Retreating

It Was Raining in New Jersey but the FBR was Ready

I took the day off from blogging (you are very welcome) as I spent the entire day in our annual leadership retreat. It’s something I started a few years ago where we gather all the subordinate supervisors and spend the day talking about leadership and their profession. They have a difficult environment to operate in since they are members of the same union as the people they supervise and not all of them successfully straddle those two worlds. The union has become a more reliable partner in participating in these forums and reminding them the requirements of their jobs. It’s funny how many Bill Belichick quotes come up at these things, most importantly “Do your job!”

Leadership Retreat Dinner Last Night at Peppercorns

I led a two hour block on leadership which reminded me of my time as an ROTC instructor. It’s not that much different trying to teach leadership to civilians although they are in a lot worse shape than those long ago former cadets. We ended the day with a cocktail hour and then dinner at Peppercorns. The union business agent recommended that I as the GM cover the bar tab – sometimes you have to take a bullet for better labor relations.

Meanwhile Down in Panama
My Wife and the Neighborhood Mafioso are touring

Yesterday in Boquete

And it's Fabulous Gardens

Dinner with My Mother in Law and one of the Famous Pana-Gals

I’ve been back to the cinema over the last two nights trying to exhaust my free movie tickets before they expire. I saw 12 Strong which was an interesting look at the initial deployment of Special Forces Soldiers into Afghanistan following 9/11. While I’m sure Hollywood took some extreme license with some of the events it seemed to follow pretty much what I knew about the actual timeline. Chris Hemsworth continues to display amazing screen presence in whatever role he pursues and he nails the character of the Special Forces team leader charged with cooperating with an Afghan warlord to take the fight to the Taliban. Hollywood never gets all the military techniques and strategies right but the mission of the SF team rang true due to the solid supporting cast, especially Michael Pena. I’m convinced Pena is incapable of doing anything bad. It was interesting to see a couple of guys I knew from my time in the Army depicted as senior leaders but I’m sure they’re a little pissed the actors didn’t know how to properly tailor their uniforms. If nothing else the film is a fitting tribute to these heroes who started the payback process that unfortunately continues to this day.

Proud Mary was a completely different movie. It was a little disconcerting to see the mild manner mathematician from last year’s Hidden Figures portraying a Boston hit women but she made it work. The film was kind of a mess but Taraji dominates. She plays an African-American female John Wick and somehow makes that work. She rescues the teenage son of one of her victims from the street while also butchering Russian mobsters and members of her own crime family left and right. Danny Glover is kind of wasted in a crime lord role. There are plot holes you could drive a duck boat through and Boston traffic is never as easy as depicted here. I’m thinking the constant blood bathes Mary immerses herself in would also bring more of a law enforcement response but the movie is worth watching for seeing the incomparable Ms. Henson mow down the bad guys.

The Bad Cinema project count rises to #97 out of 100, with R.O.T.O.R. an abysmal terminator/Robocop mishmash and Death Machines, an equally bad kung fu disaster.

That is All