mezcla de frutos secos de montana

So nobody does blogs anymore. I post stuff all the time, but the last post any of you have done was like 4 weeks ago. That's a long time. In fact, that's longer than it'll be before school is out! Less than two weeks till dead week! Dead week is, in case you didn't know, when the Corps "dies" and everyone studies for finals. This means there are no more stupid corps games (well, there are still a few, but not many), and you just prepare for finals (and/or mess around), which start the next week. I think the last day of finals is May 8th, but I'll probably be done with finals way before that. Last semester, I only had two finals during that week. Hopefully, it'll be the same this semester, and I'll be able to study a lot and do really well on them both.

Today, April 21st, was Aggie Muster. It's this really cool tradition at A&M where they do a roll call for the absent. It sounds kind of oxymoronic (that's a word now), but it's really cool. They say the names of every single Aggie - past or present - who died during the past year, as if they're calling role, and someone in the audience, usually a lot of people, answer "here" for each person. It shows that those people are still with us in spirit. The entire band said "here" for a band member that graduated last year. He died shortly after Final Review (the last thing the corps does in the spring. cadets march in front of the reviewing stand, then change into the next year's uniform, and march back across as the next class. it's the only time there are no fish in the corps) in a car accident. After roll call, there's a 21 gun salute, then Silver Taps (a special version of taps played three times in three different directions). Then we leave. It was a really cool ceremony. Made me wonder what it's like at other places (muster can be held anywhere. aggies gather together all over the world to hold muster. i've heard that it's just like a social gathering at other locations, though).

So, gc is over. I think I said that in my last blog, which wasn't very long ago. I wonder how Abby's 8 ball is holding up. I still need to get her to do that poster. My support letters are almost done. I wish I had done them last semester. I hope it's not too late. I really want to work at camp as much as possible. (don't tell Hannah, but I'm not even sure if I turned in my application. I thought I did, but I don't specifically remember giving it to her, or mailing it. I guess she would've talked to me by now if I hadn't, though). I'm a little worried about some of my classes, mainly Physics, but I'm pretty sure I'll be ok, as long as I get this last test and the final down alright. As for math, that should be an A. I can bring MilSci up to an A as well, and the rest of my classes are all easy A's. That means I should be looking at a pretty good GPA after this semester. Maybe I'll even stay a blue card. I think it all really depends on Physics. I need to study, and get some help. Anyways, it's pretty late, almost 11:30, and I still need to wire my B's for tomorrow. Tomorrow is Thursday. That's almost Friday. I'm excited.

Ok, one last thing before I go. I just thought of this. There's this weekly Bible study on campus called Breakaway. It's really awesome. I try to go every week. I haven't had much to write about in my blogs lately, but I keep feeling a need to write. I think it's kind of an out for my feelings, but I can't really express my feelings right now.. or something. Anyway, I think I'll start writing about my interpretations of Breakaway every week, even though there's only two more this semester. Oh well.

Ok, so last night, Ben, the Breakaway speaker, talked about desire. He said that until around his sophomore year in college, he thought that Christianity was all based on facts (God loves you, sent Jesus to die for you, you need to go spread the Good News, etc) and his reaction to them, his duty (ie spreading the Gospel). Feelings didn't matter. If you liked it, good; if you didn't, oh well. Then he heard these different people talk, and they said all this stuff about joy, and desire. This is one of the biggest things I got out of it. Ben said, and he was quoting someone, that "sin is taking legitimate desires to illegitimate places." Think about that. That's totally true. Sin isn't your desire; it's your desire in the wrong places, for the wrong things. Desires are a good, God-given thing, but we're supposed to desire the right thing: God. The problem with us isn't that we desire, it's that we desire these meaningless, earthly things, instead of wanting God, who can bring us ultimate joy. We're too easily satisfied. God wants to make us happy, but we have to come to Him instead of the world first. Ben started by reading the story of the Samaritan woman coming out to the well while Jesus was sitting beside it. He could've gone off on her about her life, and told her that she owes her allegiance to Him, which is all true, but instead He started talking to her about thirst. She was thirsty, and she had been looking to satisfy her thirst in the wrong places (hence all the husbands). Jesus offered her water that would make her never thirst again. That's what we should seek, too. We shouldn't be satisfied by the things of this world, when there's something so much better just waiting for us, no, seeking us. He also said that God is seeking worshipers. He doesn't just accept wholehearted worship, He is looking for it! And it says countless times in the Bible to rejoice, to be glad; it's basically a command. I know I'm jumping around now, but I'm having trouble remembering everything Ben said. I think that's pretty much it, though. I'll try to take notes or something next time. And if you're ever in town on a Tuesday night, you should totally let me know, and we'll go to Breakaway. It's pretty awesome.

"What's your momma call you?"

"Brandon..."

It's been almost a week since my last post, and so much has changed in that week. If you remember me saying, cuz I'm sure I said it at least a hundred times, I lost my first name once I became a fish. Well, on Friday morning, I started to get it back. But I'm getting ahead of myself. First, the rest of the week...

Monday, the bass fish earned the section. We had finished the last assignment, and we became sophomores in the section. It's pretty cool, because it meant that we got to be almost normal people with the basses, and it was a lot more chill. We still got smoked, though. Anyway, that afternoon, we had the final leg of the platoon competition: the tug of war. My platoon is nicknamed the "fat platoon." On our team of 8 people (I wasn't on it), we had about 1700 pounds. We didn't lose a round (except the one where B-Co played dirty and let go of the rope, then grabbed it and pulled while half of our guys were on the ground, but they lost the round for it anyway). That was pretty fun, and it got me out of doing gc training time. Tuesday was reeallly long, but not all that bad. The Army pt test was pretty rough, though, because of how hot it was at the time. I got a 14:38 on the run, though. I was happy with that. Wednesday was pretty uneventful, except for the juniors' boot run, which was pretty cool, but then Thursday was the longest day of the week. I was already tired, and we lost the bass section after drill, but then I tried to get this form finished to turn it in to the Army, but couldn't finish it in time, so I just went to class, then to the community service thing to replace my restricted weekend, then to the blackbelt band, at which I almost passed out because of how tired I was, then to class, then dinner (the first thing I ate since breakfast), then to cq. I took a free night out to get to sleep early, but got kept up by the bugler grode out (the last time the Corps bugler plays taps before passing on the position, all of the candidates for bugler the next year splash all kinds of nasty stuff on him as he marches back. the whole Corps watches, and yells and whoops the whole time). Then, it was Friday morning.

Friday morning, we were supposed to wake up at 5:35 for drill, but instead, at about 4:30, we all woke up to the sudden screaming of our sophomores. They yelled at us to get out of the bag and get into regular pt gear. We obviously complied, and were led outside, where we formed up behind our CO. He started us running, and our XO started jodying. Then, as we were running around campus, one by one, all the rest of our seniors came out from behind hiding spots and joined us. Then we stopped in front of the Administration building, and there we dropped with our seniors. This means that we know their first names, and they know ours. That's what the "what's your momma call you?" was from. After that, we went to drill, and afterwards, we got smoked a little with the basses, but then they dropped with us, too, and we got the section back. We only got it taken away to freak us out. Training time was canceled that day, and then at midnight yell, we got smoked with the basses to earn our positions for next year. I'm an accountability head, which basically means I take attendance. I got this cool belt buckle for it. Then, Saturday morning, I got sort of aired out. All the gc's except the one who got the position went to Denny's for breakfast. After we got back, we dropped with all of the gc's. So now, I guess I know about half of my upperclassmen's first names. We had the maroon and white football game in the afternoon, and the band played at the end of it. That went pretty well. Then we had outfit dinner. I missed the special Breakaway because of it, which was pretty disappointing, but I'll watch the podcast, I guess. I stayed with my family in a motel that night, and then went to church this morning. We had review in the afternoon. It was retarded. Someone passed out from standing there for so long, and I heard that that happens every year. It also rained a little. I went to dinner with my family afterwards, and Chris and BA and I saw that dragon movie. It was pretty good. Now I'm back here, chilling on the computer. It's late, though, and I want my sleep. Stupid 8 o clock class. Well, that pretty much sums up my week. Now it's two weeks until March to the Brazos, and a week or so after that until dead week. I'm so excited. Summer is almost here!

bada bing, bada BANG!!

Ok, so I learned something really interesting last week. Not sure how true it is, but this guy seemed pretty legit. It was last Thursday. There was this presentation my brother told me about, called “I don’t have enough faith to be an atheist.” I don’t know the name of the guy who spoke, but he knew his stuff. His arguments were a little… I don’t know the word… it was like all he did was try to turn your arguments back against you, except that’s not all he did. I don’t know how to explain it, but basically, it was enough to make me listen. He’s a Christian, but his whole presentation was given from the most neutral viewpoint he could give. It was all about scientific evidence pointing towards the theory of “intelligent design,” which, if you haven’t heard of it, is just the new word for Creation. It just means that some intelligent being (i.e. God) designed, and created, everything. The thing about his presentation that got me, though, was that it also gave evidence, actually proof, for the “Big Bang,” the theory that the universe exploded into existence. I know what you’re thinking now. Does he believe in God, or the Big Bang? Here’s what he said: “Most Christians hear the words ‘Big Bang’ and go ‘Oh, the Big Bang. I don’t believe in the Big Bang.’ Well, I believe in the Big Bang. That’s right, I believe in the Big Bang. I just know who banged it!” He then showed how evidence, very strong evidence, pointed toward not just a definite beginning of the universe (indicating that it had been created at some point), but also that it was expanding outward (indicating that it had exploded into existence), and that the explosion had been so precise, it had to have been set up (enter God. Actually, enter God’s smartness. He came in back at the creation part). The universe exploded from nothing into something, which meant there had to be something outside of space, time, and matter that created it.

That’s a pretty interesting bit to chew on, isn’t it? I’m not sure what to make of it, really. I’ve always thought that the Big Bang theory was wrong, but that God could have created the universe that way, if He had chosen to. I didn’t think He had, though. But when you think about it, the Bible just says “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth…” but not how He did it. Maybe He exploded it all here. Maybe not. I guess we’ll have to wait and see, huh?

Never mind. I'll put a new one up.

Vote on my polls.

a good beat is hard to beat

So I figured I do a real quick post, since my last one was the 8 ball instructions, and that was on Sunday. I don't know when the last one before that was, and I don't feel like finding out, either. I'm pretty tired, and I just spent a lot of time on another post, which I'll put up soon, hopefully, so this one will probably actually be quick. Today was a good day. We had platoon competition. Today was the tire flip, where you take this HUGE tire and flip it sideways down the quad. I was part of it for a little, until they saw that I couldn't use my right arm, so they switched me out with someone else. Then we got back a long time before first call, so we had time to get dressed and square away, because it was likely we would get GM. We did (GM inspection is a big inspection of everything - from uniforms to rooms to campusologies - that they do for awards and stuff), which meant we got free flow afterwards as well. Then I got to rebag for almost two hours until my first class. I met Colonel Joe T Haney, the person the drill field is named "in tribute and honor of" before band class. I had a package mailed to me, too, but it was for my brother. Talk about a disappointment. Oh well. It was Wednesday, which meant no training time, and free flow. They had meatloaf. Then Bible study, which was more of just a chat with our chaplain, but it was nice, and worship on the quad. My whitebelt mentor took me and one of my buddies. It was cool. Then I talked to my brother for a while, and now I'm here.

I'm so excited for the end of the year. It's so close. I'm a little worried about what all we have coming up, because I think it includes quite a few smokings, but it really doesn't concern me too much. The only thing I'm really concerned about it my arm. As long as I don't hurt it any more, though, I'm fine. I want to do what I can, but I don't want to find my limits by hurting myself even more.

So yeah, the end of the year is approaching slowly, but it's approaching nonetheless. I can't wait. I already said that, though. I don't care. I can't wait till summer. I'm not sure I got in my camp application, and I don't know how (or even if) this support letter is gonna work out, but God can work miracles. Plus, I just want summer to get here, even if I don't get to work at every camp. I hope I can, though. I could also really use the support money for college. Like I said, though, God can work miracles.

I have a lot that I want to write about, but I'm not really feeling anything specific right now. I guess I've just had a lot going through my head lately. The past day has passed slowly. Silver Taps, which was last night, seems like a week ago. It was a special one for me. I went by myself, because I came from Breakaway. At Breakaway, Ben talked about how everything, that's everything, like, everything that exists or happens or anything, is all from and for the glory of God. Think about that for a minute. That's pretty crazy, but it makes everything make sense. That was what was on my mind and heart during Silver Taps. Silver Taps, if you don't know, is a ceremony held once a month to honor any current students who died during the past month. There's a 21 gun salute, and then taps is played 3 times by 6 buglers. It's a special rendition of taps that's in chords, and it's really cool. So, during this, I was thinking about all that, and it was pretty powerful, and confusing. I mean, when I said everything earlier, I really meant everything. That includes what you eat, how you walk, what you wear. Everything. At Silver Taps, it made me wonder how that fit in. I don't know how, but I'm sure it does somewhere. I don't know where I was going with that, but it is interesting. You can look at anything, and know that it somehow glorifies God. With some things, it's easy, but with others, it can be really confusing. But there's a reason for everything, and now you know what it is. That can really help guide your life. Whenever you make a decision, think about how it glorifies God. Pick the thing that best glorifies Him.

How to customize a Magic 8 Ball

Things You'll Need:

• Magic 8 Ball (Wal Mart or Target - $6-$8)
• At least one heavy duty hobby knife*
• Small philips head
• Sandpaper (up to at least 400 grit, and down to 220 is fine)
• Transparency Film (the kind you can print on)
• Computer and printer
• Scissors
• Gel Craft Glue (NON water based)
• Duct tape, or other waterproof tape
• Epoxy (the "instant-mix" kind works really well)
• Black Paint, preferably gloss
• White Paint (optional, but a good idea), also gloss
• Polyurethane
• Paintbrushes
• Energy drink
• Combos
• A lot of time
• A really good reason to do all this work

*You'll need something to cut through the 8 ball with. I went through several hobby knives, but something like a Dremel tool will probably work a lot better. However, you will also need at least one hobby knife for other things.

Before we start:

This will take a long time, and a lot of work, especially if you plan on cutting through the ball by hand. I would suggest setting aside a place to work that won't be disturbed for the days or weeks that you work on this. Also, remember that, the slower and more carefully you go, the less likely you are to make mistakes, and there are plenty of chances to make mistakes here that can ruin things. I actually completely finished this 8 ball once before, but it ended up not working right, so I had to go back and redo it. It's always better to do things right the first time. Ok, enough with that, let's get started.

First, you need to cut open the 8 ball. Cover your work area with newspaper or something, because there will be lots of plastic sawdust. Start cutting at the seam around the middle. I used hobby knives to cut mine open. Final report came to 3 badly wounded, one incapacitated. I would suggest you use something more like a Dremel tool, or a Plexiglas cutter, if you have one. If you do use knives, use the other side of the blade once you've got a groove going. It doesn't cut as far down, but it pulls up plastic, which is what you want. The main thing is just to keep at it. It's pretty thick. Try not to miss and cut the sides of the ball, but don't worry if you do. They'll be covered up after we close the ball back up.

Once you've got the ball open, you should see something like this

Take out the clear plastic dye container, and set aside the two halves of the ball and the rubber washer. Get something to put the dye in. The dye will stain everything it touches, including your hands, so use something that either won't stain (like glass), or that you don't mind staining. It's also best if you get something that you can pour out of without it dripping down the sides. If you don't still have the newspaper, now is a good time to put it back down over your work area. Take a second to look at the "bubble trap" inside the container. Skip to the italicized paragraph if you want to find out how it works. Use the screwdriver to open the "cork" on top. Set the cork and screws aside. Now, carefully pour out as much dye as you can into the cup. You'll have to play with it a little. Next, pry the top off with your hobby knife, and pour the rest of the dye out. Rinse off the cork, dye container, and icosahedron.

Notice the way the bubble trap works.

Some interesting facts:

If you don't like learning, skip the italicized paragraphs. The "bubble trap" is a very simple, yet, in my opinion, very interesting little...thing. It's just an inverse cone separating the dye container into two chambers. When you hold the 8 ball with the opening down, all of the bubbles rise to the top, into the second container. Then, when you turn over the ball to read it, all of the air stays up against the top, and gets trapped inside the second chamber by the cone. It's very convenient for us, since it allows for the ball to still function just fine with some air in the container.

The object that all of the answers are printed on is called an "icosahedron." An icosahedron is a prism with 20 sides, all of which are congruent equilateral triangles. One corner from each triangle is missing on this icosahedron, but we'll pretend they're all actually triangles.

Ok, now, use your knife to pry off all of the letters. Try to leave the surface as smooth as possible. The writing you see on the icosahedron in the picture is from my first attempt at this, when I tried to use a permanent marker to write my answers in. Once you've got all the letters off, sand everything down until it's smooth. Pulling apart the icosahedron helps. Just grab each side and pull apart. Be careful not to break it, but it's tougher than you might think. The best way to sand it is to spread the sandpaper out across something flat and rubbing each side against it. Try to keep the edges. You don't need the surface to be as smooth as possible. In fact, it works better if it's a little rough. I went all the way up to wet 1200 grit sandpaper on mine, so I could write in the answers with a sharpie. When I redid it, I sanded some of the surfaces with 400 grit, but not all of them. The smoother ones didn't work as well.

You can write hidden messages on

the inside with a sharpie.

Now you can set aside the 8 ball and go to the computer. You should have 20 answers, sayings, etc, to put on your 8 ball. Doubling up is ok. No one will notice. Open up a program that you can put words into shapes on. I used OpenOffice Impress (basically a free, not-as-good version of PowerPoint), and fit the words in with text boxes, and manually fit the text into the triangles. The triangles measure 1.9 cm on each side, with one corner missing. Make sure that whatever you put in there can be read from a short distance. I don't really have much else to tell you about that. Do whatever you find works best, just make sure they fit. Once you've got the answers in there, flip everything over, so it reads backwards. If you can do this through the printer when you print it out, do that. It's also a good idea to print out several copies of your answers on the one sheet, so you have extras.

Print out a trial run of your answers onto a piece of paper. just hold it up to the light and see if one side of the icosahedron covers an answer. Once you've got it fit properly, put the transparency sheet into your printer. The kind I used had a rough side and a smooth side. Make sure it prints on the rough side. The ink wipes right off the smooth side. When it's printed out, check again to make sure it fits, and then cut all of the triangles out. It's personal preference, but I cut out the black outlines of the triangles, so the words were the only things on there.

Get out your craft glue. If you've never used this stuff before, try it out on something, because it's really strong. You don't need very much at all to get a good hold. Less is better here. Carefully, glue all of the answers down onto the icosahedron. Make sure that the side with ink doesn't get wet, or else the ink will run. This is why you have to flip the words before you print. If the ink is exposed to the water, it'll run. Let the glue dry once you're done.

This craft glue worked really well for me.

About now is where the energy drink and Combos come in. I had a Rockstar Roasted Latte, and Pizzeria Pretzel Combos, but whatever keeps you going is fine.

How stained are your hands?

After the glue is dry, which shouldn't take more than a few minutes, snap the icosahedron back together. Pour a little dye into the container and look at the icosahedron through it, to make sure you'll be able to see the answers through the plastic. Put the icosahedron into the container, and replace the bubble trap and lid, making sure it goes on the right way. The bubble trap goes with the funnel pointing up, and the lid goes with the four little pillar looking things down, against the bubble trap, and the three holes for the screws pointing up.

 The blue rings in the back were my replacements for

the black rubber washer, because it didn't fit

the first time I did it. Don't lose that thing.

 It's best to tape/glue it up before you 

fill it back up with dye.

Now, use the duct tape to seal the edge of the lid, where you pried it off earlier, or, if you're confident that you won't need to go back and reopen the container, simply glue it shut. If you glue it, wait for the glue to dry, then carefully pour the rest of the dye into the container. While there's still some room below the top of the container, gently tap and shake the container to get all the air bubbles you can out of it. Though it will still work with air in the container, it's best if you get all of the bubbles you can out of it. Get the last bit of dye back in with a straw or an eye dropper. If you need to, add a little water to get it all the way to the top. Screw the cork back in as tight as possible, and put a small piece of tape on top of the cork, but NOT on the rim of the lid, for safe measure.

I haven't put the tape on the cork yet.

It'll only cover the cork.

Make sure everything works by flipping over the container a few times and reading your answers. Pretty neat, huh? Make sure the container doesn't leak. If you're looking for a place to take a break, now is a good time. Set the container cork-side down for a while, to make sure there are no slow leaks (a problem I had the first time).

When you're confident you're ready to put the ball back together, because you won't want to take it apart again, get out your epoxy. Put the 8 ball back together, and try to find the best fit. Don't forget the rubber washer. Once you've got the best fit decided (or you know how it was originally lined up), clear away your work area a little. The epoxy we're about to use makes that craft glue look like Elmer's. The kind I used had a nozzle that mixed the two substances as you squirted it out, and it set within one minute. Read over the epoxy instructions several times, and I would suggest even practicing going over the ball, without actually using the epoxy, a few times.

This stuff works really well, but you only get two

chances, because each nozzle is trash after

you use it once.

Once you're ready, spread the epoxy across one side of the ball, and place the other side on it. It's kinda tough to get the rubber washer to stay when you do it, so make sure you either practice or glue it down. You need to get the sides together quick, and make sure they're aligned right, because if they aren't, they're staying that way. If the epoxy doesn't come all the way to the edge, put more in until it does. Try not to get too much on the sides, because you'll have to sand or scrape it all off. Let the epoxy set; it should probably only be a few minutes.

See the indention in high-resolution?

Check the edge. If it's indented, you can add more epoxy, or use craft glue if it isn't too bad. Sand the edge smooth. You should be able to peel any drops of epoxy off with your fingernail. After you let it dry for a while, use the black paint on the edge, to cover the epoxy, and then anywhere else that you think it needs it. Let that dry, and, if you want to give it a better shine, use the polyurethane. Since it's made for wood, not plastic, you'll have to treat it different than the instructions say. The way I applied it was by dipping a paper towel into the polyurethane, then rubbing it onto the 8 ball in circles. You may need to do more than one coat. This will take a long time. Be careful not to get anything on the white part, or you'll have to catch it with some white paint, too. You can coat that part with polyurethane, though. Overall, the smoother you get the 8 ball before you coat it, the better it will look.

Keep your work area clean, in case of spills like this one. 

Thankfully, it was only water.

Once the polyurethane dries, you're done! Enjoy your new Magic 8 Ball.