Sunday, August 27, 2006

Recruiting Five-Year-Olds

Well, this weekend turned out to be pretty nice. I got to finish off the last of my individual AT with some good people from the 244th Engineering Battalion in their recruiting mission at the Rocky Mountain Balloon Festival at Chatfield Reservoir.

Friday we met at Martinez Reserve Center to pick up our supplies, basically just the shwag and a Humvee. After getting everything arranged, we drove down to the reservoir, set up our area, and set up a plan for the following morning. It was an easy day, but I made up for it Saturday.

On Saturday morning I woke up at 4:15 in order to get down to Littleton by 5:15. It was a cold morning, but I didn't think it would stay that way the entire day. We set up our table, and people started showing up. Lots of people. And if there's one thing people like at fairs, its free shwag. We couldn't keep the table stocked! Barely an hour later we had run out of most of our big items, and decided to try and save a little for the next day, so we kept the stickers and the hat pins out. All this time, we watched the balloon pilots line their trailers up, all 10 feet apart from their neighbor. I was looking forward to seeing the balloons go up, but then came the rain. The weather wasn't going to give us a break for the morning launch. Instead of killing ourselves, my fellow soldiers and I warmed up in the Humvee and took turns going out for the crowds of kids.

By 10:00, we were released by Sergeant Major to grab lunch and wait out the weather until 2:00. I decided to just stay in the park. Where else was I going to go? And wouldn't you know it, that was the best weather we had all day, was over the lunch break. I didn't set up the table again, but I did give the few patrons that showed up Humvee tours. Ashley and Jackie randomly arrived, but I didn't get a chance to really chat them to death. Eventually we formed back up, and the weather came back with the rest of the group. We had some really delicious smoked turkey legs, served by the wife of a former Airman. Excellent! After a couple hours, the weather decided to give us a break, just in time for the illumination planned for the evening. SPC Nye and SPC Ragulsky had a small bet going on which balloons would tip first. It ended up being a really nice evening. It was a long day, I'll say that.

This morning was the same wake up call, but it was a bit easier getting down to the park. We set up our table with a new batch of freebies, and decided that the higher-value items should only come with an actual referral, so they didn't disappear. The morning's launch went off without a hitch, and for an hour the sky was filled with balloon after colorful balloon! It was truly a sight to see. Something else I won't forget were the powered paraglider pilots. Those guys are nuts! Zooming around on a little chair and a big fan attached to a parachute? That would be a kick, but even I would have to think twice before deciding that was safe. At our booth, I spent most of the day letting the little kids get in the Humvee and climb around. It's a blast to see those kids' eyes light up when they get in the driver's seat. It was really fun to be an idol for a day. I even had one little kid ask me for my autograph. How could I refuse? There were no activities for the evening, so around noon we packed up, and Sergeant Major let me off for the day. And I'm officially caught up on my Annual Training days, so I've earned my "Good Year" of reserve service. Now I just need to keep up this drill stuff and pass the PT test. Too easy, right? Maybe.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Burying the Terrorists with Paperwork

One more set of AT orders down today. I spent another three days at Fitzsimons under the direction of SFC Reed, and did a lot more office work. Copying, filing, pulling orders, updating logs, and the like. My computer account finally works, so at least I don't have to ask permission to use the computers anymore. You would think, would you not, that a soldier in the Information Management section might want access to the computers?

I did get to post a large chart with some juicy news. It seems that as long-term plans currently stand, my unit is not deploying. In fact, we're not due for any more large transitions until 2011, when it appears our unit will be disbanded. Now, that doesn't mean plans won't change, or that I could be stripped off alone and deployed with a needy unit, like SFC Alessandri was just recently. But it seems to be a good sign.

Now that I've finished these days, it's time to prepare for the next three days this weekend. Some sort of recruiting missing at Chatfield Reservoir. Should be fun.

Monday, August 21, 2006

Estes Park

Today Ashley and I took another day trip, this time up to Estes Park, in the main shopping district. We discovered some pretty knick knacks. Ashley got herself a stone business-card holder, and we got a couple varieties of fudge to take home to her family. We also found some other items which are going to be gifts, so I can't tell you about them yet. But Ashley made a very astute observation, if you ask me: Estes has t-shirt shops and candy stores. Lots of the two. There's a pretty wide variety of other businesses, but t-shirt shops and candy stores make up about half of the total. Trading/general/gift shops make up a fair percentage, too. We still had fun, and I'm glad we went.

After we got home, Ashley thought it would be really, really nice to meet Jackie and give her the laptop she had left down here, so we made a little trip to Longmont and met Jackie half-way. Ashley's probably right, Jackie would have burst at the seams after a week of school without in-home internet!

This week I have three days of AT at Fitzsimons, then three more at a recruiting deal at Chatfield Reservoir, and that brings me right around to Monday and the first day of the new school year. Where did the time go this summer? Actually, I take that back, I got a lot accomplished this summer!

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Shredding, Filing, and Serving My Country (plus some DnD goodness)

Well, the last couple of days has been mostly devoted to making up some of my Annual Training (AT) days. As a reservist, I need 14 days of AT, whether my unit decides to go anywhere or not. This year the 2-week block was cancelled, probably a lucky thing as it would have interfered with school. But now I'm stuck fending for myself, and for almost half I'm just hanging around with our full-time personnel NCO, SFC Reed, and her assistant, SGT Ontiveros. They've been having a hard time finding me busywork, so I've ended up shredding boxes full of papers, inventorying closets of UA supplies, and just generally trying to look busy. I've finally gotten the ball rolling on my comptuer account; for the past year and a half, I've had to have my supervisors log me on to do anything on their computers.

On a much more entertaining note, Tuesday night I got about 4 hours sleep due to playing DnD with Mike, his girlfriend, and a few other people I remember from BHS. I joined in the party's existing campaign in a mountain temple to the four elements, and my new character is developing into a very A.D.D., slightly pyromaniacal sorceror. Setting that huge pile of bodies on fire seemed like such a good, fun thing to do, and the sensible cleric even deemed it honorable to the dead, sort of a Viking sendoff. Mike quickly showed us why causing huge bonfires in small, enclosed passageways is a bad idea. I'm not sure Mike is DM'ing spellcasting correctly, but I must say it's very fun under his rules. That, and I don't know the proper way to run them. And it's official, my set of 3.0 core rulebooks has been rendered unto writing surfaces. Too bad I can't afford the 3.5's right now. Maybe I'll just look for a cheap PHB at Black and Read or eBay.

Sunday, August 13, 2006

Speeding Home

Well, the remainder of this week has been no less exciting than the first part. Saturday Ashley and I headed up to Los Alamos with the family for Los Alamos Days, a little town fair. The highlights were the dog rescue booth and the sudden monsoon of rain, during which we hid under the library's tent. That night we saw Talladega Nights with Zach, and that was pretty darn good.

So this morning, we woke up nice and early to get ready and say goodbye to the family. We were pretty much packed up, but waited on loading everything into the car. Jeannie had invited us to join her for chruch at the local Calvary Chapel, and so we met her there. The two of us having mostly Catholic church-going experience, this was quite a change, especially when the service started eating into the afternoon, a little bit longer than we had expected. But overall it was still a moment spent purely for God, and it was just as spiritually cleansing as mass.

So, after our late start, we were headed on down the road. Ashley and I made a copule of stops in Espanola for a Lotaburger and sunglasses, but after New Mexico Time factored in, we had spent a significant chunk of time. Everything was going well until San Luis, a little town on the Colorado border, when I saw a cop in the opposite lane flip a bitch behind me. The lights went on, and off to the curb we went. Can you believe that 79 in a 65 in the middle of nowhere is illegal? I ask you! Anyway, that motivated me to slow down a bit until I-25. As the sun started going down, we were just south of Colorado Springs, and Ashley started getting a tad sick. We tried stopping at a little park by a pond, but it was mosquito-infested, so we got to test out Jackie's lemongrass oil. Turns out, it works pretty well. Maybe not well enough for the thick swarms we hit, but effective nonetheless. After giving up on the park and the sunlight, we decided to rush to the Cave of the Winds to try and hit one of the last tours. We were just barely in time for the last tour of the day, and it was awesome! I felt a little rushed, but it was a very cool detour.

And now that we're back and safe in town, I'd just like to wish my sister Jeannie a happy 16th birthday! Love you, hermanita!

Friday, August 11, 2006

New Mexico Drivin'

Interesting few days. So Ashley and I got ready Wednesday morning to leave for New Mexico. But just as she's about a mile from picking me up, her van decides to dump it's oil all over the place, and she barely makes it to the house without seizing her engine. Funny, considering we had the oil changed the day before. So we call the shop, and one of the mechanics comes out to take a look. He says the filter is dented and torn, and pushed the adapter into the bottom of the engine. So, the van gets towed to the Goodyear across town. Only two and a half hours late, we hit the road. The drive is pretty calm, interrupted by our stop for lunch in Walsenburg. After lunch, we find that the AC fan isn't blowing, but after some playing with the fuse box, that's fixed. Interesting start to the trip.

Thursday, Mom, Ashley and I took a trip to Santa Fe. We hit all of the good stores, Big Lots, Tuesday Morning, Pier One and the like. Blegh, girly shopping! We had lunch at the Blue Corn Cafe, always a treat.

Today was the big exciting trip. ATV'ing in Angel Fire! Mom, Dad, Jeannie, Ashley, and myself. Zach had football practice. This was my first time driving an ATV, and Ashley decided it would be too hard on her hands, so she rode on back of mine. We're taking a guided tour through a trail in part of Carson National Forest. Everything is going great for half an hour. That was, until I come a bit too close to my mom's bumper going down a rocky slope. I tried to brake and get off to the side a bit to avoid a collision, but instead the machine veers off hard, down off the trail and into a gully. As we're going over the edge, we hit a large rock and it flips me off. I could only watch while it kept rolling with Ashley still on the back, finally stopping with her leg crushed between the machine and an aspen tree. I rushed over, but Ashley calmly tells me she's not hurt and to put it in reverse. I raced to the other side of the machine and put it in reverse, while my dad pulled Ashley off of the seat. Neither of us was seriously hurt, but it sure wasn't fun.

Our tour guide came back around, and after he checked that everyone was ok, he started trying to drive the machine out of the gully. The terrain just wasn't right. He hooked up the winch on his machine and started towing it out, but just at the peak of the slope, his machine overheated and stopped. He'd also dug his tires in, trying to back both out. Eventually, with the help of a third ATV, we got all of the vehicles onto flat ground, but the guide's machine was still refusing to start. So, we continued the tour. We saw some amazing scenery! It was great. When we came back around to the dead ATV, the guide hooked it up to Dad's, and they towed it back to the ranch. Quite an adventure. I hope this hasn't scarred Ashley from riding an ATV ever again!

Tuesday, August 8, 2006

Engineering Hilarity!

Here's a Japanese mechanical engineer with way too much free time. I found it looking for a copy of The Incredible Machine 3. Anyone remember that game? Classic.

Sunday, August 6, 2006

PT Failure, No More

Ok, so yet another drill weekend done. It was planned to be a quiet weekend, and basically the only things on the schedule for the lower enlisted were section training and cleaning gas masks. Well after a quick search, it became apparent that we only had a dozen or so gas masks, and the rest were probably loaned out. However, SGT Lant had some good material for section training. As a section, we're responsible for making sure that the communications equipment is running, so on a related note, he brought in a SCSI server and several hard drives to wipe. We did a review of basic computer components, and learned a good deal about SCSI peripherals that I had never dealt with. Admittedly, we didn't stay as busy as SGT Lant intended, and he had to periodically slip out for this or that, often having to stop in the middle of training. The only other person there was Whittier, and he was also popping in and out, trying to clear up his absences the past couple of drills.

Sunday morning was far less motivating. I drove to Buckley at 0630 for a diagnostic PT test. I started driving right on time, but after traffic on the highway and at the gate, I was 15 minutes late, and was just barely in time. As my current norm, I failed all three events, push-ups and sit-ups by slim margins each, and the run by a landslide. Just to kick the last bit of dignity out of my morning, I threw up the cup of yogurt and bottle of water I shouldn't have drank that morning. Getting back to the unit, we had more section training, this time with Vaughn added to the mix of in-and-out. After lunch, SGT Lant saved me from a formal counseling for my PT test, given by the new First Sergeant, by informing him it was a diagnostic, not a record test. If not for SGT Lant, I'd be in much deeper shit. However, several good things did happen Sunday. I was able to clear up my last bit of Annual Training days, so at least I have a set schedule for August. Also, on a humorous (if not good) note, Whittier got smoked by SGT Ontiveros for his notorious smart mouth. (For those not familiar with a "smoking," it is a form of punishment of minor offenses by lots of PT.) For his own good and the reputation of our section, I wish he'd stop doing stuff like that, but it was amusing all the same.

So what can I say about this weekend? Well for one, I saw the section grow a lot this weekend. SGT Lant is finally starting to come into his own as our NCOIC. He's done several things I haven't really seen from him yet. He's handled situations that need improvement with his usual fair hand, but with much more firmness and self-assurance. He demands respect when respect is due, whereas before he was simply the guy they told to take charge. He's also taken a concern for the reputation of the section among his peers, and I see that as a positive thing. As the commo section, we need to be dependable at all times, and with so few people, we all need to be model soldiers. And while SGT Lant hasn't told us this directly, I can feel his urgency for us to build that reputation. It's good to know that we're going to have a solid section with a solid leader.

When it comes to PT, I've finally seen that I'm one of the unit's weak links. There were quite a few that didn't pass it back in May, but there have been many chances since then. I'm one of two people that hasn't passed it by now. And I want that to change. This was a wake up call, that I need to get my act together and really work hard on my PT problems. I've been putting in a little effort since May, but I never seem to follow through consistently for more than a week. That's going to change, not only because I'm tired of hurting my own reputation, but also because this could threaten my career if I let this go any longer. I'm determined to make the change, and make it for good. Once I've hit the standard, I'm going to keep working up, and if I can, I'm going to become a good example, continually challenging myself to be better. All I need to do is develop a rhythm. A habit of working on PT every day. It might be difficult, but so help me God, I'm going to make it happen. I'm not going to disappoint my NCO's and myself any longer. I'm not going to focus on the negative of this situation, but rather focus on the positive improvement and the end goal. This is doable, and I'm going to achieve it.

Thursday, August 3, 2006

Calc Grade!

And I got a B! Holy crap, that's awesome! After course forgiveness kicks in and removes my fail in the spring from calculations, I'll have a 3.0 GPA for spring and summer! That's going to look very good when I transfer into the School of Engineering.

Soldier Type Meme

You scored as Engineer. Military Engineer. Your job is usually overlooked, but without you nothing gets done. While you sometimes annoyed at this, and you know the only time people come to you is when there's something wrong. You understand that you are the heart and soul of any organization with honesty and nice work ethic to boot. "I need more Duct Tape!!!"

Support Gunner

75%

Engineer

75%

Combat Infantry

69%

Artillery/Armor

63%

Medic

63%

Special Ops

56%

Officer

50%

Civilian

38%

Which soldier type are you?
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