Signal Flare

Yup, still alive.


It's a shame that I have a no-blogging about-work-rule, because what with all the time I've been spending there in the past month or so, there's some awesome stories. I might have to write a few up and wait for the inevitable time when I'm no longer with this particular company... On a related note, at least to a couple of posts back, money is great (hell, I've at least doubled my usual in my last three paychecks), but time spent in the yard has diminished greatly, to the point where the grass is a lost cause... except for that mutant section, of course, that part just looks mildly pissed-off.


Rumor has it that I might actually have a day off next week, and what with this week's hours continuing the decline by dipping into the low 60s, one would hope that time for just about everything other than shower, sleep, and work (read: mebbe even posting a bloggy post or two) should show signs of improvement.

Did You Really Think I Wouldn't Notice?

Hmmm, how to phrase this...


Links.

If you take a gander over to the left, you'll see a bunch of really neat blogs, some interesting reading material, and my archives (if you're really a glutton for punishment).


The only link that I think is somewhat close to an advertisement is for a charity. I've got nothing against other folks posting links for profit - their blog, their rules. As for my blog well, I never say never, but not at this time...


I've been kind of freewheeling with my other links, 'cause that's what it appears to me that most other folks do - see something cool, link to 'em and write about it.


For the record, anybody out there that doesn't really want me linking to them in my posts or on my front page- no problem, drop me a line and I'll respect your wishes.


I'll comment on the occasional post - not nearly as many as I should, I know, but my blog feeder is getting out of control - so I suppose that technically, there's a link from some of my comments back to this site. What I don't do is comment on other folks' blogs with my comment consisting of nothing more than an advertisement for my little blog.


I got a comment / request recently, asking me to post a link to an on-line DVD shop. This didn't bother me much - someone asked a question, and I answered. Hell, I was somewhat flattered that someone out there thought that my stuff might actually toss them enough traffic to make a difference- but I declined.


Now, maybe I'm being a little sensitive here, long(ish)-term readers might understand the significance of the end of this month, so when I got a comment notification on a post for almost a year ago, I was most definitely not pleased to see a friggin' comment / link / advertisement.



I had comment notification.

I will now try to figure out how to do comment moderation to hopefully prevent this sort of... thing in the future.



In the event the posters of the above mentioned comments can't catch a clue if I crammed it up their rear - sideways, and sans dinner, drinks, or lube -, any of my blog savvy readers out there know how to delete undesirable comments? There's gotta be a way...



I do very much appreciate most all other mails and comments- funny, punny, questioning commiserating, hell- even the odd 'hey, dumbass...' ones.

Palm, meet Forehead; Forehead, Palm.

Ahahaha...

Looks like Jay G. decided to post a bit o' public mea culpa. Seems like the ole goober's been reading this li'l blog for awhile with not so much as a link... on... his... blogro-


*ring, ring...* [clue phone]

"Hello? Oh, it's for me!"

*smack!*


Hey everybody, guess what time it is?

Yup, blog love time!

MArooned is the cleverly titled blog of the above named author. Dad, gun-nut, biker, owner of what is possibly the best crazy-face with a shotty at the range that'll I'll ever see, and all around Masshole of the highest caliber (ha!). I've likewise been reading his blog for quite some time. 'Wicked Pissah' blog, Jay.


With a casual glance over at my feeder and blogroll, I note that I'm obviously not only in that particular same boat, but I'm the friggin' designer, captain, and ship's monkey. More blogs to be updated soon...

Please take note of the new link, port side, top.



Semper Fi.

A Question

So there I was, perusing my blog roll, when my laptop started to beep at me. WTH?, I thought, don't tell me this thing is going to go kaput on me, now.

My laptop is a couple of years old now, so I'm basically expecting it to die any day.

Turns out, I have some sort of IM!

Holy crap!

Can you tell I'm not the most technoliciallyisticified type person?

Anyways, through the course of my newfound IM-ing(?), there arose the question of female Marine bloggers. I know of a few out there, but haven't really run up to all that many. Any of my faithful reader(s) care to chime in and help me out, here? Links to bloggers of the fairer persuasion from those other, lesser (I yoke, I yoke) services are welcome, but especially Marines.

I felt kind of bad cutting the conversation short, but I have to take care of some stuff. Hopefully, these links will help with some information gathering-type stuff for a potential Marine.

For her (and me), thanks.

All The Cool Kids Are Doing It / Self Bloggy Introspective Navel Gazing

Created by OnePlusYou - Free Online Dating


All together now,

Riiiiiight....

You know, come to think of it, I had noticed somewhat of a shift in my blog the last few months or so. I dunno if it was going from my best attempts at telling a few stories word for word to talking in my own 'voice'. It might come as a surprise to some, but I am not nearly as... colorful as most of the Marines, soldiers, and sailors out there. Heh, some say, "It's always the quiet ones you gotta watch out for...", and I guess in my case it sometimes is proven true.

That's not to say that I can't string a few interesting words together, now and then. It's just that I guess I would have to say that I pick my moments. I also was a pretty firm believer in the phrase, 'publicly praise, privately punish'. If my boys did good, I'd let them (and others) know about it. If they messed up, I'd pull 'em aside and fix it. If they really pooched something, well, sometimes you had to deal with it then and there.

I nominally got into 'trouble', once (yeah, just once), and it took me a few seconds to realize that the SNCO was giving my hell for... wait for it... not being mean enough.

*ahem*

If he had just walked around the back of the tents 3 hours earlier, he would have seen me about knee deep in a pair of Lance Criminals that had really torqued me off. He also would have heard another Sergeant stop by after I had told my guys to disappear, 'Shit, man, you scared the hell outta me! I was having friggin' boot camp flashbacks!'

If he could see me now, he would be happy to learn that I do know a few words, like oh say these from the front. page. of. my. blog.

"Kill Fuckers and Break Stuff", "Big Green Weenie", "Fuck that Shit", "...take it up the stink", and, "Crap".

Blog Cuss-O-Meter, my ass.

Howdy!

Apparently, I have made notice on a few forums, here and there. To the latest group of guys and gals, welcome!

In the vein of greetings and (more) present time stories, I thought I'd mention the to-date few shooting competitions that I've attended. The first one was pretty interesting, if not a little frustrating.

Arriving at the range, I noticed that there seemed to be about the regular percentages of folks there. Mostly older (than me) men, a few ladies, a few younger guys. Some were obviously current or former LE or military, some were just regular shooters. A fairly wide range of weapons present, heavily favoring glocks and ARs.

There was a number of commandos present, complete with LBVs, cammies, and roughly one of every accessory for their particular Evil Black Weapons of Mindless Death and Destruction.

Lessons learned:

1) Going a couple of years without shooting a rifle will show. Alot. Dammit.

2) Going slooooow and dusting off the rifle memories will still result in hits. Slow hits, but hits.

3) Some people collect stamps or books. Others play billiards. Some (civilian commandos) apparently do nothing but shoot. And buy camo. Thankfully, I kept my pie-hole shut when it came to commentary on the fashion selection & sense of some of those shooters.

4) Funny how introducing a few scenarios, barriers, and time restrictions can really put a kink into my self-alleged pistol sniper abilities. I still maintain that I shot multiple shots through the same hole... in the moving target...riiight.

5) I probably didn't do as terrible as I imagined when it came to just the pistol. Transitioning from the pistol to rifle to back again, however... I bet I looked like I was friggin' juggling flaming bowling balls through a brain lock, or something. My rifle mag changes look like I've never seen a magazine. Or a rifle. Or my hands.

6) I'm envious of those couples that both truly enjoy shooting.

7) Like a couple of martial arts I've been involved with, the ones you really have to keep an eye on aren't those that are young, in shape, or geared to the nines. It's not that they aren't good, but it's those sneaky devils, soft-spoken, humble, plainly equipped but well trained, and with more than a few grey hairs that you really gotta watch. Even if you can't really appreciate all of what they're doing, watch 'em. Seriously. Wow.


All in all, it was a very good experience. Those that I spoke to were most helpful in explaining the rules and regs for the occasion. Info and advice were free flowing, all day and in all areas. There was just the right amount of good natured ribbing when it came to the shooting. There was much food for thought when it came to experiences and areas to focus on in self-practice.

???

Is therre ani rezon whye spel chek dosnt seeme to b wurking, animore?

HHhhhmmmm....

Just got a change of address notification for a bank account.... that I've never had.


Guess it's better than a credit card company, wondering why I haven't paid 'my' bill... that I somehow acquired while on ship and halfway around the world, or perhaps the collections agency inquiring as to if I was going to pick up the slack for some numb nuts that put my info down to buy a car... in California (no need to check the profile, I live in Texas), or, probably my favorite, it's a heck of a lot better than one of those VA letters that start out with 'Unfortunately, our continuous dumbassery and lack of information security has resulted in your personal information getting lost... again. Please accept our heartfelt blah blah bladdity blah....


Bah.

Ah well, it's about time for another credit check anyways....

Is it April Fool's Day, already?

I've been accused of having my head up my ass on a few occasions, especially when it comes to all things related to fashion, what now passes for popular music, and the ladies.

Ok, ok, maybe a few more times for the wimmens part of the equation...

Every once in a while, something comes along that just blows my little mind. I am at a loss to decide if it is something that flips my lid by the mere fact of its existence, or the fact that someway, somehow, I just never heard of it before. I used to be able to blame it on being out of the country, but not so much anymore.

I might not be a coffisseur on the level of this fine blog but I do enjoy a good cuppa, on occasion.

Boggles. My. Mind.

Boggles.

Further investigation suggests that this might not be a cruel joke. Sacrilegious for those that consider coffee nectar of the gods, but no joke.

Holy crap.



No, really.

I'm back. Kinda sorta. Not really.... Crap.

So a couple of days ago I go to power up the laptop. I didn't really have any plans for the day, just wanted to make sure that the suspicious squealing and wheezing that I've been hearing from the ole checkbook and debit card aren't signs of any more holiday catastrophes. To the bank's website, ho! (Yes, I said 'ho').


*tippitytappityti-*


Crap, looks like the server's down.

S'ok, I had an e-book downloaded, so I read some of that for a while. Computer issues happen every once in a while, and for all that I know it's due to the alignment of the stars or the fact that I've been neglecting the sacrifices to the internet gods. Reminder to self; buy two live chickens for next weekend...

Aside from my blog roll (fun/informative) and the occasional news site (comedy/tragedy) , I'm not really much of one for reading on the 'net. This book turned out to be pretty good, and I got into it for a while. After an hour or so, I tried the 'net again.

Nada.

In the grand scheme of things, definitely not the end of the world, so I managed to find other things to occupy my time. I think there was some navel gazing and ear-pickin' in there somewhere...

A few days later and I was kinda concerned about the bank account. I really needed to figure out what I had to transfer over to checking, so I tried the laptop again.

Still nothing.

Perhaps it's the delusions of grandeur re: my so-called fixitability, but I decided to try my hand at figuring out what was wrong with the computer.

You in the back, shut it, I can hear you laughing.

See, every year around this time, I get voluntold to repair or construct new gifts, stuff to be re-gifted (what a concept!), and miscellaneous crap. Dunno why people think that an average Marine is going to have a good ability at fixing stuff up, but that's the way it goes.

As a personal general rule, I'm great at breaking stuff. Fixing it... not so much.

If I have a set of directions, a decent drink, and a scarcity of delicate ears to hear any profound words of dubious wisdom, I can usually stumble through the odd assembly or two. Case in point, I recently finished the assembly of a computer chair complete with massaging er... thingies. Felt pretty good, too, or at least 'till I got kicked out so she could give it a 'test ride'.

Back to the computer question, I turned off the laptop and somehow managed to restrain myself from tossing it through the window.

I then shuffled over to the desktop.

Due to the shuffling, I zapped myself pretty good *Crap, that hurt* when I turned on the light in the computer room / spare bedroom / extra junk that'll never get tossed out room / library. I turned on the pc to notice pretty much the same issues as the laptop.

For a mental picture, imagine yourself going down to the local zoo, signing out one of the resident chimps, plopping Bobo down in front of your computer, and telling him to get to work. That about describes me to a 'T'.

Hmmm....

Lights on and or flashing on small thingy in the back? Check.

[Scratching head]

Wireless network up and running? Nope.

[More scratching of head, some knuckling of keyboard ensues]

Router still alive and kicking? *clunk* Check... I think.

Internet? ... Internet?... (Bueller?).... Nope.

(By the way, I'm currently writing this from my mom's house, down south. That might kind of indicate the result of this particular story...)

At about the time when I was going to start hopping up and down flinging my poo, I happened to look down into the jumble of wires that pretty much takes up the entirety of the space beneath the desk. Amazing how, apparently all on their own, a collection of wires can spontaneously form knots of invincible properties, just by the fact of their existence. Two wires seemed to be disconnected...

This was about the time when I should have called it a day and resigned myself for getting someone much more knowledgeable to fixy-fixy... like the neighborhood 10 year old computer uber-geek. Heck, I probably could have settled for his 7 year old semi-computer literate sibling.

Forty-five minutes later of attempting to trace wired from their various outlets & surge protectors (?) later, and I was getting nowhere in a hurry. I decided to get creative and try to organize / untangle / destroy some of the chaos that was down there.

I think I killed (as in permanently) the printer. Darn things should be more resistant to an unexpected gravity test, especially when gently tugging on cords brings the thing down upon my noggin. Never fear, the gouge that it dug out of the wall on the way down slowed it enough to only slightly dent my brain housing group.

Don't you just hate it when after disassembly and reassembly of... just about anything, you finally get back to the starting point only to realize that you have screwed up and / or are missing some small component? I felt that way with those damn wires.

End result? Anything not needed for powering of the 'puter has been disconnected (or broken) and 'set aside' (read: tossed with accompanying color commentary) on the spare bed (only action that things seen in a while) for the time being. Computer is still not up and running. One sore head, various choice words on the state of technology uttered, and one drink refill.

I called the bank on their 1-800 number to find I had a balance of $25.32 in checking.

Oh, the holiday joy.

I should just go ahead and move the entirety of my 'Oh Shit' fund into checking, seems like it's all going there anyways...

Mumblegrumble

Bah.

Started a number of posts recently, with all attempts coming to the same conclusion. Most times the stories will be moving along nicely, with me chuckling at my memories of thinking at the time, "I rule!", only to have the inevitable entry from left field to crush me, yet again. Unfortunately, what seems to be frequent recently is the inability to tell the story without running into some self-imposed 'no bloggie' rules. Other times, I'll be merrily writing, tippitytappity, when I'll get the sense that the story is flowing almost... like... I've written it before. Checking a few locations web and pc - wise will confirm it, already written, copied, pasted, edited, and posted.

Combine that with long hours and busy off days, and... bah.

Oh yeah, that reminds me,

BAH HUMBUG!

Hmm, wonder if the ads in question are for Christmas 2007 or 2008?

No Pressure...

Mark has recently asked me to come onto his show. Apparently, he doesn't really like it anymore, and wants me to come on so that BTR will magically crash and burn into oblivion.

Kidding of course, but... Murphy's Law, anyone?

Listening to posts is something that I only recently have gotten into, heck Blogging is something that I am still relatively new to, but I have to say there has been some interesting stuff on his show. I particularly enjoyed putting a voice to some of the bloggers that I enjoy reading. I still think that there are some much more interesting folks out there [my eyes wandering to screen left - oh hey, look at that, there's still some folks I've left out, dangit...], but if he wants to work some bugs out of the system with me, then I suppose I'm cool with that.

Schedule wise it kind of appears (pending his okay of course) that more often than not Wednesdays or Thursdays are probably going to be the evenings that I will be available for public amusement and/or ridicule in posterior...er-ity. That time of the year is fast approaching when schedules get filled up with all sorts of work, family, and other obligations, combine that with any schedule that he already has, and it might be a little while before we actually get me the green light. Further e-mails will be forthcoming, and I am sure that he'll probably put something up when it's time for me to go on his show. I might even have something on here, as well.

Yet More Housekeeping

I am actually quite content with my current profile picture, but if I do sometime decide to change it up, I think that that pic might be a strong candidate.

I Am All That Is Man

Well, looky there.

I would have put those pics in the wording of this post and linked them to the referring blog, but as this is not something that can be accomplished with 550 cord, duct tape, and some c4, it's not looking like it's going to happen like that. Thanks, JP & Farm Girl.

I wasn't going to forward the awards originally, but then I figured that it would be a good opportunity to provide some background on how this blog got started and where I am coming from. So, this isn't a you must forward this to 5 people thing, just a wandering of the big boys 'n girls.

Shortly after getting back from a fun filled adventure of sand and sun, I got out from the oppressive thumb and constant orders of the military once and for all, only to put myself under the oppressive thumb and constant orders of a civilian job. Little bit better pay, fewer Things That Go Boom (at me), overtime pay; all good things. On the other hand, there is a lot less in the way of shooting, talking trash, and seeing who has the best butt-story (to be defined at a later date). Not that there isn't anything in the way of the above stuff, (there are quite a few vets around, now) it's just that there isn't nearly as much of the 'hurry up & wait' that provides the setting for good stories.

Good stories is one of those things that I miss from the military. Seeing some guy that you haven't seen in a while and just catching up on good times. A lot of this going on in bars, as well, but I'll get to that. Another similarity in military and bar tales is the almost universal story-response of "Well, if you think that's crazy, lemme tell you about the time when..." It was always fun to catch up with some guy that I hadn't seen in a while, only to hear about the time when he woke up in a Tijuana cathouse with a gassy midget, a hangover, no clothes, and already late for a meeting with a Captain. Honestly, a lot of my stuff here doesn't really compare to some of the crazy stuff that I've heard through the years.

Back to the Bar (coincidentally, an alternative motto to a large number of infantry units). On one float I had a buddy that was a helluva pool player. I was fairly decent myself, due to an embarrassingly large number of dateless nights, but this guy was good. I always did enjoy a good ass-beating, if only for the learning aspect, so it just kind of fell into a routine that whenever we were in port and on libo, he and I would gather the other pool nerds and hit the pool halls before frolicking off to the other festivities of the night.

So one day I'm out of the Corps, don't really go to the bars much anymore, and am kinda bored. I log on to the 'puter and hop onto some of the forums to see what's shakin'. I forget what forum it was, it was most definitely one that was gun-oriented, but there were a few cop stories floating around. I remember reading them one afternoon, realizing that I had read them earlier, and then continuing reading, 'cause they were friggin' hilarious. Eventually, one of the posters of that forum put up a link to this guy's blog, and that's pretty much where it all started. Any blame can be directed to him...

Further reading resulted not only in coffee spewing hilarity, but great advice and links to other good blogs. Blogs that range from historical porn with character (see, not that kind o'porn), to a wide range of funny/occasional tear jerker/now *whip crack!*(congrats by the way)/reminder of all good Corpsmen, to more LEO wisdom, bad puns, and great labels, to a very unique combination of baby pics and gun posts that just make you sit back in your chair and say, "Damn."

So there it is. Me writing about how great these blogs are is like the scientific study that announces that guys dig hot chicks or that boobies bounce at high speed (duh!)(note to self: should have gone into science as a career choice), but they are the ones that are partially to blame for me thinking to myself 'Self, It doesn't look that hard to do this, I could probably pull it off...'



That remains to be seen...

Blah, blah...

As any visitors from the forum might have already noticed yes, I am moving most of the stories from there, here. New stuff (for yous goys) coming... eventually.

Any of y'all still checking this thing out?

Blog Distractions

Two things,

Together we served is a site pointed out to me recently, and it is as good as gold. It is a site for current and former Marines. Ten minutes after logging on, I had already found a bunch of guys that I haven't seen or spoken to in a long time. Highly recommended.

Secondly, Desperado is on the boob tube right now.

Salma Hayek.

Also, highly recommended.

Admin & Logistics

So, I've been blogging here for something around 7 months now, figuring out how this whole blog thing works (mainly figuring how it doesn't work), expanding my limited computer-a-logicalisticificational skills, spending way too much time surfing around, and generally having a good time.

A few thoughts:


Some really interesting stuff out there.

I do a heck of a lot more surfing than commenting, for a couple of reasons. First of all, a lot of the times other quicker and sharper folks have already made pretty much the exact comment that I was probably going to bumble through. Secondly, I tend to take my time to get a feel for the scenario, on and off the net. Rarely will I just jump into a situation with both feet and take off, unless absolutely necessary, or I have a particularly cheeky comment/wild hair. Thirdly, I am a ninja.


Linking.

I have linked to quite a few others' blogs, and I hope that I haven't offended anyone too terribly by not announcing myself (see above). For my part, no need to ask me, if you find the stuff here interesting, feel free to link away. [Hmm, is the correct term blog-rolling/linking/warning to other, more easily offended types?] Heck I dunno, whatever it is, knock yerself out. I think that I will most likely link more in my posts for the near future and yes, I realize the irony in commenting about linking without, you know, actually linking to anybody.

On the subject of linking, for anyone who might be curious, the section to the left entitled 'knowledge' is just a random collection of stuff that I find interesting and prolonged thought worthy. I haven't decided if the section is going to be a permanent addition, or if the links themselves will be there forever. They're there for now, and will be for the foreseeable future. Looks like right now most of them are others' blog posts, a few articles, and a group or two. More stuff to come. Oh yeah, 'knowledge', is Marine speak for stuff that Marines are expected to have, know, study, and if needed teach to other Marines. Dunno if I can recite all the stuff as well as the original authors, but that is why I have it right there, easily accessible for future head-scratchin'.


E-mail.

For those who have posted them, any issues? Don't suppose that it is too much of a concern, as this is only one of my email addys, so I suppose that I will throw it out there and see who it hits. I might eventually put it on the main page, under the photo. Anyone who needs to get a hold of me can send salutations, odes, lauds, proclamations of horrendous offence to minorities/genders/preferences/hobbies etc, toasts, dirty pics, inheritance checks, naughty cadence requests, curses, paternity suits, 'hey are you the guy who served on/with...' e-mails, requests for autographs, 'hey this site is cool' notes (thanks Taco, excellent reference), etc to Sergeantmurphy(at)gmail.com. We'll see how much spam that earns me...


So, it's been real, it's been fun, and actually & for once it's been real fun.

Hmmm....

Whenever I hear about a protest involving illegal guns, I kind of understand what they are getting at-but for all of that, I just picture in my mind's eye of a sad looking counter-protester (moi), walking the streets with a sign that proclaims 'No Gun should be Illegal'.

I know, I know, shameless.

As a result of this upcomming protest, an idea, from Mr. Codrea.