UPT: Phase I (The Fun Parts)

When you see pilots hanging off a parachute, they never tell you how much it hurts the nether regions.

Pretty smug before being dragged by a truck to 150 feet. And then fall to the ground.

Pull that ejection handle....and the sounds of a toilet flushing comes on. The best of Air Force training technology.

Nika watched helplessly as they took us up to 35000 feet pressure altitude. And then we took our masks off.
It's like being drunk, within 5 seconds. But no hangover!

Better healthcare in Cuba? Not so fast...

It's not the main point of this article, but semi-capitalist America remains a much freakin' better place to live.

Another Place, Another Summary II

I wouldn't really count our living arrangements in Cal City as "having our own place" because we were hardly there to own it. Laughlin is different, we got assigned our own house, and except for Xmas/New Year's break and maybe Thanksgiving, we are stuck here in our shweet new home.

My name is above the front door, how tacky awesome is that!

We did our best decorating minimalistically. Gotta thank a few people for the dining room. Thanks to Brian for the table and chairs. Thanks to Shannon and Maxim for the adorable salt and pepper shakers on center display. And thanks to Yan for the bottle of Armenian Kognak.

I don't know if this wall in my study was meant to encourage me or scare the rest of you. That condemned G-suit has my name on it, and no, you can't borrow it for next Friday night.

No more of Andy's handcrafted nasty-ass projector stand. My seat is beneath Darth Vader. Recognize.

Despite the spartan furnishings, we do still get visitors from time to time.

Another Place, Another Summary I

From California to Texas, this PCS was definitely my longest road trip ever. 3 weeks and 3 states later, I finally have time to blog about it. I prefer letting the pictures do the talking.

Disclaimer: Practicing photography while driving is highly awesome, and should only be done by awesome people. If you suck in general and at driving in particular, don't be stupid.

Hyeah, it really was hot outside.

Cacti!

Storms are always beautiful.

The Open Road.

A quick stop at Fort Bliss in El Paso. The Army is just...different.

Who knew that Texas is a scenic state?

If you think you'll like Transformers, go see it!

Part modernized childhood nostalgia, part military recruiting, Transformers is 100% kick ass. From the opening minutes till the end the intensity never let up--directly correlating to how muscle fatigued I felt afterward--except for a few Michael Bayesque drawn-out and melodramatic moments.
Before I go any further, why the hell did NYTimes let Manohla Dargis review this film? "...Epically assaultive noise and nonsense"? Hey, Paris Je T'aime is playing in the artsy theater down the street and Little Children is probably coming out on DVDs. Beat it. No one who's pumped up about Transformers wants to hear about her political and social whineries; in fact, I shouldn't even have read her review, an epically assaultive waste of my geek literary quota. She obviously did not grow up with the international Transformers phenomenon and thus cannot appreciate, and her snobbery automatically disqualifies her every opinion of this film.
On to the cool stuff. True, it was distracting for me that throughout the movie when the subtitles suggest that it's some place--Middle East, Nellis--I knew what's what. But who cares? Edwards re-pre-sent! That flightline and tower belongs to the 412 OSS, biatch! I didn't mind, I was just so proud. The Air Force really dealt out all kinds of favors for Michael Bay, supplying almost every type of kick ass planes we've got and enough technical advice to keep their appearances believable. Psss...a bit of insider knowledge: Predator drones are still only prop-driven! Finally, nothing beats the moment when SSgt Rat's face is on screen for an entire 2 seconds, with a heroic head turn and an enthusiastically delivered line! Someone I know and worked with is on screen in a movie that's going to be seen by millions of people! My stock just went up another few points. Wait till Ironman, I don't care how crappy it's gonna be, especially if Manohla thinks so.

Shuttle is gone

Atlantis took off from Edwards back to FL. I missed it again.
But at least I'm not burning in the desert.

Ivy+ @ Mezzanine

My first time in an SF club didn't turn out to be the pandemonium I had hope for. The DJ was instructed to play nondanceable acid jazz, and Ivy+ Leaguers...well...just aren't that into dancing, I suppose. Met some cool people though. Shout outs to Margeret, Luis and Sondra!

Check out Geoff's newly launched site for connecting people's night lives. Have some fun, live a little.