Coffee Cup Hierarchy, Snowed In, Diversity of Ideas and Opinions, A Possible End of an Empire

"If a man is to survive, he will have learned to take delight in the essential differences between men and between cultures. He will learn that differences in ideas and attitudes are a delight, part of life's exciting variety, not something to fear."
— Gene Roddenberry

Good morning, afternoon, or evening; I'm not sure when you are finding time to explore these words. It's 7:00 a.m., we slept in, trying to catch up and get back on to our regular schedule. So I think tonight we will get to bed early and be ready for a great week of work.

I'm sipping from my Walkers Motors coffee mug given by the CEO, Matthew Walker. I love a good coffee cup if you ever want to get me something. I spoke to my daughter and her husband yesterday; I showed her the cup I was using yesterday, she bought it for me, a big mug that said, DAD. So in my hierarchy of coffee cups, that is my number one.

We worked around the house yesterday; we could not get out; our plow guy is out of commission, so we did a snow day. We did a few loads of laundry, then took Parker Van Halen for a two-mile walk, returned and made a little lunch, and started an old Netflix show called "Dark." We watched it all day; if you are looking for a show, it's mind and time-bending.

I'll work to set up tomorrow; I've got some things I need to work on, my assistant is out, she's heading to Cincinnatti to watch the Superbowl in the city, she will have a blast. I'll run point with my clients and lean on my staff when I don't know or don't remember how to do something; my mind is starting to form gaps and valleys at my age. If you do anything for 30 straight years, you are bound not to remember everything!

I suspect another walk with our pup is in order; once we get that joyful experience complete, our drive should be plowed by the sunlight; we will head down and get some things to make for the game tonight. Go Bengals; I love an underdog.  

I woke up, and my wife and I talked about dreams. We agreed that everything in a dream has a 10x degree of difficulty; I had many dreams last night, many were frustrating. So my dream life is frustrating, while my awake life is pretty calm and orderly. 

I researched yesterday; our county in CO, Jefferson, has removed all mask mandates for inside and outside spaces. I have a business meeting planned for Thursday; I'll call the location tomorrow and confirm they are not trumping the order; it's nearly impossible to run a meeting when everyone is masked up. I can't understand folks with zero facial barriers, let alone a face diaper.

Putin is talking Ukraine; we are watching and saying things like "you better not!" The trucker conveys in Canada shows what freedom looks, tastes, and smells like. Interestingly, many online and financial institutions are blocking their ability to get money donated by people all over the world? Who controls the flow of money in our global economy? It appears not us.

A good question for this day of rest is what do we control? We control ourselves to be happy, to be sad or angry. We manage our individual freedoms, but it gets a little dicey when you begin analyzing the collective. There are consequences to not following orders even when the demands make no sense. I think most people are now of the mindset to push back and not accept rules for we, but not for thee. The last two years have provided our future selves with a massive sociological experiment, and the results will be the primary study of many universities.

I would suspect some woke reports sharing that people of color and women suffered the most under the restrictions. However, white males came out on top as usual due to the systemic nature of our world and how whiteness was the real culprit of the pandemic. Or we might find out that the restrictions put in place by many of our government institutions were an extreme overreach.

You can frame anything these days to meet a narrative. Your belief system or frame of reference will shape how you view a story. You and I could hear the same thing, see the same thing, or read the same thing and come away with two completely different opinions on what we just heard, saw, or read. That is our world, and there seems to be a sect of society that likes it that way.  

Oh well, I'll keep making my observations, and a few of you will say a good job, and others will call me a racist, homophobic, misogynist man with privilege. But if you ever took the time to get to know me and my heart, you would find one of the most loving humans on the planet. But I do have an idea of right and wrong, and I'm happy to discuss it in a meaningful way.

There you go, the thoughts, ideas, hopes, and dreams of a man stuck on top of a mountain. It's a winter wonderland of white snow, green trees, and beautiful grey stones. The colors add to the scene, not take away; the more colors we have in society, the better, the more diverse ideas and opinions, the better our chance for survival, and our survival is not guaranteed. Every significant power in the history of humanity has fallen, and we might be witnessing the fall of an empire.

I'm investing in cryptocurrency; I suggest you do the same. I'm doing things like using Duck Duck Go to browse the internet, and I recommend you do the same. Remember, you are the product of free internet, allowing others to steer you towards products, ideas, and flavors that they know you already favor. So please don't fall into the trap of the echo chamber; find disparate ideas, let them simmer in your easy bake oven of a mind, and then go live your best life.

"If a man is to survive, he will have learned to take delight in the essential differences between men and between cultures. He will learn that differences in ideas and attitudes are a delight, part of life's exciting variety, not something to fear."
— Gene Roddenberry