Front Sight

For the next four or five days I will be out of pocket and with my buddy Ponch and a couple other guys at Front Sight. We'll be taking a 4-day tactical handgun course. So, if I don't blog in the next four days, that's where I am. If I don't blog in the next week, it's likely I shot myself.

Brother Update #2

My brother is coming home from the hospital today. Turns out between Sunday and today he had a pacemaker put in also. What is the deal with his heart? He's such a drama queen.

I have PdMS

I was at drill this weekend and pulled from my normal duties by our acting First Sergeant. He told me that I needed to go and do a Post-deployment Medical Screening (PdMS). Basically, it is a chance for the doctors to hear your complaints about exposure to smoke from oil and trash fires, chemicals, or anything else that you may have run into while deployed overseas. Also, it is a chance for them to do a quick assessment for PTSD.

I have already been home for two-and-a-half years so I thought the whole thing was kind of bogus. But, a good soldier does what his First Sergeant says, so I went.

The psychologist from the VA started asking me questions for his assessment such as:

Have you had thoughts of harming yourself? NO.
Have you had thoughts of harming others? NO.
Do you have nightmares? NO.
Do you have trouble sleeping? NO.
Do you get easily frustrated? . . . yes.
Do you get angry faster than before your deployment? . . . yes [again].

Uh oh. I’m screwed up.

He explained that it is normal and not necessarily PTSD, but very common. You see, when soldiers go to Iraq or any combat zone they rely on other people. The actions of you and those around you have consequences. If someone does something stupid, someone could be hurt or killed.

When you come home you are still in this mindset. Small things like someone cutting me off and changing lanes in front of me on the road can set off my wild, cursing wrath where they are verbally torn up and down. Plainly said, what he did was stupid. Subconsciously what was said, this guy may have a car bomb and he got in close to me. Fortunately, there are two controls I have on this behavior.

1) I can stifle it when wife and kids are around. They have never heard such an outburst.
2) I have never had thoughts of escalating my frustration into road rage of any sort. Never even once considered acting on it. Berating the offender is enough.

We ended the “session” with him stating that he didn’t recommend I need to seek counseling. I think that was a correct assessment as I can control it. My work is now to control it more so that I don’t have those outbursts while alone and hopefully get to the point where I don’t even think those thoughts at all. I my not show my anger on the road to my family, but an increase in patience would likely be appreciated. Wish me luck.

You got (math) skillz?

I am shocked at the (dis)ability some people have with low-level math skills. This is what I encountered today:

I was at Home Depot and saw that they had Vine Maple trees for 75% off. Normally $20 is now $5 right? Ok.

I took one to the checker and the computer rang it up as $10--only half off, right? So, what did she do? She gave me another 25% off, but that isn't right.

There is a difference between an additional 25% off the original purchase price and 25% off a sale price that is already 50% reduced. She could not wrap her mind around this. I will lay it out below in easy-to-follow math.

$20 (original price) - 75% (or as mathemetician write x0.25) = $5 purchase price

-vs.-

$20 (original price) - 50% computer screwed up price = $10 - an additional 25% = $7.50.

So, a simple math error means I would have paid an additional $2.50 had I not contested it. Seems small no doubt, but when the final, real cost is only $5, an additional $2.50 is an increase in price of 50% because someone can't do math.

I will spare you the 15 minutes of me sitting at the register trying to explain it, the phone calls she made to her manager, and the looks I got as though I was trying to cheat the store.

It all ended with me getting the correct price and her saying, "Don't worry, I'll figure out why it is correct later." [sigh]

Brother Update

My brother David's surgery was postponed from Tuesday until yesterday. The operation began at about 7am and ended about 5 1/2 hours later. He is doing fine.

The surgeon said he had a hereditary defect in his heart where the valve was like a "stub" and not doing the job it should. They replaced it was an artificial one made of carbon fibre and then snipped off a little piece of the heart that collects 90% of the clots that run through it. I guess that was necessary as he will be on blood thinners the rest of his life.

All in all though, from the word I have gotten from my father is that he is okay and doing fine. I am going to see him tomorrow. Thanks for your prayers.

X2, and no, I don't mean X-Men 2

It was announced yesterday that the new X-Files movie will be released on July 25th, 2008. It will be a "stand alone" (i.e. NOT mythology), film and filming will begin on December 10th--a month and a week away.

This is the news I've been waiting for since 2002 when the series was cancelled. This is great. I can't wait.