Fortune Cookie, 23FEB08 You are strong and sensitive.    16 21 34 41 47 . 30 7 11 28 33 24     1 2 0

Food - I made a package of Monischewitz hummus mix about an hour ago, chilled it and ate it with onions and a wheat tortilla. You could tell it was "intant," but it was still very tasty. I'll likely have some sort of packaged meal that includes meat (like a Lean Cuisine or maybe a microwaveable chili bowl) later before going to bed early. I heard about and read about an Egyptian dish during class today: koshari. It's traditional Egyptian (and to an extent Sudanese) and is basically rice...

As part of goal #I (Make sure that I'm competitive for my first look for SFC (E-7), slated for the end of January next year), A (Resolve my educational issues.), 3 (Contact Cochise College to determine further requirements for an AA in Military Intelligence.), I've been going over my compiled transcript from them (Cochise College) which includes all the transfer credits that I had sent to them. 134 xfer credits + 26 residency credits (3.53 GPA) = 160 total credit hours. I'm hoping that will...

I was being good today, went to the gym, breakfast was more of a light snack... But it's not a good day, so I'm overindulging and finding comfort in food (and probably bourbon). Ah, well. Tomorrow might be bad for food, too, since I'm pulling nearly 12 hours at a rifle range. I imagine I'll check in on Thursday (graduation day).

IA4. Acquire certified copies of all of my college transcripts. I also need to send these to the folks who update my Online Personnel Management File. IB. Finish three more Joint Color Guards to earn the Air Force Achievement Medal. DONE! Now I need to submit the paperwork (and establish an SOP for doing so). IE. Resolve issues with my personnel records: Good Conduct Medal, add other awards to Online Military Personnel File. I've been advised that the easiest way to do this is...

IA1. Finish enrolling in Community College of the Air Force: turn in the remaining required certificates. I am enrolled! I just need to check back in a few weeks to make sure that I'm only that one class short, in order to meet this goal: IA2. Complete one or more 2-year degrees through CCAF: CLEP a Speech class. IB. Finish three more Joint Color Guards to earn the Air Force Achievement Medal. IB1. San Angelo Symphony Orchestra performance - 3JUL. I went to the practice for this...

I. Make sure that I'm competitive for my first look for SFC (E-7), slated for the end of January next year. IA. Resolve my educational issues. IA1. Finish enrolling in Community College of the Air Force: turn in the remaining required certificates. IA2. Complete one or more 2-year degrees through CCAF: CLEP a Speech class. IA3. Contact Cochise College to determine further requirements for an AA in Military Intelligence. IA4. Acquire certified copies of all of my college transcripts...

I've recently finished up a visit from my parents. I adore them and enjoyed having them around, but... there's a reason that grown men don't still live with their mothers and fathers. I'm very glad they drove down (1500 miles one way), especially so they could see their only grandkids. I'm just a little relieved they're gone, I guess. They packed a lot of boxes for me, stuff left at their place from high school and college years. I have no idea what I'm going to be doing with most of ...

I visited a family of friends that I will likely not see for at least a year, and possibly several. We had a very nice Thanksgiving dinner, and the I visited them for a few days, Thursday through Saturday. I helped my friend haul lumber and cement mix, a rented two-man auger, and a wheelbarrow from various stores to his home. We dug all the post holes and set in a handful of the uprights for the fence he is building. Physical labor is rewarding to me, especially when there is visible ev...

Started off with not nearly enough sleep, but got up and to PT on time, shaven, and in the proper uniform. A 4.2 mile run later, and I'm off to the apartment. I "conduct hygiene" in the best Army style I can muster, and choke down the fake equivalent of 4 scrambled eggs. Damned sink is still clogged up. (And it's still clogged up, even after the Draino.) Running off to class, grabbing the paperwork I need for errands. Am I late? No, no, I'm good. And I have the doughnuts I picked up...

Or at least very large dog-things. I'm playing a game, and someone has an unfair game piece... it's hard to explain, but it seems to "break" the game until upon further inspection, it's not that broken a piece at all, it's just kind of innovative. You think it's not fair, but it's not unfair it's just different. And my sister's there, or maybe it's not my sister, but it's a woman that I know and I have deep affection for. Something's wrong, so maybe it's my sister, and I sympathize an...

Right before I moved here, I laid out some financial aims for myself. I haven't actually solidly outlined them yet, however. Let's see: 1) Set aside an "emergency fund" equal to twice my monthly base pay. 2) Cut my credit card debt in half by the end of the fiscal year. 3) Save something. Obviously, #3 is too sketchy to be worthwhile at this point. I have already accomplished #1, but it was a "gimme" since I had enough money in savings already. #2 is going to take some planni...

As some of my regular readers have figured out (sheesh, I have regular readers?), I "made it in one piece." I've reported into my gaining unit, signed my lease, and I'm actually on PTDY (Permissive Temporary Duty... kind of like a free vacation to get settled into my new home) until next Thursday. This week is actually Spring Break, so I have a couple of guys visiting me for some fun times. I've seen way too many kids DVDs (multiple times each, mostly), Shaggy Dog in the theatre, and playe...

There are those who are willing to "oppose" the military in getting the word out to teenagers, because they feel the military will target those individuals who are economically predisposed to join. The military offers such a financially stable lifestyle that these underpriveleged youths will have no better choice than to enlist in the big green machine, and go on to be baby-eating, brown-skin killers. [/digression] After The Fact Once you're in, there's another part of the culture tha...

Suddenly, today, everything happened. I came off of duty recovery with only roughly 60 hours left to get all my History classwork done before the drop-dead-line of Friday night. I'm not nearly done, and I'm not sure when I'm going to do it all... probably during that time I had scheduled to sleep. All sorts of balls are in the air as Platoon Sergeant, some of which I hadn't set in motion, some of which I had thrown up there several weeks ago, some of which I had never seen before I saw...