Sunday, January 11, 2009
Umm Qasr 01072009
One more day gone. Today started slow- nothing to do in the morning. After lunch, I cleaned my weapons. The M-4 and the M-9 are nice and clean now. The Sergeant Major’s spray can of cleaner and lube works pretty well.
I checked laundry but there was no new clean laundry. My number 0171 had no tick next to it, so my laundry is still somewhere else.
Around 16:00, one of the Army captains came to get me for a meeting with the British Navy Captain who’s our big boss. Lots of people there, talking over the main issues that we have to consider at the port. Many things remain unclear, things like what the volume of traffic is, how much cargo goes through the south port (I’m at the north port.), training, the organizational structure (MOI, MOT, MOF) and I proposed that the overall director of the port should be able to tell which agency where they should do what.
Tonight’s fare is a 1965 James Garner and Sidney Poitier cowboy flick, “Duel at Diablo.” It’s two notches above a B-Western; “Gone with the Wind” and “Lawrence of Arabia” don’t have to look over their film shoulders at this one. Even “The Wild Bunch” doesn’t need to fret much.
I emailed a nag to Richie- please finish up his degree. I asked his thoughts on the Pense conundrum. In my sardonic, callous mind, I wonder at her motives in asking me for her tea set and her old couch. I suggested asking for storage money- $650 seems fair for two years storage. And it’s not clear which tea set she’s asking about. If it’s the Rosenthal, she’ll need to see me face-to-face and convince me it’s hers. If it’s another tea set, the rabbit one, it feels to me like she’s asking for the last of her stuff so she can stop seeing me, ever. I guess I can’t know what’s in her mind until she tells me. And then, I have to weigh everything to see if there’s anything I’ve missed.
Finished a book, a sorta “the gummint as bad guys” book that dealt with finding Jesus’s bones, thereby proving he didn’t rise from the dead. The protagonist discovers that he’s wrong and all the good guys live happily ever after, but it’s a good book nonetheless. Some aphorisms (hope that’s right) are opposite the chapter headings and I like them. Things like “Ignorance is bliss until you realize you’re not ignorant.”
Half done with another book, written by a Brit, outlining 12 books that changed the world. I learned about Newton’s “Principia” and the Magna Carta and about Marie Stowe’s marital primer. We’ll see what comes next.
I checked laundry but there was no new clean laundry. My number 0171 had no tick next to it, so my laundry is still somewhere else.
Around 16:00, one of the Army captains came to get me for a meeting with the British Navy Captain who’s our big boss. Lots of people there, talking over the main issues that we have to consider at the port. Many things remain unclear, things like what the volume of traffic is, how much cargo goes through the south port (I’m at the north port.), training, the organizational structure (MOI, MOT, MOF) and I proposed that the overall director of the port should be able to tell which agency where they should do what.
Tonight’s fare is a 1965 James Garner and Sidney Poitier cowboy flick, “Duel at Diablo.” It’s two notches above a B-Western; “Gone with the Wind” and “Lawrence of Arabia” don’t have to look over their film shoulders at this one. Even “The Wild Bunch” doesn’t need to fret much.
I emailed a nag to Richie- please finish up his degree. I asked his thoughts on the Pense conundrum. In my sardonic, callous mind, I wonder at her motives in asking me for her tea set and her old couch. I suggested asking for storage money- $650 seems fair for two years storage. And it’s not clear which tea set she’s asking about. If it’s the Rosenthal, she’ll need to see me face-to-face and convince me it’s hers. If it’s another tea set, the rabbit one, it feels to me like she’s asking for the last of her stuff so she can stop seeing me, ever. I guess I can’t know what’s in her mind until she tells me. And then, I have to weigh everything to see if there’s anything I’ve missed.
Finished a book, a sorta “the gummint as bad guys” book that dealt with finding Jesus’s bones, thereby proving he didn’t rise from the dead. The protagonist discovers that he’s wrong and all the good guys live happily ever after, but it’s a good book nonetheless. Some aphorisms (hope that’s right) are opposite the chapter headings and I like them. Things like “Ignorance is bliss until you realize you’re not ignorant.”
Half done with another book, written by a Brit, outlining 12 books that changed the world. I learned about Newton’s “Principia” and the Magna Carta and about Marie Stowe’s marital primer. We’ll see what comes next.
# posted by rich @ 12:57 AM 
