Feast and Famine

Driving into work today listening to the radio I heard the story of the Medal of Honor inductee First Lt. Alonzo H. Cushing who died fighting with his men, refusing to leave them at the front alone even after receiving a bullet to the shoulder and one to the groin. (ouch!)  This battle was not in any war in our memory, it was Gettysburg. (Well, at least not in my memory, I'm not a reenactor...)

I have no doubt that he deserves it, just the groin shot alone would make him a recipient in my book, but common Washington!  We are smack dab in the middle of an economic crisis, political crisis, cultural crisis and you want to award a medal of honor to a man that has been resurrected in history and legend to what end?  Whose neck are you actually going to place the medal?  Yes, it needs to be awarded, valor and bravery should always be recognized, but is this actually a good use of your time?  Congress took the time to decide to push the limitations for the award for Lt. Cushing should be extended from three years to 150 years so they can award this rarified medal to a man/family that have no recollection of the event.  At 22, fresh out of the West Point I doubt he had time to get married, have children so his progeny can frame it an put it on their wall, or more than likely sell on eBay (oh, that was a little cynical, though not too far off the mark).

I'm not saying we should never recognize the heros of our past and present, that's not it at all, but there is a time for everything.  When we have a civil war going on in congress and the house every freaking day because no one is willing to embrace the concept that true democracy means no one is happy with the compromise we will be stuck in the economic, political, and cultural mire of our elected officials. When they spend time trying to reverse what the people have voted in, or when they push bills through because there is a sweet deal (meaning a load of cash) hidden in the fine print earmarked for one of their disavowed (during election years, anyway) special interest groups and the people be damned.  When they are more interested in their income instead of helping those without one and while schools fail and children go hungry we should be focusing on those issues instead of discussing whether or not a long dead Lt. should get his Medal of Honor.

Joseph of the Old Testament had a dream about seven fat cows and seven shriveled and skinny cows.  The pharaoh asked for the interpretation and Joseph spoke truthfully and said that Egypt would be blessed with bounty for seven years followed by a dearth of prosperity for the next.   The message was clear, in the good years you put your money in the bank, you spend your time strengthening your infrastructure so the people will have food aplenty during the lean times.  During the good years is the time when posthumous medal of honor winners should get their due, during the bad years each and every elected official should be working together to make sure that no one gets lost in the economic dust bowl of the 21st. century.

All that said, considering the snails pace of progress, and being this is probably one of the only few things they could agree on, it's probably as good as any time to grant it.  I'm just saying, well, if I ran the US......

The Truth About Lying

Trust is a hot commodity these days.  If you can't trust your friends, how can you ever tell them apart from your enemies?  If you can't trust your family, how can you trust the world?  Words like trust, integrity, reliability, and so on.  These are fundamental building blocks for relationships.  It's a cold day when you realize a role-model has lied to you about EVERYTHING, you end up trusting NO ONE.  The truth may hurt, but it can be delivered in a less than brutal fashion, and then you can go forward and build greater relationships.  On a larger level if a street practiced kind yet exact honesty there would be harmony.  If it spreads to city, county, state, territory, national levels we will have peace because no one is hiding anything.

The flip side of this is: Do any of us really want the truth from our street, city, county, state, territory or nation?  Sometimes it's nice to be kept in the dark for plausible deniability or something to complain about later.  We might ask for the truth and they might even appear to be giving the whole truth and nothing but the truth but can you trust them?  Can you trust anyone?

Obviously, I'm dealing with trust issues at the moment.  Why I don't trust, whether or not I am trustworthy, is my integrity starched and pressed?  I'm wishing, again, that I can go back on my word with my Mom, I promised she could stay with me until she decides to leave.  I gave my word.  Everyone thinks I'm nuts.  I am nuts, I think we know that already. :-)  I feel I am trustworthy, it's just the rest of the world (and eternity) that I'm trying to trust.

I'd ask you to wish me luck, but I don't know if I can trust you to be sincere....

It's a Conspiracy!

First let me state, I'm not paranoid.  I don't believe the government is monitoring my calls, reading my e-mail and following me around.  Maybe you if you lead a less than honorable life, but not me.  (I'm not going into the constitutionality of it, that's a whole different rant).  I'm talking about my Smart phone and the weight equipment at my gym.  Yes, I said gym.  Those of you who know me well, know that is equivalent to a swear word to most of the civilized world.  I joined Total Woman Gym & Spa and I joined both, the gym and the spa (And I'm proud to say I've used the gym now more than the spa...just for the record).

They have this equipment there from a company called Peva through Precor that has an App.  Yes, I said app.  I'm turning Apple savvy.  Anyway, you scan the QR code on the machine it tells you based on your age, your weight and your work out history how much weight and how many reps and then you can do the set of reps as many time as you want.  So, I did leg presses.  It said 100# and 12 reps.  So I did 100# and 12 reps....twice.  I felt okay, pushed a little, the muscles weren't worse for the wear, but they were cranky at me......That was Saturday. 

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and today I have been in pain.  Not just oww-I-tore-too-many-fibers-in-my-long-muscles pain but my back feels like it's going to snap at the base and my left hip (which I broke a few decades ago when I was just a wee lass) feels like it's half out of the socket.  I touch the outside of it and it hurts.  So, I'm taking something called "Pain Away" which worked great yesterday but I'm on my second dose now.  I'm a big baby when it comes to hip pain, it brings back the memories of believing I'd never walk again without pain. 

So, how is this a conspiracy......Where to begin.....

- My 'Smartphone' is supposed to be smart, it shouldn't have let me do something so dumb.
- The weigh machine is out to get me because I think I weigh more than it and so it wants me to stay away.

If this keeps happening I'll have to just use the spa services.  Dang!  I hate conspiracies.