One year

One year ago today I started this crazy blog thing.  This makes my 45th post in that year.  I started this thing with my disgruntlement about the way companies try to make anything for some sales with this post. Seriously, Hannah Montana Easter egg baskets?  What were they thinking?  Don’t get me wrong.  I think capitalism is a good thing, but I think that some companies have tried to take it too far for way too long.

I’ve also discussed some of my thoughts on some green items, green thinking, and stuff. Since I started this blog, I’ve switched to using mostly organic shampoos and soaps and even tried some homemade deodorant.  I use less water, electricity, and recycle more now and it makes me feel a little bit better about my impact on the world.  I also realize that I’m only getting started. I have many more ideas I’d like to do to reduce waste and use more.

I’ve bitched about some stupid people in the Army, but that is only a little bit of it.  I got sucked into talking politics, tried to stay positive and not talk politics, and sucked back into talking politics.  Looking back on it, I didn’t have much positive to say about John McCain, but I had lots negative to say about Obama.  I still think that McCain was the wrong Republican to be our front-runner and I’m not really sure he helped himself when he brought in Palin.  One thing this election definitely taught me is that it is more okay to be sexist than it is to be racist.  I’ve tried to remain positive about our new president, but I’m mostly underwhelmed with what he’s done so far.  I believe that Congress, on both sides of the aisle, needs to step up and do whats right for the country, whether it is political sepuku or not.

So here I am, one year and 45 posts later.  Sandy and I know that we’re moving in about 45 days, but we still don’t know where the Army is sending us.  The list of places that we thought they were sending us has completely changed, grown, and morphed so that it is now a 5 minute conversation to tell someone where we might end up. Good times.  At this point it is almost comical when someone asks where we’re going.

My thesis is a little less than half way done, but the half I have done is probably some of the hardest stuff.  All references and stuff.  Out of the five chapters; 1st is at about 99%, 2nd about 90%, 3rd and 5th not really started, and the 4th is only about 40 %.  I’ve got a little more than a month to finish it up.  I better get back to writing…

Thesis Update

Okay, so maybe this is cheating for a post, but I figured I needed to say something since I’ve been so quiet lately.  Writing hasn’t really been my focus, or at least blogging hasn’t.

We had Sandy’s wife and her little one here for two weeks and I was having too much fun hanging out with them.  I always enjoy hanging out with the wife’s wife and this time the beastie was along for the ride.  It was a really good time, I just wish that the wife, twice removed, could have brought her husband to play too.  I guess somebody needed to be working though.

I’ve been busy working on my thesis/ research since the wife’s wife left.  I’ve got a few pages written on the thesis, but it is a slow process and I’ve forgotten how good I am at procrastinating.  “Oh, look!  Something shiny!”  As my adviser said on Monday though, we need to add some beef to the thesis, so I mentioned possibly getting some Weight Gainer 3000.  He laughed, but didn’t know that I was serious.  The bad part is that I know all the ideas are percolating in my brain, but getting them to the end of my fingers is proving to be more difficult than I remember.  Plus, while I really want to be home with Sandy and the animals, I am pretty sure I work a lot harder while I’m at school.  Weird.

“In other news…”

I am officially no longer a captain in the Army.  For some crazy reason they promoted me to major.  To some that would be Major Jack Ass, but whatever.  It is a little weird since I wore captain’s rank for almost seven years.  I’m sure that I’ll get used to it, but there is definitely a break in period.  I just wanted to say thanks to all those that have been supportive of me through the years.  Without the solid base of family, I’m not sure I could have made it this far.  Definitely a huge thanks to Sandy.  I couldn’t have done it without you.  I’m really glad I was sent to pick you up at the Newark Airport for that conference at West Point many many moons ago.

On that note, Sandy and I still don’t know where the Army is moving us next.  I submitted our preferences waaaay back on 22 October, but we don’t know yet.  Last month I finally bugged the guy about news and he said he’d tell us this month.  Then, right when I was about to send anthor email this month, he sent one out.  It basically said that there is another office weighing in on our assignments (mine and everyone else moving this summer) and he would try to let us know something by the 28th, but if we didn’t hear anything by then, just wait longer.  Gotta love it.  We plan on putting the house on the market next month, but we don’t know where we’re going yet. It’ll be a race to see which one gets here first; the Realtor sign or our orders to move.

And now I need to get back to my thesis…

Hand outs

I think just about everyone has someone that really likes forwarding emails, sometimes commenting on them and sometimes not, but either way forwarding multiple emails almost every day.  Well, I usually read just a little bit of the email and punch delete if I’m short on time, but if I have the time I might read all of it.  The other day I got one that I thought I would share in this forum.  From Rush Limbaugh:

By Rush Limbaugh:

I think the vast differences in compensation between victims of the September 11 casualty and those who die serving our country in Uniform are profound No one is really talking about it either, because you just don’t criticize anything having to do with September 11. Well, I can’t let the numbers pass by because it says something really disturbing about the entitlement mentality of this country. If you lost a family member in the September 11 attack, you’re going to get an average of $1,185,000. The range is a minimum guarantee of $250,000, all the way up to $4.7 million.

If you are a surviving family member of an American soldier killed in action, the first check you get is a $6,000 direct death benefit, half of which is taxable.

Next, you get $1,750 for burial costs. If you are the surviving spouse, you get $833 a month until you remarry. And there’s a payment of $211 per month for each child under 18. When the child hits 18, those payments come to a scre eching halt.

Keep in mind that! some of the people who are getting an average of $1.185 million up to $4.7 million are complaining that it’s not enough. Their deaths were tragic, but for most, they were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Soldiers put themselves in harms way FOR ALL OF US, and they and their families know the dangers. (Actually, soldiers are put in harms way by politicians and commanding officers.)

We also learned over the weekend that some of the victims from the Oklahoma City bombing have started an organization asking for the same deal that the September 11 families are getting. In addition to that, some of the families of those bombed in the embassies are now asking for compensation as well.

You see where this i s going, don’t you? Folks, this is part and parcel of over 50 years of entitlement politics in this country. It’s just really sad. Every time a pay raise comes up for the military, they usually receive next to nothing of a raise. Now the green machine is in combat in the   Middle East while their families have to survive on food stamps and live in low-rent housing. Make sense?

**However, our own US Congress voted themselves a raise. Many of you don’t know that they only have to be in Congress one time to receive a pension that is more than $15,000 per month. And most are now equal to being millionaires plus. They do not receive Social Security on retirement because they didn’t have to pay into the system.  If some of the military peop le stay in for 20 years and get out as an E-7, they may receive a! pension of $1,000 per month, and the very people who placed them in harm’s way receives a pension of $15,000 per month.

**I would like to see our elected officials pick up a weapon and join ranks before they start cutting out benefits and lowering pay for our sons and daughters who are now fighting.

“When do we finally do something about this?”

So after reading this one, I thought I’d check it out.  I googled the first sentence and it took me to this page.  To keep this post from being longer than necessary, check out the link and take a look at the analysis portion.  Part of the Limbaugh monologue is accurate, or close enough, but the last few paragraphs are off.

Still, this is something to think about.  Don’t get me wrong, I feel for anyone that lost a loved one in the attacks in September 2001.  It is unfortunate for everyone involved.

But do they really think that just because Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines volunteer to serve their country and possibly die for it, that their loved ones are any less deserving?

If the government is going to pay these survivors, what is the purpose of life insurance?

… and that’s the way life goes…

So my last post was very short on hope and long on frustration.  That was just the middle of last week.   And now, my adviser (with me close by, but not really doing much other than catching typos) has my research converted from OPL to CPLEX, and running.  Granted there is still more to be done with the code, but it works.

I’ve also kicked my own ass into gear, with Sandy’s help and some good natured ribbing from my adviser.  I have a couple of pages of my thesis written.  Granted, the damn thing is so “rough draft” right now that I won’t let anybody look at it, but it is a start.  Rome wasn’t built in a day and my thesis won’t be either!

Thanks to everyone for the support, whether it be tough love or careful prodding.  I do appreciate it and I’ll probably need more of it in the future.  At least for now I feel like this thesis thing is getting somewhere.

O B E

Overcome By Events…

That pretty much sums it up right now. My research has hit a wall.  First, we (my adviser and I) were trying to convert my code and run it in an older version of the optimization program we were using (ILOG OPL is the name).  The newest version we have here at K-State is OPL 4.2, and it isn’t working.  My adviser was pretty sure he could get it to work in an earlier version, but after a half hour of jacking with it, he’s now convinced that we need to put it in a completely different computer language, CPLEX.  If you know anything about coding, this is about like having something the way you want it in HTML, but it just won’t work, so you now have to convert it to C.  Not fun.

So when my adviser told me this yesterday, I felt like I had been hit.  A little dazed, a lot confused, and very frustrated.  Now we have to get this code working, AND I still have the whole thesis to write.  It is doable, but very daunting.

So, I thought I would check out one other option.  Graduating with a M.S. is all the Army wants me to do right now, so why do I need to kill myself this semester with this coding nightmare and writing a thesis (expected to be roughly 80 pages).  I could graduate if I just dropped the thesis hours this semester and picked up two courses to get to the required 30 hours for the degree.  I found two courses, and they’re both open.  But, the last day to add classes without instructor approval was last Wednesday.  I could still do it.  Both instructors are in my department.  One even has an office directly across from me and the other has been published over 70 times.  One of the classes is also part of the Masters in Engineering Management (MEM) a degree I’m interested in getting anyways (down the road a ways, life 5 years or so).

But, it is OBE.  At this point I realize that this thesis is more for my instructor in many ways.  He’s young and I’m not sure he’s published much in the academic journals.  The goal is to tie my research in with the military background and possibly get published (again, down the road, but more like a year to two) in one of the obscure military journals.

Now if we can just get it to work and I can stay motivated to finish…

FUNK!

It’s just a really fun word.

You know, it sounds kinda dirty but it totally is not at all.  Funk music is fun to listen to (ref. George Clinton and the P-Funk All Stars).  If something is described as funky, I think that it is probably pretty cool and a little quirky (another really fun word).

However, for me right now, funk describes my state of being.  For some reason I don’t want to work on my research/thesis at all.  I’m supposed to graduate in May, and if nothing else, the Army says that I have to move in May, so I should really be working on this Masters of Science thing, but I don’t wanna.

The FUNK would be why I haven’t posted in forever.  I’m just feeling funky, but not in a good way.

The bad part is that when I leave school and go home, I’m only slightly more productive.  Funk-a-delic.  Funk-i-fied.

Or is it just plain funky?

Snow daze

Well, the weatherman got it right, sort-of.  We were supposed to get snow last night/this morning.  We have snow and it is still coming down, however, it was only supposed to be 1 to 2 inches.  I am pretty sure it was closer to 3 when I was shoveling at 7 this morning and it has continued to come down since then. (It is noon now, and the “forecast” says snow showers this afternoon.)

Driving the 10 (or so) miles into Manhattan was fun though.  Glad I was driving the front wheel-drive car instead of my rear-wheel drive Explorer.

Now I’m supposed to be studying for my one final this week, which is tomorrow, but I can’t stay focused enough to stay with it for longer than about 10 or 15 minutes at a time.  Not good.  Network Flows and Graph Theory (just one class with an unfortunately long title) is hard enough when you have studied, I’m sure that it is only going to be harder if I can’t stay focused long enough to study more today.

So yeah, I guess I’m in a snow daze today.  I don’t feel like studying, but I guess I have to.  I’d rather just sit on the couch and read a book the rest of the day.  A fun book, not a school book.  Well, at least an interesting book.

My thoughts on the election

It has been almost a month since election day.  Many people (knowing that I’m not a Democrat) have asked me what I think about the results of the election since I’m in the Army and Mr. Obama is the incoming Commander-in-Chief.  I thought I’d lay it out here. These are just my thoughts and have no reflection on the feelings of the Army as a whole.

I think the Pres-elect is doing a pretty good job now and is setting himself up to do very well in the future.  Many people are complaining that he is building his cabinet with people that have been inside the Beltway for a long time.  I think that he’s making sure that people in the jobs know how to make the system work.  Hopefully he is letting them all know that he’s giving the general guidelines and that if they get too far away from said guidelines they can expect to be fired.

I am really hoping that he is more moderate than we were all lead to believe.  It seems like he has already shown he does not care if he pisses off MoveOn.org, and that’s a good thing in my mind.

I believe that it is a good thing to have someone this young and energetic in the oval office.  It is a full time job.

I am afraid that too many people think that just because we elected a man that is half black, that we’ve shown that racism is dead in the United States.  It isn’t.  During the primary season, it was apparent to me that it is more acceptable to be sexist than it is to be racist.  Now I’m afraid that some people think that it is more acceptable (than it was previously) to be racist.

You will notice that I keep saying “I” at the beginning of these statements.  These are my thoughts/feelings and not those of the Army.  Since I am in grad school, I am not really sure what the rest of my cohorts in the Army think, so I cannot talk to the general perception of the Army.  I’m sure that many Soldiers are making jokes about the coming presidency; some in good humor, some not.

Changing tunes…

First, I just realized that it has been almost a month since my last post (on election day).  I know I was thinking about posting some things, but I guess I just never got the gumption.  That gumption thing is slippery, hard to catch, and sometimes just plain dumbfounding.

I have been thinking about my tone (aka my tune).  I don’t want this blog to feel whiny, bitchy, or complainy anymore.  I’m going to try to stay more upbeat, but I’m not really sure it is in my character.  I’ve tried keeping a more upbeat attitude lately.  Not like super cheesy, but less cynical and more positive.

Basically, the idea is to put more good out into the world.  It seems like the media always wants to make things sound worse than they are because drama sells and the general population feeds off the drama to make things worse and then the media comes back to report that things are really worse then they initially reported, that things are more dramatic, so people get more worked up and on and on and on…. I don’t want to feed the drama machine.  Life is dramatic enough.

Many of my friends, family, and associates seem to think that the U.S. is just going to crumble in on itself on January 20 and ask what my opinion is and for my insights into how Army folk think about the President-elect.  This is where I started my move to be more positive.

President-elect Obama is not the end of life as we know it in America. Things are probably going to be different, but I’m not sure that is necessarily a bad thing in many cases.  Obviously some things need to change for Wall St., Detriot, the housing market, etc.  I’m not sure that the government needs to have their fingers in all of them, but there definitely needs to be some legislation or statement to help fix/motivate/beat-the-crap-out-of some of these corporations.  I don’t know who to assign the blame to and I don’t really think that it matters too much.  Everyone is going to point the finger at the other guy and say (insert whiny or belligerent voice) “It wasn’t my fault.”  My personal opinion is to let some of this “recession” crap work itself out.  There can’t be up without down.  There can’t be an economic slump without an economic boom and vice versa.  Some people are probably going to lose everything. Lesson learned, don’t put all your eggs in one basket.  Isn’t that something we learn as little kids listening to stories that finish up with “Moral to the story….”?

I’m starting to get into the whiny/bitchy/complainy voice again, so I’ll stop now.  I guess I had more to say for this post then I initially thought.  The bad part is that now that I’ve started writing, I don’t want to stop.  Something about “objects in motion…” comes to mind.  I think this is enough for today though.

GET OUT AND VOTE!!!

So I’m 32 and this is the first time I’ve ever voted.  You think I would have voted before since we elect my boss, but this is the first time I’ve been as involved in the political process.  I’ve noticed that this election has divided households and most everyone seems to have a strong opinion as to who should be elected as the next president.

I was going to say that I don’t care who you vote for, but that would be a lie.  I do care, but it is your choice, so just make it.  Otherwise, don’t complain (unless you think we elected the wrong person, then I guess you can complain if you must).

Just get out there and cast your ballot.