Almost Home

[pecunium]

Yesterday was the end of my class at Ft. Lewis. I now have three semester hours in whatever course they credit one, when one has completed, "Intelligence in Combatting Terrorism". Interesting stuff,and I wish I could have taken the resident course (where among other things one has to take part in a group research project, to plan a terrorist attack... you don't want to know some of the ones which have been proposed, all of them feasible, most of them horrible, and most of them, pretty much unstoppable... I now know how to take out Las Vegas, and E.L.F. would love to know the plans I have for... should I?, No, I I guess I better not.).

None of it was new, but most of it wasn't anything I'd ever had to put together in that way. It was figuring out the threat to an area, and the countermeasures to take. I got a 97 on the exam, and three of the points I was dinged for were bullshit. :)

The flight to L.A. (that is why I'm almost home, not until tomorrow, around midnight, will I be home again. Monday I get to cook dinner) was gorgeous. I saw steam rising from Mt. St Helens, and there was a large area od bare rock, where snow ought to have been. Because United lets one listen to the radio traffic I know there is a 13,000 ft interdict on overflight.

The prettiest part of the flight was watching the sun rise in the west. As we climbed over Puget Sound the angle changed and a sliver of orange became a blob, and then a disk. After which it began to settle again to the water, slowly melting into a puddle of liquid gold. In the meantime it colored the clouds, and we were in a haze of rose colored mist, a tunnel of pink and violet.

Would that I'd had the weekend, or even a free day. There were places I wanted to visit (Lark in the Morning Music, shops in Seattle and San Francisco) Kells (a pub, near Lark in the Morning), the Tacoma waterfront, Nisqually (wonderful photo ops) Snoqualmie Falls. But I had not the time.

I did get to see libertango and akirlu, as well as the irresitably cute, Sara-monster, for dinner at both Mashiko (think of it as jazz sushi... experts doing riffs on a known theme, with focus, and direction, but no score, and lots of talent) and to Pano's Kleftiko, a wonderful Greek taverna, near the Space needle.

The company of friends, over food and conversation; in what is the most comfortable time of year for me. I like autumn, the lingering evening, the crisp air, the colors of the trees. A sense of preparednes, and quiet (Mole End). Settling in for the winter, getting prepared for snug fires, and warm drinks. Cozy evenings of blankets on the couch. The holidays run from Hallowe'en to New Years, lingering with friends, conspiring to make through the harshness of the coming winter.

So seeing them made up for not seeing my girl, my dog, or my bed for the past two weeks. For hotels, and restaurant meals, and isolation. For Texas having Indian summer at the start of November).

Autumn is, for me, a time of refreshment. Spring is rebirth, but autumn is restoration.

Comments

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

The IRA is, pretty much unstoppable. They have operated, in a limited environment, against a single target, in multiple countries; and several ways, for decades.

Your understanding of what could be done, in that regard, is pretty good.

I think the reason there have no been attacks in he U.S. is the same as the attack on Madrid. They wanted Bush re-elected, and a slew of attacks would have undermined his chances.

The Madrid Bombing, IMO, was the same. It didn't change the election. The Gov't of Spain was going to change. But it looked as though the bombing was done to change the election. Which implied bin Laden wanted a gov't which would leave Iraq. Which he did. But it doesn't follow that he want's such a change in the U.S., and looking as though he did, was a feather in Bush's gov't's cap.

TK