21 December 2008 1036 EST
- A Christmas card from Lenny in 2004 when he started telling me about this girl he met named Stephanie
- Homemade picture frame from Mom with farewell photo from Fort Bragg
- Letter from Jane on engineering paper - something I missed from the first time I read the letter was that she even labelled the top "Sibling Letter"
- $5 birthday money from Jane from 2004 and $5 Christmas cash from Yenny - Score!
- Ben's letters from Afghanistan when he would print out random JPG/GIF images of Avril/Care Bears/etc from the internet and add his own captions
- Letter from Roo in Afghanistan when we decided to write back and forth since postage was free
- Signed business card from Congressman Tom Davis
- Letter from Governor Warner thanking us for being in Iraq when we were actually in Afghanistan (maybe he knew something that we didn't)
- Dozens of postcards and Christmas cards from siblings, friends, friends of friends, aunts, uncles, cousins, parents, Match.com dates, random strangers, etc.
Anyway, that was fun and now I have everything gathered in one place in two folders. Not bad, huh? It was pretty cool going through all of that and reading some of those letters again. It really makes me feel so very blessed. It makes me want to watch It's a Wonderful Life now.
21 December 2008 1006 EST
Oh, I also installed Spybot and AdAware and I cleaned up my desktop so that I only have one column of icons now.
18 December 2008 2320 EST
Anyway, I was somewhat worried because I remember the last time I went so long without seeing the dentist. In the end, I wound up with one cavity in addition to one filling that fell out last month. Not too bad, huh? I even got a few compliments on how well I'd been taking care of my teeth in the absence of dentist visits during the last decade. The best part? They had a cancellation the next day and I got everything knocked out within a 24-hour period. The even better part? It only cost like 70 bucks for the copay for both days. Not bad, huh?
18 December 2008 2256 EST
Aside from the movies, a bunch of stuff going on. I close with Lenny tomorrow afternoon. That's pretty exciting. Not too much else to say about that. It'll be nice to have money again and also be able to start looking around at houses again. It sure is tempting with interest rates down where they're at. Thanks, B.Bernanke.
I've also kick-started my running routine again. I started the week after the turkey trot and have kept a pretty consistent routine for the last three weeks, averaging 3-4 runs a week, going just about two miles every day. I've also started weaning myself off of the sweet drinks like iced tea, egg nog, etc, and started back up on the water this week. We'll see how long that lasts. I can't change too much right now, though, or else I won't have anything for my New Year's Resolutions.
03 December 2008 2228 EST
Other than that, I've been somewhat puzzled by the market's recent bullish action...just as I was nearly convinced that it was right to go short. I'll give it another day or two, but we'll see how it goes. MTF
01 December 2008 1839 EST
The next day was spent at the parents for our family Thanksgiving celebration. The Lees were all there, too, so that was cool. I made my mashed potatoes to bring over, and Anna made two pies and a bunch of mini cheesecakes. Then afterwards, we came home, ordered some pizza, picked up some fuzzy navels for Ben, and then invited a handful of friends over for karaoke. Ben and Arun were in town, so it was cool seeing them. Plus Brian and Thuy came over too. Even though they're both within about a five minute drive, I haven't been too social these past few weeks. So it was nice to catch up with them too. At one point, all of the girls left, and the guys stuck around to watch "Shoot em up" and "Harold & Kumar 2" while eating more food.
I followed that up with a few hours of work on Saturday before going over to Ben's for some Guitar Hero: World Tour. Oh, I also saw "Bring it on" for the first time. It was playing on USA while we were eating dinner.
Sunday was pretty much back to normal, lounging around the house a bit and then heading over to the parents' for lunch.
As for today, I was pretty excited about the market open because I was starting to short the market quite a bit as last week's rally was dragging on and on. I felt somewhat vindicated as the bottom dropped out of the market yet again at the close. Fortunately for me, though, I spent most of my day working and didn't get end up parking myself in front of my computer like I usually do. It's probably better that way. Anyway, we'll see what tomorrow brings. There may just be hope for me after all.
27 November 2008 1340 EST
So here are a few things I'm thankful for this year:
- Being home and being able to spend the holidays with my wonderful friends and family
- Having the freedom to do what makes me happy without having to worry about finances or the economy
- Not having to worry about shopping for Christmas presents this year without fear of disappointing loved ones
- Being in a stable relationship
- Having time to do (or not do) whatever I want
- Being in first place in both of my FF leagues heading into the playoffs
Alright, that last one was stupid, but I didn't want my whole list to be sappy. In other news, I ran the Turkey Trot 5K over here in Centreville this morning along with Jane and Anna's family. I didn't perform too poorly, finishing with a 23:51, good enough for 276th place out of 1365 male racers. Of course, it was a little embarrassing to check the race results afterwards, only to find that I was beaten by three different 60-year olds and half a dozen pre-teens.
That's not what Thanksgiving is all about though. I just finished up two dishes for my first of many Thanksgivings this year. Can't wait to get started. MTF
23 November 2008 0750 EST
Every once in a while, I'm reminded by my mother that my journey is shallow and materialistic. What kind of person chooses to focus his life on making large amounts of money? It's a question I've asked myself many times since I've taken the first steps of this journey, but it's been easier and easier for me to justify as I've come along. I have been a teacher for many years and I feel like I will always be. But I realized a little while back that most people don't really want to learn about physics. However, everyone wants to know how to make more money.
Part of the reason that I took this second job is that I miss the classroom. I look at my triple-digit paychecks every once in a while (and not high triple digits, mind you), and I think of myself as a bit of a starving artist, making the necessary sacrifices in order to provide me the freedom to devote my cerebral energy towards perfecting my craft. Part of me toys with the idea of studying for exams to become "qualified" or "licensed" to manage securities, but that's not the life I want either.
I just want to make a lot of money, and then teach my family and friends (and whomever else wants to listen) how to make lots of money so that I can work independently from home and support/raise my future family. It's that simple. That's simple, right? And realistic?
MTF. And in case I don't update for another few weeks, happy Thanksgiving.
31 October 2008 1836 EST
First off, happy halloween. Last week was my birthday, though it didn't seem nearly as momentous of an occasion this year. For those of you who aren't in the know, I picked up a new job last week and I now have two "part-time" jobs between tutoring and the National Guard. Together, they also pay worse than half the salary of any one full-time job I've ever held, but there are a number of intangibles that you just can't put a price tag on. For those of you who want to know, my schedule looks to be the following:
M - 3:15PM-7:00PM
T - 4:15PM-8:00PM
W - 3:15PM-8:00PM
H - Off
F - 3:15PM-6:00PM
S - 9:45AM-1:30PM
Also, due to my new part-time job that is located approximately 3.5 miles from my home of record, I bought a bike yesterday and rode in for the first time this afternoon. Considering that I haven't ridden a bike in nearly 10 years, I think I did a pretty good job. The uphill portions definitely seemed harder than I had envisioned in my mind; but it'll still save me 20 minutes or so on the commute each day, and I can stop mooching rides from my family and friends.
Other new developments...a conversation with Anna yesterday made me realize that I'm spending way too much time in front of the computer. Especially now that I have the TDAmeritrade app on my iPhone, I should be much more productive with my non-work time and still be able to follow the market rather closely. I packed up two boxes worth of junk today and threw it on the curb with the trash this afternoon. I also had a chance to go through a few dozen magazines and pulled articles like I've been meaning to do so that I could finally let go of the rest of the issues themselves. Hopefully, I can keep this momentum going through the weekend and into next week...we'll see. Maybe I'll even make use of that extra hour this weekend.
17 October 2008 1115 EST
That's the work situation though. I feel a little behind when it comes to my military commitments for this weekend drill. We have a PT test scheduled and a lot of admin stuff, so nothing too pressing except for your standard paperwork-type stuff. I think it'll still take a month or two for everyone to get use to each other with all of the leadership teams coming in and learning what all of the responsibilities are. It's an exciting time though...a lot of new guys and a lot of energy.
Other than that, this week marked the revival of Cheap Date Night with the Dark Knight playing at University. I can't believe it took me so long to finally watch it, but it was indeed spectacular. Well worth my $2 for sure.
10 October 2008 1300 EST
"We conclude that, in light of the history of pernicious discrimination faced by gay men and lesbians, and because the institution of marriage carries with it a status and significance that the newly created classification of civil unions does not embody, the segregation of heterosexual and homosexual couples into separate institutions constitutes a cognizable harm. We also conclude that (1) our state scheme discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation, (2) for the same reasons that classifications predicated on gender are considered quasi-suspect for purposes of the equal protection provisions of the United States constitution, sexual orientation constitutes a quasi-suspect classification for purposes of the equal protection provisions of the state constitution, and, therefore, our statutes discriminating against gay persons are subject to heightened or intermediate judicial scrutiny, and (3) the state has failed to provide sufficient justification for excluding same sex couples from the institution of marriage."
What also struck me while I read through the decision was the fact that the following argument actually stood up in the initial decision prior to making it to the State Supreme Court:
"The defendants also asserted that our statutory scheme does not discriminate on the basis of sex because, inter alia, it does not single out men or women as a class for disparate treatment, the touchstone of any sex discrimination claim. Those laws also do not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, the defendants maintained, because gay persons are not prohibited from marrying. According to the defendants, our laws are facially neutral because they treat homosexual and heterosexual persons alike by providing that anyone who wishes to marry may do so with a person of the opposite sex."
Anyway, I won't go on too much longer. The text of the decision is 85 pages long, and there's a lot of good stuff in it; but I'll end with one last passage from their conclusion:
"Even though the right to marry is not enumerated in our constitution, it long has been deemed a basic civil right. E.g., Loving v. Virginia, supra, 388 U.S. 12 ([m]arriage is one the basic civil rights of man [internal quotation marks omitted]); Skinner v. Oklahoma ex rel. Williamson, 316 U.S. 535, 541, 62 S. Ct. 1110, 86 L. Ed. 1655 (1942) (same). Although we traditionally have viewed that right as limited to a union between a man and a woman, if we have learned anything from the significant evolution in the prevailing societal views and official policies toward members of minority races and toward women over the past half-century, it is that even the most familiar and generally accepted of social practices and traditions often mask unfairness and inequality that frequently is not recognized or appreciated by those not directly harmed by those practices or traditions. It is instructive to recall in this regard that the traditional, well-established legal rules and practices of our not-so-distant past (1) barred interracial marriage, (2) upheld the routine exclusion of women from many occupations and official duties, and (3) considered the relegation of racial minorities to separate and assertedly equivalent public facilities and institutions as constitutionally equal treatment. In re Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal. 4th 85354.
Like these once prevalent views, our conventional understanding of marriage must yield to a more contemporary appreciation of the rights entitled to constitutional protection. Interpreting our state constitutional provisions in accordance with firmly established equal protection principles leads inevitably to the conclusion that gay persons are entitled to marry the otherwise qualified same sex partner of their choice. To decide otherwise would require us to apply one set of constitutional principles to gay persons and another to all others. The guarantee of equal protection under the law, and our obligation to uphold that command, forbids us from doing so. In accordance with these state constitutional requirements, same sex couples cannot be denied the freedom to marry."
03 October 2008 1400 EST
- Comparisons between "Dow Jones" on "Wall Street" vs. "Mr. and Mrs. Jones" on "Main Street"
- "Golden Parachutes" - Don't people understand that parachutes made of gold would only make you fall faster because the upward force would be the same while the downward force would increase?
- A "$700 billion blank check" to Secretary Paulson - Umm...if it says $700 billion and we know who it's going to, what's blank about the check?
What's actually surprised me after listening to the various testimonies - aside from finding myself yelling aloud at our congresspeople - was how much I liked Ron Paul's stance. I can't find any links of today's short testimony in which he claimed that Congress felt the need to act so quickly because of fear that the American people would finally realize that the United States Government was insolvent. Here are some clips from recent history. Again, I think Anna and my former roommate Brandon would approve.
Ron Paul and Ben Bernanke Q&A session
Ron Paul's testimony on original house vote - 29SEP08
Ron Paul on the reaction to the first house vote
02 October 2008 1745 EST
Crazy, huh? Yeah, I've spent the last two days combing through the bailout package and writing both of Virginia's senators. I even drafted a two-page letter for Congressman Wolf, but his e-mail function on his website is apparently down...I'm guessing it has to do with the tens of thousands of people who are upset that he voted for the bailout during Monday's vote. The good thing about this, though, is that I found myself watching CSPAN for the first time in years (maybe even decades) and it introduced me to Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT)[Transcript].
Some other testimonies linked below:
Maria Canwell (D-WA)
Jim DeMint (R-SC)
David Witter (R-LA)
Oh, and I almost forgot to include Anna's favorite testimony from Senator Feinstein. I almost didn't catch it the first time around because she was cursing the screen so much.
Some other developments over the last few weeks while the site has been down:
- Lost more money
- Made some back
- Got Ameritrade app for the iPhone
- Finished up active duty time in Winchester and currently unemployed
- Accidentally sent two wii fits to an old address in Afghanistan, only to have them returned to the manufacturer without forwarding to me
- Purchased new HD projector (refurb - 720p) for $620
- Traded Jake Delhomme, Eddie Royal, Edgerrin James, and Leron McClain for Ladanian Tomlinson
- Cleaned house
10 September 2008 2344 EST
They say that when you return home from a deployment, you should try to refrain from making any drastic changes, whether with living situations, purchases, marriage, etc. That's the problem with being smart...or at least thinking that you are. You always think you know better...no matter how old you get or how young you remain. I'll count this as my second strike.
I remember a phone conversation I had with my father around Thanksgiving time during my first deployment. I had made a large amount of money in the market...more than I ever had in my life, and he had the gall to suggest that I put some of it away for safe keeping. Of course, I knew better, and I'd lost all of my profit by the time I was set to come home.
Round two, second chance. It's hard to believe how similar this situation was, but I didn't see it coming. I'd actually made a little more money this time, so it couldn't have been like last time, right? Well, you see, the thing about making a lot of money is that you have more of it to lose...and this time, I'm in the middle of a relationship, so that definitely complicates things. I've always thought of my money in the market as play money...never really set aside for anything in particular, but having someone else in your life kinda changes that. I mean, in the past, I felt bad about losing large amounts of money - we all do, I'm sure. But it was more of a feeling of regret than guilt. This time definitely feels different.
I've analyzed the moves I've made over the course of the last few months, good and bad. There's a huge part of me that would be content with going back to getting a job again and grinding it out, but there's another part of me that wants to give it a shot, you know? I told myself I'd give it two years. I've still got enough money to last me two years as long as I'm stingy. I just wonder which route would allow me to be really true to myself.
...and you thought I was all done with my angst. This weekend is my first drill in command of a Company. I'm looking forward to it like you wouldn't believe. Tomorrow is September 11th.
27 August 2008 1523 EST
We did have our first drill last weekend...the first one since getting back home. That was nice seeing everyone again. I also took command of B Company on Friday, too. That was pretty exciting. It was a nice ceremony and I gave a little speech and everything. And unless I screw up really badly, I'll be in charge for the next two years or so. For the most part, they'll be like rebuilding years if you think of it in football terms. It's highly unlikely that we'll get deployed again in the next two years, so it'll be all about recruiting and then training to get back into a good position moving forward...still very exciting.
Other than that, I finally started prepping for the fantasy draft two days ago and we did the online draft last night. I'm pretty happy with my team, but I've already got a handful of trade offers on the board already. We'll see if anyone bites.
11 August 2008 2048 EST
Let's go back through this weekend, though. Anna's friend was in town visiting from Texas, so we ended up spending a lot of time with her and Livvy. We went to a luau at the Elk's lodge on Saturday night (average age at the event approx. 70 yrs old), but snuck out eventually to spend an hour or two at Patriot's. Didn't get a chance to sing, but that was cool because the food is so much better now. We just ate nachos and a whole bunch of cheese fries. After that, we hung out at the Asian Festival in Reston with Thuy and Livvy before catching a matinee showing of Pineapple Express at Fairfax Towne Center. We also played a few hours of Boggle afterwards while eating spaghetti and corn bread (which I made from "scratch" with substitutions due to a lack of eggs and milk).
Anyway, this promises to be a pretty busy week as I take command of B Co on Friday and we have our first drill weekend since coming back home from Kuwait...which means I'll probably be just as sparse as I have been. Don't worry though...just two more months.
03 August 2008 1210 EST
I wrapped up school at Fort Dix last weekend. I got to be in charge of the class as the Executive Officer for the big project which lasted the final week, and I was even voted class MVP by my classmates and got a little coin. I think I did a pretty decent job and even learned a little bit too. I was exhausted by the end of the two weeks though, working 12-16 hour days for most of the time. There's a saying at the course that if you were diagnosed with only two weeks to live, you would go back to CAX because it feels like years.
I came home early Sunday morning and spent the rest of the day lying on the sofa and watching movies with Anna. I think we went through four movies that day, including Flakes, Meet Bill, Unleashed and Bewitched. After that, it was back to work. I spent Monday, Thursday, and Friday at Winchester, and I spent Tuesday/Wednesday at Woodstock doing inventory of a few million dollars of equipment, matching serial numbers and counting pieces for my change of command inventory before taking over the unit later this month. I spend the next two months working ADOS, and then I go back to unemployment at the end of September. I can't wait.
This weekend, I've already had a chance to catch up with just about everyone. Friday night was spent watching four episodes of the X-files with Livvy, and yesterday was family lunch/Jane's birthday, followed by a marathon of Veronica Mars back home with Thuy. Today, we're heading back out to watch Mamma Mia with some of Anna's friends before doing some grocery shopping for the week and doing it all over again. Is it bad that I'm so looking forward to unemployment already after working for just three weeks?
21 July 2008 0013 EST
I spent the rest of the weekend hanging out with the fam. First I showed up at Aunt May's and we grabbed lunch together (grilled salmon burgers at Wegman's) before the parents showed up. After that, we visited the cemetery in New Jersey before heading in to New York to meet up with the maternal side relatives. I took note to mark all of the cemeteries with the GPS function of my iPhone, too, since the sibs and I had this discussion years ago about how we were worried that we wouldn't be able to find our way back to all of them if we had to do it years down the line.
Anyway, hanging out with the fam was cool. All of my cousins have kids now, so it was neat playing with 2, 5, and 8-year olds all evening. We also watched High School Musical and Monkey Trouble before heading out to the New York cemetery and then going out to celebrate Grandpa Hui's birthday. It was really nice catching up with everyone.
I got back home last night and slept in a little bit before heading back to class today. I was hoping to skate a little through the last half of the class, but the instructor put me in charge of the final project today, putting me in the role of the chief of staff. This will be interesting because 19 of my 20 other classmates outrank me or have date of rank on me. Hopefully, my studliness will shine through, though, and we'll end up with some good products. Either way, I'll be busy. I'm just glad that I'll have my iPhone to give me a chance to check up on the market during our breaks in class. MTF
17 July 2008 0033 EST
This morning, I had a big brief I had to give with my partner. We've actually had a few days to prep it, but I saved all of the rehearsing for last night...and I was horrible during the rehearsal. I was stumbling all over myself. So I retreated back to my room and practiced for another hour using my karaoke technique...i.e. going repeat-1 and restarting every time I stumble until I can get through the whole thing...except the words don't rhyme. Oh! I should have done that. I probably would've gotten bonus points. But seriously, the rehearsing really helped and I rocked the brief in the morning. The instructor even gave us a really big compliment and said that one in a hundred briefs are done that well. Granted, it would've been cooler if he said one in a thousand or one in a million, but a hundred is pretty believable. Either way, it felt really good...and I can see why the parents do toastmasters all the time now. After every brief, everyone is supposed to give feedback...but what usually happens is that they point out a bunch of good things and only one or two minor bad things and everyone claps and feels good about themselves, regardless of how well they do. Everyone is improving though...so that's good.
Anyway, I got so caught up in class that I didn't get a chance to talk to you all about my experience last Friday waiting in line for my iPhone (which I never got!). I was so pissed. I ended up in line a little after 0700h, with the understanding that they were opening the doors at 0800h, and that each ATT store was supposed to have 50-75 iPhones on hand. Boy was I wrong. At first the manager came out and made it sound like the first 50 were good to go...then it turned out that they only had about 30...and 20 more were coming via UPS at 0800h. Later, we were informed that they were coming by FEDEX at 1030h. Then 1100h rolls by and a DHL truck pulls up to the store. Everyone was jumping for joy and cheering...and then we found out that they were just delivering a little bitty package with no iPhones. Anyway, I had to be up at Fort Dix here by late afternoon, so I ended up giving up around 1230h. I'm sure the shipment arrived closer to 1240h or so. But anyway, no dice...and I've been 90% internetless ever since. There was another little story about the line when I actually confronted this punk kid who cut in front of like 30 people. What was interesting observing human nature. For like 5-10 minutes, everyone muttered to their neighbors in line, but no one actually talked to the guy. Anyway, eventually, I figured I'd say something and then some women who claimed to be his mother (who also cut in line) started to yell at me. What was funny was that she was almost not completely rude to me at first because I had a clipboard and she thought that I worked for ATT. But when she looked over and saw me get back in line, she made a huge production of it and started playing it up. It was pretty entertaining considering that I was in such a rush to get in line that I left my book in the car and had nothing to do for the five hours except socialize with my line-neighbors.
I'm looking to get a little break during this upcoming weekend, though; and hopefully, there is an Apple store in the area with a couple in stock. Wish me luck.
09 July 2008 1756 EST
In my last 48 hours of vacation, I'm hoping to do the following:
- fix a few things around the house
- sleep
- pack
- buy an iPhone
- make a few thousand dollars in the market
I may end up hanging out with the fam tomorrow, too, but I'm not sure. I at least need to scout out a few Apple/ATT locations before Friday morning.
Let's see...a bunch of stuff has happened since the last time I posted. I had a fight with Anna a few days ago since we were talking about the house and I wasn't getting all excited about picking out the colors for what to paint the walls in each of the different rooms. But that has since blown over. I made a google spreadsheet to help us prioritize our many projects we want to pursue after we buy the house, so she and I played with that yesterday. That was a lot of fun. I mean, after all...it was a spreadsheet.
Last night, we moved cheap date night because we'd already seen the Strangers, which was opening at University Mall. Instead, we ended up watching Wanted, which was extremely fun if not completely unrealistic. I counted at least nine flaws, but I'm sure it was well into the double-digits.
Other than that, July 4th was great. We got through 8 episodes of the X-Files at Livvy's and we ate a whole bunch of food while we did it. I made hummus for the first time and Anna made flan along with some spinach and artichoke dip that I think gave everyone gas. Saturday was a wonderful lunch with the fam and Sunday was spent at the movies watching Hancock with Anna's family. Oh, and we're completely caught up with seasons 1-4 of the Office now. I guess that means I should probably start reading and writing again.
01 July 2008 1711 EST
Anyway, I've been spending a lot of time hanging out with Anna watching seasons two and three of the Office. Within a few days, we'll be all caught up from the last year. Also, last Friday, we started watching the X-files from the very beginning with her sister. If anyone wants to join us, I think we're going to celebrate July 4th with a marathon.
Other than that, life has been pretty systematic. The workouts are starting to become rather regular. Tuesdays are cheap date night, Thursday is lunch with the fam, Friday is hanging out with Livvy, and Saturday is lunch with the fam, too. Mon-Fri is also spent in front of the computer watching the market, but that goes without saying. Oh, and Saturday or Sunday is usuallly grocery shopping.
We'll see how that changes over the next few weeks. Some upcoming highlights include: July 4th, trip to Fort Dix, iPhone release, and two months of work. MTF
Oh...and congratulations to Jane and ESL! You guys know why.
25 June 2008 1120 EST
18 June 2008 1639 EST
Anyway, lots of stuff going on. I went to work on Monday for one day. I got to hang out with Roo and the XO all day, and even got to ride in the boss's new Escalade. The day was pretty cool, sending e-mails and working a few powerpoint presentations. It's a tough balance as we get back into rhythm here, being on leave but also having so much to take care of. I think I'm still in slacker mode for the time being, but I'll be back to form soon enough.
Some other random goings ons...I downloaded Firefox v.3 for my comp yesterday but I'm a little sad because my mouse gestures add-on was not updated for it. Other than that, everything is running smoothly. Cheap date night with Anna and Thuy last night was Speed Racer. It was super cheesy for the entire two hours, but pretty entertaining. You'll never guess the ending...or maybe you will because it's pretty obvious. Anyway, the movie for next week is Baby Mama in case anyone else is interested.
11 June 2008 1100 EST
Yesterday night, we hung out with Thuy and Lissa for cheap date night at University Mall. We watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall and followed that with half-price burgers at Brion's Grille.
10 June 2008 1700 EST
Anyway, we left the party sometime after midnight to get ready for the next party for Anna and her sister on Sunday afternoon. Oh, and Lenny and Steph and Ian and Jane and probably some other people I didn't mention helped with loading a bunch of Anna's things to bring back to my place after the party. Thanks!
But yeah, the second party was a little less hectic, but it was fun hanging out with Anna's family...and it looks like there may be a repeat of this busy weekend with Father's day coming up in a few days. It'll be my family on Saturday and Anna's family on Sunday, with a moving truck to transfer the rest of the belongings sometime in between.
I actually stopped by to have lunch with Lenny and Steph today. We talked about a whole bunch of things...family, relationships, real estate, investing, everything. It was pretty cool. I can't help but think that Lenny's changed a lot over the years. He's a lot smarter and more mature than I remember...but then again, I guess we never talked about a lot of stuff as a family in the past. This was pretty cool. I'll probably visit more often now, with him being able to work from home on Fridays...and since he lives so close by...and since I have such a cute niece.
Last thing before I go. Yesterday, I turned on my cell phone a little prematurely in anticipation of the new iPhone release. So if you wanna give me a ring, I'm back up at (703)340-0148.
06 June 2008 2150 EST
Some other accomplishments include:
- taking apart Yenny's old desk...or a couple sections, at least
- throwing away about 1000 pages of old records for small amounts of hazardous materials shipped back and forth with our equipment during the Afghan deployment
- salvaging about 80 sheet protectors and a set of 31 dividers from old binders
- making the girlfriend happy
Yeah, that last one was the most important. I also let her open all of her birthday presents early and I even sent her some flowers at work. Aren't I the best boyfriend?
Anyway, since I haven't been doing a good job keeping current this last week, let me give a rundown of the other developments.
- went ahead and made a bid on a house with Anna...it was accepted by the owner; but since it's a short sale, we'll have to wait a few weeks or so for the bank to give their stamp of approval
- cooked dinner twice and made breakfast three times
- started exercising again, running twice last week and threw in some weight training too
- successfully held off on buying a cell phone until the weekend before Apple's 3G iPhone release
Anyway, tomorrow is my welcome home party, and I get to see like a billion people I haven't seen in years, so I'm excited. I'm sure there'll be plenty of stories to tell afterward. MTF
01 June 2008 2220 EST
This afternoon, Anna and I went with a realtor friend of hers to take a look at maybe a dozen or so houses in the area. Tough part now is that there was actually one that was a really good deal...perfect location, great price. The original plan was to wait a little further down the line (relationship/post-deployment-wise and financially) before making a decision to buy a house together, but this may accelerate things a little. The only thing it would delay would be my desire to become unemployed and my plans to make my first million...unless, of course, I somehow sell my other house concurrently. Decisions, decisions, right?
Either case, thanks to the Army, I still have another month or two of income while these decisions are made. Don't worry, though. I won't do anything too stupid...I don't think.
29 May 2008 0942 EST
Other than that, we're starting to get into a healthier exercise routine. We're trying to run three miles every other day and throw in some weight training here and there. We're also eating a lot healthier because she's cooking all the time.
I guess I spend the rest of my time sitting in front of my computer watching the market or playing on facebook or both. I'm up a little over 30K since I started investing again back in February. That's not too bad, but I've dug in my heels and set my target to make close to 10% each month with a goal of making a million within the next three years. I think it's doable if I can stay disciplined enough to a) not get emotional and b) not get greedy. I spent Tuesday doing cheap date night with Thuy and Anna at University Mall watching 21. I see a few parallels with that movie. When you're investing and you have a good system, it's different from gambling. But once you get emotional, that's when it all goes up in flames.
Anyway, earlier in that day, I ran into Thuy by pure luck over at Mason when I went to student accounts to get a refund for some tuition that I paid/overpaid for a few years ago. They said that I should get a check in the mail in about two weeks. Combine that with the stimulus check I just got in the mail yesterday, and it's like free money is falling out of the sky for me. I don't think I've been this fortunate in a long time...with money at least. Oh...and I had two glasses of chocolate milk yesterday within about a two hour span...with no adverse reactions. I'm hoping that it's been so long since I've had real milk that it forgot that it was allergic. I'll continue to experiment in the coming days. We'll see how long that lasts.
Anna goes back to work on Monday, so there's just a few more days of all out vacation left for us. After that, though, I'm sure life will start settling back to normal and you'll be seeing more frequent updates here. Until then...
21 May 2008 2240 EST
Anyway since showing up, we've done a lot of walking...as can be witnessed by our pedo log, still being updated as accurately as possible considering the circumstances. The first day was spent walking around the small town of Ogunquit while we familiarized ourselves with the area. Then at the suggestion of our innkeeper, we walked up St. Agamenticus, a pretty easy hike, but perfect for what we were going for (nice exercise with the dog without getting too sweaty). At the top, you could look out at the gorgeous landscape. We came back and spent some more time hanging out in the local area and visiting some of the shops before circling back to the room to fall asleep watching Walk the Line.
The next day...yesterday, in fact...though it seems like so long ago, we started off the morning at a dog park in Kennebunk. We drove around for a bit, too, admiring the very expensive-looking houses in that area. Then we spent the afternoon shopping at all of the outlets. I think we went into the shopping trip thinking we were going to get souvenirs for everyone back home, but we ended up buying more clothes for ourselves than anything else.
Today, we wandered around a couple of pet-friendly beaches and had a nice drive along the coast, too. We also went to this cute little area called the "Wiggly Bridge" which is a little suspension walking bridge along the water in one of the nature preserves here. Again, I can't wait to share all of the pictures. The scenery here is pretty amazing.
In between all of that, I've eating sooo much food, to include about 1.5 pounds of burgers, a lobster, some mussels, calamari, thai, and a bunch of other stuff that I can't quite remember right now. Anyway, I need to get offline again so I can have more fun. Still about two and a half days left. MTF
18 May 2008 0013 EST
Some little things that have been somewhat unexpected but rather pleasant during our first week back together include her cooking almost every meal for me since we've gotten home...all except for the social dinners and lunches we've been attending with family and friends. We've also been taking a lot of walks and runs with the dog. We've been doing it so much, that I've even started a pedo log...working on 32 miles or so by now. We've also been looking at the houses for sale in the neighborhood during our walks. Most haven't been all that appealing in this area, but there are a handful of gems...one especially that we'd love to take a closer look at, though it's a little closer to the upper end of our range.
I hadn't really expected to be looking so soon, but it doesn't hurt that my investment account is sitting a little over 30K more than where it was at about a month and a half ago. That's been doing well, though it nearly sparked a fight with Anna because I've been sitting in front of the computer a little more this last week than I had originally planned. I'm also planning on bringing the computer with me up to Maine, so we'll see how well that will sit with her (I'll probably find out some time during our 8-10 hour drive up there tomorrow). It's too bad I didn't spring for my iPhone yet.
Anyway, aside from that, I'd say things are going really well. We'll see if the next few weeks turn out similarly.
13 May 2008 0223 EST
Anyway, the last few days have been full of hugs and eating. It started on Thursday night with family dinner at the Chinese restaurant by my house, and followed with Saturday and Sunday lunch at the parents'. Last night, we went over to Livvy's to check out her new place, and we ate dinner there while we played with Roy. Then today, I had Ben and Thuy over, and I made some cornbread to complement Anna's turkey chili. They were over last night, too, but I don't think we fed them. We also watched Iron Man after lunch on Saturday...oh, and Friday dinner with Thuy and Jane at Outback.
The rest of the days have been filled with rain, so I haven't had a chance to enjoy my time back quite as much as I would have hoped...that combined with the sore throat and cold that I'm starting to come down with. The upside is that I have gotten a lot of QT with Anna, who has all but completed her move in. It didn't take long. Unfortunately, she's kinda sick too, but I'm hoping that'll pass by the end of the week. Keep your fingers crossed.
06 May 2008 1900 CST
04 May 2008 2350 CST
Anyway, I have lots to write about these last few days, but it's almost midnight here and I have to be up by about 0400h tomorrow to get started. I wanted everyone to know that I'm safe, though. With some luck, I'll be home well before the end of the week. Get ready to party.
19 April 2008 1959 GMT
Actually, what I found really surprised me. One, that both of my parents and just about the rest of my fam was already on it. What was also really neat was how it was able to import contacts from gmail, AIM, etc. I had a bunch of my students on my buddy list from when I used to teach at MV, and it was pretty amazing seeing them all grown up, traveling the world, graduated from college, having kids of their own...everything. Pretty crazy, you know? Anyway, that's that. I'll buckle down in a minute and start packing. So much to do and so little time.
18 April 2008 2150 GMT
I forgot to blog about the 5K earlier this week. I finished right on track with my goal with a 23:59, pushing it to the finish line with one second to spare. I read something in a book the other day (or maybe the internet or maybe I heard it referenced in the movie or maybe I just made it up. I don't know) that horses run out of oxygen after the first half mile of the Kentucky Derby and run the rest of the race purely on instinct and desire. Isn't that crazy? That's how I usually feel during my last 30 seconds on the elliptical at the gym. I wonder if that's the same thing.
Anyway, after losing much of my earnings in the market last week and hitting the panic button a little, I made all of it back this week with a nice rally thanks to Google and Intel and all of the awesome companies that smashed earnings to help the market. Monday will be interesting. All of my calls expire this weekend, so I'll have an opportunity to sell them again come next week. I'll have an opportunity to lock in about 10% in profit for May if I want, but that also caps my possible upside. This will be a tough call. Take $5K of free money for 4 weeks or see if my instincts can earn me more? This is like that "Let's Make a Deal" scenario that Thuy brought up, but I don't get the other two options of tampons. Is it me or did anyone else wonder if the two examples in this fictional account would be fresh or used?
12 April 2008 1958 GMT
I was thinking about hitting the gym tonight, but I had a pretty good workout yesterday and I want to make sure that I buckled down and finished my book today. I have less than 20 pages left, and I want to make sure that I stay on track for my new year's resolution.
In other news, my excitement about the market took a little hit as I gave back over half of my winnings from the last few months. I'm still up about 10% since I started in February, but that doesn't feel so good after being up almost 30% just a few days ago. Oh well. The one thing keeping my spirits up is watching the date move closer and closer to options expiration next Friday...and getting closer to the month of May. Our replacements have been on the ground for a while now, and I'll soon be forced to pack the remainder of my things in my hooch and my office. And while that is kind of sad in one respect, I can think quite a few things that would be even sadder...so no complaining from me on that front.
I got an e-mail today that I wanted to share. It brought me a strange feeling of joy when I read it and I just wanted to share.
All, we have the following items in our Camp Command Cell lost and found. Please stop by the Command Cell trailer to claim them. All unclaimed items will be turned over for disposal on 15 Apr 08.
Wedding Band
Thumb Drive
4 Pairs of prescription glasses
Headphones
1 pair of black gloves
1 reflective belt
Goggles (With the name of Baker on strap) Desert colored notebook (With
name of McBane down the side) US Army bag with soap, deodorant, etc
Assorted sets of keys
Really, I have no idea why that message makes me so happy, but it was just real. I can't explain it.
Last thing. Happy birthday, Arun!
06 April 2008 2240 GMT
I just got back from a pretty decent workout at the gym. The power actually went out in half of the gym, but that wasn't until I was working on the elliptical which was self-powered (I love those things, btw). I crushed my last time by about 20 seconds, finishing my 5K on level 15 in 19:40. Considering that I actually ran my last 5K in a tad over 24 minutes, I won't get too full of myself, but I'm pretty psyched for our PT test on Friday (maybe) and the next 5K run in honor of the income tax deadline...which I've already received my return for. Bonus!
Anyway, have no fear. Except for the 2.5 lb bag of M&Ms sabotaging my healthy dieting efforts, I've been doing a pretty good job of curbing most of my snacking. I'm hoping to keep this going into the home stretch so that I get back home all buff and handsome. That plan has a 85% chance of success.
In other events, I think the "Education of Sonny Louie" has officially begun. The last few nights, the senior officers of the unit have treated me to late-night showings of Animal House, Blazing Saddles, and Caddyshack. I have to admit that it's quite eye-opening. I never realized how many random quotes from throughout the year have referred to lines from these movies; but everyone seems to enjoy pointing these things out to me, so I'll let them have their fun. It definitely passes the time.
03 April 2008 2329 GMT
Today, I was able to knock out a couple of spreadsheets I'd been putting off, and I even had some energy around 2300h to hit the gym for a bit. I even took about 20 minutes to run a 5K on the elliptical after my weight workout. That felt pretty awesome, especially with my heart racing between 180 and 200 bpm for the last ten minutes or so. We've got our last PT test next week and the "Pre-tax" 5K on the 14th, so we'll see how all of that goes. The chocolate bunnies have stopped multiplying at the DFAC, too, so my diet has started to return back to moderately healthy, with the exception of the occasional slice of pecan pie.
Oh, today, I got a chance to hang out with the Navy for a few hours. My driver from Afghanistan, aka "Battle", ended up reenlisting today, and he gave me the honor of swearing him in. Anyway, wanting something different, a bunch of the Navy guys let us aboard some of their cool boats and I got to swear Battle in while floating in the middle of the sea. It was pretty cool...then they took us for a pretty wild ride afterward. I got a little wet, but it was definitely worth it...a really good demonstration of a number of physics principles. NTS - Field trip idea. *light bulb* But yeah, bedtime. MTF
01 April 2008 2142 GMT
Anyway, the rest of the day went relatively well after that. I skipped out on a bunch of things I was planning to do this afternoon/tonight, but I'll make time for it tomorrow. I got sidetracked with another side-project that I'm kind of excited working on, but I need to make sure I take care of all of the other stuff, too. We'll see how it works out.
30 March 2008 2058 GMT
I've been spending a lot of time looking at real estate listings and watching the market lately, but I've been able to take some time to watch a couple of movies and maintain my reading pace, too. This morning, I had a really disturbing dream in which I became a zombie. Perhaps that has something to do with I am Legend and Shoot Em Up, which I watched yesterday.
As far as my web page goes, I've got no idea what's going on. The customer service for my hosting company is pretty crappy. For some reason, it gives me a strange screen when I go to hokie.us from firefox; but if I try it from IE or if I try hokie.us/index.html or anything else, it seems to work fine. Hopefully, all of you are still able to get to the page to read the infrequent updates. It doesn't help that we have a firewall that prevents me from FTPing in to troubleshoot. Oh well. Push come to shove, you can at least read the RSS feed.
Anyhoo...gonna call it an early night tonight and get some good sleep. MTF
25 March 2008 2216 GMT
More recently, I jumped back into investing, mainly with the thought of the deployment coming to an end and anticipating needing a large down payment upon my return in case I decide to purchase a new home. Yes, I could probably sell my old one, but part of me is reluctant to do so with the market where it is right now. It really is the perfect time to buy, and I don't think I've even been this close to being able to afford a single family home before.
So once again, enter the stock market. I've had my share of failures and successes with the market over the years; but if it weren't for a couple of big, big losses, I'd probably be in a different situation right now. That is to say that I've learned my share of lessons, some bigger than others. Whenever I've had an objective in mind, however, I've been relatively successful at tempering my greed and making some good money. It's been about 6 weeks since I've jumped back into the market now, starting with about 10K from my savings and eventually throwing in 25 more in the last few weeks. It's like getting back on a bike again. I've been really conservative, choosing my stocks carefully and working with covered calls for the most part. I've been happy with 10% gains here and there - sometimes 20%. Anyway, in the last 6 weeks, I've had nothing but winners so far, one small gain after another, totaling a little over 6K in profit for the month and a half. I think I daytraded google options three times, making 20%, 10%, and 20% respectively. I made about 10% with some Dell options and a similar amount with Apple, too. I also poured a bunch of my earnings into an old favorite of my dad's, AMD, which I'm holding a pretty big position in right now and working the covered call angle. I'm trying to do the same with some of my oldies but goodies, too...3Com, Micron, and Circuit City. All are pretty beat up and have some strong cash positions holding them up in light of the mortgage crisis.
The goal is to have somewhere around 100K saved up by the end of the year for a down payment...a little ambitious, I know; but you wouldn't believe how much they pay me and how much I can save up when they give my taxes back all the time. The hard part is really deciding whether or not I want to get a job when I get home. In either case, wish me luck. I'm gonna need it.
22 March 2008 1416 GMT
Anyway, as you can imagine, I'm in a pretty good mood. This is the first time in 4 or 5 or 6 years that I've actually done my taxes on time and didn't request some sort of extension due to the military and/or laziness. But hmm...I took about an hour or two of the workday to do that, so I should probably go back and knock out some work. TTFN
21 March 2008 1959 GMT
What else? I've been reading a lot more. After finishing GTD about a week or so ago, I went through two more books this week, A Lifetime of Secrets (alright, this is kind of a picture book) and Leadership and Self Deception, a really eye-opening read. I'm trying to decide on which to read next, especially with three more books heading this way in the mail next week. I've got the Now Habit, the Practicing Mind, and the 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader to choose from in the meantime. Suggestions?
It's getting hot over here, too. I didn't really realize it until I was sitting in a meeting today and a slide came up showing the weather for the next week. It's already getting into the 90s during the day, and it'll tip back over 100 next week. Crazy, huh?
Anyway, I forgot to wish Craig a happy birthday yesterday, but I'll make up for it. Happy Birthday, bro. MTF
17 March 2008 2235 GMT
Oh well...we ran the St. Patrick's Day 5K today. The whole section came out, but they didn't want to run together today. I think I push them too hard and make it not fun or something. Anyway, I finished with a time of 23:34...not too bad for an old man. My legs were killing me all day, though. That's what I get for not working cardio for almost two weeks.
I spent the rest of the day working on a pretty wicked awesome Excel spreadsheet today, projecting how much leave of various types our Soldiers will be getting and accounting for schools they'll be attending after we get home, etc. My masterpiece, though, is a calendar/map-type thing that shows the status of each Soldier for the two or three months after we get home. I was pretty proud of it when I was done. I did a bunch of things I hadn't done before, including some sweet referencing back and forth along with some pretty complicated macros I used to calculate accrued leave. The tough part was that it was semi-recursive in that they accrued more leave while they were taking leave, and that had to be tacked on to the end...but there was another type of leave that didn't count. Trust me...I'm awesome. MTF
16 March 2008 0320 GMT
Before I get to the article on VT, I run across a random dating article with a picture of two girls. One stands out because she's got tattoos all the way down her arm. I take a closer look, and it's like OMG, I know that girl. She was one of my students from my first year or two teaching at Mount Vernon. It was really weird seeing her all grown up, especially since I remember her as one of my more interesting students, the one who wore boy scout uniforms to class and gave me my URL-themed tie that she bought for me at goodwill. Anyway, I couldn't resist my urge to google her and found another interesting article on the washington post site.
But yeah, I'm trying to think of the number of coincidences it took for me to actually have that magazine in hand - the fact that the teacher that sent me the magazine was a fellow teacher at Mount Vernon who sent me the article because we were both hokies and that one of my classmates from the physics department is the brother of her husband. What?! Seriously, these types of coincidences really make you wonder, you know? Anyway, off to bed. I really hope my site doesn't stay down any longer. I'm starting to get upset.
10 March 2008 2023 GMT
In the meantime, I've been getting a lot done thanks to the book I'm reading...Getting Things Done. I've been rethinking a lot of my old procrastinating ways and setting up my system or processing to help me overcome all of that. Today, I labelled about 50 file folders and organized my e-mail folders in my inbox to once again zero out the balance. I was really happy about that. I've been adjusting my to-do lists, too, and categorizing things better so that I could better record/review/remember everything. I'm actually really excited about this because it feels like this is something I can take away and something that'll work. Additionally, it'll help me balance out my personal and professional life because this system keeps track of both of them together. I really like that concept. So just as I have folders for command, hand receipts, policy letters, and teaching techniques, I have also sectioned out areas for parenting, relationships, vacations, and purchases. Granted, the folders are all but empty right now. But the plan is to get all of the junk out of my drawers and boxes and everywhere later on this weekend so that I can sit down and process it all. Either it's something I'm going to do, something I'm going to trash, something I'm going to delegate, defer, or something I'm going to file as reference in my awesome new system. Sound good, huh? Like I said - I'm really excited.
Another thing that's started to occupy my time includes jumping back into the stock market. I don't know if it was the best time or not, but I figured there were a lot of good deals out there. I went with some of the usual suspects and even put a little money in Google today. My other investments are Apple, Dell, and AMD. We'll see how that works out for me.
07 March 2008 1740 GMT
- Wednesday Steak night
- haircut
- Thursday deadline for slides and reports
- Sunday laundry
- showering...hehe, okay...kidding on that one
I can't think of anything else at the moment, but I'm sure there are more. I'm slowly moving forward in GTD. I'm about 40% through the book right now, and I can see how putting some of the techniques in motion will help relieve some stress. I'm slowly evolving my lists so that they'll be more productive, but there's still a long way to go for me. I'm looking forward to implementing the system though. MTF
02 March 2008 1920 GMT
One of my Soldiers also got a pretty cool package from some people at Tech. He had a few extra little hokie things that handed off to me, too, including this awesome hokie periodic table of elements card for my wallet. Jealous, sibs? Yeah, I thought so. There's a website there, though. Maybe you can write the chemistry department and request one for yourself. I actually have two extra that my Soldier gave me, but it's so hard to decide between sibs...unless one of you wants to volunteer to not get one.
Anyway, it's March now, and everyone is getting excited because we're one more month closer to going home now. Hopefully, we don't start getting careless and lazy though. There's still a lot to do before we head home.
29 February 2008 2002 GMT
Anyway, it's actually been a pretty exciting last few days. Two days ago, I pulled a shift of duty pulling security for a few hours behind a machine gun overwatching an entry control point at one of our locations and rotated a for a few hours of the shift pulling gate duty as well. It was a pretty quiet shift, and there's good and bad about that. I took a few notes while I was up in the tower so that I could piece it back together to relay the experience to all of you back home.
"Denver Overwatch, amber out," I called in on the radio as the first radio check marked the one eighth mark of my first and only shift at the ####. In my first hour on shift, I'd already consumed about eight ounces of water, two pieces of spearmint gum, clipped my fingernails, answered a call on my cell phone (official business, of course), used the latrine, skimmed through the entire SOP, recited the Soldier's creed, the NCO creed, and Officer's creed, the first verse of the Army Song, and rearranged the furniture twice. Just thinking about the next seven hours on shift had me thanking my lucky stars that I didn't do that job every day.
If I were a writer or an artist, I probably could have found a better way of occupying my time. But my abilities being what they are, I spent the next hour patching together one and two-minute activities to run out the clock until I was relieved at my post.
I spent the next four hours at the gate, sharing the shift with a couple of Navy petty officers. I'd never really worked with Sailors before, so it was quite an enlightening experience. We made mostly small talk, mainly to make the time pass more quickly, but it was quite an experience for me. I also got to play a little by opening and closing a couple of big gates. It was surprisingly fun.
After four hours of that, I jumped back in the tower to spend my last few hours on shift standing back behind the machine gun. The sun was long gone already, and the skyline reminded me of just about any big city back home in the States. It was quiet and dark as we started down the home stretch.
I started by trying to sing some of my old karaoke greatest hits, to include Vanilla Ice, Stroke 9, the Refreshments, Avril, the Violent Femmes, Blink 182, Elvis, etc. I was pretty disappointed by how few of the lyrics I actually remembered. All of this was done before the half hour mark and I still had another 30 minutes before the next radio check when I started doing shoulder exercises since the late night shift gave me a reason to skip PT the next morning. I did a set of 100 military presses followed by overhead arm claps followed by lateral raises. Then I grabbed a couple of bottles of water approximating one pound weights and started over again with the military presses.
I got bored with that after a little bit and thought about the biggest fight I could rememeber having with Anna back in Virginia. I forgot exactly how it started, but she had bet me that I couldn't write the names of all 50 states in five minutes or ten minutes or something like that. It seemed simple enough, and I took the bet. But she started singing or something, which distracted me enough. I was already frustrated enough at the time, but the distractions just made it worse. We got so mad, she went out and took her dog out for a walk while I stewed. To make up for that night, I took a few minutes of my last hour on shift to start listing the 50 states. It took me six minutes. I was relieved from my post shortly afterward. End story.
25 February 2008 2012 GMT
I caught up with a bunch of people over e-mail today. I chatted with Jane on google, sent some messages back and forth with Lenny about real estate, and shot some e-mails back and forth with Brett and Meg. Brett, believe it or not, is heading back overseas again in a few weeks. And Roo just got back home a few weeks ago. Pretty crazy, huh? Virginia OCS is also celebrating its 50th anniversary later on this summer. I wonder what that's gonna be like.
Anyway, other than that, time is starting to pass very quickly as we get closer to wrapping things up. Even the days are starting to pass quickly now. In the past, the days would go by slowly, but the weeks would fly by quickly. Nowadays, everything seems to be going pretty quickly. Hopefully, it'll keep going that way.
22 February 2008 2239 GMT
Anyway, after wrapping that up, I had another conversation with the S3 that diverged a little between politics, religion, life-hacking, everything. Anyway, he's always impressed me because he reads lots of books. I've never been a big book reader. I like reading magazines and the internet. It usually isn't until I have big deployments that I have the time and structure to carve out time for reading. Anyway, as I was talking to him about goals and productivity and relationships, I was kinda going through all of the things going on in my mind and all the things I've been learning with inbox zero, GTD, etc. But in the end, he kinda summarized it all for me, and pretty much said that I need to set priorities; and that maybe my problem isn't that I need to be more productive, but that I just need to realize that I can't do everything...not exactly those words, but something like that. And I know that it is such a simple concept that I should know already. But I don't think I've really been practicing it.
My point is that the day wasn't the most productive, but I still got a lot out of it. I'll continue working my organization skills and help fight my procrastination techniques until I can finish reading all of my cool new books and figure myself out. MMTF
21 February 2008 1818 GMT
Tomorrow morning is the 5K. Looking forward to that as that also means free t-shirt. There are a couple of other small projects on the horizon that'll make the next week or two start flying as well...I hope. Oh yeah...I signed an agreement for my bonus today. That's cool. It should put about 10K in my bank account within the next month or so and another 10K in three years. Mark this day down, okay? Then in three years, I'll take you out to dinner if you remind me. I'm gonna be so happy. I've never gotten a bonus before...well, I take that back. I got a 1K signing bonus when I became a teacher. How sad is that?
Anyway, I'm gonna take off my pants now and get in bed with my book. I'll tell you all about it this weekend.
21 February 2008 0618 GMT
Yesterday, I took another PT test. I finished with a 271 (71 p/u, 69 s/u, and a 14:05 two-mile). One of our newer guys (younger, also a hokie) ended up crushing me in the first two events and kept a pretty solid pace ahead of me for the first mile before I passed him. I was pretty happy that I was able to beat him in at least one event.
Oh, and everyone was hacking up stuff after the run. Everyone in the section is sick except for me right now. It doesn't help that the air quality has been horrible for the last two or three days. There's this layer of dust that turns the air brown/orange during the day. The dust is really fine here, though, unlike Afghanistan where it was so grainy that the wind actually hurt. Anyway, that's all I've got for now, at least. Gotta head in to work. MTF
16 February 2008 2130 GMT
Recognize the style? No, me either...hehe. I do kinda regret that I didn't write a poem as sweet for Anna, but I'll make up for it later down the line...I promise.
Seriously, though, that's the last I'm going to post about VD. In other news, I started reading "I am America" by Stephen Colbert this evening. It's hilarious, especially how he slips in little comments in the margins of every page - kind of like "the Word" on his show. I'm only like 10 pages in, but hopefully the book is just as funny at the end. We'll see. MTF
13 February 2008 2140 GMT
Anyway, I did my share of thoughtful VD things this year, I think. But I figured I'd post one last cheesy expression of my love before the big day. Happy Valentine's Day, babe.
11 February 2008 1941 GMT
Other than that, I spent about an hour working on my poetry skills and doing some cheesy graphics for an article for the unit newsletter. I think it'll be enjoyable, but we'll see how the BC reacts when he reads the copy in a few days.
Oh yeah, I got this really awesome box of chocolates with a really cute card from Anna this weekend. They were boxed in styrofoam and even had ice packs inside to make sure the chocolates wouldn't melt during transport. How crazy is that? They taste pretty awesome, too. They're Godiva ones that're designed to taste like cute little pies. I've had some key lime, pecan, and apple so far. They're sooo good...and did I mention how pretty and cute they are? I mean, I'm not a girl and all; but if I were...
08 February 2008 2035 GMT
Some other developments in my life - I am starting to transition everything to gmail now. It is pretty cool, and I have to say that I am ashamed that it's taken me this long - almost two years since I've had my account, I think. But yeah, I've already transitioned about ten of my accounts, and I've got an excel spreadsheet listing all of the remaining accounts I need to change over. If I keep everything between my army and my gmail accounts, I think I'll be safe.
I also started to wander a little bit on the lifehacking sites today. I found a cute article called the Nerd Handbook, which is designed for people who love nerds. I don't think everything applies in my case, but it's a pretty good primer. It followed with a link to another article written by the same guy on Nerd Attention Deficit Disorder, another pretty funny article. I had to laugh out loud at certain points because the guy was describing me. One part that made me feel better, especially, was when he talked about hating when other people shift or resize his windows. It's hard to explain unless you're afflicted, but there is a place on the desktop for every window. Firefox takes up the most room, almost centered, but not quite. It's flush against my last column of icons on my desktop. AIM is flush to the right, with the chat window flush against it and the top of the screen. I've got my alarm clock flush and at the bottom, and my blogging window is flush against the bottom left of the screen. The other windows are just peeking out between the rest, offset just enough so that I can transition easily between firefox, blogging, AIMing, etc. It just completely ruins my mood when I let someone borrow my computer and the windows are moved. Does anyone else experience this?
Anyhoo...I'd normally stay up longer, but I'll probably head to bed soon because Anna isn't up on AIM today. I'll just transition a few more internet accounts to gmail and call it a day.
06 February 2008 2129 GMT
Just skimming through about a month or two of my old entries, I ran across the following (I know some of you weren't around for this, so these make no sense to you; but I assure you, they're all funny):
- the wood game
- picking a cast of celebrities to play my platoon in a movie
- the Scholarship
- Ultimate Blogger
- camp dodgeball championships
- "My Favorite Things" about FOB Ghazni
- the spoon game or Assassin
I guess I have a lot of fun over here, too. It probably doesn't seem as great reading from back home, though, because I don't have as much energy to always share the minor details of my life in a humorous manner...something I apparently did much better three years ago. That's something I'll work on for these last few months though. You'll see.
03 February 2008 1854 GMT
This time, I was writing about being overwhelmed, and Jane sent me a link that got me clicking on a bunch of things that eventually brought me to Inbox Zero. It started off with a book, Getting Things Done, which got me to a bunch of "lifehacking" sites and I just kept reading and getting excited. I can't believe this little pocket of awesome nerdiness had avoided my detection for so long. Basically, lifehackers are nerds of different types who find shortcuts (techy and non-techy) that make life easier/better for people and share them online...basically a nerdier, grown-up version of "hints from Heloise." Some examples of the more popular ones include Lifehacker.com, Lifehacks.org, and 43 Folders...which is where I found out about inbox zero. I watched the video today, about a one hour seminar that he put on for a bunch of people that work at Google. It's really a very simple system of processing e-mails so that you don't end up wasting time either a) reading e-mails over and again, b) leaving e-mails in your inbox without actioning them, or c) dreading responding to people because of all the e-mail you have or how long you've let them sit...stuff like that. Anyway, I have exactly four e-mails in my inbox right now, two of them requiring action by other people and two that I'll tackle in the morning. It's an awesome feeling though. I think I'm about to finally make the switch to gmail, too. I know, I know...what took me so long, right? Oh well. It's never too late.
While I was bouncing around the different lifehacking sites, I also found a couple of other books that I thought would be good. So I'm just about to finish my purchase on Amazon for the following: Getting Things Done by David Allen, the Practicing Mind by Thomas M. Sterner, and the Now Habit by Neil Fiore. So for those of you who want to do a book club, there are your choices along with I am America by Stephen Colbert.
02 February 2008 2149 GMT
On an unrelated note, I rocked monopoly tonight. A combination of awesome rolling and awesome trading helped me to a decisive victory over four other officers who will remain unnamed. Anyway, I'm gonna head to bed even though tomorrow promises to be a slow day as everyone will be resting up for the Super Bowl. Honestly, I'm not sure if I'm even going to bother watching. We'll see how it goes. MTF
01 February 2008 2227 GMT
Oh well...good news is the President just signed the National Defense Authorization Act this week, giving me an extra half percent on my pay raise for this year. That should be enough to keep my tax-free benefits and give me a 20K bonus for being awesome. That should give me a pretty nice little nest egg for when I get back.
Anyhoo...eyelids getting heavy, so it's off to bed. MTF
28 January 2008 1957 GMT
- Do not lie (this is a new one for me, but I think it's achievable. I think I averaged about one or two a month last year.)
- Complete my tax returns prior to the deadline without requesting an extension
- Budget to save for a new house; $30K before the end of the deployment; $50K if the new bonus kicks in
- (kinda related) Limit non-essential spending; $100/month to spend on self; $200/month for gifts for others
- Read for enjoyment - 2 books/month
- Score 300 on APFT
- Update the CSS on this web page so that it's compatable with Macs and IE 7
- Complete Master's degree
So what do you think? I think it's pretty doable. (wait for it...wait for it...) Oh, completely unrelated, I forgot to mention this. The other day, when I was doing laundry, I noticed a sign in the laundry room that said that the "washers aren't designed for heavy loads." Below that, a handwritten note (misspelled, btw) read, "but your mom is." What?!
26 January 2008 2128 GMT
Anyway, the rest of my day was spent working on a pretty awesome spreadsheet that (about 10 hours of it, at least), and then I circled back to the room and watched A History of Violence since I wasn't tired enough to go to bed yet. That has now changed, though, and I am ready for sleep. Good night.
25 January 2008 2200 GMT
Anyway, the night ended up being a long one. There was a point around 1:00 in the morning when the fire alarms went off without any reason. The sad part was that I was even in the office to witness that, but I was. Luckily, I'd already had my earplugs out for the last time that'd happened, and I worked through that for a little bit before turning in some late reports and then wrapping up with a little bit of counseling.
The worst part was that I ended up going to bed around 0300, but I couldn't fall asleep for a few minutes because I kept thinking about things...and it didn't help that I had to get up about three hours later. Oh well...I got out a little earlier tonight, so I should be able to get at least six hours of sleep to kick off my weekend. Sooo tired...
23 January 2008 1916 GMT
Yesterday evening, my guys gave me a present from supply. It was awesome...a beautiful logitech wireless keyboard and mouse set. It has these awesome rubberized pieces everywhere, a bunch of shortcut control keys, and some awesome scrolling features. I told my guys that it was so nice, I'd probably end up spending even more time in the office to play with it. Anyway, there's a lot going on right now, but I promised myself that I'd get a full night of sleep. So I'll follow up eventually...probably this weekend. MTF
20 January 2008 2330 GMT
Anyway, that's two famous people I've met thanks to the military now. Last time around, Henry Rollins visited our camp in Ghazni. Oh, he was smaller in real life, too. It's amazing how much magic takes place in Hollywood to make these people larger than life.
16 January 2008 2024 GMT
Honestly, I don't know how quick or slow everyone will be, but I think it'll be a lot of fun. The goal is for everyone to learn at least one or two things that'll save them some time in the future. But for most, I'm hoping it'll be 30-40 new things. We'll see tomorrow.
Other than that, I completed two of my reports early for tomorrow so that I don't have to worry too much about catching up considering it took me about two full days to prep this class. I'm also hoping that this'll get kinda contagious and there'll be other officers out there willing to take a stab to teach some things to their peers. That's really the only way for us to grow together as a team. We'll see how it goes. Much MTF
14 January 2008 2203 GMT
Anyway, the next few days will be busier again as we're getting our next round of awards recommendations in. Infantrymen aren't the best writers, and it's been an uphill battle getting everything cleaned up for submission to higher. But we're almost there. I can't wait to have this big tasking done with. Of course, our reward for getting through this will be...another big task. One day...
11 January 2008 2210 GMT
Anyhow, it's already past midnight tonight as I've squandered at least three hours tonight working on improving my spreadsheeting skills. I mean, it was time well spent, but I probably could have waited until tomorrow to work on that. Oh well. It's bedtime soon, so that'll be it for now. MTF
10 January 2008 2240 GMT
But yeah, I was on fire, and the rest of my day was pretty awesome, too. I made some headway with some reports, I pushed a few big pay issues, developed a class to teach, and even did some good mentoring. All in all, a pretty awesome day. I also came up with one more resolution to add to the list...which reminds me. I'll get to it soon. I promise. This weekend.
09 January 2008 2020 GMT
I am exhausted though. After wrapping up at 0330h last night, I got back up a little after 0600h to head to the gym for morning PT. I had a really awesome workout this morning, but I'm feeling the effects of it now. I was just nodding off at my desk a little earlier, which is why I'm actually back in my room for the night. Anyway, we're hitting another big landmark in our deployment, and it's definitely all downhill from here. The only problem is that it's only going to get busier. We'll see how well this body holds up in the next few months. MTF
07 January 2008 2157 GMT
Anyway, I'd like to give you some additional highlights from the last week, but I don't have that many. The hokies and the skins lost, so I was somewhat depressed for a few days there. Maybe that's why I buried myself in work.
On Saturday, we took a little road trip to see some our fellow Virginia Guard counterparts who are stationed elsewhere in country. That was kinda nice, catching up with them again and all. I even stopped by the PX while I was at their location. Considering one of my new year's resolutions (to be posted soon), I kept my spending to a minimum (somewhat), but I still picked up the new Killers CD as well as three long-sleeved PT shirts. Then on my way out, there was a local national there with a whole bunch of electronics equipment - picture one of those sidewalk vendors in Chinatown or something like that. There wasn't really anything I wanted, but I looked anyway. I found a digital card reader that I was considering because I'd left a cable for my digicam at home by accident. Anyway, pricetag was 15 bucks, but I played hardball and told the guy 10 dollars before making a motion to leave. I got it for ten bucks. I know I probably could have gone lower, but I'm not that good with bargaining. Anyhoo, you can look forward to some pictures in the near future. Feel lucky.
This morning, I woke up to take my PT test that I really didn't want to wake up for after going to sleep around 0130 last night after doing laundry between essential and essentialer tasks. I did surprisingly well considering, only dropping a few points in my push-ups and going up everywhere else. I finished with a 269 (68 p/u, 70 s/u, and 14:04 two-mile). I weighed in at 179.4 lbs, which was just low enough to keep from getting taped for body fat. 179 is my max, but you get to round down. Score! Yeah, I know. I started cutting down on my Caloric intake today. No more buttery grilled-cheese sandwiches for me, no matter how much I like them. We'll see how long that lasts. No, that's not a new year's resolution - just another initiative based upon my uncontrolled appetite as of late. Anyway, eyelids are getting heavy. MTF
02 January 2008 2102 GMT
On the bright side, I abused my power and moved our PT test to Monday. Hehe...no, I wouldn't do that. But there is something else that's going on Friday that coincided with the PT test, so I'll just have to watch the Hokies game instead now. Fancy that.
Other than that, not too much else exciting going on. I did get a letter from the fam from Christmas though. That was cool. It had a card with a picture of ESL, too.
Anyhoo, I've got a lot of stuff on my plate for tomorrow as everyone else in the world is starting to get back to work now. So with that, I'll head to bed in the hopes of keeping up my sleep average for the new year. So far, I'm working on 8 hours a night. Not bad, huh?
02 January 2008!!! 0459 GMT
Yesterday started off relatively boringly. I got stuck with ready room guard for the first four+ hours of my shift. That consists mainly of watching stationary equipment and making hourly calls on the radio. I kept myself entertained by cleaning my weapon and reciting my Soldier's Creed and Officer's Creed. I can get the Soldier's Creed down to about 27 seconds now and I'm just under a minute for the O-creed. I kinda wish I had the Army song with me so I could practice, but oh well. I also got a little bit of paperwork done and got a break to pick up some chili-mac at the D-fac. Hmm...okay, I got some greasy french fries, too.
The afternoon was a little more exciting. I got a chance to get behind the gun again and ride around on a short range patrol along the perimeter. The weather was perfect...just cool enough, but not cold or hot. The breeze was great and the landscape even better. It was really a great way to start off the new year.
By the time I got off shift, though, I was exhausted. I grabbed dinner with the guys and pretty much went straight to bed after that. I went to bed sometime around 1900h and slept all the way until 0545h this morning when I got up to head out to PT. I had some pretty awesome dreams, too. One of them involved me being a big bad-butt and I robbed banks and stuff. It was strange, though, because I kept dying and then coming back to have at it again.
Anyway, I just finished up a nice two-mile run with the guys. It was our first time running together outside since the weather started turning colder, and everyone seems to have lost a step. We're supposed to have a section PT test on Friday morning, but I'm tempted to cancel it...because of the Hokies playing. We'll see how that goes. MTF