Halloween Party

Sorry I haven't updated, it's been a busy week. There weren't too many interesting developments during the week, just school and work. Friday evening my dad came to town, so we went to a late lunch at Chili's. After dinner we both came back to my house, and not long after the girls started arriving. Even Kelly was down! It's been a long time since I've spent time with her, so that was a real treat. Saturday was the big day for the Halloween party the girls were planning. We started at the crack of 8:30 AM with cleaning, no scrubbing, the house. We had our white board in the kitchen filled with tasks, and not nearly enough time. Between the girls they had about 8 separate baking projects, plus tons of decorations waiting to be put up. I wasn't sure if everything would happen in time, but lo and behold, we worked fairly efficiently. All the while, we grumbled about how the party was Kristen's idea, and she was nowhere to be found. She was at work so her absence was only a minor concern. What we were really pissed about was the fact that we had no idea how many people to expect, since Kristen had suggested we not expect guests to RSVP.

While Ashley and Jackie were out running errands, I had a good chance to catch up with Kelly, and that was nice. By the time Ashley and Jackie arrived back at the house, we were ready to start on the big decoration project: putting black butcher paper over all of the walls in the living room and hallway. Time was getting short, so I grabbed a shower while the girls sponge-painted the walls with orange stars. It was about this time that we started panicking and throwing on our costumes. Our first wave of guests included Kristen, Pattie and James, Katie, and a couple of Katie's friends. Of all the things we hadn't been able to plan for, a pack of older adults and 10-year-olds was not on our list. We quickly got the kids settled watching the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Since the kids couldn't stay out late, they went home with their parents fairly early. We sat around relaxing and talking for a bit, and then all went out to greet Bear, Ashley's co-worker from Faire. We all had a good time watching Rocky Horror Picture Show. Strange-ass movie. Bear's alternate lines made it slightly more "bearable." (Oh my, that was a bad pun. I swear I wasn't trying for that!)

Monday, October 23, 2006

Funeral Detail

Friday I was asked if I could volunteer for a funeral detail, and after getting work cleared, I accepted. It turned out that the only teacher that would have cared, الاستاذ [Professor] Aissa, took a religious holiday today, so classes worked out well. I slept in for a bit, and then made some final checks to make sure my Class A's were looking good. I drove down to the unit, and met up with SPC Vaughn and the rest of the detail. I was to be part of the fire team that would deliver the 21-gun salute, so we practiced our movements in civies for a bit, and then got dressed and drove to pick up the ashes and then to Ft. Logan.

The funeral was for MAJ Johnson as I understand, the former commander and then executive officer for the 259th, one of our subordinate units. He had died of cancer, fairly young too, younger than 60. He left behind a wife and two little girls, around 8 and 10 I think. MSG Kanan joked around with us for a bit, but as soon as people started arriving, we shut ourselves up and locked down. We stood in the back, away from the ceremony. I couldn't hear much from the speeches that were being said, but I knew that emotions must be very somber. After what seemed like several hours (but was in fact probably 30 or 40 minutes), we were brought to attention by MSG Kanan. He gave all of his commands very low, so that the shot would be a shock to those gathered.

Port, Arms. Half-right, Face. Ready. (click of the safety) Aim. (step back, shoulder the rifle, 45 degree angle, directly over the grave) Fire. BANG! (And back to port arms) Ready, Aim, Fire. BANG! Ready, Aim, Fire. BANG!

The effect was as intended, a respectful thank you and farewell to a fellow soldier, and a shock to help those grieving to feel the emotion and speed the healing process. I didn't see many of the faces, but I can imagine how it must feel. An overwhelming wave of emotions. We marched out to allow the family and friends a moment, and then walked back to pick up the spent shells, and that was the end of my part. I'm glad I participated; it was educational, and I really feel that I helped say a final thank you to this man, this soldier, even if I had never met him, only seen him in passing. If I ever have another opportunity for this again, although my heart will feel for the loss of a brother or sister in arms, I shall certainly wish to see them off properly.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Snow!

Ashley as a Vampire Wench	Chris as Rambo
Jackie as Vaarsuvius, the amazing androgynous elven wizard	Holly as War, of the Four Horsemen of the Apocolypse
Kelly as Peg Bundy

It's the first snow of the season! Take a look outside at the Engineering Center! It's really coming down! I'm posting from school, and I'm still here because I have my second physics midterm in an hour. For the most part, I've just been sticking to the new daily grind. School is usual, and I'm actually starting to think I was wrong about Algorithms class. It's not an evil math class, it was just the first couple of chapters that seemed so. My Arabic is progressing steadily, and physics is usual. Work at Transportation Services is still going well. I finally finished with the driver forms, and I'm on to other menial, time-consuming projects, like scanning and filing. I'll tell you though, we have one sexy print/copy/scan/fax machine. It could practically do my job for me if it were set up correctly, but I'm not about to tell them that. Over the last weekend I went to drill at Fitzsimons, which was business as usual. We actually did some proactive work on getting the center more operational, such as looking at all of the computers that nobody ever uses and assume broken. It turns out there are some diamonds for machines in the rough. We're also preparing for the FTX and weapons qualification the first weekend of November. One exciting development, they were taking down sizes in preparation for ordering ACU's for the company! And we were all issued cold weather gear, including the nice high-speed Gore-Tex rain jackets. On Sunday morning, we had a company PT test, and yet again, I didn't pass. It was much better than last time, as I missed just one push-up, passed on sit-ups, and improved my run time by a minute and a half. I just need to keep up the good work and up the intensity!

Job!

Hey everyone. Long time between posts, I know, but I've been a busy guy, you know. Monday I finally started my new job at Transportation Services and so far, it's really nice. It's less of the computer administration that I was envisioning. So far the only thing I've been doing is data entry, taking all of their driver update forms and updating their databases. But really, its not bad. The people in the office are great, they really make the job enjoyable. I'm quickly learning how things work around the office, and how to fit into that. The only thing I'd really like is more of my own desk, because right now I'm just sort of invading someone else's. Still, it's a job and a good one at that!

Besides that, Ashley and I celebrated four years of dating last night! Can you believe that? Its hard to grasp for me, but its still gratifying. After we both got off work (she's found a new job at the Walking Company) we went to dinner at Buca di Beppo and had a nice time. We challenged the waitress and the cooks a little bit I think, to get around Ashley's tomato allergy. In the end we got some tortellini in pesto sauce, and it turned out pretty nice. Ashley had Terry custom make me a belt back during Faire season, so that was her gift to me. It's really nice! I've only been getting financially settled in the past couple of days, so I still have to get her something.