Monthly Archives: July 2006

Leadership…

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I have had the opportunity to work with visionaries and the misfortune to work with rogues. All told, I’ve learned just as much from both. From the good, I have taken lessons of fortitude, confidence, and determination. From the bad, I’ve learned the power of persistence and to accept things that are beyond my own ability to influence. I am learning when to pick fights and when to hold my tongue. Some lessons are harder and others more enduring than others, yet all are valuable in their own way.

Real leaders set the agenda and let good people working for them figure out the best way to get there. Poor leaders make statements like “that’s wrong… fix it” without providing guidance on what aspects they dislike or proposing solutions to make it better. Leaders seek success, while others cower from fear of failure.

I work with good people, trying desperately to do good work… But the leaders of our leaders can’t manage to stop cowering. I hope to God I’ll never be afraid of making a decision.

Getting there…

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I drove to work this morning up the Shenandoah Valley to Winchester. Early morning is one of my favorite times to drive, mainly because the roads here are relatively open. The temperature is cool, but still comfortable with the top laid back. The early mists were coming up from the fields and rivers and the sun just coming over the mountains was at my back. It’s one of the few truly magnificent short drives that are reasonably close by. It was a perfect morning to just cruise and take it all in. One of those moments you wish would last just a little longer.

Traitor…

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Some day I am quite simply going to have enough of my goddamn traitorous teeth and have all the little bastards yanked out and replaced by form fitted titanium. If it’s good enough for submarine hulls, it damned well ought to be good enough for teeth.

I have very nearly spent more time in my dentist’s office this year than I have in my actual office. While that is a very slight exaggeration, I’m confident that if I laid out the days, there really would be only a hair’s breath difference between the two.

I took two hours of leave today to go sit in my dentist’s office, get and x-ray, and have him poke his head in the room and tell me I need to schedule a root canal as soon as possible. He wouldn’t work on me today because apparently I have an infection to go along with the general tooth-rot. He won’t work on me until I have at least two days of antibiotics in my system. The kicker is, this cavity developed under a filling that he filled two years ago. As I recall, his statement was, “looks like we didn’t get all of it after all.” Thanks for the fucking update, genius. I’ve managed to figure that out by the throbbing in my jaw.

Today’s trip cost me $89 with another $40 or so kicked in by Joe Taxpayer through my oh-so-generous dental plan. I’ll be taking another flipping day off on Monday, so we can spend some quality time with two relative stranger’s fingers in my mouth for the better part of two hours. That’s going to run almost $900, not including the taxpayer’s contribution. That’s more than my damned rent. It’s almost two freaking car payments. Bloody hell.

Giants…

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On this Independence Day, I turn the full attention of my ire towards the self-styled authorities sprawled all over the television casting dispersions on those men who founded the nation 230 years ago. I heard the third so-called expert deride Jefferson at 9:30 this morning and stopped counting. The quote of the day was: Yes, Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, but more importantly, he owned slaves. Really??? He was a Virginia planter. Is his being a slave owner a surprise for anyone? So was Washington. So was Madison. Should we rescind our independence because Continental forces were commanded by a slave owner? Should we take back the Constitution because its primary author was a slave holder, too?

As it is said, the founding fathers were men of singular genius who designed a government that could be run by idiots. Do any of us really think that brain trust of a Congress we have now could hope to devise something so enduring or elegant? They were great men struggling in a glorious cause. Like great men though history, some had equally great flaws. There flaws were part and parcel of what it meant to be the psudo-aristocracy of revolutionary America. Their achievement, however, transcends time and place and defines what it means to be American.

Today, we honor their wisdom and their memory.

Cue Ball…

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My hairline and I have been at odds since sometime around age sixteen and I’ve been toying with the idea of exercising the “nuclear option” off and on for a few weeks now. With the assistance of a $7.99 trimmer from Target, a very large dollop of shaving cream, and two new blades for my Sensor, my freshly shorn scalp resembles nothing so much as, you guessed it, a cue ball. To say that I need to get some sun is seriously understating this issue. At the moment, I have a nice healthy tan running down the middle of my head from front to back. The sides can only be described as pasty. This combination forms something like a tan-line mohawk. It’s an interesting look to be sure, but something I hope will be corrected by taking a nice long drive tomorrow afternoon.

Regrettably, there is no photographic evidence at this point as I am between cameras at the moment. It’s certainly a different look than I have gotten accustomed to, but I actually rather like it. I suppose you, my friends and readers, will have an opportunity to voice your opinion in due time. Be gentle, as you know what a fragile self-image I have.

Burned…

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In the future, I need to remember to wear a hat when I am driving in the middle of the afternoon. The top of my head is burned a shade that closely resembles a steamed crab. Just for the record, it’s not a look I recommend. My hair, however, is bleaching nicely and should be pronouncedly blondish by the end of the summer.