Wednesday, June 27, 2007

The desolation

I had to travel to Bullhead City again last night. Ugh. Long, long drive. I've now made that drive about 50 times (I know, I know, that should be the number of times I've been the Vegas, I'm slacking), and it just gets more soul-crushingly long each time.

I'd mentioned the town of Wikiup before. Let me restate, clearly, what I know about Wikiup, AZ. Apparently they have a rock shaped like Snoopy. And they make the worst coffee ever.

Worst.

Seriously bad.

The beans they used to make this... fluid (I'm not going to call it a "drink" out of fear someone might accidently think you're supposed to drink it) were swept up from the floor of some Guatamalan insane asylum which harvests and collects retarded coffee beans. I don't know what possessed me to try the "coffee" again, but I did. I was going to dump it out but I'm pretty sure it would result in a stiff fine from the EPA if I was caught.

Obviously the locals never drink that crap, because long-term exposure would cause extra limbs to sprout, and I've never noticed any three armed freaks while I was out there.

I also wonder what possesses someone to move into a single wide trailer in the middle of no where, 40 miles from any other sign of civilization? Do the police make random sweeps by these trailers to check for technophobes mailing bombs to their enemies? Pits where the bones of stranded motorists are fed to some viscious half-breed dogs? Do the police check under the beds of these isolated souls to make sure they're not keeping a hitchhiker in a cage like from that one episode of Law and Order: SVU? Seriously. I can't think of a reason to live that far from anything which doesn't involve a making it put the lotion on its skin. Honestly, if my car broke down in this part of Arizona, I'd rather take my chances with the elements than to find myself skinned and sewn into some nutjob woman's "man suit" while she dances crazily to Right Said Fred.

I'm also mildly curious how it is that no one has ever franchised a McD's out on this drive? It's a 70 mile stretch of NOTHINGNESS between Wickenburg and I-40. Sure you could stop and grab a bite at the BBQ joint in Wikiup, but the townspeople don't seem to be able to successfully brew a cup of coffee that doesn't rot your stomach from the inside out, I'm supposed to trust them with something more complex than "add water"?

Anyways... met with the person I was supposed to and now I'm doing the work to get them into the Army. So all the tear-inducing boredom was worth it in the end.

Monday, June 25, 2007

Never going back

Well, the move is now mostly done. Luckily only one box fell during transport. Unlickily it was the box with the glasses in it. I'll have a couple pictures posted when I get the chance.

Two minor site updates. Added links to two military folks. One is a fresh-out-of-ARC recruiter and the other is a chaplain. Not much else to say at this moment. Tired, back hurts, and I need to find a coffee mug.

Friday, June 15, 2007

Updatitude

Just doing some more updating and cleaning.

Holly, formerly of Politics of a Patriot, informed me that some other chick has cyber-squatted her (I asked to see pictures and was very disappointed when I learned what it meant) so I took her link down. Also updated Jason's link.

For those who don't know, which would be the six readers who I'm not related to by blood or marriage, Mrs. SFC B and I are in the process of getting our very first house. I've been apartment hopping since I went AGR and, quite frankly, just sick and tired of throwing rent out the window. When we get the house all y'all are invited over. Even you Greg.

Anyways, I'd like to say I've been busy with the house preparations, but that would be a bald-faced lie. Mrs. SFC B handles all that stuff. I'm too busy with Everquest 2 work.

Sadly, the Astros seem to have had the wheels come off their season. Honestly, it's been a long time coming. They've been treading water for the past few seasons and my hopes as a fan were kept afloat by a weak division rather than the quality of the team. Hopefully a season like this one will be the trigger that allows them to start rebuilding for the post-Biggio/Bagwell era. Oswalt and Berkman are the kind of players you can build around, and Pence seems like the real deal (his horrific K/BB has to adjust though since his OBP is entirely average driven). About the best thing that can happen for the Astros would be for some of the expendable parts to catch fire just in time for trade bait and restocking the farm. Unfortunatly this will come a couple seasons too late since many teams now realize the value of those pre-arbitration players and the days of some expendable veteran fetching a future Hall of Famer are even rarer than before.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Someone know something

I was doing my semi-routine website maintenance and I noticed something weird. In a normal day I get between 90-110 visitors. In those rare times when I hit on something original I'll get ungodly high traffic, but I'm pretty consistent in the 100 neighborhood.

When I checked the counter today though I noticed that I'd received 246 hits yesterday.

WTF.

When I got an uptick in traffic after my take on the recruiters in Tennessee, I found out it was because of a link from the station that aired the original story.

So, anyone able to fill me in on what may be driving this sudden uptick? The Statcounter only tracks the last 100 hits and none of them are coming from anything out of the ordinary.

Monday, June 11, 2007

Someone I had to Introduce

How could I NOT do a post about a recruiter blogger who also plays Everquest? She's brand-spanking new to the Recruiter-blog world, but not new to recruiting. The first post I read had some things that just warm the cockles of my heart.

Ah... good times... good times.

*UPDATE*

I also, FINALLY, refixed my fixing of SGT Lori's link. How come you people let me keep a busted link for so long? Seriously, I personally know five of the eight people who read this blog, none of you could have told me I still had a busted link?

Some people's kids...

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Blegging for help

Hey folks, no I'm not about to put out a tip jar or AdSense or anything. I'm actually blegging for information. Anyone out there know what the waiting period after a discharge for an erroneous enlistment is? I've looked through 601-210 and 635-200 and no answer was apparent. I suppose I could go tearing through five years of USAREC messages, but I'm not in the mood to fire up the laptop, get a secure tunnel, and go through the heartache of polluting my home network with recruiting stuff.

Saturday, June 02, 2007

Underside

Prior to last week the most depressing human situation I ever saw up-close-and-personal involved someone deep into meth addiction, and is probably dead by now. Sadly, I've had it topped.

I had gotten a lead from ADHQ who lived in the area. This young woman was married, with a child, and no GED.

Quality... I know...

Anyways...

The address was one of the less nice areas in my territory, but just how less nice I didn't realize until I pulled up. Two guys were sitting in the back up a pick-up truck looking... lost... with a burned out glass tube and a belt between them. Yeah... this was awesome.

I find the apartment and knock. Next to the door when I'm let in is a metal baseball bat which I'd heard put down after I identified myself. The apartment itself, while a bit run down, was well-maintained. Unfortunatly the family living in it could not say the same. The woman I was meeting with had recently turned 17, but you'd have a hard time telling so from the caked on make-up and the not-recently-brushed teeth. Her nearly two year old daughter appeared to be in decent condition and was shy, but friendly. Her husband was a different story. He appeared to be close to my age, if not slightly older.

Because she had been nice enough to invite me into her home, and demonstrated a sincere interest in the Army, I did my job. Gave my presentation, administered the EST (she failed, but not by much), and figured I'd seek a commitment. Regardless of her response I knew it was going to be a long shot since she'd still have to pass the GED (far from a given with her EST and education background). She said she was interested.... but...

Always the but.

But, she'd found out she was pregnant.

I thanked her for her time, congratulated her, and left, grateful my car was there intact.

I found myself sitting at a light not far from the apartment complex just stunned.

I'm an UNGODLY lucky person. I know this. I thank whatever grace there is in the world for the fortunes with which I've been blessed. I might get onto my little blog and wail and moan about how hard my life is because I'm a suck-ass recruiter. But in reality, at the end of the day, I'm an incredibly lucky man.

Thinking back on the day in that apartment I can't help but wonder what happened. Where did life go off the rails for that young woman. I'm sure she loves her daughter with all her heart, but there is a very hard road ahead for the both of them. 17 with two children might have been the norm back when a plethora of children was needed to survive the terrifyingly high mortality rate of the pre-modern world. But in the United States, in the year 2007, this is not a good thing.

The greatest bit of good fortune I've ever had was being born into a good family. Everything else I've ever enjoyed is directly or indirectly due to the fortune of the circumstances of my birth. Parents who cared about my well-being and success. Parents who cared that I went to school and wanted me to do things like homework (over my vocal and frequent protests). I grew up in that situation and my peers were others like me. I, honestly, thought it was the norm for everyone up until I reached Basic Training. But now that I'm going into the homes of people who don't care, or even worse, have given up, it's more apparent than ever that I'm a simply blessed and lucky man.