned machine gunner was often a female Marine. Stone cold killer- who could operate and maintain that gun as well as anybody. I would have gone anywhere in combat with her and in fact did hand picked her over many of the men in my platoon during planning sessions for operations.



• There were some very nice complimentary aspects to that story that I'll never forget. She was assigned to my squad because I was trusted to treat a subordinate female properly and also to keep her alive. She also because of her respect for my abilities and pride in our accomplishments campaigned her command for more patrol action and asked me to do the same with my unit and have her be my dedicated gunner.



• People give me way more credit than I deserve.