I'm cheating and writing the first part of this entry...

the night before.  I don't know if I'm going to walk in the morning or not, but at this moment the odds aren't good.  The leg is fine, but I am having a little difficulty in breathing, the kind that's usually indicative of a build-up of fluid around my heart.  Nowhere near bad enough to head to the ER, but bad enough that I'm limiting my fluid intake more than usual, and paying closer attention to the breathing.  If it doesn't improve in the next 24 hours, I will hit the ER right after Monday's mid-term.  But there will definitely not be popcorn tomorrow.

Long ago, I used to work for a brilliant woman.  She knew business, particularly accounting but she was also a great judge of character.  Still is as a matter of fact.  She gave me the best piece of advice I've ever received, when she shared her assessment of one of my issues once, long ago.

"Brian" she said, "your two biggest problems in life are that you don't suffer fools gladly and you have a very broad definition of what constitutes a fool".  She was right on target and I've worked hard ever since to learn to suffer fools more easily and gladly, and to narrow my definition of what constitutes a fool.

But there are moments when it's hard to refrain from falling back into old habits.  Someone asked a question about labor, employment and compensation on Twitter today and when I saw it, I responded and got into a dialogue about the current situation involving the NHL and the NHL Player's association.  The question has to do with the poster's notion that there's something wrong with the player's request for a share of the owner's revenues and how this wouldn't happen in any other industry.

In actuality, it does, although it's usually done as profit-sharing and not just with gross revenues.  But in an industry like hockey, where the overwhelming majority of costs are fixed, dividing up revenues before a season begins isn't out of step with comparable industries.  The recent NBA labor issues were all about revenue sharing.

Whether or not you insist that a percentage of gross revenues go to the players, their salaries are always going to be driven by market forces.  A center who can score 30 goals and 50 assists is going to be worth more on the open market than one who can only score 15 goals and 25 assists, assuming their other abilities are similar. 

So I did my best to stay focused on the issues of how the value of labor is determined by the marketplace, but this guy's attempt to go off on every tangent under the sun (including his claim he wasn't paid the fair market value of his services during his military service) were annoying as hell.  I didn't have the heart to break the news to him that his perception of fair market value of labor isn't worth the pixels it was written with.  If your work isn't worth much more than minimum wage to an employer, you aren't going to earn much more than minimum wage.  Want to earn more, learn to perform functions that employers are willing to pay more money for.  Again, market forces in action.
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So it turns out that I'm still feeling a little tightness in my chest this morning.  It's much better than it was yesterday, but still not good enough to go out walking.  I'll be limiting fluids today and see if I can get it to improve a little more with rest.  Unless it gets worse, I'm not going near the ER anytime soon.  But yes, if it gets worse, I'll go.

A North Korean soldier killed two of his superiors and defected across the DeMilitarized Zone to South Korea.  It was a case of deja vu in my mind, as I thought back to November of 1984.  A Russian who was visiting the DMZ ran across the "line" from North to South and that caused a firefight.  A South Korean soldier was killed and a U.S. soldier named Michael Burgoyne was wounded.  We all thought we were going to war.  Guns were passed out.  Ammunition issued.  But a few hours later it was all over and the guns and bullets were put back into storage.

Things I'm pondering this morning include:

Whose business is it that Michael Vick owns a dog now?  He didn't lose the right to own one for the rest of his life.  He paid his debt to society.  I would be much happier if he didn't own a dog, if I were a pet store owner, I wouldn't sell him a dog, but if he's willing to be a responsible pet owner, he has that right.  The people who don't like this fact should work to change the law so that someone convicted of a crime that involves the killing of, or cruelty toward animals loses the right to own pets ever again.  The system isn't at fault here.

Do we really need early voting that starts in September for a presidential election?  Is there some reason that the votes in an election can't all be cast in the two weeks prior to the election date?    Why is so much lead time needed?  Please illustrate for me a situation where someone needs to cast their vote in September, because they won't be able to vote during those last two weeks, or cast an absentee ballot by mail.

A brawl breaks out at a Shakey's Pizza Parlor and a man is shot and killed?  Did he take all the remaining mojo potatoes on the all you can eat buffet?  It's sad to think such a happy place was marred by that kind of tragedy.

We celebrate celebrities who pass out big tips.  Funny how we don't do the same to other wealthy people who tip servers more than average, at least not normally.  Guess it's our obsession with celebrities. 

How the heck did soldiers get awarded the Silver Star (third highest award for valor) without being told?  The recent release of information on award recipients has disclosed that there are at least nine men who were awarded the Silver Star who were unaware of the award.  How that could happen is beyond my comprehension.

Why do people think Lisa Lampinelli would act any different just because she's lost 80 pounds?  She was a mean comedienne before she lost the weight, she's a mean comedienne now that she's lost the weight.  People, she's got a streak of mean in her comedy.  Losing weight doesn't change your mean quotient.