Isolationist Me?

World politics has never been an easy concept for me to grasp.  The interconnectivity that runs behind the confrontational scenes and in parallel reality to the harsh public words is difficult to comprehend, but nonetheless is there.

How the US can have so many economic ties to China and still shake a public stick at them over the squabbles with Japan amazes me.  But I just don't get those multiple facets of business and diplomacy.

So, it shouldn't surprise anyone if I say that I'm tending towards isolationism these days.

Not the old-fashioned kind, though, in which we hide inside our borders and don't engage at all.  More of a revised model, in which we engage culturally and economically but drop the Team American World Police attitude.

I feel this way based on the observation that we don't get things right that often.  We might actually make events worse through our actions than if we didn't do anything at all.

I say it also because I am starting to believe that the main reason there is such opposition to World Trade agreements and the like is not so much the economic aspects but the power-politics involved.  No agreement ever seems to be just about making money and creating jobs, two concepts few people can really complain about.  There always seem to be power and influence additions that sour the deal for many of us.

So, can we actually have an economic and cultural open house, while keeping our noses out of other countries internal affairs?  Can we buy VWs and sell Fords to Germany without bugging Angela Merkel's phone?

I think so.  After all Canada pulls it off, so how hard can it be?  (No offense, Canada)

Now, there will be some situations we can't ignore, like genocides, ethnic cleansing, and Dennis Rodman.  No isolationist worldview is absolute, I'm just asking for a little restraint.

Doodle Hair

It's a clear and beautiful mid-Saturday here in Los Angeles.  Our air is fresh after last week's welcome rain, and our collective Angeleno Spirits are up.

So why have I been sitting and staring at the furry conundrum that is our Dog, instead of running about outside in that freshy air?

Well, he's a Doodle, which to other owners of such stock is 'nuff said, but to the blissfully ignorant requires a bit of explanation:

Doodles do not shed.  They don't have 'fur', but instead have 'hair', which much like our own continues growing and growing until someone cuts it.  (I stop here to look longingly at our other dog, a short-haired traditional-style dachshund, who NEVER needs grooming).

For owners expert in grooming by interest - or who have become so by necessity, this is no biggie.  (Get out the Shears, Ma!).  But to the rest of us who are first-time Doodlers, we find ourselves owners of a canine Gordian Knot, with our only option paying our local grooming Alexanders to wield their mighty swords.

This is not an easy choice for those on a budget, or who like long-hair on dogs.  These Doodles have lots of hair and it is expensive to cut; well, at least it is if you are so reluctant to cut the stuff that you unintentionally leave it so long your Dog resembles a giant rasta-hairdooed lint ball rather than something four-legged.  Once in such a state, the groomers roll their eyes and give just one choice - total annil-hair-ation.

Once groomed, the formerly glorious hound looks like a badly-sheared sheep.  (Hey, I wonder if taking your Doodle to a sheep-shearing is cheaper?)

So, I am sitting here, mentally exploring alternatives to a buzz-cut.  And, of course, I begin to see metaphors to other parts of (my) life.

The most immediate being meetings.  Too many meetings, of the corporate type involving many invitees and frequent recurrences planned in advance for months on end.  And the endless reams of communications and declarations and agendas and minutes that come from all of them.

Show me the inbox of a typical mid-level corporate wonk and I'll show you meetings and their swirl.  You'd be hard-pressed to find the 'skin of the dog'.

Maybe if I can suss out the best approach to our Doodle, I may be able to apply the lessons to my corporate life.  Barring any business Alexanders wielding efficiency swords who may pop up, I could be my company's only hope.

But only if I can get a handle on this Doodle.

Android Dreams

Analisa threw a look over her shoulder at James as she slipped out the door.  In the movement he caught the glisten of not-yet-dried tears on her cheek.  He gave a half-wave and a painful smile.

"See you tomorrow.  Things'll look better then."

From the front step Analisa groaned in response, "Yeah, Right".  And away she went.

James looked down at the newspage glowing on his iPad.  He ran his finger across the headline they had both just read, sitting close together in the way people in shared distress do,

'Wozniac Says to Apple, Build An Android Phone'

With a choked sob, he slapped the smartcover shut, blotting out the hateful text.

"She's right, nothing will ever look as good again.  The Woz has betrayed his Oz"

Dry Ice

What a wonderful introduction to 2014 we've had, weather-wise.  I think we'll all remember 'Polar Vortex'; even those of us living in the West, which, until this past week brought us something that looks very much like rain, has been dry and warm: even more than a typical SoCal 'Winter'.

To be honest, I'm still failing to understand what causes a 'Polar Vortex'.  All I can fathom is that a lot of very cold air is rushing down from the North Pole, sweeping across Canada, and plunging deep into the US of A's solar plexus.  Exactly WHY this air is rushing down I don't know, although I am willing to lay blame on the jet stream - that puppy is always stirring up trouble.  If the weather stinks its because a stratospheric river of air has done something naughty.  It's even a worse actor than El Nino, or La Nina, whichever of those two flavors of lukewarm of lukecold Sea Rivers are in play.  Not that I've heard either mentioned lately, what with that new, fashionable Vortex Kid in town.

I also don't understand why we here in the West have been so very dry and warm while the rest of You have been buried under varying layers of ice.  You get 'Ice Age' and we get 'Lawrence of Arabia'.

Maybe all that cold, wet air being blown down from the Pole was sucked up from somewhere far out in the Pacific, and pulled completely up and over us.

Whatever, it seems to have broken down now, and we're getting a little wet.  Which is OK, because it eases my conscience for enjoying the perfect motorcycle riding weather the dare-I-say 'drought' has brought with it.  My penance for feeling smug about my year-round biking while my Northern and Eastern brothers and sisters have to live on magazines, online forums, and dreams from Thanksgiving to Easter, is that I now have to do some of the same, if only for a short time.

Being You (in 2014)

Come midnight the 31st of December many of us will be vowing to uphold a list of resolutions; most of which will be focused on improving ourselves, somehow, someway.

Those of Us who have lived long enough on this planet will already know this is largely a hopeless task.  Most items on the list will be forgotten by February and nearly all by May.  What remains will be added to next year's list, since what can you do when the year is already half gone?

Let's all try something different for 2014.

Let's vow to just be who we are, who YOU ARE, whoever  you are.

This year, choose resolutions that conform to You.  Don't plan to do things that are not You.  For example, don't plan to write the Great American Novel if getting out that 10-page work report is pure torture.  Don't decide to learn Piano if you can't stomach the embarrassment of (badly) performing childish ditties, when your inner fantasist envisions Elton John, at a minimum.

Choose resolutions that are enhancements of who You already Are.  If you love riding motorcycles, plan to become better at just one thing associated with riding.  That does NOT include going from zero to Hero and riding in the Isle of Man TT; try to be realistic and pick one, small thing that can be achieved.  Ride the length of your State, for instance, or get a knee down on a trackday.  Or just ride more often in 2014.

Also, don't try to change yourself beyond reasonable capabilities and Your Nature. Instead improve something you have a chance of controlling. For example, if you tend to fatness, don't plan to run a marathon by June, vow instead that if you are going to be fat, then you'll be fat eating only the best food you can afford, not cheap and tasteless junk food. Stick firmly to that simple goal and 2014 will feel better even if your waist size stays the same.

In recent years I've consciously make ridiculous resolutions I never intended to keep; mainly because I've never kept any in the past no matter how reasonable there were.  I've come to realize this may have been because all my resolutions were too sweeping.  The changes may have been desirable - even wise, but the scope was too large, removing any hope they'd be realized.

So, for 2014, my resolutions will be baby steps that I can take without trying hard at all.  But they will be improvements, and that's what counts.  I'm no longer swinging for the fences - I'm recognizing I'm a singles hitter at best and bunting my way towards the future.

Good Luck and Happiness to All in 2014 ...

Missing November

Wandering into December, still stuffed with Thanksgiving, I am missing November.

It was a mild month, without the bite of Winter, and some good things happened to lessen the bad things that seem to happen with regularity these days.  Iran agreed in principle to limitations on its nuclear program, for example.  Patrick Jayne finally got his Red John, for another.

A promising new TV show, 'Almost Human' premiered.  It's by J.J. Abrams, so the bloom might not be long on the Rose, but it takes a lot to make Karl Urban uninteresting - like keeping an obscuring mask on him all the time (I Dredd the thought). So... so far, so good.  

November was such as engrossing month, I didn't have much to relate in this space.  I still don't really.  I'm no longer angered by the Republicans, since October kicked them hard into November, keeping them sheepish and quiet, barring the odd Obamacare Website rant.  

But December I expect will be a cold, hard month.  November's Comet of The Century fragmented in the Sun to become December's unspectacular wisp and bits. A harbinger if I ever saw one.

The good news is that December is the fastest passing month of the year, taken up as it is with furious shopping and planning for celebrations, and then the Christmas Holiday itself will whisk us right into the New Year before we know it.  So, like walking quickly over hot coals, we will barely touch down long enough for the pain to be intense.  

If during this swift month, something happens that rises the righteous bile in me, I'll post about it here; otherwise, I'll see you all in the New Year.  

Happy Holidays, All ...

The Republican Charade

I spent far too many precious minutes on October 1st listening to the Republican spin on the government shutdown.  According to their current storyline, it's the fault of the Democrats and most specifically Harry Reid (Senate Majority Leader) for not wanting to 'discuss the merits of Obamacare'.

That Republican spin is complete and utter nonsense.  Do they think the public has no memory of events at all?

The Affordable Health Care Act was debated in Congress for months.  There was plenty of opportunity for Republicans to offer their own version which would achieve the same goals in a manner they prefer, but they declined to present any such plan.  Their focus was entirely on killing the Act, not replacing it with something that might be better.

When that failed to derail the Act, they filed lawsuits.  These ended up in the Supreme Court which ruled the contested provisions of the Act as constitutional.  End of Story.

When legislative debate and Supreme court decisions failed to go their way, did the Republicans accept reality and buckle down and work with the Dems to fix any unintended consequences or issues with the Act?

No, they instead drew a line in the sand and voted 41 (or 42) times to defund the Health Care Act.  Does that sound like people interested in 'discussing the merits of Obamacare'?

These Republicans are hell-bent on killing the Act and leaving millions of Americans with no healthcare options, and even worse, these Republicans are willing to do this with no solutions of their own that would give these people the care they need.

Meanwhile, the Health Care Act is off an running and looks to be getting the kind of buy-in from the public the system needs to succeed.  What do the Republicans want to do, cancel all the desperately-needed insurance the public in now buying?

The Republicans as a group can't hide behind the excuse that the 'Tea Party' conservatives made them do it.  Each and every Republican who voted for the spending bill that included defunding for Obamacare is as guilty as sin.