Two Days In A Row...
Such exciting times are these. This morning actually was pretty exciting, as I ran a mock PFT with my section and ended up besting my PR outside of high school by six seconds. Given I only started running again a week ago, this was quite promising. It's amazing what eating right because the only food around is what you buy can do. My low over the last few days has dipped down to around 178 or 9, suddenly my goal for like the last 2 years of 175 seems a lot more reachable. This was partly because on Tuesday I went for what I planned to be about a 5 miler around the east runway, but low and behold there was no way across the taxiway at that end, so I had to run all the way across the golf course to the taxiway crossing where it meets the west runway, and then all the way back across the base diagonally to get home, where I then had to skip breakfast to avoid being late for my muster time. Ended up being the equivalent about a 10k, and I was definitely feeling it for the next few hours in my legs. I recovered enough to PR today though, so that's promising. The previous Sunday I'd run 4 miles all on grass to avoid shin splints, but the 10K I did all on pavement with no ill effects, so far, so good. I figure after a couple weeks of this I'll try to get into more running days per week. I'm at 9:48 right now for the 1.5 mile, but the more that drops the better my physical output score will be once things get crankin next year, and I'd rather than be a definite strong suit rather than the mediocrity it was at OTS. Being sub 10 is good, being under 9:30 would be better. Going sub 9 would be quite a distance off, there were only a couple guys at OTS who could do that, and they were pretty much built to run.
On a less boring note, money continues to flow in from the various direct deposits we get with regards to switching bases... A chunk of change here to reimburse for the temporary lodging at billeting, a much larger chunk of change to reimburse for all the travel and mileage expenses during the three days, and I'm still waiting on an even larger chunk of change for the DITY move and hauling all my stuff. Although a decent portion of it is money I already paid and am being reimbursed for, much of it such as the DITY isn't and it's nice to see Christmas coming early.
Cut my hair again by myself today, found out it's much easier to do with two mirrors (I didn't have a second one handy), although I'm pretty sure it still worked out. Having someone do the back line in a few secs might make things easier, but it looks like I'll be saving the 6 bucks ever couple weeks everyone else has to pay. That's like $150 a year, more money for other stuff I figure. Word on the street is if you fill out a form you can get out of paying state taxes in your state of residence, because you aren't there for more than 30 days a year and you don't have a house there. That'll save me 20 something a month which works out to around $300 a year. Now as long as I keep from meeting any females, the monetary aspect of things should remain stable. Har. Oh how it's a double edged sword.
Various people have been coming across my site searching for JSUNT journal or Nav journal or Navigator journal, and unfortunately thus far this probably hasn't been too helpful. I can tell you a whole lot about casual status at Randolph, but I won't actually start my JSUNT class until after ASBC, so I can't be too helpful there.
And believe it or not folks, I actually remembered to bring the quote today:
"The past is a puzzle. Like a broken mirror, as you piece it together, you cut yourself. Your image keeps shifting, and you change with it."
You just got raised way up on the cool meter if you know the source of the above. E-mail me for confirmation and major brownie points. Being somewhat in limbo, I've had a lot of time to think about the past, and I found that quote particularly interesting.
Wednesday, November 19, 2003
Three's a Crowd....
Seems I have plenty of time to watch movies these days, wonder why...
First up we have The Graduate. Ok now look. I really gave this one a chance. I tried to ignore the whole concept I referred to earlier about not being a fan of old movies everyone seems to love, but wham by the half hour mark I had a hearts game going in the background. I actually had no idea what this one was going to be about, other than the fact that Dustin Hoffman was in it. Obviously the subject matter surprised me. I just didn't get what everyone liked about this movie. Three M's for failing to hold my attention at times. There was one saving grace, in a later scene he goes to Santa Barbara from Berkeley chasing his girl, and it shows him driving the 101 north of SB which I recognized. Interestingly enough, it shows him going through the one tunnel along the route. However, those who have driven it know that the tunnel is only on the NORTH side of the 101, not the south, so it would make no sense for him to be driving through it on the way to SB. Yeah so it was about a .5 second scene in the movie, but actually was more interesting to me than the rest of it. :/
Next up we have The Thomas Crown Affair. Very fun stuff, 5 M's. Your classic caper movie, with Pierce Brosnan doing his usual I'm too suave for words thing. Some fun twists, very entertaining. No major stunts like a Bond film, but kept my attention none the less. For the sake of brevity, I'll move right along to Quiz Show. This was pretty much what I expected, if you read the preview for the movie it's nothing outside the ordinary. We'll go with 4 M's, although I'm probably more entertained than most because I enjoy trivia and those kinds of shows. A few years ago I was one step away from being flown to NY to be on Who Wants to be a Millionaire, before I was foiled by trying to put the four main Seinfeld actors in order by their age. Who knew Jason Alexander was balding, but young.
I'm actually in someone else's room posting this and they're getting ready to go to sleep, so I'll have to cut it short. Not much going around here, today's duty day consisted of playing volleyball for two hours. Tomorrow we actually have a safety briefing for which we have to report at 0730, and then we're doing another mock PFT, and then I'll probably go to the second ground school session for NIFT even though it's repetition of what I've already learned through the reading and computer work. Friday we were given off, so I'll probably hit up Sea World or Six Flags or something. Gotta get on buying plane tickets to go home for Xmas and New Years too, you know where I'll be.
Seems I have plenty of time to watch movies these days, wonder why...
First up we have The Graduate. Ok now look. I really gave this one a chance. I tried to ignore the whole concept I referred to earlier about not being a fan of old movies everyone seems to love, but wham by the half hour mark I had a hearts game going in the background. I actually had no idea what this one was going to be about, other than the fact that Dustin Hoffman was in it. Obviously the subject matter surprised me. I just didn't get what everyone liked about this movie. Three M's for failing to hold my attention at times. There was one saving grace, in a later scene he goes to Santa Barbara from Berkeley chasing his girl, and it shows him driving the 101 north of SB which I recognized. Interestingly enough, it shows him going through the one tunnel along the route. However, those who have driven it know that the tunnel is only on the NORTH side of the 101, not the south, so it would make no sense for him to be driving through it on the way to SB. Yeah so it was about a .5 second scene in the movie, but actually was more interesting to me than the rest of it. :/
Next up we have The Thomas Crown Affair. Very fun stuff, 5 M's. Your classic caper movie, with Pierce Brosnan doing his usual I'm too suave for words thing. Some fun twists, very entertaining. No major stunts like a Bond film, but kept my attention none the less. For the sake of brevity, I'll move right along to Quiz Show. This was pretty much what I expected, if you read the preview for the movie it's nothing outside the ordinary. We'll go with 4 M's, although I'm probably more entertained than most because I enjoy trivia and those kinds of shows. A few years ago I was one step away from being flown to NY to be on Who Wants to be a Millionaire, before I was foiled by trying to put the four main Seinfeld actors in order by their age. Who knew Jason Alexander was balding, but young.
I'm actually in someone else's room posting this and they're getting ready to go to sleep, so I'll have to cut it short. Not much going around here, today's duty day consisted of playing volleyball for two hours. Tomorrow we actually have a safety briefing for which we have to report at 0730, and then we're doing another mock PFT, and then I'll probably go to the second ground school session for NIFT even though it's repetition of what I've already learned through the reading and computer work. Friday we were given off, so I'll probably hit up Sea World or Six Flags or something. Gotta get on buying plane tickets to go home for Xmas and New Years too, you know where I'll be.
Sunday, November 16, 2003
Foiled By the 5:00pm Saturday Closure...
Apparently that means they don't give out computers past 4:30. Not even at 4:32. Gr. So anyway here I am with various things to talk about.
Let's get some movie reviews out of the way first. This weekend I actually watched three, including two with Matthew Broderick, which was funny given I didn't know he was in either. The first was War Games starring him and Ally Sheedy when they're both like 16 or something. Pretty entertaining, it's from something like 1983 and about a kid accidentally hacking into a computer capable of starting a nuclear war. This was back when U.S. vs U.S.S.R. was big and that's prevalent throughout. The technology is pretty laughable twenty years later though. We'll go with 4 M's just because it held my attention even though it's two decades old. That's pretty tough to do, believe me. Old movies that are supposedly amazing tend to not score too well.
Next up we have The Matrix: Revolutions. Now this one is going to get 4 M's for a very different reason. Saturday night I drove downtown to see what there was to see, and ended up over at a section of the Riverwalk that ends in a mall. The Riverwalk is a pretty awesome place, tons of restaurants with tables right up to the edge of the water, so if you lean towards it you'll just kerplunk on in. Literally every kind of food imaginable, although it was pretty packed given it was a Saturday. I came across my first Hooters, which I guess is a staple around these parts. Also had another first, which was watching a feature film in an IMAX. IMAX are pretty much a movie geek's dream. You've got this gigantic screen taking up most of the room, and a sound system that is pretty much top of the line. This combines to form a pretty awesome movie experience. Either the tickets cost a bit more than average (9.95) or prices are high around here, but in my opinion it's worth it. I'm sure there are discount coupons or something, and now that I think about it I didn't even ask if there was an active military discount which I'm supposed to do all the time now. So anyway, they actually assign seats so if you're a single person and show up 5 minutes before the show you might still snag a pretty nice one, which I did. I literally just happened to be walking through that section of the mall and saw that there was an IMAX, the movie was playing there which I hadn't seen, and the show started in 5 minutes. Spontaneity as usual reigns and boom I was in the theater. So yeah, the fact everyone was several stories high gave this movie a boost. I like many others have to give the nod to the first one as being the best. Still some cool action scenes in this one, but it seems like they've gone from remotely realistic to very unremotely realistic as the series has continued. You have the infamous lobby scene in the first, the "I can take 100 guys at once" park scene in the second, and then the "I'm gonna have a brawl right here in midair while traveling at the speed of light" scene in the third. It just loses its luster for me when it gets to that point, I can't even pretend like it's possible. Pretty confusing ending too, people are dead yet they're not, you think someone just bit the big one then there they are talking to someone. Maybe if I see the trilogy all at once again I'll understand more. I don't see that happening though. I liked the instrumental at the beginning of the closing credits by the way, just as a random sidenote.
Okay last on the list was last night's fare of Glory. Now this had come very highly recommended by someone I've known for quite some time, and I finally got around to watching it about five years later. This one takes home 6 M's for a few reasons. First of all yes I'm probably biased, because yes it's a military/war movie. Second of all, I felt the acting as a whole was pretty amazing on all fronts. The one kink in the armor I felt was casting Matthew Broderick as the lead. Now obviously I'd just watched him as a teenager just beforehand, so trying to imagine him as a Colonel leading batallion is a large pill to swallow. But he just didn't give me the I'm in charge aura, seemed to unsure of himself. Afterwards thinking back I figured part of that was intentional, because he was young and not entirely positive of what he was doing. But even when he was laying down the law, he didn't exactly have me quaking in my boots, whereas any of his costars would have. Still, this one tugs at you, and as usual the fact it's based on a true story gives it even more power.
Yikes longer than average post here, I'll leave some more babbling for the next one (yes, I forgot the quote again).
Apparently that means they don't give out computers past 4:30. Not even at 4:32. Gr. So anyway here I am with various things to talk about.
Let's get some movie reviews out of the way first. This weekend I actually watched three, including two with Matthew Broderick, which was funny given I didn't know he was in either. The first was War Games starring him and Ally Sheedy when they're both like 16 or something. Pretty entertaining, it's from something like 1983 and about a kid accidentally hacking into a computer capable of starting a nuclear war. This was back when U.S. vs U.S.S.R. was big and that's prevalent throughout. The technology is pretty laughable twenty years later though. We'll go with 4 M's just because it held my attention even though it's two decades old. That's pretty tough to do, believe me. Old movies that are supposedly amazing tend to not score too well.
Next up we have The Matrix: Revolutions. Now this one is going to get 4 M's for a very different reason. Saturday night I drove downtown to see what there was to see, and ended up over at a section of the Riverwalk that ends in a mall. The Riverwalk is a pretty awesome place, tons of restaurants with tables right up to the edge of the water, so if you lean towards it you'll just kerplunk on in. Literally every kind of food imaginable, although it was pretty packed given it was a Saturday. I came across my first Hooters, which I guess is a staple around these parts. Also had another first, which was watching a feature film in an IMAX. IMAX are pretty much a movie geek's dream. You've got this gigantic screen taking up most of the room, and a sound system that is pretty much top of the line. This combines to form a pretty awesome movie experience. Either the tickets cost a bit more than average (9.95) or prices are high around here, but in my opinion it's worth it. I'm sure there are discount coupons or something, and now that I think about it I didn't even ask if there was an active military discount which I'm supposed to do all the time now. So anyway, they actually assign seats so if you're a single person and show up 5 minutes before the show you might still snag a pretty nice one, which I did. I literally just happened to be walking through that section of the mall and saw that there was an IMAX, the movie was playing there which I hadn't seen, and the show started in 5 minutes. Spontaneity as usual reigns and boom I was in the theater. So yeah, the fact everyone was several stories high gave this movie a boost. I like many others have to give the nod to the first one as being the best. Still some cool action scenes in this one, but it seems like they've gone from remotely realistic to very unremotely realistic as the series has continued. You have the infamous lobby scene in the first, the "I can take 100 guys at once" park scene in the second, and then the "I'm gonna have a brawl right here in midair while traveling at the speed of light" scene in the third. It just loses its luster for me when it gets to that point, I can't even pretend like it's possible. Pretty confusing ending too, people are dead yet they're not, you think someone just bit the big one then there they are talking to someone. Maybe if I see the trilogy all at once again I'll understand more. I don't see that happening though. I liked the instrumental at the beginning of the closing credits by the way, just as a random sidenote.
Okay last on the list was last night's fare of Glory. Now this had come very highly recommended by someone I've known for quite some time, and I finally got around to watching it about five years later. This one takes home 6 M's for a few reasons. First of all yes I'm probably biased, because yes it's a military/war movie. Second of all, I felt the acting as a whole was pretty amazing on all fronts. The one kink in the armor I felt was casting Matthew Broderick as the lead. Now obviously I'd just watched him as a teenager just beforehand, so trying to imagine him as a Colonel leading batallion is a large pill to swallow. But he just didn't give me the I'm in charge aura, seemed to unsure of himself. Afterwards thinking back I figured part of that was intentional, because he was young and not entirely positive of what he was doing. But even when he was laying down the law, he didn't exactly have me quaking in my boots, whereas any of his costars would have. Still, this one tugs at you, and as usual the fact it's based on a true story gives it even more power.
Yikes longer than average post here, I'll leave some more babbling for the next one (yes, I forgot the quote again).
