As you may have noticed, my blog has been hijacked by spam. Whenever I end up on a computer that actually lets me log into blogger, I usually spend most of my time deleting the entries rather than updating. For some reason, only half the computers at the MWR let me get in the blog; the others say something about cookies being disabled. I also can only sign into amazon from one or two computers, so as long as I don't want to order anything or update my wishlist, it works but as soon as I get to the sign on page, the internet page shuts itself down. I'm going to try disabling the ability to email myself entries and see if that will cut down on the advertisements for weight loss and stronger libidos even though that will limit my options for updating.
We had our first OPD (officer professional development), and the topic was OPSEC, so naturally blogging came up. I guess my blog will now be reviewed quarterly to make sure I'm complying with all the rules and not giving away vital information. Of course, I think I already learned my lesson about that.
I finished reading The Time Traveler's Wife a few days ago. I'd seen in the bookstores but never really been interested until I saw it on a list of recommended books on Pajiba. I actually liked it even though at first, I had some misgivings. It was well-written and interesting from the beginning, don't get me wrong, but the idea that the woman had met her future husband when she was six and he was forty bugged me, especially since he repeatedly visited her in the past and taught her things. It seemed too much like he was shaping her to fit into his idea of the perfect woman and who she should be. I still liked the novel, though, but it got slow towards the end. I think this might just reflect on me, though: I still tend to prefer the protagonists when they are younger and starting their lives rather than once they have established families, grown older and so forth. It's just a matter of what I can relate to more at the moment.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Friday, September 07, 2007
Only Me
Since I still feel weird talking about the actual FOB online, I thought I’d just write about some of my own stupidities of the past week. As it turns out, I’m a klutz – well, okay I already knew I had tendencies towards that with the whole lack of coordination (probably why I never really got into sports), but I definitely seem to have a talent for doing ridiculous stuff – never anything extreme enough to win an award like the Bent Coin*, just a series of lots of little incidents.
For example, at the beginning of this week, it must have been Sunday night, I woke up in the middle of the night for no discernible reason (it happens on occasion), so I rolled over to go back to sleep. In the process, I rolled straight into the wall, and hit my lip on the electrical siding (or whatever it is). After a silent curse, I went back to sleep, and then woke the next morning with a busted lip and dried blood on my teeth. At least I didn’t fall off the bed. I got a package from my parents in the mail the next day with a big Illini pillow – I’m using it as padding to prevent this from happening again.
Last night, I was leaving my room when the door handle broke off in my hand. The door sticks, so I’ve had to pull and rattle quite a bit in the past, and apparently the door just couldn’t take it anymore. I had to call my platoon sergeant on the radio to let me out of my room so I could use the bathroom. Luckily, our RNU (no clue what that stands for, but he’s in charge of handling all the work orders and repairs for the company) had a few extra door handles in the connex – looks like maybe this has occurred before.
* The Bent Coin: My Battalion back in Germany had monthly (give or take a few weeks) Hail and Farewells. This is an opportunity to greet the new leadership coming to the battalion, say goodbye to the ones leaving, and generally socialize with each other (/make fun of/ put on the spot – before my first Hail and Farewell, I was told I had to memorize the Transportation Corps Creed as part of being hailed – it was my initiation). At the end of the evening, the Bent Coin would be awarded, and people would tell funny, ridiculous, partially true stories about their friends. After a vote, whoever had the best story and behaved the most foolishly, would receive the Bent Coin for safekeeping for the month. One of the LTs in my company won it when his car got stuck in the snow and the Company Commander and First Sergeant had to push him out, for example. Other units have similar traditions – a guy I knew in 2ID had to been awarded the Broken Tomahawk right before they deployed and had to pack it with all his other stuff.
For example, at the beginning of this week, it must have been Sunday night, I woke up in the middle of the night for no discernible reason (it happens on occasion), so I rolled over to go back to sleep. In the process, I rolled straight into the wall, and hit my lip on the electrical siding (or whatever it is). After a silent curse, I went back to sleep, and then woke the next morning with a busted lip and dried blood on my teeth. At least I didn’t fall off the bed. I got a package from my parents in the mail the next day with a big Illini pillow – I’m using it as padding to prevent this from happening again.
Last night, I was leaving my room when the door handle broke off in my hand. The door sticks, so I’ve had to pull and rattle quite a bit in the past, and apparently the door just couldn’t take it anymore. I had to call my platoon sergeant on the radio to let me out of my room so I could use the bathroom. Luckily, our RNU (no clue what that stands for, but he’s in charge of handling all the work orders and repairs for the company) had a few extra door handles in the connex – looks like maybe this has occurred before.
* The Bent Coin: My Battalion back in Germany had monthly (give or take a few weeks) Hail and Farewells. This is an opportunity to greet the new leadership coming to the battalion, say goodbye to the ones leaving, and generally socialize with each other (/make fun of/ put on the spot – before my first Hail and Farewell, I was told I had to memorize the Transportation Corps Creed as part of being hailed – it was my initiation). At the end of the evening, the Bent Coin would be awarded, and people would tell funny, ridiculous, partially true stories about their friends. After a vote, whoever had the best story and behaved the most foolishly, would receive the Bent Coin for safekeeping for the month. One of the LTs in my company won it when his car got stuck in the snow and the Company Commander and First Sergeant had to push him out, for example. Other units have similar traditions – a guy I knew in 2ID had to been awarded the Broken Tomahawk right before they deployed and had to pack it with all his other stuff.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Quick Note
I've been in Iraq for almost two weeks now. Since OPSEC is such a big
deal out here, I'm not really sure what is okay to talk about yet and
at what point. As soon as I have an individual internet connection in
my room, I'm going to look up some different military blogs to get an
idea from them about what it is kosher. The internet here is slow,
and since I only have the computer an hour at a time, I haven't had
much of a chance to do it yet. Anyway, I should be writing more
pretty soon about life out here, but I didn't forget about updating.
deal out here, I'm not really sure what is okay to talk about yet and
at what point. As soon as I have an individual internet connection in
my room, I'm going to look up some different military blogs to get an
idea from them about what it is kosher. The internet here is slow,
and since I only have the computer an hour at a time, I haven't had
much of a chance to do it yet. Anyway, I should be writing more
pretty soon about life out here, but I didn't forget about updating.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
I'm Back?
So I am not really sure how to start this entry considering the rather long, though unintentional, break I took. I don’t really want to go through a run down of the past few months, but I don’t think I can just start right back into it as if I’d been blogging regularly.
Basically, there were a few reasons I stopped updating. Mainly, I was distracted and lazy. There was also the issue that I actually have soldiers now so I was more hesitant to blog about day to day life (especially the way I like to critique everything). My chain of command actually found out about my blog from a source in Ft. Eustis, so my second or third week in the unit, I was already in the colonel’s office briefing him about Army policies on personal websites. While he said he had no problem if I continued with the blog, the timing just coincided with the other, already mentioned reasons.
The first few months were incredibly busy due to the preparation for the deployment. We had two field exercises soon after I arrived, both a week and half to two weeks long (I spent my birthday in the field). We were also dealing with soldier issues and sorting out who was actually deploying vs. who was staying on rear detachment due to medical issues. My life became a lot easier the day rear detachment became an actual platoon of its own. After we were certified for deployment during the field exercise, things started slowing down some, but there were still quite a few small details to take care off. It wasn’t until block leave that everything completely calmed down. I only took a week of the available four week time period because I didn’t have that much leave saved up, but the three weeks I wasn’t on leave were very nice. PT in the morning, browse the Internet in the morning (after taking care of any work of course), long lunches, and another hour or two at the gym to end the day.
As far as traveling is concerned, I haven’t done nearly as much as I was hoping I would have done by now. I went to Brussels in March, and used my week of leave to go to London. I absolutely loved London and would move there in a heartbeat if I ever had the chance. I also finally made it to Dresden, but other than that, I’ve mainly revisited German cities (although, I also made it to Salzburg - at least Austria is a different country) I used to like. A friend of mine is stationed in Bamberg so I’ve been up there quite a bit, and some of the other LTs in my battalion and I had just started going to Regensburg more right before my unit left.
Germany isn’t bad but Grafenwoehr is definitely not the place to be stationed. They are building it up, so in the next few years it should get a lot better but right now, it’s not so great. The new PX and commissary are scheduled to open in the fall, and several units in Germany are moving to Grafenwoehr so that should encourage more development in the German town as well. It’s actually kind of sad, but apparently the base we’re going to in Iraq is going to have a lot more facilities than the German base. They even have coffee shops and a pool out there. Yes, I realize that Starbucks does exist in Germany but once again, I’m at least an hour away from any city that has one in it. As far as bakeries and cafes are concerned, Germans and Americans have quite different definitions of mochas (in Germany, it’s much more like an espresso) so they don’t help me too much. Of course, that’s probably a good thing – I think I put on about five my senior of college after discovering that I actually liked mochas and lattes despite the fact that they had coffee in them.
Anyway, I hope to start updating again on a somewhat regular basis now since I'm expecting fewer distractions (though probably a busier work schedule - I'll find out soon).
Basically, there were a few reasons I stopped updating. Mainly, I was distracted and lazy. There was also the issue that I actually have soldiers now so I was more hesitant to blog about day to day life (especially the way I like to critique everything). My chain of command actually found out about my blog from a source in Ft. Eustis, so my second or third week in the unit, I was already in the colonel’s office briefing him about Army policies on personal websites. While he said he had no problem if I continued with the blog, the timing just coincided with the other, already mentioned reasons.
The first few months were incredibly busy due to the preparation for the deployment. We had two field exercises soon after I arrived, both a week and half to two weeks long (I spent my birthday in the field). We were also dealing with soldier issues and sorting out who was actually deploying vs. who was staying on rear detachment due to medical issues. My life became a lot easier the day rear detachment became an actual platoon of its own. After we were certified for deployment during the field exercise, things started slowing down some, but there were still quite a few small details to take care off. It wasn’t until block leave that everything completely calmed down. I only took a week of the available four week time period because I didn’t have that much leave saved up, but the three weeks I wasn’t on leave were very nice. PT in the morning, browse the Internet in the morning (after taking care of any work of course), long lunches, and another hour or two at the gym to end the day.
As far as traveling is concerned, I haven’t done nearly as much as I was hoping I would have done by now. I went to Brussels in March, and used my week of leave to go to London. I absolutely loved London and would move there in a heartbeat if I ever had the chance. I also finally made it to Dresden, but other than that, I’ve mainly revisited German cities (although, I also made it to Salzburg - at least Austria is a different country) I used to like. A friend of mine is stationed in Bamberg so I’ve been up there quite a bit, and some of the other LTs in my battalion and I had just started going to Regensburg more right before my unit left.
Germany isn’t bad but Grafenwoehr is definitely not the place to be stationed. They are building it up, so in the next few years it should get a lot better but right now, it’s not so great. The new PX and commissary are scheduled to open in the fall, and several units in Germany are moving to Grafenwoehr so that should encourage more development in the German town as well. It’s actually kind of sad, but apparently the base we’re going to in Iraq is going to have a lot more facilities than the German base. They even have coffee shops and a pool out there. Yes, I realize that Starbucks does exist in Germany but once again, I’m at least an hour away from any city that has one in it. As far as bakeries and cafes are concerned, Germans and Americans have quite different definitions of mochas (in Germany, it’s much more like an espresso) so they don’t help me too much. Of course, that’s probably a good thing – I think I put on about five my senior of college after discovering that I actually liked mochas and lattes despite the fact that they had coffee in them.
Anyway, I hope to start updating again on a somewhat regular basis now since I'm expecting fewer distractions (though probably a busier work schedule - I'll find out soon).
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Bamberg
I went to Bamberg to visit with my grandfather and uncle yesterday. I hadn't seen my grandfather since I graduated high school - he doesn't do planes, and I took summer school every year of college.
It was nice to see him though his sense of "humor" does not mesh with mine at all. He'd make comments and laugh, and I'd just be looking at him like he was insane. I went with another LT that's inprocessing with me and she had me drive since her baby kept her up all night. Driving in Germany is kind of scary - a lot of the roads that would be considered highways in the States are only one lane in either direction so in order to pass cars, you have to drive into oncoming traffic. It's especially bad considering how curvy the roads in Germany are (there were a few instances where I couldn't believe that I was actually in a passing zone).
Anyway, here are some pictures of Bamberg (I didn't have that many to choose from because I've been there so often that I didn't take many pictures, and the ones from inside the church really didn't turn out).
Der Bamberger Reiter - Bamberg Rider
One of Bamberg's most famous monuments - it's inside the Dom (cathedral)
St. Michaelskirche ( a former monastery)As seen from the Rose Garden of the Neue Residenz (new residence)
View of Little Venice and the crane from the Old Rathaus
(you can see part of the facade on the right)
Briefings, Sexism, Homophobia and Stereotypes
Tomorrow is my last day of inprocessing! Only one more day of boring briefings before I have to go face the reality of being a platoon leader. At least, I should be getting my hands on a training schedule this way so I'll know more about the day to day plans of the unit rather than simply, "we're going to the field on these dates."
For the most part, the briefings were just boring but there were a few that also managed to piss me off - coincidentally, these all took place on Thursday. As part of the family advocacy brief, a couples' therapist spoke to the room and mentioned the difficulty men and women occasionally have communicating with each other. He discussed a scenario, and tried to explain it from the man and the woman's side, but somehow in both cases he managed to paraphrase the wife's comments as "blah, blah, blah." Gee, thanks. Apparently, the problem between men and women is a difference of testosterone and estrogen. Seriously, we're going to reduce this to something as simple hormones? What next, a comment as brilliant as Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus because we are all inherently different. How about talking about the societal construction of gender, and how this affects the way people act? Oh, by the way, the situation: man comes home from work and doesn't put up his boots, woman nags about how she's worked all day to keep the house clean and he can't help out. Wait - so does this mean all Army wives (let's not even get started on the idea that there might be - gasp - Army husbands) are just naturally assumed to be stay at home moms? And even if they aren't, the house is their responsibility?
He also had great advice for us single folk - avoid those gold diggers. All women are just after one thing when it comes to Army guys -a pay check. Or to quote one fellow audience member, "if she can read an LES, stay away." Why is there such a negative view of women? The therapist also had some great tidbits for the women in the military, and went on about avoiding "playas" because they all just have mommy issues - they treat women like crap because their mothers either spoiled them too much or neglected them. I love how we can find a way to blame women no matter what. According to him, these men feel entitled, and might read passing out as consent to sex. The therapist actually made the comment that raping their mothers or sisters as revenge might get through to them - did you seriously just say that, even in jest to make a point?
Luckily, I have a pamphlet so if I ever feel the need for couple's therapy, I can contact this guy. My favorite quote: "Men in the first 10 years of marriage are particularly disrupted in their work productivity by marital conflicts and distress (emphasis as made in the pamphlet)." It's from an article called, "Associations Between Marital Distress and Work Loss in a National Sample" and while I have no clue as to the original article's intent or tone, I love how the pamphlet is completely focused on the men's productivity. Who cares if the wife gets stressed! They also offer a program for better parenting called Boys Town, and the pamphlet concludes with a drawing of the perfect family - a dad, a mom (in a dress of course), and two boys. We don't need girls or daughters in a military family - they'll just become gold diggers after all!
One speaker also shared some stories about her experiences as a family advocate. In one case, after her husband's deployment, a young mother of five (all of which were under 5) stopped taking care of the house - audience response: what nationality was this woman? Yes, obviously, she couldn't be an American because only foreigners are dirty. It was an American (hah!), but I was surprised there wasn't a follow-up question: well then, what ethnicity was she? She also told us about this guy who'd kept the fact that he got paid hidden from his wife for five years. She was foreign and spoke very little English so he told her that the Army provided housing but he didn't actually get paid. Who does that?
I also found out that even though I'm in Germany, I can still enjoy syndicated radio talk shows, specifically Rush Limbaugh and Dr. Laura on the American station. Great. Good thing I never listened to talk radio to begin with. I'm going to be ordering a lot of DVDs online in the future - I currently have a huge movies and TV show wishlist on Amazon so I can just click and order as I go.
I have to say that I enjoyed the community health nurse a lot, though. She was very open, and entertaining even while discussing STIs. She gave out flavored condoms to the audience for participating and answering questions (she gave me a chocolate one), and even explained how they could be cut open and used in ways that men, too, could taste them (as I said, very open). At one point she asked for a definition of sex, and one guy said, "intercourse between a man and a woman." She quickly put him in his place about sex being able to take place between two men or two women and not just between a man and a woman. She even made sure to point out that there are gays in the military because the policy is don't ask, don't tell, not don't join. Way to put those homophobes in their place.
For the most part, the briefings were just boring but there were a few that also managed to piss me off - coincidentally, these all took place on Thursday. As part of the family advocacy brief, a couples' therapist spoke to the room and mentioned the difficulty men and women occasionally have communicating with each other. He discussed a scenario, and tried to explain it from the man and the woman's side, but somehow in both cases he managed to paraphrase the wife's comments as "blah, blah, blah." Gee, thanks. Apparently, the problem between men and women is a difference of testosterone and estrogen. Seriously, we're going to reduce this to something as simple hormones? What next, a comment as brilliant as Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus because we are all inherently different. How about talking about the societal construction of gender, and how this affects the way people act? Oh, by the way, the situation: man comes home from work and doesn't put up his boots, woman nags about how she's worked all day to keep the house clean and he can't help out. Wait - so does this mean all Army wives (let's not even get started on the idea that there might be - gasp - Army husbands) are just naturally assumed to be stay at home moms? And even if they aren't, the house is their responsibility?
He also had great advice for us single folk - avoid those gold diggers. All women are just after one thing when it comes to Army guys -a pay check. Or to quote one fellow audience member, "if she can read an LES, stay away." Why is there such a negative view of women? The therapist also had some great tidbits for the women in the military, and went on about avoiding "playas" because they all just have mommy issues - they treat women like crap because their mothers either spoiled them too much or neglected them. I love how we can find a way to blame women no matter what. According to him, these men feel entitled, and might read passing out as consent to sex. The therapist actually made the comment that raping their mothers or sisters as revenge might get through to them - did you seriously just say that, even in jest to make a point?
Luckily, I have a pamphlet so if I ever feel the need for couple's therapy, I can contact this guy. My favorite quote: "Men in the first 10 years of marriage are particularly disrupted in their work productivity by marital conflicts and distress (emphasis as made in the pamphlet)." It's from an article called, "Associations Between Marital Distress and Work Loss in a National Sample" and while I have no clue as to the original article's intent or tone, I love how the pamphlet is completely focused on the men's productivity. Who cares if the wife gets stressed! They also offer a program for better parenting called Boys Town, and the pamphlet concludes with a drawing of the perfect family - a dad, a mom (in a dress of course), and two boys. We don't need girls or daughters in a military family - they'll just become gold diggers after all!
One speaker also shared some stories about her experiences as a family advocate. In one case, after her husband's deployment, a young mother of five (all of which were under 5) stopped taking care of the house - audience response: what nationality was this woman? Yes, obviously, she couldn't be an American because only foreigners are dirty. It was an American (hah!), but I was surprised there wasn't a follow-up question: well then, what ethnicity was she? She also told us about this guy who'd kept the fact that he got paid hidden from his wife for five years. She was foreign and spoke very little English so he told her that the Army provided housing but he didn't actually get paid. Who does that?
I also found out that even though I'm in Germany, I can still enjoy syndicated radio talk shows, specifically Rush Limbaugh and Dr. Laura on the American station. Great. Good thing I never listened to talk radio to begin with. I'm going to be ordering a lot of DVDs online in the future - I currently have a huge movies and TV show wishlist on Amazon so I can just click and order as I go.
I have to say that I enjoyed the community health nurse a lot, though. She was very open, and entertaining even while discussing STIs. She gave out flavored condoms to the audience for participating and answering questions (she gave me a chocolate one), and even explained how they could be cut open and used in ways that men, too, could taste them (as I said, very open). At one point she asked for a definition of sex, and one guy said, "intercourse between a man and a woman." She quickly put him in his place about sex being able to take place between two men or two women and not just between a man and a woman. She even made sure to point out that there are gays in the military because the policy is don't ask, don't tell, not don't join. Way to put those homophobes in their place.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Tattoo
Alright, so here's the tattoo - it actually looks better in the picture than in person right now since it's in the healing process and starting to scab and peel. Also, it's a mirror image because that was the easiest way for me to get a picture rather than aiming blindly - it's on my right side/hip looking towards the center. I ended up going with the owl rather than a sword as planned because the design looked more unique and worked better for the area. The reason I originally wanted a sword is because it represents intellect in tarot cards but a owl, of course, symbolizes wisdom. Granted, I think wisdom sounds slightly more presumptuous than, say, knowledge or intellect, but it brings across a similar point. Plus, it's also been used to present Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, arts and war so what could be better fitting?
After looking at that picture, I have to say it might not be a bad idea to start tanning. Just kidding - I don't have the patience or the money for a tanning salon. Also, no real desire for melanoma.
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