My Honest Side

I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In on Christmas Day in the Morning

2009-12-25T03:17:00.000-08:00

It's Christmas! Merry Christmas to all my family and friends all over the world, wherever you may be. I didn't actually see three ships come sailing in this morning. The only body of water nearby is the Tigris River, and there is a 20 foot concrete wall obstructing by view. There was a little get together for all of the Soldiers here on the base last night. Cookies and candy canes were eaten by all. There was some army-style poetry recited and Christmas songs sung by some Ugandans who guard the perimeter. The night was capped by the singing of "O Come All Ye Faithful" by all present. And I am happy to report that Santa did stop by. I saw him with my own two eyes. And I even looked online, and NORAD confirmed it. Santa made a stop in Iraq. My parents sent me some Almond Roca and homemade Russian tea cakes. That was pretty awesome; it pretty much made my life. I probably ate it all in about a day. Today, there will be an army-style feast. I am excited. Mostly because I didn't eat breakfast. There is a Christian service tonight in the chapel, which I plan on attending. I will not soon forget my Christmas in Iraq. I checked Google maps and I am exactly 555 miles from the little town of Bethlehem. It's crazy to think that the sky that I look at every night is (roughly) the same one that, 2000 years ago, displayed a star that led 3 kings from the east to the place where Jesus lay. I wonder if they were from anywhere around here? Merry Christmas to everybody! God bless you all and I pray that you have wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Living in a Conex

2009-10-25T10:13:00.001-07:00

Living in a conex is better than you might imagine. Conex: container express. A military word. A metal box eight feet wide, twenty feet deep, and nine feet high. Somebody built four walls, a floor, and a door out of wood. There are two bunk beds, a shelf with four roomy spaces, and a table. It’s better than you might imagine, I say, because there is also an air conditioning unit. I keep it set at twenty degrees Celcius. I still haven’t converted that to Fahrenheit; I would guess sixty-ish. It’s better than you might imagine, also, because I have electricity and internet access. I can blog from my conex. I can watch movies in my conex. I can electric shave in my conex. It’s better than you might imagine, thirdly, because it’s just me. There’s nobody else breathing down my neck or snoring or listening to stand-up comedy on their iPod and laughing at random times and scaring bojangles out of me. This brings me to my fourth and final point. It’s better than you might imagine because I’m not packed in here with twenty or fifty other people. I’ve heard stories about people trying to sneak into America by way of conex. They’re sometimes packed into these conex storage units for months at a time. Some people die. Some people get arrested. Me? I stream Youtube videos in delightfully frigid solitude. Living in a conex is better than you might imagine.

Adrift

2009-10-20T18:19:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

Here's a little update. I can't go much into specifics, but let me give you a rundown of my past 6 days. I have been to 5 different Military bases and am about to go to a 6th, and I have been to 4 different countries. I am carrying 4 different computers in my computer bag, which is only meant to hold 2. I have had 2 sleepless nights and slept through the day once. I have had 1 haircut from 1 Iraqi barber. I have flown first class on 1 international charter flight, been stuffed into the back of 1 C-130 and am about to be stuffed into the back of 1 Chinook. Between Iraq and Kuwait, I have seen 1 McDonalds, 1 Burger King, 1 Pizza Hut, 2 Subways, 1 Taco Bell, and 1 Starbucks, and I have eaten at exactly 0 of them. I tried to plug 1 1250v printer into one 100v converter and I fried exactly 1 100v converter. Good times. Stay posted. I may even put up some very non-descript pictures. Later!

Checks Off My List

2009-10-05T19:47:00.000-07:00

So I didn't get around to everything...and I got around to some things in roundabout ways. And there were some other things that I never thought I would do. Here's the rundown:
I didn't get around to -

- Getting to the Statue of Liberty - It's booked until Christmas.. but I was it from afar
- Eat in Chinatown or Little Italy - yes, unfortunate, but I did eat lots of NY style pizza
- See Springsteen in concert - but I did see some bands that I have never heard of - amazing baby? they were aight.
- Get in the background of Good Morning America - it's ok, diane sawyer is a ho.
- Grand central station - I hear I didn't miss much.

Things I got around to -

- The top of the Empire State Building - the 86th floor and then the 102nd. Both were grand.
- Ground zero - it's hard to believe there were two gigantic buildings there.
- Central park - It is very big. And there are alot of people. I people watched.
- Broadway musical - I hesitate to say...I saw Mary Poppins. At the New Amsterdam. I got the same.
- I saw the Rangers play the Senators. Bought tickets from some sketchy dude outside Madison square garden. The whole ordeal was sketch. But I saw matt gilroy play, which was pretty awesome. He's been stealing my google hits for the past five years. Funny, he's a ranger and I'm not. Sad, actually.
- Went to the Seinfeld restaurant - had my dish of choice - the bacon cheeseburger with a side of fries. Got a picture of the kramer.

Things I did that I didn't expect to do -

- On a whim, I saw watched a french movie called hadewijch at the new york film festival. About religion and war - two topics that interest me. One topic that doesn't interest me - reading...subtitles.
- Ate at a Pakistani restaurant at 1 am. I thought for sure I was going to get stabbed. I recommend the duck.
- Watched a parade while standing in front of Macy's. Unfortunately, it was just the Korean Day Parade. Ha, they didn't even stop traffic for it.
- Kicked a chihuahua in the face on a crouded street. And just kept walking.
- Went to a Bono concert...also on a whim. At Carnegie Hall. Bought another scalped ticked. Got there a half hour into the show and I didn't want to disturb anybody, so I basically just wandered around the carnegie hallways for a good half hour. I wanted to get back stage, but the ushers kept telling me to go sit down. It was an aids benefit. Everyone was wearing suits and dresses. Was underdressed...in shorts and a tshirt and sunglasses. Lots of good cameos - rufus wainwright and scarlett johansson. Some not so good - Courtney Love and Lady Gaga (a great singer and pianist, but completely insane). Got onto the lowest balcony and and watched from there.
- Ate an excellent steak at columbus circle.
- Slept on the subway for a night. I couldn't remember the address for the place I was staying in Jersey City, and my friend had turned his phone off. So I rode the path subway back and forth from 33rd in nyc to journal square in jersey..until I got kicked off the train by the operator. I thought I was going to get mugged. Then I just wandered around broadway in shorts and a tshirt..and sunglasses..until a starbucks opened. Drank coffee and did a crossword in warmth.

There were surprisingly not as many street musicians as I thought there would be. When I did see them, I didn't have cash, and when I had cash, they seemed to disappear. This was the biggest disappointment of my trip. But all in all, it was a good trip. Baghdad is next. Then Sydney.

Lists Allow Me to Function

2009-10-01T20:44:00.000-07:00

I make lists. I have alot of things to do at work lately, and if I don't make lists, I end up forgetting about things and eventually getting blindsided. Not good. I'm going to New York City this weekend. Here is a list:

- Top of the Empire State Building
- Ground Zero
- Crown of the Statue of Liberty
- Central Park
- Times Square
- Grand Central Station
- Eat in Chinatown
- Eat in Little Italy
- Eat some New York Pizza
- Broadway musical
- New York Rangers game
- Bruce Springsteen concert
- Get in the background of Good Morning America
- Find the Seinfeld restaurant
- Tip a street musician

These are just a few goals. Some are much loftier than others. I am open to suggestions. Peace!

A Look Ahead

2009-08-23T10:08:00.000-07:00

My next month-plus will be fast and furious. 2fast2furious, one might say. It will start tomorrow. This next week will be crazy with all kinds of Army pre-deployment requirements. I will be busy. Then, that next Monday, I will fly home. Portland, Oregon. I will get to see the family and friends. A few plans:

Spend time with family and friends.
Go to the beach.
Not get a hair cut.
Not shave.
Go to Powell Books.
Bike the corridor.
Play street music.
Annie's Donuts (much better than voodoo).
Tosis.
Stacatto Geltao.

The only restriction on my trip is that I will fly out of Boise on the 13th. How I get from point a to point b is in the air. I-84, says my best intuition. Hitchhike maybe? Rent-a-car? Bike? Who knows. Here are some plans when I am in Idaho:

Sleep in Andrew's bed.
Climb on the new science building.
See old friends.

Okay, I really don't have many plans. But it should be a blast. Shortly after my return to New York, there will be another flurry of work, and then I'll be off to war. I will visit my sis in Columbus sometime in there. It will be crazy, but I'm excited. Australia on R&R! Peace! Or war! Or something!

Maine and Lobster Rolls

2009-08-05T19:28:00.000-07:00

I drove to Maine this last weekend. My options were either drive to Montreal and see Coldplay, Jason Mraz, and Josh Ritter in concert or drive to Maine. I decided that I wouldn't make the decision until I got to Vermont (which is nice this time of year), at which point I would either go north or south on I-89. I chose south. Coldplay will have to wait. I started running low on gas in New Hampshire on Friday night, so I pulled off in New London, a place I didn't know existed. I proceeded to drive to 3 other gas stations, only to find that they were all closed and that they all looked like a scene out of the Mothman Prophecies. Oh, not only did I stop at the gas stations... I ran out of gas at the fourth one that I so happily visited, so I had to sleep in my car and wait until the station opened (luckily at 5:30). I honestly think the mothman may have been trying to forcibly enter my car. Anyhoo, I got gas and quickly ditched New London for Maine.

Portland, Maine. The other Portland. The not quite as agreen Portland. The Portland that I have not grown to love, but that many, MANY seagulls call home. I got to Portland early Saturday morning. I parked my car and went for a little bike ride through downtown Portland (weird?). The streets were almost empty, which was nice, but I quickly realized that I had a slow leak in my front tire. Shame. So after maybe a half-hour long ride, I tossed the bike back into the veh and drove on to bigger and better.

I inadvertently drove headlong into a 10k race, so I was forced to park my car and wait until the race was over. Apparently, that's why the streets were abandoned; everybody in Maine was running in this thing. So I stood by the sea and watched as the runners collapsed across the finish line. Just when I thought it was over, they started the kids race. Painstaking is the word that I would use. Not for the runners, but for me not being able to leave. And I was in loafers, so everybody knew I was a fraud.

I ate some lobster rolls. They are New England delicacies. I saw a PBS special on regional foods and have wanted to try an authentic one ever since. I had another regional sandwich when I was down in Louisiana, BTW. The poboy! I sounded so white when I ordered it. Anyway, the lobster roll was good. It reminded me of a kind of bland, kind of fishy, kind of expensive version of a gyro. But it was good. Both of them. I had 2. And some fries and Coke. Oh yeah, PS, I locked my keys in my car probably at the busiest intersection north of Boston, while blaring a used CD that I bought when I was passing through Saranac Lake, NY, consisting of (kids) songs from around the world. Lots of girls jogging by. Lots of girls in summer dresses shopping at the trendy waterfront shops. Lots of good looks possessed by girls and weird looks directed at me. They no doubt heard my bizarre music and saw me feeding the meter as I waited for the pop-a-lock guy to show. Man, I was glad to get out of there.

All in all, I hit 7 states: New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. 6 of which I had never been to. All of which had probably one Dunkin Doughnuts for every resident. Not too many Starbucksesiz. Almost hit a pack of old people who didn't look both ways. One thing I have learned throughout my travels: musical tastes tend to differ by region, but everybody listens to public radio. NPR. And everybody watches PBS. Everybody listens to Garrison Keillor. Well, not everybody, but at least a good chunk of people from every place. Everybody state has NPR on FM frequency and it is always one of clearest stations on the dial. End of rant. End of post. Here are some pictures. End of post now.

A Little Louisiana

2009-07-30T20:09:00.000-07:00

Hi all. I'm back in New York. I spent a few weeks down south in sweaty Louisiana. Do I have pictures? No. Why? Well, it just so happens that I forgot my phone charger and my phone just so happens to double as my primary camera. Not the first time this has happened. I think Andrew is still bitter because my camera died in Sicily and I couldn't recharge it. We will always have the memories.

Anyways, Louisiana. It was very hot. And humid. Sometimes the air conditioning worked, sometimes it didn't. I spent most of my time briefing powerpoint slides. No joke. I definitely drank more than my share of coffee. Is this telling of my upcoming deployment to Iraq? Only time will tell. If so, keep the coffee flowing like the mighty Tigris.

New York To Louisiana

2009-07-08T19:46:00.000-07:00

Hello everybody! Tomorrow, I will fly down Fort Polk, Louisiana for roughly 3 weeks of high-quality, faux-Iraqi training. One thing I know: it will be hot. And humid...it will definitely be humid. Of course, the training would not be realistic without the wear of the 28-pound IBA vest and the mich helmet. Needless to say, I will sweat. "Hydrate or die!" as they say.

This is my first trip to the Joint Readiness Training Center (JRTC) and my first trip to Louisiana. Sadly, there will be no Bourbon Street parousing or Louisiana Delta swamp boat touring. It will be all business. I will get back to Ft. Drum roughly at the end of July. The battalion will work for a few more weeks, and then at the end of August, there will be a 17-day period of block leave. Which reminds me - I still need to get a plane ticket...where to, I'm still not sure. Then I will work most of September and part of October, then it's off to Iraq.

I'll try to put up some pictures of the non-classified happenings. I'll try not to pull a Geraldo. Later!

Home of Helen Keller?

2009-06-28T20:10:00.000-07:00

Alright, on my little bike ride this weekend, I discovered the whereabouts of Helen Keller's place of residence. I also found a hat that washed up on the shore. That's the only reason I'm wearing the goofy thing. It's my official bike hat now. Anyways, watch the video.

Groupsing

2009-06-26T19:35:00.000-07:00

An African Round with Pete

An Olde Gaelic Tune with Pete and Friends

The Leaving of Liverpool with some British dude

Marco Polo with the Brit again

I've Been a Havin' Some Hard Travelin'

2009-06-22T09:31:00.000-07:00

So this weekend I went to the Clearwater Festival. It's a festival where famous folk singers, bluegrass bands and story-tellers from all over the world come together for the cause of cleaning up the Hudson River, which is still pretty dirty by the way. It was still beautiful scenery, but not quite as beautiful as the Columbia River Gorge, probably the most beautiful place on earth, but close. The place looked and smelled like Saturday Market and the crowd didn't look much different. I would say probably 80% of the crowd was over 30 years old. And everyone was wearing bright colors and tie-dye. It was a 2 day event, so I camped out in my tent, which leaked, and soaked my sleeping bag. Oh yeah, p.s., it rained the entire time.

There were 6 different stages with 6 different performances going on simultaneously. There was the main stage where the Old Crow Medicine Band, Susan Tedeschi, and others played. There was a dance tent with all kinds of different styles of dancing going on, a story-telling stage, a children's music tent, the slightly-less main stage where smaller time singers played, and there was the circle of song tent. I ended up spending most of my time at the circle of song tent. Basically, at this tent, people bring their instruments and their voices and play whatever style of music was being played, i.e., Irish songs, sea songs, gospel, rounds, etc.

It was a pretty awesome thing. To make it more awesome, Pete Seeger just showed up a few times. And he was like a ghost. I never saw him come or go. He would just suddenly be there, singing and playing his banjo. Kind of creepy. Especially since he's like 90 and can't move that fast. So I got to sing in the Pete Seeger Collective, you might say. He was so close, I could have punched him...not that I wanted to, but if I had wanted to, I could have.

I have attached some videos from the circle of song with Pete Seeger and a few with some British/Scottish guy. Warning: the video quality is not that great, because I recorded them on my phone and because there was a significant amount of toe-tapping going on on my part, making the picture a little shaky. I'll be honest, in most of them you can't even make out the words, but that's ok, because one is in an African language and another is in Gaelic. Enjoy!...Alright, Blogger messed up the videos, so I'll try to fix them.

My Birthday Bike Ride

2009-06-07T20:46:00.000-07:00

This Saturday was my birthday. So I went for a bike ride. I started around 10 or 10:30 in the AM. I didn't check. And I wasn't wearing a watch. There are no bike paths around here like in Portland, but there are quite a few untraversed, back-country roads. So I took these. There are a surprising number of hills for a landscape so close to water. It was tiring, but I never stopped on account of the hills... only a few times to pee and once for an Amish father and daughter peddling homemade goods. I didn't buy anything because I would have had to carry it. All I had was my Camelbak. It has one pocket and that thing was maxed out. I had a wallet, a phone, a Moleskine, a passport and a pen in there. It could not hold anything else.

Oh yeah, the passport. I was biking to Canada. Kingston, to be exact. I have driven to Kingston before, but I've only taken the long way around. Apparently, there are two ferries and an island in between that make for a much quicker trip across the St. Lawrence River, by car or by bike. I Google Maps'd the route and it was the shortest distance. I rolled into Cape Vincent just in time to board the ferry. It was just over 25 miles from Sackets to Cape Vincent. The ride was about 10 minutes and cost $2. I thought it would be cheaper, since I was just on a bike. No dice.

Wolfe Island is officially Canadian territory. It is one of the Thousand Islands, after which the salad dressing is named. I had to show the border patrol my passport. They didn't check my Camelbak. I could have had anything in there! The ride across the island was very scenic and it was mostly covered by farmland. The island was also covered with gigantic wind turbines. I had to watch out for potholes during this ride. It was roughly 7 miles across the island to Marysville. I took a picture on my phone of a cool church in that town. There, I bought a Powerade and a warm cinnamon roll from a bakery.

I ate my roll on the ferry ride to Kingston. It was good. This ferry was free and absolutely packed. There were probably 50 or more cars and over a hundred people on board. I took some pictures the trip across. When I got to Kingston, I biked and walked around a little. There is a really cool shopping district kind of like Hawthorne in Portland but probably twice the size and more commercial. I would have taken pictures, but I was still wearing my bike shoes, which are cleated, making me sound like an out-of-work tap dancer, roaming the streets of Kingston. I was already attracting enough attention to myself. So I ate at McDonalds and called it a day. The ride back seemed much longer. I realized that I only had one dollar for the ferry ride back, but the guy let me on anyways. I met a nice family on the ferry back to the states. I chatted it up with them until I got back to the Cape. They offered me a ride home, but I declined. But I did accept the candy that they offered me. I got back to Sackets at about 8 in the PM. And that was that. Word. Here are the pics that I promised:

Live Long and Prosper, Star Trek!

2009-05-08T20:54:00.000-07:00

I thought it was going to suck. I really did. I thought it was going to be like the Star Wars prequels, or Transformers, or even the Dark Night, which were movies that everybody seemed to love. I thought they were steaming piles of special-effects-coated crap.

But no. Star Trek did not suck. It was the best movie that I have seen in a long...long time. The action commenced from the very first minute of the movie and lasted the entire duration. I thought J.J. was very true to the personalities from the original Star Trek series. Well, mostly. Ok, my biggest problem with the movie. Uhura and Spock. There was never a hint of romance between the two in any of the original episodes. A very minor issue. The romance didn't take a central role in the movie; it was more funny than anything. Also, I think J.J. cheated. He decided to base the movie around the theme of time travel. This works well with the plot of the movie and sets him up to make more movies in the future. However, he used time travel to change events that were staples of the original series. This makes it so that he can essentially rewrite the plot of Star Trek, completely disregarding the events from previous episodes and movies. This may anger the hardcore Trekkies. Not that I am one, I'm just saying.

There were alot of upsides to the movie too. Many more than the downsides. Number one: Leonard Nemoy. He was in the movie. Playing an old Spock. I'm pretty sure he hasn't had work since he voiced the techs on Civ 4. Basically what I'm saying is that I am a fan of all Leonard Nemoy's work. I remember one day when I was homeschooled, I was done with my work, so I flipped on the TV to watch an episode Perry Mason. Bam, there was a young, pre-Star-Trek Leonard Nemoy playing the murderer. Oops, I ruined the episode for you. My bad. Tangent. Anyways, so the best line of the movie. When young Kirk meets old Spock. Spock addresses Kirk by his name and Kirk asks Spock how he knows his name, obviously because the young Kirk doesn't recognize the old Spock. Then Spock replies, "I have been, and always will be, your friend." These were Spock's last words along with "Live long and prosper" before he collapses and dies in Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan. I recognized it instantly. Brought a tear to my eye. And I really just liked all of the actors chosen for the lead roles. I will say that the movie was cast very well.

I'll leave it at that. There were some hardcore Trekkies in there. I could tell. There were 4 fat bald guys sitting in front of me. Seriously, every one of them fit that description. All in a row. And they would laugh at some of the most obscure references. I think fat and bald are 2 characteristics which I am destined to possess. Well, that's it for now. Go see Star Trek. It is worth your time. Nerd out.

Back From The Dead

2009-04-16T14:15:00.000-07:00

I got back to New York late last night. 2 hours later than expected, actually. Ranger School really wasn't at all like I thought it would be, but then again, I guess nothing ever is. Tornadoes and golf-ball sized hail tore through Ft. Benning and the rest of Georgia the week before I left. Smashed car windshields and overturned outhouses were not an uncommon sight. But that's all behind me now. Much farther south.

I lost about 20 pounds, but have gained it all back. I feel like I have been eating constantly. My food regulator is broken or buried beneath weeks of 2-meal-days, and MREs to boot. I am polishing off a package of Keebler EL Fudge cookies and a venti caramel macciato-however-you-spell-that from Starbucks. I learned how to count calories...the opposite of how most people do. Most dieters are so concerned with calorie intake that they go to the extreme of measuring foods into exact serving sizes or buying Nabisco 100 calorie packs. I was eating about 2500 calories a day and burning about 3500, thus losing weight. I learned how to be a shrewd MRE dealer. Skittles have 250 calories and vanilla dairyshakes have 460. You've got to find that guy that absolutely loves Skittles, make the swap, and bam, that's 200 more calories than you had before. Now you have all kinds of energy, while Skittle guy is struggling to kick it up the hill.

Much of my last month was spent in the mountains of Northern Georgia. The Appalachian Trail cuts right through the mountains of Northern Georgia. I say mountains, but really they are more like hills. We would go up and down 3 or 4 of them in one day. The funny part is, we shared the Appalachian Trial with civilian hikers. They would be relaxing around their warm camp fire around 9pm, settling in for a nice, long 5-plus hours of sleep. My Ranger buddies and I, on the other hand, are cold, dirty, stinky, and still have an ambush to set up at the top of the next hill. So in other words, no sleep until 3am, with a 430 wake-up. but I laugh to myself, because I'm pretty sure these Marmot/Merrill-wearing hikers only have granola and rice to look forward to. And I have a dairyshake. And Skittle guy has Skittles, if he hasn't eaten them yet.

My fingers are still numb. It's colder than you might think in the hills of Northern Georgia. But that isn't the reason my extremities have lost feeling. The real reason is that wasn't drinking the 8 daily quarts of water required to maintain regular circulation while sweating profusely. Also, my 80-pound ruck sack partially cut off circulation to my arms and fingers. It was really only 80 pounds if I had to carry the m240b ammunition or tripod. Both add a significant amount weight to what would otherwise be a much more sustainable burden. Water is the other weight-adder. I would always try to ditch weight any way that I could. This usually meant dumping water or just not filling canteens. It is much more difficult to ditch rounds and impossible to get rid of that frickin tripod. The only way to shed rounds is, when afforded the opportunity, to completely unload the 240 ammo, in hopes of depleting the supply. This also proved to be a pleasant little bonus, because on those cold and rainy nights, when the 240 is unloading 1000 rounds within a period of a few minutes, it tends to heat about a 10 foot radius. So at least for a few minutes, I would bask in the heat of the 240 and in the glow of its barrel, which usually means it's time for barrel change.

Anyway, I think I'm going to get a kayak. I found a decent on today for $500. It's either that or a bike. I'm still deciding. It's 60 degrees and blue skies here, so I need to seize the carp. That's it for now. By the way, go Blazers. Other than that, that's all I have. Peace for now!

Update

2009-03-20T12:16:00.000-07:00

I'm not dead yet. I'm 1/3 of the way through. On to Mountain Phase!

Blog Capsule

2009-02-24T21:42:00.000-08:00

Alright, here's the deal. I will be gone for the next 2 months. Don't fret, I'll be back on May 1st. However, due to my lack of internet access and really any type of media access, I will not be able to update my blog, check my blog, or even get basic news. Due to this fact, I am creating a blog capsule. Basically, the concept is that I will write down all sorts of current information. When I get back in 2 months, I will read this blog capsule and laugh at how foolish I, and everybody else was back 2 months ago. I will also make some key predictions, which I fully anticipate will come true in the near future (the next 2 months). Here are some current facts, true as of February 24th, 2009:

• President Obama’s approval rating is 59%.
• There are talks of temporarily “nationalizing” the US banking system.
• The cheapest gas in Watertown/Fort Drum is $2.05 at the on-post gas station.
• The price of GM stock is $2.22 per share.
• The price of Bank of America stock is $4.73 per share.
• The DOW stands at 7,350.94.
• The Blazers are currently holding the 5th spot in the west, at 35-21.
• Greg Oden is out 2 more games and Martell Webster is out for the season.
• All other Blazers are healthy.
• The top TV show in America is American Idol with 24.825 million weekly viewers.
• New England bats are dying by the thousands due to a mysterious white fungus.
• There is snow on the ground outside, 3 or 4 feet in some places.
• The current temperature in Sackets Harbor is 18 degrees.
• The cheapest netbook at BestBuy costs $240.
• I am healthy and have no broken bones or sprains.
• My current weight is 184 lbs.
• I don’t have a Ranger Tab.

Here are some key predictions that will be true upon my return on or after May 1st:

• Bats will be extinct.
• GM stock will soar with news of their mass production of flying cars.
• Gasoline prices will hit record lows with the discovery human fat can be refined to make a high-grade octane.
• Exxon-Mobile will begin paying people to have liposuction, thus eliminating obesity, and putting Jared from Subway out of work.
• Kelly Ripa will just get hotter.
• American audiences will be stunned when Simon Cowell declares himself the next American Idol.
• "Lent" will finally be renamed "Lint", thus clearing up a lot of confusion.
• The Blazers will win the rest of their games, but will still finish second behind the Lakers, despite their losing every player except Luke Walton.
• Freedom of Speech will be declared unconstitutional, as the commies move into power.
• Sprint will reach deep into the jungles of Africa to recruit chimpanzees for their customer service hotline, which reportedly can do twice the work as humans, due to their ability to use their feet hands.
• The hockey season will be cancelled due to global warming.
• I will have 3 broken toes and 1 broken spirit.
• I will weigh in at 153 lbs.
• I will have a Ranger Tab.

Upon my return, I will crack open this blog capsule and see how much of it has come true (probably not much) and how much is complete garbage (likely the majority). I hope everybody has a great March and April. Peace!

It's a Sailboat

2009-02-21T17:45:00.000-08:00

I painted a sailboat. One of these days I'll get around to my ultimate goal of sailing from New York to the Mediterranean, but for now I'll have to settle for painting them.

Freight Train

2009-02-10T18:02:00.000-08:00

My mom used to play this song when I was a kid. I still remember that riff vividly after all these years. Some day, I'll hop a freight train and just ride. Word.

My Little Week

2009-02-08T12:23:00.000-08:00

Hello all!

I had a 4 day week! I didn't work last Monday AND I have a 4 day weekend next weekend! Life is good. I have been at this blog thing for over a year now! Exciting. I'm gearing up to go to Ranger School. I won't have a phone or computer for 2 months. I hope you all forgive me. I've started swimming in the mornings! I'll go into work an hour early to swim and then do my normal run/pushup/situp bit. I'm still a weak swimmer though. I use the flippers most of the time. But it's okay! Nobody else is at the pool at 6 in the morning. Anyhoo, here are a few more paintings; "Fanfare", my "Colorful Tree Collection", "A Tree", and "Not Quite There":

Hang In There Jack!

2009-02-03T17:01:00.000-08:00

Is there anybody else out there that is as concerned as I am about the well being of Jack Box? On Super Bowl Sunday, Jack got hit by a bus. Very unfortunate. It's been all over the news... mostly during the commercial breaks, actually. I have spent two restless nights tossing and turning to the idea of a world without Jack's curly fries greasy tacos. I'm sure I am not alone in hoping that Jack does not go the way of Humpty Dumpty. And we all know that Jack's head bears a startling resemblance to a large egg. Would you all join me posting an encouraging note or video onto Jack's recovery website at http://www.hangintherejack.com/. Here's an old pic of that big-headed mofo:

Top 60 PC Games of All Time!

2009-01-31T19:29:00.001-08:00

I have compiled a list of my favorite PC games of all time. These are the best of the best. Let me know if I missed any. This isn't even including console! Enjoy!

1. Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword (And All Predecessors) – I’m still addicted.

2. The Curse of Monkey Island – The funniest game ever made. Hands down.

3. Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis – It doesn’t get much better than Indy.

4. MechWarrior 2 (And All Expansions) – The beginning cut-scene is legendary.

5. Exile 3: Ruined World – Got me addicted to RPGs.

6. Sid Meier’s Colonization (The Original Mostly) – Best sound track for a PC game. The songs were MIDIs.

7. Sim City 2000 – “Sim Copter One reporting heavy traffic.”

8. The Dig – I had nightmares about this one, but I love it.

9. Sid Meier’s Pirates! (New and Old) – This is why I am a pirate, not a ninja.

10. Command and Conquer – “Time to rock and roll.” - Commando

11. Quake 1 – Played this one multiplayer over my 28.8k modem.

12. The Secret of Monkey Island – “How appropriate, you fight like a cow.” – Guybrush Threepwood

13. Fallout 2 – Before there was a Fallout 3

14. Sam & Max Hit the Road – Hilarious.

15. Full Throttle – The biker fights were awesome.

16. The Sims (1 & 2) – The only game my sister would play.

17. Sid Meier’s Railroad Tycoon (1 & 2) – The first tycoon game.

18. Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle – I’m scratching my head about this one.

19. Myst – This game also gave me nightmares. It was too empty.

20. Monkey Island II: Lechuck’s Revenge – Love the spitting contest.

21. NBA Live 97 – All the faces were the same.

22. Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri

23. Escape from Monkey Island

24. Hugo’s House of Horrors (1, 2, & 3) – Gotta love the music made from CPU beeps.

25. Grim Fandango

26. Fallout 1

27. Sim Tower

28. Rayman – Such a peaceful game.

29. Rollercoaster Tycoon 1 (And All Expansions) – Launch people off an unsafe rollercoaster!

30. Warcraft 2

31. Wolfenstein 3D -

32. Need for Speed 1

33. Oregon Trail (1, 2, & 3) – “My butt died of cholera?!”

34. Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures – This one kept me occupied for hours.

35. Dark Forces – “There he is, stop him!”

36. Silkroad Online

37. NHL 2002

38. Unreal Tournament

39. Myst 2: Riven

40. Grand Theft Auto 1 – Love the police chases.

41. Yoda Stories

42. Half-Life (Counter-Strike)

43. Command and Conquer II: Red Alert

44. Grand Theft Auto 2

45. Max Payne 1 – Ahh, the joys of slo-mo.

46. Duke Nukem 3D – Classic.

47. The Yukon Trail

48. Age of Empires

49. Lode Runner

50. Miner VGA – I lied. My sister played this one too.

51. Sim Ant

52. The Movies (Courtesy of Alex)

53. Chex Quest (1 & 2) – These games came in boxes of Chex cereal. The best cereal prize ever.

54. Doom (1 & 2)

55. Solar Winds (1 & 2)

56. Lords of the Realm 2

57. Cyber Empires

58. Baulder’s Gate

59. The Amazon Trail

60. Sonic CD – Sonic for PC!

I've Taken Up Painting

2009-01-25T16:56:00.000-08:00

So here's the deal,

I have some extra time in the evenings and on the weekends. Playing music gets old, reading isn't engaging enough, and watching TV is just a waste of time. It was time for a new hobby. Painting! I'll be the first to admit that I don't know a thing about painting other than what I learned in Survey of Art and Music class. So I went abstract. Really, it's borderline kindergarten material. But I like it. I'm mostly using supplies that I bought at Lowe's. The canvases and the easels I bought at Michael's. Here are my initial attempts at painting (I call them "Stalactites", "Grazing Cattle" and "Citrus Fruit in a Blue Bowl" in order:

A Snowy Blog

2008-12-20T14:51:00.000-08:00

It snowed yesterday. About 8 inches. And today, the clouds parted and made for some good pictures. Not so much good picture taking though, because it was like 8 degrees and below zero with the wind chill. So here's a little Merry Christmas from New York.

Sackets Harbor Rocks!

2008-12-04T19:11:00.000-08:00

Alright, last video for a while. I promise. My mom showed me this one. Suck on this Manhattan!

My New Girlfriend

2008-11-23T15:11:00.001-08:00

I may not be very attractive, but she likes me just the way I am. We dance.

Dancing

2008-09-27T17:40:00.001-07:00

Hey all,

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. It's mainly because I can't stop dancing. A convenience store camera caught me doing this little number.

Relaxin' Jackson

2008-08-17T17:03:00.000-07:00

Hey all!

I'm down here in beautiful Fort Jackson, South Carolina! I actually mean that, it's pretty nice down here. Much nicer than Fort Benning down in Georgia. Fort Jackson sits right next to Columbia, home of the Gamecocks! I'd like to see a game. I hear SEC football is crazy. One thing is for sure, they've got nothing on the PAC-10! Especially with a name like Gamecocks.

The Army is putting me to work! I work 6 day weeks and get just Sunday off. And the training I'm doing isn't traditional "military style" training. I actually am in a classroom for most of the day, which is alright with me, especially of late, because it has been raining alot. Plus, there is a tropical storm/hurricane headed this way. Florida and Georgia will most likely slow it down, but it will still bring rain and wind. Awesome.

The Army has put me up in a hotel here on post. It's just a regular, run of the mill hotel room. I get free cable and internet, clean towels, and everyday when I get back, my bed is made and my floor is vacuumed! It's like magic! Anyways, Myrtle Beach and Charleston are close by, so I might check one of those out one of these weekends. I really don't have any pictures of the area yet, but some are surely to come. That's all I got!

Back in P-Tizzle

2008-07-30T00:00:00.001-07:00

So, I show up at Fort Jackson in South Carolina to report for training, and they tell me they have no rooms. This was Thursday. Thank goodness for Priceline. I bought a pretty cheap ticket and flew to Portland the next day. I didn't tell my parents I was coming. I just strolled up and knocked on the window. They were surprised. So I'm in old P-town until Saturday morning. So, if anybody is driving to the beach or wants to go, you may as well swing by my hoose and pick me up. That's about it.

Culmination Week

2008-07-19T19:40:00.000-07:00

This past week at BOLC II was "Culmination Week". Simply put, it is a melding of all the tactics we had learned to that point. It was rough. I didn't get much sleep. I counted 12 hours of sleep for the 4 nights that we spent at the FOB. But it was all good training. The majority of my lack of sleep was due to the 10 mile ruck march that took place at 2am on Friday morning. I didn't actually sleep that night. But believe me, I slept Saturday morning. For like 12 hours. 12 awesome hours.

The best training that was conducted, in my opinion, was the night urban ops training. The McKenna Range was divided up and each platoon had 4 or 5 buildings that they had to clear. We had to use night vision devices in order to effectively clear the rooms. There was a constant barrage of artillery and grenade simulators being dropped and blank ammunition being fired. I swear I sort of saw my life flash before my eyes.

I actually could have slept on Thursday because it was my platoon's turn to provide OPFORs (opposing forces) as training aides for the other platoons. They only needed 6 and for some reason, I volunteered. It was actually really fun. I basically got to cause chaos while American forces tried desperately to destroy me. Good stuff.

Oh yeah, one more thing. One guy in my platoon, Frye, said that I should blog about blogging. I decided to take it a step farther and blog about the conversation that we had about blogging about blogging. So there it is. Here are some pics from the week:

Calm Before The Storm

2008-07-12T19:06:00.000-07:00

This past week was a pretty chill week. The West Point Captain in charge of my platoon took the week off, so the training was run by some pretty chill Sergeants. The West Point Captain will be back next week for "culmination week". It's supposed to be the toughest week of this 7 week course. Bring it on. Once again, my platoon stayed in the FOB (forward operating base) this week, which is basically just a bunch of buildings and tents surrounded by a fence.

This week was definitely highlighted by the training that we did with sim rounds. The M4 was used to fire these rounds, but the upper receiver (the part with the barrel) was removed and replaced with a special upper for sim rounds. The sim rounds are basically bullets with a little paint tip on the end, but (of course) they don't go as fast...or else they would kill you. But they still hurt when they hit you and they usually broke the skin, as shown in the picture of my hand. The picture of the ammo shows a blank round and a fired sim round (no paint tip). The training was conducted at the world famous (apparently) McKenna Range at Ft. Benning. The range consisted of maybe 15 buildings, mostly without windows, used to conduct operations training. I'm just going to say, the training was sweet. The basic building clearing drill consisted of a squad of nine versus four enemies holed up in a building. The goal was to kill the enemies without being killed. It was fun to be the good guys, but it was also fun the be the enemies. The squad element had to use Army tactics, but the enemies could do whatever they wanted. It was like a big game of very painful paintball. Attached are some pictures.

I also participated in a volleyball-tournament/barbecue/swimming-session/rockband-playing-party today. That was fun. My team came in 2nd. I got a pretty nice sunburn. I also sang the songs "Say it aint so" and "Dani California" on rock band. If you get the chance, play that game. It is awesome. You can have the lead guitar, bass, drums and vocals all at once. No pics from today, sorry. But I can tell you it was a good time.

My Week + End

2008-07-06T17:40:00.000-07:00

I had a pretty good week. I spent 4 days in the field and had a 3 day weekend. Thursday was land navigation (map, compass & 8 points complete with 8-digit grid coordinates). It wasn't that difficult, seeing as how the points were all 100 or more meters apart. I got up at 2:30 that morning. I began looking for my points at 4:30. So for about and hour and a half, there was darkness. Luckily, I found half of my points while it was still dark, making it easy to find the other 4 within my 5 hour time hack. I finished in 3:23 and was shocked to find that I was the second person back in the company. After some excruciatingly long classes on several US weapons systems, we were released for a 3 day weekend! I saw Hancock that evening and was not impressed. I still want to see Get Smart some time.

On the 4th, I drove up to Atlanta with some friends and saw the Braves play the Astros. The seats were sold out, so I had to buy standing room only tickets. Turner Field was impressively large and looked relatively new. We were able to snag a standing table directly behind the seats behind the batter. The Braves won. Fireworks must not be a big deal in Atlanta. The only fireworks that I saw were on the TV in the hotel room. We got the hotel room with the intentions of going to Six Flags the next day. Unfortunately, it started pouring the next morning, so we decided to go next weekend. We got back to Benning and I became rather hungry. It was 10 in the evening and nobody wanted to drive anywhere, so we ordered Chinese food. I need to make a habit of it. I had lo mein and it was was great.

Today for dinner, me and some friends went out for a nice dinner at Carrabba's. It was an Italian restaurant. Before the meal, they brought out freshly baked bread to be dipped into olive oil with spices. BTW, Thanks Bartlett for introducing me to such a tasty treat. If anybody gets the chance to eat at Carrabba's, eat there. Seriously. You won't regret it.

I find that these days, eating brings me enjoyment. But it is true that too much eating it not good for the body. I am still trying to find that balance between eating good food often and not eating too much. Here are some pics from this weekend:

A Little Update

2008-06-29T18:28:00.000-07:00

Alright, it's been about a week, so here goes. This past week was spent mainly at several firing ranges. I successfully grouped, zeroed, and qualified with the M4 Carbine rifle. It took me a few tries at the pop-up range, but I qualified. We did some standing, quick reaction fire on Thursday, also. My platoon ran that range, so I spent most of the day stapling paper targets onto silhouettes. Friday was a day off, so me and 3 other guys drove down to Panama City, Florida. We spent 3 days and 2 nights there. Friday and Saturday were both absolutely beautiful days. We played frisbee, volleyball, whiffle ball, football, and swam in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. There are a surprising number of resorts and condos along the Panama City coast. We got back today at 3. Tomorrow, I and my platoon we head to the field where we will stay 4 days and 3 nights in a Forward Operating Base. I will participate in a squad live fire and land navigation qualification (for the thousandth time). I will be back to the barracks on Thursday. Still no plans for the 4th, but I'm sure I'll find something. That's about it. More to come. P.S. Here are some pics from Panama City:

Army and Church

2008-06-22T11:51:00.000-07:00

Today, I went to church for the first time on a military post. I was apprehensive. It was different. Military and church are two areas of my life that have always been separate. I have always seen the military as a profession where people don't show much emotion or sing (outside of off-key cadences). That wasn't what I saw. I saw men and women (mostly men) singing We Want to See Jesus Lifted High at the tops of their lungs. The only differences were the in-shape people and the hair cuts. I still felt uncomfortable. I am comfortable in a church setting and a military setting, but I think it will take some time for me to grow accustomed to the mix of the two.

I got a free donut, so I think I'll go back next week.

REI Garage Sale - Atlanta Edition

2008-06-14T16:45:00.000-07:00

So last night, I decided to go onto the REI website and see if there is a store anywhere around here, because I wanted to buy a frisbee. Not only was there a store in Atlanta, but it was having its Garage Sale or "Scratch and Dent" sale, as they called it, this morning! I couldn't find any other Lieutenants who wanted to go with me, so I made the trek by myself. The website said no camping, so I decided to get up early this morning. I woke up at 7, but was still tired, so I went back to sleep. I dragged myself out of bed at 9, got ready, and was out by 9:45. There was alot of construction, so I got to REI at about noon. The sale had opened at 10, but there was still quite a bit. I tossed around the idea of getting a bike, of which there were quite a few, but I ended up just getting a pair of snowboarding gloves. I still saved like $45 on the gloves, so I didn't make out too bad. People are the same wherever you go - crazy about sales. Even after 2 hours of the sale being open, people were rushing around, grabbing things, and just generally intense. Oh, PS, I didn't find a frisbee...just a bunch of frisbee golf discs. But Atlanta is a cool city. Might check out a Braves game next weekend. More to come.

Big News in the Computer Gaming Sector!

2008-06-14T13:28:00.000-07:00

So I was checking out Gamespot.com like I always do, and there it was! Bam! It was like God was answering all of my prayers at once. A new Colonization game by Sid Meier! And this one will have the Civ IV graphics engine! I have seriously been waiting 10 years for this. I remember playing the original Colonization back in 1996 on my HP 133mhz Pentium I with 16mb of ram. This is revolutionary. I really haven't played any computer games since I deleted Civ IV from my computer 3 or 4 months ago! I think I will make an exception for this one.

Georgia is Hot

2008-06-09T18:03:00.000-07:00

I just reported to Fort Benning, Georgia on June 8th. It has been very hot and humid. There has not been a day yet that has seen a high of less than 90 degrees. Humidity has been pretty high too, up at 50 or 60 percent. There is supposed to be rain and thunder tonight, which is strange to me, considering the high temperatures. Today, like yesterday, consisted of a lot of sitting in long briefings and waiting in long lines. Sadly, my platoon got the West Point Captain and it showed during PT. He ran us into the ground. He will probably do the same tomorrow morning. It's a tough life. I got a pretty cool roommate. He is also branching AG and we went and played basketball and threw a football around a little while ago. Here at BOLC II, we get nights off usually after 5 pm and we get weekends off. It's nice. Although, it sucks equally because we have to get up at 5 every morning (excluding weekends). Since the 4th of July is a Friday, we get a 3 day weekend. I think I will find a Georgia beach and surf or go down to Florida and chill. Funny story about basketball. Me and my roommate were the only white guys there. I felt a little out of place. They were all pretty cool, but one guy called me a stupid white boy. But I'm pretty sure I outranked him, so it was ok. Oh, PS, me and my very white roommate got schooled. That's all for now. More later.

A 30 Hour Birthday!

2008-06-05T10:19:00.001-07:00

We trained from Florence to Interlaken, Switzrland. Rented Bikes and found a pond. Swung into it from a rope swing. Ate mexican food. Trained to Paris. Stayed in a tiny hotel. Saw the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the Arc De triumphe and Notre Dame. Got pictures. Sweet ones. Trained up to Luxembourg. Not much there. Then went to Amsterdam. Was only supposed to stay for 2 nights, but decided to skip Brussels. Is awesome. Tomorrow I'm flying home out of Brussels. My birthday is also tomorrow. My birthday will be 30 hours long. Awesome.

Alive and Well in Florance

2008-05-28T03:38:00.000-07:00

I am alive. Me and Andrew drove all the way across the United States. Nampa to Atlanta. Then we flew to London. Saw the guys in the goofy hats. Then we flew to Palermo, Sicily. We hitchhiked across Sicily and saw some sweet little towns and beaches including Cefalu! Almost forgot my underwear in the trunk of an Italian lady's car. When we got to the boot of Italy, we trained up through Tropea, Lamezia, Salerno, and eventually, Rome! Rome was awesome. Lots of old buildings. Andrew just set off the alarm in the building we are in. We are in Florance. I think we have to leave. No, we're good. False alarm. I am looking for a hostel in Interlaken, Switzerland. Good stuff.

Saying Goodbye...

2008-05-13T21:30:00.000-07:00

I've never really had to say goodbye for real. I didn't have any really close friends in high school, so it really didn't bother me when I left. And moving from Portland to Nampa is only like a 7 hour drive, so I didn't really say goodbye to any close friends or family when I left for college because I know that I would see them again. But now, for the first time in my life, I have to come to terms with the fact that I may not see some close friends or family for a long time.

Here in college, I have developed closer relationships than ever before, I have learned to love deeper, and I have found friendships in people whom I would have never previously thought to befriend. Let me tell you: if you have never truly had to say goodbye to somebody, it isn't easy. Some were tougher than others.

All this sacrifice is done with the idea that there is something better off on the horizon. Maybe I will find a house that is homier than 3403 NE 76th or 316 E Sheridan. Maybe I will develop closer friendships and deeper relationships. Maybe I will learn more somewhere in the east than I ever could have hoped to learn out here in the west. Maybe I will find something or someone that makes me happy. I will continue to work hard, have fun, and seek God, and maybe, just maybe, I'll find that thing, place, or person that I will not have to say goodbye to. That's it for now.

Packing

2008-05-10T20:28:00.001-07:00

The time has come, the walrus said, to pack up many things. My books and socks in boxes brown and instruments with strings. All right, now I have that out my system. I spent about an hour today sorting through old papers and keepsakes. It took time, but I think I am done with the paper portion. Now I just have to drop things in boxes. I realized that I really don't need most of what I have. I need my Army stuff and I need my phone, but most everything else is just junk that will probably end up in some trunk. Word. I will probably take off from Nampa on Wednesday or Thursday. Me and Andrew are driving over to West Virginia to see Josh Ritter and then down to Georgia. I'll drop my car there and fly to Europe and see the sights there for a few weeks. I hope my car makes it that far. It'll be a good trip. But first I have to pack.

Life?

2008-04-07T21:06:00.000-07:00

Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him - for this is his lot.

Hope

2008-03-11T20:57:00.001-07:00

Sometimes, when I think that I've lost all hope, I watch this and it makes me feel something, if only for a few moments.

Live

2008-03-11T00:05:00.000-07:00

I went on a rant about an hour ago. I'm sorry for whoever had to hear it. Actually, I'm not sorry. The words that were said had to be said.

Here's what it comes down to:
1. Christ tells us not to worry about what we will eat or drink, etc.
2. Josh Ritter asks us which is better: to have love at the immediate expense of the world around us, or to lose that love.
3. Paul Simon tells us that we are all Slip Slidin' Away.
4. T.S. Eliot reminds us that words crack and break under the burden of defining time. He tells us that what is important is "Quick, now, here, now always-"

So what does all this mean? Quit worrying about what will happen to you tomorrow. Don't be afraid to love! If you blink, you will miss the real meaning of life. What matters is here. Now. Stop reading my blog! Go out and make a difference. Make friendships! Fall in love! Smell the most fragrant flower! Eat the spiciest spaghetti! Live life and have fun doing it! That is all!

Plans Change

2008-02-22T23:20:00.000-08:00

I wouldn't say that I changed my plans, per say. I would say that they were changed for me. The Army decided that February 2009 was too long, so now I am off to the Basic Officer Course on June 8th of this year. Quite a change. Now there isn't enough time! I have about a month to do something. I don't yet know what that something is, but it will be epic. Maybe. Or maybe I'll just kick around Nampa and watch the NBA playoffs. Who really knows? Because I sure don't.

Huge discovery #2: I found out what my permanent duty station is going to be! Drum roll please...(no pun intended)...It's Fort Drum, New York. Fort Drum is in the northern part of New York and is located between Syracuse and Ottawa, near the Canadian border. It is situated near the thriving metropolis of Watertown, NY. Watertown is right on lake Ontario. Sweet. I have never actually been to the northeast, so this will be a good chance for me to see what all the fuss is about. People keep telling me there will be a lot of snow. I say "bring it on". That's all for today. Expect a big Mexico post very soon.

Sacrifice

2008-02-12T22:48:00.000-08:00

Sacrifice...it's what makes life worth living.

It makes you healthier...in time.
It makes you happier...in time.
It hurts.

It makes you love deeper...in time.
It makes you smile broader...in time.
It hurts.

It makes you feel better...in time
It makes others better off...in time.
It hurts.

It has to...or it isn't sacrifice.

- Inspired by true events that took place today.

Waiting...

2008-02-09T09:06:00.000-08:00

So I just learned some interesting news. It turns out that I won't be going to BOLC II until February of 2009. What this basically means is that after I graduate, I will have nothing to do for 9 months. No job, no place to live, no school to go to, and most of all, no military commitments. I'm not going to enroll in a grad school for one semester and then stop. That would not be beneficial. Plus, when I actually do commission into the Army (next February), I will have the GI Bill at my disposal, which means that I can go to grad school for free. So paying for grad school makes no sense. So what should I do with myself for 9 months? Maybe I will become like Chris McCandless and just travel around for a while. Maybe I will go work on a fishing boat up in Alaska or fight some fires. Maybe I will get a work visa and just go to another country and work for a while. Who really knows? Because I sure don't.

Lent is here

2008-02-05T17:36:00.000-08:00

Lent is here. Everybody knows what that means. It's time for Catholics and non-Catholics across the world to give up those unnecessary habits in favor of spending more time praying, reading the Bible, and meditating on the things of God. It is a remembrance of the 40 days that Christ spent in the desert in prayer and fasting, all the while being tempted by the Devil.

What does this mean to me? Well, I thought about giving up cookies or pizza. But seriously, cookies and pizza? Am I going to spend the time that I would have spent eating cookies and pizza meditating on God? Probably not. So what shall I do? Nothing? That is always a viable option. Maybe I'll go to a Catholic church and see what that is all about. Maybe I will go out to the wilderness and just soak in all that jazz. I know: I'll give up the internet. Except for school-related work. And maybe to update my blog and check in on my fantasy team. I've got it: 30 minutes of non school-related internet usage per day. I'll do it.

I'll do it. But I can't do it for the sake of doing it. That won't work. I should do this to better myself. No, not even that. I should do it as a sacrifice to Christ, who sacrificed everything for me. I will have to fill my life with spiritual things then, I guess. I will pray and read the Bible in this time. And I will write Christian music. Not explicitly Christian music, either. No FFH garbage. Not just that. I will try to be a kinder and more sincere person. Good stuff. This is a big undertaking. Anyone else in?

Passion? What for?

2008-01-21T14:35:00.000-08:00

So, I have not posted in a long time. In order to write, I need to feel passionately about something and the Blazers is the last topic about which I harbored that sort of passion (not really, I was just bored enough to blog). Lately, however, I have been feeling passion again. This passion is did not stem from anything that I can put my finger on and I’m not sure that I am channeling it into anything productive. Well, at least not until today. Today, me Andrew and Alex dropped some clothes off at the Nampa Lighthouse Mission and filled out applications to volunteer. I have to say that it is good to have roommates who are interested in helping people. Not just the kind of “help” that leads to a work and witness trip every few years and a leaf-raking each fall, but the kind that actually desires to better the lives of other people. That’s what I’m after, at least.

I’m actually not sure if I feel passionately about working at the Lighthouse Mission or not, but it is something that will push me out of my normal routine. Also, I hope that I can make this a habit so that when I get out into the real world, I will still have the desire to help others. I can’t imagine a life devoted to myself. It seems so pointless.

I have not yet found that thing that I feel intensely passionate about. It’s not working, not learning, not going to church or reading the Bible, not having fun or hanging with friends, not love (not like I’ve experienced it or anything), not music, not family, and not doing nothing. Maybe passion is learned; hmmm…interesting concept. Who really knows? All I know is that I want to develop some good habits and I hope that it will start at the Lighthouse Mission.

Boston and Oregon and Loving Life when Times are Good

2007-12-31T15:38:00.000-08:00

In the sports world, times are god in Boston. Nobody is denying that. The Sox won 2 World Series in the past 4. The Patriots are looking for their 4^th Super Bowl in 7 years and are staring an undefeated season straight in the face. The Celtics have only 3 losses in 29 games behind the “Big 3” of Pierce, Allen, and Garnett. The Bruins are even having a winning season and Boston College won its bowl game. Boston sports teams are winning and fans ecstatic fans can finally express their “Celtic Pride” (a mere C film in my book).

But let’s talk about something that hits a little closer to home: Oregon sports! The Ducks dominated South Florida in the Sun Bowl, despite losing their last 3 games. This is the first win of the season by the Ducks without their star quarterback Dennis Dixon. Justin Roper, a red shirt freshman, led the Ducks to the win, forecasting a bright future for the Ducks. And maybe (fingers crossed), Jonathan Stewart will return for his senior year. I’m not a Beaver fan (the sports team), but even they had a better-than-expected season, defeating the Terps in their bowl game.

But how ‘bout them Blazers? Preseason expectations were drab, with the Blazers losing their first-round draft pick Greg Oden for the season due to a then-seemingly untimely knee injury. It looked like another disappointing season, as Portland got off to a 5-12 start. Many had given up on the Blazers, but they had something different in store. They would go on to win their next 13 games. This streak is current. The Blazers will try to make it 14 in a row with a(nother) win over the Jazz tonight. So why the sudden shift in momentum? The Blazers are a young team and generally tend to outrun and outshoot the opposition. I was privileged to witness win number 17 against the Timberwolves. Brandon Roy was a huge part of the win. When the momentum would start to turn in the direction of the Wolves, Roy would score or make a big play. Anybody can score when a team is on a roll. Scoring when times are bad is a feat that is reserved for Jordan and Kobe, which is why they score(d) 35 points a game. Roy has the potential. Blazers have a bright future this season and it will be even brighter next season when Greg Oden joins the rotation. The success could also be attributed to their dropping bad-news, no-defense Zach Randolph, but that’s a whole different topic.

Times are good. I am now wearing my Blazers hat with pride; something that I could not do a year ago, or really since the Sheed-Sabonis era. It’s funny how when your team is winning, you are happy. I know it’s bad to place my happiness something that I can’t control, but I can’t help it. It’s engrained in me and probably will be until the day that I die. Skies are blue in Oregon, literally (dang, no more snow) and figuratively. Keep winning Blazers!

Oh, and uh...Happy New Year!

A Few Christmas Words

2007-12-25T16:49:00.000-08:00

It’s Christmas. Have a ho-ho-ho holly jolly happy holiday everybody. It’s the birth of our savior Jesus Christ and we should never forget that. Now that that’s out of the way, I can get down to business.

First, it snowed today...in Portland. That hasn’t happened since the 1930’s. I always wished for a white Christmas and it never happened, until today. Well, kind of. It didn’t actually stick, but it snowed for like 3 hours solid and it may still snow later tonight. And it will be colder, so it might actually stick. Awesome. I’m not exactly 10 anymore, so I don’t know what I will do if the snow does stick. Well, I guess that I could steal some garbage can lids and go slide around at the golf course with my buddy Sam, but even that is pretty juvenile. Just as a side note, I’m eating cherry pie watching the Suns run over the Lakers right now and my sister is hounding me to change the channel. I would consider slide tackling her if she hadn’t given my “Frog and Toad are Friends” for Christmas. And if she wasn’t sitting down right now.

I put on some weight. I was at Sam’s house yesterday and he always puts me up to little competitions against him like seeing who can curl more, and seeing who can win at NBA 2K6, both of which he won. He also put me up to the “Biggest Loser’ challenge and forced me onto his scale. Now, in my defense, I was wearing a lot of clothes and I’m pretty sure he rigged the scale. Anyways, for the first time in my life, I broke the plane of 200 big ones. I have some serious running to do this next semester.

Finally, the sophomore girls have announced that they have something new to bring to the collective this next semester. Well I do too. But instead of keeping it a secret and making a glorious entrance at the next jam session, I’m letting the cat out the bag. Yeah, I left “of” out on purpose. I’m a thug. My parents asked what I wanted for Christmas, and since this would be my last Christmas break, they wanted to get me a sweet present. My first inkling was to get a snowboard, but I realized that I would only use that a few times a year. I want something that I can use every day! For at least 2 hours a day until I can perfect it! Which will take at least 3 months! That’s right folks, my parents got me a MANDOLIN! Now, in addition to plucking on guitars and a violin, we’ve got a mand-o too!

Well that’s enough for this post. I’m going to go annoy my mom the 3 cords that I know. Everybody have great day of eating and visiting with family and friends, and more importantly, watching the nationally televised Blazer game tonight! I know I will. Have yourselves a merry little Christmas! Peace!

My Average Christmas Break Day

2007-12-19T19:15:00.000-08:00

Hi all.

My average Christmas break day goes something like this (this is seriously what I have done for the past 3 days):

10:00 - Grudgingly wake up
10:00 - 10:30 - Take a shower/doll up - (This was difficult before this morning because the hot water heater was broken. This meant 30 second showers.)
10:30 - 10:45 - Eat - This generally consists of either a muffin or cold pizza.
10:45 - 12:30 - Play Civilization IV
11:30 - Kick Buster just because.
12:30 - Get pissed when the Romans take Shanghai and decide to do something else.
12:45 - Hop on the bus and see where I end up.
1:00 - Get off the bus somewhere downtown.
1:00 - 1:30 - Walk around quickly so it looks like I have some place to be.
1:30 - Wind up at the Central Library.
1:30 - 4:30 - Find a corner and read War and Peace.
4:30 - Ditch the library when I realize that the walls are closing in.
4:30 - 4:45 - Do more hurried walking.
4:45 - Go into an expensive store and pretend that I want to buy something.
5:00 - Find a dirty lunch cart and buy a burrito or some thai food.
5:00 - 5:30 - Eat my burrito and sit in the rain, wondering what I've done with my life.
5:30 - Consider calling friends.
5:31 - Realize that I have no friends.
5:32 - Think about my friends back in Nampa.
5:33 - Sigh deeply.
5:45 - Ride the #12 back home.
5:50 - Try not to make eye contact with anybody on the bus (they will try to talk to you).
6:05 - Get back home.
6:10 - 6:45 - Browse the internet. This includes checking Alex, Andrew, and the other blogs.
6:50 - Turn on the TV expecting Jeopardy, only to realize that it doesn't start for another 10 minutes.
6:50 - 6:59 - Fume.
7:00 - Happily watch Jeopardy.
7:30 - Turn off the TV.
7:30 - 9:00 - Update my blog/play more Civilization.
9:00 - 9:15 - Scrounge for food.
9:15 - Eat a muffin or some cold pizza.
9:20 - Do some push-ups.
9:30 - Conduct end of day hygiene.
9:30 - 10:30 - Play guitar. Try to write songs. Realize that I have no talent. Curse the world.
10:30 - 11:00 - Lay in bed and wonder what Grant is doing at that exact moment.
11:00 - Sleep soundly.

Miles to go before I sleep

2007-12-14T08:18:00.000-08:00

I'm going to be honest. These last 3 days have been rough. The rough days have actually stemmed from a serious lack of sleep. So this all started with my being wildly unproductive all day Wednesday. I had a final on Thursday morning and I had a paper that I needed to finish. I didn't start the paper until 1am. I finished it around 5am. Then I spent 5-8 studying for the test. Needless to say, I was tired. I came back home and slept for an hour. Then I had to get spiffed up in my Army Class A's and go stand in a formation for about an hour over at Boise State for an award ceremony. Off the record, either I'm growing or my clothes are shrinking because that uniform definitely did not fir quite right. I was struggling. Luckily, they provided cake and juice after the ceremony, so it wasn't all that bad.

After a superb dinner at the Dex, including many attempts to make me dance on the table, I went back to the house and slept for another 15 minutes. All day all I could think about was sleep. It was almost a lust. I was practically lusting after sleep. I was entertaining impure thoughts about sleeping. I wanted more sleep. But instead of sleeping, I made gingerbread houses out of graham crackers, if that makes any sense. First, the gingerbread house was hit by shotgun blasts. Then it was hit by napalm. Then God (me) smited the gingerbread house with mighty candy canes from heaven. Andrew was pissed. Alex was indignant. Kyle was dropping candy down my crack. White Christmas (the movie) was playing this whole time. I hear Vermont is nice this time if year.

Sleep was still far off. Next, I went to Sheri's and bought some mozzarella sticks and a chocolate shake. After that, I went and watched I Am Legend for Ryan Cork's bachelor party. The movie was sweet. I reccommend it. I didn't actually get to sleep until 2:30am that night. I had to get up at 5:30 for work this morning. It physically pained me to get out of bed this morning. I was sluggish getting ready this morning. Alex drove me to the bus stop at the Boise State West Campus, and I caught my bus at 6:15. Sadly, I fell asleep on the bus. I slept for about 20 minutes and right passed my stop. I closed my eyes at St. Luke's and when I opened them, we were at Boise State. Weird.

So I got in to work this morning a little late at 7:30. Every passing minute is a struggle to stay awake. Do the math. I've gotten about 4 and a half hours of sleep in the last 3 days. I got a nice grande coffee at Starbucks this morning, but even that didn't wake me up. I've been slapping myself in the face alot this morning to keep myself awake. Mark keeps looking at me funny. Whatev. It's my last day, so no big.

Here is a poem by Robert Frost that is fitting for this occasion:

"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"

Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village, though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there's some mistake. The only other sound's the sweep Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.

Ode to Grant

2007-12-12T13:12:00.000-08:00

So, I guess it's the new thing to devote entire posts to roommates. Andrew and Alex both wrote kind words about me, so instead of returning the favor I decided to pay it forward. So like the little kid from the 6th Sense, I am going to complement a roommate who has done nothing to me, neither good nor bad. You could say he is neutral; Swiss. A man of quality, like the Army knives and the watches. Here's to Grant.

Ode to Grant (tune of Ode to Joy)

Bruner, Bruner, is a runner
Individual toed shoes
He thinks that it is much funner
At ping pong to win than lose
He sells footware at REI
Once he worked in backpacks too
Grant has got a huge collection
Of sweet pics for you to view

Once while driving on the freeway
A ladder fell from a truck
Grant swerved to dodge the obstruction
He would have to have some luck
But he slammed his breaks on also
And he spun out of control
He came to rest on the shoulder
And survived, which was his goal

His father is also Bruner
So's his mom and sister too
They are one big Bruner family
You could say a "Bruner crew"
They had me over for Easter
I was quite thankful for that
I eat lots and gain too much weight
Grant eats and does not get fat

White Collar Blues

2007-12-05T15:51:00.000-08:00

So I’ll be the first to admit that my job is not all that bad. I mean, I have a desk and a computer and my very own extension, and I’m only an intern! Somebody has started giving me candy every day. I don’t know who it is. I just show up to work, and there on my desk is some sort of a Christmas-themed goody. Today I got a little bag of chocolates. Yesterday, it was dog food-shaped gingerbread chunks in a little dog dish. There is a secret Santa exchange going on here in the office, but I sure didn’t sign up for it. I hope the secret giver knows that they won’t get anything in return. I have been asking around to find out who it is, and nobody will tell me. Mark, whose office I share, suggested that if I were to uncover stealthy Santa, they supply might just happen to run dry. A dry supply of Christmas treats is a bad thing. So maybe I’ll just keep my mouth shut as far as questions are concerned and keep it open when it comes to the sugary yuletide delights. But I would like to know who it is. Even if they don’t know that I know.
Anyhow, I am finding that I enjoy being at work. I don’t have to worry about homework. I can work on one project for a while and then switch over to another project. Really whatever I feel like. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I get in at 2:30. Most people are starting to leave by this time. So it’s always pretty chill. Not too much stress, no pressing deadlines, no supervisors breathing down my neck, just me working at my own pace. Good times. Maybe I just enjoy it because I know that it will be over soon. Maybe if this were my full-time job, I wouldn’t enjoy it quite so much. Maybe it’s just the feeling of being trapped that people can’t stand. My Commissioning date is quickly approaching, so I will soon learn what it is like to be sold to a single job, at least for 4 years. There probably won’t be anybody leaving candy on my desk in the Army, but that’s ok. I need to lose some weight anyways. As of right now, I am excited for what lies ahead. Bring it on.

Here is a song that I wrote for the occasion; it’s called “White Collar Blues”:

Work and such had got me down
Gotta leave this place downtown
Plain white walls are all I see
Shirt and tie’s got a hold on me
Shirt and tie’s got a hold on me

Gonna flee from all these walls
Gonna run throughout these halls
Screaming that you must break free
Shirt and tie’s got a hold on me
Shirt and tie’s got a hold on me

Gonna sleep out in the woods
Cooks myself the finest foods
Want to climb the highest tree
But shirt and tie’s got a hold on me
Shirt and tie’s got a hold on me

2007-12-04T09:20:00.000-08:00

So I this is my first official blog. I hate to get on and complain, but that’s what I’m going to do. So for Thanksgiving, I decided to DRIVE home to Portland. What a great idea. 8 hours of Frappuccino, road lines, and tons of different local radio stations (because I don’t have an ipod)…and cops…what a blast. First off, in my defense, my car doesn’t have cruise control, and when you’re on the road by yourself at night without cruise control with another 4 hours to go, you tend to speed a bit. So I got pulled over and I just so happened to be going the fastest that I had gone all night – 96…in a 65. I had been trying to keep it below 75 the whole night, but I must have just gotten carried away. So I get a speeding ticket just outside of Pendleton (Oregon) for a whopping $427. Mind you, this is the first time that I have been pulled over. No warning, no reduced fine, just $427.

So I was pretty angry about this the whole weekend and I felt that I didn’t have much to be Thankful for. To make matters worse, the Dixon-less Ducks get shut out by UCLA, but that’s another story for another time. But nothing could prepare me for what would happen on the trip back. The trip back to Nampa was a long one, so when I was going through the pass just before La Grande, I pulled off at a random exit and drove down a snow and ice partially-covered road. There were a bunch of trees and I wanted to cut one down and take it home, but I didn’t have anything to cut them with. So I tried to bend the trees until they would break, but it didn’t work. Trees are surprisingly resilient. Here are some pictures I took while I was out in the middle of nowhere:

So I was able to find my way back to I-84 and continue my journey. The trip was going fine and the time was flying by, until… I had crossed the Oregon boarder back into Idaho and I was almost to Caldwell, and suddenly my car lurched and white smoke billowed from my hood. Luckily there was an exit, so I took it. I coasted up the offramp and around the corner, where I parked and shut off my car. My car hasn’t turned back on since then. Luckily, my Grandma bought me AAA so I gave them a call. I quickly explained to them where I was what my car looked like. I did this quickly because as soon as I got out all the information, my phone died. I was stranded at the Sand Hallow exit of the freeway with no phone and no car. Apparently the AAA lady thought that I said I was still on the freeway, so it took the tow-truck driver an extra 20 minutes or so to get to me. It was probably twenty-something degrees and I was cold. But I had to wait outside near the freeway offramp so that I could see the driver when he arrived. So he arrived and it turns out that my AAA completely covered the tow, so I didn’t have to pay for that.

So now my car is parked in front of my house (at school) and I’m pretty sure the engine block is cracked. I have gotten a few estimates and the cheapest one is about 2 grand. I hate my life. So anyways, I just paid my ticket today and got it “reduced” to $350. But since I was going over 90, I guess I will have to take some online driver’s school crap next semester. I think that if a person’s car breaks down, that person should not have to pay any tickets that the person received while driving that car. It’s really just adding insult to injury…or vice versa. So that’s my story.