Too disturbing to look at

(MP) - Of course I am speaking of the 2008 Chick-fil-a Bowl score. I'll perform a full review of the "game" (if you want to call it that) in Mediocreviews. Needless to say, it wasn't pretty and it easily dampened some of the New Year's festivities at this home.

I still think CPJ is great and I still think Tech is on the right track. only 3 of 22 starters are not returning next year and the recruiting class is promising to be one of the strongest in years. We need more muscle on our O-line and more speed in our secondary to take on the BCS teams, but tonight we were lacking in every department and I think it was honestly more post-holiday football syndrome than anything else. LSU would have been taken to the cleaners a week after the UGA game, I have no doubt about it.

Happy New Year

2009, here we go. 2009 is a year that is sure to be a challenging one for this family with at least an anticipated 11 months of separation and children entering school age. We started it surrounded by family and hopefully we'll get to end it in the same fashion, though this patriarch will be half a world away when we ring in 2010.

In reality, I can't stand New Year's. It seems to be a somewhat pointless holiday, but then again so are Halloween, Valentine's, and the widely heralded Transatlantic Communications Day. I always get blown away by how crazy revelers act in Times Square, watching a ball drop and embracing total strangers. I think how silly it seems. I guess I'm entitled to my opinion.

Funny thing is, even though I have no desire to celebrate the New Year in that fashion, I have a real longing to at least be a part of that social phenomenon - to someday say, "yes, I've been there. . ." Right now I've got bigger fish to fry, so I'll sigh off and sleep in to start 2009 right.

Rockin' Hannah!

This is how the Lord works

(MP) - I arrived at Kansas City Intl' at 0645 - 15 minutes before the first opportunity to fly to Memphis to reach a connecting flight to Montgomery (my confirmed flight wasn't until 1715). Of course the attendant at the counter said everything was booked - so I took my boarding pass (for eleven hours later) and went to the 0700 flight gate. A quick inquiry at the desk revealed a late departure (0720) and seats available - Praise the Lord! I arrived in Memphis at 0845 and quickly jetted to the gate for the next flight to Montgomery. They took my C.C. and put me on standby. All passengers boarded and lo and behold, there was my second new boarding pass for the day. A quick call to Rachel and a little over an hour later, I was in her arms along with the kids - Praise the Lord! I'd arrived about 10 hours early and now I could witness "Narnia", a play put on by our church to support the building program as well as share a dinner with my family and some great work friends who had invited them over - Praise the Lord! I had a full day with family and friends behind me - an hour before I was originally intended to actually land at home, during Christmas travel! That's how the Lord works.

T-56 hours 30 minutes

(MP) - Homecoming (for a while anyway) is approaching! In a little over 2 days, I will get to see my family again for two weeks; I can't wait! Video-chatting has been great, however it is so much better to be with them. We have zero training until I leave Saturday morning - so please pray I don't implode with boredom. . . .

Long and Short of it

Attention spans are shorter than ever. Entertainment now comes in bite-size chunks thanks to YouTube, social networking sites, and text-messenging. Therefore, in an effort to increase traffic and interest, I will begin limiting my main page posts to shorter, more manageable entries. If you prefer my verbose nature, I recommend checking out any of the other pages - especially the Mediocre Politics or Mediocreviews.

My goal is to pose more relevant information and attract comments in return.

I think the short attention span of America is a sad thing. What are your thoughts?

This wasn't on the list!

We are, like everyone else this time of year, slowly but surely checking off the Christmas To Do list. You know, gift buying, wrapping, Christmas cards, all your favorite Christmas cookies--you want it all to get done! Well a day or so ago, after checking the kids right before bed, I was in a hurry to get to sleep. Somehow, though I've walked to my bedroom from theirs' a thousand times, I missed the hall and smashed my pinky toe into the couch. It is a lovely purple and fairly painful. As I mentioned this to my neighbor, she said, "That wasn't on the list!" I agreed completely.

Prayerfully, everything that truly needs to get done, will get done, even if I have a broken toe!

She's Nearing Independence

She loves to walk across the kitchen floor pushing this chair.

This particular day, she would cry every time she ran into a wall and couldn't keep going.

Trees!

Well, I guess you could call me a liar or even confused. In the end though, I thought this was the best place to post about the newest editions to our backyard - three trees. So even though I said the garden was done, I decided to talk about these editions in this blog as it seemed most appropriate.

Yes, we got trees. Three. Two live oaks and another one that I think is like a cross between a cherry tree and a weeping willow - Rachel can confirm and post pictures also. I'm pretty excited about the trees seeing as how we really had nothing to block the neighbors behind us from peering into our backyard or our home. It will take a few years, but eventually the backyard will be a sanctuary from the rest of the world for our kids and whoever else may live there over the course of our wonderful little home.

We followed the directions pretty clearly, unfortunately we won't know for a while if the roots "took" or not. Please pray, if you have a moment that we don't lose them. It wouldn't be a financial setback so much as it would be an emotional one. I'm especially excited about coming home from my long deployment to see trees much larger than the ones I left and a backyard gradually becoming more and more private.

Chow hall is still a chow hall

(MP) - The chow hall is great - don't get me wrong. Unfortunately, a person can easily have too much of a good thing and the chow hall is no exception. Daily we have our choice of many entrees from either a short order (hamburgers, hot dogs, fries, etc) or main line (chicken, chicken, ribs, catfish, chicken, etc) as well as just about any beverage you can imagine, a full salad and soup bar, and ice cream. Even still, after a month and a half, the advent of a meal becomes more ritualistic than anticipated. I can't wait to get home for the Christmas break to interrupt the monotony!

Bang-Bang

The last week of training was tiring at times and exciting at times. Most of it was spent at the range firing off round after round on a mixture of military weaponry capable of taking over small towns.

I've been qualified on small arms for several years, in accordance with AF requirements, so I was already familiar with the M-4 carbine (similar to the M-16 rifle only with a shorter barrel, built-in rail mount system, and an adjustable stock) and the M-9 handgun (Beretta 9mm). Those training/qualification days for the Army were last week, so there wasn't much to talk about as it was not too new to me. This week, however was different - very different.

Instead of firing small arms, I fired an automatic grendade launcher (MK19) and several machine guns (M-2 .50 cal, M-240B, and M-249) in various settings. And yes, it was pretty incredible. I feel fairly competent with targeting, cleaning, disassembling, reassembling and maintaining each of these weapons systems and I have the Army to thank for that. Years and years ago, when my LEGO village was ravaged by an unprovoked attack from G.I. Joe and his buddies, orchestrated by my brother, I was completely confident I would never be this intimate with such powerful instruments of war. Today is different. My goal is to learn as much as possible about the job ahead of me so that I can come home safe to my family and friends and more importantly, so I can conduct my nation's business with honer. The long days at the range were a not-so-gentle reminder of this and the percussion of the rounds blasting forward only added an exclamation point to what this business model often requires in order to ensure success.

Arrested Development

In an age when television producers have to do so little to earn a captive television audience, this Ron Howard series that ran for three years and has become a DVD/hulu cult classic was a breath of fresh air.

"Arrested Development", cancelled after three years and declining viewership never failed to impress reviewers or the awards society. The premise was simple, as stated at the beginning of every episode: "...And now the story of a wealthy family who lost everything, and the one son who had no choice but to keep them all together... It's Arrested Development." The development, however, is exquisite and diverse. Viewers picked up later in the series often felt left out, like going to a girlfriend's house for Thanksgiving dinner the first time. On the other hand, the faithful were constantly treated with twists, turns, and allusions built on previous episodes as well as teases hinting at bombshells about to drop in future installments.

What I appreciate most about this series is the depth that the writers went with each and every character, even those who appeared in just a few episodes. This was done mostly by Howard's regular narration of the events in each episode. Often he would talk about something that happened to a bit character in their past and then the screen would change to a newspaper clipping or a television news report or a webpage screenshot reinforcing the history that the narrator is explaining.

The subject matter is beefy and at times a little too left-leaning for my tastes, but everything is presented tastefully. Too often today, laughs are cheap and the "shots" are below-the-belt. A.D. counters this by making strong social statements while paying the high price for careful and genius dialogue and stage direction/camera work that is rare in what is a dying breed - the sitcom.

Although classified as a sitcom, I would say that almost every episode involves more tragedy than triumph. Don't get me wrong - it's funny, really funny. At the same time, though, the almost all characters are so removed from reality that it's hard to root for this team/family. What holds my hopes for the Bluth's together is Michael's (lead, played by Jason Bateman) constant devotion to helping his family out of the rut they've lived in for an indetermined amount of time. The final episode ties up most of the loose ends and triumph eventually comes in the perfect way at the end, but I still can't help but feel sorry for the characters and the desperate situation they always seem to come back to.

I watched all three seasons over the course of about two weeks online. I highly recommend not doing this. My brother made a good point that you need a week to laugh about all the gags and intricacies of each episode. This is only possible now if you have a friend to go through the episodes on a regular basis, which is probably the best way to go. Even though it can be watched straight through, like a movie, each episode should really be savored for all they are worth.

Check out hulu.com or tv.yahoo.com for all episodes for free or buy the complete seasons on DVD. Either way, you won't be disappointed.

Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle

For the first time, I, Rachel, am posting a review to the review board! I just have to say a few words about this dear little book by Betty MacDonald! For those of you unfamiliar with Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, she is the lady in a small town in northern America who loves children and always has children playing at her house. Whenever a parent is having a particular difficulty with a child, and they don't know what to do, the parent calls up Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle who has a chest full of all sorts of remedies for a child's unpleasant or unacceptable habits.

Mrs. Semicolon, the most recently troubled parent, ended the last chapter we've read saying about her, "There goes the most wonderful little person in the whole world." And to Mrs. Semicolon there was no doubt that she was, becuase, you see, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle cured her dear Nicholas of being the school bully!

The first story in the book is about Philip Carmody. He is a constant show-off. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's "Show-off Powder" does the trick in curing him, since the powder makes him invisible when he shows off. The next story was about Melody Foxglove who is an incessant cry-baby. All that was needed to cure her was some of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's CRYBABY TONIC. Then of course, Nicholas Semicolon needed Leadership Pills to help his heart and mind even out with his big, strong body.

Of course, it's ridiculous, but it's so endearing somehow. And the children sit on my lap completely engrossed in the stories. If only it was as easy as calling Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle to help you guide the precious life entrusted to you. Thankfully, we do have God's Word and prayer and a multitude of friends and family that also love our children, even when they misbehave or have a nasty attitude or break things or hit other children, or whatever infraction they may commit. I guess the point is that children will be children and we must seek wisdom daily, and never be too busy, to deal with their childishness, because soon they will be grown up.

Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead, GA

Attendants swarm the front entrance of this swank accomodation in Atlanta's swankiest of communities. Besides offering bottles of water, clothed in Ritz-Carlton labels, they greet you as though you were royalty and ensure that the doors are already propped open, well before you have to consider reaching out your arm. Of course, all of that is no surprise, regardless which Ritz you may be calling home for the night. What makes the Buckhead Ritz stand out is its premier location for some of Atlanta's finest shopping. Claiming a coveted Peachtree address, the Ritz-Carlton in Buckhead, Georgia is directly across the street from Lenox Square Mall to the south and Phipps Plaza to the East - both extremely formidable shopping centers inside the perimeter (I-285). Many believe (incorrectly) that you need to adhere to a certain dress code just to shop at Phipps, yet I've proven that wrong - a few times (It's nice, but it's not Harrod's).

Everything is within reach of this Ritz, including MARTA, and the accomodations were amazing. We only had one kink during our stay. The LodgeNet on-screen entertainment/information system was not working and all told, we had to wait about an hour before we were able to watch Prince Caspian. But, in true R-C style, the front desk and the engineer's office maintained constant communication with us as they worked the problem. I really felt like our room was the only one with the problem based on how they treated me in person and over the phone - so I was blown away to find out that it was a hotel-wide problem! That's the kind of personal care you can expect at any Ritz. The same type of care I've received at the other two Ritz's I've stayed at.

Family Finances From aFar

Man, this is tough. Since 2005, Rachel and I have been budgeting almost every expense from every month. Some months are better than others and sometimes that bottom line is not where we would prefer it - but it should go without saying that we have definitely become more disciplined in our spending and more open in our communication regarding money. I count that as a success, considering so many (who are deceived) fault finances/money as the biggest area of marital strife. The fact that money management is more a symptom of a bigger problem than the problem itself is another blog entry altogether, which I'll save for a later date.

What is interesting, though is how much difficulty the current separation has added to managing our money. Today we spent a few minutes on the phone trying to work through the December budget and it was anything but painless! I'm thankful for an understanding and intelligent wife who can manage the task of stopping her day to work with me over the phone while keeping the kids from destroying the house in the background. Still, it wasn't easy! More than ever, we need a common operating picture and more than ever, we need a strict zero-based budget that anticipates all of the expenses for the next 31 days. Lord willing, we'll get both of those, but it will take regular communication and a large amount of foresight.

This is just one element of deploying that makes life harder on families. What's amazing though, is how resilient God made us. Even though it feels like we are pushing a steamroller uphill, I know that we are being made much stronger individually and as a couple through this process. The last deployment was easy - we just spent what we needed to and used the card for anything else that wasn't covered with cash in the bank. And guess what - afterwards, we were still in debt and we had not grown at all to speak of financially. This deployment is different. We have been debt-free (except for the mortgage) for over 2 years now and we have a chance to accumulate a decent sum for savings. I pray that I don't let my selfish desires get in the way.