More Fun With the Camera

So, I've come to the conclusion that I will be taking a lot more pictures with my camera. I love this thing, and you can take a picture of just about ANYTHING! And until I get something else of interest taking my time, I'll be posting a lot of pictures of whatever I find in my camera.

I think I'm going to start a blog just for pictures. They'll be pictures of interest for me of course, ones that have semi-artistic merit and not just a snap shot of people picking their noses.

Yesterday I watched the niece and nephew practice Soccer. They're four and five (well, Brinley's almost five, and Cody'll be six this summer) and watching a bunch of little kids play soccer is quite hilarious. They keep wanting to touch the ball with their hands and you have to use visual pictures to get them to understand the game. Like they have to pretend to be carrots, and carrots don't have hands.

They had practice in Manito Park, and I observed with my camera in hand. My sister Julie got recruited as the Soccer Coach kind of last minute, which is quite funny because I don't think she really knows a thing about soccer. Fortunately, these are little kids so the rules are extra simplified for them.

I must say that I'm really loving my camera.


Brinely can be such a ham sometimes. She just got recruited this week to play soccer with her cousin and she LOVES it.


Cody found a stick, and began to want to play hockey with the soccer balls. We had to put an end to that real quick.

He had to wear that hat.


I got this little girl in action, and I love how this shot turned out. She's quite the little Soccer Player. There's Cody running up behind her.


Playing with continuous shot on my camera, I got a series of shots of Brinley running. I had to play around so I merged them together into one photo.

Not a perfect merge by any means, but I love how clear the shot was.

I took advantage of being in Manato Park and saw some birds, so I took some bird shots as well.



I've always wanted to get shots of birds and animals in flight. Not all came out clear, because there was about fifty billion birds there and they were all over the place, so you kind of had to point the camera and try to take the pic, hoping it would turn out. Well this one did.


This poor duck is clearly mutated or something. But she's not so ugly that she doesn't have a mate, who appears to be right there protecting her. Ah, love is clearly blind.


More fun with those micro close up shots. I can see myself potentially doing a lot of these. I hope I don't burn other people out of them.

There's a green house in Manito Park which has all of these really pretty flowers, and even a banana tree. I took a lot of closeups while I was there.

I'm sure I'll be posting more pics in the near future.

The Digital Toys of My Life

In continuation of my previous post about my new 'toy', which is what I call anything that deals in electronics, whether it be cameras, laptops or Nintendo Wiis, they are my toys and I'm just a big gigantic sucker for them.

I've always loved taking pictures, and got a lot of grief for it when I was a young private in AIT. I took a ton of pictures, and it drove my class mates nuts. But they didn't seem to mind so much when I gave them duplicate pictures.

But when I got my digital camera, I was sold. As many pictures as I could take, and no need to worry about developing them? You know, I really haven't used the traditional 35 mm since then.

I thought maybe I should give you a brief history of my various Digital Cameras, since it's such a fantastically interesting topic I'm sure. I've included some examples of some photos each took, some of my favorites really, nothing cropped or altered except for size. Click to full view.

My First Camera - Sony DSC S50

This camera was my first digital camera, and I'm not sure why, but I was sold on it as soon as I saw it. I think the flip up view finder is what sold me now that I think about it. It's because of that flip up view finder that I still have this camera in my posession, because otherwise the poor thing is seriously outdated and obsolete.

It came with an 8 mb Memor Stick, and I think I upgraded to a 32 Mb for something around the neighborhood of $80. EIGHTY DOLLARS for a freaking 32 Meg MEMORY STICK!!!

I was told to get a camera with a minimum of 2.0 Megapixels as well, which was a good thing at the time, as I do believe this was 2001 when I made this purchase. I must have spent in the neighborhood of $600 on this gargantuan monster, but I still love this camera. It is a great little camera to just take shots of yourself, and I have great memories taken with it.

But only 15 second videos? I guess they thought your memory stick would get eaten alive if they expanded it anymore. And the videos never got bigger then 460 x 680. I think. Tiny.

I have a lot of great pictures taken with this camera, but this picture of me in Suriname continues to be one of my favorites.



These kids are so adorable. And when I flipped the viewfinder up and showed them I was taking their picture, they loved it! I wish I had a bigger memory stick, I would have taken more pictures.

My Second Camera - Sony DSC P93

Sony's are expensive. They are nice cameras and all, but you pay for that brand name for sure.

However, one of the reasons I went with a sony again for my second camera was not for the brand name, but for the memory stick. Yes, I'm a sucker, and I already had acquired a few memory sticks with my previous camera, and memory sticks were sill expensive! So I felt it necessary to cut the costs wherever I could and stick with what I already had. Besides, I love my other camera, I thought I would stick with a brand I liked.

Actually, I really didn't need to get a new camera for the purposes of staying new, because I liked my old one just fine. The problem was, I was getting ready to mobilize and I wanted a camera that I could keep with me, easy enough to slip into my ammo pouch on a mission. Because believe me, we weren't putting ammo in them.

This camera turned out to be great. In fact, I beat the crap out of it. It traveled all over Europe with me and took some great pictures. A lot of incriminating photos probably. Though I was careful never to post those online. Whatever.

I purchased this camera at the end of 2004, and it lasted me into 2006.


Me and one of my battle buddies SGT V, hitchen' a ride on the back of a Kosovar tractor in Letnicia.


This may be one of my favorite pictures in regards to Kosovo life. I wonder if he minds that I took it? It's just a dynamic photo, and a lucky shot of me taking the shot as we passed him by in our Hummvee.

The camera however, has been on its last leg for a while now. I didn't want to take a beat up old thing with me to Yellowstone, so I picked up another one before I left and handed this one down to my brother.

My Third Camera - Sony DSC S600

Yes, we have a bit of a pattern going on here. I had luck with the first two Sonys, and keeping with tradition of wanting to cut costs on memory sticks, I picked up a third.

I've taken some decent pictures with this camera, but it has by no means been a happy experience for me. Actually, this camera has frustrated me to no end. From the battery case popping loose and losing some good batteries while horse back riding to its less then stellar pictures under certain weather conditions to its feisty behavior, I have not been fond of this camera at all. I think it might be because its a lower end of the Sony brackett, and my other two cameras were mid range or higher (the first camera is definitely a nice one for the time and technology) that I just couldn't get happy with this camera. But I do keep it around for certain occaissions. One of which is to help augment my current point and shoot, which I will get to in a minute.

Meanwhile, after this camera, I stopped taking as many pictures. Mostly because its strange desire to suck batteries of their life a little to quickly, and its outright refusal to work unless coaxed in a certain way. It's stubborn I tell you. But I still find myself having to use it instead of my new one from time to time.


A lot of my yellowstone pics were taken with this camera, but when you see the pics my family took, you can tell which ones were taken with the 'cheap' camera and which ones were taken with the nice one.

The picture quality has definitely deteriorated. But I still have some good pics.


Rawhide was a good little horse. Yellowstone was fun, probably one of the funnest jobs I've ever had, but I was still getting past my deployment and was not the easiest person to work with that summer. High strung was a good term to use, a lot of things were going on at that time and though I don't regret the experience, I wish things had ended differently then they had. But that's another long story. Doing a lot better now.

Yes, this camera was purchased in 2006.

My Fourth Camera - Sony DSC T10

This is the last Sony I will probably own. Don't get me wrong, I love this camera, but I'm kind of over the whole Sony bit. This camera also takes some pretty sweet pictures, but unfortunately, I've had some bad luck with it.

I purchased it for Drill Sergeant School, wanting something small and portable and NOT my third camera, and the memory stick was again a factor. However this camera has had its share of woes.

During DSS, something happened and it just stopped working. I don't know what I did (probably dropped it) but fortunately for me, it's still under warranty. I had to use my loathesome third camera for DSS instead, and ended up not taking a whole lot of pics because of this.

The other problem is charging the battery and downloading pictures onto my computer. Unlike my first camera, which can be plugged into charge and therefore you can always take pictures, this one tends to like to run out of juice, and I have a nasty habit of misplacing the charger. I also don't know what happened to my USB adaptor, which is a little different then your standard adaptor, and so I use my third camera to download pictures onto my computer. It gets a little tiresome. My picture taking has suffered because of it.


I did this photoshoot in December, you might recognize the picture a bit. Half were taken with this camera, half with my sisters when I ran out of memory card space. *sighs*. As mentioned, I haven't taken a whole lot of pictures with this camera. But I'm trying to change that. Its a great little point and shoot, as long as I keep the battery charged.

My Digital *Non* Camera - Vivitar Digital Camera Binocular

Don't tell me what made me take a momentary lapse in sanity and think this was a good idea. I should know better then to buy cheap crap electronics like this. But alas, last Christmas, I had more money then I knew what to do with and I thought with my Employee Discount it was worth checking out.

Well, it was cheap, thankfully, but that should have been my first clue. I just always liked the idea of being able to zoom in really close and take a picture. I can zoom with my other cameras, but I never could get as close as I wanted too. I've always wanted to get better pictures then I get, so I thought I would give this a try.


I could probably get them for false advertising, because this is not what the picture looks like. Not by a long shot. It makes it look like it takes crystal clear SLR quality photos. Hah!

I took a couple. They turned out a horrid blurry mess. I never tried again. But the camera was fortunately very cheap.

Very very cheap.

That should have been a warning.

They do work as a pair of binoculars though.

My Fifth Camera - Canon DSLR EOS 40D

It's very pretty.

It takes very pretty pictures too.

I'm still getting the hang of it and am trying to baby it and make sure it lasts for many years to come. I bought this thing to focus more on making photography more of a hobby of mine, and encourage me to get outdoors and go visit family more often. So there is extra incentive for me buying this gargantuan thing. It encourages me to get SOCIAL! And continue to be a camera happy person, yes, but there is nothing wrong with that. And I am encouraged to look around at things a little differently.

I'll probably save up for some different lenses later, but man how I wish I had this thing when I was in Yellowstone. It would have taken AWESOME pictures!

But this will go to Knox with me. I'm not sure how often I will get a chance to use it, because I can't take pictures and do the shark attack at the same time, and I don't trust another person that is not family with it yet. Well, except Julie, as she is as bad as me when it comes to breaking things.

I'm going to make an extra effort to take more pictures, maybe not fascinating ones and I'll likely not be in them, but hey, it is my blog. And i can take pictures of whatever the heck I want!


I'll be taking some action shots tomorrow. I've got to get fully realized on this camera before I take it on the trail with me, and make sure I'm comfortable enough with it that I don't run over it with a car or submerge it in water. Otherwise, well, it's covered under warranty.

Exciting stuff, eh? There's my multitude of Cameras.

I only have so many because I'm single and haven't found a responsible way of using my money yet.

Grown Up Toys

I don't know what it is about being single, but being single means only answering for oneself, and when one wants to get a toy, one merely has to talk themselves in or out of it. So I talked myself into a special toy that I've been thinking about getting for some time now.

I picked up a DSLR camera. It is fancy shmancy and as soon as I took it home, I decided I wanted to test it out by taking it out and taking pictures of anything that could potentially be interesting.

I discovered that when one has a camera in hand, one focuses on what could be potentially be an interesting topic to photograph. And I've also discovered that anything could potentially be an interesting topic depending on how it is photographed.

Well, I still got a lot to learn, but I love the camera and how crisp and clear the pictures turned out. Though this is not the time of year to take a camera out to catch the sights. I think is previous years April should offer plenty of bloomage, but this April has started of a bit on the damper side.

And I need to further train my photographer's eye on things that could potentially be interesting to take pictures of.

Call me weird, but I want to take pictures of bugs.

It's still to early to get pictures of bugs however. Kentucky probably has a nice variety I wager.


One of the more interesting pics I took.

I bet I could talk my sister into heading over to river front park and taking some pics with me. Heck, either one in town would likely be game for it. One sister is quite the photographer, we could compare cameras!

Charlton Heston - RIP

As many of you know, I'm a bit of a gun nut. I like Guns. I have been a member of the NRA and truthfully I need to get my membership renewed sometime in the near future, before this next presidential election when you have people like Barack Obama who wants to ban all hand guns.

So, as many of you know, Charlton Heston, former President of the NRA, passed away yesterday at the age of 84.

I noted his passing mentioned on Perezhilton.com yesterday (one of my guilty pleasures I admit) and was curious as to what Perez's readers might say about the man they would likely see as their enemy due to his stance on gun rights.

Apparently, these people are rabid haters of anybody who wants to own a gun. And they are apparently also loyal supporters of the film maker Michael Moore.

Michael Moore's movies should be shown in Critical Thinking classes, and that's about it. The man distorts and edits so much in his movies that he completely tweaks the truth to fit his agenda. Because he does this, he has lost all credibility with me. I've seen Bowling for Columbine. I refuse to watch any other movies that he's made, no matter what message he's trying to portray that I may or may not agree with (and mostly I disagree, but the man is a complete narcissist so why should I even bother?)

Apparently, people still look at the film 'bowling for columbine' and it's character assassination of Charlton Heston as gospel. Including the apparent scene where he goes to a gun rally in Denver shortly after the Columbine incident and rallies his fellow gun-loving troops behind him.

I would link to the Bowling for Columbine Myths page to get a better understanding of all the problems with the film, but alas, the link is broken.

Whatever the case, Charlton Heston, a screen legend in Hollywood, a strong supporter of the civil rights movement in the 1960's, and a advocate of the 2nd ammendment, was a good man that does not deserve the hostility he has gotten from rabid lunatics of the left who follow Moore passionately.

Besides, if anything to encourage the ownership of guns, look at Switzerland and their unusually high gun ownership rate. They also have a very low homicide rate due to gun violence. Why? Because I know if I were a criminal, I would be less inclined to attack somebody if I knew they were armed.

Guns don't kill people, people kill people. If you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have the guns. There are a bunch of these little sayings, but you know what? They are quite true.

I guess I didn't mean to go on a bit of a rant on the owner ship of guns when I'm talking about the death of a great man, but I guess they go hand in hand, don't they?

Stop-Loss

I was just watching Bill O'Reilly and he had a little segment on movies involving the Iraq War, bringing to our attention the movie Stop-Loss, and how its bombed in theaters stateside.

I watched as it seemed like people were describing this movie as not Anti-War but Pro-Soldier. I haven't seen the movie myself and I admit I have no intention of seeing it. But I've had no desire to see it since I heard of it. Because its about whining and complaining. And I'll go further as to why I think most people, and a lot of soldiers are turned off by this.

This is a volunteer military. We have not enacted the draft. When you sign the dotted line, you are signing a contract that states that you are getting pay and benefits and sometimes a whole lot of money for your service. You are getting something for something. And the military is expecting you to hold onto your end of the bargain.

What a lot of people don't seem to understand is the eight year contract that EVERYONE who joins the military signs. Meaning you are still in the military after your initial two or four year contract is up. They can still call on you and ship you overseas if they have need of you.

When you hear soldiers coming back from Iraq bitching and complaining of being stop-lossed, calling it a backdoor draft, I call bull. Nobody forced you to sign the contract, you did it because you were expecting something in return. Granted, some people's experiences in the military are not the greatest either. You may have had a bad experience, poor leadership, which has killed more then one career that I know of (and nearly killed my own) but you still have an obligation, as the military does provide plenty of opportunity and benefits if you take advantage of them.

So I look at this movie Stop-Loss and it is no surprise to me that it bombed. Telling me a story about a soldier who served faithfully, then gets back and gets stop-lossed and gets mad about it, shows to me that you are showing a soldier who is not living by the army values of Loyalty, Duty, Selfless Service or Honor. This isn't going to fly in the military community, unless its other dirtbags that are whining too.

Thanks but no thanks. Show me a story of a soldier who deserves my admiration and respect. Tell me a story of a soldier's soldier. They used to make movies all the time. Why can't we have a Saving Private Ryan of the Iraq War?

This movie is not Anti-War, well maybe not. I'm not one to judge, I haven't seen it so I can't judge it on that regard. But it is not showing the better side of the American solider. No thanks, I'll save my money.

Thanks For Flying and Serving

I'm traveling in uniform. I have found that traveling in uniform has its downsides, but it has its perks as well.

One, if you are in uniform, you don't have to remove your boots when you walk through the check point. Two, you get a lot of people thanking you for your service. Three, if there is an empty seat in first class, the flight crew will come up to you and ask if you would like to sit there.

So on my way from Denver to Oklahoma City, I flew first class for the first time. Ever.

It was nice. I had plenty of leg room. They actually served my drink in a glass. I was the first one off the plane.

But I look back, I didn't really need to fly first class. Actually, I was having a nice conversation with the people next to me and actually hesitated taking the seat because I was leaving them.

But its still nice to get noticed and thanked.

The downside to traveling in uniform? Well, you stand out like a soar thumb. You can't walk around with headphones in your ears and you have to be extra cautious about what you are doing because you are representing the the military and you have to remain a professional.

But when you get somebody who comes up to you and thanks you sincerely for your service, it does make it worth it.

Even if I do make a living out of yelling at people.

Maid Service

I'm currently staying at a pretty nice hotel waiting for my flight to leave later today. Things have been fairly easy here, but I didn't fail to notice that the maid service is not that smart.

In a lot of hotels these days, they have this little announcement where they ask you to reuse the towels to conserve water and all of this, which I'm all for. I mean, I don't have to have a clean towel every time I use the shower. So I took a shower, used their soap and shampoos and after I was done I draped the towel over the shower curtain to let it dry out. I didn't let anything fall on the floor.

Of course, I had some hair ties and a soap container in a plastic bag, which was wrapped around the rest of my toiletries to prevent them from leaking all over my luggage.

Anyway. I came back after the first day, to reveal that although it states that they ask us to do our part to conserve water for the environment, I find my soaps and towels replaced, and the plastic bag is thrown away.

Grr. . .

The next day, I put the conservation sign up NEXT to my towel, hoping they might get the hint that I don't need it to be replaced. I mean, they tell me to throw the towel on the floor if I want a new one, I'm perfectly content to use the other one. I mean, it's just water I'm drying off myself after a shower.

They still replaced all of the towels. But strangely, they left the soap alone.

I would take it, but I don't have anything to carry it back in. Hmm. . .

I'm not against doing a little conservation here and there. But it makes it difficult when the hotel doesn't cooperate with their own policy.

I guess next time I'll put that don't disturb sign on the door. But I like getting into a made bed that night.

April Fools!

So, I'm waiting at Denver International to catch my flight to my next destination, which should be leaving here in about an hour. So I'm just chilling out in the glorious USO that is here. Quite possibly one of the nicest USOs I've ever been too.

Um, the thing is, I should have been at my destination a few hours ago.

Let me explain.

Whenever I have to travel anywhere, I get a little antsy the night before and can't sleep. Such as was the case last night. So I set my alarm for 0410 because I had a 6 AM flight I had to catch. I did my thing, and to doubly make sure that everything was set, I checked my alarm again. And accidentally shut it off.

Causing me to sleep in and miss my flight. And nothing makes you panic like thinking you missed a flight. As an NCO, I need to be more responsible about these things, shouldn't I?

So, I won't be flying into my destination until about 10 PM. A good nine and a half hours later then I should have been.

I just hope I don't miss any important briefings or what ever happened today. We're crossing fingers that this was a traveling day but I'm sure I'm going to have to make up for something tomorrow.

Don't you hate playing an April Fool's joke on yourself? Gah!

Random Randomness

Ok, I'm in the mood to try something, and I want my reader's input. I'm not going to tell you what it is, but I want it to be somewhat random.

Post in my comments a suggestion for any one or all of the things listed below. The only request I have is don't post something somebody else has already posted, like if somebody else says Cat, please don't write down Cat as well, though try to think of answers before you read other people's suggestions. I want to keep this diversified.

I want from you:

An Animal
A Color
A Verb
A Place
A Name
An Emotion
A Word

Answer the above however you will. We'll see what comes out of it, eh?

Being Aunt Kami

My nephew Cody came over with his parents today and dropped off things for the Yard Sale. He came and said hi to me and we bonked heads, something I started with him when he was a baby. So we sat there staring into each others eyes with our foreheads touching and I was telling him how he looked like a Cyclops.

He then made the mention to me of 'why are you always joking around, aunt Kami?'

I guess it's because I haven't had kids of my own yet.

Being the single aunt, I have a reputation of being the 'fun one'. I'm also the one with the toys.

My neice, Isabel and I were playing video games right after I got back from Kosovo. I was whoopin' her and teasing her about it and she replied 'of course, the teenager is going to beat me.' I thought this was amusing to say the least, she may have been nine at the time. I turned to her and asked 'Teenager? How old do you think I am?'

Her reply? 'I don't know, Thirteen?'

I had to remind her that I do drive a car, and in fact, have driven a car since she was born. She proceeded to get somewhat embarrassed.

I thought it was hilarious. I don't know why, but kids seem to think I'm roughly their age.

To Tan or Not To Tan

I am plagued.

I am pasty pale and very much white. It wouldn't be so bad if my body was all one color, but my upper body will get a little tan whereas my legs have a tendency to remain nearly transluscent. And I am more often then not faced with one of those dilemmas that pop culture refers to as a 'catch 22'.

I wear pants to cover my pasty pale legs. However, if I wear pants, they will never see sun. But if I wear shorts, I am baring my legs for all to see. And they are pasty and very pale and not suitable for public display. The swedish blood is quite evident. It doesn't help matters when it is still snowing and its almost April, so therefore, my legs will see even less sun.

The thing is, I hit the trail in May (trail being army term for Drill Sergeant duties). I am going to Kentucky, and I hear the climate there is a little more warm then Eastern Washington. I fear that one day, I will be out in the sun a little to long and I will burn. And nothing screams sexy like the fashionable army tan. Red face, neck, hands, and nowhere else.

Furthermore, the climate will mean doing Physical Training in Shorts. So even if I choose to wear ACUs and Combat boots most of the time, my legs will be on display in the mornings at the very least.

Last year, I got some minutes at a tanning booth, just to give myself a little color I guess. I've noticed my complexion does a lot better when I have a bit of a tan. Well, I went for a few weeks and stopped going. Driving by the other day, I decided to look at doing it again, because I really do need some color! If nothing else, to prevent me from going beet red that one day I see a bit more sun then usual.

Low and behold, I still have minutes! So I'm working on building up that base tan again and hopefully getting some color in these rather dingy and transclucent legs of mine.

I even got some tanner to put on them, the heavy duty tingly girl stuff to force them to get color. I put it on my legs and only on my legs, sit back and relax in the tanning booth listening to music for a few minutes.

So far, I'm noticing a difference in my face and arms and body, the areas that tan.

My legs still remain unsuitable for public display.

I'll give 'em a month. If I can't get them tan in that time, I give up.

Which Disney Girl are You?

Granted, probably not for the guys. I thought maybe I'd get Mulan or something (my favorite Disney Heroine) but apparently my daydreaminess and creativity won out.

Find Out Which Disney Girl You Are! created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Alice Have you fallen down the rabbit hole lately? Or played croquet with a deck of cards? Either way, you're so very much like Alice! Her wild imagination and constant ability to daydream got her in so much trouble - you've probably heard your mother or teacher lecture you about having your head in the clouds! Remember to stay grounded most of the time, however, because life can get away from you when you're always dreaming about someplace else! Alice 79% Megara 75% Belle 71% Jane 71% Mulan 71% Tinkerbell 54% Pocahontas 54% Snow White 54% Jasmine 54% Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) 54% Ariel 50% Violet 46% Cinderella 46% Esmerelda 29%

It's currently snowing. . .

What the blazes? Isn't the earth supposed to be warming? Or are the global warming scientists using the events of Day After Tomorrow to explain the bizarre weather patterns?

Well, I can look at the bright side.

Snowboarding should still be in season. I've only gone twice this season.

About Me - A Meme with PICTURES!

creative tag about favorites....

the rules are to answer the question using only pictures.
(this was a little trickey for me, but entertaining.)

I'm so tempted to say something further! But I will refrain to just posting pictures. Sometimes more then one.

my favorite

color:


holiday:


animal:



food:


vacation place:





job:



dessert/treat:


hobby:





me:



Tag - I don't tag on principal, but feel free to join in if you have a blog!

Thanks Julie

Movie Filming in Town

So, when I went into Auntie's bookstore to buy Carcassonne at the game stop attached, I noted a sign on the door that stated something along the lines of 'if you enter this establishment, your likeness may appear in film without you being compensated' and I'm thinking 'are they filming a movie or something? Sure enough, I walk in and there are spotlights all over the place and I go up to the counter and ask what's going on.

Sure enough, they were filming a movie. Apparently it stars Christian Slater and Cuba Gooding Jr. I thought it was pretty sweet, but I wasn't about to go up and get in the middle of it considering they were working, but I did see Christian Slater from where I was standing.

I liked him in Murder in the First and Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, but he hasn't been in a whole lot of movies lately, has he?

I don't know what movie they are filming, but I always thought it would be cool to pop in on a movie one day, just in the back ground.

Carcassonne

Holy Expansion Pack Batman!

When I was on my date this weekend, Chris (the guy I was hooked up with) brought in this game called Carcassonne and all six of us huddled around in a circle and played it.

We weren't exactly sure what we were going to do, the date was rather random and unplanned though we knew we were going to do it for the last month, so we made a decision that whoever won the game would decide where we would go to eat dinner.

Carcassonne is this German game that won game of the year in 2001 and for people into Board Games its quite popular. Well, I have never heard of it and its many many expansions until we played it on Saturday. It takes a bit to get used to but I was hooked!

Maybe because I unintentionally picked up on it and kicked everybody's butt by winning the game!

We ended up eating Thai, and came back afterward to play Rock Band on Xbox 360 (which is a very fun and addictive game, I will be picking it up when it comes out for the Wii) but I decided that I would find out more about Carcassonne when I got home.

Well, I went driving around town and headed over to a game place and picked up Carcassonne and the expansion set Inns and Cathedrals. And noticed that there was a gob of other expansions as well. I glanced them over and picked them up as well.

Overall five expansion sets, as well as three mini expansions. The store clerk let me know that playing all the expansions will run the game a few more hours, but it looks like fun if you can get a group of people to play! There is the Count of Carcassonne, Traders and Builders, Kings and Scouts, the River II, The Tower, the Princess and the Dragon, and Abbeys and Manors. I went nuts, for lack of a better word. I think I'm going to force the family to get together and play it with me sometime later this week.

So Marnie, let Chris know that the Carcassonne game was a hit with me at least. :)

Childhood Nastalgia of Strange Foods

When I was a strange wee child of perhaps eight or nine, my favorite food in the world was microwave burritos. And not just ANY microwave burrito, it had to be Lynn Wilson microwave burritos, preferably the beef and bean, which was my favorite. I don't know what it was about them, but they were the bestest things ever in my mind's eye, and according to my stomach.

For some reason, the only place I have ever seen Lynn Wilson Burritos is in a supermarket called Smith's, which I've only really seen in Utah and surrounding states. There are no Smith's in Washington, though Smith's is owned by Kroeger, and Kroeger owns Fred Meyer, and we have Fred Meyer, so why don't we have Lynn Wilson Burritos? I don't know.

When we moved from Utah to California in 1990, I left behind the Lynn Wilson Burritos of my childhood cravings and missed them terribly. Being the absurdly strange child that I was, and having understanding parents, whenever we made a trek back to Utah for whatever reason, we picked up a box of Lynn Wilson Burritos and brought them back with us to California, and I would try to stretch them out for as long as I could, but it didn't help when everybody ate them with me. They were gone in a few short weeks, and I had to wait for another trip to Utah to restore my supply. But trips to Utah were very few and far between, so it was one of those special treats I got.

Well, fast forward a few years when I outgrew random food cravings such as a specific brand of Microwave Burrito, where I discovered that there are other foods out there that are pretty darn good as well (like Sushi, and Thai food) and now I don't crave the Lynn Wilson Burrito. However, on my recent trip to Utah, I couldn't resist. I made a short stop at a Smith's supermarket and picked up one loan Lynn Wilson Burrito for a paltry fifty cents. I threw it in the cooler for the trip home and when I got in last night, I put the thawed burrito in the microwave, nuked it and ate it.

It still tastes just like a Lynn Wilson Burrito.

Some things never change. Fortunately, my tastes have matured so I appreciate the finer aspects of life, and don't go craving microwaveable burritos anymore. But they are still good.

Road Trips and Best Friends

Over the weekend I went on a road trip down to Utah to visit some friends and family that live down that way. Well, I guess I had other intentions involved, I was trying to set my brother up with one of my best friends who I have known since Kindergarten. Well, things didn't quite click with them the way I would have preferred, but we had our friend get together and its strange how we have years between times we see each other but then we get together and it's like we've never been apart, and we talk with each other like we see each other every day.

I don't know what it is about old friends, but I have discovered that they are one of those things that you treasure. I only have a handful of friends that I can talk to like that, where its like nothing has changed except we've grown older.

For some reason, it is very difficult for me to keep friends. I make friends fairly easily enough, but keeping in contact with them or maintaining that friendship is especially difficult. It is something that both sides have to work to maintain, and it is harder as you grow older. Which is truly a pity really. I wish I was better at making and keeping friends, but I'm very grateful for the handful of friends I have managed to keep.

Meanwhile, the Road Trip was a nice break from the monotony of my life. I stayed with my sister and her rambunctious kids and had a few bonding moments with her, and realized that I do have the potential to be domesticated. I visited with my Aunt Nora and saw some of my cousins who I haven't seen in ages and realized just how much everyone has grown. It boggles me at times, I wish there wasn't such large gaps between these get togethers with friends and family.

Of course, there was the triple date where I was set up with a guy, who was really cool but unfortunately triple dates are more of a group get together with a lack of one on one interaction so I didn't get to know him that well. Three hours of rock band made it a fun night though :)

I have a feeling after my mob this summer that I will be attempting to move down to Utah and perhaps focus on the non existent career, take a break from trying to get ahead with the army, though I admit that it has been a great help in my life financially and in other ways. But I am feeling the need to work on other aspects, settle down and possibly work on other things.

I'm just grateful that there are friends and family in this world. Really, what would I do without them?

A B C 's

A-Attached or single: Single. Perhaps one of these days I can claim attachment.

B- Best Friend(s): My family is very close and my best friends here in town, but I will always consider my childhood friends Andrea and Marnie my best friends. We get together and we catch up like we haven't been apart.

C-Cake or Pie: I'm more of a Pie person. Preferably homemade apple. I've never been big into cake. Love brownies though :)

D-Day of Choice: I like Saturdays. There is something about them. But as you get older, and your schedule is not the 9-5 monday through friday beat, you come to discover that the day of the week really isn't that big of a deal. I'll probably answer differently when I have kids.

E- Essential Item: Laptop and a Wacom Drawing Tablet

F- Favorite Color: I'm big into earth tones and blues.

G- Gummi Bears or Worms: Hasbro Haribo's Gummi Bears are the BEST!

H- Hometown: I've lived all over the western US, and the army has taken me quite a few places, but since the family has lived here for 12 years this summer, Spokane has become home.

I- Indulgence(s): Internet, TV shows on DVD, a Wii that my nephew is borrowing, spontanious (somewhat) road trips,

J- January or July: I'm a Snowboarder and I love the snow (but not driving in it) so January has its ups, but I so remember summers as a kid and they still hold a special place with vacations and barbeques and staying up all night doing random stuff that it's a draw.

K-Kids: A lot of nieces and nephews, but so far none of my own.

L-Life is incomplete without: completeness? I really don't know to be honest. I've never thought about it.

M- Marriage Date: On a Date yet to be announced, sometime in the hopefully not to distant future (we'll shoot for the next four years or so)

N- Number of Siblings: 3 sisters 2 brothers.

O- Oranges or Apples: Lately its been Oranges. Orange juice, orange slices, whatever, I just like oranges.

P- Phobias or Fears: I've got a strange Eye fear where sharp pointed things pointing at my eye will make me nervous and my eyes will start to get irritated. For some reason, my neck is ismilarily sensitive. I used to have a horrid public speaking fear that I have gotten over, but I still get a little nervous and shakey sometime.

Q- Quote: "I thought I was a good artist, then I became an Art Major"
~ Me (more true now then ever)

R- Reason To Smile: Random Roadtrips to see friends and family I haven't seen in years.

S- Season: Every season has special significance to me. I love the winter because I'm a snow junkie when it is heavy in the mountains, Spring is just so pretty when everything is in bloom, Summer is all about enjoying the weather and doing things with the family, and autumn means the leaves are changing and of course, I'm a November Birthday so I can't say which one specifically. I have to admit I like the four seasons which is one of the benefits of living in Spokane.

T- Tag Six: Er, um, hmm. . . I have no clue. . . Tag you strange random person with a blog! You're it!

U- Unknown Fact About Me: I don't know if there is anything people DON'T know about me, I'm such a blunt and open person with really nothing to hide because I'm so bluntly honest with myself that I can never think of anything to say that people don't know about me. I've had a blog for too long.

V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: I love animals. They go great with Mashed Potatoes.

W- Worst Habit: I pick. At everything, whether it be chipping fingernail polish, wilting paint, wall paper, my face. . . by far my worst habit.

X- X-Rays or Ultrasounds: I have no children (this is kind of an odd one) I have had X-Rays from multiple injuries though.

Y- Your Favorite Food: Lately I've been big on Thai and Sushi.

Z- Zippers or Zebras: They're both a bit zaggy.

Thanks Julie

Commentifcations

So, note to self, don't click 'moderation' on the little box unless you want to approve EVERY LITTLE COMMENT! So the comments are back to normal again. Gees!

I've noticed a problem of not knowing if somebody is posting a comment to a REALLY OLD post unless I check Haloscan out regularly, until I decided to post a little thing in the bar on the side. It now gives you a preview of all recent comments! I guess it's a problem in that it doesn't necessarily tell you which post it is commenting on, but I thought I would just make do with it as it is better then checking out Haloscan. I can usually find out what post they are commenting on if I really want to know.

This is the only blog that now uses Haloscan. Somebody was generous in purchasing me an upgraded account for Haloscan about the same time I reached my 15 minutes of fame toting an M203 and it has never gone away. Kind of sweet, and really nice of the person who purchased it for me ((whoever that was, I am very appreciative, I promise :) )). Every other blog on this website has gone to the default blogger service, even my milblog (as it was deleting comments after a year anyway, but it still makes me sad) but if I want to fork over the dough for the upgraded account, I would prefer Haloscan.

Dream Interpretation

I've had issues with my dreams recently, where I'm having somewhat recurring themes. I dream a lot, but I don't always remember my dreams the next morning, but there are a few dreams that I remember quite vividly.

How Can You Not Tell I'm Pantless?

The one dream I've had recently is the dream that I'm in Knox, trying to train recruits that are all male, and for some reason, I'm not wearing pants. This dream is infuriating to the Nth degree because throughout the dream I'm trying to solve my pants problem and I'm getting hustled around that I don't have time to fix it. Furthermore, nobody seems to notice that I'm not wearing pants but me. Every time I dream it feels real so even though the dream is absurd, I can't escape the not wearing pants scenerio and I don't entirely feel rested.

I've been kind of wondering what these kinds of dreams mean, so I went to a dream interpretation website and looked it up. Turn out that having naked dreams is actually a common theme, and I've had naked dreams before, but the pantless dream is actually not an uncommon dream theme, and this particular dream fits the standard 'naked' dream quite well.

Am I feeling like I'm not cut out to be a Drill Sergeant and when I get to Knox, it will be more then confirmed that I'm not supposed to be there? When I was in Jackson last fall, I felt like I was capable of doing the job but looking back, I realize now that I made quite a few mistakes while I was there, valuable mistakes because I learned a lot from them, but they were the kinds of things that the soldiers notice and take advantage of. I had my share of mishaps while at Jackson and am definitely a rookie drill sergeant, so does this mean that I'm sensing a lack of confidence in myself that everyone will notice me and see that I'm not quite cut out for this job?

I think I'll be fine, it will be a lot different when I'm training soldiers for the full 9 weeks. I'm sure I'll make mistakes, but I just can't admit it. Afterall, Drill Sergeants don't admit to mistakes.

I Believe I Can Fly. . .

I was looking at the other common dreams in that website and noticed that I've experienced them all to some degree. I've been wondering what a few of them mean for some time. Apparently there are some people who never experience the dream where they can fly, but I have these dreams quite frequently, and they are quite surreal because you actually feel like you are flying. I don't remember much about the dreams other then the fact that I can fly and I feel like I can actually fly.

This is said to be a sign of empowerment, which is somewhat of a conflict with my previous Pantless dreams. Of course, sometimes I feel like I can't stay in the air, or I'm not really flying but rather bounding.

Why Can't This Guy Just Leave Me Alone?

The Chase dreams are a little surreal too. Where you are running from something or somebody and you fall down and can't get up off the ground. I had a dream about my former Boss from Kosovo (who it has been noted in the past, we have a mutual loathing of each other) hunting me down and I was trying to run away from him. Strange, I had this dream right after I got back from the Psych Eval last July where I was told that my feelings toward my boss were perfectly normal for somebody such as myself, a Dysthemic, trying to cope with a person that has Narcissist traits. This felt liberating to me, thinking that I wasn't crazy afterall.

And then I had the chase dream, where I was running from him. I haven't really given him a thought since that dream, and I don't think I dreamed something like that since, but it was suggesting in the dream website that it is a sign that I'm not confronting something, but rather running away from it. I'm trying to figure this out, because I felt like I did confront it. But maybe it was a sign that I was letting something bother me that I should have let go of a long time ago?

I don't remember a lot of details of that dream, but I do remember the chase and how infuriating it was, as well as a bit terrifying.

I'm to Young For Dentures

The other dream I have frequently is where a tooth falls out. I can feel the empty place in my gums where the tooth was as well. It's not my whole jaw falling out, or my face rotting off of my skull, it's usually just one or two teeth. But the dream is all about how that feels, and I can feel it fall out, and I always think these dreams are real, that I've really lost my teeth!

This is apparently a dream about my physical appearance, and my own vanity with myself. If you are dreaming about your teeth falling out, it is theorized to mean you have an anxiety about your appearance. This would make sense I guess, despite what people feel about me, sometimes I don't see myself as very attractive, I've had periods in my life where I have felt downright disgusting (Kosovo?) and completely unattractive. In my youth, I didn't see myself as attractive at all, and in fact was a little surprised by the amount of attention I recieved from this. In fact, I think that confidence booster helped me survive my time in Kosovo, because it was something I needed to help me get through my time there. But I've never seen myself as this great beauty.

This analysis makes sense to me, but for some reason I've always wondered about these teeth dreams and always thought they were related more to your actual teeth.

Don't I Need a Man First?

The other dream I sometimes have is the dream that I'm pregnant and have a child. I don't really remember to much about these dreams other then they are a little confusing to me. I've always thought this was a subconscious feeling for me to settle down and have kids, but according to dream interpretation, it can also mean that I am drawn to new ideas or new beginnings. It makes sense I guess. Next time I have a pregnancy dream I need to pay attention to what is going on around me during my waking life.

I don't think Dream Interpretation is an exact science, or if dreams really mean anything, but I've always been fascinated by the subconscious and the psyche, so I'm open to the possibility that there is more to your dreams then just a random series of events that makes absolutely no sense.

Nevertheless, I think I'm going to pay attention more to my dreams from now on. . .

DreamMoods.com

Iz blogginz

I'm so out of the times that I've only recently discovered lolcats.

I couldn't resist, but I fail at lolspeak. I tried anyway. lolferitz!




So stupid, yet so funny. I wanted to caption my horse pic, but I think it's epic fail.

Oh well.




Then there is THIS one.


moar funny pictures

lolhorz

Kami vs Risawn

Um, I decided to finally change my sign on so that when I sign into other blogs I sign is as Kami instead of Risawn. This is probably due to the fact that most of the blogs I follow are family blogs instead of random blogs, and everyone knows me as Kami. In the real world, nobody knows me as Risawn. It's kind of my geek handle I guess, I never get called that in the real world.

It's a Mad World

Ok, I need to go out and do a lot of research, because I have discovered I'm completely clueless about this year's nominations for President. We got McCain who has pretty much clenched the Republican Nomination for President, and we've got the ongoing battle between Clinton and Obama.

For the longest time, I was on the 'anybody but Clinton' fence, but that is showing to be a bad choice of words.

So you've got the Lefties who are all going nuts over Obama, McCain appears to be getting the moderate vote, and Conservatives are actually stumping for Clinton? What is this world coming to when you have Ann Coulter actively campaigning for Hillary?

But what do I know, honestly? I just found out I don't know jack! I need to look at what is important to me in this election and see who is running on what platforms and figure out who is about what and who is most compatible with me.

Ironically, I admit to stumping for Obama on the democratic ticket, but now I'm wishing that Hillary was in the lead again.

What the hell? I think I'm going to focus on stocking up on necessities and wait for the end of the world, because hell is certainly about to freeze over.

Anybody know any good links to get through the jargon of exactly what the candidates stance is? Or should I even bother asking?

You Suck at Photoshop

Really, you do.

Be sure to watch all videos (there's 8 so far). Very funny.

Hat tip: Chap.

I Made Dinner the Other Night

I did something the other night that is totally blogworthy of somebody's personal blog and all of my blogginess!

I cooked Dinner! And it didn't involve putting a tv dinner into the microwave! And what's more, believe it or not, thought it looks like it belongs in a James Lileks Book, it was actually EDIBLE!



I have potential to be domesticated afterall! I can rely on something other then Microwaveable Burritoes, Top Roman and Can's of Chicken Noodle Soup! I can cook Hamburger Helper!



Yes, I am so proud. And yes, that wallpaper has got to go. . .

SpeedLoading Are Us

Yes, I am a freakin' goofball.

And I can get quite keyed up when doing these sorts of things.

And people tell me I look like I'm 20. In this video they give me far to much credit. I look about twelve.

AKs and FS2000s

So we went firing a couple rifles the other day, and video taped it. I can be somewhat amusing to watch, but, well, the video can be a little boring at times as you watch me flinch a bit while firing the rifle (but I'm hitting targets! Unlike when I fired the handgun in the previous post, where I couldn't hit ANYTHING!


I don't think anybody can truly take me seriously.


That is a pretty sweet weapon though!


I didn't pose with Chuck (as in Norris) but it is a pretty fun rifle to shoot. And that sucker NEVER jams up, even though the FS2000 did. They were both pretty fun.

Dear World - I can't fire a Handgun

I suck! Suck suck suck suck SUCK!

Somebody count how many times I tell the camera I suck in this.

TV Shows and Anime

There is a plethero of TV shows I never watched before I saw them on DVD. And once I watch a TV show on DVD, I seem to get hooked.

I may have mentioned this dilemma in the past, my being hooked on various TV Shows.

You see, it all started with Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Buffy led to Angel.
I got hooked on Sliders, though they've only released three seasons and the show unfortunately went down hill after that.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the new series that started in 2003, I've been collecting since late 2004, never watched in on TV, because its painful to watch on TV
There's Smallville, which has jumped the shark about a half dozen times.
Lost, hopelessly addictive.
Heroes, which echoes Lost on addictiveness.
Avatar the Last Airbender, which is faux anime and was the one excuse I went with in my usual quest of saying 'I hate anime'.
Battlestar Galactica, which Season 3 comes out on DVD in two short weeks.
Countless kiddie shows I haven't seen since I was in third grade and produced by both Disney and Warner Bros.
And now, apparently, Fullmetal Alchemist.

The problem with Fullmetal Alchemist is this is 100% Anime, and carries all of the annoying traits that make me loathe Anime so much. They've got the freeze frame action shots, the mouths that go randomly up and down and don't sync to the words, characters suddenly chibifying when they go into states of hyperactivity, the horrible voice acting of little girls that are obviously played by adult women pretending to be little girls (and those gratingly annoying 'little girl' laughs), and the horrible voice acting in general. See, I hate anime, I love Avatar because it pretends to be Anime without actually being Anime for the above reasons (well, it does chibify it's characters when they freak out).

But then I watched Fullmetal Alchemist. I endured the things I hate about Anime to watch an episode that included a four year old girl who was the obvious Mary-sue character with the gratingly annoying laugh that everyone is supposed to go 'ah, how cute' and I'm thinking 'die, die!'.

Well, low and behold, they pull a twist and kill her. It is so lovingly twisted that I suddenly realized, 'you know, despite the horrible voice acting and the little girls you want to slap, this is a pretty cool show!'

So I shopped around, found the cheapest deal on the next disc, and bought it.

If I get hooked on one more freakin' TV series that I have to buy on DVD, I might as well file for bankruptcy. Well, either that or find a job.

What the heck, Knox is only a couple of months away :)

War Campaign Promises

Everyone knows I'm not a big fan of politicians, or politics, but during election years I tend to get into them, and this year is a big year for a whole lot of nothing, as it seems that no matter what, we're screwed.

So Hillary Clinton is making her way into winning the democratic nomination for President. At first I was in the ABC (anybody but Clinton) camp, until I learned that Barack Obama ain't much better and might as well be running as a communist.

We were talking during drill about one campaign promise both are touting that they can't keep. That would be the withdrawing from Iraq within 60 days in office, or at least that's Obama's promise.

What are people going to say when he doesn't back up that promise? Because if he pulls out, it's going to be slaughter over there and then they'll have a huge mess on their hands (of course, he'll blame it on Bush) and that four years will be all about trying to contain whatever happens as it escalates out of control. Pulling out of Iraq is the wrong answer. But if they find themselves unable to pull out of Iraq and talked into staying there, it will be a campaign promise they are unable to keep, and perhaps they'll get disenfranchised voters on that front when they don't pull out right away.

Pulling out of Iraq is a horrible campaign promise where you simply can't win. At least McCain has it right.

Yeah, I'm voting for McCain. And I'll be spending the time until the Presidential Election looking for reasons to vote for him, because as we all know, when you ride on a campaign of 'anybody but (enter name here, whether it be Bush or Clinton)', it doesn't win elections. I'm going to vote for somebody, not against somebody. And if I find that I can't find a good enough reason to vote for McCain, maybe I'll look at a suitable third party candidate.

But the thought of Hillary Clinton becoming my Commander in Chief makes my blood run cold.

This is War

I got an email about three weeks ago.

This Is War: Memories of Iraq is the feature length documentary that has everyone talking. Bold, brash and a little sick, This Is War takes viewers inside Iraq and reveals the story that can only be told by the men and the women living the deployment. Although featuring members of the Oregon National Guard 2/162, This Is War is really the story of all of America's warriors that have been deployed.

Already the winner of numerous awards (Best Documentary; Idaho International Film Festival, Florida Media Market and Sweet Onion Film Festivals) and accolades, This Is War is not a movie for the Left or the Right, it is simply a movie that showcases the reality, hopefulness, hopelessness, fear and joy in Iraq through the video and photos of the soldiers themselves, as they survive intense combat and the hunt for IEDs that define their mission.

Priced at $19.95, all sales of This Is War: Memories of Iraq help to support the Wounded Warrior Project, the National Combat History Archive and the Iraq/Afghanistan Oregon Memorial Fund.

I was given a copy of this documentary with a request to review it and write about it on my blog. I took a little longer then I meant to do so.

First off, I can agree that this is a film that is neither for nor against war, it's just a film about war, and about the soldiers that find themselves in the middle of it. It really is their story, their experiences, about their buddies in combat and the sense of brotherhood that comes with being a part of the military.

It follows an Oregon National Guard unit throughout their deployment in 2004 through Baghdad, filmed by the soldiers themselves from their view point. And it shows the soldiers being soldiers, putting a human face to our troops overseas, how the grunt on the ground thinks and feels about what is going on around him. It is frank and honest, sometimes very candid, soldiers video journaling their experiences right after it has happened, or in the middle of a mission.

Indeed, this is not anti-war propaganda like I've heard of other similar documentaries such as Stop Loss. This is a film that simply is what it is. I often look for good videos that I can potentially show trainees once I hit the trail, and this is a film that tells it like it is, from the soldiers themselves in the middle of combat. This is about lessons learned, and what to expect. Which is something I can take for granted, as I have yet to experience it myself.

I do heartily recommend viewing it for yourself, especially if you are curious about the war from the viewpoint of the soldiers themselves.

All proceeds go to help the Wounded Warriors Project. Click here to learn more and order

Disclaimers

So, with all this crap hitting the fan in Kosovo, I've been noticing a bit more spikeage in my blog readership, mostly from people who are apparently googling info about Kosovo and finding my blog. A lot of them seem to think that I don't know what I'm talking about, but then again they are looking at a blog post that is two and a half years old. Apparently some people over there don't think I know what I'm talking about.

Well, one, this post is two and a half years old, I'm not a journalist, I'm a freakin' blogger, and my blog is about my observations and what I think. Sometimes I tell it like it is but I don't have the full story. I certainly don't have the full story here. And I don't know much of anything now since I've been out of the country since January 2006. I left Kosovo two years ago.

Meanwhile, because I had a spammer, I had to go delete that comment out of my comment bar and ran into somebody who basically ripped me a new one for giving out sensitive information in regards to my job while I was over there. Er, hello? I'm a Preventive Medicine Specialist, other then releasing numbers and telling people there is a huge outbreak of Hepatitus C, there is nothing remotely classified about my job. When I was in Kosovo, on a day to day basis, I was bored out of my mind because everything ran smoothly and there was really nothing to do. My job was keeping our soldiers healthy, and if you look up PM on the internet, it will tell you the same thing. I took pictures, yes, but I didn't show anything in government buildings and never talked about upcoming missions, rather discussed them in retrospect after they had passed. And a lot of the missions, like the Medcaps and Vetcaps, were missions that were advertised to the people of Kosovo because it was a mission to go out and win the hearts and minds of people. They want you to talk about that stuff.

Besides, I'm not much of a milblogger if you haven't noticed. Now my job deals with Basic Combat Training and there is nothing classified about that. Not that I'll post much pictures anyway.

Want to hear my life? I'm going to Ft Knox this summer to train soldiers for the Summer Surge, because most people go to Basic Training in the Summer because that's when school get's out! Holy crap that's common sense! I'm not telling you WHEN I'm going, just that I'll be in Knox this summer. Yay for me.

Bloody hell!

Another TV Show?

I've been motivated to get things done around here. Seeing as I'm not currently working and have a lot of free time, and I'm only taking one class this quarter that doesn't really require me to put a lot of time and effort to my studies. Yeah.

So anyway, I threw a load of laundry in and was looking at the pile of laundry waiting for me in the laundry room. I live in my house with my brother, so it's just me and him. How do two people create so much freakin' laundry anyway? And it wasn't so much the laundry that had to get washed, no, it's the laundry waiting to get folded. I had five totes full of laundry just waiting to be folded, and I've been knowing this was coming because I've been running low on underwear (tmi, yes I know).

So we took on the task of folding the laundry, we brought it upstairs so we could watch TV while we were folding it to give us something to do, and my brother suggested we throw in the first disc of Battlestar Galactica. I've been avoiding this because I get hooked on TV shows and it's really annoying when you have other things more constructive to do and yet you want to watch TV. Let's see, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sliders, Heroes, Smallville, Lost, Avatar the Last Airbender, TMNT, Robot Chicken, how many other TV shows on DVD can I get hooked on? Really?

Well, guess what? We threw in the first disc, watched the miniseries, and now I'm hooked.

Damn you, Jared, why did you have to get me hooked on ANOTHER freakin' TV Show?

I've only watched the first two discs so far, but I'll be working through the first two seasons over the next week. Because, well, I've got nothing better going on in my life right now.

Well, other then running. And I just learned that the PT test next week is going to kick my butt.

Organizing the Downstairs is going to be on our agenda tomorrow. Which means we have to clear some room in the garage for the chairs that are taking up to much space.

Ramblings

Ok, I officially need to start looking for something *more* productive to do.

The snow is starting to melt and I've only taken advantage of the superb snow conditions twice this year. Call it me having a lack of income and wanting to conserve my money in anyway possible, which would be a good plan to live by even if I was working right now.

Overall I've just been taking advantage of my surplus of time by vedging around and getting projects that I've been meaning to do done. It has a lot of me drawing things and trying to figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life.

In the productive side, I really need to start running more. The snow has been keeping me from doing this, but now that it is melted, I should really take advantage of the sun and go get some running in.

I have a PT test in a week and a half, I want to at least pass it in the 70's in each event if I can *hah!* Being a reservist sometimes sucks.

Kosovo a Country?

So, over the weekend Kosovo decided to declare independence from Serbia.

Some people might have just glanced over this news as if it was nothing worth noting, considering we've been in Kosovo since 1999 and everyone is just bored with it.

But Kosovo suddenly becoming its own country is pretty big news, especially considering what it could mean for the Balkans, as Serbia doesn't want to release its hold on Kosovo yet and Russia has been very vocally opposed to Kosovo declaring independence without official UN support.

I guess they have a point, as they don't want people to get ideas that they can just break off from a larger nation and create their own country, but I don't think this could happen very often. The only reason Kosovo can declare independence is because NATO forces are there to keep the peace. But unless they can come up with some agreement with Serbia to allow them to remain their own soveriegn nation, NATO is going to be there for a long time, because as soon as we pull out, Serbia is just going to go right back in and take what they think is theirs.

I've said this for some time, there really is no peaceful resolution to Kosovo. Good thing the Kosovar Albanians love Americans. Although it would be kind of interesting to be there right now.

Blog Updated!

Ok, so I took some time to revamp the blog. The rest of the website looks the same, but the blog is all nice and new looking, and completely different from before.

Oh, and I got my comments back. yay!

Please let me know if you experience any glitches with the sight, or if its just me.

Meanwhile, well, what do you think? Indeed, it's all about me.

Doh!

Alright, so somebody mentioned a little problem to me in regards to my blog, so I moved to one of the default templates for the time being, until I can figure out what is wrong.

Anybody being attacked by spamware or sent to multiple websites when they visit the site? I just want to make sure that everything is working properly.

The blog needs to be revamped anyway. All my stuff will come back online sometime this week.

Edit - the comment bar from this page is temporary. if you want to comment on a post, click on the post preview bar on the side panel and the original page will come up.

With an exception to this post and posts following of course.

Election Worries

Why do I feel that no matter what happens, in November we're screwed?

For a while I was on the anybody but Hillary stump, but right now I'm feeling a bit of a chill from the whole Barack Obama camp, as though I still believe that Hillary is the worst thing that possibly could happen to this country, Obama ain't much better.

We'll be in a Socialist haven by January 2009. And Iraq will be in ruins by the middle of next year.

McCain won't be a whole lot better, but if he does get the Republican Nomination for President, I'll probably end up voting for him.

I'm worried where this country will be in four years.

Arts

More Arts

Other then the background, this is probably one of the most satisfying arts I've done in a while.



He actually originally had lightening wings, but they didn't come out right, so I took a file with them off.

Marines vs Berkeley

In other news that's taking up , is the whole Marines in Berkeley, CA. This gives you an inkling on the whole Looney Left, to kick out an officer recruiting station from their hippy town. Apparently one nutjob was quoted as saying something along the lines of the marines being close to the high school, and how they didn't feel that the high school located blocks away was safe.

Actually, from what I understand, the recruiting station is located near the university, because it's target is college graduates, seeing as its an Officer Recruiting station.

Man, if I wanted to become an officer in the Marine Corps, I would personally drive myself down to Berkeley just so I could be recruited from their office.

The Marines appear to be professionals in this whole debacle, stating it's business as Usual.

Code Pink, on the other hand, are proving more and more to be crazy and idiotic lunatics that apparently think defacing government property is not a crime when they do it, so long as the city has their back.

Well, Senator Jim DeMint has proposed taking the earmarked pork set aside for Berkeley so they can have their organic school catering federally funded by proposing the Semper Fi Act of 2008, which I honestly think should go through, even if it doesn't end up going to the Marines, I would just like to see money like this not being wasted on stupid crap.

I think that's one thing I liked about McCain is his anti-pork stance.

Berkeley California could fall off the face of the planet and I doubt many people will miss it.

What is with people who think that the right of Free Speech is the right to be free of consequences of what they say? I don't get it.

Anonymous and the War on CoS

There's been a lot going on in the world right now, some of which I'm not entirely sure I know much about.

Well, first there is the whole Anonymous war with the Church of Scientology, which they call Chanology, which is actually pretty fascinating as I never really understood what Scientology was all about. I have a couple of friends who are following this whole chanology thing and have been keeping me updated on the whole spiel, pretty interesting how an unorganized group with no obvious head has decided to take down an organization. I'm not a big fan of Scientology but the more I learn about it, the less I like the organization.



This video is about three weeks old, but its still pretty weird.

Not saying I'm a part of Anonymous or anything, I've got other things in my life, but I think I'm more on the side of Anonymous when you figure out some of the crap the CoS has done.

I should probably research this more.

Drill

This weekend was a drill weekend.

We have a program with the National Guard where we give the soldiers a taste of what to expect when they get into Basic Training, for all trainees that are in the split option program or are just waiting to head off to basic.

I did give them a little taste of what to expect, but they had me train them on the AT4 this weekend, which is a weapon I haven't seen since Basic training, and we just kind of played with it then. We didn't even go over it in DSS. But the AT4 is idiot proof, the instructions are written right on it, but of course, give me something idiot proof, and I'll give you a bigger idiot.

Of course, they didn't want us to go nuts and full scale drill sergeant on these soldiers, as they didn't want to scare them off, but I did smoke a couple of them for accountability reasons (one had a key fall out of their pocket during PT, another left their canteen somewhere) just to give them a taste. I discovered I can't smoke somebody with Little Man in the Woods without cracking a laugh, so I'll wait later in the cycle to do that one.

Drill Sergeants don't smile in front of Privates for the first three weeks.

But yeah, I need to get refreshened on my army knowledge, which can be difficult when you don't drill for two months (we didn't drill in January) and I haven't played drill sergeant since beginning of November.

But there is a PT test next month. Yikes, gotta run!

Mobilization is still on for May. Knox is a go!

Third Party Politics?

So. . .

I'm thinking this might be the year for a valid third party candidate to emerge from the wreckage of this primary season and become a viable candidate for President. I know a lot of people who are adamently opposed to Hillary, the GOP is on it's deathbed as a political party, they've burned too many bridges with the voters.

McCain is like 82 years old. If he wins the presidency to serve for two terms, he will be 91 or something. And he's too liberal in some of his politics, though I do like his stance on Pork Spending, but when you have conservatives like Ann Coulter and Glenn Beck saying they'll vote for Hillary over McCain, well, that's not promising. And I'd rather vote for a candidate that has no chance of winning the election rather then Hillary.

So, can a viable third party come out of the wood work to run for President? I hope so, if we want to get rid of this ridiculous two party system, this is the year to do it.

Otherwise, well, I was going to vote for Romney, but I guess I'll vote for Obama during the Primary, to get votes away from Hillary. I'd rather have Obama as President then Hillary, she's trying to come off as a moderate but anybody who does their research knows she's a socialist to her core, and a bit power hungry. And a closet lesbian.

No Hillary for me, thanks. I hate to think of what she'll do to my military if she gets in office. I shiver at the thought.

Projects and Hobbies Keep Time Occupied

I keep getting myself set up on little projects. This week it appears that I just want to focus on getting my info on my harddrives organized. Last week I was ripping a bunch of old VHS home videos to digital and of course in December I was transferring my CDs to MP3s so I can listen to them on my iPod and my Zune.

Don't ask me why I bought a Zune, other then it was a great deal and I liked a digital player that I could watch movies on. My iPod is old and doesn't have that option.

I've also got a few projects artwise going on as well. I signed up for a few art exchanges to play around with, just to give myself a feel for doing it again.

Of course, I ran into a lot of old pictuers I hadn't seen in forever, including looking at a few off my recovered hard drive that I initially thought I had lost. Like this pic of my nephew Cody with Blaine.



I really miss having Ferrets, but I have to get my own place before I can get them again, and I have to be able to maintain them a little better, so I have to have my house more organized.

Which means I'll probably never own Ferrets again :( My house is a mess.

I think I just need something fuzzy and cute, like a dog or something.

In March we're planning a road trip down to Utah to see friends and family. It's been long overdue.

Meanwhile, I'm feeling pretty confident on where I will be at the end of this year, and it will include me having a real job that I can focus on, and not a retail gig that doesn't like employees confronting shoplifters. Next week I'm probably going to go to a temp agency and look for temp work just to get by for now until I know more about my deployment or if it's even going to happen.

Endorsements

Well, apparently tomorrow is a big day in the political scheme of things. Across the country, people get to vote on who they want to run in the big race in November.

I'm backing Barack Obama for the Democrats and Mitt Romney for the Republicans.

I just realized I don't have any idea when the Washington State Primary is being held. Hmm. . .

Be sure to vote!

Well, Onto Other Things

I was moody yesterday. Then I discovered it was probably because I'm not feeling well.

Heck, I'm generally just a moody person, and I take opportunities to cultivate my moodiness for the purposes of jumping all over people when I hit the trail. One day.

*sighs*

Meanwhile, I drew a Mosquito.



I'm doing a homework assignment on Mosquitoes and took the opportunity of having to insert a picture into my assignment as an excuse to draw. I'm going to take all of the excuses I can get, because I need to draw more.