The past couple of weeks have been relatively uneventful. I've been taking the diet a bit easier, what with Basic being 4 months off, but I really need to get back in the habit. The worst part so far has been trying to get back into working out. Now that I'm down near an acceptable weight, its time to start gaining actual muscle so I can actually lift myself over an obstacle. I'm glad I bought that 20-punch pass to the rec center when I did; being dead broke makes it hard to pay for a gym.
School started back up last Tuesday, and so far it's been pretty basic. Tuesday and Thrusday is Computer Science, which is C++ programming. The instructor seems very knowledgeable and experienced. One of his former jobs was building a program for one of the National Database Agencies. Most of the details are classified, so we don't get to know exactly what it was, but he says the program managed, arguably, one of the largest databases in the world at the time it was made.
Monday and Wednesday are going to be Macroeconomics and Calculus. Macro should be fun, and again the instructor seems very experienced. Thru 2 classes though, I've noticed he loves to go on tangents about related trivia, and really get into his examples. As for calculus, this teacher is very formal, very deliberate. For example, the math department at FRCC requires that calc students complete 3 Gateway Exams in order to go on to Calc 2. Instead of just explaining that if you never pass one of the Gateways the best you can earn is a D overall, she went thru and explained "If you have an A in the class and pass all 3 gateways, you will recieve an A. If you have an A but fail one gateway, you will have a D. If you have a B and pass all 3 gateways..." etc. etc. She'll be great for learning new concepts, but very tedious to listen to all day. The bright side is she never collects homework, only daily quizzes.
Well, time to go to calc. Hopefully they have the notes packet printed up by now; the bookstore didn't have them when I tried to pick them up. Happy Birthday, Dad!
Oh yeah, and PS, my car isn't working. I think I've had this problem before; the starter makes a sound, but the engine never sputters and turns over. Hope that doesn't mean repairs...
Monday, January 24, 2005
Thursday, January 13, 2005
In The Army Now...
Today was the day. I was up at 4AM, and Sgt. Hill was here at 5 to take me to Denver. We got there pretty quickly, and at 5:30 I headed in with the rest of the enlisters and the people shipping out to Basic. Things moved pretty smoothly at first: I got my name tag and headed to medical for my weigh-in. I was there with about 30 other guys, either shippers or guys in the same boat as me. I focused on my tricks for standing taller, but still only made 71.5 inches. Apparently they don't round up. However, my weight was right on the dot for standard, 194 lbs, so I passed. That figure means I've lost 12 lbs since my last trip there 30 November, and most of it was the last 2 weeks!
After that, things slowed down. I gave my nessicary paperwork to the Army office, then waited for them to call me up. And I waited, and I waited. Lunch came at 11 and passed. I was starting to think they had forgotten my file, but I also knew they had to deal with the shippers first and get them out of the building, so I waited. Finally, after about 4 hours, they called me into the office.
I went in with the career counselor, and we discussed what was available and what might interest me. They had a couple of admin jobs similar to Mike's, but one that really piqued my interest was a Communication Support Specialist. It came with a $3000 bonus, $100 extra monthy on my GI Bill money, and Top Security clearance! And according to the counselor, this particualr job is not likely to deploy because the unit is an Area Support Group for the mid-Western US, so that's their only area of responsibility. The job also sounds good; I'll be repairing encrypted secure-channel radio equipment. Not exactly computers, but certainly usable skills.
The only big downside is the training length; 9 weeks for Basic, and another 18 for job training (AIT). Since I decided to do those both at once, I'll be gone for 27 weeks, about 6 months. My tenative ship date is May 31, and I'll be back sometime in the beginning of December. I'm just hoping and praying that there's time between trainings to come home for a couple of days.
So after I decided on the job and talked to a different counselor about the security clearance, I was back to shuffling paperwork between offices. Finally, at about 4 PM, they called me up to swear in. They took us back to a relatively small red-carpet room with the flags of all the services. In walked Major Morales, a kind of short, Spanish-looking man. He gave us the speech that sounded reminicent of a serious granduation speech, in which he told us we came to the service for many different reasons, but now it didn't really matter. All that mattered was for us to Serve, Protect, and Defend. We swore in, and now I am a Private. For the next 6 years, I'm a member of the Army Reserve.
After that, things slowed down. I gave my nessicary paperwork to the Army office, then waited for them to call me up. And I waited, and I waited. Lunch came at 11 and passed. I was starting to think they had forgotten my file, but I also knew they had to deal with the shippers first and get them out of the building, so I waited. Finally, after about 4 hours, they called me into the office.
I went in with the career counselor, and we discussed what was available and what might interest me. They had a couple of admin jobs similar to Mike's, but one that really piqued my interest was a Communication Support Specialist. It came with a $3000 bonus, $100 extra monthy on my GI Bill money, and Top Security clearance! And according to the counselor, this particualr job is not likely to deploy because the unit is an Area Support Group for the mid-Western US, so that's their only area of responsibility. The job also sounds good; I'll be repairing encrypted secure-channel radio equipment. Not exactly computers, but certainly usable skills.
The only big downside is the training length; 9 weeks for Basic, and another 18 for job training (AIT). Since I decided to do those both at once, I'll be gone for 27 weeks, about 6 months. My tenative ship date is May 31, and I'll be back sometime in the beginning of December. I'm just hoping and praying that there's time between trainings to come home for a couple of days.
So after I decided on the job and talked to a different counselor about the security clearance, I was back to shuffling paperwork between offices. Finally, at about 4 PM, they called me up to swear in. They took us back to a relatively small red-carpet room with the flags of all the services. In walked Major Morales, a kind of short, Spanish-looking man. He gave us the speech that sounded reminicent of a serious granduation speech, in which he told us we came to the service for many different reasons, but now it didn't really matter. All that mattered was for us to Serve, Protect, and Defend. We swore in, and now I am a Private. For the next 6 years, I'm a member of the Army Reserve.
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Philosophy going into the Army
Some of you may think I'm going too far for something I don't really want and/or need, or something that is too dangerous. Yes, I fully expect that at some point, I'll be shipped out to fight the "War on Terror." But I've realized I don't want to live a boring, completely safe life. That doesn't mean I'm looking for danger; I don't want to see the front lines, and I will avoid death at all cost of honor. But I do want to live a memorable life.
I hold great respect for all veterans, and I don't think I can earn that kind of respect by being a computer programmer. Not even if I'm a rich, creative, powerful programmer. The Army will help me define my own character, and give me the confidence to have opinions of my own; that's something I feel missing right now. Don't worry, I'm not going to just agree blindly with every word the Army shoves down my throat; I hope I'm wiser than that. Besides, the Army is going to give me the kind of stories I loved to hear as a kid, the kind I can tell to my kids and grandkids. Basically, I expect to come out a more well-rounded, confident person.
It may seem like I'm blundering into this too quickly, lured by every word the recruiters say about how the Army "will help my career." Please, give me some credit. They don't give a hoot about my career, as long as I'm a name on their contact roster. What I'm saying is that I've given serious thought to this decision. I know I could be put in situations at any moment that are life threatening, and I pray to God that I'll come out unscathed. But I believe that I will find something much more meaningful than a life of soldiering. I will find the person that I've always wanted to become.
I hold great respect for all veterans, and I don't think I can earn that kind of respect by being a computer programmer. Not even if I'm a rich, creative, powerful programmer. The Army will help me define my own character, and give me the confidence to have opinions of my own; that's something I feel missing right now. Don't worry, I'm not going to just agree blindly with every word the Army shoves down my throat; I hope I'm wiser than that. Besides, the Army is going to give me the kind of stories I loved to hear as a kid, the kind I can tell to my kids and grandkids. Basically, I expect to come out a more well-rounded, confident person.
It may seem like I'm blundering into this too quickly, lured by every word the recruiters say about how the Army "will help my career." Please, give me some credit. They don't give a hoot about my career, as long as I'm a name on their contact roster. What I'm saying is that I've given serious thought to this decision. I know I could be put in situations at any moment that are life threatening, and I pray to God that I'll come out unscathed. But I believe that I will find something much more meaningful than a life of soldiering. I will find the person that I've always wanted to become.
Sick Day Pt 2, and Cherry-Yuck
Since my last post, life was going as usual. Sit home, experiment with Linux and C++, check my eBay auctions, etc. I still haven't seen a whole lot of Ashley, but I'm ok with that for the moment. (We're not fighting, I just need personal time.) My diet had been going well ever since I made the switch to eating rabbit food; at that point, I'd lost 4 lbs in a week. Not too shabby.
Sunday I woke up extremely stuffy and head-achey, and I had no appetite for breakfast, so I just met Ashley for mass. About 45 minutes thru I started to get really dizzy, and Ashley took me to find orange-juice. We both figured my blood-sugar had dropped too low, it sure felt like it anyway. The lady in the kitchen wanted to know if I had diabetes, but Ashley told her it was just hypoglycemia.
Anyway, Ashley drove both of us to the mall. I stayed in the car while she talked to T-Mobile about her phone freaking out. After that, I just had Ashley drop me off at home and take my car. I slept the entire day.
Monday was much better, aided by ample doses of Sudafed. The Army pushed back my trip to MEPS (again) to this Thursday, for some reason unknown to me. I never told them I was that sick. Anyway, they did another weigh-in on me, and I had dropped another 4 lbs just by being sick. Oh boy, were they thrilled.
Today they wanted another weigh-in. Since the start of my diet, I've lost 10 lbs total. I'm almost close enough to Army standard height/weight that I may not have to get a body-fat measurement. Just to encourage that, a couple of the sergeants bought me a bottle of cherry-flavored saline laxative (I made sure to check, it wasn't tampered ;) ). I wasn't so sure about this new idea, but it seems like their idea of a miracle diet - drop 3-4 lbs overnight, so to speak. I'm still a little hesitant, but whats the worst it could do? Bottoms up.
Sunday I woke up extremely stuffy and head-achey, and I had no appetite for breakfast, so I just met Ashley for mass. About 45 minutes thru I started to get really dizzy, and Ashley took me to find orange-juice. We both figured my blood-sugar had dropped too low, it sure felt like it anyway. The lady in the kitchen wanted to know if I had diabetes, but Ashley told her it was just hypoglycemia.
Anyway, Ashley drove both of us to the mall. I stayed in the car while she talked to T-Mobile about her phone freaking out. After that, I just had Ashley drop me off at home and take my car. I slept the entire day.
Monday was much better, aided by ample doses of Sudafed. The Army pushed back my trip to MEPS (again) to this Thursday, for some reason unknown to me. I never told them I was that sick. Anyway, they did another weigh-in on me, and I had dropped another 4 lbs just by being sick. Oh boy, were they thrilled.
Today they wanted another weigh-in. Since the start of my diet, I've lost 10 lbs total. I'm almost close enough to Army standard height/weight that I may not have to get a body-fat measurement. Just to encourage that, a couple of the sergeants bought me a bottle of cherry-flavored saline laxative (I made sure to check, it wasn't tampered ;) ). I wasn't so sure about this new idea, but it seems like their idea of a miracle diet - drop 3-4 lbs overnight, so to speak. I'm still a little hesitant, but whats the worst it could do? Bottoms up.
Best term paper EVER
Before I get to my real update, I just have to mention that this is the purest stroke of genius I have ever seen. Read it. Admire it.
Friday, January 7, 2005
Happy birthday Rusty Strings
Life's been decent overall for the past week or so. The Army has had me change my diet since I wasn't losing weight. Now, instead of just cutting out junk, I'm actually eating 3 healthy meals a day, and in the past two weeks I've lost 5 lbs. Not bad.
But tonight all that got thrown out the window for Jeff's birthday. I joined he, Kristen and Ashley, and we went out to CB & Potts for dinner. A nice big, juicy burger was just what I needed! I dunno how old Jeff is turning, 24 I think. We didn't even sing happy birthday or tell the waitress or anything fun. Picures ensue:
So yeah, it was good times. We went out looking for Jamba Juice afterward, but they were closed by the time we got there. We headed for Dairy Queen instead, and saw none other than Andy! We didn't stay long to chat, but he gave Kristen and Jeff discounts on their ice cream. After that, we crashed at Kristen's and watched Raising Helen. It wasn't quite as cutsie-horrifying as I had imagined.
But tonight all that got thrown out the window for Jeff's birthday. I joined he, Kristen and Ashley, and we went out to CB & Potts for dinner. A nice big, juicy burger was just what I needed! I dunno how old Jeff is turning, 24 I think. We didn't even sing happy birthday or tell the waitress or anything fun. Picures ensue:
So yeah, it was good times. We went out looking for Jamba Juice afterward, but they were closed by the time we got there. We headed for Dairy Queen instead, and saw none other than Andy! We didn't stay long to chat, but he gave Kristen and Jeff discounts on their ice cream. After that, we crashed at Kristen's and watched Raising Helen. It wasn't quite as cutsie-horrifying as I had imagined.
Sunday, January 2, 2005
Sick Day
I guess my new year wasn't as happy as I'd have liked it to have been. New Year's Eve was excellent; we all got together at Kristen's for a party, and everyone enjoyed themselves. We had quite a time with Ashley's PS2. We played DDR for a while, and even tried out Mortal Kombat with the DDR pads. It was very entertaining.
Yesterday morning, however, wasn't anywhere near fun. I can't tell if I had a 24-hour stomach flu or terrible indigestion, but you get the picture. I decided to rest for most of the day, interrupted only by a bout of projectile vomiting. It wasn't fun to say the least.
This morning I feel mostly better, so I'm thankful for that. I had breakfast with my mom, who was in town for the past few days and is heading back to New Mexico. Beyond that, I think I'll just spend the day reveling in the fact that I'm not sick!
Yesterday morning, however, wasn't anywhere near fun. I can't tell if I had a 24-hour stomach flu or terrible indigestion, but you get the picture. I decided to rest for most of the day, interrupted only by a bout of projectile vomiting. It wasn't fun to say the least.
This morning I feel mostly better, so I'm thankful for that. I had breakfast with my mom, who was in town for the past few days and is heading back to New Mexico. Beyond that, I think I'll just spend the day reveling in the fact that I'm not sick!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)