Thanks for the input on things you’d like to see here at LTG! I’ll do my best to periodically incorporate some of the ones that are within my wheelhouse in an effort to keep things fresh and a tad more interesting.

Commenter Kevin Kim suggested I share some of what I learned during my career in human resources management. I’ve been retired for going on seven years now, and most of what I experienced has gotten more than a little fuzzy. But I’ll kick things off with this anecdote:

There was a time when I needed to hire my own personal secretary. I had three female applicants who were all equally qualified on paper. So I called each of them in for an interview and asked each one the same question: “What would you do if I gave you ten thousand dollars?”

The first candidate answered: “I’d use the money to feed the poor children in Africa.”

The second interviewee responded: “Oh, I would go on a shopping spree and buy everything I’ve always wanted!”

The the third person told me: “Sir, I would invest the money and double it in ten years.”

So, which one do you think I hired?

I’ll reveal the answer at the end of this post.

Commenter Terry asked: “I’ve wondered how you and Kevin met and became friends . He does not do the bar thing. Was it through hiking?” And here’s the answer:

Kevin and I met in Korea many years ago through our blogs. That was before I developed an interest in hiking. Kevin is a foodie, so our first meet-ups in person were in restaurants around Itaewon that I liked. Kevin doesn’t drink, but I did get him up to my Shenanigans hang-out once. After I became a walker, we did a couple of hikes together. I showed him some paths I used to climb Namsan (a famous mountain in Seoul), and he took me on an 18-kilometer ass-kicking river walk out near where he lives. Good times and nice memories!

Anyone else curious about anything, feel free to ask away in the comments.

Alright, back to the usual stuff here at LTG. Well, actually, yesterday was on the unusual side of the scale. The only thing I did was attend a pool party at Treasure Island.

I rarely attend the quarterly pool parties because they are always held on Monday afternoon, which is Hash day. The combination of a trail I didn’t want to do and an inconvenient On-Home venue made the decision to skip the Hash this week an easy one. The pool party proved to be a nice change of pace.

I was also reminded that my normal reluctance to consume alcohol early in the day is wise. Of course, occasional stupidity is where wisdom comes from. Anyway, I had my first beer at 11:30 and my final brew at 4:00. Those were the bookends for the ten I consumed in between. It sucks to be over capacity at the time of day when I’m usually just starting out. Swan was drinking wine and also over-indulged. When we got home around 4:30, she went straight to bed.

The buffet that was included in the price of admission consisted of hot dogs, burgers, and fried chicken pieces, with sides of potato salad and coleslaw. I went with a burger, well, make that two burgers, but I only used one bun. It was quite tasty and satisfied my growling stomach.

The pool party itself consisted of the girls from the seven SOB bars competing in a series of events. As you might have guessed my favorite was the bikini contest. Here are a few of the photos I took throughout the afternoon.

Anyway, not a bad afternoon. Of course, all those beers affected my better judgment, and I wound up cheating. Swan was sleeping, and well, I just couldn’t resist the temptation. So, I baked an apple strudel. And when it was done, I smothered it in vanilla ice cream. And there is a price to be paid for such indulgences.

In the early 60s, I was growing up in Southern California. There was a chain of drugstores called Thrifty. And these stores had an ice cream counter. Perhaps that’s where I first fell in love with the sweetness in a cone.

Today’s YouTube video is from George’s All About The Philippines. He does a daytime stroll in the portion of Subic right next door to Barretto. I walk that stretch often. I’m a tad reluctant to become a vlogger, and if I ever do, I’d hope to make it a little more interesting than this. Still, if you want to get a birds-eye view of what things look like in these parts, here you go.

The funnies:

Another day with something different on tap. I’ll be attending the RSL (The Returned Services League, basically, the Aussie version of the VFW). I’m technically a member, but I have only attended one meeting previously. The neighbors invited us to participate today as there will be a big fundraising raffle. I don’t like drinking in the early afternoon, but it’s for a good cause, so… I’ll tell you all about tomorrow.

What are you still doing here? Oh. You want to know who I hired. Well, the big clue was that the position being filled was my personal secretary. So, of course, I hired the one with the big tits. (Sorry, couldn’t resist telling my favorite HR joke)