Bucket List

I have not seen the movie, but I know what it’s all about. Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman together – it got to be good. My bucket list is growing too – hike in the Himalayas, climb Kilimanjaro, visit Salzburg, see the iceberg south of Tierra Del Fuego, go on a safari … I am still busy driving to work everyday, building pipeline, making big companies bigger. No regrets, but when do I start on my bucket list? Just found out cancer took couple of more people - one very young, the other not so young and a few still waiting their fate. On the positive side, one daughter is getting married and the other is aiming for med school. 2008 ought to be exciting and busy. So, Kilimanjaro, you got to wait to see me and I am not ready to start on my bucket list yet.

Play the gender card

Let us assume for a moment that there are 60% whites, 20% black, and 20% Hispanic & other in the USA. Let us also assume that male to female ratio is 50:50. Obviously, we live in a male world and gender equality is still a tall talk. So, I say to women why not play the gender card, because you have equal power at the poll regardless of your race? Now, those dads who truly want to see their daughters treated as equal, I am sure, would not mind voting for a female either. Some may say we should be colorblind and gender blind and vote for the most qualified. Let us stop the hypocrisy. Did we not elect George Bush with a fake costume that boldly stated that he was a “uniter”? What a disaster! People are still getting killed on both sides of a stupid war. Obviously there are some very conservative, vicious attack dogs out there. They swift boated Kerry and ran to the Supreme Court to defeat Gore (who had more popular votes). People like Rush and Coulter (another Rush in a female attire) will continue to denigrate female contenders talking about their wrinkles, cleavage, tears, and what have you. I am a brown dad of two highly educated, qualified daughters. I for one want my daughters treated with respect, equality, and equal pay like their male counter parts. It’s high time we elected a female president.

All quiet at the home front

Holiday season came and so did they. Indoor and outdoor lights brightened the house. Stockings were hanging from the fireplace. We exchanged gifts, watched “silly” movies, made a lot of noise, ate a lot (thanks to wife’s special holiday cooking), played tennis, pool, scrabble and so on. Finally the ball dropped at the Big Apple and 2008 arrived. One by one they left. My wife and I are back to our usual routine. I am back to pipelining – tax map, quad map, pipeline corridor, FERC filing, resource reports, class location, DOT valve, pig launcher/receiver, interconnect, HDD, … the jargon that make up our language. Now it’s all quiet at the home front and the freeways are humming with traffic again.