I am way behind this morning- normally not a big deal on a Saturday, but I had to cook this morning for the 0915 pick-up in the Alternate Lifestyle Jakemobile. Jake was a good sport when we started to disparage his old car, a 1998 Subaru Outback as being rated number one in the nation […]

Uncomfortable chairs have been the signature for the week. I was one for the second consecutive day yesterday, getting my quarterly teeth cleaning yesterday, and so grateful that they didn’t ask me to answer any questions while they worked. I hate the polygraph- it is the closest that non-Catholics get to the confessional. Of course, […]

“I don’t know anything about polygraphs, and I don’t know how accurate they are, but I know they’ll scare the hell out of people.”  – President Richard M. Nixon, whose paranoia helped establish the US Government polygraph program Kristi looked up at me with surprise as I hit the door to the suite on the […]

I am in Virginia- I think. A pal caught me up short when I was first looking at the computer screen this morning and the Dazbog Russian-roasted caffeine had not kicked in yet. I had some vivid dreams in the second installment of sleep last night which convinced me I was in Michigan. The whole […]

You do not get to The Dan without The Vince. It is a measure of how much those two men were regarded by their co-workers. But first things first. Our world changed the day that Dan and Vince- the men- perished along with 123 other Pentagon workers. Five other Naval Intelligence people died in the […]

Quarters K, the legendary Navy Exchange Gas Station closed last Friday. I stopped by on Saturday, having missed my chance to stop while it was still open on Friday. As I have mentioned in these electrons before, the Secretary of the Army is expanding Arlington National Cemetery, and they are going to rip down the […]

I am still a little surprised to be here, in the safety and comfort of Your Nation’s Capital, and that I managed to avoid the storm. It swept through Arlington all day; steady rain to start, and then the temperature plummeted and the wind picked up. I made a sentimental pilgrimage to the Navy Exchange […]

I could not pay attention to the ballgame last night, the culmination of what might have been one of the best World Series played since World War II. I was too tired, and too wiped from the road. I have had all the emotions drain out of me, and the mental toughness on which the […]

Youngstown, Ohio. Sad town, decent Holiday Inn Express. Matt was very kind at the front desk, and the complete uncertainty of throwing myself off the road and into a box for the night went splendidly. Youngstown is one of several sad towns I flew through between the Little City by the Bay and Your Nation’s […]

I was tempted to think the letters “MC” could go in the log-book this morning, but that is absurd. This is not Mission Complete, but it is something. I couldn’t even really put the “MC” in the box until I actually get the Bluesmobile back into the lot at Big Pink, but close enough for […]