That one guy

Old Pictures

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:27:26 GMT

While cleaning out boxes in the garage, we stumbled across some old pictures. Decided to scan them in and post them up on my photo site.

Enjoy

Website Broke

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:01:37 GMT

I wonder if I should just go back to using Google’s Blogger instead of
maintaining a whole website.

They’ve come a long way in the past 6 years and I am sick of some
update or some other plugin not working on my Wordpress blog.

We’ll see when I get back.

Originally published at What's Happening With Me!. You can comment here or there.

Over 30

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 07:00:12 GMT

Got this in an email!
Just for laughs and smiles…

To all you youngins’! (even you not so young ones!)
————————————————

If you are 30 or older you will think this is hilarious!!!!
(And those close to 30)

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious
diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what
with walking Twenty-five miles to school every morning…..
Uphill… Barefoot… BOTH ways Yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way
in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about
how hard I had it and how easy they’ve got it!

But now that… I’m over the ripe old age of thirty, I can’t help but
look around and notice the youth of today.

You’ve got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a
damn Utopia!

And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don’t know how good you’ve got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn’t have The Internet. If we wanted to
know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up
ourselves, in the card catalogue!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter – with a pen!

Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the
mailbox and it would take, like, a week to get there! Stamps were 10
cents!

Child Protective Services didn’t care if our parents beat us. As a
matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to
kick our ass! Nowhere was safe!

There were no MP3′ s or Napsters! If you wanted to steal music, you
had to hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself!

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ
would usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up! There were
no CD players! We had tape decks in our car We’d play our favorite
tape and “eject” it when finished and the tape would come undone.
Cause – that’s how we rolled, dig?

We didn’t have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone
and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that’s it!

And we didn’t have fancy Caller ID either!

When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your
school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a
collections agent, you just didn’t know!!! You had to pick it up and
take your chances, mister!

We didn’t have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with
high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like
‘Space Invaders’ and ‘Asteroids’. Your guy was a little square! You
actually had to use your imagination!! And there were no multiple
levels or screens, it was just one screen… Forever!

And you could never win.. The game just kept getting harder and harder
and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was
on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get
off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the channel! NO
REMOTES!!!

There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on
Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I’m saying!?! We had to wait ALL
WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-bastards!

And we didn’t have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up we
had to use the stove! Imagine that!

That’s exactly what I’m talking about! You kids today have got it too easy.

You’re spoiled. You guys wouldn’t have lasted five minutes back in
the early to mid 1980’s or before!

Regards,

The Over 30 Crowd

Originally published at My Stupid Thoughts© on Random Topics In My Life. You can comment here or there.

Did Texas Execute an Innocent Person?

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 09:00:15 GMT

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/09/07/090907fa_fact_grann?currentPage=all

It’s a long read but it’s really worth it. I for one have always been
on the fence when it comes to capitol punishment. This might be one
of those things that pushes me towards one side.

Originally published at My Stupid Thoughts© on Random Topics In My Life. You can comment here or there.

Younger Than Today

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 16:00:13 GMT

Today marks one more year of my survival in this game we call life.

Over the years I know I’ve gotten wiser. I’m wise enough to know that
I still have much more to learn.

I’ve also realized how little time we have. To quote a fav movie of
mine, “The saddest thing in life is wasted talent, and the choices
that you make will shape your life forever.” –The Bronx Tale

One thing is for sure, we all start dying the moment we are born, and
we are never given a set guaranteed time in life, so make the most of
it no matter what you do.

I leave you with a song that is fitting to this special day in my
life. It’s by Ben Harper and it’s one of me and Jenn’s favorite
musicians. It’s obvious to me what the song is about and Jenn has
taught me more than anyone or anything to try and live towards the
meaning of this song. Time passes and there’s nothing you can do
about it, so just make sure you take hold of every fleeting moment.

————-
Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals
Younger Than Today
————–

You and I were looking over pictures yesterday
Sitting in disbelief at how time slips away
Both at a loss for words to say
You will never be younger than today

Foolishness protected us from the world outside
They could never come between us but we knew they’d try
We remember living as if they were away
To forever be younger than today

Never looked at anything you didn’t care to see

I was the one who wouldn’t let you leave
Even though it was clear you couldn’t stay
Had to try to be younger than today
Had to try to be younger than today

As we parted you reminded me of a lie
To remember when the stars danced just for you and I
May the shimmer of summer always light your way

And make you feel younger than today

Originally published at My Stupid Thoughts© on Random Topics In My Life. You can comment here or there.

Condolences

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 07:00:21 GMT

I never know what to say or do when someone is wounded with the bad
news that someone close to them has passed away. There are the common
sayings of “My Condolences”, or “I’ll pray for your family”. I never
feel like that is enough for them. But then again I don’t know what
to do.

I don’t know what to do to make them feel better. I just try to
listen to everything they have to say and make sure they have
everything they need in order to help them out, but for some reason it
never seems like enough.

I hope that everything goes smoothly with getting our guy home safe to
his family so they can grieve and be together in their time of loss.

Originally published at My Stupid Thoughts© on Random Topics In My Life. You can comment here or there.

Sunday Deployment Update

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 11:52:30 GMT

So far so good. The past week was just so so.

The most exciting thing (which is pathetic) that happened to me this week is that I beat my Flight Commander and Squadron commander in a washers tournament.

Other than that, I didn’t take any new pics or do anything special. Hopefully this next week will be better.

Originally published at My Stupid Thoughts© on Random Topics In My Life. You can comment here or there.

Life Lesson #4256 Learned

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 09:00:09 GMT

#4256 Remember that when you vent to others about a particular
co-worker, that information may end up hitting the ears of said
co-worker and cause a rift in the subtle social normalcy of the
workplace.

I’ve had frustrations a many since being here. Sometimes I am
frustrated at the weather, or the long hours, and sometimes I’m just
frustrated at people in general. Believe it or not but there are a
lot of people in the military who are content with just doing the
minimum to get by. Sometimes that frustrates the hell out of me and I
vent. Most of the time I vent to my wife, but sometimes I forget
about the audience in earshot and this was one of those times. I
vented about a co-worker and it got back to him. The problem is now
he has this view that I’m always pissed at him. However I’m not. I
just happened to be at that moment.

So when the next time you are frustrated and you feel like venting to
the closest ear, remember that what you say may get back to the person
you are speaking about.

I’ve officially learned Life Lesson #4256 (yah that’s a random number)

Originally published at My Stupid Thoughts© on Random Topics In My Life. You can comment here or there.

Sunday Deployment Update

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 08:17:48 GMT

Your weekly Sunday Deployment newsletter….(yah I know this is the first one but I’m gonna try and update weekly.)

The closer that I get to the midway point, the more excited and nervous I get. I know that the mid-way point is a milestone that everyone looks forward to. If I were on a 120 day rotation like all those that deployed last year, I would already have hit that milestone. However the 179’s can be counted in months and weeks and still you feel like it’s taking forever.

Some good news rumors are flying around about mid-tour R&R. They would probably send us out of country for a few days where they have beer and a nice pool area so that we could “Reast and Recoup” for the next 3 month length. I don’t know how true that is so I won’t hold my breath waiting for it.

This week we got some new (new to us) A/C units installed in our shelters. The temperature was 71 degrees when I left for work. That has never happened in the summer according to our contractors who’ve been here since forever. So the days of a 97 degree server room seem to be over. Thank goodness.

Every Saturday we have movie night on the roof of our building. We have a pretty good setup up there. Here’s a stitched picture. (Click for a larger size)

Last night we watched “The Boondock Saints”. It was actually the first time I went up there and stayed. Normally they have horrible movies playing but last night was the exception. It was pretty cool outside too unusually. The leadership also bought free pizza so all in all it was a good time.

I love the fact that I get to talk to everyone constantly. I think I would go nuts not knowing what was going on at home or with my family. Communication is important when you are right next to them, and it’s even more important when you are thousands of miles away. Another thing that helps is care packages. My baby is sending me one today or tomorrow and I’m really looking forward to it. I also talked to my dad and he said he was gonna send me some of my favorite candies…. Dewar’s Chews from B-Town. I got some surprises for some people yesterday but I won’t discuss that here as some of them might be reading….

Well other than all that I find myself stepping out of myself sometimes and see that I’m used to this place. Complacency seems to set in every once in awhile and then the militant in me tells me to wake up and be vigilant because the shit can hit the fan at any time.

I will try and post some more pictures of my deployment but for now here are some I posted on Facebook. They are just random pictures I picked in about 5 min. When I get home I will upload every picture I took to my photos site.

Remember…. drink one or two for me, because I can’t! ! ! !

–Cheers

Originally published at My Stupid Thoughts© on Random Topics In My Life. You can comment here or there.

Explanation of Life

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 05:00:08 GMT

On the first day, God created the dog and said:

‘Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in
or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years.’

The dog said: ‘That’s a long time to be barking. How about only ten
years and I’ll give you back the other ten?’

So God agreed.

On the second day, God created the monkey and said:

‘Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I’ll give
you a twenty-year life span.’

The monkey said: ‘Monkey tricks for twenty years? That’s a pretty long
time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the Dog did?’

And God agreed.

On the third day, God created the cow and said:

‘You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer
under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer’s
family. For this, I will give you a life span of sixty years.’

The cow said: ‘That’s kind of a tough life you want me to live for
sixty years. How about twenty and I’ll give back the other forty?’

And God agreed again.

On the fourth day, God created humans and said:

‘Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I’ll give you
twenty years.’

But the human said: ‘Only twenty years? Could you possibly give me my
twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and
the ten the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?’

‘Okay,’ said God, ‘You asked for it.’

So that is why for our first twenty years we eat, sleep, play and
enjoy ourselves. For the next forty years we slave in the sun to
support our family. For the next ten years we do monkey tricks to
entertain the grandchildren. And for the last ten years we sit on the
front porch and bark at everyone.

Life has now been explained to you.

Originally published at My Stupid Thoughts© on Random Topics In My Life. You can comment here or there.

OMG… Dust Storm

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 12:15:17 GMT

As you will see byt the following pictures….

It’s Dirty Here

For the past few days it’s been really windy and hot. The dust started to come in on Thursday, but mostly it just looked like fog.

The today… 4th of July… we get this! ! !

OMGZ! ! ! !

It looks like MARS out there. Totally not good for 4th of July festivities. We were supposed to have Pizza and movie night but that’s off since we got this handed to us instead. YAY! ! !

Originally published at My Stupid Thoughts© on Random Topics In My Life. You can comment here or there.

The Chemistry of Hell

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:00:08 GMT

You gotta love this guy’s explanation of hell…….

The following is an actual question given on a University of
Washington chemistry mid-term.

The answer by one student was so “profound” that the professor shared
it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now
have the pleasure of enjoying it as well :

Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic
(absorbs heat)?

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle’s Law
(gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some
variant.

One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we
need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate
at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once
a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are
leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let’s look at the
different religions that exist in the world today Most of these
religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you
will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and
since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project
that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we
can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now,
we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle’s
Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to
stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as
souls are added.

This gives two possibilities:

1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls
enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase
until all Hell breaks loose.

2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in
Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes
over.

So which is it?

If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman
year that, “It will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you,”
and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then
number two must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic
and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that
since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any
more souls and is therefore, extinct……leaving only Heaven, thereby
proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last
night, Teresa kept shouting “Oh my God.”

THIS STUDENT RECEIVED THE ONLY “A.”

Originally published at My Stupid Thoughts© on Random Topics In My Life. You can comment here or there.

R.I.P. Michael

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:37:11 GMT

I’ve been keeping quiet about this subject due to it being in everyone’s face all day since it happened. I’ve kinda been dealing with this in my own way. I have heard tons of negative things from people and it makes me sad for them that they didn’t see Michael Jackson the way that most of us did. A lot has happened with his life and I’ve kinda just been having my own personal memorial for him. I have all his music on my computer and I’ve been listening to his albums on random. Each song takes me to a different time in music history as well as a different time in my own life. I mean when Thriller came out I remember them showing the video in the classrooms at my Elementary school.

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Things in his life weren’t easy we all know this. We’ve heard the stories throughout the years via the news about his childhood and his father and the abuse. We also heard about his court cases against him the last few years before he took his long hiatus. I think even to the day he died people were taking advantage of him. His name was known throughout the world. We can’t just remember the bad things he did. Update: I just heard that his father is already, 2 days after his death, promoting an album of Michael’s unreleased work. WTF! No wonder the man had issues.

We all have to remember the good this man brought to the world. He changed the face of music as we knew it. He broke down many barriers he saw. He used his stardom for good to try and bring the world together. All of this is evident in his songs. (Listen to Human Nature)

We have to understand that he was sick and he needed help obviously. Many reached out to him and I feel that even some of those that tried to help Michael, did so just to get into the spotlight, only for selfish reasons. Maybe they started out wanting to help, but then somewhere it turned to the wrong reasons. There were those in his own family that tried to ride his coat-tails. The only one that stayed true to being a friend and his familiy was his sister Janet. Maybe that’s because she too had her own success. This man obviously also had major trust issues. I mean ever since he was a kid he had problems trusting people. So it’s clear the reason he gravitated towards the innocence of children. They did’nt “want” anything from him except to have fun. They weren’t trying to get famous or get some of his money. And Michael too was a kid at heart and of mind. To his later years he had no idea that what he was doing with even his own kids was viewed as wrong until the scandals in the media. All he ever tried to do is do good in the world.

It makes me sad to hear people talk bad about him only due to the later garbage in his life. Not realizing all the good he did. The mand broke barriers. I remember the movie moonwalker. Not only the movie but also the video game on the Sega Genesis. That was amazing and the movie, although to todays standards is not all that great, it had an awesome message about staying away from drugs and sticking to good. It also had a bad as video for “Smooth Criminal”. And don’t tell me you didn’t think the lean move wasn’t bad ass. If you didn’t think so then you were a nerd.

I just hope that he is remembered by most as the man that made music and dancing what it is today. Many of the great choreographers grew up listening and watching Michael Jackson in his hay-day. Everyone from Usher to Chris Brown to Justin Timberlake all of them idolzed this man as did millions the world over. And to this day, even if he hadn’t died, if someone said the words “Who’s Bad” to you, your thoughts would immediately jump to that video.

I know that he will still in death be remembered as the “King of Pop”. He changed the face of music ever since he was a child. Every barrier he came across he broke through it. Go ahead and listen to some of his older records as well as his Number Ones or just look up some of his video’s on YouTube. Honor him in your own way because he really was a legend to the world of music.

The Man

The Legend

The King of Pop

You can finally R.I.P. Michael. You will truely be missed by all your family, friends, and fans!

Originally published at My Stupid Thoughts© on Random Topics In My Life. You can comment here or there.

WHAT THE BLEEP! ! ! !

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 14:00:13 GMT

It just fucking figures you know! ! ! !

I’ve been sitting here waiting to talk to my baby for 3 1/2 hours. No
problems with the internet at all. I’ve been surfing, playing games
on Facebook, and wouldn’t you know it. As soon as she comes online,
the whole FUCKING THING GOES TO SHIT. WHAT THE FUCK INTERNETS! ! ! !

I mean seriously, what …. the…. FUCK! ! ! 5 people just walked
in, got connected and are talking on their headsets with people. But
I can’t even fucking connect. HATE is the only damn word that comes
to mind. What the hell is going on.

It makes me “want” to go spend $60 a month for shitty internet that I
can access in my room. At least then I will have intermittent
connections that I can maybe see once in a while my baby online!

I would love to blame the dust storm, or the sun spots, or whatever
else people love to come up with here. But the fact is, people ARE
getting online and ARE able to chat so why can’t I? ? ? ? ?

Originally published at My Stupid Thoughts© on Random Topics In My Life. You can comment here or there.

Signs that you’re at Joint Base Balad

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 12:00:08 GMT

1. You run in terror from a controlled detonation your first week,
then stand in the open to watch real mortars landing, a month later

2. The most intimate contact you’ve had in months is with the shower curtain

3. Your most successful pick-up line is “I’ve got a vehicle”

4. All the Air Force people look like glow-in-the-dark Power Rangers
and you can’t see the Army Folks

5. Your 6:00 am wake-up call is “BOOM” Alarm Red, Alarm Red, Alarm Red”

6. They actually give weapons to the Air Force personnel

7. You give directions using T-Wall & Bunker murals

8. You realize AAFES is their own country, and can print their own money

9. The amount of sand in your boots is only surpassed by the amount in your nose

10. Something as simple as taking a shower or going to the bathroom at
2:00 in the morning requires preparation equal to the Apollo moon
landing

11. The Texas Style Brisket is not from Texas, is not brisket, and has no style

12. You are watching a “chick-flick” with 300 guys with machine guns

13. Your internet connection is twice as slow as your old dial-up
connection back home, and you’re paying twice as much

14. Your lying under your bed in your IBA writing to your spouse, “No,
nothing exciting happened today” and you mean it

15. You can buy a car or truck from the on post AAFES, but paper
towels are nowhere to be found

16. You live in a gated community, but your home is still a trailer

17. You are caught way over the speed limit and you are only going 22 MPH

18. During Alarm Red someone jumps out of the bunker to tell you to
get your hands out of your pockets

19. Your idea of a night on the town is going to another DFAC

20. The grass is greener on the other side of the fence, but you still
wouldn’t want to be on that side of the fence

21. Dusting the furniture has a whole new meaning

22. “Pimp my Ride” means putting doors on your Hummer

23. U2 is hitting the charts again

24. The local community holds fireworks displays every night in your honor

25. Driving over the curb seems totally natural

26. The outcome of the war hinges on how you wear your reflective belt

27. You see a guy in full battle rattle driving a Humvee trying not to
spill his latte’

28. It feels normal to dry your hands at the DFAC with toilet paper

29. Your idea of a clear day is when you can see the perimeter of the
base from where you’re at

30. The dust on the dashboard of your vehicle is an inch think, but
you don’t even notice it

31. You don’t even notice T-walls anymore

32. Cold water from the shower is only possible after 1 Oct

33. Getting your laundry back from the contractor is a big deal

34. A 105-degree day in the summer actually feels cool

35. You don’t even notice an F-16 taking off anymore

36. You don’t stop what you’re doing anymore, when you hear automatic
gun fire coming from the perimeter

37. You used to think that F-16’s, doing afterburner take-offs, were
cool. Now it just pisses you off

38. Without even looking outside, you know that the weather sucks,
because you weren’t woke up all night from the roar of the F-16’s

Legend:

Controlled detonation= Our guys blow up captured ammunition & explosives
AAFES = PX (store) (gives cardboard chip money, instead of coins for change)
IBA= Individual Body Armor
T-Walls= Cement barriers around buildings
DFAC= Dining Facility (MessHall) (the DFAC paper towels is toilet paper thin)
Full battle rattle= Wearing your body armor, helmet, etc.

Originally published at My Stupid Thoughts© on Random Topics In My Life. You can comment here or there.

Lovey Dovey

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 12:35:19 GMT

When me and Jenn first got together, this is the song I imagined playing at our wedding during our first dance.

I was in Vicenza Italy and she was thousands of miles away in Houston TX. I sent her a single of this song to show her my affections towards “us”.

Today this song popped up no my random playlist and instantly took me back to that time. It’s great to see that those feelings are still felt even after all this time has passed. And it still pertains to this day.

I love you babe. You will always be the most important thing in my life.

F.I.L.E.

More tag used due to cross-posting issues in LJ.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

[Eric Benet]
I never knew such a day could come
And i never knew such a love could be inside of one
And i never knew what my life was for
But now that you’re here, i know for sure

[Tamia]
I never knew til’ i looked in your eyes {oh baby}
I was incomplete til’ the day you walked into my life {umm…hmm}
And i never knew that my heart could feel so precious and pure
One love so real, real

[Eric Benet]
Can i just see you every morning when (every morning, babe)
I look in your eyes
Can i just feel your heart beating beside me every night (every day)
Can we just feel this way together til’ the end of all time
(Can i just spend my life) Can i just spend my life with you {umm…hmm}

[Eric Benet]
Now baby the days and the weeks and the years will roll by
But nothing will change the love inside of you and i

[Tamia]
And baby I’ll never find any words that could explain
Just how much my heart, my life, my soul you’ve changed

[Tamia]
Can you run to these open arms when no one else understands
Can we tell God and the whole world i’m your woman and you’re my man
Can you just feel how much i love you with one touch of my hand
Can i just spend my life with you

[Eric Benet]
No touch has ever felt so wonderful (you are incredible)

[Tamia]
Not a deeper love I’ve ever known {never let you go}

[Eric Benet & Tamia]
I swear this love is true [now and forever to you, to you...oh...oh] [tone
change]

[Eric Benet & Tamia]
Can i just see you every morning when i open my eyes
Can i just feel your heart beating beside me every night
Can we just feel this way together til’ the end of all time
Can I just spend my life with you
Can you run to these open arms when no one else understands
Can we tell God and the whole world
{You’re my woman} and (you’re my man)
Can you just feel how much i love you with one touch of my hand
Can I just spend my life with you

Can I just spend my life with you
Can I just spend my life with you [forever here with you]
Can I just spend my life with you

[Tamia] Can I just see you every morning when i open my eyes

Twilight

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 11:00:08 GMT

Background:
My daughter read the books last summer. While she was reading them
she was going on and on about them and I was giving her nothing but a
hard time about it. One because I knew it was a love story and I
didn’t want to think that my little girl was growing up, and two did I
mention they reminded me that she was growing up. So I did all I
can to try and poke fun at the story, mainly the writer and how I was
arguing with my daughter on how Vampires are “supposed” to be. It was
pointless I knew since she didn’t falter on reading the books, and was
still staying enthralled with the stories.

Then my wife decided to read them as well. So we had another Twilight
fan in the house. Chattering on every so often about the character
plot points and how things are going to turn out.

Finally when the movie was coming out in theaters, the soundtrack came
out, and we bought the CD for her. She loved it, further proving to
me that she’s growing up since it’s filled with songs of forbidden
romance and mysterious lyrics of love and situations of growing up and
falling in love. It fits really well with the tone of the book. Then
Jenn went to see the movie with her. They didn’t ask me at all
because “obviously” I had no intentions of going to see that movie.

Then after the movie came out to DVD we watched it at home. I gave it
a try and didn’t think it was that bad. Not great, but not all that
bad either. My daughter and wife instantly told me that the movie
didn’t even compare to the book. I knew this to be true of most books
that make it to a screenplay but they insisted this was so different
it didn’t come close.

So when I found out I was coming here, I promised her that I would
read the books and give my own opinion on them to her.

Present Day:
So far I’ve read the first book up to chapter 12. I have to say that
I found myself liking the story more and more the further I read. I
totally got why my daughter loved the books. She’s really close to
being just like Bella (minus the whole woe is me/angsty attitude).
She doesn’t fit in normal crowds, loves books, and is nice to almost
everyone.

And reading the books I totally get the intrigue and fascination
people have with this story. It’s completely captivating through each
chapter. The author writes with so much detail, but not too much to
distract you from what is going on. And NOW I get why the movie
didn’t do so well with those that loved the books. The screenplay was
horribly adapted from the book. I understand they can’t put
EVERYTHING from the book into the movie, but certain things were left
out or rearranged that didn’t make the movie flow right.

Needless to say I’m a fan (although not as big as most) of the story.
It’s fascinating and intriguing and I can’t wait to see what happens,
even though I’ve already seen the movie.

Coffee

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 05:00:08 GMT

What is it bout a good cup of coffee in the morning that I never
realized until I was about 30 years old?

Oh I know…. I’m getting old.

1 Month

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 06:00:15 GMT

So I’ve reached the 1 Month mark. How are things going you might ask?
Well not as well as I would have hoped, but also not as bad as I
expected.

The Base:
The base is pretty neat and has A LOT of ameneties that I didn’t
expect to see in a deployed location in Iraq. It’s the best location
to be if you are deployed to Iraq because of everything that you have
available to you. (From what I’m told)
The base DFAC (Dining Facilities) are HUGE and have tons of things to
eat. For instance, last night we had the choice of any one of these.
(Steak, Shrimp, Lobster Tails, Crab Legs) All very good but I went
with the Steak and Shrimp. And they don’t go skimpy on the portion
sizes either. They asked me if I wanted TWO steaks and I passed. I
asked for a little bit of shrimp and I felt like I got a full portions
worth. The other night we had Mongolian BBQ. You picked out all the
meats, veggies, and other stuff you wanted on your plate and they
would grill it up and put whatever sauces and spices you wanted. It
was really good.
So we are deffinetly are not starving over here.

My Room:
My room is pretty nice. We have an AC unit that works VERY well. I
wake up freezing sometimes because my roomate turned it down a bit too
low not knowing. However, on those nights I seem to sleep better…
go figure!

Work:
My work is a whole nother bag of mess. I am extremely bored from one
day to the next. People seem to “say” that rules need to be followed
however, when we (my shop) want to enforce them, there seems to be so
much red tape in getting anything done, that it NEVER gets done.
There are double standards all over the place. People seem miserable
here at work but on Fridays we have Roll Call, and it seems that
things are much better in peoples faces.
I do NOT like one of the guys in my shop. I’m about to give him some
fist-to-face counseling if he doesn’t stop complaining about
everything. He literally complains about EVERYTHING. He complained
last night about the steak. When we got back to the shop to eat, he
said “this is gonna taste horrible”. I asked him “Then why the fuck
did you get it then”. He just sewed on E5 and I think it’s going to
his head. Me and the other NCO in the shop are gonna have a little
welcome to the club meeting tomorrow (Friday’s Roll Call) to let him
know his place. I have been waiting until Friday to tack his stripes
on (Or punch him as hard as I can).

Family:
I am so fortunate for where I work. I literally get to talk to my
wife via Google Chat, twice a day (start and end of my shift). It
takes up a very large amount of her time, but it really has been great
to get to utilize that. I say fortunate because I know that other
services and even other places in the AF don’t get to do that. Hell
even people in MY squadron don’t get to do that.
I miss my family very much but I’m glad that they are doing well.

Well that’s all for now. I’ll try to update again soon.

Cheers

Memorial Day

Mon, 25 May 2009 09:34:45 GMT

These photos say it all!

More tag used because of crossposting issues with LiveJournal

332 ECS

Sun, 17 May 2009 07:06:52 GMT

Here in the 332 Air Expeditionary Wing (AEW), and under the Expeditionary Mission Support Group (EMSG), is the 332 Expeditionary Communications Squadron.

Click for larger picture

The 332 AEW is based on the original fighter squadron of the Tuskegee airman. The first ever African American squadron of fighter pilots. I found out yesterday that they actually came here to visit last year. I also found out that the training grounds they had in Tuskegee (Tuskegee Air Corps Advanced Flying School ) were visited by Elenor Roosevelt who after recieving a joy ride from one of the trainees, pushed congress and her husband to support the military establishment of African American fighter pilots. If you want some insight to their story, watch “The Tuskegee Airman”. The squadron and spirit of the “Red Tail Flyers” lives on here at this base each and every day.

So far, I have already seen how much this base appreciates the ECS. Usually at a stateside base, the comm squadron is usually put on the back burner, thankless, and only noticed when something goes wrong. I heard an analogy once that stated, “Communications and computers are like air to us, we only notice it when it’s not there.” That is a true statement as ever in the states however, here the squadrons realize they depend on us for almost everything. We just had a squadron roll call (weekly event). This event is located on the roof of our squadron. We have the greatest view from the top, if you don’t believe me then check this out.

Click for larger picture

I think with views like these and the fact that we have many squadron events that happen here, it should make the time go by pretty quickly. I’ve got into a routine and that too will make time go by. It will help at least “make the days count”.

Safety is paramount here and at any time there can be an attack here. The attacks aren’t as frequent as in previous years but in no way is this base complacent. Matter of fact they tell you quite frequently when you first get here how to respond to alarm codes. Also they have constant drills to ensure people know what to do. Besides, if a mortar or rocket decides to come anywhere near us, these bad boys shoot them out of the sky with a barrage of bullets. Here is one that is right across the street from where I work. To see one in action check out my about page!

Click for larger picture

This base really isn’t that bad for being in the middle of nowhere. They have everything we could possibly need or want. I mean seriously, they have a ton of things I didn’t expect like:

Pizza Hut
Subway
24hr coffee shop (Good coffee too)
Popeyes Chicken
3 Dining facilities with all kinds of food that I didn’t expect
Massage parlor
24hr gym with nice equipment (Nicer than some stateside ones)
Permanent showers
14 TV channels (two UAE channels that show american tv shows)
And much more I haven’t even discovered

To say the least, the 332 AEW really is a base that people should be glad they are going to deploy to. At first I didn’t know what to expect, but after being here only a week, I can tell things are much better than in other parts of the AOR.

I will try and post some more pictures when I can get over to the Airport terminal. They have free internet there and I can go and use my laptop to upload some recent pics.

Cheers and stay safe

–Charlie

No E7 for me :(

Thu, 14 May 2009 16:24:53 GMT

Well I found out today that I didn’t make E-7. I missed it by about 15 points. That just means that I will have to try and study harder for next year.

Yeah for shower “buildings”

Fri, 08 May 2009 05:01:39 GMT

It is now Saturday and I’m still in Qatar. I’ve been traveling since Tuesday early morning trying to get to my final destination. That’s the military air travel system for ya! >:(

Sleep has improved since being in a bed obviously. But when we got here it was sometime around 2am. Instead of going to sleep, I decided staying up would be best so that I could rest and sleep through the night. It’s a good thing I did. Some of these fools in our chalk were sleeping through the day and they were up all night. It’s almost 7am and some are still sleeping. I took a shower this morning in a permanent Cadillac. Cadillac’s are what they call the shower trailers here. However the permanent Cadillac is a building. The showers are similar to those you would find in a nice gym. Much better than the trailers. However right as I got out of the shower, dressed and went to the sink, I had just put some shaving cream on my face and one of the cleaning crew escorts came in and said 5 min warning to vacate. Uhg. So I went to the closes trailer Cadillac and shaved there.

We might be leaving today. We had a meeting last night and they told us that we have a tentative showtime this morning but they were not sure when. We were told to vacate the tents after eating breakfast and to meet at the terminal. To me that is a good sign because there is a guy here who has been waiting for a plane to Balad for about 5 days now.

It still amazes me how early the sun rises here.

I’ll write again when I get settled in Balad.

P.S. These posts are written ahead of time and then posted once I get connected to the internet.

Deported… Almost! ! !

Thu, 07 May 2009 05:32:23 GMT

So we made it to Al Udeid this morning. Really REALLY early I might add. It was the typical hurry and wait that I expected. What I didn’t expect was that I almost got deported due to a failure by my home station.

My home station has given me nothing but grief while going through the motions of deploying. That on top of the chaos in St. Louis (See prev post about 14 hour aprt stay) is making this trip something to remember. I got here and little did I know that I had put my only copies of my CED orders in my bags. While trying to go through immigration they stamped my NATO orders. I didn’t think it was a big deal until they kept saying CED, CED, make sure you have your CED. Well I didn’t and had no access to my bags. After talking to the IDO (Deployment Officer), she said that if I couldn’t get a copy of my CED orders that I would be deported. WTF! ! ! So I go find my bags only to find that when I opened them, TSA or someone had taken out the pieces of paper that I put on top of everything before locking them up. (Isn’t that illegal?!)

So after many phone calls by the PERSCO and this Capt. [IDO] who I will never forget, (She was so helpful) they ended up recalling the finance office at Peterson to get them a certified copy of my orders. Bad ass. Now I just needed to make it through customs.

Well everyone else (200+) had already went through customs and the inspector (local national) was watching this 6′ 4″ arab looking dude walk toward him with a big smile on my face. He didn’t look happy at all. I thought this guy was going to break out the gloves and lube. I said hello to him and apologized for being late. I don’t think he understood me but oh well. After looking at my water bottle (Camelback kind) he had me put my entire bag on the x-ray machine, “flat” he says. I put it through and he punched a few buttons and walked away saying “Thank you”.

So after waiting for the transit bus to take us over to the main part of the base, we finally got our bed assignments and linens to make ourselves feel comfy. As comfy as you can be here. This place is really not bad at all. The only thing that threw me off was that it was 6am and the sun was well above the horizon. I mean right now it’s only 8:30am and the sun is in a position where back home I would think it was almost noon.

Well I will go for now. It took me a while to get on here even though I’ve been showered and rested for about 3 hrs. I had to charge my laptop. The battery finally ran out about 30 min to the base. Not bad if you ask me.

Cheers

Picnic at GotG

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 23:15:54 GMT

Today me and my baby went on a picnic at the Garden of the Gods. Here are some pictures we took.