What could be more important than getting cookies for Christmas?

Books.
Books are way, way more important than cookies.
Specifically the seven books that make up the Chronicles of Narnia are the topic of discussion today. Should they be read in the order they were published, or in the new-fangled chronological order that the publishers seem to prefer.

I think they should be read as originally published, but who am I to say...
Anybody want some extra homework for the weekend. (Chadly put your hand down before the teacher sees it!) Too late... Everybody check out THIS GUY'S SITE and write a three hundred bazillion word essay on why some people feel the need to overachieve, (You can put your hand down now Chadly... No seriously.) While others try to slide by without actually reading the assigned homework.

Got cookies in the mail!!!

I sat and chowed a few of them with my LT, and between crumb-filled munches he wanted me to thank my mom and whoever else helped make them. His actual words were "hmmmm... Not too sweet either!", but in the few short months I've worked for him I've become quite adept at interpreting the true meaning of his leadership type double-speak. You can believe me when I say that what he truely meant could be realistically interpreted as "...mmmmmmm thank your mom and whoever else helped make them..."

1) Check out the funnies at This Girl's blog. (And feel free to comment on her blog too, I feel a bit lonely on her comment board.)

So right now, I'm listening to Marylin Monroe VS The Millennium in a remix of "Diamonds are Girl's Best Friend", and thinking about a quote I ran across last night while doing research...

"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing."
-Albert Einstein

Also, I'm thinking about putting a new rhyming game on my blog in the spirit of Fezzig and Vincini.

The time has come at last to retire the "Super Caloused Fragile Mystic Hexed by Halitosis" in favor of someone much more worthy of your attention. Feel free to click the link and think about the simple power you have to forever change a life.

1. Legal First name?
Asa

2. Were you named after anyone?
I was named after someone my parents knew for awhile while they lived in WA. That Asa was named after his father and was a great Christian -- he really impressed my parents with his faith.
I have a great namesake!


3. Do you wish on falling stars?.
Not unless it coincides with a separate train of thought.
i.e. I wish i didn't have to "O a star!" do homework again tonight.

4. When did you last cry?
Honestly, I don't remember.

5. What is your favorite lunch meat?
Do Italian Meatball's count?

6. What is your birth date?
um um um somewhere towards the beginning of 1975.

7. What is your most embarassing CD???
Sunday Morning Bluegrass.

8. If you were another person, would YOU be friends with you?
Heck Yeah we would.
Of course, now that I think about it, I might hold it against him for his gracious wit and rugged bravado.

9. Do you use sarcasm a lot?
Yes. Now that I think about it I do, but only in a graciously rugged and brave sort of way.

10. What are your nicknames?
Ace, Schaef

11. Would you bungee jump?
Yes I would.

12. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off?
Sometimes.

13. Do you think that you are strong?
Physically, not like I used to be.
Mentally, better than I used to be... In some ways.


14. What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
Chocolate cherry.

15. Shoe Size?
10.5 wide

16. Red OR pink?
Um, blue.

18. Who do you miss most?
Of all the things I've found then lost, I think I miss my mind the most.
(oddly enough I can't remember who origionally said that)

19. Do you want everyone you send this to, to send it back to you?
No, chain mail hurts servers.

20. What color pants and shoes are you wearing?
Not wearing either at the moment. hee hee hee
(I'm wearing shorts and have bare feet)

21. What are you listening to right now?
Plumb - All my tears (be washed away)

23. Either gray or dark blue
NAVY blue!

24. What is the weather like right now?
dry and mello, slightly chilly, maybe 70.

25. Last person you talked to on the phone?
MA1 Lewis

26. The first thing you notice about the opposite sex?
hair

27. Do you like the person who sent this to you?
Yes I do, she's the best thing that could have happened to my brother from another mother.

28. Favorite drink?
Fruit Juice or Pepsi

29. Hair color?
It used to be brown, but I have a feeling it's turning grey.

30. Do you wear contacts?
Yes

31. Favorite Food?
General Tzo's Chicken.

32. Last Movie You Watched?
The Princess Bride.

33. Favorite Day Of The Year?
Christmas

34. Scary Movies OR Happy Endings?
Happy endings.

35. Summer Or Winter?
Fall. but winter's not so bad either.

37. What Is Your Favorite Dessert?
Pumpkin pie!

38. Who Is Most Likely To Respond?
Christy Cory

39. Who Is Least Likely To Respond?
Robert or Chad

40. Living Arrangements?
Does my office count? Ok, I live in a flat on the seventh floor with a great view of the lighted citiscape at night.

41. What Books Are You Reading?
Hebrews, Understanding Terrorism in America,
Domestic terrorism and incident management,
Terrorism 2002, Bass Basics, When God Calls Your Name,

42. What's On Your Mouse Pad ?
Don't use one.

43. What Did You Watch Last night on TV?
About ten minutes of Sgt. Bilko, then the last episode of Frasier.

44. Favorite Smells?
Coffee, Baking Bread, Fresh cut grass, vanilla,

45. Favorite junk food?
Popcorn, pretzles, Teriaki rice biscuits.

46. Rolling Stones or Beatles?
You can keep em both.

I got the best thing in the mail the other day. It was a stocking from my family complete with:

Chocolate Coins!
Quarters!
A chocolate reproduction of Paul And Babe! (which is slated for consumption on christmas morning)
A magnet!
A Spinney Gig!
A Pen!
Silly Puddy!
More Silly Puddy!!
And my favorite... An AWIKA!

What do you think about the Airplane Shooting?

Ever feel like you live in a sitcom?

Today we were pulled from our normal jobs to spend the afternoon at an Admiral's call. For those of you who aren't military, it was a bunch of different commands and departments in military formation being addressed by a visiting Admiral. In this case, the department I work for was required to be there. The reason for this, we found out, was that the Admiral specifically wanted to single us out and thank us for an outstanding job in protecting the supplies flowing into Iraq.

Anyway, at the beginning of his speech, the Admiral turned to address the whole formation and asked where my department was. A few of us raised our hands, but he had turned slightly to scan the whole formation and didn't see the hands. A group at the very end who are being trained to replace us sometime next year, but have yet to go on more than one or two missions all raised their hands which he did see. So this is where it turns into a sitcom... He basically proceeds to turn his back to us, the people he meant to talk to, and tell these clownshoes down on the end what a great job my department is doing and how much he appreciates their dedication and the long hours they've put in and personal sacrifices they've made. Except that instead of naming my department, he looked at these fools and said you. I appreciate the great job you are doing, I appreciate your dedication, and your sacrifices etc... The real salt in the wound is that the department he was talking to is in training to replace us and hadn't been on the island for more than a couple of months and had only training missions under their belt instead of the hundreds that we've performed, but felt that they were entirely justified in stealing our thunder, and didn't feel the need to explain any of this to him.

Like I said, the whole thing was rather comical and just made me mentally shake my head and laugh until it was all over. To be honest, even though he had his back to us the whole time, what he had to say made me pretty proud. It also reminded me of a poem I heard a long time ago.


Ahem...
"Life, it is so like the bluebird,
as Omar the poet once said.
Some days it sings at your doorstep,
but some days it poops on your head."
-unknown

God was good to me this week.
It's been a busy week with too many bosses asking for different things, and of course each one says to make their's the priority. But at the end of the week the job is done and everyone is where they are supposed to be. Orders were cut and signed, I was only cursed out by a few people, and although there was this one time I was really, really close, I refrained from cursing them back. I was able to help some of the younger guy's with their paperwork, and even managed to lock my homework in an office I didn't have the key to on the busiest day of the week. At first I was mad, but when I got home there was nothing to do but relax... Well, let's just say that it went from the worst day to the best day in the space of five minutes.

Also, I got to see a picture of a semi sliding across the ice at this gir's blog, and it made me kinda miss home. Then I saw how cold it is back there and decided that maybe I didn't miss it quite so much after all.

So I was looking through an old website and came across some mischief from my days at BISYS. Judge for yourself, but it made me laugh.

Well, I don't know about you, but my Thanksgiving was rather nice.

The base had free breakfast lunch and dinner, so I slept in then caught the lunch with a few friends, helped someone with paperwork for about an hour and then went off to do homework for the afternoon then had dinner with a different group of friends.

All in all it was a nice way to spend the holiday. I could get used to this desk job and actually having holidays off. I felt kinda bad for my freinds who had to work, but sometimes life is like that. Whenever my job goes away, and it's going to any month now, I'll be right back there on the gates with them, so I might as well enjoy the sunny afternoons while I can.

Speaking of sunny afternoons, man did we have a cold snap here today. I'm not kidding either, it must have been in the low 70's... Enough to make me want to break out my sweatshirts and jacket.

AHHHHHHEM!!!
To be sung to the tune of Monte Python's "I Like Chinese"

I-am-debt-freeeee!!!
I-am-debt-freeeee!!!
College-loans... A-stack-up-to-my-kneee.
but-now-they're-paid.. And-that's-why-you-see,

I'm-in-a-debt-free-moood.
My-lender's-are no-longer-rude!


ok ok ok, you get the point.
After twelve long years, I've finally managed to pay off the last of the blood sucking vultures. Now I can take all that cashola I've been using to pay them off and put it into bonds or maybe a mutual fund, or some sort of investment instrument so I can save it for buying a house.

Let's see, where was I,
O yes...

I-am-debt-freeeee!!!!
I-am-debt-freeeee!!!!

My mom emailed these to me, she's got to be the one of the punniest people I know.

1. A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The Stewardess looks at him and says, "I'm sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger."

2. Two fish swim into a concrete wall. The one turns to the other and says "Dam!"

3. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.

4. Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says "I've lost my electron." The other says "Are you sure?" The first replies "Yes, I'm positive."

5. Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root canal? His goal: transcend dental medication.

6. A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse. "But why?", they asked, as they moved off. "Because," he said, " I can't stand chess-nuts boasting in an open foyer."

7. A woman has twins and gives them up for adoption. One of them goes to a family in Egypt and is named "Ahmal." The other goes to a family in Spain; they name him "Juan." Years later, Juan sends a picture of himself to his birth mother. Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wishes she also had a picture of Ahmal. Her husband responds, "They're twins! If you've seen Juan, you've seen Ahmal."

8. These friars were behind on their belfry payments, so they opened up a small florist shop to raise funds. Since everyone liked to buy Flowers from the men of God, a rival florist across town thought the competition was unfair. He asked the good fathers to close down, but they would not. He went back and begged the friars to close. They ignored him. So, the rival florist hired Hugh MacTaggart, the roughest and most vicious thug in town to "persuade" them to close. Hugh beat up the friars and trashed their store, saying he'd be back if they didn't close up shop. Terrified, they did so,--- thereby proving that only Hugh can prevent florist friars.

9. And finally, there was the person who sent ten different puns to friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did.

I started my Arabic language class last night!
It is a pretty basic class, but I'm looking at it as more of a foundation for further study elsewhere than a college level language course. (it's taught through our Moralle Welfare and Recreation people)

Last night we worked on proper pronunciation of sounds the Arabic language has that English doesn't, and some basic informational phrases. I'm not sure what the next topic will be, but I'm sure it'll be interesting.

See this movie

Play Scrabble Online!
Or, download it Here.

Here is a slideshow of my flat. Some of the pictures are a few months old.

Look Ma, it's clean.

If my blogg were written by a redneck, it might look a little something LIKE THIS

If my blogg were written by a Swedish Cheff, it might look a little something LIKE THIS.

If my blogg were written by a Elmer Fudd, it might look a little something LIKE THIS


In other news just because you're not paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you...

Two Words, Squirrel Fishing.




I don't know why, but for some reason when I saw this page I thought of two things. The first being how much my Dad would probably love this sort of thing, with a close second being how the whole experiment roughly symbolized the corporate working environment.


But I digress...

Well, it's official. I'm hanging up my sealegs and pulling up an office chair.
The other morning MA1 asked me if I knew anything about computers. I was a bit leery at first, thinking I might get roped into some sort of nightmare involving tech support on a pc that had been around longer than I have, but admitted sheepishly that I used to do some stuff with software support. After that, he dropped it and I didn't think any more of it until I heard him ask someone else the same thing later on that same morning.

I have to admit, I was a bit put off that he hadn't asked me to fix whatever was broken, so I stopped by his cube at the end of the day and reminded him about our conversation and asked if there was anything I could help with.

As it turns out, nothing was broken but our department Yeoman is moving on to another command and we need someone she can train in to do her job in a hurry. I guess the thinking on this was that since I know how to type... Well, you get the picture.

In order to appreciate the horror of this tasking, you have to realize exactly what it is they asked me to do. To put it in perspective, it would be similar to asking Bob the janitor to take over as the bottom half of the HR department, and executive secretary because he already knows his way around the building.

Oh well, this too shall pass.

DC, an old poker buddy, sent me a heads up about the following video.
Apparently, it's a car advertisement from Great Britain. When they finished
filming the ad, the film editor noticed something moving along the side of
the car, like a ghostly white mist. They found out that a person had been
killed a year earlier in that exact same spot.

The ad was never put on TV because of the unexplained ghostly phenomenon.
Watch the front end of the car as it clears the trees in the middle of
the screen and you'll see the white mist crossing in front of the car then
following it along the road....Spooky!

Is it a ghost, or is it simply mist? You decide. If you listen to the ad,
you'll even hear the cameraman whispering in the background about it near
the end of the commercial.




I'm still not convinced...

I know it's a sudden break from probing alien abduction issues, but I just couldn't let this slide without at least bringing it to your attention.

The Vatican wants to make a deal.
The Vatican is hoping to regain control of the Room of the Last Supper in Jerusalem, one of the most sacred sites in Christianity.
It will, in exchange, hand over to the Jewish community the historic synagogue at Toledo in Spain, at present a Catholic church.

So, The Department of Redundancy Department had a discussion on one of his posts about aliens and I couldn't resist adding my theory to the fray.

First, I think that UFO sightings are real but logically explainable. i.e. Helicopters, military aircraft, atmospheric events etc. However, if there really were aliens who were studying us Jane Goodall style, wouldn't the additional act of violating the subject in a manner that runs contrary to the norms of every society on earth act to either dissuade the subject from coming forth about the experience all together, or entirely discredit anyone who did choose to come forth.
After all which is more believable, "They abducted me for scientific experimentation!", or "They abducted me for scientific experimentation and then "probed" me!!!". Now, which would be harder for you to admit?

__________________________________

PIRATE JOKE(s) OF THE DAY!!!

Long ago lived a seaman named Captain Bravo. He was a manly man who showed no fear in facing his enemies. One day, while sailing the seven seas, a look-out spotted a pirate ship and the crew became frantic. Captain Bravo bellowed, ''Bring me my Red Shirt.'' The First Mate quickly retrieved the captain's red shirt and whilst wearing the bright red frock he led his men into battle and defeated the pirates.

Later on that day, the look-out spotted not one, but two pirate ships. The captain again called for his red shirt and once again, though the fighting was fierce, he was victorious over the two ships. That evening, all the men sat around on the deck recounting the day's triumphs and one of the them asked the captain, ''Sir, why do you call for your red shirt before battle? The captain replied, ''If I am wounded in the attack, the shirt will not show my blood and thus, you men will continue to fight, unafraid.''

All of the men sat in silence and marveled at the courage of such a manly man as Captain Bravo. As dawn came the next morning, the look-out spotted not one, not two, but TEN pirates ships approaching from the far horizon. The crew stared at the captain and waited for his usual reply.

Captain Bravo calmly shouted, ''Get me my brown pants.''


courtesy of http://www.drpsychotic.com/jokes/jokes13.html

My team was at the airport orders in hand, and then the LT called Chief.
"Back into the transports, you're not going home today..."
Chief broke it to me, I walked over and broke it to the rest of the crew.

We all just stood there for a few seconds, each one looking like they found out we were having week old gym socks for lunch and all I could think of was that Bogart line from Casablanca. Grabbing my pack and the comm gear I began towards the transport and tossed the quote over my shoulder with a laugh.

"If that plane leaves the ground and we're not on it we'll regret it. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of our life."

O well, at least there's still internet access.

-----------------------------
PIRATE JOKE OF THE DAY!!!

Q. What does a pirate say when he takes over santa's job?
A. Ho ho ho and a bottle of rum

ok, ok, ok,
here's a slightly more user friendly blog

Ace

Hey! We have a close by, quasi-reliable internet connection out here!!!

Anyway, Big Wheels is a friend from Japan. He's in the video my mom mentioned, although you should be warned that the only reason she ever brings up that movie is that she rather enjoys the infamy it brings.

And so,
Without further ado...
The Story Of My Camera.

Things to remember when viewing this file.
*  The file is 1.04 mb and my take a moment to download.
*  It plays with either windows media or divix.
*  My parents are so cool I would have just given the camera to them if they'd have asked.

Well, here I am again...
It's Wednesday night and I'm out of town for work again...
This job is lasting a bit longer than expected and so I won't be back in Bahrain in time to see Big Wheels from Japan who happened to be traveling through on orders. What are the odds that he's having a layover for exactly the same days that they send me out on this mission???

The kicker is that he's going to be there almost the whole time I'm underway but is embarking with his unit the day before I get back.

what can you say, sometimes life sucks.

-Ace

P.S. Internet connectivity is a little hard to come by out here so I may be out of the loop for another week or so.

I have nothing to blog about so I'm gonna cheeze out and list a few games to keep you occupied.
Ping Pong!
Putt Putt!
Billiards!
Build a Robot!

Getting mail out here always reminds me of that great old Howlin Wolf song,
"Nobody loves me but my mother
And she could be jivin' too."

With those lyrics in mind, I stopped by the mail shack the other day and was surprised to see a stack of letters waiting for me. Huzzah! I thought to myself, they do love me! Heeeee heeee heee I eagerly thumbed through them to see who cared enough to write a letter and wouldn't you know they were all bills. They're always all bills.
This time though one of them was a letter from Juan, a kid I sponsor in Columbia. He wanted to know what I do for a living. I told him I ride on civilian ships and protect their crew from pirates and smugglers.

My baby brother! He's the one with the Matt In The Sandblog.

So I just got off the phone with my detailer and he basically gave me the option of going to Whiting Field Florida or to a base in New Jersey. He also offered me brig duty in Charleston, but screw that, I refuse to make my living out of telling a man to squat and cough.

I told the Chief I wanted to stay overseas or go to California, but he said that it was time for me to come back stateside (as if three years over here is going to kill me) but that they would only move me to the east coast. So now I'm thinking of finishing out my tour here in Bahrain just to save up some cash.

Another bonus to staying here is that I'd get out six months earlier than if I transferred to another command, because of how the length of billets works out.

Decisions decisions decisions.

My friend Dahn is moving in :D
He's been her much longer than I have but has a barracks room instead of a flat because they send him TAD so much. His roomate's a wanker and I have a big old spare bedroom that isn't doing anything, so he's moving some stuff in and making himself at home.

Some things are just to tempting to resist...


In Alexandria, Egypt.

Life on the sea...

I ran today for the fist time in a month and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be... I'm back into the swing of things here at the command, so I'm sure there'll be many more chances to practice my run throughout the comming weeks. Not sure yet when I'll be shipping out again, but I have to say that I miss it already.

I get to apply for new orders this month, and that means a whole new set of headaches to deal with. Bahrain is notorious for not letting people go, so I'm gonna be praying that my paperwork goes through smoothly.

So I'm in Crete today and am almost home to Bahrain!!!
I can't wait to get back. I was in my place for such a short time before embarking that I don't even remember my flat number. That's ok though because I have a pretty good idea of which one it is, which means that I'll only have to try two or three doors at the most before I find the right one.

My flight boards in half an hour so I should start heading that way. Stand by for pics and more blogging over the next few days.

I'm back...
Also, my kid brother Matt has a blog now too. .

The schedule was pretty tight for a while, in fact this is the first day off I've had in about a month, but should be loosening up for a few weeks now...

I've got to run but will wright more later,
Ace

To clear up confusion from my last post...

'duty station' is where I'm stationed for work. Currently this is Bahrain.
'Next duty station' means the place I want to work at when I'm done at my current duty station.
I had 2.5 years left when I set foot on Bahrain, so after one year here I'll have one and a half left.
Most billets come in one or two or three year increments. In order to get to my next duty station I will have to choose one year orders and extend for six months or choose two year orders and obliserve (add time to my total overall time in service) for an additional six months in order to fulfill the two year requirement.
originally I did want to stay in Bahrain for the rest of my time in the Navy, but for a number of reasons I've decided to make the most of my remaining active duty time. There are currently four duty stations I'm looking at possibly trying to pick orders to: San Diego, Rhoda Spain, or now this Riverine Group, although I don't know if they'll be up and running soon enough for me to get orders with them before my time is up.
I want orders to San Diego because I hear from everyone who's been there that it's a rough command where you a lot of real cop work and I would actually have a chance to obtain a license through the San Diego P.D. and work with them in a reservist status.
I want orders to Rhoda, Spain because I've never been to Spain and hear it's nice. Also, it's a slower, quite command and I would have a good chance to advance with my schoolwork. Where I currently have little time for academics in Bahrain I would have a lot of time to devote in Rhoda.

Also, I made it the three miles yesterday with only a little bit of trouble.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Kung Fu Quote Of The Day!!!
"Suck the coffin mushroom now..."
-Unknown

I think I may have found my next duty station.

Also, I have to start running again. :(
I'm in good enough shape that I can do our PRT now without having to worry about it, but the Navy is going to get harder with it's standards pretty soon and I want to be ready when it does. Towards that end everybody I know has been running at least three miles for their PT and although I've been trying to avoiding it, I can feel capitulation right around the corner.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Kung Fu Quote Of The Day!!!
"You're a bad guy, where's your library card?"
-Unknown

The weather today is awesome! It's only 90 and has such a low humidity that it actually feels like 90!!!
I saw a seashell in this empty lot as I was walking the other day and it struck me as peculiar. I immediately felt a kinship with the thing for we were both obviously foreigners to these sun blasted flats. At any rate I picked it up and brought it home. People here laugh at the though of pocketing anything so worthless as a seashell, but we don't have a whole lot of them where I'm from and I guess you could say it's kind of a novelty.

It looks like I won't be riding a horse any time soon, the weather is just too hot for it right now. Cooler times are just a few months away so I'm holding out hope that a reprieve from this heat is still out there somewhere.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Kung Fu Quote Of The Day!!!
"Let us not forget to form a team up together and go into the country to inflict the pain of our karate feets on some ass of the giant lizard person."
-Unknown

So I sat in on my first formal counseling session today.
A seaman on my section slept through muster and it was on me to correct the discrepancy. Actually, it was supposed to be on me, but when I notified HT1 (our team leader) that I'd contacted her and she was on her way to muster with us at the office, he decided that he would council her and I would sit in on it. (Since she's a female and he's a male there needed to be a third person in the room to act as an impartial witness for both parties.)

He told me ahead of time that since it was her first time he was just going to "give her the warning" and leave it at that. True to his word he warned the crap out of her. In fact, he warned her so well that if she's late for anything else in the next two months I'll eat my boonie hat.

She really is a good kid, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. At any rate, I've only been with this team for a few days so this gave me an idea now of how he deals with people, and what I can expect from him as far as the overall leadership decision making process.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Kung Fu Quote Of The Day!!!
"This will be of fine service for you, you bag of the scum. I am sure you will not mind that I remove your manhoods and leave them out on the dessert flour for your aunts to eat."
- Unknown

MA1: "Schaefer! Make sure you see me after guardmount this morning."

that's how my day started.
ok, ok, my day actually started much ealier with a bike ride and weight lifting, but that quote is how my work day officially started.

As it turned out things are good and I was asked to fill in for someone who is on medical leave. It's nice to be thought of, but I informed him that I still had another week before I take the classes that will fully qualify me for the duty they need filled.

He said he'd check into it and call me back.

Some interesting things have been happening to me lately. The appartment I have been waiting on fell through, so now I have to scramble to find something else. That's ok though I'm sure there's something else out there. Also, I may not be on the net as often from now on as my duties have increased and I simply won't have time when I do have access, and won't have access when I do have the time.

Keep smiling,
Ace

I haven't had a lot of free time to post lately as I've been trying to tie up some loose ends. Today was our first day of summer heat. As one contractor put it, summer has finally caught up to us. It isn't the heat so much, (I think it only got up to 105 today)it's the humidity that is on the rise. To date, it's been a dry heat. All that changed today and now we're in for a few months of nastieness.
But I digress...

I picked up a bass the other day for a song, (Ibanez GSR 190) but have to locate an Amp and someone to teach me how to use it. I've fiddled with it a little bit and actually feel like I'm learning something.

Ok, someone else needs this computer so I've got to cut it short.
keep smiling,
Ace

P.S.
Robert the Nazi is dead...

My agent, the landlord and I all came to a mutually beneficial agreement and now my pay won't be jacked up for the next year to come. :D

Also, it's been unusually cool over here the last few days or so and made for great running weather. I was sort of a bum and ran only once, but in my defence the two other times I had planned to were superceded by political protests.
Want to hear the funny part, they weren't even protesting us... Apparently they were mad at the editor of a newspaper, who's shop is right outside the base, for publishing an editorial cartoon of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “manipulating” the results of the recent Iranian elections.

To make a short story long the idea of jogging through an angry mob over here, even if they aren't necessarily angry at me, was more than enough to keep me home for the evening.

I had blueberry pancakes this morning. Not Navy blueberry pancakes either, I'm talking made from scratch with actual berries and everything-they even used real butter and served them with mapleish type syrup-BLUEBERRY PANCAKES!!! There's this place over here called Ricks country cooking, and i've been hearing about it for the past three weeks from everybody. Ok ok, it was a bit expensive, $9 for three six inch cakes and a litre of o.j., but I put some Nina in my discman and savored every expensive bite. They weren't as good as the golden delights my sainted Mums and Pops can produce, but I'd say hands down they come in second.

Also, my agent and I are having issues with my contract. Apparently the landord want's three months rent up front for me to move in. Rent is fairly expensive over here and three months is roughly equivalent to buying a nicely maintained used car. The good news is that I recieve a monthly alotment for the rent, so really I only have to come up with the second and third month in advance and even then there are short term loans I can apply for, the bad part is that for the next year, each month they'll be depositing my alotment and then removing it twice because they forgot that they took it the first time. Suffice it to say taking a loan from your boss/payroll provider/accountant/sole means of financial support is a daunting thing to undertake, and requires a tremendous ammount of trust that no paperwork will get misplaced and nothing will get screwed up.

I graduated today!
I guess all good things must come to an end and so it's time for me to once more join the ranks of productive personell and pull my weight around here. I got to meet my section leader and he seems like a pretty decent sort. I think I'm going to like it out here. Everything is much more high speed low drag and the sense that what we are doing really matters pervades every aspect of life.

My textbooks have arrived! I haven't actually signed up for the classes yet, but since I'm sure they'll approve my chit for school, and since I wasn't sure how long it took to get the books, I send off for them ahead of time.

We spent a lot of time in the sun today working on some training evolutions but had to call it short when people began to show the signs of heat fatigue. I'm not in the greatest shape in the world, but I have managed to run a couple of times per week while out here and I think that helped. As I'm typing this it's 1807 and still 95, but as soon as I'm back at the hotel I want to take a run down along the beach to see if there are any open apartments back up in there.
I think I found the place I want to move into, the problem is that it isn't empty quite yet and won't be for another month or so. That works out ok with the Navy, I don't have to have a permanent home until the begining of August, but I hate to think about waiting that long for the place simply because someone else could still get it before I do and then I'll have two weeks left to start from scratch and find somewhere I love. The place I want is in the same building as my friend from Japan, has two huge bedrooms, a huge kitchen, and two bathrooms, but most importantly of all it comes with a huge private patio overlooking empty sand lots, a whole lot of highrise apartment complexes and about 75 feet of oceanfront. Call me a geek, but I can't wait to do late afternoon homework out there.

In a related story, Grapefruit May Make Women Seem Younger...

Everyone out here speaks english or spanish or some other non-arabic tongue.
I'm trying to learn Arabic and thus far the only people I've found to practice on are the guy's selling five dollar rollexs and nikke shoes.

Still, there's a class that I'm checking into and will probably start attending here in a few weeks that's supposed to teach basic vocabulary and culture. As much as I'm looking forward to that I can't wait to get into my own place.
One more month... one more month... one more month...

I'm going to go horse back riding next weekend!
It would have been in just a couple of days, but my checkin process was set back a bit so I have to come in this Saturday morning to makeup a few classes. That's ok though next week isn't so far away.

Also, I've been running on base here but never off until today. It was really an interesting experience. Halfway home this group of construction workers about ten stories up on this new highrise started hollering and giving us the thumbs up. I looked up to see that they don't use any safety gear here. I thought for sure this one guy would lose his balance and fall off he was waving at us and hollering so hard. It brought to mind something someone told me earlier today, "not everyone here is a F@#%!ng terrorist, most of these people are really quite nice..." at any rate, it made me smile.

So there's this club at my hotel that's so loud you have to yell in the rooms just to have a conversation with someone. By rooms I mean your hotel room, and by club I mean booty shakin, wall pounding, thankfully shuts down at 12:30, do they seriously expect anybody to sleep in these rooms ever, type club.

I guess that's just how they do it over here. I've already requested to change rooms once and that didn't really help the problem although the old wet towel under the door seems to have helped a bit. At any rate I'm only here for another month so it shouldn't be too bad.

Holy crap is it hot here.
We were in the transport on the way to the hotel last night at about 1900 and the outside temp was 105!!! Don't know how accurate that was, but still it's hot out here.
The gym out here is supposed to be pretty nice, but I haven't had a chance to get to it yet. Altogether this is shaping up to be a nice place with the possibility that I'll actually get to rotate out on time.

This week has been pretty nice! I was able to go and visit a number of friends in addition to just sort of chilling out and taking it easy. I'll be back through the state one more time on Memorial Day to catch up with one last friend and say goodbye to a few others before taking off.

Here's a pic of my Granny.

My kid brother finally got hitched!
What could be better than that you ask.
Decorating his car of course!!!

(I know it's spelled wrong, that wasn't me)

My Mums!



ALSO,
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND...

The Story Of The Story Of My Camera..

Things to remember when viewing this file.
* The file is 1.04 mb and my take a moment to download.
* It plays with either windows media or divix.
* My parents are so cool I would have just given the camera to them if they'd have asked.

The last couple of days have been pretty busy. My brother is getting married this weekend and since I have time off I volunteered to lend a hand in setting things up. 46 banquet tables and 350something chairs later the U-Haul was loaded and ready ready to truck on out to the reception site for unloading.

Believe me when I say there was nothing gentle about the ride. That poor poor truck, I think we might have broken it.

On a much more enjoyable note, I was able to help build the dance floor for the wedding!

CanMan, MadChatthew, Holly and I all played canasta the other night. CanMan didn't want me on his team cause it's been a while since I played and he he thought I wouldn't be any good, so MadChatthew took me as a partner. CanMan was partially right, but it turns out that MadChatthew was good enough to compensate and managed to capitalize on their one mistake and carry "US" to victory.

A picture speaks a thousand words,
MadChattew and I are "US", CanMan and Holly are "Them".

Why the long face?

Molly's a city dog who was getting her first real taste of the country dog life, and I'm telling you she didn't want to get back in that truck when it was time to go.

I'm leaving Japan today, in exactly 93 mintues to be exact. Two years will change a lot of things in a man and I'm interested to relfect on the changes I've seen take place in myself. I had a few close friends here, and leaing them was hard. It's not like when I left Bemidji or Brainers, although that was hard too I knew I'd be back eventually to check in on things. Not so with Japan. We exchanged email addresses and did the handshake man-hug thing and tried not to dwell on the idea that we'd never see eachother ever again.

When I arived at the comand, I was new to the police field, and then somewhere between the 30 man bar brawls, dead bodies, child abusers, more dead bodies, child molesters, rapists, and trying to keep living bodies from becoming dead ones my friends and I suffered together and grew together until one day I looked in the mirror to find that the balding pot-bellied computer geek had been replaced by someone a bit leaner, a bit harder and a bit balder.

I'm through with police work for a while now as my next command is going to be oriented in a slightly different direction. I'm learning the local language already "Shokran Gazillan " and plan to become as fluent as possible throughout my time there. I have this sinking feeling that I'm going to spend more time there than I am supposed to, but right now I'm content to sit back and enjoy the ride.

Valleyfair is going to be open while i'm back in the states!!!
"WHOOOOO'S COMIN WITH ME?!"

Also, my camera broke yesterday while I was taking some shots of Landmark Tower. It's a few years old, and I'm debating now whether to get it fixed and keep it around for a bit or just bite the bullet and get a new one. The pictures (I hope) should be recoverable and will make a nice addition to the "Studying Japan in charcoal and chalk" site that I'm hoping to put together.

I learned how to use people's eyes to tell whether they are lying today. Purely in the interest of perfecting the science, I tested this newfound technique on a lot of people today and found out a number of interesting things. I'm not great at it yet, but it is definately a usefull skill and something I'm glad to have learned.

I'm home in just a few weeks!
Already my schedule is packed, but I'm hoping to get around the state to visit everyone at least once or twice.

In other news, THE MARSHALLOW SHOOTER
All I can say is you fools are lucky I don't still live in the cubicle jungle.

Ever wanted to learn Swahili?
I am trying to learn Arabic. The cdrom I bought had Swahili on it too, and I thougth to myself what a great language to know.
Here're a few really quick first words:

Yes - Ndiyo
No - Hapana
Good Morning - Habari za asubuhi
Good Afternoon - Habari za mchana
Good Night - Habari za jioni
Please - Tafadhali
Thank you - Asante
Thank you very much - Asante sana
Sorry - Samahani
Hello - Habari
Goodbye - Kwa heri

that's right, I'm a geek.
Asante sana,
Kwa heri.
-Ace

Summer is almost upon us over here and boy it is nice outside!
Unfortunately, I'm inside doing homework but only for another week or two.

Yesterday was... Interesting.

Almost as soon as my shift started I was sent to a domestic disturbance. Imagine my surprise when I round the corner and there stands a good friend and mentor. What can I say, I was at a loss for words. Training took over and I processed it like any other domestic, checking for signs of violence, any visible need for medical attention, kids or other people in the house etc..., the whole time this little voice inside my head is screaming "I can't believe this, Just can't believe it!"
As it turns out no physical violence had taken place, and he's actually the one who called us when he saw where things were heading. I promised him I wouldn't repeat any of our conversation, and to be honest I haven't even told my supervisors about it, but we did sit down and talk about what had happened and what started it and where it was heading. I suggested a marriage counselor, or a chaplain and we talked some more until I was satisfied that he wasn't going to do something crazy the moment he was alone. There's more to it, but I don't really want to put him out there, so you'll all just have to mind your own business. Needless to say, it gave me a lot to think about.

Two nights ago it was cold and rainy, last night it was cold and rainy, but today!!! That's right, it's cold and sunny.

I think this weekend I'll go through and catalogue both of the personal effects that I'm having shipped to my next residence. Living in a barracks, I don't really own a lot of personal stuff.
As a precursor, here's a rough list:

1) Old laptop
2) Old desk chair
3) Used folding homework table 2'x2.5'
4) X box
5) JVC T.V.
6) Sony DVD player
7) Epson Stylus cx4600 printer/scanner/copier
8) One Ansel Adams print
9) Three unknown artist's paintings
10) Lots and lots of books
11) Small book shelf 2'x3'
12) folding poker table that sits on top of the folding homework table.
13) Laptop surround sound speakers
14) vacuum cleaner
15) Folding Papa-San chair

I'll be back in the states towards the beginning of next month. Also, my kid brother's getting married! My other brother is thinking of wearing his uniform to the wedding and I was asked if I would too, but I don't know if I should. After all, the attention is supposed to be on the groom and if I'm walking around in my dress whites...

My friend and I ate Yakiniku the other night. It's a great idea where you roast your meat at your table over an open flame, but somehow it just seems to fraught with lawsuit possibilities to ever catch on in the states.

I'm in a new section today and it's pretty interesting. My partner is someone I've never worked with, but so far things are working out pretty well. She's been in the Navy a bit longer than I have so she calls the shots and I just sort of sit back and let her do all the talking. She doesn't like the section very much and wants to switch out to a different one, but somehow I think she's a bit to valuable for our section leaders to let go.

Some friends and I at the Cherry Blossom Festival.
I'm the big square jaw in the background.
The quality of this pic isn't the greatest, but you can see it's actual size HERE.

My grades came back and I passed my English midterm!!!
The actual grade doesn't matter so much as the fact that I passed. I was somewhat sure I would, but you never know. The reason I was worried is that it composed 40 percent of my grade for this class and only consisted of one question. To further my anxiety, the question they asked related only vaguely to what we've studied in the class so I had to guess at what they were looking for in an answer.

In an unrelated topic, have any of you read The Great Gatsby? If so, do you think that he did or did not personify rugged individualism, or that he tried at it and failed?

Had an interesting day yesterday, one of the bases I work at held an Easter Egg hunt for residents of the town it's located in. The day was pretty nice, so a lot of people turned out for it, we'll have another one today that is strictly for the families living on base. I have to say I am a bit puzzled as to why they didn't host them together as it would have been a great opportunity for some intercultural relations. In the end, I suppose it came down to a limited space available for the event or something else along those lines.

It was a long day for me. About halfway through it, something tragic happened. It occurred in a town a bit north of my home town and all I could think of was that I knew a person who worked there and probably knew a lot more who were going to be affected by it.
I live in Japan and so am not as plugged into the community as I once was, never the less my heart and prayers go out to the whole area as this will undoubtedly have a powerful affect on everyone on Northern Minnesota. If you pray, please remember these people.

-Ace

Well, I've officially posted my truck for sale.
Things are looking pretty promising too, already a couple of people who know me have noticed the signs on the car and asked about it.
I'm only asking 1200 for it, but that's because it's registration is running out toward the middle of this year and it costs around 300 bucks to renew.

Lots of homework lately and haven't really been able to do too much online. I have a major exam behind me now, and all I have left is a month or so of my online classes and I'm freeeeeeee! Until I register for more classes that is.

At any rate life is good.
Ace

I'm working at a base tonight that is supposedly haunted. I say supposedly because I don't think it is, but everyone else swears they know someone who's seen a ghost. I've got to admit that a lot of odd things happen here and more than a few people have reported seeing headless bodies in thier rear-view mirrors. Still, I can't help but feel skeptical.

To make a short story long, I was double dog dared to go out to this back gate and walk through the haunted wooded area (about 3/4 of a mile) in the dark on my own. They wanted me to sing the words "Here Ghostie Ghostie Ghostie, All you Ghosties can suck my !@#!!" as well, but to be honest I would have felt more than a littl e foolish doing that.

So, I guess if I never post again you'll know that there really are Ghosts in Japan, and that I'm probably dead, but I'm sure that it'll all work out for the best.

  If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or clanging cymbal.
  If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all the mysteries and all the knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to move mountains, but do not have love I am nothing.
  And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love it profits me nothing.

    -Paul


  Paul is talking here about so much more than physical love. He's talking about adding the compassionate, unconditional forgiveness type of love as a motivating factor to actions in our daily lives.

  I know it all sounds altruistic and boyscoutish, and I'm not saying I've done a whole lot of this myself, what I am saying is that maybe I should be.

I was working tonight when YN1 (my departments yeoman) came through the gate and I bent her ear for a second. As it turns out, when I'm scheduled to leave Japan for good and when they want to fly me out are two different dates. Rather than scheduling me to fly out later than my rotation date, which is what they want me to do, I asked her if there was any reason I couldn't fly out earlier.
To make a short story long, she asked me to pick a date and said she'd make it happen! I know I shouldn't count on anything until I have the travel papers in my hot little hands but still I can't help but smile.

Yet again, the Man With The Plan's got my back.

OMG! A Scanner Darkly the movie!!!

If you've never read this book you don't know what you're missing.
It was writen by one of the greatest sci-fi authors to have ever lived, Philip K. Dick. In addition to this adaptation, a number of other films are based on novels he wrote, among these are Blade Runner, Minority Report, Total Recall, Paycheck.

Those movies are good, in and of themselves, but if this adaptation of A Scanner Darkly does the actual novel any justice then it will hands down be the best out of all of them.

Speaking of which, Robert do you still have my copy?

Just when you think you've seen everything, Shower Shock Caffeinated Shower Soap appears on the horizon to brighten your morning.

Also, remember 20 questions? Here's a version that is smarter than you might think, and much like one of Robert's bots, it learns each time you beat it. Maybe you'll fool it, but probably you won't.
(i did)

I had lunch yesterday at a CoCoIchi's, which is a curry place. They sell the stuff in levels from 1 being hmmm I know it's in there somewhere, to 10 being DEAR GOD I'VE FOUND IT!
I say this because everybody gets the lower levels, and if you're an extremely adventurous soul then maybe you order the 6, but yesterday I was feeling downright foolhardy so I sat down and ordered the 9.
"Honto!" (really!)
"Hai, Honto." (yes, really.)
"Wakata Kyu?" (not nine?)
Here she held up nine fingers and arched an eyebrow.
"Hai, Kyu." (yes, nine.)
"Verrrrry Dangerous." (you're gonna burn the crap out of yourself.)
"Hai, Daijoubu." (it's my mouth i can do what i want to it)
"Number nine is verrrrrrrry spicy, verrrrry hot."
"Daijoubu." (it's ok)

She then took my friends order and left for the kitchen. I'll be honest, the strength of her warnings kinda scared me a bit and I half expected her to return to the table with a waiver of liability, but instead she brought the curry and was very careful not to mix up mine with my friends. (He had ordered a 3)

This Guy finally started a blog, but hasn't posted much. I've been pretty busy trying to catch up on my homework and was almost there until I found the last copy of Star Wars KOTRII. Now it's a battle just to type up my paper without turning on the Xbox. O well, it'll still be there in the morning, I've got to finish this paper.

Ace

My partner and I busted a DUI last night. It was her birthday, and since she was on her way to a restaurant to meet some friends.
The penalties for DUI over here are pretty stiff, and while money won't be involved, she does lose her license for two years, and maybe her job too depending on how the command she works for feels about it.

She was very polite the whole time and kept apologizing for having tried to drink and drive. I wish they were all that easy.



This is not my partner, but he is an old friend from back in the day.
His wife's web log can be found here.

It's been a long week.
Bought an Ansel Adams print the other day.
It's called Pacific Vista, and is part of a photo essay he did in California back in the mid 60's.

Other than that, not a lot is going on. I'm studying for an advancement exam, two midterm exams, and my road supervisor's qualification. Man I hate homework. I should be out snowboarding this Sunday, but have to stay back to finish an essay on Faulkner' "Light in August".

Life revolves, this too shall pass.
Soon enough I'll be done with these classes and on my way back to the states!

It's that time of year again... No I don't mean the opening of tax season, although I did file today, it was my B-day and here are a few E-cards that mum and pop sent my way.

Turned 30 take 1
Turned 30 take 2
Turned 30 take 3
Turned 30 take 4

I'm not normally one to do something like this to a nun, but I swear this one was asking for it...

No excuses here, I just felt like clowning... (He was probably asking for it too...)

It's been a long two days.
For some reason, odd accidents have been happening lately. A woman dropped her baby on it's head tonight and it took the ambulance almost an hour to respond. Apparently there was some sort of mixup between hospitals about who should be sending the ambulance. There were a couple of other odd things that occured, but I shouldn't really talk about them yet, so I won't.

If only my skills at photoshop
could match his flair for the dramatic.

I have the new printer/scanner that Matt got me for Christmas and it works great!
Here's a pic of my brothers from back when we were all pups. (Matt's the one on the left)

I don't know if I'll be able to come back for Rob's wedding...
I ran a request chit for time off and they didn't even bother to send it up the chain of command, but just let it sit around until last night.

I'm going to rout another chit, but they don't really want to give me leave for only a week if I'm traveling back to the states. All they see is the thousand bucks it'll cost me for the tickets and so they want me to spend more time when I'm over there. What they don't understand is that I don't have more than a week I can spare and it's not like I need the vacation because I just had one and am transferring out in a few months anyway and so will be home for another month then.

Have you ever seen an honest man cry?

So I was at a post this morning trying to keep the person standing it awake when these three guys passed us and proceeded to get into a car that was parked about twenty feet away. I hadn't paid attention to them as they passed, but a third person who was also at the post mentioned that they all seemed piss drunk. I pointed them out and asked her if it was the guys in the car, just to make sure I hadn't misunderstood her, and then proceeded to stop them. The guy in the driver's seat swore up and down he was stone cold sober, but it was apparent he was drunk, scared, and about to cry. He said the other two had been drinking, but that he was just giving them a lift. The person who had first noticed these fools showed up and we both agreed that nobody in the car was sober enough to be driving. His two friends came with me, and I explained what an accessory after the fact was while the other MA had "a little talk" with the guy in the driver's seat about what an alcohol related driving offense would do to keelhaul his career in the Navy.
In the end, the guy in the driver's seat was given the option to submit to a breathalizer or leave his car and walk the five blocks to his barracks. Oddly enough, for a man as innocent as he claimed to be, he chose to walk.

The reason I haven't updated lately is that I'm a fool.

My cable internet was cut off because I forgot to pay it.
I thought I had paid for it when looking at my online payments for the month, but what I actually saw was payment to this other company with a similar name.

Anyway, 39.95 in late fees later I'm re-connected and will be posting more often.

I was reading about wealth today in Luke 16: 10-13. At first glance it struck me from the don't let it rule your world perspective, but upon reflection I realized that Jesus was taking it one step further and talking about using our wealth as a tool for helping others, rather than as a goal by which we measure our success.

Heartfelt charity is an awesome thing. Whether it's giving your money or your time, the rewards you get back are so much greater than what the investment costs to you. I sponsor a child overseas and it costs me less than one can of coffee per day. Do I miss the coffee? Sometimes. Would Lute miss the schooling, the food, the new well in her town that I got to help fund, or the vaccines? Ok, ok, there's not a kid in the world who wouldn't be happier without getting poked by the doc, but other than that I'm sure she's getting more use out of the cost of that coffee than I ever could.

Don't be a schmuck, suck it up and help the kids...

It rained today, and yesterday too come to think of it. I am wet, and lukewarm, and on my break for another thirty minutes before going back out to finish the shift. Luckily the lawless like rain even less than I do, so aside from this one guy who got a little too genki and threw the table he'd been drinking at down the stairs of a club he'd been dancing at, it's been pretty quite today.

Ok, Ok, for the most part the mountain kicked my butt; but I am getting better... The ski resort we went to is called Kawaba and is located on Mt. Hotaka, just east of Nagino. I didn't take this picture, but posted it because of how accurately it captured the layout of the runs.


I have owned a snow board before, and had every intention of learning, but never really got around to it. So yesterday, with a bunch of friends hitting the slopes, I tagged along and learned the ropes, counting it a major victory when I advanced from four feet before I fell to the point where I was able to go six.

I slept in till 0620 this morning!

That's right, it is my day off and I'm enjoying every minute of it. I went to work out with "The Big Wheel" at 0700 and spent the rest of the day after that pretty much relaxing and doing homework. Right now I'm working on a paper comparing Willa Cather's Geoffrey St. Peter with Fitzgerald's Gatsby, and am having issues with keeping it short enough to fit the four pages that the assignment is limited to.

Right click and "save as" to view this at it's full size...

From His Deathbed

Remember me and think of this
for though I've succumbed to the fight.
I once was young, as you are young
forget the day...

Seize Your Life.


-Ace

Well, I've been back to work now for a few days and if there's an interesting time of the year for my job, Christmas and New Years are it. Don't want to go into the details.

Lord Of The Rings risk is a lot of fun.
If you're not familiar with it, it's loosely based on the original risk type structure, but with entirely new lands, some "action" cards that let you break the rules in frustrating or interesting ways, rivers and mountains that act as borders which may not be crossed, and of course The One Ring. The action cards are the most interesting evolution of the game, and I was able to use one successfully to cross some mountains and give Steve, who was winning the game at that point, the old "Rear Admiral" and take his unfortified territories by storm.
hee hee hee