Good judgement comes from experience
Experience comes from poor judgement
I went camping over the weekend, but this was not like my normal camping trips with the scouts. This was a “fathers and sons” campout organized by our the mens group in our church.
There were about 30-40 men and boys who made the trek out to Utah’s west desert. The direction were hand written, and then scanned and emailed, because we are a 21st Century people.
Drive 15.2 West from the Olive Garden restaurant in American Fork
Turn right, off the paved road and drive .9 miles
Turn left at the log cabin
It was accompanied by a hand drawn map, not to scale with a star located somewhere off to the south of the last road.
It turned out to be literally in the middle of a field. Or what would be a field if anyone had access to enough water to attempt to cultivate it.
No water
No facilities
We pulled our van up next to a tuft of desert grass and set up camp for me and four of my five sons. My boys have been camping for years. I told them to pack their gear themselves. One opted for a tent, two opted for cots under our picnic canopy and the fourth slept in his friends truck bed. I pitched a compact 1-man tent.
I had been given no assignments for this campout. The mens group leadership planned the entire thing. I brought a Campchef propane camping stove. . .and a few more things I thought we might need.
Water was a big one. Utah’s desert is. . .well, it’s a desert. My boys each brought their own water, of course. And I brought extra. They used the extra. I brought chili and hotdogs for dinner, because I had a been camping with boys in the past.
I also brought a Coleman gas lantern. There were no fires allowed in our bone dry landscape. Just because it’s a desert doesn’t mean there’s nothing to burn. It just means there’s not a lot of water to prevent the fires.
A Coleman lantern makes a nice warm yellow light. It’s double mantels give off enough heat that the lantern is a hazard to touch. Friday night, we had a fireside, a spiritually themed meeting that boys and their fathers can share under a brilliant night sky.
So, do you guys want to use my lantern as a ‘fake’ fire?
Yeah, that would be great.
There we sat, 40 of us in our camp chairs with my lantern placed in the center of the circle. I asked the organizer,
So, what’s the plan for breakfast in the morning?
Well, we want to eat at 7:00.
Do you want to use my stove and grill?
Oh? Yeah, actually, that would be great.
The following morning dawned as only a summer morning in the desert can. The smoke from the California wildfires gave the air a hazy picture.
I set up my stove and prepared to cook the bacon portion of our “bacon, eggs and pancakes” meal.
Oh. . .
What?
I didn’t bring anything to mix the pancake batter in.
I have a pot I used to cook chili in, you could use that. Do you need the ladle too?
Ah. . .yeah, we do. Oh, shoot.
Now what?
I forgot butter to grease the pans.
Maybe we could put a couple of pieces of bacon on those other grills and use the bacon grease.
We had three stoves including mine. But, only mine had a two burner griddle. The other stoves were brand new, but had only a single burner griddle. It became obvious that to get the bacon, eggs and pancakes for 40 people done, we were going to need all our stoves, including mine.
I enjoy cooking bacon on these campouts. First, it’s hard to mess up. For example, if you cook pancakes, you need to get the temperature just right and worry about flipping them at the right time.
If you cook the eggs, you have to constantly be making sure they don’t run off the griddle and that you don’t cook them too long or not long enough.
But, bacon is easy. Set a low heat and keep moving the bacon around as it gives off the heavenly smells. I had suspected I might be asked to help out. I brought a number 10 can and piece of dental floss to “train” the grease from my griddle to the can on the ground. Four pounds of bacon will produce about 2 cups of grease. The gallon can I brought along had done duty to collect the bacon drippings previously.
Hey, that’s a pretty cool setup. The grease just runs down the string?
Yeah, otherwise the grease splatters.
You come pretty well prepared.
It’s from all the years leading boy scouts. . .and going camping with 13 kids. You learn to sort of prepare for anything.
We had one more crisis as we discovered that the plates were styrophome and the fresh bacon melted right through them.
Well, we can use the cardboard from one of those boxes as a makeshift plate.
Again, lots of practice at figuring out how to make do. Breakfast turned out great. There was plenty of food, and the boys got plenty to eat.
Rodney, do you want me to take over cooking the bacon so you can get some food?
No, that’s okay. If you cooked the bacon and are still hungry at the end, you didn’t do a very good job of cooking the bacon.
Like I said, I’ve had experience doing this before.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
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or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2018 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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Your blog will make a great journal for your kids one day.
Maybe.
Ever told a lie? Is it ever okay to lie to someone? Suppose you had a loved one dying of cancer. They want to know if you’re doing okay. You’re not. Your loved one is dying of cancer. But, you know the truth will make them feel worse, and there’s the fact they are already dying of cancer.
And they don’t have to be life or death situations.
I know many comedians. I enjoy stand up comedy. Some of them use stage names. All of them modify their stories to fit their act. They lie.
I have a friend who is a New York Times best selling author. He also uses a pen name.
Maybe it’s as simple as calling in sick to work when you really just don’t want to go that day.
Does it sound like my point is to justify the fact that everyone lies? Apparently I didn’t hide it too well.
I have a revelation to make. I didn’t go to Vicksberg last week. I went to a different city. But, when writing about it, the point was not the name of the city, the point was about interacting with the team.
A couple months ago I told a story about an employee of mine named Milan. He wasn’t my employee and he wasn’t named Milan. But, the story was the point.
I think I had a good reason to lie. I don’t want to get fired. Well, I don’t even want to get close to getting fired. My boss knows I write a blog. I’m not sure if he reads it or not. My client knows I write a blog. Again, I’m not sure if they follow it at all.
But, I’m not a spokesperson for either my company or my client. If I’m telling a story, it should be my story to tell, and should shield other people. . .the real people involved.
Several famous people got fired this month. An actress named Rosanne got fired from her sitcom. The show was named after her. She said something offensive on social media and the company behind her TV Show didn’t want the embarrassment.
James Gunn directed the popular funny movies “Guardians of the Galaxy I and II.” He was working on GoTG III when it was discovered that 10 years ago he posted some pretty offensive stuff on Twitter. He’s now unemployed.
So, I change the details not just to shield my current company but to protect future employers as well. (Not that I intend to post anything as offensive as Gunn and Rosanne said.)
My grandkids were at my house yesterday. It was great. They are 4, 2 and about a year old. The 4 year old was doing pretend meals. She said something that embarrassed her mother. She didn’t mean to, and my daughter took it in good stride. It was even funny in a way.
No, I’m not repeating it here. I’m also not telling you the name or even the gender of the grandchild that said it. That grandchild will eventually grow up and become active online. The grandchild might even find this blog at some point and want to read about the various adventures chronicled here. It’s not my place to post potentially embarrassing comments that a 4 year old may someday have attached to their name.
I’m a big fan of short stories and fairy tales. Especially fairy tales will often have a message attached. The stories themselve are not the point. The message is what’s important. Disney dramaticaly, radically changes every story it tells. Pocohantas was 12 when John Smith arrived. Aladdin was never a thief. The Little Mermaid met a horrific end.
We all lie, or as Geoffrey Chaucer says in the movie “A Knight’s Tale,” Yes, I lied. I’m a writer, I give the truth scope.
Will my scribblings here one day provide a documentary of my life for my kids and grandkids?
Well, so long as they understand I’m lying, sure.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
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or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2018 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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My 35th high school reunion is next week, Timberline High School, class of 1983. Unfortunately I won’t be going. The reunion is really just a dinner in my home town. After 35 years, and on an anniversary ending in “5” rather than “0” there’s not a lot of emphasis on planning a big event. We did invite former classmates who graduated in the years 81-85 to join us.
Like most people, I’ve lost contact with many people from high school. When I graduated the internet was still a research project. The start of the real interent, typically considered to have occured around 1995 was still more than a decade away. Social media programs wouldn’t come until decades after that. The only way we had to keep in touch with each other were a few early bullitan board systems (BBS) and honestly, keeping track of each other’s parents. Cell phones were still years away. You remembered your friend’s phone number and called their home.
Now, of course, we have a facebook group setup. We have cell phone numbers and text our close friends.
One of my best friends was a year behind me in school. Kevin and I were pretty much inseperable. I texted him a couple days ago,
This is Rodney, are you going to the reunion next week?
First I’ve heard of it.
I got up at 5:00am this morning. Well, I was supposed to be up at 5:00am. I actually rolled out of bed around 5:15. That meant I was 15 minutes late for my first meeting. It wasn’t that they needed me in the meeting. It’s just that they weren’t going to start without me. I wasn’t important to the meeting, but, I was critical to the start.
The meeting is to validate some changes the client IT groups made. I’ll be up at 5:00am again this morning. It’s part of the nature of being the program manager. I don’t do anything, but I have to be there while other people are doing stuff.
My reunion will go on with out me. Friends will post pictures on facebook and we’ll promise to do it again in 5 years when we are old and we hit our 40th.
The meeting tomorrow morning won’t happen with out me. Even though I’ll contribute nothing except my presence.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
Follow him on
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or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2018 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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This post has nothing to do with immigration or the president of the United States.
I don’t get to build walls much anymore.
I work in computers. Actually, it’s more accurate to say, I work with computers. If you’re reading this, chances are you do to. It’s a great job. Today in Utah it was 102 degrees. My office was a pleasant 72. Six months ago it was 10 degrees outside. My office was a pleasant 72. Six months from now. . .You get the idea.
And by luck of the occupational lottery, I ended up in a profession that pays pretty well while not requiring me to brave anything more dangerous than a paper cut. You know, from back when we used to use paper.
But, my job is also very unfulling in a weird sort of way. When I arrive at work, my desk is completely empty. Okay, there’s a computer monitor. . two actually, and a docking station for my laptop, and the keyboard and mouse and my desk phone and my bluetooth headset. But, other than that, it’s totally empty!
When I leave for the day, my desk is totally empty. Except for a bunch of stuff I’m not going to list again. But, you get the idea.
A successful day for me, often involves “winning” a battle with my email inbox. Less than 10 remaining emails? Winner!
The point is that there are few physical evidences that I’ve even been to work. This has been a tough week. I attended a meeting earlier where children of abuse related their stories. Yeah, it was as emotionally disturbing as it sounds. Why I was in that room is a story for another day.
But, if I’m feeling down, it helps to build something. My job doesn’t allow me to build stuff.
I had lunch earlier this week with my friend Toad. (Yes, that’s his real name.) Years ago I worked for Toad remodeling an empty house. It was a “fill in” job while I was between computer gigs. There was something deeply therapeutic about first destroying something old and rebuilding something new.
I ripped out old cabinets, sheetrock and a 8’x8′ brick fireplace. (Jackhammers are a really fun tool!) I then built new walls and covered them with sheetrock. I installed countertops. I got to hammer stuff and cut stuff and even fire those cool .22 caliber nails to secure a wall to a concrete floor.
At the end of the day I could look at the room I was working on and see real progress. If I doubted myself in other areas that day I could ask myself,
What have you done today?
I built that wall. It will be there for decades. It’s a good wall. It’s been a good day.
I realize the difference in pay between most laborers and my job. In fact, I don’t fully understand why society has decided that “information workers” like me are worth so much more than people who actually build stuff, or repair stuff; people who are creators.
I wish those professions paid better. Because, sometimes it’s a very good thing to build a wall.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
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or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2018 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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Toad
That’s his name. He even has ID; “Toad MIB.” And if you can’t think of another reference for “MIB” other than “Men in Black,” neither can I. I don’t think Toad can either.
Toad reached out to me last week,
Hey are you free for lunch on Tuesday?
Tuesdays are typically my work from home day. I recommended a local burger place, Chubby’s. I had to admit I wasn’t sure why Toad would be reaching out to me at this point.
But, I owe him a lot. Certainly enough to make time to go to lunch. Toad is a hustler. I mean that in the nicest possible way. He’s constantly working on multiple projects, multiple “revenue streams.” He also is one of those guys who knows an amazing eclectic collection of things.
Nearly 6 years ago, I was working to dig out from under a really big pile of debt. I had a good job, but I was new and it didn’t pay as well as I needed. I was looking to pick up a little extra work.
Toad needed someone to remodel a house. I would work at my job all day and then spend several hours remodeling a house in South Provo. Working by myself, it wasn’t going quickly, but I do good work. You would have thought I donated a kidney. Toad was estatic. He heaped mountains of praise on me. Explained that I was really helping him out, since it was a friend’s house, and basically made me feel like the greatest carpenter since the birth of Jesus.
Eventually the project was done and my regular job got busier (and started paying better.) There was an issue with the owner wanting to pay my final invoice. Toad felt terrible,
Rodney, I’ll make it up to you I promise. I’ll find the money somehow.
Have you ever considered selling your rototiller?
Oh? Are you in the market for one?
It’s a really nice rototiller. Worth much more than the amount that Toad owed me for the last invoice.
Over lunch we talked of our lives over the past half decade. We asked about each other’s kids and cars, schooling and jobs, religion and law. We came away from lunch with a promise to get together more often. We both have severe ADHD. Our tangents went off on tangents. Movie references popped up in the conversation on a nearly constant basis.
Finally, it was time for me to head a meeting with my wife and daughter and for him to go wherever he went when not having lunch with me, studying for his Accounting degree, or working on one of his many projects.
As we parted ways in the parking lot I remembered that Toad said he commuting to Salt Lake for school.
You know I have an entire garage full of tools. If you need to do an oil change or brake job, you’re welcome to do it at my house. Just would save so much money for you.
Have you ever heard of “love languages?”
Okay, that’s random. . .even for us. I’ve heard a little, but not enough to comment on it.
I think your is “acts of service.” There are lots of different ones, complements, hugs, and more, but one of them is those who show they care about others by doing things for them.
I thought about it for a second.
Well, I like you Toad. You helped me out at a time in my life that was pretty upsetting for me. We do things for friends.
I can’t remember when I had a more enjoyable lunch.
The end
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
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or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2018 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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The front door to my office building was locked. I was a little surprised, but hey, it’s early. I fished out my access badge from my bag. I had to swap out the badge on my lanyard. I’d been using the one for Vicksberg the past week. I drew out the Salt Lake City badge from the five I have assigned to me.
As a security measure, our buildings don’t share an access badge reader. I had one badge for each call center and another one for our executive office building in Salt Lake City.
Finally finding the right badge I swiped it across the reader. I heard the beep but the red light failed to turn green. I double-checked the location I’d written on the back of my card key. Yep, it said Salt Lake City. I swiped it again. The light still stubbornly refused to turn green and let me in the building.
I shouldered my bag and made my way around to the employee entrance where our security guard and his access to the building card key system.
As I did, I reflected on the danger of letting your card key access lapse.
Even though I have card keys for our various locations, prior to each visit our security team enables my badge for the period of time I’ll be onsite. After I leave, they shut off my access again. It’s not that my company doesn’t trust me. It’s simply that security is very high on our priority list. If I happened to leave my card key in my hotel room, and if someone happened to know where my company building was, they could possibly use it to gain access to the building and grounds when they shouldn’t. We shut them off when not in use.
So, why was my SLC badge not working? You might think it’s because I was going to be out of town for a week. But, that’s not it. Security doesn’t shut off access to my office on a scheduled basis. But, they do monitor how often a card key is used.
The fact that my card key was not working meant it had been more than 30 days since it was last used. One week my son was ill and I worked from home. I also took a week of vacation. And then I was gone to Vicksberg for a week. That means there was at least one additional week at the beginning of the month, the week of the 4th of July. I haven’t been in the office for a month.
Does that mean I haven’t been doing my job? Nope. Most of the people I work with don’t live in SLC. I’ve had meetings, monitored outages, sent and received emails for all the weeks except the week of PTO.
So, what’s the harm? I was working, right? Who cares if I’m physically sitting in a chair in my office?
You never knwo who is going to care. And no matter how generous your company’s work from home policy, there is benefits to seeing and being seen in the office. There are several people that I don’t necessarily end up in meetings with who never the less have influence in our company.
If you do your job well, your team should be aware. The teams you support should be aware, but unless it’s a major project, other teams may not have any insight into what you are doing.
Physically being in the office helps people associate you with a hard worker. It’s crazy to think about, but just being present counts. I love baseball. And if you go to a baseball game you’ll see lots of players sitting on the bench. A Major League team is 25 men. Of those, about 12 are pitchers. On any given game you may see as many as 4-5 pitchers, or as few as 1 pitcher.
But, guess what? When people are attending the game and see those other 7-10 guys just sitting on the bench or in the bullpen, they naturally associate them with the team and the players on the field.
So, just a word of warning: Don’t let your card key access lapse.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
Follow him on
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or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2018 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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We were in a hurry to get to the airport. . .until we weren’t.
I’ve spent the week in Vicksberg. I came because our client was here this week. I’m here because my boss was here this week. I specifically didn’t come because Garrett was going to be here. In fact, Garrett and I don’t have to travel to Vicksberg to see each other. We both work in our Salt Lake City office. Not only that, we are on the same floor, same hallway. In fact, if we are both on a conference call, I have to close my door to avoid hearing his voice coming from directly across the hall as well as over the phone.
We’ve both in our roles for years. It’s safe to say we know each other pretty well. But, we don’t know each other at all.
There are many benefits to business travel. Certain things just can’t be done virtually. “Showing up” is critical to business relationships. Everytime I go to Vicksberg or one of our other sites, I’m constantly met with warm and geniune greetings.
Good to see you again, Rodney!
Rodney, I didn’t realize you were here!
Rodney, how long are you here for?
How have you been?
Wonderful to see you again.
It used to bother me that I didn’t remember all these people’s names. I remember a few, but not nearly as many as remember me. I’ve learned to smile, nod and exchange cheerful greetings without revealing that I have no idea who I’m talking to.
That’s not really the point. With four sites and hundreds of people at each site, it’s unreasonable that I would remember everyone. I have a friend, Bob Kitell. He’s a memory expert. He could probably teach me to train my memory to recall their names. But, as it is, I’m left with a vague feeling of uncomfortableness as I visit our sites.
The real point is that all those people know that I travelled from our corporate office in Salt Lake City to visit their site. My meetings were with management, client and some key Operations employees. I could talk to those people on the phone, and I do many times were week. But, those phone calls would not put me “boots on the ground” with our most important asset, the people servicing the customer. Only getting on a plane and flying halfway across the country can do that.
Our client was in Vicksberg to do a deep dive on some of our outstanding technical difficulties. Many of them have been being worked for weeks without success. The client decided that sending soem of their top IT people to see the issues firsthand would be valuable. And it absolutely was.
Here’s the thing, I didn’t help. No, really I didn’t “fix” a single issue. And yet, had the client flown people out to my site, but I refused to join them, it would have seriously affected their opinion of me. They didn’t say it, but I have felt like,
Dude, we showed up to help you repair your car. . .you should be here too.
Garrett isn’t an IT guy. He’s not involved with my team very much at all. In fact, he was here for meeting with his own client counterparts. We were rarely in the same meetings. And as I said, he and I have worked together for years. You would think that my relationship with him gained the least by flying to Vicksberg together.
You’d be wrong.
Rodney, I’d like to be at the airport 2 hours early. We probably don’t need to be, but it would just make me feel better.
Sure, I’ll be down in the courtyard. Just come get me when you are ready to head out.
Our Vicksberg office is four buildings in a square with a courtyard in the middle. The courtyard is used for company events, and several employees will occasionally bring in instruments and hold mini-jam sessions. It had been too hot all week for many of them, but I could hear the vibrations from a bass guitar, and I knew that for at least a few minutes I could enjoy some impromptu jazz.
Sure enough, Bobby was on the bass, and someone else was backing him up on keyboards. Ed, one of our desktop engineers was running through some riffs on the electric guitar. Even though I don’t play, they all gave me a hard time about leaving just as the music was starting,
Y’all said it was too hot to play this week. It’s not my fault that you waited until 5 minutes before I have to leave for the airport to play.
It was at this point that Garrett joined us. I knew we were already past the time he wanted to leave. I quickly said my goodbyes.
Are you ready to go?
No.
What do you mean?
I want to play.
What?
I play guitar.
I quickly interrupted and asked Ed if Garrett could take his place for a few minutes. Garrett took a seat and quickly fell into a rhythm with the bass player and the keyboard player. I didn’t worry since I knew that two hours was way more time than we would need at the airport.
But, had we not travelled to Vicksberg, I might never have seen this side of Garrett.
If you want to strengthen teams, put your people on a plane and out of the office.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
Follow him on
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or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2018 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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I saw “A Quite Place” earlier this year. It was scary. Well, it wasn’t a horror film. But, still it was scary. Many of the “scares” were jump scares. But, the story itself was also frightening. The director used sound to crank up the scare factor.
Here’s the thing, “A Quiet Place” is not a true story. It’s not even based on a true story. It has these crazy aliens that are like nothing on earth. It’s very obvious early in the movie that this story is set in an alternate reality.
So the audience knows it’s not true. But, still the movie is frightening. The audience is really frightening. The fear is real.
I have PTSD. It’s mild. In fact, it’s pretty much limited to interactions with my immediate manager. And not just any interaction. Mostly if he says “Can I see you in my office?” Or something similar.
I understand why I am triggered by that phrase. I understand why I get a knot in my stomach and my hands start to sweat. And it doesn’t matter if I have absolutely no reason to be nervous. It’s a response that I don’t really have control over.
And the crazy thing is that while I’m feeling nervous, sometimes terrified, I know it’s a false response. I know it’s not true. But, it’s still real.
I’m in Vicksberg this week. I wasn’t planning to come to Vicksberg. In fact, it was only two weeks ago that my boss sent me an email:
Rodney, I’m forwarding you an email about a meeting in Vicksberg. I think you should attend. I’ll see you there.
He might as well have said, “Can I see you in my office?”
I spent the last two weeks out of the office. Two weeks ago my son was in the hospital and I worked from home all week to help keep things running smoothly at home. Last week I took some time off. I’ve had previous managers who based their opinion of my job effectivness by the amount of time I spent in the office. I started to get paranoid. I knew this manager wasn’t like that.
Perhaps he wanted me in Vicksberg because he was upset and wanted to tell me in person?
They wouldn’t fly you to Vicksberg to reprimand you.
Maybe he’s upset I haven’t been in the office?
He doesn’t care if you work from the office or home. He never has.
Maybe they found something really serious and he wants to fire me in person?
They don’t fly people on the company dime to fire them. Besided you didn’t do anything worthy of being fired.
But, maybe they just want to kick me out of the company?
They would have to hire someone to take your job. Do YOU know anyone who would do as good a job as you do for this money? For ANY money?
Maybe I’m just paranoid.
“Maybe”?
Just because it wasn’t true didn’t mean it wasn’t real.
I just spent the week meeting with my boss. He told me what a great job I’m doing and how much he appreciated having me onsite while the client’s IT team was there.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
Follow him on
Twitter (@rodneymbliss)
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LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com/in/rbliss)
or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2018 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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I felt like an intruder. I really didn’t belong there. No one else cared. But, I cared. I cared a lot.
Twice I walked past the entrance to the USO club at the Dallas Fort Worth Airport. It wasn’t that I was hesitant about approaching the nice woman with the nametag Diane. It’s that I trying to decide how much I wanted to see the display.
I have great respect for our military. Probably too much in some people’s view. I’m not one of those people. My father was a private in the United States Army. My brother was an officer in the Army. My daughter is an officer in the Army.
Yeah, I kind of respect the Army a little more than the other branches. But, I respect all of them. They don’t get paid well. They often have terrible working conditions. They work long hours. They have to spend long months away from their family.
There are a few things that members of the military can do that we can’t. One of those things is enter the USO, the United States Service Organization clubs.
They also exchange challenge coins. And while I had a collection of challenge coins that were made for my friend Howard Tayler’s Schlock Universe webcomic…
…they were pale imiitations of the real thing. Coins that the military uses. And the USO club at DFW had an impressive collection.
Excuse me, Diane. Do you know where I could see the collection of challenge coins?
Are you a service member?
No. My daughter is a 1LT in the Army. I was just hoping to be able to get a chance to look at the challenge coins.
I think that would be okay. Just head down these stairs and there is a large display case to the right. There are also several displays on the walls. When you get downstairs just tell them that Diane said it was okay.
The USO club is pretty plain looking place. Nothing super special or overly militaristic. I didn’t leave the lobby. I spent a few minutes enjoying the thousands of challenge coins on display. And then, I excused myself.
I really didn’t belong there.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
Follow him on
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or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2018 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
Tell your friends about this!
How was your trip?
The best answer to that is
Pleasantly boring
My trip yesterday wasn’t pleasantly boring. It was boring, but there wasn’t a lot pleasant. I spent lots of time cooling my heals in airpots. First was in my own home airport in Salt Lake City.
You aren’t supposed to get “stuck” in your own airport. But, since I took a 90 minute train ride to get to the airport, there weren’t many options I had. Eventually, I ended up in Dallas, about 6 hours later than I had planned.
I spent some time at a nice BBQ place. I also did a nice tour of the USO club to look at their challenge coin collections.
For the most part, it was long boring layover.
But, there were a couple of statements that I overheard. The first was at the wonderful BBQ place. The peole behind the counter had a nice view out through the floor to ceiling windows.
Hey Scott, did you see outside?
What?
It’s overcast and only 99 degrees. Better get your sweater.
Consideirng the humidity was about 85%, it should be a water absorbant sweater. It brightened my mood at dinner.
Finally, at 8:30 it was time to board our plane. The plane was late coming in and everyone had experienced our share of the cascading effects of the American Airlines delays. We just wanted to get to our destination.
Group 1 may board.
Group 2, you can board.
Group 3 and 4, can now board.
Group 5 and 6. . .and Group 7 and 8. . .
The desk personnel seemed to want to get us to Vicksberg as quickly as we wanted to go. We got excited to get boarded so quickly. In fact, we were excited right up until we rounded the corner and realized that all 8 groups were standing in a very long line that really wasn’t going anywhere quickly.
We were tired. Too tired to even complain. As we were waiting to be allowed on the actual plane, we saw two flight attendants exiting the plane.
I thought you knew where you were going. I was just following you. I can’t believe you led us onto the wrong plane.
Her companion looked back and noticed the long line of passengers waiting to board the plane they had just exited.
I don’t think there’s enough room for all these people on that plane.
I turned to the stranger next to me, “That’s gotta be the most non-reassuring overheard conversation I’ve ever heard.”
(Turns out there were 44 of us on a plane designed for 122. Finally, a little good news.)
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
Follow him on
Twitter (@rodneymbliss)
Facebook (www.facebook.com/rbliss)
LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com/in/rbliss)
or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2018 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved