I passed! I scored very well, and was exceptionally pleased with the results. I won't receive my language until just prior to BTC is over, but I can live with that. All four of us that took it on Friday passed, which was nice.
After the test, I spent some time going over my contract and the Delayed Enlistment Program rules with my recruiter. Apparently, there's going to be a class-of-sorts every couple of Saturdays once school starts up. That'll be nice...good refreshers for the material I've got to start studying...alphabet, marching, drill, rank structure...thanks to ROTC, I know a good chunk of it already, but practice will certainly make it more clear and in the forefront of my memory.
So the last hurdle, other than BCT and DLI of course, will be the security clearance check, which ought to be no problem...I'm a good kid with a clean record, heh.
That's all for tonight.
Peace out.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Thursday, June 21, 2007
DLAB
I'm taking the Defense Language Aptitude Battery in the morning...this will determine what languages I qualify to learn out in Monterey...
I need to score a 95 out of 176...
According to About.com not a whole lot of people who take it actually pass the DLAB...I won't lie and say I'm not nervous, but I am pretty confident I will do ok...I hope, heh.
The only part that really concerns me is the audio-rules part...the most difficult part.
When I return, I'll post a full update of the results. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers tomorrow.
That's all I've got.
Peace out.
I need to score a 95 out of 176...
According to About.com not a whole lot of people who take it actually pass the DLAB...I won't lie and say I'm not nervous, but I am pretty confident I will do ok...I hope, heh.
The only part that really concerns me is the audio-rules part...the most difficult part.
When I return, I'll post a full update of the results. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers tomorrow.
That's all I've got.
Peace out.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Happy Father's Day
It's a scorcher here today...thank goodness for air conditioning and cool-basements.
This week, I was fortunate enough to be able to get to two baseball games in two days! I'm not an enormous sports fan, but who in their right mind would pass up opportunities to attend games of any kind? Certainly not this guy.
At yesterday's game, to celebrate the Army's anniversary, a group of young men and women received their oath of enlistment on the field before the game in front of the 30,000+ people in attendance. How cool is that? All I got was a tiny room with some flags, heh. Good for them.
Some unexpected news coming out of the BBC today. Apparently, the Iranian government has been cracking down on political activism among its university-level students and professors. According to the article, "29 have been arrested in the last two months for political activism and 207 were taken before disciplinary committees in the last 40 days alone." Under the previous regime, only four were taken per month on average.
The campaign to rid the schools of "liberal" ideas and practices all began in December when the students of Amirkabir University called President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a dictator to his face.
I will never understand why prominent liberal groups in America don't take a strong, vocal stance against radical Islam and oppressive regimes like Iran's current government. These people enforce laws based entirely on one interpretation of one religion...where's the ACLU when you actually need it? If these people truly stood by their principles, we'd have a lot more support for our current leaders' policies in the Middle East.
Maybe things are changing for the better in the media...the story did come out of the BBC afterall.
Enjoy the rest of your day!
That's all I've got.
Peace out.
This week, I was fortunate enough to be able to get to two baseball games in two days! I'm not an enormous sports fan, but who in their right mind would pass up opportunities to attend games of any kind? Certainly not this guy.
At yesterday's game, to celebrate the Army's anniversary, a group of young men and women received their oath of enlistment on the field before the game in front of the 30,000+ people in attendance. How cool is that? All I got was a tiny room with some flags, heh. Good for them.
Some unexpected news coming out of the BBC today. Apparently, the Iranian government has been cracking down on political activism among its university-level students and professors. According to the article, "29 have been arrested in the last two months for political activism and 207 were taken before disciplinary committees in the last 40 days alone." Under the previous regime, only four were taken per month on average.
The campaign to rid the schools of "liberal" ideas and practices all began in December when the students of Amirkabir University called President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a dictator to his face.
I will never understand why prominent liberal groups in America don't take a strong, vocal stance against radical Islam and oppressive regimes like Iran's current government. These people enforce laws based entirely on one interpretation of one religion...where's the ACLU when you actually need it? If these people truly stood by their principles, we'd have a lot more support for our current leaders' policies in the Middle East.
Maybe things are changing for the better in the media...the story did come out of the BBC afterall.
Enjoy the rest of your day!
That's all I've got.
Peace out.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Thank You for Smoking
A brilliant movie...
One of my room mates introduced me to the film over Spring Break while we were in Florida. A few friends and I came across it tonight in a local video store and decided to give it another watch. It was even more fun the second time around.
Thank You for Smoking follows Nick Naylor, a lobbyist for Big Tobacco, on his journey to further his industry's agenda while coming to grips with his role as a father. Aaron Eckhart is marvelous as the silver-tongued hero of the smoking industry. You will laugh until your sides split...and not once does it feel like an anti or pro-smoking advertisement...no one is safe! Rather than radically defending one side or the other, it presents the issues as they are in real life, and then stands by its message of free choice, allowing the viewer to make his or her own decisions.
I also saw Knocked Up last night. This movie is also wonderful. I went into the experience with fairly low expectations...a movie about an unwanted pregnancy has to be about abortion...well, much to my surprise and delight, the issue only arose twice for less than a minute each time.
Knocked Up addresses parental responsibility and facing the consequences of the choices we make, for better or worse. The chemistry among the cast members is marvelous, and it was fantastically written. Language and adult-content make it fairly un-kid-friendly, but for anyone old enough looking for a good way to spend an evening, go and see this one.
In other news, it's nice to see France's conservatives are doing so well in the elections, as it's been a fairly uphill battle for them to this point.
One more thing...This is older news, but if you haven't seen Global Warming: The Great Swindle, watch this series of videos:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
I think the best part of this video comes in the form of the debates that spring up in the comments below...really...check it out. You can read about people like srfurchick88 who believe that (and I quote) "...whatever the FACTS are might be different or similar to my point of view, but no matter wat the facts are it still does not change my POINT OF VIEW.. I BELIEV WHAT I BELIEVE."
Debate needs to be reintroduced into mainstream education. Way too many people today confuse fact with opinion (or "POINT OF VIEW" as srfurchick88 might call it). The fact (pun intended) of the matter is that in the end, science is what it is...and politics, public opinion, and political agendas won't be able to change anything.
In other words, to reference yesterday's posting, no matter how many pretty pictures you paint of a velociraptor munching lettuce, given the chance, one would still eat your face.
That's all I've got.
Peace out.
One of my room mates introduced me to the film over Spring Break while we were in Florida. A few friends and I came across it tonight in a local video store and decided to give it another watch. It was even more fun the second time around.
Thank You for Smoking follows Nick Naylor, a lobbyist for Big Tobacco, on his journey to further his industry's agenda while coming to grips with his role as a father. Aaron Eckhart is marvelous as the silver-tongued hero of the smoking industry. You will laugh until your sides split...and not once does it feel like an anti or pro-smoking advertisement...no one is safe! Rather than radically defending one side or the other, it presents the issues as they are in real life, and then stands by its message of free choice, allowing the viewer to make his or her own decisions.
I also saw Knocked Up last night. This movie is also wonderful. I went into the experience with fairly low expectations...a movie about an unwanted pregnancy has to be about abortion...well, much to my surprise and delight, the issue only arose twice for less than a minute each time.
Knocked Up addresses parental responsibility and facing the consequences of the choices we make, for better or worse. The chemistry among the cast members is marvelous, and it was fantastically written. Language and adult-content make it fairly un-kid-friendly, but for anyone old enough looking for a good way to spend an evening, go and see this one.
In other news, it's nice to see France's conservatives are doing so well in the elections, as it's been a fairly uphill battle for them to this point.
One more thing...This is older news, but if you haven't seen Global Warming: The Great Swindle, watch this series of videos:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
I think the best part of this video comes in the form of the debates that spring up in the comments below...really...check it out. You can read about people like srfurchick88 who believe that (and I quote) "...whatever the FACTS are might be different or similar to my point of view, but no matter wat the facts are it still does not change my POINT OF VIEW.. I BELIEV WHAT I BELIEVE."
Debate needs to be reintroduced into mainstream education. Way too many people today confuse fact with opinion (or "POINT OF VIEW" as srfurchick88 might call it). The fact (pun intended) of the matter is that in the end, science is what it is...and politics, public opinion, and political agendas won't be able to change anything.
In other words, to reference yesterday's posting, no matter how many pretty pictures you paint of a velociraptor munching lettuce, given the chance, one would still eat your face.
That's all I've got.
Peace out.
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Creationism Museum
A few weeks ago, a creationist-themed "natural" (I use the term loosely) museum opened in Kentucky. I could not be more disgusted.
Religion and science can indeed happily coexist...I am a Christian, and I believe that God sparked the start of the evolutionary process. There you go.
The problem is that religion cannot and should never be substituted for science (or vice-versa). To just throw existing, accepted science out the window and replace it with conjectured garbage based on religious texts is hogwash and irresponsible especially when the garbage is being force-fed to children without the wherewithal to know better.
Jonathan M. Gitlin of Ars Technica recently took a visit to the Creation Museum. I highly recommend reading the article.
Some of the pictures are laughable. Eve standing fully-clothed in a Victorian-era gown next to a velociraptor that is eating vegetation...yeah, the dinosaur with the razor-sharp-teeth was a vegetarian before the Adam's Fall...
That's all I've got for now.
Enjoy your evenings, everyone!
Peace out
Religion and science can indeed happily coexist...I am a Christian, and I believe that God sparked the start of the evolutionary process. There you go.
The problem is that religion cannot and should never be substituted for science (or vice-versa). To just throw existing, accepted science out the window and replace it with conjectured garbage based on religious texts is hogwash and irresponsible especially when the garbage is being force-fed to children without the wherewithal to know better.
Jonathan M. Gitlin of Ars Technica recently took a visit to the Creation Museum. I highly recommend reading the article.
Some of the pictures are laughable. Eve standing fully-clothed in a Victorian-era gown next to a velociraptor that is eating vegetation...yeah, the dinosaur with the razor-sharp-teeth was a vegetarian before the Adam's Fall...
That's all I've got for now.
Enjoy your evenings, everyone!
Peace out
American Soldier
After months of anticipation, I am now officially a sworn member of the United States military. Admittedly, I still have a long way to go, but I'm proud to have made it this far.
I'll give you the run down.
I arrived back at MEPS at 0800 Thursday morning. I waited for a few hours to get my eye sight waiver finalized with the doctors, and then headed to the career counselors. They were extremely helpful. I decided on the 35-W MOS (formerly 98-X) and will be attending language school in Monterey after BTC which will be at Ft. Leonard Wood.
The swear-in ceremony was brief and to-the-point. THe officer entered the room, we were called to attention, and she swore us into service. Very cool.
The only things left at this point for me to worry about are the security clearance check and the DLAB. I'm really hoping to take care of the later next Friday...so fingers crossed for that one...I need a 95 or better to get Arabic, Korean, or Mandarin.
Ok, it's time for some political posts...
Peace out!
I'll give you the run down.
I arrived back at MEPS at 0800 Thursday morning. I waited for a few hours to get my eye sight waiver finalized with the doctors, and then headed to the career counselors. They were extremely helpful. I decided on the 35-W MOS (formerly 98-X) and will be attending language school in Monterey after BTC which will be at Ft. Leonard Wood.
The swear-in ceremony was brief and to-the-point. THe officer entered the room, we were called to attention, and she swore us into service. Very cool.
The only things left at this point for me to worry about are the security clearance check and the DLAB. I'm really hoping to take care of the later next Friday...so fingers crossed for that one...I need a 95 or better to get Arabic, Korean, or Mandarin.
Ok, it's time for some political posts...
Peace out!
Monday, June 4, 2007
Waiver's signed
My recruiter called me today and informed me that the Army has given me a permanent waiver for my eyes! I'm going back to MEPS Thursday to talk to the career counselors, sign my contract, and get sworn into the Army!
Thank goodness it's finally going to get finished.
More to come!
Peace out.
Thank goodness it's finally going to get finished.
More to come!
Peace out.
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