Awesome business trip.

So in my job I work Corporate Security, but not how you might think. For our whole company there are only 2 people on the security team. My boss and myself. We are not security guards. That job is contracted out to several different companies at our many service centers. We coordinated security ops within the whole company and use our resources to handle any issue that comes up such as theft, safety, backgrounds, and access control. Recently down in Atlanta at our facility there had been a rash of pharmaceutical thefts. My boss and I had to pour through over 160 hours of video before we finally had a suspect. From there all we had to do was put out some bait and coordinate with the DEA in Atlanta. This was not easy and took us about a month to get going before we finally got to take our trip. It was an awesome sting operation and it was great to get to work in conjunction with the law enforcement officers down there to get our drug thief.  The guy was true to form and followed the pattern that we spotted on video. Everything went off without a hitch and we even finished on time to make the Braves game that afternoon. One of the many reasons I am thankful for and love my job.

It is officially Summer time..

Summer came almost 2 weeks early but it wasn't official until this past Monday. It has been the hottest most humid June in TN that I remember in a while. Praise Jesus for Air Conditioning. I dread getting my electric bill.  At this moment on this Saturday I got up early and mowed the huge yard around the rental house Wifey and I just moved into almost 2 weeks ago. Due to other commitments, etc. we are still unpacking at a slow rate. At this time the US is behing to Ghana by 1 point in their 30 minute overtime period against Ghana. I'm hoping they pull through but the announcers are already talking gloom and doom as fickle sports announcers are so well known to do. On this not as hot as it has been Saturday my wife and I will be going to visitation for 2 people I went to church with in my hometown who lost their lives in a house fire. They are with God and I am happy for them although my heart hurts for their Surviving family. The BP Oil Spill continues to regurgetate(is that how you spell that word) the black mess into our Gulf waters damaging the environment in such a way as it will not be contained for many many years. The economy is on the rebound and hiring is on the upswing again so that is a good thing. My cousin just got married a week ago today and she is currently on her honeymoon in Antigua. The ceremony was awesome and Texas weather was suprisingly more bearable than it has been here with all of our TN humidity. going on about 8.5 minutes left in this match an the US will have to step up to even get a tie today and stay in the series. Soccer just looks like an awkward sport to me and I have to respect the athletes that play it. I've never really paid close attention to it before this year. Michael Jackson has been gone a year and just when the media hoopla started to let him rest they started up the one year remembrance stories. His doctor/enabler is just now getting ready to go to trial. I will probably purchasing a weedeater at some point this weekend to finish the problem areas in our yard. This is a major adult purchase for me and makes me feel all the more older. Now I need a chain saw and an air compressor. Met my 3 month old nephew on my wife's side Cole for the first time this past week. He is a good baby. Gives me positive hope that the wifey and I will have kids as good as our nieces and nephews. Well, not much more to ramble on about so I will end this for now. Ghana 2 USA 1. Less than 2 minutes left...
_OUT

Boycotts and other random ramblings etc.......

Things I am presently boycotting:

1. The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
2. BP- (They spilled another 100,000 gallons on the pipelines in Alaska not to mention their giant mess that keeps growing in the Gulf)
3.Kate plus 8
4. Anything on TV associated with Tyra Banks
5. Jersey Shore
6. Anything with a Kardassian
7. That Pretty Wild Show
8. Chevron- Yep they made a mess somewhere in the world too.
9. The Bachelorette
10. The Bachelor
11. Dancing with the Stars
12. Sushi (nothing against the food, I just avoid fads that lots of mindless sheep jump on just to do it rather than appreciating something for what it actually is. I might try it more later when the fad dies down)
13. Partisan Politics- I catch it from both sides. Dad's a Bluedog Dem- Wife's side of the Family are Reaganesque Conservatives. Both sides are corrupt and have their own selfish agendas and are out of touch with the common man.
14. Jessie James(He needs to give his name back to the Dead Outlaw. He is a whiner and he is weird)
15. Anything with Tom Cruise.

That's it for now. I'll add more are it comes to me.
-OUT
14.

The Culpepper Minute Men,Christopher Gadsden, Metallica, and the Tea Party Movement

I wonder if half of the people ranting and raving, cleaning their guns before they go to their Sarah Palin/Tea Party rallies and waving their flags with the snake on it from the Metallica Black Album with the song title from track number 6 on that album, really know its origins and what it stood for? Half of them just think it looks cool, and half of them think it's probably actually originated with Metallica. Here's a little history about both versions of the flag, that all of the people that think they are angry because the pundits told them they are, love to fly.


The Culpepper Minutemen:
Organization


The Culpeper Minutemen organized on 17 July 1775 under a large oak tree in "Clayton's old field" on the Catalpa estate near Culpeper, Virginia.
The Culpeper minutemen fought for the patriot side in the first year of the American Revolution, and are remembered for their company flag: a white banner featuring a rattlesnake, featuring the phrases "Liberty or Death" and "Don't Tread on Me". At the time, Culpeper was considered frontier territory, and the Culpeper minutemen, many of them hunters, preferred the rifle to the musket.
In October 1775, the minutemen were sent to Hampton in response to British ships attempting to land. The riflemen were able to effectively shoot the men manning the ships cannons, and the fleet eventually sailed away.
The Culpeper militia next participated in the Battle of Great Bridge in December 1775. The battle was a complete American victory. There were accounts of the battle that suggested the British were unnerved by the reputation of the frontiersmen.
The Culpeper Minutemen disbanded in January 1776 under orders from the Committee of Safety. Many of the minutemen continued to serve. Some joined the continental line, and others fought under Daniel Morgan.
John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States, was a member of the original Culpeper Minutemen.
 Civil War
In 1860, the Culpeper Minutemen were formed under the same oak tree where the 1775 Minutemen had organized. They also carried the same rattlesnake flag. The unit was mustered into the Confederate 13th Infantry and fought in several battles.
 Later Minutemen
According to the Museum of Culpeper History, the Minutemen were again organized for the Spanish-American War, but were never activated for duty.
The Culpeper Minutemen were again organized for World War I, and joined the 116th Infantry.



Christopher Gadsden and his amazing Yellow Flag


The Gadsden flag is a historical American flag with a yellow field depicting a rattlesnake coiled and ready to strike. Positioned below the snake is the legend "DONT TREAD ON ME".The flag was designed by and is named after American general and statesman Christopher Gadsden.
So what's with the snake you ask???
The use of the timber rattlesnake as a symbol of the American colonies can be traced back to the publications of Benjamin Franklin. In 1751, he made the first reference to the rattlesnake in a satirical commentary published in his Pennsylvania Gazette. It had been the policy of Britain to send convicted criminals to America, so Franklin suggested that they thank the British by sending rattlesnakes to England.

In 1754, during the French and Indian War, Franklin published his famous woodcut of a snake cut into eight sections. It represented the colonies, with New England joined together as the head and South Carolina as the tail, following their order along the coast. Under the snake was the message "Join, or Die". This was the first political cartoon published in an American newspaper.
As the American Revolution grew, the snake began to see more use as a symbol of the colonies. In 1774, Paul Revere added it to the title of his paper, the Massachusetts Spy, as a snake joined to fight a British dragon. In December 1775, Benjamin Franklin published an essay in the Pennsylvania Journal under the pseudonym American Guesser in which he suggested that the rattlesnake was a good symbol for the American spirit.


Considered one of the first flags of the United States, the flag was later replaced by the current Stars and Stripes (or Old Glory) flag. Since the Revolution, the flag has seen times of reintroduction as both a symbol of American patriotism and as a symbol of disagreement with the government.The rattlesnake from the flag is shown on the U.S. Army's Drill Sergeant Identification Badge, at the top of the Army Flag with the cannons, and was also used in one of the first flags adopted by the US Marine Corps.

I'm sure that the first couple of well intentioned angry peeps that flew this at the first Glenn Beck 9/12 project/Tea Party rally might have known a little about the significance of this flag. I am highly satisfied that many of the rest of them think it's just from that cool Metallica song.

Thanks to Wikipedia for providing lots of source for me to cut and paste.

Freedom of Speech is great. Just know the legacy of the symbols you use to speak your ills.

-OUT

Run! Fatboy Run!

So I got a wild hair up my 4th point of contact last week and signed up for a 5K run over at the College Campus. I have been in and out of the gym rather inconsistently since I have been out of the Army. I work at a desk job where I am often sedentary for hours watching security footage trying to catch the associates on our many loading docks pilfering our customers freight, so as you can imagine I have become rather soft in the middle the last 3 years. I have whined about being a fatbody and so I finally on impulse decided to run this 5k which after having done it this morning I plan on it being the first of many. I was just glad to make it and finish and while hanging around hoping just to win a door prize after the race this morning, I was more than surprised to hear that I placed 2nd in my age bracket. I didn't break any records or do anything amazing but it is motivating to be recognized and I was given a Challenge Coin from the ROTC that held the event. I ran with a 50 something year old man and with a 20 something female that came up behind me. We motivated each other to keep going and not to walk. It was good to get out and be active. Anyways, I might not place again for a while but I'm going to keep running in these little runs so I can improve and hopefully drop some weight from this fatbody.

-OUT

Spring is here Woot!Woot!

Looks like spring is here. The weather has been beautiful these last two days. I got to meet my two nephews that came home last week. They are one month old as of yesterday and they are doing great. My sister in law in Georgia gave birth to a son on Sunday as well and he is doing great as well, but I won't get to meet him for a little while yet. That puts me at a even balance of 3 niece's and 3 nephews. God is good.

I've been busy with theft investigations at work and trying to track down the thieves we have in our big company. We are about to start taking more aggresive measures which will produce some good results.

My wifey and I have been married 300 days today. She is awesome and I am blessed to have her. God has been good to me.

I try not to get too worked up about politics but I catch both sides of the partisan lines between my Dad and my Father in Law. I am firmly in the middle with my leanings. I find things on both sides of the fence that I can disagree with. People are ranting about the Health Care issue. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I know that if the issue at hand were something important to the right all of the angry pundits from AM radio and the Fox News channel would be all about it, but low and behold they are not in power now. A stink is being raised about reconciliation, but it has been used 17 out the last 23 times by Republicans. Also the same Republicans against government healthcare are not willing to give up the government healthcare that they enjoy with their plans. Politicians everyone on both sides are Hippocrites and should have term limits imposed on them. They lose touch with the common man and woman sitting high on their thrones on Capitol Hill while they vote theirselves raises and sneak earmarks into every legislation that hits the floor so they can grease the wheels for the companies that contribute to their campaigns. On the other hand, I don't want to pay for insurance for a bunch of immigrants and drug users who won't even be paying in to Social Security or their income taxes. Good people work construction or other Blue Collar jobs and don't have benefits or insurance that need it while there are those that don't even work that can have as many babies as they want paid for by you and I. The system is broken so it seems and we are stuck in a lose/lose situation that will bite the working man on the bottom either way it pans out. It's a good thing I serve a higher power that is above and beyond all of this worldly madness and injustice.

I need to go to the Comic Book store to get some books to take my mind off of all of this madness.


-OUT

Beautiful Week so far

Man the weather has been awesome this week the seldom few times I have been outside to enjoy it. My boss is on Vacay down in disney with his wife and kids and will be gone all week. Meanwhile I have 4 claims I am tracking 3 of which they want answers on right now, along with the badge access calls and requests and calls from our contractors all over our coverage areas doing stuff....All in all it makes the day go by faster. Rented some movies and also caught a matinee this weekend.

Saturday afternoon we saw Alice in Wonderland. Wifey wasn't crazy about going and seeing it but she ended up liking it and so did I. The effects were okay but the 3-D seemed forced. Was good but I could have waited for DVD.

Rented Law Abiding citizen and I loved it. Was it wrong for me to pull for the main antagonist Gerard Butler? Jamie Fox's character was just too cocky, arrogant, and pretentious all the way to the end. Character was probably written that way but I didn't like him. Good rental I recommend it if you like action thrillers.

Rented and watched The Informant last night. Don't bother unless you are having problems sleeping. It was a valuable lesson. Don't rent flicks that are pimped all over NPR.

Saw the tail end( only important part) of the Oscars. Although I haven't seen every movie nominated I had seen many of them. I have to agree with most of the awards. Hurt Locker was a great flick and so was Avatar. I also really liked The Blind Side and agree that Sandra Bullock deserved best actress.Meryl Streep has won it enough.

So the wifey and I are about to begin house hunting. Living in an apartment complex is starting to get on our last nerve and we want peace and quiet. Wish us luck...

I heart Thursdays

The winter olympics are over. I am very relieved to go back to my regularly scheduled programming. There is supposed to be a good episode of The Office on tonight and Biggest Loser will be back soon and of course the Celebrity Apprentice starts soon also. I have not and will not be watching the new-old host of what used to be the Tonight Show. Big jaw killed it. I can't wait until Conan's debut on Fox next year. Fringe is not coming back for a few more weeks and Chuck is still a pretty decent show also and of course it's the final season of Lost which has been pretty good so far. The wifey is watching survivor all stars which I could give or take. I never really got into that show so it's no big deal to me. The Mentalist is on tonight too but I think they have it opposite of the Office now so I'll probably miss it.

So at work today I started tracking a missing shipment of Microsoft goods. Most likely Xboxes and Zunes. I have to watch footage from last week in Memphis and see where a skid of about 64 pieces went. I've already found a couple of inconsistencies on the freight bill so we'll see what turns up there.

I saw a cool bumper sticker today that read: " God is neither Republican nor Democrat" and I have to say that I agree. Going to see my jarhead barber Jonathan tomorrow. I always know it's time to get a haircut when the wifey mentions how gray my hair is getting. No trip to the comic store this week so nothing geeky for me to look forward to. My sister gave birth to twin boys that came early a couple of weeks ago and I found out from Mom that they are both the proper weight to get sent home and they are both now starting to take the bottle pretty good so I might get to meet them in a week if they come home. I am just flexing my blog muscles on this so as my second entry is almost complete I hope this is getting better. My wifey just hopped in the shower so I am changing the channel from Survivor: Allstars because some long hair hippy from East Tn is crying because one of the other villains said something crass about and doesn't share his own opinion about how awesome he is. Can't win the big money wussing out there girly boy.

done-

First Post

I am starting this blog as creative outlet to exercise the brain. I have nothing really susbtantial to rant, observe, or even complain about right now so I will keep this first posting of my blog short. There will be more to come soon enough. I am off to Church with the wife. We both volunteer as Youth Leader for the teeenagers at our church and I am a tankleader for 9th grade boys. I will talk more about this in future postings.