Hater Pants!

I stole that title from The Totally Rad Show but it fits my recent posts very well. I have been on the verge of Microsoft bashing with my last few posts when there are many things that they do well. One of my personal favorites is the Xbox 360 and Halo 3. Recently Bungie (the makers of Halo 1,2 and 3) has separated from Microsoft but this is close enough. Bungie has a podcast and to keep this short have an "NFL Minute" segment where they all argue for their teams. Recently the Seahawks beat the 49ers (click here to read more on the game at Jason's blog) and one of the Bungie guys contacted some of the players on the 49ers to have them over to the Bungie studios in Kirkland Washington to play some of the new maps they are getting ready to release. The story cracked me up and the picture of them with the players is hilarious. How much more opposite can you get than computer programers and football players?

Check out the story here

Check out the new maps here

Ask Not What Vista Can Do For You! Ask What You Can Buy For Vista!

Here are some funny videos for you. The first is a hilarious new video that touches on a topic from my last post.

This made me laugh out loud and is great timing with the new Guitar Hero III release. It is Cowbell Hero!

She Stole My Heart and My Cat...

Now I know that some of our readers here are faithful Microsoft fans, but over the recent years my loyalty to the Redmond giant has dwindled some. Don't get me wrong they get some things right, (don't forget I'm a huge Halo and Xbox 360 fan) but when it comes to operating systems I think it is only logical who is better at this point. I stood in line at the Bridgeport Village Apple store to get my copy Leopard (apple's new operating system) and have loved every minute of it since I upgraded. I won't get into all the new features here for fear of scaring you all away, but one thing I will say is that it is much faster. How many times have you upgraded your computer operating system on a 3 year old computer and had it run faster without upgrading hardware? I have never had that be the case in my short computer nerd history. 

 For all those that are Microsoft fans I do have a desktop that I upgraded to Windows Vista. I can't say I have any complaints about it at this point, but I do miss my iLife applications while using it. I installed the 64 bit version on a fairly up to date computer though and so far it seems to be running very well. I wouldn't say it runs any faster though and most of

 my friends that have it either complain about it or have downgraded back to windows XP. Over all though I'm happy with it for my windows desktop.

  All this to say I'm a happy Apple fan and user. Who would have thought that 5 years ago? For now I'm thrilled with my iPhone and Leopard!

E.T. iPhone Home

Call me a hopeless "iFanboy," but I have taken the plunge once again. Steve Job's RDF (reality distortion field) has lured me in once again. I have been living with the iPhone now for a little over a week. I hesitated to post right when I got it for fear I would find something wrong with it resulting in buyers remorse. But, as with all other Apple products I have purchased I have been more than ecstatic about this device (Haley as my witness). It has a 2 mega pixel camera, 8 gigabytes of memory, and works as an iPod to include videos which play in wide screen mode sideways on the screen (Seven now knows my phone has Cars Movie on it). It even surfs the internet with a full browser. It can play YouTube videos as well. I love the pictures for my contacts because when the phone rings it is a full screen photo of the person calling. All of the PDA-like features sync flawlessly with my contacts, calendar and email. The best part is that all of this is tied up in a nice, all "touch screen" interface. Thats right only 4 actual buttons are on this thing. The rest is all run by the touch interface. I wasn't sure how I would like the fact that there are no buttons, but after a few days of getting used to it I never want to go back. This is by far the best phone that I have ever had.

Oh and did I mention? It's also a Phone.

“Saying ‘I’m sorry’ is the same as saying ‘I apologize.’ Except at a funeral.”

You know how sometimes you catch a glimmer of a funny sign or something hilarious that you want to share with the world? I knew that funny signs and crazy cars were in the south (former residence to me), but I either have gotten really hard up for things to post or have become more perceptive to the humor living around us. I found this sign in Federal Way. Must be some fast "unloaders." But the humor doesn't stop there.

My parents have been getting ready to have new gutters installed, which means some boards had to be replaced. Well, my dad has been on the lookout for quite some time for a second tall ladder to finish one last board on the tallest end of the house. He came to me the other morning (we are currently living at my parents for the time being), and said "I have an idea." Immediately I was scared, but not nearly as much as when he told me the actual idea he planned to put into action. I can not do justice to explain in words so take a look at these pictures. I actually wasn't aware that I was afraid of heights until I trusted his contraption with my life. To his defense it did work out alright. It was just a bit "bouncy." After all, we do have an Aumsville address. We have to conform at some point.
The next will not fit in a simple blog post but has earned its own gallery of fame. It is one that I forgot I had taken pictures of while still in Louisiana, and never got around to posting them. I have put up a link on my pictures area called "Duct Tape Truck" and if that isn't enough to peek your interest I don't know what is.

Wooow!

For those that haven't heard yet (or don't read the "where is Jordan" section on the left) I will be returning to the West Coast on the 28th of August. I actually have a plane ticket to prove it this time and have almost finished all the paperwork needed to clear post. I should be back in Oregon on the 29th for those that care about that.

If You're Flammable and Have Legs, You Are Never Blocking a Fire Exit. Unless You're a Table

In case you can't read the sign in the picture the above poster reads "Do Not Block With Tables or Chairs... Fire Exit" The bottom one reads "This Door Must Remain Locked At All Times"

Drop It Like It's Hot!

I thought it was time for another update and while I was here why not a funny picture right? So an update on my status? Your guess is as good as mine when I will get to go home but I know for sure it is sooner than it was a month ago. I have completed everything that I can at this point and am just waiting for my orders to send me home. I "should" get those soon and then its a very short time before I take the long plane ride home to my family. In the mean time I have learned what real heat is and what real humidity is as well. I have never seen a sign read 109 degrees until yesterday and it was while I was stuck in a car with no AC at about 60% humidity. Wow, I gotta get outta here soon.

More Than Meets the Eye...

So I saw Transformers this weekend. I was curious to watch it but afraid at first that it would ruin good memories of my childhood cartoons. Boy was I wrong. It actually made me want to go back and watch some old episodes to see if they were as cool as the movie. The CG is amazing and for the first time in a long time I left the theater still excited about the movie. There is obviously going to be a sequel and I can't wait for it. Autobots Transform and Rollout!
I highly recommend this movie to guys (and some girls... you know who you are) and so far its probably the best movie that I have seen this year.

I Braveheart

Michael Scott what would TV do without you? Well here I sit bored before work and thought I would share with you a few of my findings that have entertained me.

1. Digg.com good old digg.com. If you have no clue what that is and you like news that is relevant and controlled by the users instead of big media then go check it out. It started out as a tech news site but has grown into much more with different sections that you can view. You can sign up to be a member and then "digg" the stories that you like and contribute to the digg process of providing the most desired and read stories to you on the front page. Take a look to the right side of my blog and some of the latest stories that I have "dugg" show up there throughout the day.

2. willitblend.com has been around for awhile, but I have just discovered the crazy videos that this company puts out. If you are like me and have ever wondered what a blender can do than you will find joy in this site answering all those questions for you. The latest item that they tried was the iPhone. Wow... I never knew a phone could turn to dust.

Also I have been gaming a bit on my 360... Lego Star Wars II... Need I say more?
you can check out my gaming history here

All this to say, I'm very ready to come home to my family so that they can meet my entertainment needs. I like Gaming, tech news, movies and re-runs of the office, but it gets old really fast.

Sorry to Use Such Harsh Letters

Well here is the skinny. I went to the doctor the other day (the 14th of June) to have a follow up on my back injury. For those of you that don't know the pain has gotten worse since I left home and has not gotten any better. The doc informed me that I should have had a brace to begin with and I have since been to be fitted for one and will get it on the 3rd of July. If you read the main page you know that he has recommended me to the medical board to be discharged from the Army due to my injury not improving and according to the x-rays will not ever improve. I have since started the process to go before the medical board doctor and be discharged from the Army for medical reasons. This means that I should be home in the next 4-6 weeks if things don't get complicated but not to exceed 90 days. To those that have not been in the Army that my seem like a long time, but trust me on this... That is fast.
This is for sure not what we had planned on happening, but as previously stated has its bright sides too. We are not sure where we will end up living once I have returned back to the now more glorious to me than before West Coast, but will keep you all informed through this process. I wish that I had more details (and so does my family), but at this time all I know is that I "should" be coming home soon and look forward to reuniting with friends and family.

Where is My Freaking Phone!

So for those of you that didn't get the email about my phone number change then you can hit me up at the "email me" link on so many of the pages of this website and I would be glad to send my new contact info to you. Not that you aren't important enough to be on the original list, it is just hard to weed through all the emails that I have to create a large list of the correct people. But I'm pretty sure that I got most of you. I had to change to Cingular... long story short it was either them or a local carrier that had any coverage out here in the sticks. I'm not sure why Verizon hasn't totally jumped all over the chance to scoop up this booming market, but some mysteries should just as better be left unsolved. SUBJECT CHANGE: How many of you have ever been so bored doing laundry that you started reading the little info boxes on the video games? No one? Well I must say I was in that group this weekend and found some interesting things. Who writes these warnings? And on this first one I'm not sure that this game should be on an Army base at all. Who would they suggest partake in their video game? This second one caught me by surprise and actually got me looking at the other warnings plastered all over the machines. I can't believe that something that probably went through countless hours of R&D, many editors and not to mention passed many eyes at the factory and still made it to its final resting place. Can you see the mistake? If you can't maybe you have a future in the video game industry. Maybe they did it on purpose so that it would fit in better in the South? No offense, but if so...genius pure genius.

Mac Daddy?

So I sent this pic to some people. This is an actual street on Fort Benning. But after I saw this next picture I thought of it again.
I got jealous of someone that I never thought I would. He may not have invented the internet, but he seems to know what a good computer is and at least how to have a cool setup. So combine the 2 pictures and you have another reason to knock off Gore and take his cool computer and all of his monitors. Although if you look at the picture really closely it almost looks like he is confused. I think a good quote would be. "what the... this is the internet? I didn't invent this... the internet is a delicious side dish you enjoy with a steak and potato"
This picture is for all of you who feel sorry for us having to move to Louisiana. But trust me, from what I've seen it isn't worth it for the cheap gas to live here. No offense meant at all, but it is very "different" here. Nice people, but very different from what I am used to.

I'm Getting the Boot

Well, I have received my orders for my permanent duty station after 2 weeks of waiting for them to show up. I know everyone wanted us to be back in Washington at Fort Lewis, but it appears that God had a different plan. I'm currently in the airport in Atlanta headed for Fort Polk Louisiana. I don't have much more information than that at this point. At least nothing that I will write in case things change in the next few days. It will be a far move to make and with Michael just being born it will be a challenging juggle of time. We are sad to be moving so far away, and Haley is sooo looking forward to the snakes there but we still know this is what we are supposed to do so we rest in that comfort. They have had phones there for the past few years, and just a few months ago they stretched the wire from Texas and connected them to the internets. So we will be easy to get in contact with. Also for those of you that have video chat we are practically next door. More updates on what exactly I will be doing, and where I will be going... cough... sand box... cough... will most definitely be added here.

Some People's Kids

I thought this was just hillarious. I mean first off you have to be stupid to smoke the stuff in the first place. But if nothing proves that you get dumber off pot this takes the brownie. This bone head that worked at McDonalds (already a check against him) decided he not only needed to hide his pot, but his lighter and pipe as well. he looked around for a good spot and thought "hmm, why not in this happy meal box". Alright I guess, but he then gave the happy meal to a kid who got more of a toy in the meal than his parents probably bargained for.

Here is the link to the story

McDonald's Employee Hides Pot Stash In Happy Meal

Eye on Enternainment

Well I saw Spiderman 3 yesterday and I must say it was pretty good. It was long, but that was to be expected. The movie was fight scene after fight scene with some slow parts in the middle that could have probably been done away with to cut down on the 2 hour 20 minute run time. The CG (computer graphics) were very well done. Venom's suite has some cool effects, as does Spiderman's and the camera angles on the action are very well thought out. All in all though I wasn't disappointed, and not to spoil the movie for you... Spiderman does in fact live through the whole movie.

On a scale of 1 to Awesome... It was "super great"

A Little of This, A Little of That... Yeah, I'm a Painter

Well as most of you should know by now my time at home has come and gone. It was easy to jump on a plane and go home, but not so easy to slump down the jet-way back. Such is life I guess. I'm still injured and awaiting the doctors decision. I have a bone scan at the end of the week and then another appointment with the back doctor the next week. So I won't know too much until then.

Well my Dad has requested some movie reviews so that he knows what is worth watching in the Theatre (haha I spelled it the English way) and what is not. So without further ad... waiting... Fanfare please

The Good Shepherd (on DVD) - Way too long. I could have told the story in a short blog post. Cool story, very not true to life as far as the CIA and Skull and Bones Society.

Night at The Museum - Funny, Cheesy (in a funny way), Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson (though not in the credits for some reason), Robin Williams and living museum exhibits. Need I say more? I will... I liked it and would probably watch it again if I had the chance.

The Invisible - I liked it okay, but the plot seemed not too thought out, way too predictable and some of the cool stuff in the previews was left out of the movie. OK for DVD watching

Disturbia - This movie was way better than the previews led on. It isn't a horror film like they make it seem and though cheesy at parts it was pretty good.

Thr3e (DVD) - Dumb

Vacancy - Good possibly as a rental if you had seen all the other movies in the store, but the story is way too familiar and was way over dramatized and exaggerated.

Fracture - I liked this a lot, Good plot twists, cool marble gadget thingy (you have to watch to see). If you like Anthony Hopkins you will like this movie.

Next - This movie I would watch again. I love the "Cage" and I love time travel type movies. Even though I kinda had it figured out before the end it was still fun to watch and fun to try and follow all the time hopping. Also it is funny at times with the ever so famous "Cage" one liners.

Meet The Robinson's (In 3D) - The only way to watch this movie is in 3D. Don't waste the thrill on anything else. I actually tried to dodge the meet ball from the meet ball cannon. It was funny and also had a good story. This movie I would also see again, but only in 3D!

So there you have it Dad and whoever else is interested. And no I did not just watch all these movies in one day or even one weekend. But I hope that they help you save time out there in the real world where you have more than a mile radius to make interesting.

Blue Steel? Ferrari? Le Tigra? They're the same face! Doesn't anybody notice this? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!

So, a little explanation about this here video. My sister showed me this video of Matt (her husband) and their friends on vacation. The were supposed to be taking a picture with the camera on timer, but Matt being the technological genious that he is put it on video instead. But in his later discovered mistake was found this "gem" of a video.

Watch John (the guy in the back) and be prepared to be freaked out the more that you play the video over and over. No, he is not photo shopped or edited into the video. The proof is in the fact that his sweatshirt string is still swinging. But... man... its freaky how he holds that same face.



"I wasn't like every other kid, you know, who dreams about being an astronaut, I was always more interested in what bark was made out of on a tree."

Beauty and the Geek

Lately I haven't gotten too geeky on anyone here and have kept things pretty down to earth. Truth is I have no idea who or what my actual audience demographic really is. In short I'm a Mac geek. For many years I was what you might call a "hater" of macs, but these days with the amazing products that Microsquish, Microcrash... etc, has put out I took a leap into the Apple camp and found that I love it. I think those that I have convinced to try it out (including my wife) have been very delighted to use a computer that doesn't crash at least 2 times per day and just "works" as I have heard over and over. Speaking of, my Mom just joined the Apple crowd today. All that said, I loved this cartoon.

"My first wife was 'tarded. She's a pilot now"

Trains, Planes and Automobiles

Minus the Trains I guess. My trip home hasn't been one of the most direct routes I could have taken. After leaving base I arrived at my brothers house in the Seattle area almost 26 hours later. The next day we traveled to Moses Lake for a family wedding and now (being Sunday) are heading back to Seattle to visit some friends and go to our home church. Then we will make the decent south back to Aumsville. It will be nice to settle in one place for awhile and get the longest trip from Ft Benning to Ft bedroom finally done.

"Somebody get this freakin' duck away from me!"

Homeward Bound: The incredible Journey

Well, I'm on my way home again. My second time since October. I'm excited to see family of course and get to spend some time with my son and wife in a more "relaxed" setting. The nuero-surgeon said that I need to be off of my back and am "un-able" to work (his words not mine) for 4 weeks. So I get to come home for a few days today through the 27th of April to be exact. Currently I'm sitting at the USO in Atlanta at 0845 and don't leave until 1600 (4 pm). Needless to say I have some time to kill. My trip will bring me home around 11:20 pm pst. I hope to visit a lot of friends, but mostly to rest, heal and stay fit so that I can come back and make my last jump.

Peter... whaaats happening?

So I have been asked many times what is going to be happening with me since I'm hurt. Well besides a time delay due to obvious reasons not much is changing. First what exactly is the problem. It was for sure confirmed that I have a compression fracture on my T10 vertebrae. The good news is that before I had a 40% reduction on my T12 almost 10 years ago now, and this one is only a 20% reduction. That means less time to recover and it seems to me slightly less pain. I am very able to get around and have probably walked about 3-4 miles each day this weekend which has been nice and I have been told is good for the muscles in my back in the healing process. Mostly my weekends are very uneventful and filled with much walking around and watching movies. So I thought I would let you know my opinion on some new ones so you don't waste your time on the ones that I had a lot of time to waste on.

TMNT - if you liked the turtles, go find old episodes or the old movies. Stay away from this crappy movie. Though if you want to take a nap it may help you if you have trouble sleeping. I almost left the theater in sheer bordom.

Shooter - Liked it. If you like guns and are willing to accept some pretty impossible marksmanship you will like this movie

The Last Mimzy - I liked it, but if you don't like SCI-FI you won't like this. I actually really enjoyed most of the movie until the ending that was a tad out there even for this movie.

I Think I Love My Wife - Retarded, not even worth them putting it on DVD.

300 - See it, but not with your parents or your kids. Fighting scenes are awesome.

The Number 23 - wait for the DVD and rent it, not own it.

Premonition - I liked this movie "because" it was hard to follow. Some may find that annoying

Dead Silence - I went to see this because it was made by the makers of "Saw", but this had none of the greatness that I liked in that movie. In fact I think it was made up of the crappy parts of saw III that didn't even make that film. Needless to say, it sucked. But I will never look at a ventriloquist doll the same.

So now you know what I do with my weekends here at the oh so entertaining Ft Benning GA. Whats funny is that I still have time to kill even with all the movies I see and I still get bored. I wish I were closer to home because I would much rather be doing meaningful things with friends and family on the weekends than watch movies, but until then there isn't much more to do here so I will at least help those of you that read this blog to waste less of your time by only seeing the movies that are worth it.


"So could I get you gentlemen something more to drink, or maybe something to nibble on, some pizza shooters, shrimp poppers or extreme fajitas?"

Back Again?

So in case you haven't heard I made my 4th jump from an airplane with no issues at all. But the landing was a bit harder than I bargained for. My exit was perfect, but on my way down I didn't know that there was someone above me that began to leap frog with me. This is when the amount of air I'm using doesn't allow the jumper above to have as much lift and springs them down below me. Well after that happens the same happens for me as well. Unfortunately I did not realize this until about 30 feet above the ground he shot out in front of me and took the air from my parachute. My canapy immediately lost lift and dropped me straight to the ground from about 2-3 stories up. The landing was hard, but I made it off the drop zone just in time for my buddies to force me to go to the medic because I could barely breath and my back hurt (I know I have been here before). Well long story short and many x-rays later my back is once again in the not so unbroken position. I will be sitting around for about 30 days until it heals all the way. I have one more jump to make to be Airborne qualified and as crazy as some of you may think I am for saying this I'm going to do it. The break is not as bad as my one from the past and the doctor said that I am lucky that I wasn't hurt worse considering the height I dropped from. So if there is any positive that can be seen from this it is that I didn't break even worse.

An Object in Motion...

So yesterday was my first successful exit from an aircraft while in flight. How did it go you ask? Well it was a blast. I jumped out after only waiting for about 5 hours in a harness and spent 45 seconds in the air. In that 45 seconds I fell a total of 1250 feet to land safely back on the earth. I landed very softly and had a great first time experience. I then got back to my bed at about 12 midnight and got up at 3:45 am. Hence the lack of update the day I actually jumped. We only made the one jump due to a wind issue and they lost a guy in some trees and had to spend 4 hours searching for him. So today we did 2 more jumps. One was with combat equipment and one was without. Both were Hollywood jumps meaning 15 people out each side of the aircraft at the same time. The first jump was good in that I didn't get close to anyone and hit a soft spot, but I hit much harder than the day before. My second jump was with a ruck (big backpack) and weapon. This jump was much more chaotic. 2 people got stuck together and had to land together. 2 people colided with each other but recovered and landed fine. 1 person broke a leg. And I hit harder than both times before combined. I had steered to avoid some marshy ground and then prepared to land. I let down my gear on its extension line and I was coming in backwards... fast. I got my feet and knees together, eyes on the horizon, held my slip and waited for the inevitable. I smashed into the ground with about a 2 story building drop force and fell properly, but it hurt like a ... bad. I realeased my chute and just laid there stunned and disoriented with what had just transpired. After a few seconds I tested my legs by lifting them and everything appeared to be fine. I got out of my harness and gathered all my gear and walked about a half mile to the rally point. Tonight I have a "mystery" bump on my wrist, my butt hurts and I'm still feeling like I'm swaying. We get to sleep in tomorrow so hopefully I can recover from this "fun" I had today.

Today's Lesson:

An object in motion remains in motion until great pain has brought it to a hault

A "Jump" ... To Conclusions Mat

Well it has been almost a week since I updated what I have been doing. It has been a pretty busy week and I have been "lazy" again this weekend to recover from the "fun" that we have been having here. After I got rid of my headache from the swing landing trainer we came back to it the next day to finish some people that hadn't completed it yet. I had the "opportunity" to observe and hook people into the harness before getting headaches to call their very own. On Wednesday I was one of only about 110 students that got to be dropped from the 250' tower. Now some may be saying that would be freaky, but I assure you it was a blast. I was thinking and it was like being paid to ride on the biggest ride at the fair. Except this ride didn't keep you attached to anything. Don't worry I didn't get hurt and it was no worse than jumping off a 3 story building (joke).
The next day we moved to learning how to mass exit an aircraft with and without full ruck sack and weapon. This was not what you would call fun, more so uncomfortable than anything else. Somehow walking up 4 flights of stairs with a 35 pount backpack strapped to your front side didn't feel normal. Also jumping with the added weight in that region wasn't all that comforting either. After this we got off early and all we had to do on friday was attend a safety briefing about things you never want to happen to you and rig our gear for our night jump on wednesdy we will do with full gear.
So if all the weather holds out and stays nice, warm and not windy we will jump twice on monday, twice on tuesday and jump at night on wednesday. Then we will graduate on friday unless some jumps get delayed. We have to complete 5 qualifying jumps to graduate so it all depends on the weather for graduation to go as scheduled. Am I nervous? Nah it is only 1250' to the ground and it only takes about 45 seconds to get there. So if I'm scared it won't be for very long anyway. Feet and knees together, eyes on horizon, pull risers to name tape level and pull off a dynamite PLF. I will be fine... trust me.



The guy made a million dollars (I had to finish it)

So today started a new week of training for me here at Airborne School. The first picture here is of the suspended harness. It is a training device that teaches you what it will be like to control the direction of your parachute while in the air and landing. It was quick and painless and gave no clues as to what we would encounter next.
This picture is the Swing Landing Trainer or SLT. It looks harmless enough in the picture, but what you don't know is that the platform is 12 feet high and at the other end of your cable is a rope controlled by the instructor. it is much like a kids swing in the park that you can strap into. The only difference is that at any moment the person pushing you can cut the cables and send you hurdling toward the ground from any height that they so desire. I had my go at it about 10-12 times this afternoon and speaking from experience they should not call it the SLT. They should call it the SYITGAGYAH. aka... "smash you into the ground and give you a headache". My neck feels like mush tonight and I can tell I will be sore soon. Luckily that is said to be the most painful part of Airborne School and I am done with it.

Lazy Sunday!

As much as Airborne school is tiring I love the fact that friday afternoon I'm done for the week. I didn't realize how much a weekend can actually recharge a person until I joined the Army. All through Basic we worked no matter what the day and going to church was close to the only break that you really got from the constant moving. What you ask do I do with my weekend? Well, not much of anything. And after this week I don't feel bad at all. I have officially caught up on Lost, Heroes and The Office and watched 2 movies "Employee of the month" and "Simpler than Fiction". Neither movie was a blockbuster by any means but had their funny moments. I also saw 300 on friday night and that was a good movie if I do say so. Not for the young though, nor the weak of stomach.
I have also been doing some thinking about what I was doing a year ago and realized that it was about a year ago that we went to Alaska. As you can see from the picture a lot has changed since then. I would have never thought I would be on the opposite side of the country if you had asked me then. Especially getting ready to graduate Airborne School. Crazy what a difference 365 days can make. I went from 236 lbs down to 166 lbs back up to about 187 now. Don't think I'm getting fat, because though I have gained weight my pants keep fitting more loose for some reason. I just wanted to clarify so those that were in our competition wouldn't accuse me of letting myself go. Although I don't eat what you may call a low fat diet the amount of physical exersion I'm expected to have still affords me the ability to lose body fat. I do however recognize before anyone points it out that when my level of activity decreases I must lower my intake ever so slightly.
So in just a year I have gone from civilian to soldier, father of 1 to almost father of 2, West coast to east coast (for the time being), Fat to fit and in 2 weeks ground thumper to airborne. What a journey it has been and what a journey it is going to be. I wonder what the next 365 days will bring? On second thought I wonder what the next 45 days will bring. Maybe a year from now on another Lazy Sunday I will find myself reflecting once more.

2 no 6 no 12 ... Bakers Dozen!

Airborne School Has Its Ups and Downs

Mostly downs if you caught the pun. It is very physically demanding and this is only the end of my second day here. the first day we did mock door training. Which is just a very loose mock-up of a plane and you learn the basics of exiting the door of the aircraft. What is most tiring is that you are not allowed to walk anywhere. Which means leaving from the dining facility you must run on a full stomach back to the bay. Don't get me wrong I'm not complaining I'm just giving you a feel for what I'm going through. We also run to all the training areas in boots and combat helmet.

Today we jumped from the 34 foot tower. So much fun. Here is a picture and more updates are to come.

Basic is Done... Basically

Well if you haven’t heard or the title didn’t give it away I’m done with Basic training now. I graduated on the 16th of February and am happy to be done with it. I was scheduled to go straight to Airborne school, but the Army thought they should divert me to another school. So as I type I’m half way through Javalin school.
The Javalin is a man portable shoulder fired, fire and forget missile. Basically you look through a screen, lock onto targets that are moving or stationary up to 2500 meters (by the book, but SF has hit things at over 4200 meters). The class sounds fun but is pretty boring. We get nights off though and weekends too with the exception of this weekend because we had to help with a concert that was put on for basic training privates on base. We worked from 8 am until 11 pm last night. Needless to say I’m tired today and got to sleep in until 6. Although being graduated from basic and now actually being a specialist I had some fun yelling at privates and telling them what to do. So that was fun. I put up with it for 14 weeks so it was nice to be the one in charge for once.
read more on the Javelin Missile here
This last weekend was just what I had been waiting for. Most of my family was able to make it out to the great metropolis of Columbus Georgia. Josh, Krista, Dad, Mom, Haley, Seven, Michael and then Jessica flew in from india. You will notice Jules and Matt didn’t show up. That is because they hate me... No I’m just kidding. I love you guys and understand not wanting to come to Ft Benning. Believe me, I understand.
So what next? Glad you asked. I head to Airborne school on Friday March 2nd and will be there for 3 weeks. Then I head to RIP (Ranger indoctrination). If all goes well I should be out of here soon and back with my family moving to our new home.
As you now may have guessed I have my computer with me so you can email me. I also have my phone if you wish to call or text do so freely, but I can’t always answer due to training and what not. I would say drop me a comment, but I’m in the process of fixing that so if it is there do so, if not call or email me.

Here are some pictures of my graduation and family

Time Flies When Drill Sergeants Are waiting For you.

Well it seems like just yesterday I was leaving to start this wonderful journey, and here I am back again and leaving again. I was blessed to have just over 2 weeks to come home and relax with friends and family for the holidays. I personally think that they were crazy to let a bunch of guys that just started to shape up go home and get lazy again, but I didn’t argue with the chance to come home and see my family. If I didn’t call or text you it isn’t because I hate you at all, in fact I spent most of my time with my wife, son and family (since Haley lives in their house right now). You would think 2 weeks is a lot of time but I’m here to tell you that it really isn’t. So please don’t be offended if you didn’t see or hear much from me.
Tonight I get on a plane at 11:15 bound for Chicago and then on to Atlanta. There I will catch a bus to Fort Benning and I’m sure be greeted with loving arms by everyone. I will graduate from OSUT (Basic and AIT) on the 16th of February and then I’m on to jump out of good airplanes for a few weeks. My family is planning at this point to attend so it is comforting knowing that I will get to see them again in 6 weeks or so. Time flies in Georgia so it will feel like no time at all.
Besides leaving family and the comforts of home... like sleep and not being yelled at for talking at dinner... I’m really looking forward to getting back and continuing my training. It has been a challenge at times, but I love it. I like that I’m learning new limits that I didn’t know I could reach and the constant physical demands that I’m forced to accomplish when on my own I would think I couldn’t complete.
Thanks to all that I was able to see for the fun times (Jon we have to play more Halo when I get back). Theater Surfing is also fun if you wondered. It is possible to finish a whole rack of ribs at Roadhouse with Garlic Mashers, 3 rolls and peanuts and not feel stuffed. 18 month year olds do not have the ability to sit through all of “Cars”. The sun comes out a lot more at Fort Benning than Aumsville. A&W still has the best bacon cheeseburger and Peanut Butter M&M’s are awesome.

Seacrest Out