Halloween Eve

Is there such a thing? If candy companies and costume shops had their way, there probably would be. Hallmark would also have to get in on the deal or it wouldn't be official.

At one time this night was known as Devil's Night in Michigan. It started out as a night of mischief and slowly became a night of Hell. What were once pranks became acts of vandalism and arson. The local Officials in Detroit have organized an Angel's Night and through various methods have brought an out of control situation to bay.

Cops Fired and other local stuff...

It's kind of funny. They fired 51 Officers from the New Orleans police force yesterday. Why is that funny? They haven't seen or heard from most of them since the storm. I'm thinking they pretty much quit.

They had an emergency landing on Plank Road north of Baton Rouge a couple of days ago. The pilot ran out of fuel. A day later he got his plane refueled. He was offered a tow to the airport and refused. He tried to take off, clipped an 18 wheeler and crashed into some brush and trees. Talk about adding insult to injury.

Baton Rouge crime has been steadily decreasing over the past few years. However, since Katrina car thefts, robberies and rapes/assaults have risen dramatically. The police chief says that he doesn't believe all of the cars were stolen from this area; only reported here. He also looks at it as a positive thing that many of the robberies were not against local businesses but against Hurricane Evacuees. Hmmm. I think that probably depends on your point of view, huh. He should ask the victims how they feel.

Cook Out

We had a cookout today. There are a few pictures Here. A little social get together. It was nice. We right back to work afterwards, which, I'm sure, wasn't what most people wanted. Oh well.

Boredom

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 1:9

Is God Mad At Us?

I was actually asked that at work today; 22 Storms, 3 major hurricanes hitting the US, 2 of them in Louisiana. Not to mention the flooding in my homestate, Mass. and the Nor' Easter that resulted from Hurricane Wilma. I'm thinking, "probably no more than usual." If he is mad at us, he is not as mad as he is with those in Afghanastan, Pakastan, India or Malasia. The Tsunami killed over 100,000 and the earth quakes this month killed about 40,000 in Pakastan and India. Following the logic of the person who asked the question, God is mad at the U.S., or maybe its just the Christians here, not sure. However, he is totally, Biblically pissed at the Muslims and Hindus. Personnally I think it is just the way things are. I do not think global warming is as bad as they say, nor do I believe that this weather pattern is so totally abnormal. It has happened before. It will happen again. While Rita was messing up Louisiana and Texas there was a snowstorm that dumped 12 inches of snow up north, in early October. Where was the global warming then? It has been in the 40's here in Baton Rouge for the past 2 mornings. Are these unusual cold spells also part of global warming? I remember a few years when I was younger, up in New England, where the temperature stayed mostly in the 60's through December and other years where our first snow was in October. Neither God's wrath nor global warming helps to put that into context to me. Some things just are, deal with it.

Finished

I finished my Organizational Behavior class last week. I applied for my diploma. It's just an Associates in Management but it is an accomplishment. I think I am going to go to Coastline Community College for a few classes to finish up my Associates in Electronic Technology. After that I'll probably finish my BS in Management with Park university. I am taking a month or so off though. There were so many issues with this last class that I need a break. My team was affected by 2 hurricanes and an early October Blizzard. The weather is definitely messed up this year. Hurricane Wilma is churning in the gulf right now. Its supposed to hit South Florida after it is done with Cancun. I just hope it stays away from Louisiana; Too much is too much.

Super Dome

Just an arial shot of the Super Dome in New Orleans, Post Katrina. One of the Blackhawk crew left a disk full of them for us to browse through.

House Buying

I'm looking into buying a house in Tallahassee. If you have never done this (and I haven't) you don't know what you are missing. I saved enough for a down payment, 5%. I thought I was good to go, but no. You see there are these little things called closing costs; only they are not so little. Everybody sticks their fingers into your pie. Everyone who could have anything to do with anything tries to get a little money out of you. What you end up with is a closing cost that can be higher than the down payment on the house. Why does property ownership have to be so hard? Then, to top it off, the mortgage company wants to make sure that your are indebted to them for as many decades as possible. They don't even want to talk about a mortgage for less than $50,000. That would mean that you might pay it off while you were still young. All in All its pretty frustrating. I almost want to walk away and say forget it.

God Blogs

Everyone is doing it. Why not Christians? They even have a convention. What would Jesus Blog? I guess you'll have to attend to find out. It was inevitable. There are many Christian Resources popping up all over the web; Smartchristian.com, Biblegateway and more. You gotta love it. If TV brought us the Televangalist, what will the internet bring? Intelevangellists, click here for instant salvation, Pop up proverbs, E-bay webstores that sell blessed water... God only knows what will come next. I hope more true Christians get out there and less of these take-your-money and run Jim Baker types. That's one of the best things about blogging; most people do it for the sake of doing it, whether or not people appear to be listening. Hopefully these Christian Blogs will keep up the tradition.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday US Navy; 230 Years old. Isn't it funny that we created a Navy to attack English ships almost 8 months before we signed the Declaration of Independence. Those crazy colonials.

I reenlisted today. I have 20 years in. I will probably still retire next year as planned. I am thinking seriously of moving to Tallahassee when I retire. I'm checking out homes there right now. We'll see how that turns out.

Fun Fun Fun

We got a ride around the city in a Blackhawk today. It was pretty fun. The door was wide open the whole time. It was definitely the highlight of my week; OK, my month. Anyway, I got a few shots. We originally planned a trip down to one of the Hurricane damaged areas but that didn't quite work out.

PRT

The reserve units did their Physical Readiness Test this weekend. I usually go out there with them but I was hurt this time. Overall they did pretty well. I think we had a lot less failures than times in the pasts. The Navy has taken a tougher stance on PRT failures. They process you out if you fail too many.

Almost

Done that is. Its close enough to taste right now. I am in my last week of Organizational Behavior. Alot of it was a rehashing of the Situational Leadership model that the Navy has been pushing for several years. They got much more in depth in this course than the Navy Leadership classes ever did. That's the difference between a couple of days and 8 weeks worth of training I guess.

We had drill this weekend. We accidentrally scheduled it for a 3 day Holiday weekend. Most of the SELRES didn't seem to mind.

I get tomorrow off so I can study before the test. I think I am going to coastline Community College for a few classes. That will complete my requirements for an AS in Electronic Technology. Too bad two AS degrees don't equal a Bachelors though. I have about ten classes to finish my BS with Park in Management. I'm not sure that I can complete it before I get out so I think I'll wait to complete that one for a year or so. I have my GI bill that will help me to pay for it.

Wish me luck.

Supreme Court Nominee

OK, we just discover that the FEMA director had no real experience with handling emergencies. Everyone is up in arms about it. Now we get a Nominee to the Supreme Court who has never been a judge. How does this work? Harriet Miers may be a good attorney but she has no experience as a Judge. Even Judge Judy has more background for this nomination. What kind of attorney was she? Most specialize in one area or another, IE criminal law, contract law, etc.
Does she have the necessary diversity that will be required of a Supreme Court Judge? Does she know Constitutional Law like the back of her hand? I applauded Bush for his nomination of Chief Justice Roberts. This man knew his law and seemed to have a broad background. I can't do that for his latest nomination. It seems like typical "good old boy" (or girl in this case) politics.

Google Earth

I downloaded Google Earth yesterday. I must say, I'm impressed. It does take a pretty up-to-date computer to run the software. You can find locations and statistics for sites worlwide. You get 3-D views for some cities and you can overlay maps on the satellite images. It will giver you the GPS coordinated of any object on its screen that you point the cursor at as well as height above sea level. It's an excellent step up for mapping software. Its biggest drawback and strongest attribute are that the info is streamed to the computer. It should allow for more accurate and timely info but makes its use on the road to be problematic. I'm not sure if the basic interface is available minus the rest of the data or not. I haven't tested that out yet. Still, its worth the free download.