Captain Joe's Open Letter to America

Joe, a 26 year old from Colorado has a very inspirational letter that I think everyone should read.

My name is Joe. I am currently serving in my second deployment to Iraq as an Army officer. The biggest differences between this deployment and my last one are:

-The location (within Iraq)
-The Job (much busier : less free time/sleep)
-The duration (last deployment was 12 months, this one is 15)

I am sure you are wondering why some random soldier in Iraq would write you a letter… there are several reasons, but the primary one will be obvious by the end. First I’ll tell you a little about myself.

I’m 26 years old, I’ve been married for almost 7 years, and I have a son and a daughter in elementary school. I grew up in Georgia, but I live in Colorado Springs now. I come from a long line of military officers, so I was sort of “destined” to serve. Although I only have 3 ½ years in the Army, I’ve been wearing the uniform for 12 years (JROTC & ROTC). I have a degree in computer science and I’m a music & movie enthusiast.

Now that you know a little about me, I’d like to inform you on what Iraq is really like.
...

Check out Joe's Open Letter To Americans to read it all.

On The Issues

I just came across an awesome resource to help figure out where you and your candidate of choice compare on various issues. The site is www.ontheissues.org. They have a quiz (Look for the link "Click for our new PresidentMatch 2008 quiz" on their mainpage) that compares your choices against a wide area of candidates both for senate and for the presidency. They take the various actions that the person has done (voting for/against issues, statements, news reports) and compile where each one stands and compares it to your own set of answers. What ended up being my closest match wasn't quite what I expected and now I have someone new to look into.

I definitely recommend taking 5-10 minutes to go through, answer the questions and see if who you are supporting adds up to all you thought they would.

Trent Reznor Gets It Right

Ok, so here's an interview with Trent Reznor & Saul Williams about talking about their new album, but what most caught my eye was the following:

What do you think about OiNK being shut down?
Trent: I'll admit I had an account there and frequented it quite often. At the end of the day, what made OiNK a great place was that it was like the world's greatest record store. Pretty much anything you could ever imagine, it was there, and it was there in the format you wanted. If OiNK cost anything, I would certainly have paid, but there isn't the equivalent of that in the retail space right now. iTunes kind of feels like Sam Goody to me. I don't feel cool when I go there. I'm tired of seeing John Mayer's face pop up. I feel like I'm being hustled when I visit there, and I don't think their product is that great. DRM, low bit rate, etc. Amazon has potential, but none of them get around the issue of pre-release leaks. And that's what's such a difficult puzzle at the moment. If your favorite band in the world has a leaked record out, do you listen to it or do you not listen to it? People on those boards, they're grateful for the person that uploaded it — they're the hero. They're not stealing it because they're going to make money off of it; they're stealing it because they love the band. I'm not saying that I think OiNK is morally correct, but I do know that it existed because it filled a void of what people want.

I think this is the best explanation I've ever read about a file sharing site/program and the motivation of people behind it..

RIAA - 1, Single Mother - 0

Well, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has successfully won in court against a single mother for file sharing. For those who don't know the RIAA is, they are comprised of many companies, the big four of which are EMI, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, & Warner Music Group. These companies hide behind the RIAA so they won't be associated with all the bad PR that surrounds suing their customers.

I personally have only bought a few CD's in the last 7-8 years (the few I have were after/before a concert, and I'm 98% certain unassociated with the RIAA). The companies in the RIAA have alienated me as a customer. I refuse to support them. I encourage as many other to quit supporting them as well.

Here are a few sites that I've found to be quite useful:
http://riaaradar.com/

http://www.boycott-riaa.com/

Full List of RIAA Members

Two major bands have shown they are fed up with the recording industry's antics. Trent Reznor , aka. Nine Inch Nails - has recently split from his contract with his label, probably because of all the bad press he's generated for them recently, they were probably glad to let him go..

Also Radiohead's latest album will be released tomorrow and they will allow the customer to set the price at what the customer thought the album is worth to download. They also will offer a boxed set for a set price, but the key here is they are doing it without the record companies.

These two examples are just the beginning of what I think will be a massive exodus of bands from being tied to the useless labels trying to promote them.

Huskers, Boo!!

What. The. Hell.

Did we even show up to the game on Saturday? Because I didn't see any football players from Nebraska on TV. There were some college kids dressed up in pads and jersey's, but they certainly didn't act like football players.

The offense seemed like it was going to get going a few times only to sputter and eek out a few field goals. The Blackshirts were no where to be found. Turn those shirts in boys, because you don't deserve them. Why were we only blitzing three men all the way up until the point where it no longer mattered?! (Hey, i know, lets give them a 35 pt lead, THEN put some pressue on their QB). And then when the announcers said that Cosgrove said they were going to make some "USC like" changes to the defense, uhhh Hello? did those changes seem to work then? I didn't think so...

I sincerely hope that Cosgrove is fired, then tar and feathered and ran out of town. That's all I have to say about him. Calahan seems to be doing a good job with the offense and if only the defense could keep the games close enough that the offense doesn't start loosing heart, we will begin winning football games again.

That game was painful to watch, is painful to think and talk about, and hopefully will be the last painful thing we have to endure this year.

On a lighter note, I will actually be making it to two of the next three games, Oklahoma St for homecoming this Saturday, Oct 13th, and then will be making a road trip down to enemy territory for the Texas game on Oct 27th. Tickets are in hand for the Texas game, and still on the lookout for a few more tickets to ensure there is enough for the entire family. I can't wait...

Birthday Results

Welp, the birthday weekend is finally over and I feel fresh and relaxed.

I went out Friday night and ended up staying out a bit later than expected (3AM, oops) because of this and a lack of planning, I put off the paintball adventure on Saturday morning until a later date when I can get a hold of more than a few people. Saturday I spent lounging around doing a whole lot of nothing until about 9 when we went out for dinner at Granite City, followed by drinking at the My Way, and ending with an after hour party at my place. Many thanks to Andy, Chris, Micaila, Angie, Kalinda, Mikey for the shots and drinks and making the time enjoyable with your presences.

I crashed somewhere around 3AM again Saturday night and slept in until almost 11, it was awesome. I then spent the next 3 hours playing Halo 3, took a break for some lunch, then played about 8 more hours before calling it a night. That's right, something like 11 hours of Halo, this was also awesome, no I'm not an addict, really. I swear.

Next on the agenda is getting the basement painted, steam cleaning the living room and having an electrician investigate some issue M.U.D. found while replacing my Gas/Water meters, hopefully this doesn't end up costing *too* much...

Saturday Morning: Paintball!

Since the Husker game isn't on TV this weekend and it's my birthday Sunday, I'm thinking about going out finally getting out and playing some paintball for the first time in a couple years this Saturday. I've narrowed it down to two places, neither of which I've ever been to so if you have any input on either that would be great.

The first is Kersplatt:
at 90th & Maple, Rental's start at $30, Indoors, not as many fields to choose from (from what I can tell online anyways)

The other is Mad Cow Paintball: near Louisville, NE (about a 30-45 min drive from Omaha), Rentals are $35, Outdoors, more field options (means better game selection), a bit of a drive to get there.

There's also Husker Paintball, which their website no longer exists so I don't know if they're still around, this was the only field I've ever been to and it was a great time, if anyone knows that they are still operational please let me know.

However it works out, It would definitely be a great time to get out and shoot a couple of you ;)

It's amazing what a $10 filing cabinet can do..

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Cat Spa

I think every cat should get to try this... at least once!

Huskers! Wooo!

So I found out that one of the guys I work with today has an extra ticket to the USC game on Saturday. Guess who gets to go now?! That's right, me baby. It should be a great time of tailgating all day hopefully followed by a good football game. I'll most likely stay in Omaha Friday night since my friend Scott is supposed to be flying in rather late in the evening, then going to head up to Lincoln early the next day to start the party. Depending on inebriation levels I may be back in Omaha after the game, but I kinda doubt that's going to happen.

This past weekend was pretty fun, after a shaky start on Friday I got to spend the rest of the afternoon with my sister and her husband at the zoo. Sean watched the Husker game here with me and the roommates Saturday afternoon, then that night my brother and I took Cassie and Sean on a small tour of downtown Omaha since they had never been there. I think/hope they had a good time...

After a relatively uneventful Sunday it was back to the grind at work. Mondays and Wednesdays have became even more arduous as I have to get in an hour earlier than usual, work through lunch and then leave work early since I have class at 4PM. The class itself is pretty easy (Database Management, like I haven't been working with databases for over 3 years now every day or anything) but it's just getting back into the groove of the whole school thing after taking a break from classes for the summer. Anyways, I should really be getting to sleep, 6:45AM just comes too early these days..

Extreme Slip n Slide

Angie sent me this link, I think I might have to round up a few friends and attempt it...

Stardust

On a whim I went and saw Stardust last night. I'd been wanting to see this for quite a while and figured I better get to it before it leaves theaters.

I tried to explain the plot to a friend based on what I remembered from a few previews but failed miserably other than to say "uh, its a fantasy story about a star who falls to earth and transforms into a girl, and its got witches, magic and other fantasy stuff in it".

Anyways, any description I gave would probably have been pretty misleading as I didn't know that the movie had planned to be so tongue-in-cheek, or rather over the top with certain elements. It never really takes itself too seriously and is all the better for it. Brett said it was very similar to A Princess Bride and I would definitely have to agree. The humor was very familiar, but this movie had a bit more of a dark side, a bit more gore, and just overall felt to be aimed at an older audience. There is a lot of witty banter between the various characters and it feels more like a comedy than a fantasy epic about a lowly shop boy trying to win his true love.

Oh yeah, and watching Robert De Niro dance around in a dress was pretty funny too.

Post Labor Day Ruminations

So I was totally not ready for the weekend to be over. Even with the extra day off yesterday for Labor Day today has still felt very much like a Monday.with.too.much.work.ahead.that.makes.you.want.to.go.crazy or something.

The weekend was fun though, watched the Husker Football team walk all over Nevada on Saturday, then the Husker Volleyball team throughly trounce on Penn State on Sunday. We then barbecued over at Chris's Sunday night, followed by a long day of lawn work and laundry on Monday. Needless to say I wasn't ever really bored and an extra day to just sit and do nothing would have been awesome.

10 Quarters at once!

holy hell, i shall have to attempt this some night...

Hi, I'm Josh

Hi, my name is Josh.

I work in a button factory.

One day, my boss came to me and said, "Josh, are you busy?" I said no.

He said, "Turn this button with your left hand." *turnslefthandbackandforth*

Cameraphone (web enabled) + Imageshack.us + fotoflexer.com = Insta "on the go" photo manipulation.

The picture I took with my phone was a bit dark, so I uploaded it to Imageshack, then used fotoflexer to do some basic resizing/coloring touch ups. Then uploaded to here, huzzah! Isn't technology grand?

It's begun.

Hrmm, figured it was about time to make something to share with family/friends that's outside the typical social networking sites like Myspace and Facebook. Look forward to posts about the various things in my life that I feel like keeping you all up to date on (but don't expect anything too exciting, at least not till I win the lottery...)