Good evening, Loungers!

I love you all...

The owner, Johnny, who is a good friend of mine, is not in a good way.

Recovering from multiple surgeries. He's in pain, but the cranky old guy is fighting back. He says nothing is going to put him off his golf game. He's a tough old buzzard. I love him to death.

Enjoying some friendship and human warmth amidst the hate and anger.

to end the separation of families of immigrants.

I was very glad to hear that when I called their offices.

Couple of shots of Absolut Lime to help it along...

How's everyone doing tonight?

I tried to tell him how bad high blood pressure is for his health.

He didn't care. He told me he's not having any symptoms.

I told him patients rarely do, until right before it's about to kill you.

He didn't care.

I told him treatment is simple and convenient.

He didn't care.

So I gave up.

A patient has to consent to his treatment, and he didn't want it.

If he comes back and tells me he's changed his mind, I'll give him 100% of my ability. But if he declines treatment, there's nothing I can do...

go home tomorrow...



Hold me...

I've seen thousands of them, ranging from a 15-second clip of the auto-loader in action on a Russian-made T-72, to hours-long documentaries about famous tanks.

There are videos with museum curators offering dry lectures about the tanks they're standing in front of, to exciting tours of tanks offered by former US or British Army tank veterans, with exhaustive examinations of the most minute details of famous, and not-so-famous tanks.

And I'm coming to the end of the available content. There are only so many tank types and models in the world. Is it possible that I've seen all there is to see?



One interesting factor in online tank video production is the easy availability of information to share. When I was in the Gulf, a number of captured Iraqi armored vehicles were brought back from the front, and we US Army tank crewmen clambered all over them, getting a first-hand look at the tanks we had been studying from afar, in some cases for years. They were a mystery no longer, and everyone who had a camera (this was before camera phones, remember) took pictures of the interior and the points of interest.

Not long after, MP's circulated among us and confiscated every camera and every roll of film, citing military secrecy as their reason. I don't know why it was considered such a hush-hush thing that the photos not become public, especially since it was not our own technology that was being featured. But that was that.

Nowadays, there's not a tank in the world you can't get a good look at, interior or exterior, just by logging on to YouTube. Times sure have changed.

Anyway, I'm now having to re-watch old tank videos since I'm running out of new content...

Now just counting the days until the crazy-making grandkids leave...