NFL

at first i was upset that i'd miss most of football season. now i'm thinking it might be a blessing in disguise.

Carl Sandburg Is So Smart, S-M-R-T

recently i thought of something (i forget what now) that made me think of farside cartoons, which in turn made me think of a semi-famous quote by carl sandburg, "Sometime they'll give a war and nobody will come" it occurs to me that this is not just a very stupid idea, but a very dangerous one as well.

this gives the impression that throwing a war is like throwing a party. if no one shows up, you're just a guy with a lot of red cups. no harm, no foul. instead, war is more like a mugging.

you can be absolutely determined to not get mugged walking down a dark alley. but informing a mugger of your moral supperiority in not bringing a weapon does nothing against his weapon. you might have the moral high ground, but he has your money. he's won, you've still lost.

it takes two to tango, but only one to start a fight. if i hit you, and you refuse to defend yourself, that doesn't stop the fight, it just makes it one-sided.

now, what if a despotic government (there's still a few of those) decides to throw a war and we don't show up? U.N. resolutions declaring our superiority do not stop tanks. America is the undisputed superpower in the world, the ultimate status quo power. Every war is against us, and the only wars we lose are the ones we don't show up to.

A River Runs Through It

so, last night i went first in my platoon's boxing matches. to answer your questions, no, it didn't go well. i had a big problem of not trusting my hands to block for me. i tried pressing the "B" button, but that didn't work either. he'd swing and i'd duck, which amazingly enough left the back of my head wide open, which soon left my face wide open. i had trouble last night deciding if the back of my head hurt or if it was my nose. (it was my nose).

anyways, i was good to keep going, but the other guys didn't want me to keep bleeding on the gym floor. i had to go outside till the river stopped flowing out of my nose. (get the title now?) it was fun.

Re-up You're Crazy, Re-up You're Outta Your Mind

So, an interesting development has... developed. Right now I'm scheduled to ETS (get out of the army) in jan 2012. My best friend in the army is thinking about reenlisting to go to germany and wants me to go with him.

The down side to doing that is that i'd be in the army for an extra 2 years past my current contract and wouldn't get out until 2014.

The up side is that i'd be living in europe for 3 years. every so often the army has a 3 or 4 day weekend, and i've heard units stationed in europe get even more than those stationed in the U.S. with every part of europe within 8 hours of where i'd be, i've already figured out how conversations would go before those long weekends:

other guy: i'm bored. what do you want to do this weekend?
me: i dunno. wanna go to rome?
other guy: sure

then we'd go to rome. or athens. or venice. or berlin. or london. or moscow. etc. etc. etc.

it's a once in a life time oportunity, but i also takes 2 years from my life. i'm torn. what are your thoughts? i think i know what most of you would recommend, but i want to hear your advice anyways. let me know.

Um, What?

i got on the comp a few minutes ago and saw all kinds of things about President Obama winning the nobel peace prize. what is the world coming to when you can get one of the most prestigious awards in the world for simply saying what people want to hear but accomplishing almost none of it? every now and then i'm glad i can't follow the news like i do in the states.

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

i really have nothing. i just thought of that line (can't remember what it's from) and figured as long as i have an audience that for some reason reads whatever i write, i might as well throw it out there. fooled ya!

The Green Light of Justice

a couple of nights ago i was a gunner for a humvee during a night mission. we got bored, so my driver and i played a little game of "i spy." however, we both had NODs on, so the game went a little something like this:

driver: i spy with my little eye something green
me: is it the sand?
driver: yes


NB. NODs stands for night time ocular device (aka night vision googles) which turns everything green.

Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na

i finally got around to watching the first bit of fiddler on the roof, and it brought up an interesting question. is it bad that when watching a classic American musical, the dvd starts off a famous song with, "if i were a rich man" and my mind finishes it with "then i'd have all the money in the world..."

if you don't know what i'm talking about, good.

I Got Swine Flu...

...vacincation. all the cool kids are doing it.

Cold Wave

it's getting pretty cold here at night. people are starting to wear coats and what not. the other day, my thermometer said 66 degrees outside. brrrrr!

YAY!

so, yesterday i made the biggest purchase of my life so far... a new car! (btw, if you didn't read that with a "the price is right" voice, start over and read it the right way.)



anyways, its a 2010 ford focus SES. sterling gray exterior, charcol black interior. It comes with an alarm system, satalite radio (may or may not use), 6 CD changer, a jack for my ipod, sun roof and a bunch of other things i can't think of right now. it also has something called ford sync. not entirely sure, but i think it will make the radio/cd/ipod voice activated. very cool. at the least, it lets me make voice activated phone calls. safety first mom.