Sgt. B.

My PCC, My ASS

2008-01-07T21:47:00.000-08:00

No seriously. Nine months ago I signed up to be a PCC student so I could take occasional night classes. I didn't get around to actually signing up for a class until last night. At whihc point the online login told me that my username had expired because I hadn't used it in more than a year, which couldn't be since I signed up in March.
So today I called PCC, three times, to get my password reset. I had to wait for 30 minutes on hold. Thank whatever deity you subsribe to for cellphones, as I was able to jam mine by the E-brake with the speakerphone on as I drove home. I do have to say that radio is better than the muzak crap they played.
Eventually a very helpful lady come on the line, exactly 30 minutes after I had called them, and set me up in a matter of seconds.

Don't be gay and republican

2007-08-30T14:57:00.000-07:00

Of all politicians I think I love conservatives the most. Not because I subsribe to their ideals -- I am middle of the road kind of guy -- but because they provide better entertainment.
Republicans are calling left and right for the resignation of Senator Larry Craig because of his bathroom encounter with a cop. Craig, although he denies it vehemently, may have been trying to pick up the guy for a little men's room action. Craig is married. Since he may have been trying to indulge in some Brokeback Mountain action the rest of the party is going after him like hounds on a scent.
Curiously enough when Senator David Vitter was found out to have been on a madam's calling list no such calls came. The chap was simply looking for straight sex, so it was allright. Republicans don't hate gay people, right?

Moral of the story? Don't be gay and republican because when you get caught it might just cost you your job.

Jimmy Hendrix

2007-08-05T20:50:00.000-07:00

I know this is a bit behind the power curve but I have proof (;=) ) that the guitar god is alive and well. Or was it just a Portlander living it at the beer fest?

Segway

2007-07-27T10:39:00.001-07:00

I am total dork. I just rode a Segway. This is way cool. Everybody is taking turns riding around the office on it. Hopefully no one will get ran over.

Pictures

2007-07-12T14:02:00.000-07:00

I took a couple of funny shots recently. I figured I would share.

Camping

2007-06-27T17:02:00.000-07:00

Ah camping at Smith Rock, the fresh air of the mountains, the bbqs, the long evenings sitting in front of a fire drinking beer, the woman a few tents over orgasming loudly at 0700. I tell you there is nothing like it.

Politicians

2007-06-19T14:57:00.000-07:00

This is my rant about politicos. I go to city council meetings as part of my job. I get the packet (all the measures they will vote on, detailed budget, etc) before each meeting and I read it. Yes it's dry. Yes it's boring. Yes it's what my employer pays me for.
What never ceases to baffle me is that some council members obviously don't. Let me repeat this: it's painfully obvious that not all councilors read the information given to them before their meetings. There is no way in hell they would ask such stupid questions otherwise. On a related matter, even someone who has never read Robert's rules should be able to pick up the simpler parts just by attending the meetings, and not repeat the same mistake over and over again. It's not that hard councilor...
The bottom line: when you vote for people, go and watch how they perform, because if they are idiots, maybe, just maybe you shouldn't vote for them again.

Breakfast of champions

2007-06-14T07:50:00.000-07:00

Three eggs sunny side up, with olive ciabatta to dip in the runny yokes and a cup of mocha. Granted those made my morning swim a lot more challenging...

Sudan cynic

2007-05-29T15:57:00.000-07:00

Listening to the radio this morning I heard the President warn Sudan that the U.S. will not avert its gaze from the genocide in Darfur. This is true. We will keep gawking at it displaying the same voyeurism that rubber necker do at the site of a Highway crash.

Follow the peoples' wishes

2007-05-24T07:54:00.000-07:00

Call me a war monger if you so wish. I have to say, after hearing that the militants holed up in the Palestinian refugee camp were threatening to fight to the death, the people pleaser that I am says: "Give them what they want."

Cynic's Inc. 2

2007-05-16T08:19:00.000-07:00

The headlines today read that Jerry Falwell died of a heart condition. The news to me was that doctors found a heart.

You've got mail

2007-05-09T20:29:00.000-07:00

I was going to blog about my feelings of pride for finally subscribing to a daily newspaper. Turns out I found something better. I went and got the mail today. Nothing too exciting about that so far. I mean I do it at least once a week, twice now that we have Netflix. (My mailman must hate me for focing him to shove stuff in that small box.)
I went back up and realized that I had received three pieces of wrong mail. The last two digits of the appartment number matched the two digits of my mail box (the mail boxes are numbered sequentially the flats are numbered by floor with four digits) and the first name matched mine but for the last syllable "ce", instead of "t". I figured that I would be a good citizen and return his mail to my neighbor. First I was surprised to find out that it was indeed a she and then I realized that her accent was French, from Nancy. How funny it is to meet French people half-way across the world. It turns out that she works at the same school as my aunt-in-law. Life is funny. Laugh people. I said laugh.

MS-DOS

2007-05-08T20:01:00.000-07:00

As some of you might know I started a new job yesterday. It's a small paper, The Newberg Graphic. I was already disapointed when I realized that they were worshipers of the dark side and ran an older version of XP - Pro. Imagine my stupor when I realized that the editing software we use to file our stories runs on MS-DOS. Yes, you read correctly. I write stories in white characters on a blue background and have only limited use of my mouse. (Left to right and it highlights.) But it's all good because they are going to pay for my entrance at the National Writers Workshop in PDX next month.

"It will stretch a little."

2007-05-04T15:22:00.000-07:00

“It will stretch a little,” the dentist said as he introduced a cotton pad between my teeth and cheek. It joined another pad, a small drill, a curved mirror, a random number of gloved fingers, a water hose, and the tip of a vacuum cleaner.
“Breath through your nose as much as possible.” Such a simple action had suddenly become much more challenging now that two people were shoving fingers and equipment in my mouth. All this because I had cracked a tooth eating nut bread and that the chip had fallen off on a piece of chocolate. Chew slowly kids. It will save you a lot of pain.

Tooth

2007-04-27T12:55:00.000-07:00

I just broke a molar while eating chocolate. I brush two to three times a day. I floss. I just went to the dentist and everything was all right. I don't understand. At least it doesn't hurt so far. Knock on wood. My desk is particle board, does it count?

SIQ

2007-04-16T15:15:00.000-07:00

I am sick in quarters today. I went to work this morning and asked for the rest of the day off after morning route. I could barely concentrate on the road and traffic. I am feeling a little better now thanks to the ginger-lemon tea. (And a healthy helping of honey.)

A happy man

2007-04-08T14:39:00.000-07:00

This is what a happy man looks like. Tennis elbow has settled in because of Ju Jitsu a week ago so we are going to have to lay off the arms for a while. Yes, cleaning the bike was a bitch.

Here comes the sun

2007-04-06T16:40:00.000-07:00

It's a beautiful day today, 25c. Roads were clogged but I am home now and I will go and enjoy the weather. Did I mention it is slightly breezy?

Armchair quarterbacks

2007-03-29T09:43:00.000-07:00

I was weak earlier this week. You may know that I read a French blog called Big Pictures. A French journalist based on the East Coast writes it. It gives a French look at U.S. news. It’s quite interesting, if you read French.
The topic of the British sailors and Marines captured by Iran came up and a person nicknamed Diogenes stated that Britain should react properly to what is an act of war unlike Carter had. (Furthermore I am not convinced that either the British government or the Iranian are to be trusted about the position of the sailors when captured. It would take an uninvolved party to provide GPS coordinates for me to believe either of the belligerents. Gulf of Tonkin anyone?)
I flew of the handle and asked in the heat of the moment if he would be willing to partake in an action against Iran, or whether he was a couple of testicles short of following through on his beliefs. I admit that I was a little harsh. He replied with personal attacks, as expected, and avoided giving an answer. That behavior made my point: he is an armchair quarterback.
If I had a bachelor in psychology, as my little sister do, I could probably come up with some scientific names for the condition and I would be able to explain it. Unfortunately I am not and I simply view him as one of those rabid sports fans, overweight, under exercised, yet all-knowing of what each player should be doing at any given time and ready to verbally trash them if they do not catch the pass or sink the hoop. I am a sport fan myself. That is I like to practice sport, to get out there and do it. He lives vicariously through people like me. This thought made me immediately despise him. A feat only accomplished by a handful of people. I simply cannot stand people who see war as a spectator sport.
Now that my mind has been cleared by Aikido practice I realize that I shouldn’t despise him but sorry him. I will never be a sport star but I will have fun practicing. He will always be a wannabe.

Dream Galley

2007-03-28T10:57:00.001-07:00

I visited my buddy Chris last weekend and found my dream kitchen. Stone countertops, two wall ovens, Le Creuset pots, All-Clad pans and sauce pans, complete set of ergonomic Henkel knives… I am still salivating about it. Cooking in there meant going from one wonderful discovery to another. I will keep dreaming for a while…

Alberto Gonzales

2007-03-19T20:58:00.000-07:00

Let's have a little fun. I replied to Corine's blog with the idea of starting a blog pool on Alberto Gonzales' resignation. I am taking Friday afternoon. What are you people taking? Even if you do not understand the politics involved you can pick a day. I will try to think of something for the winner.

Films and books

2007-03-18T12:14:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned earlier we jumped on the Netflix bandwagon about a month ago now. We settled for the unlimited one movie at a time deal. Considering the proximity of their distribution center, Salem, it adds up to two movies per week. Not bad for $10 a month. Before I give you a list with commentary of the recently watched and read, I want to briefly discuss the movie industry because they drive me nuts.
It is pretty obvious that their efforts to stem illegal online downloading are not working. I think there are two reasons for that; price and convenience. I am hardly the only one to think that multiplexes are not delivering on their promises; otherwise their business would be brisker. I find their fare to be both bland and over priced. It is not so much that I am too highbrow minded for action flicks. I have watched the latest James Bond and Pirates of the Caribbean’s. But I waited until they were played at the $3 theatre pub. I don’t think either was worth a twenty to go with my fiancée.
How could studios increase their sales? I think that a business model based on the iTunes store might be a good idea. (I find that 99 cents per song is a rip off because it adds up to the cost of a regular CD with the inferior quality of mpeg.) Being able to download movies and burn a copy for a reasonable price. It could be a flat fee per gigabytes or per movie. I believe that people won’t break the law if a convenient alternative is available. The point the studios miss is that a lot of those downloaders are collector types who want to amass even if they don’t watch right away, hence the necessity for a business based on volume.
I don’t know what the price point should be for the industry but for me it was those 10 bucks. I have to admit that since we bought into Netflix the thought of downloading over the Internet has not even crossed my mind. I have a mediocre connection that comes with rent and I am unwilling to spend more for truly high-speed Internet.

Princess Mononoke: Japanese Anime movie. It has a great story line; credible multi-dimensional characters and the drawings are well done. I would recommend it to people who don’t like anime as a first venture into the genre. It was my second time watching it and I enjoyed as much as the first.

The Confederate States of America: it's a mock documentary about the history of the U.S. after the South won the Civil War. It’s hilarious but in a very dark, wry kind of way. It’s interesting because it forces you to realize the extent of the influence of slavery well after the Civil War ended. The filmmaker points out that even though the North won the war and slavery ended, many Southern behaviors moved to Union states in the form of segregation. Any bona fide history buff must watch this movie.

March of the Penguins: we watched the U.S. version with commentary by Morgan Freeman. The photography is absolutely marvelous. I would like to watch the French version from the point of view of the penguins. I highly recommend it as well.

The Simpsons Season 1: ok maybe not a classic but they are consistently funny and interesting. The drawings are a little sketchier than current episodes but the humor is intact.

Now that I am driving buses again and am out of college I have been knocking a few titles off my reading list as well. My “waiting to be read” shelves are actually diminishing for the first time in years.

The art of war (Sun Tzu). A military classic if there ever was. Having read it I now wonder why I waited so long. It is very nicely translated in English, has tons of footnotes and extensive appendices. Even for those of you who are not interested in military matters it should be on your reading list because it’s a classic of Chinese thought, and the rules in it are applicable to any kind of endeavor that forces someone to show leadership. (Business, raising kids, sports,…)

Les dimanches d’un bourgeois de Paris (Maupassant). The Sundays of a Paris’ bourgeois are Maupassant’s often funny take on Parisian society of the mid 1800s through the portrait of a lackluster civil servant. The critic is often acidic and the reader has many good laughs. It’s a fairly short read.

L’éducation d’une fée (Didier van Cauwelaert). The education of a fairy. If you have ever read van Cauwelaert you will readily recognize his style and humor in this slim volume. He aboards the same themes than in Cheyenne: love between adults, loss of innocence, etc. It unfortunately isn’t translated in English. Powells has it in English. I would recommend One Way (Un aller simple) for those of you who are unfamiliar with him. I obviously don’t know how good either translation is but I would hope the charm of the original French is kept.

And currently I am reading Justine ou les malheurs de la vertu and What color is your parachute?

Adulthood and the PDX school district

2007-03-13T20:04:00.000-07:00

You may know that I am, like most people in our country, of European descent. The chute was fairly brutal as I am my own first generation immigrant. (If you are a minuteman you’re welcome to try and grab me, I need trigger time…) I went to primary and secondary school over there and I am used to class being an organized event with the teacher firmly in charge.
Hence you might understand that I have been leery to send my, as of yet unborn and unconceived, children to public school in this country. My fears grew worse today after my latest trip for work.
I took children from Sunnyside Middle School to a tree farm and back. The trip down was acceptable. A bit to noisy for me but I not only have European but Marine standards for behavior. On the way back it was a different story. I was already a little upset because the kids had littered the bus in the morning. Before they even boarded the bus I had to break a fight between a male and a female in front of my stairwell. Those two, which I forced to sit together in the front seat, then proceeded to scream, stand, turn, twist, slap and pinch one another for the remaining of the trip without the teacher sitting right across from them ever looking up from her magazine! Other kids were standing up right in front of the five other teachers without one ever attempting to bring order to the mayhem. Some of the screams were so sudden and shrill that I stomped my brakes a couple of times thinking there was some kind of an emergency. It would seem to me that 6 teachers should have been enough to bring a semblance of peace and manners to a busload of kids. Adulthood might be determined by age but those, while all significantly older than me, failed the test miserably. The only lesson those kids must have remembered is that rules do not matter because no one cares enough to enforce them. Strike one for private school.

Ups and downs

2007-03-12T20:41:00.000-07:00

On the down side I got screwed at work. Not physically. By the admin pogs, as usual. I was doing a school trip and was supposed to go back to the yard between drop-off and pick up. Traffic was so bad this morning in our fair city (don’t be mad car-talk) that it took me an hour to reach my destination. I figured an hour to the shop, an hour back to the park and I would only get a fifteen minutes break. So I just stayed put and pulled out the economist. When I got back to the shop they told me that I could only count 30 minutes for each trip I didn’t do, no matter what the reality on the street was. I should have driven…
Yesterday I finished the diagnostic test in my GRE workbook. 22/30 for both sections. I have a lot of work ahead of me if I want to be a contender for grade school. Mostly since I want those people to look at my app and then start throwing money at me. If you read this and have anything to do with admission at Columbia please be nice and contact me.
On the plus side I am applying to a job in Seaside to a paper whose editor I have met. Keep your fingers crossed…

Presidential Candidates, blah!

2007-03-11T14:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning I felt I should blog a little about the French presidential election. I was about to say that the candidates produced little more than a blah feeling and I was going to argue that the center right candidate, Nicolas Sarkozy, was in reality more of an extreme right candidate. Then I dropped by Liberation’s website and realized that Mr. Sarkozy was having no qualms positioning himself near the neo-Nazi fringe . If elected he is intent on creating a ministry of immigration and national identity. Besides the chill down my back it brought to my attention an interesting difference between leftists and conservatives. The former usually view the transnational journey of goods and services with a weary eye while they don’t mind the people while the latter often blindly support the transit of goods and services while opposing the (e)immigration of people. I do not think that either position is defendable. If globalization means that buying goods from China because it is cheaper is right, why would employing Chinese immigrants be wrong? The principle behind both is the same: the lowering of cost for the producing of goods. The leftist candidate besides being gorgeous does not seem very attractive to me. Part of the reason is that I believe that Socialist parties in Western Europe have idiotic agendas that do not reflect economic realities. I think that a fiscally realistic government would do much good to those countries. Note that I do not say conservatives, as the last few congresses in the U.S. have left much to desire about fiscal restrain. I also think that her latest comments about military personnel needing to be afforded full freedom of speech were, well idiotic. To me it shows that Miss Royal clearly does not know what she is talking about. The military has to remain subordinate to the political power and that includes losing some freedom of speech. The more so in an all-volunteer force as is the case in France. The people who join know what they are getting into (or at least they should) and if curtailed civil liberties are such a problem no one is forcing them to re-enlist.

Body Fluid Kit

2007-03-09T16:18:00.000-08:00

Oh yeah, we had a pucker today. Nothing quite like cleaning vomit to make you appreciate birth control and not feeding the little monsters before a field trip. On an unrelated matter we started preparing for the GRE.

Le rire du Sergent - Sgt B. No More

2007-03-08T10:07:00.000-08:00

Last weekend was my very last drill. I never thought six years could blow by so quickly. As usual, all the important people told me that I would miss it and be back soon. I am not so sure about that.
It is a bittersweet parting. I know a lot of people fail to understand it when I say that. Reactions I have encountered on other blogs ran along the line of why-don’t-you-reenlist-and-go-kill-babies-in-Iraq if it is a bittersweet parting. This comment revealed the person’s obvious lack of intelligence. Only a minority of choices in life is clear-cut. Those usually aren’t important ones. (Which kind of OJ am I buying today? Oh oh oh Tropicana is on sale.) No point in trying to explain that to him. I doubt he ever partook in anything as painfully hard, yet as satisfying as being a jarhead. I do not believe in the cliché that you have to be one of us to understand how I feel. I do believe you must have worked through hardships, and yet have felt satisfied to understand my position.
In no particular order this is how I feel about this parting: I will miss leading my platoon, taking care of them, planning events. I will not miss the last minute disruption caused by the brass, or the complete clusterfuck that is getting dates set for an AT. I only once went on the AT that I had first been assigned to. I will not miss the chicken shit of people being all kinds of happy because I am not wearing socks with my sandals during a MC function or some other silly bullshit. I will miss the camaraderie. I will miss speaking my mind without caring about PC crap. I will not miss a certain Major in S-3 scolding me for refusing to work full days for ½ pay because somebody fucked the fund request in the training plan. I will not miss that I have been waiting for several hundred dollars worth of pay since August.
Quite possibly the hardest part was handing over my platoon to a man that I utterly despise. I know him to be a cheat, thief, and a liar. I prevented him to be promoted several times for varied reasons: clear lack of intelligence, no initiative, being overweight… The brass I complained about earlier decided to give him his third stripe because he re-enlisted. How fucked up is that? I was utterly disgusted. I picked up Sgt in three years and three months and I had to hand out my boys to someone who could not get there in eight years.
Semper Fi

Quick and Dirty

2007-03-05T06:59:00.000-08:00

This is just a quick and dirty post before going to work. I found that some of you might get a laugh or two out of the two links I am including here. I will edit this later today and add content.

Squirrels are mating too much

Somebody invaded the wrong country here

Ok, I lied I never added to this. Sorry.

Le ciel est tombé sur ma tête

2007-02-27T09:10:00.000-08:00

It’s raining. It’s raining the kind of rain that falls with wicked violence. At times it seems it is a special kind of rain, a sentient rain. The droplets, having reached terminal velocity, hit your hat, wiggle through the knitted wool and impact your hair, but often they simply aim for the thin live of uncovered skin between the rim of the watch-cap and the collar of the rain jacket. There they pool together, and slowly, steadily they snake down your spine. The only respite from those comfort assassins is indoors, in dry, clean clothes.

Press review? - not really

2007-02-26T08:13:00.000-08:00

There is an interesting story in today’s Christian Science Monitor . It’s about Marines training to go to Iraq as a Civil Affair unit. CAs interact with the citizens to find what their concerns are and pass them on up the chain. (I know that it’s more complex than that but time is of the essence on Monday mornings.) As I read it I alternatively thought that it was a fair look at training, message controlled well, and cliché. Those of you who read military blogs (Those that use neologisms such as “milblogs” on this blog will be swiftly condemned to be hanged, quartered, burned, and drowned. Trial by fire might be offered as an alternative for those deeply convinced of the righteousness of their cause.) will know that war supporters have been advocating for better message control on the part of the armed forces. The term of art is psyops. The idea is to present our actions in Iraq in a more positive light. It also requires troops to be kept “on message” during their contact with the press.

The article is a fair look at training because it describes the operation taking place in a small North Carolina community in what I thought was a clear, detached manner. It’s a single byline but the reporter seems to have been around all the members of the unit. He gives the reader the whole picture.
Message control on the part of the Corps is great. The writer concludes with this quote by a Cpl. "I would have been disappointed if I had spent four years in the Marines without going. I want to do something with all this training I have." Marines know what they want. Contrast that with this story in today’s Washington Post where an army SSgt says, "I don't know who I'm fighting most of the time, I don't know who is setting what IED." While the statement is true, how are you supposed to know who’s planting IEDs or shooting at you, it does give the impression that this SNCO is completely lost. Not exactly something to be chalked under good PR. Some people will undoubtedly blame it on The Post. They are wrong. The blame for this kind of statement is on individuals who don’t think through what they say, but mostly on the institution for not providing them with guidance. Is it the groundpounder’s job to deal with the press? No. But it’s his boss’ job to give him guidance on how to deal with the press correctly.
Finally, let’s talk about the clichés in the CSM. "It's easy to go kick down a door, and marines love that, so this is actually much harder for them." We are not all brainless apes who thrive solely on blowing stuff up. Do we really need to perpetuate this image? All it does is that when Marines like me go to job interview we end up being asked, in a very PC kind of way: Can you think for yourself? And last but not least let us not forget the obligatory paragraph dedicated to women ogling the Marines while lunching.

Poodles and Choppers

2007-02-22T14:44:00.000-08:00

There were a couple of interesting items in the news over the last few days. The first one is that the poodle has decided to start withdrawing British troops from Iraq. It’s hardly surprising considering that even though he managed to win an unprecedented third term as Prime Minister his margin was the slimmest so far. Can the Tories win the next election? I don’t know. It seems that if the discontent of the British population with Iraq was such they would have voted conservatives in greater numbers in the last election cycle. I also think that however discontent the public might be with Blair the population isn’t ready yet for another Tory government. Could it happen? Sure. I think that the liberal democrats might be the greatest beneficiaries of the current situation. We will see in a few months. The bottom line is that no matter how cheery Tony Snow is; this is a hard one to spin for the government.
The second item is the increased number of aircrafts shot down. I don’t have clear-cut reasons on that one. I would rate the probability of shoulder fired missile trickling down from Afghanistan as pretty high. I am sure the Iranians would look the other way if not outright help the transfer. Why from Afghanistan, you may ask? Well, I am a frugal kind of guy. If you give me something and I don’t need it I will store it. We gave the mujahideens thousands of Stinger missiles in the 80s so that they could rid themselves of the Russians. I would be very surprised indeed if a) they used all of them and b) returned them for a refund after the Russians left. I don’t know the reason for every chopper to go down but I wouldn’t be surprised if those Stingers played a part in it. The next thing is that bringing a chopper down is possible with small arms fire. Missiles or not, enough people taking pot shots, or expanding a burst of automatic fire, at helicopters some of those shots are bound to hit their targets. At this point a reading of Dune might be required to understand the gravity of the situation: the Harkonnens are beaten by the Freemen once they loose the ability to move at will… Are we in dire straits? Probably. Will more troops help? Possibly. I am simply afraid that it might be too little too late.

Trumpet

2007-02-19T20:02:00.000-08:00

I volunteered for the Portland Jazz Festival this morning, meaning that my tush got out of bed at 0530. I drove Tomasz Stanko, a polish trumpeter, back to the airport. We made a quick side trip to Monette, a trumpet factory located in the airport industrial zone, less than ½ mile of track. Stanko referred to the instruments as the Rolls Royce of trumpets. It might as well be considering the price tag of about $10,000 for the one he was eyeing.
Stanko is one of those naturally funny guys. He made me laugh most of the drive by the way he described his native Poland. The best part might have been to hear him try on different instruments for over an hour. I haven’t been able to make it to any of the concerts yet but this well made up for it. He didn’t walk out with an instrument, the waiting list is quite long but for a while he did seem like a kid in a candy store.

Netflix

2007-02-18T21:13:00.000-08:00

We succumbed to temptation last week and signed up for Netflix. We bought into the one movie at a time unlimited package. It’s cheaper than going to blockbuster and we don’t have to wait in-line for an insane amount of time on Saturday nights. Also we won’t be spending two hours each time we go the rental place to choose a movie an hour and half long. We do try pretty hard to stay away from over consumption but it really is about the only way to watch foreign films and art house productions. Plus our local rental store always makes me feel that I should be packing.
So we watched a couple of good movies recently. “Over the hedge”: an adult movie in cartoon clothes. I don’t think that kids would get half the jokes in that production. This is making me think that when I have children going to Disney flicks might actually be fun. The Nazi like condo manager was as good of a social satire as mainstream fare gets. The second one is “Ma vie en rose” (My life in pink). Here we have a little boy who is convinced that a little girl is trapped inside his body. Very funny movie. Very scary too for someone who plans on having kids one day. I don’t mind gay people but I have never thought how I would act if my son/daughter turned out that way. If you know, share the wealth.
We also watched “Crash,” at the future in-laws. It did live up to most of the hype. I found the photography to be absolutely gorgeous. I also found this incredibly funny. I did get enraged with some of the characters. If I were to get pulled over by a cop (actually I have been twice) I wouldn’t start mouthing off. The more so if I got pulled over by the LAPD. (I remember going there some years ago and seeing “LAPD – We’ll treat you like a King!,” T-shirts on sale on Hollywood Boulevard.) All the characters are stereotypes and so of course they all ring true. I think the moral of the story is don’t be stupid and people can change. I am no film critique though.
Sur ce, I need to go file my nails.

Cynic's inc.

2007-02-14T10:05:00.000-08:00

So many things in the news this week it’s hard to pick what to talk about. Let’s start with the obvious: North Korea. Apparently Dr. Evil has accepted to shut down a nuclear reactor in exchange for energy guaranties. I don’t know about you dear reader but that sounds furiously close to the deal hashed out under Bill “I didn’t inhale” Clinton. Deal, which you may remember, was much maligned by the conservatives as being weak. The way I understand this, but I am not very bright, is that it took the current administration six years to get back to the same point Clinton had arrived at. If you read this, unlikely, and know what makes those two agreements intrinsically different please enlighten me.
If you listened to the President’s news conference this morning you probably noticed that he was in a cheerful mood. He didn’t seem to understand that people might not take the administration at its word when it presents information linking EIDs to Iran. Maybe, just maybe, the American public is remembering something about WMDs in another Middle Eastern country that we used to like but don’t anymore. I know this is crazy talk.
Finally I stumbled upon this blog a few weeks ago. It’s a milblog (Dear Lord can’t you save me from neologisms?) but the author, an army officer, is actually quite handy with his pen. I would even say that the first posting of his that I read is material for a literary journal. The poetic rhythm of his prose and sparseness of language powerfully translated his emotions about the death of a colleague. The blog does have its faults. The man is writing in order to support the war not to bring an impartial picture of it. He does have rants that border on the right-wing nut. Especially when it comes down to the mass media. Sometimes he seems justified, others not so. One of his latest entries falls under the latter part. He complains that media outlets got the ranks of some KIA soldiers wrong. Let me ask this simple question: where do you think the reporters found their information? Being that I know a little bit about reporting, I would say reporters either received a press release from the parent unit with the KIAs info or called the parent unit after being alerted of the deaths. In either case, the information must have come from an admin clerk, hence the problem with accuracy in my book. (Admin: the people who underpaid me last summer and haven’t fixed it yet!) Instead of calmly looking at the facts and realizing that some private fucked up, the blogger goes into another tirade about the mainstream media. Does it make sense to you dear reader? It doesn’t to me but I am just a stupid, enlisted jarhead.

Gays and the military

2007-02-09T10:50:00.000-08:00

For those of you reading French there is an interesting tidbit on this blog . Apparently the army's homophobia is costing them qualified personnel again. I remember reading about a WWII study by the Navy about homosexuality whose conclusions was that it did not interfere with military occupations. I guess that pandering to the electorate is more important than fielding the best team.

Aaaand Jump!

2007-02-01T13:24:00.000-08:00

Taking the trash out got exciting today. No, I didn’t get mugged on the way down. I do live in NoPo but it really isn’t that bad. My new boss remarked that the office building they recently moved to, had a Baghdad style décor with its flaky plaster whose holes were created not by bullets insertions but by nails extractions. I had to break the news to him that my recollections of Baghdad prevented his office from making the cut.
Anyway, I am digressing here. We have two large size dumpster that we toss our garbage in at our complex, and three smaller recycling container. I went for the two large ones as I was tossing the kitchen trash filled with days old vegetable clippings, and skins, bones from a tender lamb shank and other delightfully smelly leftover from one who believes in making everything from scratch. I opened the gate to the enclosure and used the index finger of my right hand to life the lid of the large brown receptacle and quickly tossed my bag of goodies in it. I then turned and stepped off with my left foot, only to find that the door I had pushed to enter the enclosure had swung back during the few seconds it took for me to perform my task, and closed. It is no high security fence and one can indeed push the doors outward. Which I did to no avail, as I could not slip my fingers in the space created between the two door sections. I was stuck. Fortunately the fence is only about seven feet tall I was able to climb over it and jump off.
On an unrelated subject I do maintain that ukemi practice is much better before breakfast.

Starship Troopers

2007-01-27T23:03:00.000-08:00

I just made a big mistake. A really big mistake. No one should ever watch a movie after reading the book. Occasionally the filmmaker reinterprets the book and it’s all right. Think Peter Jackson with The Lord of the Rings. He cut where it was needed to improve the transition for the screen. In the case of Starship Troopers Paul Verhoeven got it all wrong.
1 The weapons were way cooler in the book
2 The troopers move in a tactical environment like a mob on the National Mall
3 The training sequences are so unrealistic they are laughable
4 The actors are incapable of barking orders
5 The storyline was changed at multiple points but no improvement was made
a) Women in the infantry?
b) Where are the armored suits? Humans can’t just breathe anywhere
c) The love interests?
d) Shooting your buddies instead of bringing them back?
e) The teacher is a retired trooper, he is way too fucking old to be a Lt.
6 Professional soldiers don’t shoot up in the air to celebrate. That is what undisciplined swine do.
I rarely bother to trash a movie but this one deserved it. My five cents: save yourself $3.75 and buy the book instead.

Snow

2007-01-16T09:38:00.000-08:00

There is snow in Portland today! We are about to venture in it. Smart? Hell no!!

Recoil

2007-01-12T08:52:00.000-08:00

We now are moved to the big city, with the exception of a handful of boxes still unpacked. The apartment does have great views and is probably the nicest place we have lived in. It even has an industrial strength toilet. When you press the handle to flush you can feel the recoil in your finger! It sounds as if you were firing an air pistol. Anyway, time to go to work.

6 minutes

2007-01-05T16:45:00.000-08:00

That is the time it took the Willamette Week to let me know that they were looking for somebody with a different range of experience. I wonder if he even bothered to read the clips.

Three more days

2007-01-03T18:35:00.000-08:00

Three more days and we will be all moved in the "big city." I can hardly wait.

Big Deal

2006-12-30T08:37:00.000-08:00

Dare I say it? "Big deal." Call me a cynic, but I fail to see how the hanging of Saddam will change much in Iraq. His capture didn't. The death of Zarquawi didn't. And dozens of "important turning points" haven't either. What will? I am sorry to say but I don't have a crystal ball handy.

The dog lady

2006-09-11T10:51:00.000-07:00

I know it has been a long time, and apologize to all of you for not keeping up the postings. I had my first “happy customer,” today. Sandra Chapman whom I wrote about in the newspaper a week ago. She came up to my desk while I was out walking around the block to rest my eyes from looking at the monitor, and talk to mom. I am walking back into the newsroom and here is a 50 pounds bag of dog food on my chair with a bunch of other dog related products scattered across my desk. The lady had the toupet to ask me to go and deliver it to her dog Woody, who killed a neighbor’s dog and is currently on death row at the pound! The same dog she was convicted of fingering in the wrong places… I would have given it all to a good dog owner like Chris or Jay but she choose to take it back. What a waiste.

NWA

2006-07-03T12:42:00.000-07:00

No, I haven’t suddenly become an expert in old school rap music and if you were expecting some insight in the lyrics of the band you will be sorely disappointed. My subject is Northwest Airlines. I recently took a trip to the East Coast for a Marine Corps seminar and flew NWA. On the second leg of the journey east the weather was not exactly with us and after circling around Richmond for a little while the pilot came on the intercom.
[Pilot] Yeah, we just lost our radar so we’re going to land in Pittsburgh because the weather here is just too bad.
[Passenger’s-thoughts] shit.
Upon arrival in Pittsburg
[Pilot] Yeah, we lost –half a dozen instruments are named- before loosing the radar for the second time so we decided it would be safer to land in Pittsburg.
No, really?
The result of this is that I landed fiver hours late in Richmond. The best is still to come.
Not having anything special to do on Friday I decided to head to the airport right after breakfast because I figured I could sit and read there as well as in my motel room, and I wouldn’t have to worry about security being slow and all that. Well, the plane was 45 minutes late so that when I landed in Detroit my connecting flight was already gone. I requested to be put on standby for the following (and last) flight of the day but unfortunately everyone showed up and I got stuck in Detroit for the night. Thankfully because it was due to their own mistake (some kind of maintenance issue had forced the first plane to be late) NWA put me up at a Hilton in Detroit. Moral of the story, don’t fly on 4th of July weekend.

Lasts

2006-06-09T13:18:00.000-07:00

This week was the week of the lasts. My last yoga class, last paper turned-in, last project presented, last paper sprung up on me at the last minute. As a matter of fact I will take the last class of my undergraduate life in about 51 minutes. Finishing up with rock climbing could be considered a high note, right?

Week 10

2006-06-05T09:25:00.000-07:00

After another crazy weekend during which I had to combine homework, drill, and an internship seminar, I enter week 10, the last week of class of my undergraduate life. Can you sense the excitement?

Last straight line

2006-05-31T09:14:00.000-07:00

6 1/2 days left. I can do it.

Grad update, I need FR 213

2006-05-21T10:07:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I was "missing" a French 213 with a C+ or better class. It didn't come through the advising office that I am a native speaker. After all I only tested out of 400 level French classes. Clearly I needed to take a lower division course in it. Turns out that as usual in bureaucracies my challenge test results had been ... lost. Thankfully the foreign language chair, Dr. Krause, readily accepted my claim that I am a native speaker and waived the requirement. The anguish caused by this event probably took a good year out of my top end. Seriously, FR 213...

Graduation update: W.T.F.!

2006-05-15T20:07:00.000-07:00

Phone message from the registrar office found after work: "I am looking at your audit and you seem to be missing one class." To which I have to say W.T.F. Why didn't my advisor say something when we met earlier this term? I guess we need to have a little heart to heart talk about this. Warning: pissed off Jarrhead coming your way...

Graduation and shooting

2006-05-11T13:09:00.000-07:00

Four and a half weeks left. What can I say? I am actually looking forward to graduating. I do enjoy attending classes and learning new stuff. Yet I am very tired of the current pace at which my life is set. Work, school, drill. It does not leave me much time to rest. Speaking of drill last weekend was a little better than usual. We went to the range. I think I need to get glasses. I had to count the targets in order to figure out which one was mine. I couldn’t read the big ass numbers. I ended up putting a bull’s eye on the target next to mine. It cost me my sharpshooter badge.

Freedom and laundry

2006-04-26T21:15:00.000-07:00

As many people like to say the U.S. is a free country. Granted, most of them don't have the first clue on what that freedom implies and are incapable of separating it from material objects. This is beside the scope of tonight's rant tough. I simply wish the neighbor upstairs would realize that her/his/it freedom of doing laundry stops at about 8 p.m. I seriously don't need to hear her/his/it wash-machine spin-drying half-way through the night. I hope you all appreciated how touchy-feely I was on that one. Sur ce, bonne nuit!

The sun is back

2006-04-25T21:13:00.000-07:00

The title of this post should suffice in explainig the recent perk in my mood. Nothing quite like bbq and hanging out on the patio.

Adventures in Newspapering

2006-04-20T11:25:00.000-07:00

So we worked at the paper last night. All was well until I pointed out to our esteemed Sports editor that a jump was wrong. Turns out that the jump is right. The entire sports page was wrong. Good times followed. People freaking out. Angry phone calls from the printer. I suggested the sacrificing of a virgin reporter to appease the gods of journalism but the idea didn’t seem to gain much traction outside of the editorial board. The end result? I got to bed at 1 a.m. I got up at my regular 6 a.m. and treated myself to fried eggs which considering that I have a 0800 swim class was not my brightest idea.

Hooray for more tax returns

2006-04-17T09:41:00.000-07:00

The feds sent me money. This is good. The sun is starting to poke out of the clouds. This is even better! Now if the GI Bill could only send me my backpay it would be best.

Hooray for tax returns

2006-04-12T09:39:00.000-07:00

Seriously there is nothing better than money coming a poor student's way. It hasn't put me back in the black yet but it's a good start.

2966 Miles

2006-04-06T09:59:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I know I have been writing much lately. I spent spring break road tripping with my buddies Laurent and Thomas. The three of us fit in my little three-door hatchback, and at night in my two-men tent. Quite a feat when you consider that Laurent is 2 meters tall (6 foot 6 almost 6’7”) and that we drove 2966 miles over a period of eight days.
I would recommend all of you to go camping on the Californian Coast south of San Francisco. It’s a wonderful place and even in March the temperature does not drop too much at night.

Stressed the F*** out

2006-03-13T10:34:00.000-08:00

Alright, so I didn't get the job I wanted at the Barometer. My buddy got it so I have to say that I do not harbor hard feelings towards him. I got a really good deal for the contract on his head anyway. I am going for another interview in Eugene for an internship this time and my stomach already feels as if there is a hole in it.
On a more cheerful note European Night was very good yesterday. I have to thank Riad for the seats.

Blisters, Shifty, and boy scouts. Yes it all ties together.

2006-03-06T09:43:00.000-08:00

"Everytime you masturbate Marine, God kills a kitten."
Anonymous Marine Platoon Sgt.

I just had drill this weekend and after a seven miles hump on Saturday my feet are two huge blisters. It's akin to walking on a water bed. Interesting, yet not comfortable. The 1st Sgt. made a speech at the end of drill Sunday saying that you know you had a good field drill if you are both sore and tired. This one must have been an A+ field drill then. I think there is a link between the Marines psyche and rockclimbers' psyches. They both like to go out to the field and do stupid shit so that when they survive they have cool stories to tell to the reasonable (boring p******) human beings out there.
Then you have Sgt. Shifty (a nickname to protect his identity and not the one quoted about the kittens) who takes it to a whole new level. Friday night's Platoon Sgt Meeting. A couple of idiots are trying to figure out firewatch and are clearly not understanding which posts their platoons need to provide manpower for. Shifty is there with his video camera, and decides to go around the room filming the whole thing after which he turns the camera down to his pelvis area, shakes his hip and spanks the air crying "and this is what I think of this." I had to turn around so that the brass couldn't see me laughing. I have tears in my eyes remembering the whole thing. The best part? No one said a word, even the 1st Sgt. I think they were in shock. If Shifty didn't exist the Marine Corps would have to issue one per company. He is also the man who considers our unit to be "boy scouts, without adult supervision."

Electricity, turkeys, and hot water

2006-02-20T15:28:00.000-08:00

The power went out during my Media Effects class the other day. Our professor first had the look of a turkey looking around, craning his neck. After a call to facility services we got to see him jumping up to the projector affixed to the ceiling in order to hit the “Red Button.” He eventually chose to climb on a chair, not an easy feat for a man who suffers from vertigo. It's hard to tell whether he was serious or just making more dead-panan jokes through his demeanor.
Asides from that life has been going on as usual. I did swim 1900 yards this morning. I finally understood what the instructor meant by the water is too hot in the Women's Building. I had to get out after a mile and cool off for a minute.

060202 Super glue and night editing

2006-02-02T21:54:00.000-08:00

Alright,
the soles of my trusted climbing shoes have been slowly coming off. So after talking with the friendly REI sales rep (Free plug for a store that will take ANY returns.) I decided to follow his advice and just super glue the spots that were coming undone. Yeah, right. I wasn't done opening the brand-new tube that I already had fingers sticking to one another. Then on the first squeeze I dropped some on my right thigh. Needless to say by the time I got done five of my fingers were sporting significant amounts of the miracle product. Lessons to be learned: 1) don't super glue things on your laps while wearing nylon shorts, 2) less is more. After this incredible insight I will go back to our regularly schedule night editing.

060130 Week 4

2006-01-30T14:50:00.000-08:00

As the title implies today is the first day of week four and of those fun things called midterms. As a matter of fact I have one tomorrow. It will be allright. Maybe. Yesterday I did something I had never done before. No, it wasn't a gay sheep. I am not on the football team. I dropped HST 388 Islamic Civ. I have never had such a sigh of relief. Don't take me wrong the class was hella interesting. It was the paper with all those damned sources and the 15 other credits I were also taking, including the Seminar course with its 30 page research paper on historical fiction. The best thing about week 4 is that we will not be meeting anymore for the seminar class (library here I come!) and hence won't have to suffer through discussion with The Girl. I didn't quite catch her name but she is quite possible the most annoying human being I have ever met. (and I work with grade and middle schoolers every morning) She was constantly commenting, yet managed to never have an insightful remark to make. I thought Dr. Nye was going to explode. She was driving me so mad I kept writing shut up! In the margins of my notebook. I was physically cringing. Horrible. We will now go back to our regularly scheduled studying for NMC 435.

060126 Decline of the Ottoman Empire

2006-01-26T10:39:00.000-08:00

I have once again let too much pass between blogs. I have been insanely busy with school though. That’s my excuse and I will stand by it. Anyway after doing an internship during the break and having a nightmarish cold weather training drill the best news I have is that Thomas and Laurent are coming to visit during spring break. The tentative schedule includes Sin City, Red Rock, and the CA coast…

051209 End of the term and natural pork casings

2005-12-09T09:50:00.000-08:00

Hooray for the end of the term. 20 weeks of school to go and I will join the ranks of my high-school friend who have all long ago graduated from college. I think there is a term for 26 years of age seniors. Looooooser... Wait a minute does it mean that I will have to get a real job? With that paycheck thing? That might be good. Years of poverty are about to end. Rejoice. I am a little hyper from sipping coffee at Coffee People somewhere near PSU. I am still looking for Atalia's Hanukkah gift. Most of you should that my girlfriend, Atalia is Jewish (and atheist) and that even though she claims to be a Reformed Jew (hence not bound to follow kosher laws and shouldn't atheism cancel that anyway?) she does not eat pork, or shellfish, or beef. Last night I stopped at the store to pick up chicken sausages. Because Safeway didn't have the brand we usually buy I checked the ingredients to make sure there wasn't any pork. I found they were all made with natural pork casings. After a quick phone call to Tali I was certified that this was unacceptable to her. So I took my happy ass to Fred Meyer down the street. I picked up the chicken sausages we have been eating for a while. The fine print mentioned natural pork casing. Not good. I better get off the couch and engage in the hunt for the perfect Hanukkah gift. Later.

051129 Low-riders and road-tripping

2005-11-29T11:29:00.000-08:00

You know you are in California when suddenly all the pissers in public restrooms turn to low-rider. It’s great you sprinkle your feet at the same time you empty your bladder. Aside from getting my feet wet I got to walk around San Francisco for half a day. I have to say that road-tripping with your significant other family is a good try of your patience. I occasionally wanted to wring some necks but I abstained. It’s the last week of the term and the stress is really high. I have 15 pages worth of papers due by 1200 on Friday. Aaarrrggh!

051122 Inane rambling to force myself to make a post

2005-11-22T14:45:00.000-08:00

I have had to scrape the ice off my windshield for the last two days now. There was even a little bit of ice on the driveway. It wouldn’t take much for me to get stuck home considering that my driveway is about 15% steep and uphill. I am going down to San-Francisco tomorrow night.

051110 Scar

2005-11-10T14:51:00.000-08:00

Last night I managed to chop a good chunk of my upper lip off. It has been close to 24 hours now and I still have a big crusty scab. I look like an idiot. I shall not speed-shave anymore.

051108 Weather

2005-11-08T21:05:00.000-08:00

Bad news for all of us Oregonians, NPR announced this morning that experts predicts this winter to be wetter than last (not hard) but also wetter than average. (very bad) On unrelated business I think that I didn't completely flunk my Media Theory midterm today.

051102 Lesbian robots have sex during class

2005-11-02T12:26:00.000-08:00

If anyone had told me that one day I would go to class and see lesbian robots have sex I would have laughed. No longer will I dare such a thought. Those of you who know me know that I am no prude nor bigot but there is an odd feeling creeping in my mind. Why the hell am I paying for this? It was a student playing videos for the instructor today as he wasn't there. Maybe we could cut spending by not paying instructors for the classes they do not teach? At least the video improved my morale for the day. I was pretty upset this morning after I found the lid of the pot I cooked curry in on top of the microwave this morning. Curry in my tummy is good, curry on the microwave is a greasy, sticky mess.

051031 Pictures

2005-10-31T12:27:00.000-08:00

http://oregonstate.edu/~bonczijl
Will take you to pictures of my new home

051020 ASSHOLES!!!

2005-10-20T15:02:00.000-07:00

That is for the person(s) who fucking stole my bike's speedometer last night. You deserve the chair motherfuckers!

051019 Yours dearly almost died

2005-10-20T14:55:00.000-07:00

Student faces near-death experience in Indoor Climbing Center
Barometer editor takes a 30ft drop and lives to tell about it
Laurent L.N. Bonczijk had just red pointed on a 5.8c and called for take. After a couple botched attempts at lowering him his partner, Bridget, lowered him. But she couldn’t slow the rope down. Bonczijk hit the ground and fell, but miraculously escaped unharmed.
Bridget felt horrible about the incident but Bonczijk took it pretty lightly. “You gave me my shot of adrenaline for the day,” he said.

051009

2005-10-09T22:16:00.000-07:00

Anyone still reading this? I know I have been gone for a while. My excuse is that my parents still live in the 20th century and don't have the internet yet. So for the best part of three months I was horribly deprived. Don't worry though, the shaking is now resorbing. I have been able to already work an insane amount of hours between Laidlaw, The Barometer, and regular course work. I am currently receiving a ton of "fan" mail following a piece I did on a brawl involving OSU students. One of the complaints is that the story was one sided. If the other people involved had returned my calls or been willing to do an interview the story wouldn't have been that way. On the plus side it seems that Atalia and I have finally found lodging in mud-in-the-hole-Salem-Oregon.
Cheers!!

050628

2005-06-28T14:35:00.000-07:00

Howdy,
I am finally done with my AT (annual training for those of you who are unfamiliar with military acronyms). I have one RIDT to do on Thursday and then I will be flying to Belgium on Sunday at 1100.
I haven’t bloged in nine days but not much happened here besides go to work, run, twiddle thumbs, have day ruined by some other idiot’s poor performance of duty, go home, do it all over again. Evan and I figured out that if we were allowed to shoot all the idiots, the Marine Corps would be dangerously under-strength.
I didn’t have any cool nightmares recently although mobsters were coming dangerously close to killing me the other night and I kept waking up. Part of me knew that I could change the outcome by giving myself a weapon but I didn’t seem to have enough control on the dream to do that. I think the setting – my grandpa’s vacation home – isn’t a place where I am likely to be packing and so my brain was refusing to bend that rule.
Mr. Bush will be giving a speech at Fort Bragg tonight in an attempt to shore up waning support for the war. Recent polls indicate that the American public may be regretting choices it made nine months ago. This does not indicate a moral awakening of my fellow citizens. This change in opinion is akin to switching team after half time because home team can’t win and you don’t want to be on the losing side. Call me cynical.
On unrelated business I went rock climbing today. I am getting quite comfortable with soloing although I need to add that no later than last week my tush got stuck halfway up a climb with no way of going down or up. I had just fed the rope through my reverso when I realized that the next move was going to require a better climber than me. I spent the next 15 minutes balancing on my left foot, trying to get some slack in the rope so that I could switch carabineers and rappel down. Hence my decision today, to rappel down when I was still ahead. I also attempted a couple bouldering problems. Rocky Butte is not a good spot for that. There are several large pointy rocks waiting to break your back under the overhang.
(whispers) “Slip. Your left hand isn’t going to hang on to that corner…”
(thoughts) “I can do it. I just need to get a little higher. Push on my feet. Ooooh shiiiiiit.”

050619

2005-06-19T07:44:00.000-07:00

I had horrible nightmares last night, during the first part of which Bob was being chopped to pieces. More accurately his right leg had been chopped off with a tool akin to a light saber a while ago when, suddenly, his right arm was being chopped off too. (While driving his SUV with me as the passenger, nonetheless.) The plot line at this point is a bit confused. Sometime after that latest development I had to start running away from a mob of college kids. For those of you who have ever played football I was bear running. At some point during the chase I jumped from a cliff into a forest and landed into a tree. (A safe spot as I recall because the pursuers never looked up after they arrived in the forest, which wasn't down from a cliff anymore after I landed in the tree.) Then lo and behold Dwip was there with the hooded rabbit cult. Shortly afterwards the light (and my fear of being late for work) woke me up at 0522. I did turn around and went back to sleep for another 45 minutes. No dreams that I can recall.

050607

2005-06-07T21:55:00.000-07:00

As our friend Dwip noted we are having some of the shittest weather in recent memory this spring. On another note, yet another car load of crap was taken to Mary Beth's house. She has been kind enough to let me store my stuff there for the summer so that I woulnd't have to pay rent. Less than a month before vacation.

050607

2005-06-06T13:30:00.000-07:00

6 weeks after starting this blog I am finally deciding to share the address. I am moving out in a week. I still don't know what I am doing for AT since the Marine Corps seems to be incapable of planning anything more than a day in advance. Weather has been extremely shitty here. It's raining cats and dogs. Looking out of the laundry's window you would swear it's december. Brrrr.

050423

2005-04-23T18:40:00.000-07:00

Long day at drill today. Not much else going on besides a ton of homework catch-up.

first posting

2005-04-21T13:16:00.000-07:00

No one will read this as I haven't advertised it yet