posted @ 05:07...

Poll Shows Voters Prefer Bush at Barbecue ... Turns out, most people would rather hang out with President Bush at a barbecue than Kerry. I don't know when I would actually have such an opportunity with either. So it's kind of moot. Personally, I'd rather hang out with Bush. He seems like he'd be more fun to be around.

Obviously, the personality of a president is more important in modern times than years ago, before the Internet, TV, and even radio. Now, a president or candidate is critiqued on things like facial expressions, clothing, and vocal inflection, in addition to his decisions and policies. Pictures & video are immediately available all over the world. I've been reading a book called "Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents," and it seems that a lot of the earlier commanders-in-chief were not always the easiest people to get along with. In fact, it seems like some even had borderline personality disorders. We all know about the televised Kennedy/Nixon debate in 1960. JFK appeared confident, relaxed and funny. Nixon... didn't. The winner of the debate was clear, and nobody really recalls what topics they debated. I'd rather eat barbecue with Kennedy than with Nixon, but I won't be anytime soon.

posted @ 05:31...

Well, I found out yesterday that I'm going to Iraq. I don't know exactly when I'm leaving. I don't know how long I'll be there, although at this point they're guessing a year. All I know is that I'm going. And I'll be missing the birth of my first child, probably by just a few days. I'll be away from my wife for the next year, but I'll also be missing the first year of my baby's life. The crazy thing is, I've got peace. Sure, I'm worried about my wife during labor. I'm worried that something will go wrong. I'm worried about her handling everything afterward by herself. Oh, and I guess there's a war going on in Iraq right now... But a war is the least of my fears.

But anyway, back to the peace I have. It can only be from God. Obviously, this is one of the hardest things that this new family will ever have to go through, but I'm not panicking. I'm not freaking out. I'm praying. If you're a person who prays, please do. If you're not, please send out some positive vibes or whatever. We could use 'em.

posted @ 10:16...

And now, the Story of the Crazy Landlords... Several words can describe this older couple, including "paranoid," "unprofessional," and simply "psycho." But here are a few paragraphs. To start things off, when we first moved here (July 2003), the lease they originally faxed us to sign was hand-written. (So we typed it up ourselves, signed it, and faxed it back.)

Then, they left a ton of their personal property in the house. Among the items are an antique radio, an antique pump organ, an antique dot-matrix printer, an old computer monitor, numerous boxes of old newspapers, an old TV set, and miscellaneous Junk items jam-packed into the basement. In fact, the only part of the basement we could actually use was right where our washer & dryer sat.

They claimed that no cats had lived in the house, yet when we moved in there was a cat's water bowl sitting in the office, with water still in it! It took us forever to get rid of the cat pee stench. There were several ceiling leaks that were never fixed.

They would call us every once in a while to remind us to pay rent. (I've been renting on & off for 10 years now. I know how to pay rent on time.) And then, when we changed our phone number to a cheaper phone service, they panicked, because they thought we'd skipped town. The female called me at work and mentioned she "was thinking of" sending her father over to check on us. Turns out, her father had already stopped by. (What do you mean you might send him over? You clearly already did.)

In NY, the water bill is sent to the home owner, not the tenant, yet according to the lease we're responsible for it. Hey, that's fine! We had repeatedly asked them to send us the water bill since we moved in, and never got one. They claimed to have sent it once, but we never saw it. And suddenly in late April, the woman calls us and says, "The water bill is past due. $153 has to be paid in cash by tomorrow, or it gets put on our property taxes." I was like, "Guess what... If we had received a bill, we would have paid it. We aren't paying a penny until we receive a bill. Your property taxes are not our problem."

Then, as we and some friends were packing our stuff into a various trucks & soup's, we got a message on the machine. "It has come to our attention that you're moving out of the house. But your lease isn't up until June 30th. We need to talk." So, what's to talk about? If I'm in Iraq, and the baby's due June 30th, that's a bad time for moving. We got government quarters, so we're moving now. Sure, we're paying June's rent, and we're not breaking the lease, so why do they care that we moved our stuff out a month early? And to think that they had someone keeping tabs on us, noticing that we were moving and reporting back to them... Well, that's kind of creepy.

Ooh, more professionalism: During the discussion about us not re-signing the lease, the guy got audibly huffy, and even hung up on my wife. My wife had remained completely calm throughout the discussion. We're convinced that these people have a screw loose. Their hysterical reaction to our early move only reaffirmed that moving out was the right thing to do.

posted @ 13:14...

Turned 30 on Tuesday. Not a huge deal, turns out. People always tell me I look younger than I am. Just today, the dentist said, "All my kids are older than you." ... "I'm 30," I said as his instruments probed my mouth. He seemed surprised. There's something about 30 that sounds old, as opposed to 29, where I could use the phrase "in my twenties," and therefore had my whole life ahead of me. Whatever. In my "next 30 years," as the song goes, I'm gonna live better, I know. I'm gonna be smarter, and I'll try not to so many stupid things. I have a responsibility to my wife and my child. If I go Iraq, my primary goal will be to stay alive. After that, serve my country. If I don't go over there, the goal will be to get as educated as possible for the benefit of my family.

posted @ 04:05...

I've been getting into Emerson quotes recently. They're just interesting. Here's a good one. (It's widely attributed to Emerson, but the original source is unknown):

"Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them."

But whatever. Here are some more:

"To be great is to be misunderstood."

"Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist."

"I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."

posted @ 06:08...

Exciting times. Mother's Day was good. I still need to work on the dishes though. Couldn't do the whole jewelry/flowers thing because of financial inadequacy, but she seemed to understand. She was happy with the hand-made (okay, computer-made) card I gave her as she woke up that morning. Then I took her to breakfast.

The underlying feeling we've both had for a week now was, of course, the potential deployment to Iraq. It weighs on us even as we attempt to go about our day. But I heard something last night that gave us a ray of hope. I was told that an NCO in charge of legal was going to talk to an NCO in charge of the Brigade, and they were going to see if they could allow me to stay behind for six months. At the end of that six months, I would go swap out with a guy there. Sounds like a great compromise. Should find out today if they go for it. The amazing thing is, this being the Army and all, we're really amazed and grateful that they would even consider our feelings. The Army preaches that they're all about family, but they also maintain that the mission comes first. So it's nice to see them at least be willing to think about stuff.

posted @ 06:16...

Well, the word has come down that deployment to Iraq will very likely happen soon. I'm not allowed to give any specifics as far as who's going where, and when. (In fact, I honestly don't know any of that info anyway) But I will say that I'm probably going over there. There's a good chance that I'll not only miss the birth of my first child, but also that I'll miss out on the first year of his/her life. This is all that's on my mind lately. The wife and I held each other and cried the other night. It finally just got to us. I've been talking to the pregnant belly as much as possible, reminding the baby that I'm "daddy."

I'm not afraid to deploy, and I'm not afraid to die. I just don't want to miss out on my child's first year.