Deployment

I have a week left to get most of my act here in the DC area together. I recently got engaged (see our wedding blog over at http://cupcakes-n-videogames.blogspot.com/ (yes, I smile a bit at the name, a rare burst of creativity on my part)), had LASIK (which created its own Army issues) and have been spending a god-awful amount of money on the above and a bunch of things (new laptop, bunch of hard drives (why yes, I am in fact bringing 4 1TB drives with me), an iPad, a bunch of little things (new boots, sheets, xbox, and a mess of other things)). I need to have it all lined up prior to that first formation on Wednesday morning next (ACK!!!!) week. I think most of my Army stuff is good to go.

I will be blogging this as I can, protecting a lot due to OPSEC and probably time delaying any of the Army stuff by 4-6 months (I want to write about it, but I really do believe that we should make as little as possible available to our enemies, in particular on a public resource like this blog). I have good set of people that I am heading over with and I have a neat job (I am taking a FA53A slot, which is systems automation, basically a Signal Corp Officer who is seriously geeked out and able to do technical stuff. I basically work directly for the Signal Officer (S-6) for the Brigade and serve as a technical expert for her.). I am somewhat concerned that I there is a lot of fluidity to this mission, there is far less planning and prep that I as an Army Officer have come to expect.

LASIK

Also titled, "Oh My God, I can see!"
I have by far the worst vision in my family (I was -8.5 to give people who wear contacts some perspective. I needed a special waiver to join the Army because of my visions). But, I will be the first to admit that the concept of LASIK terrifies me. I don't like the concept of touching my eyes (though in the 8 years since I have worn contacts that phobia has decreased) so the very idea that a blade or laser is going to cut open my eyes and then burn off pieces of my cornea? shudder to the max. I have thrown a live grenade and I think that I would rather do that again before this whole concept.

But the idea of wearing glasses (not contacts since I would be too paranoid about sanitation issues) for the next year while deployed to Afghanistan? Terrifying. To think that there could be some moment where I would need to see and potentially not have my glasses scared me enough to finally overcome that fear.

I had been researching LASIK for years, never coming up with sufficient pro's to outweigh the potential con's for me to take the leap. With the deployment the balance finally shifted and I moved quickly. 4 days after final notification I visited the Lasik PLUS location in Alexandria, spent the following weekend mulling it over and on Sunday I took my contacts off for the last time. I was also influenced by the fact that my Doctor had performed some 65,000 of these operations, so I figured he was up to the challenge of dealing with my horrendous vision.

The following 3 days reinforced my decision, as I spent them wearing glasses per the directions of the doctor. By Thursday I was seriously ready to not wear glasses anymore (and the thought of a year of them was very unpleasant). So I was a torn person as I had my brother drive me out and drop me off at Lasik PLUS location in Tysons. After they performed all the tests again (all for them double, triple or how-ever many times checking things out to get it right) in 2 hours I was brought into the operating room, spent less than 10 minutes in there total (weirdest part was having my vision grey out as they applied the suction to the eyes prior to the cut) and then I was done, several thousand dollars lighter but already able to see far better than I could ever recall without glasses/contacts. Another of my brothers picked me up, drove me home and, per the doctors directions, put on a sleep visor, popped some Advil and took a long nap (2+ hours). Gotta love being forced to take a nap, twist my arm why don't you?

After the nap I could see an immediate difference. I continued to follow the post-op directions, putting in eye drops at the specified time (god I hate eye drops) and being fastidious about wearing sun glasses (for the first day even indoors). The follow-up the next day had them finding that my vision was 20/20 in one eye and 20/30 in the other (which surprised even them, since they had to go so far to get to that point than for the average person). I still have halo-ing to some degree as of 6 days past the event, but that can be accounted for by the significant swelling that this surgery produces (and there is mild chance I will always have some, but my night vision sucked anyway, with glasses or contacts I had halo-ing there as well).

God, we live in the future where a short time under a laser can make the (near) blind see!

Off to War

After a month of a having a strong inkling that I was on the potential list, the final word came this past Saturday. In the form of a text message I was informed that I "was in" and would be joining a unit that will soon be on it's way to Afghanistan (a mere 30 days notice to get things lined up, and then off for 2 weeks of training in VA then off to a Mob Station for further training). I just had the next year of my life blocked out via text (I did have a further conversation with my new boss later in the week, but apparently I may be an oddity in my notification (normally it comes down the chain of command but I know my new boss (former Company Commander) and I will take early notice to delayed proper channels any day).

Wow. I someone who joined post 9/11 I knew the odds were good that I would be off to somewhere, sometime. And given that I commissioned almost 3.5 year ago and have been fully qualified for 2.5, I knew this was coming. I wish I had more time but it just means that in the past week and the coming month I will be busy with tones of little tasks to make my time more tolerable.

Waiting is the worst

AKA, waiting sucks.....

I am an Army National Guard Officer. In the past 2 years I have been appraised of 3 pending deployments. The first simply evaporated. The second, just this year, basically came down to a coin flip between me and another 1LT (who I consider a pretty good friend and have worked with for the past 3+ years). Ironically that buddy will probably be going to someplace safer and for less time than me. Now I sit back (and sleep somewhat fitfully), waiting with baited breath to hear if I have been selected (I am not volunteering but if I have to go? I go. I joined after 9/11, I knew the risks (hell, the near certainty) of being deployed while in the Guard) to head with to an for an unknown duration (less than a year, they haven't said otherwise) (can I be more vague?). The notification times seem to get shorter each time. The first one was more than a year, the next was almost 6 months... the latest clocks in at a little less than 60 days notice.

My mind whirls with contingency planning, devising how I am going to handle all the things I would need to do in that timeframe. No actions are taken until things are solidified but it can be daunting to think about. From the mundane (what about my stuff? my car? my good little buddy, Link? Can I get my eyes fixed in the time before I deploy? What impact is this going to have on my career?) to the deeply personal (obviously CG and I will be having a long conversation on what to do (and no H, I don't want to talk about it until/if it happens), the painful consideration of being away from my family so long (my brothers and their spouses/SO's, my parents, my nephew, and niece/nephew that is on the way)). Until the probability matrix collapses (sometime in the next couple of days)? I am going to my impression of an ostrich, ignore it until it becomes real.

I got on this potential deployment list because I have a good reputation. Because I have the combination of a deep understanding of the technology and the people that I have to work with. Ironically those that are less competent get a pass on this, while my hard work (and I feel that I can give my Country, my Soldiers, nothing less than my best. In my core I cannot imagine slacking when I have important jobs to do) has me in line for this dubious reward. The blessing below is one of my favorite (in particular in situations like this):

Lord grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference

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.....

Kinect

I feel like I am slowly heading into the future. The Wii was an incremental device (same with PlayStation's Move) where I still had to have some form of device in my hands. Now all I have to do is wave (or speak aloud).

Now that I have had 2 weeks to play with Wii-killer device? I can definitely say that the odds of me using the Wii for anything except the odd Nintendo specific game (like Mario Cart) are exceedingly low. I actually booted up the Wii last night just to get a comparison and there really is no comparison.

I have tried 4 different Kinect games and am blown away. And so is my GF, one of my long term friends, my ex-roommate and (this is important) my parents. It really is intuitive system, easy to figure out how to use and interact with it. Though most of the games are more focused on children (Kinect Adventures, Kinect Play) games like Dance Central are basically killer apps. Watching my parents dance to Lady Gaga's "Poker Face"? Pretty much made the system pay for itself (particularly when my Dad beat my Mom by almost double).

And really, anything that get people up off the couch and moving? It is a good thing for America. I have yet to use Kinect and not break a sweat.

New Kitty!

Everyone say hello to Link!

After 3 visits to the Animal Welfare League of Arlington this cute fellow finally got to me. I knew I needed to take him home when after meeting him at the second visit, on returning I was getting annoyed that people were playing with my cat. At that point it was all a matter for the paperwork.

Link is 10 months old and seriously friendly. Being both a computer geek and a gamer I eventually settled on Link (as an homage to Link of Legend of Zelda fame and of course to that eternal internet feature, a "link" (technically a hyper-link but we love short names)). He has settled in quite well and seems very happy to be at his new home.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Care

It must be a generational/cultural thing, but I just don't care about this whole decision one way or another, it is just a non-issue for me. I am an Army National Guard Officer and I really could care less whether my Soldiers are straight or gay (open or not). I just care that they do their job and not cause me too much trouble. Now I can see why some the Army branches (Infantry) as well as the Marine Corps overall get the heebie-jeebies about this, that is their culture and this represents a change that offends them (which is funny since I imagine that most gays would not be entering those lines of work anyway).

What is funny is how you can actually track the odds of acceptance of getting rid of DADT by age groups. My Dad? Very much against it, even though it has zero affect on his life. He seems concerned about fraternization as though this is a bigger issue with gays than hetero's. It isn't. If they have an inappropriate relationship in the field it doesn't matter whether it is the same or different sex, it is still fraternization, and will be dealt with accordingly (hell, its better since it decreases the chance of the female soldiers "accidentally" getting pregnant, having to be sent home and then everyone else having to cover down on their job).

I already work in a mixed unit, where ~15% of my unit is female. 40 years ago the concept that so many of the combat support units, which are often in the line of fire (Signal units, Military Intelligence, Military Police) would be so composed of females was considered odd. Times change. I bet you 40 years from now the fact that so many gays had to hide that fact will probably sound a bit odd too...

Federal Pay freeze

I am a federal employee. Believe it or not I am actually fine with the general idea that the COLA increases that we would get are frozen... I get it, the economy sucks, not a lot of people are getting anything resembling pay raises. I am happy that I have a job that pays well and gives me a reason to get out of bed (hard on cold days like this) as well as a feeling of satisfaction at the end of the day.

However......

In the end this was all about making a symbolic easy decision that will get lots of play while the country's leadership uses it as cover to avoid making the really hard decisions. Let's face it, Federal employees are great targets, in the grand scheme pounding on us will have virtually no political downside for the President or anyone who votes for it (does anyone really think that the vastly liberal government workforce is suddenly going to vote Republican?). And for the rest of the country we are one big stereotype of being overpaid and under-worked that, other than the military and a few other organizations, gets little love from either side of the aisle. I would be more accepting if this was part of a bigger plan to actually balance the budget.... Instead we are the sacrificial virgin who gets thrown in the volcano to show that the chief is trying to do something about the problem.

This solution is predicted to save 2 Billion dollars in FY11, 28 Billion over five years and maybe 60 Billion over the next 10 years. Sounds massive and impressive right? But what else are they really going to do? The federal deficit for FY09 was 1.42 Trillion dollars (1420 Billion....). The total federal debt? 13.856 Trillion dollars. So this move saved 0.15% of the current deficit (at best 0.45% if the end of ~ 6 Billion per year is realized). This isn't even what you can call a good start toward solving this problem that threatens every single American and our way of life.

Ask me how this feels when I see a plan that actually proposes to solve this crisis (and kills the crushing debt that looms over us). Until then all I can say is that the lava really hurts (though in the grand scheme this doesn't hurt me too much personally) and that the volcano is not satisfied with its latest sacrifice.

Walking in a Race

This is aimed at the people who plan to walk more than 2/3 of a race. Running and walking is perfectly reasonable system (I walk up some of the steeper inclines at all the water stops of most races). And this really isn't aimed at the reasonable walkers who start back in their time appropriate area. This really is for the... hmmmm... special... yeah, that's the PG word I would use.... walkers who decide that the best place to start is waaay up in front.

So, you like to walk. Good. I and most of the other people who run respect you for that. You have chosen to walk a distance longer than most Americans walk in a week and that is awesome. You could be the biggest person around but there will be no mean words or glances at you because you are trying to better yourself. Everyone has to start somewhere and it is awesome you are trying. This event has been something that you have probably planned to attend and *gasp* maybe even trained for quite some time. Really, that is awesome!

I know that some races are better than others in figuring out where to start. A lot of the bigger ones use corrals, where you look at the numbers and start in the area based on your start time. And even for the ones that don't? Do you need to start in front? No. Because if you do? All you have to do is turn around and look at all those people behind you. Those people that will have dodge around you during the first mile or so. I know that it is exciting to be up in front and see the empty road ahead and actually see the people who start the race. Its an exciting thing.

But.... I want you to take a look around you. Look at the runners who are way up in front there. They look pretty fit, don't they? And even those people behind you... They look might fit as well. Heck, as far back as you can see? They probably are all able to run far faster and longer than you can right now.

Remember how I said that I respected you? Felt pretty good, right? Want to know how you destroyed that respect in an instant? Yeah.... You guessed it. You started in the wrong place. I and a whole bunch of other runners now have to dodge your clueless ass during the first mile as things. Are we thinking nice things about you as you mosey along, often 2 or 3 abreast, forcing us to dodge and weave as we start that initial shake out? Nope. All that respect you earned by trying to better yourself is killed by the fact that you are not respecting the rules of our tribe. Because a good runner (and walkers, since there are a bunch of your people way in the back of the pack) looks around, gets in the right corral (if they are there) or just gauges the crowd and picks a fairly reasonable starting place (after a decade of running I can pick really well... I often end with the same crowd that picked at the start) based on his/her ability and the people around them.

This problem really does shake out after the first mile or so, but it really is annoying and leaves me in a less than happy mood. My brothers and I often estimate that we run at least .1-.2 miles extra at the start dodging your ass. And, yes, I probably am in fact growling/muttering at you as I run around you. And most definitely I am picking on you as there are more than a fair share of runners who deliberately choose to start at the wrong place, but.... they have to dodge you as well, which further complicates my brothers and my runs.

So please stop and engage that all too often turned off feature (at least in modern day society), show some courtesy to the people around you. Start in the right place and you will make a lot of runners out there a lot happier.

Chicago Urbanathalon

"Don't cross the streams. Why? It would be bad." - Ghostbusters

Too bad the people that run this race didn't pay attention to this directive, as, for the first time ever at a running event, I had across the flow of runners coming back from another part of the race. This is a bad idea. Along the lines of never, ever do this.... This may be the worst managed race I have ever been to, with awful pre-race communications and very few volunteers on the actual course.

Overall however it was a lot of fun. I was dirty, sweaty, bruised and bloody by the end of the race, but it was very fulfilling to cross that finish line (even if I needed a boost on the final wall). My final time was 2:15. If it was just a 10 miler (total distance was 9.75 miles) I would be quite sad with that time, but given the obstacles I find it tolerable.

And the obstacles were fun and challenging (mostly)!

• Obstacle 1: The concrete beam - not even a challenge. The Big tire - oomph. First try had me "wiley e. coyote"-ing down the side. After stepping back and figuring out I slammed myself up and then crawled over (losing one of my pins holding my number on). The little tires - not even an issue.
  
• Obstacle 2 - jersey barriers to go over, police barriers to crawl under. This was an apparently endless set of 3 of each. It was quite an endurance exercise, since you had already run 4+ miles at that point. I cut my finger at this point.
• Obstacle 3 - Crawl over cars - aborted because it was unsafe per race officials. Marine High Hurdles - whoah... There we 6 of these. I think everyone knew I was going over them (based on my war cries). A very ouchy process of hurling yourself at the target and hauling yourself over. Very proud I did these right.
• Obstacle 4 - Some sort of high/bear crawl under net - too easy for a guy who has done military low crawls for 1-200 meters. Monkey bars - Short and quick. Only holdup was some chick who froze on the last bar in front of me.

And then my left hamstring locked on me and I lurched .5 mile, stopped to pee and then moved onward.

• Obstacle 5 - Lots of stairs. Lots!!! Another holdup due to poor traffic control and obsticle management. lots of standing around in crowds moving very slowly.
• Obstacle 6 - The final obstacle. Car - Half stomped over one. Then tried to be all police show-y and slide across the next, failed and got stuck, so more clomping. Bus - Climb over net then back down. *Yawn* to anyone who has been in the military (and by that I mean Army and Marine). Wall - I did fail on the first attempt and was not too proud to accept a hand from a neighbor to get over.

I wore my Vibram Five Fingers for the race. There were about 20 people also wearing them (apparently our secret club acknowledgement is to say "nice shoes" to someone else wearing them. I learned this by the repeated call of that from the people who passed me). My feet are somewhat beat up even on Monday but in more of a just overstretched/tight perspective.

This was the first race that I have ever personally traveled for (since DC has so many great races nearby). Not sure I will do this again in the near future, but it was a lot of fun and a great way to hang with the family (3 of my 4 brothers ran it (see above pic) and the respective wives and GF's (including my GF H) came in addition to our parents.). We ate our way across the city (pizza and other assorted foods) in celebration.

Bad Blogger...

yeah, whatever. So I am a bad blogger. It's not like I haven't done some cool stuff in the past 3 weeks. I went to Vegas, drove to the Grand Canyon, ran a Half Marathon (Wilson Bridge Half Marathon) and done my usual Army stuff. And of top of that I have to write academic stuff for my courses at NDIC. I have some cool stuff in the next couple of weeks (most notably a very cool trip to Chicago with 3 of my 4 brothers to compete in the Men's Health Urbanathalon) that should get me stirred up. I am probably going to do something on the half marathon, that was an interesting and good race.

I blame Twitter and Facebook. Those sites make it so easy to post little vignettes that it seems to disturb writing in a larger terms.

CupcakeCamp 2010

Wow, I think I am in diabetic shock. My Girlfriend (above), who I often refer to as CupCake Girl, decided that she really wanted to attend this event. She even signed me up and we both got to attend.

There were an amazing number of cupcakes. I think we sampled (shared) some 20 of them (in our defense a number of them were mini's). I actually reached the point, even though there were more cupcakes coming down the stairs that I felt I had to stop.... And then go for a long ass walk to clear some of the sugar out of the system.

Overall the cupcakes were great (amazingly the first one was probably the best). I kind of feel sorry for the people at the end, since we pretty much reached a point of shock from the sheer number and variety of the cupcakes. I didn't quite get the people who were taking them home (I thought the whole point was socially sharing the cupcakes, not grabbing ones to take home).

Overall a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

9-11 in Uniform

This is only the second 9/11 that I have spent in uniform (and last year I was putting it on to go to a classroom). But this time it felt more poignant, as I was in charge of a Company (we had about 40 people doing things) and we were doing more Army type stuff. We were out on a range, ensuring that everyone had qualified with their rifle. I did make sure that we did take a minute (not at the morning times since we were busy at the time) to note the significance of the day, then we made sure that everyone went back to work. The other time I noted it personally is when we went rapid fire to shoot off the remaining ammo at night (we got lots of tracers and illumination rounds.

It was a SPENDEX scenario (expend the ammo exercise) which is part of the joy/quirk of the Army procurement/logistics system where you get penalized if you do not expend all the ammo they gave you), and on top of that I had promised the firefighters (who we had to call in twice already that evening) that if they just hung around for a bit I would ensure we wouldn't have to call them again. So out went most everyone onto the range, 12 firing positions for rifles and 2 for the grenade launched flares. I kind of wish I had pictures but I couldn't resist the temptation of shooting off 150 rounds of ammo, mostly tracer (my true hint that my people like me? There was never any doubt that they put away ammo because they know I love to shoot). It was awesome, people went into burst fire, flares were drifting (at one point we had some 8-9 flares in the air at the same time... I may have shot at them, and everyone knew because I had the tracers).

I would have never guessed 9 years from the those tragic events (where I felt helpless in my parents house watching those terrible events) that I would be out here, wearing our country's uniform with 1LT rank running a range, helping to train some people who, in a scant few months will be on their way to Afganistan.

Kings Dominion

I came, I saw, I vomited my guts out. But I still considered it a very good day.
My main regret is that I didn't lose control of my stomach on the aptly named "Hurler" but on the more pedestrian named "Anaconda." (that would have made the story far cooler....)

Through some combination of breakfast, snack and soda, combined with the intensely hot and humid weather I created a virtual storm that set me up for my momentary loss. It didn't help that the park was virtually deserted. There were basically no lines, the only inhibiting factor was however long it would take you to walk around and re-board the coaster. This also was probably a factor in my loss. In short order we were able to walk up to The Dominator (very cool new coaster with lots of loops), the Intimidator 305 (305 foot drop, 85% downward angle and a top speed of 92mph. I think I saw my vision greying at the bottom) which we rode twice, then the classic indoors ride Flight of Fear. At that point I needed a short break (as I was profusely sweating, which should have presaged what happened) before pressing on to the Anaconda.

Which was a mistake, as about halfway through I knew I needed this ride to be over as soon as possible. Perhaps one of the worst waits I have had in a while was sitting waiting to head into the loading area, desperately thinking and hoping that I could hold it in (the best hint to my brother was that I had turned monosyllabic, answering most questions statements with a simple yes or now). Finally the train rolled into the station, I bolted (as fast as my then rubber legs could take me) to a point where I vomit off the edge. And then after barfing twice I felt so good it was beyond description. Some soda, a little bit of walking and I felt a million times better.

Throughout the rest of the day I avoided coasters (just hanging around and looking at the crowds). My brother did hit all the other major coasters (The wooden ones, Rebel Yell, Grizzly and Hurler as well as the Shockwave) and together we also hit the water park for a couple of fun rides (Tornado is by far my favorite. The big funnel is just plain fun to be deposited into).).

We finished things off at the park with one final coaster, the singularly awesome Volcano. I think it took more time to walk to the loading area than it took to ride the ride, but it is such a blast of a ride that it was hard to resist, though I did sit out my brothers second trip on that ride and the Dominator.

All in all a great day (even with the vomit interlude). There is something cool about being at an amusement park and having the run of the land, not having to wait for anything.

Restoring Honor.

Ok, so I didn't go. I probably would have if it hadn't been for the prior planning of the GF to schedule a free night in Annapolis at one of the historic inns (which was quite fun. I cannot remember the last time I was in Annapolis).

But I think if I had been around I would have stopped by (good incentive to go for a walk and see some entertaining people). I kind of like Glenn Beck (and now that any liberal has stopped reading this let me continue).

He is entertaining. And likable. Does he go off on rant's that feel like they should be accompanied by full rolls of aluminum foil? Hell yes.... But.... He also doesn't tell people to simply take his word for things, he tells his viewers and listeners to go off and do their own research. This is a really great message that you do not see from a lot of talking heads, and ironically borrows from the classic Hippie theme of questioning the man. Are there people that simply take him at his word (and probably misinterpret it?)? Of course. You find those people in pretty much every movement/following that you find (look how many drank the Obama kool-aid in 2008).

Oh well, onward and upward to November. Maybe we will even finally be able at to "Retire Moran" here in NoVa.

July Roundup

Got a medal (AAM, Army Achievement Medal) for my work during AT.

Played around at Busch Gardens Virginia.

Went to a nice little wine festival in Staunten VA.

Played a fun game (Bioshock 2) and a mediocre game (Crackdown 2).

Went through 5 books (The Lost Fleet series by Jack Campbell, pretty good military SF).

Overall a pretty good month.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg

11 years. That's how long it has been since I have been here (back right after my brothers college graduation). I have driven past it countless times in the past couple of years, but this past weekend the GF and I decided to make it a long weekend (since one of the days of my drill weekend was a family day) and head there on Monday.

Overall? Less than impressed. The beer tour is gone (something I didn't know until I looked online trying to figure out where it was in the park), which I find a sorely missed item. We did pick a good time to head there, Monday was a day that allowed us to walk up to pretty much any attraction.

I think overall I am less of a fan of Busch Gardens because they are following the classical amusement park model, separating the water park from the main park. I understand that Water Country USA is supposed to be pretty darn good, but I have never been there. I much prefer when they are in one park (like Kings Dominion).

The rides themselves? Great! Almost all of them were new to me. Griffon was cool, Alpengeist remains a serious shakeup, Loch Ness remains a pretty cool ride, and Apollo's Chariot is seriously a cool fast ride.

A fun way to spend a day but it will be a long time before this Arlington boy head to BG, particularly since you have to drive past Kings Dominion to get there (at half the distance).

Bioshock 2

Having just finished Bioshock 2 (I tucked it away when I first got it during finals, and then life came along and I just now got to it) I just wanted to take a second to give my impressions.

Overall? A great ride. Not awesome like the first (since the first was so novel that I, as well as many gamers were fascinated by it). They did add some things to the system, notable multi-user play, but for me this was a one man (or Big Daddy) adventure. I finished the game after about 20 hours of gameplay. I did it the nice way, by not "harvesting" the Little Sisters (comes back to my morality, I have a hard time tolerating, even in gameplay, the killing of little girls, even if the Little Sisters are some of the most creepy girls you will ever encounter).

Mainly? It felt like more of the same. The only real differences were the fact that you played as the Big Daddy (which meant you started out with the honking huge drill on your arm), the very novel bit where you got to play as a Little Sister (the whole world is clouded and unreal. I did like how they play off the Angel thing was pretty cool), and the novel new opponent of the Big Sisters.

Did I enjoy my return to Rapture? Yes, as evidenced by the some 20 hours of gameplay I devoted to this game. Was it as good as the original? Probably, but somewhat less novel, so in the end the original probably comes out ahead.

Summer TV

Way long ago, when I was a kid, Summer was the Dead Zone. And by that I do not mean the TV show.... Summer was downright awful, rerun hell basically.
Fast forward to today. Some of the most interesting show no longer follow the network's traditional format. The networks themselves continue to put out shows (though they are often fairly weak shows, burn-offs of failed shows or (occasionally) novel shows like Wipeout) but almost all of the excitement is on the Cable side of the house.

SyFy (shudder, how I hate that name) and USA are the main powerhouses. Though AMC and others are nipping at the heels of those networks. I seriously love the SyFy shows. Eureka and Warehouse 13 are just plain fun. I personally think that WH13 is probably one of the best shows I have seen, the show has a huge backstory and overarching storyline, but they really do a good job at making most of the episodes something that anyone can jump into. I am also looking forward to discovering more about Haven. I tried to jump into Sanctuary but it just isn't clicking.... I have all the shows stored up and at a truly bored moment I will give it another shot.

USA continues to deliver with a really good shows like Burn Notice, In Plain Sight and Pysch. I plan to give Royal Pains a try and I am definitely interested to give Covert Affairs a try as well.

Then you add in all the other shows, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, True Blood, Entourage?

Kids today will never quite get it why they have it so good.....