Lunch and Hubris

Spent the morning on the Old Letter Project, then picked up Aline at the Stafford Library for lunch.  It wasn't a work day for her; she was there for a staff meeting concerning a problem employee.  Because I dealt with this kind of thing for so long in my Rider HR days, I was very interested in the circumstances.  I won't go into detail, but in a nutshell, a mildly disabled library clerk had been rude and dismissive to Aline and others and was generally uncooperative. I asked A. to keep me posted on the outcome.
I suggested we eat at the Horizon Diner on Bay Avenue, near the library.  The prices are high--I think the owner is cashing in on his proximity to Long Beach Island--and the service perfunctory. I had a bowl of chili, which was good, but Aline ordered a tuna sandwich and asked if she could substitute cole slaw for the pickle.  The waitress made a face, but wrote it down without comment, and brought it--then put an extra fifty cents on the bill!  That's so bush league I say the hell with the place and probably won't return.
We stopped at Target and both got a few items, then went to my place for iced tea.  While chatting with A., I wrapped the scrapbook I told Mike I'd send, along with the Carole L. letters from so long ago. Got to the post office before it closed--postage to Singapore was only sixty-one dollars, less than I thought it would be--then we went down to Graveling Point to view the water.
Dropped A. off about 5:00 after a low-key, but pleasant day.
WIDER:  Here's a whale of an opening sentence from one of my favorite writers:
Washington, D.C., is a world unto itself: inside the bubble, where politicians and their kept pundits endlessly massage each others’ egos (and bank accounts), the world is America’s oyster, to be greedily gulped and washed down with a swig of the Imperial City’s most popular intoxicant – hubris.
That's Justin Raimondo at Anti-War.com and here's the link:
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2014/07/22/the-new-meaning-of-isolationism/