my name is micah and this is my blog

DECEMBER!!! the last month of Christmas!

2011-12-31T11:10:00.000-08:00

December!

its just like me to get behind in my blogging.

but here is the completion of my 12 months of

christmas blog.

december...always a good month.

lots of food, cookies, parties, friends, family...

here are some of the cool places,things,events etc..

in no particular order, here are some things that happened

this month

philly

the reading terminal market.
i'm assuming this is where we get reading railroad?
monopoly...

its also where i had my first and only legit philly cheese!

christmas!

merry christmas!

this year i spent christmas a
million miles from family, but was blessed
with a great family to spend it with.
proof. God provides.

merry christmas from leah! this was my christmas
present from my lovely sis! made from pics taken
in atown and mounted on atown barn wood.
pretty sick huh?

merry christmas from me! and a happy new year!
while out shopping for my new christmas
party costume, i decided to swing into
a music store...i walked out with this. i decided
it would be my christmas present to myself
and also my new years resolution!

so far, its been awesome!
i love it

ribs. im a little biased, but i happen to think these
are as good as they come. homemade marinade.
homemade bbq sauce... this particular
batch was used to treat the staff on my floor
and a few particularly cool patients to a homemade
christmas meal. crockpotted and grilled on the
george foreman at work.

i'm pretty sure this stunt made legendary status for
nate, nate, and i at work.

people i don't even know were asking about them
a week later.

back to nov for a crucial memory

so this is actually a recap of a november happening.
this thanksgiving i flew down to a-ville to run the annual
turkey trot. this is the only picture i have but leah, becky
lara, mers, noah, and i all ran this year. my trip down was
very short, but we got a good deal of eating, some good
hangin out, and a 5k done!

december....this year was pretty stellar. it had its ups and down and i am happy for both. it was a year of a lot of change. this time last year i was in utah. since then, drove across country, spent enough time in texas to fall in love, (with the state) and continued on till i settled in rockville MD. along the way i hit fort collins co, austin tx, san antonio tx, dallas tx, new orleans la, fort campbell ky, asheville nc, leesburg va, and dc. i was part of the last class of nurses that was stationed at walter reed prior to its BRAC (base realignment and closure), i saw the merge of walter reed army medical center and national naval center. but the better than all that was the blessing of people. I think God has given me a love for people and the uniqueness of every one of them and how they each change your life. i know thanksgiving is past, but i want to say thanks for all of you who were part of my year, and who are a part of my life! God's really blessed me with you all. all in all, 2011 was pretty rad. i have made some great friends and great memories along the way and i can't wait to see what 2012 brings!

thanks for reading.

OCTOBER part ll...cause i forgot it, and NOVEMBER

2011-12-24T18:02:00.000-08:00

OCT part 2.

how could i forget!? this was me for halloween. we got to
dress up so i went to work like this. it was pretty much stellar.

and that is the end of oct

NOVEMBER!!!

the biggest event and best memory from nov was our

family get together. its hard to get just my family together

from utah, NC, and now DC. add TX and India...

thats one in a million...minus one we

got the whole crew together! we all headed to

NC where pati and mala and the rest of the fam

were able to get together and hang...play some good old

fashioned games, eat some food, and just chill.

pati and dad in an intense game of indian rumi

mala chiti with ben and na na at the pool

i don't have much for pictures from this trip. but it was great to see family, hang out, and enjoy each other. especially now that these trips are so few and far between...its been 6 years since who whole family's been together. so it was great! i recommend it.

and now...for december...tune in soon.

the 10th month of christmas...OCTOBER

2011-12-24T13:32:00.000-08:00

TOUGH MUDDER SEASON VIDEO

TOUGH MUDDER

WINTERGREEN, VA

TOUGH MUDDER.................

WINTERGREEN RESORT, VA.......

23OCT2011....................

38* FAHRENHEIT...............

37* 55' 48" N 78* 56' 30" W..

3,515 FEET...................

by far...the best, most enjoyable, hardest, good time i've ever had
on a run.

our pre race team shots!

go america. go tough mudder. go pirates.

tough mudder pledge

AS A TOUGH MUDDER,
I PLEDGE THAT...
I UNDERSTAND THAT
TOUGH MUDDER IS NOT A
RACE BUT A CHALLENGE.
I PUT TEAMWORK AND
CAMARADERIE BEFORE MY RACE TIME.
I DO NOT WHINE - KIDS WHINE.
I HELP MY FELLOW MUDDERS.
I OVERCOME ALL FEARS.

over the wall we go...
this must be early on seeing how
clean i still am.

gettin tired...

oh yea

finishing in style

post race, shower, food, and sleep pic

SHENANDOAH

in other big october news, i finally made it out camping. we took a trip out to the freezing

cold shenandoah valley where we did all the typical guy camping trip stuff. here it is.

spelled out for you in logical steps.

step one. cut wood.

step two. cut down the whole forest.

step three. start fire.

step four. this one has multiple parts
a. get fire super hot.
b. burn everything in sight.
c. start burning things you don't think should be burned
ie: lighters...
d. start burning things that don't burn till they melt
ie: bottles and tin cans
e. try to do things you shouldn't do...like play hot potato
f. build the fire up again and go to sleep so its ready
in the AM.

and if you bring along the right kinda guy,
you wake up to this.

eggs. potatoes. pancakes. sausage. hot coco. coffee....

happy campers

thats how its done folks

other enjoyable camping activities...sunrises

hiking

long walks together on the...gravel

taking in the good views

enjoying good company

and of course, eating peanut butter off none other than the

kill-bar

that was october. it was a pretty accomplished month. finally got out to enjoy the fall colors. got out in the fall weather. got out side and out of the city...good times in oct

SEPTEMBER!

2011-12-24T06:53:00.000-08:00

sorry guys, but this month is also gonna be a little lame. august and september are just

obstacles in the way of october...

aug and sep were consumed by work, and little bits of fun here and there.

i was able to check out some museums, monuments, bike through downtown,

kayak the potomac...that kinda stuff. all fun, but nothing like oct.

so since i have no real good pictures of september, but i like pictures in my blog

i google image searched "september" and no kidding...this is the first picture that comes up.

i thought i'd post it for you all.

that said, i'm done with september, be ready for oct!

August....?

2011-12-24T06:41:00.000-08:00

AUGUST

in the NARMY now

(Navy Air force aRMY)

yep. im in the narmy now. as of late august, we moved from "walter reed georgia ave" to walter reed bethesda. i posted on this a few months ago so if you want the whole story, just look back. this post, i'll just focus on some of the new stuff i've learned from the navy that i find rather funny.

gear adrift = misplaced junk

head = latrine = bathroom

bulkhead = wall

p way = hall

chit = a piece of paper saying pretty much anything to pretty much anybody

dixie cup = sailor hat

deck = floor

muster = a group meeting

the old place

"the reed" "WRAMC" "Walter Reed Georgia Ave"

the new place

"NARMY" "Navy" "WRNNMC" "Bethesda" "Walter Reed Wisconsin Ave"

that's pretty much it for aug. we slowly closed down the hospital until the last day when

everybody got tossed into one of these killer ambulances and taken over the the new

place.

8 stretchers, something like 8 seats for ambulatory pts,
and when it comes down the road, everybody moves.

its pretty sick

the seventh and most awesome month of christmas...July!

2011-12-22T17:06:00.000-08:00

JULY!!!

i pretty much love this month.
here's some of the stuff that made it awesome this year.

COUNTRY MUSIC

brad paisley, blake sheldon, josh thompson, josh kelley.

here are a few fans

and here are a few more

there's not much that can match a good old fashioned country
music fest in the summer. and they sell bud light in the
metal bottles! heyo!

MY BIRTHDAY

this is a picture of my birthday cake
(special thanks to baker)
i would have gotten a picture of the whole thing,
but i was so excited i got this far into it before i even gave a
thought to pictures. i promptly ate the rest of it...

THE 4th OF JULY

fireworks at the white house!

the 4th this year was pretty good. i got fireworks. i got to ride
my bike down to see them. i got to enjoy them with friends...

so funny story. since fireworks are banned in montgomory county...
along with fires, and flying the american flag, (i think it might be
communist...maybe) anyway, i decided to have some of my own.
actually i had just made the most perfect brownies you've ever
tasted. then i was going to make something else and turned on
the burner...which happened to be the one under the brownie pan.
big mistake. i was sitting on my couch waiting for the pan to heat up
when my brownies, along with the pan, exploded all over the kitchen.
it sounded like a gun and there was burnt brownie matter all over.

this has nothing to do with much of anything but i figured you all
might like to know some of the nothings that happen in my life too.

mostly i was sad that i lost the most perfect brownies i'd ever made.
and i guess the pan blowing
up was a bummer too.
it was a good'n

GOOD OLD AIRBORNE PRIDE!

i took a trip to NC to see a couple army buddies there and took
a quick trip to the us army airborne and special operations museum.

funny cause its true...

so what does this have to do with anything?
well this was a wedding dress made from a paratrooper's
chute that he jumped on d-day into normandy. he carried it
for who knows how long until they had post set up and was
able to send it home. kinda cool huh?

here's a pic of some engineers before jumping into normandy.
war paint...
mohawks...
and...

a bulldozer! cause only real men bring a bulldozer to jump out
of airplanes into battle.

crazy engineers...

BELE CHERE in A-VEGAS!

me and the kidos at bele chere

classic a-town music. and yes that guy is playing the saw with
a violin bow

uncle ryan's friend mark hooked us up big time!

a jeti hat! a jeti lightsaber! a jeti lightsaber belt and holder!
may the force be with him

nobody escapes this jeti

june...the only month between us and july!

2011-12-20T16:24:00.000-08:00

once again, june was a pretty normal month...i really don't remember much about june except that i spent a lot of time it. since i'm in a hurry to get to july, i'm only going to show one particular memory.

arlington national cemetery

as part of "work" we took a trip to arlington to visit the cemetery, see the tomb of the unknown soldier, and check out the changing of the guard. i've seen it once but going this time was much different...and cooler. being in uniform we decided to try and get an inside tour and asked the SGT of the guard who took us into their little room under the tomb plaza and acted as our personal tour guide for over an hour. here's a few fun facts for you on the
"sentinels" of the old guard.
*it takes between 6 months and a year to earn your badge as a sentinel
*there have been fewer than 550 sentinels since WW1 (fewest awarded second only to the u.s. army astronaut badge)
becoming a sentinel requires you to
*memorize and recite 18 pages of written cemetery knowlege (without missing a word)
*memorize and write 19 pages of knowledge (without missing a work, punctuation mark, or capital letter, etc...)
*a near impossible uniform inspection
*countless flawless walks at night and in horrible weather before you can walk a day shift
*memorize where hundreds of important people and tombs are within the cemetery
*the scabbards start as plastic olive drab and the pistol holsters start brown leather...both are shined with, on average, 10 cans of spray paint and buffed out until they are like metallic car paint that shows your reflection. same with the shoes, which are also buffed between each walk.

a 3rd army sentinel. the number 21 dates back to old wars (revolutionary maybe?) where
each army would agree to cease combat to clear the battlefield of the dead and wounded.
after they were done, one side would signal with a 21 gun volley. the opposing army
would signal back with a second 21 gun volley and both sides would get back to it...
21 became the number known as the highest honor to the dead soldiers.

the soldier will walk the strip in 21 steps, pauses are 21 seconds... its pretty cool

i just really like this shot.

if you've never even heard of this whole thing, here's a little video of what happens.

and here's a video of what happens when you do something wrong.

i just thought these were interesting.

this is a tomb of the unknown for a british soldier in india

this is the tomb of the unknown for a soldier from the
revolutionary war up in philly

may. the 5th month of christmas

2011-12-17T13:29:00.000-08:00

i have to say, may was pretty slow considering the past few months. but fun none the less. the short story of the month was work and play.

"the reed"

work. i started work at walter reed army medical center on a
general medicine/ortho ward. no real big story here.

some quick army news.

out with the old, in with the older!

i know what you're all thinking. "i love those things!"
yeah well try wearing one. they give you weird tan lines. they're hot
they don't block the sun. they fly off in the wind. and worst
of all, people who don't take the time to wear them in properly
make them look horrible.

so the they finally ditched them for this!

back to the PC!

the patrol cap. practical. fits in a pocket. comfortable. bullet proof.
light weight. invisible to radar.
liked by everybody in the army....

and that was your army modern happenings lesson for the day

in other news, i've been continuing to make my way around the area...

another miranda lambert show. always fun,

the beach!

on the east coast.

i made my way out to ocean city and for the
first time in my life set foot into atlantic ocean.
pretty cool

but not as cool as the ferris wheel, the airplane
flying adds by on a streamer,

or the boardwalk full of awesome fair food

and lastly, i caught a crab.

i like doing stuff like this. i'm not sure what it is, but when i
got here i decided i needed to catch and eat a crab. so nate
and i set out on a youtube/google adventure and found out
all we needed. so we got it. fishing/crab licenses. a crab pot.
some string. chicken wings. the K-bar...obviously.

a beer. a book.
so we set out for the bay, found a little pier, and went to work.
it took forever. we had barely anything to show, but finally, when
we pulled up one of our lines, this little guy popped out.
and thats a wrap. some old bay, a pot full of water,
and dinner is served!
served

april. the end of texas. the road trip east. and the 4th month of christmas.

2011-12-16T07:27:00.000-08:00

lets start by wrapping up texas. i like to take full advantage of wherever i am and there were quite a few things in texas to do. here's a picture tour of some of the other things i did while i was down there...in no real particular order.

SEA WORLD

saw flipper. shamu. flamingos...all the typical sea world stuff.
the best part, one free military pass for you and your family per year!

AUSTIN

i decided to be a good texas tourist and go see where all this
tx pride comes from. austin is totally worth your time, i think i made 3
trips up, but one this particular one, i hit up the capital for a tour of
some good ol' texan history.

SIX FLAGS FIESTA TX

this picture shows 2 things. first, as you can see, we went to 6 flags and
rode the most hardcore insane terrifying rides they had
to offer.
second, this is the guy is now my roommate. it went pretty
much like this. "hey man, you're getting stationed up in DC right?"
"yeah" "sweet. want to room together? save a buck?"
"sure"
there you have it. nate.

BOLC...THE END

above is my platoon picture.
below is my nurse track platoon picture

so that was the end of texas. i packed up, and with 2 other friends headed east...
first stop. new orleans

NEW ORLEANS

horse cops. cause they're cool

i don't even know...thats why i had to take this picture

the infamous hand grenade from new orleans. i guess its
not that famous cause i've never heard of it, but when in rome...
can't say i'd ever get one again. it was like drinking pure alcohol
mixed with the most grossly sweet, nickelodeon green, fruit punch
you're 4 year old sugar addict nephew could dream up.
i've never liked fruit punch, and i don't really care for most
hard liquors. but now i've been there and done that. check please.

now this on the other hand...i can get into. cajun food. we did it.
gator, crawdads, po' boys, gumbo, jambalaya...
i'd do it again just to eat my way through that city.

FORT CAMPBELL KY

next stop, fort campbell ky. home of the historic 101st airborne.
now air assault.
also home of my good friends matt and claire. mat was one of my
good friends from my combat engineer days and also a great friend
through school. at the time i was passing through, matt was back in
afghanistan doing what he does. but i was able to enjoy a nice dinner
with claire and catch up. so thanks for the evening! and thanks matt
and all our other troops for serving.

on my way out i drove through this. nashville.
this picture shows about as much as i got to
see of nashville. its one place
i was not able to stop and enjoy...but its coming down
the hopper soon

A-town! A-ville! Ash-vegas!

ASHEVILLE

after leaving ft campbell, i headed east once again where i finally left

the company of my 2 travel buddies who split south for ft bragg nc.

(we'll get to ft bragg in the near future months)

but asheville. i made a quick stop to say hi, see the fam, and pick up

my sister and kids who kept me company up to my final destination. DC.

here's a pic of my gangster nephew.

and my niece

and i'm sorry leah, andrew, ryan, mers....now that there are kids,
they get all the photo attention.

it was a quick trip in and out of asheville and back on the road to

WASHINGTON DC

we spent some time with leah's old school friends and then headed into dc

to catch the tail end of the cherry bloom fest.

little na na and her cherry bloom.

ben and his all american popsicle

ben dripping his all american popsicle all over
andrew's hair.

kite day on the mall

and last but not least.

ROCKVILLE MD

home sweet home. until further notice

mom, dad, and grandpa came out to see the new place and we
caught up with some of dad's friends (ramji)

there's no good transition into this so here it is.

my trusty steed.

thats if folks. april.

MARCH!!...

2011-12-14T06:43:00.000-08:00

march was pretty much a continuation of february. so i picked a few highlights for you.

1st. MACP. the modern army combatives program.

30 of us from my class had the opportunity to certify in MACP lvl 1 while we were at bolc. it was a lot of work but worth it for sure. i enjoyed the PT which started about 5 every day. it wasn't your normal stuff either, it was all these horrible basic training style drills that just sucked the life out of you. being a gluten for punishment, i rather enjoyed it. but for those who aren't really into that, here's some of the more fun stuff we did.

choking. cause its fun.
i enjoyed challenging our instructor...for a few reasons. first, being the little
punk i am, i just really wanted to choke him out.
it sounded like a good idea at the time. second, the more rational
reason, he always used level 2 and 3 moves that i picked up on and could use
on other people.
needless to say, after getting stuck in a triangle choke, my throat
got bruised so bad it hurt for 2 weeks. and no, i never beat him.
but it was totally worth it and i was a lot better for it in the end.

all that said and done, i didn't get it nearly as bad as some people got it in the clinch drill.

punching. in this case, we were the punchees not the punchers.
the "clinch drill" is where you have to move in, take control of your
opponent, and take them to the ground. to make it fun, they find
a bunch of really big guys, give them boxing gloves, and tell them to hit
you in the face. this is pretty much how it happens.

i specifically remember watching one of the smaller females in the group
get matched up with this 6 foot 3 inch massive tower of a man.
im not sure but i think he knocked her head straight off once or twice.

now this was some fun. a shock knife. its kinda like a mini taser.
i've provided a short video for you.

this little guy will make a pretend knife fight a lot more interesting.

next up, blauer suits.

(high tech suits designed to allow people

to beat the living daylights out of each other and walk away

mostly unhurt)

and there you have it. MACP. level one. check.

level 2...someday

on a different note...

so one of my good friend's friend knew a guy...and yes that's the way i'm starting this story. anyway, this guy

owned a pecan farm out on the guadalupe river. this old guy happened to love army guys and told us

any time we wanted, we could come out and use his old farm house on the river, burn whatever we wanted, use the grill, and of course, the farm truck. gotta love those old army lovin texans!

also gotta love those ex ranger reg / contractor / crazies who bring

assault rifles outfitted with night vision scopes out to the farm.

the friend of my friend made his way through all of PA school by

hunting boars on this old guys farm and we made it a point to get one or two.

here are a few pictures from the weekend trip to the guadalupe

what would you give for a 2 mile long driveway like this??

bonfire, football, jumping out of trees into the water, a 40lb catfish
on the trotline. it all happened here.

gotta love a good old fashion farm truck!

the hunt...just had to be careful not to mistake the cows for boars.

dinner.

a final note to close out march.

the end of march marks 1 year since the end of my cancer treatment!

my new friends made it a great night...mexican food, live music, and good company.

my old friends who lived the gospel for me through that year made sure to check in.

you all know who you are and i want to say thanks

feb...the second month of christmas.

2011-12-09T21:35:00.001-08:00

TEXAS!

and fort sam houston. home sweet home away from home.

the majority of feb was consumed by the best vacation of my life... army medical department basic officer leadership course. this is pretty much exactly my month of february.

"good morning. you are now officers. i will be spending the next 10 weeks destroying your will to live with power point."

"weekend! lets go see the alamo!"

there were tons of missions and of course, the alamo! i have to say, the alamo was a little...built up. i mean after hearing the war stories of how they held up in this place against all odds, i imagined it to be a little more castle like. but it was cool all the same.

"no worries. there's tons of cool stuff to check out
after work...like this old mission"

there was a running trail that passed by all these old missions. if it wasn't 98 degrees and humid by the middle of feb, we probably would have made it past the first one.

"he wasn't kidding. i'm starting to die a little inside"

legit mexican food.

legit pina coladas.

army food

i spent a lot of time eating food. mexican. american. bbq. southern. army. tex-mex. thai. and a few good fashioned MREs.

Rudy's. Awesome

probably the best bbq i had

chuy's. the best tex mex in tx.

"today we will be doing MRT training. since you are the first class,
we are going to try and squeeze this in because it is not scheduled
and you need it. we're going to do it in a 10 hour block of ppt..."

**MRT (master resilience training) is designed to train
officers in dealing with the stresses of deployment,
work, life, etc...**

that 10 hour block didn't include bathroom breaks or lunch.

i think the thought was if the training didn't break you, nothing will

the rodeo! and miranda lambert!? and all that for just $14!

i made it to the rodeo and had a blast. i also walked into a country dance hall to find they
were doing pro bull riding. bonus!

"bla. bla. bla. bla. bla....bla, take a ten minute break.
don't be back late because we have a 4 hour block of ppt
to get through before your next 10 minute break"

made my way to the capital of tx. austin.
it was pretty cool. lots of texas propaganda.
it works.

"wait a sec, i thought only the grunts
had to do this kinda stuff"

and i quote, "Boom!"

"southern drawl...southern drawl...fast talking...America is awesome...bla bla...
more southern drawl...have a safe weekend!"

and after those words, we all got up, ran back to 1384 (aka home), threw on some civies, and headed out to soak up some more texas. and that, was february.

The 12 Months of Christmas. JANUARY

2011-12-08T07:50:00.001-08:00

This is the first of twelve posts meant to update you on the past year of my life. stay tuned. i hope you enjoy.

JANUARY 2011!

The Move

january was the month of new beginnings for me. graduated college with my BSN and commissioning into active duty with the army just a month before, things really changed in january. first i'd like to put a shout out to all my friends who took the time to send me out in typical utah style...a stellar party! and especially to mat and lanie who did the leg work in organizing it. after the party came the road trip...utah to texas. me, my stuff, my car, and glendon.

goodbye o-town and friends. be back soon

here's a picture of my car the day i left for TX

and a few pictures of the trip...

ft collins co. thanks corie and ben!

the open road somewhere between eastern co, ok, or northern tx.

pit stop

lunch at a legit diner

sunset on the road

dropping my travel buddy at the airport in san anton.
thanks g dawg!

to all my friends back in the 801, a year and 3 days later, i'll be back! jan 22nd. be ready!

love you all

in the NARMY now!

2011-08-29T08:40:00.000-07:00

Say goodbye to Walter Reed Army Medical Center!

here's to "the Reed"

For some years the new "Walter Reed National Military Medical Center at Bethesda" has been under construction. i know this picture is small, but you can see quite a bit has been added to make this...

Walter Reed National Naval Center at Bethesda

I work on that building on the far right. 5th floor. top right corner side.

Now in other news...

this is just one picture of the devastating effects of the recent earthquake. and yes, i survived.

Seriously?! as if the earthquake wasn't enough.

now i know there were some

places that actually got hit, but

here in DC, this was how most

people reacted.

yet home depot still had signs up saying things like "out of water, flashlights, candles, generators, etc..." on the flip side, i think everybody and their mom who sells alcohol made a killing.

But it never hurts to be prepared. we all know its coming next...

so start preparing folks. its too late when zombies kick down your front door and all you've got is your bottled water, generators, candles, flashlights, and a kitchen knife.

fact.

atown, aville, ash-vegas, a...nother place i go on my weekends. and this is why.

2011-08-08T15:04:00.000-07:00

Bele Chere! where you eat food, hang with cool people, drink good beer, listen to classy tunes, and best of all...people watch.

here are some of the good ones.

it doesn't get much classier than this...unless you check leahs blog. ben and na throw down some pretty rad moves.

thanks to ryan's friend mark, ben ended up with a rad hat, a light saber, and even a light saber holder, even darth vader didn't get one of those.

people doin their thing.

watching the dog jumping show.

there's dogs. they jump. its cool.

oh brother where art thou? never seen the flic, but i imagine

its a lot like this.

the kiddos.

other fun included finishing HP7, HP7 part 2 at the big screen, tubelo honey, 12 bones, family, friends, 5k with lara, a speeding ticket, good food with the Zs, church, and thats just a few...in no particular order.

so starts the backblogging

2011-08-08T15:02:00.001-07:00

as you all are well aware, i have not blogged much of anything in a minute. so here starts backblogging. in no chronological order, no order of importance, no order of anything. im just going back through some memories and putting them up as they come.

stay tuned.

me casa es su casa

2011-06-24T08:16:00.001-07:00

hey everybody this is my new house!

the night shift

2011-01-06T20:28:00.000-08:00

like everybody else, i often work a 9-5. mine just happens to be the "wrong" 9-5. but i kinda like it. unlike waking up in the morning which always seems to be normal. but waking up (for the second time on the same day) at some crazy hour like 8pm always seems like a completely new experience. i could wake up every day of my life at 7am and think nothing of it. but every time i hear my alarm going off at 7pm, i wake up wondering why its going off, why its kinda dark, why i'm awake, why i was asleep, what i missed, where i'm going, why i'm going there, etc...EVERY TIME! i don't know why i never get used to it, but i don't. so there you have it. the night shift.

parachutes, legs, and pigs feet

2010-10-26T02:15:00.000-07:00

Parachutes

some would say there are two kinds of people in the army...you can be airborne, or a leg (somebody who can't jump and therefore has to walk to get to his destination) last weekend was my first jump since Airborne School. that was 3 and a half years ago. i wouldn't call myself a leg seeing as how im not, but i sure felt like it. not only had i not jumped in 3 and a half years, i had never jumped ramp (out the back, which turned out to be quite easy actually), i have never jumped night, (in jump school you do, but its not really that dark and they light the ground up a bit. not last weekend, it was pitch black), and i jumped a chute i hadn't seen or used before (not much different, but when it was still in the back of my mind) all that to say, it was a bit of a rush.

like everything else in the military, there is some type of tradition that goes way back to ancient times that must be upheld or the army gods just might have to intervene or something. well on your first jump out of school you're considered a "cherry jumper" for obvious reasons. well to make sure you and EVERYBODY ELSE around you knows, they do something like this to your helmet. this was actually one of the other PVTs but you get the point.

well lucky me, not only did i get my helmet

taped up in red, but just before getting on the

bird to go jump, chief (the guy who's been

jumping forever and knows anything and

everything there is to know about falling out

of a plane) walks up to me and says,

"hey Krishnan, take this, a cherry candy. if you make it to the drop zone alive, open it up and eat it in celebration." he walks off...

gotta love chief.

in typical army style, somebody's three Ps of planning left us without dinner. (a 19 hour day, 12 of which we went hungry.) but i guess if its not a good time, its a good story so starving probably just added to the memories. either way, after spending 6 hours sitting on the runway freezing and hungry we got on the plane.

as far as the jump, i guess i couldn't have been that nervous because all i remember was taking off and i was out like a light. i woke up to my friend knocking on my helmet as the first chalk was about to jump. right as i woke up the ramp dropped and i all the sudden i started to think, "i really hope i remember to do it all right and that i don't get my head stuck in a static line or something stupid" i'm pretty good at dealing with stuff like this, i just don't think, i just do. and usually by the time you should be getting scared, you're already done. but i couldn't do that because you can't exactly just up and go. so i just sat there bouncing my legs like i usually do to release energy when i'm not allowed to move. well the time came soon enough and all i remember was running out the door yelling "what the hell am i doing?!" to my SGT.

I came out like a top and by the time i got all un-spun, i was a little disoriented and didn't know which way to go so i just sat back and enjoyed the ride. as far as rides go, it was the most relaxing and peaceful thing i've done in a LONG time. its so quiet its almost eerie. and you can't really see much except lights off in the distance and the plane trailing off. the parachutes blend in with the black ground so the only people i could see were the two behind me. it was a pretty cool jump. and my landing was actually really smooth. if it weren't for the fact that i already bruised my butt on my practice jumps off the tailgate of a truck, it would have been a painless landing! i also landed about 2 and a half miles from the check in point. but i didn't mind. the walk was nice. so all in all, not too bad for my cherry jump.

and for those of you who want to live the airborne dream through youtube,

here are some good ones for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9J7cHt3X2E&feature=related

and this is just another funny one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTCkfgmijGA

for those of you who know, this is like the hangover after a good party. and they were nasty. the DZ was covered in stickers, tumble weeds, goat heads, and every other plague weed you can think of.

in other news, a couple of our medics taught a couple

of us how to suture. we went out and bought some

pig feet, cut the open, and practiced putting them back

together.

this is a shout out to you pete. next time you slice

your foot open, i got your back.

sometimes i wake up just wanting to punch somebody in the face

2010-10-22T01:11:00.000-07:00

So we went at it!

and after round one...

But a little bloody nose never hurt anybody...

so we went at it again.

but after the first one, anything that touched

my nose pretty much ended like this.

next time i'm just gonna not get hit in the face.

thats the plan.

back from the dead!

2010-10-21T01:38:00.000-07:00

bon voyage!

2010-07-06T16:01:00.001-07:00

peace out America! see you soon

Tattoos!

2010-07-01T16:53:00.000-07:00

sorry for how unorganized i've been, but i got behind from being gone so much and the only way to catch up is to just throw these up here. again, they are not in any specific order, and you probably won't get much background on them, but here they are. enjoy

tattoos. what couldn't be fun about this?

and i'll try to post more soon but its summer and

its hot and the lake sounds really good so this is

it for right now.

this is why i never get things done.

and i love it.

more from the AK. in no real order.

2010-05-26T22:25:00.000-07:00

clams cont.

i had no video for this next step. here you go.

after boiling clam. drop into cold water.

remove clam from shell.

discard shells and keep clams.

which look more like the 12th evolutionary

stage of a fetus. just sayin

next. find and remove guts, things that don't

look like good eating, and as stated by the pro

on youtube, the "clear reproductive noodle"

which definitely fits into the "not good to eat"

category.

and you thought the kill-bar wouldn't show up.

wrong!

jess found it...and screamed like a wee child

as she dropped the knife on the ground

and almost tipped our pot of clam guts all

over the floor.

clam meat saved. guts and

clear reproductive noodles

not saved. let the cooking

begin

we ended up with linguine with red sauce and

clams as well as deep fried breaded clams with

homemade horseraddis horseradish h sauce.

a little terribly overcooked broccoli, my bad,

a glass of wine, and there you go.

WINNER WINNER CLAM DINNER!

this production was made possible by brad.

a lot of random things on random days i don't remember in a random order

2010-05-21T20:27:00.000-07:00

random day i can't remember 1.

im a criminal. this was my criminal activity...

its no grand theft auto but illegal none the less.

random day i don't recall 2.

this day we went clamming. im not the biggest

fan of clams. but pulling out of the sand and

turning it into dinner is quite fun i have to say.

thanks to youtube and an old man on the beach

we figured it out.

didn't get that one. but we did this time.

another day.

driving. stopped at a lake because the water

is so pretty. a nice tealish color from the

glacier melt.

stay tuned. more to come soon...

may5-7. getting lost. airplanes, and saving lives. its what i do

2010-05-07T22:14:00.000-07:00

wake up. eat. walk. get lost. walk more. get

wet. walk more. still lost. walk more. oriented.

walk more. walk more. walk more. get home.

here are a few videos from the plane ride to

McKinnley. enjoy the scenery. i wish a camera

could do this justice.

wherever we go this happens.

rach took it like a champ. camera. waterproof

phone's good. ipod....not so much.

damn electronics.

may4. more fun in the kitchen

2010-05-04T13:52:00.000-07:00

and yes. it turned out quite nicely. however, i

still need to find the perfect zucchini bread. the

banana is good, but its not exactly what i was

looking for. but for now, i'm starting to get tired

of eating this stuff...so i must wait to continue

my search.

homeschool

apr30. on baking

2010-04-30T17:59:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of the pear bread that i made

a few days ago. i was bored and was inspired

to attempt baking...because i hate it and suck

at it. well this bread turned out great!

today i decided to step up my

game with some zucchini bread.

and here is the final product. not too bad huh?

not too bad for carrot, zucchini, cucumber bread

apr27. on food

2010-04-27T23:00:00.000-07:00

i guess they don't include the user's manual in

the displayed price. you gotta buy it separate.

lucky for me, corrie knows how to eat these

things so i'm going over for lessons when they

get home.

i don't know why i can't wait. i just can't. i don't

remember the last time i just let the cookies

cool and eat them. i like them right out of the

oven. just be careful of burns. both on the hands and

mouth. i know because when you pick up a

piece of cookie that's too hot, you have to put

it somewhere and well, the mouth is where its

going anyway. well then you get both your

fingers and your mouth burned. spoon.

apr27. another day in paradise...turns bad

2010-04-27T16:56:00.000-07:00

its getting warm here. and so is the ice.

a lot of places are this soft so i thought nothing

of it. wrong.

and thats when it happens. when you least

expect it. yes it was cold. no my phone didn't

die. and lucky for me it was only a little over

waste deep.

apr22 nothing goes as planned.

2010-04-22T17:50:00.000-07:00

im starting to think there is a specific kind of

rush you get from getting somebody else's

property stuck or damaged. that "oh ___!

this isn't mine!" feeling. i may have done

this a few times.

sorry to talk for that long with food in my

mouth... that stuff was just hard to eat!

apr18-19. flying solo!

2010-04-20T10:14:00.000-07:00

The trip out here was by plane thanks to Jake.

it was a 15 minute flight. the drive, not so much.

No i never had to turn around. I did check my

GPS a few times. 2 hours later i am seriously

contemplating an aircraft license.

i guess the dogs like to run home.

ok little miss sadie, im in a full size truck. you

were made to heard sheep, not me. whatev.

did i mention how much i love driving dirt roads?

a lot.

im getting used to the ice now. that was a bit

sketchy for me being on the 6 wheeler. i just

floored it and it was fine.

here are my new friends. my dog gang.

there's not much to say about this one.

so judge me

apr16 last day in utah

2010-04-18T21:17:00.000-07:00

this may not have been the best way to

start the summer...but it was so worth it!

apr13,14,15. SLCWafflesSmithandEdds

2010-04-16T02:16:00.000-07:00

apr 13. im starting to think that

every good trip to SLC involves

a stop here. Bruges Waffles and Frites.

why i chose to take a picture of this?

who knows. its a replica of the most

photographed statue in...wherever

the real one is. why let it stop there?

apr15. Smith and Edwards

apr10,11,12

2010-04-15T18:21:00.001-07:00

Here are some of the last videos i have taken

I wish i was quick enough to get a picture/video

of the finger when it was actually out of joint.

it was bad! but the second i saw the look in Tay's

eyes and heard him saying "FIX IT!!!!" i knew

i should probably just do it. just know it was sick!

Thanks Mat and Lanie for everything! this

was at the BBQ and i had a blast. and

thanks to all of you who came out.

DW is not my gf for the record...i don't know

what kind of lies aimee has been spreading.

but its NOT TRUE!

apr10. im gonna do what im gonna do...try and stop me

2010-04-10T23:39:00.000-07:00

The original

after some custom work.

i always had an idea of some final touches

that would make this bike rock.

some day people will learn, when i make up my

mind about stuff like this

its going to happen

and here is the final product of my saturday morning

there are still a few things to be done. but they will happen soon enough

count on it

this has nothing to do with motorcycles.

it just scared the $*#) out of me.

before stopping that care in the middle of the street (2nd of two cars), this person just popped up at my door which was open and in a very loud voice asked me for money. it may not have scared me so bad if i saw her coming but it was out of nowhere! ask mat. he was there

apr8

2010-04-09T08:51:00.000-07:00

I have no movie for apr7. so here's you quick

update.

took truck out to play.

hit snow bank.

hard.

pulled alignment out.

messed up torsion bar setting.

it tasted so good...but what a terrible idea.

i felt like your favorite 4 letter

word afterward. which was not much

different than how i was feeing before.

so i take it back. it was a good idea.

apr6

2010-04-08T14:40:00.000-07:00

she makes a bomb scone! oh jesse jean.

I didn't video this, but that rash...shingles.

after finding that out, i decided to go ahead

and just treat myself to dinner.

and no, this is not the vitamix vlog. it just so

happens to be something i use every day

and it works its way into everything. ok im

done advertising.

maybe i should have used the vitamix for the

falafel...it probably would have tasted better.

apr4. easter

2010-04-04T22:04:00.000-07:00

im pulling the bandage off where my port was.

this one is probably a little gross for some of you.

just throwin that out there. and sorry about

missing half the video. its hard to focus on what

im doing and watch the camera in the mirror.

this was one of the most rewarding things

to happen since cancer. in my mind,

this really marked the end of treatment.

you have no idea how happy i am to

have this little bastard out of my chest.

yesterday i had an epic defeat in my

battle against foods i can't have.

sorry you can't see in this video, just know its bad

my body may be falling apart as fast as

my stuff, but at least i can still eat

chocolate!

the key to my heart may be through new socks... maybe

3apr. what a day.

2010-04-04T20:48:00.000-07:00

breakfast in 10 seconds.

sorry about the music. i had headphones

running music and turns

out the video records the music at full volume.

technical difficulty. im learning how it all works

recap on my eventful saturday.

"thank you mat" it cut that part out.

this is what happens when you try to

be smart and buy nice things. you find

out the break just like old things.

that said, that truck is FUN! if it were

not such a gas suck, i might decide to

keep it.

apr2. proof that you can go 0 for 7 even after the breakfast of champions

2010-04-02T21:43:00.000-07:00

today's actually tasted quite good.

I really enjoy the bike commute, i just wish it was warm.

20 long minutes later...

I can't believe i used to ride this thing so much.

borrowed a car and went looking for some parts i need to finish my truck tomorrow

this is turning into a treasure hunt.

after 7 tries...

yeah..the part i finally did get will not work. either i get the rusted one off tomorrow or its new shocks. i guess we'll see, tomorrow.

apr1. it starts

2010-04-02T21:39:00.000-07:00