A Topic, Finally
2005-11-11, 3:28 p.m.

Day 446 Finally � A Topic!!

I complain about this to Cindy so much, she�s gotten very tired of hearing about it. Sometimes she thinks I�m upset at her about it, when really I�m just a little (or maybe even a lot) jealous.

Ya see � today is Nov. 11 � Veterans Day. All the school kiddies have today off. All the teachers have today off. Most banks are closed, as are post offices and other government offices. So aaaalllll those people have the day off to honor the veterans, to take a moment to reflect on what many vets gave up so we all could share this great country of ours.

But you know what? Most vets don�t get the day off. It�s true, there are a lot of veterans working for the Post Office, and many still in government service that do have today off. But I�m willing to bet that there are more vets, from Viet Nam era to the current Iraq fiasco that are working today. Like me. Am I upset by this? By little Johnny snot-nose and his non-military-service-veteran teacher having today off, while someone like me, who actually did serve 3 years in the Army, is working today? Yeah, I�m a little upset.

I know that today�s date was picked to represent the date/time fighting officially ended during WWI � 11:00 AM on Nov. 11, 1918. I know we are really supposed to be reflecting on those men & women that gave their lives fighting for our country, and should all be grateful for their sacrifice. I did, and I am. But what about all the veterans that didn�t perish in battle? What about the ones who were in �Nam, saw the guerilla tactics, the Napalm, all the horrors of war first hand? What about the millions of people that served during times of peace, but were none the less ready and willing to be our country�s first line of defense in the event of hostilities? Working today.

So that�s my little rant for today. A solution? Give veterans the day off. Only the veterans.

In lighter news, bowling went well last night. Thought about keeping my feet slow and feeling where the ball was in my swing. Did a better job of keeping the ball on or a little right of target too. First two games were really sweet � 214, 240. Had a few problems with splits in the third game (like 4 big, ugly wide open ones) and struggled to a measly 159. In all, ended the night 25 pins over my average for the 3 game set. I can be happy with that.

Had an odd week of working out this week. Because of the carpet install situation, managed to get in a longer cardio workout and a full weight session on Monday. Skipped Tuesday morning (bad) but made it to aerobics Tues. evening. Felt guilty about missing Tues, so I went Wed. morning, normally an off day. Thursday morning I skipped again, just couldn�t lever my arse out of bed. Made it in this morning (Fri) though and got in a really nice cardio session and a good upper body weight workout. All in all, I�m about � a workout behind this week. Think I�ll be making up for it by raking leaves this weekend. All three maples in the back yard are starting to drop leaves pretty steadily. Can�t even see the grass any more. Good thing we have kids coming home from school soon. Could use the help dragging all the leaves to the curb in front so the town can vacuum them all up. Those 3 maples contain a metric ass load of leaves.

Hoping to get out tomorrow morning for another full work out before the re-installation of all the moldings becomes a super high priority. Also think I can kiss deer hunting goodbye for at least this bow season. Cindy has conspired to keep me too busy with all this painting and molding work.

Gun season open next Saturday, but I�m kinda put off by that. It�s the first time gun season has ever opened on a Saturday. DEC folks are hoping to get more hunters out in the field. I always thought there were too many people out there when it opened on a Monday. All you hear is shotguns going off all over the place. Can�t imagine how much worse it�ll be with ALL the yahoos out and about. I plan on getting out early, getting up in a tree and keeping that tree up against my back. With any luck, I�ll get one early and be done with it. I�d really rather hunt during bow season. Way fewer people out, it�s quieter and the deer aren�t all frantic and spooked. By the second day of gun season, the deer are all hunkered down and won�t move during the day time unless you darn near step on them.

Oh well. I�m done for now.

446 smoke free days down.

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