Calling

The FBR's First east Coast Autumn

I’ve written about this before but I reminded of it this morning during breakfast when a commercial for an IT company came on. You’ll have to follow the bouncing ball because it is a convoluted path to the subject I’m speaking about. That commercial featured a few clarion calls to service and tugged at the old military heartstrings. The subject is whether I miss the military or not. I kind of stumbled onto my military career but I found my true calling there. That has to be the case for someone who stayed as long as I did wearing the uniform. Anything less than a passion for the vocation would be self-delusion. I do miss it, mostly at work where the idea of honor is a foreign concept when it comes to employee behavior, especially when a union is involved.

I miss the traditions most of all. Hearing the bugle calls broadcast over loudspeakers to signal the key events of the day, including the mournful playing taps at the end of the day. I loved the sense of purpose and shared ideals of service and honor – that we were involved in something important to our family, to our country. As I advanced in rank and moved further away from working day to day with lower ranking Soldiers I found the duty less rewarding. At the end of my career I spent the last four years assigned to the Pentagon, about as far away from the action as possible, except when the occasional airliner is flown into the building. I still loved the people I worked with there but it somehow seemed a pale reflection of what a Soldier should be doing.

I Think She likes It

As I’ve been delving back into my ancestry I find that I may have come by my love of the military genetically. I’ve found grandfathers that served in World War 2, the Civil War, the Revolutionary War and even the French and Indian Wars. One, very interesting ancestor was even credited with killing two Indians with a single shot during a savage attack where his son and daughter in law were killed and scalped. Interestingly I drive by that same location every time I go up to visit my Favorite Son. Despite all this reminiscing the military life is reserved for those still in their first half century of life as youthful vigor is required for the physical challenges. Old war horses will still turn their eyes when the trumpet sounds though.

A very young war horse, in the form of the FBR, was modeling her Halloween costume for us last night. She made a fetching Minnie Mouse although she demonstrated scant patience for the floppy ears. She demanded possession of the IPad and promptly put it (and us) in her carrying bag and proceeded to run around the house while we laughed in delight. She has a way of making each interaction something memorable. She’ll be marching in the town Halloween parade today and then experiencing her first session of trick or treating. I can’t wait for that report. In other news emanating from New Jersey, Wingman will be abandoning his full time job as Daddy Daycare and start working some hours at a local restaurant that is opening. I think he’s looking forward to adult interactions although he has shown a real flair in the child rearing area. He’s a natural dad, in every sense of the word.

Wingman and his Protege

The Bad Cinema project count rises to #48 out of 100, with Eegah, the story of a lonely caveman pursuing love in the Mohave.

Normalcy Blows in

Working with her Homemade Dough

It is so weird that I sleep so much better when the Favorite Panamanian, despite her always ice cold feet, returns to her side of the bed after a long separation. She was the one with the huge adjustment after nearly a month in the tropical heat of Panama. She burrowed as deeply as possible into the quilts before launching her latest in countless foot warming attacks. We fell into our normal Sunday ritual of errands which was a welcome change from the prior solitary time. She was supposed to watch the Patriots game with me in the Man Cave but the decorating bug bit. We moved all her house plants inside just prior to her departure and she felt this it was more important to properly stage the first floor. Our relative assessment of the importance of that task was tested when she summoned me from the cave in the middle of the game. When I learned I was needed to move several plants to their new designated position we had a lively discussion on the importance of that mission in the middle of the game.

The game itself was a bit of a seat squirmer despite the eventual Patriots’ win. Their kicker forgot the ball is supposed to go between the uprights and the offense struggled to score touchdowns against a very energized Chargers defense. I can now see why the defenses in Buffalo and New York gave the Pats trouble in recent years – the Chargers new head coach was the defensive architect for those teams. He had the Chargers defense playing very tough – although they still do a lot of prancing around after making a simple play. I don’t understand why that bothers me so much.

Neighbor's Tree Blown Down

We tried a couple calls with the FBR but she was slave to a pretty busy social calendar. After her Dora the Explorer snit fit in the morning (see yesterday’s blog) she was fully engaged after the game with some homemade playdough. She and my daughter created that yesterday afternoon and as we were talking the toddler neighbor twins showed up for a play date. Needless to say – an equal sized playmate more than trumps continued conversation with grandparents. Outside activities were on hold as a potent storm literally blew through. The neighbors across the street had their front yard tree blown over, luckily away from the house.

Favorite Son, ABFA, and the BRS

I also received the attached photos which show the Juno themed Halloween costumes for the ABFA and Favorite Son. The BRS is certainly starting to make an appearance in the baby bump department. Riggins joined in the fun as the house lion. Netflix picked the worst time ever to force binge watching but I did sneak in four episode of the new season of Stranger Things. I continue to be supremely impressed with the young actors who are the focus – so good and far more believable than their adult counterparts.

The House Lion of Stratham

The Bad Cinema project count rises to #47 out of 100, with Colossus and the Amazon Queen with famed actor Rod Taylor being extremely silly.

Reunification Operations

GEnuine Smile

So the house was clean (relatively speaking), flowers bought and all of the house plants arguably still in good shape – I was ready for my Favorite Panamanian’s return. I also left the final big project until the last minute. She’s not allowed to wash the windows because she always damages the fold out mechanisms so I was doing that all afternoon. A true skeptic would wonder how she maneuvered to a place where only I am allowed to wash windows. I gave up trying to figure out these type eventualities a couple decades ago – the key to a successful marriage.

Of Course Flowers Were involved

Her plane was over forty minutes early so I received her text announcing arrival while still picking my way through strangely heavy Boston Saturday traffic. She still had the immigration, customs, and luggage retrieval gauntlet to negotiate so I was waiting when she finally walked out the door. Everything clicked back into synch when I saw that smile. We’ve both discovered the separations grow increasingly difficult as we accumulate joint years together – we might actually like being with each other – go figure. Instead of rushing back to Worcester and grabbing a hurried dinner just before the restaurants close we pulled off the Mass Pike into Natick and grabbed a bite to eat there – close to my old stomping grounds when I worked I the area from 2008-2011. It was a very nice evening as it gave us a chance to catch up by focusing only on each other without the distractions and attendant inspections a return to the house entails.

Wingman's Lawn has Taken Hold

ABFA Inspiration for Party Last Night

We called the progeny this morning. We interrupted the FBR’s morning viewing of Dora the Explorer and she was not pleased. She spent the entire call trying to connive her way into having the TV screen turned back on, much to her parents’ exasperation. She’s prepping for her time in the terrible twos. My Favorite Son was roused from hangover compensation activities. He and the ABFA attended a Halloween party last night where they went as Juno couple with the pregnant ABFA obviously as Juno and my son as the gym short wearing Michael Ciera. He promised pictures when he could see straight again.

The Bad Cinema project count rises to #45 out of 100, with Warning from Space and Phantom Planet – pace of movie watching is sure to slow down with the addition of Panamanian distraction in the house.

Under Attack

Helping mom with the Baking

Covered in Flour for the Process

Oscar Wilde

Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.

 I’ve been watching all the hue and cry recently about the Russian insertion into social media “news” cycle during the recent presidential election. What most people don’t fully appreciate is that this is an attack by a foreign power on one of our basic democratic institutions. Putin, dedicated cold warrior that he is, obviously has made the strategic decision to attack one of our fundamental weaknesses. He did the same thing in Russia when he took over. Anyone watching, not even that closely, saw his systematic destruction of the fledgling Russian independent media that emerged following the demise of the Soviet Union.

Social media’s rise to its leviathan role in everyday life in the West has seriously eroded the objectivity and focus of traditional journalism making it ripe for the Russian attack. The attack seems squarely aimed at exploiting existing fractures within our society whether it be racial or any of the other myriad issues used to separate ourselves. The model of the dedicated journalist seems doomed to extinction due to a society distracted by all the other noise competing for their attention. It’s such much easier to find some obscure, and often erroneous news story to back up even the most outlandish beliefs. Journalists need to be reasonably objective, independent, and are actually crucial to representative government.

Ultimately democracy or at least our representative republic is about spanning the ever more widening societal fissures. This proves impossible without a reliable source of information – objective journalism. We need electoral decisions based on facts about both policies and politicians. Transmitting information is a vital aspect as it brings transparency to what our government is doing. Curious, skeptical journalists who point out inconsistencies, draw attention to mistakes, call out misleading statements, and identify outright lies serve that larger purpose. The most important values of a journalist are impartiality, independence of commercial and political interests and responsibility. The abandonment of these values by a large sector of the 4^th estate has made them vulnerable to attack and not only by the Russians. While this Russian attack may have been partially responsible for the Divider in Chief, he seems to be taking a page out of Putin’s playbook with his relentless attack on the media’s credibility. Those of us that were around in the 1970s remember another president doing that. It all eventually caught up with Nixon – because we had a strong 4^th estate to call him on his crimes. One can hope their current descendants are up to the task.

Henry Anatole Grunwald

“Journalism can never be silent: That is its greatest virtue and its greatest fault. It must speak, and speak immediately, while the echoes of wonder, the claims of triumph and the signs of horror are still in the air.”

I Hosted a Going Away Luncheon for One of my Employees Yesterday

The FBR Negotiating with Wingman

I was back at the cinema last night and took in Only the Brave. Most fact based movies about tragedies attempt to lionize their subjects to the point that the true story is lost in the telling. That’s what makes this so much better and memorable. The filmmakers let the simple humanity and undeniable bravery of the Granite Mountain Hot Shots and their families speak for themselves. Josh Brolin and especially Jennifer Connelly (painfully skinny) as husband and wife were particularly effective. The film tells the story of the tragedy surrounding an elite wildfire fighting team in Arizona. The simple bravery they demonstrate on so many levels and the bond the team formed speak eloquently to their sacrifice. The fires they fight are not overdone but possess the ferocity that highlights the odds they faced on an almost daily basis. This is one of the best movies I’ve seen all year.

She Usually Wins

I rushed through the next in LE Modesitt’s excellent Imager series with Treachery’s Tools. While this is #10 in the series, it is a direct sequel to the earlier one featuring Alaster as head of the imagers. The events take place 13 years after the preceding book and Alaster, now married, has to deal with an immense threat against an unworthy king he must support. The aristocracy is rebelling against the growing power of the merchant class and wants to draw in and discredit the imagers. The first half of the book is fairly mundane as Modesitt does his typical thing of gathering the storm of the plot points that break wide open in the thrilling second half of the book. I’m already on to the next and sadly last of the currently published books in the series.

The Bad Cinema project count rises to #43 out of 100, with They Came From Beyond Space which actually wasn’t putrid, high praise indeed for this series of films.

Employee Mind Meld

The FBR Tucked herself into her Parents' bed Yesterday in Vain Attempt to Avoid Nap Time

I’ve had a funny couple days at work. A number of employees came up to me and congratulated me on my impending retirement. When I looked confused they said they heard I was leaving shortly. Once I corrected them and asked where they were getting their information I was able to track the rumors back to a disgruntled bunch who don’t like some of the standards I enforce – like working for a living. I think part of the millennial way of thinking is to start a rumor and hope that it takes form and eventually reality. I send out a daily mass email to most of my employees, it’s a voluntary thing but most have signed up for it. I call it the morning “Info Blast”. It’s proved to be an effective way to share information with my widespread, very mobile employees. This morning I included the following in the blast:  “GM Note:  I know someone is out there spreading rumors that I am leaving shortly.  To clear up the confusion of this obviously wishful thinking of some, I will be there at least another year and have no plans on leaving. You should seriously question the credibility of the people spreading this rumor because it is a complete fabrication. You’re stuck with me for the foreseeable future.”  Apparently I hit a nerve because a number of the really good employees came up to me this morning and said, “Perfect!” after seeing it and hoped it would shut some of the worst offenders up.

I had short conversations with my far flung lady friends yesterday. The FBR hadn’t eaten yet and seemed more interested in giving direction to her parents in that area than talking with me. She would also run over and lock herself in the bathroom for no apparent reason. After we finished talking my daughter usually hands the IPad to the FBR because she likes to give me a hug. As soon as she did last night the FBR again ran into the bathroom and we said goodbye in there. So I can cross that off my bucket list. My other distant lady, the Favorite Panamanian, reported in totally exhausted. Her frenetic pace of the past couple weeks furnishing the condo and hosting parties there seems to have caught up with her. She uttered something I never thought I would hear come from her lips. She actually stated, and friends her know her will share my shock, that she was tired of shopping. The apocalypse may be upon us.

I was predictably back at the movie theater last night and saw The Snowman. This has been uniformly scoured by critics but I love a murder mystery and I really like both of the lead actors so I went anyway. It is not as bad as some would have you think. The plot veers all over the place and the editor should be shot for the lack of continuity but there are some good performances. Especially Michael Fassbender, who plays a seriously flawed Norwegian police investigator tracking down a serial killer between his drunken binges. The killer only emerges when it snows, which in Norway, is problematic. Rebecca Ferguson continues her strong series of roles as his young assistant with a hidden story of her own. There are some very interesting shots of the stark and beautiful Norwegian countryside. There’s always a problem bringing a dense book to the screen and the filmmakers may have tried to do too much but I think the problems can be laid at the feet of the editor. JK Simmons is comically bad in a red herring role trying some kind of weird accent because the Norwegians must have an English accent, don’tcha know. So, not as bad as many would have you think but certainly not as good as you would hope with this cast.

The Bad Cinema project count rises to #42 out of 100, with Prehistoric Women, a “thrilling” look at prehistoric mating rituals.

Storming Behind

Wife on the Road With All her Aunts and Uncles

My wife finally gave up some photographic evidence of the fun she had over the past couple days hosting her mother, aunts and uncles at the condo. This qualifies as the first condo party of what I hope to be many over the coming years. That would include a number of my stateside friends who need to visit and sample the majesty of the beaches of Las Lajas – and the cheap beer.

The 6 Brothers and Sisters

Under the Bohio Beachside of Condo

In the Condo Pool

Wife with Cousin of Legendary Laugh

The FBR was bound and determined last night to show me all the Halloween decorations she has created and emplaced over the past couple weeks. She charged around the house, too excited to speak cogently and she had a rapt grandfather audience for the entire tour. It’s nice to have her reaching the age where she can enjoy holiday related childhood excitement. It is also very cool for her grandfather who missed these times when my own children inevitably outgrew the selfsame excitement and became “too cool for school”. I can’t wait for Christmas this year! I also received evidence of the BRS’ continued development up in New Hampshire with a prominent baby bump manifesting itself with the ABFA. I can only imagine what Christmases in a couple years will be like.

ABFA Baby Bump

Favorite Son Seems Pleased

The BRS Very Lucky in Parent Department

A very rainy and windy dateless date night had me sitting down to see Geostorm. The latest in the genre where CGI artists get to wreak death and destruction over large parts of the globe fails on a number of levels. The two male leads struggle mightily to mask their British accents. Gerard Butler is the fiery inventor of the massive satellite system to control the weather that’s been hijacked by nefarious forces. His milksop of a brother recruits him to fix the problems before the earth is destroyed. The scenes up on the space station were passably enjoyable but unfortunately the filmmakers decided to invest in the very earth bound and patently ridiculous goings on earth side. Abbie Cornish dominates as a secret service agent but she was the only thing remotely entertaining during the all too much time spent on the groundside melodrama. Even the disaster scenes, while impressive, were more of the “seen that many times before” variety. A big miss for an obviously expensively made movie.

The Bad Cinema project count rises to #41 out of 100, with The Wild Women of Wongo, I’m not kidding it was actually called that!