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Praetorium Honoris

Saturday, July 22, 2023

Back on an Even Keel

OAFS Photo
Nothing like a couple of lazy days at Chez Sarge, avec The Missus Herself, to restore one's morale and wash the bitter taste of the recent unpleasantness from one's mouth.

Out to dinner with friends this evening (last night as you read this) at the place from which the view above can be seen. It's very nice.

I'm not sure about the future, I may even carry out my "threat" to retire at the end of this year. I've already exceeded the "three bad days" (in a row) aspect of what it would take to make me retire, but those days out west don't really count.

The Home Office remains a comfortable place to work, with interesting things to do and excellent comrades to do those things with. I am with a bunch of smart people, which is a refreshing thing in this world we live in today.

Had my first experience of flying first class on the way home Wednesday, well, for part of the trip, Sandy Eggo to Dulles. It was courtesy of The Nuke and her ample supply of points from all the traveling she does for the gubmint.

My first indication that this would be different is when I got a text a few days before the flight asking me what I would like for breakfast on the aircraft, with a few choices listed.

I opted for the Belgian waffle, which was very nice. Breakfast was excellent. My seatmate was something of an asshole though.

First thing he does on board is rearrange the contents of the overhead bins, though he did ask the owners if that was okay. The he proceeded to delay boarding while he did so, that is until the flight attendant told him to sit down until everyone else was on the plane.

During the flight he had his crap spread all over the middle armrest, which was an annoyance, no more. Then when he and another "businessman" decided to hold an impromptu meeting in the aisle it got more than annoying. Jeebers buddy, save it for the effing office, 'kay?

Fortunately we found some bumpy air which broke up the meeting, again the flight attendant had to tell dumbass 1 and dumbass 2 to sit the eff down, "Can't you see the seatbelt sign is alight?"

No, they couldn't. Business people, entitled lot they are.

Other than that, the seat was large and comfy, good window view, lots of leg room, gotta love that.

Had a lonnnnnggggg delay at Dulles, flight got in early and I had a three hour layover anyway, intentional as I hate rushing in airports.

In the gate area there were two French ladies, one of whom did not, apparently, have an indoor voice. Her incessant nattering was starting to drive me batshit crazy (being tired and all, I had been up since 0330 Sandy Eggo time) but eventually she ran out of things to talk about. Other people were moving away from her and her companion as well, maybe her friend told her to put a sock in it. I don't grok how some people can just talk and talk and talk and ...

I know folks like that at work, I try very hard to avoid them, but occasionally I get cornered and think of what that person would do if I pulled out a grenade and screamed "BANZAI" before immolating the two of us. Not a pleasant thought but jeebers buddy, STFU.

I'll be taking a few days off over the next cuppla, I built up a lot of "mod time" while out west. I don't take the money, I take the time. Money I can make more of, time? No, can't make that.

I plan on relaxing and doing very little, though there is a towel rack which needs hanging, that won't take long, and doesn't really count as "work," per se.

Anyhoo, be seeing you.

What should I write about next? I have the urge to tell stories based on history, dontcha know?

Suggestions will be entertained in the comments. (No, there are no drinks and free food, but there might be a band.)

Ciao!




44 comments:

  1. Encouraging to see the psyche has bounced back from your sojourn out West Sarge. Ah, the joys of traveling while secured in a flying metal tube. There are SO many oblivious people out there.

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    1. Being home has had a wondrous effect on my morale!

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    2. The T-shirt I wore yesterday (yes Beans it's in the dirty clothes hamper today) says "Some days I feel like I'm surrounded by idiots; other days, I realize it's not just some days." Pretty much describes your trip back home, Sarge.

      Glad you're back in the Saddle.
      juvat

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    3. Now that t-shirt makes sense!

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  2. As days progress, you may begin to notice (I think it was Einstein who quipped) time begins to move faster. "The watched pot never boils" is no longer true: you put up the water, turn around, and it's almost boiled out. The philosophers/astrophysicists really need to study this phenomenon.
    You cannot make the time, so take the time to enjoy the time.

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    Replies
    1. I have noticed that, a month flees in the blink of an eye, years pass and one wonders where all the time went.

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  3. Glad to hear you're taking some time, Sarge; especially after an arduous journey. Flying these days nearly always sucks, but a comfy seat makes it better particularly on a cross-country.
    As for writing; I'd like you to pick up on the prequel to your WWII series. We've still got a gap with Jurgen and Co, the Poles and the Norse in England et al, and our WREN (?) widow.
    Boat Guy

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    Replies
    1. "pick up on the prequel to your WWII series"
      x2

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    2. BG - Flying now is better than during covid, no stupid mask announcements in the terminal, being able to breathe freely, all to the better. But yes, flying commercial can be taxing.

      I have been thinking a lot about that prequel, perhaps it's time for a return.

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    3. Boron - Giving that serious consideration.

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  4. In the early 2000's for a short time, I had to fly regularly to Europe for work. This was back in the days where this sort of travel was never questioned by companies (instead of the remote model used so often now). I flew business class for the only time in my entire life, up to and including today. It was amazing.

    Traveling business people can make for the worst kind of traveling companions if they refuse to just work on their computer and insist on conducting meetings in the plane. To be fair, people that are vacation groups separated by two rows but insisting on "staying together across the rows" can also be the same.

    Writing topics? I will read anything you write (so probably not useful in that sense), but perhaps something from earlier in the Napoleonic War? For me, that is a vast misty place of vaguely known names and places.

    Book recommendation: I am reading Alexander Solzhenitsyn's August 1914. I was not really sure what to expect, but it is a really well written book (so far - about 240 pages into a 700 page book) about the month leading up to the Battle of Tannenberg. I am not sure what I expected of Solzhenitsyn other that One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, but he writes surprisingly well and has an eye for detail and characterization. Highly recommended.

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    1. August 1914, one of my favorites. Very well done, it made me feel as if I were there in the Masurian Lake district, wandering and lost, far from home, led by incompetents ... Oh wait, I just did something similar.

      I started something Napoleonic just before the battle of Austerlitz, perhaps I shall revisit that, so many options, so many topics, I think I need to retire just to have the time.

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    2. August 1914 has been one of my best literary surprises of the year.

      I think retirement to support this sort of telling for us, the masses, is a needed and necessary endeavor.

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    3. Hahaha! An important consideration, 'tis a service I provide, I suppose.

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  5. Folks with no indoor voice no bueno - but maybe she or her friend are hard of hearing? As to next topic for writing, maybe step outside and write on a different period that is not well covered by American writings? The unification of Italy? Franco-Prussian war of 1870ish? Something far enough back in time and of sufficient import that adequate resources exist for verisimilitude maybe?

    Definitely get the 3 bad days rule too. Retirement looks better and better..

    RAS

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    1. RAS - I like those ideas.

      Retirement beckons, but perhaps it's like the Lorelei, beckoning me to ruin on the banks of the Rhine.

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  6. "Those people", the ones who have to show the world they didn't learn anything in Kindergarten Manners ... may they be treated as they treat others.

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  7. "Grok". Now there's a word I haven't seen in awhile! I'm nerdy enough to remember reading "Stranger In A Strange Land" by R. H. Heinlein.

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    1. Oops. The above c'est moi. -Barry

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    2. I use it often, I rather liked the book.

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    3. I like that you came back to ID yourself. Very polite, very proper. (Unlike so many in this world ...)

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  8. Crusty Old TV Tech again. Welcome back. Your blogmates did yeoman duty whilst you were away, kudos to them.

    Yes, it's the same here Sarge. I started taking comp time as time off and not piling up the OT a couple years ago. Trying to keep to 40 hour weeks (plus a bit on justified occasion) rather than the standard 50-60 hour weeks of my recent past. Need the geedus too, but at the point we're at now, me and the Base Commander, it's time more than anything that's wanted.

    The WW2 prequel would be really nice, but I personally would like to hear more French and Indian War stuff. That pre-Revolutionary War story set in the NE US was gripping.

    First class travel...very nice. Well deserved. Last time I got close was in the mid 80's flying a PanAm 747 for Uncle. They moved me up to Clipper Class because Cabbage, er Cabin Class was overbooked, and I was flying on USAF contract, so they could not bump me. JFK to FRA in the arms of luxury. Drambuie served in chocolate cups. BEAUTIFUL stewardesses (they saved the best ones for Clipper and 1st Classes it appears) gracing the aisles with their incomparable wit and charm. Hot towels before landing. Filet Mignon and good Spanish Sherry for supper. Ah, such memories!

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    1. I had forgotten about the French and Indian War piece I was working on, that bears thinking about. I rather enjoyed that one.

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  9. "wash the bitter taste of the recent unpleasantness from one's mouth"

    What does the War of 1861 have to do with it? Maybe foreshadowing of your next literary work?

    Or perhaps a sidebar to that conflict, The Pawpaw Rebellion? Our, ah, discussion with Mexico in the 1840s? The English paying us a courtesy call in 1812?

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    1. Heh, a different unpleasantness, but I get the reference.

      Hhmm, wander off the beaten path? I need to think about that, but it gives me ideas.

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    2. "but it gives me ideas."

      Lord help us! 😁

      Our Mexican adventure had quite a bearing on the War of 1861. Many of the senior officers on both sides in 1861 had cut their teeth in Mexico.

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  10. While I do miss the folks I worked with and even some/ most of my customers, I am more happy I retired. I just couldn't take the BS and those folks who decided they were the center of the universe.

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  11. Future writing? Obviously military, obviously in the far distant past, and fiction or at least plausibly deniable.
    So, that would be the early career of OAFS, and pseudo fictional accounts of how lessons were learned, great leaders encountered and their special skills (or their polar opposites). The evolution of technology you've encountered, from Franklin's kite (you did work on that, didn't you?) thru tubes, solid state, and various phantom phixing stuff. Everyone hears about "those who fly and fight" but not enough about those who get them airborne.

    Maybe even the transition from uniformed career to the corporate branch of the military, or the difference between the various blue-suited services, or airdale world vs surface ship world.

    Yes, the frontier series was enjoyable, so more, please, when the Muse decides to show up in that mood.

    On retirement, I don't think I have ever met anyone who regretted pulling the plug and later lamented "Gee, I wish I had continued working another __ years." The greatest reason for postponement of the inevitable is probably the natural fear of the unknown and reluctance to change from familiar and comfortable habits. Make the change when you and the family can enjoy it, not delaying until it is a move from the workforce to assisted living.
    John Blackshoe.

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    1. Sound wisdom, JB. Retire on my terms, not nature's!

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  12. The value of time!
    Speaking of learning wars.. I stopped at the Mew Mexico Poncho Villa state park in Columbus NM and visited the museum, it sure looked like Black Jack Pershing's foray into Mexico chasing Poncho Villa after his raid was the learning time for mechanized vs horse powered military operations. He left riding a horse and returned in a truck, they had to get a bigger airplane to get over the higher mountains, it was educational.
    If you find yourself with time on your hands there is nothing wrong with traveling around visiting museums :-)
    Have a good weekend!

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    1. I love a good museum, there's one over in Connecticut I keep meaning to visit. This one)
      .

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    2. New England Air Museum is excellent. Flying boat and Blimp are my favorites, but all good.
      Obviously NMUSAF and Pensacola are a lot better, but you are only 100 miles from this one, so it is an easy day trip.
      You could even suggest it as an educational opportunity for your workplace for "teambuilding" and do it on their time. (Hey, worst they can do is say no!)
      JB

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    3. My lot doesn't do aircraft, wish they did, but we're all about the "shoes," er, Surface Warfare.

      I've been to Pensacola, loved it, haven't made it to Wright-Pat yet, but it's on the list.

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    4. So, you HAVE been up to Fall River to do shoe stuff? Or, next time you head west and get near Albany, NY, you MUST visit USS Slater (DE-766), one of the best restored ships in the historic fleet.
      JB
      https://www.facebook.com/USS.Slater/

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    5. A few times, yes. USS Slater looks to be in superb shape!

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  13. How about doing something involving the history of Rhode Island?

    Glad your head space is better, too. Sucks being out of sorts. I get that way when my sinuses swell.

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    1. The history of Rhode Island, to me, means two things: King Phillip's War (a nasty episode in this area's history) and the Revolution. Both might prove interesting. Not a bad idea, not saying it will happen, but I like the idea.

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  14. I used to tell people at work that I was retiring Friday, and those who had not heard that before would start and say, "THIS FRIDAY??". As it turned out the layoff got there first. Tuesday I think.

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  15. A story based on history, you say. Bessie Coleman.

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    1. Dear Bessie, a famous lady she is, should be mentioned!

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Just be polite... that's all I ask. (For Buck)
Can't be nice, go somewhere else...

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