Archive for July, 2007

• Thats a really big hill

  Date: 2007.07.25 | Category: I was too lazy to organize these | Response: 0

  I decided to climb a very big hill today… Well, most wouldn’t even dare call it a hill but they probably would call it a mountain. I drove up to Mount Rainier today and took a few photos While I was there I also recorded a few videos.
  

  The sound gets bad in the end but I said something to the effect of : The bugs are insane even though I covered myself with DEET. I’m heading down the hill and not up the one thats covered with the snow.

• Three thousand six hundred and twenty two

  Date: 2007.07.18 | Category: I was too lazy to organize these | Response: 0

  9/11 was the worst terrorist attack ever on US soil. Since that date, we’ve been on the hunt for terrorists in an effort to make our nation a safer place. Our goal is to eliminate terrorism and allow everyone to live without fear.

  The media sensationalizes almost everything – the don’t help us live without fear. Everything is a disaster, everything is an epedemic, everything is a reason to live in a state of fear.

  Its been estimated that we’ve spent 200-400 billion on military spending.

  We created a new Cabinet level member and office: The Department of Homeland Defense

  3,622 US military members have sacrificed their lives for our safety

  70,000 Iraqis have lost their lives

  Some estimate that up to 1.5 million people have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.

  The National Intelligence Estimate suggests that it has all been for nothing. We are no safer now than we have ever been in the past.

  Its a damn shame. I only hope something good can come out of this in the end.

• Apu needs the Kwik E Mart

  Date: 2007.07.14 | Category: I was too lazy to organize these | Response: 0

• Who needs the Kwik E Mart? I do!

  Date: 2007.07.13 | Category: Life as we know it | Response: 0

  We went to the Kwik E Mart in Seattle and took a few photos. I can’t wait to see The Simpsons movie. They were out of Krusty O’s but we did get some Buzz Cola. I was really hoping for some Duff beer but none was to be found. I did find a donut… mmm… donut… and it was quite good.

  admin edit – links removed

  Oh yeah… a quick video too!
  

• 6 stitches later

  Date: 2007.07.12 | Category: I was too lazy to organize these | Response: 0

  A series of unfortunate events unfolded this evening. While I was at the gym I was trying to instruct the girl on how to do some particular exercises. She wasn’t comfortable doing the exercises and I took that to mean that she just didn’t want to do them. I was wrong about that one. So, we came home and she was slightly… annoyed with me. I cooked dinner and started cleaning up the apartment while doing laundry. I was done with everything else but the dishes and the kitchen so I headed in there. She normally does the dishes because she is sweet and she knows that I loath the task. Tonight I was on KP duty. I was unloading the dishwasher when I knocked a chefs knife off the counter and onto the floor. Unfortunately for me, my foot was in between the knife and the floor. The knife took a stab at me (literally) and gave me a good ole bleeding gash. I remembered being calm about the situation and directing Jessica to grab me a exercise band to strap a sock to the wound. In essence, I made my own gauze and ace bandage. She was a bit frazzled at the onset and was very concerned. I knew that I hadn’t hurt myself that bad but I knew that I definitely was going to need a couple of stitches. I called my Flight Commander and passed on the information and headed off to the ER.

  I had to deal with the insurance when I got there because I wasn’t at a military hospital. I expect to be billed for the visit and then pass that on to Tricare (our insurance of sorts). Jessica asked the nurse for some gauze because I started to bleed through my quick fix and onto the floor. They saw me with a quickness and said that my quick fix bandage wasn’t half bad… it wasn’t half good either but it worked. The nurse started to irrigate the wound and thought that I was going to give her a tussle because it stung a bit more than I expected. She told me that we’d have to throw down if I kicked her because she didn’t get paid that much. I can’t say that I blame her.

  The PA came in and doped me all up and gave me six new stitches… hooray for medicine. They gave me a really strong pain killer and I don’t know how I’m going to react to it. Hopefully it won’t make me loopy… or so loopy I can’t handle myself. I’ll have to sort out the incident paperwork and the insurance and the military hospital stuff in the AM.

  There were two funny things about the whole situation -

  1. I had just sharpened that knife and Jessica had nicked herself the other day
  2. She wasn’t mad at me after I injured myself – I guess she does like me after all

• Crossing another ocean

  Date: 2007.07.12 | Category: I was too lazy to organize these | Response: 0

  If I had kept track of all of my military travel and could count it for frequent flyer miles I would have more than enough to take a trip to the other side of the planet. In a few months it appears that I will make yet another trip while collecting no miles. Its bound to be a hot and dusty place and I don’t know the location or date nor can I tell you. Odds are that it will be somewhere in ISRAFGHYIANONANAQ. (thank you daily show) I’ll do as I did before and keep on posting what I can. This trip should allow me to pay off another large chunk of credit debt and it allows me to get out of my tiny apartment. These are good things.

  Unfortunately, I’m leaving behind a girl that I’m crazy about – I will miss her.

  More information as it comes – as long as I can pass it on.

• The one constant

  Date: 2007.07.11 | Category: I was too lazy to organize these | Response: 0

  There are many things in life that you cannot count. You may wish that you could but deep in your soul you know that you can never expect it to happen. Some things, however, are always there for you in a time of need. No matter what is going on in your life it will be there for you. You can be in any part of the world and it can be going to hell around you and these constants will be true. So, today I’m writing about one constant in particular. I’m not writing about it because it’s of particular merit but because it’s the only thing I have to write about: the weather.

  I haven’t relegated myself to a porch with two other old codgers debating about the changing of the weather. I don’t do this mostly because I don’t possess a trick knee that swells or have any other weather related abnormalities. The weather here isn’t bad; it’s just… different than it has been since I’ve lived here. I know that I’ll be in for a harsh shock in a few weeks when I return to the place where I was born. Humidity will be at ridiculous levels and I will not know how to handle it. I will probably want to spend the majority of my time indoors in air conditioning like sane people do. Insane people work road construction during the middle of the day and ignore the high temperatures and the adverse conditions. Incredibly insane people do this job in Qatar or Kuwait. They work throughout the day covered in protective clothing that prevents their skin from bursting into flames. They look absolutely miserable but it is their existence. They do the job because it is theirs – they must do it to survive.

  

  I’m not facing terrible weather – it’s in the low 90′s and the humidity is low. I have access to water and shade when I need it. I don’t have overlords whipping my back when I take an extra second to move a box. They don’t scream and yell at me for my incompetence and then give me lashings. I haven’t been forced to work in cotton fields and call someone else “massa”. Its just a little warmer outside today than it has been and I don’t have anything else to write about.

• The wind

  Date: 2007.07.08 | Category: I was too lazy to organize these | Response: 0

  Its a strange strange video… but its also somehow cool

• Independence day

  Date: 2007.07.06 | Category: I was too lazy to organize these | Response: 0

  I, like many others across our nation, spent a large portion of the 4th out in the sun. As a result, I’m a bit more brown and red but its all good. During the evening I lit explosive items on fire… it was fun. I almost injured myself on a few different occasions but that’s about how it works… I’m the most dangerous explosives guy that you’ll ever meet.

  It sucks that there are so many of our boys overseas in the land of the dirt and bullets. I can only hope that they get home quickly and safely.

• Cancer

  Date: 2007.07.01 | Category: I was too lazy to organize these | Response: 2

  My dad has cancer and is going through chemo and radiation treatments. When I first found out I took it extremely hard. How in the world could such a great guy with the worlds toughest immune system actually get sick? Well, I don’t know how it happened but it did. He has got a bunch of people out there that are doing everything they can to support him and make sure that he gets to his treatments. I know that everything is going to come out well in the end but its going to be a tough road to travel. I’ll be heading back to Iowa near the end of the month to visit. He’ll be worn down at that point but I know that he’ll make a quick recovery.