Tuesday, September 16, 2008

In Case You Didn't Know About My Weekend


Answers and Weekend review in short:

-        Yes, I drove out with Greg, Jeff, and Tom on Friday.

-        Yes, my car was broken into Friday night after 2 am and before 8 am (its 4th break-in in South Bend) and Yes, the stereo and Greg’s and my ipods were taken just to name a few things.  Also stolen was a Pong-a-long folding beer pong table…damn thieves.

-        Yes, the St. Jo sheriff who showed up was a k9 unit with a cool dog, and he told me in not so many words to lie about having more in the car.

-        Yes the cop laughed with me as he told me the thieves probably needed a new kitchen table for their piece of shit apartment. (In reference to the pong-a-long)

-        Yes, we tailgated hard and long…my first Double jack and coke came shortly after I found my car broken.

-        Yes, it rained like hell, and victory tasted so sweet.  I’ve never stood in such a rain before for so long.  This was the type of rain you laugh at people through your window at work because they are stuck outside in it.

-        Yes, we got dinner at Rocco’s Friday and CJ’s Saturday (no better combination can be devised, period)

-        Yes, oyster bar is exactly the same except they actually got us a hookah this time.

-        Yes, Finnie’s is still oppressively hot and humid, but Red Bull and Vodka still flows like the Mighty Mississippi.  And Yes, I burned that dance floor down with my moves.

-        Yes, I learned that “Street Pizza” is the coolest guy you will ever meet, and that “Deeanna” is awesome ‘cause she dances while sober.

-        Yes the 10 hour drive home in silence yesterday on 3 hours of sleep was painful.

-        No I don’t have season tickets, but am a thug (and the son of a Monogram member)

-        Yes, I would do it all over again.

BLENK

Thursday, September 11, 2008

FREEZE CANDIDATE FREEZE!!!!

It's official gentlemen. Officer Candidate School will start for me on 9 November and then flight school beginning of next year where I will be doing my best impression of these guys...



And with this I will be concluding my time in 'the OC' and with my head-case roommate who I haven't even seen since I was given the 30-days notice to vacate [see: coward, spineless]. I will be moving out at the end of the month and working through the middle of October then heading homeward bound before trekking back east. And as much as I have enjoyed her company [sarc] I can't help but equate her to this lovely lady and her charm...


But one must move on...as much as it hurts...

Officer Candidate School:

12 weeks. of this.



and this. [it's okay to laugh, i did]




for eventually achieving this.




I won't elaborate or go into detail about what academically and physically it requires but I imagine that it will be the most demanding thing that I will have chosen to pursue up to this point in my life. Following commissioning, flight training will continue to be equally demanding physically but thankfully without the Drill Instructors. The information required to learn has been equated to drinking from a fire hose, so I got that going for me...

At the moment, as I have described before I will be going in as a Naval Flight Officer. Following flight school and after receiving my gold wings I will enter the fleet as either a weapon systems officer [WSO], an electronic countermeasures officer [ECMO]... gotta love acronyms...

sort of like this


I still hope, and plan, on pursuing Naval Aviator and if given the chance I will try to redesignate. The chance is slim, but it exists, I will have to prove how much of a BAMF I am and not drown on the mile swims. That's at least part of it. But it's not all seriousness and beatings. Aviators have fun too.



I'll leave it there for now...keep it loose you know...we can talk principle, reason, and convictions another time.

I'm going into the Navy. Wow.

Friday, September 5, 2008

Us Placers

If you haven't heard this yet....you owe it to yourself to here some good hip hop.




Friday, August 29, 2008

Luck Be A Lady Tonight!


Our good friend Jeff jumped on a jet plane and headed out west yesterday, off to spend a few days basking in the Las Vegas sun. I wanted to post a few photos of the things Jeff has sent me since he got to Vegas. (Read: Photos I hope to see of things Jeff did when he gets back.) Hopefully Jeff is taking in everything the Strip has to offer. I told him he should make a side trip to Reno while he's there...but that was mainly inspired by the antics of Reno 911. So here are the things I expect to see:


Jeff getting his laugh on with Siegfried and Roy...boy I hope he gets on stage.


Jeff makin' it rain with Lil Wayne.


Jeff slam dance fighting Celine Dion...live in concert...nice punch Jeff.

Jeff co-hosting a bikini contest...good pick dawg. I like your bracelets too.

Hopefully Jeff's trip will completely eclipse the things I merely hopes he can accomplish. I'm sure it will, cause honestly, it's Vegas. Cheers buddy. Enjoy your Vegas Vacation. Oh and don't forget to check out Tom Jones and drop a Sex Bomb on some biddies.



Monday, August 25, 2008

Mmmm, Florida

Brad, you staying dry down there?


-Jeff



Friday, August 22, 2008

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Back in the High Life Again

So I was just strolling through my office bound Trader Joe's over my lunch break. As I pulled the door open, I was greeted with a cold rush of air but that was not all. Playing at what I admired as a slightly louder than normal volume, Steve Winwood's sweet song bird of a voice filled my ears. I was instantly rushed back through years of happy thoughts and wonderful wishes. Ahhhh. For a moment, I thought it was true..."We'll be back in the high life again." Suddenly I was confronted with the bleak truth that I was in a friggid underground grocery store, only halfway through a sloppy Wednesday of work. But that wasn't going to get me down. I continued on, grinning ear to ear, with my quart of milk in hand, dreaming of the High Life again.
Btw, why don't we all already own one of these? I may have to work on that. Hope you all like red on your birthdays.

-Blenk

Fighting 20 Children...an article I believe Brad Wrote.

How to win a fight against twenty children.

I’m not going to ask why you’re fighting twenty children. That’s your own business, although most reasons are as old as time itself:

1) They started it.
2) You flipped over the table while losing a Magic: The Gathering game, and damaged several rare cards.
3) They stole your woman.
4) You stole their woman.
5) You’ve had enough of their bullshit.

Whether you’re a good man who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, or a dangerous maniac, we here at Cracked want to help. That’s why we’ve consulted with the experts (who did not wish to be named) on how to maximize your odds of winning a fight against twenty children. Follow these guidelines, and your opponents will wish they were never born 6 or 7 years ago.

__

Use an appropriate technique. Modern mixed martial arts are geared almost exclusively towards one on one combat, and are not designed to take on multiple tiny aggressors. As a grown adult, you could be fairly assured of absolutely destroying a 7 year old if you took him to the floor for a ground and pound. But by doing so you’d expose your back and head to his peers. Your best bet is to stay on your feet and use striking techniques. Karate is one good choice - it was originally designed in the 1600’s for use by unarmed Japanese day care workers.

Be aware of the terrain. By default, you’re going to have a height advantage against twenty children, but be sure you don’t cede it. Avoid fighting around picnic tables, monkey bars, or anything with which a particularly daring child could launch an aerial attack. The ideal situation is fighting children who are trapped in a ditch below you.

Stay mobile. Unless you’re extremely lucky and find yourself fighting twenty infants, you’re going to be at a mobility disadvantage when fighting a large group of children. You must avoid becoming surrounded at all costs. Keep moving, and always trying to position the bulk of children on one side of you. Circle, sidestep, and use tactical retreats to try and engage a single child at a time, where your reach and decades of muscular development should prove an advantage.

Speed. You want this fight to be over fast. Children have boundless amounts of energy, and you’ll tire quickly as the fight progresses. If you schedule your fights with twenty children in advance for some reason, I urge you to focus your pre-training regimen on cardiovascular conditioning and snorting eye-wateringly large amounts of cocaine.

Intimidation. Although I don’t expect you to be intimidated by the prospect of fighting twenty children - given the self-confidence that comes with maturity - remember that intimidation is a two way street. Twenty is a big number, and if that many children lose their fear of you, watch out. Use fierce roars and displays of strength to frighten the children. When taunting, remember that children are almost comically stupid, and won’t understand any of your more creative taunts. You won’t intimidate anyone if you have to explain three times specifically what you did to their mother last night.

Go for the leader first. Assuming the twenty children lack military training, they’re going to behave more like a pack of animals than a cohesive group. By default, pack animals will defer to an alpha leader, and if you manage to subdue that child, the rest of the pack will quickly lose their will to fight. In some cases the leader will be actively giving orders and therefore easy to identify. Other times they’ll be harder to pick out. In those cases, go for the tallest one, or the one with the most Pokemon on their clothing. Once the alpha child is lying in a heap, you’ve got a narrow window of intimidation open while the children regroup. I’d recommend lifting his body over your head and screaming yourself hoarse. That’s the smart veteran move.

Groin attacks. In general the crotch is a small, easily defensible target, and not typically a factor in most fights at a reasonably professional level. That said, when children are attacked by an adult, they’re rarely going to respond professionally. Again, if you have forewarning that you’ll soon be coming to blows with twenty children, absolutely wear a cup. If you do get struck in the groin, under no circumstances should you place your hand on your genitals to massage away the pain - touching your privates while surrounded by minors is illegal in many states, and frowned upon in the rest.

Weapons. I’d suggest refraining from using weapons, and not just because of the harsh mandatory minimum sentencing laws that are a sad reality in this modern age. By bringing a weapon you might prompt the children to bring weapons as well. This kind of escalation plays against you. Whereas before you could fairly safely absorb several dozen tiny little punches before being incapacitated, you’re now at risk of being dropped with a single lucky strike. If a child with a pair of safety scissors gets at your Achilles tendon (the groin of the ankle) then you’re cooked buddy.

Let the last one walk away. In Professional Twenty-Child-Fighting Leagues this is now tradition, but even during raw, underground twenty child street-fights it serves an important purpose. By letting that child spread word of your great strength and not-to-be-fucked-withedness amongst the other children of the area, you can ensure that it will be a long time indeed before someone else mewls at you that you’re hogging the swings.

Monday, August 11, 2008