Stress: Your Body's Way of Messing You Up

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The defense Department has an embiggened budget for next year, but the Navy has been told to cut back. Fire 25,000 or so; slow down ship and weapons procurement.

Because the Taliban isn’t using submarines to attack us, unfortunately.

The news today provides one of the first to go: Lisa Nowak, a Navy Captain (O-6, like a full Colonel) who was one of the women to graduate from the Naval Academy in Annapolis in 1985. She went on to test pilot school, post graduate school, marriage, three kids, and a space flight as an astronaut mission specialist.












Oh, and attempted kidnapping and shoddily-alleged murder in a non-romantic love triangle with another astronaut and a woman ten years younger, a Zoomie (sorry, an Air Force officer).

Without this, she was a contender for Admiral. For PR billets, recruiting command and non-operational stuff.

She lists her hobbies as piano playing, bicycling, running, skeet shooting, sailing, gourmet cooking, rubber stamps, gardening, reading and crossword puzzles. Plus being married with three kids.

Stress? Well, for sure, yes. Her whole life focused not on her family, but on a 13-day space shuttle ride where she got to use the robot arm some. There are 100 astronauts in the pool, and very few shuttle flights scheduled before the program (gratefully) goes away in 2010 or so. So, she is done in space. After NASA, she is done in the Navy since she no longer has leadership or war fighting skills. I suspect that her husband lost it when the court sent cops out with a restraining order for Lisa to stay away from the younger Air Force Captain Shipman, prompting thrown dishes and a separation.

We went to the same school, which teaches everyone how to cope with stress, 24/7. She obviously went over the edge. I don’t believe the attempted murder charge for a minute. To me, the only fair charge is assault with a can of Mace. She apparently didn’t even violate the court order, which is valid in Houston, not Orlando. Shipman has now also filed for one in Orlando.

I feel bad for Lisa, and worse for her family.

In a Nutshell

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(Click picture to enlargen).















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"Oh, Lord, your sea is so big, and my boat is so small..."

...and slow.
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Senator Joe Biden

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Just let your kids do whateeeever they want to do...

Read Carefurry

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German Police Find 6 Bodies in Chinese Restaurant

Thank goodness, this time the bodies were human.

The last time I saw a headline like this, the bodies belonged to various cats, and they were hanging in the kitchen waiting to join the Moo Goo Gai Pan. Newport, RI, about 1973.

Too cold!

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It was -17 °F this morning at the campground.

I took Lacy outside for a quick bathroom break. After 90 seconds of dawdling (I swear, sometimes that doggie wants to read a magazine while she is relieving herself), I had to take her back in, un-relieved, because her ankles and toes no longer bent properly in the cold, and she was awkwardly limping.

If you're listening, Mr. Ex-VP Al Gore, thank you for global warming! Not a second too soon, either.

Now when, exactly, can I expect to FEEL some warming?! And Lacy, too?

Headlines

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Sometimes, the headline says it all; we don't even have to read the article.

Here are some current ones I found:



Check out CNN.com, ABC.com, and CBS.com

“Libby Loses Fight Over White House Tapes” – Man, deja-like-VU.

“Woman Had 93 Pound Tumor; Doctor’s Clueless” – Like “dog bites man”, a clueless Doctor is not news.

“'First Gentleman': Mrs. President's Worst Enemy?” - I cannot improve on this one!

“Mayor Sorry For Affair With Aide's Wife” – Actually, sorrier that it’s in the news. This is really disturbing, because it is a heterosexual sex scandal – in SAN FRANCISCO! I didn’t think they ALLOWED man-and-woman sex in San Francisco!

“Global Warming Likely Our Fault, Scientists Say” – With so much guilt, they must all be Catholics.

Self Inflicted

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Apparently under quota for traffic tickets, the local Police Chief wrote a ticket for a guy who passed a stopped, flashing school bus. It cost $235 and included four points on the driver’s license.

The offending guy was the Chief of Police. He said he was driving to work when he got distracted by a truck stopping on one side of the street.

Maybe, stopping for the school bus…

When he realized what he had done, he wrote himself the ticket. His IQ is better, now. Infraction Quota.

The other IQ is a different story.

This story was picked up by the local ABC station. Who told them, I wonder?

This is in Kewaskum WI, a town between Milwaukee and Oshkosh. Maybe this guy is also the Judge, so he could let himself off with a warning; or lock himself up for contempt. It's like a one man band!

The local bank wants the chief to drop by. It’s been a slow month, and if he will only arrest himself for robbery, they could sure use the insurance money.

Jail time would give him a chance to work on that correspondence course to become a lawyer.