In Germany

Currently sitting at Rammstein, waiting for my next flight, and then the next and then the next. Its not been too bad so far, just boring. My seating situation sucks. Middle seat on the right side of the plane. Cattle-car style. Doesn't help that the two guys on either side are both big, so that ain't great. They are both nice enough though. Next flight is 4 1/2 hours, and the last leg is supposed to be about the same length, The lines are the worst part. always in line, never in front. I miss my bubs. I hope she is good. Oh, do not EVER watch "the Back Up Plan" you will need eye/ear/mind bleach for days.

UPDATE: Stuck in Germany. No idea for how long. "Technical Issues"

I Live in the taxi cab blackhole.

I am writing this from my front porch. I should be not writing this, but instead getting violently drunk. However, since I apparently live in the Taxi Cab Black Hole (NASA is working on a study), I cannot meet my wife at the bar to get said violently drunk with our friends before I leave. What was supposed to be a nice little hey-you-get-an-extra-week-at-home-before-you-deploy party. But thanks to Yellow Cab, Red Top Cab, and White Top Cab, all being complete and utter jackasses who cannot get a cab to my house, which is on a main road, in a heavily populated area, 10 miles from Washington D.C.. So thanks and go fuck yourself cab companies, obviously your union sucks balls, and your people are horrendous. (Nothing on the drivers here, I generally like those guys, but since dispatch can't seem to locate my house, I can't go hang out with my wife and our friends) Glad to know that I will be able to get a ride to the airport when I leave this week. Fuck 'em.

Hurry up and...eff waiting, we are just not going to have a flight.

So, I was supposed to leave for Afghanistan in two hours. So, being the good little USG that I am, I went to the airport where my military-air flight was supposed to be leaving from. Well, no quite, young sir. Not only was no one at the AMC (Army Mobility Command), but, when I called the desk number, THERE WAS NO FUCKING FLIGHT SCHEDULED! I have my orders, I confirmed with the 5 shop in charge of this shit; my command paid for the fucking flight, and lo, behold the magnificence of nothingness. NO FUCKING FLIGHT! Not that it was canceled, or delayed, or just running behind schedule. There was no schedule, because the flight, never even existed! My wife is happy because we have another night together, but anyone who has deployed knows that the build up to getting onto that bird is tough. Especially when you have to say goodbye to the loved ones, and then oh wait, we totally fucked up your orders and even though everything is on signed and dotted paperwork, we just totally fucked you in your ass. Have fun trying to get there! KTHXBAI!

What a load. Allright people. Since I am not leaving tonight, I am getting drunk. Have fun. I will post pics as I can (If I ever get the fuck outta this country).

Deployment to A-Town

So, I am headed off to to that beauty of the Orient...Afghanistan. It will not be the longest deployment in history but any amount of time away from the wife is too long. Luckily I will be doing relatively the same job as what I do now, which means the transition shouldn't be that hard. The wife is pissed but she understands the job and is down with the Cause. For a Democrat she is pretty ok.

The main point of this deployment is that I am going to be doing a project about COIN. I am working on putting my thesis together and it should be a pretty decent study when I am done. I am going to throw some links up for the family which are places I go every day to read up on what is going on. Plus I am not sure about my connectivity  while out there, so I have enabled comments on this blog IOT keep some kind of connection. I will try to post semi-regularly, but, not gonna lie, I am gonna be a busy mofo. Ok, for the links:

• Blackfive
• This Ain't Hell
• Free Range International
• Registan.net
• The Jawa Report (everyone's fav anti-dhimmi site)
• Ace of Spades HQ
• Long War Journal
• Not Always Right (I was in the service-industry for a long time)

That is going to do it for now. I am drinking with Mrs. B (the wife) so I do not want to ignore her. For everyone who may or may not see this blog; I love my family, my country, my Freedom. I will try to do the right thing, I may not be something to everyone, but I am everything to someone; and that is good enough for me.

Popping smoke. Love you Mrs B.

A few hours of sight-seeing in Berlin

So, after spending the morning dealing with some after-effects of work, I thought that I would rest my eyes for a few minutes. Well, that few minutes turned into...4 hour nap. I am just that awesome. So then I was sitting down in the lounge with a couple of my co-workers and I see a kid in the soccer jersey of my high school. Turns out, I went to high school with his older sister and my little sister went to school with his little brother. Its a small friggin world.

Anywho, we went out to dinner at the Sony Center. It was pretty good, I had a pretzel and apple strudel. Both were awesome. We also did a little bit of sightseeing, however I plan on doing most of that tomorrow. We walked around a little bit and went to the Topographie des Terror, it is an original part of the Berlin Wall, and it is built right where the Gestapo Headquarters building was (we bombed the shit outta that place during the war). There is only a little bit left of the building, mostly foundation.  After that we went to Checkpoint Charlie. I got a picture right where my mother got one when she was here (that was when the checkpoint was still active, but still, pretty cool. I also took a picture of part of the wall with a giant Ipad billboard behind it, on what would be the East German side. Lot of progress in twenty years. Allright, here are some pictures.

Here is the wall at the Topographie Des Terror. I like this one because it makes the wall look like it goes on forever. Kind of like it did originally.

An American Flag painted on the West German side of the wall. I am sure this was a later addition, but it is still symbolic of what an effort the Cold War really was.

Checkpoint Charlie. From the East German side.

Your final warning before entering Soviet Territory. Obviously that new high-rise wasn't there during the time of the Wall.

Just to accent that point; look at the IPad billboard on the East German side of the wall. This is at Pottsdamer Platz.

Last but not least is the Sony Center. Its kinda indoors, kinda not. It reminded me of the British Museum with the roof the way it is. Pretty corporate and stuff but a neat building.

Well everyone, that is my first day of sightseeing in Berlin. Granted it was for about two hours and dinner, but tomorrow I will see some cool stuff. Oh, I had awesome bratwurst for lunch. Just sayin'.

Flight to Berlin

So here I go again. I am traveling for the 3rd time in as many weeks. I have spent three days with my wife out of the last thirty. We did go on vacation, but it was with family...so...It was still nice though. It was just not as relaxing as I had hoped. But; going on vacation straight off of travel is difficult too, so all in all I will take what I can get.


So, I took today off work in order to clean up around the house and make sure I was ready for this trip. I also watched the third season of 'The Wire' but that is neither here nor there. Anyway, I saw my wife for a few minutes, we took some shots, and then I hopped in the cab. Here is the first gripe (not really anything bad, just a damn-it-moment) I booked through United, so logic would dictate to me that I need to check in at United. Regular can of 'Baky you say? No says I! I wait in line, then get told to check in on Lufthansa. I admit that one is probably more my fault for being a dumbass, but I had some drinks in me and whatever. So then something which has never ever happened to me on any of the hundreds of flights I have been on. I got the center row to myself on a flight over 45 minutes long. I was passed out in um about 10 seconds flat.


That flight was pretty good. I watched Clash of the Titans. I enjoyed it, but I feel the 7" screen I watched it on left something to be desired. Also, stupid headphone jacks, I had to use the airline's and they hurt my ears.  Oh, by the way, that flight left about 45 minutes late, so I barely made my connection. I mean, I am already the Ugly-American, and now after running through Munich Int'l, I am also the Smelly-American. No pictures of anything, my phone isn't working and I haven't had a chance to Skype yet. I am pretty pissed about that, I should have a working phone, but none of my sims seem to have the correct frequency. I will have to buy one, hopefully here at at Berlin they have a little phone store or whatever. This post is a little bit more rambly than usual, I do apologize, but we are in turbulence, I need to pee, and I really need a cigarette.


So, That is about it for now. For my Mrs B: I hope all is well and I love and miss you very much. I will get this post up and hopefully re-establish comms once I get to the hotel.

The Pains of Travelling for a Living

As much as I love to travel, there are some definite drawbacks to doing it for a living. I had lots of bad news/shitty luck during this trip. First off, when flights get canceled it is a huge pain in the ass. I had to get to the airport at about 330 two days in a row before my flights got re-scheduled. Then, after being awake for about 24 hours, spending about 20 of those in transit between flights and layovers, I had to get up and give a two-hour presentation. Good audience, but still a giant pain when you are that tired and you rely on quality brain function to survive work.

On the next leg of the trip, I had the glorious experience of being kicked out of the Hilton Hawaiin Village. Mind you, I don't normally stay in classy joints like that, but we were meeting up with a bunch of people staying next-door at another hotel, so for ease of transportation and everything we decided to stay there. Huge fucking mistake. Pull up, and my travel office had somehow dropped the first night of my reservation, no big deal you say; nay sez I, huge fucking deal. After dealing with the dipshit woman behind the counter for about two hours, myself and my travelling companion got rebooked at a different hotel, yet I still did not have the first night of my stay. The woman comes out from the back office and is all like, "Ok so Mr. Smith (my buddy) we have you for three nights at the Pacific Beach Hotel, checking in tonight. Mr. Rak, we have you booked for two nights starting when you check in tommorow". Then the bitch smiled like she was all proud she had pulled that off. So, I said, "Ma'am, I am literally standing right in front of you, why would I not want a room for tonight?"

She gave me the dumbshit idiot look with a shit-eating grin, and no shit asked, "But you do not have a reservation tonight." This is after two hours trying to explain the situation. Let's just say, I kinda lost it. Lots of F-Bombs. Then Mr. Smith asked if we could get some free meals for the inconvience. She knew we were there on business and procedded to ask if we would like breakfest or lunch at the hotel, when the hotel we were rebooked at was a few miles away and she knew our business was on the other side of the island. I rarely get mad at service people (I was one for a long time, as was my wife), but I flipped. 'FUCK YOU and your GOD-DAMNED HOTEL!" This was about when the manager returned and I went friggin volcanic. So after close to three hours and almost no assistance whatsoever. We go to the Pacific beach and are checked-in in about 15 minutes. Why is it that the skinny good looking woman behind the desk can't accomplish basic life functions, yet the big older lady can fix everything in like a split second?

The next leg was fairly easy, although the flights sucked. No real reason, they just did. And then off to one of my favorite places to stay when travelling for work. Residence Inn by Marriott. I just like them, comfy beds, nice TV, free interwebs, friendly people, and free beer at social-hour. Can never go wrong with free beer. With the exception of some technical issues, that leg went very well, and so now I find myself once again sitting at San Diego International Airport. Three hours before my flight, and my kindle is dead and there are 5 year olds sucking up all the power outlets with nintendos and macbooks. Oh well.

Oh yeah the bad news part, there was some shitty family business that happened. 'Bout all I will say on the webz. Hope all is well. Fair Winds and Following Seas.

Party with the Homeless

So, um, yeah. I was out cruising the Waikiki strip and this homeless guy asked me for a cigarette. I obliged and then he asked me what was up. I told him i was looking for a bar with no cover. He said, yeah i know a place. So i followed him to this bar. He asked me where i was from, and then when i told him he asked me if I knew this guy from there. Turns out he knew one of my old bandmates from a hardcore band I used to be in named Krell.

Small world I know. Then of course he sees some friends (who are decidedly not homeless) and they invited us to a house party. Sounds crazy, I know, but i was feeling nostalgic for when I used to do stupid-ass shit, so I went. It was pretty much the rockinest time i have had in a while. Just sayin.

Can't believe I get paid for this...

So, Here I am in Kona, HI. Here on business, but still. This place is pretty chill. Good views and some real good food. Didn't get to do all that much since work took up most of the time but I did get a couple of photos and had a generally good time. On the unfortunate side, General Stanley McChrystal was relieved of command. While I am happy that Petraeus is the new Honcho, I am disappointed that McChrystal is gone. I think his capability and use of the COIN doctrine was having effect on the ground. I am not going to go into details, but lets say that I think that General Mattis would have this wrapped up quick. Probably piss a whole lot of people off. But the situation would be resolved. Anywho, here are some pics from Big Island.

Sunset in Kona

 The walk down to the beach from the hotel

A lizard. I also saw a mongoose, but sneaky lil bastard was too quick for me. As always, all pictues are with the G1.

'66 Duo-Sonic II

So, i just got a '66 Duo-Sonic II in beautiful Daphne Blue. I will put up a pic when I get home. It is something else though. There are some wiring issues with it, but I should be able to take care of them.

Back in the U.S.S.A.

Hey Comrades! From each, according to his ability; to each, according to his needs! Welcome back to the U.S.S.A.

Thank you Congress! Maybe now Hugo Chavez might like us.

</sarcasm>

Except for the lack of the "From each" part, there is nothing which can go wrong with the health care reform (sorry, sarcasm is difficult to remove from this).

Type-O does a pretty decent cover of the Beatles classic though.

West coast. Better than the snow.

Hey Hey everybody, took a little break there from traveling, but the spring approaches, so the need for travel resumes. Took a little trip out to the Left coast, it was a pretty good time. We cried, we laughed, we mostly just drank though. The business was split up with an ample amount of free time, so that made for easy living. I am sitting in the airport right now, waiting to get home. We had a couple of good bar-nights, but the one for the record book was Las Vegas. We somehow managed to avoid anything stupid, while trying to drink the town dry (didn't even come close). But as we got out of the cab and started walking back into the hotel (the Stratosphere, 45 bucks), the sun was coming up, we were dragging the passed out member of the team, no one was arrested or molested, and life was good. My buddy was offered a job in Canada as a GM salesman; I apparently tore down on the three card poker tables, and our passed-out compatriot had hit it big playing roulette, ended up paying for most of our drinks with the winnings.
And it turns out, as we drove back into the desert later in the day, that we had actually pulled it off. Then we had to drive up and down Southern California for a few days hitting up a bunch of places. It was a good time. Pictures to follow, I have a plane to catch.