Buffalo Meat

Our Squadron Commander is home on leave and we took advantage by throwing a Husker watch party in his office last Friday for the big NU - CU showdown. Too bad the Buffs aren't that good this year and the game wasn't very close, but it was a good time none the less. We subsituted our normal hamburger grill-out routine with pizza this time around. Things just aren't the same when our grillmaster, SSG Johnson, is not around. Anyways, here are a few pictures. Enjoy.

I was hesitant to post this photo, because it doesn't paint a very good picture with regards to how crappy it is over here. Plasma screens, plush couches, pizza hut pizza, beer - sheesh, football parties back in Nebraska aren't usually this good. Don't worry folks - this is the exception, and not the rule.
SGT Kane, SGT Hunt and myself ran down to Pizza Hut and picked up four large pies, to go. CSM Hall chipped in and bought beer, and bam - we had ourselves a party.
I can't even describe how weird it was to sit on a couch to watch a game. I'm telling you, it's the little things you miss when you're in Iraq.

Note: Nicki, I know you'll be upset that my gorgeous face is no where to be found in these pictures. Sorry, but I figured I would give the other guys a time to shine. Better luck next time.

Thanksgiving

For thanksgiving today, a few of my co-workers have set a precedent of putting out a "what I'm thankful for" post on their blogs. Of course, it would be rude of me to not follow suite and please my fans with a similarly themed post. However, I think it would also please my fans to see me put my own personal sarcasm spin on it. Because if you can't have fun with things (sappy thanksgiving posts are given no special favors) then shame on you.

What the Hammer is thankful for:

• To God, who makes this all possible for me. Thank you for keeping me safe and out of harms way in the most dangerous place on earth. I am grateful.
• I appreciate our chow hall, for going all out with an awesome Thanksgiving day meal. I felt like I was back at the farm chowing down ... until I scooped up some mashed potatoes off of my plastic plate with my plastic spoon. Kudos also for feeding me a steady diet of corn dogs during the week. Delicious.
• I'm thankful for Huskers Illustrated and their ability to keep me up to speed with all of the latest and greatest in Husker news. To be honest, I'm probably more knowledgable about Husker football this season than in any season I can remember.
• TV shows on DVD. I'm not sure who came up with the idea of putting TV shows on DVD, but whoever he/she is - you're my hero. The Wire, the Office, Sopranos, etc. You have kept me entertained and entranced during my time in Iraq.
• Sports. I could write a whole post about my unhealthy/passionate allegiance to grown men playing games, but the important thing is that between college football, NFL, MLB, college basketball, golf, etc. - I am never short of articles to read, games to watch and topics to debate in the office. The deployment would be crawling by without your assistance.
• Twizzlers and Salted Nut Rolls. My mid afternoon snack just wouldn't be the same without the help of these two wonderful snacks. Gracias.
• An awesome job. I sit at a desk in a hard building with a/c. The only injuries I have to watch out for are paper cuts. Things could be much, much worse.
• My 5th gen 30 gig iPod. Music is my life blood, and the iPod has blown my mind with it's ability to meet my every musical need. I commend you Apple. Now, if you're iPod phone is as cool as it sounds, I will really, really owe you big
• Last but not definatley not least I'm most thankful for Nicki, my rock of a girlfriend. She has to deal with my phone calls at all hours of the day and is forced to put up with an Army boyfriend who (once this deployment is over with) will have spent more of our relationship away from home in the Army than he has at home with her. Thanks for putting up with it all Nichile - you're the best.

Well, that's all I have off the top of my head right now. Hopefully everyone is able to spend the holiday with loved ones and if you're traveling to do so, stay safe on the busy roads. From the sound of it NE will be blessed with unusually warm weather and no snow, so go outside and toss a football or something and enjoy that weather. I've added some photos from today's thanksgiving blowout at the dining facility below. Enjoy.

Props to Benes for taking this photo at our Thanksgiving meal today. The look I'm giving is the universal "oh crap, Beans is taking my picture" face. Nice.

Pretty much the same photo as the one above, except not as dark so you can see more of the chow hall. It's not usually decorated like this with the fancy ice sclupture centerpieces and everything - they really pulled out all of the stops for us. This time around I'm rocking the "geez Beans, another picture?" face. Smooth.

me = internet celebrity

Stop what you're doing and click here right away for a pulitzer-prize worthy Q&A session. Jason Siffring and the boys over at Big Red Network have made internet celebrites of yours truly and my co-worker and workout accomplice, SGT Kane. Kane gives you all of the dirty details of how this article went down, so head over here for his take. Now that I'm famous and all I think the Army should send me home right away so I can begin a high-dollar publicty tour and start taking offers from publishers for a book deal. After that we can pursue my dream of becoming a graduate assistant on Billy C Coach Callahan's staff.

Video game craziness

While some of my peers in the soldier-in-Iraq-with-a-blog business cover hard-hitting news stories like the shift of power on Capital Hill, I tend to favor less publicized yet just as worthy subjects. Today's post is a perfect example.

Video games are something that everyone in almost any walk of life is familiar with. The younger generation has grown up with Nintendo, Sega and Sony PlayStation. The older generation had Atari and other ancient forms of pixelated pleasure. Even the oldest of folks have had their lives touched by video games - maybe by walking the aisles at your local Best Buy trying to pick up that hot new title your grandchildren have on their Christmas wish list. Well, with another holiday season upon us, video games are once again a hot commodity. This holiday season is seeing an unusually high amount of video game lust, thanks to the launch of two new gaming systems - the Sony PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Wii. I've seen a few articles on the national scene covering the legions of dedicated fans of both systems literally camping out in front of their local electronics retailers in hopes of getting their pasty white hands on these hot new gaming systems. The Nintendo system is looking to have larger launch numbers of their system (meaning more Wiis will be produced and available for purchase) thus making them desirable, but not quite as frighteningly desirable as the PlayStation 3. Camping out in front of the local Best Buy or Wal-Mart for a new gaming system is nothing new. However, I think the dedication, shortage of PS3's available (which has sometimes led to violence) and passion displayed by some fans is unprecedented. A man in Connecticut was actually shot while waiting in line for his own PS3. I read this article today in the Lincoln Journal-Star about local Lincolnites who are camping out at Best Buy for the new system, and couldn't help but chuckle after reading this paragraph.

Back a few tents, 43-year-old Chris Wear was crossing fingers. He had not realized until 10:30 Wednesday night that people were already camped outside of Best Buy.“I was like, ‘Oh crap,’” he said. “I threw everything in the vehicle and ran out the house.”He arrived 36th in line. The rumor was that Best Buy had only 34 systems to sell, but that six more might be arriving Thursday night.

Wow. In most cases you would hope that a 43-year-old man would be doing other, more important things than camping out in front of the local electronics store for a gaming system - say maybe working for a living to support his family, or something like that. I would like to think that he is showing this dedication in order to suprise his children with an unexpected Christmas score, but I get the impression this is more likely the sad story of a man with nothing more exciting in his life than the launch of a new PlayStation. My only hope is that 20 years from now you all won't be reading my name in the Journal-Star as some crazed fan waitin for the latest and greatest technology.

Note: I don't know the aformentioned Chris Wear, so Chris if you read this understand I'm not trying to poke fun or question your priorities. I'm just trying to make a point and write a compelling story.

Return to sender...

Way, way back on the 1st of June, I decided to send my lovely girlfriend Nicki a little present. She was a fan of the Desperate Housewives TV show, and so being the generous boyfriend I am I purchased the first two seasons of the show on DVD from the Iraqi bazaar. I then rolled on down to our local post office to send off my gift. Again, this was on 1 June, 2006. Well, I waited and waited and waited, but Nicki never reported receiving the package. I came home on leave in July, and the package still hadn't come. August went by, September past by - still no package. Well, at this point I felt comfortable making the assumption that Nicki would never see that Desperate Housewives boxed set. Of course she was distraught and crying in sadness, but we both found a way to move on and put the tragedy of the whole deal behind us. I've since sent other items through the mail, but have made sure to pay for a couple hundred dollars worth of insurance, for the added peace of mind and to hopefully avoid another Desperate Housewives type debacle. Well fast-forward to today - 15 November, 2006. A full five and a half months since I sent the ill-fated DVD boxed set Nicki's way. What do you suppose I received in today's mail?
Here she is - the package that probably has more miles on it than a 1992 Honda Civic. 5 and a half months! Craziness.

Apparently, there was a mix up with where exactly Nicki was living. This is kind of understandable, since she was in the process of moving from one apartment to another during this time period. That was back in August however ... where has this thing been sitting during September, October and November?

I still can't believe this package made it's way back to Iraq. I assumed it was long, long gone. Well, now I will re-label it, roll on down to the local post office and send this package of goodness off on it's way once again.

Purify celebration

One of my favorite pictures of the year. Always nice to see players (especially out of state players like Maurice here, who have only been in the program a short time) show emotion. Just thought I'd share it with you. 10 days until we stomp CU...

Kansas City here we come!

Unbelievable. Just when I thought all was lost, that another once-promising Husker season was about to completely fall apart, that we were going to let yet another game we dominated early get away from us and slip through our grasp ... we delivered one of the most thrilling endings to Husker game in recent memory, and quite possibly in the history of the program. I can't even describe in words how much it thrilled me to see our team, at it's lowest of low points, with the odds against them and their backs to the wall, come together on the road in a hostile environment and put together a stunning drive for the ages. The image that is burned into my memory is a shot the ABC cameras showed late in the game of our bench, all on their feet, arms interlocked, just hoping, praying that our offense could regain their 1st half form and put together one last drive to steal a victory on the road that would punch our ticket to the Big 12 championship game and deliver a North division crown. To see our team come together like that when it mattered most was a thing of beauty. I think it's fair to say that our team (Billy C especially) would have come under heavy fire back in Nebraska if we let yet another early lead dissolve. Congratulations to: Barry Turner, for making the comeback possible with a huge field goal block; to Todd Pederson (who only had 10 catches on the season coming into this game - he had 7 against the Aggies) who was doing his best Jerry Rice impression on the final drive, making big catch after big catch; to Zac Taylor, who stayed cool and calm in the pocket and seemed to make all the right reads when it mattered most; and last but definitely not least - Maurice Purify. All I can really say is that Purify is a weapon that this Husker team has desperately needed, and he adds a dimension in the red zone that our offense hasn't had in years. Let's hope our team can keep this momentum going and finish off this season on a high note.

Movie time

Time for another movie review post as I sit here at my desk preparing for the Husker - Aggie showdown. Go Big Red.

• Stranger Than Fiction This was a perfect example of a movie that I knew absolutely nothing about until the title popped up on the calendar of movies being shown in November. My usual routine is pulling up unknown movies on imdb and doing a little research on the cast, director, etc. So when I pulled up Stranger Than Fiction and saw that Will Ferrell was the star, I was very intrigued. When I walked into the theater last night (on the same night the movie debuted in the states, I believe, which is pretty sweet) I still knew next to nothing about the film, save for the Ferrell starring role. In the movie, Ferrell's character leads a boring, non-descript life until he suddenly hears a voice in his head of a woman, who is narrating his life as he lives it. I won't go into two many details about the plot, except to say that it is definitely not your normal sophomoric comedy, and especially not your normal Ferrell comedy (Old School, Anchorman, Talladega Nights, etc) I think the best comparison I can make is that this movie is to Ferrell what Punch Drunk Love was to Sandler, or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was to Carrey. Ferrell absolutely nails the role, and is able to carry the movie and create a lot of laughs, without the slapstick humor that he is normally associated with. I must also mention the outstanding job done by the wonderful Maggie Gyllenhall - she is warm and energetic and a perfect yin to Ferrell's yang. Pay special attention to the cookie scene in the bakery - awesome stuff. Ferrell and Gyllenhall are great together, and at times I just couldn't believe my eyes as I saw Ferrell come through in moments that require a delicate touch of drama - much the same way I had to rub my eyes watching Sandler steal every scene in Punch Drunk Love. I can say with confidence that Stranger Than Fiction currently tops my list as best comedy of 2006, and easily qualifies as must see material for any fan of comedies that make you think, along with fans of Ferrell's previous work. Definitely a pleasant surprise and a movie I will surely own on DVD, once it comes out.
• Flags of Our Fathers This movie rocked. I have always known next to nothing about history, which is embarrassing, but true. Iwo Jima was one historical event that I thought I understood - we kicked butt, raised a flag to signal the end of the conflict, and after that we all drank fruity drinks on the beach and basked in the glow of our victory. After seeing this movie I was harshly reminded of the facts - I blow at history. The movie (based on a book of the same name) follows the story of the Marines and Navy Corpsman whose act of raising the flag over the island of Iwo Jima was forever immortalized in one classic photo. From watching the movie, I learned a couple of things: there was way, way more to the conflict after the flag was raised; the media and the people love heroes; people don't understand what war is really like unless they've been there and finally - Clint Eastwood kicks ass. The battle scenes in this movie are expertly done, and prove once again that just like fine wine Eastwood has gotten better and better with age. His work in this movie reminded me of the jaw dropping scenes created by Spielberg for Saving Private Ryan. The story was interesting and kept me involved right up until the very end. Recently single Ryan Phillipe and the rest of the actors cast perform well, although the story presented here is much bigger than one or two actors. Defiantly a must see for a multitude of reasons, but most notably to witness a master (Eastwood) on top of his game and for the history lesson everyone should know regarding the Battle of Iwo Jima.

Haircut day!

Yesterday was haircut day for yours truly. Here are some gorgeous before and after shots. (Special thanks to SSG Johnson for taking these beautiful pictures - he operated this photo shoot like a true pro)
I grew out my hair a big longer than usual. The ladies Nicki isn't a fan of my longer hair look, but since she isn't here I can grow it out as long as I please. Within reason, of course - the Army (like Nicki) isn't too fond of long hair either.
Shazaam. $5 later, and back to the Army high and tight. Awesome.

I'll throw this out there - what do you all think is better:

• SGT Hanseling with long hair.
• SGT Hanseling with short hair.

Post votes in the comments section.

Huskers vs Tigers

Well, needless to say our beloved Big Red were in desperate need of a statement win yesterday, and by golly, they delivered. After the disappointment and heartache of the Texas loss combined with the embarrassment and failure to rebound on the road against Oklahoma State, I was getting sick and tired of losing and was worried I might be watching another once-promising Husker season slip away. However, we were able to pick ourselves up off the mat and deliver in a must-win situation at home. Huge win for coach Callahan and the program. Hopefully the Bugeaters can keep the big mo rolling, win our next two against aTm and the vermin and roll into our highly anticipated rematch against the Longhorns on a hot streak.

The S-1 section continued their bar-b-quing ways last night, with an added twist. We rolled with gourmet burgers on the grill, and added SSG Johnson's nachos as a nice pre-game warm up. Needless to say, I was unable to move for a good hour afterwards. Pics below.

Our designated grill master (also the mastermind behind the nacho plate), SSG Johnson, keeping a close watch on the progress of our burgers, with moral support from SGT Kane and SPC Fleck.
Adding the fixings. There was another grill going last night with regular burgers, but here in the S-1 "normal" just doesn't cut it. American cheese, swiss cheese, and bacon - that's what we call taking it to the next level.
Burgers are ready for show time and are the centerpiece of our spread inside the office. Nicely done Brad.
Yours truly, attempting to crush a giant double bacon cheesburger. I get full just looking at this picture.