ICS and Me

I updated my tablet (ASUS Eee Pad Transformer) OS to Ice Cream Sandwich yesterday. At first everything went great. I rummaged around the new OS trying to see what changed and what stayed the same. I like the new look. The notification section is improved and looks great. I like the crisp clean look of the interface. The setting have also been revamped and expanded upon. I'm not going to go into detail about all the changes, I'm not running a tech blog here after all. What I will say is that ICS impressed me. But that was last night.

I warmed up my tablet and again started playing around with it seeing what was new again. Then the tablet started getting really unresponsive. And then it froze completely. I had almost every app I tried today crash. Basically, what happened was that my tablet became virtually unusable. Let me take that back, it wasn't virtually unusable, it was completely unusable.

I tried the tablet again tonight. And everything seems to be fine. The only thing I did was switch from the live wallpaper to a standard one. After that all seems right with the world. Hmm, don't know what the problem was, but I'm glad everything works OK.  Final verdict: ICS is great.

The Return

So, I've been gone for quite a while. And my lack of posts proves that. Where  was I, you ask? OK, just go with it. I know you didn't ask, but whatever. I was in Afghanistan for six months. A poor internet connection is not conductive to writing and such. I got home about a month and a half ago. I went to work for a week or so, then I took a bit of well deserved vacation time. Hey! I did so deserve it. Six months with no days off in a war zone requires a bit of time to rest and decompress. You will have to take my word on that one. I went back to work a few days ago. Not much is happening. A mechanic generally has no work when all the vehicles are in storage. Needless to say, with nothing to do the last couple of days have been kind of a drag.

I've missed out on a bit while I was in the Bakersfield look-alike country. Those of you that have been there know what I mean. Anyway, Twitter was ignored for the most part, as was G+. Obviously Blogger didn't get any love either-hence the 10 posts for all of 2011. In fact, not much of what I've done prior to 2011 has gotten any attention. I've been popping in on my usual ethereal locals getting back into the swing of things. I've gotten back into Star Trek Online (yes, I'm a Trekkie, Trekker...whichever), Star Pirates (no relation) and Flickr. The family and I went to Berlin a couple of weeks ago, got some great pictures of the wall. Which reminds me, I need to take more pictures as well. I have a few pictures from Afghanistan to process and post, but not many. Sorry, but I'm not inspired by a place that looks like Victorville, CA. Been there or through there? Then you know what I mean.

I think I will close for now. I do have a lot to write about, but I think I'll start a bit slowly. Speaking of slowly, I've also been trying my hand...or brain, at fiction. Nothing good yet, but I'll post a little something here in the future. Enough for now. Tchuss.

An Actual Conversation

  "So, SGT Sharp, I have some good news and I have some bad news."
  "OK."
  "The bad news is that SGT Stafford and I got into a brawl about your Cokes in the middle of the chow hall. He was yelling and I was yelling back. A First Sergeant tried to step in to break it up. I slapped him across the face and SGT Stafford stomped on his groin. He kept on saying 'To hell with your gonads.' It was crazy." 
"What's the good news?"
  "I got you some orange juice."

A Brief Afghan Image

I am facing to the West with the whole of the camp in front of me. Tents, shacks, vehicles and dirt are what make up my temporary home here. I can see the Afghan mountains in the distance, obscured by the dusty haze filling the air. Even though they are only a few miles away they seem much further. The sun is settling lower in the sky, late afternoon light shines into my eyes causing me to avert my gaze. I look up and see the clouds overhead. They are sparse and gray, filled with the little moisture contained in this dry land, tempting rain. Light spears the clouds, rays of warmth casting shadows on the gravel strewn earth. Two helicopters drift by in close formation, one protecting the other, cutting through the beams of light. This was my day. A day to remember.

Talent

My daughter is talented. And here's some proof of that:

There are two things that go through my mind when I see this.

"She did that with markers?" and "She will make a fortune working for Disney some day."

Life Goes On

Wow, it's been a while. I have been seriously neglectful here haven't I? And no, that doesn't require a response. I wish I could say that I haven't written because I've just been too busy to write here. That's partial true, but not all the way. I have had time to jot a few words down-if I was so inclined-but the motivation simply wasn't there.

Every time I call up my browser I see the Blogger link on my bookmarks bar. It's just sitting there, looking accusingly at me, reminding me of how horrible person I'm being for ignoring it. I can't ignore it any more. Well, I could, I just don't want to. OK, so the economy is still hell and my time in the military will end in a few years. I could do one of two things. First, do nothing and hope I'll be able to get a job in an improved economy (because it will be all unbroken in a few years, right?). The second? Improve myself by gaining a skill I can profit from-or at least live off of. I'm good at management, but that's not what interests me. OK, so it does interest me to some degree. Running things is something I'm good at. I've basically done it at every job I've had as an adult. But there is no way in hell I'll be back as a manager in customer service again. Those days were torture (but may make a good blog post sometime).

I'm currently working as a mechanic, but I'm not comfortable doing that job on the outside. I also like writing, but I don't know how I'd make that a career. Hmm, I've got a bit of thinking to do.

Current stuff: The wife had surgery this week. She was in the hospital from Monday until Sunday morning. She was very happy to be leaving for home, unfortunately the 3 hour car ride didn't make her feel too hot. She was in pain most of that day and the morning of the next. She seemed better last night and hopefully will continue to improve. Got to take her to the doctor today. She's having an issue with her medication. She has to crush up all her pills and mix them with water to take them. Of course pills without their coating on them taste worse than death, so we have to find out another way of dealing with her medication.

Good thing: The wife's mother is here to help out. That's great, especially since I go back to work tomorrow and won't be home during the days for the recovery. My daughter is having a pretty good time hanging with her grandmother as well. Benefits all around.

There are big changes coming to the job soon. The thing that kills me is that no one has a clue what's happening to me. Am I staying or am I going? No one can tell me, just rumors so far. I know this part makes no sense, but it's something I can't go into depth about now. I'm really hoping they tell me what's what this week. Either I have a lot of packing to do, or I have a bit of stuff to fix around the house and car. Can't do both unfortunately.

I know this doesn't make a lot of sense and is probably deathly dull, but I had to get these things out of me and down somewhere. Putting a problem on paper (or in a blog post) makes the problem a bit more real and manageable. It makes them not so problematic. Now, time to carry on with my life.

Practice 1, Revised

So here's my revision of the first practice. I added or altered a lot of the material. I tried to add a bit more to the story, add some feeling in the characters. Overall I tried to make it less dry.

Everything was going well on the flight. I had a window seat with no one beside me. The flight attendant even gave me an extra pillow. How nice of her. But the seats were still uncomfortable and I’ll be in the air a lot longer before we land; 6 more hours to go. We’d only been in the air 3 hours, scheduled to land at 5 AM. Way too damn early.

Looking out an airplane’s window at cruising altitude flying over the Southwest in the dead of night is not a very stimulating experience. I have better things to do than to stare out at the dark. Eyes drooping, I slip into a haze, thinking about the past and if I will have a future. I remember what I’ve left behind and what I hope I can go back to. This trip is important. I need to be rested for it.

“Where’d the guy go that was sitting here?”

I started from my daze and looked toward the voice. Standing in the aisle was a guy, late thirties, bald with a serious weight problem. He was looking in my direction, eyebrows arched, sweat pouring down his unshaven face. He looked like he hadn’t slept for days. I know the feeling. I rubbed my eyes and took a deep breath, gathering my thoughts. Why was he bothering me?

“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that. What did you say?”

“I said ‘Where’d the guy go that was sitting here?’ Well, where’d he go?”

This guy looked liked trouble and I sure as hell didn’t want to talk to him. All I wanted was to get a bit of rest before we landed. With the schedule I was keeping today I’d be hitting the ground running. I won’t have the chance to close my eyes again for nineteen or twenty hours. One of the cons of my job-no sleep ever.

“Look guy”, I replied “I don’t know who was sitting there. I thought I saw someone earlier but I’m not sure. Ask the flight attendant.”

“I did ask the flight attendant and he doesn’t know. That’s why I’m asking you.”

This guy was testy with me and all I did was tell him that I didn’t know who was sitting there. I did know that I was very tired and going to be pretty bad off if I didn’t catch at least a bit of a nap. Whatever this guy’s problem was, it has nothing to do with me. And also, I didn’t care.

“Easy there, fella. I’ve been sleeping most of the flight, which is something that I want to get back to doing. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be attempting to do just that again.”

I begin closing my eyes, shutting out the noise and light of the cabin. Trying to sleep at 36,000 feet with a bunch of strangers around you being annoyingly loud is bad enough. Having one of those strangers come up to you and ask a stupid question knowing that you are trying to sleep is something else entirely.

“Hey!” the fat man shouted, “I’m fucking talking to you.”

I slowly opened my eyes and turned toward the aisle. There, still standing by the empty seat, was the stranger. He was visibly upset now. His formerly pale face had turned a shade not far off from the red commonly seen on a beet, visible capillaries added to the darkened shade. His brows were furrowed, eyes blazing. His teeth were clenched through slightly parted lips. I could see the rise and fall of his chest, pumping like an over-worked bellows. This guy was seriously pissed off and was looking like he wanted to take it out on me.

“Don’t you turn away from me! I asked you a simple fucking question, so answer it. Who the fuck was sitting here?”

I put up my hands and try to remain as calm as possible. With the possibility of violence from this guy I did not want to be here. I was stuck in a window seat, barely able to move my legs more than a few inches forward and back. Defending myself if he decided to come over the seats at me would have been a problem. I was completely screwed. Time to try and talk him down.

“Easy man, there’s no need for this.” Isn’t there supposed to be an air marshal on every flight these days to deal with problems like this? Isn’t that way the big hiring push was in the news a few years ago? Where the hell was he and why hadn’t he taken this crazy out yet? “I haven’t seen anyone in that seat all flight. There isn’t anyone sitting there. If you tell me what the problem is I may be able to help.”

“Bullshit!” the wacko said. “I saw someone here. There WAS someone here. You had to have seen him. I recognized him. You have to tell me who he was and where he went.”

“Look, I don’t know who was sitting there. I didn’t see anyone. You sure that you have the right seat. Maybe you’re thinking of the one of the others further down the aisle?”

“No, he was here” he said. There was an immediate change to the stranger. He started looking less angry and more confused. The color left his face and went back to his natural shade of too pale. His brows were still furrowed, but they shifted from anger to concentration. “He has to be here, I saw him. I saw him right here.”

Now this guy had my attention. He was clearly upset about something. He truly believed that someone had been sitting there, someone that he knew. Or someone that he thought he recognized. And that’s when the marshal showed up.

“Is there a problem here, sir?” the marshal asked the stranger.

The stranger looked dumbly at the marshal. “He’s on this plane, I know he is. He has to be, because I saw him here. He was right here” the guy said as he gestured toward the empty seat.

“Who was here, sir? Who are you looking for?” The marshal put his hand around the guy’s shaking right bicep, ready to restrain him if necessary. The flight attendant must have told him about the outburst and he was ready, taking no chances. The guy wasn’t angry with me before, I see that now. He was terrified. The way he was quivering I was amazed he could even stand.

“He was.” The stranger looked pleadingly in the marshal’s eyes. “You have to help me find him, he’s here.” Getting frantic now, “He’s on this plane; you have to find him and arrest him!”

“Arrest who, sir? Who are you talking about? What are you talking about?”

Seeing this exchange sends a chill down my spine. I know what he’s going to say before he says it. It’s my job to know things first, to know fact before anyone else does. I see where this is headed and wish I’d taken the later flight. Or at least a different seat.

The stranger, tears welling in his eyes, looked from the marshal to me, and back again, his shoulders slumped. All I could see in front of me was a broken man, one that had obviously lost everything. I couldn’t be angry at this man, not seeing him that way. Looking at the marshal I could tell he thought the same way.

“Sir, sit here, tell me what this is about.”

The heavy-set man looked at the aisle seat in front of him. Resignedly, the man collapsed into the seat causing it to bump against the legs of the passenger behind.

“Hey! Watch it, that hurt.”

He didn’t hear, I don’t think he was aware of anything happening at that point.

“I’m Marshal Brice, what’s your name sir?”

The man looked at the marshal, eyes empty. “Huh?”

“Sir, what is your name?” the marshal repeated.

“Dylan. Sam Dylan. I’m from Colorado. I’m heading to California to see my sister. To…”

The man’s eyes go vacant again, all the energy drained out of them.

“Mr. Dylan?” The marshal tried getting the guys attention but failed. Placing a hand on his shoulder the marshal gently shakes him. “Mr. Dylan!” more forcefully now. “Mr. Dylan, you mentioned a man, a man that you recognized. Who was this man and why do I need to arrest him?”

“Hmm?” replied Dylan, coming back to the land of the present. “What?”

“Who was the man and why do I have to arrest him?” asked the marshal again.

“He is…” Mr. Dylan began. Then he looks deeply in the marshal’s eyes, his sight filled with nothing but pain and anguish. “The guy I’m looking for-the guy I saw sitting here…He killed my wife. Two days ago. And he’s somewhere on this plane.”

Well, so much for me getting any sleep on this flight.

I added about 400 words to this story going from 1060 words to 1500. Just adding words to try and make the story better won't work. You have to add the right words to accomplish that.