I'll bite

At the request of Backcountry Conservative:

Fûz, Pennsylvania Air National Guard, 1981 to 1999; Wyoming Air National Guard 1999 to 2001; US Air Force October 2001 to present. Non-commissioned officer, NBC Defense.

Quote for the day

Can the people who destroyed the Alien franchise be trusted with the [Alien versus Predator] concept?

In a word: no.

Pool of Thought

I'm tired from wearing MOPP gear for the last two days, I've been drinking, I'm on a 33k6 connection, and I'm tired, but this fact shines through: this guy is good.

Product review as it were

Uncle Sugar owed me a few $$$ since my last TDY and I've been lusting in my heart for a hard-drive based MP3 player for some time. It was fate---kismet . . . .

The iRiver IHP120 was available at a nearby Best Buy (Aurora at Mississippi and Abilene), and the good Geek behind the counter saw me salivating over the display model and discreetly told me of an open-box special. The previous owner had graciously charged it up for me and left me with a few audio files of him muttering "hudda budda" into the microphone for many seconds, and depreciated ten percent from their list price. Done deal.

Now that I've figured out how to get this device to shuffle-play among multiple albums, I can fall asleep to more than one artist. The device has both line-in and microphone inputs (microphone included) so I can import files or record in analog from all of the valuable vinyl albums I still have. I would have bought the iPod but the iRiver has encoding on-board and supports all audio formats I know of so far.

The drawbacks arise from the user interface. I have used only the Rio R30S before this so I am not the conclusive expert on MP3 player user interfaces, but maybe the clumsy user interface is the reason the previous owner turned this thing back in and I got the open-box discount.

So badly Palm needs to license their OS and interface to these devices.

Overall 3 out of five stars, 4-plus of 5 for value for the money, 1 of 5 for user interface, 4 of 5 for feature-to-weight ratio. It's scarcely more discommodating than the 64MB Rio.

For a ride on a C-130, you need noise-cancelling headphones. I'll be using the IHP120 as a USB hard drive too, loading it up with NIMA map files (CADRG, DTED, ArcView).

Warning: read the fscking manual on how to load it with music and navigate the drive. Before you plug it in, I mean.

somebody bought me 2 martinis

so I'll be somewhat stream-of-consciousness. It's definitely autumn in southern Wisconsin, I smell of tobacco, and, well, there were those Tanqueray martinis.

Am preparing a product review of the iRiver IHP120 MP3 player-aka-20GB USB hard drive. Meanwhile, a good friend of mine, with whom I've been out of contact, has been on my mind because his last contact with me was one of those questions about "what is in your CD player RIGHT NOW?" and the answer is, well, a bit of everything I've loaded into the new gizmodified MP3 player so far.

That would be Reverend Horton Heat's Space Heater, two NIN's, two Devo's, an Acoustic Alchemy, a Billy Idol, a Fountains of Wayne, and so forth.

The good friend was my Best Man at my wedding. Since then, his marriage has gone south and he's not sure what to do. Please send him love.

I'm embarking on a change, though one not as heavy with consequence as his. I'm saying goodbye to a Wing full of people I've served well and proudly for five years plus; he's losing a wife. No comparison.

So answer me these questions three:

• what music are you hearing now?
  
• choose the name of the best friend you have now, excepting people you've married or people of your own blood. What is that person's first name?
  
• who's the last person you've said "goodbye" to?
  
• is that "goodbye" for the better or for the worse?
  

Post 'em in the comments. It's a Friday night. Or a Saturday morning. Whatever.

OPSEC observed here

I've been observing OPSEC at WUTT! since before the beginning. I think I've adhered to the rules as set down here, and continue to do so, because I might yet go back downrange.

Tip of the K-pot to Lt Smash:

1. Don't violate OPSEC. Never name your unit, be vague about your location and mission, and don't use anyone's real name.

2. Be careful what you say about your seniors. Don't write anything about a superior in your blog that you wouldn't want that person to read back to you.

which would it be?

If you could instantly acquire skill in one but only one musical instrument,
which would it be?