Tyler Weaver's Blog

Up and Down

2010-05-07T07:13:00.000-07:00

Tuesday we did this crossfit:

20 HSPU (hand stand push ups) progressions (pike pushups off an elevated surface)
25 Pullups
30 Kettlebell swings
35 Situps
40 Burpies (pushup and jumping jack)

Today we did it in reverse.

40 Burpies
35 Situps
30 Kettlebell swings
25 Pullups
20 HSPU Progressions

Tuesday I did it in 15.38 with a 1 pood(35lb) kettlebell. I went real slow through the burpies and they counted as at least a third of that time.

Today since we started with burpies I was able to power through it until I hit the pullups. After about five I was only able to do sets of one or two. Overall I still beat my time with 14.15. I chalk it up to starting with burpies though. Those things hurt.

Dad did it too, he survived and did the whole workout each time.

I will not walk for your camera!

2010-05-05T18:43:00.000-07:00

Today Courtney started trying to walk. She would stand up and take a few steps then fall down. It was real cute but as soon as I got the camera all she wanted to do was crawl.

Max weight day.

2010-05-05T12:45:00.000-07:00

Today's crossfit was:

3-3-3-3-3 Front Squat.

This means that you try to set new PR's on the front squat doing five sets of three reps each. The goal is to add weight each time and set a new personal record. Once I got the weight up high enough that I couldn't clean it on my own I used the help of siblings to get it on my shoulders. Once they released it I realized that I didn't have the strength in my wrists to hold onto the bar. I haven't had it checked out yet, but just from research online I think I might have a "Jones fracture" in my right foot. Today I soaked it in ice and hot water, alternating every 15min for 3hrs.

Tyler 45-95-145(PR)-165(f)-155(f)

New toys for Crossfit.

2010-05-03T13:01:00.000-07:00

I discovered a local supplier of crossfit equipment in the industrial park near I70 and Havana, Rage Fitness Supply. I drove down there and picked up four kettlebells and a medicine ball. They supply everything crossfit and manufacture the medicine balls. This allowed me to get some of the equipment I wanted without paying for shipping. Tomorrow we are going to work kettlebells and the medicine ball in.

That Guy

2010-04-29T22:29:00.000-07:00

You know when someone is obviously quite a bit better than you at a game or sport but they still make you win. Does that anger you or is that a nice gesture? Do you see it as a rather arrogant move on their part and preventing you from understanding how the game should be played or is it kind? Do you think it is a Cristian thing to do to let others win because you decided to let them win not because they actually won? Even if no one notices?

PRs on the Back Squat

2010-04-29T06:03:00.001-07:00

Today we did more squats, this time max weight three rep sets. I didn't do it because I was going to attempt to complete "Daniel" today with Adam but it's snowing. Now that I'm a dirty civilian I don't run in the cold. We'll probably do some sort of crossfit that can be done inside.

4 rounds of for weight
3 rep Max Back Squat
10 bench dips

Dad 45/115lb
Mom 15/40lbs

To solve discipline issues.

2010-04-27T22:39:00.000-07:00

I've always had the desire to be real disciplined in several areas but could never muster up the motivation or personal drive to do it. Two of these areas are memorization and exercise. While I was in the army the exercise part was taken care of for me but now that I'm home I have to do it all on my own. As far as memorization this is where I hit this, what may seam to others an obvious solution, but to me a great revelation. In order to become more disciplined I needed to find someone who I could help with the same problem. Someone who I could be mutually accountable with. If my focus was on encouraging someone else it becomes much easier to push myself. Proverbs 11:25 speaks to this Biblical principal. "The generous man will be prosperous, and he who waters will himself be watered." In order to conquer the giant of laziness in my life and become more disciplined I need to focus on "watering" others.

As far as the exercise issue, while I was at AIT I started running distance. I found a guy who would run with me and I pushed him. This gave me the motivation to work harder myself. Now that I am home I am working to help my parents do crossfit. It has been a lot of fun, and over time, it should be a real benefit to our family.

While I have just started the crossfit with the family, I've seen some real success in memorizing. So far Steve has memorized, in KJV btw, the first two chapters of Romans and half of chapter three. I have memorized the first three chapters of James, in NASB (much easier), and just started on chapter 4. Praise God.

Day 2

2010-04-27T08:04:00.001-07:00

Today I plan on exercising later with Ryan and then running with Rachel so I didn't do crossfit in the morning. I facilitated it and watched peoples form. Dad has real good form and goes for full range of motion. Before we started we watched videos on the clean and practiced form with the 45lb bar.

For time:
15, 12, and 9 reps of
Overhead squat
Burpies

Dad(20lbs) 10.40
Mom(2.5lbs) 9.40
Daniel(10lbs) 2.04

Ran with Rachel around noon and it ended up being about a 10.30 pace for four miles. I'm going to work on running faster before we work on distance.

Weaver family crossfit Day 1

2010-04-26T18:25:00.000-07:00

As a family we have started doing crossfit in the morning. By regularly exercising and getting up early we are trying to become more disciplined. I am scaling off of the Brand X forum and backdating one week so I can see what is coming up. Right now we are using the lowest scaling and trying to get good form.

3 rounds for time of:
50ft walking lunges
20 squats
10 supermans

Tyler 5.18
Ryan 5.27
Daniel 5.42
Rachel 5.59
Mom 8.05
Dad 8.15

Early, Early, Late

2010-04-14T22:22:00.000-07:00

I haven't been online as much this week because our platoon has CQ. Basically I have to go downstairs and sit at a desk by the door for an hour during the night. Because of how this breaks up my sleep I have to go to be right after returning.

This is tower week, last was ground, and next week is jump week. So far we have learned to do a mass exit on the 34' tower (1 jumper a second, staggered a half second of the other door). Yesterday we did the Sling Landing Trainer, another PLF device. This medieval torture device was designed to teach you to "slip" and give you more practice on the PLF. Slipping is the act of pulling down on a set of risers to move your parachute in one direct or another. By slipping into the wind just before the ground you can really slow your self down. To simulate this we put in a harness and jump off a 12' platform where the straps are adjusted so we swing a foot or so off the ground. The pain comes from the poorly designed leg straps and the falling off the platform over and over. I was assigned to the detail of unhooking jumpers from the harness all day and only got in half of my required jumps on this hateful thing. I will probably have to finish it up tomorrow afternoon.

Tomorrow morning we are going to be doing the 250ft tower. Because there will not be enough time for our whole platoon to do it, there is a chance I won't. It looks like fun, but it is just one more chance to get hurt before the real thing next week.

Oh, and to compound the CQ shifts this week tower week has us on a Early, Early, Late schedule for chow. We are the first company to eat Breakfast, and Lunch, and the last to eat Dinner. This just means that the training day is the longest during this week and that we have been getting released about an hour later than last week.

Short Day, Short Day!

2010-04-09T10:12:00.001-07:00

There was only one class we had to do today so they released us after lunch. Today we learned what to do once you are on the ground. How to unhook yourself from the parachute so it doesn't drag you along the ground and how to recover the parachute and pack it into the bag you carry for it. I'm going to take this weekend to mostly recover and prepare for next weekend. For some reason my voice is gone, probably all the yelling.

Twisting falls.

2010-04-08T17:58:00.000-07:00

Today we stayed in the training area all day and ate MREs again. All that was on the training schedule was falling down. I've never practiced falling down so much. Pt was brutal this morning, I'm worn out. We did it in a gravel pit and it is the first time I have fallen out on an exercise here. Almost every exercise we had half the group not with the count. I think they realized how beat up we are and sort of skipped the chin ups for some reason. I did 20 all day. Yesterday we did left and right PLFs, today we did forward and back. To preform a forward or backwards plf you just twist your body to land on your side. We have some hard core guys here and we are all real beat up from this training. I am looking forward to this weekend with the hope that I will somewhat recover. Its isn't like I am worn out... there just is little or nothing left.

MRE day.

2010-04-07T15:24:00.001-07:00

Today instead of returning to the dfac(dining facility) we ate MRE's(meals ready to eat, meals rejected by Ethiopians, etc) for lunch. This affected the number of chin ups as we didn't pass the bars mid day. This morning after one of the "feared airborne runs", at a blistering nine minutes a mile for 3.2mi, we finished up the tower. We then ate and went into the pit to start PLF training. PLF or a parachute landing fall is all about absorbing the impact of a hard fall without hurting yourself. Most people tuck and roll when falling to avoid injury. While this may be fine in most circumstances with a parachute there is the issue of getting caught in the lines and the canopy catching wind and causing you problems. Think of it as roll, just backwards and twisting. Tomorrow will be PLF's all day. They beat you up more than anything, falling over again and again. Recon marines are real cool guys, ,and not all they are cracked up to be. They are mostly just highly trained slightly sadistic people. They are not all huge guys, or at least not as popular lore would have you believe.

Count is 260.

First Exit

2010-04-06T15:57:00.000-07:00

The 32 ft tower was today. That's the height of the platform we jump from. We hook a strap to the parachute harness and a zip line cable overhead. The whole point is to demonstrate proper exit of a plane and body position. It requires quite a bit of coordination and the ability to control your thoughts. I was on a detail helping with the whole thing most of the day so I only got a few a half hour from leaving. I will get to go again on this tower on Friday. Tomorrow we start the PLF, ie falling so as to not hurt yourself.

Count is 210.

110 and counting.

2010-04-05T17:04:00.000-07:00

That is 110 chin ups since I've been here. I passed the pt test just fine. I had the fastest run time in my platoon (2mi in 12.15). Someone from fourth platoon beat me by thirty seconds or so. We are done with the first day of training and will start with the 32ft towers tomorrow morning. It doesn't look that bad, from the ground.

10 and 10

2010-04-04T14:14:00.000-07:00

In the foreground is some pull up bars. On these and others like it we do ten chin ups and then ten push ups each time before we go into the dfac(dining facility) for chow and each time we come into and leave the company area where we form up for formations.

To the left and right are barracks similar to the one we live in. These are the same buildings that soldiers lived in when going to airborne school in the 50s. Although they are real old the important things(washers, dryers, showers, sinks, latrines, etc) are in good working order. This is a major improvement to the barracks at Ft Gordon. Most of them, although slightly newer and better looking on the outside, have about half of the important things broken inside. They seamed much more concerned about the appearance than the actual function there. I have to say though, one thing that worked there that doesn't even exist here is central air. Even though it only worked half the time at least they had it. It is so hot and humid even inside here. I am sweating just sitting here typing this.

In the center is the smallest dfac I have seen, even smaller than the one at basic, and the only dfac at airborne school. Here they herd us through much like basic but with much better food. I don't mind it all that much, real organized but small.

In the background is one of the three 250ft towers. Starting either the end of this week or the start of next we will be practicing on these. From what I understand they hoist you up by your parachute and drop you. Most say that it isn't nearly as bad as it seams. One of our instructors was telling us that the worst of the towers is the 32ft one. There is something about being off the ground but not way up there that is fearful.

Please pray that I pay attention to detail and that I don't get injured. If all things go well I will graduate three weeks from last Friday and be home sometime that weekend.

Berry Half Marathon

2010-03-06T12:15:00.000-08:00

This is my second half marathon and it was a beautiful course. Tucked back in the woods of Georgia, Berry College is comprised of buildings from two centuries ago all large enough to be capitol buildings and some as elegant. Complete with huge manicured lawns and ponds the course was all on the campus.

When we arrived the weather was bitter. At seven when we were picking up our packets it was 27 degrees. In just a tshirt and shorts it was numbing.

After a few miles I warmed up once I started sweating. Out in the fields we saw large herds of deer. They must not be hunted on campus because they seamed tame watching us run by on the road. It was a hilly course that involved a couple of miles on a gravel road so my mile splits varied a bit.

Kyle and I ran the half marathon while our other friend Jewitt ran the 10K. About three miles in the 10K veered off to the left to run back to the start on a biking path. The half came back down that path, it just entered the path where it originated up the road a bit instead of through the trees. That section on that path was one of the worst since you could see for a good three miles ahead, didn't ever seam like it would end. I kept my pace up by just looking at the ground in front of me and watching my watch.

My times were as follows:

Overall time: 1.32.43 (7.05 pace)
Previous: 1.39.02 (7.35 pace)
Mile Splits:
1: 6.09
2: 6.44
3: 6.29
4: 6.53
5: 7.20
6: 7.26
7: 7.23
8: 6.57
9: 7.03
10: 7.17
11: 7.17
12: 7.35
13: 7.20
In the men's bracket I was 23rd out of 290 that finished, 5th in my age group.

Kyle(13.1mi) overall: 1hr 54min (8.46 pace)
Jewitt(10K) overall: 53min (8.33 pace)

A brief update...

2010-03-03T17:01:00.000-08:00

Yes, I went to church on Sunday... this is a quick shot I took while we were singing. The message was out of Genesis two. Don't really remember much... life has been crazy. We got moved into another barracks and this is my new living space. We have much less free time and it is broken up all over the day. I only have a couple more weeks in class, one week of field training then I'm off to airborne and then home. I've been having trouble finding time to memorize. After I finished chapter two of James I've sort of fallen away. Maybe after this weekend and the half marathon out of the way hopefully I can get back into the swing of things. Steve sent me a couple of good books and I'm about 2/3 of the way through the first one. I have been able to read a few pages here and there. I'll post any new developments if I have time.

Sometimes it drizzles

2010-02-24T16:11:00.000-08:00

These last couple of days have been in a sort of cold humid cloudy drizzly mood. But amidst the weather and the stupidity that has befallen us God is good. After being put on a different shift it turns out that we weren't just shifted shifts with our friends. Instead they moved the formerly swings to second shift(1230 to 1830) along with ours and one other class from mids. All our friends on mids got moved to third shift. And to make matters worse second shift is being moved to the old barracks because second shift now the "day" shift. And all the guys who were on days are now "first" shift and they are being moved to our awesome two man rooms in the new barracks. The best we can do is maybe a four man. Because we are in the "wrong" barracks we have formations at some of the worst times so they can keep tabs on us. Today was the first day I got to go the gym all day this week and it doesn't look like I will be able to tomorrow. We have a half marathon coming up a week from this Saturday, and we have been only able to run on the weekends. We might be making up for it a bit this weekend. We have been invited to run 20 miles and even though my room mate thinks it sounds crazy... I'm kind of excited about the opportunity. I received a box from Steve that contained a couple of books and some candy. One of the books "The Fred Factor", a short book about going to extra mile and doing your work extraordinarily. I've been reading it in the morning instead of eating breakfast because I'm still just used to two meals a day. Another part of that might just be the lack of gym time has caused my apatite to subside. Last week before all this stupidity started when I had time I finished James two and started chapter three. Because everything isn't figured out on this new shift we find ourselves in formation waiting on leadership for long periods of time. I've used this time to review it. Yesterday we took the second to last test in this course and are on the home stretch. Regardless of how stupid it gets, I am done in just a few more weeks. Even when it seams to gnawing cold won't leave, God is there.

No Food in the Barracks

2010-02-09T07:23:00.000-08:00

We are not allowed to bring in or store any food in the barracks. At class we get a "lunch break" but because there isn't anything open when we go to school (midnight), you are limited to the food in the vending machines. Ever since my roommate got his car we have been storing snacks in the trunk and parking it right across the street from where we leave for school each night. Yes, the Arizona green tea is mine. Everything else is his and one of his other friends.

Right Turning Light

2010-02-06T16:57:00.000-08:00

Kyle brought his car up from Texas after the Christmas break, and now that he has all the official paperwork we use it to get around all the time. This is a picture of him on his 24th birthday just before we went into the gym.
How odd is this, a right had turning light? In a right hand turn only lane they have a green light for turning right. Somethings on post just don't make sense at all.

Sunday

2010-01-31T10:28:00.000-08:00

Before the main service at First Presbyterian of Augusta I attend a Bible study in a separate building across the street. Today we arrived slightly early and I was the only one in the room for a few minutes and I took this picture. The message this week was on sound doctrine out of First Timothy 1. The first point was the root of doctrine, or "What principles lie behind your decisions?" Secondly the fruit of doctrine, or "How is your relationship with others characterized?" And lastly the pursuit of doctrine, "The resolve to follow God at any cost." After the study I cross the street and go upstairs for the service. We always sit in the balcony. Today the church was packed and even though it was cold outside it was real hot inside. I had trouble staying awake.

The other thing we do on Sunday is haircuts. Everyone must have a fresh haircut, in regulation, by the first formation of the week. Here one of the "barracks butchers" is giving a haircut.

Results

2010-01-28T13:41:00.000-08:00

A few days ago some senior top leadership had a big talk with the whole platoon and let anyone voice any problems. The guys with the most complaints shouldn't have been talking at all. The results of this is problems snowball. When someone on top is mad he yells at his subordinates and the problems just get bigger as they come down hill. At the bottom they hit the lowest guy the hardest. In this case we are the lowest guys. Some straight up stupidity resulted. People complained about being punished in ways only those farther up the food chain are able to be punished. The result was a "surprise" pt test today and tomorrow. The reason it was surprise and no one was told was so that people wouldn't go get a profile so they could skip it. If you fail a pt test you get a negative counseling and you get punished either way. Quite a few failed. The other thing that resulted was we now have a roster that we have to sign out and back in whenever we go anywhere, even when we are released. Even with this new system we still had a failure to report at a normally scheduled formation. This is the stupidity that results when people complain to their bosses boss.

Posible Opertunity

2010-01-25T11:03:00.000-08:00

Since I have returned I've had quite a bit more trouble memorizing then when I was at home. The main reason is that I am really never alone and I couldn't bring myself to work on memorizing in front of others. At the schoolhouse there is allot of down time where the class sits around with no instructor and talks. I don't involve myself in these conversations because they are mostly about real childish or perverted topics. I've tried to lead conversations about interesting topics like politics but its futile. Yesterday I was encouraged to try working on memorizing. There where a few awkward silences where they were pausing to see what I was saying to myself then it would start up again. I was able to redeem some of that time reviewing chapters I have memorized and learning a new verse. Later that morning while on detail with one of my classmates I was asked about it. This gave me the opportunity to recite some of what I had been working on to him. Please remember to pray for the men and women in the service that do not know God.

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership

2010-01-24T03:45:00.000-08:00

has caused me to re-evaluate my purpose and direction in life. I have always had the idea that someday I would get a degree, a job or business, marry, and live a similar life to that of my parents. The problems that my actions were a result of my immediate focus on short term: What can I do to look good? What will be fun/provide adventure? What am I being asked/required to do? This book helped me focus my daily actions on long term results. I have always struggled with discipline and a general lack of direction. As it says in Proverbs 16:3, "Commit your works to the LORD And your plans will be established" The idea there is in order to receive that direction in life, to have that vision, to have plans established by the Lord I needed to commit individual works to Him. In my war against my undisciplined aimless actions I have some new weapons: "How will this affect my leadership ability / marriage / family / children / grandchildren?"

There are many more lessons in this book that have to do with a good leader, this is just the one that has made the greatest impression on me. I have been struggling with where am I going and how am I going to get there.

This is defiantly a five out of five. For maximum use I recommend going through it with a friend you can talk through the issues it presents.

In the Company of Heroes

2010-01-23T19:09:00.000-08:00

The true story of CW4 Durant, a black hawk pilot who was shot down and captured, this book was real encouraging. Flying in the most elite unit of pilots in the world with some of the most elite "customers" on board Mr Durant was on top of the world. He had thousands of hours behind the instruments and had the feeling that he was untouchable. "Little bullet, big sky" is the term he used to describe his attitude going in. Then he was almost ended. The tail of his helo was hit by an RPG and he fell out of the sky. The ground impact broke his back and right femur. Summing up the energy to live five minutes at a time he survived unimaginable pain for days.

A true statement is that Mr Durrant loved to fly helicopters. He clearly shared that in this book when recounting how he came to fly for the 160th. The whole truth about the 160th is rather morbid and frighting. He not only tells of the drive and rewards but also the high price tag that comes along. Because of his love for flying his home life suffered.

Over all I give this book a 4 out of 5. I couldn't put this book down for several days and read it on all of my free time till I finished it. "There are no atheists in foxholes" is a true statement and is demonstrated here. I would have given it five out of five but it has some "army" language in a couple of places. Overall it is a real encouragement to have good resolve in the face of any trial.

Unfortunate Pain

2010-01-15T08:13:00.000-08:00

Shortly after we returned we were doing some barracks maintenance and I was moving a ceiling tile above my bed. Standing on the windows seal I slipped and fell and my right knee hit the lock on the desk. I've been riding exercise bikes, playing racquetball, and running hoping it will loosen it up but it just seams to be hurting more. I've got a few guys together for a run tonight, we're going eight and a half miles. I'm praying it's not injured just bruised. I don't want a knee injury, we're thinking of running another half marathon in a month or so.

Cheater, Cheater...

2010-01-11T11:31:00.001-08:00

I've been accused of being a cheater at everything I do. When playing risk online I find friends to play with so we can better our chances of winning, I demonstrated how to break WEP wireless encryption to someone here, and in other ways I've gotten into or out of different things in clever or less than straightforward ways. I've developed a reputation that I got called out for last night. I don't how bad of an accusation this is. Please pray that I'm honest in everything I do.

Steve and I are working to memorize a verse each day. It has been twenty three days since we started. I had already memorized the first eight verses of James one at the beginning. Now I have the first chapter down and the first two verses of the second. I am amazed at how quick I am memorizing even just doing one a day. So far I am two days behind. I should have done the fourth verse today. Pray that I catch up and we stay faithful.

Praise God

2010-01-06T03:31:00.000-08:00

Thank you for those who prayed that I would stay on mids or swing shift. Even though the sleep schedule isn't ideal, the day schedule around here is even worse. For the instruction we receive the six hours we have each day at the school house is plenty. I think we have allot of down time on our time at the school house, the days have two hours more each day. That is two hours less for sleeping, reading, working out, etc. Our pt is later in the day from days which makes so it isn't so cold. They form up at around 0400. We form up for PT at 0745 and don't march out till usually 0830. But more than anything we get to keep our room. If I had gone to days I would have been put in a 12 man room with inacts and other days which are held to a lot lower standard. If we were moved to swings I would have had to move floors and loose my two man room. Staying on mids is exactly what I wanted.

Another subject for praise is they fixed the heating on our side of the building. Shortly before we left for exodus they said it was fixed but we never spent the night so we didn't know. When we got back it obviously wasn't fixed. Yesterday when we got back to our room it was slightly warmer. I still sleep with a skullcap on my head and fully dressed but now it's warm enough I don't wake up freezing. I am real thankful for both of these things.

Once again, thank you for praying.

Pond Hockey

2009-12-21T10:51:00.001-08:00

Our friends mother kindly took some pictures of our hockey games at Evergreen Lake on Saturday.

I posted them here on Google web albums.

Getting High on a Working Weekend

2009-12-13T05:36:00.000-08:00

Our company is now on knockdown till exodus. We have allot to do so this weekend they put the whole building on knockdown. That means regardless of phase we can't leave post or the company area all weekend. We can only go away from the building during certain times to eat chow. Other than that we are working on our barracks. All yesterday Schumann and myself striped and waxed about half of our room by hand. Because there is only two mops and no buffers we had to do everything with a couple scouring pads to put it down and a sponge to take it up. for the waxing we've been using a shirt duct taped to my swifter. It takes wax about twenty minutes to dry. Yesterday spending the entire time in a small room with stripper had everyone in the company high. Everyone is real excited and regardless of what we are doing it seams that half of the company has left to go home already in their head. Or maybe that was the stripper.

Exodus Lockdown

2009-12-11T11:20:00.000-08:00

This weekend is a work weekend. Everyone is to report at a 0800 formation in ACUs. We'll be working this weekend, cleaning and packing. Monday our wall lockers are sealed and we live out of our dufflebag we packed. 0000 on Thursday we are out on the sidewalk till our bus shows up. This whole week we'll be in uniform till that last night. I really don't care much what they put us through... there are only a few more days, and I'll be back home.

We had our last night of class this year last night. Because we tested out on Wednesday night we didn't have anything real to do so they played a couple movies in our classroom and let us sleep. I raced a friend to figure out the max value of a unsigned int on paper. Right now the only way to describe my attitude is cold resolve, I don't care what goes on these next few days, I'll be back soon.

PT is improving!

2009-12-09T03:57:00.000-08:00

The picture is of our pt track with Schumann and the graduation stand on the right. We come out to Barton Field to do PT as a company every morning. It is the open grassy field I've ever seen, the dirt track around it is 5K. About a month ago someone high up in TRADOC(Training and Doctrine) decided to "standardize" PT for MOSIs(Initial Entry Training, non MOS qualified soldiers). In our case that meant that PT got retarded. We started doing CD1(conditioning drill one) at the start and end of each PT session. This consists of exercises like the "bend and reach" where you reach up and back down to touch your toes ten times. In between that we have been doing the "military movement drill" which are these dumb looking hopping and shuffling followed by a 30yd sprint. After that we would do CD1 again and a couple of stretches. Needless to say in order to just maintain a decent PT score we had to do quite a bit on our limited own time. Several of us have been complaining about this lack of decent PT. In the past we've had good hard PT. Two days ago they did CD1 and MMD real fast and got right into some hard pt. We did several sets of 50 4count flutter kicks, over 100 4count v-ups, 45 dips, 45 decline push ups, 45 incline push ups, 2 sets of six pull ups and six chin ups, with 12reg/12wide/12close push ups in between, and 10 slow KTEs(Knees to Elbows, on pull up bar bringing knees up to elbows and flexing the arms to bring head to bar). This all within the hour we have for PT. Yesterday they changed some of the exercises up a bit, but it was just as brutal. I'm excited, hopefully It'll help me improve. Without the gym anymore it's been hard to get real good hard workouts. I'm praying it continues.

Forward-dating

2009-12-07T03:50:00.000-08:00

No, this is not a post about anyone else. :P

This is more just a bunch of short random things I wanted to write about.

The army is but isn't paying me. Last Friday I was all excited when I checked my LES and realized that a new one was up and I was being paid. It was a complete back pay for the last month. What I failed to realize right away is they forward dated it. In the small print on the bottom it says, "Direct Deposit 20091211". In other words I'm not being paid till the eleventh. Just so you know... I did resolve the issue and I will continue to be paid while here.

I learned a new word today, holler. Say it with a southern accent and it means a slight depression in the Appellations, not big enough to be a valley. Because logically, how can you have a valley if you don't have any real mountains.

Thirdly, I had a run in with one of my classmates today because he was acting like a younger sibling, and he is twenty six. Maybe he was an only child.

Today in class we learned about the satellite systems that we use. And as of Saturday a new bird is up on the WGS(Wideband Global Satellite) constellation. WGS-3 is the third of six of these new birds that can each handle as much bandwidth and the whole last system combined(5 DCSS-III and their backups). Each of the WGS birds cost roughly $300mil. The cost of sending the shuttle up to repair and upgrade an old bird would be roughly $1.2bil. That is why we just put new ones up and let the old ones die when they run out of the fuel needed to stay in orbit. This bird was put up by a Delta IV from ULA. Here is a link to a story about it.

It's Been Ten Days

2009-12-03T07:15:00.000-08:00

When the National Guard drafted up my orders they wrote them so as to pay me only till the 28th of October. I didn't discover this till the next pay period(15th of Nov). Immediately I went into the National Guard Liaison's office. They told me it was squared away and I would be paid in eight to ten business days. Today marks that tenth day since my inquiry. I have now lost two pay periods because the thanksgiving holiday made ten days over two weeks. I went into their office on the first when I wasn't paid then either and they told me eight to ten more. I called again today and stated it's been ten days since my first inquiry and he told me to come in to see if we can't make this go faster. Pray it works out. Above is the paperwork they keep asking me to bring. They are three LES(Leave and Earn Statements), one that shows I'm not being paid and the last two where I was paid. Pray for it to go well. I do have another option but by just talking to this other person I would be going out of the official channels and could cause problems in the chain of command. As they say "snowballs" get larger as they roll downhill.

A new home... DD has it's perks!

2009-11-21T06:06:00.000-08:00

They've been talking about it for a long time now, moving us to different barracks because the current ones were getting way too crowded. Yesterday when we got back from school they told us to go get our stuff and move. We'd already been assigned rooms in the new building and I was in a twelve man. I didn't have much of a problem with this because I had a bottom bunk and our class was next on the line to get good rooms when the senior class graduates. Come to find out the senior class tested out of their last class last night so they were put on the day schedule to wait to leave. It was only third platoon(mids and swings) that they moved so as to make more space for both shifts. Long story short I got a two man room with Schumann complete with a desk.

Last night after Schumann came back from his denial appointment and moved his stuff over he asked if I would go with him to a Texas country music concert (Robert Earl Keen) in Atlanta. An old friend from where he went to college invited him. Because he way paying for the rental car, and the tickets I said why not. The drive to Atlanta is a good two and a half hours with out traffic and it was nice being able to switch out on the way there. Because I'd been on my feet all night in class and day moving our stuff over I was beat. The last hour on the way there I slept. We arrived and I was passed out, and the guys at the entrance saw me passed out. Schumann woke me up and gave me a 5-hour energy shot which woke me right up. I was still slightly groggy when I got to the door and I handed the man at the entrance my military ID. He read my birthday and then attempted to give me a "Over 21" wrist band. The manager saw what he was doing and came right over. The manager asked if he had really said 89 and then confronted the guy for trying to give me the band. The manager had seen me passed out in the car and asked how much I had drank tonight and I told him nothing. He then had me step aside where he gave me a Breathalyzer test just to let me in. Once everything checked out we got in. The music was allot of fun. It was a huge non-smoking honkeytonk where the band plays right above a huge dance floor. Someone wasn't doing their job all that well on the sound board so it was rather hard to make out the singing from about half way back to the back of the building. Therefore everyone stood on the dance floor right next to the stage where you could hear the acoustic instruments and the singing w/out the sound system. Robert Earl Keen is a mix with traditional country(Willy Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, etc) and some delta blues instrumentals(pedal steel and dobro). I had a blast.

On the way back I drove(DD) since Schumann had a couple on the friend who invited him. We stooped by a gas station to doze off in the car for a couple of hours before driving back and I discovered canned Arizona Green Tea. This might not sound like much, but here in Georgia it is near impossible to find. I've only run across it twice the whole time I've been here. I proceeded to purchase it and slowly sipping on it I drove all the way back straight through. We arrived back around 0320.

Skydiving video

2009-11-18T10:00:00.000-08:00

I'm awful on video. Guys around here say I do some of those weird things normally, going to try to stop. For example the quick head twitch, awkward smile, non looking at the camera, etc. YouTube blocked out the audio, which isn't a big deal because it's just some stupid song they put on there. Anyway, enjoy without sound. I didn't think I was that nervous.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v298DtQMAfo

Revenge...

2009-11-13T14:11:00.000-08:00

Now that the half marathon is over and I'm getting back to a more normal schedule I played racquetball for the first time in two weeks today. Hopefully I'll be doing it more often. What is more important that that though is the outcome of today's two games. I killed Schumann in both games, first one was 13 to 15 and the second I only let him score five. During the second game he repeatedly was in the way of the racquetball. I hit him three times. We used to play for an hour or two at a time, now for some reason he's beat after just two. But that was back when I lost almost every game. The huge beer he had at lunch today probably didn't help either.

Thank God for good weather!

2009-11-09T08:00:00.000-08:00

This is the third weekend we've driven out to this airport to attempt a jump. This time the weather was beautiful. Not a cloud in sight. Before we could get started we had to redo the paperwork... yes I am jumping out of a airplane, yes I understand this is not normal, yes I am committing suicide, yes I know this parachute could possibly save me, but it could not also, yes I know this is a conscious decision, no I will no sue anyone, no my family will not sue anyone, and even if they try they will have to pay all their own winnings. Nearly twenty initials and four signatures later the paperwork was done for the third time.

Here we go again. This time we take off all metal and everything out of our pockets. They give us these marune looking one piece suits. It fits just fine. We are then adjusted in the harness and helmet. The funny looking helmet is more for the sake of the guy jumping with us so it doesn't hurt so bad when we bang heads.

Schumann and I were on the second ride up. Once we were on the plane it started to set in what I had relly got myself into. Within a couple of minutes we were at altitude and the door came open. We scuffled to the door on our knees and on a count of three we fell out. Up at fifteen thousand feet you can see the curvature of the earth. Tumbling several times we saw earth then plane to earth again and back up at the plane. You know that falling feeling you get on roller coasters and stuff, there was none of that. You just go faster until you reach terminal velocity. Which you manage to keep under 140(safe parachute opening speed) by the traditional skydiving position, belly to earth. After a minute or so of free fall we had gone nearly ten thousand feet and my ears felt like they were about to explode. Changing altitude that fast can have negative affects on your hearing. For the rest of the day everything was muffled. The only real falling feeling is when the chute opens. We opened at roughly five thousand feet and floated around for ten minutes or so. Next time we go I'll do the AFF(accelerated free fall) which includes a six hour class and allows us to jump with our own parachute. The took a video of it, I'll have that this next weekend to post.

Connell who is pictured up top had never been on an airplane before and he was completely terrified of the whole thing. Having airborne in his contract he wanted to get some of the fear out of the way in a more relaxed environment. When he got down he loved the free fall and the plane ride but hated the parachute. He kept asking if there was ways to open lower or do away with it all together. They reminded him that you don't need a parachute to jump once, you need it to jump twice.

Room cleaning...

2009-11-04T10:24:00.000-08:00

We had a few new people move into our room and we are no longer able to keep our supplies in the "broken locker". In an effort to hide and yet allow access to all members of the room they are located in a ceiling tile. This we did after asking our squad sergeant. He is one of the few that allow reasonable compromise if it won't hurt anything. Most other squad sergeants wouldn't allow anything in the ceiling. Been spending allot of time around Connell recently working out after PT. It's fun to do some real exercise. Regular company PT here is a joke.

Picture-less day...

2009-11-02T10:32:00.000-08:00

It's not like anything happened. Nothing happened today, and I left the camera in my wall locker. I spent the day attempting to recover from yesterday, I'm still walking funny. I need to get off, My Internet device doesn't reset till the fourth and I think I'm near my limit.

13.1

2009-11-01T10:32:00.000-08:00

Today starting at 0700 I competed in a half marathon. Around 12.5 miles a friend who was a road guard for the race had my camera. I finished 91st out of nearly 800. One of the guys in our group finished fifteenth. I maintained roughly a 7.40 mile pace. My time was 1:39:42. In the red is SFC Norganrd. Underneath him is Schumann. And lastly SFC Albers. Starting about mile eight there were allot of hills to the end. 10.5 to 12 was the hardest for me. It was on the freeway, which was canted to the left and had three large hills with no downhill in between. This is when quite a few passed me.

We were invited to return to compete in the half iron man as a relay team next year as a relay. One man runs 13.1 miles, One bikes something like fifty miles and then a third swims. I hope to be gone before then.

Out of the women overall a 55year old finished third with a time of 1 hour 25min. The guy who won overall ran in an hour and twelve minutes. His overall pace was 5:20/mi. His first two he ran in just over eight minutes. If only I could do that on a pt test. Usually when I run after a couple of miles it gets easy because most of the pain goes away. I found the end of that today. At ten miles in it became real painful. I would say the reason is because when we trained we never ran over nine miles because of the amount time allotted for PT.

Phase Change

2009-10-31T09:49:00.000-07:00

Wilson passed his PT test yesterday earning him Phase five. It didn't take him long to find someone willing to sell him an outrageous set of civilian cloths. He's the completely sacrilegious "viking" in our class.

5+

2009-10-30T10:09:00.000-07:00

Pure awsomeness! No weekend formations any more!

Released for the Weekend!

2009-10-30T09:56:00.001-07:00

When we returned from school this morning we discovered that someone put our Battalion crest in the sand. It must have taken allot of time. The flags and torch in the bottom right are a reference to the civil war when the "signal core" was founded.

The army will make NCO's(Non-commissioned Officers, aka Sergants) be AIT cadre if they want to "put them away" because they did something stupid. Several of our cadre have punched and even beat up officers. Another is here because of adultery and the rest are various things. There are only a few that chose this position, one of those I suspect is SFC Albers. He is awesome.

Sergeant Gerrero spent allot of time making a spider to put on top of the vending machines in the day room. Trash bags stuffed with shredded paper and eyes and mouth made with styrofoam cups.

A trip to the library.

2009-10-29T08:29:00.000-07:00

My Verizon air card doesn't work with Windows 7 and as of now I can't find any solutions online that have worked. I sure hope they fix it soon or I'll be spending alot of time at the library. It is the only place on post with free Internet, but it is slow and a long hike. The rest of the company is doing a PT test tomorrow. I might just to see if I've improved. But because I'm on the half marathon team and that is this Sunday SFC Norgard and SFC Albers gave us a pass this time. I just received a call from a friend of a friend back home who might be able to hook me up with some good Christian fellowship here in the August area. I'm excited to say the least.

UPDATE: Windows 7 is awesome! I was able to figure out the solution to the driver issue.

It Arived!

2009-10-28T12:57:00.000-07:00

Today at main call I received my copy of Windows 7. With this new version Microsoft wrote a totally new kernel. I'll see in a couple of days if it is all it's been made out to be. They sent it to me because I bought a computer so close to the the release.

Laundry Day

2009-10-28T10:57:00.000-07:00

My laundry bag was looking pregnant as they say here so I devoted today to doing my laundry. If you have a "Christmas sack" they will throw it all over your room while you are at pt. The only problem is in a building with 450 soldiers there is like a grand total of three working washers and maybe one more drier. Our other option is to hike about a mile and a half to the laundry mat. It takes more time to do your laundry at the company than to hike there and do it and hike back because you not only have to wait but these don't always work well. I spent two and a half hours in the laundry room today because I don't like paying for things I don't have to. I don't really have anything better to do anyway. That sign saying that a work order was submitted is nearly four months old and the other one I took a picture of has never worked, even though people have tried. Another company just recently moved into some new barracks and they have twenty washers/driers per platoon. Each of their platoons are around eighty people. Part of the reason might be because they plan on us moving out of where we are eventually even though they don't have anything built for us to movie into, or even started for that matter. I have formation in an hour and I have to fold my laundry.

When it rains

2009-10-27T06:40:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day we have ever been rained out of PT. I don't know why, it was just another Georgia rain. I don't think the sergants on duty wanted to be in the rain any more than we did. They just took roll and did room inspections then released us to do barracks maintenance. Because our room is real squared away it wasn't anything. We were given permission by our squad sergeant, SSG Robinson to use the extra wall locker for our cleaning products. We're glad for it because just last week we had our broom stolen while we were at class. Now we have a lockable place for our cleaning suplies with out storing them in our wall lockers.

Out our window from the third floor you can see the sidewalk we normally form up on. The truck that fills the vending machines in the day room is not deterred by the rain.

There is a bible study today at eleven. I hope we get released from cleaning soon enough to go.

Because the budget for supplies for our barracks ran out and we no longer have wax till the beginning of next year we are all stripping our floors to take off all the rest of the wax so everything looks uniform. It's not just about being clean, it's about looking the same. At least now with no wax we can wear our shoes in the building.

How to Copy a Program.

2009-10-26T15:36:00.000-07:00

Step 1: Make image files out of the disks.

There are several very good applications out there for helping you do this but one of the best and free ones is ImgBurn. ( www.imgburn.com )
On their forum at http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?showtopic=6379 you can find a tutorial on how to create image files.

Step 2: Copy the image files.
This may sound simple but it is where many people make mistakes. If you skipped the first step you wouldn't be able to copy these files and might end up copying something completely useless such as the PROGRAM FILES (hint).
This is accomplished by locating the files on your hard drive in windows explorer and right clicking then selecting copy. Then you open up the external hard drive or flash drive that you are using to transport these files and right click and select paste. Remember not to disconnect the drive until the files have finished copying.

Step 3: Mount the images.
Again this step is not possible if the first two steps were not preformed correctly. It is rather frustrating if someone is trying to share something with you and they failed to follow the first two steps. Daemon tools is the industry standard free software that works wonders when it comes to mounting virtual drives.

Step 4: Install the program as if you had the disk in.
You know how to do this.
********************************************

vs.

FAQ:

Do I need all the files?
Yes and no... all the files are on the images.

I copied the program off my desktop and it doesn't work on the other computer, why not?
That is just a link, nuf said.

I copied all the files in "Program Files" but it doesn't work, why?
Those aren't all the files, and the program needs to be located in the system registry to locate it's libraries.

What if I copy the registry files?
Go ahead, and try that.

Would it be easier to just copy the whole hard drive?
No.

For extra credit figure out which screen shows what should have happened.

Mail Call

2009-10-26T14:15:00.000-07:00

Every day before we go to bed we change back into uniform and form up at 1450. The actual formation is at 1500 but they call fall in ten minutes prior to every formation and if you ain't there then you are marked FTR(failure to report) during the roll call. An FTR will result in at the least extra duty if not phase back. If the right Sergeant is on duty when you do it you could even get a negative counseling which will keep you from winning honor grad or distinguished honor grad.

I took this picture in formation while roll was being called. If you look to the left you will notice what looks like two ramps coming out of the windows on the second and third floor. Both latrine 2 is closed right now and DPW(department of public works) is doing maintenance. They use those rams to allow them to throw stuff out the window and into a dump truck they sometimes park there.

Another thing to notice is the painted rocks and raked sand. Those rocks are painted regularly and the sand is raked daily. Raking sand is one of those details they make people do when they want to waste their time but have ran out of things for them to clean. This is a daily occurrence.

Here at this formation Brown(old guy, aka "dad") finally got his off post packet and one of his POV packets back. The Army, or maybe just Ft Gordon, has a way of loosing paperwork at random. Never disciplinary paperwork, but always stuff that has to do with more privileges. You have to put in a packet off all sorts of information on your house if you want to move out of the barracks. This allows married soldiers to live with their wife and children while in AIT. Brown's wife moved here over a month ago. They have lost his packet several times, for some reason they signed it this time. He also got one of his POV(privately owned vehicle) packets back. A POV packet contains everything from prof of insurance to a record of the depth of tread on each tire. It was also lost once and he had to resubmit it. Just the sphere length and number of signatures required makes it prohibitive. When they called his name he ran up like a little kid. He has been daily inquiring about it till they finally did it two months late. It took him all of twenty minutes to call his wife to bring the car over and empty out his wall locker. We now have two blank lines on our room roster.

On Thursday last week we came back from class to discover that someone had stolen our broom. Below is a picture of the really trashy broken broom that Wilson "creatively acquired" today to replace it. We have to seep several times daily to keep our room up to standard. For right now we are keeping it in one of the spare wall lockers. Hopefully tomorrow one of us will walk to the PX(post exchange, think military walmart) and buy a real one.

And lastly I put a picture of Dean and Townes in Dean's bed sharing something on their hard drives. Because of the real lack of things to do here many have HUGE movie collections on hard drive. Both of them have been here just two months and already have over 1.5Tb of media. The sad part is they have probably watched all of it.

This morning in class after I finished a test and had to sit there waiting for Brown to finish his practical I read Proverbs 26 several times. Verse twelve jumped out at me. "Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him." It was encouraging because I have been down because I feel like a complete fool with no answer for everyone around me. No matter what I say to them they continue to give me advice. For example right now... Townes is telling me that my decision to have my parents to be completely involved in any relationship that would result in marriage is stupid. How I need to go out seeking and and dating. Garza is over here saying that I should just sin on the weekend and then repent the next Sunday. His nose is huge. I can't keep from looking at it. I wish I had a satisfying answer to tell them so they would just shut up.

We got out and ran with SFC Albers today. In forty five minutes we ran just under seven miles. If anything the one thing I've noticed is that the more we run every day the faster I am recovering. I hope after the race on Sunday we can continue to run during regular pt instead of doing conditioning drill one. Even FM21-20(standard Army pt) is rather lame. CD1 has to be the most retarded PT ever.

For closing, today marks one month exactly before Thanksgiving, I can't wait to see everyone again.

Back from the grave...

2009-10-25T16:38:00.001-07:00

I purchased a Cannon SD1200IS today so I will be posting when I get around to it to show ya'll what life is like here. I live in Room 327 on a top bunk, that is the twenty-seventh room on the third floor of the barracks. It has taken me a while to get off post privileges each weekend, but now that I have them I'll be looking for some Christian friends off post to fellowship with. The church on post is just not my cup of tea. Instead of going today I spent time with some of my buddies at the library on my computer. I read the Bible and chatted with Steven. More than anything I miss having solid christian influences around me. Because I have been forced to live with and make friends with people I would have never on the outside I have grown quite a bit but I still need some good christian fellowship.
Here is a short list of most of my class and a couple of others. Brown is a forty one year old man who is a typical good old boy. Even though he is the old man in the group he acts just as much like a kid along with the rest. He sits for hours and plays games on his game boy when he doesn't have anywhere to go. Bigler is the Mormon, he's probably the least of a goof off than any one of us. He is the "room commander" that's why there is a star by his name. I am in the top bunk over Townes, a married 27 year old who spends hundreds of hours watching annime and occasionally talking to his wife. Then there is Garza who is in the class ahead of us. He is the only phase 5+, he has a car with an approved POV(privately owned vehicle) packet. Underneath him still on the window is Dean. An eccentric person who had two skulls(one with a halo and one with horns) connected by a scroll that says "Life's Eternal Struggle" done in great detail and covering his whole chest. That was last weekend. He also has more shoes than anyone else I know and wants to have the Converse star logo put on his ankles so he will be "always be wearing his favorite shoes even barefoot." Next to him is Barron, or "Red". He is a previous heavy pot smoker and gameboy person. Every time I come in here him and dean seam to be on those things playing pokimon. Wilson is on top by the door and is the last phase four in the room. He has done everything to phase up but pass a pt test. He is the "christian"/pagan/norse Viking who is from Georgia. He has to be the most perverted 19 year old I know. Then there is Bogle, who also spends all his time playing pokimon. I still haven't figured him out yet... even though he defiantly isn't christian he tends to have a rather high sense of honor and tends to do the right thing most of the time.
This is where I sleep with my computer and box from my new camera on it. Being in the center of the room in between two sets of wall lockers I have a decent amount of privacy.
This is Schumann, the guy I spend most of my time with out of anyone in my class out on Barton field. We are running a half marathon(13.1mi) next Sunday. He is a Texas "good-ol-boy". Growing up on a thousand acre ranch he was a hunting guide and Texas A&M student before he joined the army. He intends to finish his degree and put in a OCS(Officer Candidate School) packet shortly after he returns home. He enlisted because of the college loan repayment and bonus they offered him with this job. We spend allot of time discussing all sorts of things. He is my hard competition for distinguished honor grad. I currently have a two percentage higher GPA than him. But we test out of another annex tonight.

The Silver Lining

2008-11-07T12:32:00.001-08:00

Longs Peak Report - Loft Route

2008-08-13T18:02:00.000-07:00

To climb the loft rout from the longs peak trail head go as if you are going to Chasm lake(don't take the Jim's Grove turn off). At the ranger station and the outhouse just before Chasm look to your left for a grassy hill with a stream and water fall above it. Climb up to the grassy landing and look for a faint trail and then carons. From this point make sure you follow the carons and stay on the left of the stream/water fall. If the trail neer the top leads you right next to or through the water fall(depending on how much water is running) you are on the right track. The benches can be seen in the group picture. It is the green looking rock face on the upper left of the picture. The benches are small ledges that zig/zag up the face of that rock. At the top of that follow the carons up a gradual to steep incline to the top of the loft. The water that runs under the rocks on the loft comes from a natural spring and is safe to drink. Once on the loft stop following the carons or you will take a longer and harder rout below clarks arrow. Look for a rock that has a "baby bottle nipple" to the far right(north) and go just above that rock. See if you can see it in the next picture:

The next section I didn't get any pictures of because it is the place where the path becomes much harder. If I got a chance to stop I just rested or drank water. Pictures can be seen on Michael's Picasa Web Album. After you descend the truly dificult part of the climb to clarks arrow you start the final uphill climb to the Home Streach. This section is full of medium sized loose rocks. Even though there are not that many people on the rout(4 others that day besides us that we saw) it is verry dangerous to send a rock down the mountian. Our group knocked down one rather large rock and several smaller ones. You are now climbing in a coulor next to the noch. Besides the falling rocks this is not a verry dificult section. You will stay on the right side for most of it and cut accross to the left when the coulor goes hard right. At this point climb up to the home streach and get in line with the tons of people comming up from the keyhole. When downclimbing try to follow your previous rout exactly. Make sure you hang left down the coulor and keep a sharp eye out for clarks arrow.

This truly is a secial rout that is fairly unknown. Not only does it contain breath taking vews and rock formations it is enjoyable because of the lack of people that take the rout.

Finaly I took a panaramic shot on top of the loft showing Meeker on the left and the start of clarks arrow on the right. Click on it for the full picture.

Special thanks to our guide Taunya who shared her experience and knolege of the rout, and to Ryan Morgan for helping me with some of the harder parts of this climb. And finaly for the great group we had. It was a blast. I hope to climb this rout again soon.

Inflation You Can Believe In

2008-08-06T12:22:00.001-07:00

Who said he wasn't an empty suit?

USS New York - REAL

2008-08-03T18:22:00.000-07:00

Motto: Never Forget

Website for the ship:
http://www.ussnewyork.com/

The article came from this AP story:
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/04/04/Worldandnation/Navy_ship_with_WTC_st.shtml

You can see an image of the steel workers preparing the metal for the ship:
http://www.irconnect.com/noc/press/pages/news_releases.html?d=44918

Real or Fake? - USS New York

2008-08-03T18:09:00.001-07:00

Please vote and/or comment before using Google.

With a year to go before it even touches the water, the Navy's amphibious assault ship USS New York has already made history - twice. It was built with 24 tons of scrap steel from the World Trade Center, and it survived Hurricane Katrina.

That combination of disasters gives the ship a unique standing among the 500 or so Avondale, La., shipyard workers building it, said Tony Quaglino, a crane superintendent who postponed retirement to have a hand in the New York's construction. "I think Katrina made us more aware of the tragedy in New York," said the 66-year-old Quaglino. "One was manmade, one was natural, but they're both a common bond."

The New York is about 45 percent complete and should be ready for launch in mid 2007. Katrina disrupted construction when it pounded the Gulf Coast, but the 684-foot vessel escaped serious damage and workers were back at the yard near New Orleans two weeks after the storm.

The ship led many of the yard's thousands of workers to return to the job even though hundreds lost their homes, Quaglino and others said.

Northrop Grumman employed 6,500 at Avondale before Katrina. Today, roughly 5,500 are back, working on the New York and three other vessels. More than 200 employees who lost their homes to Katrina are living at the shipyard, some on a Navy barge and others in bunk-style housing.

posting html code in your blog post...

2008-07-28T17:59:00.000-07:00

after my last post some of you are saying... how did he post that html code?

well with html in order to post on blogspot the <code> tags do not work so you have to encode each character. for example < is the same as <

I found a real cool website that will encode your html for you:
http://centricle.com/tools/html-entities/

enjoy.

Blog Icons...

2008-07-28T17:43:00.001-07:00

Devon asked me how I had changed my icon by the address bar. I had no idea since it just showed the blogger icon on my computer. This is the icon he saw:

and this is what it showed on my computer:

Up to the challenge I went online looking for how to change it and I found this instruction:

That blogspot icon is what know as HTML favorite icon. To change it just put this code in your html template.
<head>
.
.
<link rel="SHORTCUT ICON" href="/some/location/favicon.ico" >
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Then I created my own image and uploaded it at http://imageshack.us :

Hope that helps Devon :D

Rally Report

2008-07-28T16:26:00.000-07:00

Today at the FOX31 building down town Schaffer and Udall filmed a debate that will air next Sunday on fox. Two hours before the debate started I went down town and joined a predebate rally. It was more like a two hour shouting match between us and the Udall people for a couple hours.

It was great fun. We yelled things like... Drill Here, Drill Now - People before trees - Beat Him Again Bob - U-turn (Udall)

They chanted things like Udall is our man, If he can't win, no one can - Senator(u-turn) Udall - and other things that meant nothing...

What I was wondering is if you guys had any great ideas for chants for rallies to come. Maybe something that had to do with gas prices.

I thought of this one on my way home:

Vote for pain at the pump, Vote for Udall the chump.

I got it started... give us your ideas on any topic... war, taxes, lying, etc

Be not Ashamed, God is not Mocked

2008-07-23T22:50:00.000-07:00

A powerful message that dad showed us tonight that has not only convicted me but clarified a lot of questions that have been in my mind. I hope it does as much good for you as it did for me.

Longs Peak Climb - Aug 9th - Loft Rout

2008-07-18T20:52:00.001-07:00

Date: August 9, 2008

Difficulty: class 3 (scrambling)
Summit Elevation: 14,255ft
Trailhead Elevation: 9,400ft
Elevation Gain: 5,300ft
Round Trip Length: 13 mi

Every one who is up to the climb is invited. We only have so many seats in our van so if you want to get a ride up with us get in touch soon.

We have always wanted to do this climb, but were held back by the fact that it is not well marked. A real nice person at my dad's work who knows the rout has offered to guide a trip up this rout. It will be a challenge and is not for the faint of heart.

The RED line is the Loft Rout.
The PURPLE is the Keyhole Rout.
The BLUE is a class 4 variation.
YELLOW is a couloir for Skiing when covered with snow.
( http://www.14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=4230&parmpeak=Longs+Peak&cpgm=tripmain )

My Brother's new get-out-of-school Plan

2008-07-17T20:56:00.000-07:00

After I saw what he was planing on passing out with our phone number on it... well... I had to fix it. He was thrilled with what it looks like now... His next mission is getting mom to let him leave the house. Until he get's his school done... he can't shovel refuse. What a incentive?

Fist Bumping in the Oval Office

2008-07-14T19:01:00.000-07:00

RUSH: The New Yorker magazine has a cover out, and of course Obama and his side are going nuts. Now, the New Yorker is a bunch of socialists, a bunch of libs. I have the cover of The New Yorker, and it's a satire making fun of the way some of the right wing supposedly thinks about Obama. It's got Obama dressed up like Mohammed, with a big white turban and sandals and so forth, and his wife, Michelle (My Belle), is a big afro-haired terrorist with an AK-47 or something slung over her shoulder and they're doing the fist bump in the Oval Office, and the flag is burning in the fireplace and so forth. A photo of Bin Laden, that's right, a photo of Osama Bin Laden is over the fireplace while the flag is burning.

So the Obama campaign's going nuts about this. The Democrat Party is going nuts about this. Man, these people cannot take it. They just cannot take it. I mean, the New Yorker, here we have a bunch of liberals and they're having to explain the fact that people don't understand this is satire. See, liberals have no sense of humor. But here's the thing about humor, the thing I've always said, keep in mind who's doing this, folks, the New Yorker. These are rock-solid liberals here. Now, all good comedy has to have an element of truth in it or it isn't funny, and the Obama people are saying that this isn't funny. Some of the ways George W. Bush has been caricatured over the term of his eight years or Condoleezza Rice or whatever, I mean these people need to grow up out there.

IBLP Conferance

2008-07-14T18:49:00.001-07:00

I was encouraged and convicted over many things from the IBLP conference.
One great thing that I was encouraged to do is assign a person as a "prayer target" who I would pray for when I am tempted to sin in a certain way.

I was also encouraged to memorize. But not just memorize scripture but the meditate on it. Instead of listening to the radio on my way into and from work I am going to work on memorizing.

I also really enjoyed playing hockey with you all and I hope we can do it again. Who would be available to play before the next Bible study for an hour?

No scooter...

2008-07-14T17:49:00.000-07:00

My uncle and I went to buy the scooter on Friday last week and the dealership tried to add $400 or so in "freight charges, dealer fees, set up, etc" so he took his deposit back and left.

He is also on the verge of selling the business also so as of right now I'm driving the car. All I can say is, debt is a bad thing.

A total ruckus...

2008-07-09T07:29:00.000-07:00

My uncle, who I do sales for, has been paying for my gas when I'm out doing sales for him. Well this week the sales just started coming in. He also decided that he want's something for me to drive that would get real good gas millage while I'm out doing sales. He put a deposit on a Honda Ruckus... I'll get it in a couple of weeks. At 100mpg it fits the bill. And if I need to go to another town I can just throw it in the back of the car. It is the only scooter that is not completely feminine. Once we get it I'll post picts.

speeding ticket

2008-07-01T21:43:00.000-07:00

I got a speeding ticket today. I was doing 82 in an area that has been as long as I remember a 75. Well I admit, I saw the sign for 65 but I didn't slow down. I'm thankful that of all days I was caught today. Because, in that same spot traffic opened up in front of me right there last week sometime and I went fast enough to get my license pulled or at least go to court.

It was a $99 2 point ticket. He said if I was pulled over just 50ft farther in the work zone it would have been over $300. Another thing. The actual ticket was $65, but they added a $34 "fuel surcharge". If I would have known that I would have tried to get my $34 worth of fuel. He maybe spent 50 cents pulling me over. I know, I know... I don't stand a chance in a Honda Accord and my ticket would have just been higher if I went for my monies worth in that fuel surcharge.

Have a good day and drive safe. :D

I know this is early... and maybe stupid

2008-06-26T20:33:00.000-07:00

I was thinking it would be cool to arrange a piece for orchestra. Any suggestions? Honestly, I only have a relatively basic understanding of music theory that is why I am starting now. I was thinking this would be a great project to learn new things on. With that said... what midi/composer programs do you use? I have one that I can do stuff in guitar tabs... but I know I need something better. I've been listening to a lot of Christmas music recently... is it wrong to copy an intro or something I like from another orchestra or group? If I change the key and instruments is that ok? I haven't decided on a song yet... but I'll be looking for one we haven't done... one that is either very melodic or very rythmec in nature. I'll probably be going for a real "clean" sound. Something relatively short also. Maybe this is just another one of my stupid ideas. I'm looking for suggestions and imput...

I know what you are thinking... you get a break from orchestra for a few months and you are doing what?

I was listening to some "Christmas" music recently that had comon melodies in it but it had some odd singing... is it posible to have a "lead instrument" that plays real high and plays the "vocals"? Let me clarify... it wasn't singing it was more like a vocal instrument... I don't know how to describe it but it made for an interesting sound.

:P

A good day to be a gun owner!

2008-06-26T18:09:00.000-07:00

Unless you haven't heard... the US Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment is a Individual Right and that the DC handgun ban is unconstitutional. Based on this ruling other gun bans will be challenged soon in areas such as Chicago and California.

It is such a breath of fresh air when the court does what it was established to do... READ THE CONSTITUTION.

http://www.nraila.org/heller/

Range Report

2008-06-24T18:08:00.000-07:00

For Pictures of our shooting outing go to Steven's Blog.

The rifle did GREAT. With factory ammo (federal ammo with sieara matchking 168g HP) I shot under 1in at 100 yards. At shooting out at the target on the fence(230 yards) I found out how bad my shooting skills are. I was shooting maybe 5in two shot groups. That scope makes my Burris seam like a cheep scope. I will defiantly be practicing with this rifle allot and maybe take it deer hunting.

Queer Shirts for the Gayzette Guy

2008-06-20T20:19:00.000-07:00

I sold a case of screen printed shirts off of an add on craigslist to the Denver Gazette. When I delivered them to him he said the shirts were for a gay pride event tomorrow in down town. I'll take his money any day.

A new addition to my family!

2008-06-19T16:07:00.000-07:00

Today I finally put a gun under the scope I bought a couple months ago. This rifle will work well for coyote hunting and maybe deer. I'll probably just use my 300wsm for deer but I could bring this if I want to. I have been a Savage guy and spent money on a couple Savage rifles. They are ok... but not what I was lead to believe by the Savage crowd. I figured I'd never given Remington a fair shake because of all I had heard by the Savage loving group. But since our military continues to use them I started looking into their
line of rifles.

A week ago working in Fort Collins driving around the downtown airport in a industrial park I found a small gun shop called Liberty Guns. I figured I'd just go in a look at what they had and in there I saw this gun. So I waited a week and talked to my dad and decided to get it.

The gun fires a .308 Winchester, which is the caliber used by US sniper teams since Vietnam. It is a shorter version of the 30-06 but shoots the same cal of bullet. It was originally designed as a deer hunting round. I can load anywhere from 110grain to 180 grain bullets in it, making it a very versatile round. I plan on using it against coyotes and targets.

------------

The rifle is a Remington 700 VTR (varmit tactical rifle) - $720
http://www.remington.com/products/firearms/centerfire_rifles/model_700/model_700_vtr.asp
http://www.gunblast.com/Remington-700VTR.htm

The scope is a SWFA super sniper scope with flip up caps. - $350
http://www.swfa.com/ss_review_snipers_hide.aspx

Milldot Master - $30

Leupold rings and a Millet base - $180

Harris bipod - $70

Drag bag - $100

So before ammo this rifle cost $1450.

The rifle I was looking at buying before this one to go under that scope was a bushmaster AR15. But if you figure that the average rifle will cost you twice what the price of the gun itself that would have cost me $2500. In my experience every gun I've purchased has come to costing about twice what the gun cost before ammo.

One cool thing I discovered though is that in Fort Collins sales tax is only 3.5% :D

I'll be taking out out and shooting it this Sunday. I'll report how it shoots.

What Republican Doesn't Enjoy This?

2008-05-23T16:02:00.000-07:00

As CINC USOC Rush Limbaugh says... the real trouble wasn't to get Republicans to cross over and vote for Hillary, the real trouble will be to get Republicans to cross over and vote for MacCain in the general election.

Plesent Change...

2008-05-20T22:48:00.000-07:00

I'll post pictures of them tomorrow....

Dad, after a real stern warning, said we could keep all our airsofts. Including the awsome ones that came today in the mail. Full auto is just too much fun.

Praise God, sometimes when you give something up... God gives it back. :)

--tyler

Direction...

2008-05-18T16:14:00.000-07:00

My dad told us today that he did not want us to have the airsofts and that he just gave in because we kept asking. The conclusion is that we are returning the ones that are coming and getting rid of the ones we bought at Wal-Mart.

I want to do things my dad wants me to do. Airsoft is not one of those things. God gave us a promise that he would bless us if we honor our parents. I want to do that more in my life.

I've been praying for direction and a vision. God has given me parents to direct me at this time in my life. If I am going to do great things I have to start by obeying his commands.

--tyler

Two Choices

2008-05-17T22:36:00.000-07:00

Rush Limbaugh on Thursday:

So let me give you a couple scenarios. Barack Obama wins the White House, has a 70-seat majority in the House of Representatives, a seven-seat majority in the Senate, gets pretty much everything he wants, and we end up with Jimmy Carter 2 and the country goes to hell in a handbasket, and who gets the blame? Well, it can't be us, it can't be conservatives, even though the Drive-Bys will try to lay it at our feet, we'll have no power.

Same scenario, but with John McCain in the White House, a Republican, and the country goes to hell in a handbasket because this lofty agenda that McCain spoke about today is not going to happen because he's not going to get any support for it and they're not going to bend over forwards and let McCain have whatever he wants. He's going to have to get things done as he says on the basis of a liberal Democrat agenda and of course he's done that on many occasions, issue by issue by issue. So we get Jimmy Carter 2 with John McCain and the Democrats running the show. But, the party in power is the Republican Party, and they get the blame. The Republican Party takes the heat for whatever rotten things happen in those four years. Of which those two scenarios, is better for the future of conservatism?

You answer the poll on the right.

We are NOT going to Canada

2008-05-13T17:24:00.001-07:00

The van needs a new torque converter and a new starter. We will not be able to get them in time to be able to make it to Canada in time for Josh's wedding.

The New Look

2008-05-13T13:51:00.000-07:00

What are your thoughts on the new look of my blog?

Vote in the poll on the right while you are at it.

2006-09-05 CAP Glider 0-Flights

2006-09-18T18:01:00.001-07:00

2006-09-05 (19)
Originally uploaded by mweavjr.

Ryan and I joined CAP back in the first of the summer. This is Ryan on his first glider O-Flight.

blablabla

2006-03-29T22:26:00.000-08:00

blablabla

A New Look

2006-03-25T06:30:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I redid our website. It is now in flash. I really like the new look. As it gets closer to our lawn mowing season we are handing out more fliers. We just got Ryan's violin teacher as a new customer so we will be distributing fliers in her neighborhood today.

2006-03-01

2006-03-01T07:24:00.000-08:00

I wanted to post to say several things today. Yesterday I made several changes to my website. I made it smaller so it can be viewed on smaller resolutions. Then I removed some of the pictures and replaced others. Third I changed the color of the text so it looks better w/ the website. Forth I made a flash title. Lastly I made a Slide Show. When I get time I hope I can update it so there is more than 9 pictures in it and there is more than one collection.

Note for Anonyms commenter: farmers hate Prairie dogs because the cows will step in their holes and break a leg. In the farmers and our mind they are lower than rats. So yes we shoot them for sport. And we do them a service by thinning out their prairie dog towns. About your second question, if you ever come w/ us or any varmiter you would find out that pretty much a shot placed anywhere is lethal. And if they are still alive we will never know because their buddies come up and start eating them as soon as they get shot. They eat each other. This ads to the sport because if you see three up. You shoot one and the other two go to eat him then you try to line up a shot that gets two. One more thing if you weren’t anonyms I could have just sent you an email.

--Tyler

Christmas 06

2006-01-20T13:20:00.000-08:00

We got together with our family at grandpa and grandma White's house in Greeley. And yes we had a hilarious time.

Paintball at the Kellys

2006-01-20T13:11:00.000-08:00

Special thanks to the Kellys for letting us play paintball on their field.
Left to Right: Ryan Weaver, Tyler Gibas, Jaren Kelly.

--tyler

Shooting w/ Sarge

2006-01-20T10:43:00.000-08:00

A friend of ours took us out east to a shooting range. He goes by sarge. We got to shoot all sorts of cool things like this UZI. He owns over 250 guns!

--tyler

Kerry in Cambodia

2006-01-20T10:20:00.000-08:00

I know it is a little late but it is still funny.

--tyler

Lego movies

2006-01-20T10:02:00.000-08:00

We just started making lego videos with our digital camera. How we have been doing it is taking a bunch of stills and then compiling them to make a movie. This was our first. It took 62 frames. The link is http://s36.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2DT16BP6DV3BX0G8OPWDPAB63W.

We are currently 280 frames into our next video. Check back for updates on that project.

--tylerjw

Flower on La Plata( a.k.a. La Pain )

2005-10-30T07:44:00.000-08:00

Comming Down From Longs Peak

2005-10-29T10:18:00.000-07:00

A Tree on La Plata

2005-10-27T22:36:00.000-07:00

1How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,

Nor stand in the path of sinners,

Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!

2But his delight is in the law of the LORD,

And in His law he meditates day and night.

3He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,

Which yields its fruit in its season

And its leaf does not wither;

And in whatever he does, he prospers.

Psalm 1:1-3

Flower on La Plata Peak

2005-10-27T22:27:00.000-07:00

When we where climbing mountains with the Gibas last summer I took a lot of pictures. I will be posting some of the good pictures that I took on God's amazing rocky mountains.

The New Arivals

2005-10-23T18:09:00.000-07:00

I got a cool Remington pump while Ryan got that awsome Ben Stoger Uplander side-by-side!

2005-06-10T06:22:00.000-07:00

We went on a tree day prairie dog shoot and here is ryan and i on the first day. This is how we got many prairie dogs. With ryan and I having the .22's and shooting out of the two doors and grandpa driving and shooting the .17 out of the window while dad was reloading the magazines. We had a great time...many thanks to dad and grandpa.

2005-06-10T06:20:00.000-07:00

Grandpa - every night we got to play cards.

2005-06-10T06:19:00.000-07:00

On the second day Ryan and i got some by walking arround. We probally got more when we where with the car.

2005-06-10T06:18:00.001-07:00

There is ryan enjoying the nice day.

2005-06-10T06:18:00.000-07:00

Friday evening we got to go shoot skeet.

2005-06-10T06:17:00.000-07:00

Grandpa shot most of the prairie dogs right off of our van with his .17

2005-06-10T06:16:00.000-07:00

We where looking for our last prairie dogs of the trip.