Dunge Blog

Another Thanksgiving is in the books, and the holiday feast that brings families and friends together (or quite possibly keeps them apart!) is behind us. Leading up to the holiday, like many Americans who celebrate said holiday, I reserved a little time for reflection, as well as forethought, on what I have been and will be thankful for in this life. Certainly, health and good humor (ice cream!), living in an advanced age with many modern conveniences, and definitely friends, loved ones, and family (the lioness in the below photo is not part of my pride, however).  Now that the gathering and feasting has passed, it is the subject of the family that brings me to cast a forward thought in an attempt to answer a question that seems to plague modern, Western families: can a working family, especially the breadwinner, expect to have a quality relationship with their family without spending much quality time with the family?  Two catalysts caused this question to surface, ...

Memorial Day came and went. In the United States, the last Monday of May is reserved as a federal holiday, to honor our war dead. Some take the time to observe the actual day, commemorating family or loved ones who gave their lives in defense of our country. Many others use the holiday to kickstart their summers, often without so much as a second thought to why they have the day off.  As Memorial Day approached this year, my thoughts turned to those who, by all accounts, should have died in war, but returned home. Their good fortune, though, came at a high cost. This article on Bataan Death March survivor Julio Barela sparked a memory about an chance encounter and acquaintance made after returning to Texas in 2003 upon completion of my time in the Navy.   At a Luby's cafeteria, of all places, my wife and I were in line one evening, and struck up a conversation with the couple behind us. Conversation turned to occupation, and when I replied I just completed a stint in...

Many of us have seen, read, heard, or talked about the Southwest Airlines flight 1380 emergency landing that  occurred earlier this week. For those who have not, here is the story .  Southwest jet flying over downtown Dallas Related to the Southwest flight 1380 incident (full disclosure: I work for an airline, just not Southwest), I was contacted by a marketing research firm which sent me their "brand intelligence report" claiming to track the reputation of Southwest and other major air carriers. Their marketing research, to put it mildly, is bad... flawed, actually, is what I told them. How did I come to this conclusion, and why did I respond to them in the first place? Please allow me to explain. There are many stories that came out of the Southwest 1380 incident: the heroism, the cooperation, the tragic loss of life, the investigation. Each story has its own ensuing narrative. In the following paragraphs I'll outline a couple of those narratives that I find int...

Earlier this month I said goodbye to Dirkwanda. Mmm-hmm, you read that correctly... Dirkwanda.  Dirkwanda was my 2003 Ford Explorer XLT. (Ford Motor Company executives, if you are reading this: my family and I will gladly accept your gift of a new Ford SUV, and will regularly "blog-brag" about the wonders of Ford SUVs to our massive following, should you be so kind and inclined to gift us with a new Ford or Lincoln SUV). Yes, Dirkwanda is an odd name, but odd is as odd does. I've always been of the opinion that a vehicle, much like a ship, should have a female name. In our case, a standard female name seemed lacking for our Explorer, so we modified her name to add a little more brawn, and "Dirkwanda" seemed the best fit. The etymology of "Dirkwanda" is a little hazy after 15 years, but suffice to say that the name Dirk is where it all began. To start, t he name "Dirk" is partial to our Texas roots, in support of one of the best NBA pla...

“Is there value in this? What is the purpose of writing a blog?”  I’ve asked myself these questions for, honestly, almost nine years. I considered starting up a blog in the summer of 2009 for several reasons:  it was a (or the) “thing to do” several friends had started blogging (and have since abandoned their sites) and I thought it might be a creative outlet for me during a period of the ho-hums.  But the above questions were unanswerable at the time, so I passed on the blog idea.  As I’m writing this entry, I still have those same questions that I had in 2009. In fact, I don’t know if what I’m putting on the proverbial paper will ever demonstrate value or express a purpose.  Others much more well-spoken, more articulate, and published have said (paraphrasing) that the value and purpose behind their writing is to express themselves and offer something unique, as their perspectives are unknown to anyone until established in written/image form. The ...