Friday, June 30, 2006

Thursday, June 29, 2006

Pirate meme



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.

Monday, June 26, 2006

Pulling out of Iraq, by the numbers

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 August and a new anti-American extremist Islamic regime in power by October. The entire American effort would be in vain. Calling the Democrat movement "surrendering" or "turning tail and running" is not an accurate description of their goal. However, a calendar timetable is the wrong direction.

On the other hand, this conflict brought about the implication that Bush's strategy was an open-ended invitation to military support. If that's really the president's strategy, he'd better re-think it, and quickly. We need to nurture the Iraqi democracy and see that it has a fighting chance, but we don't need to stay forever. I could foresee having permanent military outposts there, as in Germany and South Korea; that would make strategic sense. However, there should be a tangible end to our occupation. And given the current situation, if it were more than two years from now, then we have out-stayed our welcome by that point.

From Bloomberg: Bush Says Troop Pullout Depends on Iraqi Strength, Security. This news article suggests to me that Bush has the right idea. Start gradually lowering our troop levels, based on the capability of the Iraqi police forces. Use people like GEN Casey to judge the situation and decide whether the next brigade to be deployed is really necessary. Where Iraqi training platoons are currently about 50% Iraqi, 50% American, start tipping that ratio. Let the Iraqi military start taking the lead, taking on the brunt of the work, with minimal American support. In two years or less, I think they would be completely self-sufficient. In short, set up a timetable based not on the calendar, but on the ability of Iraqi forces to defend their government. And this article suggests that Bush is trying to do just that. (Now, the fact that he "may" be lining this up to coincide with the elections in November... that's where I get cynical about American politics.) Thats my 2 cents.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

School Going Well

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. She needed tea from Celestial Seasonings, and we grabbed lunch at Silver Mine Subs, and meandered around Pearl Street Mall for a bit. It was time spent, commitment-free, and completely wonderful.

Check out this site I found today: We Feel Fine. It seems to be an artistic exploration into the feelings that people confide to the world via blogs. It's a really interesting program. It gives me a feeling of omniscience, looking into the feelings of hundreds of individuals from all over the world, all at once. To read someone's mind, just point at their dot and they'll pour their heart out to you. Very cool site.

Sunday, June 18, 2006

MilBlogs Welcome!

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 fields! And hey, now that I know a little bit about the customization, maybe I can add that "Countdown to ETS" timer I always wanted! [/coding rant]

Saturday, June 17, 2006

Lemme See Yo' Grill

Today Jeremey picked up a cheapo grill from Big Lots so we could do some outdoor cooking, the manly way! Only problem, none of us have ever used a charcoal grill, we've all used the super-easy propane grills. So we had an adventure with the lighter fluid. I'd call the event a success; we had cooked meat, and didn't draw the attention of the fire department.

Grillin'

Friday, June 16, 2006

Hat Fetish Realized

You may note the new avatars. "The Many Hats of Chris!" It's something of an analogy, and I think everyone has at least vaguely heard of the concept, but it struck me in this context. Drill Instructors are, of course, real people with real feelings. But they are taught that when they put on the hat, they are no longer people with families or feelings or worries. They are professionals with a mission. They are different people, with different goals.

That's the idea with my avatars. I have a very diverse life, and I show a different face to each segment of my life. When I "put on a different hat," I have different tasks, goals, and dreams. And so, my life is really just an attempt to be the best person I can, no matter what hat I'm wearing.

Am I waxing poetic? No, I'm just rationalizing the lame attempt at multiple userpics to categorize events.

Of Kittens and Men

Nothing much to report this week. I had my first quiz on Monday, and my first exam today, and both seemed to go about the same. I got overconfident early on and made some interesting mistakes, but in the end I did pretty well on both. I don't have either of them graded, but I feel fairly good about the results on both.

Also, Ashley has cats on her mind. She's fallen in love with an adoption kitten at the Animal Doctor, and I've got to admit I'm not saying no immediately. We'll have to consider the practicality, but I'm on the fence at this point. I'd sure love to have a pet around here, I'm just not sure if this is a good time, with things able to change so quickly. It would live here at Alcott, so we've got to consult with Jeremey and Cameron before we do anything.

Monday, June 12, 2006

New Routine

So, last week started my new routine for the next 8 weeks. Calculus is going to be very good this time, I think. My new teacher seems very good. I've been keeping up with the homework religiously, which is what I should've been doing all along. The class is a whole lot smaller, only 40 people, very manageable for a professor and 2 TA's. Also, Jackie pointed out one the good aspects of summer semester classes; they meet every day, so there's less time to get distracted. That's been true so far, and it's one I hadn't really thought about. True they're a bit harder because they're compressed, but I think there's a lot of factors that balance it out. We'll see, I just need to keep up.

Also thru the week, I've been doing PT with a guy from my unit, Sgt. Hoos. We both need the training, and he thought it would be better to train together. We're meeting at the Longmont High School track. It's a long ways, but he lives in Loveland, so it's as good a midpoint as any. This should only keep up for about 3 or 4 weeks, since Sgt. Hoos' test is scheduled outside of drill. After he passes, he'll likely be promoted to an officer and become a chaplain. He's a great guy to work with, and I really respect his decision to become a chaplain; the Army is starving for them, and they really make a difference to morale in the field.

Also, this weekend was my first taste of Renaissance Festival for the season. Ashley and the girls have been preparing for weeks, so I'm sure it was a bit of a relief to finally start. I headed down on Sunday and completed my costume with a belt, pouch, frog (the thing that secures a sword to a belt, here's an example), and a ridiculous hat. I'll post some pictures soon, I hope. I had a lot of fun and I finally got to see Ashley at work. I'll probably go down a couple more weekends, but I'm definitely going to notice what's happening every weekend.

Also, since today was Ashley's birthday, we threw her a surprise party last night. She knew what was coming, some because of me, and a lot because she spent the weekend with the planners, Jackie and Kristen, whispering behind her back. But she still really enjoyed the party, and she was a little choked up afterward. She was home schooled, and never had a surprise party. And also, it's been a long time since she's had a bona-fide party. Not that we really did anything special. There was a small buffet, and a very tasty Costco cake.

Sunday, June 4, 2006

June Drill

Well, yet another drill down. Saturday morning started off with a suprise; a company-wide drug test. And so we sat around sipping water and shooting the breeze for a few hours while everyone "got the urge." We got in a few classes, and broke for lunch. I gave one of my classes that afternoon, along with a few other people. At the end of the day, we unloaded a shipping container full of miscellanious junk, and unpacked a couple dozen large frame tents. I was informed that the next morning I would be taking a PT test, and to show up in PT uniform. Great.

This morning, as promised, was the PT test. It was a suprise to me, since I figured they'd give me a couple of months to work on myself, but I guess they're going to keep on testing me at every opportunity. I don't think it really motivates me any more, it just means I'm maxing out more often and interrupting my own training. On the other hand, failing again today does make me realize I need to ramp up my consistency a bit. After the test, a few of us waited around for chaplain services for a bit, and learned that the chaplain had forgotten his car keys back at Buckley. So instead, the company broke for lunch. After lunch, we finished the classes, and cleaned our rifles. I think mine must have been lent out to another unit, because it was quite a bit dirtier than I had left it. Oh well, it's just going to get dirty in July when we're firing blanks out of them. Blank rounds are nasty as all get out, so by the end the rifles are just gonna be in dire need of cleaning again.

And of course, they mentioned that since they're not scheduling the 2-weeks annual training as a company, that we need to pick from a couple different events and get the time ourselves. If we don't get enough AT days, then we haven't completed a "good year" in our reserve obligations. And wouldn't you know it, all of the events will conflict with either my summer or the start of my fall schedules. I love my unit.

Thursday, June 1, 2006

The End of Summer?

Alas, it seems my days of lounging about the house are at an end! My trip to New Mexico last week was very good, and it was wonderful to see the whole family again. This week I've been preparing for the upcoming drill and for the start of school, but I've still felt very relaxed.

Actually, yesterday was the busiest day I've had in a while. In the morning, I drove down to Fitzsimons to give Sgt. Lindsey a preview of my Army classes I'm giving this weekend. He was pretty happy with the material and the format, and suggested a few items that might improve the classes, like volunteers and props. I'm teaching "Move Under Direct Fire" and "Move as a Member of a Fire Team," so I think volunteers would really help. In the afternoon, I had a doctor's appointment for a physical and to freeze off the mole on the back of my head. It took a long time, I thought, but it was worth the wait. That evening, I had dinner with Ethel, and she had cooked up a great meal for Ashley and I.

I just hope I can find some time to relax in the days to come; for the next 9 weeks or so, events are going to be packed together, and if anything its only going to get busier.