Blog number 139 Dec. 31, 2007
What's up wit dis guy? I'm standing at the counter, the daily paper I'm about to purchase lying on the counter in front of me along with a sack of decaf espresso. I'm talking to the barista about whether the decaf they have brewed is old, when this old man behind and to my right interrupts, points to my paper and says, "'scuse me. Could I have this paper?"
I don't really look at him, but then he asks if there are papers somewhere in the store and I say, "Yes, right by the door as you come in."
Is this the same guy that wanted my chair the other day? I really don't know. I don't think there are too many people that would ask for my paper like that, and I don't think there are too many that would ask for my chair like that man did a few weeks past. I think it too strange a coincidence to imagine that there are two people like that in my sphere of influence, so I have to assume it is the same guy.
Is it me or is he that self involved? What on earth would enable him to imagine that the paper was just lying there waiting for somebody to want it? Is he nuts? Will he in the future walk up to me in Safeway and ask if he can have my grocery cart? Or my groceries? Or my money?
I gotta take a real hard look at people like that next time and memorize their face so I can at least maybe get a handle on some strange doings here in the Arizona desert. I wish I knew whether that was the same guy or if two or more old men are trying to gaslight me.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Sunday, December 30, 2007
MOM IS SO FUNNY
Blog number 138 Dec. 30, 2007
Teresa does a lot of funny things. Usually when one happens, I want to tell Derek about it right away, but I have to wait until either he or we meet, and by that time I have forgotten it or the impact has worn off.
A few days ago we were coming back from Phoenix with the idea of going to Target here in Casa Grande. With that in mind, instead of turning to the right to go home off the freeway, we kept going straight to Target. Teresa said that it is shorter to get off where we usually do and then go to Target from there. "Wha...!" I exploded.
I told her it was a straight line from where we were to Target, so how could it be shorter to make a dog leg and back? A straight line is the shortest distance between two points. I told her that. She argued, saying that she had measured the miles one time, and it was shorter her way.
I couldn't wrap my head around what she was sayng, so I kept digging at her, trying to understand what she was thinking. It finally came out that instead of thinking "from here to there," she was thinking of the mileage she had checked off on a previous trip with Tara. Since she was convinced that she had measured the milage right, it didn't matter what the spatial evidence said. That satisfied me.
I didn't care that she was wrong, but I was really bothered by how she had come to her conclusion. Once I understood that, I was OK.
Whew!
Then this morning we went to Mimi's here in Casa Grande and when we left the restaurant to get into our car, she said about the driver who had parked his car in the handicap space next to ours, "I know that guy's not handicapped. He was listening to rap when we drove in." Hah!
She's so funny!
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
WAR STORIES
Blog number 137 Dec. 26, 2007
I was watching a History program called, "Shootout." Ten days after the invasion of Guadalcanal (the first invasion by the Americans in the Pacific War), a few hundred marine raiders set ashore at Makin - a small Atoll a few miles from Guadalcanal in an attempt to make the Japanese think there were many invasions and that Guadalcanal was not the main one.
The "shootout" part of this episode was a small band of Marines that were to flank several machine gun nests on Makin. Walking across an open ground surrounded by jungle, they were cut down by hidden machine guns - all except for one man. The story was about what this one man did, which was pretty amazing, but that's not what concerns me.
What does concern me was that here were marines - supposedly highly trained in infantry maneuvers, led by someone who was supposed to have even more intense training, walking across a clearing in a jungle held by enemy soldiers. And not only were supposedly highly trained marines doing this, but they were RAIDERS - who were supposed to be even more intensely trained in such maneuvers.
No surprise to me that they were cut down, and I've never had any such training. Why didn't any of that group say something? Or maybe they did and were told to shut up.
That happens.
And this reminded me of a story a friend of mine told that had been in Vietnam. He was describing walking along a stream in a jungle looking for North Vietnamese. When I heard this, I asked him if that wouldn't lead to an ambush from the higher ground on each side of the stream. He said, "Yes, that was the idea. We would be ambushed and then we would call in the heavy guns and wipe them out."
I said, "You were bait."
He says, "Yep."
I was watching a History program called, "Shootout." Ten days after the invasion of Guadalcanal (the first invasion by the Americans in the Pacific War), a few hundred marine raiders set ashore at Makin - a small Atoll a few miles from Guadalcanal in an attempt to make the Japanese think there were many invasions and that Guadalcanal was not the main one.
The "shootout" part of this episode was a small band of Marines that were to flank several machine gun nests on Makin. Walking across an open ground surrounded by jungle, they were cut down by hidden machine guns - all except for one man. The story was about what this one man did, which was pretty amazing, but that's not what concerns me.
What does concern me was that here were marines - supposedly highly trained in infantry maneuvers, led by someone who was supposed to have even more intense training, walking across a clearing in a jungle held by enemy soldiers. And not only were supposedly highly trained marines doing this, but they were RAIDERS - who were supposed to be even more intensely trained in such maneuvers.
No surprise to me that they were cut down, and I've never had any such training. Why didn't any of that group say something? Or maybe they did and were told to shut up.
That happens.
And this reminded me of a story a friend of mine told that had been in Vietnam. He was describing walking along a stream in a jungle looking for North Vietnamese. When I heard this, I asked him if that wouldn't lead to an ambush from the higher ground on each side of the stream. He said, "Yes, that was the idea. We would be ambushed and then we would call in the heavy guns and wipe them out."
I said, "You were bait."
He says, "Yep."
Thursday, December 20, 2007
DRIVING NEEDN'T BE A CHORE
Blog number 137 Dec. 20, 2007
In Arizona, the manual one studies in order to gather upon one's self a driving license says that at a light, one stops in the middle of the street awaiting a left turn until the coast is clear. The car behind is not to wait behind that car, but is instead, to wait at the crosswalk until the first car has completed its turn. That's what it says. Not too many drivers follow these rules which tells me that they either didn't read the manual, missed that part, or thought it didn't apply to them.
Yesterday mine wife and I were driving south on Pinal, planning to turn left onto Cottonwood at the light. I stopped in the middle of the road as directed. The cars coming toward me were spaced out in such a manner that I deemed it more prudent to wait for a clearer road. At that time I noticed a white truck right behind me, contrary to the directions in the driver's manual.
I finally could turn with complete safety and I noticed the white truck to my right and rear. We went along for a block or two until suddenly the white truck pulled up alongside me, and then in front of me and then slowed way down. "What the F...?" I thought. He then almost immediately steered onto the right lane from whence he had just came and slowed down further. Again, I thought, "What the F...?" I slowed down so's I could see if the guy was drunk, texting or maybe just stoned. As we got alongside, the guy gave us the finger, glaring at us like we were the ones that had just ruined his life.
Several thoughts went through my mind. First, what made him so angry? I think it was because I didn't make a left turn in front of cars fast enough for him. And then I wondered why he didn't give me a blast on his horn back then, or even now, like most Casa Grandians would do. Maybe his horn didn't work, which would naturally piss him off even more. And lastly, that guy had to have been pretty angry to do all that he did. I think he was just one of those guys that's mad at the world, so he was mad at me even before he got out of bed that morning.
May God bless his little heart.
In Arizona, the manual one studies in order to gather upon one's self a driving license says that at a light, one stops in the middle of the street awaiting a left turn until the coast is clear. The car behind is not to wait behind that car, but is instead, to wait at the crosswalk until the first car has completed its turn. That's what it says. Not too many drivers follow these rules which tells me that they either didn't read the manual, missed that part, or thought it didn't apply to them.
Yesterday mine wife and I were driving south on Pinal, planning to turn left onto Cottonwood at the light. I stopped in the middle of the road as directed. The cars coming toward me were spaced out in such a manner that I deemed it more prudent to wait for a clearer road. At that time I noticed a white truck right behind me, contrary to the directions in the driver's manual.
I finally could turn with complete safety and I noticed the white truck to my right and rear. We went along for a block or two until suddenly the white truck pulled up alongside me, and then in front of me and then slowed way down. "What the F...?" I thought. He then almost immediately steered onto the right lane from whence he had just came and slowed down further. Again, I thought, "What the F...?" I slowed down so's I could see if the guy was drunk, texting or maybe just stoned. As we got alongside, the guy gave us the finger, glaring at us like we were the ones that had just ruined his life.
Several thoughts went through my mind. First, what made him so angry? I think it was because I didn't make a left turn in front of cars fast enough for him. And then I wondered why he didn't give me a blast on his horn back then, or even now, like most Casa Grandians would do. Maybe his horn didn't work, which would naturally piss him off even more. And lastly, that guy had to have been pretty angry to do all that he did. I think he was just one of those guys that's mad at the world, so he was mad at me even before he got out of bed that morning.
May God bless his little heart.
LET'S PLAY EMPIRE
Blog number 136 Dec. 20, 2007
This blog entry is an experiment. My main critic doesn't like me to use quotes from books. So what I am going to do is to paraphrase and see if that's better, 'cause these things are either pretty amazing or very funny. At least to me.
I want my critic to tell me whether the experiment worked so I can use it again, or it didn't work and to give it up altogether and stick to first person writings.
At the beginning of the Korean War, the US was vastly inferior to the North Koreans in armament, command, and manpower. That's the setup for what follows.
An American recon platoon spotted eight tanks coming toward them and then another twenty-five. The intelligence said that the North Koreans wouldn't have tanks because of the terrain.
The Americans started firing mortars. The tanks kept coming. When the tanks were seven hundred yards away, they fired bazookas. The tanks kept coming. So Sgt. Chambers called back for 60 mm mortar fire. The answer came back that the mortars wouldn't reach that far. "Well, how about some 81 mm?" "They didn't come over with us." Then the Sgt. asked for 4.2 mortars. "They won't fire," came back the answer. "How about the artillery?" No communication with artillery. "What about the Air Force?" "They don't know where you're at." "Well," Chambers finally said, "What about a camera so's we could at least take a picture of this?"
This blog entry is an experiment. My main critic doesn't like me to use quotes from books. So what I am going to do is to paraphrase and see if that's better, 'cause these things are either pretty amazing or very funny. At least to me.
I want my critic to tell me whether the experiment worked so I can use it again, or it didn't work and to give it up altogether and stick to first person writings.
At the beginning of the Korean War, the US was vastly inferior to the North Koreans in armament, command, and manpower. That's the setup for what follows.
An American recon platoon spotted eight tanks coming toward them and then another twenty-five. The intelligence said that the North Koreans wouldn't have tanks because of the terrain.
The Americans started firing mortars. The tanks kept coming. When the tanks were seven hundred yards away, they fired bazookas. The tanks kept coming. So Sgt. Chambers called back for 60 mm mortar fire. The answer came back that the mortars wouldn't reach that far. "Well, how about some 81 mm?" "They didn't come over with us." Then the Sgt. asked for 4.2 mortars. "They won't fire," came back the answer. "How about the artillery?" No communication with artillery. "What about the Air Force?" "They don't know where you're at." "Well," Chambers finally said, "What about a camera so's we could at least take a picture of this?"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
