Greetings, Fellow Sojourners!
So, weird things often go through my head at intervals best described by a Poisson distribution curve. If you are not familiar with the Poisson, don’t sweat it. It’s not important. I once confessed on Facebook that sometimes I will drive down the road and, based on the reading on my dashboard’s tachometer, I’ll calculate in my head the number of spark plug firings per second going on under the hood at that moment. And once the question arose whether a hippo that was submerged in a river eating underwater plants, knew enough to turn and face upstream before going Number Two. Further, did he have any regard for his fellow herd mates in that situation? And so I’ll record these musings on Facebook for the entertainment of my connections there, but then I thought, why not just start a blog and expose them to a wider audience. So, here we are. The world is full of wonder and I am in awe of most of it. The recent solar eclipse is a case in point. Did you know that of the 178 known moons in our solar system (counting Pluto’s moons, but not those of the other dwarf planets), only the Earth-Luna-Sol system produces total eclipses where the moon perfectly covers the diameter of the Sun? That is, from our vantage point on the planet’s surface? Things like that make me go “HHhhmmmmm. Intriguing.” Thus you have the Man of Intrigue.
Anyway, besides astronomical oddities, I am intrigued by free enterprise, individual liberty, why nation states go rogue, the absolute beauty of the U.S. constitution and why there is so much poverty. And a bunch of other stuff. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn once wrote:
… the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?
Wow. Intriguing. Fodder for a future blog post, wouldn’t you say? 🙂
Anyway, the WordPress Happiness coaches say I’m supposed to disclose some things about me in this introductory post. But where would the intrigue be in that? Oh, very well. So … the Man of Intrigue is a resident of the Great Lakes region, with an eclectic career that has included to date a stint in the Army followed by analytical/technical jobs in wholesale distribution, retail operations, banking operations, technology, as well as in education. I hold a BA, an MBA, and graduated from the U.S. Army Command & General Staff College. I’ve been blessed to visit 15 countries on four continents and have marveled at the differences among peoples but also at their similarities. The hardest thing I have ever had to do physically was to rappel down a cliff with a 200-pound buddy strapped to my back during Army Ranger school. Every fiber in every muscle in my body screamed in agony, as I fought to maintain control during that descent. By the time we reached the bottom, I was completely spent. The hardest thing emotionally was to fire a colleague – a good man 99.99% of the time – but who crossed that dividing line in his heart on an occasion that couldn’t be ignored or soft-pedaled. I was a wreck for days afterward. The biggest thrill was hanging off the wind spoiler affixed to the side of a military aircraft while in flight. Over the ocean. At night. And then as the plane crossed over the beach, climbing back in and pushing out my fellow parachutists, jumping after them into the black jungle below. No, that’s not it. It was watching my kids being born. The biggest terror would be watching arterial blood spurt out of my body after emerging from the thick molasses of a concussion to the realization that a mortar round had detonated seven yards away, and that I might be breathing my last breaths on this earth. But I wasn’t. Got to keep one of the pieces of shrapnel though, still embedded in my leg to this day. And you know what? You don’t even get a Purple Heart when it happens in a peacetime training exercise, and you get blown up by your own troops! My biggest loves are my Lord, my wife, my passel of direct descendants, Deluxe Pizza and Moose Tracks Ice Cream in that order.
Anyway, enough about me. For now. Looking forward to sojourning with you!
Poor Richards' Capitalist 