So, I was going to post this past Sunday, when the internet went down, and it's been down from then till now! Thus, I'm only partly to blame for such a late post.
Anywho, news. Well, I got a letter from home saying there was 3 inches of snow on the ground. After a long confused thought process, I decided to check the date on the letter. Jan 22. It was sent to Ft Dix Jan 29th, returned to sender Aug 9th, and resent to me Aug 22nd. Ya, good job, FT Dix. Glad it wasn't an urgent letter!
My home church celebrated 5 years of services!!! WHOOOOT! The first anniversary that I wasn't able to make! Life goes on! I hear the service was great, being held at the Eureka Lake. The weather cooperated. I wish I could have been there. Yet here, on the other side of the world, I was at a church service on that day, and they gave us an oppertunity to share something about our home church. I got to share that my church was celebrating 5 years! Crosspoint, you have now been named in Iraq! And it didn't cost you a penny to send me over here! :)
I've been running a lot lately. The other day, I ran nearly 10 miles! (Keep in mind, 2 years ago, I couldn't run 1 mile continuously) I'm actually getting a bit addicted to it! It's a great stress relief, and a reminder to eat well, cause you'll feel it when it comes time to run!
The last week or so, I've had deja vu. Something in the environment triggered a memory from home so strongly, that I had to remind myself where I was at. Like one, there's a patch of well watered grass over here. I took off my shoes and walked across it. AHHH! Then later, I smelled something that reminded me of home. I gotta keep my head in the game just a little bit longer!
Once again, my camera is awesome! Been taking tons of pictures. I'm going to be poor after developing the rolls, but it'll be worth it.
On September 11th, it'll be a mixed emotion day for me. We're going to be doing a 10k (about 6mile) run that day, it's the 7th year anniversary of 9-11 (the reason I'm here), and it's my girlfriend's birthday (one of the reasons I miss home so much).
In any case, my time here is coming to a close. As much as I'd like to, I can't put dates/times on here. There are specific people that know back in the states. Contact them for more information.
Thanks, all, for reading!!
JP OUT!
Friday, August 29, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Good News!
The vinyl records I ordered finally shipped. (To my house! I'm not dumb enough to bring a record player to Iraq! The records would melt in the mail!!!) I got a replacement tube for my amp, so it's working again, and my new film camera (complements of Ebay) has arrived! I am back in business! I gotta say, this camera is freaking sweet!
The Nikon F3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikon_F3
It's the best camera made before auto focus came out. It retailed for $1250 and sold on Ebay for $130. It's built like a tank, but moves like a sports car. Everything is so smooth and well made.....it's nice! It can use film from 6iso to 128000iso (common is 100-800iso). It has all sorts of great features. None of the fluff of modern cameras such as auto focus, auto winding (though I can add this later), built in flash. It's just a highly featured SLR camera, and perhaps the best I could possibly get! Now my lens arsenal are in need of upgrades, but that'll come later on. Well, gotta go shoot some pictures!
JP OUT!
The Nikon F3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikon_F3
It's the best camera made before auto focus came out. It retailed for $1250 and sold on Ebay for $130. It's built like a tank, but moves like a sports car. Everything is so smooth and well made.....it's nice! It can use film from 6iso to 128000iso (common is 100-800iso). It has all sorts of great features. None of the fluff of modern cameras such as auto focus, auto winding (though I can add this later), built in flash. It's just a highly featured SLR camera, and perhaps the best I could possibly get! Now my lens arsenal are in need of upgrades, but that'll come later on. Well, gotta go shoot some pictures!
JP OUT!
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Boo----Freakin-----YA!!!!
That's right, I passed the PT test!!!!
Ok, story time.
As you all know, I failed to pass the situp portion of the PT test. I had an oppertunity to take the test again on the 13th, so in the time between then, I focused almost exclusively on ab work. It paid off as I went from 46 situps to 53 situps. A gain of 6 in less than a week! However, the ordeal wasn't over. After the test, I was weight and hight measured. I weigh 184lbs, down from 189lbs in June, and my height is 69". At my height, the Army says I should weight 179lbs, so I have to be taped for fat percentage. In June, I measured in at 22% which is right at the allowable limit. After loosing 5lbs, and increasing my bench press 50%, I measure in at 23%!!!! Thus, I am now again temporarily barred from promotion!!! (The Army system is flawed, making this possible). So, for three days, I eat almost nothing, keep exercising, and on the day of the measuring, drink almost no water. In three days, I'm down to 180lbs and 20%! HAHA!!!
So now the bar is lifted and there's nothing holding me back!!!! HAHAHA!!! Soon, line one of my address will change. But like all things the government deals with, it's gonna take time.
Either way, now that that's taken care of, I'm going to get back to a reasonable eating/pt/sleeping schedual.
Topic 2: Observations.
The human body is incredibly capable of noticing relativity, but is a poor judgement of absolutism. What I mean is this....it takes little to no training to know if an instrument is out of tune, yet if I were to play a note by itself, only the best can determine if the note is sharp or flat. Or in the visual sense, I could show you two different red objects 20 min apart that were similar shade and they'd look the same. Yet, putting them next to each other, the difference would be pronounced.
In the same way, our souls are excellent judges of reletivity, and poor judgement of absolutes. In other words, we often compare ourselves to those around us, rather than the truth. O, I must be right, because I'm better than _____. Or, I'm a failure because I'm not as good as ______. When we were given the knowledge of good and evil, we were only given the basics to tell if something is more evil or more rightous than something else. To truely know how true something is requires years of careful training and exposure to the truth, just like people with perfect pitch train themselves.
I don't really have a main point to hammer home with this thought. It was just that, a thought. Chew on it for a bit. Spit it out, choke it down with some water, give it to the dog, sell it on Ebay, I don't care. It's food for thought.
JP Out!
Ok, story time.
As you all know, I failed to pass the situp portion of the PT test. I had an oppertunity to take the test again on the 13th, so in the time between then, I focused almost exclusively on ab work. It paid off as I went from 46 situps to 53 situps. A gain of 6 in less than a week! However, the ordeal wasn't over. After the test, I was weight and hight measured. I weigh 184lbs, down from 189lbs in June, and my height is 69". At my height, the Army says I should weight 179lbs, so I have to be taped for fat percentage. In June, I measured in at 22% which is right at the allowable limit. After loosing 5lbs, and increasing my bench press 50%, I measure in at 23%!!!! Thus, I am now again temporarily barred from promotion!!! (The Army system is flawed, making this possible). So, for three days, I eat almost nothing, keep exercising, and on the day of the measuring, drink almost no water. In three days, I'm down to 180lbs and 20%! HAHA!!!
So now the bar is lifted and there's nothing holding me back!!!! HAHAHA!!! Soon, line one of my address will change. But like all things the government deals with, it's gonna take time.
Either way, now that that's taken care of, I'm going to get back to a reasonable eating/pt/sleeping schedual.
Topic 2: Observations.
The human body is incredibly capable of noticing relativity, but is a poor judgement of absolutism. What I mean is this....it takes little to no training to know if an instrument is out of tune, yet if I were to play a note by itself, only the best can determine if the note is sharp or flat. Or in the visual sense, I could show you two different red objects 20 min apart that were similar shade and they'd look the same. Yet, putting them next to each other, the difference would be pronounced.
In the same way, our souls are excellent judges of reletivity, and poor judgement of absolutes. In other words, we often compare ourselves to those around us, rather than the truth. O, I must be right, because I'm better than _____. Or, I'm a failure because I'm not as good as ______. When we were given the knowledge of good and evil, we were only given the basics to tell if something is more evil or more rightous than something else. To truely know how true something is requires years of careful training and exposure to the truth, just like people with perfect pitch train themselves.
I don't really have a main point to hammer home with this thought. It was just that, a thought. Chew on it for a bit. Spit it out, choke it down with some water, give it to the dog, sell it on Ebay, I don't care. It's food for thought.
JP Out!
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Sometime's Life's a Game
I am a soldier in the United States Army. I am an example to those back home of strength and disiplain. I am a worrior in God's army. I am an example to those here of strength and disiplain. I am a tall tower among my peers. Or so I thought.
But I am just a game of Jenga. Growing ever taller, all the while, my foundation grows ever weaker. Slowly and almost unoticed, blocks that I stand on have been removed and replaced with nothing but air, while more and more is added on top, giving the illusion of growth. Then, seemingly without warning, the whole thing comes crashing down, as the devil shouts joyously, "Jenga!" He had succeeded.
The difference here is that God steps in to remake me into what I once was, rather than just packing up the broken pieces and putting it on the shelf next to Monopoly, Clue, Battleship and all the other classics. One thing about God, when he play's Jenga, he cheats. He adds to the top while reinforcing the base. He takes us from a stack of blocks into something useful that can stand up against anything! I just need to realize that I cannot make it on my own.
I want to take this time to thank all of you that have supported me thus far. I want to give a shout out to my 4-H club for the box of food that was sent! Darn good brownies! For my family, who also sent some great brownies, and have been there for me and supported me, especially my father who's helped me with a project back home. My grandparents (again, for some great brownies :) ) as well as their pride. My girlfriend for being understanding while I work out at the gym. My friends, for not forgetting me while I'm gone. My church for all the times I've just needed someone to talk to. And anyone else not specifically mentioned! I know I haven't gotten back to a lot of those that have sent me stuff, and I'll try. But let me at least give a general thank you!
I hope you all are staying cool in the nice 90+ degree weather! I gotta say one thing good about the weather here....it's rained 3 times since early Feb, and not once since May. Though it makes things incredibly dry, you never have to worry about leaving things out overnight, or rain changing your plans. The weather is borringly predicable....hot, hotter, less hot. Though I do miss green. And grass. (No, I really mean grass, not pot!)
Well, that's all for now!!!
JP OUT!
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Rejoice With Me
For I have pasted 2/3rds of my PT test.
Huh? What? You failed? Technically, yes. But I am celebrating because A, I nearly passed all three, B, I made great progress in the last month, and C, the 2 I did pass, I passed with flying colors! My girlfriend can attest to how much time I've been putting in at the gym in prepration for this event, and it's paid off, mostly!
For those that don't know, the APFT (Army Physical Fitness Test) consists of three events. Pushups, Situps and 2 mile run. Those of you that know me know that I am not an athletic person. The pushups and situps are both a measure of how many you can do in 2 minutes. At my age group, passing is 40 pushups, 50 situps and 2 mile run in 16:36. For the pushups, I reached 40 in 1 minute, did 10 more and quit early to save energy for later events. The situps, I hit 46, and couldn't do any more. The run, well, I had no need to save energy at this point, so I went all out......just about dieing in the process.......15:28! 13 seconds slower than my peak in AIT! I'm proud of myself, and my progress! Friday, I start training again for the next one. This one, I will pass!
Laters, yall!
JP OUT!
Huh? What? You failed? Technically, yes. But I am celebrating because A, I nearly passed all three, B, I made great progress in the last month, and C, the 2 I did pass, I passed with flying colors! My girlfriend can attest to how much time I've been putting in at the gym in prepration for this event, and it's paid off, mostly!
For those that don't know, the APFT (Army Physical Fitness Test) consists of three events. Pushups, Situps and 2 mile run. Those of you that know me know that I am not an athletic person. The pushups and situps are both a measure of how many you can do in 2 minutes. At my age group, passing is 40 pushups, 50 situps and 2 mile run in 16:36. For the pushups, I reached 40 in 1 minute, did 10 more and quit early to save energy for later events. The situps, I hit 46, and couldn't do any more. The run, well, I had no need to save energy at this point, so I went all out......just about dieing in the process.......15:28! 13 seconds slower than my peak in AIT! I'm proud of myself, and my progress! Friday, I start training again for the next one. This one, I will pass!
Laters, yall!
JP OUT!
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Does It Ever End?
Ok, so I told you about my camera. What I didn't tell you was I had a flat in my bike a little while ago, before the camera stopped working. So today, I went about fixing the flat. I turned on some Nora Jones and went to work. While working, my stereo started making some popping noises. I at first thought it was just electrical noise, but no, one of the tubes cracked! I turned it off, but it was too late.....a small trail of smoke came up from within!
So I unplugged it and flipped it over to take a look. Let's play a game called, find the burnt part. Ready? GO!
Any guesses? I'll give you a hint....that black mark wasn't there before.
Right above that black mark is the charred remains of a resistor. Fortunately, they cost under a dollar and are easy to replace. Unfortunately, shipping = $$$ and time. I'm without a stereo for at least a week!!! NOOO!!! But at least my bike is fixed!
3 days till my PT test!
JP OUT!
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Been Awhile
But I'm still here!
Sorry for the delay. My section was reduced to 1 this week, while extra work was thrown on me. I didn't even get my one day off this week. Plus, I've been spending my free time in the gym in preperation for the PT test coming on the 6th of Aug. I think I'm ready. I'm spending the next few days doing only light PT to let my body recover and be ready for the test. I think I've got it this time!
In other news, I got in contact with Steve. His job puts him in an office throughout the day, so I was able to reach him on his office phone. Being military, it was a free call! He's just 1 hr behind me timewise so our work sheduals are pretty close. It was great hearing from him! I've also got his mailing address, and mail sent from one APO to another is free! Can't argue with that!
So anywho, life's still moving forward.....slowly. Days are counting down, and I wish I could keep a running count on here......but alas, it's not allowed. Just know that the day will come soon enough!
Well, I gotta jet for now.
Laters,
JP OUT!
Sorry for the delay. My section was reduced to 1 this week, while extra work was thrown on me. I didn't even get my one day off this week. Plus, I've been spending my free time in the gym in preperation for the PT test coming on the 6th of Aug. I think I'm ready. I'm spending the next few days doing only light PT to let my body recover and be ready for the test. I think I've got it this time!
In other news, I got in contact with Steve. His job puts him in an office throughout the day, so I was able to reach him on his office phone. Being military, it was a free call! He's just 1 hr behind me timewise so our work sheduals are pretty close. It was great hearing from him! I've also got his mailing address, and mail sent from one APO to another is free! Can't argue with that!
So anywho, life's still moving forward.....slowly. Days are counting down, and I wish I could keep a running count on here......but alas, it's not allowed. Just know that the day will come soon enough!
Well, I gotta jet for now.
Laters,
JP OUT!
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