Day One

Today is the first day of being called up . The Wife and I drove the couple of hours to the armory in temps hovering around 0 degrees without windchill enjoying some of the scenic winter vistas the Iowa highways offers: lots of cars in the ditches, Dept. of Transportation workers shoveling deer chunks off the road, and random very elderly citizens driving their sports cars slower than 50 mph on the interstate. On arriving at the armory, I hunted down the supply sergeant to get the other 2/3 of my uniform issue. He was busy and was going to have me wait a couple of hours, but when I mentioned I still couldn't wear the new ACU uniforms, since I was pantsless at this point, he remembered that the pants had come in a separate box. About two hours before our conversation. Fortunately, everything fits reasonably well, and as soon as the State can dig up a goretex ACU shell for the winter jacket, I'll be good to go. In the meantime, I need to stay out of the wind. Otherwise, the high point of the day was loading bags containing all of our issue gear onto trucks for our next station. Pretty soon, the thrill of seemingly endless briefings will begin. I won't have any problem staying warm, but I probably will staying awake.

Ugly Gun Sunday

A counterpoint to Xavier's Smith & Wesson barbecue gun. While I actually wouldn't call this gun ugly, since the artwork is well executed, I would call it odd.



This post will mark the last (temporarily) ugly gun post here for an indefinate period. Xavier has graciously agreed to continue finding outstanding examples of bad taste, and post them for the rest of us to appreciate. Thanks Xavier!



Posting will resume when I have access to the internet and the Army security systems allow access.

Last Day At Work

In which the pantheon of radiology gods crapped all over me. As our major exam physicians are on vacation, we've reduced staffing for the week, rotating days off. Except that the person I was supposed to work with today was practicing her dinosaur calls in the bathroom all night, so I was called in the early morning for the purpose of being told to get my butt in ASAP as there were patients waiting, and no tech. Followed by a dog pile of unscheduled exams tacked on by various doctors wanting the exams done Right Now, cause its Friday, and they don't want to be here late. Followed by the Amazing Surprise Patient who showed up at the desk for an exam that nobody in his doctor's office bothered to mention to us last week when they told him to show up. Followed by the lice-infested patient. Followed by the last-minute abscess drain that the floor had known about for the last six hours. Followed by the working around the moderately controlled schizophrenia symptoms for a catheter placement. Followed by getting to be on-call tonight, and maybe tomorrow, depending on tonight's retch factor for the originally scheduled tech.

Sixteen hours on sitting in a plane bound for Egypt isn't looking all that bad tonight.

And what kind of man puts a toupee on his monkey?

Is Anyone Actually Surprised By This?

I'm somewhat suprised it took this long. In a nation that's currently the most pro-jihad area outside Saudi, I thought she'd be dead in less than a week after getting off the plane. I don't expect to see another female head of state in Pakistan in my lifetime. More photos over at Free Market Fairy Tales.

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had as pleasant a Christmas as I've had. Lots of positive family interaction, way too much food, the better part of a Sam Adam's winter sampler twelve-pack, cards from friends & family, and some very thoughtful gifts. Which, speaking of cards, apparently some people are offended when Christmas cards mention the Christian faith. So upset they feel the need to bring it up on their nationally televised kitchen gossip chat show.
What happened to all that love and understanding for everyone that comes with being a dedicated multi-culturist? Gotta love that insightful, well-reasoned statement: "Don't you think it's interesting the President of all the people is sending out a religious Christmas card?" I'm really looking forward to the outrage when she gets an Easter card mentioning the Resurrection. "Can you believe this? What's the President doing dragging religion into a celebration of the Easter Bunny?"

(disclosure note: I'm personally an atheist, albeit one who bases his ethical practices on my Protestant roots, and apparently appreciates the role of Christianity in Western culture more than a number of people who are nominally Christians. And given my choice, I prefer Christians; they've overwhelmingly moved past killing people for different beliefs a long time ago, and most of the atheists I've met seem to be sour, left-leaning individuals.)

Hat tip to MsUnderestimated.

Sunday Ugly Gun Post

The very first Thompson-Center Contender......OK, so maybe not. For those less acquainted with old military hardware, we have a bobbed Mosin-Nagant in what appears to be a hand-sawn stock made from an old 2x6. I'd think its safe to assume the chambering is still 7.62 x 54, which would give an impressive muzzle flash and some wicked recoil on firing.

Just One More Wafer Thin Mint......

There's a reason why you can find a higher percentage of fat people on the hospital staff than the general population. Odd (if any) times for meals, picking what's available immediately, eating late at home after a double shift, and above all, having obscene amounts of starch/refined sugar/fat laden foods at hand. Today, in a department staffed with eight people, the following was sitting behind our nursing desk: cinnamon rolls, meat & cheese tray, assorted chocolates, a 12 x 18 inch roasting pan of home made cookies/sweets/sugar-coated stuff, and four different types of cheesecake. At the rate we're going, I expect to find a hog on a spit back there by Monday.