Where were the police on this one? If this guy didn't have his sidearm he could be dead today. People still say that cops should be the only ones facing criminals with guns, but the state and local police have no protocol dictating them to prevent crime…they just help catch and punish criminals in the aftermath.
In retrospect, I guess the cops did do a great job helping all the kids at Virginia Tech, didn’t they?
Ok, I was hoping I could brag tonight about my slideshow over --->
But now I find myself beyond tired as I claim victory over Blogger's html code and I simply haven't got the energy. I may have won, but I'm paying the price - lost sleep. It took me no less than 5 programs, 3 hours, and endless rounds of trial and error in order to get 'er done; but, as you can see, I finally did it.
After a few Google searches turned up nothing, I thought that perhaps it couldn't be done. After all, Google does know how to do everything, right? Or so I thought. But alas, my tenacity has won out over my complete ineptitude with all things code. It's been fun, but I'd still prefer a nice click and drag interface over staring at this:
#outer-wrapper { width: 750px; margin:0 auto; padding:10px; text-align:left; font: $bodyfont; }
#main-wrapper { width: 400px; float: left; word-wrap: break-word; /* fix for long text breaking sidebar float in IE */ overflow: hidden; /* fix for long non-text content breaking IE sidebar float */ }
#sidebar-wrapper { width: 300px; float: right; word-wrap: break-word; /* fix for long text breaking sidebar float in IE */ overflow: hidden; /* fix for long non-text content breaking IE sidebar float */
I forget passwords on a regular basis at work. Sometimes it’s a good thing, e.g. when a password is changed and I have to forget the old and memorize the new. Other times it’s not such a good thing, like this morning when I got locked out of my sequence analysis software because I attempted to log in with the wrong password more than three times.
Here are some of the passwords/codes I have to use everyday:
Gate padlock code
Building alarm code
Spin-dial combination for my labs
Spin-dial combination for the back labs
Punch code for entry into back labs
Alarm code for lab alarms
Punch code for secure area
Safe combination
Personal computer password
Multiple secure computer passwords
Multiple software passwords
Many of these passwords gain access to classified materials, therefore they cannot be written down, but must be memorized immediately or I’ll be locked out. Some of them are on a six-month rotation, so for those I’m on my seventh password so far. Some of the others can be permanent, but they must be changed whenever someone with access to them finds employment elsewhere, which occurs on a rather consistant basis.
In all I’ve probably memorized dozens of passwords, codes, keywords, and combinations in the 3 ½ years I’ve been here. I can’t wait to be free of all of this classified nonsense when I become a special agent!
I was just telling Beth about how dry my mouth was during my recent interview. I’ve never experienced anything like it. I felt like I’d chewed on paper towels for about five minutes, sucked on some desiccant, then washed it all down with a gallon of some kind of diuretic. I’m talking bone dry. Hot…sandy…middle of the Sahara dry. You ever try to eat an overcooked piece of toast with nothing to drink? Multiply that by 17 and you’ll have some idea of what I felt like.
I’m not sure why my mouth dried out so quickly. I mean, to my surprise, I really didn’t feel very nervous…my speech was unhurried and deliberate, my pulse felt normal, and I wasn’t sweating at all. (A soaked collar and sweaty palms are usually the first signs of my nerves getting out of control.)
Thankfully, the agents had prepared a nice tall glass of ice water for me. I felt like I was taking a drink every two seconds, but I guess it didn’t really matter. I was afraid they might take my constant swilling as a sign of being nervous, but they passed me and that’s all that matters.
I’m just glad I didn’t look like this:
My AC called me Wednesday to inform me that I’d passed phase II! I’m one step closer to being a special agent! When I saw who was calling my phone, my heart almost leapt out of my chest! However, the heavy weight that had been sitting on my chest has now been replaced with the weight of the looming PFT and PSI/Polygraph.
My back is feeling better, and I think I’m going to lace up and go for a jog tonight to test the waters. Hopefully I can start Stew Smith’s 6 week workout on Monday. I’ll have to buy a few dumbells and a pullup bar for a few of the workouts; but other than that, it’s just lots of running, biking, situps, pushups, reverse pushups, crunches, reverse crunches, double crunches, swimmers, dips, lunges, squats, half-squats…need I say more?
Anyway, I’m excited to have made it this far in the process and to have received a conditional letter of employment! It’s almost surreal that I could soon be heading off to Quantico! Never thought I’d actually be here!
Hey, if I make it all the way through, maybe I can keep a daily log of my activities at the Q and post them on here. Think that’s against protocol?
Immediately after I completed the phase II interview I was totally relaxed. Such was the expected outcome. I was hoping that I would remain calm until I heard the results; however, resting easy is proving difficult. I can’t help but wonder what the outcome will be, and while doing so I can feel my pulse quicken. I do not like to think that my future is in their hands, but I am resigned to the fact that God will use the outcome to perfect His design for my life.
Psalm 37:23 & 31 says:
The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.
The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.
I believe that God has directed the steps of my life thus far. I’m not saying that I’m a “good man” as the Psalm describes, but I desire God’s will for my life and I believe that He has used the decisions I’ve made to bring me to this point in my life.
I don’t completely understand how Providence and my free will can be so completely intertwined, but I like to think of it like this: I chose the truck that I bought. I chose the college I went to. I chose the wife that I married. God has given me a free will to do as I choose. However, when my life is aligned with His Word and I truly desire His will in my life, then when I lift my foot to take a step toward a decision that I’ve made, I can trust that the Lord will guide that step so that I land on solid ground. Many of life’s decisions are left to us, but whatever the outcome we can trust that God can and will use it to perfect our lives in Him.
The moral of my story is that I’m getting very impatient and I want to know now!
Philly
Felipe
Filiberto
Philoffle
Philanthropist
Philicious
Philarious
Phil up my cup
Philbert
Philissimo
Philistine
Philography
Philippino
Philopoly
Inphilitesimal
Philter
Philadelphia Cream Cheese
Philly Cheese Steak
Philips Screwdriver
Fill-er-up Philip
And my all-time favorite:
Phyllis
Forget my last post...here's the shower head I really want:
The coolest thing about it is that you can tilt the head down 30 degrees to turn the gentle jet streams into a gushing waterfall like so:
Beth will remember me trying to come up with a showering device with just such an ability merely a few weeks ago. I think Hansa stole my idea.
It's made by a company named The Darma Initiative Dornbracht, costs around $7000, and violates our 2.2 gpm restriction code for shower heads. Here's a close-up of the panel:
once said, "Oppressors can tyrannize only when they achieve a standing army, an enslaved press, and a disarmed populace." Thanks to Robb Allen over at Sharp as a Marble for writing this post about how America's government is shaping up to become just such an oppressor.
The phrase is "the reason is that..." not "the reason is because," as in:
The reason I'm late is that I had a flat tire.
instead of:
The reason I'm late is because I had a flat tire.
See the difference? Friends don't let friends use unnecessary redundancy.
In President Bush’s 10-minute speech regarding the “Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill” the other day, he mentions three times that illegal aliens are doing jobs “Americans aren't doing.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing! That’s the same line we’ve been fed by liberals for years! It’s a lie forged to convince us that we need illegals in order for our economy and our society to continue. Nothing could be further from the truth. I’ve known plenty of Americans who are perfectly willing to build houses, lay tile, and dig holes for a living!
Sadly, however, we do need the millions of illegals that have overrun our country. Not so that our apples can be picked or our floors can be tiled, but so that our corrupted politicians can continue to tout the broken Social Security System as the “be all end all” for anyone and everyone’s retirement needs. Without the flood of new workers putting money into the system, it could never provide the funds for all the people currently being supported.
I am so sick of the political feces being flung around from press conference to press conference, and being smeared all over the newspapers from L.A. to Boston! Are there no men walking capitol hill? Have they all abandoned truth and justice for popularity and a larger voting base? What’s worse is that I don’t see any hope on the horizon. Everyone is choosing a side right now for the ’08 election, but does no one realize that all of the candidates are just spewing the same political garbage we’ve been hearing in every political campaign for the last 20 years? There are no fiscally conservative conservatives anymore. I don’t think our current President has ever met a spending bill that he didn’t like. Whatever happened to the smaller government and the fiscal responsibility that he campaigned on? I guess everyone figures that a larger budget is ok while they’re in office because, after all, they’re doing good things with it…unlike that last administration!
Listen to this quip by President Bush:
“One of the great things about our country, we just had the capacity to welcome people throughout our history.
And we've become all Americans. We've got different backgrounds, different heritages, our forefathers may have spoken different languages, but we're all American. We've been able to assimilate under the -- under the -- under the laws and traditions of our country. As a result, we're a stronger nation for it.
America must not fear diversity. We ought to welcome diversity. We ought to have confidence in what we have done in the past and not lose confidence about what we will do in the future.”
What is he talking about? We mustn’t fear diversity? We’ve all become Americans? Are you kidding me?
First of all, I don’t consider anyone an American that assembles under a foreign flag on our soil. Secondly, do you really think you’re fooling anyone by turning this into a racial issue?
BORDER SECURITY HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH RACE!!!!
It has everything to do with national security! How is that hard to understand?
(Brief interlude for impending aneurysm.)
I’m really not just “Bush-bashing” here. I think he’s done an admirable job with the War on Terror and the increased cooperation of intelligence centers during his administration; but I cannot over look the gravely dangerous position that he has taken in regard to our borders. It saddens me deeply that our great country has stooped so low as to allow amnesty for illegal aliens.
And make no mistake - despite what our great politicians may say, this bill is about nothing but amnesty.
Thanks for letting me vent!
Google is, in my opinion, one of the greatest modern conveniences we have. I probably use Google ~ 6 times per day on average. Or ~ 40 times per week. Or ~ 2000 times per year. That’s a lot of Googling. I use it to look up definitions of words, local businesses, scientific papers, directions, “how-to” help, guitar tabs, pictures, maps, medical conditions, weather, news, and a plethora of other things as well. But I’ve recently discovered my new favorite use for Google: the Gmaps Pedometer.
You see, I went running the other day, and I wanted to know how far I’d run. I drove the distance in my truck, but that isn’t quite as accurate as I’d like it to be. It was then that I had an epiphany – why can’t we have a “virtual pedometer.” Think about it…how nice would it be to be able to pull up a Google map, draw out the route you want to run, and then have the distance displayed for you on the screen? As soon as I got back to my office, I Googled “virtual pedometer” and guess what? Google didn’t fail me. It led me to a site called Gmaps Pedometer that took Google’s mapping abilities and coupled it with a distance recording capability. The result is pure magic. All you do is click along the route you want to take, and voila! Your course is highlighted on the map and the distance is displayed right beside it. Pretty cool, huh?
You may think that a cranium is the portion of the skull that houses the brain and looks like this:
You'd be wrong...well, you'd be partly wrong. It's also a newish board game that I think was designed to turn friends into enemies and looks like this:
So we had some friends over tonight for a nice, friendly game. Let me tell you, if you want to see the true nature of your friends, invite them over for a board game. Teams were Ray, Heidi, Andrew, Krista, and Amy against Kirby, Nate, Allie, Beth, and myself. We made it to the end, but plenty of fights broke out during the two-hour ordeal that made us almost want to prematurely terminate our little game. We finally won with an easy question, but it got pretty close there at the end.
Well, it's well after midnight and I've got PT tomorrow, so I'm off to bed. Til next time...
