Don’t Be Such a Cranky Bitch

I took a trip to Texas just before Christmas on Southwest Airlines. Southwest is the one that doesn’t assign seating and you get a number based on when you check in. I’m usually lucky if I check in 40 minutes before the flight – and that’s only because you must check in 30 minutes early or you won’t be able to check in at all….

Anyway, I ended up in a middle seat of course. The way it works when there are only middles left is you look for the smallest people. So I picked a seat with a couple of young guys on either side. During the course of the flight I was a little irritated at the guy – Justin, sitting to my left at the window. You see, I was in a generally cranky mood and he was listening to some tinny techno-music without headphones and chewing (as in tobacco). I got the better of myself and decided he was doing nothing wrong and I was just being a cranky bitch.

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“the free soul is rare, but you know it when you see it – basically because you feel good, very good, when you are near or with them.”
— Charles Bukowski (Tales of Ordinary Madness)

Cool Link – Let Me Google That For You

lmgtfy.com/

Paste this into a talk thread when encountering a googleable question.

Adversity

Sometimes I find that the most difficult things to overcome lead to the best and most satisfying results. In fact, overcoming adversity is the thing we value the most in life.

Actually that’s not true – we value overcoming adversity in a reflective mode. The thing we value most during life is approval from others.

Safe and Secure is a Process

Regarding the recent suicide bomber in Afghanistan who killed 8 CIA officers, I read today the following:

“The bomber was not closely searched because of his perceived value as someone who could lead American forces to senior Qaeda leaders, and because the Jordanian intelligence officer had identified him as a potentially valuable informant, the Western officials said.”

WTF – Can you imagine, in that environment that someone was actually allowed to get that close without being searched. I am completely dumbfounded – and worried about the future. Keeping safe and secure is a process. Good judgment – especially collective judgment is exceedingly rare. Process helps alleviate gaps in judgment that will always occur.

Going to Afghanistan

I took a trip to Texas just before Christmas on Southwest Airlines. Southwest is the one that doesn’t assign seating and you get a number based on when you check in. I’m usually lucky if I check in 40 minutes before the flight – and that’s only because you must check in 30 minutes early or you won’t be able to check in at all….

Anyway, I ended up in a middle seat of course. The way it works when there are only middles left is you look for the smallest people. So I picked a seat with a couple of young guys on either side. During the course of the flight I was a little irritated at the guy – Justin, sitting to my left at the window. You see, I was in a generally cranky mood and he was listening to some tinny techno-music without headphones and chewing (as in tobacco). I got the better of myself and decided he was doing nothing wrong and I was just being a cranky bitch.

He offered me his in-flight snack and then struck up a conversation.  He asked me what it was like to be a business person.  He asked me what the deal was with the United States and politics.  He asked me about a bunch of other stuff.

I asked him what he did and he said he was a Marine – 6 months into it.  His specialty – tanks.  I said, “Are you going to be deployed?”. His answer, “Afghanistan, and I’m scared shitless.”

During the course of the conversation I found out that he will be deployed for 7 months and living in an M1 Abrams tank with 3 other Marines full time.  The benefits of the M1 are that they are very fast and can target and fire while moving.  The dangers are three fold:

1. The rear end is thin – susceptible to rocket attack.

2. They will not withstand a targeted bomb from an airplane.

3. Armor piercing bullets – fired from a rifle – these will penetrate 13 inches of armor and the M1 has about 5 inches. So in fact, an armor piercing bullet can go right through a tank – or bounce around on the inside.

Justin – 18 or 19 years old, having to think about so overtly getting in harms way. This is insane.