BOLC II - Day 2

Another day down. Early morning (0500)... the joy of being in charge and having to make sure everything is set. A nice PT session (a warmup run to the field and then lots and lots of ab and upper body workouts). Then back, a nice shower and then time to talk to our Platoon Mentor (he is a Captain with combat experience). Due to some SNAFU (Situation normal, all f'd up) we were first told to come back at 1245 by the 1SG (1st Sargeant, the senior sargeant in the company (in this case a fellow 2lt appointed to that position)). Who then redirected and then mimarched (I was in the formation and cracking up..... so confirming theories on why officers can't march). A quick meeting with the Chaplain.

Later after a long lunch break (yah! made some phone calls) and then off to Finance briefings. This was most joyful as it confirmed that I would in fact be getting BAH for my condo.. since this represents 1600 dollars its quite a big deal. Congress just passed a law because for a while reservists who were in training didn't get anything.

Then some more paperwork. Then I was off. I went shopping to the PX and then to Rangers Joe's (where I got my rank and patches sewn onto my BDU's for use next week) and then a light dinner. A few more meetings to clear things up with the PL and then it was off to an early bed.

BOLC II - Day 1

Inprocessing. Lots of paperwork. Briefings. The standard Army struggle to stay awake. Woke up at 520, first formation at 550. I further confirmed my whole "world is small theory" and ran into a number of classmates from last summer (as well as another Virginia 2LT that I didn't even know was coming).

They kept us busy in briefings until 1530 (330pm) and then we did PT. Lord I am/was tired from that workout (They really pushed us... kind of a way of the cadre introducing themselves). I got tagged as the Platoon Sargeant for this week. Lucky me and my D&C (Drill and Ceremony) skills. Lots of little tasks that needed to be handled (working with my SL (Squad Leaders) and my PL (Platoon Leader.... poor lady is a Direct Commission who never had any Army training until now.... talk about being thrown in the deep end). We had to set up a CQ (charge of Quarters) for the evening. This is a task that rotates among the platoons of a Company based on whose cadre has to stay in the barracks that evening. Missed chow so I had to settle for grabbing something from a fast food place (went as healthy as I could... APFT on Thursday so I have been eating lightly) when I stopped by the PX (Post Exchange).

I am so tired. I was asleep almost the minute my head hit the bed.

BOLC II - Zero Day

After a final push I finally arrive at BOLC II, located in the heart of Ft. Benning. I actually took it pretty easy, taking my time to stop, stretch and do some pushups (the dreaded PT is due shortly). I don't think I have been eating enough because I am so anxious about passing the weight/tape test.

Check in was fast (I showed up in uniform since I saw some things saying I should). Turns out I didn't have to. Its sticky down here, lots of humidity in the air. Met my new roommate (who went to undergrad at VCU). Didn't see any other familiar faces but this being the Army that is due to happen. Now to build a list of stuff I need to buy (starting off with a fan... barracks are AC'd but its still stuffy in them). Then off to bed (at 1030..... oh yeah, the high life).

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.

Army BOLC II - T-Minus 2 days

Threads..... so many threads that need to be wrapped up before I leave. Thats the trend of the past couple of days (that and a bit of denial.... I still don't have all my packing done and I am leaving in around 24 hours). I did do some packing (mostly my army bits and pieces) and now I need to start getting my other stuff together. Thank god I am driving down to lovely (ha!) Ft. Benning, so I can cram a bunch of crap in my car.
I find that for me the anticipation is the worst for me.... I haven't been getting as much sleep as I should and I have a lingering sense of dread (this is a holdover from my OCS days). When I get there I will find that it wasn't that bad as I was imagining, but for now I just wait in anticipation (and thank god that its not like my OCS classmate who will be doing this same thing in a couple of months, but instead of heading for home after the training is done, he will be heading for Afganistan).

Life in FFWD

God. It feels like life is on FFWD. I notice that happens a lot when you have a big event coming up... for the longest time it seems so far away, then all of a sudden its right on you and you have no time. It feels like that for me. I am heading away for 7 weeks (then a long weekend and then back down to GA) for Army training. On Saturday. And I haven't even started packing yet. Oh my head hurts.. too much to do, so little time

On the plus side, I plan to blog the whole time. So now the poor DC public is going to see what us Army Officers go through during our training.

Computer Woes

My poor desktop died (luckily it died right when I was going to get a laptop, for my upcoming time (or as my boss calls it, vacation.... yeah right, not sure what sick world spending a summer in Georgia (me, who was put on a saline IV twice last summer) is a vacation) in Georgia.... )
Then of course I, being a good computer geek decided to make it my project to fix it.... first I learned the power supply was blown. no problem, its happened before, I actually had spares laying around. Then it looks like the power supply decided to kill the motherboard. Off to the toystore, I mean computer store, that lovely Microcenter store.... Which meant a new video card (tech has moved on.. okay). And then more memory.... So some 300 dollars later I now have a functioning computer and have the stuff I need stripped off the old hard drives. Oh well, at least its a more powerful computer now... mwahahahah....

All this for a computer that at the very least I won't be using for the next 7 weeks...maybe even 20 weeks....

The Ticking Clock

and it's companion (at least for me) the moving scale (my constant battle against the scale.... its a battle of epic proportion... It just annoys me that while I can pass all the physical parts, running, push ups and sit-ups, they still insist on using your weight as a determiner). It's starting to sink in that in 3 weeks I will be spending 5 months wearing a uniform (going to make getting dressed in the morning easy... no contemplating what to wear). I know that it's not like some of my fellows who are planning on being away for a year in a place where people shoot at or try to blow you up, but it's going to be a long time away (I will probably be able to get back a couple of weekends (as all my training will be in Georgia, either Ft. Benning or Ft. Gordon), as well as a quick case where I will pop down to New Orleans for a wedding).

I am reaching the point where I am figuring what projects can be completed. Removing my profile from the dating sites. General housekeeping (figuring out what to bring, what to do with mail, etc).

I guess I should have known that this was coming up but I was in denial.... But now I need to get my ass moving to make sure everything is GTG (good to go).

What I am watching

DVD - Dirt. Missed this fantastic series when it was first on, so now its catch-up. That and a slow grinding through of movies that I have missed over the past year or 2. Bummed that I am on the losing edge of the format war. Good thing I don't have too much invested in it (the only one I liked was Clerks II).

TV - Friday Night Lights! Love this show. Skipped it last year and with the break I decided to catch up. So glad that I did... I know that I love it and my roommate is obsessed with it. Hating Lipstick Jungle, meh about Cashmere Mafia. Enjoying the return of Men in Trees. Mourning the loss of Las Vegas. Excited about this whole fight about Scrubs, hopefully either way I will get another season out of it.

Video Games - Still enthralled by Call of Duty 4. Have barely touched Halo since it came out except for the occasional game with my brothers. Storing up some single user action games for the next couple of months.

Yes!! I have running Water!

After going through my kitchen renovation (which basically started almost 4 weeks ago) I was VERY happy to see the above...

Doesn't my new Kitchen look nice? All thats left is floors, backsplash and paint.. and adding a few more lights. and and..... I think I need to just sit back and enjoy it a for a few minutes before I consider those other details..

Why the makers of the Flu Vaccine are on my list..

4 days. 4 days huddled up at home, alternately hot and cold, running a mid-level fever, coughing...
And that doesn't even take into account the fact the one night with some seriously WIERD dreams..

How wrong is it to be sick on a weekend? I generally don't get sick so I have plenty of sick days and I have a job and boss that understands taking time off for illness. I so wish that it hadn't occurred over the weekend, I have so few free ones left before I head off for Army training.

And the QB is Toast!

Congrats to the Navy for the Satellite intercept! I used to work for the Aegis PMO and am proud they were able to hit it (and REALLY happy they didn't miss... that would have been seriously embarassing). I remember reading the specs for the SM-3 and being heartily impressed.

Though I laughed at the response of the Chinese, "“China is continuously following closely the possible harm caused by the U.S. action to outer space security and relevant countries,”... This from a country that also did an intercept of a satellite... however it was in a high orbit and that debris represents far more of a threat to the interational community than this one where the objects will break up on re-entry.

I am a nerd.

because the highlight of my day(other than leaving work)? Watching the moon turn red! I love that sort of stuff and being able to share it with other people? Anyone else see it? (beyond the people that I called to remind them of the event?) I must have reminded 7-8 people about it. (my roommate, family, ex and a few other people)

It was fantastic and really pretty. All the more special in that it won't happen again for another 3 years.

Though my favorite story is how Christopher Columbus used his knowlege of eclipses to extort supplies out of the indiginious people (for more go here). Basically he told them that if they didn't give him what he wanted God would remove the Moon from the sky. That man was a genius (or at the very least an awesome negotiator).

What a wierd election...

Hell froze over.....

I voted for Hillary Clinton....


I think I will leave the above statement above all alone... Since if I had to take a bet 6 months ago I wouldn't have taken the odds of the above being reality.
I picked her since I felt that she represented the best contender for the Democrats... (yes there was a secondary hope/belief that McCain facing her stood a better chance, but I had to go that way since I evaluated the candidates on whom I would find palatable as my next CinC... and I so wanted Oboma as far away as I can keep him.... even if that woman wins.....)

Skiing

First off, I must say that I bet my roommate will have a definite pause when she next plans to go to Vermont.... How many people can say that they got stung by a Wasp... In Vermont.... Indoors (most believable part).... in February... And the day before she gets run over by my run-away ski (first run of the day on some demo's on a green. I wipe out, look uphill and think "wow, that ski is really covered, all I can see is the binding". Then walk up, see that all that is there is the binding (which of course since that is where the ski brake is meant that it kept going). Then I look downhill and see that my roommate is sprawled out as well. Yep, she was hit by my ski before it richoted off the mountain.). Then I get to take my first (and hopefully only) tobogan ride down the mountain courtesy of the ski patrol (I wasn't injured but it was the only way down with the broken equipment).... interesting experience, but freezing since the SP person basically kicks a ton of snow at you... I had a face that was covered in ice by the time I got to the bottom.

Other than the perilious trips both in and out of Vermont (so much driving on the snow while it was snowing.... in my FWD Prius..... I was toast after I finished those segments) it was a lot of fun (even the .3 mile uphill walk to get to my Uncle's house, since there was no way my car was going to make it past 2 switchbacks). 2 Days of downhill skiing (at Stowe... Never have I skiied on so much powder) and then a day of cross country skiing (lesson and then applying that lesson.. having never done it before I REALLY like it and will do it again).

Gotta love vacations where you come back more tired than when you left (though I also appreciate the other option as well).

Swoosh!

Thats the sound I will be making in another 36 hours. (hello 3 days of skiing in VT. I am so excited)

Love: My new cabinets. They look fantastic and I am seriously excited to see the end result when I get back on Sunday.
Hate: the fact that I will be without countertops and sink for ~3 weeks. Curse you procrastination (though until the new gear is in place they couldn't really measure).

So excited that Apple released a new version of the iPhone. Say goodbye to $500...... They finally released one that is useful to me.

And I am SERIOUSLY EXCITED that WGA and their opposition finally looks like they came to resolution. And that Lost is back!

Why I hate the suburbs

It’s a "discussion" that I have had with a number of people (including one person who I knows reads this).
I hate the suburbs.... hate, hate, hate.....

I am a city boy (and yes, the parts of Arlington County that I live and work in, along the Orange line up to Ballston, is definitely city (based on walk-ability, buildings and density)). I spent 3 miserable years out in Fredericksburg where I had to drive everywhere (even to exercise... it wasn't safe to run or walk around my townhouse), didn't know my neighbors and felt cut-off from society. I came to despise I-95 (which can get clogged with traffic on the weekends). I still do in fact, even though my runs down that road are limited to once a month for Army stuff. (I just don't see how people can deal with this every day)

So now every time people talk about commutes (vs. my 20 minute stroll to work) I have bite my tongue (as I so want to blurt out that no house is worth that commute (people are spending 1.5-2 hours, on a good day, driving so that they can have their McMansions out in the suburbs/exaburbs)). They will always harp about how their kids have a yard (highly overrated if there are good parks available), good schools (hmm..... who has some of the highest rated schools (all 4 of them in the top 50-100, one in the top 10... for the country) in the region.. oh yeah, Arlington), and that they don't have to see their neighbor(and people wonder why society seems to be breaking down in the US.. People just want to relax after their awful commutes. They don’t want to get back out in a car and attend a meeting.. or even go to a bar (given how hard we are cracking down on people driving after even having one drink)).

Since I so love bullet lists:

• It's dehumanizing. People spend hours of time in their car. Not just commuting but also in running any daily tasks (since people in the suburbs don't walk or take public transportation.
• It's bad for the environment (yep, I am making this statement... the irony is dripping). It’s a very unsustainable lifestyle (which we are starting to feel no in the era of $100 per barrel oil) and the costs are going to keep going up. It’s not an efficient system and we are going to be paying the price for it for a long time.
• And quite honestly its bad for America (how much oil do we have to import to heat/cool those monster houses (with the shrinking American family why in gods name do we need more space?), to fuel those cars on their long commutes as they idle in traffic...). We are basically pumping money (going to such "friends" as the Saudi Arabians...) and forever tying ourselves to the Middle East (and the inherent troubles of that region). That and the general fraying of the edges of the social fabric of America that this assists (via the decreasing social involvement in this country).
  

But whatever. As my Mom would say, it takes all kinds (and thank god for that.... how horrible it would be if we all wanted the same thing). Those people can have the 'burbs, since in my mind it’s for the birds..... They can tire themselves out there cursing traffic while I enjoy my urban environment where I can stroll over to the local restaurant, take a walk around with family and friends, hit a bar and then safely stroll home. Maybe they will be most of the way home by the time I am done....
*/end rant mode*/

Still hate the Cable Companies...

But at least they finally got me my damn Cablecards so that my precious Tivo Series 3 and Tivo HD can finally work. Just in time for nothing to be on....... (damn you writers and networks.....) Now they just need to reprogram them so I can get all my channels, 3 of the 4 are only getting broadcast channels.

That and I bought a new TV for my bedroom (to replace the ill-fated Westinghouse that I bought and returned in less than a month. Crazy image problems made me deep-six it). On sale from Best Buy combined with a 12% off coupon for a shockingly $460 with tax. Not too bad, and it makes me less concerned given that it will be traveling with me to the great state of Georgia in a little over 2 months for my Army training (gotta have something to play the 360 on.....).

One week to go until they start my kitchen (and my condo can stop looking like an Ikea warehouse was established there.... 121 pieces), and only another 9 days until I get to hit the slopes up in VT (and then relaxing in my Uncle's heated indoor swimming pool up there).

No cable (AKA why Verizon and Comcast Suck)

I feel like I am a pawn in the great cable wars. I think that the animosity between Verizon and Comcast has hit a new high with both of them heading into the traditional areas of each other.

This came to a head this past week as I arranged for Verizon FIOS to be installed instead of my crappy Comcast service (overpriced and with bad service). So first step, they try to disconnect my cable and Comcast has locked the box (only noticed after waiting for 4 hours as the tech tries to find Cablecards for my Tivo's). So after wasting a day I have a bunch of Verizon equipment (though not sadly the CC's) that doesn't work sitting in my place.

Then on Thursday I was offsite at an alternate location (where I found this awesome hole in the wall Korean Restaurant, but thats another tale) the tech came back, unhooked my cable (with the assistance of a bolt cutter) but now I have nothing in my place. After several furious calls I finally have a tech arrive today (though he was supposed to be here yesterday (another 3 hours off)), got my SD cable boxes up and running, internet and telephone operational. However I still lack 4 cablecards that I require to actually get my beloved Tivo's working. Completely unacceptable..... Now I need to start figuring out what I will get them to offer me to make up for the 11 hours that they wasted of my time with a non-operational setup remaining.