McChrystal

You'd seriously think this idiot would be smarter than this. Civilian authority and the military side and all that. What a dope.

Strangers And Crowds

I've noticed a shift in my thinking about people.

I recently moved from a small town to a larger town. In the small town, I knew quite a few people, if not by name then at least by their place in the community, tellers, clerks, etc. In the larger town I know virtually no one.

The shift is I'm a lot more suspicious of people the fewer of them I know. I'm starting to blend in as a nameless, faceless person myself.

I've gone from fairly well known to a stranger. And it feels very strange. Not pleasant.

Watergate

It seems like Watergate happened right about now, around June 17 sometime.

That's one to look up. The third rate burglary.

A Devilish Policeman

I was on a bus today, riding along, and I saw a policeman pulled up in a parking lot with his radar gun trained on the traffic in front and behind us.

He looked a little too eager, in my opinion, to catch some poor soul doing something wrong.

So I thought: "You devil, how'd you like it if we did that to you?"

A Town Of Overachievers

Since I moved a couple months ago, I've had plenty of time to study my new town.

One of my conclusions is that it seems like a town of overachievers. Compared to my old place, where it seemed like everyone was comfortable with whatever level he or she had attained years ago.

This really came screaming home to me today when I was at Dairy Queen. I was sitting there drinking my Moolatte, a frozen coffee flavored drink they have, and I looked over and saw an average guy talking to an average woman. They were both well over 60, I would guess. But they had some important looking legal papers, each with his or her own stack, respectively, and were conferring about technical things, yet not so loudly that I could make out what they were saying (I wasn't trying either.)

That was where I started thinking "a town of overachievers." Because at my old place, this same old couple would be drinking their drink and thinking about nothing. Life would've already passed them by. Something like that.

Then when I was getting ready to leave, in the booth next to them, not in my direct field of vision while I was at my table, there was another guy with some papers, stacked up, and he was examining the stacks, apparently with an eye as to their contents. I didn't examine them myself, but I got the impression that he might be a lawyer, a real estate agent, an editor, or an entrepreneur about to make an important presentation. His papers, stacked as I said, knew where they belonged.

It really hit home with me, this is a town of overachievers. This same guy in my old town would've been sitting at DQ with three kids and no papers. Maybe he's very happy overachieving, but it's too bad he couldn't try his alternate destiny on for size too.

P.S. I like preserving my original messaged, misspelled idea, in this case, "A town of overachievers _ papers at dq maybeeditor"

Mechanic? Your Size Is Right

You want to be a mechanic here? Yeah, you're about the right size. You're hired!"

Original idea sent in with my faulty typing on the phone: "Mechanic? Yeah you r abot riite size_ you r hired"

My Faithful Canine Bed Partner

Since my move, I've kept my dog in my room at night, with the door closed.

Where we lived before, I kept the door open. So the dog would be in the bed with me, then get up in a half hour and leave the room. Before morning, sometime, she would pee on the kitchen floor, or dining area.

But now, originally to keep her from peeing on the kitchen floor in the new place, I keep the bedroom door closed. And she knows the difference. She goes to bed with me and she doesn't get up! She's there all night long!

It's been something like four weeks ... and this dog hasn't gotten out of bed through the night even once. That's some kind of record. Plus it's some kind of habit, and this dog doesn't break habits easily once they're made.

Smoking At A Gas Station

This is one of my really big pet peeves, seeing people smoking outside at a gas station. You want to give them an X-ray of their head to see if there's something in there that's just not computing. After all, isn't what happens when gas and fire meet fairly well known?

A few weeks ago I saw it happening, people smoking about 15 feet from the pump. I went in and complained to the cashier, but he just blew it off. 'They work right over there,' indicating a place inside the gas station, 'and they do that all the time.' OK, I haven't been back to that gas station. Not only that, their receipt printer is permanently broken.

Today I was driving by a BP gas station (a BP!) and someone was on the front step, looking every bit an employee, and she also was smoking. I thought the usual things I think about, like how dense do you really have to be to do this? But in this case I also thought, It's BP, for crying out loud! How stupid are the people who work for this company?

Anyone with any sense would not be smoking with gas pumps right there a few feet away!