CPJ for President!

(MP) - The score doesn't fully tell the tale, so if you missed yesterday's 45-42 Tech victory over UGA, you can't really comprehend the significance of that game. Tech played probably they're second best game of the year against the pre-season No. 1 and there is no doubt in my mind that the most significant number from the game is 1. That's the number of people we can thank for getting the Tech program on the right track - Coach Paul Johnson. That also represents that this is just his first year at Tech. Tech has the talent, but most of all is has the leadership to take us to the next level.

Biggest mental hurdle has passed!

Today our team successfully completed the Combat Lifesaver (CLS) course. This is historically the most fretted-over training for most people attending Combat Skills Training (CST). It is due to the IV requirement. Everyone has to actually place an IV lock and initiate the flow of IV fluid into a battle buddy. Phew! We did that yesterday and thankfully, everything went fairly well. One member of our team almost passed out and a couple bled all over themselves, however I was pretty happy with my work as well as my buddy's work. I ended up getting stuck twice because the first one was accidentally pulled out as he was placing the needle in the vein. The second one, however, went without a hitch. I cleanly got my buddy's IV in and had no blood anywhere - clean and quick! It was fun, and today's mass-casualty exercise was even more fun. We entered a smoke-filled, dark room and pulled out an indeterminate number of casualties. Cool stuff. Anyway, here are some shots (no pun intended) of me and my buddy and the team with our CLS instructor. Take luck!

Dinner III

Here are our Salmon Starfish. They took forever on a night I could have been doing so many other things! Elizabeth had a blast cutting them out. She was very good at it, really. The verdict by all eaters was, "Not bad." I'm looking forward to eating Thanksgiving Dinner with my parents and siblings and David and the kids, and I just get to help with everything...I mean, we actually will eat even if I don't help. Of course I will, but the pressure's off!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYBODY!!! There is so much to be thankful for!

Acceptance or reprisal?

Friends, I strongly considered responding to Rachel's posting of the completely unflattering picture of me under the covers with a like act. I have a few (very few) of her to choose from, however it would only escalate the issue. With that in mind, I've decided to instead take the more diplomatic route. So, here, for your enjoyment is the un-equaled visage of my stunning bride.

Chatting with Daddy

The internet and communication capabilities today are truly amazing! We are truly blessed with so many amenities during family separation that families in years past have not been privy to. The kids get to video chat with their Dad at least a couple times a week. Andrew took this picture of David during one of those times. So, you get to see what we see when video chatting with him!

She just keeps on growing! Notice her standing on her own! She's actually just about figured out how to consistently just stand herself up from the floor instead of needing help pulling up on something. She cries a little more since she's falling a lot more, but she's getting used to it and I usually just look away when I know she's not really hurt and then look back briefly to give her a reassuring smile. One thing's for sure: there is NEVER a dull moment around here!

Overwhelmed!

(MP) - I was planning on spending Thanksgiving (and the accompanying 4-day weekend) away from family due to budgeting constraints. Thanks to the unbelievable, completely unsolicited gift from a good friend, I will now be going home for three days to see Rachel, the kids and her family for this important holiday. Please pass on an act of kindness in honor of my friend's actions!

G'bye Charter, G'day Gmail / Update

Today I joined the masses in establishing a Gmail account. The reasons were simple - I couldn't send e-mail directly from my computer while travelling without logging in to my webmail. This gets very annoying seeing as how I download all e-mail using Outlook and I can't easily reply. So now I have a fully functioning POP3/SMTP server with Gmail, capable of taking my send items and delivering them as required without flinching.

"How will I be able to e-mail you, now?" you may ask. Well, thanks to my brother's purchase of our family's domain over ten years ago, you can continue using the same simple e-mail address I've had since college. It requires no additional effort on your part at all!

That being said, if you know my whole name, you know my e-mail. Please feel free to send me a line anytime. Or, if you don't remember my name, feel free to send comments on any of the blogs here - they are always welcome.

I thought it was also fair to provide an update of my status in training and how we are doing. Well, the Army is an interesting establishment. Air Force officers are not allowed to sleep in the same lodging room. I'm currently roomed with 30 other Air Force and Army personnel in a 40-man barracks. Air Force personnel are empowered to think freely about the "best" way to do things. The Army has its ways - and they are all the "best". Air Force training has been streamlined and minimized to impact the mission. In the Army, training is the mission while in garrison (not deployed) and training is expanded as much as possible to fill available time (In the last 2.5 weeks, we have not had a single day of training longer than 7 hours). These are just a few of the differences - but I'm not complaining, it's just different.

Last week I learned a ton about the mission I'll be supporting and this week I learned a ton (and became pretty proficient) about programming/using various military radios. Just yesterday I placed a satellite call to someone standing fifteen feet from me. Pretty cool stuff. Tomorrow we have Army 101 (a little late in the schedule, but better late than never!) and marksmanship.

I sleep on the bottom bunk of a bed shared with no one else and the free time is spent working on equipment, watching movies, talking with Rachel and the kids or eating. I'm getting over a cold (that everyone got) and I should be a lot stronger for it! I'm excited about the mission I'll be embarking on and I hope that I can be a successful piece of our strategy for that war-torn country. I'll send another update in a few weeks, but I'll probably blog about other random stuff before then.
In Him,
David

Birthday Party

"Whose birthday is it," you may ask. "No one in their family has a fall birthday." Well, we have a birthday party almost every week at our house. If a birthday is not being celebrated, the next one is being planned. Elizabeth is our gracious little hostess. She loves getting out gift bags I have saved and filling them with presents for us. This was Andrew's party. She used some tissue paper inside the bags, but also used blankets and pillows in place of tissue. Andrew played along with her, very much enjoying another birthday. We sang 'Happy Birthday' and there he is blowing out his candles (colored pencils stuck into the crisco can of crayons) on his cake.

It's Over.

Our garden is dead. It was very fruitful, but it's over now. Please stop asking.

-the management
:)

New Poster

Congratulations to our new poster, John. He is very impressive.

Laundry Done

(MP) - In a remarkable streak, David has done his own laundry now twice in a row. Even more remarkable is that every item was carefully and neatly put away in his army wall lockers before going to bed, ensuring every article of clothing will be spared the previously ubiquitous wrinkling resultant of David's past laundering endeavors.

My turn to brag

If you haven't yet, read the recent dinner blogs on "Her side,". My wife is amazing! Those snails are awesome and I was seriously wishing I could've made some mini-pizzas of my own to enjoy. Every day I am reminded of how blessed I am to be in a union with Rachel. We have our ups and downs, but everytime, God brings us out stronger and more prepared for the next storm. More often than I am willing to admit, it is her demand for clear communication and sold-out heart for God's will that sustains us time and time again. She is my compass and consistently holds me accountable to the course I must maintain as a man, a husband, and a father.

For these reasons and many others, I hereby announce every day for the rest of my life as "Rachel Appreciation Day". Festivities will be carried out daily, though I won't be making the schedule of events publicly accessible - just trust that she'll be well taken care of!

Kansas

It's probably not very fair to review the state of Kansas until my time here is done, but I need something to combat the severe boredom I am currently suffering, so I'll say a few words about the "Sunflower State". It's windy and cold.

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It's windy and cold and snowy.

Dinner, Again

Well, we had to eat dinner again tonight. With a little more labor than last night, this is what we had! I still make mediocre mashed potatoes...but the rest of our Chicken Sausage Snails were quite yummy.

Dinner

Well, when you have three young kids, everybody has to eat dinner. It's just what exactly is for dinner that can sometimes get complicated, and sometimes, I admit, downright irritating! Elizabeth deciding she doesn't like chicken anymore, Andrew having difficulty with any food that doesn't stand alone (casseroles)...oh, it seems endless. And I do not cater to them. We eat healthy food on a tight budget, and what you see is what you get at our house! We hate to waste food, so if you don't eat it, you go hungry till breakfast, when oftentimes, you'll see that meal again.
Well, I'm tired! It gets exhausting trying to get them to eat it and not wiggle around and go look out the window and not play with it, so, I started thinking a couple weeks ago that when David is not home to help enforce, something was going change. So here is a picture of the lovely dinner we had tonight. Elizabeth saw a picture of it in a cookbook I have and requested we make them for dinner. Her pizzas are the cats on the top, Andrew's dogs are in the middle and my flower, mouse and monster are at the bottom. See if you can spot all our favorite pizza toppings! Dinner was so much more enjoyable!
And then we had dirt with worms for dessert! I told them I had put a surprise in their pudding, but Andrew's face when he felt a gummy worm in his mouth was priceless. After we had a good laugh about it, he told me I was silly, but that it was a good surprise.

Ocean's Eleven - the original

A timeless classic! The original "Ocean's Eleven" will remain a classic over the recent installments for several reasons, some of which I'll only generally mention to avoid spoiling the film for those who haven't seen it. Now, please don't get me wrong - Clooney and friends have put together some fine work in the update saga, yet it will still pale in comparison to what Sinatra and the rat pack accomplished decades ago.

Why?
1. There was only 1. This is key. I recently tried to remember the plots of each of the last three "Ocean's" and found it a muddy mess to sort out. The original stood alone. The plot stood alone. The cast stood alone. And it still stands alone.

2. The ending. I really don't want to elaborate, but I guarantee you will agree that the original movie had an ending that will always be regarded as one of the best in film history.

3. The cast. Sinatra - Martin - Davis and a slew of talent in marquee-worthy and bit roles all had a very close and personal relationship with the unbilled, yet main character - Las Vegas, NV. The movie was made during the heydays of this town - before it exploded into the unbelievable modern spectacle that it is today - and these actors/actresses all had an intimate familiarity with the town. Clooney and his crew are all terrific entertainers, but they didn't necessarily take their real life to the screen like the original cast did.

That's my take on why the original "Ocean's Eleven" will forever be an American Classic, while the newer "Ocean's 11, 12, 13, etc" will be just another bunch of gee-wiz movies.

"Unbelievable" or "It's about time" - you choose the title

(MP) - Georgia Tech beat Florida State for the first time ever since being brought together in the ACC and the first time since before I was born.

HUA

Heard
Understood
Acknowledged

I'll admit, readers, you deserve much better than this. I've thrown you off with sporadic unannounced changes to the website with little to no explanation. There hasn't been a new post in nearly a month anywhere to be found. Add to that, I'm nearly out of touch with reality by being TDY at Ft Riley for the next 3 months. Please accept my apology and just keep reading.

I said 'goodbye' to my family for a TDY in uniform for the first time. It brought images of sailors and soldiers heading off to the front to my mind. It also gave me an inkling of an idea of what it will be like when I return. The next 16 months will be a flurry of TDYs, short jaunts home, and a duty that humbles me. When all is said and done, though, that moment of embracing Rachel after returning with honor will be a truly fine moment. But until then, there is a lot of training and a lot of work to do. Please pray for me and for Rachel and the kids as we forge this path.

I'll try to post more updates/stories as I see fit, but until next time - God bless!