Saturday, I traveled up to my old stomping grounds to participate in the Coming of Galactus (week 3) tournament for the HeroClix miniatures game. I was disappointed that I wouldn't be going to the usual place for the tournaments and that most of my old friends would not be attending. Those of my friends who are still in the area are mostly working odd shifts, so they cannot reliably attend what amounts to a hobbyist meeting. But the location for the tournament was a different deal. Book...

Professor Ward Churchill, who drew some parallels between 9/11 victims and Nazis, was fired Tuesday by the University of Colorado's Board of Regents. Unfortunately, they cited "deliberate and repeated research misconduct" instead of "Godwin's Law." Okay, beyond that one net-centric joke, I've got nothing. "Churchill, who had tenure, stepped down from his post as head of CU's ethnic studies department amid the flap but remained on staff. He had no immediate reaction to Tuesday's decisio...

Line 1. Location of the pick-up site. Grid coordinate preferred, landmarks if necessary. Information encrypted if transmitting in the clear. Line 2. Radio frequency, call sign, and suffix. Information encrypted if transmitting in the clear. Line 3. Number of patients by precedence: A - Urgent (w/in 2 hr) B - Urgent Surgical (w/in 2 hr) C - Priority (w/in 4 hr) D - Routine (w/in 24 hr) E - Convenience Line 4. Special equipment required: A - None B - Hoist C - Extra...

Severe sunburn on back of neck (multiple days of sun exposure) Aches through upper body (multiple days of wearing flak vest and helmet, ruck march with 55lb ruck) Severe sunburn on back of hands and fingers (multiple days of sun exposure) 3 inch bruise, left thigh (actually got that one in the preparatory training on Monday, but it hasn't faded) Very minor cactus stab wounds inside ankles Blister, right heel (cropped up before the ruck march, actually) Minor heat rash in various places ...

Late start today. I need to go to bed right after the boys... and I need to get them down earlier. They're already mad at me for putting them in bed while the sun still shines (just before 9) and getting them up "at night" (before sunrise). We'll see how they deal with an even earlier, brighter bedtime. ------------------------- I was 216 this morning, and if that's the high point of the week, which it usually is, I'm not doing too bad. I shouldn't keep skipping PT, though. -----------...

I'm not being very good about what I eat this week, although Wednesday I basically hit my previous goals for calories. I was 213 Thursday morning but missed PT and ate a lot of bad carbs. I was 215 this morning... and missed PT again! We may go swimming this evening to make up for it, but will probably be crunched for time due to a Color Guard practice. Swimming over the weekend is not only likely but nearly obligatory. Tonight we're going to have tortilla pizzas (I'll toss some chicke...

I'm feeling much better, thanks. Some gym time this morning, not much food during the day, then too much KFC for dinner. Took a big nap, now I'm up doing laundry. Run tomorrow morning.

Let's see: Energy drink and chorizo&egg burrito for breakfast Soy protein snacks to tide me over until lunch Chicken and sausage gumbo and a grilled cheese sandwich (2 slices wheat, one slice 2% milk cheese, olive oil spray instead of butter/margarine) for lunch A couple of Cheetos (or Cheat-Os, perhaps) An energy bar Ginormous pizza buffet After lunch but before the energy bar, we went to the pool for about an hour and a half. I didn't put any sunscreen on... hooray.

I just got $20 from Pepsi. I entered their sweepstakes exactly once. Go, me.

Well, I've been keeping up pretty well with my personal accountability logs for the past week and a half. Yeah, that's not very long at all, but I'm hoping it's just a good start to what will be a fairly long personal campaign. I was 232 lb last Monday after I got home from PT. This is pretty much the top of what I've been, maybe not ever, but certainly since I've arrived here last year. I've said that I would do something about it, and now was the time to step up. Actually, now was ...

From The Soldier's Comprehensive Study Manual , 11th edition: Q. What is the Army's separation policy for homosexual conduct? A. Homosexual conduct, to include pre-service, prior service, or current service homosexual conduct, is grounds for separation from the Army under Chapter 15 of AR 635-200. (para 15-2a) Q. What is the characterization of service for soldiers separated under the provisions of Chapter 15? A. The type of discharge will reflect the character of the soldier's servi...

My online class began in early December and is slated for 8 weeks, so it's half over. I discovered, when I arrived at my parents' house, that the free internet connection that the military program I am involved with provides was unavailable to me, possibly due to password/userID issues. My attempts to contact them were met with much resistance, as the Helpdesk personnel seemed to intentionally misinterpret my requests for assistance. Additionally, I had some initial trouble installing re...

Yesterday, I started my new class of students. It's a different group of knuckleheads, but it's the same sort of knuckelheadedness I'm coming to expect. No, that's not a bad thing, it's just that young soldiers tend to be knuckleheads. After class, I pulled duty... all... night... long. I was very glad that nothing major came up, and was almost equally glad that minor things did keep coming up. I could make forward progress or even actually solve problems (!) without being too overwh...

Scene: SSG Doe surveys his soldiers mounting a house clearing operation during nighttime operations. His squad leader is down in the prone, not yelling orders to his subordinate team leaders. The Staff Sergeant squats down to address the student, when... RRRRRRIIIIP! That was two weeks ago, and I hadn't given it another thought, until this morning. This morning, as I'm talking to my boss, and happen to look down. I happened to look down, only to catch sight of some black clo...

1. A package I sent two weeks ago, without delivery confirmation or insurance, has not yet arrived at the other end of the transaction. This was for an online trade of collectible items. The least this will cost me to correct is shipping his half of the trade back; the most it could cost is me paying price guide prices for the items (d'oh!). Yes, I am majorly responsible for not getting DC on the package... but it still wasn't delivered, so there is shared responsibility. 2. Three Net...