Far East Cynic

Steadfastness.

A word to myself.

Some people won't be happy until they've pushed you to the ground. What you have to do is have the courage to stand your ground and not give them the time of day. Hold on to your power and never give it away.
 

One day at a time and remember-this too shall pass.

Nothing to see here folks, move along. Don't ask yourself the obvious question of , "would a man have been allowed to serve beyond a DOPMA limits in grade?" Of course not.

Vice Adm. Michelle Howard was nominated for reappointment to the rank of vice admiral today by President Obama, a move that allows three-star officers to serve longer than 38 years without being promoted.

But if you disagree about her qualifications, well,  go back and look here for the results.

It was raining in Tel Aviv when I went up to Jerusalem. Since Jerusalem is in the hills-it was raining worse when I got there. Very unsual for Israel-where they have sunshine 310 days a year. So I did not start off with the intent to go to the Memorial, but I figured it would be easier and out of the rain. Thus the low clouds you see in all the pictures. ( Click on the picture to see it properly).

As is no secret to many who have read here a while, you know that I am a big fan of Herman Wouk. While I was in Israel last week-I had the opportunity to visit Yad Vashem. Yad Vashem is the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem. I had not visited Yad Vashem in over 20 years. It is an amazing sight-and at the same time-a depressing place. The main point Yad Vashem drives home is this: the Holocaust represents a huge human tragedy in our history, one for which we all bear some level of anguish and sorrow. The idea that a nation-a nation that was the home of a revolution in Christianity-decided with methodical consistency to extinguish a whole generation of humanity. How could that happen? And why was the rest of the world so apathetic to the real evidence of its occurrence?

The video below was made in 2001 in California. It is very, very, long. ( almost an hour). But it is worth your time. I am envious-I will never have the ability to use words the way this man can. You should read his books and hear his words. They are awesome. He is an ardent defender of Israel-for better or worse. Nonetheless-he makes one understand the pull of this one nation over all others in our world.

Watch it and observe for your self:

It is well worth your time.  It is important to hear-to understand the modern Jewish State. The State that I admire dearly-but only understand about halfway.

Greetings from Sunny Istanbul! My furlough appears delayed, at least for the present-so I am on the road again, enjoying free beer and food in the massively awesome Turkish Airlines lounge here in Istanbul’s Airport. Heading back to the land of milk and honey-for not so sweet dealings.

Last year when the S.O. and I were here, the big movie sensation was 1453. This year its Canakkale. Same basic theme-just a different century. Turks beating the snot out of Westerners.

I wonder what’s behind all this outpouring of Turkish patriotic fervor.

Anyway-here is the trailer:

For those not familiar, this movie is about the Battle for Gallipoli. Suffice it to say the British Empire comes out on the short end of the stick.

Greetings from the beautiful city of Madrid! I had hoped to post some from here-but the days have been pretty full of sight seeing and, since they eat late here, getting back to the room and falling straight asleep. Have done a lot and seen a lot. Will post my observations on the city once I get back to the icebox Germany.

However,  on the flight down here, I came across this quote in a section of the in flight magazine.  For a long time now-ever since I went off the deep end, and decided that life in Japan and the expat life style was for me-  I have repeatedly gotten the question from friends and former friends to the extent of, " Why can't you just settle down, put down some roots and build a solid life in just one location? Don't you realize what an isolated lifestyle you lead?"

No I don't. And for what it's worth, it beats the hell out of a suburban lifestyle in any one of a 100 cities in the USA. Here is why:

Without the possibility of travel, we would be confined within meager limits; travel raises us up the status of gods, with no restriction or obstacles. The myth of the flying carpet is this: there is something magical in the inner transformation that comes from leaping a new frontier. The customs officer believes he's locked you into your official identity by checking your passport. But in fact you have only handed over an empty shell, the photo of someone who is no longer you. Your true life is about to begin, the multipile possibilities within you start to soar, and you are snatched from your small private self to become a citizen of the world.- Dominque Fernandez.

 

I love that quote. It speaks to me in so many ways-and I understand it so very well. There are some men who are meant for the familiar suburban lifestyle, tending to the yard and driving whoever, back and forth to [fill in the blank of mindless mundane suburban chore here]. That is not me. Nor can it be me. And if you are wondering why, Ms Fernandez has an explanation for that too:

Go your way, seducers, flatterers, idlers, those glib of tongue and charlatans; I am not a seed that you can force to grow; my goal differs so from yours that I would be wasting my time in trying to explain where my inclination drives me. 

 

When I get back, I will fill in some of my observations of the city that is Madrid. I really like it-and it was very different from what I had expected. Stay tuned. Till then-the prowl beckons.

No further comment needed.

Truly, a great American.

For the other 14 bad ass people you have never met-check here.

Dad was released last night from the hospital. He was more than a little happy to be back at his own house again. So this today, I left him to the care of my sister the nurse-and boarded the plane to go to DC FFT Frankfurt and the train ride home. Sipping a beer in the lounge now-and preparing to head to the gate in a short bit.

In rebooking my flights, I had to eat a fairly long layover due to the availability of seats ( especially for the long haul) and the fact that I was changing  the one leg that was a personally procured ticket. ( e.g. a cheap one). So I had some time to kill-and took a taxi over to the Air and Space Museum at Dulles. Its nice-but now that I have been through it a second time, I am kind of underwhelmed. It has a lot of airplanes to be sure-but you can't crawl through any. And I really don't understand the layout. It seems to me they sandwiched  the aircraft in wherever they could fit it.

Back to the airport, had a quick lunch and now it is time to make the leap across the Altantic. Looking at the Concorde in the museum-I sure wish I could have saved up the scratch and flown on it, even if it was just once. I saw a documentary once on the Concorde Experience and it certainly looked a better way to travel than 8 hours in the cattle car.

More politics when I am back in frosty Germany. And in the not so welcoming arms of a cranky S.O. who has been sick herself.

Maybe I should stay here in DC and go booming.

I was supposed to have arrived in Germany today. Instead I remain here in North Carolina-due to the rather disconcerting fact that my father ended up in the hospital yesterday, and I got to watch me get really freaked out by worry about my Dad in the ER.  I will spare you the gory medical details-suffice it say what happened was enough to make my sister ( the nurse) feel strongly enough to demand we take him to the ER.  As it turned out-it was a good thing we did.

So. Today was the shuttle back and forth to the hospital and watching people come in and out of his room all day long to do various medical things. My hat is off to people who work in the medical profession. I could not do what they do-and they perform a necessary and needed service. And unlike, I-who produces power points and word documents-they actually do something productive.

I hate hospitals however. And especially so when your own father is in the bed. Because in a rather disturbing way-it is a foreshadowing of where I will be in X number of years. Except unlike my father, there will not be a loving daughter to be there to assist him on a day to day basis. A frightening prospect-but one I can do little about now. The milk has been spilled, the choices-for good or ill-made. Nonetheless it troubles me to see my father, who gave so much to each and every one of us, in this particular position.

Today, my Dad looked a lot better-and if all goes well he will be back home at the end of the week. Which is a good thing beyond all compare .

In the interim though-posts will be off an on, which may be a good thing.

I am on travel with limited computer access. Talk among yourselves.

A traveling man is a happy man. On the road for a while to various and sundry places. Posting will be even more haphazard than it already is.

This bit of news highlights again something really screwed up about US politics. He slept with someone? BFD. He obviously knew how to keep it discrete-and since he did, its nobody's business but his own.

American prudishness claims another victim. Did he know how to do his job? Probably. The rest is utter bullshit.

It will be interesting to watch the recriminations unfold in the weeks to follow.

I have finally gotten to the point where I can sit in front of the computer for a while. The surgery went well-and was very different from my expectation. The folks at Landstuhl from the nurse who saw me first in the pre-op room, " Quit fighting the eye drops-I'm going to win. We both know this."-to the team in the operating room to the folks in the post op area. They were all superb professionals and my gratitude towards them is immense. They really knew how to allay your fears on the way to the OR-and keep you talking about something else besides the fact that you are about to have the lens in one eye replaced.

The surgery was very different than what I expected. The numbing drops and the anesthesia relax you, but yet you re still awake. You can feel the motion around your eye-but nothing else. The doctor was very good about telling me about what he was doing. He asked me up front if I wanted the "play by play". I said no, "just give me the high points-and for God's sake don't use the word :OOPS." He complied with my request.

After they released me, wearing a guard over my eye that made me look like Cyclops-the S.O. drove me back to the VQ at Ramstein. Where I slept and slept and slept. The instructions after the surgery are simple. Don't touch your eye, use the drops 4 times a day, and what ever you do, don't bend over! Don't pick up anything heavy, and don't strain yourself. A blessing of sorts because I could get the S.O. to do everything-and I still got to watch all my favorite TV programs.

The other blessing has been I missed most of the political news. The debate between Romney and Obama has been beaten to death by the pundits. What parts I watched-I don't think the President did so bad, he was trying to act restrained and not call Romney a cocksucker-which he probably should have. Jim Leher deserves nothing but scorn for failing to keep Romney in his box. More on that to follow.

What probably escaped most American's attention was two things: Israel shot down a drone. ( Origin unknown) and Turkey authorized the use of military force against Syrian. Both are events that should scare most cognizant Americans. Unfortunately, the morons among my fellow citizenry are too busy worrying about Romney's bullshit proposals to kill Big Bird:

Have been exceptionally busy-my trip finishes up today. On the plane tomorrow. Posting will resume this weekend.

With little time to post.

But I did wish to note this interesting development:

The New York Yankees acquired Ichiro Suzuki from the Seattle Mariners on Monday in a trade that sent the Japanese star from a last-place team to a World Series contender.

The Yankees also got cash considerations from the Mariners, who received pitching prospectsD.J. Mitchell and Danny Farquhar.

The teams announced the deal hours before their three-game series opener in Seattle. Moving from one clubhouse to another, Ichiro started in right field in place of the injured Nick Swisher and batted eighth for New York on Monday night. It was the first time Ichiro, who had spent his entire major league career with the Mariners, started a game batting anywhere other than the top three spots in the lineup

Two dozen teams in baseball-and Ichiro has to go the evil empire?