Wayback Wednesday: Circle concept

This post originally appeared on December 10, 2004. The main idea of the post revolves around how hard it is to take care of things if certain base needs aren't met.


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The circle concept

Imagine a series of concentric circles, each one pertaining to an aspect of your life. There is no limit to how many circles can exist in the example, as the possibilities for what can technically be tied to “you” are limitless. In theory, we could create one that had levels spanning out until you had a circle that stood for the universe. Unfortunately, for our purpose, doing this would be useless, as you cannot see your effect on the entire universe, nor does the universe technically need you.

The innermost circle represents you and everything that you have direct control of. This includes things like what clothing you wear, what you have for lunch, what color sheets you have for your bed, and so forth. The next circle out contains things that you do not have absolute control over, but have some direct effect on. This would include things like your workplace, your girlfriend’s or wife’s life, etc. The circles continue outward from there, and can be as specific or as general as you deem fit. Non-related items can share the same circle if need be, due to their similar level of control or importance. Another method of thinking would be to classify each circle by its effect on you. The inner circle holds what has the most effect on you, such as eating, and the outermost circle could be what has the least effect on you, such as the fact that Pluto’s orbit makes it the eight planet from the sun for part of its cycle.

For every individual, that inner circle is the most important, because what exists in that circle is what you control, and what affects you directly. Imagine that the inner circle can be directly related to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. You directly control if and when you eat (most of the time), and not satisfying that need directly affects you in the form of hunger. Effects in this circle will eventually reverberate outward, affecting the other circles. Hunger may cause you to be more easily irritated, causing you to become impatient with your girlfriend. Hunger will lower your productivity and ability to think, or the argument with your girlfriend will lead to you sleeping on the couch, which will move into the next outer circle, causing you to be tired at work, and so forth.

Every individual works to satisfy as much of their inner circle as they can. It would be impossible to satisfy everything in this circle, especially while there are other circles that need attendance. You have a job to do, and that circle steals time away from your innermost circle. However, this does not mean that it has no effect on that circle. If you don't do your job, you will not get paid, and you won't eat. See how easily things come back to that inner circle. So, when you're at your desk pumping out the end of the fiscal year financial reports, you can't deal with what you need to with your inner circle, such cleaning your house.

Every individual will spend a lot of time unknowingly moving between circles, never truly separating the tasks, and grouping them under the catch-all category of “Life.” The job and their personal life are not separate in their mind. It’s just one large series of tasks. Other will begin the categorization of tasks, and separate them depending on importance, and what circle it reside in. When they are at work, their effort is exerted in the “Work” circle, but as soon as work is done, their mind drifts to some circle that is closer to their center. Still, it may not be the most inner circle. Maybe it’s the girlfriend circle, or the house circle. This becomes more complicated depending on the individual, and how they decide to separate their circles, and what they place the most importance on. In the diagram on the right, we have a rather general example. A diagram that would be more specialized may break “Things in your life” into such categories as the house, the girlfriend, the car, and place those depending of what that person feels is more important. Does he love his car or his girlfriend more? If he fails to take care of the car, will that eventually hurt his ability to deal with his girlfriend (placing the car in closer than the girlfriend)? If the car blows up, would that have absolutely no effect on his relationship (allowing the girlfriend to reside on a circle closer to his center than the circle in which his car resides).

Operating In The Gap

Before I get into the entry, you may have noticed a blog title change. I'm still working with what I should call this damn thing. Suggestions welcome. Also, tell your friends to follow this.

Due to under-staffing, combined with an increase in workload, I work for two bosses, at two different offices, and have two desks. On a positive note, I live in between the two offices, so it's not like either has a terrible commute. However, one has underground parking, so I never have to look for a parking spot. The other one has the advantage of having a better gym, not being too far from where I have my PO Box, and being near the gym that I swim at. However, parking sucks balls.

The fact that I have two bosses and two desks that are so far apart creates my ability to operate in the gap. The idea stems off a discussion with another coworker regarding a supervisor that had to do this for a short period. The most important part was the idea that "If you're not here, everyone assumes that you are there, and if you are not there, they assume that you are here." Essentially, it creates an accountability gap that only you can verify. If people don't see you around the office, they already have a reason in their minds. As long as you get all of your work done, no one ever questions you. Lastly, because both sides assume that you are busy, they decrease your workload.

This allows me to do a number of things. First of all is work out mid-day, which is something that I am very excited about. I'm working out twice a day in preparation for tryouts, and the ability to do a heavier workout is necessary.

The second thing is shooting, which something that I am very excited about. Last Friday I went to the shooting range and fired off over half a case of ammunition (about 300 rounds), working on bullseye targets and tightening up my groups. It's work related, so I don't have to feel guilty.

The third is running errands, which something that I am very excited about. In order to make these ok, however, I have to do them in between other pieces of work. These are more like check mail, pick up a part from Home Depot, or write a blog entry.

This does create some dilemmas, though. Occasionally, the stars align and work for both bosses all hit at once. Suddenly, I have a FULL week. I mean 6-7 days of work, and, at one point, a 29-hour day.

Outside of this, I can quietly fill my schedule with the work of my choice, and almost be my own boss. I just also have to not be at my desk a lot.

Math Olympics

When I go out, unless I really know you, or we work together, I tend to be a fan of separate checks. I think it's a great idea, and yes, it may be a little bit of a pain for the waitress, but the lack of headaches is worth it.

Case in point. Last weekend, I HAD TO get out of the house, and my roommate was headed to Hooters with some friends to watch the UFC fight. That seemed like an excellent excuse. My roommate, however, is a couple of years younger than me, and by extension, so are his friends.

The night went very well, and when it came time to pay up, I was a champ, having to only close out my check. The other 6, however had some issues. For some reason, they couldn't get the math to come out correct for the check, and so they kept coming up short (actually, I will hand it to my roommate, since he is astute in these matters). Add to this the fact that they apparently were unfamiliar with how tax worked, and the fact that our group size automatically incurred an 18% gratuity due to size, and it was a recipe for hot wings disaster.

Being the brains in the is operation, I stepped in and tried to help them. First I decided that I would use the handy app on my phone to calculate exactly what each person owed from the bill. This would have worked well, except for two things. First, one girl was upset because her amount came out to much more than the rest. She seemed to be unable to grasp that she had ordered a $11 drink, thus starting her subtotal higher, and entitling her to a greater percentage of tax and tip. Second, the math didn't work out.

Due to her protests, and the group willing to just split tip and tax evenly, I looked at the math another way. And then I saw what was wrong.

One of the individuals took off right after the fight. I think right after their bill arrived. HE left money on the table. Apparently, he not only had NO understanding of what tax and tip were (because he left no money for it), but I believe he was a few cents short (having left only bills) on his part of the subtotal.

I would like to hope that they learn from this mistake. However, I will still get a separate check.

Wayback Wednesday: National Strike Day & the new apartment in Italy

This post originally appeared on November 30, 2004. It was my introduction to the lazy life of the Italian in Italy. I mean, this is just the tip of the iceberg, because over the next 3 years, I would suffer to many more mildly inconveniences. This also contains the first pictures of my apartment.

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After a workout that enhanced both my abs and my abs, I went to the chow hall to get some breakfast, and found that only paper plates and plastic utensils were being used today. Why? Because the Italians are taking a day off for, (stop drinking anything) NATIONAL STRIKE DAY!!! I have yet to visit a lazier country than Italy. Seriously, this country should have a national Go do your damn job day, in which work actually gets done. In case you missed an earlier post, let me enlighten you. The typical Italian business opens at 1000, and stays open until 1200. From 1200 until 1500 (that’s 3 hours or 300 hours for you military people), most businesses are closed, except for restaurants. That’s because the Italians like to take their time for lunch. I mean, you have to since every meal is required to have a minimum of 4 courses, plus wine. So the store reopens at 1500 and stays open until 1800. That means these people have a 5 hour workday (unless you work in a restaurant, in which case, you stay open for long periods, because people take forever to eat). Also, never count on a business being open on a Sunday. Lastly, businesses are required to be closed for one day of the week, which varies from business to business. So that comes out to being open for 5 days a week, 5 hours a day, for a 25-hour work week. I think this country needs a National “We lost World War 2, so we should speak English” day.

Okay, so then it rains all day. Surprisingly, this is also the day where I have to do a lot of walking outside. You feel kind of bad when you have to walk to a place in sideways falling rain, and notice that one half of your uniform is a lot wetter than another side. However, you feel better when you realize that it will all even out when you walk back in the other direction. Damn Infantry. I'm a man, who can't wear rain gear because of my branch. Most people in the Infantry don't acknowledge that it exists, unless you have to spend a long period standing in the rain. Also, if it’s just YOU that have to be in the rain, you don't wear the wet weather gear, or you'll be called various 4 and 5-letter words, mostly in jest.

I was promoted today to First Lieutenant (1LT). Technically, my date of rank is 1 December (and so is Eddie's, Heather). It just means that I get a pay raise ($343.40 per month, plus the 3% pay raise at the start of the year thanks to cost of living) to spend money on new rank, and that I've been commissioned for 18 months. No real changes. 6 months until my next pay raise (2 years in the army means another raise of 362.40 a month, or $705.80 more than I currently make). Combat will mean that I'll have to pay no income taxes for a year.

Lastly, I had to go out to my apartment to have it inspected before I move in, so I took some pictures while I was there:

This is my Kitchen area. Note that the stove is kind of small. That’s just how it is in Italy. I have no idea why, especially when they cook such large meals. The fridge hides away, looking like a cabinet and tricking hungry thieves into thinking that I have no leftovers. The last picture is the view from the Kitchen.

This is my large bathroom, and the shower. I didn't include a view from the bathroom, because no one really looks out of the bathroom window. Maybe I should have checked to see is there might be someone looking in. Maybe I could charge for shows.

This is the small bathroom. And,... um,... yeah.

This is the small bedroom. It is where other will be sleeping, unless there is some reason they want to share the large bed (lightning, etc.). The last pic is the view (in case your perspective is off, that is not a wall behind the trees. It's an open field or something. Look at the distance on that view.

This is the big bedroom, aka My Room. That is my bed, and a picture of me taking a picture. Once again, the view. There's a third room, but there was nothing in it, so I took now pictures of it.

This is half of the living room. I forgot to take a picture of the other half of it, which is where the couch and two comfort seats (I think that's what you call them) are. Finally, this is the view from the window. The first pic is what's to the left, the second is straight ahead, and the last is what's to the right. Now you may be asking, "How much does this cost?" 850 euro a month, which is a little over $1,000. Now, guess how much the Army give me for rent, ON TOP OF my paycheck: 850 euro (non-taxable income). Can you say free housing? I know I can.

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Building my Medical Kit

Those of you who know me in any capacity should know that I am a gear whore. If you need a guy that has some randomly useful item, at a time when would would suspect that no one would have it, I'm your man. If I'm carrying a bag with me somewhere, it usually has a multi-head screwdriver, a lock-pick kit, flashlight, leatherman, allen wrench multi-tool, neosporin, a thumb drive, and the charger for my phone. I'm the guy that always brings the ram, bolt cutters, and a crowbar to arrests.

Anyway, due to a miscalculation, I had a lot of money left over for my flex-spending medical plan, and needed a way to burn it, because I would just lose the money otherwise. The money has to be spent on medical supplies and services, and they recently removed over-the-counter medicine. Since you can only buy so many condoms without seeming completely insane (ever make a condom choice because it was more expensive?), I decided that it was time to build a quick first aid kit for use on the job. Actually, I built two, and then got some extra stuff, all for the sake of spending money.

First Aid Pouch, MOLLE Compatible Black

I'm going to need a place to put the stuff, and since I'm not building an EMS bag, it has to be something small enough to fit on my body armor, in a cargo pocket, or in a glove compartment. The main draw of this pouch was that it could fit MOLLE webbing. It also has internal elastic to hold stuff down inside. I purchased two of these.

Bear Claw Tan Nitrile Gloves: 10 pair, rolled

I already have a box of these, but since I was spending money, why not get some that were already prepped for the kit (also, so I could see how they did it). If there is time, gloves are always a nice way to protect yourself when dealing with blood. Also, avoid colors like black unless they are absolutely necessary for tactical purposes. It is hard to see blood on black gloves, which may pose a problem when checking a victim. Two of these are in each kit, because gloves always break.

NAR Combat Application Tourniquet (C-A-T Tourniquet)

A tourniquet that can be applied one-handed is always good, just in case you're the casualty. I looked at another model, but settled on this one because of the ease of getting the tightening bar into the holder. Also, the strap that secures it doubles for where you write the time.

NAR C-A-T Tourniquet Holder

It came down between this holder and this one. In the end, I decided that I would go with the one that covered the tourniquet completely. Deployment time should be negligible. The tourniquet will be mounted on my body armor, since you don't want to have to go digging for this.

Hemcon Chitogauze


Similar to QuikClot, I did some research and found that the chitosan gauze stopped bleeding faster, and absorbed less blood in the process. I also like that it comes z-folded, which makes deployment from the container much easier. When gauze is rolled, the entire roll must pulled out to unroll it as you go (I think you can master the pull from the roll center method, though), exposing it to the elements, and the chance of being dropped.

This is to be stuffed in large wounds where arterial bleeding is present.

Celox Trauma Gauze

Similar to the chitogauze, this is another hemostatic, but can also be used to treat burns. The trick to this, is that the gauze isn't coated with chitosan, but is actually made of the chitosan agent itself. I would prefer that it were z-folded, though.

CELOX-A

I'm really the guy that you want around if you get shot. Reading up, I came across this, which is for smaller wounds where trying to stuff gauze might not work. The applicator allows delivery of the hemostatic agent deeper into the wound, and closer to the artery.

NAR HyFin Chest Seal & HyFin Xtreme Chest Seal

Ches wounds suck, especially if they are sucking. These are two similar items, with one that is just designed to cover more of the chest in the case of multiple wounds. The adhesive is good, even if the application ares is wet.

NAR Emergency Trauma Dressing 4"

If a wound isn't deep, you're going to need to cover it. So this is the other option. It can also be placed over a packed wound once the bleeding is under control.

Nasopharyngeal Airway (28 Fr., 9.3mm)

It comes with lube! I was totally going to shove it up your nose dry. Also, I don't have to care if your gag reflex works, not that I've ever cared.

ADC Adsafe CPR Pocket Mask

It's not like you'll wake up when I kiss you. This is a little too large to get into the pouch, but a large pouch presented other issues. I mean, sure they say you can use only chest compressions, but I'm not planning for heart attacks. Also, easier to get a seal.

FREE Immediate Action Card

Don't know what to do? Panic under pressure? Realize that no one else on your team has a medical kit, so chances are unless you can talk, you're screwed? This should help. I am upset that it doesn't talk about burns, but it was free. CPR instructions on the back.

Master Classic II Littman Black Edition Stethoscope

This is where I was just spending money because. When I opened the package and told my grandmother the price, my grandmother first said "you can get those anywhere in Chinatown for cheaper." However, once she took a listen with it, she said it was awesome (she's a retired nurse from the NY Hospital for Special Surgery). My aunt (a teaching nurse at Columbia) said that most doctors she knows use Littman brand (which she also owns), and that a lot of nurses go with a cheaper model (which is actually extremely clear). She says that stethoscopes are probably the most stolen thing in a hospital, by other nurses and doctors, so never put yours down.

ADC Diagnostix 2100 Digital Fingertip Pulse Oximeter

A fun and completely unnecessary item, my aunt (my mom's side of the family is almost entirely nurses) said this is like gold in a hospital. So much so that no one buys one because it will be stolen off of your patient's finger. She just uses the heart rate machines at work, and says that most patients don't get their oxygen saturation checked. She want's one for her birthday (note to Phoenix and Austin).


If anyone saw anything that I may have overlooked, or if you have suggestions, let me know.

Flashback Friday

This was originally posted on November 14, 2004. For some reason, I decided to tackle dating and profession at the same time. Efficiency of blogging? Who knows. My original blog at blog.com has disappeared, so don't bother trying to go to it. The digital war links still work, but I have no idea what was at the Benning site. Might have been for the Roy P. Benavidez MOH citation.

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So in my infinite reading and web surfing, I stumbled across this comic: http://www.digitalwar.co.uk/d/20040423.html. The series is actually pretty good. Unless you're a Lord of the Rings fan. In that case, you will find that this is a parody that has gone on way too long and should be a fan site to www.bobandgeorge.com.

Anyway, I find this particular comic interesting because it tackles a subject that has long sat in my brain, mostly because I have this weird way of running across the situation over and over and over.... well, you get the idea.

The last girl that I dated was someone that I hadn't known and become friends with first. Things just kind of developed into a relationship over time. It went from "someone I could talk to" and was "hanging out with" to "dating" over the course of 3 months. Then you back date the whole thing to when you met, and call that your dating period. So that relationship lasted a total of 7 months (it also ended 7 months ago). Strangely enough, when the relationship ended as abruptly as it did (refer to the first entry at http://black6.blog.com) there were few "lost friend" repercussions.

You then need to contrast this with the fact that I tend to keep few female friends. It's not really by choice. I just happen to be in a section of professions where there are not very many women (Army Infantryman), and the fact that my previous environments were West Point (14% female) and an all boys high school. I think in that High School part, I had maybe between 1 and 3 (I can only guarantee 1) women that I talked to regularly that were my age and not part of my martial arts training.

So a lot of the women that I end up friends with fall into the category of "I'd date you, but I'd rather not screw up this friendship, because then I'd only have the guys at work, and I can only take so much grunting on a daily basis" or "I was trying to date you, but then I took a wrong turn somewhere, or some reason of higher morality stopped me." Once they leave that second category (i.e. they become available), the are almost immediately shuttled into the first category, mostly because I'm an ass, and you'd really have to put up with constant joking sarcasm (which a lot of women are attracted to, surprisingly enough). and an extreme amount of logic based thinking that overrides emotion (which some think is me just playing hard to get). In any case, I wouldn't be a good friend if I put a friend through that while we were dating. So, if anyone knows any aggressive women, direct them my way. It'll make both our lives a lot less painful.

The next comic in the series is this one: http://www.digitalwar.co.uk/d/20040425.html. Ignore the first half, and go down to the part about saving someone. I've actually put as much thought into this subject as I have the other one over the past couple of years. In my line of work, and just about every line of work that I've ever considered, from police officer, to volunteer firefighter, to government agent, to SWAT, you come to grips with the reality of your own probable death, and the lives of other being in danger. At some point in my mind, I began to realize that it was best to suppress the thoughts of saving someone, because in doing so, you're at the same time hoping that someone else's life is in so much danger that YOU must step in. Essentially in wishing for your own heroic moment, you're wishing for someone else's tragedy.

There is actually a slight difference in this when it comes to certain professions. Such as being a firefighter. You generally KNOW the job you are walking into. Force of nature, threatens the lives of people. Even if it's an empty building, the spread of the fire could endanger others, and compound, should a gas main be hit or something. If you're only aspiration is to pull beautiful women from burning buildings with your huge arms, you've got some thinking to do.

Strangely, in my profession, there is little room for "heroics" because that usually means that something has gone horribly wrong, and your "heroics" are necessary to save the lives of those around you. Such heroics can by found by reading through Medal of Honor citations and seeing things such as "jumped on a grenade" or by reading this one http://www.benning.army.mil/whinsec/NCOA.asp?id=211. There is no way someone could have wished for a situation like this. One can only hope to be this brave should something like this happen. But first, one should hope that this never happens to begin with.

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Photoshop fun

Before I get to the meat of the post, here is a small blurb from an old blog, originally posted on November 13, 2004. The entire entry was not worthy of being a Flashback entry, but part of it was definitely something funny:
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On a final note, yesterday this blog was rated as shallow. To all of my readers (I think that's like, 7) I'm very sorry if I'm not full of angst. Then again, I'm not a 13 year old girl who's bf just broke up with her, or wishes that she had bigger boobs so that guys would notice her.
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While I was in Afghanistan, I obtained a copy of Adobe Photoshop in order to kill time. Actually, I don't know what my original reason was, but I had one. Anyway, recently, I found the folder in which I had stored them, and since I got Photoshop again, I figured I might as well post them in some places.


These are two photos of my friend Kristen, while she was a mascot. She posted them on Myspace, and mentioned something about hating that the net was in the way.


These second one was the hardest because I actually had to draw in the logo and parts of Kristen's costume. An image search helped with the school logo, but the costume was all me.



Not sure if Kristen was my muse or anything, but she did present me with a lot of photos to edit. In this one, she was at an event (wedding?) and had to wear a red dress. She hates red. She also does not seem to fond of that guy. Anyway, she asked me to edit the dress.



It's like shopping, without trying everything on.




I also worked on removing some the colors. I was still kind of new, so that glass is conveniently flesh colored. Looking at it now, I could probably make it look transparent.



I started doing some work with color removal and hue adjusting.



This was a straight hue adjustment. I upped teh reds and greens and dropped the blue out.


This was pulling targeting areas and removing all of the color from just there.


This was me learning to used the magnetic lasso tool to trace around objects and isolate them.



This one was my photo doctoring skills. Sylvia as a firefighter for Halloween. Lasso her out, find a picture of a fire, and place her there in a believable manner. If anyone has photos that they would like to donate to my skill development, let me know. In no time, I'll have people standing in places that they've never been, and shaking hands and having sex with people they've never met.

Anatomy of my day(s) at work

Some of you know what I do for a living, and think it's pretty kick ass. This past week, from Wednesday 10am to Thursday 9pm, I had 3 hours of sleep. For some weird reason, I decided to keep a small log of what was going on from my perspective.

Wednesday 10:00 am - Leave home thinking today is going to be a late day. Don;t expect to get home until 8pm or so. Immediately see that I have a problem with my vehicle.

12:45 pm - Have dealt with all issues surrounding vehicle and now have loaner vehicle.

1:15 pm - Find out that the search warrant is going to be revised, and will take at least 2-3 hours.

3:00 pm - Still waiting for revision. Told to "Stand-by". Decide to go to Pathmark to get ham and shredded Swiss cheese to make Chicken Cordon Bleu later in the week.

4:08 pm - Told to be at the staging area at 5:30. Rush home, put food away and start moving to staging area.

4:48 - Almost at staging location. Told not to go to staging location.


5:25 pm - Donuts and coffee. Gotta keep the cliche alive.

5:44 pm - Two of the guys that were already near the staging area have gone to a diner, and invited anyone else around to join them.

5:56 pm - Told that new staging time would be at 8pm.

6:16 pm - arrive at diner. Hostess immediately sees me and asks if I am looking for two other people. Apparently, we are easy to recognize. See squad mate who has ashes on his head, but has plate of meat in front of him. Ask him if he is Catholic. He is upset because he forgot about the "no meat on Ash Wednesday" thing. Others arrive, make jokes, hope search will be called off.

8:30 pm - Search begins. This is the craziest house I've ever seen. Crazier than the mafia hitman's house.

12:05 am - Boss releases me because of the arrest the next day. Late, I find out that the search continued until 2:30 am.

Thursday, 1:00 am - Arrive at home. Determine that I need to leave my apartment at 4:45am, for a 30 minute drive plus buffer, in order to arrive at the staging area.

Wake up, get dressed, look at watch and think that I'm running late. Jay-Z is playing on radio

4:05 am - Wake up FOR REAL, Jay-Z is still on the radio.

4:10 am - Hit snooze on alarm on phone.

4:15 am - Without turning on lights, reach for a box that has 5-Hour Energy bottles. Drink breakfast. Shower, brush teeth, and get dressed.

4:30 am - Decide that a 5-Hour Energy is probably not the best thing for breakfast. Grab an apple and a Marshmallow Pie and put them in pockets.

4:44 am - Catch glimpse of self in mirror and realize that I have not shaved in 3 days. Shave.

4:46 am - Exit apartment. Realize that I forgot my suit to change into later. Go back.

4:48 am - Exit apartment. Get into car.

4:55 am - There is no traffic ANYWHERE. Exceed speed limit.

5:00 am - Apple wasn't very good.

5:35 am - Arrive at Staging Area.

5:45 am - Briefing. I see that the other guys are drinking coffee and Monster.

5:55 am - Put on body armor. Sit and wait.

6:00 am - leave for location

6:30 am - Target in pocket. Had to get all his medication, glasses, and give him orange juice before we leave.

6:40 am - Target is sleeping.

7:30 am - Arrive for processing. I'm good at fingerprinting

7:40 am - Change into suit. Donuts and coffee.

12:45 pm - First real food. Too spicy.

1:30 pm - Glimmer of hope that this might end at a reasonable time.

1:35 pm - Hope destroyed.

2:00 pm - playing Angry Birds.

2:40 pm - more waiting

2:58 pm - thinking about buying bed sheets from Walmart.

3:00 pm - Judge Kevin M. Fox proceeds to read everything that relates to every charge and case. Somehow, my guy was the first one in, and will be the last one done.

3:04 pm - my eyes stopped focusing. Contemplate taking a nap in the court room.

3:21 pm - Blacking out

15:40 pm - Court just stopped. No idea why. I think the judge is updating his Facebook status: "First she was like 'Guilty,' then she was all like 'Not guilty.' LOL."

4:00 pm - realized that I worked all the hours so far today except the three that I was asleep for.

4:50 pm - Finally, our guys are up. Judge releases 7 of the guys on their own recognizance, because they "don't pose a flight risk." All have tons of money and multiple houses. Gives $50K bail for guy that has been unemployed for months and has health problems. WTF?

5:55 pm to 9:30 pm- Leave court. Go Home. Go to martial arts class. Body decided to not be as tired.

12:05 am - Try to fall asleep.

Flashback: Inprocessing in Italy

Like I said last time, I would be reposting some of the best stuff from my old blog. I'm going to make this on Monday's (Memory Mondays?). Honestly, the day of the week that this will happen will be based on what say I believe will give the best name (e.g. Time Machine Tuesdays, Wayback Wednesdays, Flashback Fridays). I'm actually trying to figure out which day is the most boring. Ok, I've decided. Once a week, in the middle somewhere, with one of those names (also Time Machine Thursdays).

This was originally posted on November 8, 2004, and was around the time that I arrived at my first duty station in Italy. After 3 years there, I can't say that my perception changed much. However, if you got away from the base, you could partake of some fun stuff.

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Holy crap, I'm tired. And it's only 1355 (that's 1:55 PM for you civilians). The jet lag must be hitting me pretty damn hard. Either that, or it could be because I didn't go to bed until 0130, and then woke up at 0525. Maybe it's because I had that Grande Soft Taco from Taco Bell, and my body doesn't know how to deal with that much food.

Today was pretty interesting. We started it off by having a health and welfare inspection for knives. Apparently a soldier went downtown with a huge knife on him, and there was some kind of incident. So all of the leadership had to go and search all of the rooms for knives, which would then be tagged and stored in out arms room. Can you believe it? Thy're taking knives away from the Infantry. It's funny because my platoon alone is issued 40mm grenade launchers (imagine a machine gun that shoots grenades), 50 caliber machine guns, 7.62 M240B machine guns (7.62 or .308 for you civilians), Squat Automatic Wapons, and enough ammunition to level a small town.

BUT, we can't have knives. I mean you should see the stuff that some soldiers had. There were a couple of tomahawks, switchblades, and my favorite, knives with blades 8 inches and larger. Hell, I heard one guy in Iraq basically carried around a katana on his back.
On a lighter note, today started the first day of official inprocessing. This is a huge part of why I'm sleepy. Some of the classes are interesting. I've learned that in Italy

1. Recycling is part of the law, and the fine is HUGE.
2. Italy is about one-third the size of Florida, yet has a population of 60 million, and it's very packed.
3. The Pope is apparently mad with Northern Italy for having lots of sex for purposes other than procreation.
4. Apparently, this place is the "World capital of fashion", which is supposed to explain why the guys dress like they're gay, and the women refuse to wear anything except pointy shoes with heels (apparently some refuse to wear a pair of tennis shoes).
5. It's not uncommon to see women walking around holding hands, or walking arm in arm. Apparently. the Italians are very physical, and have no idea about what personal space is. Apparently, it's not uncommen to see a father-son combo walking with arms linked, either. This seems to go "hand in hand" with the way that they dress.
6. Italian drivers SUCK. Seriously. Imagine the worse driving you have ever seen. No imagine a whole country drives like that. Welcome to Italy. There are almost no lights for crossing the streets. Pedistrians just eventually cross when the chances of death are minimized.

If there's one thing that I have definately learned at these briefings, it's that if you're married, you have a whole assload of paperword to do. This has led me to a couple of conclusions about a few choices in life:

1. While in Italy, don't get married to someone in the US who will want to come over to Italy and live with you.
2. Don't marry a native Italian woman, because that will only lead to more paperwork.
3. If you are married and your family stays in the US, you can bank off pretty well on the fact that the army will pay you to compensate for rent back in the states where your family is, AND what your housing costs here.

Lastly, I learned not to make a Voltron reference when the Company Commander is talking about Brigade Combat Teams and says "and it's all modular, so you can combine them and they form together," all while making some kind of combining motion with his hands.

I've moved.

I'm not new to blogging. For those of you in the know, I've been blogging on Xanga since 2004. I'm actually a lifetime member there. At some point, I'm sure that status meant something, but now they have "True Members", which I probably would have been if they had that back when I was blogging like it was going out of style (because it was). Anyway, a lot of people that I used to keep in touch with on Xanga have moved on, (namely Nina), and maybe it's time that I followed suit.

Now, before you click the link to my old blog and start reading, I'm going to do you a favor. Like a sitcom with writers that have gone on strike, we're going to have flashbacks. I will personally go back through all my entries, find the funny ones, and post them here, stating the original date, a little editing, and maybe some commentary.

Also, the title is a work in progress.