"Sometimes you eat the bar, and sometimes, well, he eats you."
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September 28, 2006
September 22, 2006
"If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits eighty-eight miles per hour... you're gonna see some serious s***"
This entry is kind of inspired by Sharp. He posted a message on the Awful forums stating that he has finally been released from Active Duty and is now a civilian. In his post, he put up some pictures that brought back some good memories. So, I went through some of my photo archives and pulled up a batch of photos from the last few years. Just a few that I liked showing pretty much the time from my arrival in Petaluma, to my departure from Kodiak. It's only a handful of photos out of hundreds, but I wanted to select ones that I really liked. I used JAlbum to auto generate the code and thumbnails for this, so if they're a little FUBAR, that's why.
September 14, 2006
"Two wrongs don't make a right but three rights make a left"
I've been salivating over buying a certain item for my computer for some time now. I've wanted it since the day they announced they were selling it, and even more when I heard from some people that bought it and loved it. I finally broke down and bought it(I'm finally spending some of that money I squirreled away in Kodiak!). I went ahead and bought the Dell 24" Ultrasharp Widescreen monitor! This monitor is excellent! It is very sharp, high resolution, and combined with my new video card, and can support many widescreen resolutions in my games. It's taking a bit to get used to all the extra horizontal space when browsing around in windows, but I'm loving this thing. Also, if you'll take a look at the link, you'll notice that is has MANY inputs. As soon as I move up to a top rack in my berthing area, I can take it underway with me and have a very nice screen to watch my DVDs on instead of on a tiny portable DVD player screen. I'm quite a geek when it comes to good video electronics(I still regret buying those silly VR goggles, even though I was able to sell them for a reasonable price).
Aside from enjoying my new purchase, I'm finally getting some rest and relaxation. I'm on leave for the next couple of days and I get to just sit back and worry about personal stuff, instead of worrying about everyone else's personal stuff. The last three days of work have wreaked a little havoc on me. The combination of a bunch of stupid little things cropping up, compounded by the unbearable heat aboard the ship right now, was starting to push me over the top. So I'm going to enjoy myself for the next few days.
PS. RPS, I replied to your questions on the comments page of the previous entry.
September 11, 2006
"No, but that's a really nice ski mask."
Well, my trip to Long Beach has been cancelled, but I'm certainly not cancelling my leave. I need a break like you wouldn't believe. It's not like work is getting to me or anything(other than the fact that the AC is busted and the whole boat is like 90 deg), but I just haven't had any time off since June 2005! It's my turn to just sit around and be lazy!
I mainly wanted to get on and blather about my new weight loss routine. I wanted to lose the weight I've gained since joining the Coast Guard It's actually paying off, I'm back to my weight I was in highschool, and I've only started a few weeks ago. I started out by cutting out the junk food and snacking at home. No more gallon o' milk a day; I'm only drinking non-fat milk and even that is sparingly. Iced tea and iced green tea are my main staples now(and probably about 3 gallons of water a day to tolerate this heat!). I still eat crummy microwave meals because I'm too lazy to cook when I'm at home, but they're at least Weight Watchers and Lean Cuisine dinners now. But, in order to aide me in my progress, I've gotten a membership at GNC and have started taking some supplements. I started out with Hydroxycut by someone's recommendation. I used to use Xenadrine back when it had Ephedra, but that had some really awful side effects. I haven't suffered any side effects from the Hydroxycut so far. Also, I've started a good exercise routine with my new Total Gym. No more straight up weight lifting for bulk liked I used to do in HS/college. I've actually developed a regular routine with isolative exercises for different muscle groups for 6 days a week(my duty day is my relaxation day). To help out I've started using SuperPump 250. It's mainly to aide in lean muscle development and some weight loss. So far so good! I'm tempted to change over to whey protein shakes though. Anyway, I've rambled on like I wanted to. I've lost 35 pounds so far, and I have a lot more energy than I used to. Hopefully I'll work in some cardio later(I want to start jogging in the morning).
Also, don't forget:
September 08, 2006
"You don't tell me to beware, I tell you where to be!"
September 02, 2006
"Am I jumpin' around all nimbly bimbly from tree to tree?"
Aaaahhhh!!! The changes around here are coming so quickly, it's becoming a challenge to keep up. We had our change of command, and the wave of new procedures have started trickling down. Rules, regs, inspections are the new focal points, so everyone has to be on top of their game. It can be a bit daunting at times, especially since it's all hitting at once. I would typically suggest you transition into these things one step at a time, but instead we're jumping in head first. The system shock to the crew is very apparent, and some of these transitions have not been very smooth. But, we'll just have to get used to these changes and go with the flow.
It looks like I won't be inport for as long as I had hoped/expected, but instead I'll be heading back out again. This has caused me to cancel my three week Christmas vacation, which I was really looking forward to, because I haven't been home for the holidays since I joined the Coast Guard. I have however been able to plan another vacation at very short notice. I will be going to Long Beach, CA for a few days for SC Fest. I haven't attended one of these events in years, and I'm really looking forward to it. I'm not used to planning a trip on this short of notice(unless it's under orders from my command), but everything seems to be falling into place. I need these couple of days off. Just the few days of escape from duty and the daily tedium will do me a lot of good.
Also, my new computer system is up and running VERY smoothly. This installation was the easiest one yet. No hitches. I had it put together, windows installed and updated, and my games up and running in about 4 hours. So far everything is functioning perfectly. This is a first. Typically parts don't work, there's installation problems with the software, and I'm troubleshooting/updating driver problems for a few days. I got lucky this time.
I'm at work today and have a few pictures on my workstation from the trip to South Korea, so I figured I'd post a couple of them up now.
