Termination Dust

The first sign of winter has arrived. It's several weeks late this year, but it still feels too soon. This morning as I was driving across town to the library I looked up into the mountains and saw that the peaks were lightly dusted with white. The days are becoming shorter and colder; it wont be long now and I'll be plugging my Jeep in every night. I'm not a big fan of block heaters, but they make warm-up take much less time. I just hate digging through the snow drift looking for the cord.

Update on last night's hockey game: we lost. Things went well the first period, but after that was all down hill. I wish I could blame the team, but my perfomance was way below par. I had a great first period, but I started having problems with my knee pads and then it was all over. By the third period I was pretty much just letting the puck by. Next game will be better. I got new knee pads and my new goal pads are awsome. I have practice tomarrow, then my first UAA game on Tuesday.

There was a wind storm this weekend, knocked down some trees. Late last week they found a women in a park who had been badly beaten. The next day she died in the hospital. They had a picture of her in the paper from before she got beat up, she was really normal looking. I can't see why anyone would want to beat her up. I hope they find the bastards and lock them away for good.

There were some idiots marching around Anchorage yesturday copying the Sheehan march in DC. Why do people insist on being such ass holes? I can't get over the fact that people have such twisted views of the world. They'll keep it up, and here in the US people will be shouting about how we are back in Vietnam. The only people who are back in Vietnam are the protestors. They'll do anything to take themselves back. They were allowed to tear this country apart before and, from the looks of things, they'll be allowed to do it again. It's there right, you know, even if they'd never lift a finger to defend it.

This post is scatter-brained. I think I have been studying too much chemistry again. Test tomarrow, better get some sleep.

Brandon

Saturday

It's Saturday now, still no internet at the house. My landlady missed the cable guy by ten minutes, and he didn't come back. She made a new appointment for Tuesday, so hopefully I will have internet at my house after then. I think that will be very good for me. My chemistry professor insists that it's not possible to pass his class without accessing the internet daily. So far I have a 98% in his class, so I don't know if that's true.

I have a hockey game tonight. It's my third game this year, so far I am 0 for 2. This game is with a men's team, and not the co-ed team I normally play with. It's also the first game with my new pads. This should be interesting.

I'll let you know how I do. For now I need to go memorize some polyatomic ions.

Brandon

Pictures From This Weekend

My dad's plane
Part of the glacier
A pretty valley
The glacier (and a wing strut)
This is pretty far out from the glacier, you can see the river basin caused by the glacier run-off

Didn't go Hunting

I've been a little busy. First, I didn't get to go hunting this weekend. It's a long story, but plane trouble and bad weather got in the way. I did get to go flying, though. My dad took me up in his plane. We flew up the Knik River to the Knik Glacier (I don't think that's the right spelling (I fixed it)). It was awsome, we flew right up against the side of the mountains. We saw several moose, and a bunch of bears. On one shelf there were three bulls fighting over a couple of cows. They were so far back that there was no way anyone would be hunting any of them. I think that a lot of people forget that about Alaska. Even though there are a lot of animals killed by hunters every year, there are so many more that hunter's can't even get to. This is a huge state, and it's almost all remote. There is only a small section of it that is accesable without a helicopter. Anyway, I took some pictures and want to post a few, so I better go ahead and do it before I run out of time. The internet at my house is supposed to be up and running after Friday, so I will be able to post more often.

Brandon

Hockey and Hunting

It's been a long last couple of days. It's funny how getting an inadaquate amount of sleep can make the day go by so much slower. Hockey has kept me up late the last three nights and now I am ready to fall asleep on the keyboard. I really shouldn't because I still have several things to accomplish today. I need to get by the store, I am out of some essentials at the house. I also need to do some studying for my math quiz tomarrow. Some work could be done on my math take-home test too. I also need to start memorizing a table in my chemistry book and finish the exercises we were working in class. If I go hunting this weekend I will be hurting next week. I doubt that it will kill me, but I will have a lot of work to do come Monday and Tuesday.

My technical writing professor assigned a project that requires me to interview an engineer. I'm really not thrilled about it. I don't mind interviewing people when there is a pertinent reason, but bugging someone because my teacher wants me to ask questions that do not interest me in the first place sucks. That was one hell of a sentence. Did it make sence? I tried fixing it, but I don't know if makes any more sence then it did. What bothers me is that I have to pretend to care about the questions that I am asking, even though we both know I don't. I mean, I have a list of questions I have to ask for crying out loud, I didn't come up with them. Hopefully I will end up interviewing a nice enough engineer that he wont mind.

I don't think I have posted about the hunting trip yet. My dad called the other day and told me he had found a couple of bull moose that he would like to try and kill. He intvited me to go kill them with him. We don't know for sure if it will work out, but we're both getting ready anyway. The area that we will be going to is prone to having bad weather and it could make flying there and back an issue. Worse-case scenerio; we get out there and the weather goes ugly and we end up stuck for a couple of days. That would suck. I'll find out if we're going for sure tomarrow, since that's when we would leave. Maybe Monday I'll have some stories to tell (although I will be too busy to tell them).

Brandon

I'm Psyched

today could have been a total bust. Rolling out of bed tired this morning I was cursing my late night game (we lost by the way). I was not happy about getting out of my warm bed and dragging my ass to class. I was especially unhappy because I had to give a presentation today. When I walked out to my Jeep, I found a reason to skip class. I had a nail sticking out of my tire. It was between the tread lugs, and had evidently been there for a while. The nail was worn down to the level of the tread by the pavement. I could have easily used this excuse to skip my morning class, but I would have let my fellow presenter down (the presentation was on ethics; is that ironic?). I decide to drive on the nail and am glad I did. The presentation went well, I met a cool girl in my surveying lab, and I got to apply to the school newspaper. I'm really happy that I may get the chance to write for the school paper. I liked writing for the paper at Mat-Su, and this one is a much bigger deal.

Well, I should try and make it to the tire store before they close, I have a nail in my tire after all.

Brandon

September 11, 2005

It's September 11th today. Does it seem like four years have passed? If you watch the news it seems more like for decades have passed, they have long forgotten the 3000 innocent lives lost that day. For me, it feels more like four days. I can remember vividly the confusion of the day. I was at my shop, doing final preparation for my unit's deployment to the Mediterranean. I had no idea what was going on, I just remember people walking around talking about all these things they were hearing on the radio. My Gunny wouldn't let us go out to our cars and listen, so I was in the dark. It wasn't until lunch that I found out what was happening. The TV in the chow hall was on the usual news channel, but the news was anything but usual.

I can't begin to describe the feeling. I stared into the TV and realized that everything had just changed. I had been preparing to sail overseas for the past year. I'd heard the stories about all the stops we'd make for liberty. We were going out into the big friendly Mediterranean to stand guard on behalf of our country. Now, as I looked into the TV, I was coming to realize how our mission was changing. As I looked at that TV people were starting to consider how the country would react. It was obvious that there would be a place for the military in their plans, and being on the verge of a deployment, the 26th MEU would surely be included in the plans.

When it came time to leave that day, we were told to get our gear ready to leave in the morning. This was over a week before we were scheduled to leave. I made hasty arraignments to be ready to go in the morning. The morning came, and we were told to go to work. It turns out the initial plan for the 26th MEU was to go to NYC to assist in the recovery of the victims at the World Trade Center. This plan was scrapped when the sun came up on NYC to the sight of hundreds of volunteers ready to go to work. They had the heavy equipment that was required for the job; there was no need for our heavy equipment. We were put back on schedule to leave on the 19th of September.

We left on the 19th, knowing that at some point in the next few months we would be called upon to be part of whatever plan our country had made. We were called upon, and we carried out our mission. Now I'm sitting in a computer lab at a university library in Alaska. It still feels like only yesterday though. I can feel that same feeling in my stomach now that I had then. This is why I continue to support any effort to stop terrorism, wherever it is. Do we need to live through another September 11th? I don't need to, I'm ready to see an end put to terrorism now. I just wish there was more that we could do.

As a member of the military you are restricted to doing only what you are allowed to do. Your orders come down from above, and you choose how to carry out those orders, but you don't get to decide what those orders will be. When I was in the Marines, I wanted time and time again to get orders to go help people. I wanted orders to Somalia, to Kosovo, to Rwanda. I wanted orders to Iraq and Iran and Syria and Afghanistan and North Korea. In four years I spent 60 days doing what I was trained to do. The rest of the time I was simply training. This is what frustrated me the most about my time in the Marines. We had so much power, so much potential, but we were not allowed to use it. I could have helped people, if I had been given the chance.

Now that our military has the chance to carry out a mission, to help bring freedom to a part of the world that has never known freedom, what do we see? We see Americans becoming more and more impatient. They want an "Exit Strategy." They want our leaders to make a plan to remove our troops. They don't want our leaders to make a plan to provide a free and stable Iraq. This is exactly what the people in uniform want; the chance to leave a legacy of a free and stable Iraq. I wish we could all come together on this, speak with one voice to the world and say we will stand for nothing less. Instead we increasingly hear people saying all they want is our troops out of Iraq, damn the mission.

We have the opportunity to create something great in Iraq, to set a people free, let's not piss this chance away.

Brandon

Back in the Computer Lab

I'm back in the computer lab. I am becoming a regular here. It seems that I often end up frustrated when I come here. Today I went to do my homework for my engineering class and found that it once again consisted of questions that require personal info or the making of lists. I'm not big on these types of questions. One asks me to write a page on why I chose to become an engineering major. Can you say, "None of your damn business!?!" Like I said, I'm feeling a little frustrated. I'm going to have to sit down and read the two chapters these questions are out of, so I have an idea about what answer is being looked for. I prefer to just answer the question and read later, this makes sure the homework is done even if I don't have time to finish the reading. My engineering professor insists on having the homework he assigns on Friday turned in on Tuesday, even though the class doesn't meet again until Friday. This means that I don't really have time to read what he assigns, don't forget I have five other classes to worry about...or is it six. Does the chemistry lab count as a class? It's a three hour class with its own homework, so I think that it should. Speaking of which, I haven't finished my lab homework yet. Not due 'till Thursday, so I have a little time. The big catch about time is that I have hockey Monday, Tuesday, and Wednsday nights this week. That doesn't leave much time in the evenings for studying. Thank God I made enough money this summer that I don't have to work.

Word on the street is I got the job at the Forestry office that I applied for. They haven't called my yet, but I live with the admin. lady, so I have access to certain information. This is refreshing, it means I have a job lined up for next summer and medical to boot. (This is where I started writing what is now the post above; felt like it deserved it's own post.)

Brandon

Still Studying

I have a few moments before the computer lab closes. I have speant a few hours working here in the library on some of my homework. Since the library closes at 6:00 I will hvae to leave soon. I am nowhere near being done, but I can do a great deal of what I have left at home. I looked at the library schedule earllier and found out that although the library closes at 6:00 on Saturday, it stays open until 11:00 Sunday night. That's good information to have. Talked to a guy about studded tires today. They go on sale the 15th, so I am going to head in around then and get them put on. It seems so early for studs, it's sunny and warm out. I guess it wont last forever. Better get out of the library.

Brandon

Working on Chemistry

I'm blogging while working on chemistry homework. One of the few times I can justify sitting down at a computer is when working on chemistry. All my chemistry homework is done online, so I am spending a great deal of time in front of a computer. Luckily the library here at school has a bunch of computers, so finding one is never an issue. I am in the library computer lab right now, although this is a place that I avoid. They keep the A/C cranked in here, so I usually try and work elsewhere. Right now all the other computers in the library are taken, so I am making due.

Today hasn't been busy. I had a technical writing class this morning where nothing happened and the rest of the day has been spent on homework. I did go to a meeting to join an engineering club. I'm hoping that I can improve in school by becoming more active. It can't hurt to know more people who are in the same classes, or who have already been through the same calsses.

I'm starting to feel hungry, but am waiting for my girlfriend to get out of class before I eat. It would be nice to go out to dinner with her. It shouldn't be too much longer...maybe a half an hour.

I've noticed that the comments left on my blog vary a great deal. There are some really nice things left by people who have obviously read at least some of what I have written. Other comments are just ads or downright rude. I don't really care, I just hope people realize that the comments can be left by anyone. They are often not things that I agree with or condone. If you are a person who wants to leave a negative comment on my blog; go ahead. I spent four years of my life making sure that you have that right...I'm not going to take it away.

Brandon

Internet Issues

I'm sitting in my girlfriend's dorm room. She has really good internet access here, it's DSL. The internet at my house is out due to a dumb cable man. Once it's back operational I will be able to post more regularly. Right now I am barely able to use the internet enough to get my homework done. I have a great deal to say about that, but it'll have to wait until I get internet at the house. For now let it be known that I have made it through the initiation week here at school. My professors have promised a more relaxed environment, now it's time to stop flailing around and get to business. Speaking of wich, I am at my girlfriends dorm...gotta go.

Brandon