Rambling into the weekend

I have recently gotten hooked on NCIS (thanks a lot MOUSE).  I like the formality of the interactions, the military backdrop of the show, that sort of thing.  I really like all of the Characters on the show too.  Abey the perky Goth/Geek is really cool.  The Head honcho is Gibbs.  He is a very sharp, very complex, guy who leads his team really well.  But ultimately this part of my blog is not about him, or even this show.  It's about the portrayal of various branches of the service on TV and in the movies overall.  For the most part Hollywood does not disparrage the men and women in uniform.  The portrayals of the service members span the gambit, just like we all do in real life.  The part i do want to comment on is in regards the general portrayal of the Army.  Usually we (being retired Army) are grey characters, rarely the main one.  We are rather bland, not really excelling in anyone area.  We are not made to look bad, just not elite.  I completely respect the Marines.  They do an outstanding job of promoting an espre de corps that surpasses all of the other branches, and then they back it up in the field (where it counts).  But i thirst to see a personality or two to come from the oldest branch in the United States Military.  I think this is why i liked The Unit so much.  One thing i do like, is that generally when a member of the Army is portrayed they are not pushing to seek the limellight, and with the general perception of being an 'average' branch of the military, their uniform is not pushing them into the limelight either.  I kind of like that... i'd just like to see an ex-Army Special Forces guy as the lead character, who has a complex past and excellent skills to bring to bear - instead of usually seeing a ex-Marine in that role.  I know it is branch bias, and maybe it's only my perception of thing. 8)

How much 'research' is too much?  Especially when it comes to a story you are writing that you are pretty confident will never be published, at least professionally.  I am enjoying reading about it though.  I recently purchased a book that is seventeen years old, just because it seems to be the most comprehensive on the subject i am seeing.  The good news is that it was only $11 including shipping.  It's titled The Complete Book of Elves.  I had no idea that it was so hard to find such material!  First, it is extremely rare to find a novel written from an Elf's point of view and they are the main Charecter. Second, there is a lot of material on Wiki, which is very helpful and i have made copies for my notes book, but i am thirsty for more.  I once found Shadownrun: Steel Rain, and enjoyed it very much.  I am on the look out for more though.  Two books i am ordering together in June are Shadow King and Path of the Warrior.  Both are written by Gav Thorpe, but the latter will not be released until late June.  But for me, the most important thing is that both of them have Elves as the main character.  The former is in a "Fantasy" (Warhammer) setting, while the latter is written in a Sci-Fi Fantasy setting (Warhammer 40k).  Mr. Thorpe has been a part of the on-going process and creation of Games Workshop's genre of games and fiction, so i think these will go really well.  These combined with me re-reading The Book of Five Rings, has really been inspiring me for the last Chaaracter's introduction.  If anyone is interested, i post my short stories on another blogsite: Samurai's Yarns.

If you have ever created an account over at Amazon.com, you probably get periodic e-mails from them trying to recommend a book or two that they feel (well, some sort of automated system as opposed a flesh and blood human being... that is unless they have started employing cyborgs in corporate America... hmmm) is related to your interests - as outlined by your previous purchases.  My most recent book recommendation from Amazon.com was an as yet to be releasaed book by R.C. Sproul titled Holy, Holy, Holy: Proclaiming the Perfections of God.  I often find myself ravenous for such books, but this one will most likely wait until my birthday as i already have 3 books sitting on my nightstand.  Since i am trying to get myslef to actually finish the books i start... i feel it best for me to wait until i finish at least two of the three before even requesting it. What i really wanted to comment on the title of the book.  I feel that the object of my Faith, Jesus Christ, is paramount.  And for me, books like this help me meditate on the character of God.  For me, if God is not perfect, if He is not perfectly just, if He is not perfectly Holy... Christianity is not the faith for me.  For over two decades now i have explored such things, and i am freshly renewed in faith and awe of God each time.  To be honest, if one does not view God as infalable... why would they ever consider worshipping such a being?  No one is perfect, and that definetly includes me, so no one's view of God is perfect ~ not this side of heaven ayway.

Music Monday - Wednesday Edition

Today is getting off to a pretty good start. Around Midnight last night my beloved woke me up (i hadn't been asleep all that long). She needed to communicate something that was important to her, and i am glad that she did. I know i need to work on my communication skills and fortunately this was not one of those "intense times of fellowship". Afterwards there was a 'gentle' thunderstorm rolling through our area... which was really cool. After she fell asleep i stared out the window, prayed a little, until i fell asleep. Then this morning i dragged my sorry fore-quarter-contact out of the sack and headed over to the gym. Now, i haven't been in over six months (sarcastic comments welcome, and expected), but it feels great. I've added ten minutes on the elliptical to replace running because this old soldier's knees can't take the pounding, and there may actually be some old "war" wounds in there. For example, i have no problem with the leg press and knee bends (where the resistance is bending the knee), but on the leg extentions i can only do about 10-15 pounds... and on the leg press and the leg extension i have to do each leg individually. But to end this portion with an ADD moment... i got to work and started a pitcher of ice-tea... only i failed to remember to put the tea bags in as i was distracted because i was refilling ice trays. LOL Ok, on to the music portion of my Wednesday edition of music Monday... I think i may have found a new music group to slip into my top ten, maybe top five, favorite bands ~ Gaelic Storm. Yesterday, while i was listening to Pandora (only the greatest thing since sliced bread) an instrumental "duel" between a fiddle (violin) and bagpipes came on and grabbed my attention. The title of the song? Samurai Set! I mean come on! Gaelic (Irish Folk Music) Storm (i love thunderstorms!) - Samurai Set (Really? Do i need to explain this one?) - Fiddle Playin', Bag Pipes, Irish Whistle... can it get any better!?! Well, at least for me. 8) Here is a You Tube video of the song i am mentioning here... I am still checking out their other songs to see if i will really move these guys into my Fave 5. *chuckle*, but so far i like their music. Oh, and on a side note... they performed some of the songs for the movie Titanic. Ok, some past due venting here... The Unit was canceled! What's the deal with that! I know all shows eventually come to an end, but i thought the shows wrapped up fairly well. Well, except for Molly Leaving Jonas! Major bummer there, but then i've heard that the divorce rate in spec-ops units is pretty high. There is a joke that you can't get promoted beyond a certain pay grade unless you've been divorced at least once. Well, that's all i put down to ramble about for today. God bless...

Playing catch up

What a crazy weekend. We had the last game of the year for DS1's soccer team, saw a friend from DD3 school and ended up spending the day hanging out, then Sunday we were sort of saying our good-bye's even though we will attend through the end of the month, then we went out for lunch and sent headed out to the last Awana's for the summer. Then, i surprised my beloved by taking yesterday off as a personal day. Yesterday was nice. We spent the day going to three doctor's appointments (no, we are not THAT old) - one for allergy shots for my beloved, one for a re-evaluation of the Rx she has for her constant headaches, and the last one i went by myself to - the chiropractor. The Doc wants her to see a physical therapist who specializes in this sort of thing. *sigh* yet one more doctor for her to see. He also changed her pain medication - which we hope is a good thing. With me being out Music Monday is on hold for yet another week. Yesterday i also found out that my boss has taken a lateral position effective June 8th. Which means he will not be around for the transition, and it's possible i will have to fill in for him. I am not sure how much i would like trying to wear two hats ~ but i wouldn't mind considering a lateral myself. I am not sure i would like to move over to the Admin side of things. I like the technical side, but i know that some day i should probably consider the move. This might be a good time to make the switch. I know in the short term though... it will be a wearing of two hats... It became official yesterday... Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles will not be renewed for another season. At least not on Fox, and most likely not on another channel either. While i am not happy about it, what can you do. Nothing lasts forever. Anyone remember Max Headroom? I still love that show. LOL For now i am still waiting to learn about the fate of my other favorite show, The Unit. I believe CBS is announcing their Fall line up tomorrow so... In the meantime i am looking forward to checking out Terminator: Salvation this weekend. Well, that's all i have for now...

Friday Ramblings

A few new, fun, things have been occupying my fleeting Facebook time of late. Aside from flair (which i've already talked about some) and keeping up with friends and family, i have two new interests there. One is Yoville, and the other is these personality tests. Yoville is sort of a Sims like application where you explore a really small town filled with other players from all around the world. Other than the socialization aspects (i am not going to debate virtual socialization here) the main objective seems to be to decorate your house/apartment and/or your self. This application is passively fun. I don't sweat worry having the latest or greatest rugs or whatnot, but i did recently "purchase" my first house - a tree house. It goes with my elvish tendencies. 8) I know the personality tests are subjective and only as accurate as the interpretations of the creators of the questionares ~ but they are still fun. Several have been kind of surprising. One was "What is the purpose in life?" - Healer. Really? I don't publish all of the results i take, just ones that are fun and i don't mind the results of... :) I was really happy with the result from one i took today: "What type of Warrior are you?" My result was Jonas Blane. I was pretty happy with that result because i have really enjoyed CBS's show, The Unit. I was devastated when Molly called in a debt by asking Jonas to make a choice between her and The Unit while he was in the middle of a very delicate mission. And then to see Jonas sitting alone at "Betty Blue's" wedding... it broke my heart. I am so hoping that there will be a season 5 for this show (i think i will know around 20-May), if for nothing else than to see this relationship restored! I have a couple Google alerts set up so that i get occasional e-mail updates on "important" news articles. You know, things about "The Hobbit" movie, "Tron 2.0", etc. Well, one item recently was a 'related' thing but it drew my attention to the new trailer for "The Road". At first i was really pumped about this movie because of my interest in 'post apocalyptic' genre. After i saw the trailer i am nervous that it will be more of a "Dawn of the Dead" type of deal. While i could live with that, i am thinking that my beloved may not want to go see it with me. As a matter of fact... i am positive this will be the case. Still... i have moved to a 'wait and see' mode. Speaking about the "Post Apocalyptic" genre... i have not even finished my first run through of Fallout 3 yet! I really do enjoy playing this game, i just don't have enough time to do it! After all, the game is NOT a priority in my life, and when i sit down to play i really want a minimum of two to three hours to dive into it, which as anyone who is married and/or has children is extremely hard to come by. That's ok though. Bethesda Softworks has released three aftermarket files (also known as DLC) to expand the game even more. Which of course has my curiosity peaked. So in the OCD part of my personality i amn reluctant to play and work towards finishing the game until i can have the complete game... Now, since the only way (until recently) to get this DLC has been through GamesforWindows (Microsoft)... and since i have made a consious choice to NOT connect my personal laptop to the internet for ANY reason... this has not been a viable option. However, i am told that Bethesda usually releases another copy of their games that include the DLC, or the DLC by itself... i just need to be patient... But in the meantime i have been considering starting over. Not because i don't like the file i have going currently, but because it is a file that is running on an incomplete version of the game. And now i am hearing of another computer game that i would really like to have... recently i learned of a French software company known as Cyanide Studio is making a game called "Bloodbowl". Now this is a computer version of a Games Workshop game that i LOVED to play way back when. It has several elements that i enjoy... 1) It was a table top miniature game, 2) You could play Elves in it, 3) it played a LOT like American Football. One problem i did run into though, despite a lot of my friends also owning the game - it was not the first thing they would want to play should the occasion come up. A few times they would humor me, but for the most part i was the only one with the desire to play. Well, now i will be able to play (probably just as often as i get to play Fallout 3 now) by myself! All of this rambling has brought to mind my favorite memory of when i did play AD&D. (Bear with me... this sort of ties some things together.) We had a favorite quote from a comic book series, "Rain was the healer, and he was the first to die". This was because the one person/character you always needed in tight situations was the one who was the healer type, and inevitably it would seem like this character was the first to go down. Well. i had often favored playing fighter types, but i wanted the challenge of playing a Paladin. This is a character that played by a very high moral code, and was generally considered a very tough one to role play. We were very early on in what is called a "campaign". We were all still very low level, but what we did have was numbers. I believe we had eight or more people playing (which was very rare for us). Anyway, we came into a small town that was being harassed by something up in the hills. You know the drill, running off with live stock, and recently one of the elders children had disappeared. My Paladin of course wanted to help... it was a moral obligation to help those poor people, and it took a long time for me to convince the others the back me up on this one. When we arrived at the beast's layer we learned that it was a young White Dragon (which was the weakest of such monsters in the game), and it was sleeping! The whole party was besides themselves on this opportunity, but my Paladin would have none of this. It is not fair to ambush a sleeping foe - no matter what they had done. I was alone on this one... finally i told the guy running the game, "I walk up to the sleeping dragon. draw my sword and tap it on the nose and declare, 'awake foul beast!'" The battle was over in two rounds. After it turned our thief and several others into Popsicles, it batted my Paladin across the cave leaving him barely consious. The only survivors were a mage who had refused to even enter the cave, and my Paladin. The pair sulked back to town licking their wounds. My friends absolutely refused to let me continue to play that character. So, despite my only playing that character in two adventure, he remains my all time favorite.

Catching up on my TV watching

For the next forty eight hours my work schedule is going to be shifting slightly. Due to coverage needed at my place of employment i will work my normal schedule today, and then burn the midnight oil tonight and again tomorrow. Not a big deal, but it messes with your sleep schedule s last night my beloved encouraged me to stay up (much) later than usual so that when i get home this afternoon i can take a nap until i have to go back in. While it messes with my family time i was able to catch up on the TV shows i like to watch but never seem to have time for. So, after my beloved fell asleep i scooted back to the "computer room" (really just a converted "formal" dining room that is much to small to be formal for anything) to check up on how my last minute preparations for April Fool's day were going. All scans and updates were complete so i went over to CBS and Fox's websites to watch my shows. For whatever reason the past two weeks CBS has allowed their Sunday schedule to slide some - probably because of the NCAA tournament - and the last half of The Unit was cut off early. I didn't even bother to start watching the DVR session i have set up to record the shows. During the NFL season i got used to CBS doing this so i just recorded the shows after the time slot too. Anyway, with time to waste i watched both 'Flesh and Blood' and 'Best Laid Plans'. I have to say... i am not liking the newest member of the team: SSG Sam "Whiplash" McBride. He gives me the creeps. And then the little reveal i saw last night, his apparent infatuation with WO Bridgette "Red Cap" Sullivan. Not endearing himself to me. I think there's going to be something in the story line real soon about him. Look, i like this show... i know it's not in prime TV real estate being parked at 2200 on Sunday nights, but it has a good on-going story line and the characters are well along the path. CBS - in the unlikely event someone from your staff reads this - please keep this show going (I'll send along a more official plead later). I am curious as to how the new woman in SFC Charles "Betty Blue" Grey's life plays out... but i am more interested in watching how they get all of those "leaked" passports back. Then, once i was all caught up their i realized that i was not very tired, and just a little bit hungry. So after grabbing some animal crackers and some milk (that just sounds so odd in this context...) i pulled up the latest episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. This show really has been getting better and better every week. The episode starts with Cromartie playing with Savannah Weaver. An interesting display of the A.I. of what could become the future Skynet learning and adapting... a computer program learning that it does not have to "play by the rules". Then he gets hacked! Which terrifies poor Savannah. This little story line presents some interesting plot twists because of the influence James Ellison appears to be having on both Cromartie and maybe even Catherine Weaver as well. The writers did a good job when they split up the core of Sarah, John, Cameron, and Derek. It helped further the story lines regarding the tension and relationship between Derek and Cameron. In a way i think it helped deepen the trust - which is tenacious at best. I also enjoyed getting to see Sarah's relationship with John expand beyond the earlier series set up of primary protector. John is definitely getting beginning to stand on his own. This show has never skirted around the possibility of characters being killed off, and this week saw it executed (pardon the pun) very well. The trailer below elaborates how this show is using it and not in a gratuitous way. This show has only two new episodes left... and i am on the edge of my seat wanting to see where they all go from here. Fox, just like i pleaded with the other network above... keep this show! At least for one more season. Friday night is not the best night (IMO, and definitely not for me), but perhaps it is good for the demographic you are shooting for. I am encouraged by the number of post air night replays on-line i've heard about. This show is getting much better and needs at least another season to flesh out the story line. If you must... pick it up for a set number of shows and tell the writers that it needs to be wrapped up by such-n-such episode. Last but not least, i would like to congratulate Bethsoft's Fallout 3 for winning yet another game of the year award. In this case they've won the Game Critics Award for game of the year. This fills me with hope that they just might release a "game of the year" edition that will include all of the DLC - since i am not willing to use my laptop on the WWW i am unable to use Microsoft Live. But that's ok, even if Bethsoft does not release a special edition. I am enjoying the game so far as is.

Happy New Year, 2008!

Wow the time really flies when you are having fun. Even when that fun is a vacation spent at home for the holidays. Christmas was a very nice time. We stayed home, and did not have anyone over. I was a little disappointed when the movies that I ordered for my beloved - 2 weeks before - had not arrived in time for Christmas. :( But she was very gracvious and I still received my presents from her. ;-) I received a copy of 'The Unit - season 2' on DVD, a copy of 'Amazing Grace' on DVD, a copy of "Ratatouille' on DVD, a Carolina Panthers hat, and the first of what I hope becomes a collevtion of little churches. Sort of like the 'David Winter' type houses. This one was a small 'Country Church' that could be used as an ornament on the tree. Later, I received a very nice fleece jacket from my sister and brother-in-law. The rest of the week was spent painting a bathroom, moving an entertainment center, installing a surround sound system that I had bought a year ago, and hanging a sconse (? sp) and some curtains for some windows previously hidden by the afor mentioned enterainment center. :) New Years eve was spent catching up with some old friends. It was a large crowd, but I played some scrabble, a game called Man's/Woman's Law (very interesting), and then had the chance to catch up with an old friend who is also an army buddy. He has had a pretty interesting life since we last had a chance to catch up. But the chit-chat is catching up with me today. We stayed up until 4 in the morning, and then I was up early to make sure he was not ambushed by the kids. The last night we were invited over to a freinds house for dinner. They have 3 kids about 4 years older (average), but it was nice to be invited out so we accepted. The result is I am starting my New Year a little burned out. LOL But that's ok. I still have 2 more small sconses to hang up. 3 more curtain rods (the curtains will come later), and a ceiling fan. I hope you all had a great Christmas and start to the New Year. I need to catch up with all of the blogs I've been missing. Verse for today: Psalm 2:1-6, ESV Why do the nations rage [1] and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”

My how the time flies!

Well, after a lot of planning (mostly by my beloved), I took the family down to Disney World for a vacation. With limited time, because I am trying to catch up on so much here are a few quick points...

1) Pay close attention to the times of all parades in each of the parks. I don't care how (not) crowded it is, these always draw crowds - and they make it very hard to move around. On the flip side... the wait times on most rides drops WAY off! ;-)

2) I highly encourage everyone to plan, plan, plan. Even though we had to rearrange our plans, knowing which rides were maybe a little scary (especially for DS2 - my Aspergers, or Aspie) was very helpful. Also knowing what rides might be closed. Also, unless you abszolutely have to... don't go to the sit down resteraunts all the time. A lot of the 'counter services' had about 75% of what the sit downs did, for a pretty good bargin. Also, my beloved and I split most of our meals. We saved a LOT of money this way.

3) One of our friends had warned me about the pin trading thing (as he and his family went about 18 months ago), but I was not fully prepared for what it was all about. For the most part I kept my kids away from this 'experience', but one can hold back the tide only so long. :) One day we all went to the Indiana Jones "Stunt Spectacular", but for some reason this freaked out my little darling, so being the dutiful father I am, I took her with me to wait outside until the show was over. She was crying so hard (and this was only five minutes into the show), that I walked over to a nearby vending area (these are all over the park BTW) to just try and distract her. Well, she saw the Princess 'starter' lanyard and four pins, so I bought it for her (I also bought her a 'Belle' pin because she is her favorite princess - and she had a Princess breakfast with her the day before). Well, DS1 kind of caught on and he asked for one too. He was a little more genaric in his choices, opting for one that showed all four of the theme parks, and a pin of his favorite ride - The "Twilight Zone Tower of Terror". (I later bought him one for "Expidition Everest" because we rode that together - twice). Finally I caught some interest in it, but my desires were a little more specific. I wanted a "Tron Pin". Unfortunately, we travelled to Disney about 6 weeks too late. :*( That has not stopped me though... As soon as I got home I went to eBay and sought out what might be available. Since then I have purchased this beauty -->

What can I say... I am a geek. I also bought a pin lanyard, not to display pins on (although the Tron one might find it's way), but to use for my ID badge at work.

4) Make sure you try and see it all, or at the very least know that it may be impossible to see it all - slow down, enjoy what you can. It really is an amazing place. The details they put into everything. The building exteriors. The decorations that adorn the wait lines for the various rides... we deliberately went during a 'non-peak' week, and there is a (very) small part of me that regrets that we did not have longer waits for some of the rides. I am one who likes to look and read things, but there just wasn't enough time.

5) There is something at Disney for pretty much everyone. From the Dumbo ride, to a Carousel, to live shows, to interactive features (the Laugh Floor was great!), to roller coasters, to just scenery. And they do a great job of keeping it clean. I saw families with little babies and toddlers having a great time, and I even rode a bus with three elderly people (a husband and wife, and a mother of one of the two) - they were all there having a good time.

6) If God so provides (the only reason we went this year was because it looked like I was going to be deployed, and my beloved really wanted to make sure she had a trip to remember for the kids - in case I was not at home), I would love to take the family back down. I'd really like to take just a time for just me and my beloved (probably when the kids are grown). It is very expensive (although there are some great deals to be had so shop around), and there are a lot of better ways to use the resources God has provided... but it was a highly memorable journey.


And in other news...


I was able to catch about half of this weeks Heroes episode. Hiro suprised me... I have had nightmares (as a kid) about what he did to 'Kensei'... I still like the Hiro charecter... but what he did disturbed me.

I am about 75% of the way through last weeks 'The Unit' episode and I must say... I am liking Bob (aka "Cool Breeze") more and more as this show goes on. I am interested in seeing how he deals with his troubles. Although the Chaplin (CPT Lantz) has only made two appearences - but I am liking him as well.

The WV Mountaineers really embaressed me while I was on vacation... *sigh*, but then again, they seem to choke when on the national stage. They had two bowl appearences where they choked both times... it will be interesting to see what they do this year.

Well, I am going to wrap this up before it takes until tomorrow to complete. I'll probably have more to say about my trip in the coming days.... but I will leave you all with the one pin I was most desperate to find for my own collection - even more than the Tron pin... God bless...





Verse for today:
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, ESV
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Misc. thoughts...

No man is worthy to succeed until he is willing to fail. No man is morally worthy of success in religious activities until he is willing that the honor of succeeding should go to another if God so wills.

I have subscribed to the "Tozer Daily Devotional" by Literature Ministries International, and it has been useful in pointing out things to think about. The quote above has been useful in my life of late. Especially in regards to my walk with the Lord. Although it is probably not directly recognized as such, it has really helped me re-evaluate my walk with the Lord - and my motivations. That and a few other things. :) Last night was pretty fun. "Transformers" was a fun popcorn munching, sci-fi, special affects, movie. It was pretty cheesy in place (ever hear a robot space alien 'preach' about the nobility of man...?), but over all it was fun to watch. Big Mama - to answer your question... I've only seen the 'Heroes' season premier, it was a lot like last years start. It was setting up the 'players' in their plot lines. Not much else going on. I have this weeks episode DVR'd and hope to get to that later this week. Between that show, 'The Unit', and any and all football I can watch, my TV time is pretty much taken. lol Verse for today: Psalm 94:10-15, ESV He who disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke? He who teaches man knowledge— the Lord—knows the thoughts of man, that they are but a breath. [1] Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O Lord, and whom you teach out of your law, to give him rest from days of trouble, until a pit is dug for the wicked. For the Lord will not forsake his people; he will not abandon his heritage; for justice will return to the righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it.