3028 Dummrt july 23 Thursday

77 degrees this morning walk 34:46 minutes.

Again a walk in high humidity with little wind.  Could see the stars but not the moon.  Wind is actually picking up to a breeze since I sat on the patio, makes it seem a little cooler.  

I am puzzled by the moon, or rather the lack of it.  It probably rises and sets early etc.  I know there is a period when there is almost no moonlight (like now) but I really don’t know the reason.  

Pace was six seconds slower than my goal.  Considering the dense air etc., I’ll take it!

Tomorrow will be Friday the 13th.  I especially remember Friday, July 13, because I got out of the Air Force two days early since my normal discharge date July 15, fell on a Sunday.  

I got in the car and took a long round about way to Kansas.  I drove through Washington DC during rush hour, drove the Pennsylvania Turnpike and stopped at some motel in the mountains when I got to tired to drive.

i drove through a Springfield in some state and wasn’t sure if I was in Illinois, Iowa, Ohio or Missouri!  

It was a strange trip, but a good transition to civilian life.  Hard to believe it has been so many years ago.  

Originally I had intended to walk back to Kansas, we would sit around and talk for hours and plan it, but in the end, I didn’t do it.  Maybe I should have. 

I mentioned yesterday about public buildings.  A Commissioner I highly respected used the term “lay the tracks” for some projects we were doing.  

I think the importance of that cannot be overemphasized.  Any project is “laying the tracks” and defines as well as limits future projects by the investment.  

Another consideration that, in my opinion, public projects need to consider more is the cost (and benefits) to future generations.  

Listening to the book on Robert Moses, I heard a prime example.  He made some “deals” on a road.  The cost savings at the time was minimal, it was primarily a political  ploy.

However, the cost was that all future users of the road (from the 1920’s to literally now) are driving 22 extra miles a day! The cost of that in human time, actual cost of wasted gas etc. are unimaginable, all because he wanted to curry favor with some influential people!  

I always liked the idea of the “Ombudsman:, who was separate from the “power structure” and could bring up such considerations.  It used to be the news media in America, but somehow, like the Supreme Court, they got politicized and no longer are doing their job of independent consideration  

That’s it for now, Thursday, July 12, 2018.