Chris' Updates

It's been a whirlwind couple of days, and it's not letting up just yet! Yesterday I took Ashley to work, as mall employees are not allowed to park at the mall during the couple of days before or after Christmas. A few hours later I drove over to her cousin Robin's house for the Coleman Christmas party. It was very fun, and I got to see a lot of Ashley's family that I'd not seen in a while. The kids were especially cute, Skyler, Jaden, Derek, Chloe and Mackenzie. And the food Robin served was delicious! Uncle Greg is looking much better after a bout of appendicitis that was complicated and left him in the hospital for two weeks. Jenny and Kim were up from New Mexico, so that was a pleasant surprise. Ashley called a few hours into the party to be picked up, and I raced out the door. Of course, the roads are still awful. In the process of trying to get on the road, I almost rocked Ashley's minivan into a passing pickup, and then very nearly crunched into Aunt Kim...

Last night, my physics final went better than I had expected, so that was good. This morning I woke up to heavy snow. This isn't that unusual for Colorado, we usually have one or two good snow storms every winter. I drove to work, a little more slowly than normal, and tried to press on with today's project, jumpstarting two vans and taking them through emissions. After an hour I had very little progress to show, and the roads were getting much worse, so I decided to cut out early and come home. Now I'm really glad that I did so. The news is saying this is a fairly major blizzard, at least 2 feet of snow with drifts up to 4 feet. The blizzard has shut everything down, and I've just received an e-mail saying that my Arabic written portion has been cancelled! And that, my friends, means I am done for the semester! [Does the happy dance] I'm stuck at home for a day or so, but I can handle that!

Last week was the end of classes, and we had some good reviews for all of my classes. Friday morning was my Arabic oral exam, and that didn't go as well as it should have. I thought about all of the things I knew how to say all week, but when I got to the room, I just froze. I stopped thinking and had to listen to every line a few times before I could decipher the meaning, and half of the questions I didn't even remember how to respond. Oustad suggested that I really needed to get a speaking partner to actually practice with someone and get used to listening to an accent. He pity passed me with a C-. I've got another chance to bring my grade up in that class, Thursday is the written final. Saturday was Jackie's graduation from CSU (yay!) so Ashley, Kristen and her family, and I all drove up to Ft. Collins. There we met up with Jackie's family and Kelly. The ceremony was relatively short and sweet, and Jackie must have made the speed record for getting across the sta...

So this past weekend was my December drill for the Army Reserve. It was a fairly laid-back weekend, spent at the drill hall. On Saturday I found out that SGT Lant had been replaced as the S-6 section sergeant, replaced by SFC Zimmerman (or Sgt Z). It should be a good change, I think Sgt. Z has more experience being a section sergeant, and SGT Lant and SGT Nieto will still be around to supervise. I missed out on a PT test that nobody told me I was supposed to take. I sort of knew a few days before when they posted the training schedule, but no one told me I was supposed to take part. I wasn't really prepared anyway. So instead, I spent my time helping revamp the drill hall's commo systems. The big deal was fixing some of the phone problems. We mapped out the phone jacks, toned lines to find the other end in the closet, and tried to get the correct extension on the correct phone line. We were pretty successful, but there's a lot more work to be done. Sunday morning was our Cl...

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I think I just saw a lot of people's social lives cry out in agony, and then... silence. The PC Gamer Podcast just hinted at a rumored product in development. I haven't listened to the podcast yet, but here's a blurb from the article summary: "... CPL to require drug testing, and a Firefly MMO in the works! Will we find Serenity? Tune in for our nerdgasm." Could this be true? I don't know, I'll have to give the audio file a listen.

This night was just really crappy for about 2 hours. I get on the bus from campus to Broomfield, and we're not even out of Boulder before the bus gets in an accident. A biker appeared in front of a car, which stopped, and the bus didn't stop as quickly. Luckily, no injuries. Alright, that isn't great, but I get off, grab some coffee across the street, and board the next bus to Broomfield. When I get back to the park-n-ride, I find that I've left my lights on all day. Again. So I go for my handy-dandy jumpstarter battery pak. No dice in the cold. Called the insurance's roadside assistance club. Handy, but the wait is 40 minutes. So I broke down and walked around the parking lot with jumper cables in hand, looking dejected. Eventually I found a kind soul who got me squared away. Guess I should take this as a sign that I should have stayed for Arabic study group tonight.

Good end to the week. We didn't get much more snow Thursday and Friday, but it stayed cold as all get out. Our Arabic teacher went out of town, so I was able to sleep in a bit, and that was nice. Saturday we got a little more snow, and Ashley and Kristen had another craft fair to run. I helped them set up, and ran off to buy a very important Christmas gift. I spent a lot of the day relaxing on my own, and in the evening Ashley, Holly and I tried to entertain ourselves at the mall. We ended up back at Alcott, watching the first DVD of the Dune miniseries. Sunday Ashley and I shopped around at the craft fair for a bit, then tried to find an open photographer's studio. This close to Christmas, of course, there were no studios with open appointments. In the evening, we all hung out at Kristen's house watching TV. It was also supposed to be in celebration of Kristen's 23rd birthday, but we didn't really do anything special for it. Just two weeks of classes left, then fin...

Ok, webcomic fandom rant. If Rich is going to keep putting his female characters from The Order of the Stick in sexy outfits, then someone out there with some art skills is going to have to draw some fan art of them. I know I can't draw worth a damn and would not do these sketches justice. Three instances come immediately to mind: Celia in the New Year's dress, Sabine in the schoolgirl costume, and now Haley in the black Nale dress. And to a lesser extent, Julia . Alright, maybe I'm being a tad sexist, so perhaps the artist should do some sketches of Roy in his fancy getup, just to be fair and unbiased. Mmm... Sabine...

Yesterday I woke up early and drove through the frozen, slushy, snowy weather to the drill hall to participate in another funeral detail. The drive in took almost two hours, as opposed to the 35 minutes I can manage in good weather and traffic. We all got dressed, loaded up in the minivans, and drove down to Ft. Logan, the sergeants joking and arguing and looking to each other for advice. It started to snow harder as we got down there. As we arrived, we learned a couple of interesting facts. First, the veteran was a private in Vietnam. Having been only a private, he didn't qualify for a 21-gun salute, so the rifles and blank ammunition we had unlocked and transported were unnecessary. Also, the VA had provided an honor guard for the veteran, so our presence was welcome, but likewise unnecessary. I think it was still a good thing we came. Mr. Blair had no known family and no personal friends, and so the only other guests in attendance were the VA hospital caregivers that had known h...

Last Wednesday I set off for a visit to my parent's house in New Mexico. It was a long drive, but this time I actually followed close to the posted speed limits (now that I know there are actually policemen on duty between Ft. Garland and Española!). I got down without a hitch, and greeted everyone. It was great to see everyone, it's always such a long time between visits. Thursday Mom and Dad were busy cooking the turkey and the fixings, and Aunt Rhonda and Aunt Teresa arrived late in the morning. At about one, we sat down, and Jeannie read a very touching story about a little Russian girl and the power of prayer. Everything was so good! After the meal, everyone sort of took turns watching football, eating dessert, and loafing around the house. Friday we got out to see the town. This was Rhonda and Teresa's first visit, so we took them around the town, and into a few neighborhoods that I hadn't seen before either. That afternoon we took family pictures, and I took some...

Break started on Thursday night for me. I got home after a long day at transportation, and started getting sick to my stomach. Not like heartburn or Taco Bell Syndrome, but more like infection sick. Lots of time spent in the bathroom, and a short bout of vomiting. Friday I stayed home from classes and called in to work. I started feeling substantially better that afternoon. Some people may think it was rather convenient timing, but I can tell you there was nothing convenient about the pain in my bowels. Ashley was also not feeling well, but still went in to work. In her own words, she felt like she had been kicked in the stomach by a horse. Saturday I tried to take it easy again, but I was mostly feeling better. Sunday Ashley and I were both free, so we decided to take a little date at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. It had been at least 5 years since either of us had payed a visit there, and I think we've both got enough geek in us to enjoy that sort of date. We watched a...

One more physics midterm is done, and now I just have to survive the week to make it to the fall break and Thanksgiving. Its hard to believe that this time last year, I was still at AIT, still a month away from coming home. Graham's in Iraq now, along with who knows how many other people I remember. One thing's for sure, I'm thankful that I'm still home with friends and family. I'm really looking forward to getting down to New Mexico. And Ashley keeps mentioning that she's got her Christmas shopping pretty much done. I guess I should start my shopping soon. Or at least think about what I'm getting for people.

Guess what my peeps? I'm now coming to you from my recently wiped laptop, now installed with Fedora Core 6 and Windows XP side by side. At the moment, I'm using the linux side, and I'm even using my PCCard wireless card! That was a feat, let me tell you. It wasn't too bad once I figured out what the heck I was doing, but it still took way too much work. Now that it's working, however, I have a lot more control over the whole kit'n kaboodle. It's truly exciting for me! The week at school was a blur. Yesterday I did a bunch of driving for Transportation, down to Commerce City and back, twice! We needed to pick up busses that had been repaired down there, so I got to be the cheauffer for the drivers. Tonight I'm trying my hand at an extra little thing, being a Bus Buddy. Basically, I'm just a babysitter for the wound-up students going out to party, and taking that responsibility off of the driver. Should be, uh, interesting. Wish me luck! (Not exactly w...

Another drill weekend down. Friday I headed down to Fitzsimons with all of my gear for the field. I didn't read the schedule correctly and missed the first formation, but I was able to quickly catch up with everyone else in being issued the rest of my gear. SGT Lant was even later than me, and barely made the movement. We loaded the bus and drove down to Ft. Carson without a hitch. Once there, I met a bit of a surprise. The training schedule said that we would download our gear at Tent City and head directly to the zeroing ranges to calibrate our weapon sights. Instead we transferred our gear to an LMTV in a random parking lot and were told we could either attend "the function" or stay behind and train on the EST 2000 system. I had no idea what "the function" was, so I just went with the crowd and loaded on a bus for the event. About half way to Butts Army Airfield, I learned that Dick Cheney, the Vice President of the United States, would be speaking. Oh, goo...

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The West Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you're a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big Southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta. The Midland Boston North Central The Inland North Philadelphia The South The Northeast What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

Pretty normal week so far. Last night was Halloween, so when I got home I threw on my Rambo costume. Ashley arrived in a ravashing wench outfit she had worn to work. We carved up a pumpkin in a bit of a hurry, and we had a few trick-or-treaters pass by the house. Tonight I'm having fun reloading my linux box and my laptop with the latest version of Fedora Core. Drool... Only problem so far is getting my laptop to use my wireless PCMCIA card, but that will shortly be remedied! I love my linux binges.

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 ab...

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 ourselv...

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 proactiv...

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 ha...

I guess Jackie's upcoming birthday has me getting greedy for material stuff, so I've been ogling all the things I want on the internet stores. Scary prospect, I know. I'm trying to get everything together one location, so I'm putting together Wish Lists on Amazon. Too easy. General Wish List DVD Wish List Now, don't buy this stuff from Amazon if you can get it cheaper elsewhere. Amazon has some good deals, but not always the best. And I still enjoy surprises, these are just suggestions! Good hunting!

I'm trying my darndest to find some podcasts in Arabic so I can listen to them on the bus and get used to the sounds. But so far I've only found one that's still in operation, Imtidad Cultural Show ( feed ). Does anyone out there on the wide interwebs know of any other good ones?

As promised. Also original work published under GPL . Go nuts! I would like to know if you're planning on using these, just as a curiosity.

Getting sleepy, but I had to inform everyone that I start at Transportation Services on Monday. Cool, huh? Oh yeah, and my car died at school, so now I have to get up early and acutally take the bus. And I had a brilliant idea, and now I have to find/make web badges for CU, if not a couple of other schools. Woo! Go me and my little fads. G'night everyone, gotta get up early and run in the morning.

Well as you can tell by my sidebar, I've succumbed to the web badge craze. They're pretty cool, I think. Most of mine are from this nifty page , but I made a few of my own for military people that wish to use them. [Edit: New] I thought this one was a nice touch. These images were made by myself and I'm publishing them under GPL for free use. I could make more and/or different versions; if you're interested, just shoot me an e-mail at xylo04 @ gmail . com. I'm no good with colors, so let me know.

In the past week or so, I've been putting in applications everywhere, because frankly, my financial situation is worse than bad. And it may be paying off, just maybe. I had another interview yesterday with Best Buy, this time for Computer Sales. The interview was pleasant and went well enough, but I'm not hopeful. I subtley pried into my chances of getting the job, and it sounds like the manager is looking for something else. For one thing, I don't have much sales experience and computers are inherently difficult to sell. But the biggest thing is my schedule. It's the Best Buy closest to the CU campus, so naturally, all the college students apply there. That means the employers are flooded with people who can work nights and weekends, precisely when I'd be able to work. He said he'd pass my application around to the other departments, but frankly there's better jobs out there, at companies that haven't turned me down twice. However, a beacon of light sho...

So this weekend turned out to be very entertaining, and busy. Saturday we all collected at 6 AM so that the girls could go down to Broomfield Days early and set up some booths. I joined them at about 9. The parade was nice as always. Broomfield High School has a marching band again, so we were happy. They're fairly large, and sounded good. Legacy's band was enormous and sounded great. How do they do it? We had a little rain throughout the day, and usually took shelter under the Thompson's Fine Art booth, where Kristen was working. We went to see the dog show, and Jackie became an impromptu judge! Around 4, the wind started to get pretty strong, so we helped dismantle the Thompson's booth with the brother of the artist, Bill Thompson. The wind ended up very strong, and I'm sure we had gusts over 100 MPH at times. Bill paid Kristen in a little cash, and everyone in art. So now I have a colored, matted Dan Thompson sketch of a dragon/Humvee creature, running over Islam...

I'm just going to mention that this morning has been, by all accounts, pretty crappy. I decided to drive to the Park-n-Ride instead of taking my bike on the local route, but that's not one of the crappy things. I was an intersection away from the PnR when I hit a red light, with a pickup truck in front of me. We all stopped, but then the pickup rolled backward and hit me! We got out real quick, and the lady seemed pretty worried about what had happened, like I was going to be really angry. We both drove into the PnR, since she was also taking the bus, and we examined the damage. Her truck was fine, but my car has a nice new dent on the front of the hood. Now for those of you who have seen my car, a small dent on the hood is a drop in the bucket. I told her I wasn't worried about it, that my car needed a lot of work anyway and I wasn't upset about a small dent. If I had a nice new car, that might've been different, but with my old Civic in the condition that it is, i...

One more week of school down, even though it was a 3-day week after Labor Day and drill. Nothing too interesting happening there. Drill was actually a bit more interesting at points. I actually got to use some of my MOS job skills. Friday my task was to set up for a miniature SRP, a paperwork field day meant to make sure every soldier is up to date on their personnel, finance, insurance, and medical documents. Between SGT Lant and myself, we learned a lot of things we're not able to do without admin priviledges, and so we had to settle for a few less-than-perfect things. For instance, the printers. Important for a paperwork event, right? Well instead of just hooking one up to the network and mapping all the computers to it (very simple and elegant), we were forced to tell all the users to save their documents to USB keys, walk it over to a single computer hooked up to a printer, and open it up from there. Much less elegant, but workable. Saturday my mission was just to babysit the...

So it's that time again. After a fun-filled weekend, it's strait back to the grind. The transition back into classes wasn't too bad this time, not like last Spring, just getting back from AIT. I'm prepared for college life again. Although after this first week, I kinda have to ask: are my teachers? First thing in the morning is Arabic, five days a week. Perfect way to start out the day. (Taste the sarcasm dripping from my lips.) Actually, it's not really that bad. I guess if we learn languages with an infantile part of the mind, then first thing in the morning actually sort of works. The only downside is that homework absolutely has to be done the night before. I get sick reading or writing on the bus, and there's about 10 minutes in between the bus and class in which to do stuff. Maybe enough time, if I forgot to write my name on something. That said, I've got about half of the alphabet down after this week, and starting to recognize the greetings that Ous...

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 kep...

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...

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 inte...

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 ...

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 r...

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...

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.

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 ...

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.

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? created with QuizFarm.com

Eight weeks of class finally came to an end Friday, when I took my Calc 2 test. I don't have the results yet, but it felt pretty good. I'm expecting a C in the class, but there is that slight chance that my final exam grade and a healthy curve kicked me up to a B. Wait and see! This weekend, I started chewing away at my required AT days by helping with the 96th Infantry Division Reunion's Family Day event. They've had all sorts of events this week for the reunion, like on Thursday, when everyone in the unit was invited to attend the Rockies baseball game, in uniform. Saturday's Family Day was an opportunity for the vets and current members to bring their families for food, fun (a rock wall and a dunk tank), and a look at today's military. I was volunteered to show off the M249 SAW , the Army's light machine gun. I've fired one, a little 50-round drum in BCT, but I wasn't immediately prepared to be a "subject matter expert" on the thing. I h...

Lots of exciting things happening! Yesterday contained both a beginning and an end for my life. The beginning came in the form of an interview for the Geek Squad at our local Best Buy. After school I rushed on over to the store to meet with the Geek Squad manager, Lam. He was pretty cool, and asked me a few technical questions. I was able to answer them pretty well, with only a few small hiccups. For instance, I didn't know what popular spyware scanners are available. I should have known, but I never use them. My machine stays fairly clean, as a rule. Either way, I held my ground on technical knowledge. He didn't say I was necessarily hired, but he mentioned that if there was no room in Geek Squad, he'd try and find another place in the store for me. I think Geek Squad would be fairly awesome, but I could live with just about anything in Best Buy. Considering I really really need a job. So I guess I may need a new hat in the near future. The ending came with Jeremey moving ...

Well, yesterday was my last trip down to faire for the season. I had a good time. I tried to trade out my leather-bound journal for another style, but the owner didn't keep that style in stock at the shop. I wondered around taking picutres for Jackie, and I caught a few good ones. A little after lunch-time, I got volunteered to be a step-and-fetch (grabbing food) for Ashley's entire shop, and then Jackie and her boss. Interesting, but next time I demand a tip! And that was most of the day. Afterwards, Ashley took me with a good number of the wench camp residents to O'Malley's Pub in Palmer Lake. We just had dinner, but a few of the older women had some drinks too. The pub did have one unique feature; when you order a steak or a burger, you just get the raw meat, and then you use their communal grills to cook it to your pleasure. It was a fun time.

Where the heck did I put my copy of Homeworld ? I just got a hankering to play it, and I realized I haven't seen it since I left for Basic. Have to ask Mike... Go on about your business! Nothing to see here.

So, continuing after drill on Sunday afternoon. Having being bussed from Ft. Carson to Aurora to drop off gear and be released, I drove back down to Larkspur to join Ashley. I was able to get into faire for the last half hour or so of the business day, just as everyone was leaving. Ashley was a bit caught up for a while, because she was participating in a "Wench Walk." For those unfamiliar, a wench walk is an event when several wenches, about 6-10, gather in a pack and Wench (verb) unsuspecting men. When one is wenched, they are placed in a circle, and the wenches take turns in placing very lipstick-laced kisses on exposed skin. Very traumatic. Ashley tried to have me wenched, but I told her she could have me done on a different day, when I wasn't three days in the outdoors. After that, Ashley and I tried to get ready for the party. Ashley was supposed to bring a food dish, but forgot the noodles in the van that had already driven home, so we just got dressed and headed u...

So, I think the test went well Thursday. I'll find out tomorrow, I hope. Drill was excellent this weekend. We didn't stay in our usual Reserve barracks in the main of Ft. Carson, with its "posh" 2-man rooms. Instead we stayed in the "Tent City" barracks, which are a lot like the BCT barracks, with one long room of bunks. Lucky we weren't crowded. Friday was spent at the Land Navigation course, and we retrained ourselves in navigation using a compass, given bearings and distances. It was really good training, but tiring! Each team walked thru two courses, with each course being roughly 4km once you walk to the starting lot. This is thru varied terrain, flat stretches and steep hills, open fields and thick underbrush, small streams. Not to mention the cacti and yucca plants. Do I ever appreciate those combat boots! All told, I probably walked 6 miles in basic field gear Friday. And it was fun as hell. I slept well. Saturday was much more interesting. We ge...

So, lots happening. School is trucking right along, but no huge changes there since the last test. Friday, the group went to the opening night of Pirates of the Carribbean 2, and it was completely worth it. Very entertaining. The weekend was as usual, the girls gone to faire, me up here working on this and that. Tuesday, Ashley and I went on an impromptu date. We ended up mostly shopping around the jewelry stores, looking at rings. No, I don't plan on popping the question any time soon, but I would like to know Ashley's tastes when I do end up getting something. And as it turns out, she's got a particular style in mind, but she's not too picky about the price. Good to know. Tomorrow I'm taking my third midterm early during my professor's office hours, so that Friday I can head down to Ft. Carson for drill. This is going to be a crazy weekend! I've got drill Monday morning to Sunday afternoon, then Sunday evening I'm driving back down south to faire so I...

I hope everyone had a nice 4th of July weekend, I know I did! It was useless to go to recitation on Monday, being the first class after the test. I would have spent my usual 4 hours between the commute and class, just to pick up the test and discuss it. Instant 4-day weekend for me! I spent quite a bit of time trying to fix Jeremey's new custom computer, but I think there's a major component on the motherboard, namely the chip set, that's damaged or malfunctioning or something. Monday night we had a sort of movie night and party over here at Alcott, and that was pretty fun. It was a bit different from our usual thrown-together parties. Ashley made a roast chicken and fondue. Tuesday night it poured for about an hour, but it cleared up in time to watch B-town's fireworks show. Absolutely amazing! B-town never disappoints when it comes to fireworks. Except that one year they had a misfire and had to cut the show short. At least they used the extras the next year! I got my...

Well, life has been treating me well for the past week. Last weekend I took another trip down to Larkspur to see Ashley and the girls in action. I had a lot of fun, and got out with my wallet only a little slimmer. I did, however, buy one of the leather journals from D'Vyne Wrytes that I've always wanted. It's so cool! I also got to see the campsite for the first time. Usually its only open to staff but since I was in costume, I was able to sneak back after cannon. I did, of course, have to help the girls put up another tarp, but it was worth it. I got to witness a "wenching." Calculus has been getting steadily harder. We're working into infinite series, which is a common stumbling block for students at this level. As its name suggests, it involves a lot of working with infinity, which is very ambiguous to me. It also involves a lot of obscure algebra, the stuff that I never liked in high school. The stuff I would learn for the test and then actively try to ...

I should really stop lurking around google video: Pipe Dream by Animusic This reminds me, its been such a long time since I've played any music. Maybe I'll fix that.

Here's a slilly little LiveJournal game: LIVE TRUMPS 1.1 watch xylo04 fight CREATE YOUR CARD

My pirate name is: Black Harry Flint Like anyone confronted with the harshness of robbery on the high seas, you can be pessimistic at times. Like the rock flint, you're hard and sharp. But, also like flint, you're easily chipped, and sparky. Arr! Get your own pirate name from fidius.org.

So, time to begin what I would consider one of my first "politics" entries, to describe current events and my reactions. Let me start by putting this out there: I hate politics. Today's American political system may be somewhat functional, but it's nowhere near perfect. The idea that elected officials are always thinking about the will of their voters, and not about their image in the next election, is laughable. I would consider myself a leftist moderate; neither the Republicans nor the Democrats really represent my ideals. With that context, here's whats been happening lately. In the past few weeks, Democrats in Federal Congress have been feebly attempting to push through resolutions that will set a calendar timetable on the number of troops in Iraq. On the one hand, I disagree that a calendar timetable is the right idea. If all troops are out of Iraq by July 2007 and there aren't enough Iraqi law enforcers by that time, then there will be civil war in Augus...

Well, I'm more than a quarter of the way through my Calculus class, and so far, so good. My homework scores could all have been better, considering I can get as much help as I want on those. But my first exam was handed back with an 81%, and I'm fairly pleased with myself. I got perfect scores of the first two of three sections, and the last section was only a little rocky. I can't really speculate on the difficulty of the test by the averages, because the scores were all over the board. The professor reported that the high was 96%, the low was 0% (and that was someone who actually sat down and took the test), and the median was 56%. All I can figure is that I was a decent grade. I might haggle a couple more points tomorrow, but really I'm happy as it stands. I just want to avoid those situations where my grade going into the final is on the border. Today Ashley and I had a bit of an impromptu date. She met me in Boulder after class, and we just cruised around for a bit...

Hey all, I wanted to let you know that I've joined the MilBlogs blog ring . It seems appropriate, since I am military and people may want to read my view of things. A lot of the member blogs seems mostly about political opinions and trying to spread the message of a political cause or movement. But others are just the happenings of service members, like me. I got the idea from  My Vacation in Iraq , by SGT Luke Port. I actually found his blog after he got home and stopped writing, but still. [coding rant ahead] Of course, putting the banner on my blog was no walk in the park, thanks to LiveJournal. I love this blog hosting site, but it was sure a pain in the ass to add some simple HTML to the sidebar. I actually had to sit a couple hours and learn S2 , LiveJournal's customization programming language. After a few hours of wrestling with S2, I have what I wanted, and could've had in a few seconds if they didn't escape HTML in the sidebar free text input...