P90X Week one Day one!

Wow am I tired. I am going to be hurting tomorrow (and for the next 90+ days presumably), and I couldn't even keep up with them at all! I'd post my before pictures, but those are only motivational if you look better than they do. I'll report back in once a week at minimum, and maybe more for some of the really brutal ones. Right now I'm 5' 10' and 240.8 lbs. Do your best and forget the rest.

St. Patty's Day parade and storm troopers!

I'm on a business trip to Linthicum, MD. Last Sunday a co worker and I decided to go to Baltimore and check out the inner harbor. By luck we just happened to pick a great day. Baltimore was celebrating St. Patty's day with a 5K marathon and a parade. We showed up just in time to catch a bite to eat. We asked a local where to eat and he said that J. Paul's Dining Saloon was his summer hang out and we should try that. So we did, and it was good. I had the JP's 89 Burger which was worth the impending heart attack that it will probably cause. It was a huge burger piled with BBQ pulled pork, cole slaw and onion rings. While it was hard to handle and ended up falling apart, it was delicious. We finished eating and walked over to watch the runners finish up the 5K. I've never seen so much spandex, red faces, and green shirts. Shortly thereafter the parade started. I've seen better parades on tv, but never in person. I was pretty impressed and we stayed for the whole thing.



My favorite part was an irish dance group that stopped right in front of us and did a little jig. Unfortunately the video on my phone sucks and I forgot my camera. You can get the gist, but you can't tell how really cute it is. The girls in the video look a lot older than they really were because the video quality sucks, and the crowd that they are in front of is actually little kids sitting down, not adults. The girls in the front are probably 5/6 years old and then they got older as they went back to probably no older than 15. It was one of the cutest things I've seen in awhile.

Last, but far from least, after the parade there was a green storm trooper walking around. He had a very high quality costume, and the green made it even better. When he talked it even sounded like it was a "real" storm trooper. A chick walked by and asked him what he was supposed to be. Really? I thought it was pretty obvious, but I suppose there are still people out there that haven't seen Star Wars. Anyways, thought I would share. We had a great time.

Where have you been?

I don't think that I have to many followers, but if you are still out there and wondering where I have been then this post is for you. I got back from Afghanistan safely, I'm out of the army now (mostly), I'm back in my old military contracting job, and I'm taking a little bit of college. I should finish up my associates degree this semester, although I had to switch out of computer electronics and into a general studies because I couldn't make my schedule work with the last two classes I needed and it's been over two years since I was in school (holy run on sentence Batman!) Time to finish that up and move on to not completing my bachelor's degree for a couple of years.

Biggest thing going on in my life right now? I'm always tired. So tired in fact, that I'm going to get a sleep study tonight to hopefully figure out what's wrong with me. After all the blood work they've narrowed it down to either sleep apnea, narcolepsy or idiopathic hypersomnia (big words for being tired, but they don't know why). They can only figure out which one of those it is by a sleep study, hence the, uh, sleep study tonight. I'm a little nervous about what they'll find, and don't really know what to think about it. Hopefully they find something small and easy to fix so I can put this behind me and not be so tired. More to follow when I actually know what's up.

What to expect from me in the future? More blog posts! Yay! I love blog posts! I've been watching my blog hits and where they come from. Seems that by far my tech reviews get the most hits, especially my green vs black hard drive comparison, which is about five minutes away from an update. I would expect more tech reviews, since that's what the masses apparently want from a godless geek, but not to worry, I'll still rant about religion, politics, and of course the upcoming Jelly Belly jelly bean scandal.

Improv Everywhere

I just found out about Improv Everywhere, and I love them! They are really original and fun. I wish that this would happen around me! Check them out on youtube, or at their website.

Jesus has a brother named God.

My daughter (4) goes three times a week to a christian preschool/daycare. There really isn't good childcare around here unless it's affiliated with religion or really expensive. I don't know why that is, it could be for a number of reasons, maybe the church (and by extension it's members) help offset the cost of the childcare, maybe it falls under a non-profit organization and saves money that way, or maybe it's just that it's more comforting to drop your kids off at a religious daycare and so you have to be affiliated with religion to be successful. Maybe it's a little of all three. I like to think that it's the church offsetting the cost. It really gives a sense of community, even if it's not quite my community. Anyways, christmas is coming up soon, and according to the school calendar on the curriculum for today was Jesus Christ part 1. I was actually looking forward to it because my daughter and I always have such interesting conversations after some one talks religion with her. I think she really enjoys that not everyone agrees on religion. Everything else I either don't know, or (I think) I do, but god and Jesus are a maybe. So, here is as close as I can remember the conversation that we had after I picked her up today.

Me - How was school today?

Lily - Good. (long pause) Papa, what do you pray for?

Me - I don't pray for anything. I don't believe that Jesus and God are real and so I don't pray. What do you pray for?

Lily - I pray for Jesus. It's good for him. He wants everything to be safe. He wants the trees, and all the leaves that are falling, and the fence and my hair and my hands... (Lily lists off everything that she sees for about a minute)...to be safe.

Me - Oh, that' really nice of him.

Lily - Yeah. Did you know that Jesus has a brother? (really excited)

Me - (smiling big) No? Who is his brother?

Lily - God, but he's better than him.

Me - He is?

Lily - (the following was said very excitedly and quickly)Yes. He's a king and Jesus is a king too. He's a really good king. He wants everyone to pray for him and everything to be safe, but he died. (spoken in a hushed voice) but don't tell Grandma cause I don't think she knows. But you don't believe in his family and Mama doesn't either, but Grandma believes in his family. And Brother and me we're to0 little to know, so we'll decide later (YES! That's my girl!).

Me- That's right, papa (for some reason I talk in third person with my kids sometimes) doesn't think there is any reason to believe in Jesus' family, but Grandma does. Grandma believes that Jesus died, and after three days he came back to life.

Lily - yeah, and when he came back he was different. He changed his name or something.

Me - What did he change his name to?

Lily - Jesus

Me - What was it before he died?

Lily - Jesus too, but it was different.

We pull up in the drive way and I start getting them out. She is telling me again all of the things that she sees and that Jesus wants them to be safe. When I get her out she has a postcard sized piece of paper that I now see has a picture of a girl praying on it, as well as a bunch of food, a happy looking family, a church, and a bible.

Me - What's this girl doing?

Lily - Praying for Jesus.

Me - What's this right here? (pointing at the Bible)

Lily - Um, I know! It's the bible!

Me - Like Grandma reads?

Lily - Yeah! but this ones not a making bible.

Me - A making bible?

Lily - Yeah, this one's not for making stuff, but some bibles are. Grandma's shows you how to make like food and stuff, but this one doesn't.

Me - Oh, I think you are talking about Grandma's cook book, but she also has a bible like this one.

Lily - No, this one is different. Some bibles show you how to make things and some don't.

Me - Oh, I see.

We get inside and her brother throws a tantrum because it's nap time and he is super tired and by the time he stops fussing Lily is all tucked into her bed to take a nap, so we didn't get to talk about Jesus and his brother anymore. I'm sure that more will come soon. She is so impressionable at this age. It's not surprising that so many people can't question their faith. If you were raised that Jesus is an absolute fact, for all of your childhood, then it would be just as much of a fact to you as anything else. I wouldn't be bothered if my kids grew up to believe in Jesus and god, or any of the other countless gods out there, but I would be bothered if they only believed it because someone (including me) told them to.

Edit : I couldn't remember how Lily worded the bible for making stuff. After she woke up and explained to me, she said it the same way and so I changed it. Apparently there are two types of bibles, making-bibles and regular ones. Not sure what she is confused about, but she knows the difference between cook books and bibles, and insists that her teachers said that grandma's was a making-bible.

Not used to being in this state of mind.....version 2.0

This post is an exact 180 of the last state of mind post. I was so annoyed/bored/angry for the last year in Afghanistan, that now I'm not used to being so happy! My cheeks hurt from smiling and it's really great to be back home. I'm really appreciative of my beautiful wife, Jess. She is such a sweet person, so understanding and so caring. If she could, she would hold everyone in the world in her arms and tell them that everything is going to be okay, truly the epitome of what a mother should be. I'm having such a blast with my darling daughter Lily. She has grown up so much while I was gone. She now has the patience and attention to sit and play board games, which is one of my most favorite things to do. She is so intelligent, beautiful, and engaging, and of course she takes after her mother, as a total sweetheart. Last, and certainly not least, I'm amazed by the courage of my handsome son Jack. There isn't a playground (or anything really) that he can't conquer. He climbs, slides, bangs, smashes, and everything else boys are known for, but still has his sensitive side as he carries his pet kitty everywhere he goes. It reminds me of Calvin and Hobbes. The absolute best part? They all love giving hugs! My truly favorite. Goodbye army!

Not used to being in this state of mind...

I'm generally such a happy person. I'm pretty easy going. I usually make the best of things. I've been making the best of things for so long now. I'm just tired of it. I wish Afghanistan was a person, I would punch him/her (that's right, even if Afghanistan was a girl) right in the face. So, to help cheer me up, I'm going to list all the good things about being here. Ha, there I go trying to make the best of things again. Sneaky optimism, very sneaky.

I've met a lot of really cool people. Some of them have become good friends that I imagine will be that way for a long time to come.

I've been a help to a many people; Lots of people a little bit of help, and a few people lots of help. I enjoy being useful, so that's good.

I've realized that my life in the states is pretty close to heaven on earth. I will cherish everything so much more than I did before. I'll also worry a lot less about all the shit that doesn't matter.

I have also managed to save a lot more money than usual. Actually, my darling wife has been doing the saving. It was probably a lot easier for her to do without me constantly buying gadgets and gizmos.

I'm in better shape than I was before I came here. I haven't lost all the weight that I wanted to, but I've still got more time. I've already lost about 25lbs. I want to lose another 10 more or so. Even though I haven't lost as much weight as I want, part of that is because I've bulked up a little bit. So while I've been losing bad weight, I've been gaining good weight, and I feel much more healthy. I go on leave in less than a month, and I think that my wife will like what I've been doing in the gym.

That's about as positive as I can be. It already helped a little bit just to think about it.