16 Aug 11
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| Talk about FALSE advertising |
So I found out last Saturday that my “fear factor” is untying knots. Who knew, an Eagle Scout that couldn’t untie some simple 550-parachute cord? The MWR hosted the Fear Factor, but I must say that it was more like the Double Dare physical challenge portion meets Man vs. Food. The first round consisted of the 2 blind folded team members lifting a stretcher with the other team member sitting in the stretcher holding a pail full of water. Since me and the other team member were blind folded, we had to listen to the guy holding the water to direct us where to go. We had to worry about time and the guy on the stretcher could not spill any water. We made it to the second round, but our team was cut short due to my inability to untie knots.
The next round consisted of me running over to a trashcan filled with ice water and t-shirts tied up by 550-parachute cord. The answer was untying the knots, but I took a different more idiotic approach. I tried to pull the shirt out of its prison of knots and only ended up making the knots tighter and impossible to untie. Upon completion of this portion, my other team mate then would commence tossing ping pong balls towards the other member who had a clipboard secured around his “groinal” are; the intent was for this member to move their hips trying to bounce the ping pong balls off the clipboard into a bucket...but we did not get that far.
That is okay, because there is no way that we would have made it past the 3rd round. Teams had to take turns spinning around a baseball bat (20X), and then run to the far side of the room, put their faces in some weird spaghetti mixture to find a ball to pick up with their mouth and then run to the other side to drop it off on a plate. This one was funny, because guys were getting so dizzy, one actually ran out the exit door on accident. The next event after that was probably my favorite to watch. It was called the Port-O-John, and one member of the team got up on a ladder with a bottle of some sort of concoction (pretty sure there was blended sardines and other surprises in there). The other two members had to run down to the ladder, open up their mouths, and the team member on the ladder (about 5 ft up) poured the concoction into the other member’s mouth. Once his mouth was full then he ran over and spit it out in a cup. The two team members took turns doing this until the cup was full.
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| Port-O-John |
Finally, the main event was the Baby Shaker, which was a plate of food??...not sure if you would call it that. Looked like Vienna sausages covered with something, and a mixture of other things. One team member would have to eat off the plate (without the use of hands) and another member could provide him water, but that was it. Once they completed the plate of food, then they had to drink this “nasty” looking shake. In the end, a team of Navy folks prevailed against a team of Army folks. I am still convinced that if the “J Team” would have had a Navy guy, we could have taken it all.
All in all, it was a good time and everyone was having fun. For a split-second I did not feel like I was in Iraq.
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| Baby Shaker |
20 Aug 11
People, People, everywhere…so many people in fact that the chow halls are getting really full. They actually have a bus that can shuttle you over to another Chow Hall because the one is so packed. Supposedly, the other one is quite empty from what I hear. ..I may just have to start getting my meals to go. The gym is ALWAYS packed…no matter what time you go, at least 15-30 people will be there. The building we have on the complex is kind of small, so it fills up quick. This last week has honestly been a blur…really can’t report on much going on. I will say that for the last couple of Mondays I have partaken in what has become to be known as the “Dessert Run.” You may be thinking…”doesn’t he mean Desert Run?” I say dessert, because it is quite a treat to accomplish. It is a 5 ½ mile run along the airfield area of the base and there is an overall elevation increase of 100 ft. When we first ran it, it was pretty brutal, but now it has become an every Monday routine for me. It really starts the week off on the right foot…no pun intended.
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| One of the many people looking for the A/V input...stupid European TV's |
The other day I had to give up my “Man Card” because of a “TV-Gate”. “TV-Gate” has been an on-going struggle for our office to get a TV so we can watch news, listen to briefs, etc. The TV that they originally gave use was switched for another TV. Now, it was confirmed by like 5 of us in the office that this TV did not have a coaxial input, which means that we could not plug in the cable for AFN. So, we raised our concern, and we were told that it would get resolved. After several weeks of “trying to resolve” the issue, it was decided that we would just switch TVs with the J4 Deputy Director. When the TV was taken down, the MSG who was working our issues found the input for the cable. Since it is a European TV, the coaxial input is in the TV and you have to buy an adapter (which costs less than $1) to be able to plug in the cable. Long story short…I was the technology, electronics guy, and I was not able to identify the input, which led to a lot of confusion, and unnecessary actions. I told my director that I had just got back from the Deputy J4’s office, where I had left my “Man Card” on his desk. I mean connecting a TV to cable is like Man 101…
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| Returning from Chow... |
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