Saturday, June 16, 2007

Blogger HH

So I went to the blogger HH at Grand Central Bar (or as my gf referred to it... the nerdfest... hah... little did she know how cool everyone who showed up was.....):
Highlights:
  • Meeting the lovely authors of:
    • Love is Blonde - You looked great this evening and was glad to that you were the first blogger that I read that I met
    • A Total Waste of Makeup - Even though your went to MD it was a pleasure meeting you!
    • Grateful Dating I went kayaking in Monterrey Bay.... a few drinks and my brain dumps... sorry I thought that your cat was a bunny
    • Kristin of Candy Sandwich - Loved your stories (and honestly, loved the cleavage...)
  • And the cool lads behind
    • I-66 of Quarter Volley - Great to meet you and hope you have fun at the game tomorrow1
    • ROOSH V - really, you did get me out of bad relationship.... just a link to your site....
    • Ar-Jew-Tino - yep, one of your coworkers dated my youngest brother... small world... further confirmation of my theory here and here
    • And a couple of other guys, like the one in the poker t-shirt and the guy who like Larry Niven (dude, the authors name is Rachel Caine... sorry)
And a few others that names escape me (sorry, I blame the many drinks I have had tonight.....)

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Zombies!

So I also am obsessed with zombies.... (I think I creeped out my roommate when she asked why I owned firearms and I drolly said, to take care of the zombie uprising). I love watching movies with them, books (World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War and The Zombie Survival Guide ... as well as comics The Walking Dead Book 1 (Walking Dead) ) all amuse me. So when I saw this : Blog like its the end of the world its too tempting(even though I am late to the party)...


************

I woke like any normal day... Put some tea on, chilled in front of the Tivo and then realized I was late for work. Slipped on my iPod and headed out the door... Just like any other day. In my iPod bliss I made it all the way to work without noticing anything unusual..
Then about noon the call came in.... "This is a blue moon exercise, report to the nearest military base ASAP". Now I thought this was weird... As an OCS Army Guardsman I am in training and pretty much useless. But orders are orders and off I went to home (I walk to work) to retrieve my uniform and car to drive over to Ft. Myer.. It was then that I noticed things were turning hinky. Sirens were sounding everywhere, the phone lines were so packed that I was unable to call anyone and the streets seemed oddly deserted.. Then I heard the moan carried by the wind that quickened my pace back home. Once there I flipped on the TV, grabbed my uniform (good old comfy ACU), went to my closet after getting a feel for what was happening and started to load my magazines. Thank god I had been to the range..
So there I was, Army uniform, web gear, camelback, 4 pistols, an AK on my back and one in my hands along with a backpack with all my additional ammo and weapons (I knew this day would come). And then I saw them..... pouring down the hill.. For you see, Arlington Cemetery is right around the corner... they had all woken up and looked really hungry...

It was then that I knew that I wasn’t going to get anywhere anytime soon and I realized my mission had changed.

First priority was to protect the people in the building. The uniform helped. I got 20 people (it was the middle of the day) off the basement, 1st& 2nd floor, stopped the elevators on the 5th floor, killed the entrance to the garage in the closed position (I hated that keycard reader and it was so satisfying to put a bullet into it) and then started to plan. The stairwells were the biggest concern. We put as much debris into them as possible, more than enough to stop them from being opened in any time.

By this point I had people arranged in teams. Some were securing water into every available container (can't be sure how long the taps would continue to run), others were placed so that they could report on what was going around the building.. I have been taking shots at the zeds from whatever good angle I can find... god they stink and the piles of bodies are growing higher. Power is starting to be a concern and I am not sure how much longer it is going to hold. Please tell me that this is going to end well, but the reports I have seen show that this is happening everywhere. Its getting dark and I need to arrange shifts so that we have a watch at all times. God I hope my family is all right.
God Bless everyone and good luck.. And if God is around, this would be the time for some miracles..

Hopefully we will be around in the morning,
OC Daniel

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

So I have a confession...

I love Anime...
Just to give you an idea... This is my collection:


But thats not all...



And just for the heck of it... Manga.... (and some very cool webcomics)




Yep... addicted to the stuff... And all types.. Not just SF (my true love) but a little bit of everything, from the high school shows to just the odder Japanese sitcommy type shows...

I think I need a intervention..

Allright...

who authorized the rain on a day I just wanted to chill in the pool? Even after taking yesterday off (the joys of federal employment, many sick leave days) I still want to just relax and try to get my neck to return to normal (though my brilliant idea to go for a 7.5 mile run yesterday can't have done it good). On that note, I am doing very well in my training for the MCM.... Many more miles than last month.

Is it wrong that I am in shock (and amused) that someone actually commented here? Shout out to Dan at conservative futurist for actually stopping by (mainly because apparently he shares my penchant for worrying about a nuclear attack, hence what led me to his site in the first place... it must be why we are both fans of Jericho).

I have decided to go to the one of the Blogger Happy Hours.... This one in fact, run by inowpronounceyou . Particularly since my GF is working that night, so it seems like a good excuse to knock a few drinks back before starting, as my friend PW would say, a "carbpocalipse" before my APFT the following Sunday... Me and Mr. Atkins will resume our friendship next week (mmm... meat.....)

Monday, June 11, 2007

Ow...

I hurt.... No more wooden roller coasters for me this year (my neck is killing me). The GF and I went up to Hershey Park on Sunday. Lots of roller coaster goodness, though I had issues after one of the wooden coasters and then this wierd ride that bring you into the sky and then spins you around 2 axises.... After a little recovery time then we went back at it again. We both LOVED the really fast ones. The hanging feet ride, Great Bear was a ton of fun (almost as good as my beloved Volcano down at KD) and we liked it enough to hit it again.. Same with the super fast ride, Storm Runner, was fantastic... I don't think I have ever run into a ride quite like this (this kicks the Hypersonic at KD's ass).. Finished the day up with a funnel cake and (of course) some chocolate. Next on the list is KD.

And to bring further evidence to my whole small world theory. At a bday party for one of my GF's friends I was talking to these two guys about army stuff (since I had just gotten the classic "high and tight" on friday for my battlefield visit on Saturday) and they mentioned this guy that they knew down in NC who was in the guard. Turns out he was in the class ahead of me in OCS (and their resident techie, hence my interaction with them) and when I heard the name I was all "repeat that again?" They even called him later in the night and talked with him for a minute or so.

Staff Ride, Saturday - Never heard of this concept before.... Basically Army officers take field trips to various historical sites and give presentations and review the history. Mine was actually pretty fun, it was given by a retired BG who really knew the history of this battle site that I had never heard of before we started the planning for this event. Cold Harbor was a battle fought almost almost a 150 years ago (June 1864 to be exact) and you can still see the trenches that were in use at the time....

Amazing.. And here I was thinking that Trench Warfare was something that really came into play in WWI whereas it was being done all the way back then. Cold Harbor represented a catastrophic mistake (Gen. Grant is quoted as saying, "Cold Harbor was one of the biggest mistakes that I made", in his memoirs). Almost 7000 casualties in about 39 minutes as the Union Soldiers pressed against deep trenches that the Confederates had spent the better part of 2 days digging before the assault (and that the Union Generals seemed to be oblivious to when they ordered their men into the breach... though the soldiers knew the score, they were placing the names and next of kin on notes attached to the back of their uniforms the night prior to the assault). Tragic.