Vic Socotra – Page 253

January 14, 2019 Vic Socotra

Life & Island Times: Random thoughts at the end of a road trip

Gentle Readers, It is good to have friends. I am nestled in an eiderdown of snow in central Virginia. The federal government is closed today. I have no way to tell the difference. Now, to Marlow…. This is from a 1999 motorcycle trip journal. – Marlow January 2019 Random thoughts at the end of a […]

January 13, 2019 Vic Socotra

Arrias: The Corporate Conscience

Snow here in the Country. No one with any sense is going anywhere. The larger is sacked and the fire is roaring. – Vic The Corporate Conscience There’s a common warning, given to everyone at one time or another, to “stay in your lane.” Stated otherwise, focus on what you’re supposed to do. A recent […]

January 11, 2019 Vic Socotra

Country Living

I have been down in Culpeper for the last two weeks, right across the holidays. The skies have been filled the portents of the season- gray skies and chill rain with the prospect of as much as three inches of the white stuff. In preparation, I ventured to the Safeway and the VABC store, just […]

January 10, 2019 Vic Socotra

Old Glory

She’s a grand old flag. A high flying flag. She once belonged to the Clinton campaign- the second one, as I recall. I was working in the building on Glebe Road in the Ballston neighbourhood of Arlington, VA, on the right side of the Potomac. With the exception of a few years downtown, I have […]

January 9, 2019 Vic Socotra

Swamp Postcard: Let the Games Begin!

I mentioned to a pal that I could not have predicted that each week in The Swamp would get loonier and loonier. I mean really, what are they going to do to top this bizarre week. On the upside, a mega-sized moon and lunar eclipse with be visible all across North America. I am hoping […]

January 8, 2019 Vic Socotra

Life & Island Times: Highwayman

No, this is not about the Detroit 1%er motorcycle club. – Marlow I motorcycled the highways Along coastal roads I did ride Leather and jeans protected my back side Many a mile was covered as I pursued this trade Many the moments did I speed through glen and glade Some gravel hung me out to […]

January 7, 2019 Vic Socotra

Arrias: Tyranny or Liberty?

A really smart friend of mine once noted, while speaking of the DOD: “You need to remember that we don’t do why!” Joe’s point was that there is, in all government bureaucracies, a resistance to anyone trying to get to the primary reason that would explain actions, because in the end bureaucracies are really about […]

January 6, 2019 Vic Socotra

Spicy Artichoke Dip

OK, OK, it is the New Year and we have to move on. I am going back to the kitchen and try this recipe. I will always remember a Temporary Alternative Duty assignment that brought me back from Yokosuka to San Diego in a year that seemed like 1980. The first night back in the […]

January 2, 2019 Vic Socotra

Swamp Postcard: Back to the Trenches!

Gentle Readers, It is still a raw and new experience to append “2019” to these missives from the perpetual Swamp. Thankfully, I am down at the farm, enjoying the buzzards and the cool grey gloom of a brand new year. A reminder for annual planning: don’t attend weddings in Moscow. Screen Shot 2019-01-02 at 10.25.12.png […]

December 30, 2018 Vic Socotra

Arrias: Great Power Struggle

People don’t change, as a friend reminded me just the other day. 800 years ago the rulers of the Grand Duchy of Moscow wanted more land, buffer zones between them and the “others.” Kiev soon became part of the Russian “buffer zone.” But, Russia lost Kiev (and Ukraine) in 1991. They want it back. In […]

Author: Vic Socotra