Friday, March 28, 2008

i'm just a bill

Well, I talked to one of my cousin's last night. According to my IM history it'd been almost a year since I last talked to her. It was pretty good, caught up, got her caught up on everything. Of course there wasn't much to catch up on. I lead a relatively boring life, so that makes things easier.
Tonight I talked to a friend that I hadn't in a few years. Knew her since junior/senior year of high school. I don't remember so well how long ago it was. So it's a week of reconnecting.

Earlier tonight the whole digital TV commercial came up. You know, where it's 'law' that we all have to get digital TV or get those nifty government coupons for a converter box. I mentioned it to my roommate who responded, "What?" I replied, "Because it's the law." And he asked me, "How did that become a law?"
And I wish this part of the story was snappy, but it wasn't and I had to stall. I pulled up my iTunes and played this song (excerpt courtesy of Amazon.com) for him. I thought it was very educational but all I got was laughs. He rephrased the question as to how digital television is mandatory by the government. To which I have no answer, not even a conspiracy theory. I'll look into it though.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

try it again

OK. I was going to do this whole blog thing where I was going to talk about my friend bringing over an Easter keg but I nixed that idea. Instead, I decided to do a quick blurb of my life in the last few weeks.

*inhale*
Went to go spend some time with my dad up in Cleveland. He's doing better, got to meet one of his doctors, got more info about his condition, and saw the improvement.

Then I went to my Reserve training, everything was FUBAR. Taking orders from a WOC (Warrant Officer Cadet) and cadets aren't in the chain of command. Don't get me wrong, I've known the guy for over two years and respect him, but from a legal standpoint it isn't legal to follow his orders. I also had to deal with a Sgt. that likes to flip-on his authority whenever it benefits him. Afterwards, the WOC decided to do some reorganization putting E-4s' into positions of power. Unfortunately, that meant that I lost my squad. I thought I was a good squad leader, but whatever, looks like I'm getting out in a few months and my replacement I've been training has to take charge a little sooner than I planned. What sucks though is all of the training I lined up has been disrupted because of the reorganization and re-planning.

During my Reserve weekend we went to the range down at Ft. Knox. Last year it was awesome, we got to qualify at a new facility with acoustic sensors and computerized displays. We qualified 90% first time go's, where previously we were qualifying low-20's (due to crappy ranges). So we went again, but this time with one of our sister units. Instead of the high-tech range, we went low-tech. Super low-tech. Paper targets. With old cardboard, no staples, no staple guns, and a ton of rain.

We started the range 2-hours late, we had to go to the store to get staples and staple guns. Then around 9am it began to rain. Rain + Paper targets = soggy targets. Then, as if nature said, "Screw you!" it added wind. We were forced to shut down the range an hour early (4pm). I had to zero and qualify in the rain, before it got bad. Instead of going back and chillin' I stayed out to help others zero and qualify. I almost spent the entire time we were out there in the rain and cold. Of course I didn't realize how close I had gotten to hypothermia until I got back and into dry clothes. Others (the non-commissioned officers) got to stay warm and dry while I did their jobs and helped train soldiers, but then I get chewed out by one of those warm/dry NCOs about one of my soldiers, that he was in-charge-of because they were back at the barracks and I was soaked at the range.

Now I'm in the 3rd week of the quarter. Catching up on missed homework. Lots of fun. Going to classes is getting harder.

Went out drinking on St. Patrick's Day. Ended up at Wal-Mart at 2am (amazingly not that drunk) and bought almost $80 in Lego Star Wars pieces.

Life is boring, even with a keg in my living room.
Easter Keg