Mmmm, Hot Water

I came back from my 12 mile run today....getting ready for the Richmond Marathon. I was tired, sore, and ready for a bath. Previously, I would have to consider if my daughter was around and if she had used all the hot water. I kind of miss her irrational, indefensible bickering about 50 minute showers.

I bet Bob misses bickering with me, too. I'm going to give him the business this weekend just for old times sake...

Decisions, Decisions

Today, I was faced with a dilemna and hopefully I will come to a decision soon. I'm not sure if it is my OCD, but I tend to build routines around everything. Getting a soda from the machine? You betcha. Put in $2 and a 20 oz diet Coke and .75 come flying out of the machine. Which to get first? The soda, of course. I have 1.25 invested and I need to protect my heaviest investment. Makes sense, right? Until today.

As I reached for the soda, one of the quarters made an escape and rolled across the floor. Whoa, that poses a big risk to my "receiving change" investment. So on one hand, the soda is the bigger investment that needs to be protected, but by doing so I raise the potential of losing a quarter or two. I hate to admit I'm wrong, but I think I need to start getting the change first, since the soda is pretty secure. It's going to be a tough habit to break.

A Letter to My Daughter

In a few hours, I will drop you off at the University of San Francisco. My job here is just about done. You are a few short years from becoming an independent adult. With that in mind, I just want to send out my last nuggets of wisdom before you start cruising the Haight/Ashbury district.

1. You will make mistakes. There are two basic types of mistakes. Big, life-altering mistakes and little nuisance mistakes. Those big ones are hard to roll back and often can change your life for decades at a time. Try and limit yourself to the ones that are just a nuisance and learn from them as fast as you can to avoid making them again. And one last thing. We love you and there is always a place where you can go to heal your wounds, no matter what the mistake is.

2. Be true to yourself. Others will have expectations of you, but only your expectations should have any weight. This is a thin line. Remember to differentiate between settling for second best under the guise of "being true to yourself." Do your best.

3. Explore. San Francisco is a great city and the academic world is a great place to get lost. Try new subjects. Don't be afraid to change majors. Your passion is more important than the economic potential.

Lastly, listen to Wide Open Spaces by the Dixie Chicks. It would be a great theme song for you for the next few months.

John Lennon

As Quentin Tarantino points out in Pulp Fiction, everyone is either an Elvis man or a Beatles man. I am a Beatles man. I am more of a McCartney man myself, but I still watched parts of Imagine: John Lennon on Cinemax last night. It was interesting to see John and Yoko join the peace movement and try to make an impression on the Vietnam War.

They were doomed to failure. I'm a bit of a cynic and I understand that man's nature has a certain warrior quality to it. Greed, lust...the classics. Even those involved in the peace movement had a certain belligerence and warrior quality to them. So it was fun to roll back the clock and watch John and Yoko lay in bed for peace. (And of course, the soundtrack as they did so was incredible.)

It was also interesting to observe the kinds of trouble he got himself into. It would be laughable by today's standards. He showed his ass on an album cover?!? Yawn. He smoked dope!?! Ho-hum. He said they were bigger than Jesus in Jesus's day? Boooooring. (For the record, they were.)

The movie has a clip of the Beatles playing "Revolution". Raw guitars screaming. John forcefully singing about changing the world and how to do it. They sincerely wanted to change the world. Then I remembered that Michael Jackson bought their catalog, licensed the song for a Nike commercial, and used the profits to build a playland where it is suspected he "played" with little boys. I almost cried.

So as we spin and try to get a grip on a world where the wrong wars are fought for the right reasons, where are the John Lennons of today?

Swimming in Water

I use to be a swimmer. Maybe that is why I don't do it that much these days. During swim season in high school, I would swim from 4-5 miles a day. Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth. It could get to be a bit tedious...much like reading this blog! That's why I run now. The scenery changes and my iRiver (a cheap iPod knock-off) helps keep the ground rolling under my feet. But I digress...

During all my years of swimming, I don't remember dehydration being a big issue. So imagine my surprise when I found 2 people swimming laps today that had bottled water on the edge of the pool. And they actually drank from them between laps! Have people been drowning in pools after succumbing to dehydration?

I hope so. The irony would be delicious.

Iraq

Before reading this, please go over to the Parish and read his post "Can We Put These People In One Secure Location?".

I thought that elevator ride was a perfect metaphor for what is going on with the country.

1. A suit (those in positions of power) deals with the war off-handedly...doesn't have to think it through or consider the consequences.

2. The peaceniks make great observers, but don't seem to have any real influence on how things will play out.

3. The military knows it has a tough situation on its hands, and is dealing with it the best they can. The sergeant probably looks at both of the other two with unease. How could the suit put me in this position? I'm willing to fight his wars, but I trust him to pick one worth fighting. He's not completely sure this one is worth it. He would probably also be uncomfortable with the notion of a pacifist, but after a few beers might confess that his view of the world has changed in that desert.

In number 3, I've done quite a bit of projection of myself onto that sergeant. I was in the army for 8 years and would still be there, if life hadn't taken some twists and turns on me. I'm a left-wing liberal that if you had to pigeon-hole me, would be a member of the Green Party with an occassional dash of libertarianism. I'm not your typical army recruit, so what was the attraction?

To sum up the reasons: WWII. I read countless books on the subject. I war we had to fight. A war of need. The kind of war that even Atticus Finch could support. The kind of war that inspires monikers like "The Greatest Generation." So I overlooked our wars of choice in Korea and Vietnam and I enlisted. I enlisted as a Russian linguist in 1987 during the Cold War. I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to be a key player if the Russian horde came crashing across Europe and we had to fight a war of need.

And so while we fight this war of choice, psychologists have a ready supply of possibilities for observations of cognitive dissonance. Soldiers have to find a way to reconcile their competing cognitions of serving in the miliary to fight wars of need vs. fighting a war of choice that they are not completely convinced is worthwhile. Their families go through the same process.

Another Redistribution Program

One of the perennial fights in politics is about resitribution of wealth. Should we give to the poor or let the rich get richer. (Okay, that was a slanted view. Mea culpa.) I would like to announce another redistribution program.

Of money? No of R's. Those damn New Englanders are abusing the use of the letter R. They pronounce the word idea as idear. The word park is pronounced pahk. The word yard is pronounced yahd. I sugggest that we place a tax on all of the r's that are pronounced in the word idea and then provide welfare r's to words like park and yard.

The Kennedy family will be torn between keeping their heritage and a program that has liberal written all over it. Good times....