Milblog Conference Wrap-Up

The Conference is over, and the party-crowd attendees have been dispersing all day. For those who didn't attend or watch the live feed, Princess Crabby's overview is here. I'll try to fill in the gaps a bit... Friday afternoon included a treat - a tour of the Pentagon courtesy of Army PAO Lindy Kyzer and her team. We stopped briefly at the America's Heroes Memorial at the Chapel, to honor the memory of the victims of the 9-11 attack at the Pentagon. The tour then concluded at the Conference Center, where the blog crowd (about 25 of us) met with several key players in social media related roles in the Military / DoD for over an hour. Great discussions!! Friday evening was the gathering phase, with the first panel of the Conference providing the attendees with a little perspective on Milblogging with the first panel discussion, titled "It's a Marathon, not Sprint". Several long-time milbloggers talked about their decisions to start blogging, and what the blog landscape was like in the early years of this decade. Members included Sgt. Mom, Baldilocks, Matt of Blackfive and Mitch 'Taco' Bell of Sandgram, with Grayhawk moderating. Saturday was a packed day, with a quick welcome from "T" McCreary of Military.Com, who led straight to a message from Gen. Patraeus, recorded just for the Milblog Conference! His brief message centered around social media being here to stay, and an important means of keeping troops connected with their families, while providing a way for stories from all levels of the military to be read by anyone with interest. The remaining panels covered divserse topics from military related charities and the use of social media, to a discussion of the View from the Top, which included no less than Admiral Harvey of US Fleet Forces blog. I can't begin to relate the varied topics covered across the panels. The good news is that the content should be available for viewing at YouServed, thanks to the hard work of Marcus Penn and Troy Steward, and others. The best part of this conference for me was the time I was able to spend talking with various Denizens and bloggers who I had met only briefly in the 2008 Vegas conference. This one was much more intense, but without the time pressures. We had quite a few Denizens present: Maggie, AFSister and Keith, FbL, Sgt. B, Homefront6, Bob, MaryAnn, AW1 Tim, and myself ... and we got to finally meet Boquisucio!! John and Beth were sorely missed, and not just by the Denizens crowd - many people were disappointed. I need time to digest, and I will just offer this advice: When the videos are posted, take the time to watch the wrap up and awards ceremony. 'Taco' accepted the Marine Milbloggie on behalf of America's 1st Sgt of Castra Praetoria, who is downrange. The delivery was in the fine style of a senior Marine NCO, and holding in my laughter made it hard for me to hold the video camera still properly. I do hope the video comes out well, but even if only the audio were to survive, you should not miss it! That's it, folks. If you weren't there, we missed you. If you were there, then leave a comment or trackback. I had a great time, and I am already looking forward to the next one! (cross-posted at Castle Argghhh!)

Milblog Adventures

This week the Milblog community will be holding the Fifth Annual Milblogging Conference, a gathering of the brightest and best of the Milblogging world. These fine folks even let a sometime-blogger like me join the crowd, so that's where I plan to be from April 9th through the 11th. There's just a few spots left to register for, if you're interested, so head on over. Even if you can't make it to the Conference, take the time to head over to Milblogging.Com and vote for your favorite blogs. This is the fourth year of Milbloggies, which cover all of the military related blogging categories. It's tight competition - check it out, and lodge your votes Now!. I've only been to one Conference in person, but it was a blast to meet many of my imaginary friends, and the panels are lively and enlightening. Here's a teaser: We've stacked the agenda with a substantive, engaging conference and we've filled all remaining holes with more social events than ever before. You can sit down with film director Jake Rademacher, place someone under arrest at the Jail N' Bail, witness a live acoustic performance by Saving Abel, mix and mingle at Friday night's cocktail reception and party till the wee hours at the Fifth Anniversary Awards Ceremony and Party on Saturday night. Grab a seat while you still can.... Hope to see some of you there!

Patriot Golf Day / Weekend is coming up!

Planning to golf this weekend? If so, then you can add a few extra dollars to those greens fees to help the Folds of Honor foundation provide scholarships for the children and spouses of fallen and wounded service members. Thanks to Veteran Dan Rooney, the Patriot Golf Day program was created to allow golfers to donate easily to the program. Dan's original vision was a single designated day, but the program has been expanded to cover the whole Labor Day weekend. It's simple to take part. Locate a participating golf course using the search tool, then make your tee-time. When you show up to play, add your desired donation to the golfing fees, and the course will take care of forwarding it to the Folds of Honor foundation. By the way - If your favorite course is not listed in the tool, then call the course and check with them directly. Some courses may not have opted to be listed on the search site, or may not have been added to the list. The Hubster and I plan to hit two different courses. I know, it's a tough job ... but somebody has to do it!

Double Tagged

Both 1SG Keith and BillT decided to maim meme me. I think they conspired against me, trying to drag me back into my own blog. We'll see about that! So the rulez are thus... 1. Link to the person that tagged you 2. Post the rules on your blog 3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself 4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs 5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website. 6. Let your tagger know when your entry is up. My six things... 1. As discussed at the Castle, I don't have any kind of cuckoo clock, or anything with chimes, bells, etc. in my house. I can't stand noisy clocks or other noise disturbing my sleep! 2. Like Keith, I hang all of my shirts, sweaters, etc. so that they face in the same direction. Being right handed, I want to grab the hanger and see the front of the item, not the back. 3. At meals I like to take a bit of each item on my plate in each bite - something about balance and symmetry. Unless there's something I really want to cherish, then I save it for last :-) 4. When I travel, I always want to pack my suitcase the night before I am to check out and return home. Doesn't matter how late it is. 5. I love mixing cold cereal together, and keep anywhere from 3 to 8 boxes of cereal open between my own choices and the Hubster's. 6. I love Starbucks, and it's definitely for the coffee. I even buy espresso packs so I can make my favorite mochas when we're at home. Which is funny, since I didn't learn to drink the stuff until I was 25. Before that I drank Mountain Dew in the morning for caffeine. And the six random bloggers I am tagging are ... Sarah Jill Army Sean ArmyWifeToddlerMom Aaron Huntress

Milblog Party - Success

Thanks to Matt of Blackfive, and the wonderful folks at the Penthouse club, the milbloggers party was great fun. I had lots of fun meeting old friends for the first time, and putting faces and 'real names' together with blog / commenter names. The club provided a room just for our crowd, complete with dancing poles (more on that later) and an open bar staffed by comely young ladies. Matt started the night off properly, with a toast to Absent Companions, then encouraged us all to enjoy the party, which order was taken to heart. Bad Cat Robot and I greeted our fellow Denizens - John, SWWBO, AFSister, Maggie, FbL - and tracking down Homefront Six to introduce ourselves for the first time. Then it was off around the room to visit with new/old friends. One of the people I made sure to track down was blog-brother That 1 Guy. After nearly 4 years of blogging, it was nice to put a face to the guy! Along with the people who have kept me informed and amused over the years, like Matt, Froggy, Laughing Wolf and Uncle Jimbo of Blackfive, Greyhawk (but still waiting to meet Mrs. G), NZ Bear of TTLB, ChuckZ, American Soldier, Sean Dustman of Doc In The Box, and Andi of SpouseBuzz - and many more. I obviously have to do some work on the "Bloggers I have met" section of the sidebar! Of course, as HF6 says, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. But she is keeping track of the evidence. I won't say what happens next after that little series of pictures, but let's just say that there will be blackmail Fund-raising opportunities to come. Stay tuned!

A little humor

Got this in email today. There's something here to irritate pretty much everybody. Enjoy... WHY DID THE CHICKEN CROSS THE ROAD?? BARACK OBAMA: The chicken crossed the road because it was time for a CHANGE! The chicken wanted CHANGE! JOHN MC CAIN: My friends, that chicken crossed the road because he recognized the need to engage in cooperation and dialogue with all the chickens on the other side of the road. HILLARY CLINTON: When I was First Lady, I personally helped that little chicken to cross the road. This experience makes me uniquely qualified to ensure -- right from Day One! -- that every chicken in this country gets the chance it deserves to cross the road. But then, this really isn't about me....... DR. PHIL: The problem we have here is that this chicken won't realize that he must first deal with the problem on 'THIS' side of the road before it goes after the problem on the 'OTHER SIDE' of the road. What we need to do is help him realize how stupid he's acting by not taking on h is 'CURRENT' problems before adding 'NEW' problems. OPRAH: Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I'm going to give this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens. GEORGE W. BUSH: We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here. COLIN POWELL: Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road... ANDERSON COOPER - CNN: We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed to have access to the other side of the road. JOHN KERRY: Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the chicken's intentions. I am not for it now, and will remain against it. NANCY GRACE: That chicken crossed the road because he's GUILTY! You can see it in his eyes and the way he walks. PAT BUCHANAN: To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American. MARTHA STEWART: No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was going. I had a standing order at the Farmer's Market to sell my eggs when the price dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider information. DR SEUSS: Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I've not been told. ERNEST HEMINGWAY: To die in the rain. Alone. JERRY FALWELL: Because the chicken was gay! Can't you people see the plain truth?' That's why they ca ll it the 'other side.' Yes, my friends, that chicken is gay. And if you eat that chicken, you will become gay too. I say we boycott all chickens until we sort out this abomination that the liberal media white washes with seemingly harmless phrases like 'the other side. That chicken should not be crossing the road. It's as plain and as simple as that. GRANDPA: In my day we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough. BARBARA WALTERS: Isn't that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heart warming story of how it experienced a serious case of molting, and went on to accomplish its life long dream of crossing the road. ARISTOTLE: It is the nature of chickens to cross the road. JOHN LENNON: Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together, in peace. BILL GATES: I have just released eChicken2007, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your check book. Internet Explorer is an integral part of the Chicken. This new platform is much more stable and will never cra...#@&&^(C% .... reboot. ALBERT EINSTEIN: Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken? BILL CLINTON: I did not cross the road with THAT chicken. What is your definition of chicken? AL GORE: I invented the chicken! COLONEL SANDERS: Did I miss one? DICK CHENEY: Where's my gun? AL SHARPTON: Why are all the chickens white? We need some black chickens.

Belated Birthday fun

A belated Washington chapter meeting of Denizennes was held at the local shootin' range Tuesday night. Bad Cat Robot provided a customized birthday gift, so that I could practice shooting at dangerous predators! Sadly, not all my shots were kill shots, but I think it's safe to say that This predator won't be hurting anyone soon ... heh!

Merry Christmas!

Wherever you are, be safe and take care of each other. My thoughts today are especially with the ones in harm's way or preparing to head there - Allie, Sgt B, Jason, Sgt Hook, Sean and many others. Make sure to catch John's Christmas round the world, and read Bill's reminder of why good people don uniforms and go where they go. And Thank Goodness that they do! Merry Christmas, All!!

Travel memories

I was catching up on the travel adventures of Kim and Connie du Toit, and found myself laughing out loud at the challenge of finding the way to their hotel in Vienna. ...But once in the city itself? Oy. The famous “Ringstrasse” is in fact a one-way (clockwise), and just because you can turn right easily into the Innestadt (inner city)—when it’s not a one-way out, that is—doesn’t mean you can get anywhere, because your street is likely to dead-end into a pedestrian walkway, or you’ll be forced into a T-junction with only a left- or right-hand turn (but never both). Getting lost, in an area half the size of Central Park, is easily done. After an hour of frustration, we finally gave up, found a parking place (also no small feat), and walked the last four blocks to the hotel. When we showed the receptionist a map of where we’d parked, and asked her to help us get our car to the hotel, she replied (and this is the quote of the trip so far): “I know exactly where your car is; I just don’t know how you got it there.” Pause. ”Or how to get it out.” ... I could completely sympathize, as it was awfully similar to my own experience a few years ago. When I wrote about the long day's drive from Venice, Italy to Zurich, Switzerland (by way of Schloss Neuschwanstein), there were some missing details. My brief description then : Unfortunately, we had to wait 90 minutes until the next available tour. It was definitely worth it - but it made for a LONG day, as we didn't get into Zurich until about 9, and then couldn't find our hotel! The REST of the story, as they say, is much funnier. You see, I had a laptop with me for that vacation, on which I installed 'Auto Route'. That's the European version of Streets and Trips, and with it I had mapped all of our inter-city driving routes, from Geneva to Lausanne to Florence, then on to Venice, and the big final day of driving from Venice to Zurich. We were staying one last night there, as our international flight home was early the next morning. That mammoth drive was actually a lot of fun. At one point, in the southern Germany countryside, we were weaving our way through small villages in an attempt to catch a highway and make speed into Zurich. My head would bob up to catch a marker or mile post, and then I'd try to correlate to the map on the screen, and warn of turns and roads to watch for. At one point I told the Hubster that we would pass through a village and then turn. As we pulled into the village, he said "Are you sure? Because the whole line of cars behind us ... turned left half a mile back." Huh. Sure enough - technology hadn't quite caught up to the roads, and the locals had taken a turn I didn't even show on the map. So we wheeled around, caught up with the gang, and found the highway. Until it ended 10 miles later. Oh, well. But the topper of the evening was arriving (at 9pm, well after dark in September) in Zurich. The roads didn't look quite like the turns that the computer told me would lead to the hotel, which I had found in the resident database of the program. As we turned off the route a few blocks too early, and tried in vain to re-sync ourselves with the map, the conversation went something like this... Me: What's the cross street? Hubster: Most of these streets don't seen to have signs! Me: Well, here's a major street - is there a sign? Hubster: It says 'B-something-Strasse'. Me: Oh, Hell! They're ALL 'B-something-Strasse'!!! And so on. For an hour. We drove around getting more lost, and the only saving grace was (A) there is a river, which kind of sets some nice boundaries, and (B) we found the train station. Finally, we struggled up some streets which didn't really look promising, to the address that we had been seeking. Except we were in the wrong place. Because that database of hotels? Was out of date - and the place we found wasn't the place we wanted. *sigh* But the good news is that the nice people there knew how to find the right place. It was 5 minutes away, and we finally found it. It was 10pm at this point, and we were starving, having been driving like maniacs for nearly 5 hours. Bless the management - the restaurant was still open! Wheeee! I don't think the Hubster will ever let me live down my little episode with the laptop map. By the way - we're headed to Vienna next spring. I'll be reading the rest of the adventures of Connie and Kim very closely !! But I'll still be taking a laptop, with maps on it ... I'm not curable.

What paper do You read?

I was exploring the Ejectia blogroll today (so many new blogs, so little time), and found myself visiting Ready, Fire, Aim, Apologize. This Guide to US Newspapers is probably old news, but it's the first I've seen it, and I had to share ... 1. The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country. 2. The New York Times is read by people who think they run the country. 3. The Washington Post is read by people who think they should run the country. 4. USA Today is read by people who think they ought to run the country but don’t really understand the Washington Post. They do, however like the smog statistics shown in pie charts. 5. The Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn’t mind running the country, if they could spare the time, and if they didn’t have to leave L.A. to do it. 6. The Boston Globe is read by people whose parents used to run the country. 7. The New York Daily News is read by people who aren’t too sure who’s running the country, and don’t really care as long as they can get a seat on the train. 8. The New York Post is read by people who don’t care who’s running the country either, as long as they do something really scandalous, preferably while intoxicated. 9. The San Francisco Chronicle is read by people who aren’t sure there is a country, or that anyone is running it; but whoever it is, they oppose all that they stand for. There are occasional exceptions if the leaders are handicapped minority, feministic atheist dwarfs, who also happen to be illegal aliens from ANY country or galaxy as long as they are democrats. 10. The Miami Herald is read by people who are running another country, but need the baseball scores.

The wisdom of children

How true ... Cheerfully borrowed from Wayne, who has a whole collection of these.

We have a winnah

Early this morning a visitor arrived here out of the blue (no referrer), apparently decided they were in the wrong place, and zoomed off to places unknown. That was my 50,000th visitor. The only thing I can tell is that they are located in Billings, MT ... and whoever it is likes to get up much earlier in the morning than I do! {Hugs} to you, anonymous visitor! So Amy of Gentle Whisper, and John of Castle Argghhh! ... you got close, but no ceegar. Over the two-plus years that I've been exploring the blogosphere and feeding the blog monster (sometimes on a starvation diet), I've met some great folks. We've talked about ideas large and small, cheered on our troops and honored their sacrifices, ranted against the inequities of the world, played meme games, and raised virtual glasses in joy, and to honor those who are no longer with us. This occurs largely in the virtual sense, being spread out around the world as we are. Sometimes the virtual spreads into the physical world, and real margaritas can replace virtual ones - and life is even better. Not that virtual friends are less than real, as has been discussed before in this space. ... friends are friends - whether we met first through the internet or in person matters not. Secondly, I think that not only can we form true friendships without meeting one another, it may lead a purer form of friendship. We didn't form these friendships because we happened to work together, live next to one another, etc. We formed them because we shared ideas with each other, and came back for more. As long as we have been honest, then the bonds between us are not based on age or physical parameters, or on other accidents of location. Instead the bonds are based on how we think - and that is a better, stronger bond to me. Getting to meet any of you face to face will just be the icing on the cake! I'm glad you came by, drop a comment in the box if you're so inclined. Come back anytime ... And when you get to the Pacific Northwest (Hi Chuck!), leave a comment so the virtual and real worlds can intersect.

50,000!

Wow - sometime Saturday night or Sunday my sitemeter will tick over 50,000 visits, recorded over two and a half years. It's been a ton of fun! Sorry ... no prizes for pushing the counter past the milestone. You'll get a mention here, though, as will the blog that you came from. And a big virtual {Hug} from me for helping the meter to tick over!

Denizenne Micro-meet

Fellow Denizenne AFSister had to leave the heartland this week, and travel to the awful Pacific Northwest, where all week people have tried to feed her fish parts. *gasp* The Good News it that Bad Cat Robot and I got to meet up with her for dinner last night. As she was in Portland, we scoped out a place about halfway from here to there, and met up near Centralia ... a well named burg. 'Ritas were had by all, and much grinning and giggling ensued as we three caught up on events such as the Milblog conference and such. As always, these quick meetings are over much too quickly, but at least I got to add another Denizenne to my 'Bloggers I've met' sidebar! Of course, the Commander of Argghhh is demanding the photo evidence (see the comments) of this meeting, but he'll just have to wait until AFSis posts the pics. Yep, I forgot my camera. D'oh!

Micro blogmeet

I was very lucky to catch up with soldier and sometime blogger Dogtulosba a couple of weeks ago. He and his wife J were catching up with both of their families, now that he is returned from spending a year in Afghanistan. So the three of us met up at a local eatery, and chowed down on some great Thai food while we caught up on events. They are good people, and it was a blast to spend time with them. I even sweet talked J into taking a picture of me with D, just to prove it really happened. Before he left the sandbox, though, his commander made sure that he came home in style. Sporting new bars, that is...

Fun in Cabo

We're doing the usual stuff ... playing golf, laying by the pool, getting sunburned. And going fishing ... for Really Big Fish. Or at least, bigger than anything I've ever caught before! (hi-res here) Objective time to haul in the 101" long marlin ... maybe 25 minutes. Subjective time - about 2 hours. Yowza! Yes - that one is mine. The Hubster hauled one in as well. Except for being a bit green around the gills at times, a very productive morning.

Playing in the Sun

I'm not here -- gone beachin' for a while. See you when I get back. In the meantime, visit Castle Argghhh!, or any of the other fine blogs listed in my sidebar.

You Might Be From the Pacific Northwest If...

How many can You check off? 1. You know the state flower (Mildew) 2. You feel guilty throwing aluminum cans or paper in the trash. 3. Use the statement "sun break" and know what it means. 4. You know more than 10 ways to order coffee. 5. You know more people who own boats than air conditioners. 6. You feel overdressed wearing a suit to a nice restaurant. 7. You stand on a deserted corner in the rain waiting for the "Walk" Signal. 8. You consider that if it has no snow or has not recently erupted, is not a real mountain. 9. You can taste the difference between Starbucks, Seattle's Best, and Veneto's. 10. You know the difference between Chinook, Coho, and Sockeye Salmon. 11. You know how to pronounce Sequim, Puyallup, Issaquah, Oregon, Yakima, and Willamette. 12. You consider swimming an indoor sport. 13. You can tell the difference between Japanese, Chinese and Thai food. 14. In winter, you go to work in the dark and come home in the dark-while only working eight-hour days. 15. You never go camping without waterproof matches and a poncho. ... or golfing without rainpants and jacket. 16. You are not fazed by "Today's forecast: showers followed by rain," and "Tomorrow's forecast: rain followed by showers." 17. You have no concept of humidity without precipitation. 18. You know that Boring is a town in Oregon and not just a state of mind. 19. You can point to at least two volcanoes, even if you cannot see through the cloud cover. 20. You notice, "The mountain is out" when it is a pretty day and you can actually see it. 21. You put on your shorts when the temperature gets above 50, but still wear your hiking boots and parka. 22. You switch to your sandals when it gets about 60, but keep the socks on. 23. You have actually used your mountain bike on a mountain. 24. You think people who use umbrellas are either wimps or tourists. 25. You buy new sunglasses every year, because you cannot find the old ones after such a long time. 26. You measure distance in hours. 27. You often switch from "heat" to "a/c" in the same day. 28. You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit under a raincoat. 29. You know all the important seasons: Almost Winter, Winter, Still Raining (Spring), Road Construction (Summer), Deer & Elk Season (Fall). 30. You actually understood these jokes and will probably forward them. 31. Your kids ask to play in the sprinkler when the temp gets up to 65. Heh ... My count is 23!

Geek fun

Pardon the technical moment, but I felt this wonderfully useful error message just had to be shared. Beta testing is SO much fun! This makes me want to sing the Song of the Software Engineer.

Defend your Castle

Instead of reading serious stuff, I got sucked in to BowMaster Prelude, and am happy to report that I was victorious in defending the Castle. All good Denizens should take up arms against the invaders! H/T to Graumagus, who had his own blog renovation not so long ago.