UFOs are real! The Air Force is a hoax.

Greetings merry blogfans and citizens of blogland. I have returned or yet another post. Sadly I have no pictures featuring snow or small children. As it turns out I don't interact with many small children at the current time, and I seem to find myself in locations which do not tend to feature snow, or at least not much of it. But I do have a picture for you all to enjoy. This way you can all see that I am still alive and well. You know, lest you feel that I have disappeared and some phantom blogger is now making up these posts. Fear not, for it is in fact me! I know that you all let out sighs of relief.

So yes, I would like to thank all the American tax payers. Over the past 3 days I spent about 25 hours playing a video game. And no, it wasn't just spare time, I played said game at work. For my job. Yes, over the past 3 days it has been my job to play a video game. Now I know that that really does sound pretty cool. But the game sucked, it was full of glitches and such. It was suppose to teach us about planning an air war and such. But yeah, how many people play video games at work. So thank you American taxpayer. I hope you enjoy all the freedoms that I am protecting with the other members of the Armed Forces. Also, thank you for the raise, that was a nice touch.

So this weekend I am going to New Orleans. I shall be experiencing Mardi Gras. It should be an experience. I am going with a bunch of people from my flight, so I have a group and all. It is one of those things that I will most likely never do again, but since I am in the area, and here for the right time period, I figure I oughta go. And if nothing else when I sit down and write my own travel book it will be a good chapter. So hooray.

Anyhow, I should swap laundry over and then I am gonna need to see about sleep, cause I do actually have class tomorrow. But I thought that I would post something before disappearing for the weekend. So I hope that you all enjoy your weekends, I plan to enjoy mine.

So I'm a little bit country

Yes, I can't really deny it. I don't belong in the city. I've been reading Haunted Hikes. I've been thinking about going backpacking when I get home. I have been reading Field and Stream. Tonight we went out for BBQ, then to Bass Pro Shot. I had to come home and listen to some country music. Its all good now. George Strait is playing. Oh, and yes, I will be going fishing before I leave, probably down in Florida. Just thought you all might like to know.

And yes, I don't mind the city every now and then. Its good for some things.

Please move your bananas.

Ok,
So I didn't end up running. I had a relaxing day. Read a bunch. It was quite good. Did some laundry, sent a bunch of emails, you should all check your inbox, you may have one. I stopped by the commissary so I could stock up. Right now I'm making some dinner and then it shall be Simpons time. After that I have to work on a briefing thingie, which is no fun at all. But I thought that I would put up a bit of a post and raise a toast to all you blog fans out there.

Famously Fresh Taste!

Well Hello Merry Blog Fans!

I realize that I haven't posted in a while, so here we go. The internet has been on and off this past week. So I haven't been online and posting as much. But now the interwebs have returned and so I will post. This week has been more classes and such. Not much exciting going on.

We did go to Shogun, which is a Japanese steak house out here. And of course Thursday night is boneless wing night at B Dubs. So we went and had some wings. In class we had to do a 3 mile run and then covered about 2.5 for a team challenge. So I've gotten some running in. Oh, and Gene Kranz spoke and I got his book signed. For those of you who don't know, he was the flight director for many NASA missions. Most famously he was in charge during the Apollo 13 mission. His book is about a bunch of the missions he was in charge for. So I am rather excited to have that book signed.

So yeah, kinda a dull week, had a relaxing Friday night. We had a few beers and some of the guys here all watched Sunshine. I still contend that they had a great premise for a scifi movie there, but just screwed it up with the horror/slasher bit they went with. If they had cut out the whole lets go to the other ship and get that bomb and just stuck with take the bomb to the sun all would be well. You would still have to over look a bunch of small things, but oh well. They could have still had one crew member go nuts and such and keep an aspect of it. But yeah, I think they could have done a much better job there. Kinda like I am Legend. Overall not a bad movie, but it could have been so much better. If they had gone with the infected gaining intelligence then it could have been much more interesting.

Ok, enough ranting on movies. Yesterday my suitemate and I played some golf. As it turns out neither of us is that good, so we played match scoring. The game came down to the last hole. A par 3 with huge gap between the tee and the green. I hit over the gap, but ended up in a sand trap. He hit it down into the gap and had to shoot out of it. I hit mine out of the sand onto the green. He sunk a long putt. My first putt hit the edge of the hole, but then I had another putt to tie the match. It was a good game.

And now I have the history channel on. Its that show about how the world is ended in 2012. First off its based on the Mayans. Now, if the Mayans had this amazing calendar and they were soo smart and apparently predicted the Europeans were coming, were did they go? Then a Roman oracle predicted it. An oracle that got high on natural gas, uttered some jibberish and that was the prediction. And then there is a Chinese book, that if you take the 64 hexagrams that you get. Put them on a graph, then put that graph on a timeline starting where with think this thing was written, you can say hey look, this point happens here and this point happens here. And then it stops in 2012. Well, if I draw a graph and put it on a time line with a random starting point I can claim that the world should have ended yesterday or in a million years.

Eh, today I think that I'm gonna clean up my room here a bit. I need to do some laundry. I may go on a run, perhaps watch a movie. All in all it should be relaxing. I hope that all of you have enjoyed your weekends and such.

And now for something completely different....

Yes, that does say college of Education. All I can think of is "Knowledge is good". That would be the University of Georgia. Any how, here is a nice little list that some of you may enjoy.

• You have no life - and you can PROVE it mathematically.
• You enjoy pain.
• You know vector calculus but you can't remember how to do long division.
• You chuckle whenever anyone says "centrifugal force".
• You've actually used every single function on your graphing calculator.
• It is sunny and 70 degrees outside, and you are working on a computer.
• You frequently whistle the theme song to "MacGyver".
• You know how to integrate a chicken and can take the derivative of water.
• You think in "math".
• You've calculated that the World Series actually diverges.
• You hesitate to look at something because you don't want to break down its wave function.
• You have a pet named after a scientist.
• You laugh at jokes about mathematicians.
• The Humane society has you arrested because you actually performed the Schrodinger's Cat experiment.
• You can translate English into Binary.
• You can't remember what's behind the door in the engineering building which says "Exit".
• You have to bring a jacket with you, in the middle of summer, because there's a wind-chill factor in the lab.
• You are completely addicted to caffeine.
• You avoid doing anything because you don't want to contribute to the eventual heat-death of the universe.
• You consider ANY non-engineering course "easy".
  
• When your professor asks you where your homework is, you claim to have accidentally determined its momentum so precisely, that according to Heisenberg it could be anywhere in the universe.
• The "fun" center of your brain has deteriorated from lack of use.
• You'll assume that a "horse" is a "sphere" in order to make the math easier.
• The blinking 12:00 on someone's VCR draws you in like a tractor beam to fix it.
• You bring a computer manual / technical journal as vacation reading.
• The salesperson at Circuit City can't answer any of your questions.
• You can't help eavesdropping in computer stores... and correcting the salesperson.
• You're in line for the guillotine... it stops working properly... and you offer to fix it.
• You go on the rides at Disneyland and sit backwards to see how they do the special effects.
• You have any "Dilbert" comics displayed in your work area.
• You have a habit of destroying things in order to see how they work.
• You have never backed up your hard drive.
• You haven't bought any new underwear or socks for yourself since you got married.
• You spent more on your calculator than on your wedding ring.
• You think that when people around you yawn, it's because they didn't get enough sleep.
• You would rather get more dots per inch than miles per gallon
• You've ever calculated how much you make per second.
• Your favorite James Bond character is "Q," the guy who makes the gadgets.
• You understood more than five of these jokes.
• You make a copy of this list, and post it on your door (or your home page !)

Stan + Free Coke = Happy

Ok, so I have returned from adventuring. It all started on Wednesday, you see I filled out a 29 Bravo to go to Atlanta. Mostly just so I'd have clearance to do something this weekend. As I didn't really want to just sit around the dorm. While relaxing it is nice to get out and do something. So I got that all filled out and the plan was to go Saturday. But Friday afternoon a bit of weather rolled in and it happened to snow.

So Saturday morning I got up and looked out the window. Snow on the ground. Since my buddy is gonna be driving I show him, and since he is from Florida he does not drive in the snow. So on our trip to Atlanta we made it to the window on Saturday. In general some bumming around followed. I walked over to the BX, it was a bit cold, but I survived. Also I got to see I am Legend, and well, its kinda sad. I feel that they could have taken it a much more interesting way, but no. So yeah, worth the time, but not one that I plan on purchasing.

So Sunday we decide to set out to Atlanta, but make a late start and stop by Best Buy to acquire some music for the trip. So by the time we get on the road it hits us to figure out when the Coke place will be open. After some calling and all we learn that we won't be able to make it to the Coke place before it closes, due to travel time and time change (cursed time zones). So we end up at target. But on the up side I got a Nerf gun. So you can all feel safe.

Since it is a long weekend we also had Monday to attempt this trip. We got up and got an earlier start then we had on Sunday. And this time we already had supplies. So we managed to get on the road and cruise on into Georgia and then into Atlanta. We had our music and all. It was a pretty uneventful drive, till we made it into Atlanta. Since we were using an older Garmin, it had the old World of Coke. That one was by Underground Atlanta. So we parked and got out, and started walking around. It was then we realized that we realized that we had the wrong place. So we kept walking.

We ended up having to get directions from a cop and started walking around. It wasn't overly cold, but it was rather windy. After several blocks of walking we finally found the Centennial Park. You know the one, put in for the Olympics. So we walked through that, and in fact, here is a picture of just such a place. That is a large version of the torch from those Olympics. I have some other pictures, and I'm sure they'll be posted somewhere. So then we got to wander through the park and find the World of Coca Cola.

So then, the World of Coca Cola. First off I am very happy to say that if you are with the military, you get in free. That was a nice perk. You go in and then you get to see some of their old stuffs and there is a little video. Then you go into the main area and can have your picture taken with the Coke Polar bear. Which is pretty cool. Then you get to wander about and check out the various stuff, plus they have a small scale bottling operation to see. The other movie thing isn't really worth seeing. Then there is some stuff on coke and pop culture. And finally there is the tasting area. They have some huge number of sodas. And I tasted pretty much all of them. There are some pretty bad ones out there. But they also had normal coke flavors. I was a little disappointed though that they didn't have this new coke. They had a thing on it, but I kinda want to taste it, to see what it tastes like and why it seems that everyone hates it. But no bother. I also got a free bottle of coke, which is nice. Also I visited the coke store.

After all of this coke we decide there wasn't much else that really drew us in and we wanted to get headed home. So we started walking back. It wasn't bad going through the the park again, but I have to say I didn't really feel all that comfy around the Underground there. Not exactly the neighborhood that I want to hang out in. So yeah, there was much fast walking and avoiding peoples. Then we got back to the car, hopped in and locked the doors. We quickly got out of there. There were a few more navigation issues, like the Garmin trying to get us to turn into a parking lot, but mostly due to it being an older model, with old maps.

Luckily I have made it safely back to Alabama. And for now I will end this little tale of adventure. But I shall leave you with a few more pictures.


Ahh, here we see me enjoying a coke! Drink Coca Cola, Enjoy!













And here is the CNN building.










Yes, I had originally planned to put up a few more pictures. But as it stands, the interwebs are being all slow. So for now you are stuck dealing with just these.

A little travel update

So I thought that I would give up all a little update as to my quest of visiting all 50 States. Things are going well, as I am currently at about the halfway mark.



Please note the above map.

Due to certain complications, I am unable to get the whole map visible in this set up. Though if you are to click on the map it will open in a larger field such that you may gaze upon it.

	Your travel type: Rough guy When the going gets tough, the rough guy gets going! Sleep outside, hike up mountains, eat raw lizards for breakfast, that's his perfect holiday. Ten days of hiking through unspoilt jungle between Colombia and Panama, that kind of thing.
	top destinations: Ciudad Perdida Alice Springs Hampi	stay away from: Venice Paris Tokyo

get your own travel profile

Cold, Wet, Tired

So lets set out a little scenario. Its 39 degrees. Wind chill of about 28. Its raining. The field is muddy. And guess what... you're playing Icarus, air superiority dodge ball. Happy Birthday!

Oh well, I'm gonna be headed up to visit the post office to see if anything showed up. Then dinner. So it should be good. Though I'm not sure where we're headed for dinner. But I'm sure that we'll find something with food.

I would like to thank everyone who sent emails or called or the like. I even got a card from the squadron here. It was nice. So yeah, I think I'm just about done with the one book, which is ok, cause I do have the other one to read. I'm thinking that I'd like to see about knocking out the one tonight. Then we'll see if there is any mail to read.

Oh, I picked up my global war on terror ribbon. I qualify cause I'm been in the Air Force for like 30 or 60 days. So now I'm up to 3 ribbons. I know that you are all impressed now. I'm snazzy!

I think that I also am gonna need to study some. First test is this friday. I'm not overly worried, but it would still be good to look over it. I think that this weekend we might be hopping up to Atlanta for a day. Also there is some talk of a place that we can pick up some ABU's. I ordered name tapes, but I forgot to pick them up, but when I get back home I can get some rank and the name tapes, get them sewn on and then I can rock the ABUs, since I already have the boots. Next weekend I might be headed to Florida for a fishing trip. Looks like there is gonna be a few guys and we are gonna get a fishing boat and do the deep sea fishing bit.

I suppose that there may be pictures up at some point. I have a few that I could transfer off of my camera. There shall be more eventually. Though I don't want to bore you all with pictures and all. So yes, I suppose I should find my shoes, its about time to roll out. I will update again, don't worry.


Oh yes, 129 days now....

130 Days

So do any of you know what happens in 130 days from today? I would hope atleast one of you does. Anyhow...


So today was team challenge #1. I ended up doing about 2.5 miles of running plus team challenges and all. Then we did 3 hours of wargaming. It was dull. So yeah. This weekend I got to hang out, got some sleep in. Walked around base. Then yesterday was more running and all. This week is a lot of lectures.

Tonight we are heading out to smokehouse bbq for a flight dinner. Other then that, I don't know what else to say for now. But fear not, I shall post again. For now, I will leave you with this

Punk music is a joke, its really just baroque.

What's the AFSC for mad scientist?

So I went out today. It was fun, but there is a place out here that is called the smoking Samuiri, sword collection and smoking accessories. It was strange.

All in all, I had a relaxing day, and now I must consider dinners. I just wanted to share that with ya'll.

So 2007 is over

So then, I realize that 2007 has been over for a while now. But I thought it might be a good idea to wait to see if it makes a come back. But it looks like that won't be happening, so I have now a happy year end post for all of you to read and enjoy. Ok, maybe just read.

First off this year I did a bit of traveling. I managed to get to WV, PA, VA, MD, NJ, DC, KY, OH, IL, MO, OK, TX, NM and GA. To accomplish that I traveled through NC, SC, DE (too name the states that I hadn't named in states that I was at this year). I also was in airports in AZ and NV, but that doesn't really count as being there and barely as traveling through them.

And I now live on a side of the country were I have never lived before. I live in a desert. There aren't many trees in the basin, but up on the mountain there are lots. 20 minutes from me they got 9 inches of snow for thanksgiving. I do see tumble weeds while I'm driving around. The biggest store in town in Walmart, but I'm finding more and more little shops. I've found that we have a Thai place in town, and I've found that I like Thai food. In fact I've found that I do like some spicy foods, which helps out, cause most of the Mexican food I get down here is spicy. Also, it is nothing like the Mexican food back east. I live near a missile range. There are all sorts of wildlife that I never saw back in the east. There are quail, and tarantulas, and oryx and jackrabbits and snakes and the like. Also I like the way that spell checker thinks oryx should be onyx. Well, its not. It is a critter, they live near me.

I managed in no particular order to graduate, commission, move, move, live in the desert, earn my acquisition badge, get some traveling in, spend time with my Stella and in general be amazing. I was able to read a few books, of which I recommend the Simpsons & Science book. It was quite funny. I got to see a show on Broadway up in New York for the first time. Also I got to see the St. Louis arch, the gateway to the west. Which worked out, cause I was heading west. I got my kicks on route 66, I saw Albuquerque and Santa Fe. I started a tradition with friends, I took part in a tradition with my family.

Overall I think it turned out to be a fairly good year. This year looks to have some more travel and adventures in it. I'm in Alabama, gonna get to go to New Orleans. Plus there was something about taking a trip to Ireland and then driving across the country again. Its an interesting experience, I would recommend that you do it at least once in your life. I also plan to see about doing some camping/backpacking. Hopefully there will be a trip to Arizona to see the petrified forest and the grand canyon. Oh, and there was something about someone getting married. I think it might be me.

Well, in this ASBC class I've already found that I am somewhat older then a chunk of the Lts. Maybe not in years, but by the way I live. I don't wanna go out and get drunk every night. The academy kids are funny. It is clear that they haven't lived a normal life for the past 4 years. But such things happen I guess. The more people I meet, the happier I am that I turned down my academy appointment. I happen to be very proud of my school. Which anyone that walks into my house will be able to quickly figure out.

Well, I suppose this is about enough rambling for now. I will post more later, I'm sure.

Snakes

A Little on reactions to snakes.

• Civilian: Runs away from the snake screaming.
• Paratrooper: Lands on and kills the snake.
• Armor: runs over snake, giggles, and looks for more snakes.
• Infantry: "Look, a putty cat. Come 'ere kitty....Ouch! Hey, that's not a putty tat."
• Army Aviation: Has GPS grid to snake. Can't find snake. Back to base for crew rest and the club and some sort of drink called "The Snake."
• Ranger: Plays with the snake, then eats it.
• 2nd Ranger: Assaults the snake's home and secures it for use by friendly snakes.
• MI: analyzes all available intelligence and national asset input on the reptilian situation; reports sighting of Godzilla to National Command Authority.
• JAG: Advises the snake on the rules of engagement and the law of war as it pertains to the snake and its defensive posture.
• Quartermaster: Captures snake and applies a National Stock Number (NSN) to it. Implements a Found On Installation (FOI) procedure and picks up snake on property book. Has company commander sign hand receipt for "Snake, Green, One Each," as non-expendable unit property.
• Chemical Corps: Starts to gas the little booger, but then realizes that there is an M-18, A-2 Respirator especially made for snakes, remembers the Chemical Corps Motto, "UTRWBAG" (Up Their Rear With Bugs and Gas), and conducts three experiments on it that have been strictly prohibited by the Clinton Treaty of 1999.
• Navy SEAL: Expends all ammunition, several grenades and calls for naval gunfire in a failed attempt to kill the snake. The snake bites the SEAL then retreats to safety.
• Artillery: Kills snake, but in the process kills several hundred civilians with a massive TOT with three FA BDEs in support. Mission is considered a success and all participants (cooks, mechanics, clerks) are awarded Silver Stars.
• Marine Recon: Follows the snake and gets lost.
• Pathfinder: Guides the snake elsewhere.
• AF Fighter Pilot: Mis-identifies the snake as a Russian HIND helicopter and engages it with missiles. Crew chief paints a snake on airplane.
• AF Pararescue: Wounds the snake in first encounter, then feverishly works to save the snake's life.
• Green Beret: Makes contact with the snake, builds rapport, wins its heart and mind, then trains it to kill other snakes.

I am not authorized to change national policy in Eastern Europe.

So another day, another dollar.

Any how, I did some sort of pt test thingie today. I would like to point out I'm still alive! Yay for me! Also it was take it to the max night, so we went to the O'club. It is a bit odd to be having a few drinks with the commandant of the school and your sq/cc. But oh well. Tonight I am gonna get some reading done and then I will have to go to class again.

Here is a little thought for ya'll:

school is for earning a degree

the bar is for learning

the airport is for learning

the work place is for learning

parties are for learning

epcot is for learning
the world is for learning

Oh, is anyone interested in coming to see me graduate this class? I didn't really think so, but I figured I'd ask.

I realize this is another short post, but such things happen, and I am trying to keep ya'll up to date.

Step right up for the magical mystery tour!

So hello again merry blog fans! I know your excited for a post and here it is. So I made it to Alabama with little fuss, a bit of a delay, but such is life. I flew on Delta (don't expect luggage to arrive). Luckily mine made it. Hooray for that. I got in and got in processed and such. Then I went out with some guys to get some seafood. There is a place here that has a 30% discount for military on monday. So I got a nice platter and such.

Today was day one of class, normal class type stuffs. I have reading that I need to do. Plus tomorrow I get to talk about some air force stuff in class. I got satellites to discuss. Hmm...perhaps I should look over some of that. Nah. However today was cheap wings at B Dub's so the flight went out there. Overall I think I got a good flight. More updates will come, I'm sure.

The room here is small, the shower is little and short, I have to pay for interwebs and had to by a cord. If I had known I could have brought a cord with me, but noooooooo. Oh well, I'm here, I'm settled in. I even got some food stuffs in my room.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If65BCNqYlU

Yes, I am staying cool in my super sweet pts.

I believe thought I need to do some warrior reading, followed directly by some warrior sleeping. So I will stop for now, and I wish you all a good night.

I made it

So I just wanted to leave a quick post. Yes, I did make it to Alabama. I made it to ASBC. Tomorrow I start and such. Oh well, I suppose there will be more posting later.

I shouldn't have made that left turn at Albuquerque

So a thought him me the other night. Bugs Bunny always says he shouldn't have made that left turn at Albuquerque. And I know now why. If you turn left there, you end up in Alamogordo. Now there are worse places to be, but it is definitely not the carrot festival. It is kinda odd thinking that all growing up I was watching Bugs Bunny in his adventures in what would one day be my home.

Lets go 'Eers!

West Virginia
"Hail West Virginia"

Let's give a rah for West Virginia
And let us pledge to her anew,
Others may be black or crimson,
but for us it's Gold and Blue.
Let all our troubles be forgotten,
Let college spirit rule,
We'll join and give our loyal efforts
For the good of our old school.

It's West Virginia, It's West Virginia
The Pride of every Mountaineer.
Come on you old grads, join with us young lads,
It's West Virginia now we cheer!
Now is the time, boys, to make a big noise
No matter what the people say,
For there is naught to fear; the gang's all here,
So hail to West Virginia, Hail!



We won our bowl game. Now we will just have to watch and see if the hokies can

Happy New Year!

Happy 2008!