Thursday from the Guam Desk

My beautiful grand daughter, who I am convinced will someday rule the world.


Getting caught up on this thing we call life………

--My daughter called me this afternoon, clearly distraught. My son-in-law was hospitalized last night, and the doctors are having a hard time figuring out what exactly is wrong with him. He’s been having some serious health problems now for about a year, and it’s starting to wear on my daughter. His name is Russell, and if you pray, I would ask that you pray for him. While you’re at it, pray for my daughter as well.

--The news from the wife in the Philippines is that they have received confirmation from “unnamed sources” that her brother is still alive. It has been 17 days since a van appeared in front of his house and 4 armed men took him away. To be honest, I had my doubts and still do, but the wife says it’s true. She’s still stressing and our conversations are still brief, as if I’m being a burden to her. I’m still trying to be the supportive and loving husband, and not taking it personally. We’ve gone from talking twice a day to once in the evening, and I miss her, a lot.

--Did you ever walk into the grocery store in a big hurry, grab a few things and head home, only to find upon your arrival at the house that you bought the wrong shit? This happened to me recently. I made the mistake of buying nonfat milk instead of real milk. Maybe it’s a taste thing, but nonfat milk is nasty, even on cereal or in coffee. I want my milk to have the fat, because the fat is what makes it taste good. On the subject of milk, does anyone think that paying nearly $9 for a gallon of milk is expensive? To me it almost seems obscene to pay that much for milk, but that’s what we pay here on Guam. Oh, you can get the Foremost milk that is made here, but it’s so horribly bad that its undrinkable.

--Recently, I applied for another position in my company, and the COO pulled me to the side last night before I left work to talk about it. It’s about a 99% possibility that I won’t get the position, for reasons political and otherwise. It is my belief that the Home Office already has someone picked for the job, and just won’t do me the courtesy to tell me to my face. I have no problems with rejection, but I do have a huge problem with evasiveness and being treated with zero respect, especially when I put in 60 hour work-weeks and did well on my last performance appraisal. I don’t like being treated like a child, especially by my employer. A lot more would get done if certain people in our company would man up, but I’m not going to hold my breath and wait for that to happen.

-- If you haven’t seen it yet, go rent the movie 2012. One of the best movies I’ve watched in a long time, with some incredible special effects. John Cusak is also quite good in it, along with Oliver Platt, whose character is a first rate asshole. Pretty decent way to spend nearly 3 hours, and I think I’ll end up buying it. If you are a cheap bastard like me, you might want to consider buying “previously viewed” (meaning used) movies at Blockbuster or your local video store. I’ve never had one that didn’t play, and the prices are usually pretty decent.

--The Government of Guam recently enacted a new tax on cigarettes, and it will now cost you $6.75 per pack to smoke. Even more incentive to quit, as if I needed it. If they really wanted to make money, they need to tax light shitty beer. They’d make a killing on this island.

That’s all for Thursday from the Guam Desk. I have a book that I need to finish and some TV that requires my attention as well. Always remember the fine teachings of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson: "When the Going Gets Weird, the Weird Turn Pro".