Resurgance

Sure, I keep trying to get back into writing on a regular basis, but I routinely fail. So, look, another try ... what can go wrong?

I suppose I'm looking to focus this now on what I would want my children to take away from my life, my actions, my mistakes, my opinions and my views.

I suppose I'm still in the debate process about where exactly to put these thoughts - here in a blog? On a Facebook note? I don't know really what would be best... I suppose time will tell.

The New House.

I said I’d write something about the house, so here it is!
The house is a five bedroom, two bathroom converted log cabin that sits on a small hill overlooking about an acre of front yard. There are nice big trees and a tree house out front. Just outside the kitchen is an area we will be using for a garden with flowers and our own veggies! Each kid has their own room and David and Lana will share a room that has been decorated just for them.
Now that we’re done (for now) decorating, the house looks homey. It’s a little bit tight and we had to find creative places to put wall-hangies. The fish, dog, gerbil, rat, kids and the rest of us are happy with it. The upstairs bedrooms and kitchen have skylights – which are sooooo much better than regular lights.
The kitchen feels kinda drafty, but the thermometer says it’s the same as the rest of the house. To us it feels about 10 degrees cooler in there. The kitchen is nice and big with an island that we eat dinner around and food gets prepared on.
We have a garage, but its full of stuff and there is no room for a car, much less a Jeep – besides, Jeeps like to be out in the elements. There is also a nice little barn at the end of the driveway that’s been converted into a storage shed. But, its full of stuff that isn’t ours, so for now, its just an eyesore. A little paint and polish and it’ll be pretty. The rest of the house needs some love too, but that’ll come in the spring-time with a new coat of paint, trim, garden and some minor aesthetic repairs.
The kids will love the yard – its big enough to play soccer or baseball in without having to worry about accidentally running into the street. The tree house is safe – I was leery at first – and we’re going to do it all up in a pirate theme. I’m going to add a tire swing soon.
Missoula is great, the people have great personalities, and everything is less than 10 minutes away. There seems to be plenty of geocaching to keep us happy for the time being (we just turn on the GPS when we go out and snag ones that are nearby). We even managed to finally put our OWN geocache out – its at the end of the front entrance way and is protected by a Welcome! Bear. It’s cute – all the logs say so.
The kids are doing good in school, Carmen and Emily love their class and look forward to going in the morning. Amber is doing good in school too – I think she’s ahead of her sixth-grade level and hating every minute of it. This week we are continuing in Algebra and the FOIL method of breaking out equations. We’re going to slow down the math after this because I want her to really KNOW the stuff, not just be able to muddle through. And, if I go too much faster, I’ll be learning just as much as she is.
As a side note – she’s a geek – she knows Pi to twelve places. And on top of that, she’s fashionable and trendy. The modern-day renaissance-girl.
Girl Scouts is back on in full force (SO IF YOU WANT COOKIES, LET ME KNOW), and Amber has already had her first overnighter and is selling cookies. He have to drive to Spokane or Great Falls to find a decent supply of GS stuff. So, that’s another thing to tack onto the list of things we’re doing in Spokane.
1. Get meat on post at Fairchild AFB Commissary – its too damned expensive here!
2. Get smokes there too – same reason.
3. Get Girl Scout stuff in Spokane – none here.
4. Find geocaches we haven’t found.
5. Visit family and friends.
On a side note, Little Cesears $5 hot-and-fresh pizzas are the best deal. For $20 you get twice what you would get for delivery and it takes half the time. Especially in Missoula where you could drive from one end to the other and back in 30 minutes.
We actually got all of our stuff into the house and garage. We are thinning our junk out, so that’s another bonus of being here.

I swear I'm not a shallow person...

BUT, after coming to Missoula, I’ve noticed that there seems to be a disproportionately high number of people with … UMmmm … GREAT personalities! (…I’m sure, although I haven’t talked to all of them). It seems that this area has either attracted a certain fringe element of the population that feels very comfortable here, or maybe it’s just that all of the less attractive personalities have left. Either way, it strikes me as odd.

Now, I’m not saying that my personality is much worse, but, I think that my personality definitely drops the average of the area a point or two. Maybe it’s just that the areas of town I go to (shopping centers, Wal-Mart, the University, etc) are where the great personality people hang out more. I was even surprised at the high number of excellent personality people at the University. I would have thought that there would have been a disproportionate number of very bad personalities there, but that’s not what I’ve found.

Anyway, that’s the extent of my rambling for now.

PS – If you live in Missoula – I’m definitely NOT talking about you. I’m sure your personality is worse than or equal to mine.

A Long Week

Last Sunday, I was sitting in my two-bedroom apartment, spinning my wheels, waiting for Monday. Funny, on the weekends, nothing can really get done. So, even though there was a TON of stuff that really needed to be done, it couldn’t be done because it was Sunday. So, to kill the monotony, we did some last-minute geocaching, bringing our total up over 10 for South Carolina and changing the state color from light blue to darker blue! Go us! I’m pretty sure I also played some Call of Duty 4 on the PS3 and brought the terrorist population of the Earth down a few notches. The week ahead looked long and hard, so we all deserved one more day of break.

Monday rolled along and the movers showed up around 0900. We still didn’t know when the driver would be there to pick the stuff up, but it needed to be packed up first anyway. The “packers” consisted of one actual “packer” and one older lady who would be better described as a “sickly sitter, watcher, and-sometimes-move-stuff-around-er.” The first thing she did was plop herself into our office chain and ask that we turn the heat up. Well, it was February in Georgia, so 50 WAS a bit chilly. I think later on she started packing, but never really finished anything. The actual “packer” did all the work. The “sitter” also managed to mislabel half the boxes with the wrong name. She did make an effort to pack up the scrapbooking stuff, but only found two of the three cabinets (somehow she missed the one in the middle – between the two she DID pack up).

We bought pizza for lunch (Little Cesears $5 Hot-and-Ready pizzas are the best cheap food out there – and faster than McD or any other greasy place). When they were done, we tipped them $20. While they were finishing up the packing, the driver said he had pulled some strings and would be at our apartment first thing in the morning (Tuesday). That was as good as we could expect, so we settled in to pack up the important stuff we were taking with us (all the REAL electronics – computers, PS3, PS3, WII, projector, etc). After much tetris-like manipulation, we managed to get it all into two foot-locker type boxes and even packed up the car-topper for the Jeep (**our undying thanks to Stella back at Fort Carson for providing it to us dirt cheap!). We also managed to get a couple more geocaches in that night!

The driver arrived right on time at 0700 Tuesday morning and proceeded to move stuff to the truck. He brought a couple of good workers (the one good packer from the day before – must have left the sickly lady to her bed rest – and two other workers). By 0900, they were mostly done, and we had even packed up the Jeep and the car with stuff. Both vehicles were cram packed full of stuff – as usual for our trips. First the electronics boxes and laser printer went into the back of the Jeep (priorities!) and then the animals (one gerbil, one rat, and two goldfish) went into the back of the Jeep. There wasn’t a lot of room for the rodent cages and the rat (Raindrop) ended up at a 45 degree angle. Oh well, it was that or nothing! We also couldn’t find a cap for the top of her cage – but, because it was at the top, we weren’t worried about it – what was she going to do, fly out?

As the driver finished packing up, I ran out and dropped off the Comcast box. As it turns out, the people on the online chat have no idea what they are talking about when they say you can drop it off at the nearest pay-station. The poor Party-Dollar store people had no idea what I was talking about. But, they were happy enough to direct me all the way across town to the actual Comcast office. Once I got there, it was a quick and easy drop and go.

When I got back to the apartment, things were just finishing being loaded up. Once they were done, we did a quick sweep of the house, looking for things we might have missed and then jumped in the vehicles to start our trip.

The first stop was back at Fort Gordon so I could turn in my final clearing paperwork and so we could gas up both vehicles (and pick up the last cheap cigarettes!). It was a quick stop and we headed up the road to the weigh station, where, after a few minutes of confusion over what we were doing, we were finally on the road. It was 1200EST.

The seating arrangement was this – in the Taurus, Sarahann rode alone (the car was packed with stuff though). In the Jeep, I drove while Amber navigated (or rather, played the computer, slept, and changed the radio station 4000 times), Carmen and Emily road in the middle row.

I led the first portion of the trip. We used hand-held radios for short range comms and if those we’re too far apart, we had cell phones. The first 20 minutes we spent figuring out how far off our speedometers were. Hers said she was going 75 and (at the same speed), mine said we were going 60. The reason for the difference is because she has bigger tires on her car than she should and so do I. Why they are that far off, I don’t know. We settled into a good speed with the Jeep speedometer reading 66. That’s right about where my V8 drops down into its fuel-saving mode and cruises along on four cylinders – so I was happy – my MPG actually got above 17 for awhile. We hadn’t gone far when I noticed that the Taurus wasn’t right behind me and shortly after that I got a call on the cell phone. Sarahann said one of the tires had gone flat and was shredding. She was pulling over. I told her I would be right there. I found the next turn around (really, just a worn dirt path in the median that cops use to turn around on the interstate) and whipped around. I probably slowed down a little too quickly and the fish sloshed around a bit. Once I saw her on the other side of the interstate, I found the next turn around and eventually came up behind her. I parked the Jeep and went to see what the issue was.

As it turns out, her tires are too big for her car. When she makes a tight turn, loaded down, the inner part of the tire rubs on something in the wheel well and cuts it. The sound of the tire going flat and shredding was a piece of rubber about 2 cm wide and 6 inches long that had pulled loose and was flapping around the wheel-well. Some of the wire threads were showing. The only spare tire we had was a donut and you can’t go across the country on one of those. The tire was still holding air, so I cut off the offending rubber strip and hoped for the best. We also deflated the tire a little bit in order to reduce pressure on it. Yes, I know it wasn’t perfectly safe – but, look, we made it didn’t we?

Our first fuel point was in Chattanooga, Tennessee – right on the Georgia-Tennessee border. I can go approximately 300 miles on my 20.5 gallon tank, so that’s how we planned out the stops. We just got gassed up and drove on. Once we were just north of the Alabama border we dropped down off the interstate, crossed into Alabama and grabbed a geocache – checking Alabama off the list. Basically, we planned our route and then planned some geocaches along the way to maximize our productivity.

Our next stop was Paducah, Kentucky for a cache and gas. Our cache there was outside in a hospital parking lot and it was roughly cold as hell. In fact, it was pouring freezing rain and the cache was a small (3/4”) metal cylinder attached a chain link fence. We had to break ½” of ice to get to it. And it was night, so finding it was fun. Kentucky got marked off. We got dinner there also.

The roads were mostly clear, a little ice here and there, but nothing really to worry about. We cruised along without incident to our next cache in Vienna, Illinois. It was late and dark when we pulled into town and I think the power was out because there were no lights on at all. I brought up the cache in the GPS and we pulled over into a park and were within 400’ of it. It looked like a nice little park playground, but it was covered in snow and ice. I ran across the ground and was nervous because the ice kept cracking little I was walking on a frozen stream that was going to give way. My flashlight bobbed a little bit of light ahead of me and I ran around in circles, following the cache-seeking arrow on the GPS. First it was here and then there, finally I came to a little rock pile. I am certain the cache was in there, but the rocks were frozen solid together. I left, disappointed that we wouldn’t be able to mark Illinois off our caching list.

We pulled off into a rest area for our first night. Sarahann hopped into the front seat of the Jeep and Amber went into the back seat. In the morning, we woke up and I pulled out the laptop while everyone went potty and I found another Illinois cache outside of St. Louis, just down the interstate a few miles. It was supposed to be quick and easy. Once we got going, I programmed it in and we pulled off and found it no problem. Illinois was saved!

In St. Louis, we transitioned from I-24 to I-70 heading West. Our next cache was in Missouri. It was a Firefighters Memorial virtual and I took the Jeep and the kids off the appropriate exit while Sarahann continued on down the road towards Kansas City. The cache took maybe 5 minutes, and we were back on the Interstate, but now we were 10 minutes behind Sarahann. Between Kingdom City and Kansas City, we made up 3 miles, but entering the city we were still 7 miles behind. Luckily, there was road construction and Sarahann came almost to a stop. By the time we actually reached the city limits, I was maybe ½ mile back and well within radio range.

Our next cache was just west of Kansas City, in Kansas. I actually passed Sarahann during the road construction because I happened to pick a lane that moved faster. So, I got into the city serpentines before she did and somehow managed to stay on I-70 even though it wanted to go this way and that way and branch into I-70 alternates. I made the appropriate exit and got into the parking area where the cache was. By this time, Sarahann had gotten into the city and accidently taken an I-70 alternate and was looking for a way to get back to the real I-70. While I was talking to her about that, the kids took the GPS and went and found the cache on their own. We traded travel bugs there (A Recipe Book Bug for a fishing Bobber Bug). By the time the kids had put the cache back away, Sarahann had found a road leading up to us and we decided to meet at a Taco Bell off the interstate. I got back on the Interstate, took the next exit and just about that time, Sarahann’s Taurus pulled right in behind me – perfect timing. We grabbed gas and a potty break and got back on the road. Kansas was geocache complete.

Just north of Pacific City, Iowa we turned off into a rest stop and snatched up a quick cache. We grabbed a Geocaching coin bug to move on its way. Iowa was done.

Next we took the 480 into Omaha, Nebraska and darted out to grab a quick cache in the downtown area by the arena. Back on the road in no time and headed north. The next stop was Sioux City, Iowa for gas and food. I’m not found of Sioux City – it’s a bit too industrial and cramped for me. We wandered around town for a few minutes looking for the road back to the Interstate. After awhile we found it. By this time, Sarahann was leading the way in the Taurus, and I followed her. Generally I would stay a few hundred meters back, just cruising along, trying to find the sweet spot for mileage. Once it got cold – below freezing – the mileage dropped off (sometimes down to below 12) and we had to get gas more often.

The roads were mostly clear and dry for the whole trip. The only part that wasn’t was the section between Sioux City, Iowa, and Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I didn’t sense anything wrong with the road, but it was pouring down freezing rain that turned to ice on my windshield until I kicked the defrost up to high – then it was ok. The Jeep is 4x4 All-Wheel Drive all the time, so I didn’t notice any slippage at all, even on the icy road. Sarahann’s Taurus is front wheel drive and pretty good in all weather, but the tires are a little worn and she was feeling some sliding – so we slowed down. There were too many abandoned cars to count in the median. So I knew that it must have been slick – kudos to Jeep for making a vehicle that sticky. I credit a lot of its stickiness to the Bridgestone AT Dueler REVO tires also – I can’t get that thing to slide no matter how hard I try.

Once we hit I-90 in Sioux Falls, we headed east (yeah, I know, wrong way) because we were so close to Minnesota, we could grab a cache and be on our way. We took the first exit into Minnesota, drove a couple miles south and pulled to within 50’ of the next cache. It was cold as a hell outside (roughly 9 degrees according to the onboard thermometer), so out cache hunt was short and furious. We finally found it and got back in the Jeep. Minnesota complete.

We were already ahead of schedule by about a day – thanks to fantastic road conditions and very cooperative weather. So, we stopped in the rest stop just east of Sioux Falls. That night was the most interesting one we had.

Every night, we checked on all the animals in the back to make sure they were doing ok. They always were. But, that night, I asked Emily to check on them and she exclaimed that, “Raindrop is out of her cage!” I looked back and, sure enough, there the rat was, sitting on top of a pillow, overlooking all that was going on in the truck. I had no idea how long she had been out. But, she seemed pretty comfortable back there. Eventually, I got out and chased her around the back of the Jeep until she finally got tired of running and voluntarily went back into her cage. I put a towel over the hole and hope she wouldn’t eat through it. We went to sleep.

Sometime in the night, Emily exclaimed that Raindrop was out again. Crap. She was apparently trying to play with the fish because she was in the plastic box that we put the fish tanks in. I had a vision of seeing a floating rat in the fish tank and knew we had to find a way to keep her in her cage. This time, Sarahann chased her around the Jeep until the rat got bored and got back in her cage, waiting I’m sure for us to go back to sleep so she could go about her business. We needed to find a way to keep her in. I used my MacGyver-esque powers of ingenuity and eventually came up with the idea of shoving an empty Mountain Dew bottle into the hole. It fit, barely, and we went back to sleep.

In the morning, I had a cache to find. The GPS said it was 300’ away, out towards the back of the rest area. The rest area was covered in snow and ice and the thermometer said it was 1 degree. Cold. After everyone got back from the bathroom, I grabbed some work gloves (not warm), bundled up in my sweatshirts and ran off through the frozen snow field, following the ever-bobbing arrow. I ran about half way and started falling knee-deep into the crusty snow. I couldn’t run anymore and just trudged through the last 150’ feet. The wind was whipping through me, sapping any sense of warmth and my hands were freezing – even with the gloves. Finally I came within 10’ of the cache (according to the GPS) and looked around. Everything was covered in snow. Here and there a tree poked through and I was dismayed, knowing I would have to dig to the base of the trees to find the cache. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the green corner of an ammo can, poking through the snow. Elated, I pried it from the frozen ground and popped it open. I quickly snatched out a travel bug, rescuing it from the cold and signed the log. I replaced the cache and started back towards the vehicles. When I got back, I through the cache bag into the truck and started to warm my hands by the heater. I think I had borderline frostbite on one finger. It was numb. That was my coldest cache, ever. But, South Dakota was complete – and it was our last cache of the trip!

We thought we would be able to drive through to Missoula that day and we almost made it. We drove hard, gassed up in Mitchell, SD and Rapid City, SD. From there, we thought we could make it to Sheridan, Wyoming before gassing up again. It was only 245 miles, but the cold weather and hill terrain was taking a toll on my gas mileage. If we had to, we could get gas in Gillette or Buffalo, Wyoming, but we really wanted to get to Sheridan. Somewhere in South Dakota we saw a car that had fallen off an off or on ramp and had slid down a steep embankment. The police and tow trucks were there trying to get it upright.

When we got to Buffalo, my gauge reading almost empty and the onboard “miles to empty” was reading 6. The fuel light hadn’t come on yet, and I knew that once it did, I only had about two gallons left – which translates to between 20-30 miles. When the sign said we had 21 miles to Sheridan the “miles to empty” said 0 and my fuel light had come on about 4 miles before. We were driving on borrowed fumes. We pushed on, I babied the throttle and coasted when I could. Finally, we were only 6 miles from a gas station and the atmosphere was tense. I read off the miles as we went, letting Sarahann know how we were doing. Finally, we made it to Sheridan and pulled off the interstate. For a small town, there sure was a lot of traffic we had to wait for to get to the station. I was concerned that I might run out of gas, right there in front of the station. And no matter how close you are, a 7000 lb Jeep, loaded with tons of stuff isn’t easy to push. But, we made it to the pump and filled up again – our second to last tank before home.

We drove on through, hoping to get to Missoula that night, but after gassing up in Bozeman, we were pretty certain we would need to rest. We stopped at a rest stop about 200 miles from home. In the morning, we woke up, and drove on into town without incident. We had made it to Missoula and had been on the road for almost exactly three days.

Everyone survived the trip, although one plant is in critical condition. We hope for the best.

I haven’t shaved since Thursday the 7^th and am beginning to look scruffy.

More to follow about our new house in the mountains...

Horrific Train Accident!

Today I witness not one but TWO terrible train accidents! I watched in kid-like delight as an old train rolled down a track on a slight decline because old trains are cool. The train tracks were very old as well, they seemed like they had been there forever. I was dismayed when the train accelerated down the track and was gaining speed as it raced towards a near 90 degree turn not far from the end of the track! What made it even worse was that the turn was on the edge of a very steep, very long fall to an unknown, but certain, destruction below. I made myself relax because I figured that many hours of research and experience had gone into the design of the track and the train and that everything would be ok. The train would hit the turn and gracefully leap around it (as I’m sure it had done thousands of times before). Still, as the train (engine only, it was pulling no load) hurtled towards the turn I nearly had to turn away because of the sense of impending horror. But, you know what they say about train-wrecks.

It all seemed to happen in slow motion. First the train was going way too fast for the turn (the fault of the train designer or the track architect or maybe even an engineer inexperienced in that part of the track – why isn’t important until the investigation). When it entered the turn, it became clear that it never had a chance. The forward momentum of the engine quickly surpassed the gravitational coefficient that kept the train safely on the track and it veritably launched itself from the track, flipping end over end as gravity took hold, dragging the engine into the vast chasm. A loud crash heralded the arrival and sudden stop of the engine with the unforgiving Earth. Afterwards, it was deathly silent. I looked around to see if anyone else had seen the catastrophe; only my wife was around and she looked at me and shook her head slowly (in shock, horror and dismay, I am sure).

So, I went over and picked up the little toy engine that had fallen off the track of the wooden train set in the kid’s section of the Barnes and Nobel and set it back on top of the highest part of the track (facing the other down-slope). With a slight push, I set in motion the events that led to the second accident – which was very similar to the first. I guess the track architect at Barnes and Nobel wasn’t taking into consideration all the physics involved with track design when he put that one together.

PS3 vs. WII

If you care, here’s my spin on them. I prefer the PS3 to the WII. I have both and have played both and I like both – but if there was a room with a PS3 and a WII, I’d be on the PS3 much much more. Here’s why:

The PS3 is a more powerful console system capable of so much more than it is currently being asked to do. The expandability of it is phenomenal and it will be around for many many many years to come. Even in three years, it will still be one of the more powerful systems available (if not THE most powerful). The PS3 is a very adult system and it has expensive tastes. With games at $60, maybe it will keep the riffraff out of the online rooms! The controllers are expensive, but actually less than the WII if you add in both of the controllers you need for the WII (nunchuck and wiimote). The fact that the PS3 has a built-in Blu-Ray player is just icing on the cake. Sony knows how to keep their products in the main stream and the PS3 will be no exception.

On a side note – I don’t get to play as much as some, but I do play more than others. Sometimes I go for a long stretch without playing at all. I say that to say this – the games on the PS3 seem like they are still finding their footing. The games I’ve played have been short and not too hard to beat (maybe I’m just THAT good???) – including Resistance, Call of Duty 4, Assassins Creed and Uncharted. Once the developers realize what power the PS3 has and how to use it effectively, the games will only get better and more challenging.

The WII is fun and more interactive. A lot of the games have focused more on the controls, rather than the games and it shows. Granted, I do work up a sweat playing the WII (what can I say, I’m competitive). The WII is great for kids (14 and under) – older than that and it will quickly turn into a fad system. Its great for my kids as they are now. I have some other friends who swear by the WII, but, there is no accounting for taste. Maybe I just haven’t played the more adult games…

Class Dinner

The best things about SCCC were the people I was in class with and the networking that they bring. Because of this course, I have contacts in Egypt, Korea, Alaska, and numerous other places. It’s good to know that if I want to go to Egypt, I can call up Mady and he’ll hook me and my family up.

I have to say that the biggest aid to my success (I got an “A” for the course) here was my lovely wife – without her, I wouldn’t have anywhere near as many contacts as I do now. Her unending supply of baked goods (brownies, Frankenstein Bars, Fudge (Diet [with marshmallows] and Regular) were instrumental in raising my social standing throughout the class.

In fact, during the class dinner, she was the ONLY spouse recognized by the class for her support to it. She received some beautiful, fragrant flowers and numerous compliments on her goodies! But, even after having received her accolades and class cheers, she wasn’t done. During the evening, she charmed the Egyptian Commander out of a papyrus depiction of Ra, Isis, Anubis and his helper and a promise of an Anubis statue – and all with a pretty smile, intelligent conversation about old Egyptian religion and a well spoken Arabic greeting (Sa’alam Alaikem).

After dinner, we went out for our traditional “Sonic” dinner! Normally, Army functions (balls and events) have a lame dinner consisting of some minute portion of meat and some goo that passes for veggies – so we’re starving by the time we leave. This function was slightly different in that the dinner was good. It was a buffet style dinner with a huge slab of red meat! It was good. We still went with tradition. We had some cheese sticks and creamcheese bites!

SCCC 0707

As my time at Fort Gordon and the Signal Captain Career Course comes to a close, I decided to make time in my very busy schedule (playing Assassins Creed, Uncharted, Call of Duty 4 and correcting Amber’s school-work, making up her math work and technology work, beginning my Master’s program, and everything else, EXCEPT Army stuff) to jot down a few things about it.

For this course, there is either too much time, or not enough. If the course is just about “familiarizing” us with the equipment and general concepts it’s too long. If we are supposed to learn and retain all that we are taught, it’s way too short. While I could probably identify most of the things we talked about, if I were to take all the tests again, I probably would pass 50% of them or so.

The worst part about the course was the stupid “GEL” program that we were guinea pigs for. Basically, they took out the good MDMP (Military Decision Making Process) course (arguably the most important part of the entire course) and put in a new fangled “learning model” that taught us a lot, did a lot of good practical exercise and then tested us with a test that we were unprepared for. 95% of the class failed the test.

Another part of the GEL process was the CAX (Combined Arms Exercise). Basically, we are given a Brigade level mission (for us it was Stability Operations in Azerbajain) and told to put everything together. We had to go through the MDMP process (Receive Mission, Analyze Mission, Develop Courses of Action, Wargame a couple of them, decide on one and prepare a brief for the Commander and brief it). We were lucky in that our evaluators were helpful and not crazy. One group had an evaluator that kept them redoing things until 8-10 pm. Just for stupid stuff. The worst part about it was that the GEL people were “observing” us. Like you would monkeys at the zoo. Eventually, we gave ourselves monkey titles (Monkey One, Monkey Two, Blonde Monkey, etc). I think we upset the observer, but what could she do? They weren’t allowed to interact with us at all.

We didn’t really have any “field time” and weren’t even issued gear. The only time I went out to the field at all was during a required “mentoring” session with new LTs who were attending the BOLC (Basic Officer Leader Course). My time was 10pm-12am. When I got there, it was smoky and I was told that there had been a fire out in the forest since the day before caused by a flare. Because it was really smoky, I went out to see how bad it was. It wasn’t big, but it wasn’t small either. When it flared up and was throwing up five foot high flames, I led some of the enlisted NCOs out and we threw sand and dirt on the flames until they died back down. The fire flared up about three times during my couple hours out there. The rest of the time out there I just talked to the LTs and answered any questions they had about the “real” Army.

The best non-tool tool.

For those who may take apart things (like computers) with small metal parts (like screws), this may be the best non-tool tool: the Glade(?) candle holder with the magnetic bump in the middle (picture to follow someday if I do it before I forget about it). That thing is the best. You take out a small screw, and instead of putting it on the table, where is rolls around and falls on the floor when one of the kids bump the table, you put it in the little candle holder where it rolls happily to the center and sticky magnetically (magically?) to the bump in the middle. And its still there when you either begin to put the computer back together or give up. It’s a bonus if you give up because you have a few extra screws to add to your collection of screws that, at one time, came from some piece of equipment, but when you reassembled it, found its service was no longer required. Its also pretty neat that when you randomly drop the screws into the conveniently elevated surface (keeping it safely above the general clutter that might be your work area), they sometimes make cute little magnetic sculptures.

And, when you aren’t voiding warranties, you can burn the little candles in them and make the place smell good.

NEVER EVER DO EAR SURGERY ON YOUR KIDS

First – NEVER EVER ATTEMPT IMPROMPTU EAR SURGERY ON YOUR CHILDREN, OR ANYONE ELSE’S. EARS ARE VERY DELICATE AND FRAGILE AND UNLESS YOU ARE ONE OF THOSE DOCTORS, YOU ARE STUPID TO TRY IT.

Second – That being said, here’s some tips:
1. Get good lighting – a maglight with fresh batteries works great.
2. Get a good view of the obstruction – before you begin any work, make sure you see the problem and identify it correctly. Be at least 90% sure you actually see the problem. It helps to have a reference ear to look at. Books are nice, but rarely resemble the real thing. If you can look in a different child’s ear to see what its SUPPOSED to look like, that’s good.
3. A Leatherman tool is too big.
4. The hook on a nail file (from toenail clippers) doesn’t work – it doesn’t hook enough.
5. Two small flat-head screw drivers are the right size, but the handles are too big and I only have two hands.
6. Good old fashioned tweezers work well and are easy to handle.
7. Having other children hold the patient’s ear doesn’t work well because they get distracted easy.
8. Make sure you take away the Leatherman from the other children – they might try to pinch your patient causing them to jump.
9. If you can’t get a good grip on the obstruction, first pour water in the ear to soften the obstruction and help it expand outwards – making it easier to grab.
10. You have to be good at holding the ear at the right angle and the maglight in the right place at the same time (with the same hand) - practice makes perfect.
11. Make sure you get everything out.

Third - NEVER EVER ATTEMPT IMPROMPTU EAR SURGERY ON YOUR CHILDREN, OR ANYONE ELSE’S. EARS ARE VERY DELICATE AND FRAGILE AND UNLESS YOU ARE ONE OF THOSE DOCTORS, YOU ARE STUPID TO TRY IT.

Mini- Vacation

Mini-Vacation

We just got back from a mini-vacation! It was without a doubt one of the best mini-vacations we've had. It all started with a thought to go down to Savannah this weekend and just have fun. Then, we found out that there was a World Wide Flash Mob going on at the park and so the mini-vacation began to revolve around that!

Our plan for the trip to Savannah really only had two missions: 1. Go to the WWFM and 2. Have fun. We succeeded.

After school and dinner we drove down Friday night to Savannah, looked for a place to stay, saw one that was too expensive and then one that wasn't expensive enough and eventually ventured back out of the city a few miles and grabbed a nice middle-of-the-road hotel. The kids love hotels - I have no idea why. We went to bed.

While at the hotel, we discovered that there were three geocaches in the immediate vicinity that would be a great start for our geo-cation (geocaching + vacation) the next day. We planned them in.

We woke up at 0800 and had some breakfast at the hotel and then checked out at 0930. We picked up three geocaches in Pooler and headed into Savannah. First we crossed over the big bridge and headed out for an off-road cache that was by far the most off-road terrain we've been in since we left Colorado. It had dirt, trees, mud, sand, hills and spiders. And it was the first time the Jeep had expereinced soft deep sand - which it handled with no problem, and at the end, was even playing in it!

We damned near drove up to the cache, dogged some spiders and headed back out. The spiders were big and sneaky, having put up webs between trees and just waiting for some hapless person to wander into them. I doubt they could have eaten one of us, but just in case, we left the kids in the Jeep.

On the way out, we played with the Jeep in the mud and the sand and then took off. We must have caught some rocks or something in the brake because it squealed on and off the rest of the day.

After getting the Jeep all dirty we drove into Savannah and parked by the big, famous cemetary. There is a cache nearby, so we grabbed it and then began our walk to the WWFM. The mob event went off without a hitch and we even won a container to place our own cache! When the event was over, we walked around Savannah and gathered up some more caches and historical sites.

My girls are all Girl Scouts, so we went and saw the first Girl Scout Headquarters and the birthplace of Juliette Gordon Low (the Girl Scout founder). Then we hopped back in the Jeep and headed out to Tybee Island.

On the island, we found even more caches and played on the beach and in the Atlantic Ocean (for the record, its our second ocean visit of the year - the first was the Pacific off the California coast).

It was dark when we found our last cache (and the skull of some dead animal nearby) near a swamp. It would have been very hard to find any more in the dark, so we headed back to Savannah and picked up two Virtual Caches (caches without a physical container - just a place). When all was said and done, we had finished 16 more caches! Whoo hoo! A new one day record for us!

We drove home safe and sound and everyone is now fast asleep - for the most part. A great mini-vacation!

Waiting to grow up

When I was a young kid, before I was eight, my father was the biggest, bestest person in the world. He was my hero, everything I looked up to and wanted to be - he was a man. Then, tragically, he died in a car accident. It was, of course, very hard on me. But, moving on from the saddness, I've noticed some things.

Even though I got older, grew up and learned more about life and all that, my dad never did get any older, he was frozen in time - by my perception - and for me, he was that "ideal" person and he will be, forever. Is that good or bad, I think it can be both. A lot of people grow up and realize that their parents aren't the superheros who can do anything and who know everything - my dad still is. I never had a falling out or anything like that - every memory I have is a positive one (even the time I got spanked, because I knew I had done wrong). So, even as I grow up and get older and, theoretically, wiser, my dad is always better, he is near perfect - someone I strive to be. I know I can never achieve an ideal that exists only in a 7 year old's perception, but I can try.

Would my dad be proud of all I've done up til now? No, probably not, just like I'm not. But would he understand? Absolutely. He's been there and done that. Would he have told me not to do thing because he knew they would be bad for me? Probably. And I probably still would have done them. Its hard to learn from other's mistakes because we always think it'll be different for us. Usually its not. I think that is part of the frustration that parents have as their kids grow up, knowing that the kid will eventually regret what they are doing, but being unable to convince them of the fact and probably even being shunned because of it. Most people usually need to learn things for themselves, the hard way.

But, back to my point. Recently, I've run into a paradox with my dad. He will always be older and wiser; however, back in September of this year, I became older than him. So now, I have lived longer, experienced more (theoretically), but he is still older and wiser (in my mind). It's a strange feeling to be older than your parent.

And now, looking back, I KNOW that my dad was a man when he was my age - it was without question and I'd laugh if anyone said that he might not feel the same way. But, here I am, older than he and I wonder sometimes whether or not I've grown up. All the evidence would point to my indeed having become a man at some point in the past 30 years: I have 5 kids, a decent job, a college education, I've been to combat, been shot at, and someone has tried to blow me up a couple of times, and all my bosses say I do a great job. So, I think the evidence would point to my having become a man at some point in there. I just don't feel it. I feel like a kid still - waiting to grow up. And, like a kid, I blame my dad. =)

Growing older

Its hard for me to admit that I may, indeed, be growing older. Its crazy, I know, but apparently time has not stopped for me. I can't really be growing older, because I'm still waiting to feel like an adult. When exactly does that happen I wonder?

Anyway, the first inkling of growing older for me was not too long ago - I was running, as usual, when I developed a severe pain in my left calf. It hurt like hell, but I sucked it up and finished what I had planned to run, thinking the pain would go away. It didn't and I limped the last 1/4 mile. After that, it took about two weeks of resting and babying it for it to get better and only recently (within the last week) did it stop hurting all-together. That was the first sign of old. The second came just this last Friday (yesterday) when I was playing football. I was doing great, feeling good, jumping around, running, shucking, jiving and all that good stuff. But, near the end of the game, while I was returning a punt, I zigged this way and zagged that way, but when I zagged, I also tried to accellerate and pushed off hard on my left leg. I felt like something snapped in my upper left hamstring, and luckily someone was there to tag me so I didn't look like I hurt something - but I couldn't run at all. There were only a couple of seconds left on the clock, so I took the snap off the shotgun and pretended not to hurt (so the guy wouldn't rush in right away). I threw the ball deep into the in-zone and thankfully the receiver caught the ball. So, we won the game - thats the important part. The not so important, but much longer lasting, part is the fact that I limped off the field. I had never felt pain like it before, it was very unsettling, but I was sure it would go away - it always does.

Now, I sit here typing and my leg still hurts! I can't flex it much one way or the other before it hurts. I hope it too will go away (the pain, not the leg) once I rest it some more and take it easy. But, two relatively serious muscle injuries in a two week period isn't good. And I think its happening because I'm getting old. My poor body is breaking down and isn't recovering as fast as it once did.

I just found out another thing today that makes me feel older - someone I knew in high school (a teacher), just passed away. She was a great person who I could actually credit with first encouraging the questioning of what some people consider to be facts, when they are really beliefs. I'm sure she didn't know it, but our discussion way back then about an apparent flaw in the whole science/religion thing has always stuck with me and given me the keyhole to look through religion and to see what is behind the curtain. I'm pretty sure she'd be dissapointed in how that turned out, because it wasn't what she believed. But, I hope she could take some credit for allowing me to question the belief and to hold it up to some scrutiny without simply putting it down, thereby encouring myself and others to seek the truth and to not settle for what is fed to us.

I hope Ms. Hazelbaker has found what she was looking for and may she rest in peace.

Took the GRE

On Thursday I went in to schedule my appointment to take the GRE (Graduate Record Examination). On Friday morning I was in the quiet little enclosed room, looking at a computer monitor as it asked me questions about trains leaving Detroit and how the views of women's research has changed in the past 100 years.

Before I get deeper into the thing, let me tell you how I came to need to take the test. When I was in Iraq, about a 1 3/4 years ago, I filled out a little form that said I wanted to be part of the Army Advanced Civil Schooling program. If I was accepted to the program, the Army would allow me to go to a University and get a Master's degree in virtually whatever I wanted. How could I not jump on the chance? Well, soon after I got back home, I discovered that I had been accepted into the ACS program and was eligible to go to ACS in FY2009 (October 2008 or later). That was great news, and I put it on the back burner because it was far away. I knew I had to take the GRE, but I had a long time to study, so why worry about it.

After that we moved to Georgia for the Career Course. Once I saw what crappy assignments were coming out of here, I talked to my Branch Manager and got my ACS slot moved up to the FY2008 - so I can go straight to school from SCCC. I applied to some schools and then I needed to take the GRE. My "preparation" for the GRE was to get a GRE book from the library and make sure it held the coffee table down for a couple of weeks. Then I took a practice test and half-assed it while I watched some TV. I did alright, so I wasn't too worried about it.

The only thing that concerned me was that this test pretty much decided the next four years of where we would go. If I did good, we could go where we wanted, if I didn't, there was the chance I wouldnt get into grad school and would be stuck with some crappy assignment the Army wanted me for - probably Iraq or Korea.

But, in order to prepare the day before, I made sure I studied some vocab words and got a good amount of sleep. The day of the test, I went and did PT - played some football - and came home and got ready for the test. I think that was what helped me stay relaxed, PT and rest. And relaxation is the key to doing the best you can.

The first part of the test was two essays or writings about some random topic they give you. After that I had two math sections and one vocab (verbal) section.

The best part was after I finished the test. Once I finished I had the choice of seeing my results, or canceling the test. The computer makes sure to tell you that if you see your results - YOU CAN'T CANCEL after that. It's almost like they want you to think you did bad. Regardless of how I did, I had to have the results, so I clicked the submit button.

My Verbal GRE score was 670 and my Quantitative (Math) was 710. After looking around to see what "good" was, I guess I can say I did "good." My verbal seems to be higher than most and my "quantitative" is at least average. I shouldn't have any problem getting into a school.

So, our next stop should be college!

Happy New Year!

New Year, at least for the planet. The world is now resting in peace. A new beginning awaits around the corner. Its a New Year.

In light of it being a new year and a time of fresh beginnings, I have decided to start fresh as well. I have relieved the children of the punishments they suffered so hard under this past year and let them start fresh. I'm sure they will be back in the hole within a few weeks - its a good thing the new year comes around once a year.

Someone once asked why November first is the New Year...

Short story - Nov 1 is the New Year because Oct 31st is the last day of the year!

Longer story, but not too long - Back in the olden days before religions began to take over the world and change calendars and to set things up the way they are - with arbitrary dates signifying not much of anything - the year was thought to begin at about this time of year - our early November - because that is the time when the earth is no longer living (not necessarily dead - just not really living, kinda like sleeping); the trees are losing their leaves, the ground doesn't produce crops - the planet slumbers. Some took the time between Nov 1 and Yule as a "time out of time" where the year ended at Samhain (Oct 31) and the year didn't begin until Yule. The time in between those times was thought to be magical and "a time out of time." But, I think that that "time out of time" is really more of a hibernation, the time when the world rests and prepares for the next year, where it will produce and live and gather itself together until it goes back to sleep.

Military Priorities

The military is claiming that it needs to borrow Russian cargo planes (C-5s and C-17s) to move MRAPs to Iraq because it doesn't have enough of its own. And on the same page, the military is using a C-17 to move an elephant from Alaska to California. At least they have their priorities straight! Maybe elephants will become the new counter-insurgent tool!

Updates...

I always feel guilty when I don't write something for awhile, so here's a quick update on whats up:

1. We're still down here in god-awful Georgia. I'm going through the Captain's Career Course at Fort Gordon. The course is a typical Army school with the usual blah blah about leadership and normal Army stuff. It also has a nice little section about how to operate Cisco routers and running Microsoft Exchange 2003.

2. The kids are all doing well in school. Carmen and Emily are going to a very nearby elementary school that is run like a prison. But, I guess most of the kids are being raised to act like criminals (ie, no discipline or respect), so its fitting. Amber is still being home-schooled and is learning about world history (Magellen and Cortez at the moment), is doing Geometery for math, is learning about the planets and solar system in science, and is learning about Spain for Geography. She has one week of classes and then tests on Fridays. Sometimes she tries hard and sometimes she doesn't - her grades reflect her effort if not her ability.

3. The elementary school - its in a poor-er part of town and has limited funding from the school district. The classrooms are poorly equipment for a school in the age we are in. The TVs don't have DVD players and computer access is extremely limited. The library is small and under-booked.
Sarahann has been doing some extreme volunteering at the school - initially just with Carmen's class, but is one of the very few (maybe 5) parent volunteers for the whole school. She has worked at the school book fair and her current project is decorating the halls outside some of the classrooms for Fall and Halloween. We are also trying to get donations of $25 so we can donate a DVD to each classroom. So far, we have received five donations.

4. No change on the original issue with the school-district and I've been too busy to stay on top of it. But, I havent given up yet.

5. Surprisingly, the mail boxes are still graffitti free. The "gang" is still in the area, and I think they were out casing the neighborhood the other night. One night last week we were sitting around the living room at about 11pm with the back sliding glass door open (to take advantage of the rare cool breeze) and we first saw a group of about 8-10 teenagers walk by - very slowly and they definately looked into our apartment. They immediately walked BACK by twice looking in. We took the appropriate precautions, but they never came back.

6. We haven't been able to go off-roading in awhile (except for a brief trapse through a small wooded area when we were on Fort Gordon looking for a good trick-or-treat spot). So, the Jeep is too clean and I can tell its getting fidgety - it seems to look for curbs or rocks to drive over. The majority of the off-road obstacles in the woods and forests around here are mud-related, and the Jeep isn't really set up for too deep of mud, but I think it'll do fine. The problem is that I don't have any way to get "unstuck" right now and no one to go off-roading with.

7. We have been able to go Geocaching and are up to 49 finds so far. The kids' travel bugs are moving around nicely. Amber's is in New Mexico, David's is in Wyoming, Emily's is in New Mexico, Illyana's is in Colorado and Carmen's is moving to Germany. I have a good route planned for next weekend that will take us to downtown Augusta and then out into some swamp-land.

8. Our next move should be up to the Portland, Oregon or Vancouever, Washington area and we will be there about 18 months while the Army pays me too much to get my Master's degree in Political Science. We should be leaving here in January and starting school in March. **Note the "SHOULD"s that are prevelant there - thats because with the Army, things are never 100% certain.

9. Current events:
a. Fires in California - Sad that so many people lost their homes. But, I think the more interesting thing is the fact that all of those people moved into the stadium (very reminscent of Katrina victims), but that they aren't all trying to kill each other and no one is dying. I think the reason for the dramatic differences is that the people in that part of California are more interested in being nice to others and making the best of the situation - taking control of their own lives, rather than letting the situation control them and only looking out for themselves. The victims in New Orleans had a "what is someone going to do for me" whereas the victims in California are being proactive to help each other. Yes, yes, bad me for not feeling sorry for Katrina victims two years after the fact. Two years is plenty to pick yourself up and move on.
b. Iraq - yup, still going on. Still sucks, but still needs to get taken care of.
c. Presidential race - If I were to make a wager, I'd put my money on Hillary, as much as I think she is the worst person for the job and will absolutely screw the country over. I don't know where my vote will go, but it definately will not be to her. Ever. Ever. Ever.
d. Bush - I think he's trying but is being misguided by his advisors. His administration has taken great strides in destroying the liberties of the people here and of absolutely disregarding the Constitution. For that, I hate this administration. But, I still think Hillary would be much much worse. The Patriot Act is complete and utter BS and I'm glad that at least some of it has been overturned by the courts. Wiretapping of US citizens is also BS, and so is torture and holding people as "enemy combatents" without trial or representation. The suspension of Habeous Corpus for any extended length of time, without a damn good reason is an affront to the Constitution and should be resisted at every opportunity.
e. The World Series - Go Rockies! I hope the Series is as exciting as the playoffs.
f. TV shows - waiting for Lost; watching Jeopardy!, Big Bang Theory, NCIS (occasionaly), Kid Nation (I dislike the "Beauty Queen" with a passion) and the one girl who danced for nickles in the first show is great. I'm glad Greg got the Gold Star so he can quit pouting about it every week.
g. The American dollar is worth less than the Canadian dollar and I think its hilarious that those Canadians are still having to pay the "Canadian" price on books! I'm sure there is a way to make some $$ on this little downturn of the American dollar, but I'm not sure what it is.

10. I have too many books that I need to read to even begin mentioning them.

11. I need to take the GRE soon. I hope I do alright...

12. The PS3 is better than the XBOX 360 and WII put together.

13. Isn't that enough already???

I hate the "neighborhood."

I love baseball. I love watching, I love playing, I just love all of it. I regret that I haven't watched as much as I would have liked this year, but I have watched nearly all of the playoff games - and I love them! I love the excitement, the plays, the actions, the strategy and I love the rules. Yes, the rules. Its one of the reasons I love baseball so much! The rules are well defined - the base is X inches by X inches, the plate is SO wide, the bases are 90 feet apart. Everything has its dimensions and places. The players all follow the same set of rules and everything works out.
However, this year, I've noticed something for the first time that really pisses me off - the "neighborhood" unwritten rule, specifically as it is applied to a double-play. I didn't know it even had a name until my wife mentioned it.
In case you don't know what the unwritten neighborhood rule is, it goes something like this: according to the RULES (the written ones) during a short-stop to second base to first double play, the second baseman is REQUIRED to have the ball, touch the bag and then throw to first. The out is a direct result of the player with the ball touching the bag before the runner - actually TOUCHING the base IS required, not optional. Now, enter the "neighborhood" "rule" which is basically an agreement that the basebman doesn't actually have to TOUCH the bag, but just be near it. The intent behind the rule is fine - you don't want people getting hurt when they (the runner and the baseman) try to occupy the same space at the same time. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Watching these games, I've seen double-plays turned with the second baseman nowhere NEAR the bag, not hopping over it, not scooting by it, but just standing in the general vicinity of it. This is complete and utter BS. If the rules say you have to touch the damned bag, then by god, you should have to TOUCH the damned bag. The runners don't get to be safe by being NEAR the bag, and the outfielders can't ALMOST catch the ball - they actually have to perform the appropriate action.
This attitude that being "close enough" is good enough is one of the big problem that we face as a country. Everyone is content to be "in the neighborhood" of whatever and we aren't disciplining ourselves enough to actually finish the job we set out to do. We half ass things and then wonder why quality suffers. The "neighborhood" is NOT close enough. When my daughter is doing her math, if her answer isn't right but is in the "neighborhood" - ITS WRONG! 3+4=7. It doesn't equal six or eight.
I hate the "neighborhood." It is the bane of discipline and right answers. So, when you get the chance - try not to be in the neighborhood - just touch the base.

Open Letter to Motorcyclists

Dear Motorcycle Riders,
I appreciate your rights to drive on the road, just like everyone else. I believe in your rights to be safe on the road - or at least as safe as you can be with no protection going 60mph down the asphalt (and don't say that you wear all the protective gear, so you will be safe, please). I know that some people drive too close to you and don't always look close enough in their mirrors to see you. If you want loud pipes and believe they keep you safer - have at it.
But when one of your fellow riders cruises up the middle of two lanes, betweens dozens of stopped cars because of traffic jam or line, that guy screws with your whole "oppressed people" argument. That guy thinks that because he CAN drive between all the cars, he is entitled to. Is it because he feels he always gets disrespected by the quadra-wheeled people? I don't know, I don't care. As soon as that guy cruises on by, inches from my door, because he can, he hurts all of you and makes us quadra-wheelers upset and give us our justification for thinking that, at least some of you, deserves all the pain you get. Just because he can, doesn't mean he should - and its illegal. And when that guy not only zips by down the middle but then cuts someone (me) off, missing the front bumper by inches, we really don't like that either.
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. I have a 4x4 Jeep that I am fairly certain can drive over any grassy median or dirt shoulder, hell, I could even drive into the woods to pass everyone - but I don't. Just because I can, doesn't mean I should or that its legal. We have rules of the road - if you want to be on the road, follow them like the rest of us.
The next time I see a biker cruising down the middle lane, I will scoot towards the middle - just to make it hard. Between my bumpers, the entire lane is mine, don't try to take it from me. I love my Jeep, but I'm pretty sure it'll take a hit from your bike better than your bike will.

I'm just saying, if you motorcyclists want respect from us, you must respect us also.

PS. To the one specific biker who rode up the middle lane and cut me off today - you are lucky - you missed by only a few inches. I'm not sorry I rode your ass up to the gate and I'm glad that the MPs took care of you. And I hope they didn't buy the BS line about how "you didn't know you couldn't do that." Didn't you take the motorcycle test to get your license? I'm pretty sure its in there.

Do Something

I love it when people complain about the neighborhood they live in - and when you ask them whats wrong they tell you about the graffiti and garbage and stuff like that. Then, when you ask what they have done to help, they say nothing. If people aren't going to do something to help, then you have no basis to complain.

Why do I even mention it? Good question. I've usually lived in nice neighborhoods with little to no graffiti and a generally clean area. There has never been a need to do any clean up. Now, we've moved back to Augusta, Georgia and live in an apartment that is not exactly in the best part of town.

When we got here, the first thing I noticed was the gang graffiti on the mailboxes. There was also garbage all along the back fence of the complex - which our apartment looks out on. So, one of the first things we did was to clean up our section of the fence. I had the kids go out and pick up all the garbage that was right out back - and now it looks fine. The next project was the mailboxes - I think that if you leave graffiti up, it just encourages more and tells whoever is doing it that they can get away with it. So that was next.

We asked the apartment complex management to provide the spray paint, which they did, and we all went out to paint over the graffiti. Not long after we started painting over the graffiti, there were five or so teenage males that came out of a nearby apartment and walked slowly by, watching us as we painted. I have no doubt that they were the boys who did the original painting. We took pictures of the graffiti before we started and I also took pictures as we progressed and of the boys who were taking an interest in our anti-graffiti project. They walked back and forth until we ran out of paint - all of the graffiti was painted over, but the mailboxes were not a solid color. So, we halted our project for the day. We wholly expected our anti-graffiti painting to be regraffittied within a few days, or the weekend at the latest. Much to our surprise, no one tried to paint on it again. We requested and received more paint from the management and finished up the painting a couple of weeks later.

While we were finishing up the painting, people who were driving through the complex would slow down and watch what we were doing. All they could see from the road was some people behind the mailboxes spraypainting. As we were finishing up, one guy parked and walked around the mailboxes to see exactly what we were doing. As he walked around the side of the boxes, I could tell be the stern look on his face that we thought we were up to no good. I made eye contact with him and asked him how he was doing. He looked sternly at me and then at the back of the mailboxes. When he saw that we were painting over the graffiti and not making graffiti, his demeanor immediately changed and he said, "Oh, you're painting over the graffiti. Thanks." His tone was one of surprise and sincerity. I casually said, "We all have to do our part," and finished up the painting and went inside. He still seemed surprised. I don't think many people around here take much interest in anything much greater than survival.

We saved a little paint so that if the graffiti comes back, we can quickly remove it.

I know that by removing the graffiti we have made ourselves more of a target in the neighborhood, but I'm not really worried. Everything is insured and we can cover the deductible. As far as the safety of the family, we always watch the kids go to and come from school and they are never out of sight. The doors to the apartment are always locked at night (although they are not exactly "sturdy"). I go to PT early in the morning and come back at seemingly random times during the day, so there is no way to tell when we're home and when we're not. If someone makes the mistake of breaking into the house while we're asleep - they will quickly find themselves on the receiving end of some .40 caliber hollow points.

I wholly believe that if everyone would clean up their areas and maybe just a little bit outside of their area, everything would be much better for everyone. There are more good people in the world than bad people - but the bad people just do more to get noticed.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." - Edmund Burke