Monday's Missives

The splendor that is Chandor Gardens

One of my favorite effects there

Hobbits are real

It has wings and flies- must be some kind of bird

A flower

Inside the mens room. OMG- I just realized-  I took a camera into the mens room. Good grief

• CI Roller Dude reminded me of something today. He talked about the rank of specialist in the US Army. Believe me, there is nothing like it- it is the best rank in the world. You've been around long enough to be making OK money. Not a lot is expected of you, but you do get to teach some classes and lead small patrols etc. Probably most importantly you know how to get your work done to keep the Man off your back and you know enough about how The Machine works to insure that those of lower ranks than you get to do more than their fair share.
• My National Guard scout platoon years was an amazing moment in time. We stayed pretty close to 100% strength. We were nearly all prior service and those who were guard only had been together for years and were squared away (multiple of those guys had literally been together since elementary school). 70% or more of us had college. I would have gone into battle with those guys anywhere- against anybody. They were also the funniest group of people I've ever been around in my life. I cannot bump into any of those guys who don't say,"Man, I miss the old scout platoon."
• Although I could absolutely live in a hotel I never or rarely sleep well the first night in a hotel room.
• High quality fruit cake doesn't seem that bad to me and regardless they sell it by the tons each year- a whole bunch of people are eating it, then joking about how terrible it is and how they would never touch the stuff.
• I'm nicely sleepy. It feels good.
• The Twilight movies are truly awful.
• You wouldn't recognize beauty if it was outside in the parking lot waiting to give you hepatitis- what Will Ferrell's SNL character just said.
• I could do a very funny and some might say accurate impersonation of an old platoon commander. It was hilarious- it would literally put guys on the floor breathless and send Mt. Dew spraying every time. It was also very cruel.