Mistaken Identity
We were having a family dinner with the in-laws on Sunday when the phone rang. I answered it and the person on the other end asked, "Is this Ross?" or at least that's what I heard. She told me that it was Luann. Now my step-father-in-law has a daughter named Luann, and since he was at the house I assumed that's who it was (in this I was correct at least). She started off by telling me that she had left a message on my cell phone, and asked if I had gotten it. I had to admit that I hadn't. It was interesting how that point put me on the defensive, and made me less willing to question the rest of the conversation. I mean if I was on the ball and had gotten the cell phone message perhaps this would all make sense...
She then proceeded to ask me if I would be available this coming week for a couple of days to help her move some stuff from Monticello (Idaho I assume). And then while I stood there in confused silence proceeded to launch into a description of a TV she needed to move and how it was too heavy for one person. By this point I was pretty sure she had the wrong guy, but the longer she talked the more difficult it was to tell her that this whole spiel had been directed at the wrong guy. Eventually I was able to break in and ask her if she really wanted to talk to "Ross", as it turns out she had wanted to talk to my brother-in-law "Rob" and I had misunderstood her very first question (although you can see where the sound similarity would lend itself to that).
To completely shift gears to something on everyone's mind, Iraq, I read something very interesting by Fareed Zakaria yesterday, that I thought gave a pretty interesting insight into the situation on Iraq. The bulk of the article was fairly standard, it was the first paragraph that caught my attention:
If you want to understand the futility of America's current situation in Iraq, last week provided a vivid microcosm. On Thursday, just hours before a series of car bombs killed more than 200 people in the Shia stronghold of Sadr City, Sunni militants attacked the Ministry of Health, which is run by one of Moqtada al-Sadr's followers. Within a couple of hours, American units arrived at the scene and chased off the attackers. The next day, Sadr's men began reprisals against Sunnis, firing RPGs at several mosques. When U.S. forces tried to stop the carnage and restore order, goons from Sadr's Mahdi Army began firing on American helicopters. In other words, one day the U.S. Army was defending Sadr's militia and, the next day, was attacked by it. We're in the middle of a civil war and are being shot at by both sides.
I'm reminded of a saying involving a rock...
She then proceeded to ask me if I would be available this coming week for a couple of days to help her move some stuff from Monticello (Idaho I assume). And then while I stood there in confused silence proceeded to launch into a description of a TV she needed to move and how it was too heavy for one person. By this point I was pretty sure she had the wrong guy, but the longer she talked the more difficult it was to tell her that this whole spiel had been directed at the wrong guy. Eventually I was able to break in and ask her if she really wanted to talk to "Ross", as it turns out she had wanted to talk to my brother-in-law "Rob" and I had misunderstood her very first question (although you can see where the sound similarity would lend itself to that).
To completely shift gears to something on everyone's mind, Iraq, I read something very interesting by Fareed Zakaria yesterday, that I thought gave a pretty interesting insight into the situation on Iraq. The bulk of the article was fairly standard, it was the first paragraph that caught my attention:
If you want to understand the futility of America's current situation in Iraq, last week provided a vivid microcosm. On Thursday, just hours before a series of car bombs killed more than 200 people in the Shia stronghold of Sadr City, Sunni militants attacked the Ministry of Health, which is run by one of Moqtada al-Sadr's followers. Within a couple of hours, American units arrived at the scene and chased off the attackers. The next day, Sadr's men began reprisals against Sunnis, firing RPGs at several mosques. When U.S. forces tried to stop the carnage and restore order, goons from Sadr's Mahdi Army began firing on American helicopters. In other words, one day the U.S. Army was defending Sadr's militia and, the next day, was attacked by it. We're in the middle of a civil war and are being shot at by both sides.
I'm reminded of a saying involving a rock...
posted by DireKobold at 10:24 AM
6 Comments:
So did you ever get Luann hooked up with Rob?
We're in the middle of a civil war and are being shot at by both sides.
And the forces behind each side. And all the sides are linked to the people in the middle we're protecting.
But there should be little surprise in all this. All it took was a hurricane and U.S. citizens were robbing, looting and killing. Think of the mess if infrastructure across the country was toppled ... and Canada and Mexico were supplying gangs of militants ...
Good thing she finally got the right person. You could have spent a long time wandering around Idaho looking for Monticello. There is no Monticello in Idaho. Perhaps you got confused with the Southeastern Utah city of Monticello. Or maybe you were thinking of Montpelier, Idaho?
Yes Rob was there, so Luann did get a chance to talk to him.
And I couldn't remember what city it was, I knew it started with an 'M', but for some reason Monticello sounded right (and for some reason I thought she was from Idaho) I talked to the wife and she told me it was Mesquite Nevada, so I was way off...
Wow, note to self, don't ask Ross to help me move as he'll end up in another city in another state.
OTOH, think of all the wacky adventures we could send Ross on.
...don't ask Ross to help me move...
There is a method to my madness.
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