Random Hits

Surely, you already have Netflix. I won't waste too much time telling you what is, but we recently joined. I already love it! I love movies, I don't really care for regular TV, there are very few "must see TV" shows for me. I hate watching movies on TV. I don't need violent scenes cleaned up. A booby here there isn't going to kill (offend) me, quite to contrary, I rather enjoy a booby on my TV once in awhile (stay with me). "Naughty" words don't hurt my ears. Like everyone else on earth, I don't care much for most commercials.

We have some fancy digital cable. I've only watched 3 movies from Netflix, but I'm ready to get rid of the expensive cable. Until significant improvements, we won't be watching pay-per-view movies. Netflix has 65,000 movies for my Queue.

Oh, the Queue. I've shared mine with you. I'm not bragging about it, I just love my queue. Ironically, I haven't watched any great movies from Netflix. Almost every movie we've gotten from Netflix so far has been average or worse: Capote, Lake House, The Break-Up and Crash. Crash was the best of the bunch. I tried to write about it in my blog, but got a little jumbled up. I'll try later.

Music

I know this sounds odd, but I've been listening to Justin Timberlake lately. I'm surprised myself, but it's amazing to see a boy-band guy make good. Usually those guys flame into obscurity, but Mr. Timberlake's new offering is smart and sexy. Dude can dance, and he manages to make that falsetto work.

Ramblin' Jenn posted some blasphamy about in Christina Aguilera. Just my opinion, but Ms. Aguilera's got the best pipes in popular music today. Also just my opinion, she is easily the most beautiful female celebrity in the world. Love her music, love her pictures in GQ!

Confederacy of Dunces again!

Some of you may recall my review of the Pulizter Prize winning book a few months ago. I did not recommend it. I would rather read the Other Side of Mountain about Afghan Guerrilla tactics than read C of D. I seriously didn't every imagine I would think about C of D again. Then I read about making into a movie on Slate.com (click link to read article). First, why someone would make a movie about this bizarre story is beyond me. Granted, I totaly didn't get the book, but I don't think many American's would. I'm also pretty sure it won't translate well to film. One the other hand, the book is unique, and I did manage to finish it. Maybe you'll all get to se the movie at the theater coming soon.

Nope, she doesn’t have any decency

Well, if you haven’t seen them, I feel obligated to link them for you. Because apparently, Britney Spears (mother of two) wants everybody to know she has a vagina. Good for her. I had already guessed she had a vagina by the news reports about the birth of her children. I don’t actually care, and I don’t understand how her children (or her vagina) are news, but this kind of reporting obviously makes money, so who am I to question.

Except, at what point in our society do we enforce some standard of decency, decorum or shame. Civilized society is all about standards; standards are what makes it civilization. Britney has violated all these standards, as far as I can tell. Granted, in our highly sexualized world, wearing a short skirt and riding au natural is not unheard of. It happens. I’ve never seen it personally, but it happens.

When it does happen, normal people talk about it. It is scandalous. There is murmuring disapproval. The general consensus: that person must be a slut. The only time I’ve seen women dressed in short skirts with no underwear is at strip clubs. It sort makes sense for the stripper; she’s going to be naked soon anyway. I’ve also seen a funny web-video of the prostitute walking the streets with barely a flap of a skirt not really covering her enormous ass. This is the sort of company Britney keeps.

Britney, of course, calculated this um… exposure to the smallest detail. The goal is maximum pubic ... oops publicity during the run up to her next release. New stories and controversy keep her in the news and likely have a direct, positive impact on her earnings. Britney and Paris both make me long for the good ole days of black-listing. Black-listing still happens, but unfortunately; I don’t think that will happen to them.

I guess I must state clearly, I believe it is no accident we’ve all seen Britney’s private parts (I’m so thrilled by the way; I just can’t get over it. BRITNEY has a vagina! Amazing! Shaved too!) So this is shameless, self-provoked grab for attention. Can’t there be some rule like: You’re obviously a slutty, bimbo; you are hereby banned from any media coverage forever.

Something needs to change. I don’t know what, and I don’t know how. Seriously, Britney, have you no shame? Have you no decency? In spite of the numerous links on this page, we don’t want to see that! Or maybe we do...

Anyway, one other note, how exactly does that kind of outfit “work?” I mean every time Paris or Britney sits down, their business is right on the barstool. Gross. Gross, because Britney and Paris don’t know what was on that bar stool. After they leave, everyone else does know what was on the bar stool! Snail tracks, ewww…

More hints the Army is broken

If you listened to NPR on 4 December, you're going to know all about this. There was an excellent story about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Many troops perform honorably in Iraq, but start having problems when they get home. The report was tragic and infuriating. These honorable soldiers are being cut loose for failing to meet behavior standards. As they spiral downward, they sometimes become violent or start using drugs. According to the report, they often attempt to get help from the bureaucratic Army medical system. Troops reporting these symptoms are then shunned and punished for seeking treatment.

As infuriating as the report was, I wasn't surprised. After all, there is a natural tension here. Many of the troops had reenlisted and were starting their career in the Army. Supervisors and leaders need combat ready troops. The Army needs tough troops who can follow orders to kill. The report featured several Sergeant supervisors who admitted to shunning troops with PTSD symptoms. They felt many of the other troops had seen the same things, and that these troops were faking it to avoid repeat tours of Iraq. Supervisor felt the troops need to "buck up." Must be Army lingo.

The reporter tried to imply the Army was systematically drumming out these young troops to avoid paying expensive medical disability. I'm not into conspiracy. This is just the culture of the army. The Army uniformly treats its people like shit. It is the Army way. I've seen it first hand. The Army treated me like shit during my tour with them. So this is just the culture. Buck up. The Army supervisor interviewed made a good point. He said (roughly), "Hey, I've got put my life in these guy's hands. I have to have faith in them. It's hard to have faith in someone snorting coke or smoking dope." Fair enough.

Except, these were normal good troops before they completed their tour in Iraq. The people they interviewed described graphic scenes of carnage I was surprised to hear on the radio. Like the movies, except for real. They served their country, and we all owe them something for that. More specifically, the Army owes them something for that. I get it; they are probably not cut out to serve. When someone shows symptoms of PTSD, they could be discharged for it, but given disability. Sorry, but if the Army breaks it; they get to pay for it.

Therapeutic Blogging

I used to brag about my job. I worked on sexy, powerful jet bombers, and I could tell my friend and family about my job and the airplane I worked on every day. I had most weekends off, and I had almost every holiday off. If I worked a weekend or holiday, I was compensated later for it. More importantly, my job made sense. Airplane flies a mission, I fix the airplane, and airplane flies the next mission. It was good job.

I don’t talk much about my current job. I’ll leave out the details, but it doesn’t really make any sense. My current position doesn’t have definable duties. Whatever I end up doing from day to day, it always involves sitting in front of computer. I have more email accounts than I care to mention, and I often feel like my full-time job is deleting email. So I can’t say my job is hard.

I was good at fixing airplanes. It was very satisfying job. Even when it was hard, I knew I could find all the answers in extensive technical manuals. Knowing how to find the answers was hard, but I was good at that to. I also did several different jobs that no one else wanted. I was resource advisor for a small squadron once. Best job I’ve had in the AF, most people thought it was a terrible job. I worked a mundane administrative job taking care of all those technical manuals; I even enjoyed that job. My job satisfaction was always high.

Then I joined the officer corps. I have had one satisfying job in 5 years. Unfortunately, I only did that job for 3 months during a deployment. And even then I had to work with the worst LtCol commander I’ve seen in the Air Force!

I really did think it would be different. In my current position, I deal with multiple, impossibly complex administrative duties. If I screw up one little detail, a group of TSgt (E-6) gleefully point out my mistake. I practically work for the TSgts in my section. I didn’t expect to work for TSgts as a Captain, and no, my boss won’t help me or get me a better job. Ironically, I’m one the better workers in my shop. I have become a master of Excel spreadsheets! I have automated many tasks, making all our jobs easier, faster and more accurate. I think I performed my duties well in Iraq.

But the people… Often, I hear senior leaders bragging about their great people making it all possible. I will not be doing that. Practically everyone I meet is spoiling for fight (with me). The second I offer a suggestion or disagree with something, I am practically attacked. If I don’t have my thoughts together, any input from me is vigorously attacked and put down. I don’t have a position of authority, so I have no one to back me up. I have no mentor or even close friend at work. I’m in a different unit from almost everyone I work with. I’m obviously excluded from their functions, and I’ve built little rapport with them. If I do come up with anything obviously helpful, other people quickly jump in to “help” and I get no credit for doing anything good. I have never received adequate feedback.

Finally, we come to my schedule. Normally, I work 2 on, 2 off, 12 hours per day. Since I have to be early to “set the example” I show up at about 6:35 AM, I try to leave as soon as turnover is done, but we’re usually not done till 7:00 PM at night. So I work about 12.5 hours. Right now, however, I’m in the middle of a 14(!) days straight. While in garrison (at home at my normal base), I have never worked more than 6 days straight in 18.5 years. You see, I like my time off. I work so I can have time off. So I can right clever blogs, play games, fish, birdwatch, and all the other great things to do in life. I will be working 2 on, 2 off for the foreseeable future!

Here comes something I would probably say whenever this kind of situation might arise. This is a bad time for me to working harder than I ever have. My kids need me. I may desire more free time for fun activities, but my kids need me. My wife needs me. Good thing I make pretty good money, my wife cannot work (if she wanted to) because my schedule is so unpredictable. I feel like Adam Sandler in Click, except I don’t have the choices. I cannot escape from situation for awhile. But this what is good about my job. It will be temporary. Sooner or later, they will move me to a different position. Either I will make it happen, or my boss will move for “developmental” reasons. You can’t let someone stay in one job too long in the military. There is plenty of reason for hope!