The Arizona Rifleman

My birthday’s on Friday. I turn 28.

The years seem to fly by.

The brain is evidently really good at identifying things that it likes or dislikes when it’s presently sensing them.

However, my brain in particular seems to be really bad at recognizing things that it’s missing. I get a vague feeling of “Hmm, I miss something, but I can’t quite put my finger on it…”

After some thought, I think I’ve figured it out. I miss winter and the smell of pine trees. Living in the desert, I don’t really have many pine trees around, and I miss that.

Though a lot of people seem to think otherwise.

I’m referring, specifically, to the controversy over the construction of an Islamic community center in lower Manhattan, about three blocks from where the World Trade Centers once stood.

To be precise, I’m not really sure why it’s a controversy at all: the people involved bought the property (an abandoned Burlington Coat Factory store) and wish to construct a religious community center on the property. So long as they’re in compliance with zoning and whatnot, they should be able to construct whatever they please there. The fact that it’s to be used for religious purposes should have no bearing whatsoever on its construction — people have a First Amendment right to believe (or not) as they choose¹. What’s the big deal?

All the arguments I’ve heard against the Islamic community center would make perfect sense…if “Muslim” was synonymous with “terrorist”. Of course, this isn’t the case: there’s over a billion Muslims worldwide and the vast majority are ordinary, decent people. Those within the US (and, indeed, anywhere else in the world) should not have their religious freedoms trampled on because of baseless opposition. Yes, some Islamic extremists have done terrible things to the US, but that should have no bearing whatsoever on Muslims as a group, the particular individuals wishing to build this center, nor on the construction of religious buildings.

Do I think it’s unwise or ill-advised for the owners to want to construct their facility so near the former World Trade Center? Not at all; it’s a free country, it’s their property, they can build whatever they want there.

Don’t like it? Don’t go there. Problem solved.

1. Personally, I’m not religious in the slightest, and think that religion in general is somewhat silly. Even so, I respect people’s right to hold whatever beliefs they want, regardless of what I think of them. [↩]

I am now on day 2 of my attempt at dieting and cutting back on my caffeine intake.

To call me grumpy is an understatement.

A few of the blogs I read have mentioned this epic smackdown, in which an actual SF soldier smacks down a wannabe.

Why is it that all the wannabes always claim to be Special Forces, Rangers, Marine Recon, snipers, or some other “elite” subset of the military? They’re never humvee mechanics, radio repairmen, or the like.

Sure, I was in the military. I drove tanks. I needed a break from the hum-drum life of fixing computers and twiddling around in college without knowing what I wanted to do with life, and tanks seemed to be sufficiently different to interest me. I accomplished exactly zero acts of valor in my service, and managed to avoid any dishonorable deeds. I did my job, kept my head down, and stayed out of trouble. When my unit was training up to deploy to Iraq, a medical issue developed¹ that prevented me from deploying. The army and I agreed that, due to this medical issue, it wasn’t in our mutual best interests for me to stay in, and I was discharged².

After I got out, I went back to college, got my degree, got a job, got married, and am looking to go to grad school (after which I’ll probably end up in a lab for the rest of my life, which is just fine with me). Not terribly exciting, which is why I suppose most of these poseurs never claim to be a lowly PFC who drove tanks around for a few years.

1. Bones in my feet started making fun happy grinding sounds. [↩]
2. Honorably, for what it’s worth, though I don’t really think I did anything that justifies such a lofty adjective. [↩]

I’ve got mixed feelings on Wikileaks, particularly when it comes to ongoing military action.

On one hand, Wikileaks seeks to bring unethical behavior by governments and corporations to light. I respect and support this.

On the other hand, there’s some information that should not be published, such as information detailing or identifying sources, as it can put people at great risk. I think that such information should have been redacted to protect the innocent. In addition, there’s the ethical issue of the whistleblower breaking an oath to reveal classified information to the public. Where does one draw the line?

Hopefully he made the right choice, and innocent people are not harmed as a result. I can only hope that I never face such a dilemma.

I have no idea how I managed to seriously scuff up my wedding band, being made out of extremely hard tungsten carbide that is supposedly unscratchable, in a bit over a month of married life, but I have. Now, to see if the jeweler will replace it.

I promise I’ve not been trying to gnaw it off, honey.

In the span of the last two weeks, I have walked more than I have during any two week span of time in my life other than when I was in the army. All this while wearing a pair of Doc Martens or, when wearing shorts (and Docs would look odd), running shoes.

Even with such comfy shoes, my feet hurt.

As fantastic as this honeymoon has been, it’ll be nice to get back home.

As of yesterday, I’m now a married man. Things went off excellently, and I’m now married to who I consider to be the most wonderful woman in the world.

As previously mentioned, I’ll be a bit out of the loop for the next few weeks due to being on my honeymoon.

I’ll be blogging lightly, if at all, until mid-July — I’m getting married in 8 days, then traveling to Europe for my honeymoon.

Wish me luck!