- 60 degrees and sunny on Saturday. 25 degrees, raining ice and snow on Sunday. 60 degrees and sunny today.
- I’m not the type to complain, but I wish the weather gods would get off the meth.
- I attended a meeting at work today where the mayor of Louisville spoke.
- He kept it light, but he also kept it very middle-of-the-road politically, which was nice.
- Not saying I agree with him on a lot of things, because I don’t, but he did an excellent job in explaining why he re-instituted the Veteran’s Day parade. He also convinced me to participate in his “Give a Day” program.
- The other speaker was retired Colonel Eric Schwartz, who led the unit that carried out the “Thunder Run” attacks on Baghdad in 2003.
- The gist of his speech was “Where do we get such men?”, and he talked about the extraordinary, ordinary men he led during that mission.
- He made an interesting assertion: that only 3 in 10 American males, age 18 to 23, are physically, educationally, and socially qualified to serve. The things he said cause the disqualifications are physical impairments, criminal records, and lack of a high school diploma. According to Colonel Schwartz, the lack of a basic education is the cause of disqualification in the majority of cases.
- He also pointed out that the military is becoming a family business. By that he means that the children of soldiers tend to become soldiers, and the children of non-soldiers tend to not become soldiers. I’ve thought about this a lot over the past couple of years, and it troubles me. I come from a long line of people who served, and I expect that at least one of my kids will also serve. But if the same families keep enlisting generation after generation, and the same families don’t enlist generation after generation, what will that do to the relationship between the military and the civilian leadership over time?
- Apparently we’ve gone from tongue clucking to finger waving in reaction to the situation in Ukraine. I’m still torn between “Is this really our fight?” and “If we’re going to do something, then we need to DO SOMETHING.”.
- Know what’s worse than doing nothing? Try doing something that demonstrates just how impotent you really are.
- You know, I go months without having a creative thought in my head, then I get three ideas for short stories while I’m taking a shower and driving into work.
- One of these days I might even try doing more than jotting down the idea in a notebook.
- I finally broke down and bought a power paint sprayer tonight, along with five gallons of stain for the sundry wooden objects in the yard.
- Apparently I’m a Philistine because I refuse to acknowledge a difference between opaque stain and paint.
- If the weather holds, we’ll be cleaning and staining this weekend.
- If I go into work looking jaundiced on Monday, it’s because I messed up the first couple times I tried to spray something with the new gadget.
- Girlie Bear had the ick today, and apparently Moonshine rarely left her side. I’m tempted to send him with her when she goes to college.
- Speaking of rotten animals, chasing Crash the Combat Kitten around the yard at 4 in the morning when it’s cold and wet out was not a good way to start my Sunday. Next time, he gets to find his own way home, preferably back in Siam.
Thoughts on the Day
Posted by daddybear71 on March 17, 2014
https://daddybearsden.com/2014/03/17/thoughts-on-the-day-219/
Previous Post
Movie Quotes – Day 76
Movie Quotes – Day 76
Next Post
Attention to Orders
Attention to Orders
1 Comment
DaddyBear
DaddyBear’s Den 
Drang
/ March 18, 201460 and clear to 25 and snowing to 60 and clear… When did you move to Michigan?
LikeLike