Check this beer commercial

It's not Bud Light...nor Miller Lite, but Sapporo...Japanese beer. Here's a really well done 2 minute  commercial.

Read this...

If you are in the Army now, especially if you are an officer, I suggest reading this article posted recently at Army Times online. I've been there...Vietnam era veteran...I've seen what can happen to the Army after the serious shooting winds down.

In tow...one horse

By chance, and that's the way I like it, I happened upon Mister Vernon L. Giles, from Chatham, Virginia, riding his older horse and towing his other, along the main highway passing through the town.

He was headed to an open field nearby, to let the younger horse run loose and get some exercise. Vernon told me the way he got the horse to come to him after dashing to an fro in the field, was to whistle loudly...and that would trigger a memory in the horse's head that there was a tasty hard biscuit waiting for him in Vernon's pocket. He demonstrated this to me and it worked. Point of this short story is that you never know what you'll see or who you'll meet when you travel around locally around your home, usually with no specific destination in mind.

Vernon, by the way, is not only a fine horseman, but an author. He just completed a well-reviewed novel titled "Tobacco Moon", a story about the tobacco-growing, Piedmont Region of Virginia and North Carolina. I've not purchased it (yet) but it sounds like a good read.

Wireless or Landline?

Many of you reading this don't remember using a telephone with a "rotary dial' on it, back when each was made (only made) by Bell Telephone Company. You wanted a phone in your home, you contacted Bell Telephone and they made it happen. Today, this is obviously no longer the case. For many, a "landline" phone is a thing of the past. Most under the age of 30 have no use for such.

I'm slightly above the age of 30 (more than slightly but that's another story) but I am, quite frankly, getting tired of landline phones. My wife does not agree, and she relies heavily on our home phone for calls to friends and family. But, I have had a second landline number coming into our house for years, which I have been using totally for my work. But, it's turned into a junk call line mostly, and the largest percentage of my work communications is done via email these days.

So, I'm dumping my work landline phone. Farewell old friend, may I introduce you to my Blackberry?

Traffic around Fort Belvoir to get worse

If you are a subscriber to Army Engineer magazine, then you will have read (Jan-Feb 2011 issue) about the "new look" at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, with all the BRAC related construction ongoing. Potential traffic problems as a result of these efforts was noted in the magazine story, but this article in the Army Times gives a much better summary of what lies ahead at Fort Belvoir and across the country.

Time to Plant?

Depending on your location, it may be time to plant one of these type Pear trees. My neighbor has...and this is but one of several. He's already plowing his backyard garden too, with the recent warm weather we're experiencing in SW Virginia. As for me, I'm waiting a bit longer for garden stuff, and I already have enough trees.

Top to bottom communication

I was given a copy of a recent message which was sent to the field yesterday by the Army Chief of Staff, General Casey. In it he explains the essentials of the proposed FY2012 budget in a way I found to be excellent. Concise and to the point, realistic expectations, and containing a few main points for leaders to remain focused on as they discuss the implications of the proposal with peers and others. One thing which I wish we had during the time I was on active duty was the sort of command communication network from the top to the bottom, such as today with email and so forth. For any leader today to complain that they don't know what's going on within the Army has no credibility in my view.

A week ago it was "the" day

Super Bowl is over by a week now, but I'll be doing exactly the same thing tonight this week as I was the last...that being not watching the Super Bowl.

"OMG," you shout, "you didn't watch the most popular sporting event ever, especially when such great teams as the Packers and Steelers were playing!" Yup, it's true...I did not watch.

The reasons why I did not watch "the" game are several and if I listed them here the result would be along the lines of, "You spent your time doing (insert my excuse) instead of watching the Super Bowl, how dumb is that?" So, I choose the easy way out and won't say exactly what I did for most of the game.

However, what I was doing was completed before the game ended, so I did watch the last several minutes and got to see the Steelers almost pull it out, but given I am a Packer fan I was happy they didn't. My wife watched the whole game in my absence, but our cats elected to join me doing what I was doing. I'll let you try and guess what it was I was doing; and yes, our cats enjoy that activity too.

I suppose my main point here is that the older one gets, the more one realizes that "games" are not as important as they once were. Still, I have to confess I am not yet completely "game free", because the morning after the Super Bowl (beginning at 0600) I spent well over an hour watching replays of the game on ESPN. Go figure.

The big day...or is it

Verizon iPhone Day, 2011. It goes on sale to the general public today, with hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of drooling customers waiting to get their hands on the device they have been desperately yearning for (from Verizon) since the popular phone was introduced a few years ago, exclusively on the ATT network. Once, I was one of those drooling fans...not so now.

Not that I'm against owning an iPhone, it's a great device and would make me very happy were I to own one. Problem is, I really don't need all the capabilities it has because I have a new Apple iPod Touch, which is essentially an iPhone without the phone part. I use my iPod every day...to listen to music while I'm out exercising or while working, to play games at night when I get bored with what's on TV, and when I don't want to get my laptop out to check email or to read the many blogs I follow daily, I grab my iPod and take care of business just fine, albeit on a small screen. So, were I to have an iPhone, my iPod sort of becomes an "extra" and I don't want to relegate it to the sidelines. Thus, no iPhone for me.

When my Verizon contract expires next month, I have decided to replace my current phone (it's making far too many butt calls and reseting itself lately). After thoroughly researching what's out there on Verizon for my next phone, I decided to spring for one of the new Blackberry models. Yeah, I know, Blackberry's are not the hot thing any more, but my granddaughter at Virginia Tech just got one and she loves it, as do many of her best friends. It was largely on her advice that I made this decision. Given that she will graduate this spring, I have to assume she knows what she's talking about.

So, there you go. My story for today...this big Verizon iPhone day.

Digital Distribution

If you are an Apple computer user and are using the latest version of its operating system (OSX10.6.6) then you are aware of the APP Store. For those of you who have no clue what I'm talking about, the APP Store is a built in program which allows you to purchase software online and download it digitally directly to your computer. Another way to do the same thing has traditionally been through the purchase of a boxed version of the program on a DVD. Many experts (and non-experts like me) believe boxed computer software is on borrowed time and will soon go the way of the music CD, or cassette tape...going or gone for good. Still, there will be challenges.

For example, downloading a large multi-gigabyte program such as Adobe Photoshop takes time, and many will not be comfortable doing that. Plus, there's the security of having something you can touch, and which you can place securely on a shelf for easy re-installation later if need be. But, like the demise of the computer floppy disk, users quickly get used to change. And "change" and computers is a month-by-month reality these days.

Selling your talents...when you get out

For those of you in the military planning to soon move on to a new career, beware of the fact you are going to have to begin "selling your talents" in ways never before imagined. I see it everyday, sitting here on my "perch" on the sidelines, observing time pass by locally and nation-wide (via the internet). In short, finding a job today is tough...real tough...in fact so tough it's going to make some people wonder why in the heck they left the relative security of the military in the first place...deployments and all.

Not only are you going to have to compete alongside your peers in the military who are also getting out, but there are thousands of others in civilian life, both older and younger than you are, also in the job hunt...and many may be more qualified than you. So, what to do?

Decide exactly what it is you want to do, and remember there are more important things than money when it comes to a job...especially liking what it is you're going to be doing...job satisfaction. Then, determine what unique talents you have, and put them down on paper in well chosen words. Forget all the military terminology...just say what you can do, and how can you do it better than others. Talk to those who have successfully navigated these waters before. Who, for example, might they know who could help you get the job you want. And, lastly, rather than continuing reading what I'm writing here, start searching the internet NOW for "how to get a job" and learn.

Racing Ahead...soon

It won't be much longer before those of you who are fans of NASCAR can start rooting again for your favorite driver. Daytona is just a few weeks away now. For me, I have a couple of months before the Martinsville Speedway stands (seen above below turn four) will be full again...or maybe not so full given the economy being what it is. Anyway, racing is ahead...soon.

A special treat for those who subscribe to Army Engineer magazine and like NASCAR will be a photo essay in the March-April 2011 issue titled, "The Many Faces of NASCAR". The Army sponsored car will be highlighted, as will many other photos giving you a visual feel of what it's like being a part of race weekend. Stay tuned.

Still taking two looks

Every time I see a photo of a senior military person testifying before some congressional committee, it takes me a couple of looks before I can determine if the person is in the Army or the Air Force. It's the new Army blue Class A uniform that's causing me this confusion.

I'm not THAT old, but for many in my generation seeing any color but "green" on a Class A uniform will never be an easy look. It's OK for me if a person is wearing blue and going to the Army Ball or something, but that color looks out of place to me otherwise. Go GREEN!

I suppose time will erase all this confusion for those like me, but in the interim I'll continue taking two looks at any person wearing a blue uniform before I determine if they fly a plane or drive a tank.

Then there's all this stuff going on about Army combat uniform camo patterns changing (again). Why can't the Army be more like the U.S. Marines and stick to something more traditional?