Tales from DeKalb

Freedom, Granted by Law?

2009-02-13T21:36:00.001-06:00

James 1: 25
25But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

I've been thinking lately about the concept that God's laws grant freedom. I've heard this many times in my life, but it never made sense to me. How can a set of restrictions give freedom? How can limiting what one is allowed to do be freedom?

I finally understood it through a conversation I had with a friend this past weekend. He was talking about the director, Stanley Kubrick. For those of you that don’t know, Kubrick is a highly regarded director, known for movies such as The Shining, Eyes Wide Shut, Spartacus, Full Metal Jacket, and many others. Apparently, when Kubrick prepared to shoot a film, he would go through the set, the costumes, the film, the cameras, the lighting, every last detail you could imagine, to make sure everything was ready. He was a perfectionist, and he knew what he was doing. However, he would never pre-plan the camera angles. Those would be decided on the day of shooting. Why?

He spent so much time establishing boundaries, so that when the day of shooting comes, he had the freedom to do whatever came to his mind right then and there. He never had to worry if an area was lit properly, or re-shoot a scene because you could see the backside of the set. He had total freedom to work within the limits he had set up for himself.

That’s what God’s laws are like. He set up boundaries for us so that we have complete freedom within those limits. Like rock music? Listen to it! Prefer classical? OK. Singing hymns your way of worshiping? Awesome! NIV or KJV? Sure! How about, having a few drinks? Abstaining from all alcohol? Watching R rated movies? Only G rated? Play guitar? Piano? Be a preacher or a plumber? Vegetarian? Barbeque hamburgers? OK! His laws are not to restrict our freedom by outlawing certain behavior. We have freedom because that’s what His law is about!

What Is Love?

2009-02-08T17:35:00.005-06:00

Those who know me well, know that I'll often have a thought in my head, buried deep within, mulling it around for weeks and even months before it finally gets pieced together. This is one of such thoughts.

What is love? In life, I've been given many different answers. My religion says, God is love. My church says, serving is love. My military peers say, sex is love. The Army says devotion is love. Many say that good feelings is love. Many say sacrifice is love. To a degree, there is an element of truth to all of these.

The Bible says, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."

This got me thinking. The phrase, "lay down his life"....what does that mean? Traditionally, I grew up thinking that that meant death. But what does "lay down his life" really mean? Is Jesus talking about giving up breathing and moving for someone else? Or perhaps He is pointing to something much bigger than death.

Whenever someone asks for an example of love, Christians point to Jesus' death on the cross as the ultimate example of love. But can we really reduce all of Jesus to one final act, as if everything before the cross meant nothing? What about the life Jesus laid down to become human? Before Jesus was born, He was God, the Son! In a way that I don't believe can ever be adequately explained, Jesus was God, but also the Son of God. Equal to, yet at the same time, under the God of the universe! Yet, He laid all of this aside to come to live as a human. It wasn't forced on Him. At any time, He could have said, "forget this, they aren't worth it" and gone back up to be with God. But He didn't.

I'm not trying to diminish the significance of the cross, that is not my point at all. But I think that Jesus' greatest act of love was His entire life, and His death on the cross was the final culmination of His love.

So why do I say all of this? It goes back to the original question, what is love? To paraphrase the Bible (and add some personal opinions), greater love has no one than this, that he give up his way of life, his hopes, his dreams, his possessions, his reputation, all that he has and all that he is......for a friend.

JP OUT!

Classes.....sigh

2009-02-04T17:18:00.004-06:00

So inevitably, the question arises, "How are classes going?"

All things considered, not too bad. I'm still waiting on my book for Calculus, so I've been borrowing the book for homework, forcing me to cram all homework and studying into a 1 day time span. I'm actually not doing to bad, in spite of this. It's hard, but doable. My marketing course is rather laid back and it's pretty easy as well. I have a course that deals with energy and it's effect on the environment.....kinda boring, but not super difficult....then there's physics....

I think I may be the only one in the class that is taking it without taking Calculus first. The book, and the teacher, both come at it from a prospective of...."you remember how to do this from Calculus, right? Well, we're going to add onto that concept." Meanwhile, the original concept is something we'll learn in the Calc class in about 2-3 weeks. So studying for Physics consists of pouring over Google for calculus concepts (since I don't have my calc book) and learning it from wherever I can find the info. (Including Wikipedia).

I've done math problems with letters before, but usually the answer is some sort of number. It's crazy when the problem AND the answer is entirely letters. We're dealing with vectors now, and the symbol for a horizontal vector is pronounced, "i hat". You know, like if Apple made a headcovering. The vertical vector is "j hat" which is the Jesus version of the "i hat" (see video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRiijctGcAY). The vector that deals with depth is known as "k hat", which I don't have an alternative meaning for that. My point is, I still find it odd, and slightly funny, when the teacher says, "the direction the object moved is 30.0 meteres in the i hat and 45.0 meters in the j hat".

Anywho, that's how classes are going! Hope you all are having a great day, and I'll talk at ya later!

JP OUT!

Untitled-11

2009-01-31T19:22:00.006-06:00

Untitled-11
Originally uploaded by Jason Pitt

1st week of December, 2008, I flew out to Los Angeles, CA to visit a friend, and to see the city. We drove back and decided to stop at the Grand Canyon on the way back.

I took this picture from the top of an observatory tower that was built in 1910. (Click on picture for larger version)

JP OUT!

Response to a Comment on Facebook

2009-01-27T00:22:00.006-06:00

Dear readers,

I am writing this in response to something that came up on Facebook. I quote people to bring context, not to flame them. Hense, names removed.

It started on Tuesday, when I wrote:
"Jason saw history today and is excited for the next four years."
to which I got the following comments.

*NAME_REMOVED*
care to elaborate on why you're excited?

*NAME_REMOVED2*
Bravo Jason. You don't have to elaborate at all.

*NAME_REMOVED*
Well, I thought Jason might want to elaborate on what he's excited about since this era, while exciting in the sense of us having our first African-American president, is also one in which this particular president has vowed to implement programs that will lead to his father and your father being out of a job. So I thought it might be relevant in that case.

My response
I'm excited for our new president, first and foremost, for being the first African-American president. No, I wouldn't consider voting for someone for this reason, but it's still awesome to see how are nation is finally moving past racism. Seven-score and 7 years ago (147 for those that don't know how long a score is), Abraham Lincoln issued the emancipation proclamation, and last Tuesday, on the steps of the Capitol Building, we inaugerated our first African-American president, with the Invocation by Rev. Rick Warren, and Joseph Echols Lowery (who worked alongside Martin Luther King Jr. in the American civil rights movement) offering the benidiction. The inaugeration itself was monumental.

I am also excited because Hilary Clinton is not in office. I think the primaries showed that most can agree.

Lastly, I am excited because while I don't agree with all the policies of Obama, I find him to be a logical thinker and a good speaker. I find him to be a unifying person as well. As long as we continue to be a nation of Red states and Blue states, rather than the United States, we'll never be as effective as a nation. "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand." (Mat 12:25) I trust God is sovereign and still in control. It seems too many forget that our government works on three equal branches. It's not the president that makes laws, but the congress. We need a clear thinker and a powerful speaker to encourage the people of America and restore unity among that vastly different opinions across the nation. Obama has been compared to Abraham Lincoln, and for good reasons, as he is coming to office when the nation is once again divided.

I quote a portion of a news article found here: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jzOYauJmi3EEpQuEdwxiiUqVjg2w.

"Barack Obama on Thursday defended his choice of a conservative evangelical pastor to deliver a religious invocation at his January 20 presidential inauguration. Pastor Rick Warren is a popular preacher who attracts some 20,000 people to his weekly sermons at his giant Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. The author of the best seller "The Purpose Driven Life," a wildly successful religious advice book, Warren is also known for his strong views against gay marriage and abortion. "It is no secret that I am a fierce advocate for equality for gay and lesbian Americans," Obama said at a press conference in Chicago. But he argued: "It's important for America to come together, even though we may have disagreements on certain social issues." Obama noted that Warren invited him to speak at Saddleback a few years ago "despite his awareness that I held views that were entirely contrary to his" on gay rights and abortion. Obama said pastor Joseph Lowery, a civil rights icon "who has deeply contrasting views to Rick Warren on a whole host of issues," will also speak at the inauguration. "There will be a wide range of viewpoints that are presented. And that's how it should be, because that's what America's about ... we are diverse and noisy and opinionated." He added: "That's hopefully going to be a spirit that carries over into my administration.""

All in all, I know this is not an arguement I will ever win in some minds, but nor do I consider it an argument to win. I mearly state this to say, have an open mind, continue to pray for this nation, and realize that nothing happens outside of the Will of God.

I'm going to hide behind something really large before the attacks start.....

JP OUT!

It's Really Winter

2009-01-14T13:44:00.003-06:00

So, I'm finally experiencing a real winter. You know, the thing I wished would come every year, but always managed to disappoint?

So far, in the last 10 days, it's snowed 5 or 6 of those days, and none of the snow melted between the days that it snowed! We've got more than a foot of snow on the ground, and it's glorious! The high on Friday is -5. This is what winter is supposed to be!

Now, it's also taking some adjustment to get used to the cold. For example, I found out my bicycle isn't fully reliable under 20 degrees or so. What ever they use to lubricate the rear hub doesn't work correctly and sometimes the pedals slip (ie, it's like pedaling backwards). The car doesn't fair too well either. Now at the moment, I'm borrowing my grandparents Toyota Camary, so don't even think about cracking jokes at my car, cause it's not present to defend itself. Anywho, I drove to the store the other day, and both front doors were frozen shut. It started, but really didn't want to. The steering was stiff, the transmission took a few seconds to engage, and the brake pads were encrusted in ice, which required exuberant pressure on the brake pedal to stop the first time. It wouldn't shift gears out of first for the first 1/4 mile or so and the defrost was useless to melt anything on the window. That's a sign that perhaps it's just too cold to go out!

Anywho, at least it's been consistantly under 30 degrees.....as one would expect for winter. *sigh* FINALLY!

JP OUT!

Thank You

2009-01-09T11:32:00.002-06:00

I have been blessed by so many people this year, I want to say a very big thanks.

Charlie & Carol Blye
Loren & Lori Vanscyoc
Keith & LaVonne Funk
Erik & Bree Johnson
Jeff & Angie Hegstrom
Ted & Sharon Pittenger
Steve & Barbara Blye
Shane & Meg Rocke

These people have been more than supportive and extremely generous and have made the transition back to college a lot easier. This is not an exclusive list, as many others have helped as well. I wanted to specifically mention the above for all they've done. I know that no matter where I go in this world, I will always have a family in central IL. THANK YOU!!!

JP OUT!

I'm Bringing Blogging Back....

2009-01-08T18:11:00.004-06:00

Hey all! I'm getting back on the blog, now that I'm away again.

I'm now moved in. I'm renting a house with a couple other people. It's right off the edge of campus. 5 min by bike to my furthest class. 20min by bike to the main shopping district. O, and they don't mess around with winter up here. When snow falls, it stays around! The end of my driveway...the last 20ft....solid ice.

I spent a good portion of the day filling out about 15 job applications. Gonna leave here in a bit to turn em in.

Classes start on Monday.

Drill is this weekend, first one since I've been back.

Lastly, a couple pictures of my room.

JP OUT!

Photo Post

2008-12-29T02:29:00.004-06:00

I'm still sorting through my pictures, and I thought I'd share one or two on here.

When taking photographs over in Iraq, I wanted to have some connection with the famous war time photographs of WWII. I wanted the pictures to look 60+ years old, but be current. It was my silent rebellion against digital cameras. Using various techniques while taking the shot, I think I have succeeded. Please note, this is a direct scan of the negative. NO PHOTOSHOP MODIFICATIONS!!!

I Shouldn't Have To Explain Myself...

2008-12-18T10:37:00.003-06:00

But repeat comments from several people have shown it is needed.

This is for all the people that think I made(am making) a poor choice in buying and driving my car.

An Ode to the Cars of Yester-year

MG MG, oh how I enjoy thee
Just wheels and an engine, you're technology free
Oh how I love, these great cars of yore
The days before, driving was a bore
Todays cars aren't driving, their mearly directed
Computers control everything, your inputs corrected
Make a mistake, the car corrects you
Not so with the Midget, it's unforgiving, honest and true
The Midget has no air bags, no front wheel drive
It's just the skill of the driver, that keeps one alive
No traction control, no anti-lock brake
No power steering, a fun drive it does make
The Midget has no radio, but that's more than fine
The engine sings nicely, the tires keep time
The shifting is manual, two hands just to run
This means no texting *GASP*, until driving is done
The Midget demands a driver's attention, his mind is not free
Could this actually make it safer, than it lets on to be?
By day, the headlights, the do not run
Nor do they turn themselves on, when gone is the sun
Midget oh Midget, you hold a place in my heart
I beg and I plead, that you don't fall apart

No in addition to safety and practicality issues, i've gotten a lot of flak about driving a "collectable" car when it's likely to rust, be broken into or stolen. Sure, if that happens, it'd suck, but life will go on, and I'll always have the memories of the car to look back on. How can I say this, when I so clearly like the car so much? Easy, my treasure's in heaven.

Matthew 6:19
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. "

I don't think God is telling us not to have nice things. I thing what God is saying here is that we are not to be so concerned with temporal things that they become the focus of our lives, and our purpose. Life is meant for living. Things are made for enjoying. Cars are made for driving, and MGs are no exception! So to all the neighsayers, I kindly remind them of the old Disney addage. "If you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all!"

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some driving to do.

JP Out!

LA!!!

2008-12-02T20:43:00.000-06:00

Hangin in LA....it's pretty cool!

JP OUT!

A Rare Moment of Clarity

2008-11-23T22:34:00.002-06:00

The Rubik's Cube.

Tonight, I've experienced a rare moment of clarity. Many things in life I didn't have an answer for finally were laid out in a way that I understood better than I thought possible.

It's like I've had a Rubik's Cube floating in my head for months, twisting and turning at it but achieving nothing more than perhaps a single side of solid color. Just enough progress to reminde me that it is possible.

Well, tonight, the twisting and turning suddenly connected it all together and I saw a 6 sided complete cube for a few moments before it began to rejumble itself. It was knowledge, perhaps to great for me. Understanding that I can't attribute to my own abilities.

It's given me much needed direction. Now, I must act!

JP OUT!

Life........is.......interesting

2008-11-12T23:13:00.002-06:00

So I've mostly adjusted to life back home, but it's wierd how life can be sometimes. There's a part of me that actually wants to go back to that lifestyle, like the Israelites wanted to go back to Egypt. It's not that life is bad here. To the contrary, it's quite good! It's just so easy for anything else to look better, be it the future, the past, or even the thought of what could be.

All we can do is live for today, trust God for tomorrow, and ask Him to forgive our past. Cause who knows? Each day could be our last, so why waste it?

JP OUT!

Title Change

2008-11-06T17:46:00.002-06:00

So, since I'm no longer around the world, I changed the title of the blog to reflect that. I will continue to post, but it will consist of my current thoughts and musings. Read some, think about it some, add some comments. All in all, it's just for fun anymore!

Enjoy!

JP OUT!

I'm BACK!

2008-10-31T23:31:00.002-05:00

Man, it feels good to be home!

Posts will likely be few and far between until I have settled in. Please be patient.

Thank you for all your support!

JP OUT!

Short Update

2008-10-25T16:27:00.002-05:00

Hey everybody!

I've got limited internet access, but I'm ok with that, because I'm breathing crisp, clean, WI fall air! That's right, I'm currently at Fort McCoy, schedualed to return in a matter of days!

See ya soon!

JP OUT!

En Route

2008-10-18T02:54:00.001-05:00

Hey, I have begone my stateward travels! Still several days left, but the process has begun and it is back on schedule, after a short delay due to weather. Be back before ya know it!

JP OUT!

Presented To......

2008-10-16T12:01:00.002-05:00

Are words even needed?

See ya soon!

JP OUT!

Busy busy busy!!!

2008-10-10T13:10:00.003-05:00

Wow! Things are crazy right about now. We're packing up (hint hint) but I can't give exact dates we're leaving. Here's another hint...don't send any more mail! Now, I very very much appreciate the mail I have recieved, but it's unlikely any mail sent now will get here in time.

Normally, at this point, things are supposed to be winding down and getting easier. Instead, due to unforseen issues, it's busier than ever! It's like trying to run 8 laps in a set amount of time, and you're comming around on your last lap and the official counting your laps says you got one more lap to go. So then you're comming around again and "One more lap". I'm on lap 15.

Many of you have probably noticed I haven't been communicating much lately. Please know, I'm ok, just busy (notice a pattern?)

Now, to respond to the comments:
Anna, I kinda need to lay off the brownies for awhile, so nothing too elaborate. Perhaps some chocolate chip cookies, cause then I won't feel compelled to finish the tray. :)

Beth, I don't recall second place. If it makes you feel any better, I finished the butterscotch brownies you sent in 2 days! I ate about 90% of em! (Hence why I need to lay off the brownies!)

Micah, after my experience with cameras, I might have to take you up on the offer! If this one breaks on me, I might just have to give up photography! Three strikes and you're out, right? O, and to clarify, I did the full 100.

Theresa, thank you soo much for your help with getting the bike! It made a huge difference! I was honestly a bit skeptical of the huge tires it had, but it proved to be a good choice! Name the trail and the time, I'll be there!

Ryan, I did time myself. I stopped to help some people with a flat, which took nearly 45min cause the air pump was leaking. My overall time including that was 9hrs and 20min. So, 8hrs and 35min estimated time.

Steve, no, I haven't been shot at since May. Course, you haven't called in a while! My phone won't call your area code, so I have to wait for you to call! What gives?

Caleb, thanks for forwarding that message! My facebook appears to be working now.

Ok, so that's about all.

JP OUT!

Finally, an update!!!

2008-10-03T11:51:00.002-05:00

Whew! In the time that stress should be going down, it's only increasing. More on this later.

Anywho, first things first.

I found the info for the brownies. But not all the info, so the winner will have to claim their prize. The winner is the cheesecake brownies!

Next, the bike race.

So, 3 or 4 days before the race, I'm getting ready to leave work. I grab my camera bag without realizing the top is open. My new (to me) Nikon camera goes for a tumble onto the hard floor. No visible damage, but the shutter no longer works!!! No worries, I still got my digital camera. Now it's the morning of the race. I take out my digital camera to start snapping photos. "Memory card read error". Yes, that morning, the memory card in my camera decides to give up the ghost. Thus, I personally have no pictures of the event!!! However, not all is lost! Many others had cameras that day, and I should have pictures shortly.

So on to the results...there were 47 riders who signed up. Some for 25 miles, some for 50, some 75, and some 100. There were 8 from my unit (2 at 50 and 6 at 100). Of the 6, only myself and one other guy, SGT Zegarra finished the 100 miles. Of the 47 total riders, only 8 completed the 100 miles. I came in 3rd place (1st in my unit)! I owe a big part to my family, my 4-H leader, and Russells Cycle and Fitness! I was a little skeptical of the bike at first, when compared to the competition, because they all had road bikes with thin, fast tired. However, the mountain bike proved to be the better choice when I was one of the very few that never had a break down or a flat! Thank you!

Then moving on, like I said, it's getting more stressful. The new unit has arrived, so now there's a lot of people in a small space. This is just asking for problems. Also, there has been a huge influx of Ugandan guards at this base. For those that don't know, there is a huge contract for Ugandan security guards here in Iraq. Anywho, it's made for some stress because there's often a 1-1.5hr wait to use the computer, the shuttle buses are always packed to the gills with Ugandans, there's hardly any seats in the chow halls, and there are certain times of the day that it's pointless to try to use the gym.

Then, my hours at work have increased, but the workload has decreased. I can use the internet there, but more sites than not are blocked, like myspace, facebook, youtube and even my bank's website are blocked! It's like driving a car that has a max speed of 20mph on the highway! So then I finally get a chance to use the public computers, and due to Facebook updating their page, I can't even use Facebook there! The chow hall is out of milk, leaving soy milk. (BTW, I will be drinking a very tall glass of real fresh milk when I get home). And this is my first chance to be online since I last posted.

Sigh, I know it's little stuff. I know I should be thankful, considering I'm in a war zone, and not in danger. Yet, it's at the point where I just want to go home. I want to be able to drive a car without needing to take a second person with me, or wearing a helmet, or having someone guide me as I back up, or be able to walk around without a rifle on my back, or wear headphones while exercising. Like I said, little things. Sigh....it's almost over!

JP OUT!

It has arrived!

2008-09-22T07:02:00.001-05:00

My new bicycle has arrived!!! Pictures to follow shortly.

JP OUT!

One Hundredth

2008-09-21T16:11:00.002-05:00

Anywho, this is my 100th post!

Unfortunately, it's going to be only this long.

JP OUT!

All I Want To Do-oo-oo-ooo.......

2008-09-16T17:11:00.003-05:00

......is get that song out of my head!!!!

Quick tidbit about the Army. There are exactly two genres of music that the average military personnel listen to......country and rap. Over here in Iraq, there are three English radio stations. One plays country, and two play rap. The rest are all Arabic. Thus, whenever I'm in a vehicle with a radio (not my vehicle, btw), it's country or rap, more often, country.

Those who know me, know that I don't like most country or rap. And even though all Arabic music sounds the same, there still manages to be more variety between songs than either of the English alternatives. Ok, my girlfriend has been educating me on country, and I'm actually starting to get country.....just a little bit.

But then, once I get to the point where I think not all hope is lost in country music, a song like this comes along. I kid you not, this is the chorus....

"All I want to do-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo, All I want to do-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo is love you"

The song is by Sugarland and it's currently the number one country hit. Sigh.......they just made the word DO 18 syllables long and take 20 seconds (yes, I timed it) to say something that really only takes 3-5 seconds to say. I mean, I understand.....the words are highly poetic, contain unique and intelligent words, and very original. *rolls eyes*. The verses aren't much better. This song embodies within itself, all that I hate in country music.......and it's the number 1 song! Country music fans, you're really hurting your stereotype in voting this song to be number 1!

In the mean time, I've heard a couple other songs that aren't half bad. I actually bought a Keith Urban cd, and liked it. I heard a song by Garth Brooks (I may be wrong on that) called "Just Put A Girl In It", talking about how sometimes life seems boring......ya just gotta put a girl in it.

Country music fans, there is hope! But someone's gotta teach Sugarland how to write songs!

JP OUT!

P.S. This song was NOT the source of my headache, which is gone now, btw!

Not much of an update.......

2008-09-13T11:01:00.003-05:00

But, here's the latest.

I've been having a crazy schedule the last several days and some pretty intense training. I picked up a real bad headache yesterday, and it's still with me today. I had a shot today that took care of it for awhile, but it's back.

In any case, I'm off to church for the band practice.

Sorry this was so short.

JP OUT!

Please Re-direct Your Mail

2008-09-05T08:12:00.003-05:00

I know I said my address wasn't going to change anymore, but.....I was wrong.

Please change the first line of all mail from:

"PFC Pittenger, Jason"

to

"SPC Pittenger, Jason"

JP OUT!

Hello from Iraq!

2008-09-04T08:34:00.013-05:00

Hey, been awhile since I've posted pictures. So here's some pictures, and even a video!
At the shooting range

A lot has happened in a short period of time! First, the "dangerous, unnamed event" is over. Several of us flew over to another base to pick up some vehicles, and drove em back. As you may or may not know, roadside bombs continue to be a threat. While measures taken by the Army have significantly reduced the danger, there is still a chance of something going wrong. Thank you for your prayers.

Also this week was the Taji Idol. A talent show our unit's chaplin put together. I have the last 30 seconds of the song I performed. I got 4th place. There was no mike stand or music stand, so another soldier filled in.

Every Saturday, a few of us get together for a band practice for the following Sunday. The individual members often change from week to week. The first recording taken from the Sunday night service. Someone near the camera was practically tone deaf so don't mind the singing. (I'm playing bass).

The second video is after the service, showing the band members more closely. There are two people not seen in the first video. The guy in the gray Army T-Shirt plays the keys (though not on the song shown) and the black guy is playing the Djembe, but he's off to the right of the drums and out of the frame.

Today, the temperature in the sun hit an all time record (according to my personal records).

Extrapolating the temperature scale out to that point, I estimate it to be either 160F or -100F. Shade temperature usually hovers around 120F.

Lastly (pardon the language),

Army Uniform: $150

Pair of boots: $100

Two shotguns: $750

Looking like a badass on your own blog: Priceless!

I'd like to thank the following people for their support:

My 4-H club, the Clover Patch Kids, for their delicious brownies and snacks! (BTW, had they qualified for the contest, they probably would have won!)

My family, for their unending support and for being a voice back home (and the award winning brownies! *Hint hint)

My grandparents, for their support as well, and for some wonderful brownies! No one can beat my grandma's brownies! Unfortunately, they also did not qualify for the contest.

State Farm of Bloomington, IL. I just received three large care packages with enough goodies to make me fat again! Don't worry, I shared.

Saint Marks Lutheran Church of Washington, IL for their care package. This one, I'm keeping to myself! :)

Crosspoint Community Church of Eureka, IL. Specifically, this is a blanket thanks to the individual memebers who have sent me cards, letters and boxes. On Aug 24th, 2008, they celebrated their 5th year, and a church here in Iraq, celebrated with you!

My girlfriend, for being understanding when I can't always get back to her in a timely manner.

My friends, for keeping me updated on the social happenings, and for not forgetting about me.

And everyone else for your prayers!

Some upcoming events:

On September 11th, our whole unit is doing a 5k commemerative run. On September 28th, a few of us are doing a 100 mile bicycle ride as a satillite of the annual 100 mile ride done in HI. One of the units here is from HI and they're coordinating the event. This is where you all come in....we need sponsers. I have a bicycle, but it's a $60 PX special with a broken pedal and worn out shifters. In the next few days, I need to make a decision on bike purchase. I have an option to buy a new bike and have it shipped here, then ship it back home to use at NIU. I am strongly considering that. Several of us in the unit are also in need of a few add-ons such as a biking jerseys (to keep cool), new tires, water bottle holders. If you would like to sponser the race, rates start at $0.05 a mile, up to $5 a mile (hahah!). Otherwise, we could use a spokesperson back home to talk to the local bike shops to see if they're willing to donate/provide discounts in support of the troops.

Stay cool, ya'll

JP OUT!

Been Way Too Long!!!

2008-08-29T09:49:00.002-05:00

So, I was going to post this past Sunday, when the internet went down, and it's been down from then till now! Thus, I'm only partly to blame for such a late post.

Anywho, news. Well, I got a letter from home saying there was 3 inches of snow on the ground. After a long confused thought process, I decided to check the date on the letter. Jan 22. It was sent to Ft Dix Jan 29th, returned to sender Aug 9th, and resent to me Aug 22nd. Ya, good job, FT Dix. Glad it wasn't an urgent letter!

My home church celebrated 5 years of services!!! WHOOOOT! The first anniversary that I wasn't able to make! Life goes on! I hear the service was great, being held at the Eureka Lake. The weather cooperated. I wish I could have been there. Yet here, on the other side of the world, I was at a church service on that day, and they gave us an oppertunity to share something about our home church. I got to share that my church was celebrating 5 years! Crosspoint, you have now been named in Iraq! And it didn't cost you a penny to send me over here! :)

I've been running a lot lately. The other day, I ran nearly 10 miles! (Keep in mind, 2 years ago, I couldn't run 1 mile continuously) I'm actually getting a bit addicted to it! It's a great stress relief, and a reminder to eat well, cause you'll feel it when it comes time to run!

The last week or so, I've had deja vu. Something in the environment triggered a memory from home so strongly, that I had to remind myself where I was at. Like one, there's a patch of well watered grass over here. I took off my shoes and walked across it. AHHH! Then later, I smelled something that reminded me of home. I gotta keep my head in the game just a little bit longer!

Once again, my camera is awesome! Been taking tons of pictures. I'm going to be poor after developing the rolls, but it'll be worth it.

On September 11th, it'll be a mixed emotion day for me. We're going to be doing a 10k (about 6mile) run that day, it's the 7th year anniversary of 9-11 (the reason I'm here), and it's my girlfriend's birthday (one of the reasons I miss home so much).

In any case, my time here is coming to a close. As much as I'd like to, I can't put dates/times on here. There are specific people that know back in the states. Contact them for more information.

Thanks, all, for reading!!

JP OUT!

Good News!

2008-08-21T06:30:00.002-05:00

The vinyl records I ordered finally shipped. (To my house! I'm not dumb enough to bring a record player to Iraq! The records would melt in the mail!!!) I got a replacement tube for my amp, so it's working again, and my new film camera (complements of Ebay) has arrived! I am back in business! I gotta say, this camera is freaking sweet!

The Nikon F3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikon_F3

It's the best camera made before auto focus came out. It retailed for $1250 and sold on Ebay for $130. It's built like a tank, but moves like a sports car. Everything is so smooth and well made.....it's nice! It can use film from 6iso to 128000iso (common is 100-800iso). It has all sorts of great features. None of the fluff of modern cameras such as auto focus, auto winding (though I can add this later), built in flash. It's just a highly featured SLR camera, and perhaps the best I could possibly get! Now my lens arsenal are in need of upgrades, but that'll come later on. Well, gotta go shoot some pictures!

JP OUT!

Boo----Freakin-----YA!!!!

2008-08-16T16:20:00.002-05:00

That's right, I passed the PT test!!!!

Ok, story time.

As you all know, I failed to pass the situp portion of the PT test. I had an oppertunity to take the test again on the 13th, so in the time between then, I focused almost exclusively on ab work. It paid off as I went from 46 situps to 53 situps. A gain of 6 in less than a week! However, the ordeal wasn't over. After the test, I was weight and hight measured. I weigh 184lbs, down from 189lbs in June, and my height is 69". At my height, the Army says I should weight 179lbs, so I have to be taped for fat percentage. In June, I measured in at 22% which is right at the allowable limit. After loosing 5lbs, and increasing my bench press 50%, I measure in at 23%!!!! Thus, I am now again temporarily barred from promotion!!! (The Army system is flawed, making this possible). So, for three days, I eat almost nothing, keep exercising, and on the day of the measuring, drink almost no water. In three days, I'm down to 180lbs and 20%! HAHA!!!

So now the bar is lifted and there's nothing holding me back!!!! HAHAHA!!! Soon, line one of my address will change. But like all things the government deals with, it's gonna take time.

Either way, now that that's taken care of, I'm going to get back to a reasonable eating/pt/sleeping schedual.

Topic 2: Observations.

The human body is incredibly capable of noticing relativity, but is a poor judgement of absolutism. What I mean is this....it takes little to no training to know if an instrument is out of tune, yet if I were to play a note by itself, only the best can determine if the note is sharp or flat. Or in the visual sense, I could show you two different red objects 20 min apart that were similar shade and they'd look the same. Yet, putting them next to each other, the difference would be pronounced.

In the same way, our souls are excellent judges of reletivity, and poor judgement of absolutes. In other words, we often compare ourselves to those around us, rather than the truth. O, I must be right, because I'm better than _____. Or, I'm a failure because I'm not as good as ______. When we were given the knowledge of good and evil, we were only given the basics to tell if something is more evil or more rightous than something else. To truely know how true something is requires years of careful training and exposure to the truth, just like people with perfect pitch train themselves.

I don't really have a main point to hammer home with this thought. It was just that, a thought. Chew on it for a bit. Spit it out, choke it down with some water, give it to the dog, sell it on Ebay, I don't care. It's food for thought.

JP Out!

Sometime's Life's a Game

2008-08-12T11:11:00.001-05:00

I am a soldier in the United States Army. I am an example to those back home of strength and disiplain. I am a worrior in God's army. I am an example to those here of strength and disiplain. I am a tall tower among my peers. Or so I thought.

But I am just a game of Jenga. Growing ever taller, all the while, my foundation grows ever weaker. Slowly and almost unoticed, blocks that I stand on have been removed and replaced with nothing but air, while more and more is added on top, giving the illusion of growth. Then, seemingly without warning, the whole thing comes crashing down, as the devil shouts joyously, "Jenga!" He had succeeded.

The difference here is that God steps in to remake me into what I once was, rather than just packing up the broken pieces and putting it on the shelf next to Monopoly, Clue, Battleship and all the other classics. One thing about God, when he play's Jenga, he cheats. He adds to the top while reinforcing the base. He takes us from a stack of blocks into something useful that can stand up against anything! I just need to realize that I cannot make it on my own.

I want to take this time to thank all of you that have supported me thus far. I want to give a shout out to my 4-H club for the box of food that was sent! Darn good brownies! For my family, who also sent some great brownies, and have been there for me and supported me, especially my father who's helped me with a project back home. My grandparents (again, for some great brownies :) ) as well as their pride. My girlfriend for being understanding while I work out at the gym. My friends, for not forgetting me while I'm gone. My church for all the times I've just needed someone to talk to. And anyone else not specifically mentioned! I know I haven't gotten back to a lot of those that have sent me stuff, and I'll try. But let me at least give a general thank you!

I hope you all are staying cool in the nice 90+ degree weather! I gotta say one thing good about the weather here....it's rained 3 times since early Feb, and not once since May. Though it makes things incredibly dry, you never have to worry about leaving things out overnight, or rain changing your plans. The weather is borringly predicable....hot, hotter, less hot. Though I do miss green. And grass. (No, I really mean grass, not pot!)

Well, that's all for now!!!
JP OUT!

Rejoice With Me

2008-08-06T13:32:00.003-05:00

For I have pasted 2/3rds of my PT test.

Huh? What? You failed? Technically, yes. But I am celebrating because A, I nearly passed all three, B, I made great progress in the last month, and C, the 2 I did pass, I passed with flying colors! My girlfriend can attest to how much time I've been putting in at the gym in prepration for this event, and it's paid off, mostly!

For those that don't know, the APFT (Army Physical Fitness Test) consists of three events. Pushups, Situps and 2 mile run. Those of you that know me know that I am not an athletic person. The pushups and situps are both a measure of how many you can do in 2 minutes. At my age group, passing is 40 pushups, 50 situps and 2 mile run in 16:36. For the pushups, I reached 40 in 1 minute, did 10 more and quit early to save energy for later events. The situps, I hit 46, and couldn't do any more. The run, well, I had no need to save energy at this point, so I went all out......just about dieing in the process.......15:28! 13 seconds slower than my peak in AIT! I'm proud of myself, and my progress! Friday, I start training again for the next one. This one, I will pass!

Laters, yall!

JP OUT!

Does It Ever End?

2008-08-03T09:20:00.003-05:00

Ok, so I told you about my camera. What I didn't tell you was I had a flat in my bike a little while ago, before the camera stopped working. So today, I went about fixing the flat. I turned on some Nora Jones and went to work. While working, my stereo started making some popping noises. I at first thought it was just electrical noise, but no, one of the tubes cracked! I turned it off, but it was too late.....a small trail of smoke came up from within!

So I unplugged it and flipped it over to take a look. Let's play a game called, find the burnt part. Ready? GO!

Any guesses? I'll give you a hint....that black mark wasn't there before.

Right above that black mark is the charred remains of a resistor. Fortunately, they cost under a dollar and are easy to replace. Unfortunately, shipping = $$$ and time. I'm without a stereo for at least a week!!! NOOO!!! But at least my bike is fixed!

3 days till my PT test!

JP OUT!

Been Awhile

2008-08-02T09:47:00.003-05:00

But I'm still here!

Sorry for the delay. My section was reduced to 1 this week, while extra work was thrown on me. I didn't even get my one day off this week. Plus, I've been spending my free time in the gym in preperation for the PT test coming on the 6th of Aug. I think I'm ready. I'm spending the next few days doing only light PT to let my body recover and be ready for the test. I think I've got it this time!

In other news, I got in contact with Steve. His job puts him in an office throughout the day, so I was able to reach him on his office phone. Being military, it was a free call! He's just 1 hr behind me timewise so our work sheduals are pretty close. It was great hearing from him! I've also got his mailing address, and mail sent from one APO to another is free! Can't argue with that!

So anywho, life's still moving forward.....slowly. Days are counting down, and I wish I could keep a running count on here......but alas, it's not allowed. Just know that the day will come soon enough!

Well, I gotta jet for now.
Laters,
JP OUT!

CAMERA TRAGEDY!!!

2008-07-24T08:03:00.002-05:00

My beloved film camera decided to go on leave. It's no longer working properly!!! About 2 years ago, the film counter stopped working, but it didn't bother me much....I just always cared a spare roll of film. Anywho, the camera has a "feature" that when you first load film into the camera, it resets the shutter speed to 125/sec and turns off the light meter for the first 2 pictures. (Manual load film cameras, the first two pictures are throw-aways anyway. After 2 pictures, the film counter would go to 1, and count up. The counter stopped working and was stuck at 20 something. Well, it slowly started moving again, and now it's stuck on those first 2 pictures, locking the shutter speed to 125/sec default! Technically, everything but the counter is working fine......it's just the "feature" is locking everything else down.

Thus, I'm on the lookout for another camera, unless I can figure out away to advance the counter manually.

Anyone have a Nikon film SLR camera they want to donate???? :)

JP OUT!

P.S. Sorry for the double post.

The Things We Learn From Cats

2008-07-24T04:07:00.002-05:00

Translation: Nap Like An Egyption

Translation: LOL! You said butt!

Translation: Ahah! Now you have to rub my tummy!

Everyone knows that cat's can't spell or speak correctly, but they try their hardest!

All images from www.icanhascheezburger.com

JP OUT!

Heat Exhaustion

2008-07-22T13:00:00.002-05:00

"If you experience heat exhaustion, you’ll feel weak, dizzy, tired, nauseated, and thirsty. You may have a headache or cramps. Your temperature will rise (to as high as 104 degrees). Stop whatever you are doing, get out of the sun or heat and get inside—preferably to an air-conditioned room, or sit or lie down in front of a fan. Drink a quart or more of water or an electrolyte-replacement sports drink until symptoms are relieved and urine flow is restored. Avoid strenuous physical activity."

It happened. As much as I tried to avoid it, it happened. Heat exhaustion is essentially where your body gets to hot, or too dehydrated or both and it's a warning sign of much worse if not treated. I suppose it couldn't have been too bad, because I was still standing, and I knew enough to get inside and drink, but man, it sucks! It was like a sugar crash, with a pounding headach, feeling like you're going to throw up, and that your skin is being bitten or burned. All the while, you feel drunk and pissed off. The worst part is I knew I hadn't drank enough water, but since I felt ok up to that point, I figured I was fine.

But the good news is, by the next day, I was feeling 90% of normal, and just a few hours after that, I felt good again. No lasting damage, thank God! It definately could have been much worse!

Thank you all for your continued prayers!!!

P.S. I have not bought that guitar, I'm just dreaming.

JP OUT!

I'm In Love!!!

2008-07-16T10:31:00.002-05:00

The Beatles once sang, "Money can't buy me love", but I'm here to tell you that $1349.97 (plus tax and S/H) gets you really darn close!

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/closeup/ELCSNANH--Main

Someday, I will make her mine!

JP OUT!

I Have Arrived

2008-07-12T15:35:00.002-05:00

So I've been intentionally ambiguous about my move date because times, dates and locations are potentially sensitive information. However, that doesn't stop me from saying that I have officially arrived at my new location, and it's a million times better!!!! Ok, so not a million, but a lot.

First off, this base is considerably biggger and there's more to do. There's even a pool, though I haven't been yet. The place where I work is a lot closer (5min walk instead of 30min) and the place to spend money is a lot farther (20min by bus instead of 20min walk). Yet, it's still available if I really need something. Work load isn't bad.

I've gotten all the parts for my guitar amp together and I'm able to play again! The guitar survived being locked in a metal container in this heat for a few weeks (which is quite a feat!). I played last night until my fingers were sore (20min cause I'm out of practice). It was wonderful.

I've got a PT test coming up on Aug 6th. If I pass, I SHOULD be elegible for a promotion! So it's kinda a big deal! I've got my work cut out for me.

Anywho, I will be posting the results for the brownie contest soon. Thank you, btw!

Laters,
JP OUT!

Shift Change and other pictures

2008-07-02T12:57:00.007-05:00

Ok, movie buffs, what movie is this from??? I'll give you three hints.

1. It's a silent movie.

2. It's older that most people you know.

3. Superman lives in a city by the same name.

That's right, it's Metropolis. Made in 1927 at the height of the silent movie era, Metropolis is a movie that to this day, is still considered a work of art. It's a story of the clash between the rich ruling class and the poor working class. It's set in an undetermined future time span. It's a time when the world is a city run by machines deep within the bowels of the urban environment, all maintained by a working class that feels oppressed by those in charge.

*Spoiler Alert* In an effort to gain their independence, they riot and destroy the machines that they are a slave to. Yet, by destroying the machines, they come to realize that these very machines they are a slave to are also the very machines that keep their living area from flooding. It's a reminder that as much as you feel screwed by "the machine", it's often a necessary evil. It's a very influential and futuristic movie. The movie even portrays a video intercom system. Keep in mind, the movie was made in 1927 and TVs were invented in the early 30s and popular in the 50s. There are highways and skyscrapers that the late 20s could only dream of! The Matrix borrows heavily on many aspects of this movie. The whole part in The Matrix 2 where the old guy talks about how the machines need us and we need the machines.........almost plagerism. There's even a board where strange letters and characters continuously fall from the top of the board to the bottom. Like a Matrix screen before their were computers.

The cool thing about silent movies is because they don't have sounds, they have to tell the story entirely through visual means and a music soundtrack (which is really good). The acting is a bit over the top as a result, but it's like a cross between a play and a movie. It's a nice change of pace.

Well anywho, I watched this, 4 episodes of Prison Break, 1 Lost, and 1 The Office today. Things are boringly slow right now. If it wasn't for the fact that I'd run out of things to watch and read, I wouldn't mind if the rest of the deployment were like this. Alas, I'm expecting things to ramp up again in a week or two. It's still nice to have a break while it lasts.

A few days ago, we had a real bad sand storm. I set down a magazine outside and in 30 min, it had what looked like 30 years worth of dust on it. My uniform was just brown. No green showing through! It was bad! Check out this picture of me after spending all day ouside.

My nose was covered in dust! I was wearing sunglasses so it looks like a sunglass tan. Yup! So what does a sandstorm look like before it hits?

And during a sand storm?
Now, meet James the Cat.

And Junior the Mouse. We even drew a house for him! See him peeking through the doorway?

Well, that's about all. Pictures have been overdue, so I had to put a lot up to make up for all the posts without pictures.

Enjoy!

JP OUT!

Being A Nerd....Blessing AND a Curse!

2008-06-30T15:43:00.002-05:00

So I am officially banned "until further notice" from the local internet cafe. This is kinda a funny story in retrospect.

So first off, when the cafe opened, I brought my laptop in so I could use one of their lines to connect my laptop. Some of the other cafes here allow you to so I figured I'd find out. I read the rules and it wasn't mentioned anywhere. So I proceeded to plug and play. I did this on several occasions (3-4 at least) and not only did the attendant NOT tell me I couldn't do it, he even asked me once if I could move to another spot because the computer in that other spot wasn't working but the line was....that way, I wasn't using up a computer that someone else could be using.

Then one night, I was using their computers because I didn't feel like grabbing my laptop. They were having trouble with the internet. (warning, geek speak to follow). I pulled up command prompt and ran ipconfig. It's a tool to show you if your computer is connecting properly or not. I noticed an issue with the numbers relating to the settings they were configuring. I pulled up internet explorer and logged into the router they were configuring (still on default password...lol) and confirmed that the setting were infact set incorrectly. I told informed them that the settings should be changed....but forgot to close the window before they looked over. They thought I had logged in and changed them in order to screw things up. It's like being found in a bank vault with a gun and trying to explain to the police that you forgot you had the gun on you and got lost looking for the bathroom. As true as it may be, circumstantial evidence makes you guilty. Thus, I got kicked out for "using command prompt and plugging in your own laptop".

I'll take the punishment for poking around where I shouldn't have, but the part about bringing my own computer, they should have informed me first! I was told that there's now a sign posted in there that bringing your own computer is not authorized. HAHA! That sign's for me! It's like a memorial to my former presence! In the mean time, I found another place that I can use my own computer. I can finally download podcasts and windows updates. Hooah!

Laters,
JP Out!

Lessons learned from 88 keys

2008-06-23T13:45:00.001-05:00

Did you know that there are currently over 20 recognized different ways to tune a standard piano? Each tuning emphasizes certain characteristics or keys. Some sound brighter, some sound duller, some sound great in major keys but not in minor etc. Did you know that from the days of Chopin until the recent past, it was common to request a particular tuning for your piano? Did you know that in the last 20 years or so, most pianos have been tuned to the mathmatically "perfect" tuning?

To understand my point, I need to explain tuning and pianos a bit. Each key on the piano is one semitone apart. A, Bb, B, C, C# etc. Each semitone is further divided into cents. There are 100 cents between C and C#. Mathematically perfect tuning has all notes on the piano tuned exactly 100 cents apart from the lowest note to the highest note. This looks good on paper, but sounds mediocre at best. Think of it as a multi-purpose tuning that works like a sledge hammer on tac nails when trying to play the classical pieces.

Some of the other tunings put individual notes in the scale slightly sharp or flat depending on the tuning. Some notes are up to 10 cents off of mathematically perfect tuning. Most of the other tunings have the lowest notes tuned slightly sharp and the highest notes tuned slightly flat. (See below for technical explanation). Some of the more radical tunings have the lowest notes 25 cents flat and the highest notes 25 cents sharp. Combine both and you have some notes as far as 35+ cents off from mathematically perfect tuning.

Artists would often favor one tuning over another and write songs that work best in that tuning. Playing the song in any other tuning would still get the point across, but it'd be like an out of focus picture or hearing a symphony on a pocket radio.

This right here is an example of an overall change in the American society. No longer do you see the dedication to a skill that you used to. Instead of mechanics by trade or shop keeper by trade, you have mechanics and shop keepers by job title only. That's what they do until they can find a better paying job. No longer do people strive to be the best ______ they can be, but they move from job to job all through their careers, always trying to move up. What we're left with is an all purpose person with no real skills. They dedicated their career to learning a little about everything, rather than everything about a little. This has very real consequences.

There's a semi-retired car mechanic in my home town. He is truly dedicated to his work. With the exception of the most recent cars, you could give him make model year and brief description of the problem and he can tell you from memory what's wrong with the car, how long it'd take to fix and the likelihood of it breaking down again. There's no $100 service fee for him to take a look at the car, cause he didn't have to. $100 saved right there! In a more general sence, the quality of manufacturing has taken a nose dive in the last 20-30 years. I know, I'm only 23, but all of my stereo (with exception of my cd player) is all pre-1980s. My guitar amps are all 1950-1970s. My car (when it's finished) will date from 1967-1982 (it's a mutt of a car). My camera is from 1983. I know what manufacturing was like before I was born.

Take another example. It the heyday of film, you could buy at least 4 different kinds of black and white film, each with a choice of film speed, from Kodak alone. There's many other makers of black and white film. In color film, the numbers are even higher! Digital cameras, however, you've got many manufacturers, but the sensors are multi-speed, multi-purpose, technically perfect, but (in my opinion) mediocre at best.

If this trend continues, we'll transition from a bunch of unique individuals to a blob of mindless persons that think alike and do everything the same way and pretend to know everything about everything but in reality, know very little. Gone are creativity and innovation that birthed this nation. Forward progress will be stifled because no one is allowed to think differently. People will become more concerned with keeping others in line than encouraging the new. Art and innovation as we know it, will die.

If any of you have done a study on the hierarchy of needs, you'd know that I'm no longer nearly as busy as I used to be if I have time to write things like this. :)

Now for the technical explanation. When a string is played (be it plucked, struck or whatever), you hear a combination of notes. You hear the fundamental, which is the overwhelming tone. You also hear at a lower volume, a tone one octave higher. At a still lower volume, a tone 1 1/3 octaves higher, and still lower, 2 octaves higher. These are called harmonics. The one 1 octave higher is the 2nd harmonic, followed by the 3rd, 4th etc. This continues up to the limits of human hearing but is usually so low in volume that not much is heard after the 6th harmonic. Harmonics are easier for guitar players to understand. When you place your finger lightly on the string at the 12th fret, you isolate the 2nd harmonic. 7th fret is the 3rd harmonic and 5th fret is the 4th harmonic.
When the string is played, especially hard, it vibrates. When the middle of the string swings back and forth, the string stretches slightly. This raises the pitch of the harmonics, more so the higher the harmonic. If tuned mathematically perfect, the lowest notes of the piano will sound slightly sharp when compared to notes near middle C. The highest notes will sound flat because of the harmonics of the notes near middle C. Thus, as you go down from middle C, the strings are tuned progressively flatter to offset this and progressively sharper as you go higher. By adjusting within the scale, you align the harmonics of different notes so that particular combination sound good together, at the expense of other combination. Or, you can purposely detune some notes for a fuller, chorus effect. This is also easier for guitar players to try. On a 12 string guitar, tune the guitar to a tuner and try playing. Then, take one of the high B strings and one of the high E strings and tweak it slightly. It adds fullness. When done to the extreme, it sounds like a honky tonk piano.

JP OUT!

Mail and Fee Mail

2008-06-22T15:32:00.002-05:00

The above title is what you get when the author of the blog is sleep deprived

Anywho, I suppose it's time to start using the new address. Which, it has changed from the one I gave out a week or two ago. I have not called it home yet, but plan to in the next 24 hours.

As for the brownie contest, I've only received entries from one person so far. I doubt anything sent at this point will make it by the cutoff date. I will still accept entries up to the end date. Best of luck, and may the best person win.

JP OUT!

Nothing Ever Changes

2008-06-15T13:25:00.002-05:00

Nothing ever stays the same.

That's my philisophical quote for today.

Before I continue, HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!! I want to give a shout out to all fathers out there. I personally think they should rename it to Dad's day, because anyone can be a father, but it takes a great man can be a dad. Dad, you didn't have to physically be there when I was born, but you choose to. You could have walked out, but you remained committed. You could have buried yourself in your work, or drowned yourself in alcohol, but I thank God that you didn't! Instead, you were there to teach me, to play with me, to correct me, and mostly, to love me. You not only showed me what it is to be a man, but to be a husband and a father. I know that if my kids (one day) turn out to be even half as perfect as me (HA!), that I can tell them it was you who taught me to be who I am. Thank you, dad! I love you!

To all the fathers that abandon their children, I hope you get hit by a bus.

Now back to regular scheduled programming.

Ever seem like your life is so routine, that every day is like the next? It seems like nothing ever changes. Then one day, you notice how different life is now from even a month ago. It feels like the movie Groundhog Day over here. Each day starting like the last and each night ending the same way. Yet, looking back to a month ago, almost everything has changed. One of the workers in my section, she went home permanently due to medical issues. The person in charge of us is no longer our boss. It's about 20 degrees hotter than before. And I'm that much closer to going home.

It's wierd how when you don't take time to notice change, it goes by undetected until one day it hits you just how different things are. I know I'm being ambigous but I can't say much in the way of details. But anywho...

I'm still very very busy. I was working until 9pm the last two days and I was starting at 6am and 4am on those days. I pretended to be dehydrated/sick today just to get a couple hours of sleep. Course, you'all can't feel too bad for me cause now I'm here typing this instead of sleeping. (I actually got off around 6:30p today!)

Well, I suppose that's all for now.

JP OUT!

Insert Cliche Title Here

2008-06-11T06:02:00.003-05:00

Long time, no post

Recently, I've been busier than you could imagin. My schedule consists of starting work at 0600 or 0630 and I get off between 2100 and 2200. I usually sneak in an hour nap after lunch just to make it through the day. Things should be settling down in about a month, but you never know.

The brownie contest, as of today, 11Jun08, I've only received one package of brownies. There were approximately 7 types in that one box. I'm still waiting on more, or that one person will take 1st and 2nd prize by default! Not quite a contest....

Once things settle down again, I should have better access to the internet too!

Gotta run!

JP OUT!

False Alarm!

2008-06-05T13:00:00.002-05:00

Sort of.

I've given my new address to "the contact personnel" for all those wanting it. However, the old address is still valid for a little bit longer. There's actually a danger that using the new address too soon will result in "return to sender"s so continue to use the old address until I give the word.

I know, you all are getting mad with this whole address ordeal. Blame President Bush. Watch the news enough and you realize that everything is his fault. Except global warming. Al Gore invented that.

The past few weeks and the next several weeks are going to be quite busy for me which is why I haven't been posting a lot and I won't be able to post often.

Laters!
JP Out!

HOLD THE MAIL!!!

2008-06-03T13:05:00.002-05:00

Hey y'all! I've got a new address! Well, I haven't had a chance to relay it over the phone yet, but I will shortly. I will let you know asap when the address has been delivered. So please hold all mail until then. Anything already sent will be automatically forwarded. I will extend the contest another week.

You all know who to contact when the address is sent, right?

Laters!

JP OUT!

Contest Update.

2008-05-29T08:22:00.002-05:00

Ok, so I gave it some thought, and I realized, with current gas prices, $20 bearly covers the trip to the post office. Much less, driving back home afterwards! So I'm going to increase the prizes. I haven't decided what yet, but it's going to be an item from one of the gift stores over here. There's another word I want to use to discribe this item, but I can't spell the French word that begins with an S that sums it up. I figure why try?

I will inform all of the winner, and give the winner some choice in the matter. I know that my idea of cool is not always someone elses idea of cool.

Anywho, it's been getting really hot over here. Average 110-115 in the shade. When you hear on the weather report, heat index of 110, that's what it feels like here. The humidity is rather low, so it's not super bad yet. I hear rumors of 140s in July!

I've successfully put together my guitar amplifier! I've been waiting on the mail for my speaker to arrive. In the mean time, I'm using it as an acoustic amplifer using my stereo speakers.

Shooot, times up. Gotta go!

Contest! Winner Receives $$$!!!

2008-05-22T10:14:00.002-05:00

Ok y'all. Time for a little fun. I'm calling on all of my readers to participate! I'm in need of supplies and I figured I'd have some fun requesting it. Thus, I will hold a contest. Make that two contests!

Contest 1: Chocolate covered coffee beans
When the days get long, I need a little boost of caffine to keep me going. I'm not a fan of most energy drinks, soda dehydrates you, and coffee takes to long to make in the middle of the day. Thus, chocolate covered coffee beans is a perfect alternative. Some possibilities, spread coffee beans out on a cookie sheet and pour melted chocolate over it. Dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, bold coffee, flavored coffee, blended coffee, ground coffee. Creativity is encouraged.

Contest 2: Brownies
Everybody knows how to make brownies, but only a few make brownies so good, you swear God himself made them! Creativity is encouraged! Just please leave the nuts out of em. This will lower your score in the first catigory.

The rules:
Both items will be judged in five equal catigories, each worth 20 points:

Taste (Personal opinion)
Order of arrival (First one to arrive gets the maximum 25 points in this catigory.)
Popularity (I will conduct a survey with a small panel of judges carefully selected from my peers.)
Packaging (How well preserved they are. Please note, excessive packaging can cause a loss of points. If it requires a knife and a welding torch to open, you will receive a 0 in this catigory. Use judgement here)
Amount (Too small of amount will make the popularity test invalid. Too large of amount will cause decay before they can be consumed. I don't want to have to bring any of these brownies home with me! Again, use judgement here)

The winner of each contest will receive a check in the mail for $20.
If there are more than 5 participants, 2nd place will recieve $10.

Please note, store bought, pre-packaged items are only eligible for $10 ($5 if 2nd place).

This contest begins on May 22nd and lasts until June 21st. Including one week for shipping time, that gives you just over 3 weeks to prepare some thing and send it in the mail.

Winners will be announced on June 25th.

This contest is open to all readers of this blog, that have my address. If you know me in real life, then you know how to contact my church or my parents for my address. All others are ineligible to participate.

May the best cook win!

It's Been Awhile...

2008-05-15T07:10:00.002-05:00

What's up, my readers? I've been quite busy the past several days and so I haven't had a chance to post. I didn't really come prepared either, so this post is going to be off the top of my head. Beware!

First off, I want to give a shout out to all mothers out there! HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! None of us would be here, literally, if it weren't for you!

In other news, my former boss is being very passive agressive and just trying to make life difficult. Although it's been less overall stress, it's still a large source of unneeded stress in my life. The temptation to retaliate is growing ever stronger. Oddly enough, I've been reading Hubakkuk lately and my summary of the book is Hubakkuk saying, "Why is there so much injustice?" and God replies, "Just wait, they'll get what's coming to them!". I take hope in this. :)

Moving on.....my shedule changed again, moved forward by 2 hours. I've yet to reestablish a reutine, I'm still working on that. I'm going to sit down in about an hour and write out a schedule. I've found that when working 12hrs a day and sleeping 8, the remaining 4hrs goes by quick! Those that know me know that I enjoy spontanuity, but with the amount of things that must get done in those 4 hours, I don't have such a luxary. I've even scheduled out the tv shows I watch (which are all on my computer). Each night, there's a different show "on". Thus, I make sure to watch all I've wanted to without keeping myself up watching 4 or 5 in a row.

So far here, the weather hasn't gotten much hotter. It's pretty consistant 100s now. It reached 113 before I left so if anything, it's slightly cooler. The other day, a sandstorm moved in. I had the pleasure of watching it roll in. It was like a storm cloud, but brownish orange. It engulfed the nearby landscape and cast a dark shadow. It looked like a giant hand or maybe a 3000ft wave of sand moving in. I got pictures, but unfortunately, it's quite difficult to post them on my blog anymore. Also, I've started taking pictures with my film camera again. There's no where around here to develope the film, so I'll just keep it in the frig and develope it all when I get back. I bought several different types of film, from slide film, to 25 speed B/W to 3200 speed B/W to 160 speed natural color film and 1600 speed color film. Just a wide range of film to try out. I can't wait to use it all up!

Well, gotta go for now. Quick item of prayer, I've had some struggle getting into the word on a daily basis. It's been draining, and I need to get back to it. Well, I suppose that's all!

Laters!
JP OUT!

Quick Post

2008-05-07T12:59:00.002-05:00

For a quick audience!

In case you missed it, I am now a biological uncle! I say biological because I "inherited" a nephew in March, but a niece was born in May!

In other news, I have overthrown my "evil" boss. Ok, not evil, but very hard to work with boss. It was determined by his higher ups that we would work more effeciently if we didn't report to him. HAHA! That's a HUGE stress relief! Thank God!

JP OUT!

A Double Post! O My!!!

2008-05-04T00:18:00.002-05:00

Quick note. I have made it to my base! It's business as usual. My boss is still his, "I wanna strangle this guy" self. I'm really limited on internet access right now so posts will be kinda sparse for now.

JP Out!

Now here's the post you've been waiting for!!!

New connection: 17:59:48

localBlog Entry: 0065

Date: 04252008

Time: 18:01:39

LocalTopic: Summary of leave

Author: JP

I just spent 15 days in my home town. It was, perhaps, the longest 15 days I've ever had. Not that the days dragged on. Not at all! It was more a factor of how much I was able to get done in that amount of time. I went through between 5 and 6 tanks of gas (at 300-400 miles each tank), I took a trip to Chicago, Kankakee, Eidenburgh IN, Bloomington, and countless trips to Eureka. I saw the Art Museum with my best friend, saw one of my favorite bands in concert, ate sushi (yum!) with my pastor, celebrated 4 birthdays including my own, got to see my other best
friend who's in training for deployment, went to my small group bible study (which is full of awesome people), got ALMOST drunk (notice the almost) at beerfest, constructed a guitar amp that I'm shipping to myself, played guitar at church, visted my uncle at his job (his office is really cool!), spent a few hours with my cusin, introduced my lil brother to Calvin and Hobbes (best comic ever) and I now have a girlfriend! Sometimes, I just have to stop and thank God for what I have! A military briefing about leave warned us that leave may actually be a depressing time because either we'll be completely overwhelmed, super busy, and stressed out (which did happen in the first few days), or feel ignored because while we're on break, everyone else is still in normal life. God has definatly blessed me with great friends and family! I think I paid for only 3 or 4 lunches the whole time I was back! (THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!)

It's all too easy to look at the negative sometimes. But I've found that if you can't see the glass half full, at least for a nanosecond from time to time, then life quickly becomes meaningless.In some ways, I feel like I'm still in training. This time however, I'm not learning military stuff, but life stuff. As good as homeschooling has been, there's been some things that it fails to teach. (Anyone considering homeschooling should consider the pros AND cons). I don't regret my up-bringing. However, the military was a culture shock that brought new (to me) circumstances before me that are old news for most people. I've learned a lot, but I feel my "training" is not over yet. This period of leave was like a test to see what I've learned. I'm not there
yet, but definately closer to where I want to be. I've taken mental notes and I'm looking for learning oppertunities. God's not through with me yet!

Now I suppose there are some of you that saw "dating" and freaked, wanting to know more. Then there's some that are reading this and going, "He said dating? Where?". Yes, it's true! Dating is not really the correct term, but I say it so you're not completely lost. I have a significant other. I don't like putting names on the blog so you'll have to find out who through other means. :) I gotta warn you all, she's just as sarcastic as me, if not more so! I think really awesome! We get along very well! Well (ya I know, a hole in the ground :) ), I don't want to put her whole life out here. That's all I'll say for now. Except that she's really cool. Ok, done.

So ya, I just gotta shout out a great big THANKS to all y'all back home! Thank you for your prayers and support as well! You've given me the moral boost I need to go back and face another month of this. Too bad I've more than that left! j/k on the first part. I know I've got support which is enough to keep me going! Support and cookies! *hint hint* lol.
I'll see ya all when I'm done over here!

JP out
Transmission status: Received

Spell check: Hopeful

Transmission: Complete

Connection Terminated: 18:47:38 local

Insert Clever Title Here

2008-04-29T15:25:00.002-05:00

I'm still stuck here. Word has it that the sand storms will continue until the 1st of May. Days here are just dragging. Partly because of the wierd schedule I'm forced to keep. I sleep from about midnight or 1 until 6, then from 8 until noon or 2. Thus, it makes it seem like two days have past, when only one has. From 6pm until midnight, we wait around to find out we're not going anywhere. It's eat, sleep, watch movies. I only wish it were good food and a comfortable bed. O, and a change of clothes.

If you're the type that hates being unproductive (hint, I am), then imagine knowing that you're doing nothing for 5 days straight. O well, "This too shall pass!" (Bonus points to whoever can tell me where that's found in the Bible).

Well, time to go eat again. Laters!

JP Out!

Travels........sigh

2008-04-28T16:33:00.002-05:00

So, I feel like I'm in Pergatory. Not at home, but not at my base. I'm completely separated from most of my things, minus laptop and 1 change of clothes. I've been waiting for a flight out for 3 days now and they have all been canceled. As odd as it sounds, I can't wait to get back to my room. At least there I can shower! Right now, the screen is beginning to melt from my stench. Be happy you can't smell it from there!

But beyond that, I've been sleeping, eating, and watching the movies I've downloaded onto my computer. I've watched Blade Runner, The Green Mile, Who Killed The Electric Car, 2 Fast 2 Furious, August Rush and I Am Legend (Alternate ending version). I've watched 4 episodes of Family Guy and 3 episodes of The Office. Of all the movies, I Am Legend was the best, followed by The Green Mile. Blade Runner was wierd. August Rush had some good music in it, but the story was a little sappy for my taste. 2 Fast 2 Furious was an action movie, nothing more. Who Killed The Electric Car was a documentary, and was rather interesting.

I've got a long post that I typed up on the plane from Germany but I can't post it until I get back. It's a summary of my time on leave and I don't want to write everything twice, so I guess y'all have to wait until I get back for that one. Sucks to be you! :) Just to play it up a bit, I had an excellent time and some wonderful things happened during the two weeks! I can't wait to share it with you!

Well, that's enough for now. Enjoy (and wait impatiently for the best blog post ever!)

JP OUT!

I'm Leavin'......on a Jet Plane

2008-04-24T03:38:00.002-05:00

......Don't know when I'll be back again.

Ok, I do know, but can't say here.

I've had a wonderful time back in the states, and I apologize to anyone I did not get out to see. I'll go in to much greater details about the past couple weeks, but later. I've still got some packing to do!

Thank you to everyone who was so kind and for all the free meals! I'm truely blessed to have such a large network of friends and family! May God bless you as he has blessed me!

Stay tuned, as I've got some exciting news!

JP Out!

I'm Home (for a bit)!!!!

2008-04-08T16:29:00.000-05:00

Need I say more?

JP Out!

Good News!

2008-04-06T01:26:00.002-05:00

Apperently people didn't find my late April Fools joke very funny! At least I told you I was kidding! Imagine if I told you I was coming home a few weeks later or not at all, then suddenly showed up at the house after being in town a day or two? That would be crule! I can't imagine anyone getting home and not telling anyone!!! Who would do such a thing?

Anywho, this is an "official" notice. I have begun my travels. As usual, I cannot give out many details. I can say that I have left my residence and have begun the long trip home. At this point, there are still uncertanties in the travel that can cause up to multiple day delays so even if I could tell you, I don't have an exact date that I'll be home. Please be praying for safety in transit and that there will not be any unnecessary delays. I will keep you posted as much as possible. If I cannot get to a computer, I will be calling home with updates as well so the most current information will come from my parents. See you all soon!

JP out!

!!!!!!

2008-04-04T10:22:00.002-05:00

So I've got bad news........I was just informed that due to a shortage of people, the military is canceling all leave!!! As it turns out, someone screwed up the numbers and now none of us get to go home!!!!
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Ok, even online, I can't keep a straight face! LATE APRIL FOOLS! See ya all soon!

P.S. I have recovered my USB drive. YAY!

It's Hot

2008-04-02T12:10:00.002-05:00

See what I mean?

Time for Another Post

2008-03-28T14:37:00.004-05:00

So, I lost my USB drive. This is highly unfortunate, because I now do not have a way of putting pictures online! I will be buying another one shortly, but it probably won't happen before I get back on leave. Well, you all have made it this long without pictures....what's another couple weeks?

Anywho, life here has been interesting. I'm working night shift now, 2200 - 1000. It's kinda nice because I'm able to use the computers and phones, plus, I'm up when people back home are up! The hours suck but the perks are good. I'm begining to like it because I wake up, go to supper, come back and chill with people that are getting back from work, go off to work as they're going to sleep. Get off work and get to sleep by 1100. Sleep during the hottest part of the day, and then wake up for supper. It's like the ultimate lazyman's shift! Now don't get me wrong, I've still got a lot of work to do during those hours, but like I said, the perks are nice.

Sometime, probably while traveling, I'm going to put together a slide presentation of everything I've seen to date. I'll have a lot of sorting to do because I'm up to 1500 pictures already!!! However, I can show you pictures that I can't post online due to security issues. I've even got some videos to throw in!

We had our first worship practice this past Thursday. It was a practice/planning/see what we need to make this successful meeting. We realized that we're in dire need of guitar music, as the music we have is for piano, with the guitar chords written in size 2.5 font. All of the chords are B#mb7/G9 and FmajSus11/E13 and A7b9/F and other super complicated chords when B, F and A would work just fine. I've gotta make sure I grab my music book when I come back from leave. That, and there's a shortage of picks. The PX here gives out these cardboard "coins" for 5, 10 and 25 cents that I've been cutting into pick shapes. 25 cents is about what I pay for picks back home. However, these usually last only one jam session. They sound about right though. Just a bit flimsier than I prefer but almost right. I'll also grab about 6 packs of strings. Haven't broken one yet, but then again, I don't have any more if I were to break one!

Speaking of guitar (non guitar players and especially non musical people might get lost in this paragraph), I've been playing some slide guitar. I tuned the guitar so it's a D chord without fretting the strings and used a slide to change the pitch. Now most slide players use a glass bottle top (excecpt for Blind Willie Johnson who used a pocket knife) but glass bottles are hard to come by. So I used the next best thing, a tube from my stereo! There's a picture of one at the link below. It's just about the perfect size and it's glass so it gets the same tone. Sitting outside, in the evening air, playin the blues with a non-alcoholic beer......I could almost forget where I'm at for a few minutes!

Well, I'll see ya'll soon!

JP Out

Link: http://www.vacuumtube.com/el84.jpg

Where I've Been (Sleeping)

2008-03-22T18:01:00.010-05:00

So, it's time for a long overdue picture blog. This post will let the words do most of the talking. The topic for this picture blog is all the places I've slept since leaving home. The first three are state side. Then one on the plane ride, which took 23.5 hrs. The last 6 are overseas, including my room now, which takes two pictures to show, cause it's that awesome! Enjoy!

*Hint, behind the two standing and talking*

Waiting on the plane

*Not the same as above*

Back on the Blog

2008-03-19T22:32:00.003-05:00

Hey everybody! Sorry I've been away on the blog for so long! I had to check to see if I was allowed to access the blog from work. Turns out I can so I'll be able to post slightly more often! Right now, I've just got time for a quick summary.

A few days after all the mud, we had a dust storm. Since then, it's been pretty clear. My typical schedule is:
Wakeup @ 0500
Leave for work @ 0530
Arrive at work @ 0600
E-mail and blog until 0630
Work on computer and radio equipment (ie setting up and maintaining the equipment) until 1630
Lunch break @ 1230-1330
After I'm off work, I either go back to my room or hang out around the chow hall until it opens at 1730
Then back to my room where I chill to some music, watch a movie, or just hang out with some army friends.
In bed @ ~ 2130
Then it starts all over again in the morning.

I work 6 days with 1 day off, which will be Thursdays.

Lastly, I've been hearing that some people don't know when I am coming back on leave. I have told my family, who has also told my church. If you want to know, please contact either of them.

O, and thank you for all the packages I've received to date! My grandma sent me a box of cookies....I offered some cookies to some of my friends and they were skeptical. I told them they were grandma cookies and they were like, "Heck Ya"! If you're reading this, grandma, I don't know what the thin wafer like stuff in the paper bag was, but they loved it!

O, with Easter coming up very soon, I need someone back home to stock up on Cadburrie Cream Eggs and Mini Eggs for me. I wouldn't mind chocolate bunny or two either. Thanks!

Ok, gotta go!
Jason

P.S. My birthday, dispite being so far from home, went very well. I'll try to post more about it in the next post.

The Answer is: Mud....mud....and more mud.

2008-03-13T07:52:00.003-05:00

What is the question?

What you get when you have dirt everywhere you look, and it rains?

That is correct!

We are entering the rainy season here. It wouldn't be so bad if there was grass.....but no, just dirt! I can't say yet that I'll never complain about mowing the lawn again, but I do have a whole new appreciation for grass!

I'm still looking for more permanant internet. Nothing yet. Also, my supervisor is driving me nuts! Such is life, I suppose. As long as I have things to regain my sanity at the end of the night, I think I'll be ok.

Thank you for anyone who has sent packages! BTW, if you send me a phone card, I'll use the minutes to call you back! The rate is about 1/5 of a minute. (ie, a 500 min card is good for about 100 min call home.) Please use AT&T cards because that's the phone service available here.

Well, I'm running out of time so I gotta close this out.

JP Out!

P.S. I will be home for leave soon. Please check with my parents for the dates.

Hey, Mail!

2008-03-09T10:13:00.002-05:00

For convienence, I thought I'd type up a short list of things I would like to receive in the mail.

Cookies.

Thanks!

j/k

Actually, what I really need, and is hard to get, is canned air, (for cleaning dust and sand out of things). I don't know if this can be mailed or not. I will also accept cookies! :)

I'll post more as I think of em.

JP out!

I'm Back!

2008-03-08T03:21:00.002-06:00

It's been a really hectic few days. As the army is famous for, "Hurry up and wait!" There were many days where we waited around a few hours, then had 8hrs worth of stuff to do in the remaining 5 hrs. It's wonderful........

We've finally made it into real beds. The first time since leaving IL, I've slept in a bed in a room that had proper heat and air. I've been able to unpack for the long haul. I'll get back with pictures once I've established a regular internet connection.

So far, the worst living conditions I've experienced on this whole deployment is the FOB at Fort Dix, NJ. Even the overflow housing is better than the junk we were living in there! The food is better, the shopping is better, it really did suck back in NJ.

So anywho, I gotta go. Time is short and the days are long. (Is that a famous saying? It sounds like it should be.....hmmm)

Oh, I almost forgot, my address was changed one last time. I gave it to my parents about 2 days ago. I was given an incorrect address. So, send away! BTW, the deadline for packages to reach me before my birthday (hint, 19th) is basically today. However, I will be home for leave in early April! Ya, you read me right. So if you want to hold on to em and give em to me in person, that would be fine too. :)

Well, laters!

The Com-bat Show-er

2008-02-28T11:03:00.003-06:00

First things first. I'm going to be extremely busy over the next week or so. I may not have time to blog or anything. Just be patient.....be patient....don't be in such a hurry! (sing with me)

Anywho, The Combat Shower. Imagine if you will, a number of shower stalls installed into a single wide trailer with a 500 gallon water tank attached to it and two little water heaters on the inside. When you work out the numbers, there is about 15 gallons per person, per day. That's not a lot of water for a shower. The official instructions are, get in, get wet, turn off the water. Lather up, rinse off, turn off water. This would be bad enough if the water were warm.

However, the previous 20 people decided they were sick of combat showers and drained the little water heaters 5 minutes before you stepped in. When the shower's made of stainless steel and stays a constant 37 degrees, and you're already naked, the ice cold water just makes it even worse! After several days of this, I wondered if the army just leaves the heaters off so that you'll conserve water. Rinsing off is even worse, cause now you're dripping wet on the 37 degree floor. You almost wanna skip the rinsing off phase, it's so cold!

So next time you're in the shower, shut off the hot water first and think of me! :)

JP out

Quick Note On My Address

2008-02-27T03:48:00.002-06:00

I was given incomplete information!!! My address has changed in the last 24 hrs due to more info.

I gave out a three line address in the form of:

Rank, Last, First name
Unit
APO #

The correct address is in the form of:

Rank, Last, First name
Unit
Location
APO #

Considering it's 3am back home right now, I haven't had a chance to correct it with my parents. In a few hours, they'll have the correct address. I apologize for any inconvinence this may have caused.

JP out.

I Have An Address!!!!

2008-02-26T08:23:00.002-06:00

They finally gave me a shipping address! This means that the buckets of cookie dough you have saved up in your freezer can now be baked, packaged and sent! Don't worry, I'll share......maybe.

If you would like my address, please contact my family or my church. I ask that you do not post it online anywhere, including e-mail. (See my post on Operational Security)

In other news, I found out that bad habits have an effective range of over 10,000 miles! I thought that by removing myself from my environment, I'd have a better handle over my bad habits, but one of them reared it's ugly head. I stayed up too late, which resulted in me being late to work. On the civilian side of things, it's bad enough, but on the army side, that's a big deal. The margin for error is a lot smaller. I need prayer to conquer this. I can't be screwing myself out of sleep or showing up late. Any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks!

JP Out

Viewing the Sunset from the Balcony...

2008-02-21T10:17:00.003-06:00

...of Sadaam's Palace

So, what did you do today?

Out.

The MRE

2008-02-19T11:28:00.003-06:00

Back to regular schedualed broadcasting....

Today, in our military lesson, I am going to discuss the M.R.E.

M.R.E officially stands for Meal Ready to Eat. Its a pre-packaged meal that's portioned for all the vitimins and minerals needed as well as daily portions of fat, calories, protien, etc. It comes with a special bag, that when you add water, it gets boiling hot, cooking the food in the process. The food is, at best, a fake-meat sandwich from McDonalds, and at worst, dry-mixed and canned egg omlet. Sometimes, pouring on the included tabasco sauce is the only way to choke it down.

Soldiers have come to give it more affectionate nicknames, such as Mr E (pronounced mystery) because you never really know if the meat is truly meat or not. My personal favorite, Meal Refusing to Exit.

The Meal Refusing to Exit is a pre-packaged meal specifically designed to stop you up. It's truely and experience, eating nothing but MREs for days on end. First, you notice that your daily poop is late. You wonder and worry, but figure it's just late. But days go by and you begin to gain weight. Next, you notice a sick feeling, but nothing serious. After 9 full days, you begin to have contractions (it's important to find a bathroom soon). After several mintues to a few hours of intense labor, it happens. You drop enough weight to clog up a porta-potty. Whew! What a relief!
Next week on Military Lesson 2: The Combat Shower.

In all seriousness, it's not quite that bad. We've only had to eat MREs for training exersises. The regular food here is pretty darn good. Steak and crab arms? Stir-Fri? Apple Pie? Ya, it's tough living when you have to make so many choices.

In case you havn't heard, I have changed locations. No address yet.....still working on that. However, internet is more reliable. I hope to get some pictures up here soon.

Out

Westboro Baptist Church

2008-02-17T06:06:00.002-06:00

Anyone heard of them? Truely a cult at heart. Their hatred for America, it makes the Al Quida seem like nice guys! Their website, www.godhatesfags.com, is blocked on all military computers because it's catigorized as racial and hate speech. The best quote I could get was from a forum.

"God's curse upou America is irreversible, because America has persecuted Westboro Baptist Church (WEC Chronicles - Since 1955) 3701 SW 12" St. Topeka, Kansas 66604 785-273-0325
GodHatesFags.comReligious Opinion and Bible Commentary on Current EventsThursday, February 14, 2008

NEWS RELEASE: Thank God for the Shooterat Northern Illinois University.
God sent the Shooter.
In His Wrath & Vengeance
against an Ungrateful
Nation that has Forsaken
Him &Embraced Filthy Fags.
WBC will picket their
hypocritical funerals &
memorials & "vigils."
Yes. In religious protest & warning;
to wit: "Benot deceived; God is not mocked." Gal. 6:7.
God Hates Fags! & Fag-Enablers. Ergo, Godhates fag-dominated Northern Illinois University,
fag-saturated Illinois, and fag-run America.
What part of this 12-word sentence don't you idiots understand?
"Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind; it is abomination."Lev. 18:22."

The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) is a fundamentalist religious organization headed by Fred Phelps and based in Topeka, Kansas, U.S. The church runs numerous websites such as GodHatesFags.com, GodHatesAmerica.com. The group achieved national notoriety for picketing funeral processions for soldiers killed in action during the Iraq War. While its members identify themselves as Baptists, the church is an independent church not affiliated with any known Baptist conventions or associations, nor does any Baptist institution recognize the church as a Bible-believing fellowship."

"On February 15, 2008 they announced that they will picket the funerals of the victims of the shootings at Northern Illinois University." -- Wikipedia

How can this be? How is it that this group continues to operate? I pray that I never meet one of these people while I'm armed. I place a challenge out to the members of the Westboro Baptist Church.....come to Iraq and protest the war. I dare you!

Thats ok, just under 4000 US soldiers gave their lives in this war so that they can have the right to say what they will. Thank God for The Patriot Guard. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_Guard_Riders

Out

Could This Be Why I'm Here?

2008-02-15T11:00:00.004-06:00

I just found out about this. This was not even 24hrs ago! For those that don't understand the significance, NIU (Northern Illinois University) was the school I would have been at last fall and this spring.

"MOST RECENT NEWS: 4 students at NIU have been confirmed to be killed from gunshot wounds. It is not known yet whether or not they were the ones critically wounded.On February 14, 2008 a lone, unknown gunman entered into a classroom in Cole hall near the center of the campus and began shooting with two handguns and one shotgun. 19 people were shot, including the gunman, 4 were critically wounded, 14 were not critically wounded but were still transported to the hospital. 1 was killed, that was the gunman who took his own life.The gunman has been identified, but his name is not going to be released publicly. It has been confirmed that he was not a student at the university.There are several hotlines that are available to anyone who wants to know the current situation of the college.815-753-1573 815-753-1574 815-753-1575 815-753-6143 815-753-6257 815-753-9564Continue to pray for the families. I will continue to update the information as it comes in."

I wonder if I could have been one of those 19. Perhaps God knows better than I do!

On an administrative note, It'll be a while before I get an address. Once I have it, I'll let you know, but it will not be posted online. You must contact my family or my church for the address. Once I have an address, feel free to send a disposable camera, I'll fill it with pictures and send it back!

Out

Life With Sand

2008-02-10T11:27:00.000-06:00

Picture this. You look around in every direction and all you see is more sand! Not even a tree, rock or cactus! It's very easy to get lost if you're not careful!

Anywho, I gotta do this quick. I saw some camels! I snapped a few pictures while they were far away. They came right up to our vehical, but since I was the driver, I had to concern myself with not hitting them! They're large and dumb. Oh, one hump.

Today, I was able to play bass at the camp chapel! They had a acoustic guitar player and a few singers. We had two others from our group playing too. A 1LT on the keys and a PFC on the drums. The drummer is a friend of mine so it was pretty cool to be able to not only worship together, but also play music together! It's amazing that we could come from all across the US and unite in Kuwait through God. The playing was smooth, all things considered! BTW, I would have played electric, but they didn't have an amp.

Gotta go.
Out.

Slow Internet Blues

2008-02-06T03:13:00.000-06:00

Imagin that the internet was so slow, that it could be said of dial-up that it was faster! Imagin if you had to read Arabic to sign into your own blog! Imagin it was 11am on Feb 6th and it's approching 80 degrees. Imagine if you woke up to find that Mike Huckabee did NOT win the IL primary! Today could be a lot better......

We're gearing up for a three day exercise. I'll get to play with Peggy Sue again. She's been feeling neglected. Over the three days, I'll be spending some quality time with her, bathing her, holding her, and firing her! Peggy Sue is the name of my weapon.

Life so far here has been pretty slow. I've spent a large amount of time in the gym and it's feeling good to get back to it. It's 20-25min walk to the gym so it makes for a great warm up/cool down. Well, I gotta get going now.

Out

I'm Back, again.

2008-02-03T20:24:00.000-06:00

From 0200 to 0600, I watched the Superbowl. It's amazing, the technology.

When the game began, and they sung the national anthem, the entire room went silent as we all stood at attention. This may sound sappy, but I let a few tears, knowing that I'm halfway around the world, yet I'm still able to celebrate my home nation. The flag means so much more when your more than a plane ride away from the nearest Wal-Mart. Believe me, you don't quite appreciate what you have until your away from it.

Congratulations to the NY Giants for winning Superbowl XLII!!

2008-02-02T11:40:00.001-06:00

So, I've got internet for a bit.

Guess what? I'm no longer in the states! Ya, you probably could have guessed. Anywho, internet is hard to come by so I'll have to just give you a short message.

Hi! It's very dusty here. Today, however, the weather was very clear. A nice 60s, approching 70s. I'm nearly adjusted to the time change. I will say that the keyboard on the computer I'm borrowing is horrible! It's hard to type on and it hurts my arms. I'm getting carple tunnle as we speak!

It'll likely be a few weeks before I can get more reliable internet. I'll send messages more then. I'm limited to 1/2 hr at a time on this computer so next time, I'll type it on mine and copy it on to this computer.

Sunday at Midnight, we're watching the Superbowl. Ya, it'll likely be a crazy party! I've been working out quite a bit and trying not to blow my money at all the shops and such set up all over the place. It truely is an experience.

One way to know that you are no longer in the states....the sign-in for this blog is in Arabic and the ads on facebook ask if I want a green card for me and my family to go to the USA! It's also wierd to me that while it is nearly time to sleep, the people I know back home are getting ready for lunch. I've never been out of North America before so the whole time difference is new to me.

Anywho, just a quick update. Hope things are going well back home!

Out.

2008-01-29T22:28:00.000-06:00

OPSEC (Operations security) - a process that identifies critical information to determine if friendly actions can be observed by adversary intelligence systems, determines if information obtained by adversaries could be interpreted to be useful to them, and then executes selected measures that eliminate or reduce adversary exploitation of friendly critical information. Unlike security programs that seek to protect classified information, OPSEC measures identify, control, and protect generally unclassified evidence that is associated with sensitive operations and activities.

In civillian terms, its the process of limiting the distribution of potentially sensitive information. The number one concern of the army is information such as movement dates, times and locations. Most of the time, this information is accidentally leaked out without the person realizing it.

I bring this up because some information that I gave to people individually made it to the internet and could be found rather easily via Google. I contacted the source of the information and it was taken down later that day so all is good. My point is not to put down the person that posted such information, but rather remind everyone of my readers that this stuff is real.

So what guidelines should you use? Simply, if you don't see it on this blog, then it shouldn't be online. There are things I can tell friends and family using other sources, but it can't be posted on a public site.

So, now that that's out of the way...

Life's still good. Keeping busy. I don't really have much to say at the moment cause it's late and I'm tired. So, laters!

HP has hope!

2008-01-28T21:37:00.000-06:00

Quick blerb. I called HP again and an English speaking American (or at least he sounded American) answered. 26 min later, problem solved. This included him talking to his supervisor to work around the issue that the old wireless card needed to be returned within 15 days. If HP continues to add English speakers to their tech support, they'll go up in my book!

In other news, things are winding down. We are really busy at the moment to I'll have some short or non-existant posts here in the next week or two. I'll squeeze one up here as I get time. Please pray for safety, as well as dealing with my new leader. Lastly, for our unit to mesh together as people are beginning to have issues with other people, causing division.

JP Out.

VIDEOS!!!

2008-01-25T17:49:00.000-06:00

I don't recall what HEAT stands for, but HEAT training is a vehical rollover simulation. I had a buddy take this video while I was in the simulator. I am the third person to exit.

HEAT training

Also, I have a pair of videos of a 7 mile road march we did. It was 25-28 degrees, and when we left, the sun wasn't up yet. Our carried water froze, leaving us with nothing to drink. The first video is longer and gives you a better sense of what a road march is like. However, *DISCLAIMER*, this is a video of the Army. There is swearing! Please preview the video before allowing younger people to view it. The second video is much shorter, but it is clean.

First Video

Second Video (Clean)

Lastly, a bit for my regular readers. I've been having internet issues (due to the previously mentioned wireless card tech support saga). Thus, I have been unable to post. I am borrowing a buddy's computer for this post. BTW, I called HP again....and I nearly fell off my chair. The tech support guy spoke English! I'm resonably convinced that he was within 4 hrs of my time zone! In 26 mins and 37 seconds, from first ring to hang up, I got them to ship a new wireless card! About 10 mins was him putting me on hold, because he wasn't technically allowed to switch the card with a different brand, and there was also an issue with me being overseas. But rather than saying that he couldn't do it, he talked to his supervisor and worked things out! Victory is mine!!!

Out.

Technical Support...An Oxymoron of the Greatest Extent

2008-01-19T21:18:00.000-06:00

Since when did technical support become neither technical, nor support? I bought myself a nice new HP laptop back in late July. One of the things that most impressed me was when I called to order the machine, the guy spoke english....no wait, AMERICAN english. Not even a southern accent! I even put it down on one of those after purchase surveys that I was happy to speak to someone in english and my purchasing experience was plesent. Little did I know, it was all a gimick.

A couple months later, I called to extend my warranty due to my pending deployment. I talked to someone in India.....big suprise. I figured maybe it was a 50/50 chance of speaking with an American. O well. I got the warranty, which still took 30+ min. Now fast foward a few more months. My wireless card (or wifi) starts acting up. Having dealt in the past with "tech support", I did everything possible to avoid calling them. I did some research on the internet and found that the Intel 3945A/B/G wireless card sucks! The issue is it has a new power saving feature. For the techies, I'll explain.

It has a feature that it will signal the router to cache all data going to your computer for a set amount of time, and it will shut off. It will then periodically turn back on to receive the cached data. The problem is Intel didn't consider what would happen if the router ignored the signal and sent data anyway. The card shuts down, and when it wakes up again to receive data, the router assumes the connection was lost and doesn't send anything. Thus, a lost connection. It gets worse. Sometimes, when the card doesn't receive anything back, it goes into some sort of hibernation mode. It shuts itself off completely and can only be turned on again by disabling and reenabling it through control panel. Sometimes, even more completely and the computer must be restarted! Intel has known about this problem and all they say on the website is to update your router. That's not always possible, such as when your using someone elses router. BTW, Windows XP doesn't support this new "feature" on the card so the card doesn't have this problem running XP.

Back to the story. I dreadingly called HP to beg for a card switch. And, as expected, I was connected to Muhammad Alli who claimed to be, "John" with HP. I gave him my name, carefully spelling my first and last name. Yes, I said my FIRST and last name. Then I varified my phone number, product number, serial number, zip code number, shoe size number, brother-in-law's bosses number and the number of fingers on my left hand. Finally, this guy on the other side of the globe, enough hours ahead that he was in the next day, was sure that I was who I said I was.

So I begin describing the perils of my wifi card, pointing out that I had done research on the internet to find that the card itself sucked. He asked me to show him a site on the internet where it talks about the issue. So I hopped on another computer and led him to the intel website where they discribe the problem. So now he tells me to go to the HP website and download a driver. Hmmm...but if my wireless internet card isn't working.......how....do you suppose.....I'm going to DOWNLOAD A DRIVER??? Is there anything else we can try? (Like, maybe sending me a new card....) He says, ok but we we need to try this first. So I say again, I can't download because my card doesn't work. "Ok....I need to log this as actions taken, please wait..."

So I'm waiting, and waiting, and waiting. I hear this periodic clicking noise. Two, maybe three times a second. Suddenly, it dawns on me. That's the noise of him type.....no, that's giving him to much credit.....hunting and pecking this information for his log! I sit and wait for 2 and a half minutes and he doesn't say anything the whole time. Then, my phone beeps. Call lost! I bang the desk in frustration and the borrowed desktop computer restarts. First time in my years of computer useage I've seen that one work!

So now I'm even more determined. Suddenly, an idea! When I called to order, they spoke English. What if I call and say I'm ordering, then do the old switcharoo and tell THEM the problem. So I call and go through the voice automated system. I am almost immediatly connected with Daniel from Boise, ID. What's your name? I tell him (and he DOESN'T need the spelling of my first name). Then comes the oppertunity...."What would you like to order?" I explain the situation and ask him for help. He understands the issue and would be able to help if he were in the right department. That's right, in 30 seconds, I made more progress than I could have hoped for in 30 mins! Then......BEEEPP!!! Call lost! All I could do was laugh. It was that, or run outside naked screaming at the 1.2 Billion Indian "tech support" persons with common American names. I choose the former for obvious reasons.

So I called back and got Michelle. She was less helpful and was about to transfer me across the globe. I refused and said I wanted to speak to her supervisor. I'm thinking I'm getting somewhere now! Then, plain as day, her supervisor answers. "Hello, I am from India and I have no idea what you're saying." Well, not exactly, but her supervisor was freakin Indian!!!! I didn't even try. I said thank you, and hung up. I have one final option. I'm going to order a laptop, and during the customizing phase, I'm going to have them remove everything but the wireless card and have them send me that. I'll let you know how that goes.

I at least hope that when a person in India calls tech support, they're transfered to someone in the USA.

I'm Sick

2008-01-17T19:20:00.001-06:00

And I feel like crap!

PICTURE!

2008-01-16T11:43:00.000-06:00

Decked out, Terminator style! Together, we can shoot over 400 bullets at you without even reloading!!! HAHAHAHA!

The World is Truely Ending

2008-01-15T14:28:00.000-06:00

I........I...I....bbb-b-bought a d-d-d-dig-d......sigh.......dig---i--tal c-c-c-camera. It hurts to say! I bought a digital camera! I feel dirty now, like I should visit a priest.
"Tell me, child, what have you done?"
"I bought a digital camera. I knew I shouldn't do it...but I couldn't resist!"
"How long has it been since your last confession?"
"I've only used film cameras before, so never."
"So this is your first time?"
"Yes, and I feel horrible about it!"
"You know that God will forgive you."
"But how can he? This is truely unforgivable!"
"God can forgive any sin. All you have to do is repent, return the camera and use the money to buy film."

Ok, so it's not that bad, but this is up there with me buying a country cd and a mac. In reality, I bought one because my film camera is locked up in a storage container at the moment. Also, there's no where to develop film right now. Lastly, it's small enough to take with me practically everywhere. Don't worry though, I'll be using my film camera whenever I can.

For the techies that read this......(hint, not mike oscar mike ;) ), I also bought a 200gb 7200rpm hard drive (HITACHI) for my laptop. This is to replace the 160gb 5400rpm hard drive (Seagate) in it now. I got an encloser (sp?) for 2.5" drives to put the 160gb drive in and run it off USB. The new drive uses slightly more power at idle but slightly less power in use. Being a faster drive, I figure it wont be in use as often so there should be an overall better battery life.

Lastly, a bit of army news. I'm adjusting to a new supervisor. He joined the unit a few days ago and his leadership style is drastically different than my previous supervisor. It's been quite an adjustment and so far, I'm hating it. (Hint, I don't like change). In the long term, it may work out. I certainly hope it does.

Military Reflections

2008-01-12T12:21:00.001-06:00

18 days from now marks the anniversary of my leaving home for basic training. Until that time, I had never been away from home for more than a week and a half. Upon leaving, I was gone until late July (with a 3 day visit home in May). Then in November, I left once again. This time, to return the following December. In my first 12 months of Military service, I have been gone for 8 months with 11 months to go!

Looking back at 2007, it was a turning point for my life. I haven't been home long enough to see how I've changed, but I know when I left that January 30th,it was the first time I stayed in a hotel without knowing anyone there! I was scared. 21 years old and scared to go to a hotel by myself! Basic training, it was the first time I had woken up before the sun twice in the same year, much less, 9 weeks in a row! AIT, I got my first tattoo and experienced life with roommates. (Basic Training doesn't count because there's no resemblance of real life :) ). I had to start over with all new friends. It was the first time in my life, since I was too young to remember, that I was told what to eat, what to wear, where to go and when, when to wake up, when to go to bed, when to eat, basically every aspect of my life was out of my hands! During my time away from home, it surprised me what I missed and even more, what I didn't miss. Things that had seemed so important before were now nothing. Yet, things like photography, listening to music, pizza, even going to Wal-Mart, I began to miss. It really brought things into prospective! It goes without saying that I missed my friends and family.

There were some really good things about this too. To date, I haven't mowed my lawn since late summer '06! I haven't mowed at all since Aug '07. My goal is 1 year. If only to make up for years past! Oddly enough, I did find myself missing the smell of fresh cut grass, or grass at all for that matter! The east coast has a ton of sand and not much grass!!! I got to spend a few weeks with my aunt and uncle. Their house is pretty cool! Just 4 blocks or so, there's a downtown/restaurant area with some really good food. I hear that in the summer, there's a lot going on at night including outdoor live music! Go another 2 blocks, and you're at the train station into Chicago! I drove up there (150 miles) with 1/2 a tank of gas. Over the next 2 weeks, I used less than the other 1/2 tank of gas! I could walk to places! It was awesome! Twice, I hopped the train to Chicago, watched an episode of Prison Break on my trusty laptop and I was there!

Already, I'm making plans for '09. If I have any control over it, '09 will be a normal year again. I'm gonna party like it's 2009! 2009 includes going to college, which is what got me into this position in the first place! Frequent trips to Chicago are likely. Maybe try to pick up a job at the local music store. I'm having a car worked on while deployed. If things go as planned, I'll be driving around in a '67 MGB convertible! I'll also be visiting my Aunt and Uncle at least once a month. None of these things would have been possible if I hadn't signed up! Plus, I get an all expense paid trip for one, to Iraq! I'm looking forward to what will come, and looking back, seeing what God has brought me through. I may not have understood it at the time, and I'll admit, I'm not completely sure at this point. But I know that God brought me here for a reason. I know I made the right choice.

P.S. I am convinced that hell is 34 degrees, raining and perpetually 5am with no coffee.

The stuff the commercials are made of!

2008-01-10T21:22:00.000-06:00

So the other day, I had perhaps the most fun I've had in a long time. Off roading in a vehicle that isn't your own! Better yet, a government vehicle! That's right, free-wheeling Humvee! This is the stuff that you see in the commercials and all the army people go, "Ya, I wish we did that". Well, we DID do that. The goal was, we were given a GPS and told, get from here to there. So, we did. We followed the trails, and when we felt the trails were wrong, we made our own! We took down small trees, and nearly took out the front window with this huge branch. We covered the thing in mud as we took it through foot deep water. We took it over fallen trees that were at least 15" in diameter. The vehicle took it like a champ! We even found an old office chair in the middle of the forest. We grabbed it and took it back, hoping to keep it for the tent. We discovered it had a hole in the seat, so we tossed it back. Oh, it was great! I now see the draw to off roading. Let me tell you tho, the Hummer.....the REAL H1 Hummer, is quite a vehicle. It'll beat any SUV hands down in all catigories pertaining to off roading. Stupid H2, H3 and whatever else they got.

Anywho, just thought I'd share that with you.

Found my phone charger!!!

2008-01-08T21:18:00.001-06:00

Hey, I found my charger! HAHA!

What a Day!

2008-01-06T21:24:00.000-06:00

So today was an interesting day. It started off really bad, but got better. I woke up at and unknown time, thirsty as ill get out. I slowly got dressed. I had a headache due to dehydration. I walked to the waterpoint and rehydrated. I came back to the tent and proceeded to get my stuff, unknowing that I was 15 min late at this point. I got a quick, "Hurry up" from my sergeant so I picked up the pace. It took me at least 7 min to gather my stuff. Another sergeant came in and yelled at me for being late. I wanted to kill him! Not literally of course. Saying that kind of thing makes people on edge around here. Perhaps its because we all carry loaded weapons.... anywho.

The day got better. I went to my training. The night shift did very well and they didn't leave a pile of work for me to do. I went about my tasks. The day started slowly so I was able to ease into the training. Apperently I was doing quite well, because about 2/3 into the day, I was told that the Officer in charge of the training mentioned me by name as doing a good job and that I was on top of things. I got a pat on the back from my sergeant. It felt really good. The rest of the day, by comparison was pretty boring. At one point, I went to take a break, and fell asleep. I wasn't woken up until over an hour later! I wasn't intending to sleep more than 10min! Apperently it wasn't really an issue as my shift was over. Got lucky there.

Well, I'm 7min past 1030, my goal for going to bed. Laters!

2008-01-05T20:51:00.000-06:00

I have internet!!! Which is great, cause I cant find my cellphone charger. And the battery is nearly dead. I finally worked together with the other computer guy here to connect a pair of wireless repeaters. DD-WRT + Linksys wireless router = good! Our tent is the only one that has internet. Of over 1000 ppl, 16 people have internet. I love it!

Anywho, I hope someone reads this, cause I need a cellphone charger mailed to me. I had a 2nd charger that I used at work, and I think it's still there. It's a charger for an LG phone. BTW, my mailing address has not changed. I may have to turn my phone back on just to relay this message. Please leave a comment if you read this.

Anywho, the past couple days, we've been doing some 24 hour training so half of the people, I only see during shift change. It feels slightly realistic. Especially when we've had training deaths with the names of actual people on it. It brings a sense of realism. Plus, with changing shifts, you have to adjust to whatever the night shift did before you. It's pretty cool. Well, sleepytime!

It's over so quick

2008-01-02T01:33:00.001-06:00

Im in my last 12 hrs in IL. It's over so quick. It seems like just yesterday I was flying home!

Coming Home for Chirstmas!!!

2007-12-22T17:12:00.000-06:00

I am sitting at the airport, waiting on my flight, which has been delayed. By tonight, I will be sleeping in my own bed! HAHAHA!!! AHH, this is awesome! I've never been so homesick before.

See ya in a few,

Party Like Iraq...

2007-12-21T20:19:00.000-06:00

Party like Iraq star!

2!!!

2007-12-17T18:37:00.001-06:00

Feeling Fobbish

2007-12-15T17:42:00.000-06:00

6 days and a wakeup! Only 6 full days left!

Word has it that we will be completing our 7k road march on the 22nd. It's going to be a LOOOOOONG day. Up at 0400 or 0430, walk 4.375 miles with about 60lbs of gear, probably in the snow, up hill, both ways. Actually, our 5k march was in the snow, with a sand base. Then we'll travel to the airport, likely taking 1-2hrs, pass through security...................5hrs later, get on the plane, drive from the airport to home. Probably pretty late. But then, the next day, I'm back at my home church! Oh, it's so close, I can almost taste it!

The past few days, we've been training on patrols. We've been using blanks for training, and I'm disappointed because I haven't had anything to shoot at! I've got 400+ rounds to fire and I've only shot 3! Speaking of weaponry (sp?), I went to the range, on perhaps the worst day, weatherwise, possible. It was foggy and rainy. It was in the mid 30s to lower 40s and it rained and rained and rained. When it let up for a bit, it was still a drizzle. I couldn't see any targets past 150m, and there were targets out to 400m! I managed to hit them anyway. Just send enough bullets in the general direction and you'll hit something! But laying there in the mud and sand with cold rain falling, wow! I was soaked like I jumped in a pool. It was crazy. That was a bad day.

Supposedly, the rest of our time here is going to be crazy busy. Like, up at 0430, asleep by 2300. 4:30am and 11:00pm to you civilians. 5 and a half hours a night. Ya, I'll be getting some sleep when I get back.

Anywho, 6 days and a wakeup!

2007-12-09T08:55:00.000-06:00

This morning, I finally got a chance to make it to chapel, and what a difference it makes. It's amazing how quickly one's prospective can get off when there's no reference point visable. There's something about fellowshiping with other believers that brings everything back into prospective. Maybe it's just the reminder that other people are going through the same thing.

I met someone today that plays drums and guitar in a worship band. We talked for a bit about churches and songs and such. They're going to the One Thing festival over new years. http://www.fotb.com/ Had I known in advance, I'd go too, but alas, that's for another year.

Less than 2 weeks!!!

Light at the End of the Tunnel

2007-12-07T16:45:00.000-06:00

Though I need a telescope and night vision to see it.

I found out the chaplin MIGHT be able to stay. He's supposed to find out today. Plus, it's only 2 weeks till I come home!!!

Temporary Blindness: The conclusion

2007-12-06T09:40:00.000-06:00

My eye has finally nearly healed. Just slight blurryness remaining. Man, was that an ordeal! I should be back to regular training this afternoon. I've got one more appointment on monday.

I just found out that our chaplin is non-deployable due to medical issues! He was a good guy too! I'm going to miss him. It's really unfortunate because I was just starting to get to know him too. Supposedly, they're going to transfer in another chaplin. I really hope so. It's good to have that one person you know you can talk to that's right there with you.

Ok, a complete shift of topic...I just heard about my friend's art show.....best story I've heard in a long time!

The saga continues...

I just heard this story this morning. My friend was called into an administrator's office last week. They thought he might be considering shooting up the school!! For his art show he redid a well known ad, National lampoon's "If you don't buy this magazine i'll shoot your dog". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Lampoon He found the add over Thanksgiving break and redid it to say "Go to my art show or i'll shoot your dog". Overall, the show itself went really well. However, that wasn't the end of the issues. My friend's top art teacher, the students are supposed to buy their frames from his frame business, but my friend refused to spend that kind of money. Also, The student's are supposed to use the graphic place he recommends to do your art show announcements....$500 by the way for the cards. He refused. So in retaliation (sp) the teacher refused to send his's referral letter to a college in Maine! Last update, things are being straightened out. I have to say, that's one of the most rediculous things I've heard in a long time!!!

Check this out!

2007-12-05T10:20:00.000-06:00

I've been listening to a Podcast from Crosspoint Community Church. This last Sunday, they did something amazing: A reverse offering! That's right, they gave money out to the attenders!!! The topic of the sermon was how loving and giving go hand in hand. And how can a church teach about giving when it's not willing to give itself? You can read about it below.

http://crosspointcc.blogspot.com/2007/12/gift-of-giving-cash-giveaway.html

Also, be sure to check out the accompanying podcast.

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=268842654

Temporary Blindness cont....

2007-12-05T09:37:00.000-06:00

Day 4: My vision is returning slowly. Apperently I had early stages of pink eye at the time that I was sprayed. Plus, the pepper spray dried into small crystals. When I cleaned my eyes that night, the crystals scratched the cornea of my left eye. Between the eye trying to heal and the pink eye, my eye blurred up with discharge. I've been granted 48hrs of quarters (time off) to heal, so it's not too bad. I've been catching up on important things, like podcasts, blogs etc.

The past few days, the weather took a turn for the worse. Sunday morning, it was around 28 degrees with snow on the ground. This is the day we did a 5 mile road march, wearing 30lbs of body armour. It warmed up to the lower 40s, and that's when we got sprayed.

"In an Army training event, individuals were sprayed with 5% OC. The spray pattern was a single pass horizontally along the eyebrow with eyes closed. The initial contact causes no discomfort, but when the eyes are opened, a burning sensation is felt immediately. The spray makes it nearly impossible to open the eyes and have useful vision. This is the primary effect when first sprayed. There is no incapacitation, and the performance of physical tasks is still possible, but after approximately 15 seconds to one minute a severe burning occurs wherever the spray has come in contact with the face. The sensation is reminiscent of the after-effects of a burn from scalding water. Comparable eye pain would be putting contact lens cleaning solution into one's eye, but much more lingering and distracting. The pain persists for quite some time, about 45 minutes of intense burning. The only relief was to press the face against air conditioning vents. Washing was not possible as oil-based OC is not water soluble." -- Wikipedia

We stood there with our eyes closed and they sprayed our eyebrows. We then had to open our eyes and run through a defensive course. We had to defend ourselves using a foam baton against mock enemies. About 2 minutes after being sprayed, we got our face washed with water. Let me tell you, the water was such a shock, it literally takes your breath away. The water was so cold! When your face is on fire, it feels good, but wow. We then spent 10-15min in front of a large fan before packing up and leaving. I'm pretty sure this past Sunday was the worst experience of my life!

Fortunately, things are getting better now.

P.S. If someone threatens you with pepper spray.....just stop. It's not worth it!

What a day

2007-12-03T16:02:00.000-06:00

I am temporarily and partially blinded in one eye. OC spray is no joke! Please note, it's ONLY temporary. Details later.

2007-11-30T23:01:00.000-06:00

What a long week! We went through the gas chamber a second time. (First time was basic training). This time, however, we had to cover our skin with this charcoal like stuff to decontaminate ourselves. We came out looking like coal miners! Then later this week, we were given a drug test! Yay....wake up at 3am! Thats right, we were up at 0300 and kept up all day. That was a blast *rolls eyes*!!! A few days ago, we did some unarmed self defence training that used principles from Akido. It was pretty crazy! If you did the move right, you could knock the opponant on the ground with minimal force! They also taught us pressure points! Ask me about em when I'm back in town, I'll demonstrate a few! :)

Eventually, I've been told, I will be receiving pepper spray to the eyes! I am NOT looking forward to that. OOOh, and I got to drive a HMMV (pronounced humvee). I'm sure this will get old, but the first time was exciting!

Ok, link time!

First, Paul Potts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxOytYLlhiQ&feature=related
I heard about this in Rob Bell's podcast.

Second,

The 9 Most Bad Ass Bible Verses.
*disclaimer: Site have profanity (If you can't already tell by the title)
From my friend's blog. http://www.arkaonco.blogspot.com/

Laters,

Frustration

2007-11-28T22:20:00.000-06:00

Have you ever met someone that is disorganized? It's almost like watching a guinea pig. It seems like they hop from one activity to another with no plan or order, yet each day seems haphazardly like the one before and the one after. An overall pattern, but not to the point that you could look at your watch and make an accurate guess as to what the guinea pig is doing. My unit is lead by a bunch of overpaid guinea pigs.

In the Military, there is a huge importance placed on the chain of command. Every soldier, from the brand new private, all the way up to 3 star generals have someone of higher rank that they report to. I, as a private first class, have no business talking to a 3 star general, I report to a Staff Sergent. However, I find that most of the time, he has no clue what's going on. Neither does his supervisor, or his supervisor, or his supervisor. If I want to find out what's going on, I'd have to jump straight to the higher ranks. This is highly frowned upon. However, I don't fault any of my supervisors as the problem lies higher up. Those on top are fighting for control and forgetting that us lower ranks are present. Every day, it's a suprise.

Needless to say, it's hard to fearlessly follow your leaders when your confidence goes about as far as you can throw them. At least those I will be on missions with are competent. In any case, it's frustrating to no end to have no idea how to run your day. I just have to take it one day at a time.

Tales from DeKalb

Freedom, Granted by Law?

What Is Love?

Classes.....sigh

Untitled-11

Response to a Comment on Facebook

It's Really Winter

Thank You

I'm Bringing Blogging Back....

Photo Post

I Shouldn't Have To Explain Myself...

LA!!!

A Rare Moment of Clarity

Life........is.......interesting

Title Change

I'm BACK!

Short Update

En Route

Presented To......

Busy busy busy!!!

Finally, an update!!!

It has arrived!

One Hundredth

All I Want To Do-oo-oo-ooo.......

Not much of an update.......

Please Re-direct Your Mail

Hello from Iraq!

Been Way Too Long!!!

Good News!

Boo----Freakin-----YA!!!!

Sometime's Life's a Game

Rejoice With Me

Does It Ever End?

Been Awhile

CAMERA TRAGEDY!!!

The Things We Learn From Cats

Heat Exhaustion

I'm In Love!!!

I Have Arrived

Shift Change and other pictures

Being A Nerd....Blessing AND a Curse!

Lessons learned from 88 keys

Mail and Fee Mail

Nothing Ever Changes

*Insert Cliche Title Here*

False Alarm!

HOLD THE MAIL!!!

Contest Update.

Contest! Winner Receives $$$!!!

It's Been Awhile...

Quick Post

A Double Post! O My!!!

*Insert Clever Title Here*

Travels........sigh

I'm Leavin'......on a Jet Plane

I'm Home (for a bit)!!!!

Good News!

!!!!!!

It's Hot

Time for Another Post

Where I've Been (Sleeping)

Back on the Blog

The Answer is: Mud....mud....and more mud.

Hey, Mail!

I'm Back!

The Com-bat Show-er

Quick Note On My Address

I Have An Address!!!!

Viewing the Sunset from the Balcony...

The MRE

Westboro Baptist Church

Could This Be Why I'm Here?

Life With Sand

Slow Internet Blues

I'm Back, again.

HP has hope!

VIDEOS!!!

Technical Support...An Oxymoron of the Greatest Extent

I'm Sick

PICTURE!

Insert Cliche Title Here

Insert Clever Title Here