Looking back, I’ve realized that every blog I’ve ever created is littered with posts claiming that I’m going to update more regularly or that I’m going to be more active. After that there may be a spurt of one or two other posts with mediocre content. I’ve realized that I’m really not a blogger. The most successful bloggers are those that serve a niche or have a purpose. I have none of these and don’t really like talking about myself at length. I guess that’s why it’s much easier to use facebook, twitter or google+ when I want to share something I find interesting or brag about myself. I guess this blog really only exists to make me feel important but really any schmuck can have a blog. :p

So here I am back “fighting” the “War on Terror”. It seems my life is just a series of deployments filled in by “real life” in between. It’s a little depressing though, not because I miss family and friends (I do miss my girlfriend), but because this particular place brings back some painful memories. It’s not all bad. Deployments are usually good for getting in shape and making progress in areas I would usually put off back home. A little over two months to go until I get to do some much needed traveling.

So I’ve decided that I should start recording my ideas. I always have ideas but never when I actually need them. I want to work for myself once my enlistment is up in about 2 years. I’m tired of working for other people at a job I really have no passion for. So to help facilitate my ambitions I’m going to make a serious effort to write down any bright ideas that pop into my head so one day when I’m ready to implement one of them, they’re right there for recall.

So after watching the latest episode of hak5, one of my favorite hacker centric podcasts, I decided I wanted to build a dedicated virtualization server. Right now I use my old laptop powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 2GB of RAM. It runs an opensource virtualization suite called ProxmoxVE. It’s got a slick web interface with the ability to quickly create virtual machines running most popular operating systems.

The new server will be a desktop machine running a quad core Intel Core i5 2400 and 8GB RAM. I also decided to equip it with 1TB of harddrive space to make room for quite a few virtual machines. My hope is to use this as a way to quickly deploy different operating systems to play around with whenever I get the urge. After shopping around I as able to get all parts for about $530. I’ll probably start adding more machines to the cluster down the road as the parts for this particular configuration get cheaper. I’ll post pics and details once I get it built.

I just finished watching an Afghan War movie by the name of Armadillo. It’s a documentary in the sense that it’s comprised of real life camera footage detailing the deployment of a group of soldiers deployed to a remote forward operating base (FOB)  in Helmand province, Afghanistan. I saw a similar film several months ago called Restrepo. Both are named after the FOB they document. Armadillo is a little different in that it follows the lives of Danish soldiers as opposed to US soldiers. It’s an often overlooked fact that there are several other countries involved in stabilization efforts in that part of the world.

The movie starts off as you might expect it to introducing us to the main characters before their deployment. Several give reasons for volunteering. Most of them claim to seek adventure and comradery. There’s the obligatory airport farewell and then it’s off to Afghanistan.

The rest of the film is pretty intense. There are a handful of firefights and tense moments. Most of the standard war related issues are explored including those of a controversial nature. The film isn’t really slanted either way and it pretty much lets the viewer decide what to think. There are a few graphic portions so it’s not really for younger viewers. For older viewers who are interested in the current situation over there and would like a deeper understanding, I highly recommend this film.

My unofficial New Years resolution is to eat healthier so that I can get my weight back down below 200 lbs. I’m not obese but for my frame 200+ lbs means I’m either jacked or I have a good size gut, love handles, man-boobs and a chubby face. I’m the latter. After losing a good 30 lbs in Iraq last year and loving how lean and healthy I looked, I’ve decided that my ideal weight is about 185 lbs. With that in mind I’ve turned to the “slow-carb” diet made popular by Tim Ferris, author of The Four Hour Body.

The rules are simple but the most important rules involve avoiding white carbs and sugar. Replace white carbs with “slow-carbs” from legumes like lentils and beans. Add things like leans meats from chicken, beef and fish and some green veggies for fiber. There are enough ingredients allowed that if you’re a creative chef like me, you can make some pretty delicious healthy dishes.

Turkey Lettuce Tacos

The other day I made some delicious tacos from ground turkey meat, homemade taco seasoning, refried beans and tomatoes. I used lettuce for shells. They were awesome!

One great thing about this diet is the allowance of one cheat day a week. During this day you can eat anything and I mean ANYTHING. The point of this day is to keep your metabolism stoked since the rest of the week you aren’t getting as many calories. This diet has the potential to shed 20 lbs in a month and possibly more if you tweak with suppliments and other hacks. For more info on this I recommend The Four Hour Body which is a huge reference on hacks for your body taken from around 10 years worth of experiementation and study of the results by the author Tim Ferris. Cheers!

Being the nerd that I am, I got a little frisky with my phone and decided to upgrade to the latest and greatest iteration of Android. Those of you who know me, know that I take pleasure in tinkering with my gadgets in ways that the manufacturers wished that I wouldn’t. I buy all of my phones carrier unlocked and usually end up voiding the warranty to most expensive pieces of equipment. I like to think that I own my hardware so I try to make it better if the means exist.

My Nexus One running "Gingerbread"

I’m no n00b when it comes to running custom versions of the Android operating system but I usually stick with the more stable versions as I use my phone everyday and don’t want it to be in-op during the day. In this case however, I couldn’t wait to try out the newest version of Android (2.3 “Gingerbread”). Android phones aren’t like iPhones or Blackberries in that they don’t get updates at the same time or in any sort of regular timeline. You either wait for the carrier/manufacturer to supply you with an over-the-air update or you hack one on there like me. That’s exactly what I did. The version I have on there now is considered unstable but so far it’s been pretty problem free.

I think the new interface is slick and I like the new keyboard. My favorite feature is how it looks like a television powering down when you shut the screen off.

Paul sat twiddling his thumbs. He had been traveling for almost 17 hours.
Despite how tired he was, he couldn’t fall asleep. The rear of the C-130 cargo
plane wasn’t very conducive to sleep. The cargo area was crowded with other
passengers and baggage. The netted makeshift seats weren’t very flexible so they
forced him to sit upright. Paul sat facing another row of passengers roughly 4
feet in front of him. This provided no leg room for him to stretch his six foot
two inch frame. Ever since Paul was 16 he had learned to ask for Exit Row seats
whenever he flew. There was no such option on this flight. The space was dimly
lit by a single red light that seemed to throb with the droning of the
propellers outside.

Paul reached into the left breast pocket of his Air Battle Uniform. He pulled
out a wrinkled piece of glossy paper. It was a photograph of him and his
girlfriend Sarah. Both he and Sarah were smiling, cheeks pressed together.
Behind them the caging from their Ferris wheel cart was visible. The sky was
blue and cloudless. The only other scenery was that of a few trees and Lake
Pleasant in the distance.

Sarah had dirty blonde hair just past her shoulders. Her eyes were a brilliant
coral blue. Her skin which was normally pale was slightly tan. Before that
particular picture was taken, Paul and Sarah were on the road in Paul’s sporty
BMW convertible top down the whole way. They had both decided to spend the
weekend at a bed and breakfast a few hours from home. A carnival was in town for
Memorial Day and the Ferris wheel seemed like a romantic thing to do that
afternoon.

Sarah wore a bright purple t-shirt which sported a very rockstarish design with
artsy ink splotches, crosses and subdued wings. She wore eye shadow to match but
just enough to notice it was there. Paul preferred her this way. There were
times he felt she wore too much makeup but he would never say it. He never
wanted to hurt her feelings. No matter what she wore though, she was beautiful
to him. There was a cuteness that always showed through. Just being around her
warmed his heart. The way she laughed could always bring a smile to his face no
matter what his mood was. There were times when riding in his car, Sarah would
burst out laughing seemingly for no reason. It usually ended up being about the
little moving cars that danced around the stereo display. Paul couldn’t help
himself from cracking a smile or even laughing himself.

Sarah was hands down the best thing that ever happened to Paul. She wasn’t a
model and didn’t always have the best fashion sense but she was attractive in
her own right. She was sassy and Paul liked that. She didn’t take crap from
anyone and could dish it out if need be. She was also just as much of a geek as
Paul. Every Wednesday was set aside to enjoy geeky television shows on Paul’s
couch. This was probably Paul’s favorite ritual. Paul’s friends loved Sarah and
her friends welcomed Paul as one of the gang. Paul couldn’t ask for a more
perfect relationship but his mind had drifted elsewhere.

Paul’s unit had been tasked with a deployment and Paul immediately volunteered
to go. Sarah was naturally devastated when she heard the news. Her heart sunk
even more when he told her it would be for over a year. Paul explained it to her
as if he had no choice but in truth he had no obligation to go. There were
plenty of people who could have gone in his place. He couldn’t bring himself to
tell her though that he was going because he wanted to. He couldn’t tell her it
was his fault that they would be separated for such a long time. It was
something he felt he needed to do though. He had been in the Air Force for
almost 5 years and hadn’t been deployed yet.

Two years ago he was set ship out to Afghanistan with his friend Nate. Nate was
Paul’s best friend in the Air Force. A week before they were to ship out, Paul
broke his leg in a rock climbing accident. Nate ended up going and another
Airman was sent in Paul’s place. Nate never made it back home. He was killed by
an IED while traveling in a convoy. Paul felt guilty for his friend’s death and
felt he had to take this deployment not only to do his time but also as a sort
of revenge. He wasn’t a frontlines infantryman but he knew he would be
supporting the effort to kill those responsible for killing his friend Nate. As
far as he was concerned nothing else mattered as much as going over there and
getting through this deployment. At least that’s what he thought.

Paul tried to tell himself that he wouldn’t miss Sarah. He would see her again
and everything would be fine. He just needed to do this first. Looking at the
photograph he couldn’t help but miss her now. He slowly ran his thumb across the
photo as if he was actually touching her face. He thought back to how he would
touch her cheek just before leaning in to gently kiss her on her soft lips. Paul
suddenly found himself overwhelmed with sadness. It took all that he had to keep
his already misty eyes from pouring out in tears. The only thing he wanted at
this moment was to touch Sarah’s face once more, to feel her curled up next to
him on the couch while he ran his fingers through her hair. He missed her more
than he cared to admit and his deployment hadn’t even officially started yet.
Before he could lose his composure, his thoughts were interrupted by a loud
voice on the plane’s intercom. “We are preparing for our descent,” The C-130
Loadmaster announced. “Please make sure your helmet and body armor are on and
your seatbelts are fastened. We should be touching down shortly.”
Paul wiped the mist from his eyes with his sleeve. He tucked the photograph into
his left breast pocket close to his heart.