It was a dark and somewhat stormy night.

2026, October 20. 9:27am. Austin, Texas.

Nothing very new to report. Reports of enemy activity over the city last night did not appear to be accurate. Sporadic shelling of our positions continued on a regular basis -- about every 2 hours a new barrage hit the compound.

"When do you think we're going to be rotated back to the battalion area, Captain?" asked PFC Ayala. "This crap is getting old, sitting here in the squad area, humping around the zone 12 on, 12 off, this really sucks."

"As you were Ayala" I shot back. "Get your head back in the game. Keep your damn eyes on the threat sensors. I want double sweeps of the boards today - it's too damn quiet. Those sneaky bastards are up to something."

"Aye sir." Ayala grumbled "I'll keep my eyes open."

"You do that, and someday you might just make Corporal, and you might walk out of this alive."

I went back into the bunker to relace my boots. Damn things still hurt my feet. Seems like every time I climb aboard the armored fighting vehicle (AFV) my feet go to sleep. I really need to head back to battalion to visit the PX and some new boots.

Just Who Am I?

Recently, I've been trying to figure out: Just Who Am I?

Not literally, I have a pretty good who I AM, but on a deeper level, who am I?  Life is full of wicked twists and turns and without showing all of my cards, things are different.  Most of them are already tapped out on the table, a series of events and incidents, but that's not really WHO I AM.

I began thinking one day what prototypical type of person I am and started thinking about the contemporary models for adult men that I'm exposed to on a daily basis.  These men are:

• Homer Simpson
• Hank Hill
• Hubert Farnsworth
• Stan Smith
• Peter Griffin
• Sterling Archer

Yes, I'm fully aware that they are all animated - and this could easily be a joke post that is full of throw-away references such as Homer choking Bart in each episode, but more to the point, what features of these individuals could be considered substantive enough to make me want to model myself after them in some way.

Model myself after cartoon characters?  Surely you jest?  No, I don't, because I feel that each of these men, most of them buffoons of some magnitude, have some redeeming character traits.  Let's examine them in deeper detail.

Homer Simpson.  Ah, yes, the grandest of the buffoon cartoon dads.  He makes significant mistakes on a constant basis.  He walks a very wobbly line between inane pratfall artist and a doting, deeply devoted father.  I suspect that Homer J. actually suffers from adult ADHD.  I wonder if Matt Groening and crew would be willing to have Homer see a psychiatrist and get some proper medication.  Put him on Adderall XR, and see what the result would be.  I bet he'd stop being such a schlub at work, and be super focused on the life that is going on around him, that he's blissfully unaware of.  This was the sort of awakening I had not that long ago.

Hank Hill.  Dammit Bobby!  I had to include Mr. Hill of Arlen, TX, simply because he's the one of the group that I can actually impersonate the best.  Another man that wouldn't ever really admit that he's not a perfect husband or father, Hank is always concerned with doing the right thing - no matter the personal cost it brings to bear for himself.

Hubert Farnsworth.  The dreamer of the group.  Hubert invents things to solve problems that nobody ever knew existed.  Hubert is by far the smartest and oldest member of the group.  He is inventive, creative, and quite mad by all measures.  He's also probably one of the more interesting characters in this profile.

Stan Smith.  Works for the government, and is insanely proud of it, no matter how dysfunctional and unethical the group he works for might be.  He is blind to the needs of his family, and is quite impaired when it comes to communicating with them.  He's totally black and white.

Peter Griffin.  Peter Griffin.  He sure does like to have fun, doesn't he?  He's a big dude... I'm really stretching to find any redeeming characteristics.  He loves his wife, not so sure about his kids - as I think he'd sell their souls for a twelver of Pawtucket Patriot beer.

Sterling Archer.  No, not really.  He's a profane alcoholic lout of a spy, and I don't have anything in common with him.  I do love his car, and his quick wit, but neither of those fit me very well.  Maybe a freudian desire to have a hot car, hot women and guns, while serving a secret organization doing spy stuff, but I know that's not really me.

So, gentle reader, who am ?  That's my problem, I don't know.  I'm 48 years old.  I don't know who I am.  I think honestly that I've got little slices of each of the fictional characters that make me up.  I obviously have Homer's hair and belly, like Hank, I'm a Texan, and I have concerns about doing the right thing.  Hubert, yes, Hubert Farnsworth, the mad scientist.  I actually really do identify with him, quite a bit.  I would love to spend my days coming up with solutions to problems that don't really exist.

Stan Smith?  I do work for the government, but hope I don't have his worst traits.  I probably do have some of his communication problems, but hope it's not because I'm blind to everybody else around me.  I'm not touching Peter Griffin.  Not even a little.

Sterling Archer - he's probably the least real of any of the animated heroes.  I do like his car, and taste in women.  :)

Think about yourself.  Who are you?  If you can figure it out, maybe you can steer me down the right path to discovering who I am.

Modern Day Warrior

I went out to pick up dinner last night, because eating at home is so passe.  (Actually, there wasn't much in the larder, and it was time to re-stock.)

As I turned onto the main road to head to Taco Cabana, the drum and bass riff came out of the radio. I was immediately transported back to 1987.  I rolled the windows down, turned the volume up to 11 and turned the AC off.  The synthesizer kicked in, and the singer began singing: 

A modern day warrior

Mean, mean stride

Today's Tom Sawyer

Mean, mean pride

Of course, the song is Tom Sawyer by the Canadian phenomenon Rush, from 1987.

I just find it amazing how less than 10 seconds of a song can emotionally and psychologically transport me to a time over 20 years in the past.  It made me painfully aware of myself, and I didn't really even care.  Yeah, I'm a 47 year old nerd, driving in a Chevy truck, but for those few seconds, I was 20 years old, and cruising down Ocean Drive in Corpus Christi, at it was 1am on a Friday night / Saturday morning.

It was a very nostalgic moment, that was over the second I was in the line to order dinner, because I don't want anybody to hear me blasting my old-man music.

Eureka!

I have a blog! I do? I think so, maybe.

I'm not making any empty promises of actually blogging. I "tweet" about once every 3 months. I "Facebook" maybe once a month - mostly because I hate talking politics which is what everybody is bringing up. I do spend a lot of time on Reddit.

Oh yeah, we have a lovely boy named Benjamin, who when paired with my lovely boy Travis gives me, uh, two sons! I'm so very proud of both of them in so many ways.   That happened since I last posted an entry.

Content! I should monetize this blog and maybe clear about as much as the checking account does in interest annually. I actually saw a WHOLE PENNY in interest the other day. Wow. Time to splurge.

I'm thinking about blogging at work - for work. I know it's hard enough for me to keep up with this one - and yes, this is turning into a self-referential posting about blogging already. Wow, that didn't take long. 

Anyway, I digress. Work blogging, about information security. About risk reduction, about awareness and doing what is right, what is secure and what is ethical. It may happen. I should run it past the bosses. They may like it or not, and I may end up with an editor that will red line and change much of my prose.

Making some red beans and rice right now with andouille sausage. YUM. Thank you for reading. You may now return the stewardess to her original, upright position.

Cats

I went back and reviewed my post, and ended up scrolling down and reading older stuff. I don't know that anybody reads this thing anyway, but I should close up some loose ends.

Cookie cat, my little ball of love and fuzz isn't with us any more. She got very sickly, and we had to have her euthanized on February 8, 2011. It was a VERY sad day for me. I still get choked up when I think about her. That cat was such a good girl.

In July of 2010, we started fostering 4 feral cats. They are now our cats. There is Howard & Leonard (Boys) and Sheldon and Penny (Girls). Yes, we have a girl cat named Sheldon. Sue me. They are all very good. The boys weigh at least 15 lbs each, whereas Penny is teeny like Cookiehead. She's not quite the same, but has eyes that can make me say "OHHHH!" and do whatever it is she wants me to. (Give her turkey, treats, ice, a drink etc...)

That's all. I'm sad now from thinking about Cookiehead. We have her ashes at home in an urn.

Hot...so very hot

Wow... this summer may set some records, at least in my book it does. It's been over 100 degrees 31 days so far this year. Not in a row, but still... Yesterday I walked into the kitchen about 6pm, and saw that the outside patio was 108 degrees! Arizona isn't even that hot right now. Texas has a high pressure system that has moved in like all of the hipsters in Austin, and won't leave. Shit... Makes me long for a hurricane.

The baby is coming along nicely. Mandie is getting all of her required accessories and stuff, like a pillow and other things. She's really beautiful, and is putting up with being pregnant in the heat pretty well. I love her, and this is a great time for both of us, and Travis is even very excited.

Well, that's about all for today.

Announcements

My plan is to begin posting on a regular basis - to lay down a historical record of what's going on in Kentville. I'm sure my ADD will lay waste to that plan, but it's a plan, and maybe I can stick to it.

First and foremost: I'm going to be a father again! Mandie and I are due in January of 2012, and it's a very awesome thing!

Emotions I'm feeling: excitement, giddiness, wonder, amazement. Upcoming will be all of the things we need to do to get ready. We've had 2 sonograms, and seen the baby, which I'm told is now the size of a prune at 11 weeks. I keep asking why all of the size references are to food - where food varies so much. I said "Tell me what sporting ball it's close in size to, a golf ball, tennis ball etc..."

Tis a good time to be alive!

End of Another Year...

It is nearly time to bid adieu to 2010, and greetings and salutations to 2011.

I hope to find more time to read, and perhaps to begin writing. There is a pent up novel buried inside of me, and I need to find a way of extracting it.

I hope for a good 2011 for my close and extended family and friends.