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Ben Keller's Journal

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3rd June 2004

2:29pm: Trippin
I will start my journey at 8:00am on June 17th, which is 2 weeks from today.

17 - Bellevue, Washington
18 - Salt Lake City, Utah
19 - Denver, Colorado
20 - Louisville, Kentucky
21 - Silver Spring, Maryland

Driving distance: 3197.6 miles
Trip duration: 3 days, 9 hours, 4 minutes
Driving time: 45 hours, 17 minutes
Cost: $257.58

Update: This is assuming $2.05/gal for 89 octane as a national average, and the fuel efficiency of 17/24 on the vehicle. I'm sure both of these figures are bound to rise.
Current Music: DJ Deflector - Manassas Megamix

17th May 2004

4:39pm: "Let freedom ring"
The full text... )

10th May 2004

3:22pm: Here we go
Unless something happens, it looks like I'll be moving back to Maryland soon. It's :( and :) all at the same time.
Current Music: Office noise

6th May 2004

2:02pm: More memos
The full text... )

15th April 2004

6:01pm: Continue on
The situation is still growing each day. I start out-processing tomorrow. Some people respect me for doing it, others hate me for who I am, and then there are those people who want to be supportive but can't because of the job. It's tough on everyone.

I've been restricted to using a single bathroom on Fort Lewis, and they had me move all my property to another room in another building. I lost my cable service, so I'm left to mooch off of other people's internet connections. One big thing was lifted off my shoulders though; the Army will be responsible for moving my property back to Maryland. I get the same benefits just like anyone else who leaves the Army. That makes me glad.

I spoke with my civilan lawyer in DC today, and grabbed another military lawyer on post to help out locally. Some people are trying to break the rules, but that won't be tolerated in a situation like this. Everything must be by the book.

They threatened to call my parents and out me to them, so I called Dad and told him anyway. It's something I've been wanting to do, but I haven't had the balls. I then spoke with my lawyer and she said that was totally not right. They have no right to call my parents, so I have to get them to stop that shit. Homee don't play dat.

It should be a few weeks, then it looks like I'll be moving to the Seattle area and working up here while I struggle to pay bills.

13th April 2004

5:23pm: Events unfold
When I went back to check on the decision made regarding my memo, the good Captain tells me this: "I can't talk with you today. You'll know through SGM Howard when you need to see me." SGM Howard is my direct boss. It's spreading. It's scary.
3:11am: The breakout begins today
The full text... )
Current Music: What I Got (Reprise) - Sublime - Sublime

3rd April 2004

12:07am: Rest in peace


Charles "Red" Keller


1917-2004

9th March 2004

10:28pm: Eh.
I'm back.

SoCal and Tijana were a blast. I want to live in Orange County, and I paid $20 for a 1/4 mile cab ride.

And the University of Maryland turned me down for admission.

8th March 2004

11:32am: Hola de Tijuana
"Quisiera una Corona, y un Dos Equis por mi amigo. Cuanto? Sesenta pesos? Es no problemo."
Current Music: Tropico

7th March 2004

1:18pm: Going east?
Anyone got plans to go to DC? Maybe around July and the end of November.
12:42pm: wtf?!
I declined to go to Vegas.
Current Music: Some Irish jig

4th March 2004

7:09pm: Even more pics
I've been trying to upload my new pics since Tuesday, and it finally worked a few minutes ago. The new set include some action-packed images of which I'm especially proud.

29th February 2004

7:38am: On the TO
I recently found out I'm going to Thailand again, but this time it's not Pattaya.
Current Music: Mimuna - The Music of Islam, Vol. 6

24th February 2004

9:14pm: More pics
I posted more pics with help from my lovely brother, Avi. Go to both rounds if you haven't seen the previous ones, but check out Round 2 for the newest, colour, photos.
Current Music: Comedy Central

20th February 2004

6:43pm: Cali
The pictures.
Current Music: Behold A Lady - Outkast - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below

18th February 2004

8:01pm: Cali
The hotel I'm staying in just got DSL hooked up, so I decided to update. The weather is great, the people are better, but there are still thousands of Washingtonians and Seattleites around. I thought I could escape it for at least a little while, but no.

It's been tough watching the network being setup. This exercise is different because my section is just observing the wargames and not partaking in any major setup of the WAN. The 10th Sig from Fort Drum, NY is over here supporting the 81st Infantry from the Washington National Guard. The 81st are a bunch of fuckups. They were a mech brigade (they rolled on tanks) but some General thought it would be better to convert them. Bad idea. Not only do they have to learn new skills now, they have to integrate computers with what they do. Talk about a headache.

But that all doesn't matter. The cool thing is how you see a handful of green antennae jutting up from the low skyline of Fort Irwin, and that they can all talk with each other and even pass data. We're talking about 50kbps for data, but quite a few phone lines. Impressive.

And I haven't had a day off since 3/4 of the way through January. That sucks.
Current Music: Keen Eddy on Bravo

7th February 2004

3:51pm: Gone
No making sense am I today. I why I'm don't know this way. The right wrong and thing thought said. It's maybe in my all head. Anyway, should be it fixed, because my all up are words mixed.

4th February 2004

9:25pm: The way things change
Incubus has now surpassed 311 in the number of songs contained within my library. I never thought this would happen.
Current Music: A Crow Left of the Murder - Incubus

29th January 2004

7:50pm: Crap!
I'm deploying to the desert.......... of California. I'll be there from February 8th to March 17th. That really puts a kink in a lot of plans. :(
Current Music: International Affair - Sean Paul

28th January 2004

7:53pm: Issues
So much heavy shit is going down right now. It seems my life has long plateaus of nothingness, then all of a sudden... WHAMMO! and everything gets shaken at once. It's like an earthquake I have never experienced. A volcano eruption I will never see. It's fuckin weird, that's what it is.

First off, the room mate trouble. We are moving two buildings over and into new rooms with all of the Rear Detachment of the 29th Signal Battalion. The Rear Det are the people who couldn't go to Iraq for one reason or another. My current roomie, Mast, is going to leave Fort Lewis within 60 days anyway so he doesn't really care who he gets. I care which one I get because I'll be staying here a while. I have met both guys only once, and that was tonight. The first guy, on the second floor, seems really quiet. He doesn't have a lot of stuff, is one rank below me, has the room configured so there is a lot of floor space, and seems like a cool guy. He's a little on the scrawny size, so that's why I see him as kinda shy and quiet. That's how I am too. The other dude, on the third floor, seems like a normal guy too. He seems a little like the party animal with pictures of different women around, and Bud Lite banners hanging from the ceiling. I have a feeling it probably would not work out with that guy. I'm just worrying about fitting all my crap into the new room. Second floor guy has enough space, but he has drop ceilings and that doesn't let me use the vertical space where I hang my Joshua (bike) and stack my old clothes above the wall locker. I would only have to deal with it until summer time, because I'm taking all the bags of clothes I don't wear and putting them back in my Dad's attic in Silver Spring. I really don't know why I'm making a big deal of this. I know I should move in on the second floor, but I just can't make that a firm decision. Somebody please tell me to shutup and do it.

Secondly, I was supposed to move offices/jobs to a nice new helpdesk position at the beginning of next week. Now I'm being told I'm going to the desert of California at NTC and Fort Irwin. We'll be staying in a hotel and getting money for it too, but that's not what it's about. I just want a lower stress job, away from SSG Ervin, so I can stop destroying computers and throwing ladders out of windows. I'm not normally like that. I hate myself like that. I disgust myself. How could one live like that?

There's just so much shit in my head right now. I'm trying to help it out by writing. I've stopped my meds and therapy, so I'm on my own now. Things are going okay, but I feel they are too brittle and may snap again. I just don't know.

27th January 2004

8:27pm: X marks the spot
The checkout procedure at the Fort Lewis Post Exchange (PX) is as follows:
They ring you up.
They may or may not check military ID at this point, or while in the process of checking out.
You remit payment, in this case I did it with plastic.
If it's credit, they ask for your miltary ID and the card to verify the name on the front of both cards match. They don't look at the back.
You do your thing at the little stand, and you sign electronically (exactly the same as the 7-11 system).
The signature appears on the cashier's screen for verification.

In response to this prank, tonight I bought two DVDs and signed my name "X". Nothing fancy; just one letter. I didn't plan on doing it. I had read the prank, and just did it at the checkout. No intention to be cheeky at all.

Then the old dude cashier gets all nasty like "I almost didn't approve that transaction because of your signature. It's just an 'X'." Then I was like, "Yeah, so what? You saw my cards. What's my signature have to do with anything? I like my 'X'." I was about to bust out with John Hargrave's "I broke my arm once and the 'X' grew on me" story, but decided not to. The dude told me to just leave. I was in Battle Dress Uniform (BDUs; the camos) too, and my name is clearly printed across my right tit. It's not too hard to figure out who I am.

Or maybe I should just save it for paper reciepts like John did. Naaaahhhhh....
Current Music: Paper Lanterns - David Henise

26th January 2004

12:21pm: Huh?
What's this fad about mapping what states you've been to? I guess you all just don't know where it's at.
Current Music: Silencio

25th January 2004

10:57pm: Hoobs
Anyone interested in going to see Linkin Park with P.O.D., Hoobastank, & Story of the Year, February 13th at 7pm? If I went, I'd be going mainly for Hoobastank.

It's a shame 311 isn't coming around anytime. I missed them at Nation right before I went to basic training.
Current Music: High - Jimmie's Chicken Shack

24th January 2004

9:54pm: Next time I'm ripping it down and pissing on it

David is a guy I spent 6 months with in Georgia. It was hot. I meant the weather. He's from Amish country, although he's not Amish. I then drove across the country with him. That's our story.

mystylehastricks (9:47:28 PM): you're an ass
dave (9:47:46 PM): piece of?
mystylehastricks (9:47:48 PM): you have a sign outside your door at work
dave (9:47:51 PM): or ass hole?
mystylehastricks (9:47:52 PM): A SIGN!!!!!!
mystylehastricks (9:47:57 PM): WITH YOUR NAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
dave (9:47:57 PM): oh
dave (9:47:59 PM): you went there
dave (9:48:00 PM): ?
mystylehastricks (9:48:02 PM): yeah
mystylehastricks (9:48:09 PM): stalking you
dave (9:48:13 PM): when
mystylehastricks (9:48:14 PM): mee he he
mystylehastricks (9:48:29 PM): i went to shmooze with major seaton
mystylehastricks (9:48:39 PM): cause we're all buddy-buddy like that
dave (9:48:44 PM): oh
dave (9:48:47 PM): right
dave (9:48:58 PM): they sent YOU?
mystylehastricks (9:49:08 PM): what's wrong with sending me?
dave (9:49:10 PM): that's a new one isn't it?
dave (9:49:25 PM): when? today?
mystylehastricks (9:49:39 PM): nah. between 1 and 3 days ago
mystylehastricks (9:49:42 PM): i forget
dave (9:49:46 PM): oh
mystylehastricks (9:49:48 PM): days blend into the next one
mystylehastricks (9:49:53 PM): ya know
dave (9:49:56 PM): sure
mystylehastricks (9:50:04 PM): you cockbite
dave (9:50:08 PM): yeah, they made up signs for everybody
dave (9:50:10 PM): pretty funny
dave (9:50:16 PM): well...shouldn't say everybody
mystylehastricks (9:50:23 PM): cockbiting fucktard
dave (9:50:26 PM): hardly anybody has their name i guess
mystylehastricks (9:50:28 PM): with signage
dave (9:50:32 PM): but there's only a couple of us in that office
mystylehastricks (9:50:47 PM): NO FUCKING FAIR!!!!!
mystylehastricks (9:51:30 PM): and when i pointed this out to my main man seaton, he chuckled
mystylehastricks (9:51:35 PM): like it was funny or something
mystylehastricks (9:52:22 PM): where can i get me a sign?
mystylehastricks (9:52:25 PM): i want sign!
dave (9:52:31 PM): i dunno
mystylehastricks (9:52:39 PM): waa. waaa.
mystylehastricks (9:52:43 PM): that's me crying about it.
Current Music: Lazy Boy Dash - Jimmie's Chicken Shack
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