Good Morning in BookThree: Flight Log 2016

Good morning to all.

I am at work before 7 am… because the Cable Guys need to come to my place and they gave the customer-friendly and oh-so specific appointment time of “between 8 am and 8 pm”. But then… what do you expect? They have to come from a long way away. Because of course they do. Everything is a long way away from here.

So, I got into work today and printed out my schedule and my Case Management system and checked on my e-mails and officer requests and… yeah. None of the officers got back to me. Which means… if I’m really lucky… I might be able to get things done in a hurry tomorrow morning. Maybe. ::le sigh::. This is part of the job that isn’t unique to this area; but has its own little spin. In every area, there are delays and struggles between Prosecutors and Officers. But here the fun is… the town with the highest crime rate in the county? Only has 3 officers. Total. 90% of the county’s criminal cases come from this town… meth, domestic violence, DUI… but (including the Police Chief) they only have 3 officers. So, when I need one of their reports? Or heaven forbid, if I need one of them to testify? Yeah.

Oh, funny story. Last night, more dreams about Best Buy (where I worked before law school) and more dreams of cars out of control. But in the dream, I was saying “I had a dream like this!” which is an interesting take. I wonder if the Best Buy elements are coming from something I recently said. I feel… I feel like I’m too smart and too ambitious to be okay just doing retail my whole life; but I’m not smart enough and not ambitious enough to really excel in the professional world. Ultimately, I was telling Wife the other night that I wish I had been okay just doing retail forever. It is something I could do with little trouble and, in a lot of ways, still allowed for a life. Wife, wisely, said I wouldn’t feel that way if we hadn’t left the Des Moines area. That since following Law brought us to this shitty town and empty county; my brain is automatically preferring anything that could have kept us in Des Moines. And, of course, she’s right. Of course she is. But… it makes sense, eh? If my sense of “I need something more than this” only led to a place of “less”… then… I’d consider it a net loss. It’s like… reading a children’s book to college students, saying you want something more, and then reading college books to children. It may have been even a little embarrassing before; but at least the college students understood what you were reading.

In that thought process:
The Caption Reads: The Lifeguard at the Summer Olympics… Because There is a LIFEGUARD at the Summer Olympics.
But if you think about it… it makes sense. Yes, they are all the BEST athletes in the world. They know how to swim. But what if there is an emergency? Someone’s heart bursts, their legs cramp up, or a spectator falls in? Yeah… it is funny to think of someone who isn’t as skilled of a swimmer playing lifeguard to Olympic Swimmers… but his job isn’t to be the best swimmer, his job is to be a lifeguard.

On a completely different note… my brain is such a strange creature when it comes to creative endeavors. Because, honestly, I WANT to create. There’s a theory on the nature of humanity that suggests all humans have an innate, inherent need to be creative. I’m not sure if I agree with that entirely… I mean, insofar as it relates to ALL humans equally. I think the modern emphasis in some cultures on “The Individual” have certainly encouraged and inspired a personal drive to be “creative” with people… but I’m getting off topic.
So… I want to create. I want to make my writing ideas come alive. But I have ZERO confidence. For example… just this morning… I had the idea of a book. Titled Finding Boothby… and the book would be about Star Trek as a philosophical concept, agreeing that there are certainly some communist overtones but suggesting that the communist concepts themselves can only exist as Star Trek exists in a post-scarcity environment. And if, instead of irl hoarding resources and working to deprive others of scarce materials… if we honestly made efforts to explore the possibility of a post-scarcity world… the globe might find itself in a much better place than the darkness it currently dwells in. After all, the labor market is certainly experiencing “post scarcity” in some ways and with the rise of technology, that may continue. And I get the inklings of that book idea… and then my brain just goes “Nope.” A book like that would require licensing and research and time and talent and you don’t have anything like that! Thus goes the way of most of my writing thoughts.

And now for something completely different.
Bill and Hillary Clinton have often been in trouble for accepting, soliciting, and rewarding (allegedly illegal) Chinese Donations for political action. Donald Trump is so far up Vladamir Putin’s asshole, that he’s digesting the man’s borscht. Both are current hotbed situations in the East. Putin is invading countries, befriending potential dictators, and (in many ways) telling the International Community to go fuck itself when it comes to the Syrian Crisis. China is wiping its ass with International Rulings governing ownership of the Senkaku Islands to the point where there are scattered reports that the Chinese are building militarized airstrips on these islands.
In summary: When the DNC discusses how there’s no reason for all the fear the Americans are experiencing… they’re wrong. People still haven’t the money or jobs they need, the international situation is grim, and both candidates have suspicious relationships with likely imminent enemies.
In contrast: When the GOP discusses how there’s only reason to fear and the Americans are in more danger now than ever… they’re wrong. The threats from “illegals” and “ISIS” aren’t as devastating throughout the country as they are to isolated pockets within the country. If the GOP did a little more work on reform and economic recovery, there would be a lot less people terrified… but that wouldn’t serve the Party of Fear (which, watch their speeches this campaign… they truly are becoming the Party of Fear).
In contrast: When Michelle Obama (who gave a good speech, this issue not withstanding) tells you that you shouldn’t let anyone tell you America isn’t great… it is like she’s actively forgetting the last 16 years of DNC talking points. Her husband even ran on a campaign of Change and Hope because “the country wasn’t great.” Hell, explain the popularity of Aaron Sorkin’s clip:

And that ladies and gentlemen… is pretty much how I feel right now. America needs to get itself back on track. We used to educate, we used to innovate, we used to mean something. Now? Now we’ve got… this election. A recent poll came out showing a pretty stark reality.
54% of Americans believe Hillary Clinton is untrustworthy.
63% of Americans believe Donald Trump is untrustworthy
So, while I disagree with Mr. Daniel’s comments about “the generation;” I’ll have to say… this is the WORST period ELECTION period EVER (with the caveat that, of course it isn’t the worst ever but it’s feeling damned near!)

Fun Story From Work (and then I’ll shut up for a while):
Y’know how this county is so technophobic that they don’t even have IT. Seriously, no IT for the county. We contract with a company that is an hour and a half away for our “IT”… but it isn’t IT the way you’d expect. They charge us $150 per month just to provide a Cloud Save/Sharing device. Then they charge us per call anytime there is a computer problem. Including, but not limited to, when they make errors. They “couldn’t figure out” why my 3+ year old ThinkPad the county provided couldn’t access the cloud… until they realized they hadn’t done something on THEIR end. So, they fixed it… and sent us a bill for $500. And every time something like this comes up, I say… imagine how much BETTER everything would be if we had an In House IT department that covered all County Computer issues. It would be cheaper, create at least one (or more) jobs in an area desperate for income… but no. We’d rather do it this way. Fucking. Crazy.

(PS: Just got the County Board Minutes… the people in charge, the people who judge my pay, the people who ultimately have the power to fire me.... couldn’t be assed to know my name or care. They just put my predecessor’s name as “ACA”… odd and really a good sign of how much I’m appreciated/how much I do around here.)