OUT OF THE BLUE

Archive for the ‘Ooh-Rah’ Category

I found this in a collection of my Dad’s letters home from San Bernardino AAF, circa 1943.
Thought it was worth sharing.

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I have been elected to a second term as Chaplain of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7591. This involves several things– I monitor the obituaries, keeping track of post members who have passed away. At each monthly meeting, if any of our post members have passed, the Post Charter is draped and I offer a short prayer for them (and for the rest of us). Occasionally, a post member will ask for a prayer of remembrance for a particular veteran, service member, or unit. When a post member passes away, if requested by the veteran’s family I may be asked to conduct a Pass in Review, during which the deceased veteran is remembered by his or her comrades from the post. I’m also responsible for recognizing and remembering the post members who have passed away during several ceremonies on Memorial Day.

If you had told me in April 1991 that I’d be elected to a second term as a VFW Post Chaplain, I’d have given you a blank stare at best. I could say that about a lot of things I’m doing now, though.

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Okay, I promised I’d try to write more, so I’ll take a break between conjugating verbs in Spanish, and learning about inverses of circular functions in Trig.

I’m experimenting with ways to push, pull, or drag my VFW Post into the 21st century; VFW does have a presence on Myspace and Facebook, and I’ve started posting meeting notices as events on Facebook. It’s a scream in the wilderness– at nearly 40, I’m one of the younger active members of my post and probably one of the most socially networked. If you find a meeting notice posted online, come to a meeting and tell me where you saw the posting and I’ll buy you a beer/soda.

This past Saturday, the Black Knights Color Guard (of which I am a member) got together to practice marching. Yes, marching. I swore when I graduated Ground Rat school I’d never march in a parade again if I could help it, but here I am holding up a flag and trying to stay in step. I noticed two things on Saturday– one, you never forget how to march once you’ve learned. Two, it’s actually fun now. I’ll try to get some pictures from the first time I actually march for real, which will be in May.

Back to homework…

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It’s good to see that the United States and Russia are, er, communicating…

A Russian bomber flew over a US naval base on the Pacific island of Guam on Wednesday and “exchanged smiles” with US pilots who had scrambled to track it, said Major-General Pavel Androsov, head of long-range aviation in the Russian air force.

“It has always been the tradition of our long-range aviation to fly far into the ocean, to meet [US] aircraft carriers and greet [US pilots] visually,” Androsov told a news conference.

(Gulfnews)

As Goose put it… “You know… the finger.”

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It’s after 2300, and I’m still awake (as usual), sort of halfway paying attention to ABC News Nightline on TV. Sometimes I pay more than half attention, sometimes less, depending on what stories they’re covering.

It’s strange, this news show. Especially lately, with Iran going all hostage-taker again. If you’re old enough (as I am), you might remember when in Milwaukee WI, the news was on at 2200; Jerry Taff (WISN-TV news anchor) wore a “Free the Hostages” yellow ribbon on his lapel every night, MASH was on at 2230, and the ABC News Special Report on the Iran Hostage Crisis came on at 2300. Hugh Downs gave us the number of days, and current developments and news. Lots of days, the only change was that the number of days had increased by one.

Eventually, the Special Report had been on every night for so damn long that they gave Hugh Downs a name for the show. Now, it’s just there, between Seinfeld and Jimmy Kimmel Live. They could probably show reruns, and I’d never notice. Maybe they do. (I’m kidding. It’s not that bad. But it is the warmup for Kimmel.) I sort of remember the show either being axed, or almost being axed, more than once. It’s still on, though.

In 1979 I was 11 years old. I’m pushing 39 now. Nightline has been on that long. And we’ve been putting up with Iran for that long.

All stations, all stations… whiskey, tango, foxtrot, oscar….

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For those who are keeping track, I’ve lost ~23 lbs. Being at the YMCA 3-4 times a week might have something to do with that… general cardio workout this past week has been about 30 minutes on a bike, about 40 minutes of intervals running/walking on a treadmill, and about 10 minutes on the Evil Elliptical Cross Training Device. Damn, that machine’s tough. Especially in reverse. That machine works muscles that I didn’t know I had. I also do leg presses, and am working on pullups… the Y has a contraption that lets you use counterweight to help do pullups, instead of using all of your body weight. That machine’s evil too. I also do circuit training at home with 5 lb. dumbbells; roughly a 1/2 hour routine that includes pushups, lunges, situps, etc. (It’s the routine in the Biggest Loser book.)

This week, I need to revise my calorie intake level downward (again!). I’ve discovered that I really have to plan ahead and make sure I have good healthy food available. It’s so easy to just make two pieces of toast as a snack… but when you’ve already had cereal for breakfast, and a pita for lunch, that’s way over the amount of grains for the day (even if it is whole grain bread). If I have a fridge full of carrots and other crunchy rabbit food, I’m all right. So it’s off to Whole Foods this afternoon to stock up. (Winter can get overwith, and farmer’s markets can get started any time now.)

Still not to the point where I can run two miles in 18 minutes. But I can still hear that TI’s voice in my head telling me I’d better find a way.

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