2016 Summer July 1 Friday

77 degrees this morning, walk 36:22 minutes

July 1 could be considered as the “half year”.  Actually I am so used to dealing with cities (and now a state) where July 1 marked the new fiscal year, I almost think of it as a new year.  

Tomorrow will mark two years in  what I consider as the “official” move date, although June 24 is probably more like it  

Hopefully someone will come to look at the sprinkler system today.  We’ll see.  

Listening to War and Peace, I realize I am following the characters, but probably don’t have a good grasp as to the overall theme of the book.

Kind of like seeing the trees and not the forest, although in this case, it may be hearing the trees and not the forest!

I expect seeing/understanding/hearing the trees and not the forest is a common problem.  Or the problem could be the other way, where you don’t see the trees but can see the forest.

For example, I can follow most of the characters and families relatively well as they move throughout the book.  However, I couldn’t really tell you the overall theme of the book or how the individual characters relate to the overall objective of the book.

Kind of like putting a puzzle together with pieces that are a complete picture, but you try to fit each piece into the overall puzzle so you can see the larger picture.

I don’t know that either way is better.  

It seems the best thing is to be able to see the forest and the trees and how they interrelate to and how the trees contribute to the overall forest.  

However, perhaps where I would like to be, even if you can’t see both the trees and the forest, I’d like to be able to at least realize the trees impact the forest and vice-versa.

Kind of like when I was in the Air Force and suddenly realized that the supervisors were reasonably supportive etc. because if I looked good, they looked good.  

If you have a bad supervisor (in any organization), it will impact your work  and the overall organization, if you are reasonably diligent and work hard, you also impact the organization, which in return may impact you.  

I guess that could be a discussion which could go around and around forever!  

However, the overall concept is that everything affects everything else. 

I always enjoyed the song “No man is an island” and thought it was so true, similar somewhat to Robert Frost and “The Road Not Taken”.  Every action is a part of an overall picture.

It was interesting to note that some historians (at least as stated in War and Peace) attribute the fact that the French did not successfully invade Moscow because Napoleon had a head cold and may not have been at his best.  

I have heard the same about Gettysburg, that if General Lee had been feeling better he may not have made the decisions he made, which could have impacted the battle and the Civil War could have turned out different.  

Perhaps a true genius knows when not feeling well and either has somewhat else make the decisions or somehow takes into account how they are feeling and how it may affect decision making.

Last day before a 3-day weekend.  I always enjoy 3-day weekends, especially the “holiday” part.

That’s it for now, Friday, July 1, 2016.