Thursda's Thoughts

• At least two different times in my life, once as a soldier and another at a civilian job a supervisor had been heard to say in so many words they would fire me if they weren't afraid of what it would do to the morale of those I left behind. There might be some lessons and at least plenty of observations about my personality and character to be made from that thought- not all good and not all bad.
• For my part, it was basically flattering and if nothing else funny.

  

  Speak It Advice Mallard

• When the proverbial Iron Curtain fell we were too busy gloating to step up and help Russia which may have prevented a lot of today's problems faced by her neighbors and ourselves in dealing with the ascendant Russkie Bear.
• While I was in Iraq none of my ammo magazines or ammunition had my fingerprints  on them. I would not touch them without gloved hands and after maintanence of them would wipe them clean.
• Sometimes, even if you have done nothing wrong, nor do you intend to do anything wrong, you need the option of plausible deniability.
• In another life I was big time hunter and lived for duck and dove season. For that reason it seemed odd to people I knew, that I had never killed a deer and have only made two half hearted attempts at hunting them. I have nothing against it- it just never worked out that way.
• American horror Story is good- really good but it is not like I thought it would be as I thought it was the one where each episode was a stand alone show each written by a different writer. Instead, each season has a story line that develops from beginning to end with the same cast of characters. Maybe I misread or misheard something somewhere. Regardless it is gooood. Jessica Lange literally steals the show in the episodes I have watched.
• And yeah- she is 65 years old and smokin' hawt.

  

  He wants you to know

Wednesday's Digressions

• Recently I was reminded of the old fear that hospice care will hasten (and is in fact its purpose) a persons death. Most people know better and just a minutes clear thinking would show the problems with that kind of silly thinking but, once I really had a good object lesson on that worry. I was called in on the case of a woman on hospice for end stage heart disease with pain, shortness of breath, wasting and imminent death for continuous care criteria for nursing at her bedside until her death. On entering her room I encountered a gray complected, larger woman with very shallow respiration. Her eyes were closed and family reported she was sleeping and had been for past 18 hours. To make a long story short she was suffering from overwhelming pain which caused her to withdraw to a sleep-like state causing her blood sugar to get off and cardiac problems to worsen because her diet and meds were disrupted. Although she needed supplemental oxygen she did not appear distressed- she was breathing too shallow but, to an inexperienced person may have not looked in trouble.
• I put her on oxygen. Elevated the head of her bed. Talked to the family about administering morphine to strengthen her heart and improve her respiration. We then put her back on a heart med, water pill and steroid that had been (rightly at the time) discontinued.
• The last I heard the nurse who relieved me did not get to finish her shift because the patient had improved too much and had to be cancelled from crisis care. She was up on a walker with assist and had dinner in the dining room with family from out of town whom I'd been asked only to try to help her live long enough for them to see her alive and say their goodbyes.
• As I writes this (05/17/2014) at the pool a strikingly hawt female stopped in front me to make sure I saw her very decent for a 40 year old backside and then she engaged me me about the temp. of the water and kids etc. Admission: I got some instinctive butterflies. In my defense: The first thing I thought of was FG and how hawt mama was wasting her time and breath. I was actually listening to music in the background on the laptop that reminded me of FG.
  

  

  The Phantom Korean Photographer disturbed people at Scarborough enough they physically steered clear of him.
• There is a big deal being made over Dale Hansen's diatribe regarding where the homosexual football player fell in the draft, how there is no way there were 258 better players than him (based on his rank in the draft) and blah, blah, blah... while also in typical Hansen fashion bullying the audience into believing whatever it is he is saying. A funny thing about that- nobody cares about the guy's homosexuality and even though I make no effort to keep up with sports I have come to understand through osmosis he was maybe only drafted at all because of his gaydom- the NFL was not going to allow him to not be as it would make them look monstrous and backward. Scouts and talking heads all had him at 6-8th round based on his stats, health and presentation.
• Sad thing about this subject? I am not sure of that guys name. It is Sams, Samm or Samms-right? I have no clue as to his first name and couldn't confirm or deny if I was hearing it correctly if you said it in front of me.
• In people's minds he is, The Gay Football Player.
• We are our own worst enemies.

  

  Artisan at SRF being artisanal.

Don't You Monkey With Teh Monkey

My day started with Coal Chamber's cover of Shock The Monkey featuring the inimitable Ozzy. How did yours start?


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Monday's Missives

• Do all the people freaking out over genetically modified foods- they call GMs and very inventively Frankenfoods (I really like that one) realize all the foods they, we and every person in the world has ever eaten in their lifetimes is genetically modified? As soon as man began an agrarian lifestyle he modified genetically the foods he grew for desired traits.
• A liberal friend who took jillions of sociology, psychology and every other 'ology class ever offered once mentioned, You can tell how important something is to a society by how many slang words they have for the object or activity. 
  
• Self censorship is a way of life for us now as we are absolutely terrified of being labelled racist, xenophobe or sexist or...
• I only heard most of the Donald Sterling conversation between he and his girlfriend. He is heard telling her to never bring black guys with her to his games. Did he say black people were terrible, ugly or that their mothers dressed them funny? If he did, I missed it but he will forever be labelled a racist-as in he will be referred to as such long after he is dead and gone. I'm not defending him I may have missed something but the only person in this world I heard making anything like a defense of him was his wife. Every single white person in this country is terrified at the thought  of trading places with him- and not because of that mugly girlfriend.
• Connected thought: I set these thoughts to post some months after they came to mind.
  

  

  FG at the tree light Xmas 2013

• I'm at the pool and Zac is working the babes while sister practices her cannonball technique.
• My respect automatically goes up a notch when a lawyer refers to himself as a lawyer instead of attorney.
• Don't like lawyers? Cops or lawyers- takes your choices and takes your chances. Wait- better English? .. take your choice and take your chances or make your choice and take your chances or make your choice or take your chances...
• Whoa either way, that was pretty good. Give me credit when you use it.
  

Friday's Dispatch

A funny flashback.  Recently I came across the GPS receiver I used downrange. When I powered it up it took a second to process what B2 was that lay at a 37 degree heading 7227 miles away from Weatherford America. Then it hit me-  B2 was a checkpoint for route reconnaissance along route Boston in Iraq. It would be called, Charlie Papa Bravo 2 in Armyspeak.

• An ex tried to stab me with a pair of scissors. She would have buried them in my skull if I hadn't turned in time to see them coming down. Interestingly, I was walking away from her and only turned back as I processed the slight scraping noise I heard behind me was the scissors being lifted from a chest of drawers. I had taken note of the fact the scissors were the only thing on the chest as I had walked by- they seemed out of place. It pays to know you're surroundings I suppose.

  

  Food in a bowl made of other food- fancy.

• I did not know until I just watched a commercial featuring her that Minnie Driver is English. It was meanfunny to recognize her because of an American Dad! episode where they make fun of the size of her head.
• It is 11/08/2014 and I have already had 2 fires in the fireplace. 

  

  I generally eschew things that are described as, "encrusted" but this dish was very good. But still- eeew.

• Red Dawn (the real one) is on Esquire Network and almost over. It is a great movie- for all the reasons critics hate it. Anyway dude- it isn't a documentary.
• My best friend in the Army was best friends growing up with the kid who hangs out the window after being shot by the Cuban paratrooper at the school in the opening scenes. Interestingly, after he and that kid parted ways in junior high the kid actor became best friends with another kid in another state in high school. Once in the Army my buddy was shocked to hear a guy telling a story about being best friends with the kid in the movie who was shot and hangs out...
• Another of my few degrees of separation for Patrick Swayze.

  

  On my commute home. 'Murica

  
  

  

  Was so all over the road while texting- it caught my attention in my rear view mirror while they were a mile behind me.

  
  

  

  I think this is the gearbox to a wind electricity generator.

  

  This sunset was so searing due to the exact right time, elevation, lay of the streets and haze in the atmosphere that everybody regardless of direction of travel, speed or maneuver they were executing was stunned for a second. Everybody in my field of view hesitated or even swerved a bit.

  

  Broke out because keys were locked in the car?  Odd though- why is there a hole in the Plexiglas patch?

• Yesterday I offered to buy my nursing buddies's lunch. When I reached for my card it wasn't anywhere to be found in my little wallet. Embarrassing. Even worse, as he was paying for our lunch I found my card in the compartment where normally only the cash is stored.
• Flounder are an interesting fish.
• The only zip lining I have ever done was one made by some friends- 30 years ago. You had to lift your legs halfway to keep from smashing into a peak left in the middle of a gully. Your butt would brush the weeds as you went over.
• Hill Country Adventures
• Ken Burn's contribution to this country cannot be overstated.
• Gladiator is still a great movie. The opening sequence is still mesmerizing. I am glad I saw it in a theater.
  
  
  

  

  There must be a mudbogging track around Wise County somewhere. I saw 10+ rigs like this near or in Decatur.

Thursday's Thoughts

• We went to see Young Frankenstein at the WC last night (11/01/2014). Except for some audio issues it was was really good and fairly ambitious. They even recreated the revolving wall bit. My daughter was in awe of the actors and was high fiving them all at the meet and greet and telling them how awesome they were. 
• They should consider doing it every year around Halloween and Its a Wonderful Life around Christmas.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  From our pumpkin decorating contest at work.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• It might be easy to forget what a stud James Stewart was especially as he came across so down to earth. He flew B24s on bombing and path finding missions in WWII and stayed current on all USAF bombers into the 1960s including the B52.
• On a show about Bigfoot on the History Channel just now a so called expert is in an effort to look more credible wearing a suit and tie- a very outdated and cheap suit and tie.

  

  I would say she was concentrating on everything but driving but she was concentrating on one thing- texting. She actually caught my attention in my side view mirror as she was all over the road as she came up to pass. I was slowing for a red light and  she shot over into my lane and stopped. That is why the car appears so crooked in the frame. There wasn't even enough room for her to straighten the vehicle out to complete the lane change.

• A recent patient hugged me as she was leaving to move to another state.
• She came here to be with a guy she went to high school with and with whom she rekindled the old flame on the facebooks. Of course, he was nothing like he said online and it lasted less than 2 months. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard that story.
• Aside from the very occasional perfect nap I never sleep well and feel rested afterward.

  

  Found at Sunshine Lake

Wednesday's Digressions

Out of control nightstand is out of control

• The Swedes have recently detected a sub in their waters- a sub the Russians have denied ownership of and which they have told the Swedes may be Danish in origin. If I were the Swedes I would have said, No, we already asked them and they also said they were pretty sure it is yours. So if it is cool with you we will  start dropping charges and capture anything that surfaces and then hang up the phone. Within an hour the Swedes would have received a call back and the Russian middleman would have said, The situation is developing but there may be a climate research sub near that area that has lost comms...
• There is only one way to deal with the Russkies.
• To presume everybody on the planet's mind works the same way and that we have the same wants and needs is odd and wrong and the trouble we try to avoid by thinking that way will almost always become inevitable.
  
  

  

  35 MM film lying in the dirt being poignant and anachronistic.

• Yesterday a co worker was concerned about my suffering due to seasonal allergies and gave me an E Mer Gency (or whatever it is called) drink additive. It was nasty- literally foul but  nothing worse happened to me the rest of the day so there is something to be said for that I suppose.
• I just read (it is 024 on 10/22/2014) some towns in the US are paying 2900 dollars to sterilize wild doe deer. The headline correctly said, The World Is Being Run By Crazy People.

  

  Green house by the restaurant in Botanic Gardens. It wouldn't bother me a bit to live in there.

• An old saw that I don't even recall the origins of but I loved as soon as I read it somewhere years ago: A Russian wants to be feared. A Brit wants to be respected. An American wants to be liked. These may not be 100% true in 100% of the cases and the knowledge of this adage may not help these 3 groups understand each other in every case but I think it is probably a good place to start understanding each other. If nothing else, it is a succinct way to remember- we really are different.

  

  A wall in my brother in laws garage. The wood came from our families old house we call, The Old House.