Random Thoughts

• David Read can't eat a moon pie without an RC Cola in his other hand. No, this isn't a New England thing, it is (obviously?) a Southern custom. Do they even make RC Cola anymore?
  
  
  
• What I said about being sick of my own company is true. I went to work today. It was great to banter with people and laugh and discuss random things. I can stomach my own thoughts now that I have some new ideas to chew on.
  
  
  
• It's amazing how much BEA WLW knowledge I'm still carrying around in my head that most people don't know to consider. Frankly, I think those things are only in my head because they simply weren't important enough for me (or anyone else) to drill in on. But others hear these things and it seems they believe the information has value.
  
  This sparked a discussion about how information is power. (I think power is an illusion really but if you believe in the illusion...) So if one wants to make themselves indispensable, he simply need retain control of the one nugget of information that everyone else will *fail* without, the lynch pin ... or if another person wanted to bury the first person, all they need do is steal the nugget.
  
  I took this honors seminar in college. It had three parts: Knowledge as Power, Love as Power and Money as Power. At that point in life, I knew nothing about power (other than popularity as a driver ... and I felt like so many things could create popularity) so the discussions were all academic for me. I have more insight now but I'm still not sure I "get it". And more and more I wonder exactly what *power* is.
  
  Merriam defines it this way: http://www.merriam.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=power
  
  And one of the various Nietzsche thoughts on power: "All things are subject to interpretation whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth."
  
  Or L. Ron Hubbard: "Convince a man that he is an animal, that his own dignity and self-respect are delusions, that there is no 'beyond' to aspire to, no higher potential self to achieve, and you have a slave. Let a man know he is himself, a spiritual being, that he is capable of the power of choice and has the right to aspire to greater wisdom and you have started him up a higher road."
  
  Or C.S. Lewis: "This is one of the miracles of love: It gives a power of seeing through its own enchantments and yet not being disenchanted."
  
  It seems power is like beauty ... in the eyes of the beholder ... and so it, like popularity, can be created by a myriad of things. The perspective of the beholder may grant power to another or not in his own sphere.
  
  Regardless of what it is, I seem to learn over and over that I only care about power when somebody else *over-exercises* their *power over me* (and yes I'm sensitive to a perception that another has power over me). Otherwise it doesn't seem to motivate me in any way. Freedom and individual choice on the other hand ... are like my very breath.
  
  
  
• I keep thinking about this bald eagle I saw soaring to the north of my house yesterday as I worked on my mower. It's wingspan was so large that it at first looked like a small aircraft ... until it became clear that it was floating in circles. I love eagles. The feeling I get of intense freedom and *ease* when watching them is uplifting. I find myself thinking about whether I'd want to be an eagle. I would but I also really like being down on the ground in the trenches. I love the detail as much as I like the broad perspective. George Snelling loved asking new people "if you could be any animal, what would you be?" I still can't answer that question. I'm conflicted. Today I think I'd choose to be a monkey.
  
  
  
• Do you own an Audi? The battery is dead in Kaufman's key fob. So he took it apart to demonstrate that you, the consumer, cannot change the battery (apparently). We then took mine apart to see if the newer model had the same issue (yes). If you ever do this, make sure you keep the two pieces of your fob together or you might be driving somebody else's car home that you cannot find because the car alarm/unlock triggers a completely different car. Live and learn. :)

It's Tuesday. When I don't want to think anymore, I watch TV for teens with no redeeming qualities, namely WB Tuesday night TV, Gilmore Girls. Alas tonight's episode is a rerun. I guess I'll do more research on my Italian trip.