Have A Cigar

I morning reminder that I work for a company owned by a family – a very Christian family. I got a "OUR LORD JESUS IS RISEN" email from the owner of the company. I appreciate the overall message – Jesus aside – a thank you to the employees and staff for our commitment to the company and hard work and a thank you to our families as well. Don’t get me wrong – I have no problems with Jesus. It is just really weird after working for public companies for the past 20 years to be at one that is accepting of everyone (they have quite the anti-discrimination list – an impressive one which also includes ‘gender identity’) – while still openly wearing their Christian beliefs on their sleeves.

We recently acquired 2 locations from a different company, and I told my boss that we should apply Machiavelli’s advice from The Prince to the acquisition. "Cruelty well-used is short-lived and decisive." Use it at the start, then stop. Puts enough fear into the people that they will follow you out of fear of more cruelty. I also suggested we do not use mercenaries because no matter how much you pay them – they won’t die for your cause nor will they truly work for it. Mercenaries are lazy. And if we think they were being ruled as a republic, our only option is to destroy them before they destroy us. Once a man has had a taste of freedom, they will never lose it. Best to kill them all.

I’m not sure it was a good sign or a bad one that he joined in with his own favorite Machiavelli advice.

I have started leaving DJ each morning with guidance for her day from Machiavelli. Her laughter is either "oh Moe, you’re funny" or "Oh I like that and will use it." Given it’s DJ, it could be both.

I also think there is a book that could be written called "All I learned of how to rule in Game of Thrones, I learned from Machiavelli". Oh, if you are a Game of Thrones fan, check out the Theory Generator Site. It’s pretty damn good.

In other important news, a researching in Oxford discovered and named a new breed of shrimp. The Synalpheus pinkfloydi has a pink claw and can create a sound so loud that can kill other fish. I guess the researcher was reminded of the line “Oh, by the way, which one of you is Pink?” More info here. I always love seeing what’s in a researcher’s head based on how they name things and why.

My Portland Thorns start their season on Saturday with a NOON game. Why so early?? Actually, it’s early because Lifetime (television to scare women) is the official broadcaster of the games now. I actually like the fact they are broadening outside of the tragic stories about women and into women’s sports. Definitely a better direction. I’m so ready for soccer season!

Indigo has convinced me that we should do another run together. Only one we could find that made sense was the Starlight Parade Run which runs the parade route before the night-time parade starts. I started the training runs on Sunday – and so far, it has felt good. I went for a run about 5pm last night and was doing great until I almost got hit by a car. The crosswalk light turned letting me walk/run across the street. As I was doing it, a guy tried to turn into me. Seriously if I had not sprinted out of the way, I would have been squashed. I should mention I was wearing a neon yellow running jacket too so there was no way the fucker could say I was invisible to him. I was only invisible because he was clearly not looking.

In the end the run felt good. Funny how much some adrenaline mixed with anger can push you forward. It also helps that I love to run in the rain too.

I leave you with this for your Thursday:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHamTa2qO_U

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHamTa2qO_U)

What do you think?

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