I’ve had the unpleasant experience of breaking down on the road three times over the past 45 days. In two of those three events my venerable 2004 Rodeo died right at a stoplight intersection at or close to the front of the line. In those events, I witnessed firsthand the absolute unpleasantness of other drivers who were momentarily inconvenienced by my breakdown.
It’s autumn again and along with the beautiful forest colors, changing of the clocks, and leaves to rake, autumn brings us apple season. Full disclosure; of the many fruits I’ve been fortunate enough to enjoy apples are my favorite.
I had an unpleasant experience last week with a member of the Prince William County Fire and Rescue crew. While I think it might turn out all right, the experience has left me deeply unsettled. On top of several unpleasant experiences Winnie and I have had with county police and public officials these past years, I now have to wonder about firefighters and paramedic personnel.
Prince William County depends upon volunteer firefighter’s for most of the county’s emergency needs. There are twelve departments across the county managed by the Prince William County Fire and Rescue Association. Last week I was put into the position of writing a letter of complaint over the actions of one of their members.
This is a story about a car breakdown, a “Big Box” retail store, and customer service.
Several weeks ago I had to make a weekend trip to mom’s house in the Hudson Valley area of upstate New York. I left on a Friday morning driving my venerable 2004 Rodeo, and arrived late afternoon. I spent Saturday performing the odd jobs which was the reason for my trip. I left for home 6:30 Sunday morning, and this is where my story starts.
Last month the “Honey Maid” graham cracker brand released a video ad touting the wholesomeness of it’s signature graham crackers. The ad showed clips of various families smiling and generally having fun. These clips included a family with two dad’s, a family with a heavily tattooed musician father, a white person’s hand holding a black person’s hand, and a family with a military dad, all overlaid on simple background music. Just another vignette of life in modern America, brought to you by a cracker company.
A recent article posted on Face Book by a former shipmate, and the resulting discussion, has gotten me thinking about our current Navy.
I’m back in San Diego again this week on another business trip, and I saw what I’d like to think is the future of automobile technology. I saw this on, of all places, the main Navy base.
I watched the President’s 2014 State of the Union speech last night as I normally do. I enjoy the pomp and ceremony of the various Important People filing into the room, entering in reverse order of their importance in the great scheme of government. The Least Important People come early and thereby have to sit and wait the longest for the show to begin while the More Important People come later, ending of course with the Most Important Person himself. I smile at the great formal announcement made as the President enters the room.
Note: This post was submitted by guest writer Almishti, and published as a show of support of this writer’s position.
In response to police actions on UC campuses; This is my open letter to chancellor Blumenthal of the University of California, Santa Cruz, on Occupy UC Davis.
Some Thoughts On Immigration
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
This past week President Obama went live on prime-time television (with some notable exceptions) and announced he was directing his cabinets to make some minor changes in the way people who crossed over into our part of planet earth were treated. Notable was that we, a culture that boasts about being a nation of immigrants, would no longer gratuitously tear apart families and deport parents of legal American citizens back to the countries they originated from.
Which leads me to share some thoughts on immigration.
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