Underestimating the Ingenuity of Fools...

I've heard some incredible stories about some very stupid people. I can't share them, sorry, but needless to say they would be almost funny if they weren't real. It's sad and a little embarrassing.
The same troop who was relating the stories to me told that I was ruined. To have the opportunity to work in the environment I'm in now this early in my career has spoiled me. Anything else will be slow, silly, and full of rules aimed at the lowest common denominator. Oh well. Guess I'll have to keep working with these folks.

If the news out of the UK is any indication, there will be plenty of opportunities to come out and play.

I also had another small world moment, reconnecting with someone I know. It's always nice and a little amusing when that happens.

Just don't look...

...at the calendar. I've reached the point where I need to schedule my travel home. I have a vague sense of the day I'll be back in the US and am pretty sure I'll be home within three days of that. But the work to be done tomorrow will be no different from last night, no different from my last night, and no different for my replacement the day after I'm gone. It's a little humbling, even though I knew that coming in.
I should touch base with my home unit soon. No news on formal training is probably bad news, but I have some drill days to make up and have some creative ideas on how to use them. We'll see.
That's about it. Another short post.

Self-Correcting

Kettlebells are wonderfully self-correcting. If your form is right in the ballistic maneuvers, it feels wonderfully fluid. If it is off, it doesn't, to say the least. During pressing exercises, if your form is off, then you will have to fight the weight.
And, if try squeezing the weight rather than just lightly guiding its rotation around your fingers, it will remove any calluses, blisters, and attached skin. Hypothetically of course, on that last point. I've, um, heard, that it can ruin the zen nature of practicing your form through the routine rather than just counting reps.
They'll heal. Maybe some tape and band-aids are in order before my next set though.

I may have new leverage in squeezing training funds from the Guard Bureau. One of the bosses is fond of saying that when the weather is not ideal, that I need to work on my voodoo dance. I told him that if he brought me a live goat, I could fix it. I should, however, mention that the Guard Bureau has been unwilling to give us the man-days to maintain our currency in the various rituals. If he could make some phone calls...

I think it would be funny, but I guess you'd have to be here or in the Guard to get it.

Where's my cookie?

I don't ask for much. I don't think I do anyway. But when I forecast a mission-impacting weather condition 7 days out and nail it, I think I deserve a cookie, or at least a gold star sticker. Oh well.
In other news, in the break room, ABC's The Unit was playing on one of the AFN channels. I laughed.
I also laughed when someone was trying to find out the meaning of a Spanish term he was taught. This individual is very highly trained and well respected. His voice and manner have a way of making anything sound dignified. I told him the term referred to a house of ill repute (maybe I used a different phraseology, but this is a family blog), but he wanted to ask a real Spanish speaker to be sure. So he did, and the guy just cracked up. The look on his face was priceless. Great moment.
I also got some pictures from my wife's current vacation adventure. I'm jealous. I go off to war and she goes on long hikes with a full pack. I'm a lucky man.

Sideshow to a Sideshow

I finally saw Lawrence of Arabia. I've read most of the book. The movie is better, though both are long and had trouble holding my attention. The movie romanticizes a romanticization, even as it acknowledges that it is doing so. Meta-metatheater or something. I will finish his book though. Really. I felt better about it when a retired Special Forces Warrant Officer said it was one of the hardest things he ever read just because it was so slow. And he teaches counterinsurgency theory now after having practiced it for over thirty years.
This may sound funny, but Omar Sherif was a more convincing as a Saudi sheikh in Hidalgo.

Anyway, A friend of mine and his fiance are now in Africa doing development work. I may make fun of them on occassion for their rosy outlooks, but I am very proud to know them. They've dedicated much time and effort to putting this project together and trying to make a difference. I also have three friends who I haven't been as good about staying in touch with who have worked for the same doctor in another African nation before heading on to medical school or public health programs, after which they will no doubt continue their work.
It is a great statement of President Kennedy's vision that he is both the patron of the Special Operations (he gave the Green Beret to the Special Forces) and the man who launched the Peace Corps. Ultimately I see them as two sides of the same coin--in open sources you can read about our troops training the forces of the countries these folks are working in--but it is always better if people's interactions are with Americans that don't where the uniform.
I chose the warrior's path. It is what works for me. But people like my friends mentioned above have more power to reduce our potential target set than people on my side ever will.

Has it been that long?

I saw in the news that Paris Hilton will be released from prison soon. I don't know exactly how long she has served, but it does represent a bunch of time that has flown by. For all the nasty things that get said about her, she did help me as an unconventional marker of time deployed.
That's the only revelation since my last post. Not much else to report. More later.

Oh, and I found some peanut butter.

Beating Expectations

SO I finished Al Gore's book, The Assault on Reason. It was actually much better than I expected. I'm not sold on anything new. However, his passion is respectable and his arguments are not that bad. When he singles out the current administration for contempt, he does so based on principle that never comes across as sour grapes. Fundmentally, I place more blame on the individual than on evil corporations and TV.
I don't have any firm data to back this up, but I think that with affluence has come ambivilence. That is what is strangling debate. We don't want to be bothered. I'm going to guess right now that the non-fiction bestseller list is composed of miracle diets that aren't helping people because they aren't making the needed lifestyle changes, self-help books that aren't helping people because they aren't making the needed lifestyle changes, and partisan hackery that sells to people who already agree with it because otherwise they'd have to think. I'm potentially being hypocritical in not pulling up the list to check my accuracy, but my time is limited, my connection is slow, and I'm pretty confident in the answer.
I agree that the internet will revolutionize debate. I don't think that is particularly visionary. Orson Scott Card called it in Ender's Game, and in that scenario a fourteen year old genius was able to take over the world using the strength of his anonymous ideas. However, anything to push it along and get people paying attention is good.
Banning those inane internet/text shorthand things would be a start. Everytime I hear someone use those as an expression in daily speech I want to slap them. I don't. But one day...

Today's words of wisdom: Anyone worth shooting once is worth shooting twice, hitting with a few rockets, and maybe an airstrike.

More of the same...

Not much new to report. The work routine continues. My PT routine is getting back on track. All is good I guess.
I've blown through all my magazines and am now working on three books. Two I keep by my desk and one I keep in my hooch to read before bed. At my desk are a book on Criminal Law that was recommended to me by a professor at the Law School I'll be attending and Al Gore's Assault on Reason. Assault on Reason is the title, not the action, though just like the prior sentance, it is a little unclear at times.
In my hooch is a philosphy of religion book that my wife sent me.
Anyway, the law book is mostly my standby when I have time and no other books or magazines. I'm pacing myself on the philosphy book to finish it shortly before I leave.
I should be done with Al Gore's book within a week. I'm about a third of the way through it now. I've ranted at the low level of discourse in the world, so I agree with him there. I disagree with him about the novelty of it though. I'm sure he's hired lots of research assistants and done a lot of his homework on the issue, but can't help but think that the end product reflects assumptions he started with.
I don't think it was poor people publishing pamphlets in Eighteenth Century. I don't think wealth and power were ever truly separate in American history, or anywhere else (which of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence was not a rich white guy?).
In short, at least based on the premise he appears to be working from, I have some fundamental disagreements with him. I think individuals are responsible for themselves, even they aren't necessarily the rational actors that exist in some many theories. I also think that the market works, whether it is a market for a physical product or ideas. We as a population don't demand better, so we don't get better. Television didn't kill debate. Nanny government isn't able to pass a law that will restore it.
Lazy people who would rather keep grazing let it die and without so much as emitting a "baaa," and people have the same power to revive it. It's not particularly complicated, it is just takes effort.
I compare it to the market for weight loss. I have the secret: burn more calories than you take in. I know, it is really hard too. But while we spend billions on easy solutions, our obesity numbers increase. I'd be more sympathetic, but I was fat once.
I am trying to avoid rants, but it was on my mind and details about work are off limits.

Thank You

I received an unexpected package in the mail today from friends of the family. It included three La Briute brand meals, which I have to say, taste better than some the My Own Meal offerings. To be fair, I have been eating a lot of My Own Meals, so it could just be the variety. The package also included both homemade and boxed cookies, two magazines which will be very popular over here (I should clarify, Sports magazines), and very cute pictures.
The homemade cookies, of course, didn't survive the last shift. I like cookies.
Thank you. It was a wonderful surprise and very much appreciated.

Keith Olberman cracks me up. Funny is funny, regardless of political leanings, and he is funny. I also respect that he ends his show with the number of days since the Mission Accomplished announcement.

Today's words of wisdom. "Another day, another $3.50. I get paid whether I work or not." Said by an individual who will work harder every day than a first year resident. $3.50 is the per diem we get over here.

On a lighter note...

A few lessons learned from the experience and wisdom of the folks I work with.
1. Dust makes good boogers.
2. TV series DVDs can be an excellent way to mark time if properly paced.
3. Weekly haircuts can help pass the time.
4. Interleague play is evil. Ok, I added that, but it is true. And the DH is a threat to heterosexual marriage, and takes jobs away from Americans.
5. Chow can be bad good, good bad, bad bad, and good good. Bad good chow is not tasty, but relatively healthy. Good good chow probably doesn't exist when deployed. Bad good is unlikely too.
6. French presses are the high speed gear of the staff weenie. Of course, my Press-Bot is the king.
7. There are things to be done in Thailand that are very much illegal back home.
8. We have a warped sense of humor, but you probably knew that.
9. There is apparently very much a place for chewing tobacco in the military, no matter what the commercials on AFN may say.
10. I can't think of anything to put here off hand, but ten is a nice round number.

Had some interesting chats last shift about SOF weather. I'm trying to pull whatever knowledge I can from this trip since I'll be less immersed in it all next year, but will need the foundation for future trips.
I'm off to the gym. My legs are really sore from some kettlebell workouts and hopefully the treadmill will loosen them up. Otherwise, the treadmill will probably hurt. So it goes.

Honesty

So, on Fox News via AFN, Toby Keith was interviewed. Among the more interesting revelations was that he's actually a life long Democrat and not a particularly strong supporter of the war in Iraq. He does think is it much more complicated than the sloganeering it is often reduced to and feels fortunate that somehow is celebrity has allowed him to have some of his questions answered by the generals in charge. He is very much a supporter of the troops and is working hard to promote USO tours and has been to some rather remote locations to perform.
At one point he said that he is just an entertainer and no one should be listening to his opinions. He said people should be ignoring most celebrity knuckleheads (knuckheads was his word), regardless of their political leaning.
Unfortunately, knucklehead is an all too appropriate term to describe whoever is coming up with the magical policy plans I keep reading about.
While I've been out here and engaged if the fight against some very bad people, I think I've become both more hardline about certain things and yet much more aware of the limitations of military power. Unfortunately, it seems the policy debate has gone in the reverse directions on both.
I try and get my news from a variety of sources. Unfortunately, one of the common themes I read on the various Op Ed pages, from various think tank publications, and that you'll find in the transcripts of interviews/speeches of too many candidates is some belief in the magic of Special Operations.
It scares me because it represents either an incredibly superficial understanding of both the global conflict and Special Operations, or it is intentional and emblematic of systemic moral cowardice.
I am firm believer in Special Operations and am a proud member of that community. There is much that we bring to the fight, but understanding those capabilities and their limitations is important. Thinking that air raids and Special Operators will magially solve all your problems, kill all bad guys without a politically difficult in-country presence, and is risk free is sheer nonsense.
Imagine that your city decided that to better fight crime, it was going to increase the number of SWAT teams, but would be drastically cutting the number of patrol cops. It wouldn't work so well.
In the movie, the SWAT team can show up, reenact the battle of Stalingrad downtown, and everyone goes home. They don't show the investigation that is dependent upon information collected by beat cops and studied by detectives before SWAT shows up at the bad guy's door to deliver the arrest warrant.
Now imagine advocating skipping the process and dropping the SWAT team in to a foreign city.
Keep in mind, Special Operations are capable of doing much more than just the SWAT type mission and that the primary role of Army Special Forces is actually to train people. Really. Think about that for a few minutes.
It's been bugging me. That these things look at all easy is a testament to the profesionalism and skill of the troops in question.
Ironically, Elliot Cohen--who's book Supreme Command was popular, though horribly misunderstood, within the current administration--wrote a book about the political implications of Special Units. It was short and well worth reading.

Don't be shy. If you think I'm crazy or full of crap, comment or email me.

Don't ask me about my business.

Been a few days since I've been able to post. Mostly, I haven't had the patience to try and write something while the connections have been bad.
It's too bad. I had all sorts of keen and witty observations that I meant to share but have since forgotten. I've started jotting them down.
For Father's Day the AFN Movie Channel made a careful selection of movies. Only one actually made sense... Field of Dreams. Of course they also played The Godfather, I guess because it does involve a father and his sons and has the word "father in the title."
Is it a bad thing that I enjoy the end of the movie, not for the cinematic masterpiece that is--though there is that element--but becuase it is a well coordinated simultaneously strike on mulitple high value targets?
My favorite of the past few days was when they played Stripes. Classic. A great movie that is made even better by the slight irony of it playing for a captive military audience on a military network.
I want an EM-50 for my next car.
The other event that was mildly amusing is when a bunch of people stopped by a TV to watch a report of a certain embarrassment to Nevada disparaged some bright and very competent generals. Mostly it was with greeted with shaking heads and disbelief but it is one of the few developments back home that got a reaction rather than being ignored.
With so many incompetent morons running around the military, it speaks highly of Senator Reid's ineptitude that he could single out people who are actually respected. Jackass.

I hate Journey

I do not like the band Journey. Their music is overly theatrical for my taste and the lead singer's voice is annoying to me. Mr. Perry, you are very talented and I respect your accomplishments, but I'm not a fan.
It's irrelevant to my work, but courtesy of David Chase, whose show I didn't even watch, their song is everywhere. I blame Al Qaeda.
Not much else to report. I was being teased because I've got my own grocery story at my work station and don't need to hit the chow hall at all. It's a little unconventional, but it works for me.
I see in the news that rather than Arab governments being willing to fight Israel to the last Palestinian, the Palestinians are fighting themselves to the last. Apparently they have rediscovered defenestration too. I guess this is progress. They are now approaching the level of Prague, circa 1618.

Arrogance or Confidence?

One of my coworkers mentioned to me that he's heard nothing but good things about my work here. We joked that it was because I haven't screwed up yet, though I've had my moments. By bringing it up though, it was the first time the spectre of the alternative, that I wasn't doing a good job, entered my thoughts.
It's a pretty blunt community. If unsatisfied, they will let you know in very clear terms. Most of them single syllable, with some interesting compound words and unholy acts recommended. They won't hesitate to fire you.
I don't know everything about my job and won't claim to be the technical expert, but have a good sense of what I bring to the mission and am agressive about doing it. In the process I've been called everything from "Storm Chaser" to "Witch Doctor" to my name, but I'm still here and they keep coming back. Indirect positive feedback, but more than enough.
My high school physics teacher once told me that I'm not always right, but never in doubt. It might not be the best quality, but it does work for forecasting.
Of course, one nice thing about weather is the constant feedback right outside.

Quick Update

Sorry for the gap in posts. Had a whole long post that got lost due to internet issues. I didn't have time to post yesterday.
Oh well.
One of my little projects didn't quite come to fruition on schedule, but I'll have other opporunities. Have had some interesting meetings and some good networking opportunities, which is always good.
One exciting development was that I had a sandwich for dinner. Seems mundane, but it was the first one I've had since leaving home. It was good.

I can't help but comment a little on the news. One thing that has been annoying is seeing stories that are factually wrong but being unable to correct them due to the nature of the information involved. We are slowly improving the information flow and how we manage and release things, but it needed to be fixed a few years ago. It is incredibly frustrating.
I can sympathize with those who defeated the Viet Cong during the Tet Offensive. A combination of terrible perception management at the top, leaders who squandered the trust of the American people, and inaccurate reporters turned a tactical and even strategic level victory into a major strategic setback.
And out of curiousity, does anyone know when the number of casualties became the sole metric of progress, with any number greater than zero being a defeat? I'm not being glib or heartless, these are my brothers and sister and I recognize too many of their names, but this war and that is what comes with it. Maybe it is the absence of other recognizable metrics. I don't know.
Maybe Grenada, Panama, Iraq I, Kosovo, and Iraq 1.5 raised expectations.
I don't think everything suddenly changed in Somalia. It already had changed at that point.

I guess that brings me to the next issue. I was chatting with a friend via Gmaila, and she mentioned that if nothing else, I'll have time to transition back to civillain life between getting home and starting school. All I could think was "Yuck." Sorry. Of the many things I can't wait for when I get home, being a civillian again just isn't one of them. For all the gripes about the military bureacracy and some of the silly stictures of military life, I like the shared sense of purpose and helping to carry the burden. When I get home I'll be a spectator again.
I'll find ways to be useful. Otherwise I'll go nuts.
Don't be confused. I am very much looking forward to being home. But I realize I'll miss this too.

Oops

So, funny story. I'm adjusting the satellite dish as I do every night, but approached from the other side. I tripped on the cable leading from the dish to our computer. And it broke. Oops.
Once the sun rose we performed a field expedient repair with some duct tape and a leatherman. A more permanent repair should be done later. No big deal. I'm not the first or the last to do it, and it makes for a silly story.
That is why I carry a leatherman everywhere. You never know when you'll need to splice a wire walking down the street. Or cut your nails (I forgot a fingernail clipper... no, please don't send one, but thank you--I know my mom rolled her eyes and put it on a list). Now that I have to justify it, I am pretty sure that I packed nail clippers, but they probably fell out of my toiletry bag at the base I deployed from back in the states.

Oh, and PARIS HILTON PARIS HILTON PARIS HILTON we are at war you shallow idiots PARIS HILTON PARIS HILTON PARIS HILTON PARIS HILTON. Thank you. I had more to say on the topic, but it doesn't matter. I have no pity for her, but am pretty disgusted with the whole industry that exists to take glee in her troubles.
I will relate the best reaction to the whole affair that I heard. I was hanging out with some NCOs, and all of us were annoyed that this was the only story being covered. You know, cause there was a teaser about a shake up among the Joint Chiefs, and then more coverage this story. We were eager to hear about the change in the Joint Chiefs, which actually affects us, and mildly annoyed that there was plenty of media coverage for a kid our age that has done nothing spectacular while we know lots people younger that are doing spectucular things every night.
One troops blurted out that she's only famous for being rich. Someone else mentioned that she's famous for homemade porn.
The first guy just sighs. He says, "I have home made porn. I'm not famous."
I'm so very glad I was there for that moment.

For some reason the computers here don't like Gmail and keep booting me off. It is annoying. But it seems unfair to take any of our luxuries here for granted. So I'll roll with it. With a few choice expletives uttered each time it goes tango uniform (military lingo, google it if curious.

Nothing Significant To Report

Not much new going on. Still trying to coordinate some of my side projects. Downloaded some info on local language and customs. Figured it'd be nice to make that effort on the off chance I come in to contact with locals.
Of course unplanned contact with locals is probably not good and the converstation in such a scenario would be in a rather universal language. Ironically, I'm better prepared for that than the more likely planned situation. Thus the little studies on the side.
Mostly it keeps me working different sides of my mind.

I had forgotten that Fred Thompson was in Die Hard 2. It was on AFN. He was such a strong and firm leader as the head of the airport during a terrorist attack. And he has played a district attorney, so he is also strong on crime. Wasn't he in The Hunt for Red October as an Admiral? None of the other candidates ever wore an Admiral's uniform. With all this hype, what did he do in the real world?
Dennis Kucinich can at least claim to have wrecked Cleveland.

The continuing saga...

The long awaited pallet of meals arrived. The logistics guy went to verify it himself. And he found a pallet of Halal meals. I wanted to laugh, but they were so frustrated that I felt bad. Meanwhile, they think that the actual shipment of meals ended up at a different station. They are having someone there check.
In any case, they went ahead and ordered a new shipment from the depot. The delay in doing it originally was that it would have been excessive given the assumed proximity of the meals already. Or something.
In the mean time, there were a few cases of meals that they scrounged up here, so I'm good for for a little while anyway.
Planning on my current project is going well. It has hit one minor obstacle though... I've been locked out of my unclassified email account. The most ironic part of it is that the freeze on my account is due to an expired password, even though we can't actually log on to unclassified computers with our passwords. We use our ID cards. Oh well. Easily fixed.

I'm amazed at the amount of reading I manage to get done. Found an article by Thomas Friedman from an old NY Times magazine on the convergence of issues driving greener policies. I liked it. Also found a book called The Village by Bing West about the USMC Combined Action Platoon program in Vietnam. A good idea, not widely enough implemented, that is a precursor to some of what we are doing in Iraq with the surge and have been doing on a small scale in Afghanistan as well. Should make for an interesting read. Sadly, it is yet another reminder of our need to reinvent the wheel and inability to learn from our own history.

I'm also trying to keep up on prep for law school. The school is doing a mock lesson for incoming students on Friday. I downloaded the lesson and am doing the reading, even taking some notes on the discussion questions. The lesson is on the International Criminal Court. The arguments in favor of it are very strong, provided you don't require it to accomplish anything or function in the real world in return for the money spent on maintaining it.
Besides, I though Belgium claimed universal jurisdiction over everything anyway.

No Capes

I saw some scenes from Batman and Robin. Aside from dialogue more stilted than a Hawthorne short story, I can't watch superhero movies without thinking of the brilliance of the designer from The Incredibles.
To be fair, I haven't read any Hawthorne in a while and maybe it was less overrated than I remember. Batman and Robin was just as bad as I remembered it.
Finished some of my little side projects. Came up with a new one. For all the day to day variety in what we do, there is still a very routine nature to it at this point. The side projects keep things energized.
My latest one should be interesting if it develops. It start with a few questions. Then a few more. Then my nominal boss asked me why I don't go find out. He thought he was joking. So, I'm gonna go get some answers to my questions. I hope so anyway. We'll see where it goes.
The food issue has finally been resolved. An entire pallet (if you've ever seen footage of supplies being dropped out the back of a plane, each of those giant self-contained piles of junk are pallets) of meals arrived just for me. Or will arrive later today.

Other funny story. So I was introduced to someone today. They had never met someone with my first name before, or so I assume. I spelled it out for this individual so that my name could be pronounced properly. I was then asked if it was really my name or just a radio callsign.
That doesn't happen in the civillian world.

Catching Up

Had the chance to catch up with a friend. Internet coordination is fun that way. He invited my unit to train with is. It would be great, they have the resources and equipment, we just need to get funding out of the black hole that is the Guard Bureau. I'll figure it out. Someday.
Had one of the commanders of a unit we support tell me what he expects from his weather guys and make sure the we understood the importance of what we do to his work. I do, but it was nice to hear it. I have to coordinate the work of the people that support him directly, and so I promised to push my guys to get him what he needs.
I've already almost finished the cookies my sister made. I, um, don't want them to go bad.
That's about it.
I saw the Democratic debate. Had it on in the background. Those red chairs they had for the town hall portion looked comfy. We could use some of those.

Expected commentary, didn't you?

From the mailbag...

Well, I don't have the massive inbox of Bill Simmons, but I am trying to respond at least to emails and letters as they come in.
This week's letter is from E, whose younger siblings all sent me letters earlier:

Dear (me),
How are you? How is life wherever you are? I am good. I sprained my wrist a couple of weeks ago and now I have to go to physical therapy. It's not so bad though because I get to miss 45 minutes of school every week. Have you met any nice people. I am soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo [I just approximated the number of O's] ready for the summer! School ends in about 3 weeks and the I AM DONE WITH THE LOWER SCHOOL. YAY! I am sort of worried about going to the upper school because my friend, who is in the 7th grade said it is really hard, how was the upper school for you? I can't wait for camp this summer. I also can't wait to go to England this summer and Norway. What is your job in the army and what has been your greatest experience yet? We all miss you a lot. I hope you are well and continue to be.

From,
E

Well, E, I hope your wrist is feeling better. I chipped a bone in my wrist once, but instead of treatment and therapy, my mom made me go to tennis camp for a month. Ask her about it.
I am serious when I say that based on your spelling and your use of punctuation, you are very ready for the seventh grade. It will take a few weeks to adjust to having a different teacher for every subject. There is a little more homework. But it is not that bad. There are now a lot more ways to get involved open to you. Enjoy.
My job in the Air Force is to forecast and track the weather, and to coordinate the efforts of the other forecasters working in our group. My greatest experiences have been making go/no-go calls for important missions and helping find ways to work around areas of bad weather to make missions doable. I am very proud of what I'm doing and feel fortunate to have this opportunity to contribute to this group in particular, but am very much looking forward to being home again.

That letter came in a package that included a Salami, some excellent home-made blondies (they came out like giant thick and chewy chocolate chip cookies), and some goodies from my neighbors, the M's. The M's have two children currently serving in the Navy.
They sent two magazines that I found particularly amusing. One was a magazine about the town of Bethesda. At first I thought it would be silly, but that publication earned my respect with it's top 67 things about the Bethesda, MD area. It included the Billy Goat trail at Great Falls, some of my favorite people watching areas, and Bruce's Variety (if they don't have it, you probably don't need it).
I disagree on the Chris Van Hollen decision, but, to be fair, he does seem to be more visible than Connie Morella was. Maybe I pay more attention now.
Which brings me to the other funny thing I found. If you know my parents, then you'll understand my shock at seeing a copy of the Weekly Standard in the box. Then I noticed the address label was for the M's, and I figured it out, but it was still funny.
Incidentally, it was the first time I've read an issue cover to cover. Interesting. While reading it I was reminded that one of our friends who used to live down the street from us but now lives in NYC teased my mom that I'll be a Republican. I liked Frederick Kagan's editorial, though it devolved into an emotional argument that mostly preached to the choir, and the analysis of the dissapearance of leftist hawks was interesting.
As a whole though, I'm not about to subscribe to it. I still prefer the Economist. Not for the editorial stance, but the variety, total world coverage, and the humor.
I still refuse to identify myself with either major party. I think the Republicans did a terrible job of governance when in control and it took a shamefully short amount to time for the absolute power to corrupt their ideals. The modern incarnation of the Best and the Brightest spent did a great job recognizing the confict as a global counterinsurgency and then proceeded to spend the next fiver years screwing it up. We're fixing it, but we disregarded many years of lessons learned in blood due to arrogance and overconfidence in the magic of technology.
Meanwhile, the Democrats are united in deciding that we shouldn't have invaded Iraq. I got furious at some forecasters for creating an excellent forecast for weather that happened two days before, but was irrelevant to the coming day's events. Imagine how I feel about a party that is proactively addressing a moot point of a policy issue from 2002.

I'm waiting for a candidate to convince me not to write in Barry Goldwater's name.

That is all for my mini-rant. I look forward to any comments on it.

I'd post the link here, but this computer is being annoying. If you go to www.af.mil or probably www.hurlburt.af.mil, there is a story on the dedication of the Special Tactics Advanced Skills Training Center. What impressed me about the story was the involvement of the families of the Airmen to which the center is dedicated. I know it is not completely unique to the Special Operations community, but it is important that the families are still regarded as important members of the community.
I remember reading about each of the people when they were killed. I ran along the road now named for Senior Airman Servais when I was at Hurlburt. I watched them build that center. Their memories will be an inspiration when I go to the center for training myself in the future.

I joked about it before I left, but I now really will come home to one more pet than when I left. Sparta, a stray kitten so named because she spent the winter barefoot in the snow, is pretty much adopted and living in the house. Bonnie and Clyde have adjusted better than expected.

I know this is a long post, but it's been a few days since I've had access to a working computer.