reyonthehill

I am at a two-day conference for the purpose of improving myself in regards to dialogue. A two-drink ticket was provided, but I was able to turn that into six, or was it seven (or eight). Anyway, conversations on nights like this between colleagues are priceless...

- I talked to a veteran from the hey-day of Reagan and the Panama invasion about gays in the military. He told me he really never had any problem with it (he was military police), although he had heard stories of men being "lost" at sea in the Navy (in other words, they were thrown overboard and never seen again).

- I talked to an Ethiopian man (new hire) about his homeland and the influence of America. He assured me that despite the current popularity -- or lack thereof -- of Bush in Europe, that the regular folk in Ethiopia still respect the United States because of its efforts in relief causes, in addition to its advances in technology, compared to that of Europe. I told him that that made me feel good, and he insisted that I had nothing to worry about.

- You know you are dealing with a great group of people when during an after-dinner discussion (while sitting at the dinner table), you can accurately describe the business practices of the Underpants Gnomes from the classic South Park episode, and not only pull it off without screwing it up, but be carried off as the hero of the evening.