Patriot Day

Underneath that mask, well, there might be a mustache.  Probably not, though.

Happy Patriot Day!  That is the Iron Patriot, which, depending on how comic otaku you are, you may realize that IP could be different people, but not necessarily a patriot.  Anyway, red white and blue.  The following are Marvel characters with mustaches who one might consider patriots: Dum Dum Dugan (WWII vet), Corsair (NASA pilot) and Sgt Slaughter.

More geeking out: walking back from the DFAC tonight I overheard the words "Windows 7" and "solid state harddrive."  I turned around and then had a five minute conversation with the kid in question, using such suggestions as disk image, Norton Ghost, IDE cable, SATA connection, BIOS, Linux iso, Windows 8, terabyte, Western Digital gigabyte and Jefferson Airplane.  That was the most fun I've had since the great motherboard burnout of 2005.

Shift tonight was a little bit longer, but we get to do some new things (create new email templates!) so we stay busy.  I might get a night off before my apprentice goes TDY (to the Dagobah system for training).  Which reminds me:

That's right; I went there.

 
No pics of my tray of food tonight.  Suffice it to say I had four steaks, five eggs, mushrooms, onions, mustard greens, lots of butter, sausage, coffee, tea and some dried fruit...and some acetaminophen due to my twisted neck muscles.  Either twisted it sleeping or deadlifting last night.  Ah, painkillers: thank you for blocking my eicosanoid receptors.

Vito Andolini

"Do you need any olive oil?"

It's been over ten years since I've seen "Godfather Part II", but after reading the recap on Wikipedia I remember enjoying it much more than the 3rd installment and just a normal bit more than the original.  I also see parallels to "The Empire Strikes Back."  Both movies are darker than the original, Han in carbonite/Fredo dead in the lake...actually, the comparison fits better if Michael Corleone is compared to the Emperor.  Michael's career at the top of the Corleone family is encountering many snags (Congressional inquiries, Jewish mobsters in Cuba, traitorous brothers) and the Emperor of the Galactic republic is wondering if he can build a space station (that's not moon...) without a simple weakness, turn the son of his right hand (hand, hah!) to the dark side and work with gangsters to capture the key figures of the rebellion.  The flashbacks to post-WWI New York City are more reminiscent of  "A New Hope" or maybe even "A Phantom Menace" with the build-up of Vito Corleone's career similar to Obi Wan Kenobi's Jedi training.

Slight segue via the import-export business...tonight I feasted on Cento sardines, made in Morocco but imported from New Jersey.  I've probably eaten a dozen cans of sardines since I've been here, which isn't really that many for me.  The flavors ranged from soaked in water (ick) to jalapenos crammed in the can. If you haven't eaten sardines or are simply apprehensive about eating fish (or things out of a can), Cento in olive oil are for you.  They are not fishy and taste like meat with oil.

John Kerry is Sam the Eagle and I'm not the only one who thinks so.

Basically tonight's repast was the same as last night's.

2 eggs, 2 burgers and 2 sausages.

Today was my mom's birthday.  I didn't get her anything yet, but will have the opportunity to find her something uniquely Middle Eastern in two weeks when the souq comes to the base gym.  She's never used a hookah, but she probably doesn't even realize how fashionable they are in Pennsylvania.

Here's me squatting 315 five times the other night.

And here I am deadlifting 385 four times.

That's all for now.

In like Flynn

Is that an ascot around your neck or are you just happy to see me?

The swashbuckler: it's like John Waters but not creepy.  I originally thought Flynn played The Scarlet Pimpernel, but he was just Robing Hood.  Married three times and his grandson is on Disney.  Not sure if that is a win or not.  Anyway, if he isn't the epitome of classic, womanizing Hollywood mustachery, then well...Clark Gable is, but I already talked about him.

More importantly, Bob Anderson trained him while he was prepping for Robin Hood!  Bob Anderson was an English fencer who died a year and a half ago (I wish I could say in a legendary fight against a Balrog) and he trained the sword fighters on movies such as Highlander, The Princess Bride, The Mask of Zorro, The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars IV, V & VI, The Three Musketeers, First Knight, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Legend of Zorro and Alatriste (supposedly one of the few films that shows sword fighting realistically).  No, Bob Anderson didn't have a mustache, but he is the true fighter behind these classic sword fighting movies.

Today I received two comments that were essentially of this script: "Nice mustache.  How long have you been here.  Yeah, that seems like a two month old mustache."  The first was from another Capt who works near me.  She told me she's been here one week and has no plans to grow a mustache.  The second was from a guy at the gym who wanted to share the squat rack.  He was front squatting what I was overhead pressing.  Let's assume that means I am much stronger than he is.  Segue to...

Workout
Squat: 5x5x275
Overhead press: 5-160, 5-150, 5-150, 4-150, 4-150 (first set I miscalcuplated the first set)
Deadlift: 5-355

During my delicious, buttery meal below, I mentioned it will be a strange shift in things when I get home and have to make my own five eggs over medium and five sausages.  I wonder if the guys who cook the meals here would want to come to the east coast with me?  I've seen one guy named Vishnu...not sure how that would fly since Messiah ain't allowed.

Let's hope Pukka tea prevents me a-pukkin.

According to fitday, I've already eaten over 2,000 calories (mostly from coconut) in the last six hours.  Yummy

Nuts

If you have sardines and Star Wars, today is a good day.

Today was an excellent day for receiving mail!  My aunt sent me a letter (which contains such juicy tidbits like, "Here's a list of homemade food you can't eat."), Amazon delivered the BCAAs and CJ's butter I ordered and my unit sent me a big care package.  At first I thought, "They sent me printer paper.  We already have that here."  Then I said, "No, no Mr. Sarcasm, it's just a box the paper came in."  The picture above summarizes what I was sent nicely: sardines, nuts and Star Wars.  They also sent pretzels, Fig Newtons, beef jerky and a chocolate Cliff Bar, but my backpack was stuffed with the above.  Anyway, thanks to anyone who already sent me a package or letter and more specifically, if you are my aunt, work at Amazon (but only if you actually touched the things I ordered) and if you contributed to my care package above.

Through some investing blog reading, I found this guy.  I have not yet seen him trying to sell anything from his blog, so don't think he's a huckster, hustler or charlatan.  His message is clear: you don't have to spend all your money on things that fill up a garage.  If you can, use a bike rather than a car; if you buy a car, buy it smartly.  And grow a mustache.  I don't agree with all of the advice he gives, but I like his idea of a Costco membership and using the library a lot instead of buying books.  Certainly over here it's easy to use the library (surprisingly good selection out here.  I feel like I said that in another post...worth repeating.), both for borrowing and donating.

Rest day today, so tomorrow it will be squats-overhead press-deadlift.

Dinner involved a pile of meat, some butter and brussel sprouts.

The olives look like eyeballs.

Tomorrow I'll get to see my neighbor who is TDY out here.  Good night!