The one bright spot in an otherwise ugly exercise day was running into my old friend "Cash."
Have you ever had one of those days when you make a wrong call, and then your next judgment call gets second-guessed, even though you’re in a gray area and both your opinion and the boss’ are equally valid, except you’re wrong because the boss says so? Yeah, that’s the kind of day I had today. Argh!
Only two more days of ALARM BLUE, MOPP 4. . . .
I caught a few minutes of Fox News Watch this morning. In the segment where the topic was whether or not journalists ought to be allowed by their corporate employees to donate to political campaigns, I caught a comment that raised my hackles. Neil Gabler, while siding on the half that believed journalists should not be allowed to donate, by way of explanation said that journalists "Are a Priesthood, a priesthood of truth. . . ."
?
Even if journalists got everything regarding a story correct 50% or even more than 90% of the time, referring to them as a priesthood of truth is patently ludicrous. I would agree with "A Priesthood of Fact-publishers," although even that would be a stretch.
I’m going to start referring to fighter pilots as "A Priesthood of Peace." It makes as much sense.
Revelations 5:4 (NIV) — Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword.
Okay, so a nuclear weapon isn’t necessarily the latest sign of an impending apocalypse. Still, methinks it’s not a good sign.
11/0515L Oct 2006 Update: Doubts surface as to the veracity of North Korea’s claim. But on the other hand, the "Chonger" seems to be volunteering to test another one more openly. Notice he doesn’t bother telling publicly where he plans to launch his missile. I suspect that if he’s weaponized a missile, he’ll probably have it launched into the ocean for a spectacular airburst. I just hope he mentions where its going so we can divert sea and air traffic! Of course, this brings up the possibility of testing the ABM system as well. . . .
How’s this for a trip? Start with a two-hour ride in a car (luckily a BMW 7-series, about the size of a Chevy Impala) with four other people, one of them being your wife and practically sitting in your lap (not a complaint by any stretch). Stop at the airport to drop off some family comparatively early, meet some other family on their way out for the next five hours. Spend too few tender moments with your new wife, watch as she and your new in-laws drive away. Then go back into the terminal and wait another hour to board, then wait 20 minutes on the airplane. Spend 12 hours on the airplane, catching only five hours of uneasy nap-time (but catch a couple movies while trying to fall asleep). Arrive in Tokyo, find your luggage waiting for you for a change, then scamper off to find your train to Tokyo station. Board train with only four minutes to spare. Get to Tokyo station, try to decipher your tickets enough to figure out which Shinkansen you need embark. Make the train with four minutes to spare. Ride the bullet train for three hours, get off to switch trains, get to the last one with four minutes to spare. At the four minute point, realize that you got there with eight minutes to spare, hold a short, private celebration. Disembark, and try with your extremely broken Japanese and the cab driver’s extremely broken English to explain to him where you live. Get home dog-tired and yet unable to sleep anyway, which is good, because while you were away for two weeks, the main circuit breaker for the apartment tripped, and everything in the refrigerator has spoiled. Spend an half-hour taking out the trash. Finally nod off at about 1 AM.
Then the alarm rings at 0630. Then your wife calls because she knows the alarm clock didn’t really wake you up and if she didn’t, you’d hit snooze for the next three hours. Turn on the shower, and after two minutes realize that the water’s still really cold because when the power went out, the electronic control for the water heater also went off. Put your robe on and go turn on the water heater. Praise Jesus and the inventor of the flash-heater, because if this had been another home in another land, there’d have been no hot water that day! Run to the base to get BK for breakfast.
It didn’t actually get problematic until the post-lunch coma, actually. Until then I was doing quite well. After that, no amount of coffee seemed to keep me alert.
The fact that this sort of thing is almost normal to me now is one of the things about my life that make me happy. Yes, you read correctly. I actually kind of enjoy my life!
Christina and I celebrated our ceremonial wedding yesterday with a mass/service at her parish church. The officiating priest was a retired Bundeswehr chaplain who lived in the States from 1986-1991. He performed most of the excellent ceremony in English, for the benefit of the five out of about a hundred people (one of them being the groom). It was entirely beautiful. I think the last time I was exactly that happy was the day I graduated from pilot training.