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).

Exhausted

Everyone else out there yawning their way through their Monday? I know that me and caffeine have been good friends today.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I know that I did! Lots of food, lots of family (yep, I am a lucky one... I love spending time with my family. They are the greatest), lots of friends, lots of booze and lots of video games (see previous post for that). And as an extra bit of fun, my Hokies won on Saturday, gaining them a shot at the ACC Championship (I would not have bet on this happening this year).

My brothers and I ran the PWBA Turkey Trot through Del Ray on Thursday (a little pre-eating penance). I shocked myself with my sub 9-minute miles for the entire 5 mile race. Given that I hadn't been training much for the past 2 weeks that was nothing short of miraculous. I love that race, it’s a lot of fun and just the right distance.



Now get back to work!

Let's Go Hokies!

I was lucky enough this past weekend to attend the VT/Nebraska game at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.

It was quite an experience. 88 thousand people were in attendance, maybe all of 6-7k of them were Hokie fans. But we represented, almost all wearing Orange (some wearing the more camouflaged Maroon) and apparently we were far louder than any visitor team that any of our neighbors could recall (my family was sitting almost opposite to the Hokie corner and you could clearly hear the cheering and chanting from across the ginormious stadium).

Really, the game was a sheer, grip the edge of your seat game. While the Hokies grabbed the lead early with a Safety and a quick TD from an interception, there was no moment that night that that I felt completely comfortable with victory (probably due to my having seen the Hokies blow it so many times at this point when they do get ahead).

I will say that I have nothing but good things to say about the Nebraska fans. We were sitting deep in their territory and answered many questions (the most popular being of course, "What is a Hokie?") and other questions (I think overall they were impressed that so many people traveled so far for this game). They were also very gracious in defeat (it was such a close game they could be angry at their own team but not us... particularily since there really is no bad blood between VT and Nebraska), I even was given a brand new Nebraska hat as we were leaving the game

Other than the football game I was quite impressed with Nebraska (not that I would live there or anything... far too pedestrian unfriendly for my taste) but it has been 11 years since we went out there. I saw a number of relatives that I haven't seen since then and was actually pretty impressed with the way that they have developed downtown Omaha.

BOLC II - T-Minus 1 day

So what is BOLC (pronounced "Bow-Lock" as we military people are prone to day acronyms) II? 7 weeks of training for all new officers in the Army (the only exceptions being the Doctors and the Chaplains) to bring them up to speed on tactics, weapons and fieldcraft. Sounds more exciting than it probably will be (I predict lots of waiting around). The Army used to send all its new officers to the specialty training course right away, but they decided that they all needed to funnel through this course before heading to get technical training in their specialty.

Said my goodbyes yesterday and the day before. It sucks (hard to explain to my 3yo nephew that he wont see me for a while) but at least I will have access to computers and telephones and have time to use them while I am away. And I get to go back at the end of the course for a long weekend on Memorial Day. (before heading off to my specialty training)

Drove about halfway, I am in NC after stopping for the night (long trip, over 700 miles and about 12 hours). I also stopped at VT for a brief visit (see previous post). I will be pushing onward shortly. I will probably check in early evening and get a lay of the land.

Trepidation

On my drive to Ft. Benning I was approaching Virginia Tech (as I took the scenic route and went 29 to 64 to 81).

"Its rainy" "Its Blacksburg, odds are its rainy"

"It will take too long" "Whats the rush? Don't have to be at Benning til tomorrow evening"

"Don't wanna, bad thoughts" "Might as well face them"

So I pulled off 81, went onto the still unfamiliar 460 exit (since it wasn't there when I was a student). Popped over to the Virginia Tech exit, admired the pretty additions to Lane Stadium (way nicer than the last time I had seen it). Drove around the drillfield to Burass and walked around. I think I have to agree that the current memorial is the best, simplicity and poignant.

This all reminded me that all my personal sadness and frustation is pretty small in comparison to these people and their families.

And to top off the Tech trip, visited Soulvaki's for a Gyro and some Baklava and walked around the campus a bit.

Weekend update

So other than the ruined weekend (which I still feel I haven't made up enough for to my GF) it was a pretty good weekend & 4th.
Had a great night out drinking on the 3rd with the GF and some of her friends. Love Cafe Asia's Happy Hour deals! By far one of my favorite restaurants in the area. Tried some Ginger beer at Dr. Dremo's (my how I will miss that place). Then a movie at home.

I was lucky that I won a drawing to see the Fireworks from the top of my building (pictures to come) along with my GF and parents. It was definitely a cool way to take in the fireworks. If you have the chance its among the most civilized ways to check it out, AC and free food.... hard to pass up.

Went to Kings Dominion on Friday. We started late (didn't get there til 1300) but it actually worked in our favor (since we could stop by Sonic for lunch and then avoid some of the heat of the day). Lines were longish (though I still love the Volcano). Popped over to the water park, rode some of the great rides (Tornado wins for the best water ride ever... now they just need to automate the lugging of the raft up... Zoom Flume was fun too.). Other than realizing that Tomb Raider:Firefall was so not for us (leading to a good 40 minute break) the rest of the rides were fun. Still need to go back and hit some of the rides again and do clean-up on some of the ones we skipped.

Then after an early start for me on Saturday (3 hours to get through the physical at Sandston) we went downtown to Chocobottom, stopped in a brewpub for lunch, hit this place called the Railstation further down the street for dessert (some awesome Gelato and some pastries), did some window shopping and browsing. Then we went to the GF's Sister place over by Charlottesville (where of course I wore my VT gear everywhere). A great dinner and wine (me and the GF basically by ourselves killed the 2 bottles that brought), some playing with a friendly 2yo, then bed. A nice brunch in the downtown mall (more VT gear , hehehe) then off for home. Then I got to play with my nephew (making this the weekend of the 2yo) then off to an early bed.

Ghosts in the Machine..

I liked this article, The Wired and the Dead. It touches on the way that people mourn and how in reality we really haven't changed at all. The Facebook and Myspace pages are in some ways even more poignant, since they represent the work and thoughts of the individuals just prior to them passing away, as opposed to the more traditional format where other people write the obituary and offer the person through a more filtered perspective (often glossing over the some of the points that the writers don't want to be seen). I think that these feel more real to me as the memorials/shines for these kids who have passed behind the veil than any physical memorial or tombstone. They represent the reality, aka "the good, the bad, the ugly".

Additionally they are more available to the people that they have touched, it brings them closer because it no longer requires a physical visit to a gravesite to remember the person, it can be achieved through the simple click of a mouse.... Interestingly it also marks a form a shift to a more Eastern view of religion, where the departed are remembered in shrines that are often located inside the home as opposed to the more Christian approach of holing them off in a graveyard.

One thing it does make you ponder though is that the impact of your work (actually I should say life, so many of us live so much through electronic means nowadays) here on the electronic frontier and also makes you consider what the people in the future will see of you when this remains one of your most visible marks.

I think another thing that needs to be addressed is some form of allowing family members access to this content (I remember a lawsuit that was brought not too long ago when the family wanted to gain access to a recently dead service members account and that Yahoo wasn't granting it based on the terms of service that we all agree to when signing up). I know that god forbid anything were to happen to any of my family I would want to preserve their content (though I personally have the biggest electronic footprint for the family) in some way shape or form. I am glad that Facebook made the exception for the VT Students and I also really hope that they develop a standard for dealing with this in the future..

Really hate Talking Heads.....

Okay, so I am building a list...

• The Pro-Gun people (as much as I support the second admendment)
• The Anti-Gun people
• The "why didn't anyone man up and take this sucker out" crowd
• And the "Sinners had it coming list" ..... yeah, the same "the soldiers had it coming" and the "911 people had it coming" group that are already on my other list.

The media is coming close. They need to decamp from VT and let every Hokie start the healing process.

All of this from some loser.... News flash humanity, if any one of you get to the point where you think its a good idea to shoot unarmed people in cold blood do your duty in improving the gene pool by placing that muzzle loaded with hollow-points, place it in your mouth at a 45 degree up angle and pull the damn trigger....

Frack! Not My School!!!!!!

Frack............ WTF............ Words cannot describe my reaction to todays events...
32 dead as I write? (though I would refuse to count the scum who performed this evil deed, so in my mind its only 31... you lose the right to be counted among the human dead after you commit something like this...).
This is not supposed to happen to my school (from which I graduated 9 years ago. But I could tell you where every picture that was taken of this tragedy was taken..).