Yesterday at dinner I said “You know, the best thing about neck tattoos is that you never regret them.” I stand by that assessment. I’ll be looking into getting a neck tattoo when we redeploy. I think I’ll be going with the Chinese symbol for “Honor” or perhaps the name “Candi.” I’ll let you know what I decide on.
A quick Arabic lesson for everyone that hasn’t spent much time in the Arabic speaking world: Allahu Akbar! = Run and/or Hide
Read this article my co-worker Juan wrote. I’m quoted in it. Let me say that when I carefully crafted the quote, I was hoping to elicit one of two very specific responses from readers. For those that know me, I was hoping they’d read the quote and think, “Oh that Rick, he’s just so ridiculous. What a silly quote.” For those that don’t know me, I was hoping they’d read the qote and think “Seriously? What a gay.” What group do you fit into?
The shot today is one which Eva took of me at the White Sands Missile Museum in New Mexico. I think it came out really cool.
Rick, White Sands, NM
Some things just catch it. That’s why it’s my eye. The shot today is of a lone fence in the pasture lands of White Sands. I assume it breaks up two properties, but one can never be sure.
Eva and I go on leave soon. I can’t wait. This place is making me go stir crazy. I won’t tell you all when I’m going, and I won’t tell you all where I’m going, but believe me when I tell you that it will be awesome. “C’mon Rick, just tell us.” No thanks. When I get back you’ll hear plenty.
I am officially no longer and Armor Officer, however. I applied for and was selected to a new branch of the Army. My new branch is one that is not very well known. It’s FA24, or Functional Area 24. I will now be a Telecommunications Systems Engineer for the US Army. I’ll be going to Ft. Gordon, GA sometime when we rotate back to the colonies and I’ll be there for quite some time as I learn the specifics of both the Signal Corps as well as of my new job. I am extremely excited to see what it’s like. You will all learn more as I do.
White Sands, NM
That title is admittedly misleading. I’m sure there are some very strange and very disappointed Googlers reading this right now.
Can anyone enlighten me as to why the NFL decided to suspend Michael Vick for the first three games of the season? I find it perplexing. If the time he spent in prison wasn’t sufficient punishment, then why didn’t the State sentence him to a longer sentence? I don’t get it. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t think dog fighting is acceptable by any stretch. But what was the basis for his suspension if not to punish him more for something he was already punished for? I’m not a fan of that. I’m sure it was to appease PETA and other animal rights groups. What the NFL failed to take into consideration is the fact that nobody in PETA watches the NFL because PETA is entirely comprised of middle-aged single women and homosexuals. That’s a fact by the way. I got it from the last census.
The first shot today is of a scale replica of Fat Boy, the nuclear bomb which was dropped over Nagasaki, Japan. I just find it astounding that the US dropped a nuclear bomb on Japan. It sounds so ridiculous now. The second shot is more abstract and is of some naked tree branches against a bright blue sky over Lake Michigan near Lincoln Park in Chicago.
Abstract, Chicago, IL, White Sands, NM
For your enjoyment, here are two interpretations of one tree. The top photo is the tree as a silhouette and the bottom is an HDR composite of the same tree. The silhouette is cropped some, but it was taken from one of the HDR source images so it’s technically the same photo. I took these near White Sands during the day-trip Eva and I took there.
That being said, Dennis Miller is spectacular. I listen to him almost every day on AM 600 KROD here in El Paso. I listen to him and Glenn Beck on that station. Glenn Beck is also good… a little on the loony-toony-nutty crazy right wing side, but good just the same. D Mils, however, is truly legit. Yea, I call him D Mils. In fact, I called him to clear his new nickname yesterday; he said it’s straight. Didn’t you D Mils? Oh, and he reads my site. He calls me his muse. Whatever. (Good muses are indifferent.)
Abstract, HDR, White Sands, NM
Light streaming through the mountains which border White Sands Missile Range.
So the countdown begins. Eva and I embark on a global trek on April 21st. This excursion will last approximately 1 year, and leads us to Mesopotamia to effect peace and democracy on a more or less helpless and hapless people (though the situation has admittedly changed dramatically). I would love to tell you exactly where we’ll be and what it is we’ll be doing, but 1. we don’t even really know and 2. it just wouldn’t be all that prudent. So, what’s the point you ask? I thought I covered that… effecting peace and demo… oh, what’s the point of telling you this? It’s really more or less a disclaimer. Starting April 21st, I can’t exactly project the uniformity of my posts. I’ll update when I can of course, but no promises. That being said, expect many pictures of Kuwait and Iraq to follow. With commentary. Oh and don’t worry… I packed my xBox.
HDR, White Sands, NM
This is a shot of a classic New Mexican sunset. No, no, no silly pants, not some new fangled sunset existing and occurring only in Mexico! That doesn’t even make any sense!
Eva and I went on what I refer to as a “Photo Expedition” to get some pictures of our new locale. Eva calls these trips “boring” and tells me things like “being a photographer’s wife is boring” while we’re on said expeditions. Adorable. However, in both our defenses, she does know full well what she’s getting into before we ever leave and always still agrees to accompany. So we went to White Sands, home of the (for conservatives) famous and historic or (for liberals) infamous and evil White Sands Missile Range. It was very cool looking; a vast desert expanse more desolate than Barnes & Noble at a James Frey book signing.
As I stood in the center of a median betwixt two high-speed lanes of a busy highway with my tripod and a smile, looking into the sun, people drove past me at 70 mph and shot me swivel-head looks which informed me that they viewed what I was doing as potentially dangerous and definitively crazy. I disagreed.
HDR, White Sands, NM