9/15/2014

OMG, IDK - DLR

Kids today think they have written the acronyms that they use in Texting each other.   Coming from a Military Background, I want to disabuse them of that notion.   In 1966, I was the FNG and went to the MEPS in KC as I got drafted into the Army.   We were sent to FLW, MO to the REPODEPO and sent to our BT CO.  We were issued our WEB gear and then put through D&C until we could march like soldiers.  We trained with our M-14's and fired Qual.  I fired Expert with the M-14 and could not hit the side of the barn with the .45. 

OK, you get the hint that the acronym of shortened words aren't something new for texting.  We have been trying to eliminated extra vowels and consonants for years.  IT is interesting that the thing that cost me many A's and B's in school are now thrown away with ease.  Part of my misspelling is that some genius tried to teach me phonetics early and my mind just accepted that if it knew what I had written, everyone else did too.  If they didn't know what I meant, how could they grade my work with all those little red characters?   Yes, I will say again that I got so many of them that I thought that D meant Denny.  I also think they gave me D's to keep me from flunking and getting me again the next year.  For most of my time at Minneha there were three classes of us so that meant they had a 1 in 3 chance of repeating with me.  I am sure that there are teachers around the State that shudder at that thought.   Well, that might be an exaggeration as a lot of them are no longer living.  I won't take credit for that but there are a few cases where I would love to do so.   There was a story here in the Heartland that there was a goy so hated that if someone shot him, three or four guys would go to the Police Station and turn them selves in seeking credit.   Or something like that.

The other day, our Barbershop Chorus sang at a Book Fair on the north steps of the Capitol building.  I knew they had been working on the State House but I had no idea how beautiful the work is.  If you are a Kansan, you should try to schedule a trip through the Capitol building now that most of the work is completed.  Even the bathrooms are really spiffy.  I love the native Kansas limestone and tile they used.  If you think it looks great, you should hear our chorus singing "Home on the Range" (Kansas State Song) from the lower level of the rotunda.  We rocked it from there.  I am just sad that I didn't have Barbara bring the camera and record it.

The other day, the truck started to make noises from under the hood like the muffler had fallen off.  I decided that yesterday would be a good day to see what was wrong and fix it.  I lifted the hood and started the motor.  It was clearly obvious that the exhaust manifold was loose and at least one bolt was missing.  Makes me suspect that someone needed a bolt and thought the truck looked abandoned.  The bolts that were lose were behind the steering box and I had a tough time tightening them back up.  The one that was missing was right out in the open and easy to loosen.  I made a trip to the hardware store and bought a Grade 8 (Real Hard bolt) but had a problem finding one the right length.  I added two washers and a lock washer and everything tightened up right.  I didn't even have to replace the manifold gasket.  That made me think that it wasn't something that just happened over time.  Had those bolts just worked loose over time, the gasket would have been destroyed.  Oh well, it only cost mw $1.27 to fix it.  Bargain at twice the price.

The other day, someone wrote that if we really want to have a strong Military, we should draft old guys and leave the young guys home to procreate the next generation.    There is only one problem with that as I see it.  There was a time when I could read a map well in any light and now I have to have one of those 100 watt suckers.  I saw a scene from a Vietnam movie crew and I just did not have that "DLR" sense I once had.  DLR is Didn't look right and I had to be told that no Vietnamese farmer would have his water buffalo up by the hooch's as he worked the garden.  First of all, the women would take care of the garden and a water buffalo could eat a typical garden in about 5 minutes.  I also could not see clearly that they really had AK-47s not a garden hoe in their hand.  I would have waited for the Rules of engagement to kick in and probably got shot for my lack of a sixth sense.  Back in the day, I would have been locked and loaded, had a firing battery on standby and ready to blast away. That is to point out that I for one would not be the greatest soldier for the Army today.  Not enough Naproxen Sodium to help me get up in the morning if I had to carry a pack all day.

I would have to have a nap each day
Back in the day

MUD






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