I am having a bit of trouble deciding what to do in the blog today, as I am pretty tired. I had an 18+ hour work day yesterday and didn't get in bed until after 2 am...not a huge deal except that the cleaning crew came by for my laundry this morning at 6:45 am and woke me up! I know that it is hard to feel sorry for a guy who has someone else doing his laundry, making his bed, and mopping his floor, but laundry pickup isn't supposed to be until after 8 am (8 am- 10 am according to the sign in my room), so I am a bit annoyed about it. I couldn't get back to sleep, so I just got up and came back into the office where it is already promising to be another long day as we are preparing for a couple of critical crew changes within the next three days, and I will be alone for four days starting on Sunday. Sorry to open a post with whining, but I needed a vent, and now, I do actually feel much better...thanks for "listening", team!
Now, what should we talk about today...I guess there are a couple of news items that I heard about last night and this morning that I was a bit angered about...what is the problem with modern sports stars? There are so few who actually seem to be good people...for example, Lance Armstrong admits to cheating, for his ENTIRE career. What a jerk! This guy has sued everyone under the sun who ever spoke out against him, people with good evidence or first-hand accounts of his blood doping were slapped with gag orders and lawsuits for defamation and/or slander / libel. He has ruined the careers of other riders who didn't want to cheat with him. He is simply the lowest of the low, and I for one think that the world should forget about him forever; he would have been a no one if he hadn't been a cheater. Second let down (except that I am no fan of Notre Dame Football), Manti Te'o turns out to be either a bit of a liar and the most gullible human alive, or he is a sociopath who enjoys garnering the sympathies of an entire nation to build his brand before going into the draft. Would he have won all of the awards and accolades without his legend? Possibly, but I am not so sure about it...was he really the BEST defensive player in college football last year? He simply had the best tale, and it turns out to be a hoax, likely perpetrated by him and his close friend. It just goes to show that in this modern world of celebrity and entertainment culture there is little to count on anymore...the people that most of us place our faith in often turn out to be poor examples of humanity...it is hard to become a celebrity by being a genuine, good person - it takes a certain ruthlessness, unyielding ambition, and basic shallowness (possibly) to NEED to be rich and famous...what is that person compensating for in themselves to need to be adored and powerful and unfathomably wealthy? Now, before I get accused of generalizing or being a Communist by denying people their fundamental right to excessive, unfathomable, irresponsible, immoral wealth, let me say that I am positive that there are examples of famous people who are not awful. I am pretty sure that Tina Fey is both truly talented and quite down to Earth, Mother Theresa was a cool chick, and the Pope John Paul II seemed to be a pretty genuine guy. I am well aware that many of the world's richest individuals give extraordinary sums of money away to charity, and I appreciate it, I really do, but the amount they keep is no less obscene (in my mind) for the giving. I am obviously way overstating my case here, and it is likely a leap to use these two athletes as the basis for the denunciation of all celebrities and media stars, but I believe that American culture has a sickness, and it is celebrity. We are infected with a need to be rich and famous, and it leads to a vapid, lazy, apathetic culture that will prove unable to survive. I don't know...it sort of just makes me sad...I look at Iraq which at one time was a center of civilization and learning and culture in a world before there was much of these things, and then I see where it has fallen. Do we want America to end up like this?
Wow, I just went with that out well beyond any logical end...sorry for the rant - I must REALLY be tired! Honestly, to be very clear, I am not against wealth, and I am not against celebrity. What I AM against is the over-valuation of these things in our society. Why do we not value our teachers as much...they, after all, educate and inspire our children? Why do we not value our scientific community...in fact, we often do just the opposite and deride them and accuse them of having secret agendas when their research says something that we don't want to hear (re: global warming)? Why do we not value our politicians and government enough to demand people that actually want to serve the citizens of our nation, rather than simply suck at the teat of special interests? No, we DO NOT value these things, instead we value movie stars, rappers, sports stars, and celebrity CEOs, as if any of them have the answer to anything meaningful or useful to us as a society and as citizens of planet Earth.
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| It isn't quite the worst picture of me ever, but here I am enjoying a bit of R&R in my room. |
Well, I can see that I am a bit cantankerous today, so maybe I need to dial it back a bit...perhaps continue on with the New Year's Resolutions 2013 list (there is nothing controversial there). First, a quick review: 1) Fatty, fatty, fatty, fatty...NO, 2) Bad dad out, good dad in, and 3) Debt free = living free. Okay, so that will bring us to Resolution #4...I resolve to actually take at least two REAL vacations this year (no so-called "stay-cations"), including (but not necessarily limited to) a trip to backpack in Big Bend National Park with Erin. Wow, that is a bit anti-climatic isn't it...I covered this topic yesterday (shows that I haven't read through my whole list of Resolutions since I wrote them in my iPad on New Year's night). No matter, I didn't talk about Big Bend so I will talk about backpacking there now, and why it got a specific mention in the list, as I believe the resolution was more about Big Bend NP than other vacations, but I simply expanded it to include the other vacations as well. Big Bend National Park is in Texas, and I live in Texas (why, for the love of God, why?!), so it bothers me that I haven't been there since moving to the state. The reason that I haven't been there is that Big Bend is about 12 hours from Houston and is very remote, which is the real reason that I desperately want to go back there (I was there for a couple of days back in the 1990's). In the park is the South Rim Trail which may be connected to a couple of others to create a classic 30 mile backpacking loop through the Chisos Mountains, including an ascent of Emory Peak, which is the highest mountain in the park at a little under 8000 ft. From what I have read, the trail is a strenuous three-day or easy four day trip. Also, on the east side of the park are some interesting little slot canyons and a hot spring, so perhaps tack a day onto the trip to cover that as well. It is just a great trip that could be had in five days if we pushed hard enough on the drive out and back. So, for Erin, it would only cost a single vacation day if we did it on a weekend where she has Friday off anyway. So, let me share a few facts about this little-known national park: the park is 1250 square miles in size. It was awarded UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve status back in 1976, due to the fact that it is the premier park for the study of Chihuahuan Desert flora and fauna. Birders come from all over the world to the park and consider it a "must see" for the North American continent, as the park has over 450 bird species which call it home or migrate through it. Over twenty different species of bats exist within the park, coexisting with 75 species of mammals including black bear, mountain lions, white-tail deer, and coyotes, 31 species of snakes, 22 species of lizards, and 7 species of turtles. The park's southern border (all 118 miles of it) is delineated by the Rio Grande National Wild and Scenic River. So, if it was unclear why I have been dying to return to Big Bend there you go...
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| This is not me, of course, but this is a picture of the South Rim Trail in Big Bend NP. |
So, that is about all that I have for today, except to say that tomorrow is Saturday which means the weekend for all of you and really nothing for us here (technically today was a weekend day in this part of the world), but I will finally get to speak to my kids on the phone which I am very excited about. I miss them so much and can't wait to tell them so. I apologize again for the crotchety post; tomorrow is a whole new day. I think I will talk a little about the history of Basra...
Adios...
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