Sunday Evening Musings

Spending the afternoon at the neighbor's house, drinking beer and playing football, watching the children swim in the pool, what could be better, right?

Something you don't hear every day,"... you're going to have trouble sucking something as little as that..."

This was in reference to siphoning gas, I swear!!

I found that running into a mud puddle while running a pattern in a football game has an hilarious outcome, that being the would-be receiver falling flat on his face, in said mud puddle.

Did you know that a twenty-pound dog sheds more than enough fur in just a few minutes to clog up the average bathtub?

The Spinning has Slowed

The last few days have been a whirlwind. Compress the death and subsequent memorial service of a dear friend's son, a major fundraiser for the FD, and a new car purchase into the space of only four days and you'll understand what my life has been like recently. It's like the world decided to spin even faster than normal.

Hopefully the rest of the summer will be at a more relaxed pace.

Please disregard my earlier post about frustration...

... because I now know an even greater sense of frustration.

It's the frustration borne of knowing a very dear friend is suffering an irreconcilable loss and there is little-to-nothing I can do about it, aside from just being there for her and her family and offering my prayers and support.

It makes not being able to buy the car you wanted pale in comparison.

The Art of Frustration

Monday morning, I submit the requisite paperwork to the stealership to begin the process of purchasing my new car. Monday afternoon, they call and tell me I'm approved on the car I wanted.

So Tuesday morning I spend over an hour removing all my FD related equipment such as the emergency lights, siren, and radio. That afternoon I drive to the stealership to complete the paperwork.

That's when things go downhill. I know my credit isn't perfect, having discharge bankruptcy back in 2004, but it's been spotless since then. I wasn't expecting a great interest rate, but I also wasn't expecting the raping they were planning. I unequivocally refuse to pay 20% interest on a car note.

So I still have my truck and I'm still looking.

If patience is a virtue, frustration is an art.

Shoot First, Ask Questions Later

Well, after staring down two bullets with regards to my truck, it seems I again have the gun pointed squarely at me. Checking the transmission fluid doesn't bring forth the normal bright red hue ,especially after having changed the filter and fluid only a week ago, but rather a grayish substance. That is NOT a good sign!!! You can actually feel the grit if you rub it between your fingers.

So before I find myself attempting to dodge (no pun intended) yet another round, I'm going to strike pre-emptively and trade in the truck. I've got my eyes set on a brand new Kia Sorrento SUV. Tomorrow morning will find me waiting impatiently at the stealership to go through all the motions necessary to make it mine.

Wish me luck and if I don't return by nightfall, send out search parties.

Mutually Assured Destruction

The other night, being incredibly bored, I was flipping through the myriad channels that my sattelite company offers when I came across a program on the Military Channel. They were discussing the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union. Most of it dealt with how both nations fought this war primarily through intermediaries, such as Cuba and Viet Nam, but there was one really interesting part about what was, and is, known as MAD - Mutually Assured Destruction.

MAD was both a good and bad thing. Good in that it prevented World War III on many occassions and bad in that the world lived under the specter of a nuclear holocaust. MAD was the presumption that if one nation launched nuclear weapons, the other would retaliate in kind, setting off a global nuclear war that neither would survive.

New intelligence paints a slightly different picture. It seems that the majority of the Soviet missiles were aimed at US allies in Europe, while nearly all of the US missiles were aimed at the heart of the USSR: Moscow, Leningrad, Stalingrad, etc. So while the US would have remained fairly untouched, the Soviet Union would have sustained massive damage.

So, in retrospect, it seems Mutually Assured Destruction was not quite mutual, nor was it assured.