Pinwheels and Orange Peels

Apple Liberals

It's sad but true: I've been using Apple products for about 5 years now, and I always get an icky feeling when I hang out on sites like MacDailyNews reading the comments.  Sure enough, someone always manages to turn the latest Apple news into a wacky liberal Bush-hating rant.  Now some researchers have gone and released a study claiming to show that "Mac People" are more open-minded and liberal than the unwashed, Windows-using masses.  To that I say "meh."

I think it gives Apple the wrong stink, and it's a shame because the products are fantastic, be you conservative, liberal, or somewhere in between.  I figure the only thing to do is continue to praise and use the products around my not-so-liberal friends, and someday we might change the culture of freakiness that still clings to the company.

Commitment

I'm a car nut (just ask this lovely gal).  That fact doesn't usually collide with my staunchly conservative, pro-family values, but when I saw this commercial I was shocked to see such a strong pro-family statement within:

Wow.  "Whatever happened to commitment?  To standing by our decisions?"  Contrast that with the Ford Motor Co's ardent support of gay activism.  Ford's support of the gay agenda eliminates any Ford, Volvo, Jaguar, Mazda, Lincoln, Mercury, or Land Rover from my consideration.  My sis-in-law is considering Hyundai's new Veracruz SUV.  And I like the look of the forthcoming Genesis.  What do you think?  Does (or should) a pro-family commercial affect your potential likelihood of choosing a particular brand?

Steve Jobs Killed the HD-DVD/Blue Ray Star

Steve Jobs/Apple just ended the high-def format war by killing both opponents with a single blow.  HD rentals right through the Apple TV with no computer needed to sync.  HD movies with 5.1 surround sound right to your TV.  For $3.99/$4.99.  I'm sure they'll eventually let you buy them.  If you were thinking about getting a high-def DVD player this year, don't.  It'll be OBE in 6 months.

UPDATE: And the new price is only $229!!!  I might drop cable and just go internet-only...

Consumer Stuff

I love what the intertubes have done for the plugged in consumer.  Sure, Google gives you 1.5B search results, but the first few are usually all you need.  And online shopping has reduced the need to hunt the elusive parking spot at the mall before Christmas.  I've recently started using two sites in particular that are there to serve the modern consumer.

The first one is called The Consumerist, and they post all kinds of tips and stories from ticked off consumers, then follow up with CEO/upper mgmt contact info and escalation tips and techniques.  It's the internet version of your local news media lambasting a business for poor treatment of a consumer.  Unfortunately, I'd also rate it "R" for strong language at times, so use at your own risk.  Still some good info there.

The second one, and the one I find myself sucked into for hours on end, is Consumer Search, and while they've been around since 2000, I never stumbled across them until recently.  I was looking for reviews on pressure washers, and of course was stonewalled by the subscription-only Consumer Reports when I found Consumer Search (CS).  CS does the research for you, and presents it in a well-thought and well laid out format for easy decision-making.  They hit Consumer Reports among others, and also take the user-supplied feedback on sites like Amazon.com and epinions.com into account.  They are kind of hit-and-miss for some of the items I wanted to see research on, but they had a lot of good stuff, too.  And most of it is pretty up to date.  For example, I looked at their "best used sports cars" page and found this:

The following   report was originally published on ConsumerSearch to cover new cars manufactured   and sold in the 2005 model year, and so can offer a good guide as   to which cars from past model years are good bets as used vehicles. We are keeping   this report on our site as a convenience to our readers who may be shopping   for a used car.

Although they didn't take reliability into account for the used cars, the above statement tells me they don't let their older reviews languish as new content is added.  Highly recommended.

Dereliction of Duty

Listen up, fellow convertible owners.  It's spring.  The weather is perfect for a little top-down cruising, even if it's only 10 minutes to get home.  Put your top down.  Leave it down.

I think convertible owners should be required to drive with their top down if the weather demands it.  It should be a ticket-able offense to buy a pretty little top-down auto and then drive with it up on perfect days.  It's just wrong.  Give it to someone who will actually use it for it's intended purpose if you're just going to leave it up.

During this time of year weather underground is my home page.  I check it throughout the day to make sure no rain is on the way.  I find excuses to run errands just to hop in and let the breeze blow through my...well, caress my shaved head.  My rule:  top down between 65 and 95 degrees F, unless there is rain in the forecast.  I went 5 or 6 days last year without putting the top up at all.  And I keep a hat and fleece in the car for sun/cool nights.

I'm a nut.  But I'm a happy nut when the top is down.  I love this time of year.

Stoney Creek Inns (or, How I Found my Purpose in Iraq)

I was originally going to title this post "Long Story Long," so that should give you some idea here.  Go get a cup of coffee and a sandwich, because this one is worth reading through to the end.  I promise.

CMOC

The Civil Military Operations Center (CMOC) is a little facility located along one wall of the Victory Base Complex (VBC).  The VBC, you may recall, is where I spent a few month last year.  While my primary job was supporting logistics operations at one of the busiest military airports in the world, anyone on the VBC can volunteer to help out at the CMOC during their few precious hours of downtime.  The CMOC handles a lot of business with the local community, but a while back they decided to put an old town hall to good use as a free clinic for any local who comes in.  Military doctors provide free medical care nearly every day of the week there.  The non-medics that volunteer (myself included) play with the kids on the swingset or soccer field, hand out candy and toys, and help organize the donations tables.

The donations come in from all around the world, and each family that asks for one receives a bag filled with age-appropriate clothing, school supplies, and toys.  You can tell which kids have been to the CMOC before by what type of clothes they have on.

OK, decent story so far.  Nothing you haven't heard from a thousand other blogging troops.  Military folks roll in, give out candy and free medical care, win hearts and minds, etc.  But there's more...

Stoney Creek Inn

You may recall a brief dust-up in the MSM about a group of hotels in the midwestern US that dropped CNN from the cable TV offerings after CNN aired the terrorist propaganda sniper videos.  I supported their decision and took a few minutes to dash off a quick thank you on the Stoney Creek Inns feedback page.  I didn't expect any response back, so you can imagine my surprise when I got a personal email from the owner of the company thanking me for my service and letting me know they "had my back" while I was over there.  The last line offered to send me something and asked for my shirt size.

After mulling over how to respond to that for a few days (we need precious little over there), I responded that while the offer was kind, I didn't need anything, but if he still wanted to send something, how about sending a few soccer balls for the CMOC kids?  I also sent him a photo I'd taken, and a little bit about the CMOC.  One of the most-requested items from the kids was a "futball," but we usually only had a couple to give out each week, with 30 or 40 kids asking for them.

I didn't get a response, so I figured he was busy with the press and probably had more important things going on.

Boy, was I wrong.  I returned to the office one afternoon a couple of weeks later to find three huge boxes sitting in front of my desk:

They were marked "SCI," and my First Sergeant, Commander and I couldn't believe what they'd sent.  Inside the first box we found a dozen new soccer balls, an electric pump, and some hand pumps.  The second box contained brand new running shoes in all sizes from kids to adult, and the final box had 40 new soccer balls.  We just stared at the bounty in amazement, shocked at the kindness and beauty of the gift.  I get teary typing it up now, several months after the fact.

The next time we visted the CMOC I took over 60 soccer balls in several bags.  We left them on the bus to avoid being mobbed, and when the kids had settled down from our initial arrival I took them out and handed a soccer ball to every single child.  They'd never had that happen before.  It was incredible.  To be able to say "yes" to every kid was a gift better than any sweatshirt.  We even gave some to the Iraqi Army troops hanging out in the parking lot, and the adult-size shoes went to the 1st Iraqi Air Force located just down the flightline from Sather AB.

All this from a couple of emails sent around the world.  The power of the Internet sparked an outpouring of kindness from strangers, and brightened the lives of some of the world's most downtrodden children.  I wish I could post the photos I took during the handout, because the smiles on those kids faces would melt the hardest heart.

So if you're traveling through any of these cities and need a place to stay for the night, give the Stoney Creek Inn a try, and think about the lives they touched halfway around the world.

I did a lot of things over in Iraq, but I never expected a couple of emails to so affect the lives of everyday Iraqis.  We moved thousands of tons of cargo, millions of gallons of jet fuel, and hundreds of thousands of troops, but I think what the Stoney Creek Inns and I did may have mattered more than all of that combined.  And I'm humbled to have been a part of it.

Two Nights Wasted

I consider myself somewhat tech-savvy, having grown up with a C-64, 486, Pentiums of all kinds, and every Windows version since 3.1.  But I can't get Windows XP or Vista to install in Boot Camp, and I can't get my educational version of WinXP to install under VMware, although I do have Vista running virtualized.  It's pretty snappy, too, even with my paltry 1GB RAM.  But 3D doesn't work, so no Aero for me.

I've wasted two nights trying to slipstream SP2, virtualize XP, or Boot Camp XP, to no avail.  I thought I could try installing XP in VMware, but when I attempt it the version of XP I have asks me to insert a previous version, which I have (the original Win95 disk that came with our first "real" computer), but VMware doesn't allow the XP installer to eject the disk.  I tried everything I could think of to make it work, but in the end I'm out of luck.  The sad thing is, all I want to do is run Guild Wars so I can play online with my brother.  Is that too much to ask, Apple?  Is it?

*pout*

OK, so VMware virtualization of Vista is pretty nifty.  I had some problems with some programs not recognizing my DVD drive, but that was easily remedied by simply dragging the files into OS X and burning them there.  It's neat to seamlessly transition between two operating systems.  But still no Guild Wars.

Well, I'm ticked now

No, I'm not blogging this from Vista-on-Mac.  I got Boot Camp installed, the driver DVD made, and the Vista partition all set, but when I try to boot the Vista DVD to install it I get no video out of my ATI 1900XT.  I tried swapping outputs, running to VGA instead of DVI, and restarting many different ways.  No dice.

I'm ticked.  I know it's beta software, but don't advertise to the world that "Macs run Windows" if I can't get the top-shelf Mac to do so.  So my hard-earned cash resulted in a fancy coaster until Leopard is released, assuming Leopard has fixed the issues by then.

Next up, Windows XP on VMware's Fusion.  It's not as good, but I might be able to play Guild Wars then.  Why didn't I install XP instead of Vista?  I don't have an SP2 disc.  VMware will let you install just about anything.

Boot Camp

I finally got my copy of Windows Vista Home Premium today (no thanks to UPS - more on that later), so I'm going to do the Boot Camp thing and install Windows on my Intel-based Mac Pro.  My next post (if all goes well) will be from Firefox-on-Vista-on-Mac.

Here goes.

I'm baaaack

OK, I'm back from Baghdad, settled in to work/home/church life again, and I've got lots of things saved up to blog about.  Should keep me busy for a week or so, at least.

Lots of things happening on the tech side of things.  I've gone all-Mac (finally!), so I'll be sharing some of that experience.  Surprisingly, it hasn't been all good (gasp!), but I still love it.

Lots of things going on at work--when I left for Iraq my Division had solid civilian and senior NCO leadership, but when I returned I'd lost several key civilians and most of my senior NCOs are retiring or already gone.  It's been interesting.  Top that off with an interview with my one-star senior rater General yesterday and things have been "interesting," to say the least.  Oh, and I pinned on Major four days after I returned.

OK, this is bad.  It's been so long since I've even looked at PaOP that I've forgotten if I've already told you that.  Stand by.

Nope, hadn't told you that yet.  My parents and brother came up for the promotion.  My folks have been to every promotion (and my commissioning, where my Dad did the honors), and this time it was even cooler because I'm now the same rank my Dad was when he retired.

Eww, realized that the theme I'd chosen made the site look pretty ugly when photos are introduced.  I like big photos.  Bye-bye nice predefined theme, hello not-so-nice but easier-to-manage custom theme.  I'm thinking of giving up typepad and moving to .mac, but I'm not sure how painful that move will be, or if I"ll be able to take this content with me.  More research needed, I think.

Departed Oscar?

OK, you heard the movie "The Departed" won for best motion picture at the Oscars, and the director and script won awards, too.  So you added it to your Netflix queue or figure you'll rent it at some point.

Don't.

If you have a shred of decency this movie will cut it out of you and stomp up and down on it.  If you have more than a shred of decency you'll be sickened by it.

I watched "The Departed" after a "friend" gave it too me to watch while I was deployed, saying "check this one out, it's really good."  How wrong he was.

Wall-to-wall, sickening violence.  Over 200 uses of the f-bomb.  The dialog is so overloaded with profanity, and the "Boston" accents so overwrought, that it might almost be comical if not for the way it bludgeons you from the opening scene to the final credits.  Drug and alchohol use/abuse.  Prostitution and illicit sex.  Torture.  And no one wins in the end.  You can't watch this movie without feeling like you need a shower afterwards.

I mentioned this to a Christian friend afterwards and he had a one-word review for me:  "Depraved."  Yeah, that sums it up nicely.

Home

I'm home.  After hours-long delays a big, beautiful C-17 landed at Baghdad International Airport, offloaded its cargo of 82nd Airborne troops and took on about 70 of us headed home.  The cargo bay was bathed in red light and we all had our body armor and helmets on as we spiraled up and away in the light of a Baghdad dawn.  I remember how heavy that body armor seemed when I first arrived, but that morning it didn't feel like it weighed a thing.  When the pilot announced we were clear of enemy airspace we all smiled and broke out the cameras.

I stayed in a friend's room in Qatar for a couple of days, then sat in the passenger terminal for 13 hours (more delays!) before boarding a chartered aircraft for the flight home.

I've been home about a month now, and the reintegration process is still going pretty smoothly.  I've been reluctant to post about the homecoming.  It seems too personal to share with the world, if that makes any kind of sense.

I do want to thank you all for your kind words, prayers, and thoughts throughout the deployment.  The American public is still doing a wonderful job supporting the troops, regardless of their personal convictions about the war.  I've got a great story to share about that, but that's for another post.

I don't know how often I'll be updating here because there are things that seem a lot more important right now.  Contrary to even my expectations, deployment to the hell of Iraq demolished any thoughts I had about getting out of the USAF.  The job there is so vital and the work so rewarding that I can't' think of anything I'd rather do.

Patriot Detail

Yesterday our Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) teams responded, as they do nearly every day, to a possible vehicle-based improvised explosive device outside the wire. Unlike most of us at Sather, the 447 CE/EOD routinely enters bad-guy land to disable or explode-in-place the many IEDs and caches found every day.

Except this time something went wrong, and three of our airmen died when the car bomb detonated. They were people I'd eaten with in the DFAC, worked out with at the gym, and seen around the base. Gone, in an instant. They died protecting fellow soldiers, sailors, and airmen along with the people of Iraq.

The Patriot Detail last night was somber and well-attended as over a hundred personnel sent them home with honor. The aircrew took a little extra time sweeping out the compartment, and a US flag hung above it all. Afterwards, small groups of airmen clustered around the back of the aircraft comforting each other and silently contemplating the caskets.

Please pray for their families at home and the friends and comrades they left behind. As the President has said, "The battle is now joined on many fronts. We will not waver; we will not tire; we will not falter; and we will not fail." Those words are still true to those of us serving in the military.

I'll leave you with the bible passage I've heard the chaplain quote (too) many times in the back of a C-130 loaded with a flag-draped casket, "Your righteousness reaches to the skies, O God, you who have done great things. Who, O God, is like you? Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up. You will increase my honor and comfort me once again. (Psalm 71:19-21)"

Brrrr

I don't care how manly or warrior-like you feel, sitting down on a sub-freezing porta-pottie seat will make you squeal like a little girl.

That is all.

Dead Dictator

What a day. I remember posting about Saddam's capture three years ago. I suspect I'll remember this day for a long time, too. Today the Iraqi government, following Iraqi law, executed Saddam using Iraqi procedures. They are free, and are moving towards self-rule. Their progress is not quick, and it is not without mistakes, but they are moving past that brutal, dark time and emerging into the light again.

For Iraqis, there is now no fear that Saddam will somehow return. There is only the future. It is one they must build themselves. When I first arrived I didn't understand why both Shiite and Sunni extremists wanted the US to leave. I know now--they want us to leave so they can kill the others off and take the whole of Iraq for themselves. Our troops defend one side today, and tomorrow they will defend the other. If we leave they will tear the country apart.

We had a squadron Commander's Call today at the al Faw palace, built to honor Iraqi troops killed during the Iran-Iraq war. Although we had it scheduled weeks ago, I'm glad we had a chance to be there today. Saddam's initials are inscribed throughout the palace, in plaster and stone, paint and gilt. He is dead, but his fingerprints are all over this country. It will take time and a good bit of work to erase the stain of his tyranny, but it will be done. Today was another step on that road of progress, and I'm proud to have had a small part in that.

A Baghdad Christmas

Good evening all. As I type this it's Christmas eve in Baghdad. I've just come from a packed double-wide chapel trailer where we celebrated the birth of our Savior with a traditional candle-light service. As we did so the Army was out on the ramp, engaged in a Patriot Detail for two fallen warriors. There will be no Merry Christmas for those families and friends this year.

We're waiting for shift change later, when all of us on the command staff will distribute the 450 stockings sent out by Treats for Troops, Operation Shoebox, and Operation Support Our Troops. My link functionality is limited, so you'll have to Google those. We have been overwhelmed with generosity. And cookies. My, how we've been overwhelmed with cookies. If you don't have any cookies this Christmas it's because you wonderful people have sent them all to Iraq. And we love them. Don't stop.

So. My first Christmas away from my family. Their first without Daddy. Last night I taped a few photos of my kids on the wall of my tent. They greeted me this morning. I admit I used to grumble a bit when they'd jump in our bed before sunrise on Saturday mornings. Oh, how I wish for those times now. Enjoy your kids.

We've decorated our office with Christmas trees, snowflakes, and candy canes. There's been a door-decorating contest and Secret Santa or gift exchanges in nearly every section. Christmas is here, even in Iraq, in the midst of war. The helos still rattle their way across the dusty sky, and aircraft still shake the trailer I'm sitting in. Patrols will hit the streets of Baghdad again tomorrow, and the men and women of your all-volunteer military will still answer the call to duty and wonder if today will be their last day alive.

As I walked back to the office after the service I stopped and spoke with a young Air Force transporter driving a tractor-trailer. He's on convoy duty, a 6-month deployment with the Army that is one of the most dangerous jobs in the Air Force. I shook his hand and wished him a Merry Christmas and a safe trip "home," wherever that happens to be. I pray he arrives there safely.

The DFACs have a special meal lined up for us tomorrow, and in the evening we'll be putting on a Christmas concert in tent city. We're celebrating Christmas in our own way. It's another day closer to redeployment and home. Another day closer to family and friends.

Here's wishing you all the joy and peace the God of heaven and earth can give. Merry Christmas!

Micro$oft is begging me

And now, a non-Baghdad post. I got an email this morning from Microsoft. The subject line reads "Exploring Windows: Don't wait to buy a new PC." The body text starts off "There's no need to wait to buy a new PC this holiday season. When you buy a Windows Vista Capable or Premium Ready PC, you can be confident that it will run Windows Vista."

Translation: "Buy a new computer loaded with Windows XP (which you pay for), then wait until we finally push Longho…er Vista out the door in the Spring (two, three years late), so you can spend up to $600 for all those fancy Aero Glass tack-ons we put there to make it look like Apple's OS X. Then you get the pleasure of installing an OS, which as anyone who's done it can tell you, is the most exciting time of your life."

No thanks. I was beta-testing Vista before I left for more important things, and from what I saw Vista's not worth the upgrade. Behind the fancy paint it's simply Windows XP. Meh.

My advice? If you've just got to have a Microsoft PC, wait until Vista is out. The hardware will be marginally faster and cheaper, and storage/RAM will be even larger. If you really want to do things the smart way, do what I'm going to do and buy an Apple computer running the latest version of OS X.

TMI!

Out here, we have two options for "ablutions," as the Brits call it. We've got ubiquitous porta-potties, and we've got "cadillac" trailers with grey water/black water tanks. You can figure out what the difference is. Some cadillacs have showers, others only have toilets. Before I continue, ask yourself which you'd rather use...

Got it? OK, when I got here I was thinking the same thing you are...cadillacs for sure. No nasty porta-potties for me, no sir. Well, after living here for a few months, I've changed my mind a bit. There are some good reasons for this:

1) The porta-potties are cleaned daily. A little truck comes by and a guy hops out, sucks out the nasty stuff, pressure-washes the inside, refills the paper and blue juice, and moves on. Leave it for an hour and it's clean and dry inside. When we first arrived it was hot, and if you didn't let it dry first there was a nice sauna effect. But on the whole they're the cleanest porta-potties I've ever seen. A little cold at night perhaps, but livable.

2) The cadillacs are also cleaned daily. However...imagine a vinyl floor that's constantly wet, with a "drainage canal" running down the inside that has a lip a half-inch high, so no water actually makes it in the canal. Half the trailer is a shower facility, with 10 stalls arranged in two rows of 5 facing each other. A little bench runs down the middle. The other half has toilets and a long counter with mirrors and sinks for shaving, brushing teeth, whatever. At any given time, there are 3-15 guys all doing their thing. The humidity is cranked, the heater is cranked, and the smell is cranked, too.

3) Thanks to the cadillacs, I now know far more about other guys' toilet habits than I ever wanted to know. We've got the "lotion guy," who comes out of the shower and proceeds to lube up his entire body one section at a time, all the while remaining completely naked. Then there are the powder puffs, who spray so much baby powder around that it looks like a drug deal gone bad when they're finished. And I'll never forget the guy who came up to the sink next to me while I was brushing my teeth, blew his nose in his hands, looked at the result, washed it off, blew and inspected again, and then left. *gag*

Testing

Good evening. I'm remote blogging for two reasons: 1) The comm folks here shut down my access to typepad, and 2) I'm too cheap to pay $75/month for unreliable wifi I can't even get in my tent. So my lovely wife set my moblogging features up and I'm posting blind. I can read any comments the two of you might leave. And I'll have to figure out some way of posting photos without the tools available on typepad.

Anyway, I'm still here in Baghdad. The weather has cooled off quite a bit. We've got the whole desert mood swing going on right now--mid 40s at night and nearly 70 during the day. I bundle up to go to work, run in shorts and a tee shirt around 1500, and then bundle up again when it's time to turn in. I have yet to see a live camel spider or scorpion, and that's OK with me. One gal up in Tikrit was stung by a scorpion and had to be revived twice before they could get the anti venom in her. Ugh.

My wing lost an F-16 a couple of days ago. Still no word on what caused it, although I know from growing up in the Air Force that we lose them fairly regularly even during peacetime. You don't get far in a single-engine jet when you lose that engine. Please keep the family and friends of the pilot in your thoughts and prayers.

More to come...it's time for chow, and if I don't go soon there won't be any hot stuff left.

A little peace

It's been said there are no atheists in foxholes.  I don't know how true that may be, but we had the opportunity to observe a baptism in our "emergency water supply" a couple of weeks ago.  God continues to move even in an all-Muslim country halfway around the world from home: