My car has been making a strange noise. Sort of a growl when I get going above about 40 MPH. I checked the exhaust system. Everything is tight. I’m thinking it might be a cracked manifold.
Except that today, on the way home from work, the car simply stopped. The issue was I happened to be driving 75 MPH at the time. I was really close to my exit.
Guess what my weekend will be spent doing?
Stay safe
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) 2021 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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Just to be clear. I did NOT get a $250,000 per year job. But, I don’t feel like I missed out on it either. I was out of work this past summer, a victim of COVID layoffs. In addition to apply for many jobs, I also reached out to my friends and associates.
One friend, Sean, works for a mid-sized software company. Sean and I have been friends for a very long time. We are both in IT, so naturally we have both been out of work at different times. Sean heard a job might be coming open in his company. The details weren’t released, but he offered to get my resume into the hands of the hiring manager.
Okay. That’s great.
I didn’t hear back. And I eventually got a good job offer that I accepted. And I’m very happy with. Sean and I were talking last week.
How’s the new gig? What’s the role?
It’s going well. Kind of different to be working for a small company. My boss is the second generation owner. Great guy. Steeper learning curve than I remember in teh past. But, I’m over the bulk of it and actually contributing.
Well, I guess you probably don’t want me to be Monte Hall and tell youwhat’s behind curtain #3 then… š
No
. . .
Ha ha. . .of course I want to know what’s behind door #3!
Yeah, you should have chosen curtain #3… š
Okay what’s behind curtain #3?
I don’t know for sure, so I couldn’t speculate during the recruiting process. But it’s very likely that the position was at or above ~$250/year salary plus a few million dollars worth of stock options which vest quarterly, so, about another $400-500k in stock income per year.
Just for perspective, my current job doesn’t pay nearly that well. And no stock options. I missed out, right? Should have chosen Door #3? (Statistically EVERY contestent should have switched when Monty Hall offered. It’s a weird statistical paradox that maybe I’ll go into in another post.)
Anyway, who wouldn’t want a half million to three quarter million dollars? Right? Right?
Robert Frost wrote “The Road Not Taken” back in 1915. It’s one of my favorite poems. It’s not terribly long. Here’s the poem in case, like my friend Sean, you haven’t read it in a while.
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and Iā
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
See? You did remember it. . .mostly.
This is one of Frost’s most misunderstood poems. Most people think it’s about missed opportunities, or picking the “right” opportunity. “I took the one less travelled by and that has made all the difference.”
But, that’s not what the poem means. Look at the second stanza. The point is that BOTH paths are the same. It’s only in our deciding that they become different. If they were both the same then how could Frost “take the one less travelled by”? Because our choosing makes the difference.
I recently did a writing exerise. One question I answered was, “If you could go back and change one thing what would it be?”
My answer was easy. .and short.
Not a thing!
“I shall be telling this with a sight somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference.
I explained this to Sean. I didn’t “miss out” on the job at his company. I took the road that led to where I am now.
I could tell Sean was starting to see my point,
Very philosophical. I’m reminded of the bonding scene in Good Will Hunting where Sean tells Will about how he missed the Yastrzemski homer in the World Series because he was in a bar across teh street with his future wife. “Would have been great to see that game though”…
Had I got the gig working for his company my life would be different. But, would it be “better”? Only God knows that. . and He’s not telling.
So, you’ll not see me shedding tears for “missed” opportunites. I chose my road. . and it really has made all the difference.
Stay safe
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) 2021 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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It’s easier to talk about it in metaphor and allegory. . .”Well, it’s like the musicians on the Titanic.” It’s easier to avoid spelling it out.
I was in a therapy session, couples therapy. Normally, I let my lovely wife or the therapist lead the discussion. It’s easier when I can nod and be supportive, but avoid any actual dialogue. My lovely wife was having none of it today. She verbally trapped me with one of those misleading questions. I think she said, “How do you think things are going?”
She set me up!
We are nearly empty nesters. One child left at home and she’s an adult and a service missionary. We had plans. I think most young couples do. We had a large family. The information in my signature block is accurate. I have thirteen children. I love all of them. I’m proud of the adults they have become. And for the most part, they are on their own. They will occasionally ask my advice. They’ll even listen. But, mostly, they are their own people now.
And I’m happy for them.
And we planned for this time. Well, actually, we didn’t plan anything specific, but we looked forward to the time it would be just the two of us. And we’d do. . .I don’t know. . .stuff. Stuff that people without kids at home do. Maybe we’d go see a movie on a Tuesday. Stay out late.
My dear mother started going cruises when she go to this point.
Maybe we wouldn’t go far. Maybe we’d just stick around home and collect Hummels, or commemorative plates. The point is that this period was blocked out for a little “we” time. (Okay, let’s call that “us” time since the other sounds. . .well, just read it out loud.)
I don’t even know how I ended up talking about this to the therapist. Like I said, my lovely wife tricked me with that “how are things going?” question.
I’ve gotten older. I’ve slowed down. I no longer play basketball. I’m a lot slower hiking up the mountains. And my knee occasionally makes other plans when I’m not expecting it. But, overall I’m in pretty good health. I expect to love to see the country’s 250th birthday in a few years and then be around for the 300th late this century.
I always assumed that my lovely wife and I would figure out what we were going to do together. Like I said, our plan was to figure out the plan.
My lovely wife is. . .I want to say “fine.” But, you wouldn’t understand. She has a chronic disease. But, she’s fine. Long term it could be deadly. But, she’s fine. Short term, it sometimes causes her issues. But, she’s fine.
I’m not just saying that. I’m not in denial. No more than the musicians on the Titanic were in denial about the boat sinking. But, you just do what you do. The Sword of Damocles was a sword suspended by a single horse hair. It was to remind Damocles that with great blessings comes the threat of destruction.
So, yes, she’s fine. This is life. You can spend your time worrying about how things didn’t turn out the way you expected. Or, you can. . .just live. There’s a phrase to represent uselessness: rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. It means you are doing something that will ultimately be of no use. I wonder why they didn’t talk about the musicians.
When the Titanic was sinking, the orchestra played. Why? It was useless right? Yes, it was not going to prevent the ship from sinking. But, I wonder if during those final moments, the musicians were able to put their impending death away for a few minutes. Rather than dwell on their fate, they took action. Even knowing.
And my fear? The fear that I suppress? The fear that hangs over me like Damocles’ sword?
That I’ll have to figure out that. . .stuff. . .alone. That the woman that’s shared my life for over half of that life won’t be there to do whatever it is we are going to do in this next part.
This is why I don’t often talk during those therapy sessions.
It was pretty dusty in that room as well.
What’s your fear? The one you don’t tell anyone,especially not a therapist?
Stay safe
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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My kids gave me a present for Father’s Day last year. Every Monday I get an email with a new question.
This week’s question was “Do you have any special talents?”
Don’t get me wrong. I believe everyone has talents. You, right now, reading this, you have a talent. Probably more than one. And naturally that includes me. But, that’s the issue.
“When everyone’s super . . .no one will be.”
– Syndrome
I have friends who are truly talented, writers, comedians, executives. One friend from high school is the chairman of one of the largest television studios in Hollywood. He was one of my three best friends in high school. We did everything together. My friend is super successful, right? But, I don’t feel pressured by him. He doesn’t work on cars or make things out of wood.
Who’s more talented? Him for building a multi-billion dollar company, or me for being able to turn a pile of 2x2s and plywood into a custom made chest?
Society would say the person who makes the most money is the most successful. My friend and I have never viewed it like that.
He’s definitely talented. And he can do things that I absolutely cannot. But, there are things I can do. Are either of us special? I don’t know. Are the talents we have special? Okay, my friend’s probably is. Not many people can do what he does.
But, there are a lot of people who can do what I do. There are better writers. Funnier comedians. Better mechanics. We have talents. But, are they special?
I don’t know.
I wrote some words about talents. I’m not sure I believe them. is everyone special or is no one?
Stay safe
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) 2021 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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By now you’ve probably heard of the Facebook Papers. That’s what the news is calling 50,000 documents that a Facebook whistleblower took from the company. Actually, this is the second whistleblower. The other one, Frances Haagen, testified before Congress.
This new one is choosing to remain anonymous. I wonder how long that will last.
The documents that he. . .or she. . .brought out of Facebook are pretty damning. They seem to contradict several statements that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg made to Congress two years ago.
The most egregious accusation is that Facebook intentionally fosters conflict. The documents claim it’s good for business. Of course, it is. I mean, anyone who has ever written a blog, or moderated a forum, or hosted a debate will tell you that conflict generates interest.
The worst is not that they boo you. The worst thing is when they ignore you.
In the news business the phrase is,
If it bleeds it leads.
Why would Social Media be any different? And why would you EXPECT it to be different? The only really surprising thing to me is that anyone is surprised.
For many years I moderated a facebook forum called “Liberty And Tyranny.” Our group was unique. It was composed of liberals and conservatives. We had a single rule:
No personal attacks
So, you could argue your point strongly. But, you couldn’t call names. Ad hominem attacks were forbidden. And it could get you banned. And we banned a fair amount. Unfortunately it was generally the liberals who couldn’t hold a civil conversation. Not all of them, of course not. And we banished a few conservatives as well. Some, good friends of mine.
We had a prize that you could earn if you started a topic that generated over 100 comments. The prize was a mug. We didn’t actually have any mugs. You could earn it. But, we would never send it to you. It became quite an honor to have not gotten a mug.
I held the record for a comment thread with the most comments. It was over 500 comments. The topic? “Boobs and Bullets.” I pointed out that conservatives often had the same “uncomfortableness” with a woman breastfeeding in public that Liberals had with someone openly carrying a firearm in public. I drew the connection that both are Constitutionally protected activities. And both offend on an emotional level.
The debate waged as you would expect. But, with no personal attacks. I’m still proud of not getting a mug for that thread.
But, what really drove it? Conflict. Everyone in the forum had an opinion. The Conservatives complained that breastfeeding was not at all like defending the second amendment. And Liberals complained that “breastfeeding never killed anyone.” In the end, we had a great discussion but no one’s mind was changed.
So, it’s no surprise that Facebook figured out how to capitalize and monetize conflict. It’s equally not surprising that Facebook would deny this strongly.
What is most surprising is that anyone is actually surprised at this.
Oh, and I made some great friends in Liberty and Tyranny. I’m still friends with many of them. But, the group ended about 5 years ago. There was one politician that members simply couldn’t refrain from attacking. He was even president for awhile.
Stay safe
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) 2021 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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Rodney, WordPerfect crashed on me this morning. Do you think you can get the chapter back that I wrote?
The year was about 1993. I was in Naples, Florida visiting my agent Barbara Bova. And I met her husband, Ben. Ben was a science fiction writer. A really good one.
He wrote what was called hard Science Fiction. That didn’t mean it was hard to read. Instead, it meant that his stories were grounded in science. Physics has no support for faster than light travel. Hyperdrives, warp drives, ion drives. They are really fantasy inventions masquerading as science fiction. Ben’s science worked. And lacking the option of simple zipping his characters from system to system in the blink of an eye, he had to write very cleverly.
His book Mars could be a training manual on how to conduct a mission to the red planet.
I was working for WordPerfect when we met. I was a muddling non-fiction writer with dreams of writing fiction. Ben was more than happy to encourage a young writer. I stayed in the software industry and continued to dream of writing. And I have over the years.
This year, nearly thirty years after our meeting that day in Florida I’ll finally see my fiction in print. As I created my universe, I remembered my conversations with Ben. I created a world, a system and a galaxy. I filled it with people and most importantly I invented science to go into my fiction. And I found myself trying to cleverly write keeping my science grounded in reality.
My space ships don’t go faster than the speed of light. I had to figure figure out how get my spaceships between systems. I had to figure out my farmers can raise a crop on a world with no metal.
A writer answers a thousand questions about his or her universe. In fact, world building is one of the most enjoyable parts of writing. The writer is an all powerful wizard spinning life out of nothing. And I have nothing against writers who build universes that have break the laws of physics. I might even do something similar.
For now, I’m excited to finally see in print what Ben encouraged me to do all those years ago.
He once autographed a book for me with the inscription “Ad Astra,” To The Stars. Ben’s passed on now. But, his books live on. The stories he told remain. And the inspiration he provided me and generations of writers will continue long after he’s gone, “to the stars.”
Oh, and that day when he asked me about WordPerfect 4.2? Nope. I couldn’t do a thing for him.
Stay safe
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) 2021 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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I like music. I really like all types of music. Seriously! Yes, OF COURSE “including country!”
We have both types of music here, country AND western.
– Blues Brothers
I own some rap albums. I own heavy metal albums.I own A LOT of country albums. I have a small, but carefully curated collection of Jazz albums. I even have an eclectic collection of baseball albums.
I own several hundred CDs. I don’t buy them anymore, but I did for a long time. And of course, I download songs. I haven’t really embraced streaming services. There are over 7700 songs on my iPad.
Occasionally I’ll pick a genre, but often I’ll simply shuffle the entire playlist. Billy Joel might be followed by Twisted Sister and then followed by Take Me Out To The Ballgame. It’s easy to listen to my iPad.
When I was a kid, we didn’t have CD’s. We didn’t even have cassette tapes. We had records, LPs. Vinyl wasn’t vintage it was modern. My mother liked music. She dated some musicians when I was a kid. She had a collection of LPs. I don’t remember if she had a lot of a few. I do remember some of the titles. There was plenty of Elvis, some Simon and Garfunkel. In fact some of the albums are in my current collection.
My mother’s stereo had a spindle that would let you stack a number of records up and as each one finished the next one dropped down and played. You could get maybe 10 albums stacked up. Sixty songs before you had to turn the albums over.
Listening to albums when I was a kid took some work. Even switching albums was some work. I once destroyed my bother’s copy of the Beatles White Album when I dropped it and scratched it.
I own a record player. It looks old, but is actually very new.
It has a bluetooth option.
I have a small collection of albums. Five actually, although one is a triple album.
- Miles Davis – Kind of Blue
- John Coltrane – A Love Supreme
- The Beatles – Abby Road
- Chris Stapleton – Traveller
- Garth Brooks – Triple Live
I admit that the Garth Brooks album is the odd man out. But, when a triple album LP is available for $17, you buy it.
The Chris Stapleton album has 14 songs on two records. Some sides have only three songs. Even the B-side of Kind of Blue only has two tracks, although they are a little longer.
My point is that using my record play to listen to an album doesn’t last long. As you can see my record player has no spindle to stack 10 records up and listen for a couple of hours. Instead, I have to continue swapping the record. Listening to Traveller on my iPad is a matter of clicking PLAY and then putting it on as background music.
To listen to Traveller on my record player, requires putting the first record on. Then, not long later, I have to turn the record over. Again, after a little while I have to switch to the second record. And not long after that, flip it over to hear the entire album.
And during all that time, you know what I’m doing? I’m listening. I’m not forgetting that I started to listen to an album. And while my record player has excellent fidelity, it still has just a hint of the magic of the needle gliding down through a track on the vinyl record.
I started seriously listening to Jazz a few years ago. I have a friend who is a brilliant performer and conductor. He pointed me at several albums including John Coltrane’s masterpiece A Love Supreme and Miles Davis’s incredible Kind of Blue.
In fact, Kind of Blue was the first album I bought. Jazz is a wonderful music to listen to as background music. But, Jazz can also be a listened to deliberately. I own several jazz albums on my iPad. And, of course two for my record player. I find I enjoy listening to Jazz on the record player.
I have to really want to listen. I have to make time to listen. I have to. . .well, LISTEN. Really listen. And that’s the point.
A record player adds warmth to an album, and especially Jazz or whatever the soulful music Chris Stapleton sings is. But, more importantly, it forces you to listen with a purpose. It takes work, hard work.
If you do it right.
Stay safe
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) 2021 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never shared
– Sounds of Silence
I love this song. It took on greater meaning when I learned American Sign Language. Using ASL I can talk without speaking. My friends can hear without listening. And I’ve seen multiple songs that voices never shared.
During my missionary service for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints I worked with a man named Elder Randal. He was a CODA. A Child of Deaf Adults. He was deaf from birth. At one point we were at a McDonalds. Our name tags and white shirts marked us as missionaries. Our signing conversations attracted some stares.
At one point a man caught my friend’s eye. The man passed his hand in front of his face and then made a thumbs up sign. I’m fluent in American Sign Language. Those two signs together meant nothing to me. I had no clue what the man was trying to communicate. My companion seemed to understand him perfectly.
What did he mean?
Ah. . .he was telling me. . .how nice he thinks I look
Oh. . .
The old guy was hitting on my friend. Ugh.
Maybe it’s my background in sign language, but I’ve always found unspoken communication fascinating. What are we saying when we don’t say anything?
We have a staff meeting every Tuesday morning. It’s a small company. Many of the employees have been there for years. I’m new. And recently we added another new face. It’s interesting to watch people come into the meeting. My first meeting, I took a seat in the middle. It happens to be at the head of the table. I chose it on purpose. It didn’t put my back to either door. It was equally distant from both sides of the table and all the chairs.
It was someone else’s seat. As more people came in, there was a disruption in their patterns. I’m not sure whose seat I took. But, that person sat somewhere else. But, he bumped another person. As they entered the room, you could notice the same disruption in their pattern. After a few weeks everyone was comfortable in their new seats.
And then we hired another programmer. And he came to his first staff meeting and the entire pattern was repeated. Being prepared for it, I watched it unfold. There were no words spoken, but an entire conversation took place.
In my church, communion, or the sacrament, is delivered to the congregation by young men aged 12 and 13. They take trays with bread and water and deliver them to every person sitting in the chapel. Sometimes that is a lot of people. Generally 10 or 12 boys carry the trays to the members. It’s important that EVERY member have the opportunity to partake of the sacrament.
There’s a pattern, of course. The first boy (they hold the priesthood office of deacon) delivers the sacrament to the people sitting on the stand. The second deacon starts at the first pew of the people sitting on the left. And so on. They are actually very efficient. It only takes them about 10 minutes to cover 200 people or so.
It’s sometimes interesting to sit in the back of the chapel and watch them go through the pattern. At times things get out of sync. Maybe a row is only half filled. Maybe someone got out of step. Maybe one of the boys is new. At that point the boys have to make sure everyone has a chance to partake of the sacrament.
They communicate. But, often not with words. A senior boy might nod his head to indicate a missed row. A new boy might give a confused look that is answered with a glance.
I do a lot of Zoom meetings. Even with people in my own office. We leave our cameras off, but even with meetings where they are on, we lose a lot from our communications when we don’t interact.
A lot gets said when we don’t say anything at all.
Stay safe
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) 2021 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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I love the military. I mean, I REALLY, love the service. I stand for the flag. I have an entire playlist devoted to patriotic songs.
I have a daughter who is on active duty serving over seas. She’s a captain in the Army. She’s also a veterinarian. . .in the Army. I couldn’t be prouder.
I have a son-in-law who is in the National Guard. Pretty sure he’s a private or maybe PFC, but not much above that. He’s been in less than a year. He’s in a construction engineering unit. I’m very proud of him.
My family has been serving in this country’s military since before we were a country.
I also have a friend who is in the Army. He’s serving on the Southern Border. He’s been deployed for several months. I think he’s in Arizona or California at this point. As a native Spanish speaker, and being part of a Military Intelligence unit, I don’t ask too many questions.
We’ve been friends a long time. We were both Scout leaders. We live two blocks away. I taught his kids when they were Webelos. They are the same age as my boys. My friend doesn’t work on cars. But, he’s happy to let me work on his.
He has a truck. A couple years ago he asked me for help on his truck. It was having trouble starting. It didn’t take long to figure out that his battery needed replaced. Once I told him that, he took care of it himself.
He’s been gone several months and his truck has been sitting in front of his house. He thinks he might be back in a few weeks. He asked me to take a look at his truck. His wife thinks it might be the starter.
I tried to jump start his truck and while it would crank (slightly,) it really wasn’t interested in starting. I pulled the batter out of his truck and took it to my workshop. . .I mean garage. That makes it sound like I have a mechanic’s garage. I just have a regular garage. But, it’s full of tools. Including a battery charger/tester. I put my friend’s batter on and after just a couple of minutes the BAD indicator lit up.
So, I went to the auto parts store. My friend bought a Super Start battery back when he replaced his battery three years ago. I go to this auto parts story a lot. As in, if my wife wanted to find me on a Saturday, this would be the first place she’d look.
They REALLY wanted to help me replace the battery. But, all I had was my friend’s name but no receipt. Who keeps a receipt from two years ago?
I really want to help. And you come here a lot. The easiest thing is if I can find where someone else bought one of these batteries and I’ll just return that one.
.
Not to put any pressure on you, but the battery is for a US Soldier who’s currently deployed.
.
Well, I’ve found one here that might work. What did you say your friend’s name was?
Yes, they tried to pull a random purchase and it was my friend. They printed out the original receipt and the replacement receipt. I tend to keep all my automotive receipts. . .forever.
So, I got to call my buddy and tell him that his truck was good as new. And because I have loyalty to my local auto parts store, it was no charge. And I’m certainly not charging him for my work on it.
I may not have ever got to serve. But, serving those who serve is almost as good.
Stay safe
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) 2021 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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My brother called me this evening,
Whatcha doing?
Just puttering around in my workshop.
What are you building?
A challenge coin display case.
Aren’t those normally a military thing?
Y’all shouldn’t have told the rest of us about them.
How many do you have?
About 25
My workshop is my garage. That’s pretty common for hobbyists like me. My workshop is full of beautiful projects in their native state. It’s like Ikea, but without the instruction sheets.
This board had a display case hiding inside it.
I inherited these 12″x1″ boards. From someone cleaning out an old storeroom. They are wonderful seasoned pine boards. I’m not really a pants-er when it comes to projects. Even simple projects, I design them first.
This one required just the table saw and the chop saw.
And after just a couple hours in the shop, some glue and a brad nailer, I had a display case.
Technically, most of these are not true challenge coins. As my brother said, a challenge coins a “military thing.” Each military unit had their own coin. It identified them as a member of a unit. The reason they are called “challenge coins” has to do with drinking. (Of course, it does. I already mentioned military.)
When at a bar, a member of the until can take out his coin and put it on the bar as a challenge. All other members of the unit have to show their own coin. Anyone who doesn’t have their unit coin must buy the next round. If everyone has their coin, the original challenger must buy the next round.
Unit commanders and higher level officers can also give out challenge coins as a token of gratitude. None of my coins are military. The closest is a USAA coin.
Not exactly military, but from an organization that does a lot with the military. A lot of my coins are scouting coins.
Scouting has a program called Woodbadge. I’m a member of the Fox patrol.
And I collect coins from national and state parks and monuments.
Even the city just south of us, Orem, created a coin a few years ago
Anyone can create a challenge coin. I do a lot of work with the Follow The Flag organization. Last year they brought out a challenge coin.
This year is the 150th anniversary of Masonry in Utah. The Grand Lodge of Utah issued a coin.
Not all the items on my display are coins. I have some pins as well. Including the one my uncle gave me when he was Potentate of the Calam Shrine. (Yeah, the Shriners.)
I also have a collection of Schlock Mercenary coins. Probably the rarest coin in my collection is this Volunteers coin from the Schlock Mercenary collection.
Still plenty of room for further adventures. Who knows, maybe my daughter will even get me a true military challenge coin someday.
Stay safe
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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