On Comments And Worms

I'm working on updating this blog into having more military look, and as I was going through doing a little updating here and there, I noticed a few comments I had never read. Sometimes as I read the comments, I click on the names to see what that person has as a blog. More often than not it is a dead blog or link. Well, what I didn't realize is that the comments aren't set up in such a way to weed out malicious websites, as in, worms, viruses, trojans, the general crap that someone with nothing better to do with their time than create something that attempts to destroy your computer. So, as I clicked on one name... suddenly a strange website popped up, and the all familiar computer-lockup, and that tell-tale 4 color fake Microsoft shield in the lower right hand corner... CRAP!!!

Immediately shut down the computer and restarted but it was too late, the damage had been done. As the programs loaded I got an actual warning message that the Windows firewall was disabled, there was no way to turn it on, and MOST of my anti-virus software (I run 4 active at all times) had shut down.

When I went to click on CC-Cleaner, one of my programs for fixing problems... I received this:

This file does not have a program associated with it for performing this act

This was at about 8 a.m. this morning. I worked it for about a half hour, couldn't get much done because I had an appointment coming up at 0900, then I noticed that, oddly enough, Ad-Aware remained running, and that basically saved me. I ran Ad-Aware on a complete sweep while I went to my appointment, when I came back, it had found the W32.Sircam.Worm virus and quarantined it.

The problem? It had deleted out the portion of the Windows registry associated with running most .exe files. So I shut down the internet, borrowed belly's mini-laptop (keep forgetting what they call these, palmtops?) and used that to look up issues while I attempted to up a fix, as I opened my own laptop in safe mode, then in safe mode with prompt, then regular mode after I found (by some miracle) an actual windows registry fix after both belly and I worked on this for probably 3 more hours.

Anyways, I have deleted to offensive comment, and as part of my updating I plan on putting in some better defenses against that sort of shit. My apologies if anyone else got hit by this.

DITCH THE FREAKING BERET ALREADY!!!

So, last year, June 2010, the Army Times ran an article about the beret, and how then Army Chief of Staff General George Casey stated “I can count on one hand the number of guys and gals that have stood up and said, ‘I hate this thing.’” I remember thinking to myself "Well Sir, with all due respect, you need to get your ass out of the Pentagon and actually TALK to some soldiers who actually do shit in the field if you honestly believe that idiotic assessment of that piece of crap headgear!!!". On cold days, when doing my job, it wasn't unusual that I had to have 4 total pieces of headgear to meet all the expectations of different places I might be. The kevlar helmet for training in tactical vehicles, the fleece cap for cold weather outdoor training, the patrol cap for in garrison training, and that stupid beret for formations and formal events.

Apparently, as General Casey has now retired, it has taken the new leadership a lot less time to begin some actual intelligent thought about the problems with the current uniform and how to make REAL soldiers happier with what they are wearing day to day. Hell 90% of soldiers can't even wear that stupid beret correctly.

Controversial Beret Could Be On The Way Out

New Sergeant Major of the Army Raymond Chandler is making one of his first actions an overall assessment of the uniform, including removing velcro, which was another completely IDIOTIC idea to begin with. "Ahoy mate, see me sneaking up on this enemy soldier, wait a moment, as I reach into my pocket and RIPPPPPPPPPP the velcro open... CRIKEY, he's spotted me!!!". The velcro doesn't hold up for shit, and the name tape and branch of service tapes end up grabbing at the shoulder velcro in an irritating repetitive action whenever you are doing work that causes your arms to cross your body, or basically just about any type of work you might do.

As far as the ACU pattern, which has never worked (unless you were perhaps trying to hide in a field of white rock), the Army is looking to field 3 variants of camouflage: woodland, desert, and a transitional pattern for everything in between (whatever the hell that means?). I don't get why they don't admit "Okay, we f'ed up, hey Marines, can we just use your uniforms, minus the eagle, globe, and anchor???".

But, one thing at a time, and right now there are very few things as annoying as the beret. I don't mind it for the class A uniform (the new dress blues are hideous though, I must say) but for day to day use with your combat uniform, the beret is freaking useless, an irritating two handed device designed to impress only the most idiotic of officers.

My Marathon Partner, RIP

Many of you remember that I ran a marathon in May of 2006, right about 5 years ago. It was the second year that, on the same day the Boston Marathon is ran, they ran the Boston Marathon in Iraq at Ali Air Base (Camp Adder). I was looking to run the relay version of the marathon, where we get 4 people to run a little over 6 miles each, adding up to 26.2 miles total. Well, 2 of the people who were going to run with us ended up going out on a mission a day before the marathon and were unable to come back.

So, being the eternal optimists we are, Bob and I decided, hey, what the hell, we will attempt the entire 26.2 miles and see just how far we get. Both of us figured that we'd make it maybe 17 to 19 miles before we'd end up quitting. I ran one 12 mile practice run to get ready, and I don't think Bob even did anything close to that, he basically ran it without any long distance training. We both ran quite a bit on a regular basis, but nothing more than 3 to 4 miles every other day or so.

The first 14 miles or so we ran together. The duct tape that I had over one of my nipples shortly thereafter fell off. I began to feel the inevitable chafing across that portion of my chest. After 14 miles Bob fell back slowly and I continued on. At 22 miles I actually fell down, cramped up horribly. The Italians soldiers were running the medical portion in that area of the race, and attempted to make me stop, but hell no I wasn't going to stop with only a few short miles to go. I got up, and with a determined grit of my teeth, began jogging again.

Somewhere between 21 and 23 miles, Bob passed me up. I did not notice him, likely due to the delirium of fatigue that I was going through. At 25.5 miles, or a mere half mile or so from the end, I nearly fell down again, caught myself, and forced myself to continue. I swore to God that I would NEVER ever try such a thing again, that "Please God just let me finish this one, and I promise you, I will not be so foolish as to attempt another". My friend Yvonne met me shortly thereafter, and jogged along with me to the finish line.

It was there that I saw Bob, and knew that he had defeated me. I was not bothered, despite the pain and exhaustion I had to laugh at the fact that I had never even seen him pass me up. We both entered the clamshell tent nearby, designated for race finishers, and I remember saying "Holy hell why is it so cold in here???" and Bob and I laughing when we realized that, it wasn't cold in the tent, it was actually above 100 degrees outside. We hadn't noticed the temperature being so high because of the gradual acclimation that occurs when you run, from 67 degrees when we started the race at 6 that morning to the crispy high midday southern Iraq temps that are common that time of year.

Over the rest of the deployment I shared that special bond with Bob, a smile in passing, it wasn't that I was a best friend of his, but that we had both attempted something utterly foolish in all respects, considering the difficulty of running a marathon even WITH training. After the deployment I saw him a few times, always reminiscing about that day, even if a word was not spoken, a knowing nod and a smile in passing, maybe half a dozen times.

It was with utter disbelief and a profound sadness that I received word of his passing away, at a mere 26 years old, while home on leave from his fourth deployment. He had lost some 30 lbs mysteriously in the last few months, and was home on leave to see the birth of his first child, a daughter named Blair. Tests at an Omaha hospital proved inconclusive, and he was set to go to Ft. Bragg for another battery of testing. He never made it. It was by his 1 month old daughter side that Bob took his last breath.

Guardsman Dies On Leave

At times like these I look at my own life, and reflect on where I have been, and develop a new appreciation for those I love and cherish, and for my friends, even co-workers. Life can be harsh and unpredictable at times, but it can also be short, too short. I've run another marathon since then, and will likely try more, but nothing will endure like the memory of that first 26.2 miles, the uncertainty of trying such a thing, and the sheer foolish audacity of two young men attempting such a feat without training. I never knew you as well as I likely should have, Bob, but I will always cherish that 4+ hours of self induced hell that we spent together that day in Iraq, where we both discovered inner strength we never knew we had. Godspeed to you, my friend, you went too soon :(

Irresponsible Rude Obnoxious Loud People

I'm sure everyone has been to a movie theater, a quiet restaurant, even libraries, and dealt with this before: the asinine self centered prick (or female prick I guess) who talks loudly on the cellphone without regard for anyone around him/her and then acts insulted and offended when someone actually "calls" them on it (sorry, couldn't resist the pun).

Well, Amtrak users dealt with this for 16 hours on a trip that left San Fransisco on its way to Oregon, before someone finally said something, to which the offensive cell phone user became belligerent, and the train ended up stopping just so police could remove her. Now, mind you she had been talking on a designated quiet car the ENTIRE 16 hours of the trip before someone finally said ENOUGH and confronted her:

Loud Cell Phone Talker Removed From Train

Quiet cars on Amtrak trains are designated as CELL PHONE FREE areas by obvious written signs, I'm not sure I would have been able to deal with it for 16 minutes, much less 16 freaking hours. I, like many others, are cheering on her removal from the train, because so often these people label themselves as "victims" despite their complete and total disregard for anything remotely resembling respect in dealing with their fellow man.

I think she should have sat in jail for 16 hours myself.

New Era

Nebraska Football.

I have followed it for my entire life. I can remember my father jumping up and down and yelling at the TV as Jarvis Redwine ran down the sideline, when I was like 6 years old, and how my father crashed to the floor when Redwine was called for a penalty for taunting the defensive player as he went into the end zone. I remember all the heartache of watching Oklahoma somehow come from behind to defeat Nebraska so many times. (happened last year, blah! haha)

The last few years it has been Texas that has been so difficult to play, as they have had Nebraska's number an astounding 6 times in a row and 9 of the last 10. The Big 12 Conference's apparent love affair with Texas created a lot of rift between Nebraska and the conference members, and last year of course, Nebraska and Colorado both bolted from the Big 12 to greener pastures, with the Huskers ending up in the Big 10 and the Buffs going to the Pac 10.

I was all for this, screw the Big 12, their commissioner Don Beebe, whiney Missouri fans, stuck up Texas fans, jealous Iowa State fans... but as we come closer to the fall 2011 season, I am somewhat saddened by the thought that my beloved Huskers will no longer be playing in Lawrence, we will no longer have the Jayhawks coming to Lincoln, or the NU vs OU showdowns that, despite a lot of blowouts in the last 20 years, have had some of the most incredible games ever played (see last year's Big 12 Championship).

But that is the past, there isn't much anyone can do about that. For Nebraska it was a no brainer, and not just the athletics. We can basically look past that for a moment... for Nebraska this is a major move academically, the Big 10's research prowess is legendary, and Nebraska can only get better with the addition into the fold.

Volleyball is going to be incredible, with arguably the top 4 programs in the nation being in one conference. It will bring an array of teams that you don't normally see in Lincoln, and Nebraska will be traveling to places annually and making new traditions and rivalries.

But there will always be part of me that longs for those old Big 8 days, listening to the radio in the dairy barn with my father and grandmother as the Husker football teams of old marched methodically along to another showdown with Oklahoma, and yet another chance at a national title. Ah the memories.

How The Heck???

I do not understand how single parents do this... I've been up to my neck in laundry, cooking, bedtime, etc, for two nights, and that is WITH D's help here and there (she is busy with her 'at home work' job) and still I'm behind... I would say I CANT WAIT FOR THE WEEKEND but my weekends aren't off haha. Sunday and Monday, most likely will be my next days off, one can only hope?

Geeeesh!!!

I'm Not A Kid Anymore

I sure do love my little ones, and of course my better half. Sometimes it is surprising how long the years have blown past. Here we are now, and I'm so blessed with where we are at, good job, D is working now also, getting set to put the other little one into daycare. Things are really good. I think sometimes I have dwelled a little too much on the negative, I think as we get older we should become more content with where we are and I'm learning to count my blessings. I have done a lot in my life, been around the world, all over the USA, and lucky enough to have the most patient and amazing young woman by my side through the most hectic times, always giving me a smile or a word of support. For that I am thankful. That and my family.

Sometimes though I really miss being young and carefree... the world seems safe, simple, and less complicated... and for that reason I know I have to be the best father that I can, because that is the memory I want my children to have.

Kick Ass!!!

Not sure if the news is true, but if that bastard is gone, freaking AWESOME!!!

Would have been better to get him alive, but Bin Ladin dead is better than him alive on the loose.

And... my assumption from years ago was wrong, I thought the guy was actually dead years ago.

Hopefully this is authentic! Kick ass job, whoever got him!

A short one for now.

Let's just say I have to wonder how it is that some people have completely lost their minds, like, seriously, this is crack cocaine with meth, baby jesus will cry for a month at least:

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/cto/2353538790.html

"This is a serious speed machine,not for the timid."

You don't say? Perhaps because if you are even in the slightest bit timid, you are going into severe depression from the extreme amount of severe ridicule when anyone sees your car.

So...

"WTF? Where have you been?"

Well, not doing what I should have been doing, but that is all changing.

Let's just say this month was... interesting :)

And maybe it is time to crack this old monster open again, for old time's sake.

After all, doesn't everyone need a peek inside my head now and then?

Why The F Are Simple Things So F'ing DiFFicult?

So, I bought this Lenovo laptop recently, it has been very nice, except for a couple of annoying things, the speakers aren't that great, but I can live with that, the most annoying aspect has been the ridiculously flakey touchpad. It will suddenly go into what can only be described as 'drunk mode', in which it stops going where my finger is going and jumps all over the page, sometimes not moving at all. No idea why it does that but this is why, generally, I tend to keep the mouse connected.

So, moving on...

I am typing along two days ago and the F key suddenly pops off. Ooookay, no biggie, I click it back into place, keep typing, when it flies off again. WHAT THE F, F KEY?

Okay, this happened on occasion with the Toshiba I used to have, but not until about 3 years into owning that one, a key failed here and there, I replaced it, no biggie. Except this has been what, 3 months? Should be covered under normal use in the warranty. So I go to Lenovo's website and get a phone number and call it.

"If you'd like to bla bla bla press 1, if you'd like to bla bla bla press 2... " on and on for like 18 different choices, I picked warranty, and got pushed into another automated query, picked another choice, then another automated message, this time telling me to go to a website. BLARGHHH!!!

Hang up, redial...

I hit zero immediately, boom, I'm talking to someone in a sweat shop in Asia. I hang up.

Try again, this time I pick sales, because I know damn good and well that companies are not stupid, they always have real good old Americans doing their sales, unless they are stupid in which case they also outsource their sales to some warehouse in Asia too.

Sure enough, boom, I'm talking to an American. I start explaining, tell him I don't want to talk to someone in Pakistan, he says "Sure, I'll get you to the right person" and boom I'm listening to the automated message telling me about the website.

BLEEPITY BLEEPITY F BOMB G D F BOMB!!!

Call back again... I pick parts for Thinkpads, and I end up speaking to someone with a heavy Indian accent yet again. *@#(*$@, oh well, let's give it a shot. 30 minutes later, we've finally done 30 seconds worth meaningful conversation, and I find out that, per the Lenovo warranty, they will not send out a keyboard unless I send my keyboard in to them first. WTF??? I don't need a god damn keyboard, I need ONE KEY. Plus the keyboard will likely be refurbished, not new. My keyboard is like 3 months old, so basically it IS new.

"Ve'll solly sor, ve can nut just send vu vun key, ve must send vu da keyvoard"

Now, I can replace the keyboard myself if I so desire instead of sending it in, but they put what basically amounts to a lean on my credit card until I send MY keyboard back into them upon replacement, unless of course I send my entire laptop in per the warranty instructions, which could take 6 to 8 weeks. Yah, like that is going to happen. Neither is acceptable to me. I will not give them my credit card number, nor will I go without my laptop for 2 months. At this point he is just reading verbetim from the screen so he gets hung up on.

SERIOUSLY? ALL I WANT IS AN F'ING F KEY!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

So I call back, this time I want to talk to a manager immediately. I am put on hold, guy who answered comes back, manager not available but he has CHRIS on the line. The guy who answered was helpful, Chris on the other hand sounded like he had 100 better things to do than his job. So they talk back and forth, bla bla bla, what if he wants to do this, bla bla bla, so on... I finally put them on speaker phone, and then they finally settle on some website where they say I can find a local service center, again Chris sounds like he's been smoking weed all day, and I can hardly hear him, finally I tell both of them I found the website and I hang up on them.

So, the premise here is that I can have the local service center order the keyboard, I just stop by, they take my F key and replace it with the other F key. Viola, simple, easy, right?

Wrong, call the service center here in Omaha, they take forever to answer, I get put on hold, they finally come back and take my info, they say the same thing, no guarantee that I'll get a keyboard that isn't 'refurbished', then they say they have to research it and they'll call me back. They do call back 40 minutes later, and oh what good news they have... *insert sarcasm here* "Sir, per the terms of your warranty, all service must be done on this model on a mail in basis only, we're sorry!"

WTFGD@*(#(#*$(*@#$(&@(Y(YW*GQWEUBPWUIOGHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

IT IS ONE KEY, IT IS THE F KEY!! ARE YOU F'ING KIDDING ME?????

So, "F" it, I went to ebay and I bought a complete keyboard online for $19, shipped from, where else?? ASIA. Hong Kong to be specific. No shipping charges it says, but I'm sure I've likely been fleeced of $19, despite his superb trader rating. We shall see.

Seriously though, ALL I WANT IS THE F KEY. WHY do things have to be this difficult!!??? Even car dealerships aren't this stupid. This would be the equivalent of replacing the entire motor because the spark plug needs replacement.

So, anyone got an F key for me? Because I can tell you this much, Lenovo and their warranty can certainly go _uck themselves.

Testing 1 2 3

Trying a post from the cell phone. Ze intornet on ze fone ist gut!

That is all for now

Going To A Concert!!!!

I recently celebrated a birthday, and belly decided to get me tickets to a concert. Creed with special guest Staind. Yes, I'm a closet Creed fan. I don't go around promoting it, but I do enjoy their music. Belly knows this, and so when Creed announced they were getting back together for a reunion tour and new album, I was pretty excited. She had to let me know before my birthday that she bought the tickets because I was going to get them myself, I felt kinda bad but that's better than having an extra set of tickets.

We drove into Counciltucky and headed over to the Mid America Center, I was hoping to find a fast food place, wasn't all that interested in Burger King but that was all they had to eat around there that was quick, and we only had about 45 minutes so we quickly ate a couple burgers/fries and headed on over to the auditorium. Our seats were 5 rows up from the front, on the side, and they were excellent.

The opening band was called "Like A Storm". They were decent, better than most opening bands. Sounded Australian, the best description is an emo breaking benjamin. Pretty good guitar, vocals are so so, lyrics are pretty sophomoric but they are young so they'll get better. After their set they came out and hung out in the crowd, I thought that was pretty cool, and a good way to develop a following. From watching a couple of their songs on YouTube this morning, the comments for the videos seem to show that their approach is working.

Then they cleared the front of the stage and set up for Staind. They kicked off with "Fade", which is my favorite Staind song. Vocalist Aaron Lewis sings like he's in pain, and I have no idea how the lead guitarist can continue playing the guitar the way he does (bent way over then coming back up) without having to see a chiropractor after every show. He was going up and down so fast that I thought he was going to smash his guitar a couple of times. It is interesting, I like Staind but I don't have any of their albums, so as I sat through their of like 8 or 10 songs I was thinking "Damn, these guys have more hits than I thought".

It was during the Staind set that an irritating group of young people sat down in front of us. I don't think they had tickets for the seats they sat in, but despite how stupid they were acting I just left that alone. There were about 4 or 5 fat emo looking girls, one skinny girl, and the most annoying of all was this 16 or 17 year old skinny douchebag. I don't know if he had mental problems, was on drugs, a flaming homo, or what, but he kept standing up and turning around, blocking the set, yelling, lifting his shirt in the air, general asshattery and such. He had a Hollister shirt on too, and for that reason alone I wanted to do a flying kick from my row and lay a boot on his skull. Thankfully they left after Staind, no surprise there, there were a lot of really emo looking kids up front for the Staind set. I hate emo morons.

Then they stripped down the stage once more and set everything up for Creed. That took about 10 minutes, then the lights went down, and this large black sheet fell from the ceiling and Creed opened up with "Bullets". That was kind of surprising, I figured they would pick one of their new songs or maybe "Are You Ready?", but being a big Weathered fan, I was glad they went with Bullets. They used a bunch of pyro, with massive flames firing off behind the band. This is the first concert I have ever gone to that had pyro, the big arena concerts I went to in the 80's all used the huge laser shows. Even though we were probably 40 meters or so from the actual pyro effects, each time they blasted off the heat wave was blistering, it must be insanely hot on the stage itself.

They followed up Bullets with the new song "Overcome", then "What If". Another new song after that, I think it may have been "To Whom It May Concern" but I'm not sure. Then "Say I", "Torn", "Are You Ready", and "Never Die". "My Own Prison" followed that, then "Faceless Man", and the final hit song from the My Own Prison album, an energentic performance of "One".

After that, "With Arms Wide Open", then Stapp talked about losing someone close and sang "What's This Life For?". Then they did bows and set the guitars down and walked off the stage. At this point I was like "WTF???" because I was fully expecting "One Last Breath", which is my favorite song. No concert would be complete from Creed without that song, in my opinion.

But they weren't done, they came back out and set up in a close group on stools and did their first concert performance of the new song "Rain", and then broke into "One Last Breath" much to my happiness and apparently the rest of the crowd. After that they finished up with "Higher", a song I had completely forgot about.

I think that basically covers everything. It was certainly weird seeing Stapp without his hair. They played with a 5 piece set, with a touring rhythm guitarist named Eric Friedman. The extra guitar gave a lot of the songs a bit more punch, and being a guitar rock fan I actually liked it. It was also good to see Brian Marshall back in the band again, and they did a lot more guitar solos than I ever saw in any previous live shows (never in person, watching on video). That was good, as I know in the past that Stapp had pissed off the other members by trying to force them NOT to do the guitar solos then arguing with them about it after shows.

All in all, awesome show!!! I don't know what to make of the new music yet, but I remember it took me a good year to get into Weathered after I bought it years ago, and therefore this may be the same thing. Even if the album is half as good as Weathered I will still probably be pretty happy with it.

Ted Kennedy The "American Hero"???

You'd likely have to be living under a rock on some 3rd world island at this point to not know that Ted Kennedy is dead. And while I haven't posted often lately, I find myself needing to post up due to the overwhelming amount of nonsensical garbage that the media is trolling out as 'news' when it comes to this fat drunken bluthering idiot. I don't even know where to start, nearly every article that pops up seems to be inflated with artificial information. The media is desperately trying to apply frosting to a turd, or sugar coat a lump of crap, for lack of a better term, and the hilarity of the entire situation is unbelievable.

Where do I even begin? The first thing I read the day he died was on Yahoo:

"A Torch Extinguished: Ted Kennedy Dead At 77"

Oh, forgive me, I was rolling my eyes at the first three words of the article's title even before I opened the article up, and the article itself was no better, basically a collection of references to the other Kennedy brothers, as though the last name would make up for Ted's failed legacy.

CBS News, however, takes the cake with this bit of nonsense from the article (thanks to blackfive.net for this):

"Ted Kennedy — The Last Brother"

Once again, even in the title they have to link him to other people to justify his 'greatness', but it gets even worse in the article itself. According to one Kennedy aid:

"He's gone to the funeral of every soldier who's come home from Iraq in a casket, whether it's up in Massachusetts or at Arlington Cemetery. And it's hard. But he knows it pays respect for giving the last full measure that these young soldiers have given."

96 Massachusetts' soldiers have died in the Iraq/Afghanistan conflicts, and following this news piece, Blackfive received a flood of emails from readers, describing specific funerals that Kennedy did not attend. So the idea that he attended all these funerals is total bullshit, just like 90% of all they nicey nicey things being said about Kennedy.

The article also states that Kennedy was 'drafted' into the Army. He was NOT drafted. After he was kicked out of Harvard for cheating, he ENLISTED into the Army in June of 1951. He requested Army Intelligence training, but (big surprise) he was dropped from the program. He then used his father's political connections to avoid deployment into the Korean War, instead getting a peach gig at European installations for the remainder of his 'service'. The article also states he served 'three years'. He was discharged in March of 1953. He didn't even make it to two years.

Why are they trying so hard to make this failure into something else? Tripping over themselves to eulogize this idiot with frivilous nonsense. Regardless of how much the media twists the facts, it does not change what Ted Kennedy was. A worthless drunken fool who spent 40 years playing off of his family name, and showing just how stupid the people of Massachusetts are for continually voting him into office.

This nonsense isn't limited to the media, unfortunately. I showed up for work yesterday to find the flag at the camp at half staff, and I felt like throwing up. Sure enough, Obama ordered military installations to put their flags at half staff for five days. WTF??? Kennedy's military service was at best sub standard, what a slap in the face to find him being honored at military installations. And worse he will be buried at Arlington, which is just disgusting. Another tug on the coat tails of a failed legacy, using his family name one final time to get ahead, in this case to insult every fallen soldier buried at Arlington National Cemetary.

Do I even need to bring up the "Chappaquiddick Incident", where Kennedy skated past a manslaughter charge and again used his family name for a "leaving the scene of an accident" conviction and suspended jail time?

The only decent article about Kennedy I've read thus far was written by Time's Jeff Israely, titled:

"After Kennedy's Death: Silence from the Pope"

Per the article, when President Obama visited the Pope in July, he delivered a sealed letter from Ted Kennedy, and the presumption is that in the letter, Kennedy was asking for a papal blessing, given his failing health. As the article stated, "Kennedy should have been asking the Pope for forgiveness." An unnamed Vatican official asked why Kennedy would even write a letter, given his failure to follow Catholic teachings? THANK YOU, for a moment of truthful reporting in a sea of rambling stupidity.

Of course, Time ruins this with another article entitled:

"Ted Kennedy's Quiet Catholic Faith"

The title of the article left me chuckling, because despite author Amy Sullivan's nonsensical description of Ted Kennedy 'making peace' with the Catholic church, he in no way lived his life in a Godly way. Therefore the word 'Quiet' in the title is all you need to really pay attention to, his faith was silent, or, more accurately, non-existant.

I understand that in death, the facts are often glossed over in a favorable way out of respect, but stomping on the facts repeatedly is a little much. I'm just thankful no one assassinated this moron, God knows it would have been difficult for the media to stupidly idolize him any more than they already are, but I'm sure they would have found a way.

More Time

As most people know, I grew up on a farm. Our house was just across the country road from the farm itself, but for all practical purposes, it was just like living on the farm itself, as we were so close. My earliest memories are all from the farm. Crossing the fence at the other side of the road to walk across the cow pasture. Playing with nuts and bolts in the back of the old blue air compressor on the other side of the pond, in the junkyard. Playing in the hay barn, cleaning the back of the dairy barn, riding my bicycle all over, all these memories from birth, through grade school, college, until now. But to say 'the farm' isn't exactly the correct terminology, because as kids we always referred to the farm as 'Grandmas'. We're going up to Grandmas, because my grandmother was always there.

The farm itself has been in my grandfather's last name, same as my last name, from the beginning, in the 1860s. During that time we always had the dairy, until just this last August when they sold the dairy portion of the farm off in order to focus on the agricultural portion of the farm. But for decades, Grandma was in that barn, morning and night, 5 to 8, then helping with calf chores, cooking meals for everyone, cleaning, painting fences, upkeep all around the farm. Because of all of that, she was so visible, she was the backbone of the farm, and therefore the farm became "Grandmas" and was referred to as such by all of us kids, and even by the cousins in the family that would come to visit the farm. I would tell my friends I was going to Grandmas. Grandma always wanted to meet anyone I was dating, never to express a displeasure with anyone, but because she loved meeting new people, especially those interested in her family.

I have never known anyone who works as hard as Grandma worked. I found myself thinking that she is the strongest, hardest working woman I have ever known. But that statement isn't fair, because she is the strongest and hardest working PERSON I have ever known. She never asked for anything for herself, only put forth the effort to help others. There was no paycheck for her, no salary, no bonuses, no time off. Nor did she ever ask for any of those. As she got older, she would head in early from time to time, maybe start a little later, but you could always count on Grandma beyond all others to be in that barn, milking those cows. Afterwards she could be found in the house, cooking, cleaning, welcoming the constant number of family and friends who would visit. She may have married into the farm as it existed, but make no mistake, she was the farm, more so than anyone else could have been.

Grandma was incredibly bright, she could name the capitals of all 50 states in America. There are 93 counties in Nebraska, and on vehicle license plates they are listed by number as the starting prefix, and Grandma could name every county based on the plate number. When us grandchildren had problems with homework, she would help us. If we had a spelling bee to prepare for, she would listen to us spell out the words, and without checking she knew if they were right or wrong.

In the last 1990s, Grandma was in her early 70s, and still she could be found, morning and night, in the milk barn. Her knees were failing her, her arthritis made it difficult to move around, every other word she said was "WHAT?" as her hearing began to fade, but her mind was as sharp as ever. She never let any amount of pain stop her from whatever she put her mind to. We were able to convince her to finally stay away from the barn following a stroke she had, but how does one fill such shoes, how do you replace someone who gives all and asks for nothing in return? You cannot, and in some ways it left a hole from which the dairy never recovered.

Over the following few years, Grandma focused on her lawn, on her cooking, she spent less and less time outside, her hearing got worse, the television got louder, until she finally let go of her stubborn nature and accepted wearing a hearing aid. Her health gradually got worse, but her mental state always made one think she was healthy, that her tenacity and willpower could overcome anything her body would throw at her. In 2007, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Thankfully it was found early, and through treatment the cancer went into remission. Once again, Grandma fought back and overcame another challenge. Once again, Grandma was back at the farm, once again we could go up 'to Grandmas' to visit.

Over the next 18 months, my sisters would work hard to try to get everyone to the farm once a week on Sunday afternoon. Each week was the phone call asking us to come down, and odds are I had work, or I was too busy with something with the house, or some other excuse to not make it. Last Sunday the phone call came, but this time to tell me that Grandma was back in the hospital. Over the course of four days in the previous week, the pain had gotten so bad that Grandma could not even sit up in bed. Once at the hospital, they ran some tests... the cancer had returned, and was in most of her major organs.

Despite this devastating news, somehow deep inside I felt that she was strong enough to withstand the cancer, that somehow we would have more time to spend with her. They ran an MRI, and thankfully the cancer was not in her brain. This was good news, but only a little. She was still in a lot of pain, but they were controlling it with medication. We thought maybe when she came home we'd have to have someone to watch over her, or perhaps she and Grandpa could live in an assisted care facility of some sort. Bell and I were able to stop in and visit. We dropped off a photo of the three of us from Wisconsin. Grandma got to see lil N', but they were taking her for another MRI and we were only able to stay for a little bit, but that was okay, we'd stop in again, when there was more time.

Then Friday morning I received a text message while at work. "Things are worse today, you should come to the hospital soon". I drove as quickly as I could, to find that Grandma likely had a heart attack, a mild one, but with her current state of pain, and the medication she was under, that they weren't sure if she'd make it through the day. I went in to say "hi", she opened her eyes momentarily, but I could not tell if she knew I was there. I went into the hallway, there were so many family and friends around, I didn't want to crowd the room. My mother took lil N' in to see her Great Grandma, and I didn't find out until later that Grandma had actually leaned forward and momentarily smiled at lil N', the only time she had smiled all day. I was so relieved to hear that, because it let me know that Grandma knew we were there. Late that night, with all of the family around, she passed away.

While I kept my composure at the hospital, as I drove home I found myself just angry. WHY, why did this happen so fast? Why couldn't we just have had a little more time? Then I had to stop and realize how selfish this was, that Grandma was in so much pain. She had likely been in this amount of pain for quite some time but because of the type of person she was, she would not have told anyone, because that was not the type of person she was. I went upstairs, it was around 3 in the morning by that time, and I looked in on lil N', and it was that moment where it all hit me. As I run my fingers through my sleeping girl's hair and tried in vain to swallow my tears, I thought about how much Grandma meant to me, to everyone she touched throughout her life.

Even as I drove down yesterday, just me and lil' N in the truck, my first thought was how happy grandma would be to see lil' N, and I felt the air leave my lungs in a rush as once again that realization set in, that Grandma would not be there. There will be no more Sunday phone calls inviting me to come down to "Grandmas". As I pulled into the yard, I found myself in tears. I miss you already Grandma Helen Halmes, I only wish I had a little more time to spend with you.

Tales Of Broken Hard Drives, Car Talk, Range Firing, New Laptop, and Travian

I'm not even going to promise to post 'more' any longer, because I never follow through, perhaps by not promising such things I will actually begin to post more again.

I think it is likely because I spend so much time on other places like SRTForums that I don't really get to posting as much as I should. Yes, SRT as in Street and Racing Technology, as in Ah Toe Mo Beels. My SRT-4 with its cute little 2.4 inline 4 intercooled turbo is at 35,872 miles, and the warranty is up on May 16th (36 months)of this year, or at 36,000 miles, whichever comes first. I am going to take the car into the dealer for a once over, to have them really check everything out while it is still under warranty, and then perhaps I can actually hit the mileage and 36 month on the same day, which would be an interesting coincidence, interesting probably only to me and maybe my other friends who populate, or pollute if you will, the SRT forums.

Once the warranty is up, oh goodie, the fun begins. I have a stage 1 performance ECU, full 3" Borla exhaust with cat delete, rear strut bar, catch can, AGP billeted waste gate assembly, and other fun items ready to go on the car. Right now the car has BWoody HBrace and traction bars, along with an Aeroforce tech gauge, and that is all, none of which can affect the warranty. Hmm, I've probably lost all of the people who randomly read my blog from time to time with these last two paragraphs...

Moving on...

About 2 weeks ago my Toshiba laptop from 2005 began acting up. The hard drive was making clickity noises, and I got a little worried, so I pulled out Mr Noisy 20gig old as hell external hard drive and I backed up my files. I am a GENIUS (okay, in this one instance, very very lucky) because the next day my screen saver was locked up, and upon the obligatory 5 second power button hold down/restart, UNABLE TO LOCATE MEDIA/UNABLE TO FIND OPERATING SYSTEM...

HOORAY FOR ME!!!! Right? Oh, just wait... gets better...

So, now I have no computer... wait, hold on, Belly has a Toshiba that has had a burned out screen for about the last oh, 3 years... so I switch her hard drive over to my computer...

Nothing

Okay, let's try something else, the *gasp!* dreaded screen switch!!!

I looked up the instructions online, and despite it being a relatively in depth process, I needed my internet, so I gave it a shot. About 2 hours later, I had the screens switched, and I hit the power button, and VOILA!!! On comes her screen, first time I had seen that background image in a LONG time.

HOORAY NOW??? No, wait, things start getting worse

I taped the cord to the back of the computer because the battery was completely kaput, either that or the power saver software wasn't allowing the battery to charge. The cord was loose, so anytime it would pop out BOOM the power was off, not good for the computer and irritating for me. On top of that there were 68 processes going at one time, and around 16 different programs that started up whenever you powered up the computer. S L O W I N G down everything.

Late one night I was working away and BOOM, that hard drive crashed too.

Let's see, F word, mother F word, g damn, son of a b, slam fist on table, lament and scream, etc etc... because this time I didn't back up the hard drive and there are some things on that hard drive that I need to have, so I may be stuck with a 100 dollar Best Buy bill if one of my buddies at work can't boot it externally and get the info I need.

Thankfully, Belly's father, being the wonderfully precise and thorough person that he is, had already been looking for a replacement laptop, and found one that still had XP (albeit XP for business, still a shitload better than that god damn Vista or Mojave or wtf they want to call it).

So, after a bit of thought, I chucked down the 600 bucks for it, or should I say, Belly did and I wrote her a check, and then I headed off for range qualification fire.

We spent 4 days out at the ranges, doing our range qual and warrior task training requirements...

Second year in a row I had to deal with weapons malfunctions. Last year had to aim way low (half the target length) because my front sight post was spinning free and I couldn't lower it at all. This year was even worse.

On the zero range, I had fired 3 shots at 25 meters, put them in my usual quarter sized group placement, then on the second 3 shot set the extractor didn't eject the round and it double fed on me...

So I lubed the shit out of the thing and hoped for the best.

Next up, KD range (roughly like what the Marines fire except no 500 meter range).

Fired at 300 meters, slow fire, 1 shot per minute for 10 minutes (to gauge and make changes to tighten up placement). No problems, put 8 of 10 shots in the 5 point circle.

Second... rapid fire 300 meters (10 shots, 70 seconds). 9 of 10 shots in the 5 point circle.

Third... kneeling 250 meters, 10 shots 60 seconds, landed 8 of 10 in the 5.

4th, prone unsupported 200 meters, rapid fire 10 shots 50 seconds, major problems again, 3 misfeeds, same problem, extractor not doing its job...

This isn't a normal misfeed either, when you get a double feed like this, you have to:

1) Pull charging handle to rear
2) lock bolt to rear
3) pull magazine out of housing, sometimes hard as hell because the round will jam against the top of the mag nearly locking it into the well.
4) tilt weapon to the open ejector side and slam fist on side of weapon to push unfired round out and away from chamber.
5) let the bolt slam forward to re-engage the round
6) pull charging handle back and hope the old round ejects this time
7) lock bolt to rear
8) reinsert magazine
9) slam bolt forward to put new round in the chamber

I had 3 misfires like this, and each one takes an eternity to fix, and under rapid fire conditions you have like no time at all

Then it happened to me again on the next one, 200 meter rapid fire from the knees.

I was only able to fire 12 of my 20 shots, I left 8 live rounds on the ground, didn't even send them downrange.

The range safety said he couldn't believe I was able to re-engage the target on three seperate occasions from the 250, I don't know how the hell I did it, I fucking HATE shit weapons.

Fired the last one, slow fire standing, and put all 10 in the 5 point range. I had misfires again but with a minute for each shot I was able to fix the problem easily.

I ended up with a 266 out of 350. Well above average but below where I wanted to be. I did the math and if my averages for those 2 rapid fire rounds had been as good as my others (and no reason to believe they wouldn't have) I would have fired a 310, or second best on the day.

So I had a new extractor and spring put on, then went to the actual money course, the qualification range, and got about 10 shots in and had the same bullshit happen again

Fired a 29 out of 40 because of it, I was like 'fuck it' and borrowed a buddy's weapon and got a 34 without zero'ing and I took that, despite being 3 to 4 below my average.

If I could ever get a decent weapon *@(*#@$&*@#*$&ING CRAPPITY!!

But, even with all the problems, I finished 8th out of more than 100 firers, so that was good.

Got home on Thursday, and there was my new laptop sitting by the front door, under the doormat, thank goodness for that bit of 'security' right?

So of course I am giddy and i have to open it and get it ready and...

Yikes, what an ugly mo fo, that was literally my first thought. BUT, that being said, after studying some reviews for the Lenova computers, I realized they are more about function than form, and so far I'm really liking this brutus beast of a laptop with its 'hardened' hard drive (hopefully will keep it safe from my abuse, right?)

One can only hope.

My other bit of addiction lately has been... NO, not tharsis gate, although I still hang out from time to time there, now I have been playing Travian.

No, don't look it up, don't try it, don't do anything with it, you may get hooked on it, and that is bad. Travian is one of those games that, even if you aren't there, you are there. You can't just 'log out', your villages can get attacked, your troops killed, etc. I would like to smack Fantom good and hard right in the testicles for ever showing all of us that game. Oh, but somehow he breaks out and doesn't play anymore. That rat!!!!

I swear though this is the last server I play on, once End Game is over, I'm not playing it again...

Maybe?

NO, I will have will power and resolve this time.

What else went on today? I am at 205 lbs, and I put off my diet another day, and instead of running 8 miles tonite to justify the Taco Bell I had for lunch, I instead went to Burger King and had a massive heart attack inducing BK disaster burger. That isn't the real name of it but christ almighty the thing is huge and I should NOT have eaten it. It is likely I'll be feeling it for most of the day tomorrow.

I did mow the lawn, so I got about 1/100th of a workout in. The lawn is decent size, and it is a push mower, but lets face it, an 8 mile run is way WAY more of a decent cardio trip than mowing my lawn. Even so, the lawn looks pretty good. I love having my own house.

Belly and lil n' are both in Wisconsin, and I miss them. They will be back on Monday. Don't worry, no hookers or drugs here, just me and the three diabolical bastard cats.

Anything else? Well, I'm sure there is a lot more, but tomorrow I am teaching a 6 hour block of instruction on Accident Avoidance to our students (yes, cycle started again, another month of laborous long days) so I need some sleep. I'm going to try to condense that class down to two and a half hours or so, I CAN DO IT!!!!

Time to go be one with the bed. Toodaloo!!!

Parents So "Good" That They Are Horrible

So, I just finished watching a youtube video about some lady who let her kids go trick or treating, but when they got home she took their candy and traded it for 'approved candy' that she bought. From nasty sugar free cookies to some sort of crackers that she praised for being "salt free, food coloring free", I felt like throwing up just watching it.

I have to wonder sometimes about parents who go so freaking far overboard in the idea of 'protecting' their children. I remember when we first brought n' home, and how I was freaking out about the temperature of the formula, about whether to have a blanket in her crib, about how warm the apartment should be, etc.

Yah, I got over that within about a week. And now, some 18 months later, well, suffice to say I'm of the opinion that what doesn't kill em is going to make them stronger. This doesn't mean that I go out of my way to give my daughter terrible things, but when I'm feeding her and she knocks something onto the floor, well a liberal use of the 5 second rule is in effect. Toss your bottle on the floor? Yah, I'm not washing it off. Chewing on your shoe? Woopity doo, who cares?

Honestly, I can remember doing some crazy shit myself growing up, activities that would likely have got my mother into some trouble. I'm sure we had a child seat when we were like a month old, but we never used a freaking 'booster seat'. I can remember crawling all over the back of the car, getting yelled at for not having my seat belt on, being dropped off one mile from home along with at least one sibling because we wouldn't shut up, and it was our punishment the rest of the way, etc.

I guess I just don't understand parents that would raise their children in some sort of protective bubble of hyper overzealous parenting. "OH MY GOD you got your hands DIRTY OH NO, get into the bathroom so we can IMMEDIATELY put anti bacterial soap on it!!!" Yah, let's just fail to realize that by doing so you breed supergerms that survive the antibacterial onslaught and then multiply. Then your kids get sick from those germs, not only can you NOT kill them with the usual antibiotics, but your child has no immunity whatsoever because you raised them in a protective bubble, and they got no exposure to germs and no ability to build their immunity.

It seems like it is almost some sort of sickening contest as to who can be the best SUPERPARENT or something... "You let your kids watch TELEVISION??? NOOOOOOO!!!!" What the hell ever, I know I watched a good amount of tv growing up, and I turned out just fine (despite what some of you may think mwahaha). Therefore if my daughter is tuning in to Dora the Explorer, Ruby And Max, WonderPets, etc, I am not going to really worry about it. Hell the shows are a lot more educational than the Tom And Jerry or WB cartoons that I grew up watching.

So as I watched this goofy lady who took away all her kids decent candy and gave them pure shit in return, I think back to when I was a kid, and how irritating this would have been. I mean honestly, NO CHOCOLATE? How can you do that to your kids? I don't think growing up in a childhood like that would be fun at all, overprotective parents freaking SUCK!!!

THERE'S A PARTY IN MY TUMMY! SO YUMMY, SO YUMMY!

I would like to enter the world of Noggin and do some cartoon murdering!!! Few things can be so irritating as the same 15 second string of children's song melody in your head for EIGHT HOURS STRAIGHT!!!!

The Words That Move You

I enjoy books, even though I probably don't read as much as I used to, nor as much as I should. Heck, most of my reading these days revolves around my Automobile Weekly magazine, or lesson outlines as we prep for the incoming classes at work.

I was watching the movie Bridge To Tarabithia, I've seen it before, and while it is an okay feature, as is with many other movies, it fails to really do the book any justice. I can remember seeing the trailer and commercials for the movie and thinking "WTF" because they didn't seem to accurately reflect anything from the book. Thankfully the commercials themselves really didn't the movie itself justice, and it was laughable how 'outraged' parents were who expected the movie to be about a fantasy world, when in fact that only explains maybe 5 minutes of the movie overall.

While watching the movie again, I thought about how I rarely have any emotional response to books I read, but that the Bridge To Tarabithia was one of three books I can remember that did so. In my defense, I was in junior high when I read these books. The other two were Where The Red Fern Grows, and an obscure short story that not many have heard about, The Scarlet Ibis.

Did the Tarabithia movie make me feel that way? Nah, in fact they changed some of what, I think, were pretty important aspects of the book when the movie was made. In the book, when the boy comes home from a day he spent with his teacher, he sees everyone sitting in the living room, very somber, and his older sister, (who was very mean in the book, not reflected in the movie either), crudely announces "Your girlfriend is dead". In the book that was a much more crushing blow, like someone just kicks you in the stomach so hard that it knocks you down, and you aren't able to breathe for several moments. I was reading the book for an English class, so at first it was like "Blah, okay, I have to read it" but by the end I really did enjoy the book.

Military Changing For The Worse

Yes, I know, two days, two posts, wtf is going on? Well, anyways... as usual I have so much important stuff to say, figured I'd actually post it here.

Yesterday marked the 19th anniversary of my induction into the military, on December 9th, 1989, I stood up and said an oath to protect the United States, yada yada yada, scared out of my mind, a 17 year old completely unsure as to what was going on.

A lot has changed over the years. When I first joined, I hated the military. Coming from a farming background, I was used to "do your job, then go take a nap or do whatever", so the idea of "hurry up and wait", a common phrase that pretty much describes about 90% of what we do, was so foreign to me and depressing. Fast forward to the present, and I am now working as an active duty member of the military. I would have never in a million years have guessed this is where I would be.

I have always prided myself both on personal appearance, as in wear of the uniform, and relatedly, my ability to max the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT). When I joined, to max the APFT, you had to do 82 pushups in 2 minutes, 92 situps in 2 minutes, and run the 2 mile in 11:57. The minimum standards were 42 pushups, 52 situps, and the 2 mile in around 15 minutes. I didn't have much upper body at the age of 17, and at the reception station at Ft Benning, Georgia, to move to the next step of training you had to do 15 pushups. I was only able to do 12.

Yes, pretty pathetic. But, I did the 92 situps and ran the run in about 11:30, so the drill instructors sent me on my way to Sand Hill, Infantry School, figuring that I would gain the necessary strength through my training to pass the pushups. It took most of the 3 months I was there, including a drill instructor who took me under his wing so to speak, when he wasn't chewing my ass non stop he showed me some key points to help me gain upper body strength and slowly increase the number of pushups I could do. I passed the PT test only one time at basic training, the very last test, which was for record, so that was all I needed, 52 pushups and I was on my way.

Within 2 years I was maxing the pushups along with the situps and the run, and I've done that constantly for the last 14 years. Physical fitness is a HUGE part of what we do in the military, and it is extremely important. I do not want to haul an overweight solder out of a burning truck, and much the same, if I get shot on the battlefield, I do not want some fat bastard with no stamina to be backing me up, trying to carry me to safety. To me it is ridiculous, if you are in the military, that you do not take care of your body by running at least 3 times a week for 45 minutes, and doing pushups and situps (at the very least) 3 times a week for 15 minutes a session. That is ALL it takes!

So I was pretty happy in October when our senior course manager SFC for our section mandated 3 day a week PT, 0730 to 0900, monday wednesday friday, for everyone to do. And everyone did it, for about the first 3 weeks or so. Then the fat bodies started to drop away from doing it, and now they never do it, which is a bunch of bullshit, because they are the ones that need it most of all. Not only that, but we were told we could work out 5 days a week, if we wanted, as long as there wasn't something that really HAD to be done, and one particular fat body, another SFC, is butting heads with the senior course manager, and trying to tell everyone they are NOT allowed to do PT on tuesdays and thursdays. Not coincidently he is one of the fat asses that never does PT.

And as if that isn't bad enough, he talked the course manager into forcing us to be done with PT by 0830 instead of 0900, severely impeding on those of us who enjoy running. We complained about it, and got it changed to 0845, but it is still frustrating as hell, especially considering that there is nothing so incredibly important to do right now that requires us to be there that early in the morning on any of those days.

I guess this is just what the military is getting to, not just on the lowest level, but the entire Army fails to recognize the important of basic soldiering skills, be it PT, marksmanship, land navagation, you name it. And they'll promote someone who can't make weight, and/or can't pass the PT test, to an E-5 Sergeant, AND they will allow them to complete the school (albeit with a marginal note on the paperwork DD 1059). How lovely is that? Our future leaders in the military, the most hands on NCO's, the E-5's, who can't even pass the PT test or make weight themselves, way to lead by example there, Army, bravo!!!

The Army gives out stupid uniform pins for all sorts of things, basic shit that medics get, recruiters get special patches, but maxing the PT test, you get nothing for your combat uniform to show you are exceptionally fit, all you get is an iron on badge for your PT uniform. To me that is ridiculous, there should be some sort of recognition for those who max the PT text to wear on their duty uniform, hell they have enough velcro on them to allow it, that is for sure.

Blah, if I get more into this I'll be writing all night. Suffice to say, I get very irritated with people who do not take care of themselves physically, and make excuses for it, or just don't care.

So I Ended Up Buying A Car, And Other Things

So, as winter approached, I knew I needed a vehicle as a daily driver that would make it through the snow. Obviously the SRT-4 was not going to do that...


Commemorative SRT-10 Viper, SRT-4 Neon, and SRT-10 Ram, none good in snow. As much as I wish I owned all three, I only own the one in the middle.

...so it will remain parked. I searched craigslist thoroughly for a good month and found a 2000 Dodge Neon SE, listed for 2500 dollars. This particular Neon has a 2.0 liter 4 cylinder motor, very basic, very thrifty, but it was a little rough, and had 105,000 miles on it. It was owned by a nice young couple with two daughters, it was also smoked in, which never makes me very happy.

I offered them 2000 cash for the vehicle and they agreed to the sale. I spent about a few days doing some sanding and repairing, put a new driver's side mirror on the car, cleaned the vehicle inside and out (still the smoke smell exists, YUCK!), and repainted a few areas to finish it up. On the interior I glued a few things back in place, and took the seats completely out of the car and washed them with a hot water hose. The back seat must have had about a gallon of pop spilled into it over the years because brown water just poured and poured out of it endlessly, until finally after about 10 minutes it cleared up.



So now the car is reasonably fresh inside, for lack of a better word, I don't know that you can ever entirely get rid of that faint musty smoke smell but I'll continue to work with it. I don't much care for FeBreeze because despite their claim that it doesn't 'mask' odors, the smell of FeBreeze gets mighty overpowering after awhile. I do have a vanilla Glade candle just sitting in one of the cupholders. Problem is, in December in Nebraska, the temperature being around 20 to 40 most of the time doesn't really allow something like a candle to really make a car smell nice, especially when it's not being lit (as that would likely be a tad bit unsafe, right?).

In other news, yes, we did purchase a house.



Roughly 2200 square feet furnished, another 1000 unfurnished in the basement. I forgot how much I just LOVE moving. I don't think I need to put anything into italics for sarcasm do I? I'd like to say things went smoothly working with the bank but he made a very jackass'ish mistake and it cost us a lot of money, but if interest rates continue to go down, we will likely refinance and work with the same bank, hoping that they will do the morally right thing and waive some of the financing costs. Yah, not likely right? We'll see, if nothing else I am VERY tenacious.

So, now I find out all the lovely things that cost money when you own a house. Of course you have to mow your lawn (lawnmower, push type, 6 hp, 100 bucks off craigslist), you have to scoop your snow (snow shovel, 20 dollars, Home Depot), and among other things, a true kick in the balls was finding out just how much window coverings cost. So I'm gradually putting up shades, trying to go with what belly likes. So far I would imagine I'm about 10% done, I have the living room completed, the master bedroom, and the master bathroom. That was probably 300 dollars, maybe a little more. So I'm probably still looking at anywhere from 2500 to 3000 more to get all the rest done. Yes, I'll be doing this a little at a time, that is for sure.

I don't want it to sound like this is some horrible disappointment though, ultimately it is quite satisfying to pull into my own driveway at night, walk into my house, be as loud as I want to be (as long as lil' n is awake still) and not have to worry about the idiot neighbors making a ton of noise upstairs or downstairs. We do however already have some strange noises in the house, that I hope I can attribute to being on a hilltop and having wind blowing around, and not a possum or racoon living in the attic, or Beetlejuice up there somewhere (although, I think he'd be a lot of fun to hang out with).

So, the little girl has a lot of space to run around in now. This is a picture from this past summer when we went to see Grandma and Grandpa G in Wisconsin...



She seems to really enjoy the house a lot, so much so that I had to purchase a bunch of childproofing drawer locks, following an unfortunate dishwasher tab ingestion moment... oh so easy to install right? NOT AT ALL, takes about a freaking half hour per drawer. You drill, you screw the pieces in, they are not right, you remeasure, you bend the locking tabs, you redrill, repeat, until hair falls out, screaming profanity commences, and finally they work, barely.

Little n' is 15 months old now, and continues to discover new things. She is walking, or running, all over the place now. She likes to dance, clap, high five, strut, no idea where she got that from, strutting for her is walking along moving her head forward and back like she's cool or something, and come to find out yesterday that she has just learned how to open doors. These are doorknobs, people, nothing special, and she has figured out how to work them. I could understand that if these were the doorknobs with the handles, but no, just round simple doorknobs that a normal 15 month old would not know how to use. But, she is my daughter, so normalcy may be out the window, in a good way I guess. Still though, seeing her in the bathroom with the entire roll of toilet paper on the floor, and a shit eating grin on her face, well, it is hard to be angry with her, so being impressed that she somehow got that door open is enough, for now. I'm sure spankings will commence for such actions soon enough.

Anyways, that is enough for now. You have some pictures, you have explanations, and I have to get up early in the morning because, no matter what the temperature, no matter what the weather, I run three days a week in the morning at work. And you thought the postal service was dedicated. I have to run because I don't want to become a fat ass soldier, something that really irks me when I see it. But alas, that is for another time, trust me though, I have plenty to say about certain things the army is doing these days.

Selling A Car, By Idiot

Okay, so I am looking to purchase a decent daily driver car, because I don't want to drive the SRT during the winter, plus I've been putting a lot of miles on the car this summer, and also because the car needs a little work under warranty, and I don't want to be without a car from a week to a month while the work is done.

So I've been perusing craig's list looking at all the cars that are around 2000 dollars, and I've settled in on a few Dodge cars, because those are the cars I know how to work on. One particular car, a 1999 Plymouth Breeze, a nice dark blue color, decent shape, is going for exactly 2200 dollars. So I called the number and left a message around lunch time today. Thus the stupidity begins.

At about 7 pm tonite, he sends me a text: "Who is this?"

I text my name back to him.

Him: "U called me" WTF? NO SHIT? Do you not check your messages?

Me: "I called about the car you have for sale"

Him: "Yah I'm at work right now what do you want to know?" Uhm... DUH?

Me: "I want to come look at the car"

Him: "I have school and i work to marrow and im gonna b out of town all weekend"

What the hell??? At this point I was getting really peeved at this guy...

Me: "Well, do you want to sell this car you posted, or not?"

Him: "Well, yah I can see if i can get work off to marrow"

I didn't respond. Not sure if I'll even try to go look at the car "to marrow" considering this dipshit's perpensity for thick headedness.

I mean, come on, if you are going to spend the time on the internet to post up a car, and talk about how you "need money and have to sell it" aren't you going to at least answer your phone, check messages, and RETURN THE CALL, instead of playing text tag and acting like a flaming retarded idiot?

Its all got me a little wary of the guy, to be honest. I don't know if anyone is really this stupid about selling their car?

The Pelini Husker Era Begins

Well, as anyone who knows me even a little bit knows, I am quite the Nebraska Cornhusker football fan. College football is without a doubt my favorite sport, and the only team I truly bleed for is Nebraska. Yah I like other sports, and have favorite teams in each one, but the Huskers are my pride and joy.

The last few years have really sucked. A crappy coach was brought in by an even crappier athletic director, both of them big headed egotistical dipshits who trashed tradition and everything that Nebraska football stood for. After last year's shitty season you'd think anything would be better, but I'm hoping for an 8 or 9 win season, I don't think it is too far fetched an expectation.

West.Mich - definite win
San Jose State - definite win
New Mexico St. - definite win
Virginia Tech - probable loss, but it is at home...
Missouri - home game, likely a win, I hate mizzou
@Texas Tech - win, payback time, defense will show
@Iowa State - definite win, even more defense
Baylor - definite win, poor Baylor
@Oklahoma - probable loss, Oklahoma is good
Kansas - toss up, kansas lost many players
@Kansas State - definite win, kstate is terrible
Colorado - win, but colorado is getting better


So, there you have it, that's my season picks. Did I mention I hate Missouri? More than anything their fans. They have one good year, in which they have two losses I might add, and they act like that makes up for being beaten like 1000 times in a row by Nebraska. Sorry chumps, call me when you have FIVE national championships.

What Is Up With fraNk?

Someone online the other day asked me "What the hell have you been up to for the past two years?" I know I haven't been posting much, I keep saying I will. Let's just dispense with such promises this time, although I will do a condensed version of the last two years...

November 2006

We are released from active duty upon returning from Iraq. Moved out to California to be with belly, who is at Camp Pendleton as a Marine.

December 2006

Belly finds out she is pregnant, one week later the Marines, unrelatedly, decide that she will be adminstratively seperated due to a severe injury that never healed correctly.

January 2007

I move back to Nebraska, first day back, find out my car has tires that are NEVER to be used in the snow, and I hit a school bus. For the next couple months it is job searching time.

April 2007

Belly moves back to Nebraska, we get a tiny apartment on main street in my home town. I start work at Ameritrade.

August 2007

August 17th: Shaniqua is born.

September 2007

We decided we need a bigger apartment within days of the birth of Shan. We start looking, with one most important aspect in mind: SIZE, we look for the biggest apartment we can find.

October 2007

We move into a suburb of Omaha, into a 1500 square foot apartment, woo, in a nice little wooded area. It's quiet and plenty of room to store everything. We take our time getting everything put away haha.

November 2007

We have thanksgiving at our apartment, it's a lot of fun. Three of my sisters are here, my brother, my parents, my grandparents, and my uncle.

February 2008

As of 09Feb2008, I hit 18 years in the military. Morons move in upstairs near the end of the month, and our peaceful sanctity is ruined. While there are roughly 5, maybe 6 people living there, it sounds like a herd of 20 elephants. I get a raise at Ameritrade, but I also get a phone call from a master sergeant, offering me a full time position teaching 88M MOSQ (military truck driving school). I accept. On the 28th of February I am given long term leave from my position at Ameritrade.

March 2008

I begin work at the Nebraska National Guard 88M MOSQ school. The curriculum is an absolute joke and it takes the entire month to get ready for the April classes, and the curriculum is still not up to par, but we make do.

April 2008

Our first 88M class, the school is in two phases, each phase is 2 weeks, totalling a month. I go for about 6 weeks without a day off, averaging 11 hours a day. The work is long but rewarding, and I make more than three times my Ameritrade salary, heh heh.

NOW

So, that's a short and sweet total of my last two years. This summer I've probably averaged about 60 hours a week, April through June we didn't get much time off at all and probably averaged about 70 hours a week, now we have a full staff and each of us gets about one day off a week. Belly and I are searching for a house, and just spent a wonderful week in Wisconsin with her parents at the lake. I left my cell phone charger there though, I hope they can mail it back to me haha.

Buying a house is our next big project. I don't spend near the time online I used to, I try and spend a couple hours a night with the little girl, she's so amazing and fun, we are very blessed to have a child that is not even so much as a handful most often to take care of. I say this though knowing that I am not with her 24 hours a day like belly is, so she may think differently :)

The military job is ADSW, "Active Duty, Special Work", and is slated to end in September, and restart again December 1st. They have offered one AGR (active duty) position for a SSG, my rank, but those jobs go to current AGR's first for consideration, then to the ADSW guys. This is ridiculous, because we are currently DOING the job they are offering, but that's how things work I guess, the bean counters always make decisions based entirely on money and no common sense. Even so I put in a packet for the job, and we'll see in the next month how that goes.

I'm not overly concerned because this school is slated to continue for at least the next three years, but I don't want to have 2 months off. I can deal with it, I can either go back to Ameritrade this time, or to the farm for a couple months, or just be a bum and live off the savings I've built up (although that is for the house, and I think that would be a bad idea haha). If I was to work at Ameritrade, I would actually put in my two weeks notice before the school would start again in December, because that would not be fair to them if I just continue to take long term leave from a company each time the school starts up.

I volunteer to work with the other departments of the school whenever I can because I want to be known as a go getter and someone who steps up whenever work is to be done. That way if the 88M doesn't work out in the end, or the school ends, I can be in line for a decent job in another area of the military. It's interesting how far I've come, the first few years I was in I absolutely hated the military, and could not wait to get out. But spending some time working on the civilian side showed me how little companies seem to care about their employees nowadays, and the military at least does a good job taking care of a person. The two biggest problems people have with active duty military is that it is difficult for them to stay in shape, and family problems due to the long hours. Well, I love working out, and belly is a former Marine so she understands the situation.

I will try to post up more but I'm not going to make any promises about huge posts every other day. We are still very busy.

The Sun Sets On 140 Years

Many of you know that I grew up on a farm, our family farm. In 1867 my family started farming in Nebraska. From the beginning there were dairy cattle at the farm. So for 140 years, cows have been milked twice a day, EVERY day at our farm. That's 102,200 milkings total, if you are counting. In the mid 1950's my grandfather modernized the facilities, and his sons (my father and my uncle), grew up helping with the dairy. My father went to college to become a diesel mechanic, and he was very good at it, landing a top dollar job at Caterpillar in Omaha in 1972. But shortly thereafter, my grandfather had a heart attack, and my dad moved into a house across the road from the farm, and went back to dairying. My uncle also came back a short time later to work at the farm.

On a dairy farm, there are no days off. On our farm, between the hours of 5 to 8, morning and night, the milking was done, because it had to be. Because of this, nearly all my memories of the farm are in some way tied into the dairy. I was helping out in the dairy barn from the age of 4. Sure I wasn't able to do a lot of work at that time, but I would take a scraper and push manure around. By the time I was 8, that was my responsibility all summer long, and on weekends, to clean the back of the barn. Most dairies milk twice a day, and by the time I was 12 I was helping out with the evening milking every day all summer, and during the school year on weekends, making 2 dollars an hour, and 2 dollars an hour being put away for college. I used to tell my friends I played with more tits than all of them combined. It was of course a joke, and 'teats', not tits. The summer before I went to college, my father and I, with help from other family members, were able to get to 10,000 pounds of milk every two days, from 125 cows. There was so much milk that it would nearly flow out out of the top of the milk cooler if you took the lid off. I went to college the next year, and although the dairy never hit 10,000 pounds again, it was fairly successful over about the next 10 years.

From the year 2000 and on, things started to go downhill at the farm. My grandmother, who had milked morning and night for many years, retired from milking. My dad took over completely, but despite doing his best, things were getting really run down. At 56 years old there is really only so much he can do. He spends his days working as hard as he can just to keep the dairy up and running, and everything else is secondary. Therefore the little things that need to be done for upkeep of the farm itself fall by the wayside, as all my father's time is spent doing the bare necessities so the dairy remains operational. This includes painting, building fence, trimming trees, fixing non dairy equipment, etc, all tossed aside because my dad had no time to get it done. Anytime you run a business, you have 15 minutes to a half hour of clean up and general up keep that has to be done each day. This hasn't been done on the farm for the last 15 years, you can imagine the mess that has piled up, because my father just didn't have enough time to get to it.

So my father put in for the government dairy buyout plan two years ago, but he bid too high. This year, he tried again, with a bit more conservative bid, and it was approved. Dad wanted this, but I was there when the call came in that they had approved the bid, and my father had a relieved, but very sad look on his face. I believe it is for the best, but how do you change your lifestyle when suddenly the activity, basically 6 to 8 hours daily of your last 35 years, is no longer available? Another sad note is that this is the last dairy farm left in Cass county in Nebraska, and perhaps the last family dairy within a 60 mile radius of Omaha. The writing, however, was on the wall. Given the state of affairs at the farm, either Dad had to take the buyout, or watch the farm collapse later and receive nothing at all.

I work for the military and for me to try and go back to the farm would be a huge pay cut and no guarantee that we could fix things enough to really make it worthwhile, I mean EVERYTHING is in disrepair. Still though I feel guilty, because for every generation of my family since 1867, the oldest male has always stayed on the farm. I moved on to do something different with my life. Of course now, some 15 years later, I question my decisions, and worse, blame myself for what has happened.

So tonite I drove down to be with my dad and milk cows for my first time in quite awhile, and what will be one of the last milkings ever at our family farm. I will likely be out there tomorrow night too. We talked about a lot of things, mostly related to the dairy, a lot of 'what if's' came up, along with a lot of fond memories, ending many times with a forlorn sigh. I guess I didn't expect it to affect me so much, seeing the sadness in my dad's face. It had to be this way, he's too old to continue on the way he does, he'll kill himself doing it all on his own. But even so, he feels guilty about this, and sad, because he raised all these cows, and now he's sending them all to slaughter at once. He said he actually broke down two days ago in the barn, realizing he was about to send the first load of cows off in the truck.

On the drive back home from the farm, I had to stop because I broke down myself, partially due to guilt, and because I hate seeing my father this way. But it's also because it is very hard to see the dairy part of our farm close it's doors, after having spent so much time in that barn milking cows as I grew up. This is a lot like experiencing a death in the family. If I feel this sad about what has happened, I know it's 100 times worse for my father. The last of the milk cows will leave the farm on Wednesday, and perhaps the biggest chapter in the history of our farm will come to a close.

Yahoo Image Search Sucks

I have used Yahoo for years, it's been my home page since I began using the internet some, wow, 12 years ago, maybe 13 years? Those were the days, internet down some days as much as it was up. Good old Netscape, Netscape Navigator, Netscape Gold. I started out using hotmail, then they are bought out by MSN and basically sold all there email addresses out to spammers, not to mention screwing up their website big time with idiotic ads and annoying shit. So then I moved on, to Yahoo. I remember yahoo being like this:



I was one of those people who actually got my real name @yahoo.com as my email address, using my first initial and last name. The nice thing about Yahoo, as you can see on the above image, was that you could use the service, there wasn't a bunch of bullshit fluff. ESPN.com was nice that way too, but then, a few years in, and MSN bought them out also, and overnight the spyware and shit advertising began on ESPN just like on MSN. God help you nowadays if you decide to go there and look up something sport related. Prepare for a Gillette advertising video to download and a bunch of scroll over ENLARGING talking advertisements, along with streaming video that, unless you are on the fastest of connections, serves no purpose except to destroy your ability to surf the website.

So, anyways, back to Yahoo. I always found it refreshing that the usual corporate bullshit didn't seem to matter to them, they were always about keeping it clean, and avoiding the bullshit. That's why I've used them as my homepage, free email provider, web search, sports page, and image search provider. But lately things have been turning for the worse. It's no news flash that Yahoo is having problems in terms of turning a profit. The sad thing to me is that 'PROFIT PROFIT PROFIT' seems to be all anyone cares about. What about being providing a decent product for the consumer without screwing them over with advertising, spyware, and website search favoritism? That last part, favoritism, is what I'm getting to with this post.

First let me explain how the whole web search thing works. When you type in something to search the web, the search engine looks for web site pages/pictures tagged with whatever you are searching for, then puts them in order based on their popularity, as in, how many people actually clicked on that picture to look at it. It's a simple procedure, and it WORKS.

A couple of years ago, Yahoo Image Groups decided to close their doors and integrate their images with Flickr, an (at that time) unaffiliated site that specializes in hosting images. No big deal, they had a set up that would move all your images for free. I didn't really keep much for images on yahoo so the whole thing occurred without much of my attention. Shortly thereafter, however, I noticed something troubling...

If you go to Yahoo's image search, to try and find a photo of something, wow, whadayaknow, Flickr images overwhelmingly appear first. Does this mean that these pictures are the web's most popular? Hah, hardly. This just shows that Yahoo is selling out. Flickr is a partner website now for them, so now they show favoritism towards Flickr images. Skeptical? Don't be, go to Yahoo, click on Image Search, and type in the word "Horse". I'm sure the actual ordering/numbering will change, as Yahoo no longer goes by popularity and instead focuses on affiliation, but for the search I just did, 12 of the 18 images on the first page are from, yep, Flickr.

All this does is serves to drive their own customers away. I don't give a shit about Flickr, I have no intention of using their service, even their own customers seem to despise them, which is why I use photobucket for my image hosting. So lately I just go to Google.com and use their image search instead. I just searched Google images for the word "Horse", and wow, holy fuck, not ONE Flickr image on the first page. Not only that, but I searched through TEN pages, not one Flickr image. In fact, I'd be willing to bet there are NO Flickr images on the first 100 pages when based, as the search should be, on JUST popularity.

Way to go Yahoo, screwed the pooch on that one. Might as well just sell out to MSN and quit fighting it, you've already begun the transition into a worthless website.

Winner!!! Of H7UT 83VF!!!

I really shouldn't drink soda. It's not good for you, it's fattening, it's bad for your teeth, it's not really all that cheap anymore either. But the fact is, I enjoy soda, so as long as I cut back, and continue to work out, that will be alright.

I can't stand Coke. I have drank it before, but only in cases where it was free. I have never in my life purchased a Coca Cola, I just don't like the taste that much and given a choice I will buy a Pepsi. The fact is, most people cannot tell the difference between the two. Oh, most of you think you can, but you can't, that was proven to me in an experimental psychology class while in college, I was one of only 2 people out of 45 who could consistently tell the difference between the two.

Most soda companies have these little contests, typically the low end prize is a free soda, and the high end will be a large cash sum or a new car or some such thing. I've won some ball caps and a couple tshirts, but generally I'm happy to spin the cap off a bottle and read the inside of the cap, and you win a free soda, it's like "YES, buy one get one free!!" sort of thing.

This is what would be commonly called an "INSTANT WINNER!!!" Unfortunately, this is no longer the case. Oh the prizes are pretty much the same, but you can't win anything instantly anymore. Now you spin the bottle cap off, and you win a 28ZO 8IW8, awesome huh? Then you have to go to your computer, log into a special website set up just to take some personal information from you, so that the soda manufacturer can send you a bunch of fucking shit spam mail about things that you don't give a crap about, to even have a chance to win a prize.

And if you do win, well, you probably won't know anyway. You have to enter your code and then THEY will send you an email, IF you win. Most email providers will send those emails to the spam folder because they recognize them as emails sent out in bulk. So basically the entire process is a complete joke except to the really persistent no lifers who have the time to scan their entire spam folder to see if they won, and they likely haven't anyway...

So, needless to say I don't give a shit anymore, I don't even try to play the game, it's pointless and it's too much effort just so that you can get more junk mail from a company looking to get more information about the consumers who use their products. Screw em all!!!

Lincoln Marathon, May 2008

A year ago when I got back from Iraq, I think one of the more difficult aspects of integrating was, oddly enough, just getting back into cooking for myself. Instead of doing that, every day I was going out and eating fast food, twice a day. In California, there are like a thousand different fast food places in about a 5 mile square radius. This was a bad situation for two reasons. 1) I was wasting money I had saved while I was in Iraq probably at a rate of about 15 bucks a day on food, and 2) I put on about 30 lbs during a three month time period. In December after we found out that belly was going to be getting out of the Marines, so I headed back to Nebraska shorty after to get things set up for us there.

Despite getting a job and a place to live, I never got set into a decent workout routine to lose this weight. I got myself down to 200 but never lower than that. While in Iraq I was typically right around 190, and about 10 lbs of that was from working out upper body at least 4 times a week. So, fast forward, on Christmas Day just a couple of weeks ago I was pushing the scales at 215 lbs, and I really want to be back down around 180. It's difficult to say when I was last at 180 lbs, I was there while belly was at boot camp, but I was also really sick from losing weight way way too fast. As far as being at 180 for an extended period of time, maybe not since before 2000?

So what does a person do to focus and actually lose this weight in a methodical fashion, healthy and feeling great? I'm focusing on the Lincoln Marathon in May. Now, I ran a marathon in Iraq, and while I was able to do it, going 26.4 miles basically without training, I would never recommend doing it and I won't ever do it again. That being said, there is no way I could do that right now. In Iraq, even with a sporadic schedule, I still tried to run whenever I could, usually late at night, I would take a 4 mile run around the base.

The goals? 180 lbs, and I'd like to run the marathon in 3 hours flat. However, if I am able to hold an 8 minute mile pace that means 3.5 hours, which will be acceptable. Right now it's hard to hold an 8 minute mile pace for even two miles, but I know that will get better with time. I've been running for about 2 weeks now, every other night, 2.5 miles outdoors. It's cold as hell but I wear my military Under Armour along with my Army running suit, stocking cap, and gloves. On the other nights I do pushups and situps in the apartment, and of course I am watching what I eat.

Tonite I'm at 208 lbs, and feeling better already. I hate being over 200 especially, it's a sweaty nasty feeling, I'd rather be cold and thin than sweaty/clammy and out of shape. I am not fat, I'm just not in shape. I can fit into most all of my clothes, however some of them, including my new ACU uniforms, are rather uncomfortable. I have a guard drill this weekend and by that time I hope I can be down just hitting 200 lbs, if at all possible.

There is no doubt that I'll make all of my goals, I just hope that my running times improve as my weight goes down, I really do want to hit 3 hours flat, but I'll need to do a lot better than I did in Iraq. Training Training Training!!!