Dec
21 - Calling
All German Train Specialists
The Colonel reports from Richmond, where he and Mrs W are stopped en route to
Northern
Virginia, that "We've forgotten how to run a railroad in this country."
The
departure point was nice, even if the train they were booked on
was running 5 hours behind
schedule. It was Old World and simple, with no hassles and not even a cursory
inspection of carry-on luggage. Mrs W suggests, after observing some of her
fellow passengers, that
the
train
she
is
on
is
actually the
Miami to New York Drug Runner Special.
Still,
there's nothing like a train, and the Colonel and Mrs W are enjoying
themselves even though the experience is decidedly third-world. The
Colonel says that if this were a German train, everyone would've been
fired a long time ago.
We
need some German train specialists in this country right away to set
Amtrak straight. (Or rather, some Deutschezugfachleute.)
Dec
17 - Christmas
Party
The grumpy groundskeeper, who, I must confess, is feeling as old as Elvis today,
is taking a bevy of interns, along with another chaperone, down to New Tampa
today. New Tampa is the New Florida, where every branded convenience known to
Modern
American Man is just a short drive out the guarded gate. It's pretty, it's nice,
but even those who live there don't call it a permanent home. It's
a waystation for recent wealthy immigrants and other itinerant professionals,
many
of them
military professionals. New Tampa, in fact, reminds visitors of an Army post,
where perfection in landscaping, schools close to home, community gyms, pools
and
uniformed
guards all signal a sense of security.
We'll
be the guests of LTC Mark and family, who are hosting a Christmas
Get-together for the extended gang scattered across this region.
Not a Holiday Gathering. Not a Seasonsal Feast. A good old fashioned
American celebration of the birth of Jesus. (Why do you think you get
all these days off in December? I promise you, it's not for Kwanzaa.)
It's always a great time visiting New Tampa, and we will enjoy it.
Wherever you are is home,
as the needlepoint on the pillows attest. But when you're
military, that's got to be a fact. LTC Mark
is on the
list
to command
a
battalion
soon,
which
will
mean another move, perhaps to some hilly, inner beauty of America,
untouched
by the "New" prefix that homogenizes much of the country
these days.
Army
life is awesome, even for kids, which is why RFB
is writing a book on the subject, one of the themes of which is, "Home is people."
Dec
6 - Chargers
and Chiefs
The
best division in the NFL is, once again, the AFC West, with a combined
29-19 record. The worst is the AFC East, with the defending Super
Bowl Champion Patriots
leading that assembly of
losers (18-30) with a horrible 7-5 record, which is a low C...barely passing.
Former AFC Westers the Seahawks made last year's Super Bowl losers,
the Eagles, look
like
real losers last night in what had to be a ratings nightmare for ABC's Monday
Night Football. And next week will be no better, when the sorry Saints go to
Atlanta for another snorefest of Monday Night Inaction. And can we please dispense
with the Tim McGraw halftime song? That is not clever at all. It is simply
inane. You can almost feel McGraw's embarrassment at being part of
this dog and pony
hype that has become American Football. And I'm pretty sure no one in the world
cares a rip about Hank Williams Jr and the GMC sponsored crap that is the opening
montage of this MNF pukecast. Arrrrrgh. Give me long enough and I'll start
ranting about anything. I guess I'd just like to see a simpler football
game on TV,
devoid of techno graphics and shimmering 3D logos, where coaches coach and
don't stop for halftime interviews. But corporations and marketing
are driving the
game
now. What can you do? I guess there's always Canadian
football.
Dec
5 - Sweaty
Santa
It's very odd to hang Christmas lights outdoors while getting a
sunburn
and sweating. I suppose Australians deal with that every year, since their summer
is our winter. Which makes me wonder...do Australian marketers use snow and
similar winter imagery when putting together Christmas ads?
Just
downloaded Google Earth. What an amazing tool for terrorism this must
be.
Dec 1 - Extreme
Laws
On the one side of the globe - Singapore - you smuggle heroin and you get the
death penalty - and you're not even allowed to hug your mom on the way to the
gallows, even after the Australian Prime Minister intervenes on your behalf.
On the other side of the globe - America - you get pregnant and have an abortion
as a 13 year old girl living with your parents, and your parents don't even
have
to know. Hmmmm - if I were a kid, I'd choose America, where you do what you want,
when you want, with few repercussions. Heck, even our heroin smugglers get understanding
and coddling. The executioner in Singapore, a 74 year old man who seems to love
his job, promises he will make the condemned man's spinal cord snap with great
efficiency, minimizing suffering. I wonder if a healthy blend of Singaporian
and American justice could ever be found. Probably not.
This blog is daily reissued as a (slightly adjusted) mirror over
at Google's
blogger site.
