January 01, 2007 - 11:43 p.m.
I celebrated New Year 2007 by watching movies and sipping a glass of wine by the fireplace. Today, I went ice-skating with Naomi. I love skating outdoors with the Christmas tree lights, big plastic snowflakes, and nearby park decorated for the holidays. For the most part, it was an hour of good exercise. I even worked up the nerve to skate backwards and do spins in the middle of the ice. I wish the rink attendants would enforce some rules of etiquette. Never allow three people to hold hands and skate. This creates a tripping hazard not to mention it's impossible to get around three or more people with their fingers interlocked. Parents need to monitor children under five. Letting them skate alone without any situational awareness is stupidity on ice. I had to be extra careful every time I rounded a corner because little kids kept cutting across the ice in the wrong direction. What happened to attendants wearing whistles? Audible whistle sounds serve a useful purpose to alert someone when he/she is skating too fast and out of control. When the rink gets crowded, I use common sense and reduce speed, not trying to outskate or trip everyone in front of me. Learn right to left cross-overs, hockey stops, controlled skating before introducing speed into the mix. Several people took hard falls, body slams because some idiot was going too fast and accidentally tripped them. Today, the young, handsome attendants were busy showing off to their girlfriends. No one cared if the ice became frost over, inch of scraped snow because they didn't take 10 minutes to clear the rink of skaters and smooth the ice with the special machine that operates in concentric circles.
We had a good time despite the lack of traffic control and clear, smooth ice. The older I get, the more I think about making things better. If I see problems being repeated from previous experience or exposure, I'm likely to say or do something about it. I think a friendly email message to the skating rink website might improve the situation for future skating.
At work, we have this continuing problem of certain people not paying off their government travel card accounts. The same ones keep showing up late on the list. They've been given letters of counseling, warnings, etc. Article 15 action, grade reduction is next. However, it creates a sticky situation since a particular group of people will stand out as the repeat offenders. Anytime this happens, management has to concern itself with stereotypes and how things are perceived. If someone lacks financial management skills, he/she should be offered assistance without getting into one's personal business. Which is difficult to do in the military. Regulations are meant to be followed and rule breakers punished. Our Commander is a fair man. The best solution is treat everyone the same regardless of group affiliation, gender, religion, race, etc. The minute you compromise your integrity, it gives the violators power over you. They become more bold and offensive if their negative behaviors go unchecked.
If he/she stole accounts and passwords from me online, I will have nothing more to do with him/her. Line in the sand gets crossed when someone violates my trust. I have no sympathy for criminals. Only in rare cases when a crime was committed for the greater good of humanity or to save a life. These are rare exceptions.
I need to soak in the whirlpool bath. Relax the sore muscles and bones of a middle age woman who felt 16 today... on a pair of rental skates in California of all places.
~ Soldier Girl
