Coup d'état

Have you ever seen this movie or read the book?

Basically, the military establishment decides that the newly elected President is going to ruin the country's defense and open us up to attack, so they decide to launch a coup d'etat. I won't tell you the end, because it's actually a decent book.

OK, some facts for you to digest:

A coup d'état also known as a coup, a putsch, or an overthrow, is the sudden, illegal deposition of a government.
Coups d'état are common in Africa; between 1952 and 2000, thirty-three countries experienced 85 such depositions.
In 1889, Brazil became a republic via bloodless coup.
General Napoleon Bonaparte overthrew the French Directory, replacing it with the Consulate. This occurred on 9 November 1799.
The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, was the overthrow of King James II of England.
Then there's this:

RT @martin_dempsey: Today marks the 57th time that a President has stood before the American people to take the oath: on.fb.me/WhVt7P
— The Joint Staff (@thejointstaff) January 22, 2013

See where I'm going? Many people fail to realize one of the most amazing things about this republic that we call The United States of America: the uncontested assumption of power by the elected individual. Since George Washington took the very first oath of office on April 30, 1789, it has gone off without a hitch. No one went to bed the night after the election worried about tanks rolling down the street, the President-elect doesn't have to go into hiding, none of the stuff that has happened so regularly throughout history, and in some cases, still today.

You may not like Barack Obama. You may disagree with his politics. (I do.) You may not like his personality or attitude. (I don't.) BUT he is the President of the United States, and deserves to be treated and thought of as such if only for respect for the office. It irks me when professional news organizations refer to him as just "Obama" (it did when they did it with Mr. Bush, too.) Our country was born a few months over 236 years ago, and only 44 people have been President.

Let's keep that in mind when we discuss politics.

Retirement Thinking

OK, I turned 57 in November, so generally speaking, I have 8 years until retirement at age 65. In the past, I've been told by many people that retirement would drive me crazy. 

Now, I've been off work since Dec. 12th for my hernia surgery. I go back next Tuesday, Jan. 15th, and to tell the truth, it doesn't feel that long! I've enjoyed not having to worry about what time I go to bed, how much or how little I get done on a certain day, what day the NFL playoffs come on and what time. Of course, a couple of those weeks I didn't really feel good, but that's beside the point.

I think I could handle retirement!

I mentioned this to someone last night who replied that they figured I'd find a way to stay busy. And he's probably right. I could see me getting more involved at the church, for example, maybe by being a committee chair instead of just serving on one. Right now, I'm concerned about being in charge of something else for fear of not being able to give it enough attention. I could see me getting more involved in Scouting on a multi-unit type committee. Again, I have enough to do with the two units I'm involved in now. The beauty of this deal is that you would only have to get as involved or as busy as you wanted. 

Of course, this presupposes that I can retire.

I've tried to avoid being in this shape.

I have some retirement set up, but I don't think I'd ever believe it's enough.

Life has a way of yelling at you to take care of today. And I have a hard time arguing with that.

Random Thoughts on 2013

Happy New Year! You know, the picture above may say it all. I've noticed a lot of folks, myself included, saying that they "hope" that you have a great year, and that 2013 be better than 2012, and it's a great sentiment. I really do hope that you have a great year, really, but you gotta do it. That's my new attitude! It's up to me! I'm tired of letting others determine my level of happiness. That's the big takeaway from 2012, and something that I'm proud to say that I'm doing better with than ever in my life.

I saw a segment on the "Today" show this morning where they had a panel of economic experts plus the mayor of San Antonio, TX. Now, they said the mayor was there for government's point of view, but is it a coincidence that he is that rising young political star? Anyway, that's not the point. The point is that they were VERY optimistic about the economic outlook going forward into 2013. Warren Buffet, a true expert and a guy known for speaking his mind, said that he was excited about how quickly things would improve. So we have that to look forward to.

I personally feel that I had a pretty good 2012. I expect to see that continue this year. DJ has finished his first semester at college with straight A's, and Ricky will graduate this year and has been accepted to Tennessee Tech. Monica is doing well at her middle school, and Joshua is Joshua, which is an achievement of its own. I'm getting more settled into my Scoutmaster role after some early jitters.

So where am I going with this? No where in particular, really. After all, I just changed the title of this post to "Random Thoughts on 2013", which says it all. I feel that it's important to mark milestones, which a new year always is. I'm not one, however, who spends a lot of time looking back. Once a particular situation or time period or whatever is over, it's over. A brief reflection to see what lessons need to be learned, then "OK, move along, nothing to see here."  

Other points of view. How do you look at it?

"Never be afraid to reinvent. A new year gives you permission to be whoever you want to be."
— Anne P (@petersonanne) January 2, 2013 (retweeted by a friend of mine)

Apps to Help Keep Your New Year's Resolutions bit.ly/Vy7Jkb
— NewsChannel 5 (@NC5) January 1, 2013

Happy New Year! See the spikes in Tweets per second as people celebrated around the world: blog.twitter.com/2013/01/celebr…
— Twitter (@twitter) January 2, 2013

(Twitter is full of these kinds of sentiments)

So, after reading this, take just a minute or two and revisit 2012. What lessons did you learn? How will you apply them in 2013 and beyond? 

or is this the way you look at the new year?