2012!

2012 has been quite an exciting year!  Starting off with a return from Afghanistan (really, if that was the only good thing this would be a great post). A nice couple of weeks off and then back to work.

Lots of wedding planning, followed by the actual event

A delightful almost 3 week vacation to Australia and New Zealand.
A second reception in my Wifes hometown (along with a trip to the State Fair).
There was a bit of tragedy as we had to attend the funerals of both of my wifes Grandmothers (within 3 months of each other).
And of course some new life to counteract those losses as my wife is now pregnant and due in June.

Thankful

One year ago I was lonely (ironically surrounded by people, but still lonely) at a FOB thousands of miles (and hours offset) from family. Yesterday I got to spend most of the day with them, going first for a run (5K here in Arlington):

And then a little later the Holiday meal. I have my wife and my family surrounding me, and thanks to the separation from last year, makin this the best Thanksgiving yet.

Thankful

Even over here, in the poor embattled dump that is this corner of Asia, I am am still a thankful man.  I am thankful that thus far no one in my unit has been killed or injured.  That I will be heading home soon. That my fiance, family and friends are so supportive of me while I am here.

I definitely am thankful for technology.  I know that life would be far more stressful for me if it wasn't for email, VOIP (thanks Google for the free phone calls!!) and Skype (thanks to you for the free video calls!!).  Being this far away from everything (and pretty much everyone) would have been far more depressing.

I am definitely thankful for Sandy, the local feral cat who has made my lonely night shift far more tolerable.  She often wanders in, nudges my leg and falls asleep near me.

I have been lucky enough to be born in the best country in the world, have awesome parents, siblings and a beautiful Fiance.  I really like my job (yep, even the Army one on occasion) and get paid well to do it.  I truly am a lucky and thankful guy. 

Love the Run You're With 5K 2011

Okay, so first off, the race shirt just makes you sad. If you don't have a heart maybe you will find it amusing but overall I feel for the poor monkey in the picture. A monkey, pitched over in sadness, dreaming of his happy times with his GF, clutching a "Dear John" letter in one hand and glass of scotch in the other? Awe....

I totally was happy with my performance in this race. A chip time of 28:53 (9:14 pace) and a dead even gun time of 30 made for a lovely morning run along a route I have never tried. Starting out with someone managing to rip my iPhone from its pouch in the flurry of the initial start (causing me terrify people by heading backwards in the crowd to retrieve it) and a steep initial hill slowed me down a bit. I had thought I was going to walk a bit, but the only time that happened was at the water point.

Then I grabbed a drink (coconut water, bleh...) and headed back out the course to team up with Hannah. She surprised me by being far closer than I (or she) expected. All due to the return on her nemesis, a very big girl that she ofter encountered back in the pack and makes all due effort to avoid losing to. We finished her part right next to each other.

Interestingly, we owe the picture below to another blogger (or at least her BF), Liebchen of Learning to Fly. Small world... I though the girl and her BF looked familiar.....

Memorial Day

This truly is the most somber of our nations holidays. Ironically it represents the gateway into our favorite time, Summer.

It's hard, as I am a currently serving Soldier in the National Guard, to not take a few minutes to think about all the people who paid the ultimate price for the freedoms that we take for granted. The odds are that at this point some one that I served or trained with is now one of those numbers. The XO of a unit that is associated my friends unit, 1/116th Infantry which is currently deployed in Iraq, MAJ Wayne Culver, is one of the latest to be added to that somber list.

BTW. I hope someone has squared away the President about this holiday. He seems confused and thinks it also includes those of currently serving. We have our own days, this is a day dedicated to our brothers who never got the chance to come home.

Lets go Hokies!!!

Hokies 20 - Cincinnati 7. This game kept me on the edge the whole night!

Really!! What a great way to start out a new year!!!

So worth it to stay up late (though I should be in bed catching up on sleep after the New Years Eve revelry).

2008

What is a year without a recap? The theme of 2008 is Army.... Given that I spent 5 months on active duty for my Army training this Summer, combined with the trepidation before and recovery from it been the prime factor for this year.

Obviously I feel great relief that I finally went to and completed BOLC II/III (though of course it now leaves me open to being grabbed for a deployment, though that is pretty low priority right now given my states current plans). I got to meet some great people, have some fun times (and lots of VERY boring times (I played a lot of video games, watched a lot of TV, saw a hell of a lot of movies and drank a crapload of alcohol)). Interesting note? My BOLC II/III post

Relationship-wise I have a lot of ups and downs. Lots of first and second dates, lots of emails written and lots of anxiety and talking about myself (well, I do have a blog so obviously I like talking about myself and sharing my opinions). I got the "friend zone" speech twice and, as the icing on the cake, basically got "dear john'd" (or Jodie'd as we would say in the Army) this Summer. I am on an "up" right now, with my Match profile happily deactivated and no concerns about the midnight kiss tonight.
I can't have a blog with a title like mine and not go into my favorite subject, Movies, TV, Video Games...

• Movies - Quite a year. I think I saw more movies in the theater this year (thanks Army) than I have since 2000. My choice for movie of the year is simple, my brothers would not be surprised given that he has always been one of my favorites, Iron Man. Really, of all the movies this year this is the one that stood out.
• TV - Sigh... The damage that the writers’ strike wrought on this industry is still not easily calculated. So many freshman shows from last year took irreparable damage, including my much beloved Pushing Daisies. I think the damage will still reverberate for a while (Chuck and Terminator).
• Video Games -
  Big news was that I bought a Wii and wrought destruction on my parents house. Best game? Shocker I know... Left 4 Dead I mean, c'mon!! Zombies, teamwork and fun? Really no question. Most novel? Endwar. Fascinating user control (controlling the units with voice? sooo coool.....) and of course gives me a good Army fix.

Well, I am going to keep it somewhat short. I think I touched on the high and the lows and I am ready to move on to the next year....

Happy New Years everyone! I will be partying it up with my GF at the Gaylord at some big party this evening. I hope you have a great night and an even better New Year!

I need a vacation after my Christmas Vacation...

oh wait, thats right... the next thing up is New Years.... That will be relaxing.

I hope Santa was good to everyone. I know that I have no complaints (though I could get nothing and just be happy to be around the family. It's not like I can't purchase most everything I want anyway).

I had some late nights hanging with friends the past few days (4AM on Friday and in my best (read least) decision, 2 AM last night....) I know that I am dragging a bit right now. But it was worth it.

Time to stop now and start contemplating this year that seemed to shoot past (except when it REALLY dragged, like when I was doing my Army training).

Merry Christmas!!

I hope everyone out there has a fantastic Christmas! I know that I am looking forward to spending time with my friends and family the next few days.

Wii's are dangerous...

As has been widely reported, Wii's have accounted for any number of injuries (mostly to property as the Wiimote is not properly tied to the users wrist).
Another key item to keep aware of? What is around you when playing the game.....

Scene: My parents living room. After Turkey day food has been consumed. I brought the Wii over to play with my brothers over the holiday.
Situation: A very engaged game of Wii Tennis. After a bit of warmup into the game everyone finally had the hang of the game and the play turned more vigorous. After a ball comes to my play I decide to overhand (very much like a serve) the ball back. Not accounting for the light fixture that was immediately over my head.

The remains of the light fixture, after some of the lingering light bulbs (completely shatter had been removed with the expedience of a sweet potato... as all the other potatos had been converted into mashed potatoes) had been extracted.

45 minutes of cleanup later, I would say some 99.8% of the glass was finally recovered and removed. Consider this a lesson learned.

Hope everyone had a fantastic Turkey Day!

Veterans Day

I hope everyone had a great day off (its sad that a day devoted to the masses who protect and defend this country is less observed than days devoted to individuals).

I think this day means more to me since that day 3.5 years ago when I raised my hand to joing the Virginia Army National Guard. In the years since then I have the honor and pleasure of meeting and serving with hundreds of individuals. More than any other point in my life I know more people that are out there on the front lines, placing their lives on the line executing the orders of the government (no matter how you argue it, we are out there executing our missions per the oath that we all took, to protect the Constitution and to follow the lawful orders).

I hope that everyone takes the chance to think about about those Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines that are out there every day, placing their lives on the line to protect this great country (and you). I had the pleasure of thanking a Veteran while out for a hike earlier today, its a great feeling to acknowlage their service. It is a great feeling.

Happy Fourth!

I know that I am happy to be back in DC, at least for the weekend (not looking forward to the drive back to GA on Sunday). To see my family, roommates and well, home. Hope everyone had a safe and fun 4th.

Tired

I know that I haven't written much lately on my Army training. I would write if something really interesting were happening, but so much of what I have done here for the past 5 weeks has been the norm for me. i.e., lots of computer stuff that I have already done or that is so trivial at the level that it is taught that I pay attention enough to pass the tests, quizzes, and hands on exams handily but in reality my brain is stuck in low gear and not engaged. I will quickly say that I understand why the Army and the Signal Corp put together this plan of instruction, that for the uninitiated this is an excellent grounding in fundamentals that will prevent those new to the field to not be completely overwhelmed. But for about a 1/3 of the class this is not the case, many of them are in the same mode as I am in. Some of us are able to help the newbies but sometimes our help can be a hindrance, since we are so accustomed to working in this field and on problems of higher organization/complexity that we can make things too complicated. For a bunch of these people this is the first time that they have had a command line interface, dealing with a computer based on memorization and logic as opposed to clicking on the GUI (graphical user interface) that is old hand to a lot of us (I have been dealing with computers and programming them since I was in elementary school, which makes it over 20-25 years).
So instead we listen, maybe try to get a tidbit that we don't know and engage in the longest running game in the Army, trying to stay awake in class (this being a techie school it might as well be sponsored by Red Bull and Monster). I finally understand how the Infantry folks felt during BOLC II, feeling that they were paying penance and just checking another box. I do remain hopeful that the last 3-4 weeks plus the field exercise provide some mental stimulation since they cover material that is not really encountered in the civilian world.

Of course I am finding it a bit easier to stay awake now that I am on post finally. The extra 20 minutes of sleep in the morning, the overall more relaxed morning and afternoons (and even the occasional noon nap) are making this a little more tolerable. It has helped me recover from NO, which took quite a while given that my poor body was not used that, both the staying up late (4AM EST) and the drinking (oh the drinking... boy can my family put it back).

To give an idea how ready I am for the 4th holiday (they give us the 3rd as well) I just paid someone $150 to take my CQ (charge quarters) shift on the 4th (its a full day shift on a holiday, but well worth the cost). He was already going to be here and I desperately didn't want to be here in GA, now that is capitalism at its finest. I am so ready to go home, see the improvements to my Condo and just relax away from the Army a bit.

And as a side note... $7000 in damages to my poor Prius. Hopefully I will have her back in another 3 weeks so that I can ditch this dreadful Dodge PT Cruiser. I miss my GPS, cruise control and a vehicle that doesn't turn like a beast.

Memorial Day

I think that as a soldier this day means more to me than those who haven't served. For a lot of Americans its just another day. But when you put on that uniform (be it my US Army uniform or any of the other services, Air Force, Coast Guard, Marines or Navy) and then see classmates head off to war it means a bit more. I haven't kept in touch with everyone I trained with and I continue to hope/pray that nothing has happened to any of those brave men and women, the odds are that if not now, then eventually one of them will pass away.

Its always the saddest part, that the military takes the best of America and that sometimes those brave men and women are sometimes not returned in the same shape (or not returned at all).

I hope that everyone takes a little bit of time to pause and to remember those who have paid the highest price to protect this country. They represent the very best and it was only through their actions and their fellow soldiers that we stand where we are today, able to live freely in the best country in the world.

2007

Happy New Year. I hope that everyone had a fantastic New Years Eve. I know that I did.

Well, its coming toward the end of the year.... time to add up the year:

• Finally got my Masters Degree in Computer Science
• Finally commissioned (after a 2+ year process to obtain it). Got the specialty that I wanted and am finally drilling with my unit.
• Switched my position inside work.
• Countless first & second dates.
• Met some great people, both via the Army and via the Blogger-verse.
• Fell in love and unfortunately fell out of love (Met a great woman, had a fantastic time, but it didn't work out (so sorry R))

Overall - A great year. I achieved a lot of goals and while I suffered a few misteps (like I so should have stopped taking classes after I got my degree... afraid to check my grade in that class) I really feel that I am moving forward.

Is it sad that I am afraid that 08, contrary to what someone said yesterday evening (where she said it would be two thousand and great), doesn't look like its going to be as good as 07. Unfortunately I have to head off for 5 months of Army training (most of it looks pretty worthless unfortunately) which means that much less time to spend with Friends and Family (sooo going to miss spending time with my nephew, Conor. It also means that it is unlikely that I will meet my special someone.... hard to meet someone in the first bit when you are disappearing for 5 months.). At least I get a break from school.(I was driving last night and was grinning when I remembered that I dont have any more classes/homework/tests).

Christmas Vacation

So due to the quirks of federal leave and me apparently not taking enough leave time in the past year (or years given that I have a sizable balance) I get to re-experience that rare thing that is under-appreciated by the youth that get to enjoy it, a 2 week long Christmas vacation. Thank you "use or lose" rules!

It does lead to regressive behavior.... taking long lunches with friends and family, casual browsing of bookstores with conversation, playing video games late into the night (either with friends or family). Like last night where I was up until 4AM playing Carcassone (the deliciously simple in concept, difficult in practice game) with my roommate and my HS buddy (and to give an idea I am such a gamer that I was also playing a game of Civ 4: Beyond the Sword). My Tivo's are also looking pretty bare as well...

I did get a few good things for Christmas (some new clothes, a few gadgets from my mom, a video game (I think anything where I get a video game is a good thing.... I have been enjoying playing HL2: The Orange Box) and misc other things (another gift of alcohol from my nephew... following the trend from last year.... gotta wonder what my older brother thinks of me and my brothers in that he always gets us alcoholic gifts...)).

I am seriously enjoying this time and am resentful that come the second its due to come to an end...