Ben

update from the field

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 09:28:47 GMT

Not too much time here, but I've got at least occasional access to internet. Staying in barracks, a lot less nice than back in the rear, but a lot better than the tent I had last time I was out in the field. :)

Been playing with the recon guys this time, rather than stayin back in the aid station. This involves a lot of going to shooting ranges, sitting in the evac vehicle and reading books while I hope they don't manage to mangle each other badly enough to need me. Also, when there's been time, they've been letting me try a few of the more interesting weapons that I've never seen and/or used before, including large machine guns and sniper rifles. Things that I technically wouldn't even be allowed to use because of my medical status were ever I to actually deploy, but interesting stuff, nonetheless. IMHO, more knowledge is never a bad thing, whether or not it seems useful when acquired. :)

Anyway, time is short and rather expensive, so I'll be off. :)

Dissappearing again.

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 21:48:58 GMT

Getting ready to go off in the wilds of no easy internet access again. 1 month this time. In slightly more cheerful news, while packing I found the camera that I'd thought I'd lost moving over here. This makes for a quite happy Ben, who should have pictures when he's done. :)

I have found the local geeks and they are mighty in their geekdom

Sun, 11 Feb 2007 12:24:44 GMT

So apparently every month a bunch of guys from down in Uijonbu (English teachers, not Army guys) come up to do a major board gaming day about once a month. They run a review site (http://www.thedicetower.com for any of y'all that are interested) and are popular enough to get review copies, so they have many many *many* of the kind that are incredibly cool, but tend to fall under the "major purchase" category for the vast majority of us.

So yeah... I'm a much happier person for getting that much needed geek-fix.

Today I took the train down to Seoul and just wandered the electronics district. It was huge. Vastness upon vastness of electronic goodness. Unfortunately, it's not as good as it could be for some of the obscure stuff. I was mainly looking for a good headphone amp. I found one, count it *one* place that had 'em. They asked twice the going online rate for a poorly made cmoy that has shielding problems between the pot and the left channel. So I remain without. :( My nifty new headphones (Sennheiser HD280s) still sound great on my computer without, but my poor little MP3 player has trouble driving them.

Totally unrelated, but Korean street vendor food can be wonderful, and so cheap. I absolutely love red bean paste buns. :)

So yeah, that's pretty much my weekend. Misc. geekyness and generally good stuff. Life is good.

Fri, 10 Nov 2006 23:44:22 GMT

Well, I'm here, and after a good night's sleep, everything is much much better. They're putting us up at the Dragon Hill Lodge, which is pretty nice indeed, and giving us the long weekend to adjust before we have to actually do anything. The area seems halfway between very very nice and oppressively crowded... Lots of lovely mountains and trees, and wherever there's a break in the mountains, the skyline is filled with high rises. Traffic on the bus ride was... scary. And that wasn't even at peak hours. This place looks even more crowded than California. I'm glad I won't be driving over here. Anyway... I should be able to catch a bus in about 15-20 min, so I'm gonna wander off and explore a bit.

I'm here

Fri, 10 Nov 2006 10:01:20 GMT

Made it to Incheon, sitting 'round, waiting for the bus (and very pointedly *not* singing the bulbous boufont(sp?) song, fun as it might be). Far, far, far, far, *FAR* too much time on an airplane, but I suppose it could have been worse. In any case, I'm not entirely here, so I'll just say hi, I'm alive and wander off for the time being.

So far so good

Thu, 09 Nov 2006 15:21:13 GMT

Made it to Atlanta... stuck next to scared kid on his first plane ride... doesn't make for the most pleasant experience. Coming up, the truly horrible part. Did I mention that I hate air travel? Somebody please come up with working teleportation. It would make things so much nicer.

On the way...

Thu, 09 Nov 2006 11:15:02 GMT

Blah. I'm quite sleepy and it's *way* too early to be up (flight leaves at 6 AM, here early and time to kill), but I'm here at Des Moines, ready to start my journey... For whatever reason, they're routing me through Atlanta, then turning me right around and sending me west, trans-Pacific to Korea. Says one fellow traveller, "When you die, they send you through Atlanta too."

Also, apparently we're Orange now, whatever that means. Other than overpriced beverages because you can't bring 'em. I hate airports sometimes. Strike that. I just hate them, period.

Anyway, more when I'm awake/have more to say.

Tue, 07 Nov 2006 03:23:01 GMT

Well, everything is moving, and when it moves, it moves fast. Car became very sick, and I sold it to a new guy for very very little, but at least I don't have to worry about it anymore, which is a good thing at the moment, because early early on Thursday I get on a plane for Korea. Yup. Thursday. Figure this is almost certainly a better thing for me that the Afghanistan thing would have been. Still foreign, but foreign in a kind of good way, instead of a bad bad one. Still a little scary because of some of the messed up stuff going on up in the north, but not nearly as bad as active fighting.

Anyway, I'm back in IA for a couple days, re-packing some of my stuff, and setting up shipment of some more of it. I still don't really believe how fast stuff moves sometimes. More when I have it.

made it back....

Tue, 05 Sep 2006 21:54:25 GMT

Alive and well-ish again in the frozen northlands.... Yesterday was a true hell-ride (except for the fact that I somehow managed to shift back to the same shadow I started in, but that's an entirely different matter...). Sixteen hours of driving, including getting lost twice and overheating once, in the middle of a bad part of DC, while detoured around because of a suddenly ceasing-to-exist interstate, leading to a limping, heater-blasting prayer-filled ride to try and find a place where I felt comfortable getting out of the car to buy some coolant because I was an idiot and didn't check it before starting back, and today was not the most pleasant in the world, being a combination of soreness, exhaustedness, and work taking neither into consideration and being even crazier than normal.... But it was all worth it for the wonderful visit I had this weekend. More on that later. Important part now is that I did, in fact, make it back intact.

Brief check-in

Fri, 01 Sep 2006 23:43:34 GMT

Alive and well in Chapel Hill, with reginod and abushka.... long long loooonnggg drive to get here (including some mountain roads that would've been loverly if they'd been dry, but in conjunction with the remains of our good friend Ernesto gave me some slightly whitened knuckles), but soooo worth it. Visiting people is a good good thing. Why does it take traumatic and immenent change to get me off my ass and realize things like this? Anyway, Just wanted to say hey, still breathing. More later.

Best Lunch Ever

Thu, 17 Aug 2006 16:05:20 GMT

Fish + interesting coleslaw variation (real fan of these lately) + some kind of bread. Prep plus cook time less than 10 minutes and sooooo yummy.

I had a mahi-mahi filet grilled on my little foreman grill, with honey-mustard coleslaw (slaw mix, sushi vinegar, lemon juice, honey, german style stone ground mustard, salt and pepper) and tortillas.

So easy... so yummy. And it's even good for me. :)

I'm starting to realize how much I'll miss being able to cook for myself. One year of mostly institutional and/or pre-packaged food coming up... :(

Sun, 13 Aug 2006 05:34:39 GMT

Up quite a bit later than usual, mucking about with new laptop... I *like*. It's an HP 2000 series, 14" screen, about 5 lb total weight, just about everything I really *need* built in already, decent battery life and plenty of extra goodies. Not the beefiest gaming machine ever, but I didn't want to spend that kind of money on something I may very well trash. Also, bought it at one of the Big Electronics Chains, and threw in the "it really covers everything" kind of warranty, after confirming that it's still valid in Afghanistan and also covers heat/cold/impact/moisture/power surge damage. Payed a pretty penny for that part of it, but I strongly suspect mine is one of the few cases where I'll eventually get my money's worth from it.

More info

Thu, 03 Aug 2006 21:46:25 GMT

Got a little more information about where I'll be in the next couple months. Not a lot, but better than nothing. Looks like I'll be going over with one of the MITTs (MIlitary Transition Teams), spending a year in Afghanistan. Not sure of all the specifics yet, but from what I've heard, that basically means a small group of Americans with certain key skills (in my case, medical) embedded in a larger Afghan unit, training them in the way the US does things/wants them to do things, as preparation for turning more control over to local forces. From what I understand, we'll be living with them, working with them, training them, going on missions with them, etc. The good news is, it sounds like it'll be very interesing. The bad news is, it sounds like it'll be very interesting. From everything I've heard, it's a very very cool job, as well as a pretty important one (essentially, we are the exit strategy. The more local forces take over their own defence, the sooner/more completely the US can get out of there), but I for one would rather have a first deployment with an American unit, rather than this. But I'll take what I get. Only thing I can do, really. Also not sure how much we'll have in the way of avaliable infrastructure, but I somehow suspect it'll be somewhat less than what most of our soldiers have over there.

Current schedule is that I'll be doing some training in Ft. Riley, Kansas starting in late October, then going in country sometime in early January. I'll be taking a couple weeks leave in October, driving out to Iowa (dropping off a good deal of my stuff with parents), then to Kansas. Anyone I can arrange to get together with at some point in there, I'd love to.

I probably won't be able to take any leave between training and deploying, but if I can, I'll let y'all know.

I'll give more info when I can.

Heading out...

Tue, 25 Jul 2006 00:21:38 GMT

Wow, it's been forever since I posted, but I have some fairly noteworthy news for y'all. Looks like I'm going to be in Afghanistan in the near future. For those of you I'd already told it was going to be Kuwait, looks like that was not the whole story. I'll be "stationed" there, but I'll actually be out somewhere in Afghanistan. Not sure what exactly I'll be doing, or with whom, or pretty much anything yet, other than it'll be slightly less cushy a job than I'd originally been led to believe. *shrug* anyway, just gonna see what happens from here. Best info I have so far is that I'll be doing major train-up starting in August, and in country in January. Far as details go, I don't know much yet, but I'll fill people in as I can.

Butterbeer recipe

Thu, 22 Dec 2005 22:14:11 GMT

I know I don't post much (ever, lately), but I just saw this, and it was too cool not to post. Apparently the butterbeer from Harry Potter is based on a real drink, a variant of wassail, documented to 17th century England... The things you learn from SCAdians... anyway, from Stefan's Floregium, http://www.florilegium.org/files/BEVERAGES/wassail-msg.html

Redaction and original source extracted for brevity...

From Good Huswifes Handmaide for the Kitchen (undated, probably mid 1600s), ed. by Stuart Peachey, Stuart Press, 1992, p. 62

To make Buttered Beere

Take three pintes of Beere, put five yolks of Eggs to it, straine them together, and set it in a pewter pot to the fyre, and put to it halfe a pound of Sugar, one penniworth of Nutmegs beaten, one penniworth of Cloves beaten, and a halfpenniworth of Ginger beaten, and when it is all in, take another pewter pot and brewe them toghether, and set it to the fire againe, and when it is readie to boyle, take it fro the fire, and put a dish of sweet butter into it, and brewe them together out of one pot into an other.

They say it is to beer as chai is to tea.

Purity test scores...

Tue, 03 Feb 2004 21:17:57 GMT

Your Ultimate Purity Score Is...
Category	Your Score	Average
Self-Lovin'	18.3% I wouldn't shake hands, if I were you	65%
Shamelessness	40.5% Puts 'em on the glass	79.3%
Sex Drive	39.5% I got needs, baby, you gotta unnastan'!	77.7%
Straightness	1.8% Knows the other body type like a map	44.8%
Gayness	19.6% Makes Dr. Frank-n-Furter look tame	83.5%
Fucking Sick	59.3% Dipped into depravity	89.9%
You are 31.46% pure Average Score: 72.6%
Take The Ultimate Purity Test and see how you match up!

Mon, 29 Dec 2003 20:22:33 GMT

Well, the canvassing thing is over and done with. Just didn't work out. *shrug* 2 weeks pay isn't half bad, and though part of me wishes I'd stuck with it, it just *really* wasn't a good long term fit.

Note to self: next job, try to avoid something that's this much of an emotional rollercoaster.

Job Thingie Yesterday

Sat, 13 Dec 2003 18:54:31 GMT

So, yesterday I went and did an observation day with the canvassing job I talked about in my last post. It's with a group called Iowa Citizen Action Network, which seems to be much more common-sense based and less lunatic fringe than the politics I was used to in Grinnell. Initially, I'll be going door to door trying to get people's support on political issues: in this case, health care reform. Getting signatures, getting letters to elected officials, and getting donations to help with lobbying.

I thought it was really really fun (I like both walking and talking with strangers), and they thought I'd be pretty good at it. So starting Monday I'll be employed. Not the best pay in the world, but decent, and it something I really really enjoy. And the place I'm working is a brand new branch office, with almost everyone either in training or on loan from other places. So there's a very good possibility that if I do well, I'll be moving up in the organization. Quickly.

Another Job Interview

Fri, 12 Dec 2003 03:01:38 GMT

So I had another job interview earlier today. This one was with a political group of all things. Primary goal is getting effective healthcare reform, which is something I can definitely support.

They're looking for people to help with canvassing various areas, going door to door trying to get the word out about their issues, get signatures and/or letters, stuff like that. And it's a brand new branch of the organization, meaning that if I get it and do well, there's a good chance I'd end up managing other people doing the same within a few months.

The interview went *very* well, and I'm going back tomorrow to shadow someone and see a: if I really like it, and b: how good at it I am.

I don't think it'd pay that well, but it certainly sounds like something interesting to try, and something that I might well be good at. And I need *something* 'bout now.

These are absolutely great... I'm tempted to try a few myself.

Wed, 26 Nov 2003 01:13:35 GMT

Snagged from bloodlikerain

Tips for making it through the LOTR movies (mostly 3, but a few for others):

1. Stand up halfway through the movie and yell loudly, "Wait... where the hell is Harry Potter?"
2. Block the entrance to the theater while screaming: "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" - After the movie, say "Lucas could have done it better."
3. At some point during the movie, stand up and shout: "I must go! Middle Earth needs me!" and run and try to jump into the screen. After bouncing off, return quietly to your seat.
4. Play a drinking game where you have to take a sip every time someone says: "The Ring."
5. Point and laugh whenever someone dies.
6. Ask the nearest ring-nut if he thinks Gandalf went to Hogwarts
7. Finish off every one of Elrond's lines with "Mr. Anderson."
8. When Aragorn is crowned king, stand up and at the top of your lungs sing, "And I did it.... MY way...!"
9. At the end, complain that Gollum was offensive to Ethiopians
10. Talk like Gollum all through the movie. At the end, bite off someone's finger and fall down the stairs.
11. When Shelob appears, pinch the guy in front of you on the back of the neck.
12. Dress up as old ladies and reenact "The Battle of Helms Deep" Monty Python style.
13. When Denethor lights the fire, shout "Barbecue!"
14. Ask people around you who they think is the next "Terminator" sent from the Middle Earth of the future to assassinate Frodo Baggins
15. In TTT when the Ents decide to march to war, stand up and shout "RUN FOREST, RUN!"
16. Every time someone kills an Orc, yell: "That's what I'm Tolkien about!" See how long it takes before you get kicked out of the theatre.
17. During a wide shot of a battle, inquire, "Where's Waldo?"
18. Talk loudly about how you heard that there is a single frame of a nude Elf hidden somewhere in the movie.
19. Start an Orc sing-a-long.
20. Come to the premiere dressed as Frankenfurter and wander around looking terribly confused.

Job Interview

Mon, 24 Nov 2003 17:47:14 GMT

So, I had my first actual interview this morning. Not the first place I applied, or even high on my list, really, but the first place that's responded.

It was with GEICO, for a customer service type job there, and I think it went well. I'll most likely be offered the job. But there are problems with this. I've heard some very mixed things about them. I know someone who works there and likes it, and I've heard that a lot of people absolutely hate it. And I have no clue which I'll be.

Also, the next training cycle doesn't start until the middle of January, which would stretch my finances to just about the breaking point. But if I don't have anything by then, I'll mostl likely end up doing it. *shrug*

I really wish this whole job hunt thing were just *over* and I had something...

Or that I at least knew what I wanted to do.

yay (again)

Wed, 05 Nov 2003 18:07:50 GMT

The first thing my computer did once I got broadband was, of course, to die. But that's fixed now, and I have a working computer, with a good connection. *yay* (finally)

Hopefully it'll stay that way for a while. :)

I have been poked.

Fri, 26 Sep 2003 15:09:32 GMT

Still not getting quite enough sleep, though I'm doing a good deal better than I have been lately.

Got to play with fun greatswords last night. Banged up my thumb a bit due to insufficient padding in my gauntlets, and insufficient skill in the rest of me, but it's fun, and should help me break the "just power through everything with your arms" habit. With a sword as tall as you are, you just can't do that. :)

I'm starting to really stress over what I'm doing next. There's stuff avaliable, that would be good for me to do for a while to get some money and keep myself afloat, but I'm not finding anything that I really *want* to do. The program I'd been thinking about for teaching English abroad finally posted their stuff for this coming year, and they changed their requirements such that I no longer qualify (now need an actual teaching certificate, which I don't have). I'm still thinking of doing something similar, but now I need to figure out who/where else I'd want to do it through. And in any case, I need to figure *something* out in the meantime. *shrug* so it goes.

Tue, 23 Sep 2003 13:52:07 GMT

I absolutely *hate* insomnia. It makes life so much less pleasant.

I haven't been updating enough. More to come later today. People should poke me when I'm silent like this. :)

New Apartment! Yay!

Fri, 01 Aug 2003 17:43:36 GMT

So I picked up my key, and started moving my stuff this morning. With the assistance of my co-worker who is with truck, I've moved all my bigger furniture over there. Still have quite a few boxes left, and I need to get all the appropriate utilities and stuff changed, but I'm well on my way to being all moved.

The new place has a few slight changes from the way they'd had it set up when I first saw it (mainly to do with one of the closets), but still *very* nice.

I'm just happy in general right now. Though I do need to get the rest of my stuff moved in the nearish future...