The Martinez Family Webpage

So, this blog is now officially closed. All comments “should” be closed and I don’t think you will be able to post comments.

Why?

In an attempt to try to revitalize this blog, I started looking back at the organization, layout, posts, scope, etc. It really doesn’t sit well with me anymore. The easiest way to fix it? Start again! I never liked that the address had /wordpress appended to it, so the new site will be located at www.smart001.com.

Thanks to everyone who has been patient as I did and then did not, and then did again post over the last…what? 6 years? I don’t know, its been a while.

Hoppy Easter everybody. Hope everyone had a good time with friends and family.

Let’s see, what did we do?

We watched several movies this weekend with different results.

Friday night was:

Space Chimps – Bleh, my 3 year old was even bored by this one, and it is about monkeys in spaceships.

The Rocker – The Surprise of the weekend. This movie rocks. This was actually very funny and Rainn Wilson is a genius. I even turned off my computer games to watch this one…which is a rarity.

Transporter 3 – Not any better and probably worse than Transporter 1 and 2. Some cool fight scenes though. And a “sexy striptease” by Jason Stathem.

Sunday night was:

Space Buddies – Cute and actually not too terrible. My 3 year old LOVED it, so that was good.

The Day the Earth Stood Still – Very nice. This is an apocalyptic story that borders on being preachy, still not too bad though, I liked the effects, and the Jennifer Connelly. Apparently this is a remake. I will have to check out the original now!!

Seven Pounds – Actually reminded me a lot of City of Angels, though this was not really a chick flick. I (surprisingly) enjoyed this movie. It was a little slow to start and was pretty predictable, but overall very good.

Saturday we went to the Saint Luis Zoo, had a good time there.

Saturday evening was a barbecue with some friends, then egg decorating.

Look at the Flickr Gallery to see all the photos later tonight.

And in the next couple days, look for a video of Easter Morning.

In an attempt to let some creative juices flow, I am going to start ranting again.

What is a rant?

Google defines it as:

1. harangue: a loud bombastic declamation expressed with strong emotion
2. talk in a noisy, excited, or declamatory manner
3. bombast: pompous or pretentious talk or writing

So here it is a loud, bombastic, noisy, excited, pompous, pretentious tirade about Pedestrians.

But first another definition:

1. a person who travels by foot
2. lacking wit or imagination; “a pedestrian movie plot”

Let me make it clear her that I am speaking about #1 not necessarily #2, though the two definitions may be used interchangeably in this case.

I, like a lot of people in this United States of America, drive to work. The vehicle which I use is irrelevant, though I get a little more irritated if I am on my motorcycle, as slamming on my brakes is a little more hazardous when I am not wrapped up in metal.

Pedestrians, like a lot of people in this United States of America, walk to work. There are many, if not the majority, pedestrians that I have no issue with. These are the peds that:

1. Wait on sidewalk for eye contact from driver before walking out into the middle of the road.
2. Hustle, across the road.
3. Have the courtesy to maybe throw a quick wave in sign of appreciation to the driver (though this is not obligatory).

These people I have no issue with, and am, in fact, happy to wait for them to cross the road. I know I fall into that category, and am greatly appreciative when someone stops for me.

There are some points here to grab from the previous list.

Wait on sidewalk for eye contact from driver before walking out into the middle of the road.

Don’t come walking into the middle of a road (in or out of a crosswalk). Please. This is COMMON SENSE. Not every driver is going to see you. Said driver could be jaw jacking on the phone, talking to her boyfriend/husband, not paying attention, putting makeup on, trying to figure out “which funny pedal is the brake”, any number of things. It irritates me that these pedestrians (definition 2) take it on blind faith vehicles will stop for them.

Hustle, across the road.

This is probably the big one for me. If you don’t wanna follow the advice of the last paragraph and would rather get slapped around like a beach ball in a seal pen, please be my guest.

pedestrian

However, it is pretentious to think you may take your sweet time meandering across the road. In or out of a crosswalk. You don’t have to run, you definitely don’t have to sprint, but at least make a show of you attempting to hustle. If you are walking with a friend/acquaintance/significant other/etc, don’t have a conversation rife with exaggerated manipulations of your hands/facial features/body, you are not impressing me that you know how to speak. Though to be honest, the fact you lived long enough to put one foot in front of the other is quite amazing in and of itself. I guess I should be amazed you can speak. Point is, just get across the road, quickly.

Have the courtesy to maybe throw a quick wave in sign of appreciation to the driver (though this is not obligatory).

It is stated here that a wave is not obligatory. It is nice though. I will always throw a wave back at ya’ and it brightens my day a little.

Thanks for listening.

Promise #1:
This in no way, shape or form, is an indication that I will publish with any more frequency than I normally do.

Promise #2:
You will be better having read this post.

Promise #3:
I love Coffee.

So at long last, here it is. The post that informs you, reader, what I have been up to.

The last several months have been hectically, busy. I redeployed (means I came home, not deployed again), in June of 08, spent a few months on leave, re-integrating with the “normal” world, relaxing, learning to be a husband and father again, and learning to function in a permissive environment.

I have started a couple more web pages, mostly for your perusal.
TheSmokingChair, is a site aimed for cigar smokers, nothing special on there yet, but I intend to have user submitted reviews, author profiles and such. Right now there are just some tutorial things I have thrown together. Pardon the type-os and grammatical errors, I am working on establishing an editor and various other contributors.

I also set up a forum for the readers of the Draft Distro. It is not my forum, I do not administer it. It is however a great location to come talk with some great people and read information on stories that were written by El Jefe while we were downrange. Some of the work may be considered controversial, but it is all good. There is also a section there for posting your own stories. Here is the link for the non-member, site, you can get to the members site by having a Google Account. Read it up, there is some GREAT stuff in there.

I am working on learning UBUNTU, a Linux based OS that I want to use to replace my Windows Vista, if I can get it to do everything I want it to, that is a short period of time away.

I have moved to Illinois, exciting times to be had as my organization allows me to continue to grow into a well rounded Soldier.

That is about it. I have more time now in this duty than I have had previously so I should, though don’t expect, be updating this site and my others more frequently.

Oh, and I started school again, or rather, signed up for school, I don’t start taking classes again until April.

Hope this finds everyone well.

I really don’t know. It has been a while since I posted last though!

Yes, I am currently on Twitter. It is kind of adorable that I am able to instantly tell the world what random thoughts I am thinking. Honestly, I was more interested in seeing what all the hype was about. I think I understand now. It is kind of cool, and relatively easy to use. I just go to the site and type in whatever random thing I want to put in there as something that I am currently doing, and wala. Done.

Below should be a sample, but I am not sure it will work. We will see.

And in other news, ummm, that is all.

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Gmail Google is hiring developers to work at their email factory. Some of the benefits touted are

Gmail was one of Google’s first experimental forays outside of search, so boundary-pushing is part of our nature. We’ve developed new storage systems (Google never stored large amounts of user data before), new anti-spam systems (using machine learning technologies developed for search), and a new fast, modular, reusable Javascript architecture (Google never ran an AJAX app of this scale before). We try to push product boundaries, too, with lots of storage, integrated chat, and free IMAP — stuff that just makes things better for users, even if it means an untraditional approach to business. And one of the best parts is that when you go out, people you actually know say, “Hey, I used [that thing you built]. It’s cool.” (And then they ask you why Gmail doesn’t have folders.)

I just wish I was smart enough to get a job there. oh-well, another couple years and I should have the programming experience necessary to get hired at a cool company like Google.

Official Gmail Blog: We’re hiring

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I have been reading lately. Yes, us Soldiers know how to read too.

I recently finished Ray Bradbury’s iconic Fahrenheit 451 (which is incidentally the flash point of paper). What a phenomenal book. I think that this book should be required reading for every high school aged child. It is right up there with Ayn Rand’s Anthem and apparently (though I have yet to read it) Charles Orwell’s 1984. 451 deals with a fireman (though not the kind you would expect) coming to terms with what it means to burn. It is a stark look at a future that is becoming more and more censored. I also just watched Jim Kirby’s This Film Not yet Rated, which is a look into the MPAA. I had not made the censorship correlation until I started reading writing this post.

Anyway, I digress.  451 is amazing. Bradbury’s use of simile and metaphor is habitual, which means it does not sound forced at all, and pictures that would take pages for most authors to paint are beautifully drawn with just a few choice words by Bradbury. It is amazing, the story that is told in this short story. Strunk would be proud. One of my favorite quotes:

“But now nights he lay in his bunk, face turned to the wall, listening to the whoops of laughter below and the piano-string scurry of rat feet, the violin squeaking  of mice, and the great shadowing motioned silence of the hound leaping out like a moth in the raw light, finding, holding its victim, inserting the needle and going back to its kennel to die as if a switch had been turned.”

See what I mean? Absolutely beautiful. And the whole book is chock full of these beautiful sentences.

Because, I read and loved this book so much, I went to Amazon, and ordered Ray Bradbury’s 100 Most Celebrated Tales. I have been told that Bradbury can tell a novel’s worth of story in 10 pages or less. Since these are a compilation Bradbury himself chose, I cannot wait to see what gems I get to read. I think the next one I order will be the Martian Chronicles, as I have been told these are phenomenal short stories. I highly suggest any literary fan, or budding writer read this author and (pardon the pun) take a page from his book. You will not be disappointed. Even if you are not a fan of the stories, his genius with the pen, will leave you wondering how you can write succinctly and eloquently as Bradbury does.

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Edit Number 7 — So they (RADIUS) claim that a storm knocked one of their satellite dishes out of alignment and that is why  we have had no internet access for these last few days. It should be up in the next 48 hours or so though. Here’s hopin’.

Edit Number 1 — In an attempt to let you in on the secret as early as possible. It has now been about 12 hours since I last tried to connect to RADIUS (read below, you will understand). I am supposed to be having a video chat with my lovely wife and my cute little girl right now, but I still cannot connect. It might be the rain or the wind. I will try again in the morning to see what happens.

In an effort to not loose my sanity as I sit in this wonderful country, I wanted to check my email…to no avail. Apparently the RADIUS (the guys I HAVE to get my internet from (ooh but Steve Monopolies are bad you say, not in this country I respond.)), server is down. I just hope it is up again by tonight before I have a date with my frau via webcam.

I am attempting to write this post before I connect to the internet in an attempt to (here it comes) Blog offline. We will see how that works when I go to save this post.

I started playing basketball again so far three times for a total of about 4 hours in the last 4 days. We will see if I can keep it up. So far the knees and the shoulder are holding up just fine, lending credit to the docs that kept telling me I just needed to rest. Hopefully as I continue to use these pesky appendages, they will stay fine and not painful. I did just get spanked in two extremely embarrassing games against three warrant officers. Military types will know these guys as generally crotchety old men, and these guys are no exception, though they are pretty good at basketball and embarrassed us “young folk quite bad. We will probably never hear the end of it now. But that is of little or no importance, the important thing is that I played and had a good time and am relieving stress as I go. I will definitely have to keep the games rolling. Win or loose, keep going.

Which brings me to my next point. Win or loose, keep going. There is something in everything for everyone. That sounds like a load of horse manure, but in reality, everything must do one thing for everybody, kill you, or make you stronger and smarter for your experinces.

Even this illustrious tour in Iraq has made me stronger on several points.

1. I now know a LOT more about my job than I did before I deployed.
2. I now have a much greater appreciation for the support my family did and has continued to provide me. This is from my parents to Mandi’s parents helping Mandi out with whatever she needed since I have been gone, to the care packages and emails, and mail all my loved ones have sent me during this tour. And of course the constant support my wife has given me both mentally in doing a phenomenal job raising our daughter since I have been gone, to the little notes I get telling me that she is still there holding down the fort, waiting for me to come home. 
3. I now have a more firm grip on reality, and I realize exactly what it is we are doing over here (I will save political discussions for another time, but I have seen a lot of good done in this country).
4. I now can see what “political ramifications” are in relation to — If this happens, then this will happen (again, not talking US politics, I am talking Iraqi).
5. I still don’t like being away from my family.
6. I still don’t like being away from my family.
7. I can see now how to be a better husband and father, and I see what changes I need to make once I get back.
8. As much as it will and does rain in WA and OR, it will never be as bad as the infrequent rain we get here. This place such wet. You can equate it to walking through wet flour.

Overall, we will see what this all means for the redeployed SFC Martinez, but I will tell you I am looking extremely forward to my next assignment instructing at Ft. Huachucah AZ.

Plans for the blog…
I have been thinking, in an effort to spur my creative thinking and in responce to what I will affectionately call “El Jefe”’s daily stories. I have been thinking of starting a story and posting it piece by piece as I write it on the web. Not sure how that will go or what the ramifications will be (anyone who has read my writing will know what I mean by ramifications), but I think it will be fun. Plus, I like writing.

Ok, it is almost chow time, I am hungry, and RADIUS is still not responding. That means the world will have to wait with bated breath to read this breakthrough post until I can get connection again. Wait, can the world wait for something it is unaware of? What would Confucious say? I don’t know…wait and see. See what I mean about ramifications?

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So, I recently was able to get internet in my contained housing unit on the FOB I am currently residing on. I have been downloading and installing all the stuff that I have not been using for a while. 

What this means for you, gentle reader of my Blog, is that hopefully, my posts will be at least slightly more frequent. The reason for this are three fold.

1. I now have internet in my room
2. My morale is higher since I get to video chat with my wife and daughter on a much more frequent basis.
3. I now have ScribeFire (previously Performancing) installed which makes posting to any blog much, much easier. (even though I love WordPress), since I can do it from any page on the internet. Even though I have internet in my room now, having to go through the WordPress admin page means I have to wait for the page to load, and that is time consuming on a slow connection.

I am actually really excited, as I have a lot to say. Mostly reviews about books and movies that I have read or watched, but a lot to say nonetheless. I am not sure if I will do this in one post, two posts, or many posts. That remains to be seen.

What else does this mean? I will be able to roll out updates to this site on a much more frequent basis. I have been playing around with a few different ideas about how best to lay the Blog out, and there are a lot of ideas that I have reference building my own WordPress theme.

I think (therefore I am?) that someone (I would do it if I knew how) should write an offline blog posting program that will synch with said blog when the user reconnects. I am not even really sure how to go about that, but I think that would be a good program to work on. Maybe I can do something with that in my limited knowledge of coding. You can call that the random thought for the day. I know that Google Gears has some functionality that I could use and I seem to recall a program that used to have something like that but you had to pay for it. I will look into it and see what I can find. In the meantime, if there is already a program like this, let me know so I can use it and not have to write my own.

Anyway, have a great day.

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