Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Shane Wegner's LiveJournal:

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Tuesday, April 12th, 2011
6:50 pm	One Step At a Time Lately, time has just been flowing by. Wake up, it hurts. Crawl in shower. Get into uniform. Drive to work. Do one or two ops. Somehow get through it even though I don't know very much. Come home. Zone out, maybe fall asleep. It's weird how alone the universe feels right now. Does everyone feel like a robot/zombie? Do they stumble through their days somehow? What does it all mean? Luckily enough, time just keeps rolling by, so no one moment can drag on forever. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, September 10th, 2010
9:57 pm	Re-enlisted! So I re-enlisted in the US Navy today! This Navy job, where I get to work with computers which I like, just has a certain sort of harmony, and it's really been working out well. Good benefits, lots of great training, good people and a really supportive work environment. So of course I want to keep it going! (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 13th, 2010
9:54 pm	Short What's up? Just about to transition to a new phase of Navy career- more school before going to Hawaii. Wrapping up loose ends at my current job. Training the replacements. That kind of thing. Going to college nights. Potentially the last class if I CLEP (ie, test out of) two classes. If I don't then those two classes will be the last. Trying to improve some things health wise with doctors and medicine and such. Not too much free time. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, February 27th, 2010
8:29 am	Let's Play Mad Libs! I woke up this morning with this idea, comparison and format on my mind. So I hauled myself out of bed and typed it out. If any of my esteemed readers should see any errors in this comparison, I implore you to point them out! Mad Lib Education/Health Care Credo  1-      Education is a basic human right. 2-      Without it, citizens risk being doomed to a life of ignorance and poverty, dragged into a cycle that is very difficult to overcome. This is inconsistent with our morals, ideals, and the American Dream. 3-      Our democracy depends on having educated citizens. Education affects every aspect of our ability to participate in our government and the economy. In fact it is difficult to imagine that we ever accepted this might not be the case. 4-      Because of these things, we have collectively made education required by law. It is damaging and expensive for us if we allow ignorance and illiteracy to flourish, and it reduces our ability to compete as a civilized country. 5-      Because we require it, a system of education is provided to every member of our society by the government. Because it affects every member of society, everyone contributes taxes to this regardless of their personal use of it. 6-      You are free to choose a private system rather than use the government’s system of education, but because it is critical the government will certify that every private offering for education fulfills certain minimum requirements. 7-      Another requirement we impose on government-funded education is that you cannot be barred from it based on race, sex, religion, sexuality, or disability. 8-      Education is an investment in our society, not some giant waste of money which will bankrupt us. In fact, every dollar honestly spent in education generally reaps rewards of about one and a half the amount invested. 9-      Our national defense draws its applicants from the pool of people who successfully pass through our education system. If our education system produces fewer educated people, then we will have fewer people educated enough to serve successfully in our country’s defense. 10- Education is one of the things that helps make our country strong. It contributes to our status as a land of opportunity, and helps grant us life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 1-      Health care is a basic human right. 2-      Without it, citizens risk being doomed to a life of sickness and poverty, dragged into a cycle that is very difficult to overcome. This is inconsistent with our morals, ideals, and the American Dream. 3-      Our democracy depends on having healthy citizens. Health affects every aspect of our ability to participate in our government and the economy. In fact it is difficult to imagine that we ever accepted this might not be the case. 4-      Because of these things, we have collectively made health care required by law. It is damaging and expensive for us if we allow sickness and disease to flourish, and it reduces our ability to compete as a civilized country. 5-      Because we require it, a system of health care is provided to every member of our society by the government. Because it affects every member of society, everyone contributes taxes to this regardless of their personal use of it. 6-      You are free to choose a private system rather than use the government’s system of health care, but because it is critical the government will certify that every private offering for health care fulfills certain minimum requirements. 7-      Another requirement we impose on government-funded health care is that you cannot be barred from it based on race, sex, religion, sexuality, or disability. 8-      Health care is an investment in our society, not some giant waste of money which will bankrupt us. In fact, every dollar honestly spent in health care generally reaps rewards of about one and a half the amount invested. 9-      Our national defense draws its applicants from the pool of people who successfully pass through our health care system. If our health care system produces fewer healthy people, then we will have fewer people healthyenough to serve in our country’s defense successfully. 10- Health care is one of the things that helps make our country strong. It contributes to our status as a land of opportunity, and helps grant us life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. When we see it this way, how can we NOT have universal, mandatory education with a public option? We have universal, mandatory education with a public option, and health is not LESS important than education. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, January 25th, 2010
9:40 pm	Education vs Health Care So, one of my proteges has a sort of conservative/Republican values set. I debate with her on time to times on things. Well, debate isn't always the word, because usually just regurgitates what Fox "News" pipes into her brain, and then I apply my grandpa's version of the Socratic method to it and interject some of my own commentary. Anyway, one of our recent exchanges led me think along these lines, which are interesting to me: Liberal: Alright, maybe we can reveal something by trading places. I'll take an opposite approach and you can tell me what's wrong with it. IE, you can be me for a while. Conservative: Fine. Liberal: Ok, starting. What's with all this "federally funded, compulsory elementary and high school education" we've got going on?! Why do I have to pay my precious, precious tax dollars for that? Conservative: Insensitive scum! We must of course think of the children! Liberal: But _I'm_ a single male. I don't have any children. Why should I have to pay for other people's welfare? Isn't that...SOCIALISM?! ::minor piano chords:: Conservative: Education is a god-given right for all of Jesus' precious little bundles of joy. Liberal: Supposing I believe in separation of church and state or don't believe in any deities, can you give me a non-religious reason? Conservative: Hmm... Well, an educated society is practical for all its members, not just the ones who have children of their own. You would suffer in a myriad of ways if every single cashier in every store could barely add up your bill, nobody could read or write.  Education is at the core of any economy above the barest subsistance farming economies. Liberal: Perhaps, but why do we have to go giving even more power to corrupt, inept Big Government Beuracracies. We could just let the Free Market handle education. Send the kids back to the coal mines to EARN their educations! They'll learn valuable, real-world lessons about Geology...and Economics! Conservative: They can go to the coal mines once they turn 18, if they can't make an honest living for themselves. But everyone deserves a chance to become something more, and education is one of the best ways to make the American Dream come true. We can't trust McDonald's or Microsoft to educate our children- it has to be a neutral party. We can't outsource American education to India! Liberal: You're also forgetting the parts about how education is at the cornerstone of rational, informed choices necessary for citizens to participate in fair elections, mathematics and scientific literacy are at the core of technological advances, and literacy is at the core of a free press. Conservative: Eh, free press is overrated, Fox tells us what we need to know. But you're right- America wouldn't be the best country in the whole wide world if we weren't the best at everything thanks to education. Liberal: Uh...well... about that... I don't think we're even top 10 anymore in math or science right now but I agree with the sentiment of what you just said. But my question is this: if we both accept that education is a fundamental fabric of our society, critical to civic participation and economic excellence to the point where it transcends just the responsibilities of parents paying for only their own children- then how is health care really any different? What point is there in educating a person's mind, just to let their body wither from pnemonia or influence or measels or polio? Given that disease can spread and kill, don't we have just as much collective social interest in universal health care? Why educate 40 million people in our public schools and grant-funded universities just to let them go uninsured and risk losing our investment to injuries or disease that are relatively easy to treat? Conservative: Because that's SOCIALISM!!! ::dun dun dunnnnnn piano chords:: Anyway, when I started thinking of the one against the other, the parallels really became obvious. We accept compulsory public education- almost every country in the world does, for those who can even remotely afford it. We see forcing children into a life of coal mining as countrary to everything we stand for. But we don't seem to care about creating a lower caste of near indentured servants in thrall to crushing health care debts. And the thing about health care is, a lot of the expensive endgames are preventable upstream by routine preventative maintenance. We don't have the moral hardness to turn away, or goodness forbid, euthanize incredibly expensive Emergency Room visits, but we think nothing of poo-pooing preventative shots, vitamins and checkups that could prevent many of those ER visits as being immorrally soft- or even more foolishly, too expensive. I hope some common sense can win the day in this health care debate and at the very least mandate universal health care for the same children we mandate universal education for. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, January 18th, 2010
8:50 pm	Forgot a Few Things Also, on Saturday we got some guys together for some a cappella group singing. We got a few songs that sounded ok for just getting started and then had some steak, cornbread and veggies for dinner. On Sunday night my roomate found out that his biological mom is brain dead, probably from a drug OD. As the living next of kin, he has some legal responsibilities including overseeing the authorization to remove her from life support as her will apparently states to do and arranging funerals. He's 20. Guess that's a lot on his shoulders, I hope he's doing ok. He'll be out for about a week and a half, so things will be pretty quiet around here. He flew out this morning. (Comment on this)
8:45 pm	Three Day Weekend It was pretty good all told. Last week I was in a Navy-sponsored class all week, Certified Ethical Hacker. I passed the final test with a 91% and got the cert, which doesn't hurt on a resume down the road. I was little sick on Friday, so took it easy. My roomate got a big 40 inch flat panel TV that can double as a computer monitor. Him, his friend Norton and I all sat down and watched like 8-10 episodes of Firefly back to back. That series is really something special, it is a smart and funny space western. In a lot of ways it puts vanilla space shows like Star Trek to shame, anyone who hasn't watched it who likes scifi even a little, should definitely catch it if they haven't already. On Sunday I went to my brother and sister-in-law's house. My sister Smriti baked up a lemon merangue pie, Mark whipped up some grilled cheese at the end. We talked about WoW a lot! Monday was MLK day and a nice holiday off of work. I spent some of the time with one of my friends and proteges, Jenn, doing some hands-on learning about wireless networks for an assignment she is trying to get for her next orders. Then we ate mighty Chipotle burritos and I passed out for like a 2 hour nap. In the evening Smriti and I played some WoW and now I'm winding things down getting my uniform ready for work tomorrow. It will be a little strange getting back to the office after a week and a day of being out, but I'm sure it will all come back to me. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
9:24 pm	Writer's Block: War and peace What was the most memorable concert you ever attended? What made it so magical? View 1515 Answers "Many countries require all citizens to fulfill a mandatory period of service in the armed forces. Do you agree or disagree with this policy? Do you think the current recruitment system creates or sustains socioeconomic inequality? " I think military service has many benefits, but voluntary is still the way to go. The primary reason is this: forcing someone to do any profession they don't want to do is essentially a form of slavery, and people can go into something like this kicking and screaming such that they receive no benefit, and are of no value. Knowing people from Scandanavia as I do, I can tell you that the practical outcome of this is that anyone who wants out just gets a doctor's note effectively saying that one of their toes is slightly larger than the others or their spine is shaped such a way that they just couldn't do any military service. People without the resourcefulness to think their way out end up sort of trapped. Another factor is, I have seen estimates in my time in the Navy that suggest something like 70% of civillians as they are now are not suitable for military service, due to criminal records, drugs in their system, inability to pass physical fitness standards, and/or generally crazy personalities that are simply too rebellious to be productive. Do you want your country's overall security resting on the shoulders of people who aren't suited to it and don't even want to be there? Doubtfully. People who chose the military route for themselves, even if they aren't planning to make an entire career of it, even if they didn't exactly have a smorgasboard of other economic options, will be more motivated and professional than those who can say they were shanghaid into it against their will. I honestly believe that accepting that on some level, your choice to be there was your own helps strengthen peoples' resolve. That said, there are dozens of good reasons to do a watch (one enlistment if you will) in the military. Training. Getting physically fit. Seeing the world. Getting a sense of service and humility. Doing something for your country. Getting college money while in and after. Putting things in perspective. Seen one way, offering some of your time in the military could be seen as a very involved form of college work study. It takes a certain mentality even to get to successful military service. You have to be at least somewhat willing to face discomfort, the unknown, and your own mortality. You have to accept a system of doing things that at times reallly doesn't brook much variation. But contrary to what people might think from movies, if there is a vast system of thought control that overcomes your mind and makes you into a drone, it is so subtle I haven't noticed it. It takes another sort of mentality beyond that to really excel I've found, one I try to nurture in my peers. I have seen a lot of high school graduates come into the military with what seems to me to be a very "young" attitude, it is a certain sense of entitlement and a willingness to do the minimum. I really want to see more from people than them coming to work, doing the minimum (which in our case involves a lot of comfortable dealing with computers), then going home. I like to see people help the community, work with kids, build houses, raise some money, and improve themselves with college now. I know one young sailor who grins with an "I am so smart, I have bested you" when I suggest he get going on some college now on the Navy's dime, because not doing that is leaving up to $4,000 on the table each year. When I say that, he puts on his "I win smile" and counters "Yes, but it's not real money in my pocket, you see, so it's not even real money at all as you say!" I don't know his work history, but he doesn't sound to me like someone who has ever bussed tables for $600 a month. I would like to see him ask a pizza joint or fast food restaurant manager for $4,000 a year for college, for free, and see if they agree that this sum isn't real money at all. I suspect these younger sailors will someday look back on it and regret certain parts.... but they'll probably still be glad for the decision overall. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, September 14th, 2009
10:15 pm	A Few Thoughts on Health Care-Nationwide Child Coverage I think this is a good starting point- it seems reasonable to me that absolutely everyone would be for universal coverage for children. I mean honestly, does ANYONE want to be the politician that looks children in the eye and says "I'm sorry, your parents were not resposible enough to pay for health care for you. Too bad!" I don't deeply grasp what the "public" option but it sounds like no one would be against a "public option" for children up to age 18. What else would people say? "Sorry kids, get health care from your employers...in the COAL MINES mwa ha haaaaa!" Well, maybe Libertarians would be for that, I don't know. But this is like a rock bottom that I think we can all agree on- we are not a nation that leaves our children behind when it comes to health care. What do we do for parents who can't or won't procure quality health care for their kids? My other thought on health care is that I think people are missing  some of the hidden benefits. Too often I hear thinking like "Well, _I_ don't know if _I_ will save $X on _my_ personal insurance...." In this case, the benefits extend beyond the amount of money any one person would immediately receive. It's about living in a society where people care for each other, where you know that YOU would be taken care of too even if things. That feeling of "I'm not one pink slip away from destitution, I've already paid in for protection" is INVALUABLE, and aparently, somewhat intangible. Yes, some people are well off now. But what if they got pink slipped- something that I'm sure most people feel more accutely in a down economy. Then, right as they lose coverage, a major catastrophe. Car crash. Cancer. Are you FUCKED now? Can you be ABSOLUTELY SURE you'd be ok? Does that weigh on your chest and the back of your mind? National health care means lifting that weight off because everyone shares it. Now, the pernicious downside to health care I can't mentally solve is how to you account for crappy personal choices. We have far too much cost incurred in our society by idiotically preventable causes. I am referring mainly to OBESITY and SMOKING, which cause heart disease and cancer and probably ten other long term (emphasima, diabetes, strokes, etc etc). Those long term diseases could run up surgery and hospital of half a million. Why does the guy who excercises regularly and eats oat bran have to subsidize the 300 pound obese guy who snarfs down bacon and chews tobacco to the tune of half a million dollars or more? And yet, if coverage costs are UNIVERSAL, all the healthy responsible people have to pay out to all the obese people. Now, maybe universality really does help spread the load almost magically. I mean, if we emphasized preventive care all the way from pre-natal times, maybe we could help get children started away from paths that lead to obesity and smoking and the other preventables.  It's just, that if people absolutely insist on short-sighted, self-damaging health choices, I don't want to hear them crying for free money from the people who made the healthy choices. Maybe there should be different health "brackets", like Green, Yellow, and Red for people who are apparently normal, pushing it, and dangerously far from healthy choices, and calculate costs within them. (Does anyone honestly think that the category of people who are pack-a-day smokers or 50+ pounds overweight for 5+ years have comparable costs? I don't know the answer but my gut instinct tells me it's not even close.) But then, when we divide people into categories, it goes exactly against what I was just talking about the "I won't be left behind" feeling. I just can't think of a way to resolve both. It's a hard topic but a deadly important one. (10 Comments |Comment on this)
10:10 pm	Priorities This Month 1. Finish Security+ Class 2. Pass PRT- maybe put up Excellent range again. 3. Dental. Need a dental exam. 4. Orders- guess I don't officially put in until October or November. Still thinking Hawaii. 2nd choice San Diego IF they had any orders I can fill, don't see any currently. 3rd choice is quite possibly right here. 4th choice could be in Florida! 5- Freestyles- it's a dance "competition". I need to finish my routines and maybe even rent a tux. 6- Sponsor Duty- Checking a new guy into the command right at the end of the month. 7- Funeral Detail- the Collateral the never sleeps will need more of my attention. 8- Medical- I still need to follow up think next appointment is the 23rd. There's more I'd just have to check on my book to see it. (Comment on this)
Sunday, June 28th, 2009
6:37 pm	Rhumba! Here's me dancing a Rhumba at a local showcase Arthur Murray Dance show. This wasn't a competition, although there were some judges who put down scores for how they thought I did. I got a 93 on this dance. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16N9AUtSjH4 (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, June 7th, 2009
1:40 pm	So, with my friend Britney only 24 hours away from arriving, my apartment was still mighty bare. I had a basic table, a coffee table, and two desks. But no where to sleep! I had been scouting out IKEA with my brother Matthew when he was here, but hadn't comitted to make the purchase. I still have a miserly inner resistance to paying much at all for furniture. Something in me just doesn't inherently want to do it. But the fact of the matter was it was necessary. I wasn't about to require my friend to sleep on the floor. I resolved there would be at LEAST one bed and one couch for her to choose from. It's hard to describe just how full my daily life is, with Navy day job, extracurriculars, dancing (preparing for a dance show), college and moving in, but suffice to say my schedule was full. I STILL found a small block of time to fit it in. So, somehow overcoming personal inertia, I rented a Uhual truck, got down to IKEA, took my pre-generated list of parts, thought about them one last time and headed down to the warehouse floor. It didn't take too much effort, I found the mattress, bed frame, couch parts, and some other miscellaneous things that would be needed. Loaded them up in the back of the flatbed truck. It started raining, so I used the power of my mind to make it stop. Maybe. When I get home, there is some yellow tape around one edge of my apartment, some firefighters and some fix-it trucks. They tell me there was a fire at my apartment and they had to break down my door. Soon after they clarified that the fire was OUTSIDE my apartment downstairs. I quick check everything in my apartment. True enough, my door is all shattered. So are some of my windows. But everything else was FINE. No one was hurt anywhere. The outside wall was all singed and the equipment shed or whatever it was was burned out. Given how good everything was on the inside, it almost looked like the firefighters just aid to themselves "Well, everything here is fine- LET'S START BREAKING SHIT ANYWAY!!" Of course I know that they didn't know everyone inside was ok. Still, they need to get around to fixing my window. I called and let my dance instructor know that I was going to be be late. It was the least worst any fire could ever be.  That's my bedroom window in the upper right there. The one that got missed by about a foot. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 27th, 2009
10:25 pm	And Now For Something Completely Different.... DDR! So, here's a fun random clip. This is me and Deena during our time at the Navy's Correy Station, Pensacola, at one of the rec areas. (OK, this one is literally at NAS Pensacola a few miles south.) For me, this was CTN 'A' School. This is right after you get out of boot camp and they think you might possibly be entrusted to have a little freedom. You know, on some evenings and weekends, IF you are learning your Navy rate like you're supposed to be. Deena was my best friend at A school! We DDRed together and she would sometimes drag me off base even. We talked a lot and still IM sometimes. I trained her up a bit and helped her add a few skill levels. Of course, my brother Matthew is a lot better than me, which is how I learned most of what I know! Here is us dancing our DDR jig. I am wearing, for some reason, 6+ pounds of drill boots. A little like wearing ankle weights. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDzvbztf8-s (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 20th, 2009
8:49 pm	A-Part-A-Me_nt So, with my Navy career working out pretty well and a steady paycheck in coming in, and my one-year lease at my current place coming to a close, I thought it might be time for an upgrade. Currently, I share an apartment with two sailors I know and we split a modest rent three ways. This means I actually make a very frisky profit per month pocketing the difference. But, I found I was willing to trade that for something of different but also interesting value- upgrading to a place that I figured out all on my own. My last two apartments were where someone else had set it up and I moved in with them. So, while I had my share of the responsibilities, I hadn't figured it out all by myself. This one is different. It's a two bedroom apartment with a nice big living room, mini dining room and a kitchen. I'll even have a bed this time around. For the last year I've been sleeping on a small pile of sleeping bags and foam that I have learned to find comfy, but isn't exactly regal when it comes to impressing the ladies after all. So, this Memorial Day Weekend I'll make the real solid effort for getting my things over to it and start living more like a human being for a change. It should be a new and interesting experience. With a little luck I'll have some help in this endeavor. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, April 5th, 2009
6:15 pm	Cherry Blossom Day So Saturday was one of the week+ long Cherry Blossom Festival in DC.  It was warm and sunny as I rode the Metro train into DC. I slept in until about 10AM so was nicely rested. When I got to the Metro station, there was a big line of people to all the machines. By what felt like good luck, I happened to have a Metro pass from laster year. I remembered to take it and found it lying on one of my shelfs. It was perfect. I was in a good mood all morning from all this.   I took the train right to the Navy Memorial, only a few dozen yards from where I saluted the President on Inauguration Day. It's weird getting onto trains and having it magically teleport me where I need to go. It reminds me of a computer game somehow, with teleporters to everywhere good. You come up out of the ground and you are right there at the Navy Memorial. There was a really great Navy band called The Commodores playing jazz outside and looking good. They were all Chiefs and First Classes. MU (Musicians) are the few rates that promote faster than CTN, so I was happy for them! I talked to some EODs (ordinance dispoers, sailors who defuse bombs) and some officers from DDG-66, the Gonzalez.   Then there was a ceremony called Blessing of the Fleets. Every winter they have to turn off the fountains so they don't freeze and shatter. Every spring they turn them back on. As they do, they have ceremonial guard sailors pour these fancy jugs o' water into the fountains containing water collected by Navy ships all around the world from each of the seven seas and the Great Lakes (where Navy boot camp is). They played a fancy drum roll and as the sailors poured the water in, the fountains turned on. It was pretty cool.   It was also Year of the Seabees. CBs are Construction Battallion guys, they are construction workers and engineers who know how to go and build things out in the world. My chief in boot camp was a Chief Steel Worker, one of the Seabee rates. There was a CB rear admiral talking about that, how we can't kill our way into world peace in the hearts and minds of the people of the world, but that every school house and well they build helps in its own small way. I really agreed with that. I like how the Navy is probably the most peaceful service. We are much more about defending the oceans around the world so everyone can ship cargo in peace (which another speaker also mentioned) and the CBs spend a lot of time building around the world. The Navy uses violence sometimes it's true, but usually when there is no other clear choice. I like how much of our current strategy revolves around defense, prevention and even construction.   Inside the Heritage Center they had free Navy Bean soup. I had some tasty soup which was created by Navy petty officer culinary specialists serving on President Obama's own White House staff! One even me a little something from the President's own stash of candy, with the presidential seal on it.   Then I met up with Mark and Smiriti, and we went and saw the Sakura Masuri festival, which was many different streets with booths and tables, and a taiko drum show and karaoke and lots of other fun Japanese type things. I got you a second present there too that I think you might like. You'll just have to wait and see what it is.   There was a super throng of people! We walked aroudn the National Mall. People were flying kites and it was sunny and warm and windy and just really nice. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom as advertised. Mark and I got some free Soshido sunscreen samples, which was good because we both turned pink everywhere we didn't have any. (Him on the back of his hands, me on my scalp since I'd recently got a very square haircut and the short hair didn't protect my virginal scalp skin). We took pictures in the swath of trees by the waterside. It was snowing petals gently. The water even had a pink froth of petals. I found a blossom petal that looks like a heart.   The sun was getting low on the sky by then (time passes just wandering around) so we fought our way through the crowds. The Smithsonian Metro station was uber crowded, so we hiked north to the next crowded one. It was semi-crowded, still quite dense but workable. We played sardines on the trains and rode to a transfer point and then the next station.   It was surreal, like the whole "Stargate" effect in the computer game, this station emerges in the magical basement of a fancy department store. It's like finding a magical wardrobe that emerges in Narnia. AND they have a delicious Cheesecake Factory upstairs. We went to Cheesecake Factory and devoured many glasses of water. I somehow put away five glasses of raspberry lemonade. The waitress Charlie said that I liked it so much she could get me a glass to go, but since it would have been sort of tricky to take on the Metro and because I'd actually had enough I declined and said I'd had enough.   So I took the Metro back home, and somehow just barely crammed into one that was really full at the exchange point. I almost backed out, but shifted my reality so I wouldn't have to wait. On one inch of the line was me being in a timeline where the train takes me home. On the other side was a timely where I waited there bored for 30 minutes. It's weird to think that by jumping across that line I shifted between timelines. Made it home safe and sound. It was a pretty good day. Weekends on shore commands are nice! (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, March 22nd, 2009
9:41 am	GDC 2009! So, I took a week of leave from the Navy and flew out to San Fransisco. The occaision? Game Developer's Conference 2009! I go every year with my friends to hang out, learn more, and generally just be part of a big effort. GDC has classes, booths, demos, awards shows, parties, and generally is just really cool. Each year I join the ranks of the CA workers who help people get where they need to be in exchange for a ticket I can use to see the show anytime I'm not working. Also, my brother Matthew is here as the CEO of Flashbang Studios and as part of the Indie Games part of the show. We climbed our way up from regular joes many years ago, getting games into the IGF festival and working with Cartoon Network (which was awesome!) and generally just growing. I basically left Flashbang when I joined the Navy but I like to dabble on the edge of things still. It's fun to see all the different stuff and it's a very energized atmosphere. Hopefully I'll see a lot of cool stuff and in general have a great week. It's hard to believe I've been doing this for ten years now. Where on earth does all the time go? And it feels like it's going even faster the older I get. Now, for a nice breakfast sandwhich + cheesecake for breakfast from Jack in the Box. (Comment on this)
Sunday, February 1st, 2009
2:11 pm	Saluting President Obama (Literally), Inauguration JAN 2009 Check THIS out: So yeah, that rightmost sailor with in the pic there with the earflaps is me! Centered in the picture is President Obama and First Lady Michele Obama.   I was really surprised to see them walking by maybe eight feet in front of me, I thought they'd roll by in a limo. But when you're the preisdent, the Secret Service can advise you to remain inside the vehicle the whole way, but it is after all only a suggestion because you're the President. And President Obama's style was walk down the street with his wife, everyone was cheering, it was great. Now, what you can't see is that it feels about 10 degrees out, colder than inside your freezer, and our shoes and gloves are actually pretty thin. We had chemical heat packs in them but they were only so good. We'd been up since 0200 (AM) and standing outside for more or less seven hours by this point. But I think despite the suffering everyone was glad to be there. Even those two hospital corpsman with the 30 pound medic packs. And all the police whose job was to watch the crowds and couldn't even turn around to see the President after freezing all day. Even though all my salutes are my best salutes, you can be sure I was giving my very best salute for the President and Commander in Chief. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I guess it's safe to say I've come a pretty long way from being a really poor indie game developer/pizza delivery guy/dishwasher that I was a few years ago. It's all thanks to the Navy and some hard work! Also thanks to my roomate who found this great picture with his online picture-finding skills. I couldn't find one nearly this close. (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, January 1st, 2009
8:59 pm	2008 in Review Random sentences about what I did this year: 1- I showed up to my first actual Navy job after months of relaxed holding pattern and network training. 2- I went to the GDC2008. 3- I moved out of the barracks and into an apartment with some sailor friends. 4- I bought a new car. 5- I went to Navy Second Class Leadership Development Continuum. 6- I joined the Funeral Detail, learned how to fold a flag and fire ceremonial rifles, and rendred honors at coming up on probably about 30 funerals now. 7- I also somehow got promoted to a Petty Officer In Charge of the detail with some extra responsibilities in coordinating things. 8- I got my first Excellent score on the PRT. 9- I went to CompTIA Network Plus class. 10- I did some various Navy things involving computer security, some of which were very cool. 11- I visited my brother Mark and sister-in-law Smiriti many times since they currenty live close by in Washington DC. 12- I got Apprentice Qualified at my job. 13- I had 5 consecutive days of agonizing stomach pain which was bad enough that I went to the hospital for it. 14- I made some changes to my diet significant enough to thus far permanently prevent any relapse. 15- I signed up for college classes and completed 21 more credits towards a degree, generously funded by the Navy through Tuition Assistance.  16- I went to California for Blizzcon, met many of my friends there, then went to Arizona to hang out with more friends and siblings. 17- I spent many, many hour chatting with friends online. Number one by time is my frind Britney who I got to hear firsthand stories about becoming engaged, becoming un-engaged, working a new security job and preparing for a bike trip through Mexico and Central America. Number 2 by time is Alexis who tells me about life in Hawaii. 18- I was nominated for Sailor of the Quarter by my department two times in a row. The second time I didn't go to the actual board which can earn extra points because I was at Blizzcon. 19- I turned 30. 20- I crossed the 2 year anniversary of my Navy career. Before this my longest normal company-style job was only 1 year at a time. 21- I visited New York for a weekend and saw Central Park and had some tasty New York style pizza. 22- I tutored 5th graders as part of Saturday Scholars in the spring and fall. 23- I got my first Navy Coin, from a Fleet Master Chief. 24- I attented a new program called PO2 to MCPON and saw the new Chiefs get pinned after their Chiefs in Training program. 25- I got TAD orders for a mini-adventure for two weeks. 26- I played World of Warcraft and got lots of virtual things done in that.  27- I took some more ballroom dancing lessons. 28- Even though I don't really like it, I willed myself to try one night of going out and drinking alcohol. I didn't like it and won't be doing it again. 29- I had a sleep study done but still haven't heard the complete results from it. That's a pretty complete picture of a year! It was a productive one I think. It was so full, I wonder what I forgot. (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, October 5th, 2008
11:40 am	Continued Positive Performance So, one of the dozens, if not hundreds, of Navy sayings and rules of thumbs is a little something called "Continued Positive Performance". This phrase is often described as "all you really need to do to have a successful Navy career". So what does it mean? Well, pretty much what it says. As long as you continue to make your chain of command happy, do your job reasonably well, show up on time, don't cause many problems for your chain of command, and go a little above and beyond your basic job by helping your shipmates and the Navy with a few "extra-curriculars", you will be doing great. Sounds fairly easy, right? But, for the average person, it may or may not be. A lot of people have a human tendency to do the bare minimum, to mentally show up, punch the clock, and just sort of run out the day. Quitting time rolls around and they just go home until the next day, never dipping into "their" free time to do anything outside their job. That sort of bare minimum effort is recognized for what it is by the Navy, adequate without really being impressive, and is given mediocre performance marks. We have a very formal review process where our Navy performance is reviewed and given points. These points add up and are combined with our promotion test exam scores as well as points from medals and awards, time in service, and previously passed tests and then compared against how many promotion spots are needed to determine who advances. They draw a line in the sand at how many people are needed, and then if your score is above that line, you advance. For myself, I have been doing my best to go above the minimum level and push myself a bit, and actually have already been recognized for it. I was frocked to a second class petty officer after a year and a day of having been in the Navy after coming in as an E-3, turbo fast advancement. Of course, passing my test with a 98th percentile helped, but also people in my chain of command generally like my attitude and effort on the job. I was nominated for my department's Sailor of the Quarter representative last time around and might possibly be nominated a second time in a row now. ( Ramble is continuing! ) (12 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, September 27th, 2008
10:15 am	Inching Towards Betterness In many ways, I consider myself a lazy person. Whenever I'm not literally at work, I feel a strong temptation just to chill out in my room, reading forums and pages on the internet, maybe playing games. For the last three years, it isn't even always DIFFERENT games but exactly ONE game- World of Warcraft. Now granted, that game has a lot of mini games inside it, but it's safe to say that the "bio-diversity" of my entertainment has been reduced by the creeping kudzu of WoW. Wait, I missed another major source of my time- I like communicating with a handful of about 4-5 people that I am friends with via the internet via instant messenger. I always liked communicating via text, since it "uses a different place in my brain" I've always said, so in a way I have a "text friendship" with these people. Actually, it's a hybrid relationship- I know all of them via my social network "IRL" and they've simply moved around the country. But I really enjoy keeping up with peoples' lives by chatting with them. It's easy to spend an hour or two a day on this. Sometimes I PT. My roomates and I are all three Navy computer nerds. We all have computers in our own rooms, and we all consider sitting in front of them a fine way to spend time. The point being, our apartment ALSO has a living room- none of us has or wants a television, which when you think about it is (WAS?) the standard fixture of the American living room. It's sort of like a magical miniature window to the theater, which seen that way makes our society rather erudite. Of course, a lot of the "glass theater" isn't exactly Shakespeare. ( The Rest of the Ramble ) (1 Comment |Comment on this)