Bay 12 Games Forum

Finally... => Life Advice => Topic started by: Strife26 on February 22, 2009, 01:37:12 am

Title: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on February 22, 2009, 01:37:12 am
Just to make sure that the life advice part of this forum stays active, and to let my opinions have their own non-derailing section, I decided to make my own thread!

Expect to see little stories from my own life in here as well, as I continue to try to get into West Point.
   
Other than that, here I am:

Strife26
17 year old male
Fargo, ND
5’4”
112 pounds (a little too much, really, need to get down to 103)

School:
Junior
Advanced classes (somewhat mediocre grades)
JROTC

Activities:
Speech, Debate, Student Congress (like debate, but better).
JROTC stuff (commander of knowledge bowl, sometimes shows up for PT, yearly armed x dropout)

Work:
Busser at a relatively nice local steakhouse

Religion:
Tolerant semi-Lutheran (does not liked organized religion on a larger scale than parish).

Political Stance:
Right leaning independent (with hope for Obama)

Dreams:
Become a tanker.

I’m an ultra patriot as well.

I’ll add more stuff as it comes up.

Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: inaluct on February 22, 2009, 01:45:07 am
I am continuing from that other thread, because almost damn near anything with "The Life and Times of" in it is an awesome title.

Anyway, you should have totally taken the PSAT. It isn't really all that hard, and there are scholarships that they hand out for it. I got a 234 out of 240 (I missed two questions on the entire exam, again showing that it isn't that hard), and judging by the competition from previous years, I'm at least going to get some cool sounding thing to put on my resume.

Well, congrats on your highest in living memory ASVAB score.

I'm still waiting for someone to come on here and say "Guys, I'm in a life or death situation here; I need advice..."
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on February 22, 2009, 01:52:54 am
Good luck being a tanker.  I got a good earful from a soldier in Colorado Springs, about manning an M1A1.  One of the most important requirements is the physicality; namely, every part on a tank weighs 150 pounds, and you have to be able to cart, lift, and handle them all day long.  Because M1A1s break down all day long.  Not to be a jackass, but 5'4" and 100ish pounds sounds a little small for that kind of work, but I guess you can train your way up to anything.

If you're not wedded to tanks specifically, I'm sure the Army is always in need of good vehicle crewmen in other capacities.  Godspeed at any rate, and bear in mind that you will go to Iraq.  I can promise you that.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on February 22, 2009, 01:56:05 am
Well, my dad was a tanker (beofre intel stole him) and we're the same hieght. I'm lifting wieghts semi-agressively right now (damn I'm weak though  >:(). Hopefully, I'll improve. The 103 wieght goal would allow me to try to qualify for a lifting letter (I want some athletics)  with the least work. Expect workout updates to then, who wants to train with me?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on February 22, 2009, 02:00:18 am
Not me.  I already work out as an actual job.  You don't go to a gym do you?  Go work for UPS, and get paid to exercise.

As for a 'target weight', my father was in the Navy in the '80s, so this information might be irrelevant.  But his recollection was that bootcamp did it's best to move everyone to a functional weight of about 150lbs.  You might not make that, and would certainly drop down again if you're naturally closer to 103.  But I'd be more concerned with putting on mass rather than getting rid of it, so you're used to it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on February 22, 2009, 02:01:47 am
Mostly at school right now (as an elective gym class), but with occasional visits to another gym and after school.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: inaluct on February 22, 2009, 02:03:26 am
Eh, I might do some push ups or something. I have the same problem. I'm 5'9" and 122 pounds, so I'm horribly out of shape. I should try and develop some muscle, but meh.

I'll be with you in spirit, Strife. Taunting you and making snide remarks about your height.

Aqizzar, you should write a book about your life working for UPS. You can get some awesome title like "Riding the Lightning: The Story of My Life Carrying Boxes," but better and more relevant.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: IndonesiaWarMinister on February 22, 2009, 02:25:00 am
Wha? Tanker?

What you mean Never mind now I know which tanker you meant.

Well, good luck! I myself think that I better as an intel person, rather than fight in frontline. However, I think I can be a good riflemen... >_<
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Mulch Diggums on February 22, 2009, 04:02:20 am
I think im a great shot, I probly am alittle overconfident though, the closest thing to a gun that i've shot would be a BB rifle. But, when I shot that my friends dad said I was a damned good shot :P. I'd probly want to be a mechanic if I wanted to go into the army.. But, I wouldn't go into the army now. I absolutely HATE heat. And Iraq is rather..Hot.  ::)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: A_Fey_Dwarf on February 22, 2009, 05:07:11 am
Here, joining the army for any technical position is pretty much just being paid to go to university for training (i.e. BE or BSc). Then when that is over you go on pitiful peacekeeping missions (recently East Timor)where you are more likely to be killed in a unimog crash then from someone shooting you.

I am seriously considering becoming an engineer in the army as I don't really have the money for University (if I don't get any scholarships).

I have never fired a real gun before as there are loads of weapon restrictions where I live but I do own an air rifle which I use for killing pigeons.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Kagus on February 22, 2009, 08:06:26 am
If I were ever to do anything remotely related to the military, it would be joining the Norwegian forces.

Why?  Because although you get your black-and-blue ass handed to you in training and get to spend hours on guard duty with semi-melted snow leaking into your boots while freezing wind rips the flesh off every exposed part of your body, they have one major advantage.

They never fight anybody.


This means I could be assured a relatively safe (if training didn't kill me) stint in the military, with the added bonus of never worrying about being drafted by any other country, since I'd already "done my part for my country".  Just because it happened to be a different country doesn't make any difference. 

And besides, even if it's hell to go through, that kind of training is just good to have.  Works the body and gives you some useful skills (like all the various items you can use to get the cap off a beer bottle).  Besides, dogtags are stylish.  Even if you do know what they're there for.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Cthulhu on February 22, 2009, 09:25:35 am
I'm a pretty accurate shot(With real guns, not your silly air rifles) but I would never join the army because my body is made of tissue paper.


I'll be with you in spirit, Strife. Taunting you and making snide remarks about your height.

They made fun of Audie Murphy too.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: inaluct on February 22, 2009, 11:36:47 am

I'll be with you in spirit, Strife. Taunting you and making snide remarks about your height.

They made fun of Audie Murphy too.

Yeah, but Audie Murphy was 5'5.5".
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Fishersalwaysdie on February 22, 2009, 12:30:39 pm
I'm not sure if I'm to join the army, while the training sounds like a good thing to have, I don't want to end up as a war criminal as it often happens down here.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on February 22, 2009, 01:28:07 pm
I'm still growing. lI wouldn't be suprised if I got to Audie's prestigious height.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: LASD on February 22, 2009, 02:52:13 pm
Strife, as someone who is heading shortly to civil service in Finland (The option being a defending army that most likely won't be needed as long as I would be eligible in it) and a devoted pacifist, I would be really interested to hear why do you want to go to the army and how do you justify the actions that you and others would do while you're at war?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Fishersalwaysdie on February 22, 2009, 04:25:13 pm
1) Patriotism.
2) He thinks there's no other way around the injustices he believes are commited.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on February 22, 2009, 07:43:46 pm
Pretty much what Fisher said (I'm agreeing with him? Strange).


We're all going to die, I'd rather do something martial with my life. [/color]
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Kagus on February 23, 2009, 07:35:58 am
"And it's 1, 2, 3, what're we fightin' for?
Don't ask me I don't give a damn
next stop is Vietnam.

And it's 5, 6, 7, open up the pearly gates.
Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
whoopee!  We're all gonna die."
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on February 23, 2009, 07:42:02 am
Got on a plane in fresco and got off in Vietnam,
I walked into a different world,
the past forever gone
I could of gone to Canada
Hell, I could've stayed in school
But I was brought up differently
I couldn't break the rule.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on February 23, 2009, 08:01:45 am
No matter how little sense the rule makes, if it was even supposed to in the first place?

That would be the kind of thing we differ on.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: chaoticag on February 23, 2009, 08:25:19 am
I wonder if Strife has read any firsthand accounts of any modern war. After reading A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, I figure that no war is worth it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Golgath on February 23, 2009, 01:53:04 pm
Just goes to show what I'm used to, when I look at your weights and gape.  I'm six foot two and a hefty two-fourty.  I'd probably be capable of heavy lifting pretty easy if I could motivate myself into working out...  As it is, I'm hovering on the edge of 'very poor' as far as physical shape is, though I'm actually reasonably strong, though that can be blamed on the martial art class I took for more then a year before I got myself messed up and had to quit.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: DJ on February 23, 2009, 07:08:37 pm
Wait, isn't it practically a requirement for tank crew to be short? It's pretty cramped inside, so shorter people would be more mobile within the tank.

At least that's the reasoning I got when they didn't assign me to armour at the physical exam for compulsory service. Not that it would matter, since Bosnian military has no tanks for the draftees (they barely have any for the regular army). And I dodged the service anyway as it was abolished while I was at Uni.
Title: Feel free to die when you've had enough...
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on February 23, 2009, 08:17:57 pm
Strife, if you want to post a workout log, I'll post my workouts in it.  I'm nothing spectacular but I lift weights 3-4 times a week and do some other exercises like jogging and extremely amateur MMA.

Also, if you're yellow belt or better in Google-fu, I'd recommend you look up a guy called "MercenaryMuffin".  I used to talk to him on some gaming-related sites, and you and he would have a lot to talk about.  He recently got out of the Army where he was a tanker and is now training to fly planes in Las Vegas, last time I heard.  Anything you want to know about tanks or being in one, he can tell you.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on February 23, 2009, 09:13:36 pm
Okay then, let's do this. Any one who wishes  to join this workout club may do so. My goals are:
A)  Be able pass USMA physical test (preferably with a 75, although that may not be possible)

B) Letter in wieght lifting.

I'll start to collect the revelent information over the coming days.

My dad got a bronze star in Desert Shield and Storm. He was a tanker for his early years, then moved to intel. He was just remobilized (48 now). He has said that he'll be VERY angry if he is rejected for duty at this point.

 
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on February 23, 2009, 09:16:55 pm
Okay then, let's do this. Any one who wishes  to join this workout club may do so. My goals are:
A)  Be able pass USMA physical test (preferably with a 75, although that may not be possible)

B) Letter in wieght lifting.

What exactly do you mean by "letter in weightlifting"?

My dad got a bronze star in Desert Shield and Storm. He was a tanker for his early years, then moved to intel. He was just remobilized (48 now). He has said that he'll be VERY angry if he is rejected for duty at this point.

Shows what different worlds we come from.  My first reaction was "Oh Christ, that poor guy.  Remobilized to do what?".
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on February 23, 2009, 09:31:46 pm
Get an school athletic letter for lifting weights (my current letters are grades, speech, debate, and student congress). There are several weight classes (103 pounds, ect.), and each comes with a requirement in Bench, Squat, and Clean. They're all more than body weight, though. I have serious work to do.


I'd tell you what my father is being sent to do, but he doesn't know yet. He's hoping for ajob 'counting tanks' preferably in Kuwait. He won't be doing patroling, thank God.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zako on February 27, 2009, 08:21:54 am
Man, australia is so different to america, and im getting this just from reading this thread alone!

Lb's? "? Try the metric system, its easier.

For aussies, the military is many things. A gateway to many things, a way of life if you wish or just even a temporary measure! We are quite relaxed about life usually, no overly strict rules, no walls around schools, etc. But we can be the most badass people on earth if need be, and yet have an air of mateship at the same time.

I love this country. :)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on February 27, 2009, 12:17:16 pm
I usually rate Austrialia as my third favorite country.
One spot below Barbados.

I would have posted workout logs, but I'm a fair bit under the weather now. If I'm feeling better, I can start to post the things that are accesible from home.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on March 01, 2009, 02:28:48 am
Well, just to update everyone, I seem to have recovered from my two-day fever. I stayed up too late finishing a research paper Wednesday night, spent my Thursday at school with bad chills and shakes (but I stuck it out), got through work (with the help of pride and off-brand Ibuprofen). On Friday (no school, thankfully) I spent almost the entire day sleeping and feeling horrible. I called in sick for work (it took two tries, I fell asleep on the phone book once) for the first time of my year and a half career. I spent most of today sleeping and cleaning the house. Went to work tonight and am feeling okay. I made $46 to boot!

Sorry if that seems like a bit of a complaint, it is just what is happening in my life right now. For something different, I'll write a bit about my fish, shall I?
My dad was a big fish keeper for a number of years, so some of my fondest early memories involve looking underneath his 110-gallon tank at convict cichlid babies. Unfortunately, when we moved to our current house (about six years ago) we ran into a problem with getting water. We're hooked up to a well, so the water is pretty iron rich. It's fine for washing dishes and things (although we use a bubbler for drinking), unfortunately, it doesn't work well for fish. After iron poisoning killed off the fish that had survived the move, my family sadly shut down our fish tanks.

I started up a ten gallon about six months ago, and my dad started a second one a week later. After some tragedy, mechanical malfunction, tragedy, fish moving, mechanical malfunction leading to tragedy, and expansion leading to fish moving, I currently have three fish tanks equaling forty gallons of water.


First of all, I have my oldest ten-gallon tank, with a single jewel cichlid. Her name is 'Devil-fish' a couple of the earlier tragedies are her fault. I don't know what I was thinking by buying any, let alone a pair, of African cichlids. I'm normally a fan of nice fish. Nevertheless, I bought a pair of jewels for the tank that my dad set up anyway. Within a month, one of the two laid eggs. I was happy with this, as it showed that I had gotten the water chemistry right. Then my jewels started fighting. This lasted a day. Then the fish now known as 'devil fish' killed her mate (I wouldn't be surprised if, in my naïveté, I had bought two females, a big no-no). I was upset about that, but I didn't know what else to do. Devil seemed to be tolerant of the fish after that. 
However, a while later, she suddenly got pissed off at my Raphael catfish. Ralph, as he was called, was the cutest little guy in the whole wide world. He was little, fat, and would swim racetracks around the tank whenever I would feed him. The devilfish started chasing him. When I finally decided what to do (move him into the other tank), she killed him before I was able to make a move (I made my choice during the night, and was going to move him the next afternoon, his fins were complete shreds by then). I buried Ralph in my backyard. Heh, writing this brought tears to my eyes.

After this, Devil decided to pick a fight with my biggest fish, a long-finned sydodontious catfish by the name of Cid. I was hopeful here. Most Sydodontious catfish are tough, carnivorous fish. In addition, Cid is only one small step away from normal, long fins (two maybe, he has some upside-down catfish blood in him as well). I fully expected Cid to stomp the bitch flat. However, he just took it. At that point, shit got serious. I was not going to have another precious (and big(ish) catfish like cid are like $20!)fish killed.
I went into the basement and found a one-gallon betta container. She went in their. I hooked up an old air pump and bought a little heater for her.
Remember how I talked about the water situation at my house? I have to get all of my water brought in (usually, I just fill jugs at the local grocery store). When it's a covered, ten gallon tank going a week without water is okay (but not recommended) when it is uncovered and a gallon when full (I kept it closer to 3/4 of a gallon to reduce splashing, as I moved her to my room in the hopes that a cat would get her). At some points, she would literally have just enough water to cover her. I expected (really, I had condemned) her to die. But she didn't no matter what, that damn fish kept living. Eventually, I found a five-gallon fish tank on clearance and moved her there (with the hope that another tank change would kill her, leaving me with a nice tank for a betta). The tank was in the main room in my basement, a bit away from my bedroom. One night, I was awoken by the frantic meowing of my sister’s cat, Kaisy (she’s a big puffy cat, but nice in a standoffish way). I went to see what was up, after fighting my way past some assorted junk (I just dumped the five on an old table in the corner), I found devilfish lying on the floor. I’m not sure if it was fatigue, but I threw her (the fish, not the cat, Kaisy wouldn’t fit in any of my fish tanks, too narrow, certainly not a five gallon) back inside. Everyone survived. My least favorite fish owns her life to a cat.

Once I did my most recent tank swap, she got my first ten-gallon tank to herself. I'll put a picture of her up some time; she's about two and a half inches long, rusty red, with brilliant spots of sparkly color all over her body. Her tank is getting pretty overgrown with algae now (one of the reasons I moved the other fish from is an algae problem). I'm not going to risk a pleco's (sucker mouth fish) with her, but I might throw in a Chinese algae eater sometime, to see what happens.

I started with two ten gallons; I had a Cory catfish tank, and a loach tank. The loach tank is the one that featured Devilfish, the late Ralph, and Cid. It also had a leopard-print pleco (name of Leo, I have a system for naming these guys). There was also a Pakistani loach named Yo-yo, and some sort of loach (probably) named Uno. For top cover fish, I had three giant Dannos (really, they're just like minnows), but one died upon introduction. Ralph died, and Devil was removed eventually. I later added a skunk loach from my Cory tank. He had been a mean bastard, biting my cute armored catfish. Skunk loaches are small, so I had been hesitant to add him at first. After the devilfish, I didn’t care much. Things went okay for a while. Cid’s a weird fish. He’s naturally nocturnal, but he prefers to spend his day pacing back and for underneath a piece of ironwood (driftwood that sinks) while upside-down. He’s cool to look at though. I worried about Yo-yo a bit, he would occasionally act crazy and thrash around, or tilt to the side, but he never died. The skunk loach did though. He swam up the outtake of a diatom filter. The next time I turned it one, it sent out him mangled corpse. I buried him as well, although I didn’t like him. Things went on in the loach tank, although not much happened. The dannos swam in circles, Cid sat, Yo-yo looked at Cid, Leo sat by Cid, and Uno sifted through the gravel. Eventually, I got the twenty gallon long in the basement running, and I decided to move them there instead of my Cories (as had been the plan) so Cid would have more room. I also added some fish from the Cory tank, my blue grami name Cosmo (or Blue, I call her both) and a red tailed shark named Sharky. All of the fish there are doing great right now and enjoying the room. I recently added two more Dannos to fill out the space (they tend to form duckling loops, but seem happy about it)

Because I put the twenty gallon into my bedroom, at the foot of my bed, it is at an easy height for my cats, especially, my kitten, Lily (who unsurprisingly adopted me as much as me adopting her). The preemptively sealed the top of the tank tight. For a few reasons, keeping the dannos from jumping out among them and retaining water among them. Even though the top is secure, the sides are level with my bed, and the table (which was made for a tank of about twice the size) has enough space for a kitten to walk around on. Lily spends a fair bit of time batting at fish. Strangely, whenever the kitty comes a-knocking, Uno the Loach (maybe) comes out to play. He’ll swim right up against the glass and shake around, then move to one another corner, getting Lily to follow him. Then he’ll get her to chase the fish all around the outside of the tank. Lily always gets bored before he does. At that point, the kitten usually retreats to my blankets to stare crossly at the tank. Uno does of course, get as close as possible and move a lot to mock her. I’ve never seen Uno act like this when Lily isn’t around. Even if it’s another cat.


I’ll talk about my cute Corydora catfish contingent some other time; this has gotten a bit on the long-winded side already.


Workout logs begin Monday, probably.
Title: Cichlids should totally be in the game
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on March 01, 2009, 02:39:31 am
Glad to hear you're feeling better!

I will surely post an entry in that workout log on monday, then.

I used to have an African cichlid as well.  They are some brutal sons of bitches.  Ours was so territorial that she used to beat herself into unconsciousness against the glass if you stayed near the tank for any length of time.  We once put some tadpoles into the tank for her to eat, and she'd keep them in her mouth but not ever swallow them.  I think she thought they were her babies or something, as I hear cichlids protect their young that way.

She also had a run-in with our cat.  One morning I got up and she was (weakly) flopping around on the floor in the living room and had been out of her tank for who knows how long.  The cat was in the room with her but was hiding, and obviously had something wrong with his left front paw.  I don't know precisely what transpired between the two, but the cat (who outweighed the cichlid by a factor of at least ten) had clearly gotten the worst of it and never displayed interest in that fish after that.

That was the coolest fish I ever had, I miss her.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on March 01, 2009, 02:42:00 am
They're cool, but I don't think that I'll be buying another. Mind you, this fish seems indestructable.
Also, wow! That was a REALY long post I just made.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: JoshuaFH on March 01, 2009, 03:03:05 am
Fish blog, WHEEEEEE!

Is it just me, or do animals that come from Africa WAY meaner than other types of animals (Like bees).

My Uncle and Aunt have a big tank, with nothing but goldfish and one of those algae eater things. They have a HUGE goldfish, it's a real monster, I don't know how to describe it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on March 01, 2009, 03:20:48 am
Funny, but African animals are meaner. Mind you, some south american cichlids are Badasses.

If you your algae eater is grey and looks armored (or if you've seen it slightly change colors), it's probably a plecosomaus (I spelled it wrong, I always just use pleco). The goldfish might be some sort of goldfish, or a type of Koi.

Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Maggarg - Eater of chicke on March 03, 2009, 04:30:59 pm
Funny, but African animals are meaner. Mind you, some south american cichlids are Badasses.

If you your algae eater is grey and looks armored (or if you've seen it slightly change colors), it's probably a plecosomaus (I spelled it wrong, I always just use pleco). The goldfish might be some sort of goldfish, or a type of Koi.


Australian animals are hardcore.
Why are there no land snakes in Oz?
The spiders ate them.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Zako on March 03, 2009, 07:39:02 pm
And those that didn't get eaten by the spiders are only the most dangerous in the world. That and the crocs.

My god, the crocs...
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Aqizzar on March 03, 2009, 07:51:32 pm
Australian animals are hardcore.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: A_Fey_Dwarf on March 04, 2009, 04:24:13 am
Yes koala. The most hardcore of them all.
Aqizzar, ever hear of dropbears? Well, you don't want to.

To keep this on topic, my family have 5 fish tanks. I don't know the dimensions or capacity of them (I think they range from 40L to 120L). Two are set up for breeding smaller fish (zebra danios, guppies, barbs depending on what we want to breed), Two are community tanks with a range of (beginner level) fish reside. Finally I have my axolotl tank, in which a solo golden axolotl called Apollo lives (used to have a black one called Axle as well but it stopped eating then died). Don't really have any good stories though, our fish keeping has gone pretty smoothly other than the occasional hiccup.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Cheeetar on March 04, 2009, 07:02:33 am
Koalas are vicious.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Maggarg - Eater of chicke on March 04, 2009, 04:31:00 pm
You have no idea of the dangers I face in the primal wilderness of the UK.
Why yesterday, I saw a blackbird.
Even worse, there is a cat down our street.
Eh, I tried my best.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Fishersalwaysdie on March 04, 2009, 06:16:55 pm
Nothing too hardcore over here, the familly car was once half a meter away from getting rammed by a wild boar on the highway though.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on March 04, 2009, 09:43:23 pm
I could shoot wild turkey from my house. While sitting on my couch. With a thrown sock. I'm not kidding, we're a fair bit south of Fargo here.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Aqizzar on March 04, 2009, 11:18:48 pm
I don't know what they're called, but at my Dad's house in Oklahoma, they have the biggest flies I've ever heard of.  The week we moved in, we killed one the size of my thumb.  Picture that, a housefly the size of a thumb.

Now picture swarms of them.

I had no idea these things existed, and I'm not confident that they're supposed to.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Splendiferous on March 04, 2009, 11:26:31 pm
Kid, when I was your age, I was 5' 3''
I'm 5'8'' now.

you'll be fine.

EDIT: I am a fool. I read only the first page and tried to comment.
I shall leave in shame.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: inaluct on March 06, 2009, 01:17:30 am
Just drew this, it's relevant.
(http://s5.tinypic.com/2qncf3s.jpg)
Title: Harden the fuck up, BULL SHIT MAGGOT, and so on
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on March 06, 2009, 08:24:43 am
No workout topic?  I'll post one, but not if I'm gonna be the only one posting in it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on March 06, 2009, 10:09:10 pm
Sorry that my workout schedule hasn't been forthcoming. Fourtunatly, I've got about another five hours where I'll be chained to my computer.

Basicly, my dad leaves tommorow. He's optimistic, although he can't find his lucky poncho-liner. Before he leaves, he got a wild hare that some music might be nice. So, after determining that my purple Ipod shuffle wouldn't work, we went and bought an Ipod Nano for him. I'm currently in the process of uploading (I quote) "just a few of my favorite songs." I am just finishing with CD # 24. There are two more CD wallets full, plus a two foot tall stack of cases. He's still looking for more of his favorite CD's.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: WorkerDrone on March 07, 2009, 03:47:12 am
I don't know what's all this jazz about Ipods. Ipods have been around for years, and you don't see me carrying around your fancy gadgets and doodads.

Why back in my day, you had to carry around a REAL CD player. And people BOUGHT Albums from stores. And all DOWNLOADING of music off the internet was still illegal(Though mind you it still is, but now people download for a cheaper price, on a legal site. Mostly.), and we had to use bigger earphones.

We didn't have your fancy smancy Ipods with your...your Solitaire...and...and...videos...and enough GB to fit 2000 Albums.





What was I talking about?

Anyways, I'm rather surprised Strife is 5'4''. I was expecting him to be a bit taller. I'm 5'11'' myself. As for talk of the Military, I was hoping to either be an Engineer, or go for the Air Force if I seriously could. But I suppose I could also turn that away for a rifle and join you with the ground pounders Strife.

I don't think I'd do well for a tank. I wouldn't be able to move around easily, as I'm still growing. Alot...okay, more then alot. It'd be real crowded. But I suppose either way it'll be real hot. So whether I'm in a tank or on foot...well theres my problem. Not only when your in a tank you don't have to freaking walk in the desert heat, you have inches of hard steel and ceramic armour between you and bullets.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on March 07, 2009, 11:36:33 am
Look at it this way, my dad has a very extensive CD collection. I managed to put about 50 CD's worth of music unto it before my CD drive started to give way, he could hardly take 50 CD's with him everywhere.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on March 11, 2009, 07:39:42 pm
I'm willing to sign up, if people are going to post their workout regimens.

When I was in really good shape, and in my teens and 20's, I was 6'3 and cut, at 327lb, or 148kg (that was when I used to cut down trees, landscape, and chop wood for 6+ hours a day, every day, and then study a couple different types of martial arts on a regular basis). Since then, I've lost an inch from back problems, and gained a little more than I'd like.

At my size, and considering I work at a desk for 10+ hours a day (usually 12+), that can be dangerous, so I'd like to get a bit back into form, which I've slowly been doing, but having a support network wouldn't hurt anything.

Also, I had a fish once, a beta, but one of my exes killed it, maliciously.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on March 11, 2009, 11:05:51 pm
Fuck then, I'll start out. I've got to get up in seven hours, and I have two hours of homework, but I think I can plan something out quick.

My main activity is my gym class right now. I'm taking basic weight lifting. We lift Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday; alternating between upper body (primarily incline and bench press) and lower body (squats and hang/power cleans). I'm not very good on any of them, but I have a pretty steady increase in weight. We try to do three sets of 8 in each excercise. If you can do more than eight on the last set, you're supposed to add more weight for next time. At the current moment, any day I don't feel crappy, I can make ten or so reps on the last set, and I add another five pounds for next time. I don't think that my platuea is anywhere near yet. However, I have a long way to go. About 70 for bench and squat, while I'm aiming for 120 plus.

I have serious problems with cleans, (my incline presses suck to, but they're nott as important). I tend to use my shoulders and arms instead of my legs. I'm working on it, but I don't think that there is much improvement.

Other than doing good on lifting weights, I also need good scores on (that I recall) push-ups (1 min) sit ups (ditto), shuttle run, pull-ups, basketball throw (lord knows how I'll practice it), and mile run. Having a good two mile run would be smart as well, as would doing a 5 K or half marathon (not really a chance of the last one, but oh well).

I have a (rarely used) membership to a local health club, with lot's of circut training stuff and some free weights (not much for cleans though) as well as access to my own school's considerable free weight collection. My current plan is to practice push-ups and sit ups every day at home, along with pull ups twice a day (switching grips and such). I'll also be trying to fit in running whenever possible.

I'll start trying to get baselines on this stuff as soon as possible. Probably next week (work, out of town x2, schoolwork).


-Strife


I missed a pretty good photo-op yesterday. You could of seen the foot of snow on my driveway, after I snowblowed the previous night.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on March 11, 2009, 11:30:17 pm
I can't do a really full workout like I used to, since my left wrist is pretty much cripped with what's apparently pretty severe carpel tunnel.

I can do maybe 150 reps with a 5lb weight, with my left hand.

Mostly I do floor exercises for my back, exercises and walking for my legs, and last year I was up to 400 situps a day, but I've since stopped that (and would like to get back into it.).

We've also got a pool and a park right nearby, so I may be able to do some running and swimming too.

Oh and I still do katas on a regular basis, but usually nothing extremely intense, just forms and etc.
Title: I guess the Corps don't get theirs today.
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on March 12, 2009, 01:59:06 pm
Well, since I lifted weights yesterday, I did cardio today.  I ran (okay, jogged) just over a mile, and I can't say I'm happy with my performance.  After only half a mile, I had to walk for a little bit to get my wind back.  Oh well, I'll just have to do two miles next time.

Damn, I've really gotten out of shape since January.  One of my buddies who's in the Army was going to try out for Air Assault school and he'd always get me to go running with him.  (Apparently the requirements to go Air Assault are particularly brutal.)  But now he's getting shipped back to Iraq, so he's not only canceled his Air Assault plans, but he's not running with me any more.  It's amazing what a month of not running can do to my cardio.  Last year, at the peak of my cardio fitness, I was able to go seven miles without a break.  My goal this year is to get back up to that level.

On the bright side, my weightlifting yesterday went great.  I did a pile of bench presses (including 6 reps at 255, something I've never been able to do before), incline bench, curls, and seated rows.  My ORM on the bench is 275, but after yesterday I'm thinking that I'll go for 285 tomorrow.  It's just too bad that the guy I usually lift weights with can't be persuaded to run for some reason.  Having an imaginary R. Lee Ermey motivate me just doesn't work as well as an actual real life dude to compete with.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on March 12, 2009, 02:20:33 pm
Well, yesterday I did my floor exercises. Just the normal minimums, since it was a work-day. I usually push myself on the weekends, since I'm a bad insomniac and a big workout just keeps me awake--as it is, I was up till 5 and awake until atleast 6am .

I started in on situps. I won't mention how many I did, but it was pretty sad. Better than nothing, though.

In better news, I was able to do 200 reps with my left hand, without feeling like it was on fire/going to fall off, so maybe it's actually starting to heal.

By the way--Stryfe: Do you do any yoga? I've done some basic stuff, and I'm thinking about getting back into it. It seems to me like it might be beneficial to a tank operator, since it incorporates a lot of flex and strength training.

Ok, I did my walk today, 200 reps again, and I was able to hold both 5lb weights above my head, with elbows unlocked, for 12 minutes straight-could have done longer but my left hand was starting to get numb. Still better than it has been for a long time. It was right after the reps, and I hadn't been training for it, so I was satisfied. Also did 3 sets 25 reps of 25lbs with my right hand-probably do another one before I go to bed, just to even it out. I did about twice the minimum floor-exercises, too, and some sit-ups. I was gonna cool down by cleaning the house for an hour or so, but the dishwasher isn't working right, and everything but the kitchen/dishes are almost uncomfortably immaculate, so I'm gonna let that soak in Simple Green overnight.           
Title: Bromor is more experienced! *Stat increase*
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on March 13, 2009, 03:25:28 pm
Well, I couldn't get The Chief (my usual workout partner, we call him that because he's part Native American) to lift with me today, as he hurt his wrist this morning.  So I didn't have much of a workout at all.  However, I did manage to bench 285 for the first time ever, and it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.  I had a little more strength than I used, to the point where I seriously think that I could have gotten 295.

The Chief claims that he'll be up to lifting tomorrow, so I'll post a real workout then.  I'll just take a day off today.  Man, it's been a great 24 hours.

(March 14, 6:15 PM, edit to avoid unnecessary bump)

Thanks for the encouragement, SHB!  Having a couple of dudes online to compete against is a great motivator when my usual workout buddies punk out or just can't make it.

Short but intense today.  Since I set a new personal high with strength yesterday, I worked on endurance today.  I went bench press, preacher curl, upright row, repeat, without resting for more than thirty seconds between sets.  I did 185x20, 155x20, 155x20 (inclined) on the bench, 85x15 on all three curl sets, and 85x20, 85x20, and 85x40 on the rows.  I guess I'll run tomorrow.

Hey, when you talk about "floor exercises", what are those?  I mean, I know how to do a situp, but what are the others?  Do you mean, like, pushups or something?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on March 13, 2009, 03:43:38 pm
Good job with the 285!

I'm not really going for strength, by the way.

I'm strong enough for what I do, with plenty to spare. I'm going for durability, physical therapy for my wrist and back, and cardio.
Title: Acceptable, not great
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on March 15, 2009, 05:04:16 pm
Well, I couldn't manage 2 miles today.  I did jog 1 mile without stopping, then I rested for about ten minutes, then did another half mile.  Oh well, there's always Tuesday.  I'm not happy with that, but I'm content, after all, I did 1.5 what I did last time.  Would that it were always so easy to add fifty percent to your previous workout.

(edit to avoid needless bumping)

The Chief wanted to do a little extra on the bench today, so we ended up doing six sets.  We started out with incline bench, and I did 155x10, then switched to wide grip incline bench and did two sets of 135x10 like that. Once we went down to regular bench, I did 205x10 and 205x8.  I finished off by doing 95x30 to burn up that last little bit of energy.  I also did 85x15, 85x15, and 85x10 preacher curls and 85x20 seated rows three times in between the first four bench sets.

I still can't convince him to go running tomorrow, so I'm relying on imagining SHB and Strife running beside me doing their best impressions of Chopper and R. Lee Ermey.
Title: Double post! ('cause nobody else is bothering)
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on March 17, 2009, 04:34:13 pm
Well, today's running went okay, I guess.  I jogged a mile, rested for a bit, jogged a half mile, rested a bit, jogged another half mile.  Next time I'll see if I can't go a mile and a half before I have to rest, and maybe extend the workout to three miles if possible.

My ex found out that I'm running seriously now, and apparently her workplace is competing with a bunch of other offices in some kind of 5k race soon.  She asked if I'd represent her office in the race, and I said I would if I felt confident that I could do a good job.  I'm not sure how ethical it is, since I don't work there, but then it's not like I'd be competing for actual prizes beyond a handshake and a blue ribbon.

As far as the rest of you go,

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

and post something in this topic!  Yes, you!  Even if you're not Strife or SHB, post SOMETHING!  There's a stereotype that computer gamers are all fat neckbearded losers.  Well, I'm not fat, and you don't have to be either!  Just do ten pushups while you're waiting for your dwarves to haul the stone crafts to the trade depot or something, and post that in here.  Jog to the 7-11 to get your Cheetos and Mountain Dew instead of driving, then tell us about it!

Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on March 17, 2009, 05:00:49 pm
Okay then.
I've been working on my pull-ups a lot.
I can do six straight right now. A third of the way to the goal.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on March 17, 2009, 06:44:14 pm
Ok, I'm back to work, so just the minimum floor-exercises, but I've been doing 2 sets of 200 reps, in a day, with the 5 lb weights, and so far my wrist hasn't been acting up too badly, as long as I space the sets a few hours apart. So that's a lot better than I expected.

I also learned that (atleast for me) it's a really, really bad idea to try to work out one arm, without working out the other, at the same time. With my right arm, I can do as much as 30 reps with a 25lb weight, 4 sets a day, but it really seriously screws up my back, for days. So that's entirely a no-go.

Other than that, just walking, and a little short-distance running, which has worked out really well so far, so I might increase it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on March 17, 2009, 07:01:49 pm
Quote from: Strife26
I've been working on my pull-ups a lot.
I can do six straight right now. A third of the way to the goal.

Excellent.  Do you do them with your palms facing toward you or away from you?  Also, how far apart do you have your arms on the bar?  My local park has a thing... well, I guess it's a pull-up bar, I don't know what else it could be.  I need to work that into my repertoire.

Quote from: SirHoneyBadger
Ok, I'm back to work, so just the minimum floor-exercises, but I've been doing 2 sets of 200 reps, in a day, with the 5 lb weights, and so far my wrist hasn't been acting up too badly, as long as I space the sets a few hours apart. So that's a lot better than I expected.

I also learned that (atleast for me) it's a really, really bad idea to try to work out one arm, without working out the other, at the same time. With my right arm, I can do as much as 30 reps with a 25lb weight, 4 sets a day, but it really seriously screws up my back, for days. So that's entirely a no-go.

Once again, what are these "floor exercises" of which you speak?  Do you mean bodyweight exercises like pushups or situps or whatever?  And, yeah, whenever I try to work out one arm at a time with nearly anything except concentration curls, the imbalance causes me to hurt my back or my shoulders.  I don't recommend it.  And if you use ankle weights for anything except climbing rope or pullups, for Armok's sake throw those things out the window, they'll ruin your joints.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on March 17, 2009, 07:18:58 pm
I can't do pushups anymore, it's too hard on my wrist.

Mostly, the "floor-exercises" I do are just physical therapy stuff, so a lot of leg-stretching exercises, back stretches, squats, and so forth. Not anything too terribly intense, maybe 15-30 minutes, but very thorough for my legs, glutes, and back, and enough to get me functional for the rest of the day (I go through the regimen twice a day if I can manage it, and if I don't do them at night, I don't sleep well. If I don't do them in the morning, I'm stiff and sore for the rest of the day, and it's hell, basically.).

Sometimes, I'll include some situps as well, but not in huge numbers. If I do a lot of situps (more than 100), that'll be separate.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on March 17, 2009, 10:29:45 pm
I've been switching up my grip, a few with foward palms, and a few with back (I've been doing three rep groups four or five times a day). I'm also trying some flexed arm hangs. I do best with my palms inward, about shoulder length for gap.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on March 17, 2009, 10:52:00 pm
I ate a lot for St Patrick's day, so I'm going to go on a long walk and then do double my normal exercises to burn it off.

I need to get on a better diet, as far as fruits and veggies go. I just can't afford a lot of them right now, so until my garden kicks in, I'm really hating it.

A couple of tips, though: I'm growing onions, beets, broccoli, turnips, tomatoes, and lots of swiss chard. All of which are *really* good for you (especially men), and pretty easy to grow, too, as long as you have a good climate for them. 

Are you guys doing anything special, diet-wise? My diet tends to be harder for me than the actual exercise. I feel completely shitty (and in a lot of pain) if I don't exercise enough, and only semi-shitty (and full) if I don't eat right.
Title: Sir, because I was hungry, sir!
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on March 18, 2009, 12:41:10 am
Quote from: SirHoneyBadger
Are you guys doing anything special, diet-wise? My diet tends to be harder for me than the actual exercise. I feel completely shitty (and in a lot of pain) if I don't exercise enough, and only semi-shitty (and full) if I don't eat right.

I just make sure that I eat a bunch of carbs at least two meals a day and a bunch of protein at least one meal a day.  Oh, and I also make sure to drink a lot of water, at least six glasses a day in addition to whatever else I drink.  Last year I used to drink a lot of creatine and protein powder but I never really noticed much of a difference and I can't afford that stuff right now.  Oh, and I always eat something high in potassium after I work out, like an orange or a banana.  I find it helps with muscle cramps.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on March 18, 2009, 11:02:47 pm
Hey, I'll band onto this jumpwagon and start posting my exercises for some days. (I'll probably forget to half the time)

Current height: 5'2
Current weight: 94 pounds (42.6kg)

Exercise: 7 mile loop, 8x100m hillsprints, lots of core work, and some stretching.

EDIT:

Diet: Food, mostly grains, some veggies, meat, and fruit. (juice, the solid state of fruit is spendy)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on March 19, 2009, 01:02:49 am
I'm gonna start posting stuff on diet.

Hopefully it'll help the rest of you guys, and also help inspire me to eat better.

What I post will be keyed to male health, by the way. If any women join the thread, I can add a few things, but I recommend consulting a nutritionist.
In any case, I'm not an expert, but I know a little about a lot, and hopefully it'll be useful to some of you.

I managed 2+ miles walking, yesterday, and after I post this, I'm gonna go out and do that again. I've got a good path to follow now, so it's easier.

Also, I managed the 200 reps, once, and held the 5lb weights in unlocked position, above my head (looks goofy, but a really good workout) for 12 minutes +. My wrist was ok, but my index and middle finger turned numb again.

Also, I did approximately double my normal floor exercises.

Felt good, after I was done, but I didn't sleep all that well. That's a little scary because my insomnia can be ferocious. I'm getting pretty tired lately, as it is.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on March 19, 2009, 03:10:11 pm
Gawd. We’ve got some bad shit happening in Fargo right now. Fargo (and her sister city Moorhead) are on the banks of the Red River of the North. In recent history, the flood of 1997 was really bad (the city of Grand Forks, further north than us got trashed really bad. Fargo worked our asses off and got by with only major damage). The house that my family is in got by okay (self-designed by a slightly paranoid old guy, who moved in next door to us, nice chap).

In 97, the river crested at just over 39 feet. Our big retaining wall is good to about 38, so the former owner just added a few layers of sandbags on top. Until yesterday, they were predicting a 33% chance of the river cresting at 39. My dad’s gone (lord knows the army would need him now). My grandfather was just around, and started making plans.

Last night, they changed the projection. 40.5 feet. And the crest has been moved up a week (9 days from now). I’ll be posting pictures, but for now, it looks like I’m going to have to (among other things) Use a chainsaw to cut off a part of my deck. Find a hammer drill and screw in about 50 feet of 5 foot high plywood additions to the wall, build supports for the plywood, build 3 sections of sandbag dike that are about 10 foot long each and 3 foot high. That’s the main thing, I’ve also got to prepare for overland flooding (we’re fucked if it happens really, I’d have to ring dike). If any water gets over the wall, the basement will flood to the roof (lots of stuff to move). Also, our lower level (with my sister and mine bedrooms, along with the mechanical room) will have over three foot of water in it. My mom has a hurt elbow, and my sister can; lift anything because of her back.

I’ll be posting my plans, so everyone can see how it’s going. Prayers would be nice.


My excersise will be coming from moving sandbags for a while.
Title: Satisfactory workout, poor progress
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on March 19, 2009, 05:18:16 pm
As it turns out, The Chief got a new job yesterday, and he was too exhausted to lift weights, so I didn't work out yesterday.  Tomorrow I'm gonna go to his house and lift weights whether he wants to or not, because with the progress I've been making lately, I can't stand to slack off.

Today I ran a mile, rested, ran a mile, rested, and ran a third mile.  I was hoping to be able to go a mile and a half before I needed to rest, but maybe that's for Saturday.

Quote from: Barbarossa the Seal God
Hey, I'll band onto this jumpwagon and start posting my exercises for some days. (I'll probably forget to half the time)

Exercise: 7 mile loop, 8x100m hillsprints, lots of core work, and some stretching.

Good lord!  Are you on the track team, or is this just a hobby for you?  Regardless, welcome aboard and keep posting!

Quote from: SirHoneyBadger
I'm gonna start posting stuff on diet.  Hopefully it'll help the rest of you guys, and also help inspire me to eat better.

Sounds good.  In your opinion, what kind of stuff should I eat in the morning to make my running easier?  I find that if I eat more than a little, then I get horrendous side cramps, but if I don't eat much, then I run out of energy too easily.  Is there something that I can eat that will provide a lot of energy but won't make me get stitches or feel like I'm gonna puke after a mile?  Money's also a factor, as I'm dirt poor.

Quote from: SirHoneyBadger
Felt good, after I was done, but I didn't sleep all that well. That's a little scary because my insomnia can be ferocious. I'm getting pretty tired lately, as it is.

I try not to work out at all within three hours of going to bed.  If I ever do any sort of heavy workout at night, for a few hours after that, my blood's pumping and I can't relax enough to go to sleep no matter how tired I am.  Trying to tire myself out has the opposite effect, I lay there in bed wishing that I could go to sleep, but it's like I'm too tired to sleep.

Quote from: Strife26
Flooding in Fargo

Well, I'm sorry to hear that.  I don't envy your situation, but at least moving sandbags is a great exercise!  Post some pictures if you get a spare moment.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Org on March 19, 2009, 05:22:05 pm
That is bad. Good luck though.

Me? I dont diet, or really exercise( ::) ). Hmm.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Aqizzar on March 19, 2009, 05:31:31 pm
Holy crap Strife, you have to scratch build a dyke around your house?  Hope the law of averages works on your side.  Maybe you should build a trashbag raft to tie somewhere, that'll at least give you something to put things on (like yourself).
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on March 19, 2009, 07:18:05 pm
Stryfe: Don't drown!

Bromar: It depends on what your stomach can handle, but I'd try just a *little* bit of oatmeal, like 1/4th of a cup, cooked, combined with say a small handful of flax seeds (it's what the Roman soldiers used to snack on, and you can probably find them loose, and dirt-cheap, in the grocery store, in those grain bins they usually have), and a small handful of raisons.

If that's too much, cut out the oatmeal or the flax. If not enough, try adding an apple, maybe some peanuts, on top of it, and more oatmeal. Dates might be good, or raw carrots. 

Enough water is important, too.

After you eat, you might just want to wait 30 minutes to an hour before working out, to give your stomach a chance to settle.

After working out, I like to drink buttermilk. It's really cheap--like a dollar a quart, here--really good for you, and amazingly refreshing. Better, healthier, and cheaper than Gatorade.

The taste might take some getting used to.

If that doesn't work, though, let me know and I'll try to come up with something else.

Oh and I did the 2+ miles again last night, plus my regular stuff. Slept better, too.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on March 19, 2009, 08:27:08 pm
Oats in general help, Bromor.

Today:
1) 1 mile warm-up
2) Ran 4x800
3) Ran 4x200
4) 1 mile cooldown
5) Core work
6) Stretching

@Bromor: Officially, it's track, but I'm really training for next cross-country season.

Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on March 19, 2009, 08:52:14 pm
I find oats can be a little heavy, personally, which is why I hesitate a bit to suggest them, but I agree that no other food fills me up quite as well as oatmeal does.

Even peanut butter doesn't do it as well (although I often mix the two).

Black coffee and a couple of eggs over easy (or just raw--not something I necessarily recommend, due to obvious health concerns) always filled me up and kept me going, too, as long as I was continuously moving/exercising for hours on end (moving houses, say).

That might also do the trick, and current views on eggs are that they're not as unhealthy as people thought they were for a while, there.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on March 19, 2009, 09:18:12 pm
ooh! ooh! If in need of anti-cramp ideas, eat cereals, breads, potatoes, and pastas, drink lots of water, use DEEP breaths, and take in lots of magnesium.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on March 20, 2009, 08:28:58 pm
sorry for the double post, but I'm just posting my exercise log.

4.5 mile loop

20 min. Ultimate Frisbee

Not much today, due to a meet tomorrow. will post results on sunday.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on March 20, 2009, 10:12:52 pm
Nothing wrong with that.  I think.  Strife hasn't indicated that he minds us taking over his topic to make it a collective workout log.

Hope you haven't washed away, Strife, my good thoughts are with you.

The Chief has managed to get out of sync with me, so I have to skip a day one way or the other to get aligned with him.  I compromised and did a really halfassed weightlifting session today, and I'm going to do a regular one tomorrow.  Last time I did my ORM on the bench, I felt like I had at least ten pounds of potential that I wasn't using.  So naturally, I tried to do 295 today.  However, I failed.  I got it halfway up then ran out of steam.  I can probably manage it in two weeks though.

I followed it with three reps at 255 and ten at 185, plus twenty curls at 70.  Normally I'd never do that little, but I'm going to hopefully be doing the same exercises tomorrow.  Also, inspired by Strife, I went down to the park and managed a set of fifteen chinups (palms facing inward, shoulder width).

I'm going to run on Sunday and I'll try having oatmeal and raisins for breakfast, see if that lets me go for longer without getting a side-ache.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on March 20, 2009, 10:39:55 pm
good luck syncing back up with the chief, exercise is better with people.

I might start lifting sometime... but my record is lifting 50 pounds.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on March 21, 2009, 01:09:09 am
It was the end of my work-week, so I did my walk last night and called it good. Nothing extra, even my normal exercises I skipped. Didn't feel as good when I went to bed, but it was 4 something in the morning, and I was too exhausted to care. 

Turns out I've been doing exactly 2 miles. Not as far as I'd thought, but really more useful in the long run, since if I do it double, I'll know it's 4 miles, and etc.

I've tried to get my wife to exercise with me, but she's not interested, and after 3 years of marriage, I'd rather have peace in the home than fight a losing battle.

Here's a couple thoughts on healthy foods:

First of all, beets.

Beets are cheap. I bought 3 organic beets (the only kind I could find) for 2 bucks.

The nice thing about that is, not only do you get the beet itself, you also get the leaves, which can be cooked, or eaten raw. So it's like getting two separate veggies for the price of one. 

The beet itself contains folate (reduces inflammation), it's a good dose of fiber, and natural sugars.

Beet juice reduces high blood pressure, and beets contain a lot of boron--which is good for us men, because boron has an important role in producing human sex hormones.

The beet also has natural antioxidants and may help fight cancer, and inhibit the growth of tumors.

There's tons and tons of recipes for beets, so hopefully you'll be able to find one that appeals to you. The leaves resemble spinach, and can be prepaired in much the same way.

Secondly, on buttermilk:

Buttermilk is usually very cheap, and is also very refreshing. Basically, the buttermilk you find in the store is kinda-sorta like sour cream, only made from lowfat or skim milk.

From Wikipedia:

Buttermilk is lower in fat and calories than regular milk because the fat from buttermilk has already been removed to make butter. It is high in potassium, vitamin B12 and calcium. Buttermilk is more easily digestible than whole milk and it also contains more lactic acid than skim milk. Due to being more easily digestible (a result of the bacteria added to the milk), protein and calcium can be taken up more easily by the body. There are 99 kilocalories and 2.2 grams of fat in one cup of buttermilk (fat content may be different with some buttermilk brands, as some brands are made with skim milk while others are made with reduced fat milk), as opposed to whole milk that has 157 kilocalories and 8.9 grams of fat.

Third, on the avocado:
Avocados can sometimes be a little pricey. I've seen them as high as $1.25 each. But with that, you get about 700 calories in a neat little package.

Avocados also reduce cholesterol, and supposely can help reduce bellyfat. They are the single richest source of Vitamin E among all plants.

Don't feed them to dogs, though, they're poisonous to dogs.

From wikipedia: High avocado intake has been shown to have an effect on blood serum cholesterol levels. Specifically, after a seven day diet rich in avocados, hypercholesterolemia patients showed a 17% decrease in total serum cholesterol levels. These subjects also showed a 22% decrease in both LDL (bad cholesterol) and triglyceride levels and 11% increase in HDL (good cholesterol) levels.

Also: Approximately 75% of an avocado's calories come from fat, most of which is monounsaturated fat. Avocados also have 60% more potassium than bananas. They are rich in B vitamins, as well as vitamin E and vitamin K. They have the highest fiber content of any fruit - including 75% insoluble and 25% soluble fiber.

Finally (for now) the sweet potato:

Sweet potatoes aren't as inexpensive as regular potatoes, but they're still cheap, and they may be the single most all around nutritious vegetable out there.

They can be cooked in all the ways a potato can be cooked (and in my opinion, they're a lot better, fried or sauteed, than a regular potato), and they can also be eaten raw--an experience not entirely unlike eating a raw carrot, or made into a pie that's, again, not entirely unlike pumpkin pie.

They're rich in simple starches, complex carbohydrates, dietary fiber, beta carotene, vitamin C, and vitamin B6, and contain many other vitamins and minerals as well.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on March 21, 2009, 01:27:30 am
I created this thread so that it could go in whatever direction.

I don't have time for any real typing right now, but I can't sleep, due to the legion of heavy machinery working on rushing construction of a dike. It's on the wrong side of my house though. I'll have pictures soon.


For about 5000 years, humans have been living near rivers and dealing with subsequent flooding. The apex of flood control technology remains bags filled with dirt.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: WorkerDrone on March 21, 2009, 01:45:43 am
This is a recession damn it. In more ways then one.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on March 21, 2009, 01:48:20 am
So I should skip bags, you think?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: WorkerDrone on March 21, 2009, 01:57:45 am
Hah.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on March 21, 2009, 02:16:43 am
While bag technology continues to advance, dirt's already been perfected.

Here's an article on the subject that you might appreciate, Strife26:

http://myblog.michaelpbyron.com/2008/08/21/making-terra-preta-soil-ramonas-recipe-for-homemade-dirt.aspx?results=1#SurveyResultsChart

I hope things are going well for you, by the way.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on March 21, 2009, 04:10:20 am
We got a lot and a half of help from my Dad's old work today. We filled maybe 1500 sandbags (maybe). We've put up bags around the house so that we're safe up to the level of our wall. We also made our dike extra wide so that we can add more on top later. I am maintaining cuatious optimism at the current moment. Overland flooding could still kill us though.
Title: March 21 workout log
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on March 22, 2009, 11:48:42 am
Well, is the danger period over yet, Strife?  Are you NOT going to wash away?

Last night I did a pretty decent workout over at the Chief's house.  I did 23, 17, and 13 of 185 on the regular bench, and 2 sets of 30x95 on the incline bench.  I also did five sets of 20x70 curls.  I just had oatmeal and raisins for breakfast and I'm going to go running sometime in the next couple of hours.  When I get back I'll edit this post.

(edit)  I ran 1.25 miles, 1 mile, and 1 mile.  I couldn't tell if eating oatmeal and raisins for breakfast helped any, but it clearly didn't hurt.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on March 22, 2009, 01:15:18 pm
Well, all went well yesterday, even though it took seventeen hours for the meet plus the bus rides...

got a 20 second PR on the mile, bringing my record to 6:05.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on March 22, 2009, 03:55:08 pm
I've been cleaning up the yard and gardening for the past three days, so plenty of fresh air and exercise, but nothing really to report.

Well, I guess I can list the things I'm putting in my garden.

I'm planting the following:
2 bulb packages of yellow onions (I figure 60-80 bulbs)
1 bulb package of strawberry plants (maybe 20?-30?)
2 seed packages of Swiss chard
1 package of beets
1 package of turnips
1 package of broccoli
1 package of carrots
1 package of radishes
1 package of pumpkins
1 package of cilantro

I also plan to add basil, probably 4-6 large tomato plants, and 2 cherry tomato plants.

Probably some hot peppers, habanero by preference, and maybe some bell peppers and eggplants. Might do a rosemary plant too.

I'm using the Terra Preta method listed in that link above, so burning lots and lots of wood for charcoal, and then smashing it with a hammer, which is lots of exercise, by itself, and then working it into the ground.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on March 22, 2009, 06:12:00 pm
Instead of a 40-foot crest on saturday, it's been moved to Thursday. We were also told that we would have to ring-dike if we wanted to make it out. The sheer amount of help we've gotten is amazing, two guys from Church came over and left a genorator, some halogen lamps, some gas lamps, and enough food to feed a small army (gallons of barbecue). It's really quite amazing. The river has now gotten over its banks.

We were able to unload our shed, although the riding lawnmower is unable to get through the snow. We're either going to buy a winch, or hope for some melting.

I'll be skipping school tommorow, I've decided, so I can get to sandbaggin. My dad wanted some pictures, so (once it stops raining) I'll be setting up a photobucket album, and I'll post the link.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Aqizzar on March 22, 2009, 06:14:29 pm
Wait a minute, moved from Saturday (as in yesterday?) to Thursday?  What kind of flood has a give-or-take of five days, and can be predicted as such?  Is it a controlled flood?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Org on March 22, 2009, 06:15:22 pm
So, how high do you have to make it so there is no chance of water flooding in?

And how long has it taken?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on March 22, 2009, 06:21:49 pm
Next Saturday. They moved that up from the original plan of early april.

There's no way to ensure total saftey. They're predicting 40 feet, so we'll go for 41. We'll almost certainly get some serious seepage in the basement. If the water gets over our wall, the basement, and lower level are uder water (to the cieling for the basement, two-and-a-half feet for the lower level.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on March 22, 2009, 06:47:52 pm
wow, I'm glad I don't live next to a river that overflows it's banks by 40 feet. (O_o)

good luck!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: WorkerDrone on March 22, 2009, 07:15:25 pm
Obviously the answer is 42 Feet.

Hah. Wait..what are you-


OHSHI-
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on March 22, 2009, 08:07:48 pm
Actually, it over flows its banks at 16.5 feet.

If it gets to 42, I''m coming after you Workerdrone.


Well, It is currently down pouring here (still remaining JUST cold enough to see your breath though). We've got reports that say to expect a blizzard on Wed. By buying a LONG rope, we were able to drag the lawnmower up with a pickup truck. The first try, my Gradfather didn't tie his knot well, and the rope slipped. Luckily, it only hit my mother in the boot, I hate to think how much damage it would have done anyway else, we iced it.

I've been put into an awkward place with school. I'm needed here, but the quarter end on WED. I have three major tests to make up, and some old homework and stuff to do. I'm going to pull an all nighter tonoight (did I mention that I got 24 minutes of sleep on Friday?) and try to finish everything, then go for a half-day (JROTC, test, spanish) after sandbagin till 12:30.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Aqizzar on March 22, 2009, 08:10:21 pm
Surely if there's a fucking 40 foot flood due on Thursday, the area would be postponing school functions?  Skip class anyway, and bring pictures of your house turned into an island if they don't believe you.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on March 22, 2009, 08:24:11 pm
If you get a signed sheet, you can skip.

I once saw a thermometer that showed the relative effects of temperatures.

40 degrees => Panic in Florida for frost. People in Fargo drive with windows down.

32 => Deaths due to cold in California. T-shirt weather in Fargo (Me today, for example)

-30 => Dakotans let the dog sleep inside.


0  K => Absoulute Zero. All molecular movement stops. Fargo Public Schools cancels class.


We've already had a snow day this year. Two I think (we have to make them up now).
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on March 22, 2009, 08:45:15 pm
I know the feeling, strife. I live in Washington and my Mom's boyfriend's nephew came over with his girlfriend from Florida. 65 degrees inside and 21 degrees outside. Inside, she was wearing two blankets. Outside, she had a parka that she had bought, rated for -50 degrees.

That day, I wore a t-shirt and shorts just to piss her off.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on March 22, 2009, 09:32:58 pm
I'm from Pennsylvania originally, and moved to Utah, so March for me is barefoot weather.

Edit: What am I saying? every day is barefoot weather for me, if I can help it.
I hate wearing shoes. Socks even moreso. I've been barefoot in 5 feet of snow before.

I planted over a hundred onion plants today, and probably 60 Swiss chard.

I also dug an irrigation channel that was about 60 feet long, too. Between the digging, the hand-tilling, and the planting, that was my exercise for the day.

Did it in the middle of a hailstorm, too.  ;)

About half the garden is left to do, and it may actually end up being harder than the first half, since that's all new ground I broke just last year through this year. It's partially tilled, but still pretty rough.

I may end up having to break more new ground this year, in order to plant the strawberries and the tomatoes, since I'm starting to run out of room.

If so, that will be a real bitch, since it'll mean clearing out a bunch of tough old vines before I can even start breaking the sod up and tilling.

That'd be a good thing, ultimately, because those vines are homes for a whole lot of bugs I don't want living near my garden.

All of this is a lot of fun for me, ofcourse--although with the economy the way it's going lately, it's economic, too.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: WorkerDrone on March 23, 2009, 01:16:14 am
I hope Strife DOESN'T come after me...I live in the USA to. DO YOU KNOW HOW EASY IT IS TO OBTAIN A BUS TICKET DOWN THE WEST COAST? I ASSUME ITS EASY, BUT HAVEN'T TRIED. THIS MAKES THIS ALL-CAP RANT REDUNDANT.

*Barricades the door.*

Why didn't I ever invest in that armoury of medieval and anti-zombie weaponry?!


But back on topic.

I say, if you can, add on several more feet of sandbags, just for the hell of it. If you have the time, I say don't stop building it up. Keep at it while you can, just in case the water gets higher then you thought it would. However, if you think you won't have time to build it up to a height where flooding would be almost unheard of, I suggest you get to moving crap out of your basement.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on March 23, 2009, 01:33:16 pm
It's a big house to ring-dike. My dad's old work has been outrageously helpful. People from third shift have been sandbaggin continously. It's still raining, and we've ran out of sand. The hammerdrill broke so we've had to stop working on the East face.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: WorkerDrone on March 23, 2009, 02:35:38 pm
Rocks?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: inaluct on March 23, 2009, 02:58:55 pm
Can't stack them tightly enough or in great enough numbers for it to be worth it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: WorkerDrone on March 23, 2009, 03:06:38 pm
I meant in the bags. Small ones.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: inaluct on March 23, 2009, 03:07:53 pm
Oh.

But where are they going to get enough gravel? Dun dun dun
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: WorkerDrone on March 23, 2009, 03:11:10 pm
Depends where you buy it. You can get it in bulk some places for cheaper prices, not lawn jobs.

Though its really not what its meant for.

You'd be better off getting more sand somewhere. Or working on your interior protection.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on March 23, 2009, 03:14:11 pm
If we're all going to play "armchair dyke-builder" (although I'm not sure how helpful that is to Strife26):

Rocks might possibly help, as long as you can "mortar" them with something not easily soluble.

Mud might work in place of sand, in bags too.

Digging drainage ditches that lead away from the property to a lower lying area might also help, and would give you more dirt/mud to put in bags.

I wish I could actually do something real to help, Strife26, but you're a loo0oong way from me, and I've got too many responsibilities of my own to look after.

I do hope things work out well for you, though.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: umiman on March 23, 2009, 03:20:53 pm
I would have recommended flooding insurance and a nice holiday, but it's a bit late for that now. Besides, knowing Strife, he would draw more utility from manual labour and a feeling of self-accomplishment than from monetary payout.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on March 23, 2009, 05:55:16 pm
Yep. Our insurance doesn't cover much more than carpet, it'll cover the sand though (after our next truck showed up five hours late, the next one came half an hour later).
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on March 23, 2009, 09:22:13 pm
Well, the exercise must go on, still.

Today I ran a 5-mile loop and did a half mile of 50m sprints and 50m jogs. Then I did a bunch of core work and ran home.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Aqizzar on March 24, 2009, 03:54:27 pm
Hey Strife, I just saw you on the news.  Well, probably not you specifically, but a bunch of North Dakotans lugging sand bags.  They said the ND school system was shut down to give you time to keep your house from washing away, which I'm sure you knew.  Of course, you're probably too busy not dying to get online til after this doesn't matter.  But good luck anyway man.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on March 24, 2009, 03:59:07 pm
I skipped all exercise yesterday, just to give my body a needed break. Ate pretty healthy, though.

Tonight I'm gonna go back to the regular schedule.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on March 24, 2009, 04:14:55 pm
The high schools are still running (but no one's going), the colleges (we have a couple) have told the students to sandbag.

We're done sandbagging here, higher than 41 feet all around the house. Just have to set up one more pump (with more in reserve). I've got lots of good pictures to post (including a DF cosplay pic) as well. I'm setting up the album now.

I've also concluded that in the event of a zombie outbreak, I'll be pretty secure if I can get enough people to hold the perimeter.

I'm also trapped here, they've diked the end of the road off.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: WorkerDrone on March 24, 2009, 06:06:11 pm
Yay! Double edged sword!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Org on March 24, 2009, 06:12:39 pm
Nice avatar.

I heard on Tonight with George Stephanopolous(Spelling?), about this. I saw some people on there putting down sandbags. Hm...

 
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on March 24, 2009, 06:25:38 pm
I know, but it shouldn't exist. Cutting down a Grand National is criminal. If it had been a GNX (of which there are less than 900) I'd consider finding the owner.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Org on March 24, 2009, 06:27:28 pm
Ahhh...

So. What do you eat? I am trying to get fit(or at least, more than I am).
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on March 24, 2009, 08:50:13 pm
Food. I eat pretty much everything, due to the fact I burn off everything I eat while running. speaking of running...

6x600 sprints with 200m rests

1 mile campus perimeter

Learned how to high jump four feet. (fausberry flop!)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on March 25, 2009, 03:37:06 pm
Shit sucks here in Fargo. We're not lost yet, but I don't have time for a full update. I've got four new pets though (for a while). 9 cats is a lot.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on March 25, 2009, 03:48:54 pm
We're all thinking about you, Strife26.

2 dogs and 4 cats here. When I lived on the farm, we had over 20 cats. Every time a bat would fly into our house, it was like Wild fucking Kingdom. I wish I'd had a video camera for some of the acrobatics that went on.

Poor little deflatermouse walked into the wrong fucking bar.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on March 25, 2009, 05:12:31 pm
Ordered to evac. The fish will die as soon as they cut the power. I've set up three lamps and rocks in the tortise cage, so it might keep him warm for a while after the power's gone. The cats and our friends cats have food and water. I won't be on for a while.

I'd ask someone (or anyone) to take control of my charcters in our games. I've got my combat boots and my trench. I found Red Storm Rising and a Desert Storm Bible. I also have Harld a stuffed hedgehog my aunt gave me. I can't find my knife.
I don't know when I'll be back.


-Strife
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on March 25, 2009, 05:16:28 pm
Damnit.

That seriously sucks.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: umiman on March 25, 2009, 06:28:16 pm
Wow, that's a lot of pets.

Good luck!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Gunner-Chan on March 25, 2009, 06:55:06 pm
Good luck. That's really all I can say.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: JoshuaFH on March 25, 2009, 06:56:22 pm
Man, why don't I get any awesome disasters? It'd give me something significant and interesting to do, but NOOOOO, I got to live in the safest place in the world.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on March 25, 2009, 07:13:27 pm
Man, why don't I get any awesome disasters? It'd give me something significant and interesting to do, but NOOOOO, I got to live in the safest place in the world.

Obviously, you're under the shadow of some terrible curse.

I've been through a really bad blizzard before. The National Guard was on my streetcorner. I've also been to the site of some bad floods, had some near misses with tornados, and I've been to Centralia, Pennsylvania, where the coal fire is (the town they based 'Silent Hill' on.). I've been inside of a couple of sinkholes before, too. Those are interesting.

Flood's gotta be the worst, though. Kills everything it can (even fish), destroys most everything it can't kill, and stinks, and spreads disease, and makes it hard to even rescue people from. Just miserable.

I really feel for Strife26. I've seen what flooding can do, and it aint pretty.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: inaluct on March 25, 2009, 07:31:53 pm
Hey, Fargo made the front page of Google News. Awesome.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: JoshuaFH on March 25, 2009, 08:59:37 pm
I really feel for Strife26. I've seen what flooding can do, and it aint pretty.

I've been in a flood once, and it was awesome. It was in the middle of WINTER! The water was ankle deep and ICE COLD! The streets were transformed into a knee-deep river of ice and pain!

I will never forget it, like my first love, I'll never forget it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on March 25, 2009, 09:12:01 pm
Bleh, my town is only famous for having the southernmost deposits of glacial till in North America.

Also, one of our cross-country runners got second in nationals last year.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on March 25, 2009, 09:24:41 pm
I really feel for Strife26. I've seen what flooding can do, and it aint pretty.

I've been in a flood once, and it was awesome. It was in the middle of WINTER! The water was ankle deep and ICE COLD! The streets were transformed into a knee-deep river of ice and pain!

I will never forget it, like my first love, I'll never forget it.

Eh. I prefer blizzards.

Clean, oppressive, and silent. Everything slows down, and slows down, and stops. Then it's just you against the snow. Even if there are other people around you, they seem dreamlike, confined to their own worlds, as you are to yours. You're isolated within yourself, as much as you're isolated from the rest of the world.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: WorkerDrone on March 26, 2009, 01:14:47 am
I saw Fargo on the news. Lots of people and Students helping out? That seems pretty cool.

Okay, so I knew some sand bag building was going on, but APPARENTLY...MILLIONS of sandbags are involved.

And thousands of people are still adding to the pile. Well. I know Strife won't be around for a while. But heres to you. I hope you and your family come out of everything fine. And more importantly, I hope your house doesn't get ruined...and if you think about it, if it doesn't, then BAM, instant Anti-Zombie Fortress.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on March 26, 2009, 02:14:09 am
I'm gonna try to keep this thread relatively active until Strife26 gets back.

I went for my walk tonight. 2 miles. Not sure I'll do anything else, but atleast I did that.
Title: Useless these past four days
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on March 26, 2009, 03:08:57 am
Strife, that sucks immeasurably.  Know that (for whatever good it will do) I'm rooting for you.  Sorry about the fish, hope your house doesn't get messed up too badly while you're gone.

I haven't been posting in the topic lately because I've been down with some kind of flu or something since Monday.  My temperature's been around 101, and I've been able to eat maybe one meal a day, so obviously I haven't been able to lift weights OR go running.  I'm starting to feel a little better, though, so maybe by this afternoon I'll be back working out.

Naturally I haven't discussed this much in this topic, because it would make me feel like a bitch, considering how much worse Strife has it.  "So my pets are all going to die and it's possible my house is gonna wash away."  "Oh yeah, well, I have this sinus pressure and a REALLY sore throat, man!"

Edit to respond to SHB's post below:  Really?  I thought exercise was good for your immune system?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on March 26, 2009, 03:24:57 am
Sometimes, a lot of exercise can actually lower your immune system.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: JoshuaFH on March 26, 2009, 10:26:47 am
Sometimes, a lot of exercise can actually lower your immune system.

REALLY?

I had flu-like symptoms just yesterday, but apparently my Immune system is so cut-ass rugged that it trounced that bug in 8 hours on the dot, and then I felt fine.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on March 26, 2009, 11:03:04 am
Yep.

Lots of times long-distance runners will come down with a cold right after they've run marathons.

"I had flu-like symptoms just yesterday, but apparently my Immune system is so cut-ass rugged that it trounced that bug in 8 hours on the dot, and then I felt fine."

That makes sense too, since you're healthy to begin with. You probably just had a dip, and then came back from it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on March 26, 2009, 11:55:20 pm
Lots of times long-distance runners will come down with a cold right after they've run marathons.

QFT.

Anyways, ran the mile and 4x4 relay today

got a 6:11 mile

horribly lost the relay.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on March 27, 2009, 12:52:34 am
It's a good mile, Barbarossa. It takes me about 35 minutes to walk 2 miles.

By the way, I've always wondered...do you *have* a red beard?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on March 27, 2009, 06:36:39 pm
Well everyone I'm back now.

We lost the house. I (along with my Grandfather and a family friend) decided to ignore the evacuation order. We had had to build the dike on frozen ground, and once the water got up there, it melted enough for the dike to be just short of useless. We tried to keep the bottom basement (floor 1) from filling, but we couldn't do it with two electric and one gas powered pump. I moved all of my fish up to the highest (4th) floor. The first floor filled up slowly (took nearly a day), a bit after it got to the second (where my bedroom is), the basement windows broke, and it came up pretty fast. We had to cut the power. I had been putting an outrageous number of air-pumps in the tanks, my fish are probably dieing about now. The house got cold pretty fast without the heater, but we stuck around for another half-day. We finally decided to ask for an evac. The water was just getting to the third floor, and there wasn't anything that we could do. The deciding factor was getting the tortise, Thumper, out. He wouldn't have lasted much longer without heat. We got everything up as high as we could and put a red-flag outside. We were expecting an air-boat to come, but a helicoptor showed up instead (I'll never insult another Coastie as long as I live). After sitting down in a basket sitting in ice-filled water (it had been blizzarding, heh. It still hasn't stopped snowing), we got a ride out. I'm staying at the house of a Friend of my Dad's.

My sister is at a friend and has our two youngest cats. The other three, along with our friend's four cats are still at the house. He has a boat, and will probably be visiting everyday. I found my knife before I left, but forgot Harold (he'll be fine). We'll be moving into the house of a guy we know from church on Sunday.

Most of our stuff we be okay. My Lesabre is probably totaled. Along with our newish Cadalac CTS. The Cadie had insurance, but my Lesabre had nothing more than liability. Our pickup made it out fine. My dad is going to apply for emergency leave, and will try to be back around the 12th. If the water gets much more than a foot over the dike, we'll lose a lot of clothes (all of the uniforms I found downstairs) along with the wires that I threw on top of a folding bed.  I won't be having real internet for a while, so if someone could take my spot in the games, I'd appreciate it. 
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Gunner-Chan on March 27, 2009, 06:40:23 pm
Man, that sucks. I had just heard about it on the radio earlier and my heart honestly stopped for a bit... I'm glad you're okay though... Good luck with everything.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: inaluct on March 27, 2009, 07:29:32 pm
I'm sorry to hear that. I'm glad you got out with the tortoise, though.
Title: Sad smiley
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on March 27, 2009, 07:41:29 pm
Sorry to hear that, Strife.  It sucks that you had so many casualties, but at least you and your family are okay.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: inaluct on March 27, 2009, 07:42:44 pm
You just stole my phrase, Bromor.

*Draws rapier*
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on March 27, 2009, 07:44:19 pm
By the way, I've always wondered...do you *have* a red beard?

uh... no. why?

Sucks that your house is gone strife... but at least thumper is okay!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Mondark on March 27, 2009, 08:05:52 pm
There's not much more fun than accidentally flooding a fortress, loosing everything, and then reclaiming, but that's only when you don't have to live it out.

My sympathies Strife, good luck on the Reclaim.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on March 27, 2009, 08:11:59 pm
No reclaim, we're going to try to get the army corp of engineers to buy it out then move on. It's not worth redoing everything.
Title: Losing's not fun when it's personal
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on March 27, 2009, 08:25:24 pm
On the other side of the screen, it all looked so easy...
Title: Damn right it isn't. Adventure mode motto nonwithstanding
Post by: Strife26 on March 27, 2009, 08:37:30 pm
We'll be okay. We're getting lots of help from people, and the insurance coverage covers $200,000.

I've gotten a request to list my beliefs again, so here we go.

Just some quotes:

The great issues of the day will not be solved by speeches and resolutions, but by blood and by iron!

A hell of a lot of problems could be solved by a .45 to the head.

Sweet and fitting it is to die for one's country

These soldiers knew that the use of nuclear armament meant only ghastly uncertainties.

I'll have some more latter. If anyone wants a specific category for me to explain about myself, feel to ask.
Title: Re: Damn right it isn't. Adventure mode motto nonwithstanding
Post by: Gunner-Chan on March 27, 2009, 08:44:10 pm
The great issues of the day will not be solved by speeches and resolutions, but by blood and by iron!

A hell of a lot of problems could be solved by a .45 to the head.

Sweet and fitting it is to die for one's country

These soldiers knew that the use of nuclear armament meant only ghastly uncertainties.

Actually agreed on all counts... I would go with something other then a 45. though, I would prefer a 7.62x25mm pistol like the CZ-52 or TT-33.

Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: WorkerDrone on March 27, 2009, 09:04:20 pm
In other words, more crappy Russian firearms.

Nope. If I obtain any sort of firearms (for either the impending zombie invasion/nuclear war, of course. If either of those don't happen, I'll lock them both up tight, stick them in a dark dusty attic piled under unused ammunition. You know. Until the aliens come.) they'll be made in GOOD OL' AMERICA!

Speaking of firearms:

.45 M1911
Remington 870
AR-15

Would be among the weapons in my armoury should I decide to prepare for the oncoming dangers of Aliens/Zombies/Commies.

Notice: Everyone of these weapons...Uhhuh. U.S.A
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Org on March 27, 2009, 09:04:52 pm
Good luck to you Strife.
Thumper?
Tortoise?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Gunner-Chan on March 27, 2009, 09:11:38 pm
In other words, more crappy Russian firearms.

Actually chosen as the    7.62x25mm round defeats body armor more reliably than most other practical pistol rounds, not to mention much cheaper than 9mm Or .45s. The CZ-52 is actually from Czechoslovakia, not Russia too.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: WorkerDrone on March 27, 2009, 09:20:23 pm
Yeah, well, can you even legally acquire any of those?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Gunner-Chan on March 27, 2009, 09:34:24 pm
Yeah, well, can you even legally acquire any of those?

Hell yes, there are tons of guns chambered for those rounds. Their anti-armor applications are very little known in GOOD OL' AMERICA. Hell you can even get new semi-auto PPSH-42s that can handle the hotter rounds that can penetrate even more armor.

A new CZ-52 even costs less then a used m1911, and it's just as rock solid.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on March 27, 2009, 10:25:10 pm
In the case of a zombie invasion, I'm going with the 'Zion' plan, where everyone in my town retreats into the nearby dolomite mine and starts civilization anew.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on March 27, 2009, 10:45:48 pm
By the way, I've always wondered...do you *have* a red beard?
uh... no. why?
...You do know that "Barbarossa" means "Red Beard" in Italian, right?

I kind of assumed you were taking after either Emperor Frederick "Barbarossa"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_I,_Holy_Roman_Emperor

or Pasha Hayreddin,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayreddin_Barbarossa

or possibly his brother, Baba Aruj Reis Bey,  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbarossa_I

(Pretty cool guy, Baba Aruj. He was a successful Turkish privateer and admiral. He lost an arm, and got it replaced with a silver prosthetic, and was gifted with two swords that were studded with diamonds, by the Sultan. I like to imagine he went on to kill many a man with his bling.)

I figured the "Barbarossa" might be personal though, in that you might actually have a red beard, so I thought I'd ask.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: JoshuaFH on March 27, 2009, 11:04:30 pm
Barbarossa's just a cool sounding name. Too bad Frederick Barbarossa died by falling into a river and drowning!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: WorkerDrone on March 27, 2009, 11:08:04 pm
Heh. Holy Roman Emperor, marching off on the Third Crusade...dies in river drowning.

Of course he drowns. Almost no one learned how to swim back then. HELL. Even most SAILORS couldn't swim. Silly Medieval people.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: inaluct on March 27, 2009, 11:48:37 pm
Wait, wasn't he swimming? I think he had a heart attack while swimming in a river. Falling in sounds pretty plausible, though, too.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on March 28, 2009, 02:11:12 am
Quote from: WorkerDrone
Of course he drowns. Almost no one learned how to swim back then. HELL. Even most SAILORS couldn't swim. Silly Medieval people.

Well, for one thing, in medieval times, taking baths was considered "ungodly".  That IS pretty silly.  However, sailors had a good practical reason not to swim, as strange as it may sound.  As there was no such thing as GPS-equipped life jackets back then, a man that fell overboard was generally considered dead.  If he couldn't swim, he'd die in seconds.  If he COULD, he'd die an agonizing death over hours or days.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: WorkerDrone on March 28, 2009, 02:30:41 am
Or get eaten by sharks. Look, I didn't say it would be practical to know how to swim, but it would make 'sense'. Besides, didn't they have landing parties back then anyway? They could have lowered smaller boats and maybe grabbed any sailors that fell overboard. This might be worth the try if the sailors that fell could 'swim'.

Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on March 28, 2009, 03:23:39 am
From what I always understood, he was in armour, and fell from horseback into the river, so it's possible he broke his neck or skull, and/or the armour itself  just pulled him under.

By the way, no walk today. I replaced it with about 6 hours of gardening (still mostly in the pickaxe stages, at this point, so a good workout), hauling and chopping wood, and pulling weeds. I ended up working until 11:30pm (Chopping wood in the dark is interesting, fortunately there's a streetlight right next to our house, and I've got good night-vision, and deaf neighbors.), and then I just didn't want to do any more.

I actually did think about taking the walk, afterwards, but I was done.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on March 28, 2009, 03:36:58 am
I definitely approve.  Pickaxing and chopping wood are two of my favorite kinds of unconventional exercise.  Very dwarfy.

I'm still not working out, because I'm still sick.  It's like I got the goddamn Captain Trips or something, every time my headache goes away, my throat acts up again, then my throat will clear up but I get a temperature and can't keep down solid food.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on March 28, 2009, 03:50:15 am
Well, rest. You might have overdid things. Maybe see a doctor, just to be on the safe side?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Dwarf on March 28, 2009, 04:52:32 am
I'm still growing. lI wouldn't be suprised if I got to Audie's prestigious height.

I (at last) found a calculator which calculates metres into feet and inches (as opposed to only inches or only feet) and I proudly present that I am 6 feet and 3 2/10 inches. That's 1.91 metres. I'm thirteen.






Sorry, I just always brag about that...
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: JoshuaFH on March 28, 2009, 12:53:09 pm
"OH LOOK AT ME I HAVE A CACULATOR THAT CONVERTS THE METRIC SYSTEM TO THE IMPERIAL SYSTEM. I'M SO AWESOME!"

Joking aside, you're tall for a 13-year-old. I know an 11-year-old that is bigger than most adults.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Dwarf on March 28, 2009, 04:14:39 pm
That's what I want to hear. Thank you.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on March 28, 2009, 08:39:54 pm
Nah, I just decided to name the seal in my avatar Barbarossa because it sounded like a badass name for a fluffy seal pup.

Didn't do much today... resting my shinsplints and foot cramps.

@dwarf- Oh yeah? well I'm 5 feet and 2 inches.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Dwarf on March 29, 2009, 02:01:04 am
Whoa you're small.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on March 29, 2009, 04:25:12 pm
Where'd you find the calculator? It sounds like a nice thing to have.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: inaluct on March 29, 2009, 05:10:30 pm
You can program it onto a graphing calculator. I don't know how, but I know that you can.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on March 29, 2009, 06:51:19 pm
http://www.helpwithdiy.com/metric_conversion_calculator.html (http://www.helpwithdiy.com/metric_conversion_calculator.html)

this one works.

just found out I'm 1.57 meters.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: inaluct on March 29, 2009, 06:57:29 pm
1.73482 meters and 57.1536 Kgs. Hmm.

Not that bad.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on March 29, 2009, 08:35:48 pm
I'm just around ~43 kgs.

Also,  I walked ~3 miles today.

not that great, but it felt better than doing nothing with shinsplints.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on March 29, 2009, 09:06:21 pm
Shin-splints sound painful.

I should get out and walk today. I got up early today--early on Sunday!--to garden, and it snowed buckets. Then it hailed. Now it's dark outside. Ugh. I'm basically ready to plant-only about 1 solid day's work on the soil and I'll be done with that part, and I've still got 4-6 seed packets that can go into the ground. It's frustrating, being able to look at the garden, but not being able to work on it.

In better news, it looks like I've fixed the dishwasher (fingers crossed), so I can get the house back in shape today.

I'll probably force myself to get *some* exercise, beyond cleaning, but I'm not really feeling like doing much of anything, though.

I wish spring would get here already. I need the sun.
I'm pretty sure I'm pretty badly depressed (runs in my family), and lack of sunlight isn't helping much, even though I've been getting larger doses of it, with the work I have been able to do, outside.

Still doesn't seem like enough...cleaning should help though. Everything seems to be conspiring together to be damn frustrating, lately.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on March 30, 2009, 01:02:49 am
Shin-splints sound painful.

Yup. you get it from the impact of your foot hitting the ground over and over again, and it's basically your shin muscles attempting to detach from your bones.

hurts.


on another note, I really can't wait for spring to actually come either.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Dwarf on March 30, 2009, 05:52:05 am
http://www.helpwithdiy.com/metric_conversion_calculator.html (http://www.helpwithdiy.com/metric_conversion_calculator.html)

this one works.

just found out I'm 1.57 meters.

I prefer this one (http://www.simetric.co.uk/feet_to_metres.php). It converses metres into feet and inches and fractions of inches. Something like 5.3257... feet doesn't help much as inches and feet are not decimal. AFAIK 12 inches are 1 foot.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Sir_Geo on March 30, 2009, 06:44:42 am
Ouch, i remember shin-splints from cross country season. Not fun. Anywho I think I'm gonna start posting my workouts in here. My brother is keeping track of my miles but I find it's more of a motivation to not stop if I put it somewhere public.
Yesterday I ran 6 miles and did 4 100m sprints.
EDIT: Ran 3 miles-not enough time for much else right now.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Awayfarer on March 30, 2009, 07:10:31 am
Yeesh, 5'4 and 112 lbs? If I was spun into my component parts in a centrifuge and the matter used to build Strife26s they could make two of you, with enough left to make a spare head for Gary Coleman.

5'9, 240 here. Even with a strict diet, an 8-10 hour/day job loading trucks and a 45 minute daily workout I was only able to get down to 220 at my lightest. I've since slipped due to frustration.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on March 30, 2009, 09:47:36 am
thanks for that calculator dwarf, much easier to use and get a good height measurement.

@Awayfarer- that means you make around 2.5 of me.

I know a freshman at my high school who is 6'5 and weighs 245 pounds.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Org on March 30, 2009, 07:47:36 pm
Strife: Dont know if anyone posted this yet, but there looks like there is, I think it was, 6-12" of snow coming.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Awayfarer on March 30, 2009, 08:15:50 pm
thanks for that calculator dwarf, much easier to use and get a good height measurement.

@Awayfarer- that means you make around 2.5 of me.

I know a freshman at my high school who is 6'5 and weighs 245 pounds.

Sounds like I need to find your hometown, grab a pretty woman and climb the tallest building.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: inaluct on March 30, 2009, 08:21:07 pm
If he's like me, he lives more than 2000 miles away from his home town, has no memories of it, and only lived there briefly.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Awayfarer on March 30, 2009, 10:02:07 pm
If he's like me, he lives more than 2000 miles away from his home town, has no memories of it, and only lived there briefly.

And if he's like me, he's 5'9 and weighs 240 pounds.

Depends on how you define hometown though. I call the town I lived in from the ages of 10-24 my hometown, although I was born in the next town over. I live 100 miles from either of them now, yet I don't consider the town in which I currently live "home".
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on March 30, 2009, 10:12:29 pm
Sounds like I need to find your hometown, grab a pretty woman and climb the tallest building.

Yeah... The tallest building in my town is five stories, and was built in 1912.

Also, I still live in my home town.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on March 30, 2009, 11:04:30 pm
Inaluct: I've got you beat. I live approximately 3000 miles from my hometown. I remember it keenly though, and I miss it a lot, even though I've ended up in a really great place that I love.

It's home, just a different home.

By the way, are we doing any kind of a healthy support structure here? Or are we just listing exercise?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on March 31, 2009, 12:00:37 am
healthy support structure?

like this?

"Hello, my name is Barbarossa and I am exercising. I've been sober for 14.33 years."
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on March 31, 2009, 12:22:57 am
healthy support structure?

like this?

"Hello, my name is Barbarossa and I am exercising. I've been sober for 14.33 years."
Let me think...

Ummm...no.

I'm not sure what, exactly, but it seems kind of silly to me, to just confine this to "hey I did X amount of push-ups". I don't see the point or usefulness in this being a simple shared exercise log.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on March 31, 2009, 12:30:41 am
Well, we could form two equal teams and see which one does more?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on March 31, 2009, 01:31:27 pm
That doesn't really work either, because everybody's gonna have different levels they're at, different workout goals, etc.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on March 31, 2009, 01:35:45 pm
Two equal teams and see which team works out more often?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on March 31, 2009, 01:38:16 pm
What definition of "equal" are you planning to use?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on March 31, 2009, 03:20:43 pm
This now seems have surpassed 'project' in replies. In honor of the occasion, here's a hypothetical question:
Is it unethical to start flamewars (with the intent to lock) in topics that might get enough replies to knock ones thread off of the top spot?


We're in the midst of an annoyingly large snowstorm right now, so I worked out via a shovel today. I might walk to the nearest coffee store looking for internet.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on March 31, 2009, 03:47:24 pm
This now seems have surpassed 'project' in replies. In honor of the occasion, here's a hypothetical question:
Is it unethical to start flamewars (with the intent to lock) in topics that might get enough replies to knock ones thread off of the top spot?

Morally, it depends on whether I, personally, like the thread you're intentionally trying to sabotage more (or find it more useful), than the thread you'd be profiting by means of assassination.

...Would this be a mercenary hit, or a selfish act of murder?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Org on March 31, 2009, 03:56:41 pm
Is it snowing?

And you do live in Fargo, correct?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on March 31, 2009, 04:14:52 pm
Yep it's snowing. 8-12 inches.
Title: Still got the goddamn Captain Trips, though
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on April 01, 2009, 12:30:17 am
Quote from: SirHoneyBadger
By the way, are we doing any kind of a healthy support structure here? Or are we just listing exercise?

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by that, but I'm personally fine with any kind of health or physical fitness advice.

Quote from: SirHoneyBadger
I'm not sure what, exactly, but it seems kind of silly to me, to just confine this to "hey I did X amount of push-ups". I don't see the point or usefulness in this being a simple shared exercise log.

Well, I'm fine with a simple exercise log for two reasons.  First, it's a great motivational factor to look at your exercise log and say, "two months ago, I could barely lift X weight once.  Today I did three sets of five reps at weight X."  Second, for me at least, it keeps me from saying, "not today, I don't really feel like it, maybe I'll work out tomorrow".  Because if I do that on my own, I'm the only one who will know, but if I have an online exercise log, then the whole internet will know I'm a bitch.

Quote from: Strife26
Is it unethical to start flamewars (with the intent to lock) in topics that might get enough replies to knock ones thread off of the top spot?

In my opinion, yes, extremely.  Anything which decreases the signal-to-noise ratio of the Internet is techically immoral, as far as I'm concerned.  What you are describing is called "Trolling", and is grounds for being banned on virtually every website, including this one.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on April 01, 2009, 09:58:01 pm
I got back to my house today. The cat are all fine, I think (I couldn't find Lily though). My fish are all dead, I'll see to their burial once the water goes down more. The basement is still mostly full of water.

I was worried that I'd have to give a major JROTC speech on Saturday, but it's been moved to May (Thank God for that). I bought a new suit for it anyway (I don't think that I'll be able to get my uniform in order for a while, my insignia is probably floating right now).

I also found both the CD AND the Serial codes for C&C the first decade, so I'm going to see if it'll work on my laptop (to the detriment of my forum gaming duties, I'm sure).

My dad's emergency leave was accepted, he'll fly in on friday.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on April 02, 2009, 08:18:30 pm
poor Cid.   :'(

Well, I ran a bunch for the past few days.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Little on April 02, 2009, 09:30:44 pm
(to the detriment of my forum gaming duties, I'm sure).

Update the Zombie thread! Please?  :'( ;D
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on April 02, 2009, 09:33:59 pm
Do you know how long it takes to write stuff up? I was trying to get all the character sheets in one place.

I'll get to work right away.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: R1ck on April 02, 2009, 10:05:44 pm
Hey Strife, are you still going to be doing rise of civilizations? The Zefies are waiting for a command.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on April 03, 2009, 10:27:33 am
Oops. Done now.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on April 03, 2009, 10:44:13 pm
Quote from: SirHoneyBadger
By the way, are we doing any kind of a healthy support structure here? Or are we just listing exercise?

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by that, but I'm personally fine with any kind of health or physical fitness advice.

Quote from: SirHoneyBadger
I'm not sure what, exactly, but it seems kind of silly to me, to just confine this to "hey I did X amount of push-ups". I don't see the point or usefulness in this being a simple shared exercise log.

Well, I'm fine with a simple exercise log for two reasons.  First, it's a great motivational factor to look at your exercise log and say, "two months ago, I could barely lift X weight once.  Today I did three sets of five reps at weight X."  Second, for me at least, it keeps me from saying, "not today, I don't really feel like it, maybe I'll work out tomorrow".  Because if I do that on my own, I'm the only one who will know, but if I have an online exercise log, then the whole internet will know I'm a bitch.

Well, that's kindof-sortof what I mean. If--hypothetically speaking--we all know someone's a weepy little limp wristed bitch, and that person wants to improve themself, wants help, what exactly can we as a group do to support that person's effort to achieve their goals?

In other words, will this be an active support structure, or just a passive one? Either's fine, I was just wondering if there was any desire to make it more active and involved.

In other news: I did a bunch of heavy gardening today, with pickaxe, rake, etc., including smashing an entire bag of all natural hardwood charcoal with a ball-pean hammer. I've now got three big raised soil beds with fairly deep irrigation trenches cut around them. The soil's been mixed thoroughly with pearlite, composted manure, and charcoal.

Not bad, considering it was just a lawn 2 years ago. Good exercise too.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on April 03, 2009, 11:11:16 pm
good job, badger!

Well, we could invite people here and give them challenges?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: D-Day on April 04, 2009, 10:01:01 am
Trainning for the army are you? Good to hear it. From the town I live in there are a pathetic few who would even consider serving their country. I myself is training for the USMC in the DEP. I wish the best of luck to ya.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on April 04, 2009, 11:04:41 am
Thanks, Barbarossa.

Still a lot more to be done. I'd like to have atleast three times as much space for the garden, and the hardest parts are yet to do. I figure about 5 years to get everything just right for the garden itself, and then maybe 5 more years to get the rest of the fruit trees and bushes I want, planted. There's 1 huge cherry tree, which is probably going to have to go, as well as a small grove of plum trees. I put in 2 additional plum trees (the ones we've got are very old), last year, but I want to add atleast 1 apple tree (I'm hoping 2), 2 peach trees, since my wife makes great peach jam, and cans peaches, and atleast 1 sour cherry tree, for pies. Maybe a dwarf black cherry tree. Possibly some nut trees, too--I'd like an almond tree, or a pecan, but I'm not sure they'll grow here. If nothing else, a dwarf walnut. I'm also planning on berry bushes (blackberries, raspberries, and I'm hoping for blueberries), an asparagus bush, and maybe some grape vines, if any space is left (which I kind of doubt, since we've only got a 5th of an acre, but I'll do my best).
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on April 04, 2009, 12:14:01 pm
sounds ambitious.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on April 04, 2009, 12:55:04 pm
Nah. Ambitious is my grandparents' old house. About 2 1/2 acres to work with, there, not to mention working on the house itself.
Something for me to do, besides Dwarf Fortress, if I ever retire.

Getting my own yard into shape is just a pet project for the weekends. Lots and lots of weekends, sure.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on April 04, 2009, 01:13:25 pm
this year I'm going to be taking down my huge overgrown cherry tree, planting a couple peach trees, and building a strawberry bed.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on April 04, 2009, 01:23:48 pm
this year I'm going to be taking down my huge overgrown cherry tree, planting a couple peach trees, and building a strawberry bed.

If you want my advice, if you have to cut it down (and I never enjoy cutting down a living tree), try to save as much useable wood as possible from the tree.
Cherry's a valuable wood, and you might as well get some good out of it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on April 04, 2009, 01:28:40 pm
I never enjoy cutting down a living tree

same.

We're going to give the wood to my dad, who is a part-time carpenter now that he's disabled.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Sir_Geo on April 04, 2009, 02:36:02 pm
I forgot that I was going to post my workout
I've been alternating running 6 miles and 8 miles the past few days except for Tuesday because I didn't get home until after dark. I've also been doing several sets of situps, pullups, and pushups interspersed throughout each day.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on April 05, 2009, 12:40:50 am
Life sucks here in Fargo, I had to strip my room down to nothing. My childhood in a couple of dumptrucks. Fuck. I'll type more about that later, for know they'll be a short rant/ lecture.



Classifications of modern longarms.

Longarms are commonly known as rifles, they generally encompass all weapons with an elongated barrel that is not designed for machine-gun purposes.

Graphic:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The earliest longarm is the musket. You take a long pipe, put a powder charge and a ball in the base. Then light the powder off (smoldering piece of rope, for example). The ball doesn't maintain a good balistic arch.

Eventually, you get rifles. If you make the inside of your gun spiral, you can make the bullet spin as it comes out. This greatly improves the range at which the bullet flies straight. You're also getting into minne balls here (actual bullet shaped, instead of spheres) and premeasured charges). Reloading is still a pain, becuase you have to shove the propellant and projectile down the front of the barrel, possibly needing a stick thingee to make sure it fits.

Next we get Breach-Loaders (my Father says that it is permissible to spell it Breech as well in regards to rifles). You allow the bullet (propellant and projectile come as one package now) to be inserted from the back. This lets you fire much faster, although compared to the fancy machine guns that the heavy-weapon types have, it's still pretty slow. You probably have to break aim to work the mechanism. Although magazines (several shots can be fired without reloading) are coming into use, the manual working of the mechanism is a major limiting factor.
EX: Bolt-action rifles. They may or may not have a clip, but you still have to work the bolt.

Battle Rifles: Take a bolt action, and take out the bolt. Instead of a manual cycling of the bullet casing, you use the recoil or gas to pop it out and load another. Generally still semi-auto, although  not definitive (the M-14 sorta works as a light machine-gun).

Assault rifles: Take a sub-machine gun and make it fire bigger bullets. You take a hit in bullet size (probably), range, and accuracy in return for easier firing of bursts. What armies use now in days.

Battle vs Assault => In the modern world, a battle rifle is going to focus on firing a big bullet a long way with moderate fire rate. Sound is probably not a problem (as opposed to a sniper weapon, although scoped battle rifles can serve this purpose admirbly). Assault rifles are going to focus on being able to be used as both a rifle and a SMG.

Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Gunner-Chan on April 05, 2009, 01:29:21 am
A good example of a battle rifle would be the AR-10 or the FN-FAL, the defining characteristic is a select fire mechanism and a full power rifle round such 7.62x51mm NATO or 30.06. The M-14 was also one, but most of them are now semiautos.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on April 05, 2009, 01:32:07 am
How dare you sum up half an hour of hard writting and drawing in two lines? I wonder why I couldn't of put it so clearly.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Gunner-Chan on April 05, 2009, 01:36:49 am
Heh, sorry. I just decided to put my two cents in as a gun nut. :3 It should also be noted that there is no "Official" definition for "Battle rifle".
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on April 05, 2009, 01:41:39 am
That too, battle is often interchangable with repeating.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Aqizzar on April 05, 2009, 01:03:53 pm
Your thing about Assault rifles being SMGs with bigger bullets is pretty backwards.  SMGs have traditionally had larger bullets.  All guns trended to large bullets except hold-out pistols until WWII - SMGs have stayed large while rifle calibers have shrunk.  See the UZI which comes in 9mm and .45 versions.  Assault rifles have gone from .30 down to 5.56mm, down to 4.7mm in newer experimental rifles (that's about .18 by the way, not much larger than a pellet gun).  It's really just a difference of nomenclature, but the major distinction is barrel length, determining how handy the weapon is at close-range versus it's accuracy at longer range.

The difference between old fashioned stuffing rifles and breech loaders wasn't really one of mechanical design.  (Why there weren't back-loading cartridges is another question.  The history of weapon development is riddled with "why didn't they do this" hindsight, but it was more because of the perceived utility of deciding your powder ratio and shot type, though a paper-cartridge breech-loading flintlock would've been entirely possible.)  If you look back, latest-generation flintlocks were more complicated than revolvers.  The key was the discovery of mercury fulminate, which could then ignite propellant with a hammerstrike instead of a fuse, allowing a closed breech.
Title: Status update on Bromor: can you really have bronchitis for three weeks?
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on April 06, 2009, 07:13:16 pm
Well, I've got a second doctor's appointment tomorrow.  This will be the most times I've been to the doctor in two decades.  I wasn't impressed with the first doctor I went to, he didn't listen to half of the symptoms I told him, acted like I was deliberately trying to deceive him by not listing all 80 of the things to which I'm allergic to in the one-inch space provided on the sheet.  Although he's generous with the prescriptions (I got some sweet codeine cough syrup that I'll save the rest of for when I'm well enough to enjoy it properly), he said that I probably have a strange form of bronchitis and that I shouldn't try to eat anything solid until I'm completely better, until then I should subsist entirely on a diet of chicken broth, Coke, Gatorade, and tea.  He also gave me an anti-nausea prescription and some Zithromax which I'll be taking the last of tomorrow.

So I won't be going to see that doctor again.  I've got an appointment to see a different doctor that two different people have recommended to me as being competent and attentive.  I'm going to insist that they actually take a sample of my blood and do tests to find out exactly what's wrong with me, rather than just saying, "Oh, sounds like you have X, try this for a couple of weeks".  I've had this crap for three weeks, and I can't stand it anymore.  I want to know if I have mono or hepatitus or even some bullshit that they made up for House last week and has never been seen in the real world.  I have some symptoms that are scaring the crap out of me.  The whites of my eyes are turning YELLOW.  I've got a different (x-rated) symptom that none of you particularly want to hear about, but it's frightening enough to make me need to know what's causing this bullshit.  Better yet, I get hives in random locations, like both legs will be covered with hives, but nowhere else, then they'll go away after a couple of hours.  Then a few hours later, my back and chest will break out.  And I found out today that Benadryl is starting to not work on the hives anymore.  If this is mono, then according to wikipedia and WebMD, lifting weights or jogging can make my SPLEEN EXPLODE for a full month after I'm cured.  Oh joy.

I'll update when I find out more.  Sorry to not hold up my side of the workout postings, but, you know, possible exploding spleen, man.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: JoshuaFH on April 06, 2009, 07:27:45 pm
I hope you get better Bromor, that sounds severe.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: woose1 on April 06, 2009, 07:34:10 pm
Wait, Strife lives in Fargo?
Have you seen any kidnapped wives or hitmen lately? One big and one small? The small one looks kinda funny.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on April 06, 2009, 09:05:30 pm
Bromor, it could be spring fever!

joking aside, that sounds like it sucks.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Gunner-Chan on April 06, 2009, 09:50:36 pm
Have you seen any kidnapped wives or hitmen lately? One big and one small? The small one looks kinda funny.

Don't mess with that big one, he almost makes me look sane in comparison.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on April 07, 2009, 06:51:04 am
Hope you can figure out/kill whatever it is that you have, Bromor.


I'm going to use this post to start recording my sigs. I don't want to forget them, wot wot.


Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: woose1 on April 07, 2009, 11:10:31 am
Misspelled 'cause'.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on April 09, 2009, 07:01:34 pm
All week i've been doing 45-minute elliptical workouts due to tendonitis.
Title: The insidious virus strikes Bromor in the liver! It is mangled!
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on April 09, 2009, 10:14:43 pm
Well, keep us posted.  Just because Strife's filling sandbags and I'm bedridden, anybody else can still post their workout logs in here.  I'll tell you to harden the fuck up while envying your ability to work out without your spleen exploding.

So, yeah, got my lab test results back today.  It's viral mononucleosis, which means that I can't work out or do anything more strenuous than washing the dishes for the next forty days or so.  I go in for a followup appointment tomorrow morning, and then an abdominal ultrasound on Tuesday to find out precisely how fucked up my liver and spleen are.  The OTHER doctor that I went to managed to miss my swollen tonsils and yellow coloration, and prescribed me antibiotics and a liquid diet, the first of which is apparently a contributing factor in how bad off I am now.

An intriguing symptom of this disease is that with my liver not working, if I were to take a drink of alcohol, I would stay drunk for DAYS.  I'm not going to make the experiment, but it's interesting to think about.  I just have to take it easy for thirty or forty more days, then I'll be back running and lifting weights.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: JoshuaFH on April 09, 2009, 11:04:47 pm
Well Bromor, I have no idea what viral mononucleosis is, but it sounds pretty bad.

I hope you turn out alright and that no unfortunate unseen complications in the future harm you in any way.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on April 09, 2009, 11:32:13 pm
Oh f***, that's mono!

A kid got that last year in my school and was out for months. That sucks like a vacuum cleaner, man.

Tendons ripping off of my bones sucks, but mono is HORRIBLE.
Title: Status update: Mostly good shit
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on April 10, 2009, 09:50:06 am
Well, I just got back from the doctor, and it's mostly good news.  The ultrasound's supposed to only cost a couple hundred bucks, not the thousand I thought it would cost. The reason they want the ultrasound is that the blood test showed my liver function to be bad enough that it's possible all the antibiotics and acetaminophen I took gave me a stone in my liver.  It's likely that my liver is just mostly shut down from the disease, but they have to eliminate the possibility of there being a stone.  The doctor also gave me today's appointment for free.

On the bright side, it's most likely NOT too swollen, so all the stuff I said before about not being able to lift weights doesn't necessarily apply.  The doc told me that as of now, I can lift weights, as long as I stick to about half of what I would normally do and I don't bounce the weights off my chest (which you don't do anyway unless you're an idiot, because it's a good way to crack your sternum or collarbone).  So I'll just do the weights that my workout buddies do instead of the weights that I'd normally do.  Can't participate in the yard tard league for at least a month, of course.

She also said that although I can't jog (impact can still potentially burst my spleen), I'm allowed to walk as far as my body will let me.  So my physical fitness won't go to crap while I'm sick.  I can expect anywhere from a week to another month of symptoms, but I'm supposedly through the worst.  I just gotta keep taking Advil to keep down the fever and keep drinking tons of Gatorade to flush out my body.

So, yeah, contrary to what they told me last time, I can indeed work out and will be posting logs in this topic.  Sweet.  I'm not cured, and I may have to put up with this crap for up to another month, but my fitness won't totally crash either.  This is the best news I've heard all year.

(I'm also putting my first-ever donation to Toady in the mail this afternoon, since I got my tax refund yesterday.  What don't go to the Toad will probably go to the doctors, but I couldn't be happier, considering the alternatives.  Now I just need to go find a toad out in my yard for a new avatar to commemorate the experience.)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Org on April 10, 2009, 09:53:50 am
So, what disease do you have(or sickness)?
I must have missed it.  :P
Title: Disease
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on April 10, 2009, 09:58:22 am
Viral mononucleosis, with some complications from a different (idiot) doctor misdiagnosing it as bronchitis and prescribing me antibiotics that made it worse.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infectious_mononucleosis
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Org on April 10, 2009, 10:06:11 am
Ahh.
So, how long dos it take to get better?
Title: I feel for Toady's test subjects.
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on April 10, 2009, 10:15:47 am
Quote from: Bromor
I can expect anywhere from a week to another month of symptoms, but I'm supposedly through the worst.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Zironic on April 10, 2009, 10:35:28 am
I wrestled my junior and senior year. During my senior year I was doing way better, placing in all or most my tournaments. Then I got really sick and developed pink eye, two ear infections, and a terrible sore throat. I was put on heavy antibiotics, got better in a week. However, the next tournament I hurt my knee. It started to swell up and I developed water on the knee. In reaction, my doctor gave me some anti-inflamitories. I quickly developed symptoms of a bad reaction. The first day of the reaction, I fell asleep at home, and woke up finding I had to struggle to move any of my body. During the night I began hallucinating, because I developed "stomach upset". The next day I developed terrible stomach problems with large amounts of blood in my stool still raining out via "stomach upset" then I also began -every 15 to 30 minutes develop excrutiating stomach pain, as if some one was stabbing me continuously. My doctor gave me some acid controller, after a week, my body was fine, and I took the anti inflamitory without any negative side effects. And I have huge pain tolerance now.... Medicine = Double Edge
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: JoshuaFH on April 10, 2009, 02:14:32 pm
If the doctor misdiagnosed you and made things worse, couldn't you sue for malpractice? I'm not sure how it works.
Title: Bromor cancels lawsuit; too ethical
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on April 10, 2009, 03:38:12 pm
Maybe, but for one thing, that's not my way.  There's too many lawsuits in America already (especially in the health industry), and I couldn't conclusively prove that his misdiagnosis caused actual health problems.  Even if I have a stone in my liver, I doubt that they could analyze it and say, "this is from misprescribed Zithromax residue".

Second, these medical bills are all I can afford.  Even if I were inclined to sue, I don't have a lawyer or the means to afford one.

Third, I might need the incompetent asshole later down the road.  Now that I know how he works, the next time I get a hankerin' for some Lortabs or Percocet, I'll just go up in his office and tell him, "gee, doc, I got a terrible pain in my back from when I tripped running last week" and get the pills entirely legally rather than go to a street pharmacist.  The codeine cough syrup ("sizzurp") he prescribed me would have cost forty bucks on the street, the local pharmacy filled it for $6.45.

(edit)  Just got back from The Chief's house, where we lifted some weights.  To my shame, he outdid me for the first time ever, but I'd like to think I have a decent excuse what with being bedridden for the past three weeks and having a temperature of 100 and all.  He's moved up to reps of 165 on the bench, and I only managed to do two sets of ten, plus two sets of 75 on the preacher curl, before my internal diagnostics started showing red across the board.  But, still, I'm back in the game and will start posting workouts again now that I have the doctor's word I can do it without dying.  It's half an hour later and I'm still alive, so clearly I can do sets of 165.

It's great to be back.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on April 10, 2009, 07:57:42 pm
I was on an elliptical machine for another 45 minutes!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Org on April 10, 2009, 07:58:58 pm
I was on an elliptical machine for another 45 minutes!
A what?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on April 11, 2009, 08:29:05 am
(http://www.truthaboutabs.com/images/cms/Image/Elliptical.jpg)

like that, only with longer shorts and a shorter arm-going-forward-radius.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on April 11, 2009, 10:01:49 am
I hear that they are lower-impact and thus better for your knees than running or jogging.  That true?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on April 11, 2009, 09:59:43 pm
I hear that they are lower-impact and thus better for your knees than running or jogging.  That true?

better for knees and all things like tendinitis in your feet which hurt more with impact.

Still, not as good as running.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Sir_Geo on April 12, 2009, 10:49:08 pm
I found out I'm going to be running the San Diego half marathon at the end of may so I've been trying to run at least a half dozen miles every day.
I've also been doing sprints to help increase my speed.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on April 12, 2009, 11:40:33 pm
13 miles is LONG. good luck, Sir_Geo.

On the 18th I'm doing the Turkey Trot (8 miles) and on May 2 I'm doing Bloomsday. (FULL MARATHON! YEEEEEAAAAH!!!)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: JoshuaFH on April 12, 2009, 11:42:15 pm
Where are those Barby?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on April 12, 2009, 11:56:14 pm
Gawd, I ran a five K once. I really have to restart my training.
I'll be spending Monday, Tuesday, and Wensday in Bismark (I spend an outrageous amount of time at the Seven Seas Hotel there). It's the national qualifier for speech. Then Friday and Saturday is the state meet (also in Bismark. ARRRGH!).
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on April 13, 2009, 07:50:19 am
Where are those Barby?

Turkey Trot (8 miles)

A 'Fitness Race' sponsored by my town.

on May 2 I'm doing Bloomsday. (FULL MARATHON! YEEEEEAAAAH!!!)

Huge 26 mile race in Spokane that has Olympians and really fast dudes in it.
Title: Decent workout today
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on April 13, 2009, 05:41:02 pm
Well, I just got back from The Chief's house.  Did a lot more today, I managed to do 3 sets of regular bench at 165x10, 3 sets of curls at 75x10, 2 sets of seated rows at 75x20, and 3 more sets of incline bench at 115x10, with the last set being wide grip.  I feel better now then I've felt all day.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on April 14, 2009, 11:48:17 am
Hey everybody, I'm back.

Turns out you weren't the only sickie, Bromor: I came down with pancreatitis due to crystals in my bile, (kind of like a preliminary gall-stone) and I had to go into the hospital for 4 days.

I managed not to get any real sleep for a total of 7 days (a few hours here and there, but not great), and the hospital bed seriously screwed up my back.

I managed to get a *little* exercise in the hosp. Like 10 laps around the nurse's station, anyway. Not a whole lot. I'm still weak as a kitten, but now that I'm out, I'm working out a little more, if only to get my back into shape.

They're gonna take my gall-bladder out one of these days, pretty soon, so I'll have to go back in, overnight. Not an experience I'm looking forward to, but it's time off of work that I don't have to feel guilty for.

Another upside is that I'm losing a whole lot of weight. I'm not able to eat *any* appreciable amounts of fat (I can barely keep anything down, anyway-the pancreatitis gave me ulcers), so the weight's just dropping off.

Mentally, I'm a complete mess, by the way, so if I seem especially goofy, that's why.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on April 14, 2009, 01:09:23 pm
I haven't gotten around to uploading any of the during or after flood pictures, but here's a photobucket album with some before stuff
http://s309.photobucket.com/albums/kk361/Strife26/Flood%20Pictures/Complete/?start=0 (http://s309.photobucket.com/albums/kk361/Strife26/Flood%20Pictures/Complete/?start=0)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on April 14, 2009, 08:02:16 pm
Still been on the elliptical....

hopefully I'll be back to my crazy runs by Thursday.

welcome back, SHB!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on April 14, 2009, 09:17:34 pm
Quote from: SirHoneyBadger
Pancreatitis stuff

Armok, it sounds like you're worse off than me.  I'm sorry to hear that.

I did about a mile walk today.  Once I can run again, I'm probably going to have to start back doing a quarter mile at a time.  I can tell the past three weeks have basically destroyed my cardio.

I went in to get my ultrasound today.  It was interesting, but not particularly educational.  They spread some kind of hot goo all over my stomach and ribs, and then ran what basically looked like a hand-held UPC scanner across my gut over and over.  Most of the time, I was angled so that I could watch the screen, although I couldn't make any sense of the images.  Obviously they were of my guts, but I couldn't tell an intestine from a liver on the screen.  Hopefully my doctor will be able to make more sense of it than I could.

Strife, if and when you get some "after" shots up, I'd like to see them.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on April 14, 2009, 10:10:03 pm
Yeah, they ultrasounded me too. Looking for stones. I got gooed, I think, but I don't remember it being hot... I had a fever though (still might) and I might just not have noticed. Even now, I'm still pretty out of it. I did eat a turkey sandwitch today, which was the most delicious thing ever.

Good recipe for something healthy that approaches (or possibly even surpasses) mayonnaise:

about 1/4 cup of fresh avocado, mashed
about 3-4 tbsp plain non-fat yoghurt, not too soggy
1/2 clove raw garlic, crushed
salt & pepper to taste
a little lemon/hotsauce, to taste (if your stomach is healthier than mine is right now, it's not necessary though, but it probably would have helped)

Mix into a paste.

Worked great for me.

Avocados are supposed to be great for reducing bellyfat, by the way. Not sure if I mentioned that earlier.

Title: Status update: Good news and awesome news
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on April 15, 2009, 06:41:36 pm
I got some decent news and some outstanding news today.  For one thing, the lab called with the results of my ultrasound.  It seems that my liver's a little swollen and my spleen is a LOT swollen, but I categorically do NOT have any sort of liver blockage.  I can't run or do any kind of full-contact sports for the next two months, but I can walk and lift weights as much as I feel up to.  I still have to drink two quarts of Gatorade a day to flush out my system, but there's lots worse medical regimens I could have to go through.

Also, I talked to the Chief Financial Officer at the hospital this afternoon, and although they can't waive the charge for the radiologist who interpreted my results on the ultrasound, they can and will waive the remainder of the bill for the ultrasound (about $650) that I haven't paid yet.  Because I'm unemployed and have no medical insurance, they're writing the remainder off as a charity case.  So I saved $650 today by making a five-minute phone call.

Just went over and worked out with the Chief.  I don't know if the disease is leaving me or I just feel better thanks to eating right and working out, but I was able to do a pretty decent workout today and I still had some strength left when I was finished.  I did 3 sets of regular bench at 10x170, interspersed with 4 sets of preacher curls at 10x75 and 4 sets of seated rows at 20x75, then one set of bench at 15x155.  The Chief felt like doing more and I had to match him, so we also did 3 sets of wide-grip incline bench press at 135x10.

I walked a mile yesterday, that probably helps my endurance quite a bit.  I'm not allowed to run or jog at all for the next couple of months, but I can walk as much as I feel up to.  Tomorrow I'm gonna see if I can do two miles.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on April 15, 2009, 08:56:50 pm
That's really great to hear, Bromor.  ;D

I go under the knife Tuesday. Not really looking forward to that, and I'm really not looking forward to staying overnight at the hospital, but it'll be nice to have it over with. Also, I was able to eat some salmon, rice, and veggies, and actually keep them down, which was a blessing.

Infact, I'm eating the leftovers right now.

Salmon's very healthy, by the way--contains omega acids, which are good for your heart, and lots of good protein. I especially like the skin, but this came without skin, sadly.

No real exercise to mention, but I learned some new stretches for my shoulderblades.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on April 15, 2009, 10:47:08 pm
Salmon's very healthy, by the way--contains omega acids

Salmon also makes you age slower and live longer. (also, less free radicals!)
Title: Decently long walk today, more to come, also blithering stupidity
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on April 16, 2009, 01:12:41 pm
Hey, I had salmon the night before last.  I had three guests coming over for dinner, so I broiled two salmon filets and two tilapia filets.  Then at the last minute, they canceled on me, so I was left with four fish filets to eat.  They generally taste a lot better fresh than when you reheat them the next day, so I went ahead and ate all four, plus a baked potato and a large dish of peas.  It took me a half hour to eat all that food, but I'm sure it did nothing but good for me.

I walked two miles today, and I had plenty of energy left over, so I'm gonna try for three miles next time. 

I also had a run-in with idiot law enforcement when I was trying to buy allergy medication today.  The local Family Dollar had generic Claritin (loratadine) on sale for $2.50 for 30, so I tried to buy six boxes (generally non-generic Claritin costs about 80 cents per pill if you buy it from Winn-Dixie or Wal-Mart).  The moron clerk insisted that you could use Claritin to make meth, and called the cops on me while she was ringing up my order, telling them that there was a guy trying to buy six boxes of pills and she suspected me of being a meth dealer.  I wanted to get this crap straightened out, so I stood there and waited for the cops.  No less than three police cruisers showed up about two minutes later, with four cops and a "drug task force" officer, whatever that is.  The DTF guy didn't know if you could use Claritin to make meth, so he supposedly called the DEA to ask them, and spent fifteen minutes on the phone talking about the chemical composition of loratadine.

The other cops wouldn't let me near the DTF guy while he was on the phone, so I don't know who he really called, but I doubt it was the DEA.  He said that the DEA had no record of Claritin or loratadine, and that they suspected it's some kind of new designer drug made specifically to get around the Sudafed sales restrictions.  Yes, the "DEA" has no record whatsoever of an OTC allergy drug that's been around for more than a decade.  Every last one of those cops agreed that "Claritin" is just another word for "Sudafed" and that loratadine is just renamed ephedrine.  (It's not, and that's completely fucking retarded.  You can no more make meth out of loratadine than you can make it out of Coca-Cola.)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on April 16, 2009, 01:55:31 pm
That's fantastically retarded.

Do they have a pharmacy? Doesn't sound like it, but if so, I'd have demanded to talk to the pharmacist. I also would have demanded to talk to the store manager, and their district supervisor.

I know when I used to work for Walgreens that we were given strict instructions on which medications could and could not be used to make meth (very few), and those medications were always kept behind the counter.

That situation is pretty classically litigation territory, whether or not you want to sue anybody. I'm pretty confident (coming from too many years in retail) that stores aren't allowed to do that kind of thing unless they're 100% certain (with some form of proof) that they're in the right.

Otherwise you get into false accusation issues, and maybe even slander.

Same thing with shoplifting. If a store personnel confronts you and accuses you of shoplifting, and they're wrong, the store can get into a ton of trouble. That's why they generally only confront anyone when they're leaving the store, even if they know they have stuff on them, and why it's important for store personnel to maintain constant line-of-sight on suspects. I remember helping with that, when I worked for Walmart.
Title: Workout log
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on April 17, 2009, 05:07:56 pm
Quote from: SirHoneyBadger
Do they have a pharmacy? Doesn't sound like it

No, they don't have a pharmacy.  It's just rows of shelves with all kinds of things on them, and two cash registers at the front of the store.  I'm not even really angry at Family Dollar.  I don't expect a minimum-wage clerk to know the difference between fifteen kinds of medication.  I do, however, resent being told fairy tales about how you can use such and such to make meth.  I'm really angry at the police, because five different officers were unified in their completely wrong assertion that Claritin is just a nefarious plot on the part of the drug companies to sell ephedrine under a different name without mentioning it on the package and claiming to contain a completely different active ingredient.  I expect officers of the law to be able to differentiate between restricted precursor chemicals and completely innocuous OTC drugs which have no restrictions whatsoever on their use or sales.

Once again, the lawsuit is not my way.  I just won't go into that Family Dollar anymore, fantastic prices on allergy medication or not.

Anyway, had a pretty decent workout with The Chief today.  He wanted to try 185 on the regular bench press, so we did 2x10x185, and then went down to 165 and did three sets of ten of those.  We also did our usual sets of 10x75 curls and 20x75 seated rows after each set of regular bench, before finishing up with three sets of wide-grip incline bench, ten reps apiece at 135.  He can't work out tomorrow but we're going to walk three miles (or maybe even a little more) on Sunday.  I've never been able to get him to run with me, but now that I can't run, he has no problem with walking as much as I'm willing to.
Title: Re: Workout log
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on April 17, 2009, 07:13:33 pm

Once again, the lawsuit is not my way.  I just won't go into that Family Dollar anymore, fantastic prices on allergy medication or not.


I agree with your reasons for not sueing, they're perfectly valid. But, my point is that it never should have escalated to the level that it did. Some minimum-wage clerk at a Family Dollar shouldn't have the authority to call in the police on a customer like that, under those circumstances. They should be going to their immediate supervisor, unless they're being robbed or threatened, or there's some kind of major crisis.

It's just a very bad way to run a business, both for the store and for the customer, and not anything you should have to deal with.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Org on April 17, 2009, 07:17:09 pm
Yeah. That was bad.
Stupid people doing stupid things.  :P
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: umiman on April 17, 2009, 08:13:41 pm
Small claims courts are nice, you be guaranteed to win at least $25,000. You do have a case though. Let's see... we have assault, incapacitation. If they touched you unwantedly, there's battery. Etc. Etc.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on April 17, 2009, 08:41:03 pm
Well, today I got to run without staying in the same place!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on April 17, 2009, 10:16:53 pm
I did my pre-surgery stuff today and got a new primary care physician (seems like a nice guy), and also my mom's gonna be able to come out to visit me for two weeks, so I'm really happy about that.

I haven't seen her in person in about 5 years, which has been pretty rough.

Also, our clotheswasher died, so we went and bought a new one. They're delivering it on Monday. I had to go into my computer money a little to cover a 5 year warranty (cost about 90$ extra), but I feel it's worth it.

The only appliance we have now that isn't brand new is our dishwasher, and we may have to replace that soonish, too.

Not much on the exercising front, just a little walking, but I have lost a total of 17lbs since I got sick, and that's definitely welcome. I also can't eat really fatty foods anymore, so that should continue to reduce my excess bodyweight over the long term.

I'll probably atleast do my floor exercises tonight. I talked to a physical therapist while I was in the hospital, and it turns out that most of the floor stuff I was doing was exactly what I *should* be doing, so that was good news. I also learned a few new things.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on April 17, 2009, 10:39:10 pm
glad you're able to see your relatives, SHB.  ;D

Any tips on starting to build upper body strength for someone who can just about bench-press your average benchpress bar?

keep in mind that I don't have much free time and I weigh ~95 pounds.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on April 18, 2009, 12:33:22 am
Well, that's actually not *too* far from what I used to use to work out, Barbarossa. I used to bench this antique solid cast-iron stone chisel thing that was about 5 1'2 feet long. Ofcourse, it didn't weigh a *huge* amount, maybe 50lbs or so, but I'd bench it a couple hundred times in a row, which helped a lot to increase my stamina, and low-end strength.

So yeah, maybe add 10-25lbs to either side of a bar and then bench that for some really long sets? It sounds like it would be great to help get your muscles to a "plateau" where you can move up from.

Another similar thing I used to do (when I could with my wrist) is to just lift 5lb weights as many times as possible. It doesn't seem like a lot of weight, but I'd do sets of well over a thousand at a time, which was great for my back, great cardio, and ofcourse built muscle stamina.

You could also go to a public pool and use the water itself to work out. You don't have to actually swim. Just move your arms in fast, alternating patterns, underneath the water. Also a good method for practicing martial arts.

I personally would suggest not trying to build a lot of muscle mass right now, but rather to concentrate on making what you have as strong and resillient as possible. You can always move up from there, and having a well-established vascular system will only help that happen.

Pushups are another great exercise. I absolutely hate them, and can't really do them anymore, anyway, but they're great for your whole upper body.

Something else that's really good is coiling heavy rope, or a really long garden hose--atleast 50 feet, 100 feet if you can help it. It's excellent for forearms and shoulders, and a useful skill. The faster you can do it, the better the workout you'll get. You could also climb rope, too.

Chin-ups are another good thing, if you can do them, but even if not, you can always just hang there.

Boxing another thing that's good for upper body strength. I love to box. It's a lot of fun, and it's something that's a tradition in my family (My grandfather was all-service boxing champion during WW2, and my dad was a biker in a pretty rough club, in the 60's.). It works out the arms and shoulders, strengthens your bones, and it's good cardio. I'm not saying get into a ring, by the way. Infact, I'd suggest you don't. This is for exercise, not for sport, after all. I'm saying, punch the hell out of a heavy bag, bare-knuckle (which is what I prefer), or with some weighted gloves on.

It also helps hand-eye coordination.

Finally, when your dad has gotten as much good wood out of that cherry tree as he can (if/when you finally take it down), you could get yourself a good-quality handaxe (don't bother with a cheap one, get a decent one with a shatter-proof handle) and go to town on the leftover limbs. I was at my strongest when I was chopping wood every day. It's amazing how much strength that can give you, and using a hand-axe--as opposed to a proper wood-axe--will increase the exercise, and it's safer as well. Wear safety glasses, though. Trust me, even safety concerns aside, it's worth not having all that grit in your eyes.

Oh, and don't ignore grip-strength. You could get yourself a grip-strengthening ball, or some stiff clay (I always liked using Sculpey, when I could find it), and squeeze it. It's great for releaving stress. One thing you should be mindful of, as far as grip-strength goes, is to work out *all* the muscles in your hands. So don't just squeeze, but also flex out, as well. Otherwise, you put yourself at risk for carpel-tunnel etc.

I personally use some martial arts methods for grip-strength. Basically, I raise my arms high above my head, and then open and close my hands as fast as I can, as many times as possible, in 1-3 minute increments. I used to be able to do it over 700 times in a row, but again, my wrist won't cooperate any longer.

Since you walk a lot, maybe you could get yourself one of those great big waterbottles (the kind they use for employee lounges), and carry it along with you on your shoulders, switching shoulders every mile. You could start out with it empty, but then add just a little water (add like half a cup at most--not enough that you really even notice a chance in the weight) to it, every day. By the time it's completely full, you shouldn't really notice the weight anymore (not as much, anyway), because your body will have adapted to it.

It should also help strengthen your bones and overall body structure, which are every bit as important as your muscles, where strength is concerned.

Might be harder on your knees, though, so be careful, lift with your legs, and try to maintain good posture, since your body *will* take time to get used to it. 

That's all I can think of, at the moment. I hope it helps.

And Bromor's absolutely right about the wrist/ankle weights. They're worthless and harmful.
Title: Weightlifting advice
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on April 18, 2009, 02:14:05 am
Quote from: Barbarossa the Seal God
Any tips on starting to build upper body strength for someone who can just about bench-press your average benchpress bar?

keep in mind that I don't have much free time and I weigh ~95 pounds.

SHB had a pile of good advice, there, but I have a little bit to add.  Okay, you can bench a benchpress bar and no more.  There's no shame in that, everybody starts somewhere (and I was the same way, it was only my senior year in high school that I finally weighed more than a hundred pounds, and I never DID manage to bench 95 in high school).  What's most important right now is not so much building strength, but making sure that you're using the correct form when you DO bench press.  It's much easier to get the correct form down now, while you're a beginner, than to do it wrong for a couple of years and then have to unlearn bad habits when the wrong way to do it is deeply embedded in your muscle memory.  (Plus, by that time you'd probably have rotator cuff injuries or something equally hideous from benching with improper form for so long.)  Do you have anybody that you trust to show you proper benching form?  If not, we can find you some online articles or videos that will show you the way.

If you have a local gym with a good reputation, you can probably cold-bloodedly exploit them, if you don't have a moral problem with this idea.  They usually offer free trials to prospective members.  So, what you do is, you sign up for your free week or whatever, then, under the supervision of a licensed professional, you get them to show you correct form for as many different exercises as possible.  Once you've learned everything they can teach you, you tell them that your schedule's changed and you won't be able to come to the gym often enough to make it worth signing up.  You get information that can potentially save you thousands in hospital bills (not to mention pain and wasted time) for free.  Hey, it may not be entirely honest, but it's perfectly legal.

Quote from: SirHoneyBadger
Since you walk a lot, maybe you could get yourself one of those great big waterbottles and carry it along with you on your shoulders, switching shoulders every mile. You could start out with it empty, but then add just a little water (add like half a cup at most--not enough that you really even notice a chance in the weight) to it, every day. By the time it's completely full, you shouldn't really notice the weight anymore (not as much, anyway), because your body will have adapted to it.

If you can find one at a sporting goods store, I highly recommend a Camelbak.  You wear them just like a backpack, and no matter how much or little water you have in them, they stay balanced and won't cause asymmetrical strain on you while you're walking or jogging or whatever.

(http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/7783/camelbak.th.jpg) (http://img7.imageshack.us/my.php?image=camelbak.jpg)

This picture's from the military section of their site, but they're available in the civilian market too.  I've seen similar products at larger sporting goods stores.

Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on April 18, 2009, 02:36:24 am
Go for a mil. grade camelbak if you can, if you ever get an ACU backpack (legally), they're designed to work together.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on April 18, 2009, 03:57:47 am
It'd probably be a good idea if we can find you some online articles/videos anyway, so you have something to compare them to, and also to refer to, when your trusted friend or the gym instructor isn't available.

I have to admit, I don't know a whole lot about regimented weight-lifting.

Bromor's definitely the authority on that.

I moved houses, chopped wood, went swimming a lot, worked on a farm, went on a lot of mineral expeditions with my dad (which involved some tossing and turning of boulders), stuff like that, and I've always been very big and very strong, so outside of gymclass and physical therapy, and other than martial arts, I've only learned the exercise techniques that supplimented my lifestyle, and then later, helped me function when my joints started getting so bad. 

I'm still learning about all this stuff. Ofcourse, the older I get, the more important and helpful that knowledge is becoming. 

My grandfather (the boxer) was an absolute health-nut, after he retired, and I think about him a lot now, although when he was alive, we didn't get along very well.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: JoshuaFH on April 18, 2009, 04:11:04 am
You seem really knowledgeable about all this stuff Sirhoneybadger.

One thing I'd like to do is get a hard job, so I can finally have a reason to start moving around and get in shape. Something like a boat job that was described earlier, or something, that would be nice. I can sleep better when I put my muscles to use, and I feel a tad better also.

As it stands, I'm afraid to leave my own house unless it's for something non-trivial. I really do feel worthless with how I am, it's something I try to overcome, but have no real incentive to do so.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on April 18, 2009, 04:52:42 am
Thanks, chaoticjosh.  8)

I just like to learn new things. That's, I guess, a really big hobby for me, even something of an obsession. There's just so much knowledge out there, and the more you add it up, the more it seems to make everything in life fascinating, on atleast some level.

As far as you being afraid to leave your house, do you live in a bad neighborhood, or are you in another situation where it's dangerous to go out?

Or are you talking about agorophobia? Because I get that, too, pretty badly at times, and yeah, it can be really dismal and difficult to deal with.

If that's the case, and if you'd like to talk about it, you're welcome to PM me anytime. It's not an easy thing to get over, but I'd be happy to try to talk you through some of it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: JoshuaFH on April 18, 2009, 05:11:30 am
Well SirHoneyBadger, kind of like how I described in my other thread (http://www.bay12games.com/forum/index.php?topic=34013.0), that like my writing, when I go outside, I'm hyperaware of my environment. Even though it's sub-conscious, I'm recording the shape of the clouds, the position of the sun, the size of the sidewalk tiles, the colour and general health of the grass, any and all vehicles, the size and colour of all buildings, if anyone walks past me I'll remember their exact appearance, apparent mood, clothing, and lord forbid if they TALK to me...

I'm not sure if it's agoraphobia, as I've never been diagnosed as such, but it's a sensory overload, is what I'm trying to say. On top of my hyperawareness, I'm hypercritical of myself and my own appearance and actions. Even short excursions are incredibly exhausting.

I don't want to derail this thread, and it's not really something that I can get into in detail, so I'll just leave it at that.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on April 18, 2009, 05:20:58 am
That's an interesting one. I'll give it some thought and let you know if I come up with anything that might help.

Doesn't really match mine, but part of that could be that I'm legally blind without glasses, so everything's just sort of vague and blurry, so I don't have to worry about atleast the visual part of it, which is a lot.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on April 18, 2009, 06:43:34 pm
It's a non-derailable thread. Don't make me add an 'and Chaoticjosh' to the tittle.

Having a horrible week, I'll see if I type anything up now.
I've been in town for 2.5 days in the last week. And I don't like Bismark.
Title: Job recommendation for Chaoticjosh
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on April 18, 2009, 09:17:59 pm
Quote from: chaoticjosh
One thing I'd like to do is get a hard job, so I can finally have a reason to start moving around and get in shape. Something like a boat job that was described earlier, or something, that would be nice. I can sleep better when I put my muscles to use, and I feel a tad better also.

If you're agoraphobic (or whatever your disorder is, I'm no psychiatrist), construction probably wouldn't be appropriate for you, so I won't recommend that.  I would, however, recommend getting a job as an unloader in a warehouse or as stock crew at a chain store.  Nowadays, they do a lot of that kind of thing with forklifts, but pallet jacks are still used in a most places.  It's not exhausting, but it's certainly physical work that will make you sleep better, and it's indoors with limited contact with other people.  You just hang out in a warehouse looking at pallets and grocery racks, moving 3000-pound pallets around with a pallet jack (and being paid for doing a full-body workout).  The best thing about it is that unless you live in a cabin in the woods, it's guaranteed that you can find a job like this within a few miles of your home.  Every Target, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, and grocery store in the world needs stock crew, and it usually takes no more to get hired than just walking into the store, asking for an application, and filling it out.  The pay isn't great, but you WILL get strong by doing it, and it's a job that can be found in any town or city in America.

Strife, I hope you're getting your house put back in order.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on April 18, 2009, 09:58:06 pm
Thanks for all the advice everyone!

At today's track meet, I finally broke six minutes in the mile!!! I got a 16 second PR and got a 5:49 directly from a 6:05!

Woo! Happy thoughts!
Title: Re: Job recommendation for Chaoticjosh
Post by: JoshuaFH on April 18, 2009, 10:05:05 pm
Quote from: chaoticjosh
One thing I'd like to do is get a hard job, so I can finally have a reason to start moving around and get in shape. Something like a boat job that was described earlier, or something, that would be nice. I can sleep better when I put my muscles to use, and I feel a tad better also.

If you're agoraphobic (or whatever your disorder is, I'm no psychiatrist), construction probably wouldn't be appropriate for you, so I won't recommend that.

Well, one thing I forgot was that I'm not constantly like how I described. It's more like something that only happens every once in a while. However, if whenever the parts of my brain start click-clacking together to do this, and I'm outside, my day is officially ruined. Being inside isn't a great help either.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Maggarg - Eater of chicke on April 19, 2009, 10:37:22 am
Ugh, hard labour. Fun as a hobby, shit as a job.
I imagine so, anyway.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on April 19, 2009, 10:46:04 am
Quote from: Barbarossa the Seal God
At today's track meet, I finally broke six minutes in the mile!!! I got a 16 second PR and got a 5:49 directly from a 6:05!

Excellent work, congratulations!  I also like your new avatar.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on April 19, 2009, 02:50:17 pm
thanks bromor!

my next goal will be 5:30
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on April 19, 2009, 03:32:57 pm
Great job, Barbarossa!

I've done what Bromor's talking about, and it is a lot of hard work, but it can also be fun. You're usually away from customers for most of the night, and you don't have to interact a whole lot with other people, plus pallet-jacks are fun to run around.

If you can, I'd suggest working for Target. I got 9$ an hour plus 10% off store items, the stores are clean, and they're pretty decent (relatively) to their employees.

Walmart is the worst. I wouldn't work for them again, unless I was starving.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on April 19, 2009, 03:44:20 pm
If you have a CostCo, they have INSANE work benefits. As in, the CEO can only earn ten times as much as the lowest employee. Therefore, if the CEO wants more pay, he has to give YOU more money.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Org on April 19, 2009, 03:55:12 pm
Really?
Title: Wal-Mart sucks and a three-mile walk
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on April 19, 2009, 07:09:46 pm
Quote from: SirHoneyBadger
Walmart is the worst. I wouldn't work for them again, unless I was starving.

This.  A thousand times this.  I've worked for Wal-Mart as an unloader/stocker, and I don't need to derail the topic, but anybody interested in the shady things they do, feel free to PM me, I've got pages of stories.

There's a herbalism project taking up a lot of my time, but I still managed my three-mile walk today.  The Chief had to beg off, having an engagement with some girl, so I walked alone.  It was fairly boring, but I saw a lot of wildlife even though I live in the suburbs.  I saw a couple of rabbits and several birds including a woodpecker.  I half wish I'd brought my camera along.  Weightlifting tomorrow.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on April 19, 2009, 09:55:19 pm
Really?

Yup, they did it to prevent the whole 'CEO earning a million times as much as the next-highest-paid guy' thing.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on April 20, 2009, 12:27:08 am
There's a huge amount of wildlife around our house, too. It's a cross between suburban and rural, and we've got several farms in the area.

There's cows, sheep, goats, horses and llamas, literally all within like a mile of our house. The city park, only a couple blocks away, also maintains a large flock of geese and ducks (and I think swans, too), so it's a great area for walking.
Title: Decent workout session
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on April 20, 2009, 03:40:03 pm
Well, just got back from The Chief's house, about to start on my homework.  His shoulders were hurting him (plus I think he was tired from the attentions of that girl), so we didn't do that much.  He wanted to go up to 170 on the regular bench, so we did three sets of 170x10 (interspersed with our usual 70x10 curls and 70x20 seated rows) on the regular bench and three sets of 135x10 on the incline bench.  He swears he's gonna do the three-mile walk with me tomorrow.  We'll see.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on April 20, 2009, 08:29:07 pm
Do tell about the evils of wal-mart. I don't like them, and Fargo lacks a cost-co. This is a non-derailable thread, no?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on April 20, 2009, 09:17:40 pm
ran a bunch today, still sore

Got in 6x800m with an average time of 3:25

4x200m

Lots of core
Title: How may I lie to you?
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on April 21, 2009, 12:08:31 am
Quote from: Strife26
Do tell about the evils of wal-mart. I don't like them, and Fargo lacks a cost-co. This is a non-derailable thread, no?

Well, I copypasted the same response (probably about a page) to the three people that PMed me last night, but I forgot to save a copy in my outbox.  Maybe one of them will be generous enough to forward you the PM if they see this.  Org, chaoticjosh, Cheeetar, if one of you sees this, please forward my Wal-Mart rant to Strife.  Then mention that you did so in the topic so that the other two guys don't send him the same thing.

I also forgot to mention Wal-Mart's abhorrent "tell them what they want to hear" policy.  I don't know if it's still in force, but when I worked for Wal-Mart in 2002-2003, they had a policy that said that you were NEVER allowed to tell customers that "we don't stock that and never will".  Instead, you were supposed to say, "we're out of stock on that item, but I'll get my manager to order it for you."

But, see, this applies to anything a customer could ask for.  I quite frequently had customers ask me where the Chek cola was.  Only Chek is Winn-Dixie's store brand (Wal-Mart's equivalent was Sam's Choice) and therefore Wal-Mart could never get it.  Instead of telling people that Chek was Winn-Dixie's brand (mentioning a competitor by name was a big no-no), I was supposed to lie to them and tell them that I'd get my manager to order it.  All this did was create an immense amount of frustration for both myself and the customer, because if I did what I was supposed to, that customer would come back next week or next month expecting we'd have Chek cola, and of course we never did, so if they saw me, they'd remember me as "that asshole that said he'd order Chek" and usually yell at me for it.

If I thought a customer was mature and "cool" enough to handle the truth, I'd tell them, "Look, off the record, we don't have Chek and we never will get it, because it's Winn-Dixie's brand.  I'm not supposed to tell you that though."  Of course, when I misjudged the customer, I'd get written up, because a lot of them would complain to a manager about being lied to in the first place, and then the manager would come after me for daring to utter the heresy of "Winn-Dixie" within the sacred halls of Wal-Mart.  And I was only a stocker/unloader, dealing with customers was something I did once in a while, not all the time.  I imagine the poor slobs at the service desk took a lot more stress than me because of this bullshit policy.

(http://img166.imageshack.us/img166/5034/customerserviceyv3.th.jpg) (http://img166.imageshack.us/my.php?image=customerserviceyv3.jpg)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Cheeetar on April 21, 2009, 12:53:15 am
I'll pm it to him.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Sir_Geo on April 21, 2009, 01:02:19 am
Could it be possible for me to get a copy of that too? I always find that type of thing interesting.
EDIT: Thanks
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Cheeetar on April 21, 2009, 01:11:32 am
I have sent.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on April 21, 2009, 07:48:38 am
Bromor, that is possibly the stupidest policy I have ever HEARD of!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Maggarg - Eater of chicke on April 21, 2009, 02:59:15 pm
That's a pretty damn silly policy.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on April 21, 2009, 08:59:42 pm
Now I want to ask a Wal-Mart employee where I can find a Big Mac cooking machine and see if they'll order it.
Title: Decent walk today
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on April 21, 2009, 11:26:44 pm
Just realized I forgot to post my workout log.  Well, The Chief had some other obligations today (had to take care of his sick daughter) so he didn't want to come walking today.  So I walked the three miles by myself this afternoon.  As it turned out, he claimed that he would have walked with me after about 5:30 when his kid's mother got off work.  Unfortunately, I assumed that he wouldn't want to walk with me, and I didn't call him, otherwise I'd have done another three miles with him.  I wish I had, I really had plenty of energy left.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on April 21, 2009, 11:39:45 pm
ooh! I ran for half an hour, played frisbee, sprinted, and ate popsicles.

(pretty much a day off)

Title: Tried something new today: "Slow Reps"
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on April 22, 2009, 05:03:31 pm
Barbarossa, I guess you're the local track expert, have you ever tried HIIT (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training)?  Would you recommend it?  I can't run for at least another month, but I want to do something drastic to get my cardio back to the way it was before I got sick.

Lifted weights with The Chief today.  We did our usual 3x10x170 on the regular bench, with sets of 10x70 preacher curls and 20x70 seated rows after each set (we should probably bump this up fairly soon), but before we went on to our 3x10x135 incline bench, we did a set of 10x135 slow rep bench presses.  When benching normally, you probably take about a second to lower the bar to your chest, and anywhere from a second to three to raise it.  In slow rep benching, you do a much lower weight, and force yourself to take three seconds to both lower and raise the bar, also concentrating on maintaining perfect form.  I'm not sure how effective it is (it's just something The Chief read about on some forum) but it does tire one out.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Sir_Geo on April 22, 2009, 07:39:17 pm
I remember doing something similar during track last year, though we did it to improve our speed. I found it helpful but it gets very tiring.
Also-It turns out I'll be running a full marathon not a half-marathon as I previously posted. Woo!
Still doing a similar workout as before but at longer distances (now I'm alternating running eight and ten miles) and I've added in some HITTS this past week. Also been doing some cross training on a bike.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on April 22, 2009, 09:51:11 pm
Hey everybody,

I'm out of the hospital and the surgery went well.

I'm hurting, but my back feels so much better, and they gave me percosets for the belly pain. It turns out that my gall-bladded was chock full of stones, and probably had been affecting me for years.

I'm able to walk short distances, but won't be able to pick up weights heavier than 15lbs for 2 weeks.

Anyway, I hope you guys are all ok.
Title: Re: Tried something new today: "Slow Reps"
Post by: Heron TSG on April 22, 2009, 10:36:45 pm
Barbarossa, I guess you're the local track expert, have you ever tried HIIT (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training)?  Would you recommend it?

Well, that wikipedia article was confusing, but here are a couple styles of 'HIIT' that usually work better and can give more variety for you.


Fartlek
(That's the name of the guy who made it. It doesn't mean fart-lick)

OPTION 2: If you just aren't tired, run like hell in the last step.

Indian Run
This one is good for around three or four people.

Find a good flat area with regular markers. (Telephone poles, for example)

Run single file, and every time you pass a marker, the back person runs to the front and runs at his own speed. On the next thousand (etc) markers, you repeat.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Maggarg - Eater of chicke on April 23, 2009, 03:59:17 pm
Hey everybody,

I'm out of the hospital and the surgery went well.

I'm hurting, but my back feels so much better, and they gave me percosets for the belly pain. It turns out that my gall-bladded was chock full of stones, and probably had been affecting me for years.

I'm able to walk short distances, but won't be able to pick up weights heavier than 15lbs for 2 weeks.

Anyway, I hope you guys are all ok.
Not doing exercise shouldn't be a problem if you're anything like me.
Gall stones sound damn nasty.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on April 23, 2009, 04:28:51 pm
Definitely not fun.

I'd personally rather being doing a little more exercise, to keep my back from stiffening up, but it's not so bad right now. I'll probably be able to do atleast some of my floor-exercises, though, today or tomorrow.

I also have to keep walking around, to prevent bloodclots, so I get a little exercise.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on April 23, 2009, 06:31:16 pm
Wow. Walmart is eviler than even paranoid old me thought. Damn.


It turns out that the water in the house got a bit higher than we thought, and the side room on the third level where I put my stuff was about half-an-inch lower than the rest, so the carpet got soaked. We've torn it out, and I got to learn how to lay new carpeting (it's a charcoal gray color). We might be able to move back into the house as soon as this weekend. I'm happy for that, although I may or may not have a bed. I've set up a cot already, and I've been sleeping in a sleeping bag for the last month, so it won't be a big deal.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on April 23, 2009, 07:28:52 pm
Really good news, Strife26! I'm glad you get to go home.

It's a good feeling to get back into your own house, and your own bed (even if it's just a cot). Believe me, I definitely understand that.

I wish I had more experience at laying new carpet. It's a very useful skill. Our house came with tragically ugly grey carpeting, and I'd love to replace it. Someday I will, hopefully with hardwood flooring, if we can ever afford it.

Take care, Strife26, I hope everything goes really well with the move-in.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on April 23, 2009, 09:51:05 pm
Our house came with tragically ugly grey carpeting

mine came with salmon-colored shag carpet on the stairs.

Of course, the entire house is 105+ years old, so it must've been 'in style' at least once!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: inaluct on April 23, 2009, 09:52:35 pm
I don't have a house.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on April 23, 2009, 11:14:35 pm
well, technically I only live in it and my parents own it.

but it still came with floral wallpaper and horrible stair carpets.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: umiman on April 24, 2009, 02:28:09 am
When I got this house, I had a discussion with the owner concerning flooring and we came to the conclusion that wood flooring is the easiest to maintain, though it does get cold in the winter. However, I prefer to sweep than to vacuum so it does save a lot of time. My basement is completely tiled in anticipation of water damage from possible leaks.

Having a house is great when you're at my age (21) as you can brag to everyone about how you're a money genius and the only better way to immediately make people think you're rich is to drive a big fancy sports car.  :D
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: WorkerDrone on April 24, 2009, 03:57:49 am
Or BUY a big fancy sports car with them present.
Title: Slight increase on the curls and a new record for The Chief
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on April 24, 2009, 03:57:35 pm
Yesterday I got the Chief to go walking with me.  We intended to do 3 miles, but thanks to construction, we ended up doing more like 3.5.  Not that I mind, I'm gonna see if I can get him to do 4 on Sunday.

He felt especially strong today so he tried to bench 245, which he's never done before.  He managed it fairly easily, I seriously think he could get 255 under optimal conditions.  Naturally I had to match whatever he did, so I did 245 as well (the most I've benched since I got sick) and I had more trouble with it than he did.

After that we did four sets of 10x170 on the regular bench, and went up to 80 for our sets of 10 curls and 20 rows.  Then we finished off with our usual 3 sets of 10x135 wide-grip incline bench.  I'm thinking it's about time to go up to 145 on those, and the Chief wants to go up to 185 on the regular bench next Wednesday.  Fine by me.

Strife, I'm glad to hear that you're back in your house, even if it's messed up.  You know, when I think of "things in Fargo that can ruin your shit", I think "blizzards", not "flooding". 

SHB, hope your recovery process is going well and that you're not in too much pain.  I'm steadily working on that project, I've got something like 15-20 entries completed although they're not alphabetized yet.  I'll probably hold off on that until all 120 are completed.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on April 24, 2009, 04:30:22 pm
Yeah, I am starting to feel a lot better. Still not doing a lot of exercising, but the desire is definitely there.

I'm gonna attempt to take a semi-long walk today, and see how that goes. I'm still getting light headed, so I have to be careful not to push myself too hard, but I'm hoping it'll be ok.

A bonus from this experience is that my wrist has been getting better, so I *might* be able to lift more weights in the future. That'd be nice.

Take your time, Bromor, and feel free to send me updates on what you've done so far, if you want me to review it. I'll be happy to do that, and it might help keep us both on the same page.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on April 24, 2009, 10:46:08 pm
Well, I ran on the elliptical machine today, and my feet and left ankle are feeling a little better.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on April 25, 2009, 01:07:22 am
They're both big threats in Fargo. The thing is, Fargo is (possibly) one of the best suited cities in the world for dealing with disasters. Major blizzards might close the city down for a day, but the Fargo sand and plow fleet is huge. Despite the uselessness of the forecasting (it was quite bad this year), once the city hears anything that approaches 39 feet (the height of the major flood in '97) it goes into overdrive. I complined about it, but it really represents the logistical capabilities of Fargo. The road my house is on boarders a field (of the farming sort). When the city needs to make dikes, they pay farmers to borrow their ground. Our engineer types shove all of the topsoil in a pile and dig a big pit to get the clay. We had a large dumptruck full of clay going past our house every five minutes for days. And we were an afterthought clay site.

The city of Fargo itself lost five houses. My neighborhood was out of city limits (they still were able to put up a big-ass ring dike around 27 houses though). The city did its best to supply us with sandbags. If it wasn't for the frozen ground, precious few homes would have been damaged.

I just got off of a 8.5 hour shift at work. We were quite busy, and I made 9% of the tips tonight. It came out to the interesting number of $52. I'm sitting in a conviently placed coffee shop (they had my loyalty when I found out that they would be open 24 hours a day). Locally owned too. Tommorow, I'll be shopping for a new bedframe (we didn't bother hualing the old one out). It's also my mother's birthday. If I'm lucky, at this time tommorow I'll be typing from home.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Sir_Geo on April 25, 2009, 01:56:49 am
That is great news Strife, hope things work out.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Awayfarer on April 25, 2009, 06:47:53 am
Wait...there's something open 24 hours in North Dakota?

Dammit, I live in Mass, within 30 miles of Boston, and I can't even find a late-night diner in my area. Everything in the state closes early for no apparent reason.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Strife26 on April 25, 2009, 10:08:24 pm
Well, I'm typing this from my house, and I'm staying the night, but it won't be pernament yet. Spent today furniture shopping. My new bedroom will be a side room, it will also have to be my office and video-game room. It's not a big room to begin with, so I need to conserve space. I've found a decent loft bed, I'll sleep on the top. The bottom will have a recliner. It also has a small desk on the side (enough to work at my laptop). The prospective chair has a cooler in the arm.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Heron TSG on April 25, 2009, 11:21:29 pm
The prospective chair has a cooler in the arm.

human ingenuity knows no bounds!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Heron TSG on April 26, 2009, 10:55:41 pm
Oh yeah! At yesterday's meet, we got a couple medals, but I wasn't able to run.

((Bumped for great justice!))
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Strife26 on April 26, 2009, 11:02:10 pm
Nice!
We changed our minds, so we're now staying in the house again. I slept on a comfy cot last night, and I'm going to camp on the couch tonight (I want my blankets again). All of my cats are back too, so I went overboard in buying an assortment of food for them (prime rib, steak, some lamb, tuna, and fancy cat food). I work in a restuarant, so I only payed for the tuna and fancy stuff.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on April 27, 2009, 01:37:48 am
Hey everybody,

I'm glad to hear your cats are back, Strife26. I don't know if I've mentioned, but my wife and I have 4 cats and 2 dogs.

When my family lived on the farm, we had over 20 cats, several of them working mousers/vermin hunters.

I was able to get out and do some extra gardening today. I put in an herb-garden section, and I planted sweet and Thai basil, five plants each, and 8 flat leafed parsley plants. I still have dill, cilantro, and chives to plant in that area, but they'll be seeds.

I want a rosemary bush for that area, and some other herbs (including other varieties of parsley and basil, both of which I cook with often), but I ran out of money. The only good hanging baskets I could find were twice as much as I'd hoped they'd be, and I needed them, so that curtailed my spending.

I'll plan on buying atleast 5 more baskets next year, 10 if possible, but it'll ofcourse depend on money.

My wife's step-dad (a really nice guy, who also fixed our garage door) gave me 18 tomato plants in two varieties, and 4 different pepper plants, for my birthday. I'll be planting atleast most of the tomatos in hanging baskets. I haven't decided about the peppers quite yet, but it's probable they'll end up in the herb section, since I only currently have room to plant sweetcorn and radishes in the main garden.

I was really tired afterwards, and took a nap, but it was good exercise. Although still sore, I'm definitely feeling better, and don't need my pain pills nearly as much as I did.

Basil, by the way, is good for lowering your blood-sugar. It's also supposed to be strongly antioxidant, and is traditionally used in India for the treatment of asthma, stress, and diabetes.

Parsley contains a lot of vitamins, but eating too much of it has some health risks. It's high in oxalic acid, which can lead to kidney stones and nutrient deficiencies, and it can lead to photosensitivity. It also shouldn't be eaten in large amounts by pregnant women, because it can lead to premature labor.
Title: Slight increase on weights today
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on April 27, 2009, 04:15:28 pm
Yesterday we decided to increase the distance on our walk.  We went what we thought was 4 miles, but I drove it today and my odometer said it was 4.4.  The new route we're doing also has more and steeper hills.  Tomorrow we're going to bump it up to 5 miles.

We increased the weights we're doing today as well.  We benched 3x10x185 with the usual sets of 10x85 curls and 20x85 rows after each set of bench presses, then did 3x10x140 on the inclined bench.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Heron TSG on April 27, 2009, 07:46:43 pm
hooray for Bromor!

Have you tried my suggested workouts?

Bloomsday is this weekend, gonna at least walk all of it, as I still want the finisher's T-shirt.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on April 27, 2009, 10:26:48 pm
Quote from: Barbarossa the Seal God
Have you tried my suggested workouts?

Not yet.  I can't run or jog for another three weeks according to my doctor.  You better believe I'm gonna try some HIIT the way you described it once I can run, though.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Org on April 28, 2009, 03:48:54 pm
Hey everyone.

Not much going on, but I think I will try to get a exercise schedule, for now some push ups and sit ups.

What do you guys think of the Swine Flu?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Strife26 on April 28, 2009, 04:03:20 pm
A bit worrying, but until people with access to healthcare start dieing in large numbers, I'm not worried. The paint fumes around here'll kill any airborne stuff though.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on April 28, 2009, 04:53:50 pm
The swineflu has covered a very large territory, both with and without good medical coverage, and so far, I don't think there have been as many as a hundred deaths (last I heard was 68).

I'm not personally worried, although I wouldn't want my older relatives to be exposed to it.

A hundred years ago, or so, influenza was wiping people out in the tens of thousands, so to me-although I don't want people getting sick, and I don't want to sound unsympathetic-it's really small change, comparably.

Just another opportunity for the media to hype something, in hopes of causing a panic. Nevermind that the panic is potentially more dangerous than the disease.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Sir_Geo on April 28, 2009, 06:28:34 pm
The swineflu has covered a very large territory, both with and without good medical coverage, and so far, I don't think there have been as many as a hundred deaths (last I heard was 68).

I'm not personally worried, although I wouldn't want my older relatives to be exposed to it.

A hundred years ago, or so, influenza was wiping people out in the tens of thousands, so to me-although I don't want people getting sick, and I don't want to sound unsympathetic-it's really small change, comparably.

Just another opportunity for the media to hype something, in hopes of causing a panic. Nevermind that the panic is potentially more dangerous than the disease.

I don't think you have to worry too much about your older relatives since it seems to mostly kill healthy young adults (20-40 years old).

I'm still doing a similar workout except that I've increased my daily miles from 6-8 to 8-10 i.e. I run 8 miles one day and 10 the next (although I have had to skip a few days due to time constraints.)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on April 28, 2009, 07:40:23 pm
In the U.S. there have only been 40 confirmed cases as of yesterday, and of those, only 1 was even hospitalized. Aside from that, yes it has been occuring more in younger people, but that's mainly because there was an outbreak in a school, so it makes sense that many of those 40 would have been young.

As I already mentioned, I'm sympathetic to it being a dangerous disease, but at the same time, it's not Captain Trips.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Sir_Geo on April 28, 2009, 08:13:02 pm
That's not what I meant. In Mexico the majority of the people that died were young, healthy people. This that prompted the comparison with the 1918 Spanish Flu.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on April 29, 2009, 10:26:43 am
Oh I see. That's very strange. I wonder what the circumstances were?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Strife26 on April 29, 2009, 04:14:58 pm
I read an interesting article in the Fargo Forum today. The guy was wondering what the big deal is. 70 cases in a country the size of America? OH NO!?!?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on April 29, 2009, 04:30:19 pm
Well, the big news today is that there was 1 reported and confirmed death in the U.S.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: umiman on April 29, 2009, 05:48:22 pm
There's a great benefit from this swine flu though! Pork prices are so cheap, again. Seems that every time there's some pandemic or another, pork prices fall. Avian flu, pork price falls. SARS, pork price falls. Etc.

Though I guess Americans and Mexicans eat more beef than pork.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: JoshuaFH on April 29, 2009, 05:56:31 pm
I love my beef and pork, so this is great news! I should stock up before the scare dies down!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Heron TSG on April 29, 2009, 08:33:23 pm
Gave my foot an icebath today, hopefully it'll be better soon. How's it hanging in Fargo?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Sir_Geo on April 29, 2009, 10:16:58 pm
I love my beef and pork, so this is great news! I should stock up before the scare dies down!

This is actually a pretty good idea. The swine flu isn't spread by pork so there is pretty much zero risk of getting sick (from the swine flu) by eating some pork.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Strife26 on April 29, 2009, 10:23:57 pm
I am proud to report that I am typing this from the bed (an actual B E D bed!) in my (MY!) room.

Life is good, although the amount of Spanish stuff that I have to do for tommorow is scary (I had to put the bed together tonight, you know?). I'm also going to be test driving an '05 Pontiac Sunfire. My dad's also going to be back on a four day pass!

Life is good!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on April 30, 2009, 02:00:21 am
Great news!  ;D

I'm glad things are going well for you. After everything you've been through, you definitely deserve it.

I love pork, but with my gall-bladder out, I really have to watch my fat intake. The good news there is that I've lost 21 lbs since first getting sick, but the bad news is, I've had to make a lot of changes in my diet.

Wednesday (the 29th) was my birthday, so I kind of overdid it a little on cake (my wife baked me a German chocolate cake, and it was delicious), and corned beef sandwitches, and I'm feeling the effects a bit. Not too bad, but I definitely know I have a limit that I have to respect.

I also kind of overdid it, exercise-wise. In addition to some walking (twice around the block, most I've done since getting out of the hospital), and some cleaning, I dug a short trench, crushed some charcoal, and planted 5 tomato plants, 3 pepper plants, and 3 rows of sweet corn. I've also been up since 9am, so I'm pretty beat, not to mention sore, but it was a really nice birthday, especially since my mom is here, helping out.  :)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Heron TSG on April 30, 2009, 08:05:47 am
Happy birthday!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26:
Post by: Maggarg - Eater of chicke on April 30, 2009, 01:54:48 pm
Our house came with tragically ugly grey carpeting

mine came with salmon-colored shag carpet on the stairs.

Of course, the entire house is 105+ years old, so it must've been 'in style' at least once!

The house I'm sitting is is 100 years old.
It's pretty spacious as well, actually.
Title: Happy Birthday, SHB!
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on April 30, 2009, 09:11:01 pm
Been having some Internet trouble, so I didn't post a workout log yesterday.  I think that from now on, I'll just keep my workout logs in one post per page, and edit the post each time instead of needlessly bumping the topic.

We did the usual weightlifting routine yesterday, the same as last time except we increased the weight on the inclines to 145.  We had a nice long walk today, doing about five miles at the fastest walking pace we could.  It took us an hour and twenty minutes to go five miles, which isn't really awesome, but we did have to wait on traffic a few times.  Tomorrow The Chief wants to set another personal record of 255 on the bench press and I'm nearly entirely sure he can do it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Strife26 on April 30, 2009, 09:20:13 pm
Feel free to keep this bumped. Just imagine the epic length in a few weeks/months/years.

We've started doing 8-5-3-3 workouts in Weight class. 8 reps that are pretty light, then adding some weight and doing 5 more. Then adding even more weight and doing two sets of 3. I like them, although I've discovered that it's much easier to ignore one's partner in class.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Heron TSG on April 30, 2009, 11:20:56 pm
Today I helped run my home track meet, but couldn't run.

Any suggestions on relieving tendinitis in the arch of a foot aside from ice baths, ice packs, staying off of it, and getting more arch support?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on May 01, 2009, 03:16:17 am
Thanks, Barbarossa!  ;D

I'm sorry to hear about your tendonitis. I assume you're taking something for anti-inflammation? Have you tried soaking your foot in warm water laced with Epsom salts? Sometimes that helped my back pain, so it might help with other things, too, and Epsom salt is usually cheap. Also, you might try alternating hot and cold water. That was the best thing I ever did for my back, and doesn't require anything special.

Bromor: It takes me approximately 35 minutes to cover 2 miles, and I push myself, so I think you're doing fine.


My mom and I gardened pretty much all day, which was a lot of fun, but it wore us out, too (definitely lots of exercise, though, as well as plenty of fresh air and sunlight). She goes back to Pennsylvania the day after tomorrow, but I wish she were able to stay longer. It's been really great having her here. Atleast, she should be able to visit a lot more often, now.

We got 4 more tomato plants planted (the ones in the ground are Better Boys, which grow large tomatoes, while the ones in the pots are Celebrity, which grow mediums. Both are hybrids.), as well as one pepper, some dill, chives, and cilantro, and the radishes. It doesn't really seem like a lot, but I about doubled the size of my herb garden, and extended the trenches around it as well.

The peppers (Jalapeno, Garden Salsa, Sweet Banana, and Mexibelle.) are going in the herb garden, but I won't plant that entire area, this year, even though I'm running out of room. I like having a variety of fresh herbs on hand, and that seems to be the best place for herbs, so I'll extend that as I go. These aren't bell peppers, so the excuse is that they function more as an herb than anything else, in my cooking. I did stick two tomato plants in there, but tomatoes are annuals, so that's not a big deal.

For the most part, though, the idea is to-more or less-plant the same things in the same areas, only switching them around as the soil requires it.

Most of the stuff has been planted for the spring, but I'm going to plant atleast one more plum tree (that'll make three, plus all the old ones in the back yard), and the strawberries (I hope they're still good--they're plants my wife bought, not seeds, so I'm not sure how long we've got until they expire. I hope to find out tomorrow.), and I'll attempt to get more tomato plants in, and some more basil too, I think (Seeds, though, not plants. I bought 2 20 cent packets of basil seeds at Walmart, and I'm interested in finding out if they'll actually grow. The same goes for the dill and the chives.). Also, I'm planning to plant some garlic, but I have to wait until it's ready, since I'm just using garlic that I bought at the grocery store.

My wife wants zucchini plants (She bakes spectacular zucchini bread.), and lettuce. I'll have to find room for the zucchini, but the lettuce, I think I'll plant in the same area where I'm putting the trees in. I also want atleast one grape tomato plant, for snacking and salads, and a habanero pepper. Some bell peppers would also be nice. No idea where they'll go, though.

Eventually, I'll probably convert the entire front yard to garden, but that'll require several years.

It looks like the emphasis next year will be on putting in asparagus bushes. We had some fresh asparagus while my mom was here, and it was divine. I can only imagine that it'd be even better out of the garden. I have an area that should work. It's currently full of the remains of a particularly vicious thorn bush, so it'll be a *fun* job to clean out. 

I also *might* plant a cherry tree. That's gonna be difficult, because it'll be a full sized tree (the plums seem to be semi-dwarf), but eventually, the big cherry tree we have may have to be cut down (it's very old, not in the best of health, and in a bad area), and I really don't want to remove it, without atleast trying to grow one of the many seedlings it produces.

Cherries aside, the blossoms are quite beautiful, and I'd miss them in the spring.

The growing elaborateness of the garden-particularly, the digging of the trenches-is reminding me more and more of playing a good game of DF. It's interesting to observe the cyclical nature of things, first hand.  8)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Heron TSG on May 01, 2009, 08:31:59 am
I'm sorry to hear about your tendonitis. I assume you're taking something for anti-inflammation? Have you tried soaking your foot in warm water laced with Epsom salts? Sometimes that helped my back pain, so it might help with other things, too, and Epsom salt is usually cheap. Also, you might try alternating hot and cold water. That was the best thing I ever did for my back, and doesn't require anything special.

Well, I haven't taken pills or anything. I'll try salt and warm water though... sounds like a good Foot Stew.

Anyways-
    a tip from someone else with a huge cherry tree- cut it back before it grows out of your picking range, or fruit flies will swarm.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on May 01, 2009, 04:25:18 pm
If you're not taking pills, then I'll try to find some herbal anti-inflammatories for you. From what I've read about tendonitis, the best recommendations are to stay off the foot, and to reduce the inflammation.

I'm afraid that it's far too late to cut the tree back at this point. It's too close to the house to do casually, and the tree's probably 60 feet tall. Most of the cherries are well out of safe picking range, even with a ladder, and I end up getting only a handful of them, every year.

Too bad, too, they're quite delicious.

The plum trees-while also pretty old-are much easier to pick, since they were planted very close together, and haven't grown past 12 feet. The plums themselves are quite tasty, although I try to pick them before they're quite ripe, because I don't spray them for bugs, so they aren't as sweet as they could be. The flavor is quite refreshing, though.
Title: Chief cancels lift weights: too injured
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on May 01, 2009, 06:32:49 pm
5/1/09
The Chief's shoulder was bothering him, so we reduced the amount of weight we did on the regular bench to 170 today and did four sets to compensate for the reduced weight.  As usual, we followed each set of ten with a set of 10x80 preacher curls and a set of 20x80 seated rows before moving on to 3x10x145 incline presses.  However, this may have been too much for The Chief, because after the last set of inclines, he claimed that his shoulder was hurting like Hell.  I hope it's just muscle fatigue and that he didn't seriously injure himself.  I'm also gratified to find out that I can lift 255, I seem to be recovering nicely.  On Monday I'll see if I can't lift 265.

5/5/09
Well, to my shame, I didn't work out yesterday or the day before that.  The Chief didn't want to work out either of those days, but that's no excuse.  He didn't want to work out today either, so I went ahead and did the 5-mile walk without him.  I threw in a little jogging as well, three separate times that I felt like I had a little extra steam, I jogged for a half mile or so before slowing back down to a fast walk.  I managed the whole five mile course in just under an hour and fifteen minutes.

5/6/09
The Chief has a darn good excuse for not working out these past few days.  He was recently in an accident (rolled his truck avoiding a deer on a wet road) and as it turns out (he got the x-rays back yesterday afternoon) he cracked his collarbone and also has a calcium growth on the cracked area.  So when he feels like NOT benching, it's not so much "being a whiny bitch" as it is "a perfectly reasonable response to a serious injury".  That said, despite all the defects in his innermost tissue layer, we did a set of 10x205 on the bench, followed by 2 sets of 10x170, interspersed with our usual 3 sets of 10x80 curls and 20x80 rows, followed by 3x10x145 incline bench.  I didn't try 265 (though I'm sure I could have gotten it) because I didn't feel comfortable asking him to spot me.  I've gotta go back over there this evening when his roommate's home, I'll be sure to try 265 then.

5/7/09
Naturally I succeeded at the 265 attempt last night, although I seriously wonder if I could get 275.  We just got back from doing the 5-mile route.  Since it took us by the city park at the very end, I convinced The Chief to do some chin-ups with me.  I managed 12, but I think I could have done a lot more if it had come at the start of the walk instead of the end.  We tried to jog a little bit but The Chief said it was making his back hurt, so we just walked.  Altogether it took us just under an hour and a half.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Strife26 on May 01, 2009, 08:50:27 pm
I was encountered with an interesting problem today. I spent the day in St. Paul for the Festival of Nations. When I got back, my grandparents (who are staying for a few days) told me about a grave problem. They wanted to listen/watch to the Polka Joe TV show. The couldn’t work our Midcontent Cable though. After find the proper TV show, we disheartened to find that we no longer got the channel. After I tried to find an online streaming of it (no hope there), I came up with a good idea. PANDORA RADIO!! I got us running on the ‘Beer barrel polka’ channel, but we were stymied by my laptop’s crappy speakers. After messing with some computer speakers, I came up with a plan. One speaker-chair on MP3 mode later, and we’re rocking. So remember folks, you can make a working sound system with few parts. I’m trying to incorporate the really big speakers right now (there is no overkill), but I’m having trouble. The house is still filled with polkas though.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Heron TSG on May 01, 2009, 10:30:51 pm
Thank god for polka!

Thanks SHB, I'll attempt to stay off of it... DF, here I come more often than previously!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on May 01, 2009, 11:08:25 pm
I love my Pandora Radio. I run a mixture that falls somewhere between Joe Satriani and E.S. Posthumous, if you can imagine that.

Our bathroom needs to be remodeled, and when we do, I want to get a small, enclosed sterio system (something like a car sterio) installed in there. So far, we've got sterios in the living room and the garage. The one in the garage is great for when I'm working out there. 

Tara (my wifey) had a huge collection of CDs before we got married, much more than I did, and most of them are very listenable: CCR, Nirvana, Iron Maiden, Lords of Acid, Primus, Led Zeppelin, the Doors (her favorite), the Smiths, quite a range of artists. I tend to go for slightly older bands, so she bought me AC/DC, Queen, and ZZ Top CDs for Christmas. They're ones she likes too, and didn't have, so it helped round out our collection.

We've also got a fairly decent collection of classical music (I'm especially fond of opera, and she likes Pachelbel), although my Tchaikovski cds wore out.

We both like to listen to heavy (and acid) metal when we're cleaning the house and doing chores, and I like instrumental rock when I'm at the computer.

Being from Pennsylvania, I grew up with polka, and the Lawrence Welk show, and my mom used to play the accordian.

Today's her last full day out here, so we all went shopping and spent time together, and I didn't really get much exercise, but we might go for a walk later on.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Heron TSG on May 01, 2009, 11:13:59 pm
I don't listen to much music that has words other than the Beatles, Beach boys, Queen (occasionally) and a few others. I prefer songs like this.

Coat of Arms-George Kenny (http://www.alfred-music.com/player/Belwin2003ConcertBandSeries/wbcb9314/player.html?osCsid=040042fe0d6e459c1279285d85482cdf)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on May 01, 2009, 11:38:38 pm
I often find lyrics to be a distraction.

I walked my 2 miles today. First time I've managed to, since I got sick.

Yeah!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Footkerchief on May 03, 2009, 08:03:28 pm
the Smiths

She should check out Cats on Fire (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvuiCCuYRNI).  They're very Smithsy except maybe even more alarmingly poncy.  And really (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfgGPs56I8k) insanely (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOUj2soql3g) good (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgb-5Fop4Bg).
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on May 03, 2009, 08:22:21 pm
I'll say something to her about it. I like the Smiths myself, for that matter.

I did my regular floor exercises today, and did a little extra, besides.

Since the surgery, my back hasn't been bothering me nearly as much as it was, so it's more a matter of stretching it out, and keeping my legs healthy, than it is doing what I absolutely had to on a daily basis, just to function.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Maggarg - Eater of chicke on May 05, 2009, 03:07:17 pm
Eek, exercise.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on May 05, 2009, 04:17:13 pm
Yeah, while I currently enjoy exercise (and wish I had the time and energy to do it more extensively), I didn't always, I must admit. It's something I've grown into, and learned the benefits and pleasures of, rather than taking to it naturally, and I still have to make a conscious, determined decision to continue doing it, and to push myself, every time I work out.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Maggarg - Eater of chicke on May 07, 2009, 01:58:12 pm
Yeah, while I currently enjoy exercise (and wish I had the time and energy to do it more extensively), I didn't always, I must admit. It's something I've grown into, and learned the benefits and pleasures of, rather than taking to it naturally, and I still have to make a conscious, determined decision to continue doing it, and to push myself, every time I work out.
I tried doing any meaningful exercise and hated it. Doing something uncomfortable for ages for fairly small benefits isn't my idea of fun. The exercise I get is from being cheap and walking or biking everywhere and gardening.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Footkerchief on May 07, 2009, 02:12:33 pm
Exercise feels really good when you're pissed off.  Also, the desire to look good for somebody (even a nonspecific somebody) is enough to motivate me to at least moderate exercise.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Heron TSG on May 08, 2009, 12:04:57 am
Today I ran the mile in 6:02

Definitely not my best, but still right at 6:00.

A week off the elliptical and onto the track should do me good.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on May 09, 2009, 02:50:28 am
Hey everybody!  ;D

I managed to walk 4 miles tonight, averaging a little under 20 minutes a mile.

8)

I've been feeling exhausted and sore all the time lately, but I felt that I needed to push myself, especially since I haven't been sleeping well, lately.

Hopefully, I will tonight. I'm trying to re-plant a fire-berry bush. We'll see how that goes. I probably won't know for a year or two. They're very pretty plants with bright orange berries that last all winter long. They've also got incredibly vicious thorns that are not only an inch + long, but are actually poisonous (with an effect much like getting injected with a hypodermic needle filled with essence of poison ivy).

Last year I chopped apart and removed atleast 4 overgrown bushes with just a handaxe and a hacksaw (proving once again that I'm a bad motherfucker), but I'm hoping the one I planted will grow in a less awkward area (one of the very few areas I don't have another use for) than right in the center of our yard, because I do like them. The bush is a relative of the hawthorn tree, and the berries are edible, but the taste isn't great (taste and texture closely resembling mealy apples). They're mostly good for their vibrant, warm color in the middle of winter. 

Someone really should breed them to taste better, for use as a winter food-source.

I also planted 2 more tomato plants. I'm hoping they'll live. I'm worried because they were some of the very last ones I had to plant, but we'll see.

My Thai basil all died, sadly...I'm not sure why, since my sweet basil is right next to it, and seems to be fine, but the Thai may not have been getting enough sun. Basil is a sun-loving plant, and they were right under my ornamental pine tree, which I ended up trimming to accommodate the basil.

Too late for the Thai, unfortunately. Most of my stuff is really growing, though, especially my onions. I've got millions of those things, and they're about a foot tall, already. The corn, the radishes, and the herbs so far haven't made themselves known yet, but they're seeds.

Is it just me, or are people not posting to this thread as much as before?

Come on, you slackers!  >:(

If the old man can do it right after an operation, what's your excuse?
Title: Not happy with my time today
Post by: Bromor Neckbeard on May 09, 2009, 08:52:31 am
I knew I forgot something yesterday:  to post in this topic.  Now, as I said before, I'm deliberately making all of my contributions in each page in only one post, rather than bumping it every single day.
 
5/8/09  Okay, so thanks to The Chief having a cracked collarbone and all, he's understandably not wanting to do as much weight, so we only did 170 on the bench.  However, to make up for this, I increased the reps in each set I did by 50%.  So now my normal routine goes like this:  3x15x170 bench press, 3x15x80 curls, 3x30x80 rows, 3x15x145 inclince bench.  I'm also thinking that I'm going to go up on the curl/row weight pretty soon.  (Yes, I understand this goes against conventional weightlifting wisdom.  I know that if I can do 15 reps of a weight in every set, it's time to increase the weight.  However, I prefer to do the same amount as The Chief, not only because it keeps him from getting discouraged, but because I want to spend more time actually working out and less time shuffling weights around on every single set.  I'm not striving for 100% efficiency or maximum gains, I'm doing this as a hobby and not as an occupation.)  If I'm up to it, I'm going to try 275 on Monday.

5/9/09  Though I only did five miles today (well, I did six, but the first was early this morning when I walked to city hall and the local newspaper to pay a couple of bills), I jogged as much as I felt that I could.  I don't know exactly how far I jogged (I estimate 2 miles) and how far I walked, but I cut my previous best time of 1:15 down to 1 hour.  I did it alone because The Chief had to go to his daughter's birthday party, but that's fine, because I wouldn't have been able to jog nearly as much if he'd been along.  Glad to hear you're feeling better, Barbarossa!

5/11/09  I tried 275 today and was glad to see that I could do it.  After that we did 3 sets of 170 on the bench but increased the sets of curls and rows to 3x10x95.  95 is a bit much, so I'll cut it back to 90 or 85 next time.  Finally we finished off with our usual 3 sets of 145 on the incline.

5/12/09  Once again, The Chief punked out on the walk due to familial obligations.  I jogged a lot more than last time on the route, and early on, about at the one-mile mark, I flat-out ran almost a mile.  However, I think this actually hurt my overall time, because I was so tired that for the next quarter of the route or so I wasn't walking as fast as I could have been.  It took me 1:05 to do the five miles.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Heron TSG on May 09, 2009, 01:46:03 pm
Mmkay, this is what I've been up to...

Finally got rid of the tendonitis. Feeling much better and have been able to run again.

Today I brought my mom along to the Mother's Day 5k, and I completed it in 23:33, which was extremely easy for me. (I still have districts in track coming up...) I placed second in my age bracket and 7th overall.

As a side note, the medal I won was my first that was made out of a precious metal. My current collection is as follows from oldest to newest.

1st place bronze medal (it has a gold colored ring around the edge) from the Winterfest 2k, where there were only three runners anyways, not my favorite medal.

Frostbite 5k - First in age bracket, got a little blue ribbon saying 1st.

Mother's Day 5k - Silver medal, second in age bracket, etc.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Maggarg - Eater of chicke on May 10, 2009, 07:06:42 am
I've never won a medal for anything ever.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Heron TSG on May 10, 2009, 10:30:04 am
Neither did I until those three in the last 3-4 months.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on May 10, 2009, 03:18:54 pm
I won a blue ribbon once, at the county fair, for one of my crayon paintings.
Barbarossa: You probably thought I was kidding about the crayon, huh?  8)

Yesterday, I put in many hours (I *think* 6 and 1/2, but I'm not sure...) gardening and doing yard work, so that was my exercise. I planted 2 cherry saplings-I found room-as well as 1 tomato, and 7 strawberry plants. The package on the strawberry plants guarantees they'll grow, but they looked pretty dessicated to me, so we'll see.  ???

If not, I can always replant next year. They're perrenials, so no worries once they start growing.

Almost everything's in at this point. I might do some garlic next weekend, and then start on a lettuce bed. If we can scrape together enough money, I'll do a succession of radishes in different places, since they grow really fast. I still want more peppers, though.

I decided to give up one of the plum trees, and plant two cherries instead.
I think it'll work out. 
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Heron TSG on May 10, 2009, 10:57:06 pm
Barbarossa: You probably thought I was kidding about the crayon, huh?  8)

Nope, not at all. Crayon is one of my favorite mediums.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on May 11, 2009, 12:09:36 am
It's a really interesting one.

I like how the wax can be almost sculpted a bit...not to mention scraped away to reveal the (slightly modified) colors underneath. I'm a more natural sculpter than a painter, but this is a nice compromise between the two, and lets me do atleast reasonably competent "paintings", where otherwise I'd struggle to produce satisfactory work.

Plus it's cheap, and cheap is good!  ;D
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Maggarg - Eater of chicke on May 11, 2009, 11:09:01 am
Damn right cheap is best.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Strife26 on May 12, 2009, 04:22:14 pm
Damn right cheap is best.

Free.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on May 14, 2009, 02:57:42 am
Free's good too. Point for Strife.

So what's everybody doing this summer? It's finally getting warm. The birds are singing, the sprinklers are sprinkling, and my corn is as high as a millipede's eye.

Does anybody have any big plans?

Most of the time I'll be working, but we have our 4th of July party. We watch the little parade that goes by our house in the morning, and then my wife's family brings over meat and/or side dishes (and beer), and I grill. We usually make some side-dishes, too. After dark, we all watch the fireworks. It's a really nice time.

Now that I've got the garden pretty wrapped up, I can work on landscaping, so this weekend, I'll be cleaning the house and working outside.

Hopefully, I can also start getting my beer brewed for the year (Gardening = my spring and summer hobby, while brewing/canning/preserving foods and drinks = my winter hobby.). I've got three batches to brew (2 gallons each), only one of which I can do at a time.

Here's what I'll be brewing, in order:

Honey Maibock--Technically, a beer that's intended for drinking in May. Yeah...that aint gonna happen this year... It'll be in the fermenter for 3 weeks, and then bottled. It might be done lagering by the 4th of July, so that I can pass it around.

(Usually, because we host the party, and because I grill, we drink for free--and free is good!--but the others usually bring really cheap beer. Lots of it, plenty of it, but cheap. Aside from that, I'm not a big drinker, so I only drink 3, tops, anyway. I'm hoping to subtley reverse the trend towards better quality, especially since I can brew a beer that's 10 times as good, twice as strong, and a whole lot healthier-contains active yeasts, for one thing-at a cost to me of less than $2 a liter. If it works, I'll buy my wife's cousin a fermenter, and hopefully draw him into the hobby.)

Octoberfest Cream Ale--Should be done right at the end of October (the 31st is our wedding anniversary, and it's the one my wife wanted me to make),

Russian Imperial Stout--the big boy. I've never had it, but I've always been intrigued by it. It's an extremely dark, sweetish "dessert beer" that was originally brewed in England, for intended sale to the Russian Court of Catherine the Great. It takes the longest to lager (6 months + in the bottle), so I'm thinking it'll be ready by January, maybe February... Of the three, this is the one I'm most looking forward to, but it's going to be a looong time coming. Ingredients include ground espresso beans and molasses.

By next year, I hope to have 2 more fermenters (the 2 gallon ones like I currently have, with all the necessary equipment, are only 15$ each, so not too bad), so that I can ferment several brews at once. Brewing takes from 1-3 weeks, which is a little too long for me, considering I like to have different beers ready for different times of year. It's not so much that I'm in a hurry (especially considering the extreme lagering time involved), as I have to make time to brew each batch. 

I also need to obtain more bottles. Fortunately, they're readily available in the form of a truly out-of-this-world, best I've ever had, local brand of rootbeer and cream soda, that goes for 1$ each. I'd pay that much just for the bottles, which are 1 liter each, heavy duty brown plastic, and completely reuseable, although I do replace the caps and add my own lables (which my wonderful wife Tara bought for me). They say "Badger Beer".  ;D

I love my wife.

The best news is that I just found a brewing supply store not too far away, too, which should greatly facilitate this hobby in years to come, expecially money-wise. Liquid malt extracts aren't terribly cheap to ship. I haven't been in the place yet (I found it online only this week), but they also apparently sells green coffee beans, which I've been looking for, for years. My wife used to be a barista, and makes a hell of a good espresso, 8) so I might look into getting a coffee-roaster. 

It also-as far as their website says-sells wine making supplies. I wouldn't mind atleast giving that a go. My dad used to brew some amazing wine, years ago, that people still talk about, so I can ask him for help getting started, or if I run into trouble.

I actually *do* have a grapevine on my property, which is something else that intrigues me, since it means that grapes atleast *will* grow in this climate. I doubt I'd cultivate them anytime soon, though.

Beer, by the way, does have some health benefits. While I'm not about to encourage anybody to drink-and while it's by no means completely healthy-one of these days I'll list some objective nutritional information about the stuff.

The rest of this weekend, I'm devoting to exercise, working on DF-related stuff, and (I hope) swimming. I guess swimming would also count as exercise, huh?

Speaking of exercise: I did another 4 miles tonight. Yay me!

It definitely felt easier than the first time, but I was very glad to be done. I'm making 6 miles my goal, though. I hope to get there by atleast the end of summer. Also, I've been keeping up with my floor-exercises. I feel pretty good, but I haven't been sleeping well at all, which worries me, and I've been eating way too much of the wrong foods (directly related to the insomnia), so aside from actual exercise, and feeling good, I'm not currently doing all that great. 

???
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Footkerchief on May 14, 2009, 12:32:57 pm
I just got my scuba diving certification in Key Largo.  So that's what I'm doing with my summer so far.

I am become Fish-Dwarf. (http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/ASCII_Art_Reward#Midelne)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on May 14, 2009, 03:42:57 pm
Sweet!

I'm jealous now, because I've always wanted to get my license. I've even gone through all the training once, when I was still in highschool. I just wasn't able to do my completion at the time.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Heron TSG on May 15, 2009, 08:54:15 pm
Good job Footkerchief!

I wish I could swim...
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Footkerchief on May 15, 2009, 09:01:02 pm
Good job Footkerchief!

I wish I could swim...

Thanks!  But you... can't swim at all?  Where are you from? 
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Tormy on May 16, 2009, 07:17:21 am
I just got my scuba diving certification in Key Largo.  So that's what I'm doing with my summer so far.

I am become Fish-Dwarf. (http://www.dwarffortresswiki.net/index.php/ASCII_Art_Reward#Midelne)

Congrats!  :)

Good job Footkerchief!

I wish I could swim...

You cannot swim? What the.... :o
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Heron TSG on May 16, 2009, 11:27:59 am
Good job Footkerchief!

I wish I could swim...

Thanks!  But you... can't swim at all?  Where are you from? 

Well, the closest water source is the Columbia River or the Pool. The river is a bit fast to learn to swim in. (Think of a washing machine set on 'Cold Rinse'.)

And... No, I can't swim.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: umiman on May 16, 2009, 01:54:26 pm
That's why man conquered the elements and built swimming pools. :P
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on May 16, 2009, 03:40:58 pm
Do they have swimming lessons at the pool?

...I wonder if anyone teaches diving in Utah...

I really want/ought to get certified sometime.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Footkerchief on May 16, 2009, 03:55:28 pm
Looks like Utah has some halfway decent diving sites and shops. (http://www.utahdiving.com/)  This one in particular (http://www.utahdiving.com/crater.htm) looks like a really unique site, and probably has the best visibility by far.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on May 16, 2009, 04:04:53 pm
That's awesome, thanks Footkerchief!  ;D

Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Heron TSG on May 16, 2009, 05:09:28 pm
We have a swimming pool, but 20 bucks for four hours is a bit steep.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: WorkerDrone on May 16, 2009, 05:35:54 pm
The funny thing is, diving is likely easier than swimming for all of you who haven't swam much. I've gone under water alot, one time with ACTUAL diving gear, and it actually takes LESS effort to move around than when your just padding 'long the surface.

Though this is obviously just because your not trying to stay above water.

You'll actually have more fun diving than SWIMMING. I hate swimming. I however loved that one trip under water in Hawaii. I was only a few bare feet away from these huge Sea Turtles, and I swear I saw a huge Tiger Shark off in the distance stalking along. There were lots of fish to see, and the water being extremely clear and all there, I saw lots of colorful fish.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Zironic on May 16, 2009, 10:06:11 pm
Lately I have taken up biking. I just biked (on a mountain bike stupidly) 20 miles in 100 degree weather while wearing a sweatshirt. I wasn't thinking logically at the time.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on May 16, 2009, 11:19:35 pm
Well, it sounds like you're atleast thinking logically in retrospect, which means it was a good learning experience, so no reason to kick yourself around about it, now that it's done.

It's a good thing to be able to do things spontaneously. Not everyone has that ability, and the lack of it can end up curtailing or preventing a lot of good experiences (or just the will to fully enjoy them), as well as bad and/or dangerous ones.

As long as there's a maintained balance between logical, responsible thinking, and impulsive desire--and as long as the impulses aren't particularly destructive (to the self, or otherwise), then you can be in a position to be both safe, and to actually have some fun. 
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: WorkerDrone on May 17, 2009, 04:28:32 am
The dude just biked in hot weather in a sweat shirt and you give him a medal for it?

Damn, I gotta start doing even more stupid shit.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Zironic on May 17, 2009, 12:41:50 pm
I grew up in high plains desert, so heat isn't something new to me. In fact, if I had one more water bottle, I would have been completely fine. I wasn't even planning on going that far, but I just kept going.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: WorkerDrone on May 17, 2009, 01:00:52 pm
Always stay hydrated in the summer.

You shouldn't stay in the heat longer than you have to either, though if you work in it, its fairly unavoidable I'm sure, but like I said, drink lots of liquids. I live in California, so this is a pretty obvious must, as it isn't in a cooler part either. Though by Californian standards, it switches frequently from hot and cold.

Now to me, unused to the cold, someone like Strife who lived in Fargo would consider 40 or 60 warm. I call it cold.

Now in comparison, I only consider 115 and up hot. I frequently wear a JACKET in 112 degree heat and pass it off as "Just a bit of a sweat, I'll be fine. I've got water."

Where someone who lived in Fargo might think that a minuscule 90 Degrees is hot.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Rilder on May 17, 2009, 01:04:17 pm
You cannot swim? What the.... :o

I can't swim either, nor do I care to ever learn how to swim, I hate being in water. Scuba Diving is especially ruled out.  I have an intense fear of drowning and don't want to put myself in a position where I could drown.

However I love naval stuff and wouldn't mind working on a ship.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Tormy on May 17, 2009, 01:10:18 pm
You cannot swim? What the.... :o
I have an intense fear of drowning and don't want to put myself in a position where I could drown.

Ouch....now that feeling must be horrible.  :-\ I feel sorry for you, since swimming is an excellent "aerobic exercise", so it's a fantastic way to keep yourself fit. Also it's pretty fun.  :)
Perhaps you should visit a psychologist or something, if you care of course.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: JoshuaFH on May 17, 2009, 01:12:35 pm
I learned to swim the hard way, with my mom throwing me into the water until I finally got the hang of it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: WorkerDrone on May 17, 2009, 01:23:49 pm
I got some variation of what Josh got.

Which IRONICLY also lead me to HATING swimming, but since I got thrown in frequently, it also gave me a bit of that 'love' for going under water. I usually STAYED under for as long as I  could because I didn't want to go back up...bastards. I MEEEEEEAN.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Strife26 on May 17, 2009, 01:27:21 pm
I love swimming even though I'm not that good at it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Tormy on May 17, 2009, 01:50:10 pm
I learned to swim the hard way, with my mom throwing me into the water until I finally got the hang of it.

Eheh, that is a good method. My father did the same to me.  ;D
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on May 17, 2009, 05:35:15 pm
I learned to swim from a really young age.

My dad and grandfather both took me to the YMCA to learn, and it was a pretty calm experience.

Underwater has always seemed to me, almost like being in another world (even if I'm in a public pool), so it's probably contributed a lot towards my enjoyment of fantastic fiction.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Gunner-Chan on May 17, 2009, 06:27:43 pm
I uhh... Can't swim... I don't even think there's anywhere to swim here, even the lake is off limits to swimmers.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Psyco Jelly on May 17, 2009, 07:52:28 pm
Psyco Jelly
15 year old male
Huntsville, AL
6'1"
210 pounds

School:
Junior-College level courses, homeschooled

Activities:
Debate, Programming, Writing, DnD (The last two are connected, my adventures make great stories.)

Work:
Graphic designer, Tax accountant

Religion:
Nature-Oriented Polytheistic Pagan, Tolerant of all religions

Political Stance:
Socialist

Dreams:
Biologist or maybe programmer. (Genetic engineer if possible)

Strife is my antithesis. I don't care about any country, just the people in them. (Thus not 'Patriot')
and dislike the idea of militarization. Of course we both hate organized religion.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: inaluct on May 17, 2009, 08:07:58 pm
Strife is my antithesis.
Even in height; he's 5'4", you're 6'1".
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Strife26 on May 17, 2009, 09:00:41 pm
What sort of debate?

There's an annoying number of similarities though.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Psyco Jelly on May 17, 2009, 10:25:24 pm
Can you be my arch-nemesis?

Mainly philosophical and moral. Politics sometimes comes into play.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Strife26 on May 17, 2009, 10:45:48 pm
Sure.

I considered genetic engineering a career field after finding some of my dad's old college books.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Heron TSG on May 17, 2009, 10:48:35 pm
Oh! Someone decide to make thyself my Arch-Nemesis! I'll post some info about myself so that we don't end up as friends.

Age - 14
Height - 5'3.5"
Weight - ~100 pounds
Hobbies - video games, running, and school
Morals - Yes.
Religion - No thanks.
Dreams - Yes, and they are freakin' insane sometimes. (Ever heard of the whale one?)
Job - In the future, programming, 3d graphics. Right now, picking up trash for minimum wage.
Can't Swim.
Opposed to (actual) violence.
Prefer people over countries, but the U.S. is great.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26: Open for useful derailment!
Post by: Rilder on May 17, 2009, 11:41:36 pm
You cannot swim? What the.... :o
I have an intense fear of drowning and don't want to put myself in a position where I could drown.

Ouch....now that feeling must be horrible.  :-\ I feel sorry for you, since swimming is an excellent "aerobic exercise", so it's a fantastic way to keep yourself fit. Also it's pretty fun.  :)
Perhaps you should visit a psychologist or something, if you care of course.

Nope don't care, I'm fat anyways.  ;)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: WorkerDrone on May 18, 2009, 06:20:07 am
I don't want an Arch-Nemesi...nemese...NEMESIS.

It sounds like a pain in the ass to have a costumed kook after you 24/7, plotting your every move, from when you eat, to when you sleep, all in an attempt to try and kill you, spouting evil speeches and attempting to challenge you to duels to the death when ever possible...

...

That actually sounds so surreal, its fun.

QUICK. SOMEBODY ARCH ME.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Heron TSG on May 18, 2009, 07:49:34 am
Hey Workerdrone, let's be enemies!

Wanna go see a movie?
...
ABOUT YOU BEING MURDERED?

sorry.

Anyways, I've been feeling kind of sick lately, but will hopefully be back on track (harhar) before districts. (Thursday)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Tormy on May 18, 2009, 01:21:18 pm
Okay, it's my turn.  ;D
Age - 25 [soon...]
Height - 198 cm [6'5]
Weight - 135 kgs [~297 pounds] - Hey I am not fat, it's all muscles, and I am deadly serious.  :) (I am lifting weights & practicing kempo)
Hobbies - Swimming, travelling, video games, parties & my beautiful girlfriend!  ;D
Religion - My family is catholic, but I consider myself an atheist to be honest..
Job - Working at nightclubs & poker!  ;D
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Gunner-Chan on May 18, 2009, 01:32:08 pm
Workerdrone doesn't need an arch-nemesis, I'm already attempting to find where he is to torment him.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: JoshuaFH on May 18, 2009, 01:53:10 pm
Workerdrone doesn't need an arch-nemesis, I'm already attempting to find where he is to torment him.

Which means that your home is empty! Alright, it is now time to assault... the FROG CAVE!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Psyco Jelly on May 18, 2009, 02:28:38 pm
There are thousands of frog caves. And regard Sniper Joe's name. He doesn't have to be near you to kill you.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Gunner-Chan on May 18, 2009, 02:34:36 pm
I guess I am forced to one day find chaoticjosh then, and carve pictures of gay frogs into his flesh.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: WorkerDrone on May 18, 2009, 03:01:40 pm
He won't find me. I'm in a to obvious place to be found.

Besides, I'm willing to have some sort of shooting duel before I allow him to force me watch Gay Frog Porn as torture.

I'll of course turn the gun on myself before he gets the chance.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Strife26 on May 18, 2009, 05:58:54 pm
I'm worried. You all know where I live (I've described it before) and my sandbag fortifications have come down . . .
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: WorkerDrone on May 18, 2009, 06:46:05 pm
Yes. We are so going to assault your house in Fargo. You better watch your back. AND FRONT. BECAUSE OF BULLETS.

Pfft, your kidding right? I don't even OWN a firearm, I'm not going to risk a .22 to the face.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Psyco Jelly on May 18, 2009, 07:05:25 pm
I'm safe. If anyone tries to attack me, they'll have like 400 rednecks with sawed-offs coming at them.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Heron TSG on May 18, 2009, 11:19:32 pm
Well, anyone driving in my county will have their car die of Deer Poisoning.

Seriously. My county has the highest rate of deer-car collisions in the whole U.S.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Strife26 on May 18, 2009, 11:46:45 pm
I'm safe. If anyone tries to attack me, they'll have like 400 rednecks with sawed-offs coming at them.
But what if my weapons are the rednecks themselves?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Org on May 19, 2009, 07:40:39 pm
Hmmm....

Well, I had a short argument with my parents that I wasn't painting enough...

So It looks like I have 5 days to paint 6 Marines. Fun.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: WorkerDrone on May 19, 2009, 08:12:41 pm
Can it be Six Marines driving TANKS?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Org on May 19, 2009, 08:15:30 pm
The only Tank I have is a Rhino.  :P

But, I am saving for a Land Raider Redeemer.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Strife26 on May 19, 2009, 08:19:13 pm
If we're talking about Jarheads, shouldn't that be pushing a tank? [/servicejoke]
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: WorkerDrone on May 19, 2009, 09:15:22 pm
HAR HAR HAR.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on May 21, 2009, 06:02:06 am
Hey everybody!

I did my 4 miles today. I'm trying for twice a week.

My garden is doing well, but it's getting hotter and dryer, which will mean watering becomes an issue. That in itself is exercise, though, since we do all of the watering with hozes, or by hand.

This weekend (tomorrow if possible) I hope to go swimming.

Cheers!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Maggarg - Eater of chicke on May 21, 2009, 06:08:22 am
I'm surprised to see so many people who can't swim. I've been able to swim for as long as I can remember, although it's bloody awkward now because my eyesight's so poor.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Rilder on May 21, 2009, 06:11:38 am
Just went from Quite cool out to OH GODS ITS SO HOT I'M DIEING HELP ME in a day.

Now sweating my ass off. even at night.

Man I hate the heat, my body just shuts down in it, Constantly having to spray myself with water just be be slightly comfortable.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Psyco Jelly on May 21, 2009, 10:27:51 am
I much prefer cold to heat. Other people say that they study with it cold so they don't fall asleep.

Cold makes me sleep. Heat keeps me awake. Am I cold blooded or something?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Maggarg - Eater of chicke on May 21, 2009, 12:51:33 pm
Just went from Quite cool out to OH GODS ITS SO HOT I'M DIEING HELP ME in a day.

Now sweating my ass off. even at night.

Man I hate the heat, my body just shuts down in it, Constantly having to spray myself with water just be be slightly comfortable.

Likewise. I like cool temperatures and muted light because I burn so easily.
The rest of my family like the heat and tan easily, and go on holiday to places with blazing sun and humid superheat.
I end up lurking beneath a big hat in factor 50.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Tormy on May 21, 2009, 01:12:36 pm
Just went from Quite cool out to OH GODS ITS SO HOT I'M DIEING HELP ME in a day.

Now sweating my ass off. even at night.

Man I hate the heat, my body just shuts down in it, Constantly having to spray myself with water just be be slightly comfortable.

Likewise. I like cool temperatures and muted light because I burn so easily.
The rest of my family like the heat and tan easily, and go on holiday to places with blazing sun and humid superheat.
I end up lurking beneath a big hat in factor 50.

Eh...I like heat but I burn easily.  :-\
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Dwarf on May 21, 2009, 03:41:31 pm
Life rant:

Okay. I've got an insufficient grade in Maths. So, we've got this next test I really learned for and plan to make really good for raising my average. So what do I do?

I FORGET MY FUCKING CALCULATOR!

My teacher says like: "You'll be ok, it's doable without one"

HOW THE FUCK WHEN I AM SUPPOSED TO UTILIZE THE CALCULATOR FOR ANYTHING THAT DEPASSES 10 x 10?!

Also, girls only seem to like the womanizing assholes. Not shy, intelligent people. Assholes.

Rant end.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Strife26 on May 21, 2009, 04:10:28 pm
Sorry, if you'd been in my Pre-calc class, I'd of loaned you my second TI-89.

Mind you, I know what it feels like. I've taken many an important test longhand. Even though longhand math is a skill of mine, the tests still tend to suck.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on May 21, 2009, 04:16:04 pm
Dwarf: I think one of the reasons "girls like assholes" so much is because they're a lot more noticeable than shy, intelligent people.

Assholes get noticed because they're not clever enough to care that they're making fools of themselves in public. They also make girls laugh--and laughing is good, whether she's laughing with you, or laughing at you.

Advertizement is important: If you make yourself noticed, then it's more likely that a girl who will find you attractive will notice you.

My advice is to work on a more outgoing personality: Be seen, look good (do what you can with what Nature's given you), and be an alternative to the assholes.

Hiding away in your room and studying generally won't get you dates.

Also, I find it's very important to talk to women directly, like they're people, rather than like they're potential lifemate interviewees. Make eye contact, and speak to them on equal terms. Don't allow yourself to be intimidated by them--and don't belittle them, either.

Hitler had a steady girlfriend. Ted Bundy got date after date. Charles Manson had a whole harem. Hell, even I've been married now for over three years.
No matter who you are, there's always some woman somewhere with the good/bad taste to find you interesting. Eventually, you may find that the hardest thing is choosing the right one for you.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: WorkerDrone on May 21, 2009, 04:31:22 pm
I have a *girl* that likes me, and I do like her, but for some reason, I'm just not interested at all right now. Its like I think its all a big pain in the ass.

And my best friends KEEP TRYING TO PIMP ME OUT.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Org on May 21, 2009, 04:33:19 pm
Why did you use the asterisks?

I liked someone, who was my friend, but it didn't get much farther than that. Maybe it was because I was going to move.....
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: WorkerDrone on May 21, 2009, 04:37:56 pm
Because I think of her as something inbetween a friend and just a random (crazy, but all girls are crazy) girl. I don't really know her that well, but part of the reason is the whole -I'm a dumb ass who thinks its a pain in the ass- thing.

In the back of my mind, something tells me its because I'm to lazy to have a girlfriend. If its really gotten that bad, woah.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Footkerchief on May 21, 2009, 04:56:17 pm
And here I took *girl* as an indication of attractiveness.  I think I'll choose to blame that on too much DF rather than misogyny.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Org on May 21, 2009, 06:50:47 pm
How was high school for everyone? Almost over my freshman year.

What classes did you guys take freshman year?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Psyco Jelly on May 21, 2009, 11:20:28 pm
High School is great if you're stupid and attractive.

Unfortunately, I am smart and reasonably good-looking. (People complement me, but I just groom myself for hygiene)

High schoolers hate smart people. They try to humiliate you, but fail to understand that you can outwit them. Make their own words backfire on them. It's fun.

I went back to home school after my freshman year. I found it droll, lengthy and an utter waste of time. It's both cheaper and more effective to buy a good textbook and learn the material on your own, rather than sit through a class targeted at the societal dregs.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on May 21, 2009, 11:27:08 pm
Highschool was a horrible, excruciating experience for me, that I had nightmares about for years after.

Much like when I worked at Wal-mart.


It was only after highschool that I discovered I was, infact, quite attractive and marketable in the dating scene.

The next decade was a blur of sex.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Psyco Jelly on May 21, 2009, 11:33:26 pm
It was only after highschool that I discovered I was, in fact, quite attractive and marketable in the dating scene.

The next decade was a blur of sex.

Can I sig this?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on May 21, 2009, 11:34:06 pm
Absolutely!  ;D
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Dwarf on May 22, 2009, 12:05:42 am
Duh fuck. My sister goes to the metal days in Pratteln, Zurich and decides that an alcohol poisonment is a good idea. There she goes, saying "You know me mom, I know when it's over and I know how to handle alcohol" and bla bla. She's in the hospital now. >:(
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: inaluct on May 22, 2009, 12:18:54 am
Heh. Your sister is an idiot.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: WorkerDrone on May 22, 2009, 12:45:31 am
SHB, you lucky son of a bitch.

Well...YOUR MARRIED. I'm still single!- and too dense to make a move on a girl who actually LIKES me.

Uh...
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on May 22, 2009, 03:38:40 am
Well, quit being so damn dense, then.  ::)  8)

It may seem obvious, but sometimes the best relationship you can have is with someone who's really into you.

There are alternatives, and they're not always pleasant.


I did my 4 miles tonight. It was harder than last night, but I'm glad I did it. Didn't get swimming, though...


I'm sorry to hear about your sister, Dwarf. My sister's a former heroin junkie (she's in college now, and doing really well), so I can definitely relate. If you'd like someone to talk about it with, feel free to PM me anytime, ok?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Tormy on May 22, 2009, 01:20:51 pm
Duh fuck. My sister goes to the metal days in Pratteln, Zurich and decides that an alcohol poisonment is a good idea. There she goes, saying "You know me mom, I know when it's over and I know how to handle alcohol" and bla bla. She's in the hospital now. >:(

Ouch....that sounds really bad... :-\
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Dwarf on May 22, 2009, 05:33:35 pm
Turns out, it's not that bad. 'Only' 2.2 promille, though she has vomit all over 'er. Sure as hell she learned from it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: inaluct on May 22, 2009, 05:52:54 pm
she has vomit all over 'er
Tell her that you posted pictures all over the internet.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Awayfarer on May 23, 2009, 08:24:46 am
How was high school for everyone? Almost over my freshman year.

What classes did you guys take freshman year?

I barely remember high school. It's a combination of...

1: I have a poor memory to begin with.
2: I was severely depressed at the time, school did nothing to take away from that (and even added to it) and I've blocked a lot of it out.

Nobody wanted to know me. I understand why; I was fat, creepy, and didn't shower as often as I should have. This gave folks plenty of reason to either keep away or treat me like shit; which gave me a reason to dislike people, and the two fed on one another.

One of the biggest blessings/curses of my life was that I always was, and will likely continue to be, an outsider. It sucks because I really don't understand a lot of socialization. Take the phrase "Nice to meet you" for example. I avoid saying it when I meet somebody new. It's not that when I meet somebodyfor the first time I automatically dislike them, I just find I'm indifferent to most people. I usually can't bring myself to say flattering bullshit like "nice to meet you" even if the person was pleasant. I barely know them and my life will continue on as it has even if I hadn't met them.

If that seems bad, compare it to this: for a few years after high school I never used to say "hello" or "hi" to people I'd already said it to once in their lifetime. I still think it's awkward that there is a series of words, of which we must pick one to say to a person if we haven't seen them in a little while. I did this for years until a co-worker commented on it, and then changed only grudgingly.

Basically I feel a little damaged because I never truly learned those little nuances of how human beings are supposed to communicate with one another. On the other hand, I'd been outside of it for so long that I feel like I had a ringside seat to watch the human circus, and I'd like to think that I "get" humanity, if not better than others who do understand social graces than at least on different level that most folks will never know.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Org on May 23, 2009, 08:28:38 am
That sucks.




And on another note, I am taking AP Stats next year. Has anyone here done that and can tell me what its like?

Thanks,
Org.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on May 23, 2009, 11:36:00 am
Awayfarer: The one thing we all share here is a passion for an independent game, who's goal is to hide our imaginary friends away from a particularly harsh world, in order that we might steal treasure from our literal demons.

The psychological implications would suggest that we are all, perhaps, a little damaged...

I know I am, and more than a little.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Tormy on May 23, 2009, 01:09:07 pm
Turns out, it's not that bad. 'Only' 2.2 promille, though she has vomit all over 'er. Sure as hell she learned from it.

Let's hope so, that she did...you know some people just never learn from their mistakes...
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: ToonyMan on May 24, 2009, 10:27:55 am
Damaged you say?  Nonsense!  I'm sure all of our daily schedules include sky diving, volcano diving, base jumping, dinosaur hunting, Dwarf Fortress, Bay12, uhhhh....head growing, gene splicing, making lists, magma, cheese making, potato mashing, fire ranging, imaginary worlds, lost planets, grass hair, lies, *shudder* people *shudder*, reading, EXTREME MINE DODGING, making fun of Duke, grunting, teeth gingering, making up words, letter fun, mama stabbing, comma maker, Spelunky, NetHack, Crawl, ADOM, Angband, not crysis, mod making, coconut breaking, laughing at bad jokes about magma or carp, kicking T.V. screens in, learning, losing fun, typing, dumpster diving, copying and pasting, gloating, bluffing, eating human sandwiches, sleeping, underwater parties, forgetting important aspect of life, drinking root beer, drinking beer, sock hunting, death therapy, feceating, drinkability, flying, snoring, CAT FORTRESSES, getting sick, insanity, reserakting, chow time, pimple popping, nose pulling, people rodeo, scolding, TERMINATOR, saving the world, saving the universe, eating teethpaste, drawing, swearing, and lastly thinking about what crazy scheme to do next.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on May 24, 2009, 04:40:32 pm
Well, all of us except for you, Toonyman.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: ToonyMan on May 24, 2009, 05:08:36 pm
Let it be known that this is just a trunkcated list.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Psyco Jelly on May 24, 2009, 05:09:05 pm
You missed running from BEES, mourning VN, and slaying penguins.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: ToonyMan on May 24, 2009, 05:10:52 pm
You missed running from BEES, mourning VN, and slaying penguins.
Let it be known that this is just a trunkcated list.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Heron TSG on May 24, 2009, 08:33:00 pm
I'm back!

What classes did you guys take freshman year?

My core classes plus two periods (zero and first) of electronics and band. And welding, but that wasn't my thing.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: ToonyMan on May 25, 2009, 06:28:32 am
Same here dog--seal!  Except for the band part and replace welding with carpentry.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Awayfarer on May 25, 2009, 07:57:29 am
Well, in my senior year I did make a nice coffee table in woodshop. My folks kept it when I moved out. Actually a good thing because I moved into a room the size of a VW Rabbit.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Heron TSG on May 25, 2009, 11:14:54 am
Yeah, my electronics class is pretty neat because it's the best (only) one within 250 miles of me.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: ToonyMan on May 25, 2009, 11:21:40 am
Well Electronics happens to be my trade so I now all about it.  You got those resistors, capacitors, diodes, transistors, LED's, IC Chips, AC, DC, regulators, oscilators, clockwork, robots, ELECTRICITY, SENTINALS!!, MAD SCIENTIST WITH GRUE-SOME INTENTIONS, MR. VALORAZ WHO WILL MAKE YOU WISH YOU WERE DEAD,THERE'S NO HOPE MAN, NO HOPE!!, AGAHAGHAGHA.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Rilder on May 26, 2009, 05:44:24 am
In Rilder News

My Hard drive needs a defrag, badly.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on May 26, 2009, 02:28:10 pm
Toonyman: Would you please just go ahead and upload the entirety of the 10th Kingdom miniseries as your Avatar? I haven't seen it yet, and I'd like to watch it from the beginning...
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: ToonyMan on May 26, 2009, 03:02:58 pm
That would be one big GIF file.....I estimate it would take me atleast a year.  With breaks ofcourse.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Org on May 26, 2009, 03:38:55 pm
I have a 2 minute speech to present tomorrow. It will be fun.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on May 26, 2009, 03:44:13 pm
That would be one big GIF file.....I estimate it would take me atleast a year.  With breaks ofcourse.

Take your time!  8)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: ToonyMan on May 26, 2009, 03:45:37 pm
The scene was only 15 seconds long, yet it took 1 hour.  HOW LONG DO YOU THINK 7 HOURS WILL TAKE?!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Footkerchief on May 26, 2009, 03:46:10 pm
You should just use a new 30 second clip every day, and work your way through.  If you stick to the good parts, you'll probably be done before the next version comes out.  (arguably long before)

The scene was only 15 seconds long, yet it took 1 hour.  HOW LONG DO YOU THINK 7 HOURS WILL TAKE?!

Are you... manually capturing frames?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: ToonyMan on May 26, 2009, 03:47:40 pm
That's it....I'LL BE BACK.  You'll see what happens when you make me do things like this.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Strife26 on May 26, 2009, 05:11:00 pm
I have a 2 minute speech to present tomorrow. It will be fun.


What's the topic?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Org on May 26, 2009, 05:15:22 pm
Fear it, risk it, do it.

I chose the topic of Speaking to groups.

I regret it all.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Strife26 on May 26, 2009, 05:19:58 pm
That's easy enough. You can fill at least 30 seconds with self-referential jokes. Another 15 seconds for 'what I'm gonna tell you' and 'what I've told ya.'

Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Org on May 26, 2009, 05:20:44 pm
What do you mean.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: ToonyMan on May 26, 2009, 05:23:09 pm
You should just use a new 30 second clip every day, and work your way through.  If you stick to the good parts, you'll probably be done before the next version comes out.  (arguably long before)

The scene was only 15 seconds long, yet it took 1 hour.  HOW LONG DO YOU THINK 7 HOURS WILL TAKE?!

Are you... manually capturing frames?

Yes, it's funnier.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Creamcorn on May 26, 2009, 05:29:02 pm
I ate a cookie today, it was delicious.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: ToonyMan on May 26, 2009, 05:31:43 pm
I ate a cookie today, it was delicious.

May I ask what flavor honorable sir Creamcorn?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Strife26 on May 26, 2009, 06:01:20 pm
Hey folks, I’ve got the interestingly self-referential topic of public speaking to give you a . . . well public speech about. The biggest problem with people speaking is sort of strange. Simply put, it’s fear. Studies have shown that, on average, people fear speaking in public over just about everything up to and including death and <teacher’s name>. Mind you, you can’t claim that bumping off a classmate was justified because he had to speak this class period. It’s important, nay, crucial to remember this one simple fact, speaking isn’t that big of a deal. In almost all cases, you will not be subjected to corporal or capital punishment if you give a speech. I hope, at least. When talking, relax, relax, and relax. If one is more concerned with fear than with speaking, the speech may very well flop. Therefore, we must learn to maintain our chill composure when speaking.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Org on May 26, 2009, 06:03:40 pm
There is one problem...I am afraid of speaking to a group.

Kind of ironic I guess.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: ToonyMan on May 26, 2009, 06:05:25 pm
Soon you will afraid of being so terribly afraid.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Creamcorn on May 26, 2009, 06:07:38 pm
I ate a cookie today, it was delicious.

May I ask what flavor honorable sir Creamcorn?

Oatmeal chocolate chip, the only form of oatmeal anyone eats now a days.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: ToonyMan on May 26, 2009, 06:12:38 pm
I ate a cookie today, it was delicious.

May I ask what flavor honorable sir Creamcorn?

Oatmeal chocolate chip, the only form of oatmeal anyone eats now a days.

I happen to have a great bowl of oatmeal this weekend.  Are you mocking my culture?!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: inaluct on May 26, 2009, 06:12:51 pm
I approve so much of Toonyman's new avatar and personal text.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Creamcorn on May 26, 2009, 06:30:08 pm
I ate a cookie today, it was delicious.

May I ask what flavor honorable Creamcorn?

Oatmeal chocolate chip, the only form of oatmeal anyone eats now a days.

I happen to have a great bowl of oatmeal this weekend.  Are you mocking my culture?!

No, it's just rare that I know someone, (IRL) that eats oatmeal in its oatmeal form. I like putting syrup or maple syrup (if I even have any) in mine, along with eatting it with some type of bread roll, preferably one that is sweet.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: ToonyMan on May 26, 2009, 06:38:42 pm
I ate a cookie today, it was delicious.

May I ask what flavor honorable Creamcorn?

Oatmeal chocolate chip, the only form of oatmeal anyone eats now a days.

I happen to have a great bowl of oatmeal this weekend.  Are you mocking my culture?!

No, it's just rare that I know someone, (IRL) that eats oatmeal in its oatmeal form. I like putting syrup or maple syrup (if I even have any) in mine, along with eatting it with some type of bread roll, preferably one that is sweet.

Well, actually I do have milk in mine and I do use a spoon.  Nobody could eat oatmeal raw.  IT'S IMPROABOLE.


I approve so much of Toonyman's new avatar and personal text.

You do?  Aqizzar doesn't.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Creamcorn on May 26, 2009, 06:45:48 pm
I ate a cookie today, it was delicious.

May I ask what flavor honorable Creamcorn?

Oatmeal chocolate chip, the only form of oatmeal anyone eats now a days.

I happen to have a great bowl of oatmeal this weekend.  Are you mocking my culture?!

No, it's just rare that I know someone, (IRL) that eats oatmeal in its oatmeal form. I like putting syrup or maple syrup (if I even have any) in mine, along with eatting it with some type of bread roll, preferably one that is sweet.

Well, actually I do have milk in mine and I do use a spoon.  Nobody could eat oatmeal raw.  IT'S IMPROABOLE.


*Clap* *Clap* *Clap* Obvious joke is obvious but that's besides the point. So you really don't put anything at all in your oatmeal than?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: ToonyMan on May 26, 2009, 06:48:27 pm
I ate a cookie today, it was delicious.

May I ask what flavor honorable Creamcorn?

Oatmeal chocolate chip, the only form of oatmeal anyone eats now a days.

I happen to have a great bowl of oatmeal this weekend.  Are you mocking my culture?!

No, it's just rare that I know someone, (IRL) that eats oatmeal in its oatmeal form. I like putting syrup or maple syrup (if I even have any) in mine, along with eatting it with some type of bread roll, preferably one that is sweet.

Well, actually I do have milk in mine and I do use a spoon.  Nobody could eat oatmeal raw.  IT'S IMPROABOLE.


*Clap* *Clap* *Clap* Obvious joke is obvious but that's besides the point. So you really don't put anything at all in your oatmeal than?

I guess not.  Sometimes it makes me gag, but that's only occasionally.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Org on May 26, 2009, 06:53:45 pm
I just practiced presenting in my room(No joke intended) twice.

I did good. I think.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Heron TSG on May 26, 2009, 07:02:01 pm
Quote from: Barbarossa the Seal God
I ate a cookie today, it was delicious.

May I ask what flavor honorable Creamcorn?

Oatmeal chocolate chip, the only form of oatmeal anyone eats now a days.

I happen to have a great bowl of oatmeal this weekend.  Are you mocking my culture?!

No, it's just rare that I know someone, (IRL) that eats oatmeal in its oatmeal form. I like putting syrup or maple syrup (if I even have any) in mine, along with eatting it with some type of bread roll, preferably one that is sweet.

Well, actually I do have milk in mine and I do use a spoon.  Nobody could eat oatmeal raw.  IT'S IMPROABOLE.


*Clap* *Clap* *Clap* Obvious joke is obvious but that's besides the point. So you really don't put anything at all in your oatmeal than?

I guess not.  Sometimes it makes me gag, but that's only occasionally.

That's what she said!

QUOTE PYRAMID!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: ToonyMan on May 26, 2009, 07:14:11 pm
Quote from: Barbarossa the Seal God
I ate a cookie today, it was delicious.

May I ask what flavor honorable Creamcorn?

Oatmeal chocolate chip, the only form of oatmeal anyone eats now a days.

I happen to have a great bowl of oatmeal this weekend.  Are you mocking my culture?!

No, it's just rare that I know someone, (IRL) that eats oatmeal in its oatmeal form. I like putting syrup or maple syrup (if I even have any) in mine, along with eatting it with some type of bread roll, preferably one that is sweet.

Well, actually I do have milk in mine and I do use a spoon.  Nobody could eat oatmeal raw.  IT'S IMPROABOLE.


*Clap* *Clap* *Clap* Obvious joke is obvious but that's besides the point. So you really don't put anything at all in your oatmeal than?

I guess not.  Sometimes it makes me gag, but that's only occasionally.

That's what she said!

QUOTE PYRAMID!

THAT'S A LIE!!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Footkerchief on May 26, 2009, 07:31:48 pm
I put sliced apples, raisins and brown sugar in my oatmeal.  There's no other way.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Mondark on May 26, 2009, 08:35:15 pm
I put sliced apples, raisins and brown sugar in my oatmeal.  There's no other way.

You forgot the HONEY!  How could you!  (Though syrup works in a pinch, I suppose.)  I'm somewhat surprised how many people have confessed to eating oatmeal here.  Interesting.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: ToonyMan on May 26, 2009, 08:37:38 pm
Oatmeal for breakfast, oatmeal for lunch, oatmeal for dinner!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Heron TSG on May 26, 2009, 11:44:29 pm
That reminds me of this (http://www.songstowearpantsto.com/songs/muskrat-for-lunch/).

Anyways, going to be running 500 miles this summer now that track is over.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: WorkerDrone on May 27, 2009, 02:43:42 am
I also ate a cookie. It was a sugar cookie. The simplest, yet the best.

See where one cookie leads? REVOLUTION! DOWN WITH OATMEAL. UP WITH SUGARY CEREALS.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: umiman on May 27, 2009, 03:34:54 am
Yeah, oatmeal sucks. It's for people with no sense of taste!  >:(
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Dwarf on May 27, 2009, 04:30:12 am
Or unspoiled non-americans who can eat something not made out of white flour and/or sugar.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Creamcorn on May 27, 2009, 07:02:21 am
I'm eatting some right now with a bit of syrup and a pinch of sugar! :P
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Nirur Torir on May 27, 2009, 09:51:26 am
Nevermind. I asked a question, but decided it didn't fit here at all. Oatmeal's only good with lots of brown sugar dumped on it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: ToonyMan on May 27, 2009, 02:01:53 pm
Yeah, oatmeal sucks. It's for people with no sense of taste!  >:(
Or unspoiled non-americans who can eat something not made out of white flour and/or sugar.

Yeah that's funny I'm Amorican and I like oatmeal.  Honestly, what's with the hate?  You don't dislike someone because you don't know who you might ofend.  Maybe you should think before you type.  Even if some person says a sentence that is mean to you.



The O's were added for comical relieve.


EDIT:  I think this meant both of you, but I'm stupid American so I forgot.  Haha.   ;D
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: umiman on May 27, 2009, 02:35:08 pm
Man, chill out dudes. Fighting over oatmeal, seriously.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Org on May 27, 2009, 02:37:15 pm
My speech went sorta badly. I kind of got nervous and my hands were shaking to where I could almost not read.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: ToonyMan on May 27, 2009, 02:37:42 pm
I know.  We should be fighting over sugar cookies!  Muah Muah Muha!




EDIT:  Better luck next time Org.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Creamcorn on May 27, 2009, 04:07:23 pm
My speech went sorta badly. I kind of got nervous and my hands were shaking to where I could almost not read.

One bad speech won't really fudge you up badly, especially this early in life. So don't you worry too much about it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: WorkerDrone on May 27, 2009, 06:01:44 pm
Walked a mile. Just got back in. DAMN is it hot outside.

How hot is it?

Its so hot, you could cook eggs on the sidewalk!

Its so hot, you could see the heat rays in the air!

Its so hot...uh...you could...um...an ice cube would melt if left out for maybe a minute?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: ToonyMan on May 27, 2009, 06:17:57 pm
Quote from: The 10th Kingdom
Wolf: Butter would not melt in my mouth. Well, it would melt. Of course it would melt, but very slowly.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Strife26 on May 27, 2009, 06:26:08 pm
I was given a corn snake today. He's on my dresser now.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Splendiferous on May 27, 2009, 06:38:12 pm
I'm asexual!

...

*cough*
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: WorkerDrone on May 27, 2009, 06:48:13 pm
...You make babies by yourself?

That has to be the least fun way of doing so.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Splendiferous on May 27, 2009, 06:51:02 pm
I'm not a worm.
I'm satirizing the comically schizophrenic way in which this thread has progressed.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: ToonyMan on May 27, 2009, 07:09:00 pm
Just be happy we've gotten to 35.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Maggarg - Eater of chicke on May 28, 2009, 11:30:56 am
Anyone here got tips for auditioning for a band?
I decided to pick up an advert in the music shop that wanted a bassist, so I asked and the audition is next week.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: ToonyMan on May 28, 2009, 01:37:07 pm
Smoke some weed before you go.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: WorkerDrone on May 28, 2009, 04:50:35 pm
Uh NO.

Okay, I wasn't going to say anything, but heres two things I at least KNOW you shouldn't do before playing an instrument.

Never drink before playing, and you probably shouldn't do drugs before playing.

Though surprisingly, there were many rock stars who could do BOTH and would play just as well. Still, I've seen many people trying to play while drunk, and failing horribly. And I imagine if you were doped up on weed you would be even worse.

Don't drink and play guitar folks...or do drugs.

Yeah.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Heron TSG on May 28, 2009, 06:37:48 pm
What about Jimi?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Splendiferous on May 28, 2009, 07:21:37 pm
Exception.
Not rule.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: WorkerDrone on May 29, 2009, 02:24:59 am
What about Jimi?

Didn't I just say there were many rock stars who could do so? Just toss in the appropriate list there.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Rilder on May 29, 2009, 03:36:31 pm
Oh gods haircut.

Still look like an uncivilized lout (which I am) though.

EDIT: In other news Vulcans are Tall, Emotionless, Dwarves.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on June 01, 2009, 03:03:04 am
Just wanted to mention that I did my 4 miles last night. It felt really good to get out there. My back's bothering me tonight, so I'll be sure to do my floor exercises.
I've also been working out my calf-muscles, lately, which is new. I've got problems with my legs (restless leg syndrome?), which goes a long way to explain my insomnia--and this helps a lot with this. I just press my hands against a nearby wall and then bounce up and down like I was going up on my tiptoes, for anywhere from 50 to 100 repetitions. It looks a bit silly, but feels great.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: ToonyMan on June 01, 2009, 06:04:43 am
I can't control my legs either I'm walkng away ri
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Rilder on June 04, 2009, 06:45:39 pm
Ugg cold, seems to have died down as far as general "ugg I feel like crap" goes but I still got a runny nose and it feels like theres a bit of mucus in the back of my throat so I'm making these manly throat roars to cough it up. Which isn't helping much.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: ToonyMan on June 04, 2009, 06:50:57 pm
Erggg....don't you hate when you're taking a test and all you hear is people clearing their throats and sniffing in their snot.  It's pretty damn hard to calculate total impedance when you hear these noises.  Although I do know it's quite hard to stop breathing.  I've tried.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: zchris13 on June 04, 2009, 07:18:08 pm
Although I do know it's quite hard to stop breathing.  I've tried.
Oh-yeah-I-hate-it-when-that-happens-don't-you-yeah-really-annoying. K-Thx-Bye!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: ToonyMan on June 04, 2009, 07:32:25 pm
*GASP*
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Heron TSG on June 07, 2009, 11:25:02 pm
Got back from my vacation-type-thing today. I have joined a club to prepare for the coming cross country season. I will run 500 miles or die trying!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: WorkerDrone on June 08, 2009, 03:13:14 am
500 Hundred Miles?

What are you, sir?

Man, or Machine?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Heron TSG on June 08, 2009, 08:05:19 am
A man with much summertime in his hands.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Heron TSG on June 12, 2009, 07:38:38 pm
(http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa238/Fumblez/bumpasaurusshale.png)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Solifuge on June 13, 2009, 08:54:14 pm
I've been doing Summer work as an intern at a Wildlife Rehabilitation Center for songbirds.
That, and I'm finally gearing up to tackle my Depression head-on... which probably means shelling out my hard-earned ducats for Therapy.

*Grumbles mildly at the inclement financial climate*
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: ToonyMan on June 13, 2009, 09:17:43 pm
I'm going to go work at a humane society too this summer.  I hear them parts are full of felines.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: umiman on June 14, 2009, 12:01:34 am
I just placed an order for a sample version of a 4gb mp3 / mp4 touchscreen player (basically an iPod Touch ripoff). The only thing it can't do that a regular iPod Touch can is wi-fi.

Anyway, if it goes well and after I run it through some tests and it works alright and if I can sell it for $50, I will order another 10 or so for further sales.

This comes from successful runs selling the Super R4i for all NDS versions. I have some spare change from the sales, so I'm thinking of expanding my business. Apparently, the greatest advertisments I can get for my line of business is word of mouth. It's quite impressive. People who buy one unit originally usually end up buying 5 or more for other people.

My business is doing quite well and I'm quite happy. I lowered my profit margin for the things to quite a puny number to help motivate buyers, so I have to sell a lot more to cover for it though. It's not too bad and the units move within days of the shipment arrival anyway.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: JoshuaFH on June 14, 2009, 12:51:59 am
I've been doing Summer work as an intern at a Wildlife Rehabilitation Center for songbirds.
That, and I'm finally gearing up to tackle my Depression head-on... which probably means shelling out my hard-earned ducats for Therapy.

*Grumbles mildly at the inclement financial climate*

Good luck with that Solifuge, I can sympathize big-time, cause I have very deep depression. Therapy hasn't worked so well with me, but it might for you, so I wish you the best of luck Solifuge.

I didn't know you ran a business Umiman. It sounds like an electronics store of sorts, is that what it is?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on June 14, 2009, 02:22:17 am
I tried doing my 4 miles tonight, but my back was just hurting too bad. I still managed 2 and a half or so.

As it's been raining all week, which tends to affect my arthritis, I'm not too surprised.

I suffer from bouts of depression, too. I find the exercise helps to rebalance me, a little.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Footkerchief on June 14, 2009, 02:25:51 am
That, and I'm finally gearing up to tackle my Depression head-on... which probably means shelling out my hard-earned ducats for Therapy.

Therapist: Them's my ducats now!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Tormy on June 14, 2009, 06:46:34 am
Got back from my vacation-type-thing today. I have joined a club to prepare for the coming cross country season. I will run 500 miles or die trying!

500 miles? Under what time frame?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: umiman on June 14, 2009, 11:30:52 am
Josh: I import stuff from China and sell them here.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Bay 12 members
Post by: Heron TSG on June 15, 2009, 06:24:58 pm
Got back from my vacation-type-thing today. I have joined a club to prepare for the coming cross country season. I will run 500 miles or die trying!

500 miles? Under what time frame?

Before august 24th.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 16, 2009, 08:20:25 pm
Okay folks, I am reclaiming my thread now. You can still post and all, but I’ll be resuming actual bits about my own life, now that finals and summer camp are over.

Biggest issue for tonight is a hunting excursion. A bag of corn that I had been using to feed deer and turkey (my family likes watching them) got spoiled in the flood. We threw it on the deck to get it out of the way. However, this has attracted a raccoon. This coon has quickly become tame (o the point where my sister can stand and shout two yards away from it). Two of my cats aren’t smart enough to determine cat from wild animal. Obviously, it’s the two cats who aren’t updated on their rabies shots and can’t take care of themselves in a fight. I had the coon lined up last night with my .22, but I couldn’t get the damned ting to fire. After a quick email to my Dad, he recommended that I blast it with #4 buckshot at the first available opportunity. A family friend let me shoot a couple of shells at his house (Two with #4 bird and one with #4 Buck). If the raccoon comes out tonight, I’ll be waiting for him.

Other than that, I’ve decided on a summer reading list. I’m reading the Warhammer books on Ciaphius Cain (fun reads, although I don’t get a lot of the Warhammer stuff). It’s going to be interspersed with A Guide to Small-Unit Tactics and The Art of Expressing the Human Body. I’m going to try to pick up Jeet Kune Do. After that, I’ve got a stack of books to read about defending (and attacking) computer networks.

I also got a corn snake, but that’s a story for another day.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on June 16, 2009, 08:24:48 pm
Why don't you LIGHT YOUR HANDS ON FIRE AND PUNCH THE 'COON TO DEATH.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on June 16, 2009, 08:26:49 pm
Reading the Ciaphas Cain series? Those books are the best, just two days ago, on my birthday, I got the last book. 59 pages in or so.

What do you not get?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on June 16, 2009, 08:34:20 pm
I don't get the Warhammer part, so I guess I can't be involved in the converse because I have not read any of the books which is odd, I would think I would read such of these books, but I havn't...maybe if I were to invent a tightly wound copper wire, put alot of current through it and place it over my head I would get an idea.  Or a really bad sun burn.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 16, 2009, 08:46:03 pm
Becuase if he was a ninja racoon, then it couldn't catch my hands, therefore, my hands might not be able to catch it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on June 16, 2009, 11:35:20 pm
My "quoted" logic- ninjas can't catch you if you're on fire.

Anyways, you should read the Gotrek and Felix novels. (There are several Omnibuses of 3 books apiece)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 17, 2009, 12:06:54 am
3 hours into the hunt. He came onto the deck once, then bolted when I cocked the shotgun. I would've gotten him anyway, but someone geniously turned off the deck lights at that instant. He'll be back . . .
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: JoshuaFH on June 17, 2009, 06:56:34 am
3 hours into the hunt. He came onto the deck once, then bolted when I cocked the shotgun. I would've gotten him anyway, but someone geniously turned off the deck lights at that instant. He'll be back . . .

It was another raccoon... they're organized!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Footkerchief on June 17, 2009, 08:31:15 am
Are you just going to fuck up your deck with buckshot or what?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 17, 2009, 01:40:30 pm
Yep. There's a big gouge from the last racoon that had to be 'removed.' I've laid some more boards sense I had to cut my deck in half, so there's plenty of stuff to poke holes in.

I ended up going to bed last night, I couldn't get into a safe firing posistion (not going to pepper next house over) before he bolted. I'm probably going to try again tonight.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Gunner-Chan on June 17, 2009, 01:45:17 pm
Why don't you LIGHT YOUR HANDS ON FIRE AND PUNCH THE 'COON TO DEATH.

This sounds so wrong devoid of context...
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on June 17, 2009, 01:48:06 pm
Why don't you LIGHT YOUR HANDS ON FIRE AND PUNCH THE 'COON TO DEATH.

This sounds so wrong devoid of context...

'COON as in RACOON.  Hee hee......errrrr....
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Gunner-Chan on June 17, 2009, 01:51:51 pm
Sure, Raccoon.

Just one thing though, if it's pretty much tame what's to stop you from stabbing the fuck out of it and saving yourself some deck work? Might get a little bloody but isn't that half the fun?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on June 17, 2009, 01:54:15 pm
Yep. There's a big gouge from the last racoon that had to be 'removed.' I've laid some more boards sense I had to cut my deck in half, so there's plenty of stuff to poke holes in.

I ended up going to bed last night, I couldn't get into a safe firing posistion (not going to pepper next house over) before he bolted. I'm probably going to try again tonight.


I'm sticking with the boss on that one.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 17, 2009, 01:55:06 pm
It wouldn't die quickly. But, it is tame enough for me to hit it with my favorite stave if I decided to. However, I worry that the thing might have dormant rabies.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on June 17, 2009, 01:57:56 pm
Kill first ask rabies later.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: inaluct on June 17, 2009, 10:44:15 pm
Adopt it, you bastard! I've had rabies for years, and I'm fine!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 17, 2009, 11:20:49 pm
It explains a lot, I have to say.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Gunner-Chan on June 18, 2009, 12:10:40 am
It... Does...

...

Strife, I'm scared! Hold me!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on June 18, 2009, 12:16:58 am
no, don't let it touch you!

anyways, I'm up to ~70 miles. me needs to hurry.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 18, 2009, 01:12:03 am
I've decided to make some sort of truce with the Coon. My bloodlust had that fun twinge of guilt in it (helped along by the fact that I was once again unable to grab the gun, open the door, kick one or more cats away, get outside, and fire (not to metion pump said gun and flick saftey out) before he gets away). I've thrown the rest of the spoiled corn off of the deck. Hopefully, it won't come back. If it does, I've gotten an old BB gun working. If he pops up again, I'm going to blast him.

Oh, and Barbarossa, am I not to touch the racoon, Inaluct, or Joe?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: WorkerDrone on June 18, 2009, 03:19:57 am
Joe mostly Strife, and the Raccoon if you can help it. (By the way Toonyman, that really is the correct way to spell it)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Gunner-Chan on June 18, 2009, 03:29:10 am
Oh come on workerdrone, I'm totally harmless.


... Mostly. *Toothy glare*
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: WorkerDrone on June 18, 2009, 03:55:27 am
Not really...

Takes an obligatory step away.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on June 18, 2009, 08:42:47 am
If you're anything like what you are on this forum, then I'm surprised you haven't been brutally murdered by your own twisted mind.

just sayin'.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Gunner-Chan on June 18, 2009, 09:25:24 am
Well okay, I guess strife won't wanna go near me. I'd probably lick him anyway.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: inaluct on June 18, 2009, 12:00:49 pm
1890's "I'll kick your ass" lick, or tongue lick?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 18, 2009, 12:01:23 pm
And I am now updating my paranoia level.

Do have any idea how uncomfortable sleeping on a shotgun is?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Gunner-Chan on June 18, 2009, 12:31:32 pm
1890's "I'll kick your ass" lick, or tongue lick?

Do you really need to ask? With my tongue.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: WorkerDrone on June 18, 2009, 02:02:43 pm
Do you really need to ask? With my tongue.

And this kids, is why you should NEVER EVER go near Joe. Ever. Its a bad idea kids. A bad idea.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Gunner-Chan on June 18, 2009, 02:08:01 pm
Unless you're tasty. Then feel free to get close.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on June 18, 2009, 02:10:13 pm
You're crazy.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: inaluct on June 18, 2009, 02:14:24 pm
You're delicious.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on June 18, 2009, 02:14:46 pm
You're dead in IRC Mafia.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on June 18, 2009, 02:15:06 pm
Youre a cannibal?

>3
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 18, 2009, 02:35:26 pm
Who're we talking about here?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on June 18, 2009, 02:37:46 pm
Inaluct?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on June 18, 2009, 02:40:58 pm
You're not starting your sentence with you're!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: inaluct on June 18, 2009, 02:42:23 pm
You're ruining everything me and Toonyman and Org worked so hard to build! D:
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on June 18, 2009, 02:42:58 pm
You're be ashamed of one's self!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on June 18, 2009, 02:43:29 pm
Youre ruining youre chance!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on June 18, 2009, 02:44:56 pm
You're never going to stop us!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 18, 2009, 03:08:21 pm
You're going to force me to lock this thread.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Gunner-Chan on June 18, 2009, 03:15:36 pm
Topic change!

So Strife, how is the Raccoon situation? Is he still around?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on June 18, 2009, 03:18:29 pm
You'r--ok.


I don't think he got it yet.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on June 18, 2009, 04:46:13 pm
UPDATE: Gonna be gone starting tomorrow. for a week.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: umiman on June 18, 2009, 11:05:27 pm
Let's see... I don't think Strife will lock this thread, not to demean his control over it. But if he does, he's going to end up without a place to blog on the forums, and this would affect him more than it would us. In addition, if he makes a new blogthread, he's just going to look like a giant dick. I'm not sure if that's in the decision variables.

In any case, he is certainly better off with this thread open at this point. It all depends on his marginal utility / offtopic-ness ratio.

Don't let this discourage you from locking the thread though. Just a behavorial analysis.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 18, 2009, 11:14:44 pm
Don't call my bluff!!

You do realize that this thread is some of the most randomness we have since the fall of VN? If I'd let it get out of control, it could be lost as well.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on June 18, 2009, 11:23:55 pm
well, mostly it's because it was renamed and all of a sudden thirty more people came to it.

Strife, name a dwarf. I'm doodling.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 18, 2009, 11:29:01 pm
Ironblood.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on June 18, 2009, 11:37:07 pm
One that wouldn't have an obligatory pile of bodies taking up the picture would be nice  :P
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: inaluct on June 18, 2009, 11:38:34 pm
You guys should join Strife's zefie thing game.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 18, 2009, 11:52:20 pm
Oh yeah, I was going to pitch that here! Join my life of a zefie game! It'll be fun, hopefully.

Another famous dwarf, eh?
Let me think . . .
It's been a while sense I've looked at the Community & Story Board for anything other than Nist.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 18, 2009, 11:53:28 pm
For a challenge from the past.
This chap:

http://www.bay12games.com/forum/index.php?topic=19282.0 (http://www.bay12games.com/forum/index.php?topic=19282.0)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on June 19, 2009, 12:22:19 am
Zefie game?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 19, 2009, 12:26:14 am
"The life of a zefie" in the forum games and roleplaying section. An RP thread that may or may not get off the ground.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 21, 2009, 05:49:44 am
Happy Father's Day everyone.

I decided that I wanted to rant a bit last night, so I drank a drink that a fried claimed was the equivalent of 5 espresso shots. I keep my caffeine intake pretty low, so that I don't develop a resistance to it. I drank the stuff about six hours ago. I'm still going. After I posted my threads and refreshed for to long, and failed at going to bed, I decided to sit on my deck for a while and watch the sun rise.

It's really a beautiful sight right now. It was raining pretty heavily south for a while now, so the river has gone far over its banks. It's gotten about halfway up my yard (no threat to the house, not that it matters now). It's like a lake. All of the birds were getting up. It's nice to listen to birds. I picked out at least three groups of turkeys gobbling to each other while waking up. Meanwhile, the river's running is constantly changing. The clouds were nice as well. They're sort of horizontal bands. The ones closest to the horizon turned a creamy peach. The color rose through the layers as I watched. Then it got nearer the top where the clouds were thing enough for there to be blue showing. Now the blue is making its way down the sky. There's forest on the other side of the river, it's flooded as well. But with the reflection from the sky, it's just specks of pink and tree trunks. I can't tell where the horizon is (mostly behind the canopy of the trees).

I figure that I should probably get to bed by 0800. That way I can get some sleep before I have to go to work. I'll be skipping church, I guess.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on June 21, 2009, 05:37:48 pm
It's really a beautiful sight right now. It was raining pretty heavily south for a while now, so the river has gone far over its banks. It's gotten about halfway up my yard (no threat to the house, not that it matters now). It's like a lake. All of the birds were getting up. It's nice to listen to birds. I picked out at least three groups of turkeys gobbling to each other while waking up. Meanwhile, the river's running is constantly changing. The clouds were nice as well. They're sort of horizontal bands. The ones closest to the horizon turned a creamy peach. The color rose through the layers as I watched. Then it got nearer the top where the clouds were thing enough for there to be blue showing. Now the blue is making its way down the sky. There's forest on the other side of the river, it's flooded as well. But with the reflection from the sky, it's just specks of pink and tree trunks. I can't tell where the horizon is (mostly behind the canopy of the trees).

It sounds to me like you've already been to church.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on June 22, 2009, 03:12:27 pm
Yesterday my Dad and I went fishing for 8.5 hrs.  ;D
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on June 22, 2009, 03:26:04 pm
Don't hold explosive fireworks when you light them.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Gunner-Chan on June 22, 2009, 03:40:43 pm
Don't hold explosive fireworks when you light them.

Indeed, the mouth works better.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on June 22, 2009, 03:43:16 pm
One symptom is deafness, but another is death so it cancels it out.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 26, 2009, 11:09:45 pm
Update from Fargo.
The river is starting to go down again (after killing my lawn. again). My cacti garden is doing really good. Ten buds total, four flowers right now.
My dad sent me a pair of powerpoints. I'd post them, but Toady would get REALLY pissed at me. They're not very nice towards some people.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on June 27, 2009, 09:56:30 am
well, mostly it's because it was renamed and all of a sudden thirty more people came to it.

Strife, name a dwarf. I'm doodling.
Morul!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on June 27, 2009, 11:31:08 am
Odin!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on June 27, 2009, 11:35:34 am
Thor!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on June 27, 2009, 11:36:44 am
Tholtig!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 30, 2009, 05:45:22 pm
Well, today I'm working on getting a box together for my dad. He's apparently spending a fair bit of time reading. Supposedly, he finished Ender's Game in two days (while working more than 8 hour shifts). He asked me to send him some books. I decided to go for overkill here.
My house has a respectable library of books. A bit of military theory and strategy (although I'm getting increasingly annoyed that I can't find On War). Then lot's of fantasy and sci-fi, with some westerns here and there. I'm going to try to avoid sending him many books that he's already read. Which limits me to my MUCH smaller selection of books. I also had to consider that I might not be getting these books back (when he was in Korea, before I was born, he left all the literature that he had accumulated as a community library.). I can't exactly send a first-printing of Warlord of Mars to the desert, can I?

He also asked for Ender's Shadow, so I started with that one. Here's the list.

1) Ender's Shadow, OS Card - classic sci-fi book. One of my favorites. I'm not sure if he's ever read it, I think that I bought this copy for myself.

2) Shadow of the Hegemon, OS Card - Shadow's sequel, kinda sci-fi, kinda military tactics, kinda political drama. I also liked it. I know that I bought this one for myself. Not sure if he's read it (it was published in 2001, which is after he read regularly).

3) Shadow Puppets, OS Card - Next sequel. I couldn't find my copy, so I'll be buying one tonight. I thought that the series started to bog-down here, but it's still good.

4) Shadow of the Giant, OS Card- Final book. I hated the ending, but enjoyed the book. I couldn't exactly leave the series unfinished. Could I?

5) Hero of the Imperium, Sandy Mitchell- A Warhammer book, which he's never heard of. Military Sci-fi with a dose of humor. He'll either love it or hate it. Definitely a new read for him.

6) Empire of the East, Saberhagen- High Fantasy with a fun military twist. Fantasy world + Tank = ? Takes place far in the future of the books of swords, which he thinks highly of. He's read it before.

7) Dark Lord of Derkholm, Diana Wynne Jones - Satirical Fantasy. I bought this book many years ago and enjoyed it. Something that's pretty different from sci-fi, so I included it. I might send the (better) sequel Year of the Griffin if I can find room.

8) Ghost Recon, David Michaels - an okay book. It's almost a Clancy? Just something different, I may or may not send it.

9) The Greatest Hockey Stories Ever Told- He likes hockey, I figure something non-fiction wouldn't be a bad idea.

Any other suggestions? I might buy the swords series while I'm out, but I'd have to read them before I send them.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on June 30, 2009, 06:06:33 pm
Gaunt's Ghosts was pretty good.

Although I do think the Commissar Cain series was a bit better.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on June 30, 2009, 06:07:37 pm
What you choose is best.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: WorkerDrone on July 01, 2009, 07:44:08 am
I think...that Hero of the Imperium is a great book to start out reading, if you plan to read anything Warhammer at all. Though by my guess, your looking at all of the Imperial Guard books. I'd say whatever, I liked 15 Hours, HoTI, CC, and the others just as much as the Omnibuses, and the Horus Heresy books.

That's a really nice selection right there, there's not much to be added.

Send him the first World War book, by Harry Turtledove. I think its Upsetting The Balance. Not sure, might have to check.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on July 01, 2009, 09:09:55 am
The Gotrek and Felix books were pretty awesome.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on July 01, 2009, 09:15:19 am
The Gotrek and Felix books were pretty awesome.
:I
Never read it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on July 03, 2009, 04:42:35 pm
Well, I'm currently liberating wifi from Steele ND to post this.
Going to the grandparents cabin for the holiday.

Spent the drive so far playing Super Mario RPG on my laptop. If you own the game for snes, I highly recomend getting it onto your laptop/desktop. I could spend days replaying super mario world and kirby superstar too!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on July 03, 2009, 04:43:57 pm
I have it for the SNES. Favorite SNES game ever. Second is Starfox.

how far are you, and do you want the *almost* invincible bowser shell?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Gunner-Chan on July 03, 2009, 04:44:33 pm
Give Metal Max Returns a try! It's awesome!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on July 03, 2009, 04:45:46 pm
The Lost Vikings.  Real fun.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Onlyhestands on July 03, 2009, 04:51:50 pm
The Dresden Files

Awesome series about A Wizard/PI Living in Chicago. The back story is really fleshed out and all the books(12 so far) are really enjoyable.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on July 14, 2009, 09:32:25 pm
Got Orcslayer at Goodwill for $1.25

Its okay so far
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on July 14, 2009, 09:43:19 pm
It's a bit late in the series, and is about average for the stories.

Trollslayer is the first one. My favorite one was beastslayer thus far.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on July 14, 2009, 09:44:37 pm
Yea well.

Its Warhammer and its confusin.

40k is alot easier to understand.

To me at least. :I
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: WorkerDrone on July 15, 2009, 04:05:13 am
Actually, the only reason the latter is easier to understand is because you've pumped so much GRIMDARK into your veins already, anything less than your usual dose of GRIMDARK material just doesn't do it for you.

And everyone knows that the Old World version of Warhammer is just a toned down version of the GRIMDARK Future version.

GRIMDARK GRIMDARK GRIMDARK GRIMDARK GRIMDARK GRIMDARK GRIMDARK GRIMDARK...
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on July 15, 2009, 08:21:09 am
GRIMDARK GRIMDARK GRIMDARK
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Gunner-Chan on July 16, 2009, 11:37:59 am
In the grim darkness of Strife's topic, there is only GRIMDARK.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on July 25, 2009, 06:55:48 pm
Hiya everyone! Typing this from Cinncinati Ohio. Without internet. L Hopefully, I’ll be getting the hookup for the wireless here tomorrow, so that I can actually post this. Otherwise, I’ll be posting this at a coffee shop or something, I guess. Lots of stuff (As Per Usual) has happened since the last time I’ve updated here.
   Biggest deal would be the fact that I’m currently on an extended vacation. My mother got let go from her job several months ago (hint: stay the hell away from Sprint, their entire engineering staff for the Midwest is now only based in Minneapolis), and my father remains in Basra. I wouldn’t care that much if I was let go from MY job (I might have to quit when school starts anyway). So, we decided that it’d be a good summer to go on a trip. We’re going to drive instead of fly. Our first stop is Ohio to spend some time with my aunt (and her husband and my cousin). We spent yesterday driving (I did a bit, but not a lot). Stayed at the Best Western in Janesville. Covered the rest of the way today (tenses are going to get messed up, I’m typing this a 2319 on Friday night, whenever it is that I’m posting it). Six states so far. Interesting note on billboards. Outside of Chicago, I counted 24 billboards for a Krazy Kaplain’s Fireworks, 14 for other firework places, and 7 for adult services (p0rn stores, gent clubs, and an ’adult botique.’ Tommorow we’re going to go to an aquarium.
   We’re going to spend three days here, and then proceede to the East Coast (all of my mom’s family is up there). My sister wants to go to a boarding school (lord only knows why), so we’ll be doing some interveiws. We meaning my mother and sister. I’ll be doing my best to sit on beaches and visit zoos whenever possible. Maybe chill in assorted downtown areas as well. I’ll be spending a day at West Point, and doing an interveiw at AIC (the college my grandmother on my Mom’s side works at, they have Army ROTC, so they’ll work as a fourth or fifth option for me.).
   In other news, I finally bit the bullet and got a personal trainer. We only had a few meetings before I left, but I think that he’ll help me a lot. I’ve also been going to the chiropractor. Apparently, my mother noticed my pretty lopsided shoulders (I have a standing policy towards being stoic, so I never mentioned them). My sister ended up with hairline fracture from gymnastics a while ago, so I’m going to her chiropractor. He seems like a competent enough chap. My backs been hurting for a while as well, and my shoulders are really screwed up after driving. Bears thinking about, especially if I have to cover it up for an entrance exam.
   I’m getting worried about West Point. I really have to get my shit together there. I don’t know when applications are due, but I haven’t even started the nomination process. Fuck. That’s going to be a priority once I get internet again. I haven’t even taken a SAT or ACT yet, so I’ll be doing that as quickly as possible too. I’m a good test taker, thankfully, so that’ll carry hopefully.
   I’m bushed from the drive and dealing with my cousin (he’s six . . .) so that’s all for now. There was something else, but I’ll be blown if I could remember.

 
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on July 26, 2009, 07:53:50 pm
Just got back a few hours ago from visiting relatives. Nice seeing some of them...not so nice seeing others. Notably both my cousins. One is okay, but he was hogging the Xbox most of the time. :I
I wanted to play Star Wars.

But the other cousin I have is a bit obnoxious. Also, she ditched her friend, who then went home very angry, and lied about it. I laughed.

I am almost done painting a Dreadnought. It looks good.

Got a nasty cut on my heel. It bled a bit. I had to clean it up.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on July 28, 2009, 09:08:54 pm
Hey everyone. Again. Looked at my cut again. Seems better. Still hurts a little.

Painted a bit more.
Bored.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Luckk on July 28, 2009, 09:21:07 pm
How did you get a cut on your heel when you were visiting relatives?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on July 28, 2009, 09:26:16 pm
My brother and cousins and I were playing Marco Polo and I stepped on something.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Luckk on July 28, 2009, 09:38:33 pm
Ahh.  Well... I am horrible at small talk, so I have no idea what to say.  Anyway, I'm glad most of my relatives live pretty close to me.  The ACT isn't to bad, the only problem I had was I ran out of time before finishing so I just had to guess for the rest of the answers.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on July 28, 2009, 09:47:13 pm
I'm going to have to take the SAT and ACT pretty soon. I didn't do them during my junior year (I'm an idiot).

I took a pre-act at one point, and fell asleep during the science part. Apparently, the Procter decided to wake me up when I started snoring.  :-\


Just outside of West Point right now, 11 hour drive, so I'm going to go to bed.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on July 29, 2009, 09:46:25 am
I recently got back from a vacation thing.

The weather was horrible. No rain, but 107 degrees in the shade. I got to see the Oregon Coast Aquarium, and was attacked by a three foot long snapping turtle. I lost the end of my left pinky.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on July 29, 2009, 09:49:21 am
Record breaking temperatures in north-west USA.  Poor Toady...
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on July 29, 2009, 10:30:07 am
Amazing. I'm in the most non-alaskan northwest state, and it's 80 degrees and cloudy.

Portland... 105 degrees average last week.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Footkerchief on July 29, 2009, 12:41:28 pm
I got to see the Oregon Coast Aquarium, and was attacked by a three foot long snapping turtle. I lost the end of my left pinky.

Wait, are you joking or not?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on July 29, 2009, 12:42:07 pm
I'm guessing yes.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on July 29, 2009, 01:45:05 pm
No, but I probably gave you the wrong impression. It's only a flesh wound, no bone loss.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Footkerchief on July 29, 2009, 01:49:59 pm
That's still hardcore.  How many warning signs did you have to ignore to manage that?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on July 29, 2009, 01:51:05 pm
(http://cm1.theinsider.com/media/0/57/0/turtle-plastic-bag.0.0.0x0.430x323.jpeg)

You're next boy.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: umiman on July 29, 2009, 01:59:48 pm
That's just a normal turtle...

This is a snapping turtle:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: JoshuaFH on July 29, 2009, 02:01:34 pm
How the HELL did you manage to get injured by that Barb? It's not only BADASS looking, but it's also a turtle, and thus SLOW!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on July 29, 2009, 02:06:26 pm
they bite down at 60 miles per hour.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: JoshuaFH on July 29, 2009, 02:08:43 pm
So... your hand was already inside that thing's mouth?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on July 29, 2009, 02:09:30 pm
Turtle evolves into...................SNAPPING TURTLE.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on July 29, 2009, 02:10:01 pm
I bet he tried to feed it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on July 29, 2009, 06:40:38 pm
Yes, actually. And stroke it's lumpy head to calm it down.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Footkerchief on July 29, 2009, 07:18:48 pm
So what'd you feed it, then?  Oh wait.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on July 29, 2009, 07:28:25 pm
How filling are pinkies?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Footkerchief on July 29, 2009, 07:30:48 pm
Ask your mother.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on July 30, 2009, 03:17:52 pm
Ask your mother.
...

Lol?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on July 30, 2009, 03:19:47 pm
*head bang*
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on July 30, 2009, 03:20:19 pm
*head bang*
face+palm
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on July 30, 2009, 03:23:06 pm
Um... anyways, I learned not to feed the badass looking turtles.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on July 30, 2009, 03:26:47 pm
THAT's IT.  I've been waiting a year to do thisa!  I can't resist!

*head bang*
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Footkerchief on July 30, 2009, 03:58:50 pm
*head bang*

Oh no you didn't.  I'm going to want that back at some point.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on August 02, 2009, 09:55:03 pm
How filling are pinkies?

Week and a half for my snake.



I'm either in Vermont or Massachutsets. Had a party with my Mother's side of family. I don't feel like typing or doing any of my forum games. :(

Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on August 03, 2009, 05:51:12 am
Im about to leave for school. :(
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: JoshuaFH on August 03, 2009, 02:20:35 pm
Good luck Org.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on August 03, 2009, 04:12:06 pm
Be sure to locate probable weapon areas and spots to fortify in case of zombies, commies, vampires, werewolves, or salvation war scenarios.


I'm in Vermont, and am going to do an interview at Norwich U hopefully. It's a military school, which is good.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on August 03, 2009, 05:11:23 pm
Eh. School was meh.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: JoshuaFH on August 03, 2009, 05:13:30 pm
Eh. School was meh.

Anything about school we DON'T know?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on August 03, 2009, 05:20:25 pm
I have Ap Stats Homework?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on August 03, 2009, 05:24:12 pm
Get a TI-89. No more stats homework.

I've got five AP classes this year.  :P
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on August 03, 2009, 05:27:04 pm
I have to write two paragraphs. A calc cant help.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: JoshuaFH on August 03, 2009, 05:27:37 pm
Two paragraphs?! I could do that in my sleep.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on August 03, 2009, 05:29:26 pm
Meh. Its on what I think stats is, how its used, and when. Second paragraph I use teh interwebs.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: JoshuaFH on August 03, 2009, 05:31:08 pm
Just be sure not to plagiarize anything, schools hate that.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on August 03, 2009, 06:08:42 pm
lolwut?

I just stole it from some website. Too lazy to write it.

What is plagerizing? A disease?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on August 03, 2009, 06:31:26 pm
Something that will get your sorry ass in lots of trouble.

Plagiarizing is the taking of another person's thoughts, words, or ideas and claiming them as your own without giving them proper credit.

Don't do it. There is an even chance that your teacher will be smart enough to realize that it isn't your writing and they'll remember it for the whole year.

Depending on the school, it's worth a wrist slap to an expulsion if you get caught.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on August 03, 2009, 06:36:02 pm
>:I

YOU SERIOUSLY COULDNT TELL I WAS SARCASTIC????!?!??!1/1/?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on August 03, 2009, 07:38:56 pm
That you plagiarized it or that you didn't know what plagiarism is?


Strife policy 12: All sarcasm should be regarded as serious.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on August 03, 2009, 08:05:16 pm
That you plagiarized it or that you didn't know what plagiarism is?


Strife policy 12: All sarcasm should be regarded as serious.
About plagiarizing and not knowing what it was.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on August 03, 2009, 08:07:55 pm
So both?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on August 03, 2009, 08:08:44 pm
Yes. Sarcastic about both. :I
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: JoshuaFH on August 03, 2009, 08:11:08 pm
How do we know you're not being sarcastic right now?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on August 03, 2009, 08:11:36 pm
You wont.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Leafsnail on August 03, 2009, 08:13:38 pm
Vote org.

In all seriousness, excessive sarcasm can be bad for your health.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: WorkerDrone on August 04, 2009, 01:14:28 pm
To much Mafia Leaf?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on August 04, 2009, 01:29:58 pm
Isn't that like saying too much DF?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on August 04, 2009, 03:28:36 pm
Isnt that like saying too much 40k?


And Strife wat is your sig meaning?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on August 04, 2009, 03:35:39 pm
For posterity:
"Okay then. I'm replacing my normal lyrics with a promotion to another game. Join Star Pirates! It's fun! And if I can win a contest for referrals, I can make a goodly sum of money to buy stuff for the coming B12 fleet!
http://www.starpirates.net/register.php?referer=36710"

If you shuffle over to the Star pirates thread in Other games, you'll see more. Basically, it's an online browser game where I'll be starting a  Bay 12 fleet. When people join the game (PLEASE DON'T TRY TO MULTI-ACCOUNT!!), I get ballots that will help me win a fabulous prize which I can sell for start up equipment for the fleet.

So, join star pirates and stuff! For  the glory of the 12th Bay!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on August 04, 2009, 03:39:24 pm
Meh no.

JOIN CALL OF DWARF
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on August 04, 2009, 05:57:29 pm
I was bored so I made this...

(http://i609.photobucket.com/albums/tt176/Orgdabucha/Ank.png)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on August 04, 2009, 06:26:42 pm
Just join star pirates! It's a great way to waste some time.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on August 04, 2009, 06:41:54 pm
Im on.

Boss Org.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on August 04, 2009, 06:47:46 pm
I have over 1000 cargo. Yey?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Footkerchief on August 05, 2009, 12:37:41 pm
I'm off on vacation til the 15th.  Don't troll y'all.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: JoshuaFH on August 05, 2009, 03:24:24 pm
I'm off on vacation til the 15th.  Don't troll y'all.

Aw man! Since you that you told me not to troll, I HAVE to troll now!

/joke
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on August 05, 2009, 03:30:28 pm
*sings Night Fever
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on August 08, 2009, 08:41:53 pm
I need serious help. I was assigned an essay in history. THe problem is we have to pick a religion or whatever and compare it to another and prove it better. This is somewhat hard. I really need help.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Little on August 08, 2009, 11:14:39 pm
Atheism to Christianity.  :D
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: JoshuaFH on August 09, 2009, 05:16:14 am
So wait... you have to try to prove one religion is BETTER than another?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Gunner-Chan on August 09, 2009, 05:17:40 am
So wait... you have to try to prove one religion is BETTER than another?

That sounds terrible... Who thought THAT was a good idea?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Vester on August 09, 2009, 05:45:53 am
I need serious help. I was assigned an essay in history. THe problem is we have to pick a religion or whatever and compare it to another and prove it better. This is somewhat hard. I really need help.

That can't possibly be right.

Better like, more ethical, or better like more awesome?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Leafsnail on August 09, 2009, 05:58:47 am
I need serious help. I was assigned an essay in history. THe problem is we have to pick a religion or whatever and compare it to another and prove it better. This is somewhat hard. I really need help.
Take a bland and inoffensive religion, like the most tolerant form of Christianity you can find, and compare it to an ancient religion that believed in human sacrifice.  You should be able to prove that the inoffensive religion is better than the human sacrificing one.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on August 09, 2009, 08:39:09 am
I need serious help. I was assigned an essay in history. THe problem is we have to pick a religion or whatever and compare it to another and prove it better. This is somewhat hard. I really need help.
Something like that. I am doing Christianity and Evolution.(Yes, though not a religion we can compare) or was that something else

That can't possibly be right.

Better like, more ethical, or better like more awesome?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Vester on August 09, 2009, 08:41:33 am
Oi, that's hardcore.

I suggest you take Leafsnail's advice. Take something that's the norm where you live and juxtapose it with Aztec !MURDERDEATHKILL! or Scientology.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Rilder on August 09, 2009, 10:58:04 am
I need serious help. I was assigned an essay in history. THe problem is we have to pick a religion or whatever and compare it to another and prove it better. This is somewhat hard. I really need help.

Take the Roman Pantheon and Compare it to the Hellenic Pantheon, just compare all the myths and beliefs and state which one you found more kick ass.

If your teacher says they aren't real religions, kill her/him.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on August 09, 2009, 11:05:01 am
We could do ANYTHING.

But I already said what I am doing. Also, my friend is doing that one cult(leader was Jim Jones(IIRC)). Kool aid anyone?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on August 09, 2009, 09:58:23 pm
Compare atheism to everything else. Conservatives call Atheism a religion, so can you!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Vester on August 09, 2009, 10:17:27 pm
Compare atheism to everything else. Conservatives call Atheism a religion, so can you!

Atheism is a religion. Atheists worship the mad god Athe, who demands weekly blood sacrifice.

Honestly, though, that's a good idea. You could point out that atheists are no less ethical than most religious people (normally).
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on August 09, 2009, 10:28:02 pm
Compare atheism to everything else. Conservatives call Atheism a religion, so can you!

Atheism is a religion. Atheists worship the mad god Athe, who demands weekly blood sacrifice.

Honestly, though, that's a good idea. You could point out that atheists are no less ethical than most religious people (normally).

And they have Sunday free!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Leafsnail on August 10, 2009, 05:39:13 am
I dunno, I wouldn't call it a religion.  It has no central doctrine, church, worshipping patterns, divine orders or bank account (this is why atheists get bad press - they don't have millions lying around in a central bank account) and is basically just a loose grouping of people who think that a God doesn't exist.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: IndonesiaWarMinister on August 10, 2009, 06:25:12 am
I dunno, I wouldn't call it a religion.  It has no central doctrine, church, worshipping patterns, divine orders or bank account (this is why atheists get bad press - they don't have millions lying around in a central bank account) and is basically just a loose grouping of people who think that a God doesn't exist.

No Central doctrine, church, worshipping patterns, divine orders or bank account?

I'll just say one: Technology.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on August 10, 2009, 09:18:55 am
science! logic! et cetera!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on August 10, 2009, 03:35:57 pm
It was meh. Everyone else BSed it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on August 11, 2009, 05:24:49 pm
Lol. Someone said that Evoloution was ILLOGICAL, while another said Creationism was more logical than Evolution. Lolwut.

Anyone here done a senior project?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on August 12, 2009, 01:16:52 am
If you include Spontaneous Generation as part of Evolution, then you can make a pretty strong Razor Argument off of it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on August 12, 2009, 04:48:02 pm
RRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEEEEEEEEEEEEEGGGGGGGGGGG MOMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111!


I was working on this essay in world history when my teacher comes by and notices my notebook underneath my paper. He said earlier to put books/notebooks away. He said I cheated. I didn't know it was there. I had forgotten about it.

HEADDESK
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on August 12, 2009, 04:48:53 pm
Org, this is the last time.  If you screw up one more time you're fired.

You're fired.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on August 15, 2009, 08:43:04 pm
Heresy grows from idleness.

And I painted some terminators(Spesh mahrenes not the movie things that look like necrons. >.>)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on August 17, 2009, 06:07:57 pm
SPESH HULK IS OUT! Yey!

I might order it...
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on September 14, 2009, 08:41:14 pm
Well, here we go again.

School year's started and I've got a pretty killer class-load.

1) AP English.
2) Advanced Weights
3) AP Calc
4a) Lunch (read: go look at paper)
4) AP government
5) Off period (lunch)
6) AP physics
7-8) JROTC

I'll be adding more stuff as I go, but I just felt like bringing the life back tonight.



I had a really weird dream last night, it's just interesting enough so that I'm going to be writing a story describing it. I've been getting up at 5 lately, and for some reason this causes weird dreams. If I get some other interesting ones, it might become a running series.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Vester on September 14, 2009, 08:41:53 pm
What is... advanced weights?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on September 14, 2009, 08:47:48 pm
Weight lifting.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Vester on September 14, 2009, 08:49:01 pm
Ah. What makes it advanced?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on September 14, 2009, 08:49:23 pm
Oh, I must share my schedule!  Here's the load-down.

1. Homeroom - I have my science teacher for this.
2. Physics - BORING, I do all this stuff in shop, but atleast the teacher is nice.  Also, they don't have an honors class for Physics for some reason.  ??
3. Hon. English - Funny teacher, not my best subject though, I don't usual get over a 95.  Well, actually I got a 99 last year for a final grade, whatever.
4. Hon. Math - Small class, my best subject by far.  The teacher is always rushing and being stressed though.
5. Hon. History - Weird teacher, he's like insane or something.  Gives out bucket-loads of homework.
5 1/2 - Lunch - Juniors get lunch last, like 12:00 dood!  It's crazy.
6. Cinema Literacy - We watch movies, boring, I want to transfer.
7. Etc - Health, Gym, Study.  You know, the other stuff.

Then we have shop for the other have of the year, here's the load down:

1. Shop.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on September 14, 2009, 09:04:16 pm
Ah. What makes it advanced?

Well, Fargo south has four levels of PE.

1st we have freshie gym. Primary objective is to hog floor space that JROTC needs for marching (ROTC and the freshmen have their own separate building).

Then the sophomores have a required semester long class. It takes them about a month to learn weights (primarily what a barbell is). Annoyingly enough, real weight classes can't use them during this time.

Diversionary PE class. After the required semesters in Freshmen and sophomore years, all students must take one more elective PE. There are about five to choose from. Basic weight, basic racket sports, and Team sports, being the ones I can think of.

Senior gyms aren't required to be taken, so they usually have people excited to be there. Advanced weights requires that you've taken basic before.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on September 14, 2009, 10:33:40 pm
School year's started and I've got a pretty killer class-load.
Me too.
Quote
0) Electronics - Almost on Semiconductors. I excited.

1) Geometry - Retardo easy. Challenging the course in a week's time.

2) Symphonic Band - Not my favorite, but I like music.

3) Pre-Calculus - A class where I actually learn. Fun stuff.

4) Honors U.S. History - Interesting, but I've done it before.

LUNCH INTERMISSION--- Depending on the day, this will be either Rocket Club, Broadcast Committee, or Math Team. (Later, Science Olympiad.)

5) Hon. Biology - Only taking it to be able to go into honors chemistry next year.

6) CP 10 English - Unfortunately, I had to drop Hon. English for Pre-Calc.

7-8) Cross Country - The best ever.

OTHER - Pep Band, Track (Later), Alternative Energies. (Electronics with a TWEEST.)
Yeah. Busy schedule for a sophomore.  :-\

I blame myself for taking integrated 3 over the summer and taking two at a time now.  ;D
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on September 14, 2009, 10:35:29 pm
We're doing diodes in shop right now.  Funny coindense?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: zchris13 on September 15, 2009, 03:42:49 pm
I'm welding together a free pivoting wheel in robotics, does that count?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on September 15, 2009, 04:25:57 pm
Oh ho ho ho, you never will believe what happened in History, pal.

All of us are sitting at our desks, the teacher is absent, we wonder where he is---"TOUCH DOWN!"

The teacher ran into the room screaming "Touch Down!" while punting a imaginary football.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: zchris13 on September 15, 2009, 04:37:01 pm
It's so wrong!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: JoshuaFH on September 15, 2009, 05:53:32 pm
Oh ho ho ho, you never will believe what happened in History, pal.

All of us are sitting at our desks, the teacher is absent, we wonder where he is---"TOUCH DOWN!"

The teacher ran into the room screaming "Touch Down!" while punting a imaginary football.

WHY?!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on September 15, 2009, 05:59:32 pm
Oh ho ho ho, you never will believe what happened in History, pal.

All of us are sitting at our desks, the teacher is absent, we wonder where he is---"TOUCH DOWN!"

The teacher ran into the room screaming "Touch Down!" while punting a imaginary football.

WHY?!

Everyone started laughing after the heart attack.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: zchris13 on September 15, 2009, 06:17:14 pm
That sounds like some obfuscation of the rules of football, right there. I mean, if you didn't already know them, that is.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on September 15, 2009, 06:57:03 pm
We start every Physics with loud rock and a game of catch. Seriously.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: zchris13 on September 15, 2009, 07:04:03 pm
My physics teacher is a nervous wreck.  it's hilarious.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Vector on September 15, 2009, 07:38:33 pm
-snip-
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on September 15, 2009, 08:06:58 pm
Mine showed up to class in a red silk dress.....

He

BY THE GODS!  :o
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on September 15, 2009, 08:41:02 pm
We learned wine tasting in JROTC.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on September 15, 2009, 08:54:39 pm
I learned what many explosive gasses smelled like in welding. all of them were in the same room. The next room was full of active welders.

scary stuff, thar.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on September 20, 2009, 10:17:38 pm
Well, I'll bump with some sad-ish news.

My dad (divorced from my mom ~7 or so years ago) just left his recent home with his second wife, and is now living alone. I'm not sure if they're divorced yet.

I'd probably be more upset if his wife hadn't been such a (I hate to say it, but here goes.) bitch. She never treated him well, and her children weren't too nice of people either.

I'm on the fence for this one.

((You can answer if you want, but there's no real question here to answer. Feel free to change the topic.))
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on September 20, 2009, 10:18:43 pm
Divorced parents suck.  I know.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on September 20, 2009, 10:20:06 pm
Me too, but it seems much different when it is only one parent plus some other person you barely know.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on September 20, 2009, 10:32:08 pm
My step-dad is all cool.  Red neck folk he is.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on September 20, 2009, 10:33:56 pm
80% of the townsfolk where I live are rednecks.

In fact, it's probably closer to 90.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: JoshuaFH on September 20, 2009, 10:35:05 pm
Define Redneck.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Rashilul on September 20, 2009, 10:36:31 pm
Mildly offensive term for a lower class white person from the southeastern states of the USA. Derives from someone who spent a lot of time on manual labour outside and so received a "red neck" from the sun.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on September 20, 2009, 10:39:18 pm
Says "Git-R-Done" alot.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on September 20, 2009, 10:44:57 pm
Mildly offensive term for a lower class white person from the southeastern states of the USA. Derives from someone who spent a lot of time on manual labour outside and so received a "red neck" from the sun.

replace "southeastern states of the USA" with "Northwest Washington" and you have my town.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Rashilul on September 20, 2009, 10:47:17 pm
Mildly offensive term for a lower class white person from the southeastern states of the USA. Derives from someone who spent a lot of time on manual labour outside and so received a "red neck" from the sun.

replace "southeastern states of the USA" with "Northwest Washington" and you have my town.
replace "southeastern states of the USA" with "Northern Montana" and you have my town. Racism is rampant and there are almost no blacks or latinos.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on September 20, 2009, 10:53:51 pm
sounds like here!

Well, at least our states are better than Wyoming!

*high five!*
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Maggarg - Eater of chicke on September 21, 2009, 10:26:40 am
I thought racism was pretty bad in Hull, which is overall a pretty poor city, but I'm always surprised by some of the really virulent racism in America.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on September 21, 2009, 02:20:10 pm
RACISM IN AMERICA IS BAD.  IT ONLY HAPPENS HERE YEAH.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on September 21, 2009, 04:59:03 pm
Fargo's a funny city. We've got red necks and urbanites here.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on September 27, 2009, 06:58:23 am
So, I'm pretty tired and trying to type stuff up for a student congress meet for tomorrow. I've got no research done at all, so I'm pretty much banking on getting elected PO (which means that I get to bang the gavel instead of giving speeches).

Somehow, I typed up this monstrosity for the religion thread. I've been feeling kind of depressed lately. For reasons that I'll consider discussing later.


You'll note that I didn't talk about where myself fits in Heaven and Hell  much (which is uncharacteristic of me, I normally bring myself much more strongly into stuff like that, the better to make sure that people can find and raise differences in basic assumptions). I've resigned myself to the possibility of eternal damnation a long time ago (and I've said that before as well, I think to Jude).

I'm a crappy person. I'm lazy, sinful, unthinking to my friends. I swear with a passion. When I do pray, it's usually something rote (Oh that you would bless me indeed Lord, and enlarge your territory, that you're hand would be with me and that you would keep me from evil, that I might not cuase pain). And that prayer is litterally just asking God for stuff. I've said the following prayer word for word before, "God bless that God-damned athiest." What the fucking hell? I worry my parents, I don't follow through on things. For Christ's sake, I've actively hoped that the fucking Salvation War would come to pass.

This, I believe is my major problem. I've put Country before God. Fuck, I've put war largely before country. It's horrible for me to say this, but honestly, all I really want is a decent death. Something, fuck, honorable. Isn't that horrible? I've been damned close to cutting my throat before, just becuase I'm a fuck-up. I made myself the promise that if I'd kill myself unnecessarily, I'd cut my jugulars out with my first knife over the spot where I buried my cats. The worst part? I'm gutless enough that I won't do it. Because it didn't seem to be a fitting death. How can that be what God wants for me? Knowing myself, I'd try to throw my life away at the first available chance that seemed to be "okay." So, deep down (like I was saying before), I want something to happen. A war where I could go die, zombies so I could go down fighting, whatever. I wonder if I hoped for a school shooting where I could do something brave. Isn't it horrible? The amount of collateral damage I'd be glad to see so I could have a good death. Because trying to work against those sorts of evil events would make my action good, even if I hoped for them? Like I said, I damned well deserve to go to hell for my mindset. I've got no bloody clue where I'm going with this, it really belongs in my convenient blogging thread, doesn't it? I guess that I'll spoiler it here and put it there, then get to work on my speech stuff. 
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on September 27, 2009, 06:13:36 pm
So, I'm pretty tired and trying to type stuff up for a student congress meet for tomorrow. I've got no research done at all, so I'm pretty much banking on getting elected PO (which means that I get to bang the gavel instead of giving speeches).

Somehow, I typed up this monstrosity for the religion thread. I've been feeling kind of depressed lately. For reasons that I'll consider discussing later.


You'll note that I didn't talk about where myself fits in Heaven and Hell  much (which is uncharacteristic of me, I normally bring myself much more strongly into stuff like that, the better to make sure that people can find and raise differences in basic assumptions). I've resigned myself to the possibility of eternal damnation a long time ago (and I've said that before as well, I think to Jude).

I'm a crappy person. I'm lazy, sinful, unthinking to my friends. I swear with a passion. When I do pray, it's usually something rote (Oh that you would bless me indeed Lord, and enlarge your territory, that you're hand would be with me and that you would keep me from evil, that I might not cuase pain). And that prayer is litterally just asking God for stuff. I've said the following prayer word for word before, "God bless that God-damned athiest." What the fucking hell? I worry my parents, I don't follow through on things. For Christ's sake, I've actively hoped that the fucking Salvation War would come to pass.

This, I believe is my major problem. I've put Country before God. Fuck, I've put war largely before country. It's horrible for me to say this, but honestly, all I really want is a decent death. Something, fuck, honorable. Isn't that horrible? I've been damned close to cutting my throat before, just becuase I'm a fuck-up. I made myself the promise that if I'd kill myself unnecessarily, I'd cut my jugulars out with my first knife over the spot where I buried my cats. The worst part? I'm gutless enough that I won't do it. Because it didn't seem to be a fitting death. How can that be what God wants for me? Knowing myself, I'd try to throw my life away at the first available chance that seemed to be "okay." So, deep down (like I was saying before), I want something to happen. A war where I could go die, zombies so I could go down fighting, whatever. I wonder if I hoped for a school shooting where I could do something brave. Isn't it horrible? The amount of collateral damage I'd be glad to see so I could have a good death. Because trying to work against those sorts of evil events would make my action good, even if I hoped for them? Like I said, I damned well deserve to go to hell for my mindset. I've got no bloody clue where I'm going with this, it really belongs in my convenient blogging thread, doesn't it? I guess that I'll spoiler it here and put it there, then get to work on my speech stuff. 
Indeed.

Well, here is my opinion. I would rather live a long life than throw my life away fighting a war, or something else just as nasty. Now, do not take this wrong, I do not hate or dislike anyone fighting in a war. Its just something I could or would not do. I will not take someone else's life. Who are we, to do that? I will not kill myself either. There is someone out there, who is worse off than you, no matter what you think. And it just seems pointless. And stuff. I do not think a zombie infestation or, as you put it, "something" needs to happen. Because I have thought of many things, that were to happen, would be the end to humanity/earth/etc etc. And it would not be a decent death. Not a single, last one of them.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on September 27, 2009, 09:49:17 pm
Strife, I can only say this. You'll likely go to whatever afterlife you believe in. I believe this, and therefore I will (hopefully) go to either Valhalla or Niflheim. I think that your wanting to die in battle is not an uncommon goal. Many people want to die for their country or a just cause, you just have to find yours.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: umiman on October 05, 2009, 02:33:12 pm
Strife, I can only say this. You'll likely go to whatever afterlife you believe in. I believe this, and therefore I will (hopefully) go to either Valhalla or Niflheim.
...

...

I... uh... You... what? Okay... I don't... screw this. I don't care.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Footkerchief on October 05, 2009, 02:51:28 pm
I always wanted to call it Sniflheim.  Cause it's cold there and your nose runs.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on October 05, 2009, 03:30:33 pm
And I will join the Emperor, until the Last Battle, and the destruction of Chaos.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on October 05, 2009, 11:19:04 pm
I always wanted to call it Sniflheim.  Cause it's cold there and your nose runs.

No, that's the realm of the frost giantess, Hel.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on October 06, 2009, 12:56:48 am
How funny do you guys think this is?

(http://images.cheezburger.com/completestore/2009/10/4/128991182462640137.jpg)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on October 06, 2009, 02:50:27 am
Nevermind, I figured it out.

Hey everybody! I got TWO lols on the upcoming page of pundit kitchen!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: JoshuaFH on October 06, 2009, 09:55:22 am
How funny do you guys think this is?

(http://images.cheezburger.com/completestore/2009/10/4/128991182462640137.jpg)

Can the jets in that picture even move around?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Maggarg - Eater of chicke on October 06, 2009, 11:37:42 am
How funny do you guys think this is?

(http://images.cheezburger.com/completestore/2009/10/4/128991182462640137.jpg)
I think it's funny that the US thinks they need so many massive planes and ships when they don't even need half of them.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Leafsnail on October 06, 2009, 11:50:13 am
Yeah, you gotta wonder what use that aircraft carrier is ever going to be.  There isn't much chance of war with a major naval power breaking out in the forseeable future.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: umiman on October 06, 2009, 11:51:56 am
Weren't they deployed in the gulf wars to act as air bases?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on October 06, 2009, 06:04:41 pm
Weren't they deployed in the gulf wars to act as air bases?

Yep.


To explain, that's lol I made a while ago. Suddenly, I had ten people favorite me for the picture (this is about a 200% increase in my favoritings). Then I noticed that it was on the Upcoming page.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on October 15, 2009, 01:36:01 am
Well, back to the bloggingness then.


My laptop keyboard has been acting up lately. As far as I can tell, stuff gets stuck underneath the keys and makes them a pain to press. The comma key is especially agravating. I tried to fix the 'A' key a while ago, but they aren't reatachable. So, that's that.


I did some DIY improvements to my desk tonight. After the flood, my old room was obviously not livable, so I moved into a much smaller room. To conserve space, I ended up with a loft bed that has a desk that I can just fit in. I used some nails and duct tape to stick my powerstrip to the wall. Sadly, I didn't realize that you have to attach the bloody thing with the cord facing up (see diagram)

Code: [Select]
__I__
__I__
_/-\_
_|-|_
_|-|_
_\_/_
____
so the cord ended up going underneath my calender. The liberal amounts of tape should hold it in place though.


More interestingly, I rigged up a nice spot to keep my combat knife. I've got my bowie under my car seat right now (after a gansta started cussing my out for no apparent reason in traffic). I used to keep my combat knife in my bed, but it kept slipping out. A medium sized solid steel knife is surprisingly loud when it falls a few feet. So, I've taped the sheath underneath my desk. The blade is pretty much impossible to see unless you carefully look under the desk, but I can still draw the blade. If I want to get the sheath, I can just pull down to rip the tape off (although I attached secondary tape on the leg tie, which would probably take another pull to detach). I'm quite proud of it.

After seeing the price of class rings, I decided to use the money on something useful. I've been looking at custom knives lately (Jayfisher.com if you're interested). Pretty spendy, but when I get deployed, it could save my life.
 
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on October 15, 2009, 08:04:50 am
The liberal amounts of tape should hold it in place though.
;D
After seeing the price of class rings, I decided to use the money on something useful. I've been looking at custom knives lately (Jayfisher.com if you're interested). Pretty spendy, but when I get deployed, it could save my life.
Nice! Getting a(nother) knife instead of a class ring! Before you go get that knife, I'd recommend checking to see if those rings have spikes. Those too could save your life.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on October 15, 2009, 08:53:46 pm
I'm actually not a huge fan of having any pokey bits except the main blade. A talon off of the end is nice (especially if one knows how to do non-lethal controls with it), but I'd probably end up poking myself with it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on November 12, 2009, 10:29:31 pm
Hello and welcome to the Strife26's first ever work till it's done night-time make-up binge! I'll posting occasional updates on my blog and facebook until I get everything up to date in most of my classes (sorry English, Physics, and JROTC). For your convince, I'll be editing this post on my blog, and commenting on this update on my facebook. comments are appreciated.

Update 0
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Update 1
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Luckk on November 13, 2009, 12:52:35 am
Fun fact: I've got a 10% in Gov right now.

Ouch, good luck with raising that.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on November 13, 2009, 06:31:20 am
Firefly is awesome.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on November 14, 2009, 07:00:23 pm
For most schools, we're only through the first quarter. That means you have time to raise it, but we're also so deep in that it'll take quite the slog. (A slog that you have already begun, brave comrade!)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Maggarg - Eater of chicke on November 15, 2009, 09:28:48 am
Get an old Luftwaffe sword or something. On the plus side, they were made of very good steel and weren't purely ceremonial. On the negative side, they can fetch about £15k and you'll look like a Nazi.
Title: It's not a Fenrir if it doesn't have its own thread, right?
Post by: Strife26 on December 07, 2009, 09:11:43 am
Well, I'm keeping on keeping on here in Fargo.

I've been doing some soul searching lately. For whatever reason, I've been horribly unmotivated to do my homework. Effectively, despite my pretty good SAT score, West Point is pretty much out this year (I've missed the appointment deadline). My grades continue to suffer. I've made the decision to enlist after I've completed High School. Optimistically (which is what I tell those who ask), I can complete boot and special training (in heavy armor, as my ungodly ASVAB score lets me pick a specialty) and do a year as a grunt. I'll make a not insignificant chunk of change out of that (sign up bonus, instant pay grade jump from JROTC, basic pay, ect). Hopefully, I'll then be able to get a grunt spot in West Point (the site said a 1100 was competitive for a SAT score, and I've got that beaten by a fair bit).

Ironically, high school grades aren't that important to a enlistment ticket to West Point, but I'm still having trouble to keep up with my homework. Honestly, I think that it's because I'm spending to much time online. The new DF won't be done before Christmas, and my webcomic trawl will be okay without me for awhile. Once this message is done, I'm pulling out my wireless card. I might log on for a few minutes during the weekend, but I'm going to try to keep it to a minimum.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on December 07, 2009, 05:07:05 pm
STRIFE WHY DID YOU LEAVE TSALLT?????????????????????????????
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on January 02, 2010, 01:12:34 pm
Well, I'm reviving the exercise log bit of this topic at the behest of SirHoneyBadger.

This winter, I aim to run at least 450 miles to get ready for track. It's been going fairly well, and I aim to run a 5:30 mile this year.

In this last cross-country season, I didn't make my goal of breaking 20:00 in a 5k, but I got pretty close (20:35). Even without that extra 36 seconds, I shaved off 4 or 5 minutes off of every race from last year.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 12, 2010, 12:13:15 am
Well, I'm bringing this thread back.

Life sucks here in Fargo.

I've got 46 days until I leave, but my father's been getting increasingly hostile to me, especially when he's been drinking. I've made the tough choice that I'm going to have to start distancing myself now and cut myself off when I leave. I'm going to have a hard look at my finances, I guess that I'll have to rent a storage garage for a few months to hold my stuff until I can collect it again. I'm going to try to avoid being at my house whenever possible, so I'll be buying some plastic tubs to hold the stuff of mine that I want when I'm avoiding the family tomorrow.

Other than that, I've got 46 days to prepare for basic, for now the major problem is physical. I'm going to force myself to take a baseline PT test tomorrow, so I know where I stand. It shouldn't be that hard to pass.

I've taken up lessons at the local Brazilian Jujitsu gym, which will (hopefully) take up most of my time. 16 classes a week total. I'm not sure how well my body will hold up, but I'll do my best.

Honestly, I know that the internet isn't a good place to look for friends, but I really feel like I could use one right now.

-Strife26
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on June 12, 2010, 12:17:39 am
Got your back bro
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: smigenboger on June 12, 2010, 12:35:37 am
We'll be around. I'm always on AIM, lately with nothing better to do. Unfortunately I slacked off on my physical training, but hopefully that will be reverted once I get out of this funk. How's yours going?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on June 12, 2010, 12:36:46 am
What is this 'Baseline PT test?'

I'm currently in the process of running 500 miles within 70 days to prepare for Cross Country. Deadline buddies!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: smigenboger on June 12, 2010, 12:38:42 am
I believe it's the sit-up/push-up/2 mile test for the military.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 12, 2010, 12:44:52 am
I really appreciate the support.

Yep, it's the test for the military.

2 minutes situps, 2 minutes push ups, 2 miles.

I need to get 53 situps, 42 pull push-ups, and 15:54 to pass, but I'm aiming for something closer to 63,53,14:48 for a 75%.

I found a hundred dollar paycheck to cash, happily enough, but I'm going to worry about the rest tomorrow morning. I can deal with my files at 700, when I plan to be out of the house, but before anything is open.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: smigenboger on June 12, 2010, 12:52:50 am
Is it push-ups or pull-ups? I think I could squeak by the push-ups, but my best ever for pull-ups was 25, and it's probably down to 9 now.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on June 12, 2010, 12:57:28 am
Quote
I need to get 53 situps, 42 pull ups, and 15:54 to pass

Oh, wow. I could do the situps pretty quickly, and I would ace the 2-mile (I ran it in track this season and got a 12:03), but I don't think I can do more than one pull up, if any at all.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 12, 2010, 01:05:21 am
Gah, push ups, not pull ups.

I wish I could do a 12 minute two mile.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: smigenboger on June 12, 2010, 01:07:07 am
If you're not doing anything, get of the bay12 irc, I want to talk about something other than hypothetical dimensions...
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 12, 2010, 01:24:39 am
Which one? I'm pretty much always about on the agora channel.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Grakelin on June 12, 2010, 03:25:45 am
Dreams:
Become a tanker

Is this so that you, too, can leak oil across the Gulf of Mexico?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on June 12, 2010, 10:17:11 am
I really appreciate the support.

Yep, it's the test for the military.

2 minutes situps, 2 minutes push ups, 2 miles.

I need to get 53 situps, 42 pull push-ups, and 15:54 to pass, but I'm aiming for something closer to 63,53,14:48 for a 75%.

I found a hundred dollar paycheck to cash, happily enough, but I'm going to worry about the rest tomorrow morning. I can deal with my files at 700, when I plan to be out of the house, but before anything is open.

Oh man 2 miles in 15 minutes that's not something I could do unless I was actively fit.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on June 12, 2010, 12:29:20 pm
Push-ups would be easier, but they wouldn't quite be easy.

Maybe these tests are so that all of the FPS players don't go out and join the military.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on June 12, 2010, 01:50:56 pm
If I know you as little as I think I do, I still know you're a hardcore dude Strife.  Six weeks of drunken family abuse feels like a drop in the bucket once it's over, and then you get fulfill an actual life goal at 18 years old.  You'll chew that PT test up and spit it out, then anything else that gets in your way.

And y'know, more of those platitudes I already sent you.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on June 15, 2010, 05:59:48 pm
Six weeks of drunken family abuse feels like a drop in the bucket once it's over
Wait, what? Are you being abused?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: smigenboger on June 15, 2010, 09:36:57 pm
I think he means emotional stress and vocal abuse, as his parents were freaking out about the whole ordeal and giving him grief.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on July 08, 2010, 01:25:21 am
Well, interesting news. My ship date was moved at some point in time to the 14th, which means that starting 1430 on Tuesday the 12th, I'll be done with civilian life. So I've got very few days left in Fargo.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: smjjames on July 08, 2010, 01:34:32 am
Well, interesting news. My ship date was moved at some point in time to the 14th, which means that starting 1430 on Tuesday the 12th, I'll be done with civilian life. So I've got very few days left in Fargo.

Good luck!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: smigenboger on July 08, 2010, 11:00:53 am
You should definitely make an on-tour thread to give us updates, or stop in whenever you can.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on July 09, 2010, 11:18:30 pm
Two days oh God.

Best of luck to you Strife. I look forward to hearing all about it on your return.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: hemmingjay on July 10, 2010, 04:54:55 pm
Strife,

Some words of advice from a recent vet..........

1) Think of basic training as and adventure camp. Most of the activities you will do are the sort of things grown men pay a lot of money to do, so have fun with it.

2) Be respectful of your drill sgts and fellow soldiers ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY ARE YELLING. They will yell a lot so things stick in your head. They will play games with you to break you down and rebuild you the ARMY way. Let them, help them. Remember that getting yelled at only hurts your pride, so check it at the door.

3) Find 2-3 soldiers in your platoon who are headed for the same MOS and become friends with them. This is a vital partnership that will stay with you through basic/AIT and possibly your first duty station.

4) Keep in touch with people back home. Their support will get you through any hard times.

5) Have fun and thank you for serving.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on July 10, 2010, 09:18:52 pm
Thanks for the advice, Hemmingjay and the well-wishes from everyone else.

Whenever I get internet, I'll be sure to make an update here.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on July 10, 2010, 09:52:05 pm
Aqizzar, Strife is going away within 48 hours. Get in here and wish him well again, you bastard. You're the one who sees him as some sort of enigma.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on July 10, 2010, 09:57:14 pm
Try not to die eventually. And stuff.
Don't drop the soap.
Have a good time.
Also, it will be sad to see a good-forum goer go.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on July 10, 2010, 10:13:18 pm
Because pestering me in private wasn't enough for Jack, I guess I should post here one more time.

Strife, goodbye, good luck, and write soon.

And whatever you do, make sure you're properly armored before starting any sparing practice.  You're a cheesemaker, you've got a lot stacked against you.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on July 10, 2010, 10:21:42 pm
I can bug you whenever I want Aqizzar.

Remember that.

I guess you could block me or something but I'm sure you wouldn't ah bollocks
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on July 10, 2010, 10:49:59 pm
In the event that he doesn't have internet, I can keep you posted on how Strife26 is doing if you're that interested. I decided to become his pen pal, you see.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on July 10, 2010, 10:55:20 pm
Aqizzar has offered as well. And you're damn right I'm interested. I want to hear what it's like.

And also if Strife has his own personal drill sergeant nasty.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on July 10, 2010, 10:59:09 pm
I'll keep you posted then.

Get it? We're on a forum!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on July 10, 2010, 11:00:34 pm
And also if Strife has his own personal drill sergeant nasty.

I've heard funny things about that.  In times past, they really were all Drill Sergeant Nasties, because that's how it works.  But now that everyone in the world has seen Full Metal Jacket, they're stuck in a bind.  If they don't act like R. Lee Ermey, the recruits don't take them seriously because they're expecting a show.  But if they do act like R. Lee Ermey, the recruits don't take them seriously because they know it's coming and they think it's all a big joke.

Until the sergeant smashes a head into a blackboard or something.  But in the roulette world of lawsuits, it's always a mystery just what you'll run into.  Do keep us informed Strife, if you get the chance.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on July 10, 2010, 11:07:28 pm
I'll be sure to keep everyone informed as much as possible. I've got OSUT instead of Basic, which may change stuff somewhat. Normally, one has basic training (9 weeks, basic soldiering skills) followed by advanced individual training (for the person's specialty). AIT is supposed to be a lot more pleasant than basic. However, for certain specialties (direct combat ones mostly) basic and ait are combined together. Annoyingly enough, I don't know anyone who has been through armor osut in the last decade, so I've got no idea what it's going to be like.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on July 10, 2010, 11:10:58 pm
Ah, going to be working with tanks, then?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on July 10, 2010, 11:12:28 pm
That was his wish, yes.

Have you not been following this obsessively?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on July 10, 2010, 11:18:52 pm
I've got OSUT instead of Basic, which may change stuff somewhat.

So you stay with the same instructors, classmates, and officers from the day you arrive until you hit the field?  It's going to be a hurricane of tropes.  Just don't call the drill sergeant Father and you should be fine.

Not that it wouldn't be appropriate.  He will be your momma, your poppa, and your shoulder to die on.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on July 12, 2010, 11:52:48 am
Hopefully, my group won't be too annoying, but I'm confident that I'll be able to fit in just fine on the fringes, as is my wont (seriously, there were few groups in school where I wasn't a fringe acceptee).


Last full day in Fargo. I'm trying to decide what to pack (after a lecture last night which concluded that not packing at nine oclock two nights before will increase my chances of dying and that I should bring twice the number of bags twice the size of the provided one) and getting all of my stuff in order. I haven't gotten horribly depressed at the thought of leaving my cats behind yet.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Duke 2.0 on July 12, 2010, 11:55:20 am
 It's been nice seeing you around the forums Strife. I wish you luck in your service and that you may reach the position you dream of. You were are a pretty cool dude.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on July 12, 2010, 09:31:59 pm
So long and farewell Strife.  Knock'em dead big guy.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on July 12, 2010, 09:33:11 pm
God Speed Strife.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on July 12, 2010, 09:47:56 pm
Come on guys, I've still got sixteen hours left or so. Just because I still have to pack and organize almost all of my stuff before I leave doesn't mean I've left already.

Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on July 12, 2010, 09:49:28 pm
It was cool and stuff to talk and stuff.
Why, I remember that combat game so long ago.
Hmmm.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on July 12, 2010, 10:04:40 pm
Strife. Promise me you'll form some sort of crime fighting anti-terrorist unit with lasers. Because then I can say that I know GI Joe.

And good luck once more.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on July 12, 2010, 10:06:06 pm
Come on guys, I've still got sixteen hours left or so. Just because I still have to pack and organize almost all of my stuff before I leave doesn't mean I've left already.

Some of us may not be logged on at the exact moment you post that you're leaving.  So we're saying goodbye in advance, but not so far in advance as to make it meaningless.

I mean, yeah, I'll probably be logged on then, because I'm here all day every day.  But that doesn't invalidate my point.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on July 12, 2010, 10:29:31 pm
Yeah, but final goodbyes are making ME realize how little time I have left. Gah.

Which combat game are we fondly recollecting, Org?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Nirur Torir on July 12, 2010, 10:33:09 pm
Good luck, Strife. Your influence shall be missed. (Careful not to set too many records out there.)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on July 12, 2010, 11:01:06 pm
Hmmm...
Some old game.
With Siquo, and Inaluct, WD, and I do believe Pandar as well...
Do not remember the name.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on July 12, 2010, 11:16:22 pm
The chaos one? Where Little was being overly forthcoming to Strife? Or the tactical one that Squeegy ran with the shooting dots?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on July 12, 2010, 11:27:56 pm
I think you ran it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on July 12, 2010, 11:40:58 pm
Damn, now I feel the need to look over all of my old threads and do some more rping before I leave.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Nikov on July 13, 2010, 12:55:06 am
My cousin's already in Indian Country. As a combat engineer he learned mineclearing and lane marking. His instructor explicitly said to be extremely clear when marking lanes for tanks, and I quote, "because tankers are dumb as shit."

Do not be dumb as shit.

Respect your combat engineer's bridge ratings, obstacle lane marks and remember; do not start singing the Panzerlied over the platoon net, no matter the circumstances.

That song is best sung unbuttoned as a means of condecending to leg.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEIm3pe5wbA
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on July 13, 2010, 12:59:58 am
Someone actually did that?

Balls for brains, that man.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on July 13, 2010, 09:27:22 am
I'll do my best to avoid being a DAT (Dumb-ass tanker) and respect my engineering comrades. Or Heavy maneuver enhancement units, as they were inexplicably renamed.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on July 13, 2010, 09:42:41 am
Good luck breaking stereotypes!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on July 13, 2010, 12:12:53 pm
Of course, everyone knows that cavalry troopers are also better than everyone else. No other specialty gets their own special heaven short of hell.


Well everyone, I've cracked my last bottle of root beer, packed my bags, and finally wrote out thank you notes to various people that attended my graduation party. I've got to say good bye to the cats that are around (3/5, it looks like) and threaten my sister's boyfriend. Then I'll be out of here.

I've been trying to figure out some good songs for me leaving, but I've only got These Colors don't Run (Iron Maiden). I guess that there's also my normal choices in Carry on Wayward Son (Kansas) and Roland (Cruxshadows). Feel free to play a few for me.

"It's the same in everyone country, when you say you're leaving. Left behind the loved ones waiting silent in the hall. Where you're going lies adventure, others only dream of. Red and green light, this is real, and so you go to war.
For the passion, for the glory, for the memory, for the money. You're a soldier, for your country.

What's the difference? All the same."


It's been a lot of fun. Catch everyone later.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: hemmingjay on July 13, 2010, 12:20:21 pm
If not too late..........Letters Home from the Garden of Stone by Everlast had a huge impact on me while in country and now I can't really handle listening to it. It rings a bit true and brings back some tough memories. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10ej46Mhshg
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on July 21, 2010, 08:38:03 pm
June 15, 2010: 1835

Hello Aqizzar,

I hope that this letter finds you well.  I've been assigned to the 46th AG Reception battalion, Alpha company.  Everyone who arrived on the same day (14th) was designated as serris [sic] 195.  I'm Private 038 out of a total group of 186.  Unsurprisingly, I'm the shortest guy in the group.  It looks like I've got more experience in martial matters than almost everyone, thanks to JROTC, but we've been doing precious little drill and ceremony stuff.  Just lots of medical- and paper-work.

I don't have a return address yet, but reception is set to end on the 17th and OSUT and something semi-permanent should follow.  I'll write again then.

-Strife26 / 038

Damn, I hope my handwriting's legible.


It's close enough buddy.  Operation: Penpals has begun.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on July 21, 2010, 08:39:05 pm
Hop?
 :D
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on July 21, 2010, 09:40:06 pm
I wonder when I'll get mine...?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on July 21, 2010, 09:48:05 pm
Well, it apparently took mine a week to travel from Louisville to DFW, so I wouldn't get too concerned about it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on July 21, 2010, 10:15:59 pm
Oh, right. I forgot about how slow paper moves across the country. It'll take weeks for it to get here at that rate, though. Coast to Coast mailing speeds are hampered somewhat by huge distance. Good to hear that his JROTC paid off.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on July 22, 2010, 03:58:50 am
This is really awesome. Hope to hear from him again soon.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on July 22, 2010, 04:34:49 am
As long as this is here and anyone's paying attention, once I get a letter from Strife I can respond to, I'll be sending something.  Anyone have something to want in a letter?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on July 22, 2010, 04:37:54 am
I can't actually think of anything. Tell him hi from me, and I'm looking forward to hearing about what it's like.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: sonerohi on July 22, 2010, 03:29:20 pm
Make sure he informs us of zany shenanigans, should he get up to any.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on July 23, 2010, 12:09:54 pm
Spoiler: Letter (click to show/hide)
Anyone have anything they want to say before I write back? It'll be a bit before I get a return address, though.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: smigenboger on July 23, 2010, 05:49:59 pm
I say hi, though I'm sure so many people will say hi we can either overwhelm him with a massive list, or say GD in general. How's the food, once he gets shipped out?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on July 23, 2010, 10:18:08 pm
Hi.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on July 24, 2010, 02:35:30 pm
Spoiler: letter (click to show/hide)
It looks like all is well, and the mail transit time is shorter than I thought, to boot.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on July 28, 2010, 12:30:37 pm
Letter came a couple days ago, timestamped before Barbarossa's last letter.  Just because, hey, we do this now.  I forgot to type it up, whatever, six day mail lag makes it kinda pointless.

Spoiler: Folded letter (click to show/hide)

I'm only including the strikes and misspellings for the sake of good faith.  Bootcamp sounds like nothing I imagined so far; everyone's cordial, but you have to wait for weeks before doing anything apparently, and the suicidal/psychopathic people are temporarily quarantined before rejoining the system.  I have no idea how any of this works.  He's not kidding about these cheapass envelopes either.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: JoshuaFH on July 28, 2010, 01:26:00 pm
Now, reading this, I feel I took Strife for granted. Even though I was never one to converse with others frequently, I think that perhaps I should've talked with him more before he went off to boot camp or whereever he is.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on July 28, 2010, 02:18:42 pm
Letter came a couple days ago, timestamped before Barbarossa's last letter.  Just because, hey, we do this now.  I forgot to type it up, whatever, six day mail lag makes it kinda pointless.
Six days from Kentucky to Texas? That's weird. It only took two days for my last letter to get to Washington. They must have an air service for coast-to-coast mail.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on July 28, 2010, 08:59:57 pm
The delay seems very inconsistent.  I just got another letter today, from three days ago.

Spoiler: Important (click to show/hide)

So that's his info, since he wanted it posted.  Motherfucking Deathrider platoon.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on July 28, 2010, 10:00:51 pm
Strife (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000134965494&ref=search)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on July 29, 2010, 02:37:14 am
Good to see internet stalking hasn't gotten less effective.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on July 29, 2010, 09:11:42 am
Great, now we can all break into Fort Knox to see him!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on July 29, 2010, 05:42:41 pm
Good to see internet stalking hasn't gotten less effective.
>_>
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on August 11, 2010, 11:00:41 am
I got two new letters from Strife over a couple days.  I already sent him a letter like a week ago.  I calculate that he probably didn't get it until around this past weekend, if the recruits are even getting mail yet, which Strife doubts.  At any rate, here they are.



I guess the second one is the one he wanted me to read first, which kinda makes sense.  If I follow the chronology, he was still laid up bad with that respiratory thing, then got out and was made squad leader.  I'm debating whether I should write another letter and send it as soon as possible, or if I should wait until I hear from him again, in case he got my letter in the meantime.  I'll probably just write him anyway and send it tomorrow.  I'm also considering sending him a CD with music like that, once he has a more dependable mailing address.

Speaking of which, hey Barbarossa, you got any more letters yet?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on August 11, 2010, 04:54:58 pm
Squad leader? Our boy's moving up.

I'm really interested to know what it's like being a tank commander. Here's hoping I'll find out before, say, 2011. And then I predict that by 2015 I'll know what it's like to be one of the big brass.

Tell Strife he'd better not let me down.

Also that I hope he gets better and stuff, I guess.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on August 16, 2010, 12:49:15 am
I just got back from a two week vacation, and I had four waiting for me. Apparently he has pneumonia and is quarantined. Also, he might have to start training from the beginning, due to missing a lot of time. However, he has a comfy pillow and is contemplating stealing it for his actual bunk when he returns. I'll be sending my first return mail tomorrow, as soon as I find a place that sells cheap stamps.

PS: Thank you, whoever invented E-Mail, for removing the need for incredibly expensive stickers.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on August 16, 2010, 02:31:40 pm
I'll be sending my first return mail tomorrow, as soon as I find a place that sells cheap stamps.

All stamps cost the same in each class.  That's what they're for, the tax you pay to have a public mailing service.

Anyway, I got a couple more letters over the past couple days, including confirmation (from one week ago) that he finally got the one I sent two weeks ago.

Spoiler: August 4th? (click to show/hide)


So yeah, that took a while to type.  Our little Strife is moving up in the world, and learning that the best place to find a commanding officer is the guy who doesn't want to be it.  In full disclosure, the news stuff he mentioned at the beginning was from my letter, where I mentioned the Afghanistan classified documents leak thing.  I didn't go into any detail except the change in political tone about withdrawl, because I didn't want the letter blocked or redacted or anything.  Like he said, they do go through recruits' mail and keep out actual newspapers.  I might be a little bolder with the next one.  (Also, I'm dead tired and Strife's handwriting leaves a lot to be desired, so if there's any mistakes in those transcripts, it could be either us originally.)

As ever, anyone who wants to say something say it here.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Acanthus117 on August 16, 2010, 06:59:06 pm
Wow, this is such a cool thread.

Tell him that I said hello, and congratulations on moving up in the world, even if he didn't want it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on August 16, 2010, 08:31:47 pm
Maybe I will write a short story.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: JoshuaFH on August 16, 2010, 09:15:23 pm
How is he getting promoted so quickly?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on August 16, 2010, 09:31:48 pm
You know it's really weird, reading something like that.  It's like in class when my History teacher reads out loud letters he wrote to his parents when he was in Vietnam.  It just feels really really cool.

ALWAYS BE AWESOME STRIFE
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on August 17, 2010, 02:12:18 am
DON'T STOP FOR A SINGLE SECOND BRO.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: hemmingjay on August 18, 2010, 09:34:14 pm
How is he getting promoted so quickly?

Squad leader and Platoon Sergeant are honorary positions during basic training and advanced individual training cycles. they choose a soldier either because they think he shows promise or because they want to wake them up. Either way it usually rotates to a different soldier at least once during the training cycle and is not a fun job to have as most soldiers are lazy, whiny babies at this point. Keep in mind that the average new recruit at this point of the war is 18 or 19 years old and has never lived on their own or held a full time job. In short they are about as tough as wet tissue paper and as disciplined as a rabid mongoose.

Strife will be on the hook for the behavior of the other soldiers while learning it all himself as well. It's tough but good experience and will teach him a fair bit about himself.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Knirisk on August 20, 2010, 12:21:47 am
I'm still just a lurker but I love hearing from Strife. It's somehow really awesome to know a person, even if not at all personally, who's going off into combat.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on August 20, 2010, 12:34:46 am
Aqizzar, it'd be cool if in your next letter you'd tell him I still won't be able to mail for a bit - I have to wait a few days to get a book of stamps. He's probably wondering if I've even received his mail.  :P
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: hemmingjay on August 20, 2010, 08:42:46 am
Strife seems like a good kid. Let's hope he is one of the lucky ones who gets a year or two before being sent to combat. Luckily his MOS isn't one that's in demand in Afghanistan and combat troops have been pulled from Iraq so he looks like he'll be safe for the time being. Sometimes they will take tankers and force them into jobs as infantry but not too often as they are resistant to being "legs".
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on August 20, 2010, 08:59:49 am
How many different positions could a "Armor" recruit wind up in anyway?  What all counts as Armor in the end?  I have to think it's a lot more than just Abramses, otherwise they'd have loads of them sitting around with nothing to do, because why would you sign up for anything else.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Acanthus117 on August 20, 2010, 09:16:57 am
I always thought Armor was anything wheeled, with plating and a big gun.

I'm no military dude, so don't look at me bro.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on August 20, 2010, 10:35:16 am
How many different positions could a "Armor" recruit wind up in anyway?  What all counts as Armor in the end?  I have to think it's a lot more than just Abramses, otherwise they'd have loads of them sitting around with nothing to do, because why would you sign up for anything else.
Armor are heavy vehicles. For example, a Stryker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stryker), but not a Humvee (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Mobility_Multipurpose_Wheeled_Vehicle). For more specifics, I bet you have the address of someone who knows more.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on August 20, 2010, 10:48:43 am
That's why I was basically asking hemmingjay, not people who I know don't know any more than me.  I suppose I could look up a US Army unit composition.

The US Army has exactly one active armor division (the 1st), and within that division is exactly one regiment that's actually called "Armored".  That could be few thousand guys, but anything immediately locatable on the web is, understandably, very vague about the exact force composition of what is almost certainly an active duty unit.  Still no clue what that actually entails in types of vehicles.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: hemmingjay on August 20, 2010, 11:16:57 am
Well, during the 80's the army wanted more tanks so they made a push for a lot of armor. During the 90's the army liked the idea of becoming more mobile so they created more mechanized units(combination of infantry, light wheeled vehicles and a little armor). During the recent conflict the army introduced the Stryker Brigades which are primarily infantry carrying vehicles with the exception of a couple separate variants.

A typical battallion would have one section of 4 heavy weapons strykers, either the 105mm cannon or the much more likely tow missle variant. There are mortar models as well. Tankers are sometimes on these gun trucks, but they are most commonly operated by a specially trained infantryman. To be honest, tankers are slowly being decreased in today's army since the idea of open combat on large battlefileds has become somewhat outdated. With most combat in urban enviroments in the last 30 years it looks like it will continue in this manner for a while.

Tanks still have a role in combat operations but it is a bit of a patch job at the moment. For example they are often parked in roadblock situations or used as mobile artillery while not well suited to either.


for more info on a standard layout of a modern unit see http://orbat.com/site/toe/issues/4/usarmy_SBCT_infco.pdf
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on August 30, 2010, 09:00:51 am
I'm finally sending my first letter today.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on August 30, 2010, 09:05:25 am
That's ironic.  I haven't gotten a letter in more than a week.  Not that I expect Strife to have a whole lot to say, but he was sending letters about every three days for a while there.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on August 30, 2010, 09:30:34 am
That's ironic.  I haven't gotten a letter in more than a week.  Not that I expect Strife to have a whole lot to say, but he was sending letters about every three days for a while there.
Weird, same here. I hope that pneumonia didn't get him. (Or did he get over that? I got three letters at a time once and wasn't sure what order they were in.)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on August 31, 2010, 10:35:30 am
I haven't heard from Bromor Neckbeard in forever, either...

Ofcourse, I'm not around as much as I'd like, for that matter. 


Modern "Armor":

Obviously, anything with bullet and/or shrapnel-proofing slapped on to it could be called "modern armour" (note spelling), but the term "Armor", in terms of it's use in the modern military, usually denotes a semi-specific tactical and strategic function of a given armor unit, or AFV. Infantry is used for tasks which are suitable to it, as is calvalry (which tends to mean helicopters, nowadays (aka "air assault"), but can also mean armoured cars), artillery, air support, etc., and the same can be said for Armor, as a term.

Armor can broadly mean any AFV ("armoured fighting vehicles", including an armoured Hum-Vee), but more specifically, "Armor" is just plain tanks. The "main battle tank", or medium tank (there are also light and heavy tanks, but it's called the main battle tank for a reason--it's what's mainly used, nowadays) is the most obvious and straightforward use of the term "armor", in the modern sense.

Tanks are designed for direct frontal (field) assault, and are good for gaining territory/destroying fieldworks, fortified front lines, and field fortifications directly (air support is less direct, and isn't useful for holding territory, in terms of campaign strategy), as well as combating enemy tanks and other AFVs (although this can often be better accomplished with anti-tank weaponry, such as the GAU-8), and holding territory, in combination with infantry.

You could make a case for heavily armed/armoured gunships, especially attack helicopters (specifically, the heavily armoured AH-64 Apaches and Mil Mi-24 Hinds), also being/functioning as "armor", but such units tend to function as close, airborne, ground support, which is what they were designed to do.

Tanks have defensive tactical capabilities, ofcourse, but aren't suitable for broad-spectrum defense, due to their maneuvaring limitations, and vulnerabilities. Offense, in the form of frontal, mobile, ground assault, is their main tactical purpose, with a grand strategic purpose of defeating the development of defensive front lines. 

Armor is not artillery, although obviously any big gun can have artillery applications. Artillery is used for support, and may or may not be armoured. Artillery is also well suited to defensive strategies, where Armor may not always be (in urban settings, in terrain hazardous or impassable for tanks, etc.).

Armor is also not support, although many AFVs are used in a support role. Armor gets supported, just like infantry, and infact, infantry can support armor. Armor isn't intended to support infantry, as such, due to the presence of enemy armor, and also due to the mainly armor-combatting nature of a typical tank's main weapon. Furthermore, unsupported armor can be vulnerable to modern infantry, especially in close (urban) quarters.   
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on August 31, 2010, 07:43:06 pm
Really? I thought that, for example, the M1 Abrams had a crapload of features to prevent them from being damaged in close quarters.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on August 31, 2010, 07:52:11 pm
Really? I thought that, for example, the M1 Abrams had a crapload of features to prevent them from being damaged in close quarters.

Aside from being really hard and made of molten-copper penetrator resistant materials, not really.  They're just armor.  There's usually talk of equipping them with those micro-second reactant rocket-interceptor guns, but the Pentagon refuses to buy the ones Israel wants to sell us, in favor of throwing money at Raytheon to maybe start building them in 2012.  There's also reactive armor, but the Army doesn't like that stuff because it might save the tank but anybody near it is toast.

Also, finally got a new letter from Strife today.  I'll transcribe it soon enough.  He's apparently at a phase of his training where mail is hard to deliver or send.  But he's shootan lots of guns.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Acanthus117 on August 31, 2010, 07:57:04 pm
DAKKA IS GOOD

YESSS
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on September 01, 2010, 05:48:11 am
In WW2, it was reasonably common for footsoldiers to sneak up to tanks and plant explosives on them. Tank go boom, for the price a sock or two, some axle grease, and a few satchel charges. Superb cost-effectiveness. Mines can also chew them up, and there's a pretty large amount of "tank-killer" hand artillery floating around, nowadays, including those molten copper thingies. And ofcourse, if the hatch is up, a grenade in the hole will see to any tank and crew. Tanks can be effectively blinded, or partially blinded, through various means, even if this isn't as easy as it used to be. You can also drop buildings on them, which will atleast stop them in their tracks.

Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on September 01, 2010, 06:49:24 am
The one thing I do know about tanks is that nowadays anti-tank grenades are ineffective and no longer used against them. Insurgents have been known to use them on humvees and other, more lightly armored vehicles, and apparently the military is designing a mesh that'll stop the grenade before it hits the vehicle and negate a lot of the blast.

I swear, these humvees are getting more and more tricked out.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on September 01, 2010, 06:58:02 am
Hum-vees, to me, are just ugly. I know I'm in the minority, but they look like lunchboxes on wheels. Give me a jeep or a land rover any day.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: hemmingjay on September 01, 2010, 10:29:37 am
Sorry I haven't had internet for the last week or so......

Tanks are indeed very vulnerable in close quarters and somewhat ineffective at close ranges which is why they have for the most part been relegated to "intimidation duty" in border zones.

HMMVs are about as safe as a barbeque grill in the combat zone. Many of the defensive features added to them have proven useless or counter productive.

The military is putting almost all of it's eggs in the basket called the Stryker as it is highly survivable, agile, fast, carries an entire infantry squad, has multiple imaging systems allowing it to button up and see 360 degrees or have 8 weapons facing out.

Also about mail from Strife.........it's sad but he will become more and more removed from civilian society for the next few months and probably won't have much interest in or energy for communication with civies. Don't take it personally as it part of the brainwashing phase they put you through. They work hard to make them feel like only the army matters right now. However, he's a sharp and perceptive kid so he'll probably see through most of this. When he gets to his first duty station we should organize an effort to send him a few care packages as he settles into "normal" life in the army.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on September 01, 2010, 05:15:01 pm
Actually, I just got another letter from him, longer than the last and came in record time.  Only two days.  He's including drawings now.  I'll type up both when I get the chance.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on September 01, 2010, 08:00:01 pm
I can't wait to hear from him again, it's been a while.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: JoshuaFH on September 02, 2010, 01:41:44 am
Actually, I just got another letter from him, longer than the last and came in record time.  Only two days.  He's including drawings now.  I'll type up both when I get the chance.

Can you access a scanner and show us the pictures?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on September 02, 2010, 06:20:39 pm
Sorry, but no.  I'll do my best to relate them.


I'll type up the other one soon enough.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: smigenboger on September 02, 2010, 06:46:26 pm
Will he get some time between basic and shipping out?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on September 02, 2010, 09:55:14 pm
It sounds like my letter might reach him by the next time he gets mail.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: JoshuaFH on September 03, 2010, 04:32:20 am
Is it true that people in the army play D&D? Because I heard they do.

Or was that the navy? I can't remember.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on September 03, 2010, 06:49:09 am
There's definitely a D&D following in the Armed Forces. Also, fantasy and science fiction, as well as roleplaying, in general. They're fairly militarily oriented (combat, math skills, organization, etc.), and it's something to do on your downtime.

I know of quite a lot of authors with military backgrounds (David Drake comes to mind, and William Hope Hodgeson, as early as WW1).
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on September 03, 2010, 07:19:17 am
George Orwell fought in the Spanish Civil war, didn't he? Several writers did, anyway. Tolkien was in the trenches, right? It's ironic that a few decades later Christopher Lee was serving as a spy. I wonder if they ever met before Tolkien died.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on September 03, 2010, 08:23:16 am
They did, actually. Christopher Lee was the only member of the cast of The Lord of the Rings movie to ever meet him.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on September 03, 2010, 09:44:35 am
Reminds me of something Penny Arcade was boosting - ZigguratCon (http://www.gamegrene.com/node/790), a gaming/anime/nerdcore get-together held by the US Army in the shadow of a real Ziggurat a few years ago.  On the one hand, that gives you an idea of how many people there are in the service that partake of the R and P G's, that they convinced the army to host an event for them.  On the other hand, it's a sign of how few they are and how little it matters that it was basically the first time it ever happened, and wasn't repeated.

I don't remember if Strife was actually into D&D per se, but I'll ask him about it.  Everybody come up with games that can be played by hand with just pen and paper.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: JoshuaFH on September 03, 2010, 09:54:19 am
I'd say mafia, but that would probably result in somebody getting killed with how high-tension some games can get.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on September 03, 2010, 06:35:26 pm
They did, actually. Christopher Lee was the only member of the cast of The Lord of the Rings movie to ever meet him.

And they both presumably killed people in service of their country.

That is so weird.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on September 03, 2010, 09:29:30 pm
Just got a letter from Strife again, it sounds like he hasn't gotten my letter yet, though it apparently only takes 3 days for mail. Anyway, it seems that Strife did better on his two-mile qualification run than he thought he would, getting 15:32, but I'm not sure whether that includes gear or if it's a normal run. If it's in full gear, that's pretty impressive, though it's a bit slow for an unencumbered run. (Unless he doesn't normally run much, in which case it's still better than average.)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on September 03, 2010, 11:05:57 pm

So there's a lot of stuff, including BEES and GUNZ.  Lyrics and such, but I've got the Internet obviously.  He didn't respond to anything I put in my letter about the world news, which he asked for.  I hope he got it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on September 03, 2010, 11:33:10 pm
His X's look like W's, it's fort Knox.

I hope my letter reaches him before he decides to move me down too much further, but I'll keep sending letters nonetheless now that I have stamps. If my letters somehow take even longer to get to him, would you mind writing to him that I've been sending letters, or at least trying to? I don't want him to think I'm flaking on him.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on September 03, 2010, 11:35:09 pm
His X's look like W's, it's fort Knox.

That was just my mistake.  I could change it, but there's no reason to.

As ever, if anyone wants to add anything, so say.  Commentary about the guns and the bees?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on September 04, 2010, 03:08:05 am
Aqizzar: I can PM you those lyrics for Strife, if you're ok with that?

I had some time last night, so I grabbed them for you. I've got them in a text file that I can either copy&paste directly, somewhere, or just put in a PM for you as a file.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: inaluct on September 06, 2010, 01:43:54 am
Hey dudes!!

I've been thinking about joining the Army, and this seems like a fairly good place to ask the following; how tough is it to get MOS 68W (Health Specialist)? It seems like it'd be a cool, worthwhile job.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on September 06, 2010, 02:17:49 am
Holy crap, inaluct?  Is that you?

Well, I have no idea, but I suppose I could include you in the letter.  Strife might know who to ask.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: smigenboger on September 06, 2010, 02:25:30 am
Tell Strife Smigenboger says hi. If he wants, I'd gladly mail him a letter (or mail you a letter to mail to him with the postage inside)

The only real interaction I had with him was talking about PT and working out, I'm sure he's getting one hell of a workout now.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: inaluct on September 06, 2010, 02:37:04 am
Oh, whoa, I just read back and saw that he already left to go training.

Quote
The bloody surgical mask I'm supposed to wear is getting itchy; I don't think that they're meant to be worn for 36 hours straight.
HEH.

Tell him I said hi in one of those letters!! He probably doesn't remember me, but whatever.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on September 06, 2010, 02:46:44 am
What brought you back and why'd you leave in the first place?

Feel free to respond via PMs, in case you think this's going to derail the thread or anything.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: inaluct on September 06, 2010, 02:56:45 am
It was mostly just other things eating up my time that made me stop showing up. I guess I've drifted back over somewhat, but I have no idea why. Maybe it's destiny. Or something. I'm gonna give reviving that BBG LP a shot, probably. It's been a while since I've played it, but I could probably reconstruct the LP team based on all those screenshots I took for the thread. The actual save is on another computer.

On a more related note, did Strife end up enlisting or going for that crazy officer training thing? He was in JROTC, right? I have a sneaking suspicion that this is related to officers in the military, but I am too dumb and ignorant to know for sure. B)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on September 06, 2010, 02:59:15 am
He's apparently a tank commander now. Promoted right out of the box.

And that's also apparently temporary? This milt'ry stuff's hard on t' brain.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: inaluct on September 06, 2010, 03:02:15 am
He's apparently a tank commander now. Promoted right out of the box.

And that's also apparently temporary? This milt'ry stuff's hard on t' brain.
I think he's just one of those dudes who tells the other recruit dudes what's going on during training. Unless he's out of training.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on September 06, 2010, 03:09:03 am
No, he's still in training.  He was just made a squad-leader for a little while, like a team captain in P.E.  And then it was passed to somebody else, because that's what they do while you're in training.  By the sound of it, he's largely done with basic training (which is mostly about getting in shape and learning to take orders when given), and will be going on to actual tank-lernin' in a few weeks.  Or something.  He hasn't given me any kind of timetable yet.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: JoshuaFH on September 06, 2010, 05:14:57 am
Holy crap Inaluct, just thought I'd say hi. Can't believe you remember your Ball Bullet Gun LP.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on September 06, 2010, 09:08:25 am
He's apparently a tank commander now. Promoted right out of the box.

And that's also apparently temporary? This milt'ry stuff's hard on t' brain.
I think he's just one of those dudes who tells the other recruit dudes what's going on during training. Unless he's out of training.
Hey Inaluct.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on September 06, 2010, 09:49:08 am
Wow, you're back. Strife is training to be an Armor soldier, and apparently in two weeks he moves to stage two of the training, though I'm not sure what that means exactly.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on September 06, 2010, 06:38:36 pm
Hey Inaluct. It's nice to hear from you.  8)

Stage 1 is basic training (bootcamp) and everything that entails, while Stage 2 will likely be where he gets specialized training for whatever his designation requires (for instance: how to drive and fire a tank, probably some basic to intermediate communications training, pathfinding, vehicle maintenance and basic repair, etc.). Stage 3, I would think, would be a commission. I'm not an expert, having not been through it myself, but it's atleast an educated guess.

As far as going into the military:

I've got various physical stuff that prevented me from so much as being drafted (my dad was drafted for Vietnam, and rejected, and I've got worse health problems than he does. Basically, Hell Itself would have to open up and swallow the White House, with the 1st family in-res., before the army would ever look my way.), and I tend to be fairly anti-violence anyway (being on the recieving end of a lot of violence and abuse can do that to a person), so I never seriously considered applying to the military, but I've got a lot of admiration for people who do.

We've got family who have fought and died (quite a lot of them), as far back as the American Revolution, and military matters (mostly arms and armour) have been a big hobby/occasional profession, in my family since basically forever. It definitely has an appeal to it, especially the great benefits, if you're willing to make that kind of sacrifice.

The U.S. Military is an all-around excellent establishment, and I'm 150% for supporting our troops in every way possible, but I'll just point out that the civilian government over that military hasn't always made decisions, in the past several decades, that have always benefited those troops and their families, or even done all it could to protect U.S. interests, in every single instance.

And those great benefits didn't come easily: My grandfather fought in two wars, was wounded (both physically and psychologically), and had a lot of problems he didn't get help with, and that went on for decades, which had a big impact on his relationship with my grandmother, my dad, my uncle, and myself. My dad lost his best friend in a war that the government didn't even acknowledge *as* a war (Vietnam), for years and years.

Ofcourse, the U.S. track record is much better than a lot of other countries, and noone's perfect, so this isn't me bitching, just stating a fact to take into consideration (I don't think anyone should make that kind of decision without looking at as many sides of the argument as possible).

As a civilian, I respect anyone willing and able to fight for our country. I'm very, very proud to be an American, and a large part of that is pride in our armed forces.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: hemmingjay on September 06, 2010, 08:18:44 pm
Hey Inaluct,

I was a 68w originally(actually 91w when I joined, then it changed) before becoming and 18D. The requirements above basic entry into the Army are generally just an ASVAB score of 70 or better and please please please make sure you don't have a serious aversion to blood or needles, especially the idea of getting an IV or blood draw yourself. You will be getting 6-12 IVs during your training. The schooling is tough but most get pushed through. You will be getting your EMT-B certification during 3-4 weeks of your 17 weeks of total training. EMT-B schooling is usually 4 months in the civilian world. You will get a lot of information jammed into your head in a short period of schooling and hands-on training. I can answer just about any question you may have about the medical or combat arms MOS.
Too much information to dump on you if you don't have specific questions.

qualifications for advice: 8 years active duty service, 3 combat tours totaling 34 months, multiple advanced schools, wounded in combat in 2008, medically retired in 2009.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: inaluct on September 06, 2010, 10:58:59 pm
Awesome. How tough was it to actually get the MOS? Should I have like 5 other jobs in mind, or do you think it's pretty likely that there'll be a space?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on September 06, 2010, 11:58:49 pm
-snip-

I thought it was the Korean War they refused to acknowledge as a war.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: hemmingjay on September 07, 2010, 07:59:56 am
There is always a need for 68w, especially male ones as they are the only ones who can become true combat medics and be attached to infantry or combat arms units. You may still end up at a hospital or support unit, but eventually you will likely be a true combat medic. If this bothers you there are other MOS where you can be in the medical services but without the combat for the most part. A few years after I joined the army the game Americas Army started putting some actually medical training slides and tests into the game. If you want a leg up on being prepared for AIT(advanced individual training) you should play through that and pay actual attention to the information. It is very basic stuff that most soldiers will learn as part of BLS or basic life saving but it will give you a slight advantage over many of your compatriots.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: inaluct on September 07, 2010, 07:00:18 pm
I'm kind of glad to hear that it's pretty likely that I'd eventually do some real combat medicine, if I managed to get in. I'd be cool with working in a hospital and all, but I wouldn't want to do that exclusively, heh.

I'll look into America's Army, too. Thanks for the advice. 8)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on September 07, 2010, 07:09:28 pm
I'm kind of glad to hear that it's pretty likely that I'd eventually do some real combat medicine, if I managed to get in. I'd be cool with working in a hospital and all, but I wouldn't want to do that exclusively, heh.

I'll look into America's Army, too. Thanks for the advice. 8)
INALUCT

INALUCTINALCUTLANICNAT
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on September 07, 2010, 07:12:24 pm
I'm kind of glad to hear that it's pretty likely that I'd eventually do some real combat medicine, if I managed to get in. I'd be cool with working in a hospital and all, but I wouldn't want to do that exclusively, heh.

I'll look into America's Army, too. Thanks for the advice. 8)
INALUCT

INALUCTINALCUTLANICNAT
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: inaluct on September 07, 2010, 07:55:12 pm
Hello dudez B)

Did crazy things happen while I was gone?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on September 07, 2010, 08:04:49 pm
Hello dudez B)

Did crazy things happen while I was gone?
(http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d129/Queen_of_the_Brits/GIF___Foam_Guy_by_SparkyX.gif)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on September 08, 2010, 02:17:13 am
So no, not particularly.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on September 08, 2010, 09:08:52 pm
I have a book of stamps ow and get to write a whole lot. Huzzah!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on September 11, 2010, 04:58:43 am
I thought it was the Korean War they refused to acknowledge as a war.

Not that I'm aware of... Vietnam was the really controversial one. That's why they set M.A.S.H. in Korea, instead of Vietnam, even though it was pretty much assumed they were taking shots at the "police action", which is what Vietnam was designated for a long time. And why movies like Apocalypse Now and Born on the 4th of July were such a big deal. I know that a lot of Vietnam vets had problems, once they got back to the States. People were protesting, and some of that protest was directed at our soldiers.

As far as I know, Korea was always a war.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on September 11, 2010, 07:58:08 pm
Ironically enough, the Korean War is known as the Forgotten War. And you just forgot if people thought it was a war or not.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on September 18, 2010, 12:18:20 pm
Hello everyone!

I'm on family weekend!


I've got until 1800 on Sunday to do whatever I want. The parents drove down and even brought one of the cats (to my complete surprise). I'm chilling in a very nice hotel room right now.

Monday is the beginning of tank training.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on September 18, 2010, 12:59:51 pm
Nice! Hello, strife.
How is it?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: inaluct on September 18, 2010, 01:54:13 pm
How's boot camp going?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on September 18, 2010, 02:44:59 pm
Boot camp is technically over, although it's going to be pretty similar for my Advanced training. It wasn't as tough as I thought it would be, honestly.


I'm greatly enjoying eating slowly, pop, and sleeping in.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on September 18, 2010, 03:52:54 pm
Holy shit, hey Strife.  Fuck, now I'm really ashamed I haven't sent a letter in a while.  I've been up to my ass in my own stuff and haven't sat down to write one.

But hey, if you want those song lyrics still, SirHoneyBadger compiled them for me for you.  Or whatever.  Good to see you anyway.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on September 18, 2010, 04:07:24 pm
Hey Strife!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on September 18, 2010, 05:22:50 pm
Hey bro! Good to see you back.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: sonerohi on September 18, 2010, 07:05:59 pm
I've been keeping up with this mostly, but I might not have everything down straight so forgive me if this has been asked already. Strife, will you ever get to do paradrop training for any reason at all?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on September 18, 2010, 07:08:18 pm
Strife, will you ever get to do paradrop training for any reason at all?

Considering he's training to be a tank crewman, that's either impossible or awesome.

Speaking of which Strife, do actually know what position you could wind up in?  I assume being a driver or gunner or any other spot is a matter of somebody's decision instead of promotion.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Org on September 18, 2010, 07:09:12 pm
Para-dropping-Tank Crewman?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on September 18, 2010, 07:35:24 pm
Hey, Strife! A boatload of letters may hit you soon. I'm not sure if you've received the ones I last sent, due to the variations in the postal service.

So what does tank training involve nowadays? Tanks aren't too common on modern battlefields, are they?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Nirur Torir on September 18, 2010, 08:14:05 pm
Hi, Strife!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Footkerchief on September 18, 2010, 09:20:22 pm
Strife, will you ever get to do paradrop training for any reason at all?

Considering he's training to be a tank crewman, that's either impossible or awesome.

The latter. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M551_Sheridan#Strategic_mobility)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on September 18, 2010, 10:56:05 pm
It's good to be here, even if I only have 18 hours left or so.  :(

I'd appreciate a hard copy of the song lyrics, I'm printerless at the moment, unfortunately. I really like to have songs to help give me story ideas. I've pierced together the beginning of a couple of story arcs, but stuff suitable for a short story seem to elude me. All my ideas seem to be to well suited to be put together.


If I wanted, I could go to either Airborne or Air Assault school after I'm done with training. Airborne is strictly how to jump from a semi-good airplane, while assault has fun stuff like rope deployment from a chopper. Neither would ever be used in my job, but both would help me get points for NCO promotions.
  I'm still not all that sure what I want to do, I'm sure that I want to do at least one tour in Afghanistan, from there I could try to get into West Point (my dad sent an article detailing the process and claiming that the 65 active duty spots are never all filled). I could stay in and become an Specialist and eventually an NCO, or I could get out after my three years and go to college or something.

I'm one of the few who've gotten our duty station. It's a very long way from final, but it's Ft. Hood, TX for right now. I rated Hood fourth on my preferred duty stations. Korea, Germany, Bliss, Hood. It's not overseas like I'd like, but it's within four hours of my Grandparents wintering location, and most Hood units circle back and forth often enough. I'll be happier when I actually get real orders with an actual unit, especially when my Hood assignment could change very easily.

In regards to my final job, a few things could happen.

1: Strikers. Worst case senario for me. I get designated as a nineteen kilo/romeo. I spend two extra weeks at Ft. Knox (but they'll be comfortable 9-5 weeks, not this 5-9 shit I've got until OSUT ends on either October 27th or November 5th (actual training ends on the 27th, but equipment turn in takes a week somehow). I get to be on what can genourously called a tankette, but is really little more than an armored car with a cannon. It's more comfortable than an Abrams though, and I could get a pleasant duty station like Hawaii or Alaska.

2: Tanks. I somehow end up somewhere where tanks are still actively needed and used. Depending on my test scores here in OSUT, I'll get a position on an Abrams. An abrams has the following crew:
Commander
Gunner
Driver
Loader
They're in descending order, and drivers usually go to taller people, so I'd at least start as a tanker.

3: Super-soldier. I get shipped to Afghanistan. We use very few tanks, so I'd be stuck in the Tanker = super soldier program. Here goes the reasoning.
There's not enough infantry (11B) to do all the infantry work, and tankers are still combat arms, so we're the second choice.
For scouting work, there's never enough scouts (19D), but tankers are well enough trained in scouting stuff, so we're the second choice.
Mechanized patrols: tankers have more training so we're better than anyone else.
FOB security: Infantry has other stuff to do, so a combat arms soldier is better than a pog.
Maintainence: we're trained to fix tanks, so why not MRAP's and Humvees?
     Tankers are stuck doing everything tough except what we're supposed to be doing in the modern Army. However, we've been getting surprising amounts of training in this kind of stuff, it helps that our company has a varied variety of combat veterans.



Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on September 18, 2010, 11:06:32 pm
     Tankers are stuck doing everything tough except what we're supposed to be doing in the modern Army. However, we've been getting surprising amounts of training in this kind of stuff, it helps that our company has a varied variety of combat veterans.

Given all the de-escalation talk, I wouldn't be surprised if this isn't exactly what happens.  Still, at least you'll be useful, and you'll get to do lots of varied stuff.

I'd appreciate a hard copy of the song lyrics, I'm printerless at the moment, unfortunately. I really like to have songs to help give me story ideas. I've pierced together the beginning of a couple of story arcs, but stuff suitable for a short story seem to elude me. All my ideas seem to be to well suited to be put together.

I'll be sure to include them in my next letter.  I'm not sure how yet, since if you're going to carry them around, they need to be small and durable.

I'm one of the few who've gotten our duty station. It's a very long way from final, but it's Ft. Hood, TX for right now.

Holy shit, that's just a few hours from me.  If you get a day off and know it in advance, I could go down there myself.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on September 18, 2010, 11:10:46 pm
Does this mean your mailing address will be a-changin'?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on September 18, 2010, 11:11:17 pm
Getting stationed in Hawaii or Alaska? That'd be a dream come true for me, personally, because I'm not down with the whole 'people trying to kill me' thing but I like discipline and structure and I really like the idea of living in either of those places.

Well, maybe not living in Hawaii, but it'd be a nice place to visit.

Anyway, I hope you get what you want, but it sounds like Aqizzar's got the right of it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on September 18, 2010, 11:25:05 pm
Honestly, it's about what I want to do.

Just copy them into a word document at size 8 or 9 point. I've got a few places to keep documents safe, our personal drawer is really small, but I've got enough space, I also have enough space in my ID holder to fold and slide a few pages (I've got my authorization to be off base, contact info for the company duty officer, a business card, a phone card, a flashlight, the strings to wear it around my neck, and the ID itself inside the thing right now).


Is Sniper Joe still around, thinking about it? Should I be scared about my possibly close proximity?


No address change until November 5th at the earliest, same company, same drill sergeants, same platoon when I get back. Although my six man bay is losing Hooper, the unofficial leader due to his promotion to Squad leader. He's getting sent to another bay because we've already got a SL. his replacement is Curlee, one of the less put together soldiers. Annoying as hell to boot. We'll still be the Texan bay, because we've got two people currently heading to Hood, and two native Texans (Curlee and Hooper are both from the state, interestingly enough).
     In any case, even if anything would get sent to the 1-81 after I've left, it'll get to me eventually. The Army keeps track of addresses, and have the family house in Fargo as my residence of record.

Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on September 18, 2010, 11:32:44 pm
Janet is still around, yes, but I don't think she lives anywhere near Aqizzar.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on September 18, 2010, 11:57:39 pm
Janet is still around, yes, but I don't think she lives anywhere near Aqizzar.
That and I don't think she is anywhere near as unstable/creepy anymore.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Frelock on September 19, 2010, 02:06:34 am
Hey Strife,

I've been lurking in this thread for a while now, but since you're back, I just want to say congratulations soldier!  And since I live in the US, I should probably say thanks too.  Best of luck getting into an tank crew, though you're a smart guy so I've got few doubts you'll qualify.  Paraphrasing Patton, don't die for your country; make that other poor bastard die for his.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: sonerohi on September 19, 2010, 02:08:57 pm
"The most unjust peace is better than the most righteous war" ~ some assbag that hasn't seen a tank in action. From what I know of you, you'll be a damn fine soldier. Just dodge the syphilis.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on September 19, 2010, 06:57:42 pm
Presenting...

Syphillis and You.

Hey there Jimmy...

So!

You want to have sex.

Good for you!

Jimmy, whether you're a guy or a gal, sex is a lot of fun, and a great opportunity to play with nipples!

But wait!

You want to have sex with Sally Mae, who's been secretly supporting her marihuana habit by selling kisses to sailors down by the docks.

Sally Mae has VD.

And crabs.

And...gonorrhea.

AND SYPHILLIS.

Now, you have it too!

Syphillis killed Al Capone.

You're fucked.

Have a nice day!

Next up...Refer Madness, starring Kenneth Graig and Dorothy Short.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: sonerohi on September 19, 2010, 09:56:52 pm
I gaurantee you my schools councilor has a 1970's video that is exactly like that.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jerimy on September 19, 2010, 11:20:05 pm
Funny, I graduated the 2nd. Going to be a Water Craft Operator after I finish AIT
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Maggarg - Eater of chicke on September 20, 2010, 07:57:27 am
Well, good luck to you and avoid sharp, fast or heavy objects.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: x2yzh9 on October 08, 2010, 09:39:45 pm
I heard you were talking about West Point? My father was a Instructor/Drill Sergeant there, so if I ever applied I would get admitted automatically. I don't mean to brag, but I have one of his caps from there around her somewhere. I can send you a picture in a PM if you like.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on October 09, 2010, 01:49:59 am
If you go to West Point, upon graduation you'll become a Leutenant, instead of starting as a Private.  So, higher rank, higher pay grade, and generally speaking, a little less personal danger.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on November 14, 2010, 02:02:59 pm
Hello from Ft. Hood reception, the land of 18 cents a minute internet and suprisingly helpful customer service.


I've got lots of stuff to write about, but understandably, I'm going to try to keep this short, sweet, and quickly typed.


Firstly, I'm stuck without my laptop. The hinges on the thing have been going out for a while, and the power cord was shot. It was estimated at about 200 bucks to get it fixed up nicely. The guy at the shop guessed that it'd still probably be good for few years after that. I didn't really want to go through all the work of buying a new laptop on my leave, so I went with the repair option.
Anyway, they had to wait for the hinges to get shipped in, so they finished it up Thursday night (flight leaves Saturday morning).
I decided not to immediatly run and get it that night, mostly because I wanted to combine the trip with a few other errands.

So I went to pick it up Friday evening at 1645. Bloody store is locked up tight. >:( So I'm without my laptop until I can get my family to pick it up and send it to me. It's kind of an inconvience, but I need to get them to send my PS3 once I'm settled in, so it's not a huge deal.


Flying in was a bit of a pain, Fargo -> St.Paul -> Dallas ->Ft. Hood. Mother nature decided to nail St. Paul with a crap-ton of snow on Saturday. I was supposed to be in Dallas at 1240 to catch a 1330 flight. I got into Dallas at 1940. :-\ Delta was actually really nice about the whole thing, they got me on the last flight from Dallas to Ft. Hood, then gave me a meal voucher.
Dallas Airport is really nice, and they have a great USO office (USO offices give service members a place to stop at airports, and usually have all kinds of nice ammenities). I got myself a bowl of cereal, a phone call home, and a nice sandwhich there. Delta's meal voucher went to buying myself Cheesecake. Yay Cheesecake.


Stuck here in Reception again at Ft. Hood, it's normally a four day program, but we're not doing anything today (cuz it's Sunday), and I heard that there might be enough people that I'll start on Tuesday. Everyone here is suprisingly nice, there's these pay computers, and two big screens for our use. My room has four bunks in it, but no roommates (yet). Fridge and small bathroom as well. I get free meals at the Dining Facility (which I haven't gotten around to finding yet).

These pay computers were fun to get on, I originally was just going to put five bucks in, just so I could post quick status updates. Obviously, it wouldn't take a five. So I bit the bullet and threw a 20 in. It didn't respond. >:( However, I called the customer service (had to borrow a phone, I should get around to buying one), and after a short hold time a helpful rep got me a temporary account. So I've got to use all 110ish minutes in the next week. Shouldn't be tough.

Once again, my debit card doesn't work. I went through Basic just using Checks. Went to my bank when I got back and got my Pin changed so the damn thing would work. Was told that it should be operational again by Saturday morning. Guess what doesn't work now? Fourtunatly, I've got plenty of cash (enough to pay for my laptop repairs . . .) to keep me going until I get a new bank, probably USAA.



That's life here in Ft. Hood, it's all good.

-Strife


PS Really wish that I could be playing the new DF.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on November 14, 2010, 02:09:13 pm
Hey, good to hear you're settling in nice.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on November 14, 2010, 03:16:44 pm
*Applause for using meal voucher on Cheesecake*
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on November 14, 2010, 05:20:03 pm
*Applause for using meal voucher on Cheesecake*

Even more awesome, old guy at the next table wanted to pay for it, so I had to convince him that Delta was already covering the bill.


Yeah, not a lot to do here, just got free pop and popcorn to watch football. I don't really watch much football on my own, but I do enjoy it somewhat (maybe if the closest team didn't suck. *cough* Vikings *cough*).
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on November 14, 2010, 07:06:56 pm
Oh, hey Strife. What's your mailing address? My mom tried to clean my room for me and got rid of the pile of mail on my desk, so I can't send you anything, though it's probably changed by now. Could you shoot me off a PM?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: hemmingjay on November 14, 2010, 09:44:17 pm
If you go to West Point, upon graduation you'll become a Leutenant, instead of starting as a Private.  So, higher rank, higher pay grade, and generally speaking, a little less personal danger.

Actually, there are a lot of ways to become an officer instead of enlisted. Basically, a four year degree ahead of joining or signing up for the "green to gold" program once enlisted will get you to the commissioned officer side of life. Green to Golg is the best program in modern military history if you ask me. It takes a soldier who learns the hard work side of life in the army, he shows discipline and an ability to develop and the army takes him out of his contract, sends him to school for free then he comes back to the army and gets extra pay above what other officers get. Now he really knows how to command soldiers because he/she remembers how they think. Best officers I had were NCO's(Sgt and up) first.

Couldn't be happier for Strife. I hope the army gives him the life he is looking for, it did for me.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on November 15, 2010, 01:41:14 pm
Recpetion: Day 0 (third try)


Yep, there are so many people who showed up during the long Veteran's Day weekend, that we couldn't start proccessing today. So I got to do some cleaning in the morning (where I distinguished myself as a hard worker, yay) and then we got off for the day at 11. Easy times, no?


Met up with another guy from OSUT. Pretty nice chap overall, with some points deducted for being a San Jose Sharks fan. Found another guy in my Birgade who didn't take any leave, so he's done with Reception. I'm assigned to 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry. The Brigade is currently getting ready to return from the National Training Center at Ft. Irwin. From there, we'll be heading to Iraq. It's suprising, but I'm glad to get over to the desert. Being a combat soldier is what I signed up for (interestingly, the 3rd Brigade, instead of being called a Heavy Brigade Combat Team is being refered to as the 3rd "Advise and Assist" Brigade, so there won't be any combat troops in Iraq! Really! The name is supposedly changing from "Iraqi freedom" to "New Dawn" as well).

I don't get an actual mailing address yet, unfourtunatly. Looks like it might be awhile for that (the private who is actually through reception doesn't seem to be in a pernament barracks (how the hell do you spell permament? Curse this pay computer's non-firefoxness!). Finally found the Dining Facility (D-Fac) today. Chow's pretty good, and free to boot!

Used part of my free time today to look at 1st Cav's outdoor museum. Lots of cool vehicles (especially 'liberated' Soviet stuff that the Iraqi's were using in Desert Storm).

Not much else to report, life's good, still no room-mate anywhere, and I can't find a payphone anywhere. Forgot my address book so I don't know my parent's email either.

-Strife
-Kaseman


PS Strife 26 has gone without DF in far, far too long.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on November 15, 2010, 08:23:29 pm
Well, I guess that gives me some time to write more awesome letters to send once I know where you live.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on November 16, 2010, 12:34:27 pm
Day 1: 1130

I no longer have my own private room. Got woken up at 230 with by my newly arrived roommates. On a positive note, they're both tankers like myself. Processing started for me today, finance stuff so far. Hopefully, the army will pay me back for the one night in a hotel and the plane fare.


Been doing some more work on writing, but I can never find a good spot to just start actual notation, just pages of notes, outlines, and ideas.


Probably going to switch to every other day updates, because of time constraints, not because there's anything to do here.


-Strife
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on November 16, 2010, 06:52:43 pm
Life continues.

Afternoon was full of rapid fire briefings. Ft. Hood claims to be "the Great Place" and it sounds like there are a lot of REALY good programs for soldier's families. Of course, Imma single soldier, living on post, and soon to be deployed. Meh. We also got lots of warnings about doing stupid shit and getting in trouble. Looks like most of the problems can be avoided by following the rule of "don't get off your ass drunk and do stupid shit." Happily, I don't drink, being underage.

Found out that Clothing Sales will gladly take checks, so I got some new equipment. We're supposedly going to meet some of the senior noncoms and unit leadership tommorow, so I'll be in new boots, ACU's. and a bigger beret (a Staff Sergeant recomended that I get a bigger one and reform it today). There's also going to be a bus tour of the base that I'm going to try to get on.

I bought a really nice looking knife today, pretty cheap at $25, I've been looking for a blade with finger rings for awhile now. Was really tempted to give it out for a secret santa gift, but decided not against it. Got a nice haircut as well.


Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on November 16, 2010, 07:07:26 pm
Used part of my free time today to look at 1st Cav's outdoor museum. Lots of cool vehicles (especially 'liberated' Soviet stuff that the Iraqi's were using in Desert Storm).

Yeah, it's a really awesome display they have out there.  The aircraft are especially cool.

Also, fuck yeah, Strife made it somewhere, and apparently can use a computer?  Just let me know the first time you have a free weekend and I'm there man.  And uh, sorry again about not getting those song lyrics to you, with like seven weeks to have done so...
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: smigenboger on November 16, 2010, 08:11:55 pm
It's great to hear from you.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on November 16, 2010, 08:17:25 pm
*Applause for using meal voucher on Cheesecake*

Even more awesome, old guy at the next table wanted to pay for it, so I had to convince him that Delta was already covering the bill.


Yeah, not a lot to do here, just got free pop and popcorn to watch football. I don't really watch much football on my own, but I do enjoy it somewhat (maybe if the closest team didn't suck. *cough* Vikings *cough*).

*Applause for America*

In Canada I have never heard of that happening.

*Sigh* Canada...
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on November 17, 2010, 07:25:46 pm
Latest deployment date: Feb 2011

Got to attend a commander's briefing today. The general currently involved with stateside running of III Corps gave a speech. Interestingly enough, because the technical commander of III Corps is with the rest of III headquarters in Iraq, the speaker was a Canadian General (there's always one Yankee working with the Canucks and one Canuck with the Yankees). The Canadian camo uniform is pretty much awesome, I have to say. Other than that, got to meet some of the leadership of 3rd Brigade (most of it is still moving the unit back from the NTC). "You're all getting on a fast moving train."

Looks like I'm going to have to hit the ground hard and fast. Final training stuff, block leave, deployment in January, Last Authorized Deployment for the 3rd is in Feburary. No real point in buying a car before then, so I'm just going to be looking for a phone this weekend, hopefully one that can work as a wireless router.


Other than that, got to go on a bus tour of the base today. Slept through a fair bit of it. :-/


-Strife

Random thought of the day:  Forgot to mention that I heard use of the word "Cavtastic!" Yesterday. It was by the Chaplin during one of the briefs. I can't decide if it would sound better with the i (Cavitastic), a (cavatastic), or nothing at all (Cavtastic).
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on November 17, 2010, 08:09:13 pm
Cavatastic makes it easier to tell you're talking about cavalry, but cavtastic sounds the best, in my opinion.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on November 17, 2010, 08:21:21 pm
Man, I was looking over it and thinking that if my life ever went straight to hell and I had nowhere to go, I'd join the Foreign Legion.

Which is kinda a weird thought to have. You must be rubbing off on me, Strife. Not the patriotism bit though, obviously.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: smigenboger on November 18, 2010, 02:20:19 am
Man, I was looking over it and thinking that if my life ever went straight to hell and I had nowhere to go, I'd join the Foreign Legion.

Which is kinda a weird thought to have. You must be rubbing off on me, Strife. Not the patriotism bit though, obviously.
I thought you were already a member of the Solo Regiment. Unless you're a temp there.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on November 18, 2010, 05:25:08 am
Man, I was looking over it and thinking that if my life ever went straight to hell and I had nowhere to go, I'd join the Foreign Legion.

Which is kinda a weird thought to have. You must be rubbing off on me, Strife. Not the patriotism bit though, obviously.
I thought you were already a member of the Solo Regiment. Unless you're a temp there.
One can always stand to be more invincible.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on November 18, 2010, 07:01:50 pm
Day 3 of reception.

Went through a bunch of inproccessing stuff. Not much to report, except a bit of Karma.

Everyone had to go through an immunization station. A lot of people didn't have their official medical files with proper records, so they got everything. I had all my records, so I only got stuck once. Yay!

Then I got to the labwork station, where they needed to draw blood. The nurse was new on the job and had trouble finding my vien. So I got stuck four seperate times. With big needles. Not a huge deal overall, but kind of annoying. Bloody karma.

I did a lot of outlining of stories while waiting around, maybe I'll get around to actually doing the writing someday.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on November 19, 2010, 12:03:16 am
Fun.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on November 19, 2010, 05:42:35 pm
4 hour briefing about money matters today. Useless as all heck.

I'm done with all the inproccessing stuff now, should be going to my unit on Monday!

Also planning to explore the base and hit up the shopping malls tommorow, hopefully I'll get a phone then. Considering getting a bicycle so I've got some transportation. Not worth it to buy a car before I deploy, especially when I'll be able to spend my deployment money on paying an okay car up front.


Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on November 19, 2010, 07:00:37 pm
The President has officially announced a new addendum to the Afghanistan war strategy - the big guns hit the big time (http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/46220/).  And just in time for our little Strife's coming out party.  Pity they're actually Marine tanks being sent to Afghanistan (wut), but hey, who knows what the future holds.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on November 19, 2010, 07:04:49 pm
The President has officially announced a new addendum to the Afghanistan war strategy - the big guns hit the big time (http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/46220/).  And just in time for our little Strife's coming out party.  Looks like you may get your wish, friend.

My entire room just got really excited. Until I read the line "operated by Marines."
Strife has become enraged!  
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on November 19, 2010, 08:01:06 pm
That does suck. Driving Abrams has got to be preferable to driving what, light vehicles? I dunno what you'll be doing, honestly.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on November 19, 2010, 08:27:42 pm
The Brigade's job is supposed to be making sure that the Iraqis are trained enough to handle themselves when we leave (sometime in 2011, it seems). Word on the wire is that our job will be sitting in a FOB, (forward operating base) being bored, and collecting combat pay. Of course, I'm a tanker in what is still *really* a heavy combat brigade (even if it's being called an "advise and assist brigade), so I could be doing anything from kicking in doors to fob security to quick reaction force (which *might* get me on a tank) to driving anything from a humvee to a MRAP.

TLDR: Hell if I know.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Phantom on November 19, 2010, 08:35:07 pm
Just dropping by to say hello.
Nice to see you're back.
Or something. I'm not really attentive anymore.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on November 19, 2010, 09:30:54 pm
Well, maybe the Marines and your brigade could swap jobs for a day or two? I'm sure it's possible if you try hard enough.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on November 19, 2010, 09:44:52 pm
...I could be doing anything from kicking in doors to fob security to quick reaction force (which *might* get me on a tank) to driving anything from a humvee to a MRAP.

We might need to start a "Help Strife Buy Extra Body Armor" donation.  Failing that, at the first sign of trouble, remember to get the Hell out of there.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: smigenboger on November 20, 2010, 09:37:22 am
...I could be doing anything from kicking in doors to fob security to quick reaction force (which *might* get me on a tank) to driving anything from a humvee to a MRAP.

We might need to start a "Help Strife Buy Extra Body Armor" donation.  Failing that, at the first sign of trouble, remember to get the Hell out of there.
I'd certainly want to be plated as much as I can, of course within reason. I don't care if arms aren't 'vital areas', I would want them covered.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on November 20, 2010, 04:30:39 pm
I would just not want to be in Iraq period. Preferably not Afghanistan either. A nice cushy base in Germany would be good. Or, better yet, America! Or Canada because that is where I live.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on November 20, 2010, 05:43:43 pm
The only thing I'm planning to change about my equipment to going into combat is adding a semi-standard balaclava, using foam inserts in my ACU's instead of external hard-pads, and my own combat gloves.

Alright, if I was kicking down doors, I'm going to try to procure a combat shotgun for my use.



Spent my morning taking the free shuttle around base. Saw both of the big exchanges, I'm going to have to go off base to find myself an Iphone, although I'm not sure if I could find something cheaper instead. Cheap is good, although when it's going to end up being my internet connection and music player too, I guess it might be worth a bit more.

Visited the library, it's pretty good. Picked up a copy of On War, as well as three Weber books (Bolo and By Schism Rent Asunder, which I wanted to read, plus the prequel to BSRA.)



Not much else to report.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on November 21, 2010, 01:15:51 pm
Went out with some battle buddies last night. When the alarm on one's watch rings for your normal wake-up, and one is currently at Ihop, seated next to a stripper, you can conclude that it was a very interesting night overall.

Lazy Sunday here, I finished the first book from the library (Bolo). Hopefully, I'll be out of reception by this time monday. Yay!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on November 21, 2010, 02:22:44 pm
Watch out for them strippers man.  Always know where your wallet is, and remember, they're always flattering you.

Lazy Sunday here, I finished the first book from the library (Bolo). Hopefully, I'll be out of reception by this time monday. Yay!

Ah the Bolo series.  I'm surprised those aren't considered instructional manuals in your line of training.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on November 21, 2010, 07:22:50 pm
Interestingly enough, I also forgot my wallet on the cab ride home (in my defense, by the time we headed back to the barracks, it was after my normal *wake-up* time). I got a very angry wake-up from the staff sergeant today, where he (based on the cab's call that they had my wallet) accused me of getting drunk last night.  >:(
Not only do I not drink, I was the designated saftey (I got everyone back okay, I prevented anyone from getting any tatoos, but we had one instance of nipple-piercing), and stores in Texas apparently stop selling booze at 2100. Grumble.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: smigenboger on November 22, 2010, 09:51:17 am
I don't think I'll ever understand the 'get drunk and get a tattoo' thing.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ed boy on November 22, 2010, 11:33:15 am
Get drunk, and I imagine it'll make a lot more sense.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: smigenboger on November 23, 2010, 09:39:57 am
I guess it's a matter of if you wanted one in the first place. Or drinking more than getting double-vision drunk.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on November 23, 2010, 03:06:29 pm
Starting to look like Korea might well become your war, Strife.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on November 28, 2010, 02:47:27 pm
It's tough to get on the internets now, I've got to go to the Library and stuff. :(

I'm 3rd Platoon, D company, 1-12 Cav. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1-12cav (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1-12cav)
Our Company motto is "Death rides a black horse."

Seems to be a good enough place, my NCO's are all nice enough. It's a real, honest-to-god Tank company, which is awesome. Won't be spending any time on them though, they're all turned into to the mechanics for long-term storage right now.


Other than that, I bought a PSPgo and am having all kinds of problems getting it to *do* anything. Bloody internet downloading required . . .


And I'll be home for Christmas this year, which is nice.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on November 28, 2010, 05:19:38 pm
Does it have any particular meaning, other than just looking awesome?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on November 30, 2010, 09:40:04 am
Went out with some battle buddies last night. When the alarm on one's watch rings for your normal wake-up, and one is currently at Ihop, seated next to a stripper, you can conclude that it was a very interesting night overall.

What the hell?

Ihop?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on December 06, 2010, 07:32:33 pm
Strife has been really busy and without computer access lately!

Strife logic:
I have no car -> I walk everywhere -> I cover a lot of distance -> I get a lot of steps
THEREFORE: I should go buy a DSI(xl), a copy of Pokemon Heartgold, and a Pokewalker.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on December 06, 2010, 10:43:32 pm
Strife logic:
I have no car -> I walk everywhere -> I cover a lot of distance -> I get a lot of steps
THEREFORE: I should go buy a DSI(xl), a copy of Pokemon Heartgold, and a Pokewalker.

Sound plan.  Especially once you reach theater.  You'll have the most rugged and well traveled Pokes in the world.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on December 07, 2010, 01:12:52 am
The Pokewalker is pretty neat, but a Pokemon can only level up once per excursion. Still pretty helpful at them higher levels, though.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on December 07, 2010, 07:22:57 pm
Strife has been really busy and without computer access lately!

Strife logic:
I have no car -> I walk everywhere -> I cover a lot of distance -> I get a lot of steps
THEREFORE: I should go buy a DSI(xl), a copy of Pokemon Heartgold, and a Pokewalker.

This is brilliant.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on December 09, 2010, 05:05:20 pm
The Pokewalker is pretty neat, but a Pokemon can only level up once per excursion. Still pretty helpful at them higher levels, though.

Of course, they don't gain normal moves, or EV stats from Pokewalker levels . . .
I'm trying to build a Hopip to level 100 using only my pokewalker!

I love hopip, for some reason.


Life continues here, I've got a mailing address, kinda. The mail room is open very rarely to allow me to actually get stuff.

PFC Kaseman, Matthew J.
D Co 1-12 Cav 3rd HBCT, 1st Cav
Ft Hood, Tx 76544



Life is busy here, I hate Iraqi Arabic.




Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on December 14, 2010, 08:16:14 pm
Sorry for the over-rare updates. It's tough to get internet here, I don't want to go buy a wifi router for my remaining time in country.

Interesting note, today marks my 5 MONTH aniversary without Dwarf Fortress. Life's tough without a laptop!

Other than that, we continue to be hard at work here, looking forward to Christmas leave in nine days. I just  bought an unlimited plan for my cell phone, and I'm going to try to get a phone call out to a different relative every night. Payday is coming up soon, and I've got to get my presents bought and shipped. Being a responsible adult kinda sucks like that. Damn.

At the end of today, when we were waiting for a problem with a possible range trip tommorrow to get worked out, there were a bunch of big, empty, cardboard boxes sitting around. I was tempted to play with 'em. Yet, it's been noted by several NCO's that I'm the kind of person with continually alert eyes and who looks completely ready to kill someone . . .

I've been doing a lot of thinking about writing, more and more characters are getting interconnected and their own semi-planned story lines. Wish I had a word processor to work with in my room, I've got terrible hand writting.




Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on December 14, 2010, 08:22:38 pm
And does anyone know why the bloody hell IE 8 gets all fucked up if I type enough to require a bloody scroll bar?


Still having fun here, despite us not doing fun stuff. I got to carry my M4 a bit more. Comes with a M68 Close Combat Optical and a really cool vertical foregrip that puts out a bipod with a single button-push. I feel like a real high-speed chappie with my fancy new armor, ammo pouches (still haven't seen a live round here . . .), med kit, goggles (which I need to get inserts so I can see out of), and helmet.

Remade my Zombie response plans for my current barracks room. I've got a Bug-out bag with A liter of H20, and four MRE's (I grab 'em whenever I can). I'm going to put my armor on on top of my leather jacket, then throw a clava, goggles, and skull-cap over that. Combat gloves with my knife and a broom. From there, I hightail it down a highway and scale a little ladder to the skylight hatch. The handle seems to have been broken at some point in time, so I'll get to the roof and hold that.

Had to do paper-worky stuff today. I was supposed to get a few injections (thrax and pox, actually) but got delayed because I was sent to get the aforementioned inserts, which never happened. Going to try again
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on December 14, 2010, 08:24:22 pm
in the morning. Early-ass day too. Reporting in at 0500. 5 hour energies *will* be used.

Until next update!

Final note: Those of you who have the DS game Scriblenauts should try this out.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on December 14, 2010, 11:15:24 pm
Awesome! I hadn't heard about that little gem. I felt bad about you missing out on the Secret Santa this year, so I'm going to mail you a gift anyway. What kind of stuff isn't allowed? I don't want your present to be confiscated or anything.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ed boy on December 15, 2010, 04:09:02 am
And does anyone know why the bloody hell IE 8 gets all fucked up if I type enough to require a bloody scroll bar?
There are two ways to prevent this:
1-Resize the text box. You can click and drag the bottom edge of it down far enough to contain all the text, then IE will calm down
2-One the array of buttons just above the text box, click on the bottom right one - the red A.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on December 15, 2010, 07:05:51 pm
Awesome! I hadn't heard about that little gem. I felt bad about you missing out on the Secret Santa this year, so I'm going to mail you a gift anyway. What kind of stuff isn't allowed? I don't want your present to be confiscated or anything.

Then I'll be sending my unSecret Santa gift to you as well.


I've got two of the most deadly microrginisms known to man in my system right now! Anthrax AND smallpox! Yay! On the plus side, I should be resistant to both now, on the minus side, I'm going to grow a pus filled blister that I have to take care of and won't be able to go swimming for a while. Got through all of my medical type stuff today, going to be doing more IRT stuff in the morning (although I've missed zeroing and qualifying with my rifle for the moment :-/)


The rest of tonight is dedicated to Iraqi Arabic! Fuck no, but it's got to be done in the morning, and I agreed to help a battle out with his. And I have to start mine . . .


Fun with 26's:
I'm room number 312 here. Backwards 2*13 = 26
My reception room number was 213, same thing . . .
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on December 15, 2010, 07:58:13 pm
Ouch, how did you get both at once? Isn't Smallpox nearly extinct?

PS: So are there any restrictions on what I can send?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on December 15, 2010, 08:04:24 pm
Ouch, how did you get both at once? Isn't Smallpox nearly extinct?

PS: So are there any restrictions on what I can send?

Just the vaccines, Smallpox is naturally extinct, but there are still a scarily large number of samples that are sitting in secure labratories. And unsecure former USSR labs. It's as spreadable as heck, basically no treatment, and 30% fatal. Nasty stuff, because we don't do wide scale vaccinations since we beat it.

You can send me pretty much anything except any sort of projectile weapon (someone got nailed for having an airsoft gun a few nights ago) . . .
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on December 16, 2010, 01:33:54 am
Nearing the end of Iraqi Arabic Rosetta Stone course. Damn do I hate it. I feel homesick whenever I see a cat picture (bezune, or something like that). The four cans of coke and a five hour energy don't help much . . .
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on December 16, 2010, 05:01:08 am
The four cans of coke and a five hour energy don't help much . . .

Yeah, protip, those Five Hour Energy shots are worse than snake-oil.  Oh, they'll keep you awake alright, by shutting down your higher brain functions and sending off into La-La Land for a few hours, wandering around a waking dreamscape.  And when it says not to take more that two a day or mix with other large sources of caffeine, they ain't fucking kidding.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on December 16, 2010, 06:30:50 pm
But I do *really* good work when I'm in that waking dreamscape. Hell if I've got any idea how what I'm doing, but my subconcious works with a startlingly good acuracy when my higher brain functions aren't active.

Had my last day of IRT training today. Some classes on fun things like cultural awareness and ismc (isolated, seperated, missing, captured) responses. Decided to buy that little knuckle knife I talked about earlier. Probably related. Got word that I'll be doing some additional training once I get back from leave. I fly out on the 23rd, but people in the company start heading out tommorow. Trying to get FF7 to download to my PSPGo from the USO network. Just under 3000 minutes left and rising. :-/
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on December 17, 2010, 07:43:21 pm
But I do *really* good work when I'm in that waking dreamscape. Hell if I've got any idea how what I'm doing, but my subconcious works with a startlingly good acuracy when my higher brain functions aren't active.

Interesting, does that come from multitasking a lot, or ave you just always been good at it?

And why am I curious about this?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on December 21, 2010, 11:00:38 am
You know the way that when faced with a multiple choice test, your mind's first impression on the answer is usually right, even if upon further reflection, you're not sure about it? I'm like that with everything. I just get better at listening to that little voice in my head when there's only a compition between in and caffine.


In other news, we've switched to semi-working days here in Ft. Hood. My day yesterday:

0545: Arrive for formation, BS.
0630: Formation
0635: Released for PT/ Breakfast
0840: Arrive for formation, BS around.
0900: Formation
0905: Pick up trash around company area (police call)
0930: Told to return to barracks room.
1100: Arrive for Formation
1130: Formation
1135: Released for day


Yeah. Pretty much the same thing today, except I actually tried to do some PT. However, it seems that a couple of our privates who tried to go running got shouted at because they didn't have an NCO in attendence. I'm between the "Told to return to barracks room" and 1130 formation right now.



Did some work on my creative writting. 3 double sided pages of my crappy handwriting. Not much to boast about, really. I think it's almost okay though.

Not much else to report here though, I figured out how to break into my own room, just in case I'd ever need to.

Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on December 21, 2010, 11:19:07 am
Letting soldiers carry guns in a military base? That'd just be silly.

Congrats on post 1000 in this thread, by the way. Which also reminds me to post a mini-rant (I've got to show up at work again semi-soon).

Ft. Hood has *really* harsh gun control laws. Seriously. You want to complain about keeping them in a locked cabinet? Unloaded? With ammo stored seperately? And gun locks?

If I were to bring one of my firearms to base (tough, considering I flew down here), I'd be required to store it in an actual arms room that I don't have access to, except at limited times. I couldn't keep any ammo unless I was on my way to fire it off.

It's funny, I'd be in considerably worse shape in a zombie apoc here compared to at home. Sure, there are rooms full of military issues weaponry, but they're damn well protected and I've yet to even *see* a live round here (and one blank which someone mistakenly had brought back from the NTC)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on December 22, 2010, 03:12:56 pm
You know the way that when faced with a multiple choice test, your mind's first impression on the answer is usually right, even if upon further reflection, you're not sure about it? I'm like that with everything.

That is actually totally legit, AP American History taught me that, and I have confirmed it on so many tests it isn't funny.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on December 22, 2010, 06:08:35 pm
One day or so until I'm back in Fargo! Yay!

I've decided that, while I'm going to download the new version of DF as soon as I get my laptop, I'm probably not going to play it much while I'm on leave. I found out that Dead Rising 2 is available on the PS3, so I'll be getting some time in there before my precious Playstation is packed in a box for eventual overseas shipping . . .
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on December 23, 2010, 06:59:33 am
Hello from the fly Kileen network! posting this message from my pspgo; I'll it with a DSi shortly to compare the two. I worry when the in attendant loudly tells the line what specific time that she left the counter (25 minutes ago). . .  I'm glad that my paranoia led me to get here no less than three hours early.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on December 23, 2010, 11:14:53 am
Hiya from Dallas/ Ft. Worth Airport's amazingly nice USO office and few appologies for the triple post. Flight in was fine, there's a really cool cloud layer right now. At the top, it's bright sunlight and fluffy clouds, which make everything dark as heck when we descended through them. Then there's a cool twilight layer between two cloud layers, followed by another descend in semi-darkness as we approached the ground. Dallas looks kinda brown from the air right now, I miss snow . . .
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on December 23, 2010, 02:25:50 pm
That's cool, I hope I get to fly somewhere someday. Is that old address you posted still good? I just found something for your not-so-secret santa present, though now I guess it'll be a new years' present.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on December 23, 2010, 08:57:27 pm
Making this post from the air! Free WiFi on Delta flights today. My Chicago > Fargo flight was overbooked, and I vounteered to get bumped. 350$ voucher for a four hour delay. Had to go through Minny, but the stop gave me the chance to start on my family's Christmas shopping. Barbarossa, you're gift is already in the mail. I'll be at 7914 Forest River Rd Fargo, ND 58104 until the 1st, then back in Ft Hood for a while. Other than that, I've got bumped to first twice now. Both hub to hub flights.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on December 23, 2010, 09:02:01 pm
Flying uniform rocks. Writting with a psp is pretty fast, although there's a character limit. Typing this post has taken the majority of this non-stop flight. Exactly where one'd stop on the way, I'm not sure.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on December 23, 2010, 10:31:16 pm
Back home with my laptop working again! All my tabs from my last Firefox session have been saved, twenty-five total. Awful lot of TV tropes pages . . .

Good to see my cats again and to be able to walk through a couple of feet of snow!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on December 23, 2010, 10:51:56 pm
The step after tabbing is bookmarking, bookmark everything.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on December 23, 2010, 10:59:06 pm
Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of bookmarks?

So Strife, is this actually a holidays thing, or did you just get really lucky on when you got some leave-time?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on December 23, 2010, 11:00:38 pm
It's a holiday kinda thing. The company was commanded by a PFC when I left (I was second in seniority). There'll only be two people at work on monday. :-/
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on December 26, 2010, 12:34:49 am
Back home with my laptop working again! All my tabs from my last Firefox session have been saved, twenty-five total. Awful lot of TV tropes pages . . .

Good to see my cats again and to be able to walk through a couple of feet of snow!

I know the feeling.

Merry Christmas!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Tack on December 26, 2010, 06:23:23 am
TvTropes is mildly evil.

Also, are you living with someone, or do you pay rent while you're away?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on January 01, 2011, 11:13:26 pm
Hello everyone, posting this from the Baron's palace. On my way back to Ft. Hood, was lucky to make it out of Blizzard infested Fargo.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on January 01, 2011, 11:26:16 pm
The Baron attests; picture soonish.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on January 02, 2011, 02:26:31 am
That is pretty rad, I wish I weren't a couple thousand miles away. But hey, my mail won't be, soon. Now that you're heading to Fort Hood I can send you your 'sort-of-holiday-related-semi-secret present!'.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on January 04, 2011, 07:36:14 pm
Life continues in Ft. Hood, I'm back now. Looks like actual work won't be starting until the 9th. :-/ Got my room about half cleaned today. I'm very happy to have my laptop back now, although I've already gone through a season and a half of burn notice. Access to all my nice writing provoking music is good. Working on getting it back into playlists though; suprisingly difficult project. Other than that, FF7 for the PSPgo is awesome and a half (I even found my tattered guide at home). Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters rates an okay and a half (about two meh's). I'm going to be looking into bartering into using the network next door (totally didn't spend a few hours trying to hack into it).

Other than that, I'm going to try to spend some more time writing in the near future. I took another look at the authorship guides at the Fargo B&N (they moved them while I was in Basic, which confuzzled me somewhat). I don't really see the point in paying $15 for a 200 page book, even if it's by O.S. Card. I've had some more delusions of granduer, starting a website that'd be a spot for writing advice and the like. 
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on January 04, 2011, 08:23:25 pm
There is nothing wrong with delusions of grandeur. Just make sure to have 'of grandeur' in there or they may get touchy in Ft. Hood.

Nice to have a real place too.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on January 10, 2011, 05:37:30 am
Whatever just happened, it was hilarious.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on January 10, 2011, 06:46:45 am
Aw damn, it's already gone.  That was a weird one to be sure.

Just for the record, so nobody's too confused: A spambot quoted a post from like March, with a poorly grammared little sentence about agreeing with the sentiment; but the weird part was that it added a link to the quote and turned all the text blue and strike-through.  Funky.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: The Merchant Of Menace on January 10, 2011, 07:09:20 am
The spam bots are becoming more and more clever.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on January 10, 2011, 01:40:24 pm
Indeed. Anyway, pictures, Monsieur Aqizzar?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on January 10, 2011, 08:13:16 pm
Wait, what?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on January 10, 2011, 09:02:57 pm
I'm sad that I missed it. In my own thread too.

Life continues here, deployment is rapidly approaching. Still not much actual work going on, getting a four day weekend for Martin Luther King.

Thinking heavily on writing a zombie-SCP story title "Snow and Ash"
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on January 12, 2011, 06:11:55 pm
I like to imagine myself with a perk called "optimistic insanity." No matter how bad the situation is, I can always find something pretty positive about it. I'll doubt myself, sure, but the final victory (in worst case-terms of good over evil) usually isn't in doubt. Basically, I might be tired, or stoic (alright, I'm always tired and stoic), but I never am anything other than cheerful and positive (at least when talking to people). Today was a bad enough that people noticed how depressed I've gotten.

Today started off well enough. Did okay in PT, we did 2 minute timed push ups and sit ups. 63 push ups and 57 sit-ups. Not as good as I'd like to be for the next test (which is happening on my birthday, the 26th, interestingly enough), but for the cold I was happy enough. We did some sprints afterward, and while I'm still no runner, I did acceptable well and felt proud afterward. Cold as heck in Ft Hood, which kinda sucked, but I've taken to dressing warmly enough to compensate. Basically, PT was fine.

Morning was pretty much on the low end of mediocre. Two pens were borrowed for an indefinite period of time (I brought five today after I got shouted at yesterday for not having one, becuase I had loaned it out and hadn't gotten it back), including my favorite and the only one that's small enough to fit in the pen pocket of my ACU's (because for some strange reason, we can't have pens that stick out of the pen pocket, ie longer than 4 inches. To go on a tangent, it's telling that I'm finding this annoying instead of my normal vauge amusement at the rules of a bureaucracy.) My duffel bags got screwed up in the process of painting my name on them (because someone else did the painting) Pretty minor stuff, really.

Had some medical classes today from the medics. As per usual, I was volunteered to be the test subject (the company's conference table has a giant crack down the middle, and I'm certainly the lightest person around.) Having a tourniquet put on was only as bad as usual, with the uncomfortable tingling in my feet. Demonstration of the major pressure points was a fair bit worse, mostly becuase it included full pressure on said points.

Then we had the NPA. For those of you who don't know, it stands for Nasopharyngeal airway.
NPA
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

NPA in action
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

It's a tube that gets shoved through your nose into your throat. Getting one put in does hurt much, provided the patient is able to constantly swallow and relax. I've *never* been able to relax on command. I stand at parade rest when I stand idle! It did not end well.

Still, at least the table didn't break while I was on it, right? Overall not a bad day. After lunch (where I wanted to go to Popeyes but couldn't), it was decided that we'd play some basketball at the Abrams Gym before calling it a day. I suck at basket ball, but I can always make it useful training by sprinting as much as possible. Well, the gym was full so we were just going to work on the cardio machines. Cool, I like to work on my running on treadmills. Got 3/4ths of a mile in when someone discovered an open court. It was empty, primarily because it was outside. Remember how I said it was cold in the morning? It hasn't warmed up much. All of us had changed into PT gear on the basis of working inside. It was cold. But we only played until 1530 or so. Two hours in the cold isn't terrible, especially when you're exercising for much of it.

At this point in time, I'm feeling as perfectly positive as usual. Just have to get through Thrusday, then a four-day weekend. It's one of the last weekends I'll have in Ft. Hood. I planned to catch a bus to Harlingen, where my Grandparents live so I could see them before I deploy. It's 340 miles away, far enough that I need to ask for a millage pass, which I did as soon as I knew about my four day. I was told that I should be getting it, but I never actually got the piece of paper. Being the paranoid type that I am, I asked my first line suprivisor after the PT session. It looks like that was the first time that my request went any higher on the chain of command. It was rejected by virtue of involving a bus ride. FUCK MY LIFE.

Here are my current options.
1) Not see my grandparents before I deploy. Bad idea.
2) Seeing if it'd be acceptable for me to fly to Harlingen instead of drive. Costs seven times as much, and might very well not be accepted.
3) Blow off the rules and go down anyway. Very very very tempting, but I'm not the sort of person who'd do that.
4) Ask my grandparents to drive up here instead, includes the problems of them driving up here (while I'm sure that they're healthy enough to do it, this worries my a fair bit), having a hotel for them (instead of me being able to sleep in their little travel van when I got down there), having stuff to do (instead of being in an area with some tourist attractions, we'd be in an area with the 1st Cav division museum, interesting but about five hours total. A lot less becuase it's too cold to enjoy the outside exhibits much).
5) Try to get a mileage pass next weekend and go down then. Doesn't seem likely that it'll be granted, plus the fact that I'd be using a considerable chunk of said weekend on the bus down.

Conclusion:FUCK MY LIFE.

Oh, and I have to tell my Grandparents whatever I decide. FUCK MY LIFE.


And I was just raided for 95% of my Cargo in Star Pirates.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on January 12, 2011, 06:48:13 pm
Shit, eh?

To waste some time you could play this: http://www.erepublik.com/en/referrer/Zrk2

And what is Star Pirates?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on January 12, 2011, 08:28:11 pm
Ouch, them's some bad luck. Maybe my gift will make you feel better. I'll be shipping it within the next week, but I have to get some things from a store, and that particular store closes by the time I get home.   :(
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on January 19, 2011, 12:39:38 pm
Life continues here. Taking real life classes on my future intel. duties which are really interesting, if quite overwhelming and online classes on SERE )Search, evasion, resistance, escape) and Iraqi Arabic. Damn Iraqi Arabic.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: smigenboger on January 19, 2011, 12:44:18 pm
Arabic would be damn important to know over there. How long will you be deployed? One year, two?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on January 19, 2011, 12:54:16 pm
15 months most likely. The problem with learning Arabic is A) Every region has a barely-compatible dialect and B) I'm not actually learning anything useful to the situation. Just putting in 40 hours of my off time into learning shit I won't remember. Except the word for Cat, becuase I always remember the word for cat.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on January 19, 2011, 03:26:36 pm
Well, cats are common, and useful in case of emergency.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Urist is dead tome on January 21, 2011, 03:05:53 pm
Now this is a thread I like! Gotta respect your decision Strife. And hopefully I can learn something about military life that is more applicable than the other thread.

Thanks Strife.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on January 21, 2011, 08:06:25 pm
What do you want to learn about military life, Urist? I'll try to help as much as I can.


Finished with my COIST class today. Yay. Finished with an online SERE course last night. I still have a heckuva big chunk of Iraqi learning to do (~25 hours according to the computer) plus a "Driving safety course" that got dropped on me today.

At least it's the weekend!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on January 21, 2011, 08:19:42 pm
Finished with my COIST class today. Yay. Finished with an online SERE course last night. I still have a heckuva big chunk of Iraqi learning to do (~25 hours according to the computer) plus a "Driving safety course" that got dropped on me today.

Well, questions abound then.  "Company Intelligence Support Team" - Do tell, if you can get away with it.  SERE - How many purple-nurples are involved?  And you're not getting out of here without transliterating some Army-approved Arabic for us.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Urist is dead tome on January 21, 2011, 08:22:44 pm
What do you want to learn about military life, Urist? I'll try to help as much as I can.

Barracks life specifically. Any answers are greatly appreciated.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on January 21, 2011, 09:25:42 pm
http://www.army.mil/-news/2009/06/19/23048-coist-staffs-play-crucial-role-on-todays-complex-battlefield/ (http://www.army.mil/-news/2009/06/19/23048-coist-staffs-play-crucial-role-on-todays-complex-battlefield/)

The Iraqi Arabic word for Cat is Buzune. That about all I remember. All it is is normal civilian Rosetta Stone with a very few extra pages with words that are occasionally army related (knife sounds somewhat similar to Kashinky, I think). All my real language skills come from the Colt universal translator and the smart cards (with a nice list of helpful phrases, and one with pictures) I'll carry.




Barracks life isn't bad. In training, you'll probably be in six person bays. You meet people who'll become some of your best friends, many whom you'll trust your life to, and a few who seem to represent the worst that mankind has to offer.

Once you get to the actual army, barracks life changes considerably. The Army is a job, with semi-regular hours. You might be staying late occasionally or be out in the field for awhile, but free time is pretty plentiful when it isn't zero. The new barracks are very nice. It's effectively a reasonably sized dorm room with a giant-ass walk in closet. You might have to deal with the occasional inspection, but all most sergeants are going to care about is that it meets basic health standards (anything that you lock up is supposed to be out of limits for inspection too). You'd share a kitchenette area, washing machine, dryer, and bathroom with one other person.

Lots of booze about if you want to party, but it's best to try not to do anything too stupid. Enough stuff to do on base, or one can always buy a TV and game console and hole up in your room. Getting some outside interaction is important though.


That's about everything I can think of right now, in any case.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Urist is dead tome on January 21, 2011, 11:51:31 pm
Thanks for the information Strife! Once again I really appreciate what you're doing sir.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: hemmingjay on January 22, 2011, 10:46:18 am
not to contradict Strife, but barracks life is very dependent on where you are stationed. His depiction of living in training is dead on. Some AIT training means larger living bays, mine had 64 people living in one large bay for 6 months. Life after training is different. Much/most of the bases have a very limited amount of the new barracks rooms, with most being a 2 person dorm room similar to college. There is a shower toilet and sink to share but no kitchen. Most barracks buildings have a common room/rec room with a kitchen, large TV and often a billiards table or ping pong. When you become an NCO or get married you can(sometimes forced) move to one of the apartments on the base or get approval to live off-base. You don't get free housing if you choose this option, but you get a stipend to cover the average cost of housing in your area. I myself married another soldier and we lived off base and pocketed the substantial extra money and we always kept the apartment as one of us was always deployed.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on January 25, 2011, 02:34:17 pm
Well, I'm now getting to the point where everything is seeming kinda unreal. Might be from sleeping 35 minutes one night then 12 hours the next.

Packing all of my stuff up now, I'm going to be living out of a bag until we leave. Just going to have sheets on the bed and my shoes out.


Final PT test it tomorrow. It's really really important that I pass, becuase if I get flagged, I won't be able to get promoted while I'm overseas. This would be bad. It's also my birthday. I'm not sure what I'm going to do for it, thinking about buying a new knife.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on January 25, 2011, 03:34:04 pm
How are you feeling about being deployed? And how is your song selection coming along?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on January 25, 2011, 06:57:30 pm
I've 2166 songs and three seasons of Burn Notice. The problem is that I don't especially care for a lot of those 2166 songs.


I'm making very slow progress on the packing as well.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on January 25, 2011, 06:58:08 pm
Packing all of my stuff up now, I'm going to be living out of a bag until we leave. Just going to have sheets on the bed and my shoes out.

So here comes the big day, and it's your birthday?  I wish I had known, I could have gotten a present.  Well, no doubt you'll be around long enough to get one at a new address in the sandy armpit of the planet.  Stay loose Strife.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on January 25, 2011, 07:15:29 pm
I know what I'll do for your birthday. I finally finished your Secret Santa gift, so I'll mail it to you. It takes forever to carve wood the way I did it, apparently.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on January 25, 2011, 07:42:16 pm
I know what I'll do for your birthday. I finally finished your Secret Santa gift, so I'll mail it to you. It takes forever to carve wood the way I did it, apparently.

+10 persistence.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on January 25, 2011, 08:21:45 pm
It'll be the PT test, probably another inspection of the rooms and bags, then a few days of sitting around waiting for the flight schedule to get posted. Then clear everything out of our rooms for the last time (and damned if I get a crappy room like this when I get back) and pull out Gilead from the armory.

We stripped everything off of the company walls today, they're allowing us to keep some stuff in the building, which is very nice. We had to unload one of our conexes and dump all the stuff inside our building (I think that it was status change #5 for that particular conex). Nothing left to do here, once I get my damn Iraqi Arabic training over with and my stuff all packed. Probably get some good DF time in.


Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on January 26, 2011, 09:30:49 am
Passed with flying colors! 64 push-ups, 78 sit-ups, 13:47 2 miles (!!) 63.5", 121 Ilbs, 279/300 Score!
Awesome birthday thus far, although I don't think that the course was quite a full 2 miles.

Eating ramen then going back to work.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on January 26, 2011, 01:30:45 pm
A question. If I'm supposed to have *ALL* of my stuff packed, my nonessential stuff shipped of and my room *completely* clean today and it could be up to two weeks before we leave, just how am I supposed to live?

Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Urist is dead tome on January 26, 2011, 02:56:45 pm
Sleep on the ground I guess?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on January 26, 2011, 04:14:03 pm
Sleeping on the ground isn't a big deal, but WHAT DO I EAT!?



So I went out to go get a late lunch and stopped by Military clothing and sales, intending to buy myself a tomahawk and/or a new knife. Guess what, no tomahawks and no knives I liked. There's not all that many knives that I don't like. So I spent $200 on a tac box to send my stuff home in, molle pouches, and towels.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Urist is dead tome on January 26, 2011, 04:48:26 pm
DISCLAIMER: The following is a bad idea.

You could live in the kitchen and eat at night.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on January 26, 2011, 04:53:36 pm
What kitchen?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Urist is dead tome on January 26, 2011, 04:57:47 pm
Oh.... Right... I gotta withdraw myself from this question...
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on January 26, 2011, 06:04:45 pm
Sleep out in front of your commanding officers house/room/whateverthehell(s)hehas until they do something about your situation.

*IMPORTANT NOTICE: Zrk2 is not responsible for any and all damages in any way caused by this post. Zrk2 is not liable for court fees and/or legal expenses. Zrk2 is also not responsible for any disciplinary actions which may occur as a result of the use or misuse of this post.*
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on January 26, 2011, 07:50:27 pm
I don't know where my commanding officer even lives!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on January 26, 2011, 09:35:13 pm
Then whoever the biggest guy whose house you know where is... WTF did I just say?

Sleep in front of the quarters of the highest ranked person whose quarters you can find.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: hemmingjay on January 26, 2011, 10:47:37 pm
I feel for you. The week or so before deployment is always hard, due to boredom and not knowing. Spend some time with your squadmates, play some cards, go out to eat often because this is the thing you will miss the most soon.

As for knife/tomahawk selection I can't recommend this enough if you will be doing any sort of ground patrols. You will rarely use a knife for anything other than opening MRE's. Hand to hand combat is such a rare occasion that it simply isn't useful to carry a combat knife. Carry a leatherman at ALL TIMES though. Now for a contradiction to what I said........buy a tomahawk or Kukri. Muslim nations, and in particular Iraq guns are not feared but blades are well respected for it's brutality and ceremony. Carry one on the back of your kit and enjoy a bit more intimidation. Point a gun at someone's face and they will start yammering. Hold up a machete and they will STFU and back away. This is the best advice I can offer outside of practice putting on the CAT turniquet as many times as you can. Learn to do it with one hand and in the dark.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on January 28, 2011, 07:08:20 pm
For added badassery, practice throwing the knife... If possible.

Although that whole idea is probably just Hollywood physics.

SO DO IT!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on January 30, 2011, 06:47:14 pm
Alright everyone, time for this Bayer to drop off the net for awhile. Posting this from the library, cuz the wireless network I bootlegged from in my room is gone now. I'll post again as soon as possible.


-Strife26 of  Bay12



P.S. Still haven't gotten your package, Barbarossa, but I'm going to keep checking until the last minute.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on January 30, 2011, 08:10:47 pm
Good luck.

-Zrk2
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Urist is dead tome on January 30, 2011, 08:11:53 pm
Good luck. You'll be in my prayers man.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: GamerKnight on January 31, 2011, 05:51:41 am
May you be aquire with an internet connection very soon so you may post once more.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: hermes on February 06, 2011, 06:23:16 am
Long time thread reader, first time poster... good luck Strife!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: hemmingjay on February 07, 2011, 12:02:33 am
good luck strife, make sure you have $5 and $10 bills so you can buy internet time and coffee when you get to your staging area before you move to your final post overseas. Let me know if you have trouble finding anything or forget something. I'll make sure to get it out to you asap. Keep you head low and alsways keep moving when outside the wire.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Phantom on February 07, 2011, 12:19:55 am
Hey, Strife, been reading this, good luck to you.
Wish I could have gotten you something for Christmas, but all you would have received from me would have probably been a large stack of books on various war related topics. Kinda ironic, I guess.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on February 10, 2011, 10:22:43 am
Hello from somewhere or another everyone. I had a fun plane ride to overseas. Spent 45 min in Newfoundland and 3 hours in Germany. Slept for most of the flight, but they fed us a lot. I've added a pistol and a set of NVG's in addition to my M4. Named the pistol Alexandria and the NVG's Ferdreick. Fun times, lots of hard work. Crappy internet and hot chocolate. Really good scrambled eggs.


I'll get on for a longer post as soon as possible. Thanks for the well-wishes.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on February 10, 2011, 11:15:09 am
That's quite the travel itinerary for going where you're going.  And why "Alexandria" and "Frederick" exactly?  Do you get to carve them in the stock?

And once again, good luck and godspeed buddy.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on February 10, 2011, 03:59:53 pm
So, how was Newfieland? How is wherever you ended up now?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on February 11, 2011, 09:13:06 am
Newfoundland was fun. We didn't do much other than stretch our legs for a bit. I got myself a bottle of Canadian Canada Dry Ginger Ale. It was labeled in French and English (I only drink Ginger Ale when I fly. I'm not sure why I don't drink it when I'm on the ground). I secured a few loonies for change. Great Big Sea, a decent enough band, is from the Newfoundland area, and I've always wanted to see a live concert of them. After this deployment, I suppose. I've been getting even more random in my thoughts lately, which I always do when I'm in a field environment.

My current location, where I'll be stuck for a bit for more training is pleasant enough. Multiple Subways. Final destination will be considerably more spartan, but I should be able to get Internet in my tent. Been spending a little time doing final training stuff here, I got to get rolled over in an armored vehicle and my platoon nearly wandered into armed and angry-type guards while training on our own. 


I wanted to give my M9 a clearly feminine name, unlike my M4's which were both given relatively gender neutral names (Wall and Gilead, respectively). Gilead is a place, and I wanted to continue that theme as well. Alexandria is feminine and the name of a bunch and a half of cities, plus I like the name. I have to keep my NVG's with me almost all the time, like my weapons. On the plane, while over Germany, it occurred to me that they might get jealous of Gilead and Alexandria, so I gave them a highly Germanic name on the spur of the moment. I pronounce it in a snobbish, upper class manner, which I find amusing. 


So, not much else to report. Sorry for the way that my writing is clouded by opsec. Going to be some live music here tonight, so I paid $4 for a day of internet. I'll be camping the hotspot for awhile. Gotta catch up on webcomics, no?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on February 11, 2011, 12:13:30 pm
Yeah, I can see that. Just drink your Ginger Ale before it goes flat. Then it sucks, I just had some.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on February 14, 2011, 10:34:38 am
Still here everyone. Still not doing all that much. We had some medical training today. It culminated in running about 150m in full battle rattle then bursting into a room filled with strobe lights and speakers. Then we had to try to provide aid to some dummies. There were enough causalities that it was one person each. I did better than most people, but not as well as I would of liked. I left the needle for a chest decompression in place, which kinda makes the operation pointless.

I've decided to start keeping a journal with my dreams. They're usually pretty interesting and I've been remembering them well here. I wake up by myself at 0400 right now, then drift back and forth over the sleep barrier every ten minutes until we're woken up at 0500 or 0530.

It's 0900 in the morning right now, but I was unable to reach any of my family on the payphones (and phone cards are expensive when calling overseas!). Kinda feeling down about it, especially because it's junctioned with an especially slow network. I've bought day access to this network three times now, at $4 each. A week-long pass would only have been 12$, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to get on before I take a bird out of this pleasant oasis.

I tried to install The Witcher on my laptop, but no joy. Last five real PC games I tried have ended in failure, annoyingly enough. After one instance where the instalation bar got to textures00.bif, it locked up and wouldn't let me even open Task Manager (minesweeer still worked, strangely enough). My lappy won't even start the autorun now. Kinda sad.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on February 14, 2011, 01:20:59 pm
Still here everyone. Still not doing all that much. We had some medical training today. It culminated in running about 150m in full battle rattle then bursting into a room filled with strobe lights and speakers. Then we had to try to provide aid to some dummies. There were enough causalities that it was one person each. I did better than most people, but not as well as I would of liked. I left the needle for a chest decompression in place, which kinda makes the operation pointless.

I have a feeling that if you were working on a real person, he would do a much better job of indicating a leftover needle.  I'd call it a moral victory.  Too bad about the computer though, I bet replacing it won't be a very ready option for a while.  Then again, does the military have a tech-support office?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on February 14, 2011, 03:55:56 pm
It's probably run by this guy:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on February 17, 2011, 11:24:49 am
Actually, I've got a near fully stocked PX just a few hundred yards away from where I typed this. They've got a few different laptops for sale at any one time. I was going to try to make this laptop workable through this deployment. It'll run DVD's and any programs that don't need a CD just fine. DF too (although the new version is downloading as we speak. Hopefully, this network'll do good things for me). I'm going to be stuck here a few more days than planned, so I went ahead and spend the 12 bucks for a week of internet. If I really want to play some other games, there's more than one person about who has full free demos to share.


Been doing some more writing, and I just remembered that I did a bit of writing a few weeks ago when I was without internet. I'll dig it up and post it. I've been remembering my dreams relatively well, so I'm going to try my hand at making a Fiction Press series out of them.

Played some football today, platoon on platoon. We won, and I was able to help despite my size. Blocking on loose sand is surprisingly easy, as is getting through lines.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on February 17, 2011, 12:00:59 pm
Life and Times of Strife26
   Internetless chronicles.


   Life without internet is tough. I'm lounging on my bed, typing this, and wishing that I was doing something else. There's a surprising amount of stuff piled on my bed right now, all items that I intend to pack into my satchel or that I plan to wear on the plane. Before this attempt at writing started, I was passing the moments by pacing. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. It's a fine way to kill some time, provided that you don't think about it. As soon as my mind noticed that I was pacing, the task got a lot harder. If there's a real reason why the 502nd time I went to the rear and started walking again, I don't know what it is. Put if off to the centipede's dilemma.

   Well, I'd best continue typing with something, should I? It's one of my writing crutches, but turning to introspection seems to be my equivalent to a verbal tick. So, why am I writing this? On one hand, this little post is a easy (ish? Heck if I'm not agonizing over my word choice and sentence structure) to pass the time, on another, it's so that I've easily got something prepared to throw on my blogathread when I get a chance. Yet, that can't really be it. I'm sure that I could find something else to do with my time (even if I've soured myself on Kingdom Hearts: Coded by overplaying in the last two days), maybe take a nap or something. At the same time, I'm not using the same tone or topic that I'd do for a normal post.

   Something else then? Almost constantly, I'm thinking about what I'd write about an event. Ninety-five percent of the time, I never even mention it to anyone. Suppose that this could be my attempt to change that? It might be. Or I might finish up this page of writing, maybe get around to posting it on the worldwide web and that might be the end of it.  I've considered writing enough to run my own blog for a long time. An actual, not-just-a-thread-in-Life-Advice, real blog. Have my own personal experiences, some creative writing, and whatever insights that I can come up with all in their own domain. Would that be enough to generate traffic? I don't really know, honestly.

   This is hardly a new thought for me. I just dug up another “first post of a new age.” Now, it's hardly as long or well-written as this piece, but it's there. I set a hard and fast goal of writing at least one chapter of original fiction and one piece of administrative work (I suppose that this qualifies under the admin category). There's a list of specific chapters that I would want finished before I would consider the website good enough to publish. The date I created that document was just a few days more than a year ago. No further work was done on that push.

   Right now, I've got a couple of things I'd like to write about, all separate enough ideas from this one to deserve their own word documents. A discussion on my own morality, a little blurb of an insight, and the idea for a piece of fanfiction that won't leave my mind. And the ever present task of cleaning my room and packing again, of course . . .


Written: 1/31 1733 local, 2333 Zulu (I think. Remember to check this at some point, London's in Zulu, right?)

Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on February 17, 2011, 01:14:44 pm
I apologize for the triple post, but the single most awesome thing to happen to me, probably since I got done with Basic just occurred.


I just went to the latrine to go relieve myself but encountered a difficulty. It's nine o'clock at night here, and the porta-potties (we don't have any indoor plumbing anywhere) were impossible to navigate. Having not learned my lesson from the earlier medical simulation, I don't have a light on me. I was considering trying to borrow a flashlight from someone or trying to go by the light on my watch when I realized something. I've got my NVG's in my pocket. I just took a shit while using night vision goggles. I haven't stopped giggling since.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on February 20, 2011, 02:21:01 am
I just took a shit while using night vision goggles.

I think it's sig time.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on February 20, 2011, 02:43:19 am
Man, the military sounds like gadget geek heaven.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Nikov on February 20, 2011, 07:22:40 am
Man, the military sounds like gadget geek heaven.

How to modernize a rifle.

1. Paint it black.

2. Cover it in glue.

3. Roll it around in a bin of accessory rails.

4. Bling Bling.

5. Run a mag dry in MOUT one day and realize you can't attach your bayonet anymore, and don't have it anyway.

6. Beat terrorist with your rifle, helmet, ballistic plate, thumbs to the eyes, then finally use a Gerber tool's pocket knife.

7. Write your account in a book somewhere that I'll read but never actually buy and thus sadly can't reference.

8. But I swear, non-fiction.

9. Profit!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Taricus on February 20, 2011, 07:38:19 am
You forgot downsizing to a round which won't kill an unarmoured target in the first shot unless it hits a vital organ.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on February 20, 2011, 08:18:38 am
Suddenly less so.

Still, I've always wanted to do something as base as taking a dump in a needlessly high tech way.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Taricus on February 20, 2011, 08:20:00 am
$10 say as soon as a military gets portal guns, they'll be used like this.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: JordanBBad on February 20, 2011, 04:45:56 pm
$10 say as soon as a military gets portal guns, they'll be used like this.

It gets suddenly a lot less fun and a lot more messy when they end up mixing up the In and Out portals.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on February 23, 2011, 05:34:50 am
Field sanitation's serious stuff, you know? In some places, the bloody latrine is just a hole that someone adds gas and a match to once a week.


Fun fact: As far as I know, only three people in the company are carrying fixed blade knives on their holster/ armor right now (I'm one of them). I never even got to learn how to use a bayonet in Basic!



Oops. Forgot the actual bloggy part of the post.

I'm in another somewhere else. Get to carry my weapons loaded now, but it's still not the final somewhere else. The chow is really good, but the scrambled eggs are a step down. The Jalapeno poppers are awesome when they have cream cheese, but not all that good with normal cheese. No way to tell unless I order them, though. My tent has AC so it's nicely cool during the day, but really cold during the night. Clean, very close latrine and showers, but half the stalls are clogged up and I haven't found a hot shower yet. Outlet in my room, but the internet (I went for a walk to get on for free here) is 15$/day for 32kb/sec . . .

Appologies for OPSec, APU.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on February 24, 2011, 04:27:24 am
Really interesting previous 24 hours here. I finally got the new version of DF downloaded, listened to Talk 11, started slowly learning Tower Defense games (I'm not all that good). There was finally hot water this morning, so I got an awesome hot shower (which is a really big deal if you hate cold showers like all of humanity) . . .And I got to run to a bunker with two untied boots and one sock on.

So yeah.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on February 24, 2011, 04:54:27 am
...started slowly learning Tower Defense games (I'm not all that good)...

You've had Internet access for how long of your life?  And you've never played Tower Defense games before?  Well, okay, I guess that was more of a "five years ago" fad than it is now, but still.  There's so goddamn many of them on Newgrounds its not even funny.  Definitely a skillset to brush up on though.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on February 24, 2011, 07:10:36 am
Because while I *am* a horrible TV Tropes addict with pop cultural osmosis which lets me act like a member of all sorts of Fandoms that I'm not a member of, I don't especially like not being a member of said fandoms. So I've decided to do my best to become at least semi-actually a member of the Tower Defense, Anime, Fan-fiction author, and D&D community over the next few months.

I got the Tower Defense games in return for a copy of DF and I'm hoping to get my hands on NGE sometime tonight.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on February 24, 2011, 03:22:23 pm
Good job. Aslo OPSEC is Operational Secrecy (or something like that)? And APU? I need to brush up on my interwebese.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on February 25, 2011, 06:48:19 am
Yep, opsec is operation security (just to be on the safe side, I haven't said where I am, and I don't actually post that I'm leaving or arriving when I'm actually moving). APU stands for As per usual, because I apologized for the opsec before.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on February 25, 2011, 03:05:13 pm
I really don't think you need to apologize for it. I sure as hell wouldn't broadcast my location were I over there.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: hemmingjay on February 25, 2011, 04:11:01 pm
not just the personal safety issue but all communications in and out of theater are randomly monitored and sharing sensitive information is a violation of UCMJ. It's usually not a problem but I'm sure he would rather stay out of trouble and keep his brothers in arms safe.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on February 26, 2011, 02:07:31 am
Pretty much.

Not much happening right now. I've suddenly had the urge to write a sequel story for Avatar (I wanted to work more on something related to 28 weeks later, but the dvd is packed in a non-accesible spot right now, and I don't complain about shows I haven't watched repeatedly).
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on February 26, 2011, 02:12:00 am
Pretty much.

Not much happening right now. I've suddenly had the urge to write a sequel story for Avatar (I wanted to work more on something related to 28 weeks later, but the dvd is packed in a non-accesible spot right now, and I don't complain about shows I haven't watched repeatedly).

Very noble of you.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on February 26, 2011, 03:06:21 am
Even *I* have standards when trying to make stupid militaristic types into actual roundish characters. I figured that I'd make the POV the commander of the RDA who would rather not, but is totally willing to exterminate the locals to get the unobtanium which is so important (and I'd paint the picture that unob. is important enough for military type uses and that the guy would rather that WWIII be fought on the US's terms). I think that I'd give the RDA a super-heavy tank or two as well.

Bolo vs. Space Rhine, who wins?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 01, 2011, 10:46:00 am
Hello everyone. I'm really tired. Stuff's happened. New place, probably here for awhile now. Lot's of work. Standing around for 8 hours kinda gets tiring. I wish that my pokewalker differentiated standing, standing with armor, walking, and walking in armor.

More when I have time.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on March 01, 2011, 09:57:56 pm
I've suddenly had the urge to write a sequel story for Avatar

Tailored viruses, massive electrical strikes to the "neural network", and forcible terraforming, particularly involving the planet's atmosphere. If all else fails, nukes from orbit.

Y'know, pretty standard stuff.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 03, 2011, 10:46:13 am
Blurb of the day:

Strife26: Did you get the morphine, doc?
Medic: Yeah, but it's in a category of sensitive item that means that I or another medic has to be in possession of it at all times.
Strife26: So you can't lock it up in a locker or leave it with a totally trustworthy person like me?
Medic: Nope, to much risk of someone misusing it.
Strife26: I could totally hide it in my bloodstream, you know?



Not much happening here. But I've got to post something. I'm going to start making a list of all the little things that amuse me here, like the above conversation, which happened pretty much as written. I was not allowed to secure the morphine in my bloodstream, sadly.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on March 03, 2011, 03:21:27 pm
Well, it's good to enjoy the little things. Like the other day in history, we were looking at the beginning of sectionalism as a lead in to the Civil War, and we talked about the slaveowners claiming they were being discriminated by the feds.

I burst out laughing.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: SirHoneyBadger on March 03, 2011, 09:53:17 pm
...I was not allowed to secure the morphine in my bloodstream, sadly.

They gave me morphine while I was in the hospital for pancreatitis, and I have to say, if anyone's curious, morphine didn't do much, if anything, for my pain. The most apparent effect I had from the drug was bizarre nightmares, which were obviously not pleasant.

Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: GamerKnight on March 04, 2011, 12:28:49 am
Morphine is strong right? I had something that came in a green whistle a week ago for my knee dislocation and I don't remember them popping it back in. And apparently it isn't nearly as powerful as morphine.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 04, 2011, 02:08:51 am
Still not much going on here. Seems like it'll be a slow day today (after we got all of our trucks up and running yesterday), so I'm going to try to organize my stuff and set up my computer so I can do some writing again.


I was told by another member of my platoon that he had posted our mailing address on his facebook page, after looking through an unreasonable amount of old posts, I gave up looking and sent him a relatively annoyed message asking where it was. Turns out said chap was sitting on the other side of the MWR building . . .
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on March 05, 2011, 06:28:48 pm
Morphine is strong right? I had something that came in a green whistle a week ago for my knee dislocation and I don't remember them popping it back in. And apparently it isn't nearly as powerful as morphine.

Oh, hey, the green whistle. I remember seeing that on a show about Lifeguards once. It's pretty common, I think.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: GamerKnight on March 05, 2011, 09:29:44 pm
I don't remember much, and apparently I was asking pretty young nurses their names.  :-[
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 05, 2011, 10:38:18 pm
Sounds like lots of fun, especially for the reserved types (like internet dwellers tend to be).


Not much to report here, been pulling 022-0600 guard duty which kinda sucks. I've also been doing a fair bit of work taking notes on my unified setting in a psuedo-wiki like fashion. 50 pages and counting, although most are just blank pages right now.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: hemmingjay on March 06, 2011, 02:09:42 pm
Morphine isn't so much about removing pain as it is about distracting you from it, much like most narcotic pain meds. It also tends to make you nauseous and dizzy. Not as much fun as most would think. When I had to give it to injured soldiers they tended to enjoy the initial sensation and warmth, but within 2-3 minutes the pain begins to creep back in.

Strife, I had more than a few fellow soldiers try to get at my morphine and once it even went missing. Whole battalion had to get piss tested in the middle of a combat zone. It turned out that it was somehow in another soldier's personal gear, go figure.

when sensitive items go missing everyone and thing get's locked down.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 07, 2011, 02:03:35 am
Yep, sensitive item losses are a really big deal, Morphine included.


Sleep has been problematic for me lately. I've got the 2200-0600 guard shift for awhile. When I get off, I head to bed, but have had trouble sleeping more than two or three hours at a stretch.


Yeah, I'm digging for something interesting to report here, boring shit.


I noticed that I had helmet hair after my guard shift last night, I'm not sure if the helmet hair or the fact that my hair is that long right now is more distressing.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 07, 2011, 11:19:58 pm
Yeah rough night/workday for me. Decided to stop by the MWR tent and log on before I make the decision to try to get some sleep or go get breakfast. I'm not completely sure if I'm hungry or about to throw up. Probably going to get some non-morphine drugs from the Medic when he gets off guard.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: hemmingjay on March 07, 2011, 11:27:07 pm
Outside of Ibuprofen, the most widely used medication while deployed is Loperamide :)

With that nausea they might give you some Phenagrin to help you sleep despite wanting to puke.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: GamerKnight on March 08, 2011, 01:25:09 am
I'm on Ibuprofen right now, it's alright.

(It's for my knee, I'm not a drug addict or anything!!!  :P)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: hemmingjay on March 08, 2011, 09:20:34 am
Ibuprofen is pretty harmless, yet very effective. In the army they call it Ranger candy due to it's largest dose of 800mg being handed out so often for aches and pains during rigorous training. Other than potential liver damage from long term overuse, it's probably the best medical innovation since Penicillin.


Sorry for the derail Strife. Stay safe brother. Hope you get out of tent city soon and into a CHU.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 08, 2011, 10:32:07 pm
This isn't really a derailable thread, it always ends up going in the rightish direction anyway. Although you've already taken most of the paragraph that I was about to write on Ibuprofen.

Got a nice chunk of sleep yesterday (without drugs, I was knocked out before the medic got off his guard shift). Slept through dinner and replaced it with a surprisingly good Vanilla Gatorade nutrition shake. It rained a bit during the day, then we had a pretty impressive lighting storm during the last few hours of guarding. Now it's raining again. Bloody mud sucks here, because we've got gravel everywhere. It's impossible to see the puddles before one's boot is halfway in (especially when I was walking around in the middle of the night).


I won't be getting a CHU (containerized housing unit) anytime soon, sadly. There aren't any of them here.

I'm doing a bit of research right now because I might be having to teach a class on the M240 today.

(to the tune of the classic song) It's just been fun fun fun since the army took my Abrams away!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: GamerKnight on March 09, 2011, 01:04:47 am
Wait, you can get 800mg doses of Ibuprofen? I'm on 400mg a time, at breakfast lunch and dinner.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 09, 2011, 07:05:49 am
According to the combat medic sitting next to me, profen doesn't usually come in pills larger than 800 mg, but that dosage is limited only by "as much as he can swallow." Either that or follow the recommended and don't exceed 3200 mg/ day.


Seriously though, it doesn't take much profen for most pain, in my experience. I pop a 200mg pill or two when I really need it (and my back hurts enough from standing in armor all night that I'm going to pop one tonight, provided that I find the bottle).
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 09, 2011, 07:28:04 am
Conversation that just occured.

Medic: Strife, quit laughing over there.
Me: But I'm reading about guns!


In other news, my highly abridged class on the M240 went pretty well. Spent more than half the time on the environmental considerations for the tent (location of the bathroom, water, and the zombie response plan). It was an informal class, only six people there (not counting me, but counting the 240 and the M2 as people).
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on March 09, 2011, 08:03:16 pm
M240?  I find it a little funny that something like a SAW could be given an informal, abridged class, but it kinda sounds everything you're doing is informal and abridged.

I have to believe the most confusing part of being in the military is remembering what all the equipment is called.  Every object the army owns is called the M###.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on March 09, 2011, 08:11:55 pm
I'm a little jealous of your BFG.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: hemmingjay on March 09, 2011, 09:51:41 pm
The M240B is a larger caliber than the SAW, or M249. They both usually serve the same role, but the reach and stopping power of the 240 makes it dear to everyone but the poor squad gunner who has to carry it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Blargityblarg on March 09, 2011, 09:58:06 pm
The M240B is a larger caliber than the SAW, or M249. They both usually serve the same role, but the reach and stopping power of the 240 makes it dear to everyone but the poor squad gunner who has to carry it.

I thought SAW was a category; Squad Assault Weapon? Maybe I inferred wrong from my Marine cousin-in-law.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: GamerKnight on March 09, 2011, 11:15:58 pm
Hey, my friend was telling me about all these fucked-up hazing practices in the army, have any actually happened to you?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 10, 2011, 12:48:08 am
Everything in the Army is informal and abridged right now. It's a priority to get shit learned and mastered. Plus. all the learning is mostly ad hoc right now (because the other 2/3rds of the platoon are off sleeping or working. Obviously the night shift doesn't need sleep, right?) , and it doesn't pay to have formal class for five people.

SAW stands for Squad Automatic Weapon, which is the M249, which is, in operation, very similar to a M240 that fires 5.56 instead of 7.62. However, it's also occasionally used for any weapon that's used as a heavy automatic rifle. Basically, it can be either a specific weapon, or the category. The M240B is really too heavy to work well in the role, but the army supposedly has been developing the M240L with the goal of lightening it enough so that it could replace the M249.

Not that I've seen, at least no worse than one would expect being the new person on any job.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 11, 2011, 11:12:16 am
I always come up with all kinds of pithy/witty/insightfullish/interesting short things to put on here, but I always forget them before I actually do it. It's kinda annoying.


Finally off guard duty, so my Platoon gets to do other missions now. I got to sleep six hours today before I was woken up. It was bloody awesome. Had a really good dinner too. Spaghetti, garlic toast, salad, Lemon-raspberry cake, Grapefruit juice, and a few bites of apple (it wasn't a very good apple).
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Urist is dead tome on March 11, 2011, 01:23:39 pm
I always come up with all kinds of pithy/witty/insightfullish/interesting short things to put on here, but I always forget them before I actually do it. It's kinda annoying.


How witty!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on March 11, 2011, 02:59:50 pm
Finally off guard duty, so my Platoon gets to do other missions now. I got to sleep six hours today before I was woken up. It was bloody awesome. Had a really good dinner too. Spaghetti, garlic toast, salad, Lemon-raspberry cake, Grapefruit juice, and a few bites of apple (it wasn't a very good apple).

How tasty!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 11, 2011, 10:43:14 pm
I got to sleep last night in addition to yesterday day, so I've gone from sleep deprived to over-slept. Still not much to report here, although we'll be starting more proactively important things now, hopefully (guarding the base is important, just not all that interesting or effective, as per COIN theory).

Breakfast consisted of pretty bad scrambled eggs (and Tabasco), a good biscuit and gravy, caramel-apple coffee cake, quite good pineapple, blueberry pop-tarts, and a can of V8 (with Tabasco).
Pretty happy.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on March 12, 2011, 12:11:23 am
I like the Chateau USA Army meal plan. Sounds classy. Everything else seems to be going pretty well though, enjoy it while it lasts.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 12, 2011, 05:44:59 am
Processed supreme pizza thingie, single fried jalapeno with cheese, piece of pineapple, and a bottle of gatorade. It's serving as both lunch and dinner, but I wasn't all that hungry.

I also got a package of gum.

I'm here to kick ass and chew gum, and I've found that gum fits awesome in empty 9mm mag pouches.

Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 13, 2011, 05:00:12 am
Gone on four missions in twelve hours. Lots of discomfort nothing dangerouser than the risk of rolling over into water (which is actually a pretty big risk). I've got to do a lot of different stuff already. Doing my best to stay motivated, but I don't especially care for the crew that I've been assigned to. Hopefully, I'll get on another vehicle in time. Please please please please please please please . . .




Had a bowl of Pops and a chocolate Gatorade nutrition shake for dinner; bad eggs and applejacks for breakfast, and just ate some cold cuts (meh), cream of mushroom soup (pretty good), white rice, Bulgogi (wasn't much left, but it was very good), tomato, and V8.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 13, 2011, 01:54:32 pm
Gone on more missions. One ended in Charlie fluffleness, while the other one has gone Ker fluffle. Nothing violent, just annoyingly screwed up (it's tough to work together with Iraqi Security Forces, you know?). We're staying the night at someplace else now (which is actually the someplace else prior to the current, semi-permanent somewhere else where I slept the previous week). At least we got to make a run to the very large, but relatively poorly stocked Px. Although we didn't know that we'd have to stay the night until after said Px was closed, so I'll be sleeping without a pillow or blanket.


Had a Whopper, an apple pie, and a chocolate rice crispy treat for dinner. I'm not much of a fast food eater, but it seemed good enough.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 14, 2011, 01:53:38 pm
Ugh.


Tankers are supposed to hate cav scouts. But I'll say that, without a doubt, the cav scouts that I know are, on average, a lot more pleasant people to be around than the average infantry type. Really really really really really don't like my crew. Feeling increasingly pissed off at the world, which is strange for me. I've got a very high tolerance for Bull Shit, but it seems that (probably because of it) I don't have any real coping strategies for people who piss me off at really high levels.


Fun: getting back from a night mission, parking the humvee, and finding that the rest of the crew has ran off immediately. Also fun: doing after ops checks and cleaning by yourself.


I'm feeling more depressed than I like right now. Could probably use a hug. My roommate is in someplace else minus one right now for some medically stuff, hopefully he'll be alright. I kinda miss him, but I'm also annoyed at how much of his stuff I had to clean to make our room presentable. Guess that I'll enjoy the almost privacy while it lasts.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on March 14, 2011, 05:31:44 pm
Whoa, Strife is up and about.  Obviously, you have to preserve details, so there's no point in asking too many questions.  But wow, check this out.

Who's actually in charge of your crew?  I don't know how conflict-resolution goes for the military, but I'd have to think they'd want to do something about armor crewmen who hate being around each other.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: hemmingjay on March 14, 2011, 08:45:19 pm
Strife if you don't mind some advice........Changing crews can be tricky since it should never be your idea or you can forget it. Find one of the other TC's who is constantly berating someone in his squad for fucking up and start being squared away when around that TC and make sure you always vocalize how you agree with his opinions. Also, show that you share interests outside of the mission. TC's just want their guys to get shit done without any input and also be able to joke around when shit gets weird. That was always the best technique I saw.

Good luck, keep your head low and let us know if you need anything sent. You should have a permanent mailing address by now.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 16, 2011, 01:37:01 pm
Oh yeah, I forgot to post my address, didn't I?

Delta Co 1-12 CAV unit 107
COB Basrah, Iraq
APO AE 09374

Note that we're not actually in Basrah, just that the mail goes through said city, where there's some change in responsibility for our mail.


I don't hate other armor crewmen, it's the infantry specialists and sergeants whom I don't get along with. I'm back to being cheerful now, optimistic insanity kicked in a few hours after my previous post.


Not much going on right now. We drive from point A to point B and wait around or we just drive around the local roads and stop to talk to any farmer types we see (we're not allowed in villages without an Iraqi escort as per the security agreement, so we stretch it by talking to people on the outskirts). I drive during the day and gun during the night. Driving is a matter of not hitting anyone. Nearly squished a donkey who decided to walk in front of my truck, but I dodged it. Also, I wish people wouldn't cut me off when I'm trying to drive a big, heavy truck in a convoy. Or try to pass me on a bike while we're on a pontoon bridge that has about a foot and a half of extra space on the side.

I do my best to be seen as polite while we're on patrol, must be North Dakotan blood/upbringing. I give the one handed wave of generic friendliness/thanks/apology to just about everyone I meet. Most people at least wave back (although some of them are single fingered), and the kids are usually smiling.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: hemmingjay on March 16, 2011, 05:34:48 pm
I've been on a few FOBs around that area that were pretty shitty, so I feel for you. The locals really don't/didn't like us around there. I always kept my cargo pockets full of candy for the kids and offered ibuprofen and aspirin to the adults. You;d be amazed how far that goes towards goodwill. One thing I miss is the hospitallity. We'd kick in their door, point a weapon at them, ransack their house and then they'd offer us tea. They even treat the people they despise with courtesy and respect for the most part.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Acanthus117 on March 16, 2011, 06:08:54 pm
We'd kick in their door, point a weapon at them, ransack their house and then they'd offer us tea. They even treat the people they despise with courtesy and respect for the most part.

I wish I could only have such awesome powers of cordiality.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on March 17, 2011, 12:05:26 am
We'd kick in their door, point a weapon at them, ransack their house and then they'd offer us tea. They even treat the people they despise with courtesy and respect for the most part.

I wish I could only have such awesome powers of cordiality.

Weapons tend to make people more amenable to getting ransacked...

Strife, I'm wondering, I saw a miniseries on the History Channel called Operation Kill, is it anything like what it's actually like over there?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 17, 2011, 01:07:51 am
I've never seen Operation Kill, so I couldn't say.

Not much going on here, it looks like the kitchener types have received a string of requests from the entirety of the platoon to have hot food for us when we return from missions, even if we're coming in at some gawdawful time. So I got a hot breakfast after this mornings mission (I was a dismount, so I sat in the Humvee and took a few pictures with a digital camera). Only a couple of more mission left, then we're on detail week.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on March 17, 2011, 01:11:10 am
Err, Generation Kill

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npIwzrxa1ZI
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 17, 2011, 02:08:31 am
Haven't really watched much of it (and I can't stream video here), but from the TV tropes page, mostly not. We're not in combat, we're advising and assisting. While there are people here who piss me the hell off, most of them (like most of everyone) are okay enough. Anything specific?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 17, 2011, 07:02:26 am
Going on a loooooong mission tonight, which'll be kind of annoying. I'm not sure if I'll be a dismount, driver, or gunner yet (probably not driving, cuz I'm not the best nvg driver). Still, we're almost finished with the mission week! Yay!

Also, I finally got issued a combat load of pistol ammo. I'll have to move my gum to another pocket, but it's nice to know that I always have at least 60 rounds (one mag for my M4 and two for the M9, plus 6 and 1 respectively in my armor) in the event of zombies.

Phrase of the day: Turret Lizard.
A Turret Lizard is someone who sleep on armored vehicles, usually because of the warmth of engines or sun. In many cases, they don't actually sleep on the turret. On an Abrams, for example, the front slope is usually the preferred spot, partially because you can lean up against the turret easily. On a humvee, I think that the rhino mount, up or down, is a pretty good spot. I've also sprawled out on the hood itself, which is nice too, especially when the engine is running, but it looks less militaristic.

Strife is a pretty big Turret Lizard.

Next time I visit a PX, I'll get a camera so I can post some pictures.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: hemmingjay on March 17, 2011, 07:17:18 am
lol, I was a turret lizard while in Korea. The damn winters were so cold that us "legs" had to find a safe place close to the Abrams for warmth since our 113's and Bradleys were not exactly comfortable. The Abrams throws a fuck-ton of heat with that jet engine.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: hemmingjay on March 17, 2011, 07:25:31 am
Ambush Alley was the only episode even remotely close to my experiences in Iraq.  27 total months in Iraq in combat operations and I only experienced desert combat 3 times. It was all city fighting. If you want to see some footage from one of my unit's higher profile missions look up Battle on Haifa street on youtube. This is actual combat footage, albeit from a safer perspective than most experienced that day. We lost 2 soldiers, they lost 43.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on March 17, 2011, 12:54:53 pm
Okay, it was pretty much the only thing I'd seen that purported to be even remotely similar to what it's like in Iraq.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: hemmingjay on March 18, 2011, 07:09:44 am
The Hurt Locker is currently the best depiction of when combat operations were ongoing in Iraq. The focus has shifted to training and supporting the Iraqi military and police. It's still dangerous and we should keep Strife in our thoughts everyday until he returns.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 18, 2011, 03:24:27 pm
We drive around and make sure that no one is setting up rockets. Not much to it. At the moment, our primary concerns are indirect fire and kidnapping attempts. If I ended up getting kidnapped, expect my to die while wildly stabbing someone. And the rockets we might face would mostly be horribly inaccurate types, more to annoy us than anything else.

Then we've got the Iranians, which actually kinda worries me. Not much to stop them if they came our way. Just been fun fun fun since the army took my Abrams away.

But yeah, not much dangerous stuff around here, other than snakes, scorpions, spiders, and water (and I haven't seen any of the first three yet). Staying vigalent though. The platoon motto is Stay Alert: Stay Alive.


Finally off of Mission week, so I'm moving on to the detail week. Hopefully nothing more stressful than helping the cooks. Other than that, it looks like Fargo is going to be flooding somewhat badly this year, so I'm a little concerned about the house. Especially because I decided to go to Qatar instead of going home for my R&R leave.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on March 18, 2011, 04:10:19 pm
...Especially because I decided to go to Qatar instead of going home for my R&R leave.

Hoping to see some of the world that hasn't gone to shit while you're over there?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 19, 2011, 04:18:06 am
I had two reasons behind taking the Qatar option instead of normal R&R leave.

1) Deployent might get cut short.
I get 2.5 days of leave per month; however, I'd like to do my best to be stingy with 'em. R&R leave is only free leave if the deployment is 280 days or more, and there's a chance that it might not last that long.

2) See another country!
I'd like to see as many places as possible, and the thought of the Army paying me for a vacation seemed nice enough. While I'm optimistic insane individual and all, I really can't say that anywhere outside of Fargo, Orlando, the Padre Islands, and Winnipeg seems to be the kind of place I'd like to settle down. Maybe Newfoundland, but I didn't spend enough time (all 90 minutes) there to be sure.


However, in a win for universal irony, Qatar has been canceled, so I'm going on R&R instead. Because everyone else already had there days picked out, I'll be going home on or around April 1st, hopefully about when I'll be needed for the water crest.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on March 19, 2011, 02:48:19 pm
Winnipeg or Newfieland? Have a  thing for us Canadians? You also picked the second and third most maligned areas of Canada. (Being behind Toronto and the GTA, everybody hates us.)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 20, 2011, 12:35:38 am
Because my time spent in Winnipeg and Newfoundland have both been relatively nice.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 21, 2011, 08:09:34 am
Looks like I'll be heading home for my R&R in the near future, although I'll have to spend a day in someplace else -1 and two or three days in the someplace else before that one. It'll be good to get home, although I've got a feeling that I'll spend more time worrying about sandbags and water than I will either relaxing or resting. Oh well. It'll be good to see my city, family, and cats again. Seems like a lot longer than three months since I was last home.

Demands on my time are pretty slim at the moment, so I've been hitting TV tropes harder than I should be. Trying to work on the input driven story forum game I wrote, but I've been not liking my writing. Also, the internet that I had in my tent for a day no longer works, so I'm stuck figuring out someway to get the writing I've done on my non-connected laptop onto the world wide web. We're not supposed to connect flash drives to a DoD computer like the one I'm currently on.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: RedKing on March 21, 2011, 02:57:24 pm
Can't believe it's taken me this long to get around to checking this thread. Sounds like you and my brother would have a lot of stories to swap. He was with 1st Cav for his second tour (05-06ish?). I probably missed this somewhere earlier, but what's your MOS, 19K?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 21, 2011, 03:24:20 pm
Yep. 19Kilo, tanker without a tank.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on March 21, 2011, 03:43:36 pm
Yep. 19Kilo, tanker without a tank.

It's a sad day to be Strife.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 22, 2011, 03:36:04 am
Yes. Yes it is. I'll have a nice full list of why it's sad to be me in a minute, but I've got to go run and be a runner in five minutes.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: hemmingjay on March 22, 2011, 08:24:47 am
CQ fun.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 22, 2011, 09:59:01 am
Much better than that. Associate with the Iraqis type fun.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 25, 2011, 01:02:30 pm
Still here. Really busy, pretty tired. Smell a bit. Hoping to be heading home for R&R soon. I'll try to get an actual normalish post up sometime soon, although I'm not really sure what I can say. Not much happening here.

I've been thinking about my writing even more than usual lately, substitution my normal trope intake with writing type blogs (fuel your writing specificly). I wrote a nice one page introduction for my input story thread, which is sitting in FG&R right now. Not much else, I guess.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: hemmingjay on March 25, 2011, 04:58:02 pm
R&R already? You are either in for a long hard second half of your tour or you only have a 6 month tour.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on March 25, 2011, 05:27:41 pm
Eh, still nothing going terribly wrong, so I guess it could be worse.

*Runs off to read the thread in FG&R*
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 26, 2011, 07:05:12 am
I was originally going to go to Qatar, one of two people in the platoon who took the option. It got canceled, but after everyone else had their leave dates selected. I had my choice of the very beginning of the tour, or near the end. I picked the beginning, in case it gets cut short, and so I might be home in time to help the flood.


And the forecast for the flood looks really bad right now. 20% of it getting to 43 feet, which is just unreal.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on March 26, 2011, 01:23:26 pm
And the forecast for the flood looks really bad right now. 20% of it getting to 43 feet, which is just unreal.

Holy Hell, that significant a chance of 43 feet of floodwater?  If that's the 20%, I can imagine the other possibilities won't be much better.  At least they have a dedicated guy like you on the way.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 27, 2011, 12:16:41 pm
Yeah. The only problem is that 43 feet is just unreal. There's literally no way to get that high of a wall with sandbags. Blood ground would give away first.

I've got my own room here now. The bed is really comfortable and it's nice to have my own space. Sadly, this comes with our Platoon having to send one of our guys to another base, which is leaving us even more shorthanded for guard. Especially when combined with some rules about combat medics with machine guns.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on March 28, 2011, 05:00:39 pm
How the hell do you get 43 feet of floodwater? Isn't there a point where the math just starts telling you 'GTFO'?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 28, 2011, 09:13:58 pm
There really should be. The water is well out of the river's banks at 20 feet.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 29, 2011, 09:22:54 am
Heading out of this someplace else to another someplace else very shortly. Hopefully I'll be a someplace else where I can share the name soon. Yay!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 30, 2011, 03:29:22 pm
Back in someplace else -1 again. Got rocketed. Spent more money than I should've at the Bazaar. Bought a really cool long-coat. Drank some good tea.


Not much else to report.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 31, 2011, 09:14:59 am
Quad post!


Still here. Talked to my dad for awhile. Some surveyors came by the house and told us that our wall is only up to 38.8 feet now (Because the ground is slowly sinking over time). It's a really narrow wall (five inches wide or so) so about the only thing we could do to raise it would be to use some plywood and a hammer-drill. Even then, getting more than two more feet would be pretty tough.

38.8 is in the 80-90% range, from what I've heard. 40.5 is 50% . . .
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on April 02, 2011, 08:32:06 pm
Quint post?



Been in airports, in the air, and in holding for 44 hours now. I just changed my socks. Never has a sock change felt so good. I'm in Salt Lake City right now, and should be home at just about the 48 hour point. Went through Atlanta, which I didn't care for (the free internet is a sham and the USO seems to be unfindable and not listed on any maps only that it's somewhere on the third floor. I combed that third floor out of boredom and didn't find it). SLC seems pretty nice, although I'm a little out of it at the moment. I've been crashing hard on the airplane rides, so hopefully jet lag won't rear its horrid head.


Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on April 02, 2011, 08:34:40 pm
Oh it's coming. Just in time for the flood. I emphasize with the sock change though. Socks are constantly underestimated.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on April 03, 2011, 06:00:47 pm
It did. I'm beating it with caffeine.


Back in Fargo. Took 47 hours total in the air and at various airports/ secured holding facilities. It's really nice to see my cats, although I didn't get to sleep in my own bed (because of some family friends who're staying in the queen size mattress that got moved their from the basement). The river is coming up fast enough to be noticed over the course of a few hours work. We've got some kinda plan for getting our wall secured to 41 feet or so, but I'm not positive exactly how it's going to work, unless we cut our deck in half again (and on the problem of the deck, it's looking a lot like it's going to fall in the next few years, meh). Looking like I'm going to have an awfully unrestful R&R leave.

Interesting, the river is actually rising quickly enough that I said "the river has risen noticeably since the last time I commented on it." I'm considering buying a cheap digital camera tomorrow (as well as doing all of my shopping, as long as I'm in the states), so I'll get some pictures up soonish.

Other than that, I finally got to get my hands on a crayon reward that's been sitting here for a few months. Pretty good picture of a goblin. I don't really care for gobs much though, so I guess that I'll have to donate for another one. I got a sword too (I ordered it in OSUT). I judge it to be a pretty short broadsword. It looks okay, although I'm not sure how much I'd trust it for anti-zombie use. It doesn't have any kind of edge right now, so I'm going to have an awkward conversation with a professional blade sharpener sometime soon.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on April 06, 2011, 06:23:28 pm
I'm famous?

http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/314969/ (http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/314969/)

Quote
Residents take action

<Strife26> is spending his two-week R&R leave from the U.S. Army helping his family protect their four-level split home on Forest River Road, just south of Fargo’s 76th Avenue South.

The bottom two levels of the home flooded in 2009, and Strife was airlifted out of the house.

The family increased its flood preparations this year to include an additional retaining wall, plastic around the garage and six pumps to handle any leaks.

On Tuesday, Strifey and two friends worked on constructing the retaining wall that will be added to a 38-foot concrete wall already in the backyard.

Strife, 19, who returns to his deployment in Iraq on April 18, said he’s “cautiously optimistic” that the preparations they’re making will keep the house safe.

“Right now we’ve got a good plan, I think we’re going to finish it on time, and we’ve got enough pumps to deal with leaks,” Kaseman said.


I'll have a full update in a few hours, plus pictures (taken with my DS).
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on April 06, 2011, 07:43:01 pm
Quote
Kaseman, 19, who returns to his deployment in Iraq on April 18, said he’s “cautiously optimistic” that the preparations they’re making will keep the house safe.

You do have other emotions, don't you?  But yeah bro, good luck.  I told my parents about it, and they send their best wishes; they were really impressed with you.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on April 06, 2011, 08:35:17 pm
I'm famous?

http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/314969/ (http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/314969/)

Quote
Residents take action

<Strife26> is spending his two-week R&R leave from the U.S. Army helping his family protect their four-level split home on Forest River Road, just south of Fargo’s 76th Avenue South.

The bottom two levels of the home flooded in 2009, and Strife was airlifted out of the house.

The family increased its flood preparations this year to include an additional retaining wall, plastic around the garage and six pumps to handle any leaks.

On Tuesday, Strifey and two friends worked on constructing the retaining wall that will be added to a 38-foot concrete wall already in the backyard.

Strife, 19, who returns to his deployment in Iraq on April 18, said he’s “cautiously optimistic” that the preparations they’re making will keep the house safe.

“Right now we’ve got a good plan, I think we’re going to finish it on time, and we’ve got enough pumps to deal with leaks,” Kaseman said.


I'll have a full update in a few hours, plus pictures (taken with my DS).

Not famous, just in the military, they can wave the flag if they mention you being on leave... Also, was there any point redacting your name if you posted a link containing it? Just sayin'.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on April 06, 2011, 09:34:57 pm


Not famous, just in the military, they can wave the flag if they mention you being on leave... Also, was there any point redacting your name if you posted a link containing it? Just sayin'.

Actually, that was more sarcasm on my part, I've got various addresses listed throughout this thread, with my name (and rank) on all of them, and Org (iirc, someone did) took it upon himself to track down my facebook page. My name floats around pretty easily around these forums. My normal names in FG&RP (when I'm not Strife, or one of my disparate characters) are usually anagrams of Kaseman or Strife (Trifes, Sefirt, Masenak, Namesak-e, ect.).  If there had been a few more examples of my name, I probably would have gotten some interesting variations, although they probably wouldn't have been very funny.


While my main emotion is cautiously optimistic and I strive to attain it whenever possible, I do go through a couple of others. Extreme anger is characterized by my left hand clenching while I imagine that I've got a combat knife in hand, vague annoyance (which is actually very common) puts my left hand on my knife, or with a thumb in my left pocket (where I used to keep a combat knife, before I was ordered to stop carrying it). I'll get erratic moods where the connections that I make in conversation get even more tenuous than normal. Hand to the bridge of my nose when I'm tired/stressed (or napping at every available time, including when standing). Rubbing the back of my head in social situations. Tapping stuff when I'm depressed or getting annoyed with my father.

Then we've got the flood-haze, which is what I'm just coming off right now (and that I was in when I claimed to be cautiously optimistic). I *always* get physically sick around flood time, it's almost certainly psychosomatic. I stop sleeping, get a really runny nose (to the point where I don't notice it dripping), and overall feel like I'm doomed. However, my good old pride won't let me appear to do any less than anyone else who is helping, so I take a flood cocktail. 3 Dayquil, 800 mg Ibuprofen, two cups of coffee with a fair amount of sugar and enough milk that they're cool enough to chug. Cup of coffee after four hours, along with some kind of solid food. Another Dayquil at the 8 hour mark with more coffee. Crash at about hour 12 or 13, followed by a long night of not sleeping (I usually end up getting out of bed after a few hours and going online, but usually am depressed and apathetic enough not to do anything but trawl tv tropes). It's not all that pleasant, but damn if I every other person doesn't tell my parents that I'm a really hard worker.

By all rights, I should be in the midst of it right now, but I'm feeling surprisingly fine. I really think that it's my optimism that's seeing me through. Starting on Monday, I've been working during the days with Doug and Al, who are friends of a family friend. We've been kicking ass and taking names, doing everything that needed to be done a lot faster than I expected. This year, we've gotten sandbags prefilled and on pallets (and Al has been using his *tracked* skidsteer to put them right where we needed to build up the wall), so that's a chunk and a half of time saved, as filling and moving sandbags is the bulk of the work. I also put a fair chunk of the reason for me not crashing right now is the fact that I managed to get a few hours of sleep last night (via http://endlessvideo.com/watch?v=HMnrl0tmd3k (http://endlessvideo.com/watch?v=HMnrl0tmd3k) & http://www.rainymood.com/ (http://www.rainymood.com/), awesomely enough).

We're almost done with the flood preparation now. All that's left is a little section of sandbagging left in the driveway. Other than that, I'm going to clean up scrap wood and lost screws from underneath the deck (lest a pump eat them) and try to put a mini wall in one of the spots that I think was leaking in '09. I'm optimistic, which is a really really good thing. 


The road is getting diked off in the morning, and they aren't going to allow any traffic on it until they finish (then it'll be one lane), so I'll probably post more observations tomorrow. I'll be just hanging with my cats for most of the day. :D   Interestingly, I realized that being stuck in a house not unlike mine would make a really good start for a zombie apoc game, stuck in the middle of a lake would keep one isolated until the horde got big enough to become a threat.


Pictures will be up tomorrow, as it got dark earlier than I expected here.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on April 07, 2011, 09:51:29 am
Cautious optimism has flown out the window and been replaced with extreme concern. The fucking water rose a couple of feet over the night, so it's over halfway up the wall now. It's a damn good thing we're finishing everything a day or two early because the water's going up faster than I've ever seen.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on April 07, 2011, 02:36:54 pm
Cautious optimism has flown out the window and been replaced with extreme concern.

That's one of the most ominous things I've ever heard.  Sounds like we might have to start a Strife Relief Fund.  Holy crap, good luck man.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on April 07, 2011, 08:14:21 pm
It was looking really really bad for a bit there. River continued its "come up an ungodly large distance during the night, against all expectations" streak. Of course, this put it at the base of the sandbag dike (the *unfinished* dike) and starting to come across the road down always. It was raining as well, plus a bunch of ice melted in our perimeter, so there was a bunch of standing water, with no pumps set up to get it out. Also, there's a couple of holes in the concrete wall letting water flow in. Pretty alarming, especially as I was the only one not at work. A *lot* of hard work followed, (and I was feeling very bad about the situation) but the water has slowed down considerably. It's almost ready to come across the road at us, but the dike is all finished. We've got a few of the pumps ready to go, including a newly bought skimmer-pump to deal with the under-deck flow. See what's up in the morning now. I've finally taken my bdu combat boots off, which is nice. Probably going to eat something too.


Took some (100ish) pictures as it was getting dark. Not sure why, but a few pictures I took of myself in Ft. Hood are in the Album as well. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=54677&id=100000134965494&l=46698b1525 (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=54677&id=100000134965494&l=46698b1525)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on April 07, 2011, 08:22:47 pm
Shit, eh? For no reason in particular I sent you a friend request, ignore it if you want.

Hope the water comes down soon, that looks bad.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on April 07, 2011, 08:27:46 pm
I suppose that I'll accept it and add another city to the "places where I know people" list.


Don't worry about starting a Strife Relief Fund, even if the house floods, I still get a nice, tax-free paycheck on the 15th . . .
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=77899.195 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=77899.195)



Fuck.

Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on April 07, 2011, 08:35:31 pm
I suppose that I'll accept it and add another city to the "places where I know people" list.


Don't worry about starting a Strife Relief Fund, even if the house floods, I still get a nice, tax-free paycheck on the 15th . . .
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=77899.195 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=77899.195)



Fuck. (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PrecisionFStrike)

Yeah. That really sucks. I suppose you're due for something good now.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on April 07, 2011, 10:08:12 pm
Floody type update. The parents headed out awhile ago to get the cars to high ground (we're planning to keep the pickup for now) and get some drainage plugs, but they're not being allowed back down the road (only one access path to this street) right now, due to dike building. So I'm stuck here with the cats. The skimmer pump outside isn't working, and I'm not going to mess around with it at night (in accordance with lawful order to not get myself electrocuted). It should be fine without it, the normal sump in the basement is working fine, and not even working hard at that. If need be, I can fire one of the sewer type grinder pumps as well, but I shouldn't require it. The water under the deck isn't hurting anything at the moment.

Cats are really starting to go stir crazy, especially my huntress cat, Molly. We had the following conversation:

Molly: Looks at me, looks at door, looks at me.
Strife26: No.
Molly: Meroaw. Meow?
Strife26: No.
Molly: Meow?
Me: Nope
Molly: Meow?
Me: Negative.
Meow?
Nopers
Meow?
Signs point to no.
(and so on)

Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on April 08, 2011, 02:47:40 am
Wow, I don't know if you get this a lot or if it's the picture but man, you look really, really young in that photo.

Regardless, best of luck to you, that's an obscene amount of water.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on April 08, 2011, 02:53:25 am
Ugh. I'm very tired. 0245 Local and myself and my father have called it quits for the day. The overland flooding is really rough, I've got a set of rapids right outside my window, because the overland is higher than the damn river. It looks like the last minute wall of cinder blocks and garden edgers is working pretty well at stopping the current from hitting the sandbag walls, although we're not sure how well they'll work once the water is over 'em. Seepage at various points, but nothing major yet. Looks like the outlet that the skimmer pump was running off of blew. We're not sure why. We were already planning to be running extension cords all over the place, so it's not a huge deal. There's enough pumps to move a lot of water if need be, but we'll be in trouble if we start popping circuit breakers.


We'll see what it does in the morning, just a few little projects left to do. Going between hopeful optimism and extreme frustration. All overlaid with fatigue, I suppose. I'll get a few (like 10 tops) pictures of the new water levels, the rapids are kinda cool, when I can, but even a DSiXL can't take good pictures in semi-dark.


Yeah, I look really, really young. Meh.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: hemmingjay on April 08, 2011, 10:40:01 am
if the skimmer pump isn't properly grounded it will pop the circuit after a little while. If the ground gets wet, it will pop the circuit as well. Good luck and keep your head up.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on April 08, 2011, 11:37:50 am
It's weird, we're using properly grounded cords and are trying to keep them from getting wet. I don't think that it was a circuit breaker, as none of them are actually popped. Heck if I know what it is.


Got seepage throughout the walls now and the water is slowly rising. Our pumps are more than handling it right now. Got five hours of sleep (more than I have since I got off the planes) and I'm feeling well enough. More pictures are up now, when I get a chance, I'll organize shots from the same spot by time. 
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on April 08, 2011, 07:21:13 pm
Getting ready to start winding down for the day. Went pretty good. We're using all of our pumps, except for two of our big-ass grinders. The seepage isn't terrible anywhere, but it's in a couple of spots. Several different drips filling up the house, but we think that we've got pumps soaking up its source. So far so good, although we're going to have to pull hourly watch during the night to turn a couple of good pumps on.

The overland current seems to have slowed down a bit as the water rose, but it's still pretty damn strong. I had a very dwarfy moment as I tried to build an extension to our brick current break underwater. One wave over my boots and I suspended the job.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on April 09, 2011, 08:54:59 am
The water hasn't gotten any longer since last night, and the pumps are still easily keeping up with the leakage. I've got to go out every few minutes to turn them all on and off though, which is kinda annoying. I've been playing War of the Lions five minutes at a time.

So far, so good. Just a matter of waiting for the water to go down now.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on April 09, 2011, 10:52:56 pm
Looks like we've made it through the day okay enough. Spent some time deepening the sump spots that I could (the old improve your foxhole principle). I'm off for seven hours now while the parents are on watch. I've popped one nyquil and shed my socks, outer pants, and both of my jackets. Sleepy time nao?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on April 09, 2011, 10:55:56 pm
How in the world do people, especially in the 21st Century, live in a place where on a regular basis, you can find yourself fortifying the house and sleeping in shifts, because of water?  Man I'm glad I live on top of a hill.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on April 09, 2011, 11:07:05 pm
We've had four "100" year floods in the last 12 years. Tough to prepare for it.


5000ish years of human history. Our collective ingenuity has lived near rivers for most of it. The best response to floods remains bags filled with dirt. The second best response is moving somewhere drier. The book How Fargo of You sheds some light on the topic (and why I love my city so much, especially now that I don't live here enough to not be allowed to whitewash it). Fargo kicks ass and takes names, working hard to beat floods. Therefore, we don't get any federal funding for long-term solutions. Grand Forks flooded completely then burned in 97, so they got a big flood wall. No luck for Fargo. Still, there's some kinda diversion in the works (and if it doesn't require the house to be bought out, this house's value is going to shoot up, as one of the best river front houses in a city that shouldn't flood anymore)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on April 10, 2011, 01:57:51 pm
The nice weather has ended. Time for nice, cold t-storms. However, the water's gone down a few inches. I optimized the placement of the pumps, so I can warm up for 26 minutes in between running everything.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on April 10, 2011, 05:02:00 pm
Still going fine. The parents decided to go to work in the morning, which means that I'll be stuck for a looooong shift on the pumps starting at midnight. Getting some sleep now.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on April 10, 2011, 07:35:07 pm
The plan to get some sleep has been a complete failure, it seems. I wanted to find a pithy quote about sleeplessness, but I've got to go see if the water's low enough to get a vehicle back here safely. Here's the wikiquote page on sleep.

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sleep (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sleep)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on April 18, 2011, 01:43:17 am
Quint post?


Rest and Relaxation: Epilouge




Well, my R&R is coming to a close. The remainder of the flood fight passed in a flurry of sleep deprivation and Final Fantasy Tactics. Pumps and everything went fine. Myself and my family got along well enough. I spent a lot of time with my cats and I'm terribly afraid that they won't all be here when I next get to come home.

I got a cool book titled "How Fargo of You" which gives an Arizonan's account of how nice people are here. A lot of it isn't all that accurate, I'm afraid, but the general picture is right. After all, I don't live in Fargo anymore, so I'm entitled to some Camelot-like whitewashing of the city, right?

Flying out bright and early on my way back to Iraq. Everything sounds like it's going okay there. I never actually got around to seeing if I got paid a full paycheck on the 15th. I saw Suckerpunch and loved the movie, although it's reignited my concerns with my life. Is my status as Regular enlisted the right thing for me? Hell if I know. I'll worry about it more later, I guess.


I'm going to go rack out in my favorite chair for two hours before I have to wake up. I actually finished packing before falling asleep, which is just about a first for me. I haven't slept in my own bed once over this leave. I've been sacking out in my sister's room (she's at an overly expensive boarding school on the east coast right now). We pulled a queen size bed and box up from the basement and dumped it in my closet of a room, and it's been occupied by guests for much of my time here. And I've got a couple of duffels filled with stuff on my bed and didn't feel like moving them. Anyway, it's a really nice chair.

I'll try to get on during my trip (more for the Dark Tides IRC RP than anything else), but nothing's positive. Not even my bloody paycheck any more.





Post: I've been doing my best to continue my world building in the hopes of writing some decent fiction at some point. I wonder what good it'll do, but I don't like creating characters and plots, then losing them to the oblivion of my forgetfullness.



My laptop's packed away, so this post was typed using IE on an old desktop. Appologies for the typos that are certainly present.



-Strife
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Acanthus117 on April 18, 2011, 04:30:51 am
Good luck, man!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on April 18, 2011, 05:02:09 am
Time for airport reports! Hello from the Fargo airport. Small place, but it`s recently been remodled, so it's pretty nice. Four gates, nice staff, good (free) internet. Using a dsixl to post this, which is working well enough.


I was actually at the point of tears this morning. Almost certainly an effect of sleep deprivation. Fuck if I didn't have to work to regain my composure. I told myself "You're fucking Strife26 of bay 12. Buck the fuck up."



Flight boarding, more from msp.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on April 18, 2011, 05:35:32 am
Damn, sorry I missed the big electronic goodbyes bro.  You're a credit to every organization and community you're a part of.

About that bad feeling you had this morning, I'll take a stab in the dark: That awesome restaurant I took you to?  They just reopened in a new building this weekend, on their 25th anniversary.  It all sucks, it's all about the fancy atmosphere and the food is terrible.  That's all that bad feeling was, so don't worry about it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on April 19, 2011, 03:33:33 am
Hello from Shannon Intl, Ireland! Nice place, free internets, adapter required for the outlets. Mine's on the plane, so I'm debating buying another to charge my psp. Typing's easier on a psp than a dsi. More when l've got power.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Acanthus117 on April 19, 2011, 03:34:56 am
Oh cool, Ireland?

Nice to see that you're doing alright, man.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: The Merchant Of Menace on April 19, 2011, 06:44:35 am
Hello from Shannon Intl, Ireland! Nice place, free internets, adapter required for the outlets. Mine's on the plane, so I'm debating buying another to charge my psp. Typing's easier on a psp than a dsi. More when l've got power.

Don't blame us because your lot don't know what plugs look like  :P
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Urist is dead tome on April 19, 2011, 07:59:18 am
Hey man, good luck out there.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on April 19, 2011, 03:51:02 pm
That was quite the R&R break, hopefully it calms down when you get back...

Wow, the irony.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Urist is dead tome on April 19, 2011, 03:52:11 pm
That was quite the R&R break, hopefully it calms down when you get back...

Wow, the irony.

This is off topic but it really is good to see ole Z around here, especially after that debacle is the sad thread.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on April 19, 2011, 04:06:57 pm
I also apologize for the off topicness, but what exactly was that? It made no sense, of course I read most of it from last to first, but...
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Urist is dead tome on April 19, 2011, 04:18:04 pm
I also apologize for the off topicness, but what exactly was that? It made no sense, of course I read most of it from last to first, but...

I tell you what it was; a stain on this forum.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: GlyphGryph on April 19, 2011, 07:50:47 pm
Offtopic indeed. Anyways, Strife, I think the RP went pretty well without you, but I'm definitely looking to have you back at some point in the future if you can swing it with your new time zones. If you can't, feel free to PM me general guidelines about how I should be playing her instead. :P

And good luck to you, man.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on April 19, 2011, 11:42:26 pm
Hello from someplace else on an iPod. Still doing well enough, although I'm burning through batteries one device at a time. Down to two iPods an an old gba sp now. Hopefully, an outlet is in my future. Thanks for all the well wishes, I don't mind off topic stuff. It might be a few days before I have time to do a full forum trawl. I'm in lockdown right now, so I'm going to try to catch some z's.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on April 20, 2011, 12:04:58 am
Soon you will have sent a post with every electronic device possible, from every country.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on April 20, 2011, 12:16:18 am
I'm starting to get up there.


I found an outlet! Woo! I've got one adapter and one adapter/converter combo. I'm posting this from my laptop as I charge it. Get some more juice for my psp and I'll be happy as a clam.


I can now claim to have a fair bit of experience accessing the internets from portable devices. In my mind, the order currently goes

Ipod touch with a broken screen < DSi < DSiXL< Ipod touch<PSP1<PSPgo


I'm not sure where the laptop or the MWR desktop rate on this list, both have actual keyboards and superior speed, but they've got additional distractions and liabilities to 'em too.


Kinda looking nasty outside right now, so it's possible that I'll be stuck in the current someplace else for a day. Not positive yet, but I'd be happy to be stuck here. I'm paid the same to be here or in any other someplace else (maybe, depending on combat bonuses, I guess), so it's not that big of a deal. I could really use a haircut (like really really really) and I'm pretty sure that there's a barber shop about, provided we get let out of lockdown . . .

Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Megaman on April 20, 2011, 12:24:15 am
On the bright side, you can now take pictures of your uncut hair for the internet.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on April 20, 2011, 12:29:09 am
It's just slightly longer than the last picture of myself that made its way to the internet. Strict no photo type place right now.  ::)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Megaman on April 20, 2011, 12:33:30 am
Oh. Well just make fun of some one until you get beaten up. Or not.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on April 20, 2011, 01:25:27 am
*reads moderation log*

Wha. . . ?


What the fuck?!

I've got to go start loading for the next leg, but I'll be doing some trawling in the near future. Why does shit go down when I've got RL stuff happening?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on April 20, 2011, 01:27:51 am
I've got to go start loading for the next leg, but I'll be doing some trawling in the near future. Why does shit go down when I've got RL stuff happening?

I promise you bro.  It's a sordid situation.  I'm not paying any more attention to it, but there might be consequences.  Long story short, another hurricane in a bottle.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on April 21, 2011, 05:08:47 pm
Well, after a nice long period (from the time of my last post) of the controlled chaos that seems unique to military type organizations, I'm back "home." It's really nice to be back, although I've got to hit the ground hard and fast, so no time to figure out what happened, but I *will* get around to it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on April 24, 2011, 07:56:19 am
Watched Gamer and B:LA. I enjoyed them both quite a lot. I've reaffirmed my belief in my own damnation, and got through the entirety of Good Friday without noticing that it's kinda an important day. Been going on missions, with a different, temporary crew, which has been working pretty well. Listened to all of the Writing Excuses podcasts that I had on my computer. Ate a nice Easter Lunch/Dinner (at 1530). Still haven't called home, which I should probably get around to doing pretty damn soon. I lost my bloody pin for the phones here, and I'm not sure how to get it again. And, just in the event that my family is reading this, because I'm pretty sure that they do take an occasional gander here, Hi Mom, Hi Dad. Sorry that I don't call more. I'm fine.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Urist is dead tome on April 24, 2011, 12:46:30 pm
Happy Easter, man! And good luck.

Last night I had a dream we had the same father, we weren't brothers and it seemed to be only a mild coincidence.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Megaman on April 25, 2011, 02:16:02 am
Last night I had a dream we had the same father, we weren't brothers and it seemed to be only a mild coincidence.
...What.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Urist is dead tome on April 25, 2011, 08:22:23 am
Last night I had a dream we had the same father, we weren't brothers and it seemed to be only a mild coincidence.
...What.

That's pretty much what I thought.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on April 25, 2011, 08:30:53 am
Dreams are weird things, I suppose. Yeah, pretty much just a flat what from me too.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on April 29, 2011, 03:16:59 pm
Life continues here. Hard work. Staying positive.

I'm going to start trying to do some more self improvement in the coming days.

Today's projects were call my mother (I left a voicemail and am going to try again shortly)
Go to the gym (Done)
Design a workout plan (roughly done)

I'm going to do a three day rotation
Legs/triceps
Biceps/chest/shoulders
Run

Along with push and sit ups every night and morning.



Tomorrow's projects are
Go to the gym
Do stuff with my bank accounts

I'm pretty sure that the account where I send Toady money from is getting kinda low, so I'll take care of that.


Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on May 01, 2011, 06:59:39 am
Well, yesterday's work was a complete wash. The gym got canceled because we've got a PT test coming up (which was supposed to be today, but I guess got moved to today? Maybe?). Borking a PT test right now would be annoying, just because if it got put in as a record one (which, from my understanding, it shouldn't be, but I've been hearing otherwise) and I failed it I could get flagged, which would kill my chances of getting a waiver to E-4, which just might happen during this deployment.

Meanwhile, we've had some interestingly big T-storms rolling through here. Everything gets a yellow-orange light to it, so they're pretty fun. Annoyingly, they knocked out the internet for awhile, so the banking type stuff didn't happen. No comment will be made about the IRC argument that took up the time I was actually on the internet.


Been in a weird mood today; it feels like everything isn't quite real right now. Fairly sure it isn't a dream, though. So yeah. Not much else to report.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on May 01, 2011, 12:52:29 pm
You're definitely not dreaming, unless I'm a self aware part of your dream...

So you're having weather too? America got some big tornados and we just got all the rain.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: RedKing on May 02, 2011, 06:49:37 am
Wait, so are you still in Ireland or back in the 'raq?

Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on May 02, 2011, 07:17:51 am
Yeah, I got back to Iraq perfectly fine. Nothing really to report here, but I did rather less well than I needed to on my PT test.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on May 02, 2011, 07:22:07 am
Nothing really to report here...

I'd be surprised to hear if there isn't partying in the streets on-base, given the news today.  Any wild jubilation among you men-at-arms?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on May 02, 2011, 07:40:51 am
It was quashed surprisingly quickly be the "we haven't had organized PT (or calvin ball games) in three months, here's your PT test" crash. However, it seems to have picked up somewhat again. Nothing too exciting, although I'm not the only one humming "Ding dong the witch is dead"
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on May 03, 2011, 09:29:07 am
Alrighty stuff to report.

Failed my PT test as well as my retake today. Really feeling down about it. 1 fucking sit-up short the first time (it didn't improve the second time). So, lots and lots and lots of training before the next chance on Friday. My hips are locking when I do sit-ups. They've always done it, but never nearly this bad. I'm worried, but when it comes down to it, I should have more than enough time to do enough, even if I've got to stop every ten due to pain.

I should probably have them checked out at some point in time, honestly.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on May 03, 2011, 03:38:50 pm
Yeah, that should probably get looked at, even if there's nothing to be done it's good to know what's going on.

However, it seems to have picked up somewhat again. Nothing too exciting, although I'm not the only one humming "Ding dong the witch is dead"

Sigged!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on May 05, 2011, 12:14:27 pm
Woooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!



First energy drink in 8 months. Been really busy here. Everyone's fine. Can't really talk about it.

Caffffffffffffine!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: hemmingjay on May 05, 2011, 10:30:51 pm
Dude, there is an energy drink there called Wild Tiger(i think). It is crack. No wait, better than crack. It has nicotine in it and every deployment I would get seriously strung out on it and take months to get right again. Seriously, four of us split a pallet of it once, which was hard to convince the hajji to bring on for us. I even tried to contact the manufacturer about importing it to the US, but the FDA made it very clear that it was about as illegal as anything has ever been.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Scaraban on May 05, 2011, 10:45:36 pm
Dude, there is an energy drink there called Wild Tiger(i think). It is crack. No wait, better than crack. It has nicotine in it and every deployment I would get seriously strung out on it and take months to get right again. Seriously, four of us split a pallet of it once, which was hard to convince the hajji to bring on for us. I even tried to contact the manufacturer about importing it to the US, but the FDA made it very clear that it was about as illegal as anything has ever been.
ROFL
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on May 06, 2011, 12:15:57 am
Yeah, we can get our hands on Wild Tigers here. I don't partake of them myself, but there are people who go through a couple of cans of the stuff whenever we're somewhere that stocks it. Just planning to stick to the sugar-free pitbull right now. Probably.



Not much to report right now. I'm feeling really emo today for whatever reason. PT test moved to tomorrow. I really hope that I pass.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: hemmingjay on May 06, 2011, 10:49:48 am
If you don't mind the suggestion, my soldiers who struggled with their tests found that staying angry during the test helps a lot. Testosterone, anger and physical prowess are all directly linked. Get mad and stay mad, particularly at yourself works. Insult yourself, swear at yourself, don't let yourself or your body quit. If you are that close to passing then it really is psychological and you know it. You can pass this as you have before. Get it done, you are a soldier and a tanker! Hooah?!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Nadaka on May 06, 2011, 02:47:26 pm
strife. I have a friend that is trying to decide between going for mechanized infantry and armored cavalry. As someone with some inside info, got any advice/info I should pass along?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on May 07, 2011, 11:52:46 am
It depends. What does he want to do?

Here in Iraq, all the combat arms (Armor crewman, Cavalry Scout, Infantry) basically do the exact same thing.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on May 08, 2011, 06:26:35 pm
Well, in absolute terms, there isn't that much of a difference between the combat arms. Cav scouts are the sort who pride themselves on going on gawd-awful long ruck marches, Infantry (11-bravos) pride themselves on being real soldiers, while Tankers do a lot of work on their own mechanics, besides training in a little of everything. Cav scouts have a lot of traditional stuff about them (like my oft-mentioned Fiddler's Green, I'm one of the tankers who claim that cav scouts shouldn't hold the cavalry title alone, with them being descendants of light cav while tanks descend from heavy cavalry).



I think that I've finally shaken off the funk that I was in. I got the certificate and coin for being 3rd Brigade soldier of the week a few months ago. Honestly, I don't think that I did anything to deserve it (seems like it was almost a "you're the only one in the platoon that we can't promote right now, and you dealt with a lot of shit from the Iraqis" award). However, optimistic insanity seems to have shone through, so I'm going to do my best to make myself retroactively good enough for the commendation. I also sliced a really big chunk out of my finger. Seems like blood loss always helps me, for some strange reason. It's a really weird knife that I was trying to sharpen for a Staff Sergeant. After well over 500 passes with my sharpeners (just one of the cheap plastic kinds with a coarse and fine setting) the thing doesn't feel all that sharp, nor does it cut 550 well. Damn if it doesn't go through flesh easily enough though.

We've gone from 8 on, 16 off guard shifts to 4 on, 8 off. Kinda nice for the shifts to be shorter, but it makes sleeping pretty difficult. Taking time away from it to try to call home (was not successful), type this up, and fix my gear means that I won't get much more than 5 hours at a stretch.

With the borked schedule, the PT test has been moved to "I dunno." I've decided that my best course of action is to start training hard and hope that they don't spring the bloody thing on me. "Sergeant, I literally *just* finished doing 130 sit-ups, 80 push-ups, and a three mile jog. I think that it may affect my performance on this PT test."
We'll see what happens.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Acanthus117 on May 08, 2011, 06:55:31 pm
Yeowch, sorry to hear about your finger.

I'm glad that things are (mostly?) alright on your end, doodabuddy.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on May 08, 2011, 07:08:57 pm
Nothing like gouging a finger open with a knife due to boredom.  I'd say I find it a little surprising just how much drudgery and busywork you're stuck with, but I guess it makes perfect sense.  Just don't become of those ignominious accidents Strife, you know your shit.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on May 10, 2011, 09:03:46 am
Nothing dangerous, just aggravating. Yeah, I'm a very very difficult person to get pissed off. Anything less than optimism from me is a bad, bad sign. Right now, I'm very pissed off.

How to piss Strife off, step by step.

1 Put him on a schedule where he doesn't get sufficient sleep.
2 Put him on a schedule where he is forced to try to change his sleep schedule to accommodate.
3 Call a base wide alert because some dipshit doesn't know what the fuck he's doing, fucking up Kaseman's* sleep.
4 Have Strife get off guard and go enjoy a tough workout, after being invited with another group, something that a loner like Strife very rarely does.
5 Play a rousing game of "fuck the infantry and the person attached to the infantry"
6. Specifically, fuck over the people whom Strife considers to be his battle buddies. This is considerably worse than fucking Strife over.
7 NOT TELL the people being fucked over that they're being fucked over, nor update the board that's supposed to have warning about that.
8 Blow off requests for information, to the point where I asked the infantry Specialist, who went and figured out what the fuck was going on. Instead of you know, the people whose *job* and *responsibility* it is to keep me in the loop.
9 Tell Strife that his sleep schedule is now going to be nuked, because someone can't plan ahead worth a shit.
10 Don't give Strife a chance to even finish his fucking post-workout shake
11 Make Strife miss his weekly IRC RP. After he's gone through great lengths to try to make sure that he keeps it.

8 on four off? Are you fucking kidding me?!



There was some other stuff I was going to write today, before I've gotten pissed off, but it's going to have to wait until later. I may or may not remember to write it up later.


* Extra Credit (12) Piss Strife off to the point where he uses his given name in an online post.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on May 10, 2011, 11:25:34 am
The schedule's changed three times, each time to feature even more nonsensicallity. Now it's "fuck the night shift" in general, with the special bonus that we don't get any time to adjust to it and part of the double length shift is when we've been sleeping, so we're going to be pulling 24 hours awake on the toughest shift, with no preparation.

Yeah, fun fun fun.



I've been thinking about this thread. Describing my time here is going to be "Yeah, nothing's happening here." or
"Shit's happening. Busy. Can't say much about it."
The odds of me having anything non-opsensical to talk about are pretty low. I'm thinking that I'll start having some regular side-bars to digress to.


Staying Sane by acting crazy (entry 1)

I spent some time during my guard shift seeing if I could pull off the scene from Zombieland where Tallahassee is using dual pistols, reloading one handed by having clips preset upright.

Conclusion, in theory, I could do it. However, I was limited by the following problems.
1) I only carry a single M9
2) M9 magazine don't stand up on flat surfaces (so I set one end on a little note-pad, which they stayed. I'm considering making a stand so they'd be semi-stable)
3) Working a right-hand M9 with one's left hand is difficult, but I think that I'll be able to manage it after my finger's healed. Right now, I can't get the bend to easily work the magazine release. A left handed M9 would probably work fine.

Firing with my right hand is a matter of firing until empty, switching M9 from a shooting grip to slightly angled (for better control), dropping the empty magazine, putting down the pistol into the new mag with a rocking motion (because the M9 mags were still really unstable), either doing a final rocking motion or a tap to make sure that the mag is all the way situated (just slamming it down didn't guarantee that it'd be fully in, due to the M9's lanyard attachment), flicking the slide release, and shifting the gun back to a firing position.

I was able to do with nomex gloves on after some difficulty. Bigger hands than mine might make it easier, but I was able to do it with some trouble. I would however, not like to try firing any handgun bigger than a M9 one-handed, just for accuracy reasons. Of course, firing both at once is right out, due to our stereoscopic vision.

If I get my hands on some boring time, I might shoot a how-to video for youtube.


And that's how you stay focused during guard shifts.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on May 10, 2011, 04:33:46 pm
Well, sounds very productive, I feel safer already. lol

No really, I actually did.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on May 13, 2011, 02:17:47 pm
Stuff's happened. Not much notable. I finally got to a Px (post exchange). First time since I returned from leave, so I've finally gotten my new flashlight, after I found one in a guard tower two days earlier. An effort will be made to find whomever lost it. Eventually.


Sergeant: "We're supposed to have more 5.56 to train with than this. Go check in the vehicles for it"

Best case scenario:
Strife: "Negative on the ammo here, but there's a crate of AT-4's, Sergeant!"

Actual case:
Strife: "No ammo here, and we've got no idea where the range actually is."
Sergeant: "We've got the grid coordinate. We'll head in the general direction until we get there."

<Five hours of driving and one slightly damaged village power grid later>

Sergeant: "Damn. It's really hot out here."

<One hour of firing later>

Sergeant: "Okay, pack it up. We'll turn the rest of the ammo back in."

Strife: Happy to have gotten some time in with a M249, and considerably concerned that his eye protection really really hampers his firing.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on May 14, 2011, 11:37:59 am
Doing really well here, actually.


Getting enough sleep, and my finger is doing okay. For the record, I didn't cut it on purpose, although I was knowingly sharpening a knife in such a way that I had a good chance of cutting myself. I also no longer think that it was worth it. I'm a pretty easy person to befriend, here and in real life. Especially amongst the non-combat types here, I'm everyone's buddy. Included in this list is every combat medic on base. Whenever one saw my finger, he'd insist on taking a look at it, redisenfecting it (seriously, the original cut didn't hurt, now it's been stung umpteen times), and dressing it in a different way.


Stuff is seeming nicely real, although I'm not exactly sure why. I talked to my mother today. She said that I'm a thoughtful person for calling and sending stuff, but I really think that I'm the other way. I don't call home nearly as much as I could or should, plus I only send stuff for holidays and I'm generally a few weeks late with that. Difference in perceptions, I guess.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on May 16, 2011, 08:02:47 am
I had something to post that I think was going to be mildly amusing, but I can't remember what it was going to be. This actually happens a fair bit.



We a really nice break between work items last night, so I (along with most of the platoon) slept for 11 hours straight. Feeling really well rested now.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on May 17, 2011, 01:26:03 am
Still not much to talk about. Feeling reflective lately, so I changed my signature to be all religious and stuff.


When I'm going on a mission, I wear a lot of different things on my head that all have to work together.
My helmet, my chinstrap, my NVG's, the elbow that the NVG's attach to, the tie down for the NVG's, the d ring that ties that cord onto my helmet band, the helmet band itself, the bunny ears that keep said band in place, the plate in the front that holds the NVG elbow and the band, an IR strobe light, a 9 volt battery for the strobe, my big clunky bullet-proof eye pro, inserts for my eye pro, and finally, the big set of noise cancellation headphones/ intercom system/ radio headset / microphone I wear.

Now, when all this equipment works together, it's all fine and good. However, when it doesn't, problems can arise. Case in point, recently, I had to jump off the MRAP quickly to ground guide it back to our parking spot. We were in a hurry because there were some other vehicles coming in behind us, and we were the lead truck at that point in time. I attempted to take my headset off, and my glasses came off with them. I'm pretty blind without 'em. This lead to a strange moment where I attempted to mimic Velma from Scooby Doo. In full armor, in the back of a moving armored truck, in near darkness, while carrying 255 rounds of ammunition, with a rifle one point slung on my shoulder.

I ended up guiding the truck in near-blind and found them later. 
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on May 17, 2011, 08:17:44 pm
Missed my weekly RP session. Again. 3rd week without it. I'm sad.


It'll be a really funny story, with another really funny story afterward. When I get around to telling. Exciting and exhilarating. And dangerous, of course.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on May 17, 2011, 08:49:04 pm
I am excited. Teach me, teacher.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on May 17, 2011, 08:50:18 pm
Needless to say, it involved me quoting Captain Macmillan from Modern Warfare and missing my RP session. Again.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: NewsMuffin on May 17, 2011, 09:06:19 pm
We've... missed... you...
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on May 20, 2011, 02:09:05 am
Felling kinda down lately. Been trying to sleep more and drink additional water, but it doesn't seem to be helping much. Meh, I'll probably get over it in a few days.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Acanthus117 on May 21, 2011, 03:24:09 am
Needless to say, it involved me quoting Captain Macmillan from Modern Warfare and missing my RP session. Again.

Do want to know.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on May 21, 2011, 02:27:56 pm
I had my second most common sort of cognitive dissonance today, the one where I realize that I'm 19 and supposed to be a responsible adult type. I tried to call all my family, but I've got a decided lack of phone numbers. Of the numbers I did have, no one answered. Meh.


Doing some thinking about expanding my personal setting some more. Made another character for it (based roughly on one of the voodoo dolls that I carry). My own personal wiki of notes is slowly getting bigger and bigger, although I'm still really hesitant to actually write anything.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on May 22, 2011, 03:20:12 pm
I got to the point where FFT wasn't fun anymore. Two calculators with holy are awful bad game breakers, with or without Orlando. So I just ran through the rest of the plot quickly. Still a cool ending, although the credits are as long as heck now.



I've got Birth By Sleep next, but I'm going to have to get a new cable for my old psp, so I can play Wild Arms 2 again.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on May 23, 2011, 08:11:44 am
NCO: Alright, we're going to have organized gym PT today.
Privates: Various complaints


Later
NCO: Okay Strife, for a warm up, you're going to do four sets of ten reps on this incline press.
Strife looks at weights.
Strife looks at NCO.
Strife does some math.
Strife: That's more than my body weight . . .


It went downhill from there. Typing this is actually really quite tough with my arms not quite responding right.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on May 23, 2011, 06:30:06 pm
Well, it beats the alternative.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on May 25, 2011, 12:34:37 pm
Still doing fine here. I've thought up lots of things to post, but forgot most of them. I'm pretty sure that a few would be too much like the other militaristic type blog here. But I'll share one anyway.

This base is semi-famous for having a crap ton of gym tents. Yesterday we got to move the contents of one gym tent (a weightlifting tent, as well as a bunch of cardio equipment) to another tent. We then moved the contents of that tent (ALL weightlifting equipment) to a third tent, which we then emptied of it's assorted overflow stuff back to the original tent. Lots of fun, especially when it came right after a hard ab and leg workout.

Strife: "How many bloody 110 pound dumbells do we need on this bloody base?!"


Had a crap ton of trouble sleeping last night, but I'm feeling okay now. PT test in the morning, and it's really important that I pass, I think that I'll do okay. Sleepy time nao.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on May 25, 2011, 03:18:52 pm
Still doing fine here. I've thought up lots of things to post, but forgot most of them. I'm pretty sure that a few would be too much like the other militaristic type blog here. But I'll share one anyway.

Might I suggest a pad and pen?  Although that could easily be considered a security risk I bet.

This base is semi-famous for having a crap ton of gym tents. Yesterday we got to move the contents of one gym tent (a weightlifting tent, as well as a bunch of cardio equipment) to another tent. We then moved the contents of that tent (ALL weightlifting equipment) to a third tent, which we then emptied of it's assorted overflow stuff back to the original tent. Lots of fun, especially when it came right after a hard ab and leg workout.

Speaking as a guy in shipping, I frequently find myself lugging around boxed exercise equipment, or even actual dumbbells.  I don't know why it pisses me off as much as it does, but it strikes me as criminally inane to lug around heavy shit that exists for literally no purpose except to be heavy shit.  To then have to play logistical musical chairs with the stuff is just cruel.  Because it sounds like all the plan accomplished was rotating stuff between the same three tents.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on May 27, 2011, 08:57:00 am
Passed my PT test, which is good. Not completely sure about the time, but it was a pass.


Been borrowing some movies from my fellow soldiers to watch. I really enjoyed Legion, despite the bad reviews. Something about God is evil, but fightable with good ol firepower, plus angels could be on our side kind of sits well with me.

I'm also watching Fellowship of the Rings again. Really want to start a new fortress now, and make it as classic dwarfy as possible, but I might try to wait for the new version.



Yeah, the only difference amongst the tents was that two had wooden floors and one had plastic. Then we had to unload a bunch of food and water (three pallets of ice bags) that night. It was a fun day, all things considered.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on May 29, 2011, 10:24:05 pm
Been doing lots of thinking about writing lately. And, surprisingly enough, some actual writing. Even though I wrote one real chapter, and one pseudo background chapter, people still leave reviews on a 28 weeks later fanfiction I started, over a year later. I'm going to pick up the project again, but it's kinda difficult to plot.

I think that my core problem here is that I'm trying to genre jump to Techno-Thriller. The techno-thriller is really a very weird genre, because it focuses largely on things other than characterization, namely weapons, tactics, logistics, and strategy. When people read a techno-thriller, they really expect something believable, especially if it's set in near-modern times. In my mind, trying to take a zombie novel and make it "realistic" tries to push the genre from zombie (a subset of horror, really) into tech-thriller. The problem is, works like this (The movie 28 weeks later, the book Patient Zero, and especially especially the Battle of Yonkers in World War Z) tend to get wonky because trying to be realistic brings things into conflict. Pondering on guard, I concluded that there's three things that trip each other up: Realism, Plot, and Setting.

In my own example, I'm trying to work within the setting confines of 28 weeks later, although I'm allowing myself minor changes, I'm trying to present a great deal of Realism, with the Army being competent (while not sueish, which is helpful a great deal). However, to no small extent, if the Army is doing their job as well as I think we would, within the setting, there *wouldn't* be another outbreak, which means that I've got no plot to write about. Now, if I want the plot, I could either make the Army less competent (sacrificing realism like the movie) or change the setting (like making the Rage virus airborne or something, which makes it much less fanfictionish, thereby defeating the main purpose of the exercise).

Now, for actual purpose-built worlds for Techno-thrillers (including, to some extent hardish level sci-fi, which is often just focused like a techno-thriller), one can change the setting such that the plot will happen realistically. However, if you want to write a techno-thriller in a setting that's *not* tailor made for it (namely real life, or a setting following common zombie conventions), you're going to have problems getting both plot and realism to stay intact. I'm a big Tom Clancy fan (his works, not those written after his name no longer became his), but almost all of his books require really big suspensions of disbelief for the initial incident (Japan invades again? Conventional WWIII?), which I think is because his world tries to mimic ours.


Now, in my specific case, I think that I've found a way to keep my 28 weeks later fanfiction working, namely by making small concessions in every section (some effects of the Rage virus unmentioned in the movies, a slightly non-traditional plot structure, and by making the Army do some non-optimal, but understandable things [which I mitigated as much as possible, the Army won't be doing anything that isn't understandable, like locking a bunch of civies in a giant room secured with a bike lock and turning out all the lights])


I'm aiming to do at least one hour of writing a day (except Note-taking Mondays and Tuesdays, which will be editing day). I'll put stuff online on Wednesdays, just because I'm in the MWR when no one else is for oft interrupted Dark Tides session, so no one will bug me about the against-the-rules personal flash drive.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on May 31, 2011, 03:53:48 am
Today's little slice of Iraq, hot showers.

Real, hard-stand latrines and showers with water heaters are a really big deal for morale anywhere you go. Around here, it's actually a fair bit of logistical work to keep them running. After all, even if it existed, we wouldn't trust the local water grid, so we truck all the water we use in. However, we keep it in big plastic tanks when no one is showering. Right now, this means that the bloody tanks are heating up to the ambient temperature or higher (and it's 108 right now). Attempting to take a shower works by turning one showerhead to full-cold, turning it off when it starts scalding you (3-4 seconds), scrubbing yourself, and moving down to the next shower stall to try to get more non-boiling water from there to rinse yourself off.


Yay Iraq?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Kandi Apple on May 31, 2011, 08:05:04 am
Hey

Just wanted to say thanks.  Thank you for your service. 

Peace & Laughter (and stay safe or give 'em hell)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on May 31, 2011, 11:42:33 am
You're welcome, although, as this blog shows, I don't really do much, other than snark.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on May 31, 2011, 02:57:01 pm
So? You may have to...

Anyway, your snark is always good too. There's something about the military which always makes the situations people in it end up in all the more funny.

As well, you add a human face to the military for the vast majority of us who have no actual interaction with them beyond the latest blurb on CNN.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 04, 2011, 05:00:28 am
Meh. I've been in the suck all week, probably caused by having to break up my sleep time into two chunks. Pretty sure that even my quality of posting has been affected! *gasp*


Hopefully, it'll get better. Other than that, only real thing of note is that I drafted another short story. Might get around to writing it in the next few days.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 05, 2011, 11:40:43 am
Woo! Out of teh suck! Nothing improves my mood more than getting back to doing real work with my crew again. And sleeping in the back of a truck.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on June 05, 2011, 03:36:04 pm
Considering your training and specialty, what counts as real work to a tanker?  I hope it involves tanks.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on June 05, 2011, 07:11:24 pm
Or would it be some of those LAVs that seem to be the main vehicle, at least according to the news?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 06, 2011, 05:19:51 am
No, it means that I'm combat bar-tending again. It's still not actual tanker work, but at least it's doing missions and stuff.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Nikov on June 07, 2011, 06:15:09 am
(http://bp1.blogger.com/_OLA8_gMxTOk/R_BLXxjMlLI/AAAAAAAAAuo/zT5wOBgeSMQ/S1600-R/TRD_Flag3.JPG)
You might need to explain this one.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 07, 2011, 06:16:20 am
I have no comment at the current time and will have none in the foreseeable future.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on June 07, 2011, 07:16:24 am
That's pretty amusing.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Nikov on June 07, 2011, 09:43:42 am
Back in the <1950's when the American army was so badass it got loaded while it unloaded. Damn you, Eisenhauer, and your black boot reform!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 08, 2011, 03:51:48 pm
Doing mehish here.

Instead of a four-person crew, we've gone to five people. This means that there's a lot less work, but now I feel like I contribute less, which has always really bugged me. I always feel like I don't contribute enough, which I'm pretty sure is why I always try to be proactively helpful. Yeah, nothing else to really say right now.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Nikov on June 09, 2011, 01:13:52 am
Wait a minute.

Driver, gunner, loader, commander, ?

Does this fifth man weld a Mk 19 tripod to the turret and sit up there in a pile of sandbags?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 09, 2011, 12:03:01 pm
We're on trucks at the moment, gunner, driver, commander, combat bartender, extra person.



Feeling pretty poorly at the moment. Dealing with highly stupid shit again. Bad enough that optimistic insanity has half slipped into stoicism. Still got the glimmer that I'll feel better in the morning, though.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 10, 2011, 11:46:07 pm
I think that in the future, whenever I change my signature and title, I'll put the old ones here and explain their significance to me. I was wondering how many old sigs I've had but that I don't remember.

Also, I'm going to start posting my completed work outs here, just so they're in a nice safe place.

June10: Ran, 4mi total, various speeds, Treadmill.
Set of 70 sit-ups, done quickly and continuously, last 10 were primarily using obliques.
Military Press, non-backed bench, 20 Ilb's, 12x3, 1 min rest
Bicep curl on a machine, both hands, 5th weight increment, 8x3.
Note: Back hurt like heck after previous stupid PT shit.


Doing well enough here, looking like time are going to get a little chaotic (a safe chaotic, note) in the near future. It's possible that I'll lose access to a MWR for a few days, so don't panic if I don't post for awhile.

I started a new forum game, White Rabbit, it's a multiperson, non turn based game based on exploration of lots of nested settings, with the system(s) I'm using a mystery for the moment. If anyone wants to check it out, I'm willing to take as many people as'll wander into the hotel.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on June 11, 2011, 12:02:28 am
Enjoy your ordered chaos.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 11, 2011, 12:41:27 am
Fair chance that it's going to be of the 20 hour workday and no services chaos. As well as the "how do I sneak my duffel bag of mre's out" and "what kind of idiot left a 200 foot roll of bubble wrap where Strife and/or infantrymen can get at it?"

Honestly, we've been really tempted to wrap someone up in it and see what would happen if they got dropped from a guard tower. Probably me, as I'm the lightest guy about.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on June 11, 2011, 01:08:31 am
Well, as the saying goes, it's not the fall that destroys your internal organs.  Good luck.  Hey, maybe you can wrap a meaty guy in it and run him with a hummer.  Or, just spend the rest of your deployment methodically popping it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 11, 2011, 04:32:00 am
Honestly, I was very very very close to stealing the thing and trying to ship it home. I've been officially ordered to stop playing with it now (I was hiding behind tents and rolling it into privates when they passed).


Got to take some classed today, 240 work, small unit tactics, medically stuff, and ammo types for the Abrams. All stuff that I'm goodish at, but I learned some useful things. It seems that my NCO's are conspiring to get me to learn NCO type stuff.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Scaraban on June 11, 2011, 04:34:23 am
Honestly, I was very very very close to stealing the thing and trying to ship it home. I've been officially ordered to stop playing with it now (I was hiding behind tents and rolling it into privates when they passed).
Good idea or BEST IDEA
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 11, 2011, 08:41:19 am
I've actually got my own list, not unlike Skippy's list of things.

Did a short workout today, kinda crunched for time, and annoyed at the gung-honess going on in my tent at the time. I'm going to try to supplement it with some push and sit up sets later tonight.

Also, I'd like to put forward a serious note on how spam bots have advanced while throwing another pitch for White Rabbit up. Escaped Lunatic with his first post (and a link to VEGAS VIP SERVICE in his link) says "Good one Strife, seriously what a great thought. Thanks for posting."
It's interesting how he's using the familiar of my name, don't you think?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on June 11, 2011, 12:38:51 pm
It seems that my NCO's are conspiring to get me to learn NCO type stuff.

Is it possible someone wants to promote you?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 11, 2011, 03:09:19 pm
It is. And, while I'd perfectly like to be a Specialist, the idea of being a leader type still doesn't appeal to me much. I like being in the background as the person who gets asked when the platoon's awesomeness in knowing stuff needs to be demonstrated. However, it looks like there's going to be one or two waivers available for promotion to Specialist (I'd have to wait like a year for normal promotion), and they are going to be determined by going to a mock board for the 1st Sergeant. I guess that I'm going to actually start working on studying this kinda shit. Focusing on memorizing weapon ranges and velocities and the like. I'm really good at knowing capabilities of a weapons system, but straight number memorization is a little tougher for me. Especially when there's multiple ways to look at weapon range, so I'm going to have to memorize Field Manual citations as well.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 12, 2011, 10:18:37 am
Woo. Feeling really lethargic today. Not sure why. As a test, I turned on my brightest flashlight and set it in such a way that it shone right in my eye (shining is one of the things that really gets a response from me normally). I didn't actually get enough energy to turn it off until someone repeatedly told me that I should get up and go to dinner with them. It's about the normal symptoms for when I've been given large amounts of time that I spent sleeping, but all I slept was a normalish 7 hours last night, although I remember waking up repeatedly because it was really cold. We've been hacking our AC's in our tent to get more cooling out of them, and I sorely regretted not having my sleeping bag set up right last night. Still, that should be about the right amount of sleep for me. Weird. In any case, I've slept for another 5 hours (and not called anyone in my family like I meant to :-/). Just downed a cup of coffee, so that'll hopefully help. I take great care in the preparation of cheap DFAC coffee, spending a fair amount of time getting three different kinds of creamer and three sugar packets (which I had to dig in a conex to find). Once all that work is done, I tend to down the cup of joe in one long gulp.

Changed my signature, the part that was a quote from Ernie Pyle that read
"The most vivid change is the casual and workshop manner in which they now talk about killing. They have made the psychological transition from the normal belief that taking human life is sinful, over to a new professional outlook where killing is a craft. To them now there is nothing morally wrong about killing. In fact it is an admirable thing. "

Honestly, I haven't read nearly as much of Ernie Pyle as I should. He was a WWII journalist who really lived with the troops. If one wants to talk about a real embedded journalist, that's the guy. But yeah, it's a very interesting quote I think, and very true. However, I don't really know how much it's ever applied to me. When I think about having to kill someone, it's only ever been an academic thought to me, I've never had any doubt that I'd pull the trigger as soon as I concluded that someone needed to die. Maybe I read too much Clancy as a kid.

Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 12, 2011, 02:41:16 pm
I'd just like to note that the computers here are increasingly being broken and cannibalized to keep the maximum number running. I'm using two mice right now. One doesn't have a functioning left click, while the other wont scroll left or right. I'm getting surprisingly good at using them in tandem.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 13, 2011, 02:06:06 am
Also, I've just remembered something that I've been wanting to complain about for a very long time. I tend to get a fair number of my calories from bowl of cereal. Semi-healthy, semi-easy, pretty tasty. We've been out of milk for the past two weeks. Not just the kind of milk I like (2%) but all types of milk. Strife hasn't had a good bowl of cereal in far far too long. I did have a bowl of dry cinnamon toast crunch this morning, but it wasn't all that much.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: TooBad on June 13, 2011, 01:15:18 pm
Just to make sure that the life advice part of this forum stays active, and to let my opinions have their own non-derailing section, I decided to make my own thread!

Expect to see little stories from my own life in here as well, as I continue to try to get into West Point.
   
Other than that, here I am:

Strife26
17 year old male
Fargo, ND
5’4”
112 pounds (a little too much, really, need to get down to 103)

School:
Junior
Advanced classes (somewhat mediocre grades)
JROTC

Activities:
Speech, Debate, Student Congress (like debate, but better).
JROTC stuff (commander of knowledge bowl, sometimes shows up for PT, yearly armed x dropout)

Work:
Busser at a relatively nice local steakhouse

Religion:
Tolerant semi-Lutheran (does not liked organized religion on a larger scale than parish).

Political Stance:
Right leaning independent (with hope for Obama)

Dreams:
Become a tanker.

I’m an ultra patriot as well.

I’ll add more stuff as it comes up.

Good luck in Libya, bro.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on June 13, 2011, 02:27:05 pm
...Have you read the thread? He's sorta in Iraq.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 14, 2011, 01:21:20 am
Mind you, if the army told me that I was going to Libya, I'd be damn happy for me personally, worried as heck for my unit, and wondering wth the country was thinking.

Doing well enough. I'm on KP today, so lots of flashbacks to my old bussing job. Thinking about some semi-regular features to flesh this thread out, almost in the sense of a real, taggable blog.

Watched Ultraviolet last night, didn't care for it. Seemed a lot like Equilibrium but much more poorly done. Felt really sorry for all of the gas masked, long coated mooks. Considering writing a story from one of their perspectives.

I actually got Civ4 to install on my crappy laptop again. Not sure what the deal is with the damn disk drive, but it worked well enough this time. Played for a bit, it's nice to have something continuous like that to do, but I'm not sure if it's the best use of my time. Doing some note taking for board type stuff (getting all the basic weapon information down in my nice notepad today)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 15, 2011, 06:16:12 pm
Doing well enough here, watched the lunar eclipse for awhile. Heck if it doesn't get light at about 0100 here. My sleep schedule hasn't really been scheduled lately, but I'm making do.


Changed my sig, old one was just an advertisement for my forum game, White Rabbit. Considering that there's some mind screw tendency to the game, I figured that not actually having the link go there to be appropriate. Not really much to say.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Fenrir on June 15, 2011, 08:27:39 pm
So long as you mention your signature, what does “No Fear of Fiddler's Green,” mean?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Kandi Apple on June 15, 2011, 08:35:11 pm
Yea.  What he said.  What's fiddlers green?   
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Scaraban on June 15, 2011, 10:00:27 pm
Yea.  What he said.  What's fiddlers green?
Oh, the wonders of Google! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiddler's_Green)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Fenrir on June 15, 2011, 10:06:46 pm
Yes! What a wonderous tool is Google! There is but one ill that plagues it: Google is intolerably poor at conversation; such is why I posted. I asked Strife so I might enjoy exchanges with my friends.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 17, 2011, 12:37:43 am
Well, there's actually a number of different reason's why "No Fear of Fiddler's Green" is always in my signature (at least while I'm in Iraq, I took it down for R&R)

First and fore-mostly, Fiddler's Green is being used in it's cavalry afterlife sense in this case, so it's my rough way of saying that I'm not afraid to die.

Secondly, it's a little beacon of hope for me. I don't know (and I tend to doubt) that there's a Fiddler's Green for me to go to when I die, and I'm certain that I'm not fit for Heaven (how could a place of perfection have someone like me who isn't willing to change his critical flaws?). "I've resigned myself to the very real possibility of my eternal damnation" may be almost a catch-phrase for me, but there's still a chance that I'll end up in a "pleasant purgatory short of hell"

Thirdly, it identifies myself as a cavalryman, which is actually kinda a big deal. I'm a tanker, Military occupational specialty of 19Kilo. We've got a pretty bitter rivalry with Cav. scouts, who are 19Deltas. Officially, only the 19Deltas get to claim all the heritage and lore of cavalry, but I'm one of the Tanker's who care enough to call BS on the whole deal. Horse cavalry had two traditional functions, use as a scouting force, and use in direct battle. Cav scouts are clearly descended from the scouting functions, but they don't do much similar to the job of a line of heavy dragoons charging an enemy formation. Tankers, however, do. Heavy cavalry utilized Maneuver and Shock Effect to break enemy lines, we use Fire, maneuver, and shock effect. The Abrams is just as deserving of a descendant of the horse as the M3 model Bradley.



Still doing okay enough here. Lots of work lately. Got to move all the gym tents. Again. Then play Tetris with the machines. I'll show the pictures once I next get to a wireless connection.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: PsyberianHusky on June 17, 2011, 03:08:18 pm
As a whole, how has it been for you Strife?
I have always intended to enlist after collage, and that time is approaching, do you have any advise aside from "don't"
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Montague on June 17, 2011, 08:51:45 pm
Hey I used to be a 19K as well.

Don't shoot your bore evacuater with the loader 240.
Don't hit the sabot round tip on the turret roof, or it will bend, which is sad.
Cleaning out the mud, FRH soaked sub-turret sucks, dunnit?
Max effect range is 4000 meters, or 6000 meters manual input.

Gunner, PC, HEAT, identified, fire! on the waaaay... misfire on the waaay, *master-blaster*... target, target cease fire !

Don't eat oranges before gunnery.

Errr, also, this is NOT the place to talk about your profession, bro. What you say and how you act reflects upon the military service and your occupational branch. Right now, you got this sort of livejournal emo thing going on, which is not good. It looks bad. It feels bad. I am sad.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Vector on June 17, 2011, 09:14:32 pm
Errr, also, this is NOT the place to talk about your profession, bro. What you say and how you act reflects upon the military service and your occupational branch. Right now, you got this sort of livejournal emo thing going on, which is not good. It looks bad. It feels bad. I am sad.

Livejournal emo thing?

Eh.

I'm enjoying reading about what Strife has to say, even if I don't post very often.  Feels honest.  Good to feel that we have actual people serving, and reminds me to keep an ear out for what's happening over there.


In any case, bro, thanks for your continuing hard work.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: sonerohi on June 17, 2011, 09:41:51 pm
Livejournal emo thing? Great input brosef.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on June 19, 2011, 07:26:42 pm
I'm sorely tempted to create a 'Capulet' account and harass you...

Anyway, I don't see anything wrong with this, it's nice to be able to put a (sort-of, due to the internet) human face on the military.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: sonerohi on June 19, 2011, 11:23:40 pm
Do it. Start a feud betwixt the houses.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Montague on June 19, 2011, 11:32:26 pm
OK....

Am I the only other soldier that has ever responded here?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Scaraban on June 20, 2011, 12:18:41 am
You being the only one who's been a dick about it doesn't make you the only one to respond here.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Vector on June 20, 2011, 02:16:13 am
OK....

Am I the only other soldier that has ever responded here?

Hemmingjay and Africa also responded at the beginning of the thread.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on June 20, 2011, 06:13:46 am
Errr, also, this is NOT the place to talk about your profession, bro. What you say and how you act reflects upon the military service and your occupational branch. Right now, you got this sort of livejournal emo thing going on, which is not good. It looks bad. It feels bad. I am sad.

Gosh, considering you're calling a self-described 'blind optimist' an emo, it's almost as if you haven't any idea what you're talking about!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: sonerohi on June 20, 2011, 02:25:16 pm
OK....

Am I the only other soldier that has ever responded here?

Are you the only one who feels like waving their e-dick around?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Montague on June 20, 2011, 09:33:17 pm
Yeah, I haven't really followed the thread and he's apparently posted here before he ever joined the Army. I was just sort of surprised to see a thread like this especially from a combat arms type, especially on a forum I've been on for a while. My point is this type of thing is generally frowned upon in the military and it can get you in trouble, as almost any trivial thing you say can be considered an OPSEC violation. Pictures are an especially bad idea and especially so if your phone or camera includes GPS coordinates on the photo's .exif data and you are taking pictures of say, anything on the FOB you reside on downrange.

I don't know what the other soldiers in his unit think about this, but personally, I just think its kinda silly and unprofessional to go on about yourself, your military duties and telling war stories to random internet strangers. I'm probably being just as silly by being an asshole about it though, so, I'm not going to argue about it anymore.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: breadbocks on June 21, 2011, 01:27:44 am
lolwut. You have not been on these forums a while. You have been on these forums for about a month.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Scaraban on June 21, 2011, 03:44:26 am
We're not all "random internet strangers"
We're an actual community, some of us are asshats, some are people-people, some have been well educated, others have lived by the seat of their pants, some of us don't need to shave, others have hit the far side of forty like a truck into a bridge embankment, the point being: We're just about all friends here, and if someone is for some reason selling out the little "useful" information Strife gives to those that would harm him, there is a lever in the next room, mind the floodgate.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ed boy on June 21, 2011, 03:48:27 am
lolwut. You have not been on these forums a while. You have been on these forums for about a month.
What does that have to do with anything?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Scaraban on June 21, 2011, 03:57:49 am
especially on a forum I've been on for a while.
lolwut. You have not been on these forums a while. You have been on these forums for about a month.
What does that have to do with anything?
this being what he was referring to
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Kandi Apple on June 21, 2011, 09:11:17 am
We're not all "random internet strangers"
We're an actual community, some of us are asshats, some are people-people, some have been well educated, others have lived by the seat of their pants, some of us don't need to shave, others have hit the far side of forty like a truck into a bridge embankment, the point being: We're just about all friends here, and if someone is for some reason selling out the little "useful" information Strife gives to those that would harm him, there is a lever in the next room, mind the floodgate.

I'm sorely tempted to create a 'Capulet' account and harass you...

Anyway, I don't see anything wrong with this, it's nice to be able to put a (sort-of, due to the internet) human face on the military.

I second these.  K. I can concede that Strife shouldn't GPS stamp a photo (who does that anyway?) or other such silliness, but I'll also say, that maybe, just maybe, if more 'vicious, vile, violent vermin' types played DF, maybe, just maybe, we wouldn't need people being where Strife is...  More gaming....less war I say!!   8)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: The Merchant Of Menace on June 21, 2011, 10:04:04 am
Yeah, I haven't really followed the thread and he's apparently posted here before he ever joined the Army. I was just sort of surprised to see a thread like this especially from a combat arms type, especially on a forum I've been on for a while. My point is this type of thing is generally frowned upon in the military and it can get you in trouble, as almost any trivial thing you say can be considered an OPSEC violation. Pictures are an especially bad idea and especially so if your phone or camera includes GPS coordinates on the photo's .exif data and you are taking pictures of say, anything on the FOB you reside on downrange.

I don't know what the other soldiers in his unit think about this, but personally, I just think its kinda silly and unprofessional to go on about yourself, your military duties and telling war stories to random internet strangers. I'm probably being just as silly by being an asshole about it though, so, I'm not going to argue about it anymore.

Also, if you were actually reading it you'd see Strife's incredibly careful with regards to Opsec and such. As far as I know the only pictures he's posted have been of him at home.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Nadaka on June 21, 2011, 10:23:01 am
Besides all that, Montague's perspective is out of date.

The military accepts that community and communication are very important for a deployed soldiers morale even if they are (most likely) monitoring it for potential security issues. Our war in Iraq and Afghanistan have had more troops deployed away from home for longer than in just about any other war in US history.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Montague on June 21, 2011, 11:36:56 pm
Also, if you were actually reading it you'd see Strife's incredibly careful with regards to Opsec and such. As far as I know the only pictures he's posted have been of him at home.

In his last post he clearly threatened to post pictures from downrange. That said, I am not attacking the person, I am attacking his practices.

lolwut. You have not been on these forums a while. You have been on these forums for about a month.

Nah. I've been around since 2008, I posted as 'Guy Montag' and other SN's. 'Montague' is just a play on 'Montag'. I get long involuntary breaks from the internet and I forget the passwords.

Besides all that, Montague's perspective is out of date.

The military accepts that community and communication are very important for a deployed soldiers morale even if they are (most likely) monitoring it for potential security issues. Our war in Iraq and Afghanistan have had more troops deployed away from home for longer than in just about any other war in US history.

Nah, its even more restrictive then it ever was. Soldiers walk a tight line, they can't even sneeze in public without some major media outlet coming up with a headline like "ARMY BIO- INFECTION...WAR-CRIMES ON THE HOME FRONT??!?!"
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 23, 2011, 01:59:38 pm
Interesting bit of dialog while I wasn't about, wasn't there?

Firstly, I'd like to ask that we keep it civil, eh? Montague is raising a nice number of good points, which I'm perfectly fine with addressing, and it's perfectly good to see another tanker type around here.

Any type of blog like this (one that's only focused on the personal experiences and insights of an individual) is going to have the livejournal emo feel, it's very difficult to avoid. Surprisingly enough, I actually do a fair bit of thinkerating about how best to keep it going. To some extent, I'm helped by the fact that I can be pretty random, and by the comment-response-comment nature of putting it in thread forum. However, as far as I've reasoned, the only real way to keep a thread from getting somewhat LET feeling is to make it focused on something concrete (like Mr. Fox's excellent blog, which is focused on video-game design). In my case, while I very specifically left this thread open for discussion and debate about any issues pertaining to me, I don't really have a single-issue that I care about enough to fill pages with. 

To no small extent, I think that the effect gets negated by my good old optimistic insanity, I'm not sure how other people read my voice here, but I imagine that pages of "kinda annoying, doing great, random observation" tend to leave an optimistic tone in my voice, which has always been my goal here. However, I think that it gets very easily lost unless I work to keep it up.

Which kinda brings us to the very valid points that Montague raised: do I violate OPSEC, and does this thread bring credit to self/corp/army/country?

As Merchant of Menace indicated, I go through relatively great pains to keep in accordance with OPSEC. Exactly what all I do, I'm not going to say, but it's enough to make it pretty tough for anyone hostile to get any information from me, it'd be rough for them. Sure, I'm sure that any serious inquiry into this blog from anyone official type would get me a counseling statement saying "don't do this shit," it's not putting anyone else around here at risk (which is something I take very very very seriously).

When I post some pictures from downrange, expect to see me in front of a hesco or jersey barrier with an M4 in one hand and a M240 over a shoulder, or a conex that we were able to shove absolutely full of exercise equipment. About the closest thing that I'd get to anything compromising would be external shots of an MRAP, which are all allowed (we've been briefed on what we can and cannot take pictures of). And honestly, at the difficultly I've been having with getting the internets, the odds of me getting my ipod or ds connected to a wireless network before the Army and this private are out of Iraq is starting to look increasingly slim.

Now, the second question is one of if what I'm doing helps the Army, and I'd argue that it does. The modern portrayal of the soldier comes in three primary flavors, Soldier as Paragon of Goodness, Soldier as EVEEEL Scum, and Soldier as victim of horribly run war. I do my best to present myself as Soldier as Soldier. Yeah, I'll be the first to admit that the army isn't perfect, but at the end of the day, my underlining point for these things is "we're doing good work here," which is *the* point that needs to be made. Also, the fact that my existence in the little corner of the internet that I really consider my home right now gives a nice bit of personification to everyone who reads this. A soldier isn't a faceless guy in a helmet. A name on that soldier is good, but I'd argue that Strife26 of Bay 12 Games, that crazy sonofabitch who is only needs sleep to be cheerful is about as good as it gets. I don't consider myself all that emplaced in reality, but I'm a very real fixture around here, and truth that soldiers aren't really all that different. That, I'd content, is very much in the Army's interest.




Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Kandi Apple on June 23, 2011, 02:08:55 pm
Amen!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Kandi Apple on June 23, 2011, 02:09:27 pm
Sorry....couldn't resist  ;D
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on June 23, 2011, 02:52:23 pm
A soldier isn't a faceless guy in a helmet. A name on that soldier is good, but I'd argue that Strife26 of Bay 12 Games, that crazy sonofabitch who is only needs sleep to be cheerful is about as good as it gets. I don't consider myself all that emplaced in reality, but I'm a very real fixture around here, and truth that soldiers aren't really all that different. That, I'd content, is very much in the Army's interest.

I have an unfair advantage there, since I've seen the guy under the helmet (even if you don't get to travel with a helmet).  I would like to apologize for not saying much in your thread here, but even if I read it every time it updates, I rarely find myself with much to say.  What I can say is that you're succeeding, in putting a good face on an easy stereotype, especially one that doesn't always make good impressions.  You're impressive, and don't forget it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: nenjin on June 23, 2011, 02:59:34 pm
Quote
Now, the second question is one of if what I'm doing helps the Army, and I'd argue that it does. The modern portrayal of the soldier comes in three primary flavors, Soldier as Paragon of Goodness, Soldier as EVEEEL Scum, and Soldier as victim of horribly run war. I do my best to present myself as Soldier as Soldier.

Personally, I want to hear about Soldier as People Being Soldier. That's what resonates with me. Soldiers are often set apart from normal every day people, whether by themselves, the government or the media. It's when the rest of the world can imagine themselves in your boots, trying to do a job, make decisions, stay alive and stay human that war becomes more real than anything we'll ever see on TV, and when suddenly every set of dog tags begins to matter to you. I don't necessarily see or want to see Soldiers as Victims or Heroes, because I don't think that's how they want to be seen.

To me they're just people who have seen and done things I'll likely never be able to comprehend...and that leaves me with the profoundest sense of awe and respect.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on June 23, 2011, 04:53:07 pm
Well thank you for settling that. I personally really enjoy this and hope you keep it up, in whatever manner seems best to you.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on June 24, 2011, 02:35:24 am
You're doing a good thing here. Sorry for being unduly nasty, by the way.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 27, 2011, 10:04:59 am
Life continues here, I've been doing some more expansion on my personal setting's notes, somewhat hampered by the draw of CIV4.  Also, I'm doing my best to take advantage of the Army's tuition assistance program to take a class or two online while I'm over here. I'll probably put up a new thread with a poll to decide what to take (as I'm as ambivalent as usual on the matter). However, myself, gmail, firefox, IE, chrome, AKO, and goarmyed are having . . . considerable disagreements with each other in what I can only term a cyber-civil war. I have never been more tempted to discharge my sidearm into a computer before.
http://rebeluniv.blogspot.com/2011/01/ako-sucks.html (http://rebeluniv.blogspot.com/2011/01/ako-sucks.html)



And introducing a new semi-regular feature for the thread, Strife drinks foreign soft drinks.

Yesterday's drink (as I've already forgotten what the okayish green apple flavored drink I had today tasted like) was Rani Orange-Carrot. It came in a nice glass bottle and was 300ml for 50 cents. Overall, it was okay. I didn't taste much carrot, just slightly thicker and sweeter orange juice. 6/10 overall.

Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: scriver on June 27, 2011, 10:18:39 am
What courses are you choosing between?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 27, 2011, 10:49:50 am
Pretty much anything that Central Texas College offers online, which I'd list if THEY'D LET ME IN THEIR FUCKING SITE.


Raaaage. This is the degree program I signed up for before I deployed, but heck if it's telling me how to actually take the classes.
https://www.goarmyed.com/docs/degrees/CTC_AGS.pdf (https://www.goarmyed.com/docs/degrees/CTC_AGS.pdf)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 30, 2011, 04:31:05 pm
I actually ended up having about four nice, long posts to post here today. However, looking at the time, I'm probably not going to be posting any of them. Bit of a rough day here, went through the stage where I raged at my laptop. It's crashing, badly. Windows explorer isn't even running in normal mode. On safe mode, I can look at my files, but not open up any word or open office documents. Thankfully, my Tomboy database of notes is still alive. I've been doing some updating on it and exporting the full thing to a flashdrive. Which segued nicely into my continuing concern about trying to write a good story. I don't know if I'll ever be able to do it, or more importantly, do it justice, but I'm still fleshing out the setting and hammering things down.


Last sig was pretty straightforward,
"Shivering in Iraq, Bloody Air Conditioning"
I shiver in my tent right now. It's cold enough that I affect a stocking cap and gloves most of the time as well. Of course, that's a nice change from the heat outside.

Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on July 01, 2011, 09:35:46 am
Warning, livejournal emo shit ahead!

Looks like I'm for a rough period of das funk. I'm not currently reading any book or playing any video game, which is always a telling sign.  I've lost interest in FG&RP which is a really worrying sign. Whenever I listen to my music, I either think of a story that I've never written or the fact that I'll probably never do anything like what's in the song.

I'm feeling like even more of a wayward son than normal. Don't get me wrong, I'm feeling as optimisticly insane as I always am, but I'm thinking that my prided outlook might be the crux of my problem. Whenever someone asks me how I'm doing, my truthful answer is always either "fine," "well enough," or "perfectly acceptable."

I can't think of a situation where I'm not perfectly fine (short of one where I don't get enough sleep). However, as I've been pondering on it, I don't know if I can think of a situation where I'm actually "happy" either. About the only thing that's ever really appealed to me was being in the next great war and that's a horrible thing to wish for. Of course, in any case, the great doctrinal war isn't on the horizon and I don't know (but I seriously doubt) if I'll stay in long enough for it. Try to become an officer? Either go to ROTC for 4 years or deal with USMA BS for 4, then continue to work and strive to always be better than my troops. I don't want to do that with my life, nine years or so committed?

Yeah, heck if I know what I want to do. About all that appeals to me right now is thinking about what to do or how to craft a story. Meh.



Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Kandi Apple on July 01, 2011, 10:09:25 am
Warning, livejournal emo shit ahead!

Looks like I'm for a rough period of das funk. I'm not currently reading any book or playing any video game, which is always a telling sign.  I've lost interest in FG&RP which is a really worrying sign. Whenever I listen to my music, I either think of a story that I've never written or the fact that I'll probably never do anything like what's in the song.

I'm feeling like even more of a wayward son than normal. Don't get me wrong, I'm feeling as optimisticly insane as I always am, but I'm thinking that my prided outlook might be the crux of my problem. Whenever someone asks me how I'm doing, my truthful answer is always either "fine," "well enough," or "perfectly acceptable."

I can't think of a situation where I'm not perfectly fine (short of one where I don't get enough sleep). However, as I've been pondering on it, I don't know if I can think of a situation where I'm actually "happy" either. About the only thing that's ever really appealed to me was being in the next great war and that's a horrible thing to wish for. Of course, in any case, the great doctrinal war isn't on the horizon and I don't know (but I seriously doubt) if I'll stay in long enough for it. Try to become an officer? Either go to ROTC for 4 years or deal with USMA BS for 4, then continue to work and strive to always be better than my troops. I don't want to do that with my life, nine years or so committed?

Yeah, heck if I know what I want to do. About all that appeals to me right now is thinking about what to do or how to craft a story. Meh.

You're 19.  You're normal.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on July 03, 2011, 11:25:54 pm
Yeah, heck if I know what I want to do. About all that appeals to me right now is thinking about what to do or how to craft a story. Meh.

What about transfering to the mechanics or somesuch and trying to get a trade while you're in the army? Free, and you make good money when you leave.

Also, thanks for the reading advice. You're right, Sun Tzu is mostly just basic tips, not as in-depth as I expected. Next stop, Machiavelli or Clauswitz. I might have to flip a coin to decide...
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: breadbocks on July 04, 2011, 01:15:45 am
Machiavelli, for sure.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on July 04, 2011, 04:17:10 am
Machiavelli is focused on stuff from a political perspective, while Clausy is more general, although he still talks a fair bit about political type stuff.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on July 04, 2011, 04:42:42 am
Well, I've gotten my long awaited helpdesk email so that I can fix my TA and take some online classes, bettering myself as a soldier and the US Army as a whole! Yay!


Quote
Action(s) Taken/Dates: Close Case: Case # 1920438
Please print attached instructions and discuss with S1 for resolution
Resolved On: 7/1/2011 4:57:11 PM


Guess what the email didn't include? Attachments!

Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on July 04, 2011, 11:47:14 am
And happy fourth of July to everyone! May America always be right, or if wrong, be set right!


There were a bunch of bottle of Welch's sparkling grape juice in the big dfac. I worked my way through one of them, then another got brought out. I believe that the trio in my group drank a little more than three liters of the stuff between us. Toasts I made:

Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on July 04, 2011, 12:31:02 pm
Quote
"Property!"

Best. Toast. Evar.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jacob/Lee on July 04, 2011, 12:41:14 pm
5’4”?

Oh man, you're kind of on the short side.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: breadbocks on July 04, 2011, 04:21:55 pm
Oh man. Sparkling Grapejuice is great stuff.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on July 05, 2011, 10:54:44 am
Quote
"Property!"

Best. Toast. Evar.

There was a whiteboard in front that said "Happy Fourth of July, celebrating Life, Liberty, and Justice."
Considering Locke, I figured that Justice should be replaced with its proper cousin.


Honestly, I'm really 5'3", maybe three and half. Meh and a half.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on July 05, 2011, 10:34:01 pm
I need to brush up on my fifteenth/sixteenth Italian history if I plan on fully understanding what Machiavelli is talking about... So far he's better than Sun Tzu.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on July 09, 2011, 04:28:22 am
Yeah, you may be able to find a guided version of the Prince somewhere. I know that next time I'm looking for that style of book (I'm reading an account about the use of Skytroopers in 'nam right now, then another fiction, then a techno-thriller, then back to dryish stuff).


I read game of thrones on the 4th-5th. I really really really enjoyed it.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I'm playing orge battle right now, as the my snes emulator runs in safe mode on my laptop. Lots of fun. I've managed to get my hands on a copy of a windows instal disc, so I'm going to try saving the laptop sometime in the near future, once I've backed up the important stuff.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on July 09, 2011, 05:02:42 am
Also, the last sig was
Quote
In the dimness of the shadows
Where we hairy heathens warred,
I can taste in thought the lifeblood;
We used teeth before the sword.

I was feeling pretty glum at the time, it's a quote from my favorite poem by a WWII allied general. Patton's the man in question, Through a Glass, Darkly is the poem. I'm a blood knight without a war, it seems. Not really feeling that glum anymore, which is nice.

(http://Edit: Don't mind this edit, as I so rarely edit my posts here that it surely doesn't mean anything. I'd rather have the bump for the thread and an extra post count. I've climbed back to 32nd, interestingly enough. Yeah, I know that I promised not to agonize it anymore, but still. I doubt that I'll be reclaiming either my first page or top ten position any time soon. The actual purpose of this secret message is cuz I need a reminder for my next sig which'll be something related to this, http://www.sandraandwoo.com/2009/11/30/0116-jesus-of-nazareth/. Also, when I reread this post many years in the future (probably after I'm dead or retired and have lots of time), hi future me! Go start something on fire!)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: breadbocks on July 09, 2011, 06:05:36 am
Strife, on the topic of techno-books, have you Neuromancer yet? If not, you absolutely must. It literally made the cyberpunk genre.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on July 09, 2011, 06:07:42 am
I haven't, but I'll give it a read as soon as I can find a copy. Not much for book stores around here, although now and then old books get sent in care packages, where they accumulate in the mail room, then accumulate in my room. Vicious cycle.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on July 09, 2011, 06:37:13 am
I haven't, but I'll give it a read as soon as I can find a copy. Not much for book stores around here, although now and then old books get sent in care packages, where they accumulate in the mail room, then accumulate in my room. Vicious cycle.

I'll warn you, it's much more about psychology than it is about anything "cyber"; identity questioning and brain-in-a-jar type stuff.  I enjoyed it mostly for the incredibly meaty descriptions and characterization, it's a very rich world in the book.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: breadbocks on July 09, 2011, 06:49:38 am
I haven't read the sequel to it yet, but the writer said he pretty much was forced into it by fans, and that anti-plot hook at the end makes me wonder how the hell he pulled it off, and I'm terrified it will be horrible.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on July 09, 2011, 08:15:31 am
I found an ad for this webcomic at The Whiteboard (best Alaskan furry paintball webcomic around) and just archive binged the whole bloody thing. Really liked it.

http://www.sandraandwoo.com/ (http://www.sandraandwoo.com/)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on July 09, 2011, 01:37:10 pm
All I've eaten today is a turkey wrap that's about 175 calories and sunflower seeds. I should probably be more concerned than I am. Drinks a 250 ml bottle of Iraqi Miranda orange soda and feels better,

Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Kusgnos on July 09, 2011, 02:03:08 pm
Hm, I never really bothered going into the Life Advice board, since most of the time it's a lot of stuff that I don't feel motivated to respond to or post about, but I've seen this thread on the top several times.

Is this a...thread blog? Forgive me for finding it a little bizarre. I don't venture into this board often.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on July 09, 2011, 02:20:16 pm
Yes yes it is. And yes, it is kinda bizarre. Different is fun.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on July 09, 2011, 03:33:17 pm
Yes yes it is. And yes, it is kinda bizarre. Different is fun.

Don't let the army hear that or you'll never get promoted.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: kinglog on July 09, 2011, 09:48:31 pm
x
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on July 09, 2011, 11:03:13 pm
Not really, remember that the army is such a big thing that everything that an individual does is distilled down to nothingness. Promotion board doesn't really care if I'm crazy, just if I pass the board and have enough points.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: breadbocks on July 09, 2011, 11:07:18 pm
All I've eaten today is a turkey wrap that's about 175 calories and sunflower seeds. I should probably be more concerned than I am. Drinks a 250 ml bottle of Iraqi Miranda orange soda and feels better,


You need calories. When you run around carrying a 45 lbs pack, you burn through calories. I don't want you wasting away, you're one of my favorite B12 members.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on July 09, 2011, 11:17:52 pm
Yeah, I'll try to remember to eat today.

Also, here's your official welcome to the Bay12 Forum, Kinglog.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on July 14, 2011, 01:16:11 pm
Still doing well enough here. Good times and times with nearly unbearable stupid shit abound. I figured out that I make a penny every 15 seconds while I'm here. If I count the money that gets dumped into my thrift savings program (gov't retirement fund thingie) it's every 12 seconds. Yay!


We got and beat the game Homefront in my tent. So okay it's average overall. Played like a slightly unpolished Modern Warfare mod with a interesting story. Surprisingly believable setting, amazing enough for a AMERICA IS INVADED storyline.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on July 28, 2011, 11:49:50 am
Still fine here. Internet connectivity has gotten slightly more difficult for me, annoyingly enough.

Nothing else to really report. Still doing lots of pondering about what to do with my life.

I get asked "Hey <Strife> what do you want to do with your life?"

"Honestly, figure out what the hell I want to do with my life."



I've also spent some thinking time on why exactly I still think religion is a net positive to the world, even if my possible death would be the result of a religious war. I'm sure that there must be someway to make my idea eloquent enough to convince all the anti-religionists and nay-theists on GD.

Not sure what that says about my sanity . . .
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Nadaka on July 28, 2011, 01:21:49 pm
I've also spent some thinking time on why exactly I still think religion is a net positive to the world, even if my possible death would be the result of a religious war. I'm sure that there must be someway to make my idea eloquent enough to convince all the anti-religionists and nay-theists on GD.

If you really want to put your beliefs in a positive light, it is probably a bad idea to start off by insulting and ridiculing the people you are trying to convince.

For example, if I were to address the commie nazi liberal hippies and Nobama in order to try to convince them of the validity and importance of the right to bear arms, they may not be particularly receptive to my arguments.

If it make you feel better, I am glad that you have not been blown up. And as a patriot I appreciate what you are doing for this country.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Jackrabbit on July 29, 2011, 01:36:36 am
Yeah, I'm under the assumption that when you call people nay-theists you're not actually referring to all the atheists on this forum (of which I am one) but if you don't qualify that on the internet not everyone will.

Also, how'd you guys take the Norway massacre? Anything special happen?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on July 29, 2011, 04:31:38 am
Speaking of which, I'm curious to hear if news has reached you in Iraq that another guy wanted to shoot up Fort Hood.  Luckily, he was caught before he got into motion.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on July 30, 2011, 12:50:58 pm
Yeah, I'm actually working pretty hard to stay abreast of the news right now. I've got access to the Stars and Stripes in relatively which does a good job of covering military news as well as their own coverage of the world (with generous amounts taken from other sources, usually AP or Wash. Post). Other than that, important and unimportant-important stuff usually gets passed down to me (as the resident guy-who-reads-the-paper) by PNN (the private news network, usually the guys who go to great lengths to get on the Internets all the time and see something on msn).

Yeah, pretty fucked up stuff. Lone wolfs are a heck of a tough thing to deal with, even when they do spout off nonesense to all the internets. Besides the question of how much I'm allowed to rant online before the hanging sheets that mark the door to my room should be kicked in by angry FBI agents, who the hell is going to read all of the internets in the first place? I don't even know if the nearly mythical catch-phrase crawling code could really be used in cyberspace with any degree of effectiveness.

Dammit. I'm going to add cybersecurity back to the list of jobs to consider. And that ends up being another four or five entries between federal, private, and military branches.



I've also spent some thinking time on why exactly I still think religion is a net positive to the world, even if my possible death would be the result of a religious war. I'm sure that there must be someway to make my idea eloquent enough to convince all the anti-religionists and nay-theists on GD.

If you really want to put your beliefs in a positive light, it is probably a bad idea to start off by insulting and ridiculing the people you are trying to convince.

For example, if I were to address the commie nazi liberal hippies and Nobama in order to try to convince them of the validity and importance of the right to bear arms, they may not be particularly receptive to my arguments.

If it make you feel better, I am glad that you have not been blown up. And as a patriot I appreciate what you are doing for this country.

Yeah, normally I'm a major crusader type for that line of thinking. I think that my non-attendance on the net for even a week really changed the way I'm typing. Strange and somewhat unliked by myself. Yeah, I meant the people who'd argue that the world would be better without religion, especially in a purely thought-expirimenty way.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on August 09, 2011, 04:34:49 am
Still doing fine, not much else to report. I've been having a bit more free time recently, and I've found a small library in a tent that I've adopted. 7 out of 34 shelves roughly sorted by genre thus far. More books than shelfspace, though. It's amazing how many of the back cover descriptions are nearly identical. Are the murder mysteries or romance novels more depressing to read by the bushel, though?



I'm going to try to make another push at getting some words on paper. Right now, I'm stymied by the fact that the plot of my setting is certainly larger than one novel, and it has a lot of stories that are mostly separate from the larger narrative. I've been thinking and planning in arcs, which I'm not sure how to transition to novel form.

Yeah, probably just that sort of whining in the near future, I don't think much else is going to happen.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Acanthus117 on August 09, 2011, 06:26:12 am
Well, at least you have something planned... I for one can hardly get past the planning stage. :P

Anyways, nice to hear you're doing alright.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on August 10, 2011, 05:06:09 pm
I'm going to try to make another push at getting some words on paper. Right now, I'm stymied by the fact that the plot of my setting is certainly larger than one novel, and it has a lot of stories that are mostly separate from the larger narrative. I've been thinking and planning in arcs, which I'm not sure how to transition to novel form.

Yeah, probably just that sort of whining in the near future, I don't think much else is going to happen.

Can't wait to hear what you come up with, if you ever get time to transcribe it to paper.  By the way, don't let the idea that a story is too long scare you away from writing it - trust me, it'll wind up being a lot shorter than you think it is.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Scaraban on August 10, 2011, 09:00:31 pm
That world could always be your Black Tower.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on August 12, 2011, 01:05:56 am
Well, day one of writing type stuff has been completed. I tried out the program write-or-die, which I thought worked pretty well for me. 800 words and almost a chapter done, I suppose.


Nothing else to report.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Willfor on August 12, 2011, 09:01:40 am
Write-or-Die is how I taught myself how to stop overthinking what I'm writing in the first draft stage, and actually get some writing done. It's a rather amazing tool, in my opinion.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on August 13, 2011, 03:15:32 am
Nearly went to the Px and bought myself a Toshiba Satellite to replace my barely functioning laptop. At the moment my tired old dell. Despite the fact that it no longer runs in anything but safe mode, won't run open office, play sound, or hold a charge, I'm still able to play DF and run Tomboy on it. What more does one need in a computer?



Instead of the $700 computer, I bought a $3 pillow. Since the beginning of this deployment (except for R&R) I've been using a really tiny ACU pillow. Heck if it isn't a big enough change to make me seriously consider staying in bed this morning. Totally better than the computer.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on August 15, 2011, 05:31:23 am
Previous quote was

"Democracy is beautiful in theory; in practice it is a fallacy. You in America will see that some day."
— Benito Mussolini

I suppose the real question, to quote a smarter man is "How many years can a mountain exist, before it is washed to the sea?"


Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Phmcw on August 19, 2011, 12:23:58 am

I've also spent some thinking time on why exactly I still think religion is a net positive to the world, even if my possible death would be the result of a religious war. I'm sure that there must be someway to make my idea eloquent enough to convince all the anti-religionists and nay-theists on GD.

Not sure what that says about my sanity . . .

We won't be suitably hostile if you present a sane theist hypothesis and are tolerant and cautious with the deductions that come from your beliefs, anyway.

A sane atheism thread where we don't have to deal with fanatic believers and creationists would probably be quite different from the last atheist thread.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on August 23, 2011, 09:33:41 am
The core of my argument would probably be that the morals of the average religious and the average atheist aren't very far away from each other, but that churches almost always act as a charitable organization, and that this results in a weekly period where the religious focus on self and community improvement, as well as the fact that the negative affects of religion have been increasingly negated, as crusader armies and the like don't work in a world of liberal nation-states. Also that the continual fracture of religions and dissemination of information guides religions to be moderate.

Something like that.



In other news, I'm still here. Still doing good. I read A Clash of Kings, and am currently broadening my horizons a bit with some Hemingway.

I haven't been writing much. Meh. I'll work on it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: PsyberianHusky on August 23, 2011, 07:25:31 pm
Hey, now that you have been deployed for sometime, how has your experience been as whole been?
Having almost graduated collage my family is okay with me joining the service, and it is something I always wanted to do with my life.

So how it been for you?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Phmcw on August 23, 2011, 10:17:50 pm
The core of my argument would probably be that the morals of the average religious and the average atheist aren't very far away from each other, but that churches almost always act as a charitable organization, and that this results in a weekly period where the religious focus on self and community improvement, as well as the fact that the negative affects of religion have been increasingly negated, as crusader armies and the like don't work in a world of liberal nation-states. Also that the continual fracture of religions and dissemination of information guides religions to be moderate.

Something like that.

For a complete rebuttal of what you say, listen to Rick Perry for five minutes.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on August 24, 2011, 05:28:10 pm
I've had few problems and fewer regrets about it. However, that's just me, you know? In general, joining the armed forces has the advantage of a pretty certain employment, all sorts of benefits, so on and so forth. Were you thinking of going occifer or enlisted (or enlisted and then go Green to Gold after a few years), if you've got the college time already, promotion points are pretty much set, which makes life easier.


I'd contend that peoples like Rick Perry are becoming increasingly marginalized, and the fact that his little rise to fame will (please God) be short. Guys a whack job, sure but he isn't a good example of the modern moral religious.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on August 24, 2011, 06:05:28 pm
I'd contend that peoples like Rick Perry are becoming increasingly marginalized, and the fact that his little rise to fame will (please God) be short. Guys a whack job, sure but he isn't a good example of the modern moral religious.

I give you my word as a Texan that I and a significant portion of the state will do everything in our power to save the country from what he's done to us.  Even if we have to do that by "praising" him in the best Howdy Doody impression we as a state can pull off.

Also, you make a good soldier Strife.  I've been thinking about it recently, as someone who could never take the plunge himself.  You do the service proud.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on August 24, 2011, 09:22:31 pm
I'm sure that I've mentioned it before, but for news, we've got the Armed Forces network, which shows stuff from all the big networks. Rachel Maddow (whom I normally dislike a fair and a half bit, although I have to give a fair bit of credit to MSNBC for the honesty of the motto "lean forward") had a nice piece about all the jobs that Texas created. I can't find a transcript anywhere, but the video's up on their website. Conclusion ended up being "yeah, he's created jobs in Texas, but for net job growth by percentage, it's 8th in the nation. Worse, the private sector had net job loss, while all his wondrous job creation was thanks to State and Local jobs.

As far as I understand, Governor Perry is going to get savaged in any serious debating. Also, his comments about Bernake were so totally out of line, that I really couldn't support the guy.

Am I really rooting for RON PAUL? Ain't normal.




Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Nadaka on August 24, 2011, 09:53:02 pm
Well, Jon Huntsman seems to be most sane of the current contenders.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on August 26, 2011, 05:42:08 pm
That does seem to be the case. When FOX news is already doing committed bash pieces towards a Republican candidate, you know that he's probably overly sane.



Still here. Still not much happening. Yay?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Little on August 26, 2011, 07:36:50 pm
Still here. Still not much happening. Yay?

Better than a lot of bad stuff happening, at least! :)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on September 05, 2011, 04:17:04 pm
Well, Jon Huntsman seems to be most sane of the current contenders.

Is Rand Paul running?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on September 08, 2011, 10:42:51 pm
Ron Paul is running, but like Huntsman, he's showing very low poll numbers at the moment. Current Republican Tiers look to my eye something like this:

1st Tier
Perry (Gah and a half )
Romney (half gah)

2nd
Bachman  (gah and a half)
Huntsman (sure, why not?)
Paul (Meh)

3rd Tier
Everyone else, not even enough for me to remember anyone's name except Gingrich.



Anybody see Tpaw on the Colbert Report an undefined number of days ago (I don't actually know the delay I get for programing), he seemed pretty darn cynical and bitter. Still, it was a funnier segment, I have to say (I think that Colbert has been declining in quality lately).



Other than that, I've been pretty negligent in my posting stuffs here. Without a focus, I should be able to post things pretty easily. I certainly come up with enough ideas for rambling five paragraph posts here. Honestly, I've been sucking a bit lately. My schedule changed awhile I ago, and I still haven't really adapted to it. I haven't been doing much useful writing, although I did a little bit of world building that I'm happy with, as well as some practice with straight role-playing characterization. Also, some really ill-conceived playing with author-avatars raging against the author post modernist 4th wall leaning thingie. I'm going to do some proper writing in the future.

I *have* been hitting the gym hard though, which is good.

Edit: Fixed my spelling of the word Republican, didn't bother looking up the correct spelling of Bachman.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on October 13, 2011, 10:24:07 am



Other than that, I've been pretty negligent in my posting stuffs here. Without a focus, I should be able to post things pretty easily. I certainly come up with enough ideas for rambling five paragraph posts here. Honestly, I've been sucking a bit lately. My schedule changed awhile I ago, and I still haven't really adapted to it. I haven't been doing much useful writing, although I did a little bit of world building that I'm happy with, as well as some practice with straight role-playing characterization. Also, some really ill-conceived playing with author-avatars raging against the author post modernist 4th wall leaning thingie. I'm going to do some proper writing in the future.

I *have* been hitting the gym hard though, which is good.






. . .


God Damnit. I notice that this thread is all the way on the fourth page and come here to post something. And I don't have much other than that quote.  God bless deployments.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on October 13, 2011, 02:24:19 pm
Oh good, you're back!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on October 13, 2011, 02:46:27 pm
God Damnit. I notice that this thread is all the way on the fourth page and come here to post something. And I don't have much other than that quote.  God bless deployments.

I gotta be honest, I was getting worried there.  Of course, at this point if anything happened to you, it'd be national news.

Speaking of which, they give you any kind of indication on how much longer you'll be there?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on October 13, 2011, 11:16:48 pm
Yeah, soldier's dying in  Iraq are a big deal right now as we draw down, besides the fact that I do have a system for my death to get at least one post in this thread. I just really haven't had anything to say, except that my schedule's changed (twice) and adjusting to the schedule changes has been a pain (twice) and that I think of lots of different things to type but rarely type them.


I've got a long, heartfelt post about why I've been feeling somewhat down lately, but between my flash drive, microsoft works, and open office, someone isn't getting along. I'll get it up tonight, most likely.

Yeah, we're still on track for everyone to be out of this country by the end of the year, and last time I checked, I'm included in everybody. http://www.stripes.com/blogs/stripes-central/stripes-central-1.8040/as-iraq-pullout-progresses-u-s-keeps-troops-numbers-high-to-provide-flexibility-1.157604 (http://www.stripes.com/blogs/stripes-central/stripes-central-1.8040/as-iraq-pullout-progresses-u-s-keeps-troops-numbers-high-to-provide-flexibility-1.157604)
Still, with redeployment shenanigans (getting all the units stuff back to Ft. Hood, as well as all the medical stuff I'll have to go through back in the states, plus some time in Kuwait to boot), I don't really get any sort of date. I'll just call it my Jan26 plus or minus two months. I should be safe with that estimate, right?


(http://Pay no attention to the content of this image tag! Quit looking at this stuff! Seriously, stoppit!2009-02-02-[0030]-naypyidaw-sector-1.agfsagafhga png The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one. Wilhelm Stekel)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on October 14, 2011, 03:31:32 am
Optimistic insanity is a term I use to describe myself often enough. If I’m running an especially obvious self insert of a character, I’ll put it down as my perk (usually with an effect to resist mental damage, or to heal mental statuses). I’ve never had all that good luck at describing it, but I think the key is that it’s two underlying mindsets that generally form the core of my emotional state.

Firstly is a real ‘I’m a scumbag’ mechanic, transitional analysis’s “You’re okay, I’m not okay.” No matter what the situation is, it’s a complete certainty that it could be worse and that there are a metric fuck-ton of other people who are in situations that are much more unpleasant than mine. Therefore, what right do I have to allow any negativity into myself? Heck, even the fact that I’m thinking about my job not being perfect is a dickish thing to do, isn’t it? I shouldn't complain, compared to starving kids in Africa or the guys out doing harder and more dangerous jobs than I.

The second is a sense of absurdity. I’m US Army of this writing (interesting tangent there, I suppose, for another day if I remember); there’s a reason why we differentiate ourselves from the real world outside the armed forces. Shit doesn’t make sense a lot of time. There are times where it starts to annoy me, same as anyone else, but then my optimistic insanity kicks in. This shit’s funny. After all, the only times when it gets properly tough are times when something isn’t working right outside my group’s control. I can laugh at negative circumstances happening to people in a comic, just like I can laugh at how much stuff sucks (there’s another case for when shit gets really sucky, that I don’t see much). I think of my own mental status enough to realize that it’s awfully strange, but I’m fucked up enough to find my current level of messed-upness to find it funny as well.

I get down in the dumps, sure, just like everyone does (I was there when I started writing this and I still am during this proof-reading. Feeling perfectly happy thanks to several cups of good tea for the actual posting after a night's sleep and a morning at work). However, it never seems to last long with me. It’s not *right* for me to complain and it’s all hilarious anyway. I just bounce right the fuck back. I consider this to be a good thing. Heck, I almost certainly consider it my biggest strength, despite other things that I can say that I’m damn good at.

Now and then (more and more often lately) I get introspective non-optimistically. I’ve got another name for my optimistic insanity then: ultimate apathy. I don’t know how exactly it relates, if it’s the same thing, a close brother, or the logical and inevitable consequence. It’s like this, if all situations aren’t all that bad, what’s the metric to differentiate them? As long as I get a reasonable bit of sleep, nothing ever qualifies as bad for me anymore. With the absence of a proper bad, what then is good? I’ve really been thinking a lot about what I should do with my life lately, and it really comes up then. I hear or read about all sorts of different jobs to consider after or during my army career. Some time I’ll have to type up the list I’ve accumulated thus far, but here’s the problem.

Whenever I hear an idea, it gets added to that fucking list. I can think of myself doing that for the rest of my life, doing my best to get good at that job. Maybe work on making money. Meet a young woman whom I don’t understand or one that’s enough like me to get? I could see myself getting old with someone, living that normal American dream of a life (assuming it’s an American specific dream, I added ‘work for a British contractor’ to the list today), and being overall happy. Here’s the thing, I don’t think it’s happy. I can’t see myself feeling different in the future than I do now. Calling it contented isn’t appropriate either; I’m sure of that much, and it certainly doesn’t feel like it would be called happy. It needs some sort of emotional stamp, right? Now I just think of it as [Strife]. It’s so unchanging, that I really think of it as some red-inked rubber stamp. [Strife] is just what I am. Is it the same as the universal apathetic rallying cry of “meh?” I don’t know, but I thought of it a few paragraphs down. It’s close, but my optimistic insanity doesn’t let me be seriously meh all that often, it’d be ungrateful, you know?

The question then becomes this, how the fuck do I figure out what the fucking hell to do with my fucking life (improving my writing to the point where I don’t fuckity fuck fuck all my writing up seems like it’d be useful, and restricting parenthetical to out of context chatter only seems appropriate, but writing as a goal is a whole ‘nother post, or possibly paragraph group in this one)?! Being a plumber equals being an engineer equals being a lawyer to me. After all, skilled labor like plumbing is in demand right now, I can get the Army to pay for my training, and then provide a good life for a family. I like working with my hands and would be [Strife]. [Strife] isn’t really a bad emotion, in the end. Engineering is great, high paying enough. Army will pay for just about any school I’d like to go to, probably North Dakota State University. I’m a bloody good hand at math when I want to be, and a fast learner. Enough prestige to make the parents proud, and probably a job I can work hard at and be satisfied with whatever work gets done on the project. Lawyering was the last thing my dad recommended to me
Spoiler: tangent (click to show/hide)
High paying, high prestige. I like talking and arguing. Parallel to Optimistic Insanity, I’m very good at seeing both sides of an issue, and therefore morally ambiguous enough to operate in our grey vs. gray world like I’m always firmly in white against a dark grey or even black. Law school is nothing I can’t get through, I’d be willing to save money right now, besides getting a job then, scholarships, and what ol’ Montgomery will pay for through the GI bill.

I don’t have an answer to this problem (but what else is Life Advice for than to share problems?). Right now, what seems the most appealing to me is getting out of the Army when I get out, after doing the second half of my term as intelligence if I can swing the reclassification. Then . . . I dunno? About the only thing that has stuck in my head is drifting across the country for awhile. I could set aside a few thousand dollars; I’ll have a decent car and wouldn’t need much to live on. Perhaps something would come across me then, giving me some proper purpose, or just going whatever direction my whims take me might let me figure out what I really want to do. Preplanning to go on Forest Gump’s running period seems strange, but it’s all I’ve got right now.


There’s always been a few things that haven’t been stamped with [Strife] for me. The main one, well that’s what I’ve always been fascinated with. My namesake, again. Strife, without the stamp feeling. Bitter warfare, conflict. Really, it’s just any sort of ‘proper’ conflict I feel conflict with. My favorite book is Red Storm Rising. It has been since sixth grade, at least. It’s about a doctrinal WWIII, a modern force on force conflict. There’s a point where my second favorite character describes a battle as having become a living thing that ate lives like a wolf eats rabbits (I’ll get the full quote next time I read the book, I think). It’s a fucking horrible thought and a horrid thing, but it’s the only place where I really see myself as fitting in. It wouldn’t have to be in an Abrams at the Fulda gap, understand; I think it’s just the point where the actions of men determine things, the ultimate failure of civilization. I’m a humanist, it’s one of my core beliefs. Humanity is generally good and we advance with time. I just want to be there when our march of progress slips and be there to stop and shove us back in the right direction. This message was composed in Iraq, certainly a war. My body armor and weapon are in arms reach right now, sure as sure. This, in my mind, isn’t a real war (and isn't *that* a horribly, ungrateful thought for the guys doing real work right now?). I think that it’d be different if I was in an Abrams during the Invasion (it deserves a capital in my mind, having some kind of mythical association. I was in 5th grade, I believe) or kicking down doors and defending my squad. That time’s over though, and this war is what this war is.


Quote
The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.
-Wilhelm Stekel

Old quote that’s been told to me many times, both word for word and in spirit. It damn well has the ring of truth in it. But, I can’t see my soul getting much more mature (I can see it fixating on defending some specific or focusing on some other goal but both ring very heavily of [Strife]). With this one exception, I always try to give all I can, as per the second paragraph any sort of self-entitlement doesn't sit well with me. However, don’t *I* have the right to try to seek happiness for myself if I’m trying to help humanity in the attempt? That only seems morally presumptuous to me half the time and has just as much of a ring of truth to it as Mr. Stekel does.

It’s just that the only way I see myself happy is if humanity really needs the help. There’s evil in the world, sure as sure (that’s the important opposite to ‘people are generally good’ in my deepest held beliefs). However, it’s not the sort the sort of evil that Strife26 of Bay12 games can do much about at all, is it?  I’m going to throw up a Sandra and Woo comic here, considering the character involved is named Cloud, there are certainly all sorts of other connections the psychiatrists come up with.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
There isn’t a proper Avalanche to join. Me getting a M4, optic, ammo, and a ticket to Burma sounds like a bad idea even to me, the local king of supporting really bad ideas. I did the next best thing I can think of. I’m a private in the Army of Freedom, Liberty, and the Good Fight, or at least the closest thing that I think exists today. At one point, immersing my will and freedom in this great organism of democracy was enough for me. America tries to do good, and I’m supporting America. That line of reasoning doesn’t seem to resonate anymore (maybe it was only good for a year of service?)  I’m still just here, in a war-zone, in a combat arms line unit, stamped [Strife].

Fuck!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Scaraban on October 14, 2011, 10:56:28 pm
Start preparing for a life in politics
1. Pick the major party you can align yourself the most with
2. Rise to prominence with your military past and zero political bullshit tolerance.
3. ???
4. Help change the broken system.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on October 15, 2011, 12:13:27 am
Start preparing for a life in politics
1. Pick the major party you can align yourself the most with
2. Rise to prominence with your military past and zero political bullshit tolerance.
3. ???
4. Help change MAINTAIN the broken GLORIOUS NEPOTISTIC system.

Then you get paid, too.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Nadaka on October 17, 2011, 02:52:33 pm
I once asked a long time ago for any wisdom you might have for a friend considering enlisting and going for armor.

Spoiler: update (click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Tanker on October 17, 2011, 08:25:14 pm
Hi Strife.  Very Interesting post recently!  Too many "fucks" though.   Get the "Fuck" song from Limp Bizkit for a laugh.  I read only a couple of your posts but that seems out of character for you.

You're way deeper than me, but my philosphy of life has three stages - Nothing's easy, shit happens, but it always could be worse.

I had a really shitty last couple of days but I'm glad I stumbled on your long discourse, i got a great laugh out of parts of it!  Don't take that wrong, it's not a slam, it's a sincere Thank You.

Optimistic Insanity?  That's not too bad a thought!   Back to my three rules...  I'm trying to think of the right word/phrase - how about the drunkards Serenity Prayer?  Acceptance but not apathy.  Change what you can, accept what you can't, and hopefully be smart enough to figure out which is which.

Also, to whoever posted the picture from the top of the M1 - GREAT PICTURE!  I used to do that, loved it, big rush when it was nice.  But in a cold rain at night after not sleeping for a few days with the TC screaming RIGHT RIGHT RIGHT...  Not as nice.

Peace out Buddy.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on October 20, 2011, 09:22:00 am
Start preparing for a life in politics
1. Pick the major party you can align yourself the most with
2. Rise to prominence with your military past and zero political bullshit tolerance.
3. ???
4. Help change the broken system.

I've thought about politics before, honestly there's a few pretty good reasonings behind me getting into the second oldest profession. I'm not a terrible talker type, I've got general enthusiasm about the human condition, I can damn well tolerate being hated. However, despite all of my optimism about the stuff getting better and America being generally good, I'm awfully cynical about politics.

To do good, one must almost certainly rise to some degree of importance, right? To do that, there's going to be compromising of one's ideals, sure as sure. Of course, how many ideals do you compromise on, and then, how much can one man (especially in my case, one guy without a widget fortune behind him and who is from a three electoral vote state) do to change things?

Moreover, I'm damn outspoken, you know? Besides that, I've got a habbit of looking at both sides of the issue and concluding "heck if I know."

Candidate Strife: "Honestly, I've got no certainty if the Strife plan will fix the economy, but I would like to note the candidate Torvold is an idiot who is intentionally misleading the public, as his plan really doesn't make much sense."

((note that I didn't swear once in that sentence. I've clearly been taking classes from a properly political type))

"However, at the end of the day, I'm sure as sure that America is fundamentally strong. If we the people are willing to work hard, possibly accepting less money to spend on non-essential-type stuff, we'll get the economy back on track, without a doubt. "


That wouldn't play well on any high-level office. Now, honestly, I could very easily see myself running for a local office someday. I think that that would be a pretty good thing to do, on every level. As a full time career? I wouldn't like the public eye on me, but I'd deal with it. Those who want high office like that have either a love of attention, or a strong sense of duty. In either case, it's enough to qualify as a personality defect, I think.

Besides, go into politics when anyone can do a two hour google search and find blurbs like *that* to my name? Eek and a half!

Honestly, I've considered this a lot. As far as the "change the world for the better" type jobs, I think that I like politics more than the others. All things considered, I still don't have any good answer for "what to do with my life," but I'm doing a little better at not lingering on it.



Besides changing the world for the better or forestalling its disaster, the other thing that really sticks in my mind is the world of fiction. I do love fiction, the way that genres interact and change. I really could see myself writing all sorts of interesting stories. However, while I may be able to keep a psuedo-blog like this one going for a few pages (who'd tune in if it was on an external site, I wonder? The only non-DF blog I read is Mr. Fox's.), but I've got serious trouble with creative writing. I figure that it's more of a problem of me having an idea, then starting writing and realizing that my clumsy words can't live up to my internal picture. Of course, the *only* way to get better at writing is to write, and I always give up after a page or two.

Did I mention that I planned out yet another short story, and even got almost finished with the first section? Two thirds of a page of decent enough writing, I think. Of course, I've got to try to finish the piece, don't I? Or else my worrying about writing will go back to worrying about the future, and that's hardly good, is it?



Nice picture from your friend, Nadaka. Please give him the best wishes of the surprising number of armor types this board seems to have accumulated. I suppose that he did his training at Ft. Benny instead of Ft. Knox. Ft. Knox was once the home of armor, now it's the "human resource center of excellence."

Good to see a new face in the boards, Tanker. Honestly, I fade in and out of cluster f bombing areas. Generally speaking, I'm a liberal swearer, but it can get pretty bad when I'm typing tired, about stuff that I'm actively thinking about, and when I don't really know what to say. That previous post has all three of them in spades.

I said the following line just about word for word in the DFAC a while ago, after a Chaplin who had sat with my group left.
Strife: "Goddammit Fuck!"
Medic: "?"
Strife: "I try not to swear in front of the Chaplin, but one of them got in our conversation, I just realized."
*beat*
"Fuck!"


I need to work on it.






I had a really shitty last couple of days but I'm glad I stumbled on your long discourse, i got a great laugh out of parts of it!  Don't take that wrong, it's not a slam, it's a sincere Thank You.


I really try to do that with everything, on some level everything is hilariously absurd, right?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Kandi Apple on October 20, 2011, 12:13:33 pm
Quote
besides the fact that I do have a system for my death to get at least one post in this thread
[/glow]

Geesssshhh!  I get busy IRL and come back to this?   DUDE!  Keep yer ass low and yer gun loaded!

Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on October 21, 2011, 08:09:27 pm
Quote
The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.
-Wilhelm Stekel

Old quote that’s been told to me many times, both word for word and in spirit. It damn well has the ring of truth in it. But, I can’t see my soul getting much more mature (I can see it fixating on defending some specific or focusing on some other goal but both ring very heavily of [Strife]). With this one exception, I always try to give all I can, as per the second paragraph any sort of self-entitlement doesn't sit well with me. However, don’t *I* have the right to try to seek happiness for myself if I’m trying to help humanity in the attempt? That only seems morally presumptuous to me half the time and has just as much of a ring of truth to it as Mr. Stekel does.

...

There isn’t a proper Avalanche to join. Me getting a M4, optic, ammo, and a ticket to Burma sounds like a bad idea even to me, the local king of supporting really bad ideas. I did the next best thing I can think of. I’m a private in the Army of Freedom, Liberty, and the Good Fight, or at least the closest thing that I think exists today. At one point, immersing my will and freedom in this great organism of democracy was enough for me. America tries to do good, and I’m supporting America. That line of reasoning doesn’t seem to resonate anymore (maybe it was only good for a year of service?)  I’m still just here, in a war-zone, in a combat arms line unit, stamped [Strife].

It took me a few days to build up the wherewithal to respond to this.  I'm going to start by admitting I've been wondering what motivated you for as long as I've known you.  What makes a man choose to put his life on the line the way you did.  I've wondered if you ever had doubts about your motivations, about your goal to, as you put it, dedicate your life to being there when The Decision is made.

Don't let your doubts tell you that you're not selfless for wanting to be proud of yourself, for wanting the pride of accomplishment, for doing something brave.  Being willing to die for a noble cause is the same thing as living humbly for one, as long as its kept in perspective.  The perspective that your life is worth more than how you expend it.  Whatever you may have thought in the past and how you came to that, now for certain, you have that perspective.  You are humble, you are self-aware, even if you don't know where you're going.

I always remember how impressed my parents were when they met you, they knew immediately what a strong character you were.  Whatever you eventual do, even if you never make a clear decision to do it, you'll go somewhere.  Heck, maybe look at politics, the country could use people like you.

And more immediately of course, as of today the Iraq War is officially Ending, supposedly with all combat troops out by Christmas.  Maybe you'll get to ponder this stuff in the comfort of home soon.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on December 06, 2011, 12:22:15 am
Hello everybody. I've been awfully deficient in my posting duties, lately. I'm without proper internet at the moment, and the keyboard on this communal desktop is bad enough that I'm using the onscreen one. I've got a couple of posts saved to a flashdrive, whenever I get to a proper computer, which might not be until I'm happily back in the States, I guess. Doing good, overall.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: GlyphGryph on December 06, 2011, 08:01:51 am
Good to see you're still around, at least. ^_^
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: scriver on December 06, 2011, 09:48:56 am
Yeah, I've been thinking about your silence, Strife. It worried me. Will this be home for good? I mean, unless you plan on staying in the military or participating in other.. missions? Campaigns? I'm unsure about the correct wording.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on December 08, 2011, 07:42:29 am
It'll be back to Ft. Hood for a while, probably. At least. The Army is supposed to be going on 24 months of dwell time before deployments, so other than a field training exercise or two, there probably wouldn't be much at all to drag me from my barracks. Really, assuming that I don't reenlist, and don't go to a different unit or anything, I don't believe that I'd deploy again, barring some weird type stuff happening.

Nothing changing here, still writing stuff, freezing, running, and wishing that I was in the States. Won't be that long, though.

Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: GlyphGryph on December 08, 2011, 01:05:11 pm
Are you going to be rejoining Dark Tides on your return? I've been keeping you waiting in the wings, and hoping. ^_^
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Phmcw on December 09, 2011, 07:08:54 am
Things could become pretty sour in Iran, with a lots of threats currently being made, so you could go back there in a short notice (which wouldn't surprise me the least bit given what you told us about Iraq insurrection being backed by Iran, which sound like an army readying it's communication for a war with Iran.)
So yeah, think carefully about reenlisting.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on December 09, 2011, 07:32:00 am
The Army is supposed to be going on 24 months of dwell time before deployments

G'dam.  Even I'd say that's kind of an excessive amount of downtime, and it sounds a little suspect given how many shitloads-of-tours guys there are now.  But you're probably right, with Iraq drawn down and Afghanistan steady, and no other land commitments on the horizon, it's hard to imagine there'd be something to pull you out of homeside rotation before your term is up.

I don't know what the policy on Stop-Loss is anymore (to the extent there ever was a policy), so I'd ask some questions about that reenlistment thing.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on December 09, 2011, 09:03:57 am
no other land commitments on the horizon
We have combat troops in Colombia  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colombian_armed_conflict#Role_of_the_United_States)still,[=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_Colombia#Military_Programsurl] I believe.[/url]
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on December 09, 2011, 10:42:34 am
Well, remember that 24 months dwell time isn't 24 months of not doing anything. It's just 24 months of not being deployed. Field training and all sorts of "Strife cancels update: FUN" is still there to be done. However, that's a matter of the unit, not the soldier. If I somehow got assigned to a unit that's about to deploy, that could happen.


Still in current location. Did sprints today. Sprints are hard! I've been pretty bored, but I did find HeartGold for my DS, which was nice.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Montague on December 14, 2011, 04:49:54 am
Dwell time counts up to 10 months even if you PCS or get assigned to a unit about to deploy. You get a minimum of 10 months 'individual' dwell time, which supersedes 'unit' dwell time. Unless you volunteer for the deployment and waive your dwell time, you'll just sit on rear-d while the rest of the unit deploys untill you are eligible to deploy again.

But yeah, nothing stopping you from getting sent to NTC, going TDY or whatever during your dwell time.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on December 14, 2011, 06:28:52 am
Right. At the moment, unless I go and do something that'd get me reassigned, I'll almost certainly stay in this same unit.         

Also, America, fuck yeah.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Dutchling on December 14, 2011, 10:56:23 am
I haven't actually read the whole thread, as it is incredibly long. But didn't you serve in the Swedish/Norwegian army and not the American one?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Nadaka on December 14, 2011, 11:01:46 am
I haven't actually read the whole thread, as it is incredibly long. But didn't you serve in the Swedish/Norwegian army and not the American one?

That would be Kagus: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=73768.0

Strife26 is a US Army tank guy.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Dutchling on December 14, 2011, 11:29:14 am
That explains a lot.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on December 19, 2011, 06:19:14 pm
Oh good, Strife isn't dead. I was actually wondering about you the other day.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on December 19, 2011, 07:56:34 pm
Well, I am now declaring myself to be officially back in action, with my old laptop hooked up to a borrowed internet connection and everything! Life in the states is nice, sure as sure. All sorts of stuff to post, but I'll have to decide what to talk about first. Flying back to Fargo on Friday for my leave, which is awesome as all heck.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on December 20, 2011, 04:44:20 am
I'll Be Home For Christmas and all that, really?  Great to hear.

Just in case it comes up, I'm not really in a great position to put you up for a night in Dallas again, if you find yourself having to stop over like last time.  Put you up in my (parents') house again, that is.  If you do have to spend a night in Dallas, just let me know and I'll get you a hotel room and give a ride and whatnot.  Like a Christmas gift.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: scriver on December 20, 2011, 06:09:18 am
:D

Strife's family gets the best Christmas present this year.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Kandi Apple on December 20, 2011, 11:46:33 am
I'll Be Home For Christmas and all that, really?  Great to hear.


YEA!!!!   I'm happy for you!!!  Have a wonderful Christmas!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on December 24, 2011, 06:26:49 pm
My plan for leave was to fly home, then buy a car in Fargo and drive it back to Ft. Hood. While the plane ride up wasn't exactly uneventful, and nine hours is faaar to long to spend in the Austin airport, I survived it well enough. Now I'm safely in Fargo and looking forward to a few days of nice relaxation. After I've sorted through all my stuff. And bought Christmas presents. And bought a laptop. And gave all the social calls that I owe to various people. And sort through my stuff. And figure out what kind of car to buy. And find a car. And buy the car.


Eh, it's good to be home.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: GlyphGryph on December 24, 2011, 10:08:36 pm
Merry Christmas, Strife!

Hope buying stuff+driving isn't too stressful for you. ^_^
You've earned that relaxation.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Nadaka on December 24, 2011, 10:23:58 pm
Welcome back and happy holidays.

[Notserious]and if you are looking for a vehicle I have a girly purple pt cruiser to get rid of if you can get down to florida and don't mind driving a car that belonged to a crazy woman.[/notserious]
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Kandi Apple on December 24, 2011, 11:13:19 pm
Glad to hear you're back Strife

Merry Christmas!!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on December 27, 2011, 07:28:42 pm
Well, I've got a few things checked off of the list, primarily me buying my first car!

It's an 04 CTS, and I'd certainly say that I like it a lot. I figured that a luxury type sedan was probably right for me. I don't have the inclination to spend enough to get a super high performance car like some of my buddies are getting (and I'm not going to try to commute in my beloved dream car of a Grand National. Perhaps some day). At the same time, I didn't really want to get a less flashy car, because who knows when I'm going to be able to afford a cool song next. I won't stand to a fancy type mustang in speed, but heck if I won't be just as comfortable, and my car has more than enough power for me. It's only got 47 thousand miles on it, and it was pretty well taken care of, so I'm hopeful that it will last me a good number of years.

That does of course mean that I now properly mobile again, or at least I will be starting at midnight tonight, when the insurance kicks in. So, if anyone in the community needs a ride within five hours of Fargo in the next few days, is heading South down the center of the country from the 1st through the 3rd, or anywhere within 200 miles of Ft. Hood after that, feel free to ask. I drove my car back from the twin cities after I bought it, and it's a joy to drive, I think.

Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Kandi Apple on December 28, 2011, 08:21:39 am
Had to Google '04 CTS' so now I can honestly say, "Sweet Ride!"   ;)
I can't imagine life without wheels at any point so I totally get your bliss over finally having one.   Enjoy!
Currently, I drive a 4x4 Jeep but that's so I can get home when the rains come. My road turns into a five mile mud run.  >.<

How much more time are you serving anyway?  Some how I got thinking that 'coming home' equaled 'service free' which I now realize might not be the actual case.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on December 29, 2011, 01:30:03 am
How good is the military about forwarding mail?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on December 29, 2011, 02:50:31 pm
It's an 04 CTS, and I'd certainly say that I like it a lot. I figured that a luxury type sedan was probably right for me. I don't have the inclination to spend enough to get a super high performance car like some of my buddies are getting (and I'm not going to try to commute in my beloved dream car of a Grand National. Perhaps some day). At the same time, I didn't really want to get a less flashy car, because who knows when I'm going to be able to afford a cool song next. I won't stand to a fancy type mustang in speed, but heck if I won't be just as comfortable, and my car has more than enough power for me. It's only got 47 thousand miles on it, and it was pretty well taken care of, so I'm hopeful that it will last me a good number of years.

Interesting choice.  Of course, I'm a huge cheapskate, which is why I got that sweet ride you saw, a sixteen year old Ford for $3600.  And let no man say that it wasn't worth it, because it could still take your Caddy.  That said, yeah it might last you, if you're willing to trust mid-decade GMs.  Just watch out for rust, being a northern car.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on December 29, 2011, 06:00:47 pm
That is a classy ride. And yeah, fucking rust! I live in Canada and every car is rusting like hell, but we bought a 1970 Blazer that had been in South Carolina and there isn't a spot to be seen. You lucky southern people and your not covered in snow and salt all winter...
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Kandi Apple on December 29, 2011, 11:09:25 pm
Unless you happen to live beachside.  We get plenty of salt ... And surf so I guess that makes it worth it. 
=}
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: scriver on December 30, 2011, 05:35:03 am
Rust, like wrinkles, is just a sign of experience and maturity. When you see a rusty car, you know that that there is a bucket you can trust in all wheather and conditions. A true hero among cans. A friend for the ages.

Yes, my car is just a big pile of rust. I worry about tearing of half the back door every time I open it. At least it still starts like it should.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Nadaka on December 30, 2011, 11:10:48 am
Unless you happen to live beachside.  We get plenty of salt ... And surf so I guess that makes it worth it. 
=}

Yea. but unless you get flooded by a hurricane, go off roading on the beach, or use a boat ramp, the salt stays mostly off the car.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Kandi Apple on December 30, 2011, 11:39:19 am
 
Unless you happen to live beachside.  We get plenty of salt ... And surf so I guess that makes it worth it. 
=}

Yea. but unless you get flooded by a hurricane, go off roading on the beach, or use a boat ramp, the salt stays mostly off the car.

 :D   Have hurricanes ~ get flooded ~ but that happens in a heavy rain anyway (hence driving a 4x4 and not a muscle/luxury car).  Only real difference there is whether or not I'm carrying a chainsaw too.  8)  Live where beach driving is still cool ~ YEA!!!  But enough about my crazy corner of the map and let's get back to YOUR story.  Oh and have a Happy New Year!

One more note to all in USA for New Years:   1-800-222-4357 for free ride on New Years via Tipsy Tow offered by AAA; You don't have to be a AAA member, from 6pm-6am on New Year's Eve/Day, they will take you and your car home for FREE. This is a NATIONWIDE thing.

Be safe and have an awesome night!
:D
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on January 01, 2012, 06:16:04 pm
Interestingly enough, this is the second cts owned by the family. Number one got destroyed in 09 courtesy of floodwaters. I'm not planning taking my Vic anywhere where I'll then geniusly sandbag it in.

I'm posting this from near the begining of my loooong journey southward. The car is running great, but, as per usual, the only thing to commend South Dakota for is the ease that I can pick up Minnesota Public Radio here. On the bright side, there are only 15 miles left in this state. Weather's been good; the crazy wind has mostly been from behind. Planning to push to Omaha  and see how I'm feeling then..
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on January 01, 2012, 09:36:11 pm
Hello from Omaha, Nebraska!

Not much to say about this city, besides the fact that I drove past this hotel eight times before I managed to figure out how to get in there. It'll probably be perfectly easy to see the entrance in the sun, but heck if it wasn't confusing in the dark.

Got a decent enough hotel room here, complete with king size bed, star wars on the TV, free internets, and the promise of tea somewhere in the lobby. The total trip is marked by google as just under twelve hundred hours and twenty hours, and out of that, Omaha is 620 miles and seven hours or so (figure that I lost about half an hour between wandering Omaha and the gas stop where I posted previously).


I'd like to note that my time in Iowa was relatively annoying, mostly due to annoying type drivers. It's not enough to put the state in the same category as the ever dis-liked SD, but it's gotten a dark mark.

Nebraska has been a mixed bag, starting with an awfully nice guy taking my dollar at the toll bridge, down to the slight annoyance of the road systems inside the cities. Unsurprisingly, my phone works very well as a GPS, provided I'm not in Omaha. Oh well.


I've got nothing to do but drive tomorrow, so I'm planning to push to Ft. Worth. Figuring a zero-six wake up, quick shower and free breakfast, I should be on the road by seven. Google is saying 11 hours, but I'm almost certainly going to be taking a long lunch in there, just because long drives are something I'm not especially accustomed to. I'd like to be in Ft. Worth early enough to go see a movie or something  that night, so I might try to expedite my way down.



I'm off to find this advertised free tea.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on January 01, 2012, 09:40:29 pm
In a race against time, Strife attempts to outrun my package for him, which might be literally anywhere in the world right now.

Hope you get it within the next 3 months or so.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on January 01, 2012, 09:45:09 pm
Yeah, I'll say that the Army mail system has it's quirks. However, as far as I know, it doesn't easily give up. About seven months into the deployment, I got a package that had been directed to Ft. Hood for me about eight months previously. It'll catch up some time, I'm sure.



The free tea's just Lipton, but it's been a long time since I last had to settle for it, so it's a nice change. Besides, I haven't really drunk much today, so I'm pretty sure that mild dehydration has something to do with it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on January 01, 2012, 09:53:25 pm
Hey, can't say no to free tea. Is that a perk of the job?

I'm sorry.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on January 01, 2012, 10:08:14 pm
It's no problem. The most memorable cup of tea I've gotten as a result of this job was certainly the one that I shared with some Iraqi trainees after I had dinner with them. Heckuva an interesting meal, that was.


In other news, despite the relatively low number of posts I've made, and not being a member of many threads at all, I've maintained my spot as 33rd in post count, somehow. However, Footkerchief was only four posts behind my 8888 count when I checked. I've become somewhat attached to my spot, I think, though.


To gameplay questions and forum games and roleplaying.


Seriously though, I haven't done any sort of proper forum gaming in a long while. I'm considering starting a weekly IRC thing, but am still unsure if it's a good idea.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on February 11, 2012, 12:11:03 am
Has that package arrived at the same place you are yet?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 19, 2012, 10:28:47 pm
Not yet, but I just received a crayon art from Toady postmarked November 16th that's been chasing me for a bit, so it's possible that it just hasn't gotten here yet.


So yeah, I'm still in Ft. Hood, not doing anything useful. Honestly, I tend to feel better when I post stuff here, mostly because I always aim for some level of cheerfullness. Going to try to do that again.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 25, 2012, 03:55:54 pm
Welp, I made a bit of a drive to go find a used bookstore, where I got a couple of interesting books (a history of tanks, a description of the classical heroes, a tattered novel called "The Navigator" that caught my eye, and another generic writing guide). Whenever I get around to bringing them in from my car, the shelving space on my desk will be just about full. I'll have to consider trimming it or something.

On my way back from the bookstore, I stopped for lunch and found that Princess of Mars is free to download. Considering that it's probably been five years since I read the ancient copy of my dad's, I downloaded it and slammed through it in three days. Lots of interesting things to note about it, I think. To some extent, it feels like I'd want to write about things that are about the same scope, but the way that Burroughs manages to gloss over a lot of the nuts and bolts while still keeping stuff awesome might have value for a someone like me who still thinks in terms of techno-thrillers (I read half of Red Storm Rising last week, yet again).

Just because I've got nothing else to do on this Sunday night, I'm going to sojourn out and see the film. From what I've heard, the big market reviews have been mediocre, but the people whom I know who've seen it thought it was pretty good.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 27, 2012, 06:17:18 am
Well, I think that I liked John Carter. About what I expected, gave me shades of Avatar, with considerably better plot. Now, it might just have been my state of mind, but I found a fair bit to laugh at in the thud and blunder tale. Some changes to the plot of the book, but not terrible for a eighty year later movie
 adaptation.

Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on March 28, 2012, 12:42:09 am
I always like to see really old sci-fi movies and their new adaptations. Makes me wonder what people will think of our predictions of the future.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on April 01, 2012, 09:44:55 am
"Zombies? Really past?"

Or something like that, I'd guess.



Well, it's the weekend which is always good! Looking like it's going to be a pretty busy week coming up, but it should be actual honest-to-goodness tank stuff. I'm hoping that it'll suit me a lot better than edging Ft. Hood with my e-tool, you know?

Also, I'm going to try to use today to finally both get my room straightened out, and actually deal with the several areas where disorganized stuff has accumulated (my drawer full of wires and the combined tools and small items that I get free in hotels drawer in particular seem like they'll be fun to solve). I've got about twelve hours until I'd like to go to bed, so we'll see how far I can get.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on April 02, 2012, 05:20:14 am
Answer: not very far.


Hopefully no one comes by my room today.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: scriver on April 02, 2012, 07:34:56 am
Weren't you supposed to get six months leave, Strife?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on April 05, 2012, 07:52:53 pm


It's more along the lines of six months dwell time, where the unit won't deploy, but it ended up being three months or so of us not doing anything much at all. Quite frankly, I'm glad that that's over.

I've got many things to type and no way to type 'em. Both of my computers aren't doing well right now, and my phone isn't very pleasant to try to fix errors with!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on April 06, 2012, 01:46:54 pm
IT LIVEEEESSSSSSSSSS!

Glad to see you're still doing fine.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on April 06, 2012, 07:39:38 pm
Honestly, I wasn't doing all that well awhile ago. However, I spent the last four days playing with tanks, and if anything can make it all worth it, it's the Abrams.

Chilling in a decent seeming bar-grill in Austin right now, killing some time. There's a steampunk gala here tonight, and it's not all that often that an occasion for someone like me to wear my super awesome greatcoat. Woo to being a socially maladjusted distro!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on April 06, 2012, 07:44:42 pm
Greatcoat wearing is indeed an auspicious event. Have fun steam-gala'ing.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on April 06, 2012, 07:53:56 pm
I don't think that I mentioned more than a line in here when I bought the thing, but it's full length (and a little bit long on someone who fits comfortably in a driver's hold), metallic green-gray, and includes a proper quarter cape. I picked it up in Iraqiland for more than I should have been spending. I'm planning on wearing it, with a sand mask and some old goggles around my neck. I might include my flyer's gloves, but after playing driver with them all week, they're a bit dirty, besides not being quite the same shade of green.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on April 07, 2012, 05:02:40 am
Welp, that was rather interesting. I was considering listing three highlights before "oh my" but I think that doing that might lose some of the shock value of my somewhat strange night. My sense of ironic timing truly is a sight to behold. On the brighter note, I hopefully won't be seriously investigated for this. Gonna go sleeps now.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on April 07, 2012, 12:49:15 pm
Welp, that was rather interesting. I was considering listing three highlights before "oh my" but I think that doing that might lose some of the shock value of my somewhat strange night. My sense of ironic timing truly is a sight to behold. On the brighter note, I hopefully won't be seriously investigated for this. Gonna go sleeps now.

Your sense of humour is impeccable too; implication is always funnier than explanation.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on April 14, 2012, 12:39:28 am
Note that I didn't mean to leave the hang-off this long, I've just been busy as heck, and feeling bad to boot. Been getting offa work, taking a nap, waking up, derping about, and going back to sleep all week. Started a few times on my phone, but never got something that I considered postable. A short message is doable on the thing, as long as I'm careful not to make any non-immediately-auto-correctable errors in the course of writing it, but anything more than two paragraphs is a royal pain. The fact that I was trying to type it at o'dark thirty, when I'm already groggy as heck probably didn't help any.


Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 17, 2012, 07:12:46 pm
Well, I'm going to get back to posting, I think. I just returned from eight days of leave, where I spent some much needed time with my family. Upon returning to Ft. Hood (nearly getting stuck in Dallas, *again*), I found the parking lot of my barracks just short of swarming with crickets of varying shape, size, and color. One constant amongst them, however, was a seeming willingness to make amazing amounts of noise while being very difficult to pin down.

Over the course of the day and evening, they showed a remarkable ability to penetrate the meager defenses of my room, going to ground in all of my furniture while they prepared to unleash an insectoid version of the siege of Vatican Embassy in Panama. Sure enough, when I attempted to go to sleep in the comfort of my own bed, they unleashed a chirping bad enough to make my sleeping difficult, and I've happily slept on a running Humvee hood in full kit multiple times, besides regularly doing it in close proximity to turbine engines.

I gave up the night's rest as lost at seven this morning, and found, to my delight, that my brave, but foolish, foes stopped their audible assault and began to creep from their cover to figure out how much damage they'd inflicted upon my sanity. Now, Michael Crichton's State of Fear is not a very good novel, in fact, it's the worst book I've ever forced myself to read over a 24 hour shift. It's got mediocre essays included, and maybe a decent point. However, for all its shortcomings, State of Fear is a damn effective anti-cricket munition. I used it to kill no less than 12 of the sleep-depriving insects, flicking their bodies outside my door as a warning to others, where they've slowly vanished over the course of the day, either carried of by their comrades or the varied Ft. Hood birdlife, I'm not sure.

The cricket menace was defeated with only the casualty of a night's sleep and some staining of a book that I don't particularly care to take up shelf space with, but the next threat has quickly reared its head. Hordes of flies that have made an attempt to grill outside infeasible. Quite frankly, even for my proximity to a dumpster and a bunch of other soldiers with rooms somewhere between squalor and perfection, the number of flies is outrageous, maybe biblical.

Long story short, I fully expect to be brushing my teeth with cherry Kool-aid from my sink on Thursday, by Sunday I should be smearing goat blood on my door, and, with any luck, I'll be attempting to engage a Horseman by running it down with my tank by next Tuesday. Should be lots of fun.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on June 17, 2012, 07:24:45 pm
My god, crickets! You could always smash them with your artifact staff. (Though honestly, I too see all Michael Crichton books as engines of death. By boredom though, not smashing.)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 19, 2012, 09:17:44 pm
I was thinking about it, but I'm not sure if I want misc. object user to clutter up my skills and stuff, and I really like the way I've got it displayed on my shelf right now. I've got the description card set up so it's easily readable and everything. I killed another sixteen today. I'm slightly concerned that with the wholesale cricket slaughter that's occurring around Ft. Hood we're going to end up selecting for only very stealthy, fast, and overall hard to kill bugs.

With any luck, these new super-crickets won't swarm until I'm safely out of Ft. Hood.


I've decided that I'm going to try to  increase my productivity during my off hours. I tend to waste my nights away doing two main things, either immediately going to sleep as soon as I'm off work (which I did yesterday), or frittering my time away doing nothing on the internet. Now, I'm not going to make any claim to go off the internet, but I'm going to try to stay off the time-wasters that don't give me any personal value as much as I can, namely 9gag, cracked, and the like, especially because most of my time on them seems to be spent complaining to myself.

I've identified four sections of areas that I want improve. With my job as it is, I know that making progress on all of them isn't all that feasible, however, I feel like lately I've just been slumping through my days. Roughly, they're Organizational, Educational, Physical, and Social. I've been starting to make a list of them, but the Organizational one in particular is looking daunting. I wrote down 29 items before my marker ran out of ink. Most of them are one-time things, but it's still kinda alarming.

I'm planning to list most of them on here in nice, spoilered lists, just because I know that I'll be more prone to work on them if I'm putting it online, regardless if anyone reads them. And in any case, I'm fairly sure that I'll get enough wacky hijinks ensuing to find something to talk about.

I'd do it tonight, but I'm planning to head to bed early, just as soon as I find and terminate the cricket chirping behind my tac. box.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Phantom of The Library on June 19, 2012, 11:31:53 pm
Well, given that you're actually writing things down, you're already making progress on the Organizational.  Heckuva lot more organized than me in any case.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on June 20, 2012, 07:12:46 pm
Well, I'm going to get back to posting, I think. I just returned from eight days of leave, where I spent some much needed time with my family. Upon returning to Ft. Hood (nearly getting stuck in Dallas, *again*), I found the parking lot of my barracks just short of swarming with crickets of varying shape, size, and color. One constant amongst them, however, was a seeming willingness to make amazing amounts of noise while being very difficult to pin down.

How ironic, since I actually have a place you could crash at now.  It's funny, every time I think "hmm, haven't seen Strife around in a while," you turn up again.  I'm the worst pen pal, really.

Good to hear everything's cool, except the locusts.  Sorry about that, it's a Texas thing, comes with living on Hell's front yard, if the storms of ice falling from a boiling sky didn't tip you off.

I don't suppose there's any word on another deployment?  Or reenlisting / not reenlisting?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 22, 2012, 02:28:31 pm
Yeah, the plague of insects here continue. My copy of State of Fear should probably have a supplementary title due to kill count by now, because I'm fairly sure I've been averaging 10+ a day with it. I woke up this morning to find a group of four crickets right underneath the head of my bed, annoying things. Interestingly enough, I've also decided to make peace with one of the bugs. It's living underneath my dresser right now and has a remarkably quiet chirp, that it's polite enough only to use when my lights are on, and then only for a few minutes at a time. I did move my dresser to try to find him at one point in time, but only saw him for a fraction of a second before he was gone. He's been given the moniker of "well-behaved ninja cricket."

Other than that, I've got the ever-fun long shift tonight staying up and watching the crickets, so I'm hoping to get around to putting up my lists sometime on saturday. I've had at least a bit of luck trying to get some of the items done on the organizational one, but I'm fairly concerned about losing steam  on the rest.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Ancre on June 22, 2012, 04:54:42 pm
I really like reading your adventures strife !

And good luck against the cricket invasion ! I have faith in the US army, I am sure you will eventually win :D
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on June 27, 2012, 10:22:20 pm
I wondered the other day where you got off to. Glad to see you're still kickin'! Have fun with the cricket menace. I recommend a nice lava moat.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: scriver on June 28, 2012, 07:01:22 am
Hey, do you have your own place on the base? I got the impression from the way you wrote, but I always imagined soldiers as always having to live in those bunkhouses and shit.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 29, 2012, 08:13:52 pm
Life continues up here, life continues to end for crickets via my increasingly dirty book (which totally deserves a title at this point with semi-artifact status). I went and got through Elements of Style with some difficulty. I find it fairly interesting how much trouble I had with parts of it. I'm certainly feeling like I haven't been in a formal classroom for the last 2 years. We're cycling off our busy schedule and going into a block leave period next week, where I'll be stuck here for the entirety of. My plan is to find some time to sneak off to the education center and start signing up for CLEP tests, which I'm fairly sure I can take for free. Worst case and I'll buff up on my test taking; best case and I'll brush up on  my learning and get some college credit out of it for whenever I'm out of the Army.



Happily enough, the Army is mostly done with the Full Metal Jacket style bays, if we're assigned to a tent, one of the first things we go about doing is setting up some walls around our bunks/cots. Here in my crappy, but much better than pre-deployment, barracks, I've got my own room and huge closet, then I share a kitchenette/ bathroom with another guy in my platoon. Fairly good set-up all things considered, I think. Wish that the stovetop worked decently and the standards for keeping it clean have effectively left me unable to answer my door on weekends, but that's life.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: scriver on June 30, 2012, 02:25:03 pm
Sounds pretty nice, like a student corridor basically? Or even better, since there's just two guys a kitchen. So more like flatmates maybe.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on November 12, 2012, 02:58:44 pm
Warning: this topic has not been posted in for at least 120 days.
Unless you're sure you want to reply, please consider starting a new topic.


Meh to you too, forum management system. As much as I'd like to have a first post that isn't as craptastic as this thread's is, it's still near and dear to my heart, all of my negligence non-withstanding.


Anyway, I'm just enjoying my four day weekend, with a nice big pile of stuff I've put off until today. In the nature of having a permanent record of my failure when I start procrastinating, I'm going to try to get through all of this list today:

1) Clean everything off of my floor
2) Wash, sort, and fold all of my laundry (that's not in the extra ACU box)
3) Make flashcards for land navigation as well as publication numbers
4) Get at least three fourths of them learned
5) Wash the dishes


Man, it doesn't seem nearly as bad, no that I've got them listed like that. Couldn't possibly take me all day to get those five things done, right?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on December 09, 2012, 01:36:49 am
In return for signing my life and freedom away for three plus years, toiling in hostile conditions (Central Texas, mostly) I'm here to share some super-valuable information with everyone.

Advance, on-post screening of the Hobbit, hell yeah!


Anyway, I'll be fairly spoiler free, but I'm assuming that everyone's at least familiar with the book. I mean, it's a slim volume after-all, not like the main Trilogy (you know, I first read the Hobbit when I was in the fourth grade, but I've still never managed to get through The Two Towers or The Return of the King without skimming over certain periods of endless walking through scenery).


Long story short: I certainly enjoyed it, and I'd expect that anyone who frequents a Bay 12 Forum will enjoy it as well.


Not very spoilery, but still spoilered.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I saw it on the fairly low-tech Post movie theater screen, so I don't know how much the fancy version improves it. I *will* be going to it when I can, though.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Thecard on December 09, 2012, 01:57:34 am
Congratufuckinglations dude, that's awesome!  I've been looking forward to it coming out!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on December 09, 2012, 04:38:19 am
Wow, that was nice of the military! Good to hear, bro. I myself plan on seeing it on opening weekend, and I'm pumped as fuck.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Helgoland on December 10, 2012, 05:01:51 pm
Seeing it with a couple of people the week after it comes out - I just hope we'll all fit in the cinema!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on December 19, 2012, 09:44:38 pm
Freedom and independence are both pretty great things. I mean, my laziness nonwithstanding, I could do all sorts of things if I wanted to right now, only really limited by my need to show up for the army bright and early in the morning. I say this because I just went to subway in my pajama pants and slippers. Great affirmation of freedom and independence, or greatest affirmation?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Phantom of The Library on December 19, 2012, 09:46:29 pm
Depends, did you get a BLT?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on December 19, 2012, 09:49:44 pm
Nah, Meatball Marinara. 12 mile ruck march in the morning, so I'm doing a spot of carb loading. I prefer to go to greasy spoons for my BLT's.

That's another thing that I've recently been thankful for. Diners. Especially 24 hour diners that let me get breakfast in the middle of the night if I so choose.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on December 20, 2012, 10:28:57 pm
End result of the ruck march is a resounding "ow."


12 miles is too far to walk, I think. Much better to take a tank there.


Rucking's something of a weak point in my physical training right now, I'd say. However, it's also a real annoyance to try to train for rucking, so I'll probably just continue to struggle along at it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Thecard on December 20, 2012, 11:53:21 pm
Yeah, I keep telling my gym teacher letting us do laps in a tank would be much better for everyone involved, but she just stares at me blankly.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on December 21, 2012, 12:14:52 am
Is a ruck march a march that you do while carrying all your stuff?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on December 21, 2012, 11:52:43 pm
Yeah, fifty pound ruck sacks in this case. It's terribly annoying to have to worry about sprinting, distance running, and rucking all being different brands of running that I can never seem to train at once.

Of course, I am now happily on leave, so I'm going to endeavor to forget as much about super-fun-infantry-type-stuff while I can. Nice to get leave time, and I'll be back in Fargo in about seventeen hours or so, so that'll be a good thing. Been too long since I've been home.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on December 22, 2012, 12:21:42 am
Holy shit, that's a lot of weight. It's hard for me to walk quickly with my 30lb euphonium case on my back, much less run.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on December 22, 2012, 01:03:33 am
A lot of it is packing the weight properly, and a ruck sack does a fair job of distributing it, then for the actual march, it's normally just a continual walk. Our set time for the 12 mile was at a 15 minute mile pace, for example. In my case, considering that my stride is pretty bad, I switch between walking and jogging every few minutes.


Other than that, I've finally finished (re)packing my bags, it's after midnight, my room is currently a terrible disaster, so everything's right with the world. Hopefully Delta doesn't manage to screw up my flights tomorrow (not that *that's* ever happened before, of course.)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Heron TSG on December 22, 2012, 01:15:50 am
Nothing quite like packing up everything you own in a midnight whirlwind panic and traveling hundreds of miles. Especially not when the destination is home. I didn't think I'd miss it as much as I did the few days before coming back for Winter break.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on January 02, 2013, 12:55:30 am
Well, back to Ft. Hood and the grind. Man but I left my room in a poor state. Five hours until I have to start worrying about work, so I think that I'll see how far I can get cleaning it up. Sleep is for the sane, after-all.


Fargo's thirty degrees colder than central Texas, just as a general rule, but I'm almost always warmer there than here. Everything in Fargo seems like it's built with minimizing outdoor exposure time whenever possible, and you just plain don't leave home without a hat and coat. Here though, it's perfectly normal for a round dozen people to be stuck outside the airport waiting for rides without even a wall to block the wind. I mean, it's not *that* warm here. Felt pretty high speed to still have my winter gloves and hat in my bag for that.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on January 02, 2013, 04:10:02 am
Welp. I've seemingly made things considerably worse. I've got waaay too much stuff here, really.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on January 19, 2013, 09:24:08 pm
Happy (early) birthday. I hope you have a good one.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on April 10, 2014, 08:22:39 am
Well, it's been an awfully long time since I've posted here, isn't it? I'm still a dog of the army, doing the same old thing with the same unit as my whole career, but now in Korea and with Sergeant rank on my chest. Seven months from now I'll likely be starting my terminal leave and bouncing out of the Army. Figure that it's about time that I get my shit together, right?


For the short term, I'm going to look into some of my educational benefits. At least for the moment, the ones I can get while serving as compared to the ones after I'm discharged are completely different and non-overlapping. For now, I've gone through the effort of trying to get back into the tuition assistance program. Trying to get some classes out of the way right now certainly won't hurt, although I still don't know what I'd really like to study (my old TA request that I did as a dumb private was through Central Texas College, so I'm planning to pursue it through them. From my understanding, they're pretty transferable).

I need to get to an Army education center one of these days and look at my options because I know that there's real-space classes held around here. Besides the value in actual education, getting back into the swing of attending and staying awake for a class would be a good talent to have. Then there's figuring out what, if anything, my old bushel of AP credits are good for. And trying to max out an ACT and SAT. And probably and CLEP I can get my hands on. Heck if that doesn't seem like a big work load to do while continuing to work on my tank. Eh, suppose that it'll be fun enough.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: vagel7 on April 14, 2014, 02:42:45 pm
Why not go for a military career?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: sneakey pete on April 15, 2014, 02:41:23 am
Pay is terrible, is one thing.

Edit: i just looked it up. Even worse than I had assumed.
Sure, you do get freebies, like cheap food and cheap (free?) board, but you can get that working on an oil rig or a remote job, and get paid twice as much or more.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Aqizzar on April 15, 2014, 08:12:38 pm
For the short term, I'm going to look into some of my educational benefits. At least for the moment, the ones I can get while serving as compared to the ones after I'm discharged are completely different and non-overlapping. For now, I've gone through the effort of trying to get back into the tuition assistance program. Trying to get some classes out of the way right now certainly won't hurt, although I still don't know what I'd really like to study (my old TA request that I did as a dumb private was through Central Texas College, so I'm planning to pursue it through them. From my understanding, they're pretty transferable).

Well you're always free to stop by if you're in town again.  Best of luck man.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ToonyMan on April 16, 2014, 08:49:11 am
One of my friends enlisted in the Navy and got out around the same age you did.

After working at Toys R Us for a year he decided to get a BS in Electrical Engineering so that's how I met him.

The GI Bill would basically cover all of your tuition and housing so you wouldn't need to struggle with working.

I considered trying for a commission as a Submarine Officer over the last two months, but after some struggling the MEPS Doctor could not recommend me because of my near-blindness and so I was disqualified. My recruiter is pretty upset about it so he said he'd write any kind of recommendation letter for me which is nice I guess.

Anyway, I would heavily consider a good BS degree with the free money the Army would be giving you. My friend seems well set.

EDIT:
I wouldn't consider a military career unless you /really/ love the military.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on May 03, 2014, 04:43:27 am
I was looking at my records recently and noticed that it's now been a whole year since I became a Noncommisioned Officer. I was reflecting a bit on what all it means and especially why I'm unhappy with where I am these days.

I've spent all four years of my Army career (short of training) in the same platoon of the same company of the same battalion. I've crawled my way from being a dumb private to being a dumb private with a supervisory job and responsibility, to a specialist. Then back to the States and the tanks, I was trusted with being thrust into a gunner's role with three days of preparation, shot one tank and drove another during our tank qualification tables. A gunner on a tank is a supervisory, superior position to the lower crewmen, so I was then a leader, at least on paper.

I'm not sure when I really started to think about being a leader or acting like it. My authority has always been styled on being better than the other soldiers. I don't think that anyone is willing to argue the fact that I'm the resident expert on tanks amongst the gunners, or the fact that I've always done my damnedest to keep things as good as possible for the soldiers while still focusing on fighting first and foremost. At the end of the day, though, I feel like I'm utterly out of my element dealing with soldiers, especially when the way to get your voice heard amongst the nco's involves avoiding work, brown nosing, and a concerted effort to look good, not have a good platoon of tanks and tankers. Maybe it's a matter of never having real leadership training or mentoring other than a little bit cribbed from friends on the internet, but I don't feel happy all the time, any more.


I've spent all four years of my Army career (short of training) in the same platoon of the same company of the same battalion. I've seen four different first sergeants, four commanders, and a few different teams on the battalion level. These days, I can't help but feel depressed and angry when I look at the people in charge of us. Everything seems stacked against the soldiers now.

There's nothing wrong with hard work. One of the basic principles of effective training is that it be difficult. However, there's a fine line between forcing hard work for a team and continually grinding us down into nothingness. We never got off work before 7 pm last week. That's happened before, but this time, there wasn't a single good reason for it. It was just company leadership changing their minds about what the hell they wanted done, then making the platoons suffer for it. It gets worse when, instead of training for our job (fighting North Koreans from the Abrams) we do stupid shit. Layouts upon layouts. Pointless competitions about infantry skills. Being issued incorrect equipment just so it can be issued out. It's depressing. Worse, no one feels like it's going to change any time soon. The guys trust some sergeants, but I can't do a damn thing except wait for the day I reach my own boiling point. Then I'll have the fun oppurtunity to put take my chevrons off of my chest, add them to my hat and Frisbee them across the motor pool.


I'm not really sure what my point was to typing all this. My life in the Army isn't that bad and I cope just fine most days. Hell, I was genuinely happy under other command teams. I'm banking money at a damn respectable rate while I'm here, and I'm hoping to see more of Korea when I can. Yet, for all that, if I don't feel like the unit I'm working for is worth it any more, I can't really think of much other than getting out (of here, or of the army), bashing my head against the brick wall of our problems, or ineffectually treading water and watching the days tick by.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: MonkeyHead on May 03, 2014, 09:51:18 am
I have hared similar stories from others in many branches of the armed forces of a few nations - that a lot of the time those giving the orders don't actually have any orders to give, and instead issue the men under their command a lot of "keep busy", as if that will be good for readiness and moral, when the reverse is true. tales of endless potato peeling, and painting coal white are amongst some of the worst. From what others have told me this is even more likely if those further up the tree are new or have never seen combat and need to be seen to be doing something even if it is pointless, and less likely if their superiors are more experienced, have worked their way up the ranks, or are veterans in one way or another. One problem might be the fact that you are performing relatively peace-time service, where people who are good at what you have to do do not get a chance to shine as much as some pencil pushing desk surfer
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on July 23, 2014, 06:27:21 am
Hello everyone, I hope that life's going fine enough for you. I'm still around and kicking, but my real tanking days might be over.

I just got back from doing Gunnery. I'm sure in 100 pages of occasionally legible rambling I've mentioned it, it's *the* big deal for us. Table 6 gunnery tests our individual performance as a crew, while subsequent tables (which aren't as important to us, more for higher ups) are about section and platoon work.

I think that the exercise could have gone better, all things considered. Upper levels by straight score, but mediocre in qualified engagements. We ended up dropping several more engagements than we should have, but in all three cases, we picked them up reasonably quickly. 2 of the mistakes were mostly on me, one for bad ammunition, one for a shared poor call for acting like we were fighting instead of on a range. Despite the (occasional) best efforts of the Army, there's a big difference between battlefield best practices and getting the best score possible at gunnery. I will, without a doubt, stand by the fact that we fought through our problems better than any other tank, bar none (both of the dropped engagements were seconds away from qualified, and both of those seconds were rangism-errors).

If it's the best score versus the best combat practices, combat practices are the way I'd lean every time. However, it's still a somewhat depressing turn of events for my last big hurrah (nonwithstanding whatever chaos I start causing right before I bounce). Flexibility and making things work with everything is fucked up has been my hallmark as a NCO, using ridiculous amounts of elbow grease, expertise, and cobbled together solutions. Just once, though, I would have liked the chance to roll into gunnery with a crew that had practiced together ahead of time, or as a tank commander-gunner pair that had trained as a team for more than a week. Tanking is what I do (at least for this last stage of my life) and a perfect score should have been within reach.

Depressing, but we had some decently great moments, and the gunnery as a whole was mismanaged enough that simple survival is enough. Also, we stole and destroyed the company commander's hat, so that's a big plus.

The rest of my Army career should be downhill from here, so it's time for me to start getting seriously serious about post-Army life. I've been absent minded lately, but it should pass in a few days, probably-maybe-hopefully.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Reverie on July 23, 2014, 06:49:03 am
Congratulations on making it this far ^^
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Yoink on July 26, 2014, 09:05:52 am
Happy 100 Pages, and good luck with whatever your future may hold! :)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on February 22, 2015, 12:42:13 pm
"Warning: this topic has not been posted in for at least 120 days.
Unless you're sure you want to reply, please consider starting a new topic."

Shush you, forum.



Well, it's been a hot minute and I'm now separated from the army. Exactly what I'm doing next is pretty iffy, because I don't  have much of a clue.

The rough plan for the moment would be to end up at a traditional four year college. I think that I'd be competitive for some of the fancier places, with five years of soldiering, over a hundred semester hours of CLEP accreditation, and pretty good test scores. However, I don't have much of a clue what or where I'd want to study. Fortunately, most of that sort of school have a deadline for applications around winter, so I've got nearly a year to decide and apply.

Unfortunately, that would put around a year and a half before I'd be at school and a year and a half until I'd start collecting my GI Bill benefits. As long as my savings and car hold up (and the caddy has been a terrible, terrible money sink on the savings in the last year and a half), I can live pretty damn cheaply right now, but I'm still considering getting a job to help tide me over.

 I don't know if I really want to pick a city and settle down right away, though. I mean, my skills and talents aren't great, but I consider  myself a competitive enough employee. I like having the flexibility to pick up and drive wherever I want, so it'd need to be interesting, resume-building, flexible, or well-paying work to be really attractive to me at the moment. I've got a rough draft of a master resume built up that I'll keep working on as well as looking to see if I can find something to catch my interest.

I suppose that the ideal thing would be for me to try to pick up something internet-based that's enough to pay most of my meager expenses, but I don't have the skills or background to pursue something like that without additional experience and practice. I'm nowhere close to the 100,000 words of crap before anything I'll write would be presentable. For now, writing more on here is fun enough practice for things.


Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: MonkeyHead on February 22, 2015, 12:50:18 pm
"Warning: this topic has not been posted in for at least 120 days.
Unless you're sure you want to reply, please consider starting a new topic."

Shush you, forum.



Well, it's been a hot minute and I'm now separated from the army. Exactly what I'm doing next is pretty iffy, because I don't  have much of a clue.

The rough plan for the moment would be to end up at a traditional four year college. I think that I'd be competitive for some of the fancier places, with five years of soldiering, over a hundred semester hours of CLEP accreditation, and pretty good test scores. However, I don't have much of a clue what or where I'd want to study. Fortunately, most of that sort of school have a deadline for applications around winter, so I've got nearly a year to decide and apply.

Unfortunately, that would put around a year and a half before I'd be at school and a year and a half until I'd start collecting my GI Bill benefits. As long as my savings and car hold up (and the caddy has been a terrible, terrible money sink on the savings in the last year and a half), I can live pretty damn cheaply right now, but I'm still considering getting a job to help tide me over.

 I don't know if I really want to pick a city and settle down right away, though. I mean, my skills and talents aren't great, but I consider  myself a competitive enough employee. I like having the flexibility to pick up and drive wherever I want, so it'd need to be interesting, resume-building, flexible, or well-paying work to be really attractive to me at the moment. I've got a rough draft of a master resume built up that I'll keep working on as well as looking to see if I can find something to catch my interest.

I suppose that the ideal thing would be for me to try to pick up something internet-based that's enough to pay most of my meager expenses, but I don't have the skills or background to pursue something like that without additional experience and practice. I'm nowhere close to the 100,000 words of crap before anything I'll write would be presentable. For now, writing more on here is fun enough practice for things.

Considered anything engineering based? There is decent cash in jobs where you can travel freely to work on heavier engineering projects, and with your work on tanks and whatnot you have the transferable skills...
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on February 28, 2015, 01:53:32 pm
I'd definitely be very interested in doing engineering work, it's just always a matter of finding someone with flexible enough requirements that I can spin three years of bussing tables and five years of tanking into meeting them (although I've written up some resumes that I consider very impressive off of that). I need to come up with some better networking to figure out an option for a to-do-for-now job.


Well, completely meeting expectations, my car has now developed a pretty considerable oil leak. Fortunately, I've made it down to visit my grandparents, so immobility isn't an arrow in my heart. Mechanic appointment on Monday which will hopefully reveal cheap repairs only. The cost of repairs on the car is now just about at the amount I paid for the thing, and it just brushed over 70,000 miles. A new car is certainly high on the priority list. I'd like something that I can sleep in as comfortably as my caddy, but money is money is money.


First pass through on colleges to think about has begun, using a Princeton review book. Lucky number 69 for different options, plus two North Dakota schools to consider. I obviously need a lot more time to process choices, but it's a start.


Other than that, South Texas is cold, but much warmer than central. Money is always an object, but I can drop my spending requirements nicely while I'm couch surfing. Depending on how my car works out, I'm considering holing up in Florida for a bit. At standard rates for renting a college-town type room, I can actually save money vs living in a car, plus all the time and trouble on it saved.


Too soon to know anything for sure and too tough to find a place to head to. Fun Fun Fun.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on March 03, 2015, 12:15:27 pm
Good luck. Glad to see everything's going relatively well enough.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on March 06, 2015, 02:05:31 pm
Hehe. Nice forum here guys, and girls :) Nice to be here.

Hello?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 07, 2015, 01:38:01 pm
I'm perfectly happy to welcome any and all types to the thread, unless they turn out to be poor posters. In that event, I'm sure that we can trace their origin to the pit of horribleness in Life Advice, the general computer questions spot.


Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on March 09, 2015, 01:16:23 pm
I'm perfectly happy to welcome any and all types to the thread, unless they turn out to be poor posters. In that event, I'm sure that we can trace their origin to the pit of horribleness in Life Advice, the general computer questions spot.

What? That's like the only worthwhile thread on here.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 16, 2015, 12:15:10 pm
I'm perfectly happy to welcome any and all types to the thread, unless they turn out to be poor posters. In that event, I'm sure that we can trace their origin to the pit of horribleness in Life Advice, the general computer questions spot.

What? That's like the only worthwhile thread on here.

Sure, but there's more posts in it than in this thread, so I can hardly trust it, just for competition's sake. Besides, it gives me a reasonable scapegoat for my long line of computer problems. General Computer Advice is plotting against me, I tell you.



Car is busted and in the shop, so I've found myself back in Fargo for some time. It's more than a little stressful for me to be back home in the basement, but I'm trying to make the best of it. I've said it more than once before, but I hope that it'll run okay after this chunk of money sunk into it. :|


All things considered, I need a car, then somewhere to live, then a job. With some polishing, my resume should be ready to get sent out to more companies. A job for now, then eventually a college, but the car seems to hold everything up for now.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Zrk2 on March 16, 2015, 10:47:49 pm
I suppose you don't want to work in a factory or anything, let alone for the rest of your life, so what are you thinking for college?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on October 13, 2015, 09:01:18 pm
Quote
Warning: this topic has not been posted in for at least 120 days.
Unless you're sure you want to reply, please consider starting a new topic.


Bah humbug to you too, forum software.

Anyway, Life and Times continue! I've successfully fixed my car (again. And again, it should be okay for awhile now. It's just over 80,000 miles, for Armok's sake). Amazingly, I've found myself in a tank-related job, which is pretty great. For a bachelor, the pay is pretty generous.  Unfortunately, it's not what I'd really like to do for the rest of my life. The pay is fine for now, but it doesn't come with much chance of advancement nor a ton of job security. Also, I think that I'd like to do something in Air Conditioning that doesn't require me to smash my hand with heavy tools on a regular basis. In the short term though, groovy as hell.

My current intention is to pick up the whole traditional college thing come Fall 2016. I'm almost a top-level student, and I'm hoping that my army career can drag my test scores and grades up a percentile or three. I'm working on crawling through applications right now, but it's an amazingly frustrating project. They, as a general rule, are *really* not set up for people who haven't been in high school for five years. Trying to reestablish contact with my old teachers and counselors is a particular pain, plus getting test score to every school I'm considering (at last cut, I think it was 11 or so. I'm spitballing school selection fairly badly) is looking like an annoying expense.


So yeah, I haven't caught a bullet yet and all that.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: MetalSlimeHunt on October 16, 2015, 09:25:04 pm
Fair warning, speaking as one of these hip young collegiate people you clearly aspire to become, there is definitely a level of social bias against former military students. Now, don't get me wrong, it isn't a post-Vietnam "baby killers go home" type thing (usually, I'd avoid the Humanities department in general and the Gender Studies majors in particular if I was you, or if I was me, or anybody), but more of a perception that former military are vaguely disconnected and sometimes act way outside the bounds of acceptability.

I myself have seen both sides of the coin in my time as a student, with the good of one of my current roommates who's a very helpful guy and the bad of a former acquaintance/former army interrogator who loved to violate people's personal space and be sexually aggressive (emphasis on the aggressive) towards any and all women around him.

Anyway, just so you know, there might be people who think you're an asshole-to-literal-psychopath right off the bat if you're conspicuous about being in the army.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on November 03, 2015, 06:07:21 pm
I'm somewhat concerned about that. Being a civilian again is certainly going to be a jump for me; my current 100% veteran employment is either going to keep me military longer than I should or be a nice halfway stepping stone. Hopefully, my general mindset of letting people do their own thing will serve me well, but hey, if someone needs to get cussed out, I've got a damn good bit of experience points in it.

All things considered, it probably won't be too difficult to pick me out as a vet.
(http://terminallance.com/wp-content/uploads/comics/2014-09-05-Strip_343_Anatomy_of_a_Veteran_web.gif)
As a general rule, I keep three out of seven for this list and there's little chance that I abandon my military style stuff, just because it's all hard wearing and functional (although I do need to buy a new pair of contractor cargo pants one of these days)




Beyond that, I'm still working and working on these applications. My piece seems to be pretty much complete, at least for the primary concern schools. Unfortunately, recommendations are really biting me in the ass right now. I need at least two, possibly up to four teacher recommendations for these applications, and it's been some time since I last talked to my teachers. Tonight or tomorrow, I'll probably reach out and try to make contact with all of them again, just because there doesn't seem to be any substitute for this part of the Common Application (that and the damn ACT section doesn't let me go far enough back in time to list the first time I took it).

I need to bug some of my old leadership about it too, but they're much easier to talk to, both because they're in the same state and generally in the small category of people I'm comfortable talking to.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: nenjin on November 03, 2015, 07:02:46 pm
What you may find the most striking about working with civilians again is how they approach getting shit done. Coming off being task-oriented for so long, the dithering and procrastibation you see in others might make you want to curse someone out.

I remember having a veteran of Afghanistan in one of my classes, probably 8 years ago. The guy definitely seemed like he felt out of place, he still had the cut of the military on him and he was real quiet but, I dunno, composed? It was a creative writing class and so when he wrote about (and read) one of his experiences from combat, you could have heard a pin drop in the classroom after he'd finished. Because exactly no one in the room could really grok that level of reality. I dunno what it's like on college campuses now. But I'd imagine some of the reverence has worn off and how you present yourself as a vet can have a pretty big impact on it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on December 17, 2015, 08:57:41 pm
Life has still failed to tag me with anything and I remain gainfully(ish) employed!

I'm currently struggling with college applications still. I turned in the actual application, but turning in all of my various standardized test scores is its own process as well as the individual things the colleges require. In related news, the guys who run the ACT are a bunch of cheating bastards. They demand separate orders (and payments, of course) to send the scores for the individual tests I did, as well as 22 bucks per college per school additional for old schools. Total cost for sending two scores to six colleges (scores for tests that were not cheap when either I or the Federal Government paid for), comes out to 280 dollars for standard shipping. In related news, fuck those bastards. Unless a school asks for them specifically, they can be happy with my much more reasonably costing SAT score (67 and change).

Also in related news, I'm going to begin drinking *before* I start working on these applications again, not after the sticker shock hits.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 05, 2016, 08:34:07 am
Hiya everyone, for a semi-special travel edition post!

I've got a fun weekend planned, flying Colorado to Texas, driving nonstop 1600 miles to Fargo, then fly back to Colorado. Hopefully the trip will go smoothly, although I'm wondering when the next time I'll be able to sleep in a bed will be.

Colorado Springs has a surprisingly nice airport, and the flights were reasonably priced. On the negative side, they don't serve booze until seven, plus I'm going to stay stone sober for my flights so I can get on the road right after landing.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Helgoland on March 05, 2016, 03:36:01 pm
driving nonstop 1600 miles to Fargo
Avoid woodchippers.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 06, 2016, 09:25:25 pm
Alright, the road trip portion is complete. 26.5 is far too long to be driving, I think. I'm going to enjoy the remainder of my 24 hours at home once I get some sleep.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Parsely on March 07, 2016, 05:43:58 pm
How did college apps go? I remember working with you on that. I got one other editing job after that and that was it. Now I'm making video games. The freelance lifestyle continues and luckily I haven't starved yet.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 21, 2016, 09:29:10 pm
Alrighty, it's time for college application results season! Actually, it's kinda the early notice period from one college who feels like doing it two weeks before anyone else.

And it is a REJECTION. Fortunately, it wasn't a school that I was especially keen to go to at this point, so that's nice.

Current status!
Main tier schools: 2/6 reporting

Rejected: 1
Application declined: 1
     (sure nice of them not to mention the SAT subject test being a requirement ahead of time. Bastards)
Application informally declined but pending: 1
     (sure nice of them not to mention that they are very much not big fans of people who aren't just out of high school until after I've given them money. Also bastards.)
Pending: 3
     (April 1st give or take a day)


Second tier schools!
Applied, acceptance imminent: 1
     (They didn't even want my grades. Or test scores. I'd need a generous aid package to shuffle up, I think)
Applications whenever I get time: 1-3
     (My laziness for purely personal responsibilities knows no bounds)
 
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 23, 2016, 06:02:13 pm
And rejection #2 is in. I should probably have realized that my time in the Service would have cost me at least a bit more. C'est la vie.



Current status
Main tier schools: 3/6 reporting

Rejected: 2
Application declined: 1
     (sure nice of them not to mention the SAT subject test being a requirement ahead of time. Bastards)
Application informally declined but pending: 1
     (sure nice of them not to mention that they are very much not big fans of people who aren't just out of high school until after I've given them money. Also bastards.)
Pending: 3
     (April 1st give or take a day)


Second tier schools!
Applied, acceptance imminent: 1
     (They didn't even want my grades. Or test scores. I'd need a generous aid package to shuffle up, I think)
Applications whenever I get time: 1-3
     (My laziness for purely personal responsibilities knows no bounds)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on March 25, 2016, 08:53:34 pm
Alrighty, I'm going to replace this post of nonspecific drunkenness with surprisingly good news. Assuming that it's neither a sophisticated phishing attempt nor a mistake, I've actually been accepted in my number one choice school. I'll refrain from massive partying, both from concern it'll all go south, and because drunk Strife continues to not be someone who is especially decent or useful.


Woohoo college.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on May 01, 2016, 11:13:48 am
Well, I'm in a reasonably iffy situation, as normally happens when my car breaks down. Probably the electronics this time which probably means that I'm going to buy something new instead of continuing to pour money down the pit.

At the moment, my place of residence is a Killeen roach motel that, while iffy, is surprisingly nice. I only get one channel, but the place is cheap. My plans to find an actual place to rent are on hold until I get some transportation again.

Fun times, all things considered.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Helgoland on May 01, 2016, 02:54:21 pm
When are you starting college?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on May 01, 2016, 04:32:38 pm
It'll be in September, from my understanding, although I haven't actually seen the information packet, because it takes awhile for mail to catch up to me.

My plan at the moment is stopping work at the beginning of July, spending a week hanging around Texas, then a month driving around the country before I head West with enough time to get settled in before classes start. The driving part is, unfortunately, somewhat in flux at the moment.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Helgoland on May 01, 2016, 05:09:16 pm
What part of 'going full-on hobo' needs big planning?


(Or weren't you planning on living out of your car? It seems like the thing to do when you're young.)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on May 01, 2016, 08:01:52 pm
It doesn't need full blown planning, but it does, unfortunately, need a car. At least with the amount of stuff I need to at least get back to North Dakota.

And probably some planning to hit a convention or two and visit all the relatives I haven't seen in five years. So not a lot, but a bit.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 03, 2016, 10:12:20 pm
Hello everyone, I'm Strife26 of Bay 12, your favorite mercenary, unwilling Texan, somewhat sociopathic, generally decent, wandering, whiny, wrong-subforum using Bay12 blogger, here to report from A-Kon 27! It's an Anime convention in Dallas, TX and I recall going to one some number of years ago (I definitely couldn't figure out which year, of course, unless I went archive diving here in the hope that I mentioned it). The decision to head up for the weekend was only made last night, some I'm riding seat of my pants. First scout-through of the convention is positive, plenty of stuff, people, and it seems decently run 

Anyway, the drive up here went better than expected and my hotel room is quite nice. After all the time in Colorado living in a Homewood Suites, this place seems more like home than my apartment. Really reasonable cost to my rewards point total and right across the street from the convention hotel to boot. Negative side: I'm on the second floor and ten meters from the elevators, so there's plenty of noisy groups stomping around.

In addition to enjoying the con, my secondary goal is tracking how social I'm being. Conventions are definitely more fun with friends and I'm rolling stag. If I'm going to end up a civilian again, I definitely need to add some more points to my Charisma score. There's no problem at all with people I know, but interacting informally with those I don't ain't my thing. Heading to college and the civilian world in general (my contracting job with 100% veteran employees is a start, but not really civilian, I think) , it's definitely going to be an important thing to get better at.

Unfortunately, it seems that crowds of people are faceless and annoying to me, except for especially cool cosplayers, which are just interesting to appreciate. I'm going to try to
strike up at least one conversation. Maybe more? Even writing this is bolstering my mood, which is gratifying. In addition, there's going to be a bit of alcohol to weather my mood, but definitely not enough for my normal shitty, shitty, shitty drunk side to come out. Total allocation is three drinks, which seems just right for one full day and two half ones.

Also, groups of people walking slowly line abreast are probably deserving of a specific circle in hell.


Current plan is catch a quick nap, then check out the dance tonight. Probably edm and probably much better on something other than alcohol. I'm not ahead enough on sleep, so going for caffeine isn't an option; just going to go with the best of hopes, but I haven't been impressed at the last convention dance I went to. There's a steampunk ball too, but all my cosplay equipment that I can switch over to steampunk is currently unavailable in North Dakota.

Tomorrow, there's a fair number of panels I'm going to try to catch, especially if I can catch the author Eric Flint to thank him for the Baen Free Library and try to get him to sign my cruddy copy of In the Heart of Darkness. I've never actually read this particular copy, preferring my eReader edition from my phone, but it'd still be damn cool to have. S. M. Stirling will be here too, and I have a copy of his Under the Yoke that I've never read as well (and wonder why I ever bought it, judging from the back cover). He's a well regarded SF writer, so it'd be cool to exchange some words as well. John Ringo will be around too. Maybe I'll call him a hack.

Plus a few Undertale panels, some miscellany, wasting money on cool stuff, and a visit to the "Goblin Market" which seems like something sort of minigame area full of adventure, it'll be a fun, filled day tomorrow.

So yeah, I'm going to my damnedest to have a fun time. Fake it until you make it and all that.

Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: TheBiggerFish on June 15, 2016, 04:44:42 pm
Wellp, it is my sworn duty to PTW everything, so here I am.

Hi!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 18, 2016, 02:10:49 pm
Welcome to the thread, enjoy the spotty writing, regularly broken promises, and general ambience of the area.


I'll totally finish my write up about A-kon in the near future, combined with a report about Comicpalooza, where I'm currently waiting for an Aliens panel to begin.

Long story short, I'm still not getting into the social thing, but listening to good authors talk is always very enlightening.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Sheb on June 20, 2016, 12:00:22 pm
He, I though I had PTW this. Have you chosen a major yet?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 26, 2016, 06:58:17 pm
He, I though I had PTW this. Have you chosen a major yet?

Not as of yet. Choosing a major still seems to be awfully close to finding an answer to the "what do you want to be when you grow up" question, which I think is beyond me still.

Right now, my plan is to head to start on a general first year engineering track and work my way from there. If I had to guess, maybe something in aerospace or materials, and end up in the space industry or the tank industry, because those are both pretty cool, pretty up my alley, fairly positive towards society, and decently paying.

On the side, I'm going to work in writing classes as I can; writing's always been something of a goal. Of course, it's been a goal for years and the amount of words that I've produced is very low and the amount of words I've produced that are good enough to see the light of day is pretty close to zero. Reading what I wrote in here in years past always makes me cringe.



Anyway, A-Kon and Comicpalooza. Interesting places, although I definitely feel like A-Kon was more fun. Comicpalooza had a much more corporate, well-run feel to it. The panels, however, were extremely disappointing. A lot of related topics were running concurrently, and the panels I did make weren't terribly on topic. Post-Apocalyptic and Dystopian fiction panel successfully went through the entire run-time without giving Dystopia or Post-Apocalypse or Apocalypse good definitions while the Military Science-Fiction panel was only cool because one of the speakers was a PMC type, and it was pretty interesting to hear a bit about the gun-based flavor of military contracting instead of my strictly vehicle-based sort. Not much about either science fiction or about military sf, unfortunately.

A-Kon had a particularly cool evening in the Goblin Market, a vaguely creepy steampunk affair. There's something fun and interesting about abandoning the suspension of disbelief for a few hours. I successfully scored a dream in a bottle in return for credit on a memory as well as three bottles of concentrated sins. Pride is my favorite of the bunch; I figure that it's the deadliest of the seven. During my lower periods, it should provide a needed pick-me-up. Sloth and Gluttony were the leftovers. Nothing wrong with them, but apparently not what the crowd wanted. Sloth should be useful when money's tight, because without effort, there's no money spent. Gluttony? Well, nothing wrong with going to buffets and maximizing food, right?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: TheBiggerFish on June 26, 2016, 07:24:40 pm
Coool.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on July 01, 2016, 08:42:59 pm
I'm working on finishing up the last few things I want to do in Texas before I leave the State for an indeterminate amount of time (again). Tonight is a last night's romp through Austin, probably Sixth Street.

Interestingly, I've blundered into the outskirts of the RTX (Rooster Teeth) convention. However, doesn't seem like there's anyone I'd especially want to see, and I'm mostly conned out, so I don't think that I'll be going.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on July 19, 2016, 02:14:10 pm
I'm in Ft. Wayne, Indiana today, sitting at a coffee shop, wondering about my future plans, and utterly failing at getting any fiction written. On the bright side, I'm reasonably confident that my goal of spending 40 dollars per day for this period is probably attainable.

Considering spending a ridiculous amount of time in the gym tonight, visiting the local zoo tomorrow, then working my way towards Ohio for a bit. Definitely looking forward to visiting DC when I can, but I'm not sure if I should do that before or after I roll through New England.


Lots of decisions to make, lots of words that I'm not typing.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on July 23, 2016, 08:55:57 am
Posting from a rest area that I'm reasonably sure is in New York somewhere. The signs aren't in French, so I don't think that I wandered into Canada. For some strange reason, this rest area lacks a drinking fountain, but I keep enough H20 that it's no big deal, although I'm a bit iffy about the lack of rest areas and truck stops in this part of the country.

Besides that, I've been remarkably unproductive writing-wise on this trip, but I'm almost always remarkably unproductive. I have made it through two out of three of my required summer reading books, which I'm proud of. Holy shit, but A Paradise Built in Hell was an annoying slog of a read. Occasional bits of interesting things, but combined with terrible ivory tower preaching. More than once, there were fifty page sections where I would have been better served by firing up YouTube and watching the music video for John Lennon's Imagine again. Better logic, more persuasive, and much less of an imposition on my damn time.


Beyond that, all is well, although both my feet have been bitten to heck and back by bugs. Damn mosquitos. I'm going to look into some way of keeping them out of my car without resorting to bug spray or burning a candle all night.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: MetalSlimeHunt on July 23, 2016, 01:45:57 pm
They're still assigning that? Jesus christ, I thought that was like a one year thing.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on July 23, 2016, 04:08:53 pm
They're still assigning that? Jesus christ, I thought that was like a one year thing.

Apparently not. It might have successfully entered the school study canon at this point. It certainly hits some of the general requirements.

There are two other required books for me to read, one of them was an agreeably short coming of age story (with the required twist at the end, of course) and the other is a coming to America story that I haven't started yet.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on August 02, 2016, 01:52:02 pm
I'm in Upper New York today! Planning to spend a day or two checking out Niagara. There's two close-enough Planet Fitnesses (Fitnessi?)  that are open 24/7, so plenty of places to sleep.

After that, I'd like to hit the Freedom Trail and then DC, but I probably need to do some looking at planning more in detail.

Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Helgoland on August 09, 2016, 07:17:04 pm
Tell me: Where does one shower when living out of a car? Everything else I can imagine, but public showers are hard to come by, no? And I for one would rather not rely purely on sponge baths for extended amounts of time...
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on August 09, 2016, 08:28:00 pm

I completely recommend a planet fitness or other gym membership. Mooching off people is a short term option and trying to go with sponge baths six days per week and a hotel on Sundays is doable (no worse than Army life in the field, at least). Truck stops are a bad idea, because, unless you buy enough diesel to get it for free, their showers are ridiculously expensive. I've taken one truck stop shower and it was a very clean, pleasant facility. However, it cost me 12 bucks, compared to the 20/month I pay for my gym membership.

Also, I've found that 24 hour gyms to be a good place to belly up and park to sleep. Good for general wellness too. At the moment, my location is a Boston parking lot, but because I've been walking around Boston all friggin day, I'm skipping my workout today. Maybe tomorrow too. I will however, wake up and mooch my morning shower regardless.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Helgoland on August 10, 2016, 06:41:17 pm
Is that a membership for all locations of that chain, or just the one? Because living out of a car would be most appealing for me in the context of a big tour of, I dunno, the US or Western Europe or something.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on August 11, 2016, 12:27:12 pm
It's good for all of them, and the only place in the States where I haven't been able to find one close enough for my tastes was south Texas. Also, feel free to send me a big check at some point Planet Fitness, I'm totally worth it as a sponsor. I have no idea about Europe, but I'd imagine that hostels are frequent enough for that to be a low-cost option. The only time I ever seriously considered staying at a hostel was in Austin, and I ended up getting a decent hotel room for several dollars cheaper.



I've made my way to Hartford, Connecticut! Today's plan is camp out on the wifi and outlets of this restaurant all day so that I can catch up on all the college requirements that I have. Tomorrow, I'm going to look into a Mark Twain museum that I heard is in the neighborhood, then push on to Baltimore and begin looking at the Mid-Atlantic areas.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on August 15, 2016, 07:46:21 pm
I'm in Baltimore for tonight and tomorrow! I ended up getting a hotel room last night, mostly because car camping was really wearing me down. While the hit to my budget is a bit annoying, definitely worthwhile, all things equal.

Working on doing laundry right now. At three bucks for the smallest machine available, I better see all of my missing and mismatched buttons replaced. 
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: MetalSlimeHunt on August 15, 2016, 08:03:30 pm
Hope it's not a Red Roof Inn.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on August 16, 2016, 07:32:21 am
Hope it's not a Red Roof Inn.

Red roof plus, actually. I've never had a problem with them before.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: MetalSlimeHunt on August 16, 2016, 10:48:19 am
/me shudders in remembrance.
 
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on August 16, 2016, 03:24:00 pm
I think that there's a story here that needs to be shared.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: TheBiggerFish on August 16, 2016, 05:58:02 pm
I'm in Baltimore for tonight and tomorrow! I ended up getting a hotel room last night, mostly because car camping was really wearing me down. While the hit to my budget is a bit annoying, definitely worthwhile, all things equal.

Working on doing laundry right now. At three bucks for the smallest machine available, I better see all of my missing and mismatched buttons replaced.
Baltimore woo!

While you're in the area, Thrashers fries, get some.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: MetalSlimeHunt on August 16, 2016, 06:03:01 pm
More like an amalgamation of stories. Back in the olden days of three months ago, when I was in college, I did collegiate debate. This required a lot of traveling and a lot of hotels on a somewhat questionable budget. The range of hotels was rather diverse, some good (Comfort Inn & Suites for life) and some bad (Quality Inn in Chicago, can still feel the carcinogens), we eventually ended up in an equilibrium of no money balanced against not wanting to die of disease that landed on Red Roof Inn.

Admittedly, they weren't Red Roof Plus, and they weren't always nightmarish, though they were always bad for one reason or another. The logic went that Red Roof had did a national renovation recently, and so their hotels would all be above quality for their prices. I always knew the truth, though. The very first time we stayed at a Red Roof, before it became our standard, the room had a vague smell of disease. It's hard to quantify what exactly it smelled like. The term I settled on was "smells like cholera", in that it wasn't overwhelming but the evolutionary alarm bells started blaring whenever I wasn't doing anything distracting.

I did get sick after staying there, but it was just a normal cold and not cholera, and debate trips tend to spread disease anyway. As such, I can't prove anything, but I know the truth.

It gets worse, though! See, of all the places we stayed, Red Roof was the only one lacking in a mini-fridge. Because of this jarring change, people would always bring food back with them because hording like a TLC special is a necessity on debate trips, only to have nowhere to preserve it. Debate can also last from sunrise to past midnight, so the food would just sit there over the course of days and inevitably rot. Our fault? Maybe. But circumstances made it happen over and over again.

The real kicker was the time we stayed at one where my group of 5 for a 4 person max room was first directed to a room where we found some poor fuck showering, and then after requesting an uninhabited room to one that was partially under construction and strewn with random but concerning garbage, like a shower walker just sitting in the shower and a few empty tubes of caulk.

Their TV choices were also always terrible, managing to eliminate both Family Feud and Chopped, the two traditional shows to watch after 14 continuous hours of running around unfamiliar schools interrupted only by pushing your brain to 200% capacity to argue at someone with the pace of the Micromachines Guy.

In short, fuck Red Roof Inn. Even the Super 8 in bumfuck nowhere we got stranded at during a blizzard once was better, and that had a guy who tried to molest me because he liked my beard.

Oh yeah, and there's this. (http://www.wbtv.com/story/30058536/fbi-investigating-teen-human-trafficking-at-charlotte-hotel)
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on August 16, 2016, 08:24:24 pm
I'm in Baltimore for tonight and tomorrow! I ended up getting a hotel room last night, mostly because car camping was really wearing me down. While the hit to my budget is a bit annoying, definitely worthwhile, all things equal.

Working on doing laundry right now. At three bucks for the smallest machine available, I better see all of my missing and mismatched buttons replaced.
Baltimore woo!

While you're in the area, Thrashers fries, get some.
 

I'm now down on the DC outskirts. Are these fries sufficiently amazing to justify a two and a half hour backtrack?



Reminds me a lot of my speech/debate/student congress days! Best Western Seven Seas in Bismarck was my old home away from home.

Washington DC for tomorrow, I'm more than a little iffy about the parking lot I've found for tonight, but I'm going to roll with it for now. I'm still on the fence between doing two or three days to see the sights in the Capital. Probably 3, but that'll be schedule and patience permitting.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on August 17, 2016, 12:06:12 pm
I'm calling myself all tourist and museumed out now. Washington DC gets a half day from me, enough time to tour the memorials and Arlington National Cemetery. Some other day, when I'm rich and old and famous, I'll head back to this city and do a proper guided tour.

I was going to go do the international spy museum, but when I'm this blistered and tired, I don't think that I'll look back fondly on the twenty dollar investment.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on August 22, 2016, 07:42:51 pm
Alright, I spent a few very pleasant days down in Florida. It's the first time I've had a day on the beach in far, far too long. Also, sleeping in the car is definitely a step underneath an air conditioned couch. At the moment, the road to Virginia is stretching out before me. The plan is to make a pilgrimage to the Audie Murphy memorial then visit the Shenandoah Caverns before heading West.

I'm stopped somewhere in Georgia for gas, and I seem to have gotten deep south on me.

Ew.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: MetalSlimeHunt on August 22, 2016, 08:08:29 pm
Look on the bright side, at least you aren't in Florida anymore.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on August 25, 2016, 09:17:26 pm
Woohoo, another posting from a gas station! This one is a Love's somewhere or another in Ohio. My journey westward has now properly started! I visited a few things in Virginia, so I'm going to call that State visited now.

Beyond that, this particular truck stop has second rate hot dogs due to the absence of tomatoes.


Additionally! It is immensely entertaining to pronounce every State I pass through incorrectly. Ohio becomes something fairly similar to oreo. Rest assured that, in the event that there is cataclysmic restructuring of the world, I will do my level best to ensure that Oh-ee-oh is the future pronunciation of this area.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: MetalSlimeHunt on August 25, 2016, 09:28:20 pm
To the land of Ohreeo, where the shadows lie.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on August 25, 2016, 09:33:00 pm
To the land of Ohreeo, where the shadows lie.

Alright, when I write my end-of-the-world hard urban fantasy novel, that's definitely going to be included.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Arx on August 26, 2016, 02:41:39 am
Oheeo, Arkansiss, Kansaw...
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on August 26, 2016, 12:44:31 pm
Oheeo, Arkansiss, Kansaw...

Stupid reality, always beating simple fiction.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on August 28, 2016, 05:52:53 pm
My current destination is Duluth/Superior, Minnesota/Wisconsin and the current stop is Bumfuck, Indiana. Now, I'm not normally a big fan of indefinite detention without trial, but whatever incompetent individual did the civic planning for this general vicinity could totally go spend a few decades in Gitmo without my conscience being bothered too much.

The on-ramp was cleverly disguised as the entrance to a truck stop, letting me backtrack ten miles (and ten miles back) and enjoy the scenic Bumfuck countryside and road construction methods. I might be somewhat salty.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: MetalSlimeHunt on August 28, 2016, 07:29:47 pm
Welcome to the hell that is Flatland, you are legally obligated to play the refrain from Evanescence's Wake Me Up on infinite loop while driving here.

Also, avoid any towns suspiciously tucked away between non-flat geography, at least at night. These are portals to other worlds.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on August 28, 2016, 08:19:53 pm
This is no proper Flatland. Flatland, at least the parts I've spent most of my time in, is a beautiful place. Here, they've gone and squandered the landscape (I mean, all the terrain has allowable elevation variance even without the use of explosives). The roads are suffering from too much traffic, terribly low speed limits, and poor drivers.

Because my current scheduling is only giving me six hours extra in the drive, I'll be sure to try sleeping and adventuring in suspicious towns, hopefully I'll luck out and gain some hours back in an alternate world.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: MrWillsauce on August 30, 2016, 01:19:14 am
do you still have hope for obama, op?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Sheb on August 30, 2016, 02:16:09 am
Has your account been hacked or something?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on September 08, 2016, 12:13:54 pm
The first post of this thread is genuinely painful for me to read. I think that political talk can is best found in a more northern forum section, though.


Anyway, I'm in the tiny tourist town of Medora, North Dakota today and tomorrow, and in the general vicinity yesterday. Apparently, touristy spots are annoyingly expensive even when they aren't on the east coast. The lack of a gym nearby is requiring a ridiculously expensive hotel room, but I don't mind pumping a few dollars into the local economy too much (at least I'm continually telling myself that).

The badlands are ridiculously beautiful, at least in my opinion. Went on a nice hike through them, and probably another one someplace in Teddy Roosevelt National Park tomorrow. Assuming the weather holds, I'm going to catch a musical tonight, which should be fun.

Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Helgoland on September 08, 2016, 01:11:14 pm
Medora
Sounds like a cross between a fedora and a menstruation cup :P
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on September 08, 2016, 05:18:21 pm
If you're fast enough to be the first one to the patent office, you might be able to claim what I'm sure could be a very profitable invention.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on September 09, 2016, 11:03:51 pm
I have concluded that Wyoming is a good State. The traffic is light, the speed limits high, roads nice, and scenery pretty. Additionally, the towns frequently have giggle-worthy names.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: MetalSlimeHunt on September 09, 2016, 11:06:27 pm
Be careful. Not everybody who goes to Lost Yuoming comes back. Just don't go from there to Montana and it'll probably be fine.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: birdy51 on September 10, 2016, 08:11:21 am
...I think I briefly forgot about Montana's collective existence as a state.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on September 10, 2016, 10:13:23 am
I'm pretty sure that's the way that Montana prefers it. No time to jog up that way for this road trip, but I wouldn't mind visiting Billings again.

Today begins my stretch of hanging out in Colorado! The schedule is saying that I'm here until Thursday, but I'll see if that stands.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on September 11, 2016, 12:17:08 pm
After successfully parking on a slope, I believe that I'm fully prepared to drive in San Francisco. Hopefully the previous sentence does not guarantee that I find my vehicle rolling down the hill when I return to it.

My serious task for today is getting myself competent enough on math to be able to take a placement test. I'm planning to ignore the results of it, because I only have 36 months of school to get as much edumacation as I can. Spending my first year relearning things I learned in 2009 isn't in the cards. Hopefully, I can do well enough on this test to justify a general calculus course. Either way, I'm assuming that I'll be putting in plenty of hours to relearn rusted math skills during my first few quarters.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on September 17, 2016, 10:57:05 am
I have successfully made it to California! Thus far, the roads are questionable and the drivers remarkably rude. Currently, I've made it to the roguelike celebration in San Francisco, followed by a two days of trying to find a parking spot near school that doesn't cost more than I'm used to paying for rent.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: TheBiggerFish on September 17, 2016, 10:58:59 am
Yikes!
Good luck!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on September 17, 2016, 01:03:21 pm
After a few minutes at this conference, I am reaffirming my belief that shop talk by experts is always interesting and almost any point can be argued successfully.

I just heard some solid points for Words With Friends being a roguelike.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on September 19, 2016, 12:08:03 pm
Alrighty, I owe everyone a write-up about the roguelike celebration and a link to the cool slides that Toady had. Additionally, my adventures in Oakland that night deserve some words (pro-tip: don't go into Oakland).

Today's infuriating task is trying to deal with my parking problems. The college parking department doesn't seem to understand that nontraditional students might not be able to park their car with mommy and daddy. This is opposed to various other college departments that seem to understand the concept of a nontraditional student, including the financial aid folks, the housing department, the academic advisors, and literally everyone else.

So yeah, continuing my adventure of trying to find long-term parking in goddamn silicon valley with 1.5 business days of notice.

Day negative one of school!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: MetalSlimeHunt on September 19, 2016, 12:09:40 pm
You may have to commit a murder to get parking within this timeframe. I went to college in an isolated mountain town and I didn't get parking for three years.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on September 19, 2016, 12:26:50 pm
You may have to commit a murder to get parking within this timeframe. I went to college in an isolated mountain town and I didn't get parking for three years.

Right now, the plan involves legally ambiguous abuse of three hour parking zones and the fact that I own two sets of legal plates for my car, besides the emergency ones.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on May 11, 2017, 02:53:32 am
I remain alive and the college thing progresses with unexpected success and unsurprising stresses.

It's one am, my voice is down to a whisper from shouting, and I'm scribbling my homework on the back of my concert ticket. All things considered, I can't complain to much.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Rusty Shackleford on May 12, 2017, 06:59:53 am
Get a motorcycle and that solves your parking problems. Unless your school has some specific policy against it most people don't care or notice if you park a bike on the sidewalk up against a building or up against light poles in the parking lot.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 15, 2017, 08:56:14 pm
Get a motorcycle and that solves your parking problems. Unless your school has some specific policy against it most people don't care or notice if you park a bike on the sidewalk up against a building or up against light poles in the parking lot.


The problem with switching to a bike is that I'd still have my car, and my annoyingly large amount of possessions. I can move and live in the car, but trying to switch to saddlebags would be a big change.


In related news, the school year is over, and I've posted very little about it. Busy, interesting, occasionally infuriating, but I think that I'll do fine enough here.

The immediate problem I'm currently facing is that we're being kicked out of the dorm in the morning, and I still haven't figured out where to spend the summer. For now, I'm thinking that I'll pick up my road trip route again and head to either the northwest or to Vegas. Both seem interesting enough, and the budget is actually robust enough that I could probably find a sublet (in a place that isn't charging Bay Area rates) to settle down for the summer if I wanted. Dunno if that's what I'll do, though.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Helgoland on June 15, 2017, 08:58:05 pm
You could do a tour of Mexico, if the crime rate doesn't scare you off. Go somewhere properly foreign, y'know?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: MetalSlimeHunt on June 15, 2017, 09:00:14 pm
Ah yes, pass current border enforcement and drive around Mexico with your every material possession, great idea. I guess you could do a round-trip of Baja California's coastline.

Well, if there's any time you'd want to visit Northwest, it's probably summer. It's not utterly miserable there right now, I think?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 15, 2017, 09:59:00 pm
You could do a tour of Mexico, if the crime rate doesn't scare you off. Go somewhere properly foreign, y'know?

I thought about it, and I actually had recommendation to visit Los Cabos, but the extra care and planning I'd have to deal with by having all my things with me is the major turn off. I ended up leaving my car in the States when I visited Canada, and that ended up being a purely day-trip affair.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 16, 2017, 06:15:15 pm
Ah yes, pass current border enforcement and drive around Mexico with your every material possession, great idea. I guess you could do a round-trip of Baja California's coastline.

Well, if there's any time you'd want to visit Northwest, it's probably summer. It's not utterly miserable there right now, I think?

I think I'd rather have the winter. I'm making tracks north, but it's 100 degrees right now. The current plan is naming Portland tonight or tomorrow tomorrow morning smf attending a cider festival and tastings tomorrow's after.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Kandi Apple on June 16, 2017, 06:36:12 pm
Tell me: Where does one shower when living out of a car? Everything else I can imagine, but public showers are hard to come by, no? And I for one would rather not rely purely on sponge baths for extended amounts of time...

A recent discovery made myself while van camping this summer.  $12 or points earned fueling at  Flying J or Pilot Travel Centers is a rather nice thing.  The showers are great and they supply the soap and towels.  Of course I prefer my own, but still pretty sweet.   

While in Key West, the old retired wanderers explained 'sun showers' of using beachside public showers but as I am female, NO THANK YOU!
Not traveling that rough. 
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 16, 2017, 07:40:07 pm
Showering at truck stops is definitely an option, but I've found that most places aren't amenable to car fueling giving points, and cash-wise, twelve bucks is a third of the price of a cheap hotel room.

The showers are usually pretty awesome, though
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: ChairmanPoo on June 17, 2017, 06:25:12 am
Ah yes, pass current border enforcement and drive around Mexico with your every material possession, great idea

What could possibly go wrong?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 20, 2017, 03:19:20 pm
Well, a couple of days spent in Portland, although I haven't made nearly as wide of a survey of the area as I would like. The extensive and inexplicable laziness of last summer's road trip has returned in full force. I'm strongly considering going with the option of finding and renting something instead of finding places to sleep in the car (actually got rousted at 2 in the morning today, in an 24 hour gym parking lot, even).

Portland itself seems pleasant enough, although my attempt to visit the zoo was delayed by ridiculous numbers of people and 1.60 an hour parking. The culture seems decent and it looks generally acceptable from browsing the craigslist rentals. On the negative side, going to a grocery store and buying a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter, and two bottles of Powerade somehow topped ten bucks, which is pretty damn ridiculous to my mind. I think it might just be Safeways, though, because I recall the one I visited in California being crazy expensive too.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: MetalSlimeHunt on June 20, 2017, 03:21:21 pm
See, if you'd just had gone to Baja instead you'd be in an exciting thriller movie about Mexican cartels right now. Instead you've got organic latte bread and can't pump your own gas.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on June 20, 2017, 03:48:35 pm
See, if you'd just had gone to Baja instead you'd be in an exciting thriller movie about Mexican cartels right now. Instead you've got organic latte bread and can't pump your own gas.


Damn me and my poor decision making. It's amazing how disconcerting not pumping my own gas actually is. Am I supposed to tip for it?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: stabbymcstabstab on June 29, 2017, 07:34:04 pm
Don't tip for it, unless they do something to actually deserve like clean your windows for you.


And if you want somewhere to park and sleep,parking lots of strip malls and stores like Meijers are good places to do it.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on December 04, 2022, 11:34:31 pm
Been forever since I've posted in this thread, but the looming Steam release is making me nostalgic for the past. Maybe I'll have to post an update or an epilogue or somesuch.


BLUF: me is good engineer in LA who works too much and doesn't have much of a life outside of that.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: JoshuaFH on December 05, 2022, 12:06:02 am
Good to hear from you Strife.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: scriver on December 05, 2022, 09:18:07 am
Hey strife! Been thinking about you from time to time. I'm glad to hear you're doing well!
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Magmacube_tr on December 15, 2022, 06:13:52 pm
17 year old male

You grew up so fast. :'(

In like, what? 200 pages?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Strife26 on December 23, 2022, 03:15:08 pm
Something like that! And I probably stopped posting frequently five years ago or something.

It's pretty incredible how much went into this thread once upon a time. It's nice to look back on, so I think it's served its purpose.
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: bloop_bleep on January 07, 2023, 02:27:27 am
When you started this thread, you were 17 and I was 4, and now you are 30 and I am 17.

I see in your first post you mentioned you were applying to West Point. One of my friends is in JROTC and said you need a recommendation from your Congressman to apply to West Point. Was that also true back then? You know, in the olden times?
Title: Re: Life and Times of Strife26
Post by: Reudh on June 14, 2023, 04:36:07 am
Something like that! And I probably stopped posting frequently five years ago or something.

It's pretty incredible how much went into this thread once upon a time. It's nice to look back on, so I think it's served its purpose.

Classic strife moment