Yes, I think an iPhone would be cool

...no, I don't think it would be cool enough to wait in line for 5 days next to this guy.

I'm not worthy

I take pride in my geekness, but this dude has me beat hands down... and in style.
Scott Walker, assistant editor at the Birmingham News, has found a truly unique use for his Mac mini. Scott was able to create a digital newsstand that delivers a constant stream of current headlines to his living room.

Evil Genius or Sith Lord?

...hmmm, I'm not sure which I'd rather be called. Luckily, this web form will support either decision.

Another Fine Time-Waster

Here's another fun game to lower productivity at work and distract you. Desktop Tower Defense
If you post your score, you can put in the group "omlette" to see my scores (yes, I know it's misspelled)

Family

Family Sitting
Originally uploaded by Rob Wooldridge.

My new favorite picture of our family.

Grandparents and Grandkids

Grandparents and Grandkids
Originally uploaded by Rob Wooldridge.

The 'rents were down for the weekend to visit their grandkids and do a little spoiling. We also took some Sears photos while they were here. Amazingly enough, Sam the portrait lady was able to get Hunter to smile each time using a stuffed frog and a fake sneeze. A little chocolate in between didn't hurt, though.
It was good to have mom and dad over for the weekend. Too bad they don't live a little lot closer.

Tragedy Strikes

Over this past weekend, on my anniversary in fact, I took three Army co-workers on Tandem skydives. The first two soldiers I took were NCO's who worked for me in Kuwait, SSG Macias and SGT Guitierrez (formerly SGT Torres). Those skydives were a lot of fun.
Next, I took my future boss, LTC Brady (see the email here) on his skydive. We were having a great time and everything went well up until the last 15 feet before landing. There was a downdraft that caused us to fall to the ground despite my best efforts, and we landed directly on LTC Brady's right ankle. The force of our combined weight (~450 lbs) on one ankle was too much... he fractured his tibia & fibula, and grossly dislocated his foot. We called 911 and got an ambulance out to the dropzone to take him to the hospital.
Sarema and I spent the rest of the day in the Hollister emergency room with him and his two sons. It was obviously very painful and will require surgery to fix (2 screws and a plate update: 9 screws and 2 plates). He didn't get the surgery that day for two reasons: swelling from the initial trauma and the orthopedist at Hollister's hospital is widely known among skydivers for mangling broken ankles while trying to fix them.
I hope I never have to deal again with that jerk who treated LTC Brady: a lawyer who moonlights as an ER doc at hospital 2 hours away from his home in Shell Beach. All in all, I don't recommend getting hurt in Hollister.
LTC Brady will probably go in for surgery next monday, 19 June, and will be in a cast for 3 months. I wish his first tandem skydive had turned out a lot better.

A Great Toast

Here's to a long life and a merry one;
A quick death and an easy one;
A pretty girl and a true one;
A cold beer and another one.

Godspeed, Charlie Battery

Charlie_now_Bravo Marching
Originally uploaded by Rob Wooldridge.

The battery I commanded a few years ago is headed off to war. I went to a farewell ceremony for the 1-143 Field Artillery Battalion at Camp Roberts today and said goodbye to a lot of friends and soldiers. I let them know that if they need anything, all they have to do is call. I know what it's like to try and fix things back home from over there and it's tough.
There were lots of speeches by various leaders, but none of them measured up to the greatest speech I have heard in a long time, though. Now I'm not the greatest speaker myself, but I know one when I see one. You can see that 12 minute speech (worth every minute) on blackfive here.

Life at the end of Rob's Arm

Let it Snow
Originally uploaded by Rob Wooldridge.

... That's what my dad calls all of my self-taken pictures like the one you see here (this one was at the end of Randy's arm, though)
Well, those pictures are about to get better. One of these days, I'm going to get around to buying the QuikPod Pro Handheld Tripod so I can take even better pictures of myself in the future.

New Military Job in the Fall

It looks like I will probably have a new job this fall on the part-time side
as the second-in-command of a 500-man Paladin artillery battalion based out of LA. I think that will be a fun job if it works out.
Of course, I'll still have the same weekday IT Manager job that I have now.

-----Original Message-----
From: Brady, David
Sent: Monday, June 04, 2007 11:58 AM
To: Wooldridge, Robert T MAJ NGCA

Congratulations...you start in Oct 07 with me. As a bonus, your first drill as the 1-144 FA XO will be at CSLO [Camp Can Luis Obispo].

LTC Brady

Gaah!!! Battlestar Galactica is ending after only 4 seasons!

Battlestar Galactica To End! Sci-fi channel announces next season to be the last.
That sucks. BG is one of my favorite shows, even though I still don't like the idea that Starbuck is a girl on this go around. :-P
Dirk Benedict will always be Starbuck for me, but if the makers of this BG forced Kara Thrace on us, at least they gave us Tricia Helfer and Grace Park. mmmm, tasty.



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I might just have to get a Wii

Lucasarts Making Lightsaber Game for Wii? My brother-in-law Tawnly brought his Nintendo Wii game console down during a visit a few weeks back and we had a lot of fun playing bowling, darts, tennis, etc. If a lightsaber game for Wii comes out, that might just push me over the edge to get one...



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