Sinterklaas

Some time between last night and this morning our family was visited by Sinterklaas. That's the beauty of having family from recent decent from different lands. You get all of those family traditions that make for fun (and extended) holiday seasons.

My son Turner made sure to leave a carrot, apple, and some celery in his shoes by the door for Americo, Sinterklaas' white horse. He knows the drill . . . leave a treat for the horse, get a treat in return.

He knows the night of Sinterklaas and Black Pete's visit even better than my wife does. She called me at work and asked for the date. When I told her, Turner said, "I told you so." To be a kid at Christmas again . . .

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.

Name the Band

By buddy Ponch sent me this picture. It's title says everything I ever could about it. Your mission to come up with a rockin' name for this fictional band.

To get you started, Ponch and I came up with "Carbonite" or "The Kessel Run". Both very good names. What have you got?

In our thoughts

My younger brother (31) David will be going in for open heart surgery on Tuesday. Pray for him.

Endings

I don't get into Halloween Film Fests too much, but on Saturday my wife and I sat down to watch "The Birds" with her parents as it was on cable. It was the first time either of us had seen it.

I liked it except for the ending. What a let down. Where was the ending? I was fairly engaged in it but needed some kind of explanation as to why the birds were going kookoo kaka. And, I just didn't get that. They just drove away.

It was good and I would recommend it, but plan on a non-ending if you do. I may just stick with The Watcher in the Woods. If you get the dvd, it has like three alternate endings so I can get my fill of endings with that movie.

Pathetic

Bah. What a terrible year for honey. I hope those of you who enjoyed my sweet, sweet harvest last year don't get your hopes up too high this year.

I harvested about 3 weeks ago and only got 33 pounds or so. Two of those are already gone. The drought was definately a factor as was the lateness of my extracting. Some of the honey had crystallized in the comb and couldn't be removed.

All in all it was really disappointing. Still dang good honey, but not nearly enough of it. I do still have comb honey to take too so at least it isn't as little as it sounds like.

The Stupidest Auction on eBay

To the right there is a screen shot from an auction currently on eBay. It is for the knowledge on how to bump up your feedback rating from 0 to 100+ in only 24 hours.

He goes on to say why it is important to have a high feedback rating and what the benefits are to sellers who have 100+ ratings.

Makes sense to me and if it works and is not against any eBay rules then no problem, right?

Well, there's just one problem. I know the screen shot is small, but there is one detail that stands out. Can you see his feedback rating? 45! What a moron.

I've emailed him to ask him to explain this discrepancy. We'll see how he spins it.

UPDATE:
I heard from the seller almost immediately. His response was this:

"It does seem at bit odd, does it not? I am a bit lax in doing that myself - I have been too busy with other things, and eBay and I are in a dispute over some erroneous charges right now."

Hmmmm. In dispute with eBay, eh? I would believe it more if the dispute was about selling ways to beat the system instead of over erroneous charges, but that is just me.

It's begun.

Yesterday I walked out the back door to feed the chickens and immediately spotted a kestrel hunting sparrows around my house. He swooped after one that got away, flew back over my roof and then perched my my neighbor's tree that overhangs onto my property.


This morning I was out with the chickens again and a big red-tailed hawk flew low over my back acre and landed on one of my fence posts. He too was out hunting. Hopefully not for my chickens, but to be honest he could take a couple and I would probably never know.


The fall raptor migration has begun. That may not sound too exciting, but for a wildlife biologist like me it is pretty cool. Especially when I get to see it in my own backyard.

Fog

We live in the middle of the valley and at certain times of the year get totally socked in with fog. Natural fog. Last night was different.

My wife and I went out for a short 2 mile run last night, pushing the kids in the running stroller. We didn't get but 3 houses away when I heard it.

Chemical Ali.

That's what we call him . . . the mosquito abatement man. He was coming and the fog was thick despite him driving way too fast to do the job properly (I've been meaning to call and complain about that all summer). You would have thought he would cut off the fogger as he passed us, especially since we had our 6 and 1 year children with us, but no, he was in a hurry.

We probably should have stopped and gone in, but we continued the run and shortly got to a place not fogged with good air. We thought we were in the clear. About 15 minutes later we rounded the corner for the home stretch and it hit us again. You couldn't see it anymore, but you could smell it.

Fortunately it is getting pretty cold at night now and that is doing a better job of killing off those buggers than the fog ever will. I can't wait for the autumn to put Chemical Ali out of a job.

911

Today is September 11th . . . six years later.

What more is there to say?

Either you get it or you don't.

Go spend some time on a walk in a beautiful place with those you love.

Enjoy the life and freedom you have that others lost.

Welcome autumn

Autumn is the best.

Don't believe me? You are wrong.

Thank heaven summer is gone.

Good riddance.


Who doesn't LOVE autumn?

If you don't, I don't want to know you.

10

Last night I was laying in bed and realized, "Hey, I joined the Army 10 years ago today." Now I really feel old. I have never had a job other than this that I have stayed with for 10 whole years. I am actually half way to retirement and only 32 years old. I could actually retire (from the Army) at age 42! (but probably will not).


Even though I've gone through 10 years including basic training, Army cook school, multiple NCO leadership courses, emergency state-duty call ups, and a tour in Iraq, there is plenty more to come. I am changing jobs and will soon be a Field Artillery Officer. With that comes about 8 months of training away from home. There will no doubt be other schools to go to like Air Assault and Airbourne, and with as much time as I have left, I definately expect another tour in Iraq, Afghanistan, or wherever the next set of jerks pop up.

This is not a slide down the hill toward retirement, but cresting the hill only to find that the peak is actually much higher up than you expected. Fortunately, this is a mountain I enjoy climbing.

Chubba Bubba

So, after over 2 years of working with an Army recruiter, this week the whole process culminated in the final interview to get my promotion and comission as an officer in the Utah Army National Guard.

In my interview I was basically told I'm a lazy, fat, do-nothing slob. Well, not really. The colonel who interviewed me was very positive, but said that I am just skating by in my physical fitness efforts. He was dead wrong. Skating is an actual sport involving actual exercise. I was more like sitting on the couch watching Star Trek for my physical fitness efforts--oh, and sometimes The Office too. My Name is Earl is good too . . . ya, but that's all.

So, since I'm not a fat slob, but am maintaining weight and physical abilities somewhat, he decided to go ahead and sign off on my recommendation. However, I was told in no uncertain terms that I needed to get off my big butt, eat right, and do some exercise. I just about cried when I heard that. My wife asked for his address so she could send a 'thank you' note.

Chesno Hang Out

Growing up a guy there are a lot of little stupid things you do and say. Today I had the following experience:

I went into the restroom here at my office and saw my boss standing at the urinal. My first thought was to say, “Hey, this is where the dicks hang out”. This was a common saying in Junior High when you stepped up to a urinal. It was as close as kids that age got to double meanings--namely, their privates and the other guys around them.

Luckily I caught myself and did not say it to my boss.

Some things are so ingrained it’s like you don’t even have to think about it. Thank you Orem Junior High School. Go Jaguars.

It's Been 4 Years?

A little bit ago I ran across a random blog written by a woman mourning the decline of her grandfather and how much he had changed as age took over. I experienced the same thing four years ago when I visited my last grandparent for the last time. It stirred in me the feelings to respond with the following:

"I know how you feel. I last visited my grandfather in June 2003. He died in
October 2004 while I was in Iraq. Of course I missed the funeral.

"On my last visit, he was different. Grandma had been gone for 6 years, and the house was not the same. Grandpa was not the same.

"I maintain a website of family recipes
and I asked him for many. I went through his stack and then he told me I
couldn't have them. I would have to go to Kinko's to copy them.

"His personality wasn't the same. He was more irritable. He didn't want all the family coming over for a BBQ, but he was still grandpa and I still love him.

"The last thing we did together before I left for the airport was bake traditional Swedish bread with him from where he grew up. That is the memory I will remember from that trip, and the others will be of childhood."

That was already four years ago this month. My how time flys. I still maintain that website although I haven't updated it in a while. You can find it here.

I love you grandpa and still miss you all the time.