Hey good looking, whatcha got there cooking? Somethin for me?

Dammit, these damn laptop keyboards. Seriously, I was halfway through this post, and I lost it all. Grrrrr.

So it was my first French strike today, woohoo! So if you don't know (shame on you, two times) there is a large debate between the new president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy and the train unions. Mainly this is due to their very, very good retirement packages. In the early 20th century, if you worked in trains, you shoveled coal, got lung cancer and died at 50. Thus, they let you retire at 45, enjoy your 5 years of pain, and kick the bucket. Technology being the wonderful thing that it is, train work has turned mostly into pushing buttons and moving levers...with the same retirement package. Fair? I don't think so. So Sarkozy wants to change it, being the smart guy that he is, and the unions want to keep it the same, them being whiny French people. What does that mean for me? A day of drinking wine, eating cheese and generally being a cool guy.

This has been my first day to sit in my boxers and do nothing for quite sometime. There is nothing quite like just being completely unproductive, I love it.

So, I've been reading this interesting book about great historical military blunders. The commonality I see between it all is that it came down to the generals and that they had too much pride. I compare this with a book I read a few years ago by C.S. Lewis who stated that the greatest sin and root of all other sin (he was a big Christian) was that of pride. So what is pride? Well for me, it is by far and away the most tempting of all sins. It is one of knowledge, for me to say "Yes, I know this. Let me tell YOU about this, because I KNOW it." is so damn tempting. To claim that you are a master of an area of knowledge, especially when you aren't, and get away with it feels so damn good.

Vanity is also a fun sin. Seriously, who doesn't like to look good? Maybe it's not society's definition of looking good, but if you can look in the mirror and say "Hey, I know that handsome guy/beautiful girl!" you automatically feel good.

I realize what I love is to play unspoken mental debates, which are a decent part of business. What do you all reveal? What cards are you going to play? How do you react to new situations? It's such a great mental game, I love it. It's also like picking up a girl, which admittedly I haven't done it quite sometime. Judging the conversation, deciding your position on various subjects (you know, it's never completely truthful, no matter what I say :P), planning the next action, and deciding when to leave it all and go drink with the boys.

What's also fun? Talking in French. I really enjoy it, even though mine is far from perfect. You can be such a cocky bastard, and it's perfectly acceptable. I also like the fact that I have had real conversations recently, and it's not just "how are you? I'm fine."

So, in a half drunken dinner of a cheeseburger (which admittedly sucked) tonight, I have started to plan the future. If all goes according to plan, it's going to be an interesting 2 years. In my opinion, it's best to think about these sort of things, because it's when you are the most honest with yourself. Nonetheless, you should also think about it the next day and review it, but it can give you some good ideas.

Wow, this is an incredibly rambling post. I'm surprised if you've read it all, so good on you. I'll probably write some more this weekend. Party on brothers and sisters.
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Now playing: T.I. - What You Know