Peace of sorts

I found out last week I was being replaced in my job! The guy came up and said he was my replacement and I was supposed to train him. I didn't know anything about it, but I figure it's for the best. Even though it's kind of a step down from what I was doing, this new job should give me a little extra time to do things I need to, like sleep, workout, and so on.

The incident with the Koran recently riled up the locals here, and they were out in mass doing protests and generally causing trouble. It's funny, though. Of the folks protesting, I don't see them at the 5 times daily prayers. I guess religion is only good when it allows you to do bad things. The response to the protests has been we expect these people to riot and get violent. I have to ask why we expect that?

Some of it comes from our own racism, that that we put all Arabs in a stereotype. You're Arab, therefore you're Muslim, therefore you are fundamental, therefore you will riot and cause trouble. But is that any different from when the same people we put in a box think all Americans are terrible and evil because of the acts of 1 or 2 people?

The problem is this: I've seen friends die in combat, but was I expected to find the first Arab I saw and shoot him, then destroy his home and kick out his family? Am I allowed to have violent protests and riots about it? The obvious answer is no because no one would allow it. But we allow it for these people here why? Are we so afraid of Muslims we won't hold these people accountable? If we believe what we say about Afghans meaning as much as Americans on a PERSON context, why are we allowing for one to scorn the other? To me, that sounds like bad parenting, and we shouldn't be surprised when the one with no accountability of discipline grows up to be a criminal.

The fact that we expect rioting is based in fact, however. Part is our racism, but an equal part is the pattern and history of such events. Islam across the world has shown when it is bothered, it protests and doesn't mind violence. No other religion causes violent protests in completely unrelated parts of the world just because they are of a different faith. If Islam wants to be a Religion of Peace, like they claim, they need to be a peace of the process.

Things to do

Even though my R&R leave isn't for a while, I've been thinking about it, and more specifically what to do when I get home. I'll be spending some time in my home state, visiting sets of parents, getting my youngest baptised, and other such things. I'll attend a July 4th parade and hopefully eat a lot of hamburgers, sirloins, and steak-um sandwiches. However, I've also thought about a few "special" things I want to do.

Top on my R&R bucket list is I want to go skydiving and/or parasailing or bungee jumping. The skydiving and parasailing is likely something I can do at the shore, but the bungee jumping may have to be from one of those boardwalk towers. They have one at the NY state fairgrounds, but it is more a sling than a straight jump. One of the Officers here does skydiving as a hobby, and the videos she took just look awesome and a lot of fun. I'm sure my less-adventuresome parents will balk at the idea, but jumping out of a plane at 10,000 feet and freefalling for 2 minutes sounds really fun to me.

I also look forward to the quieter things, like having a peaceful Saturday afternoon at the park, splashing in our wading pool at home with the kids, things like that. I range between high adrenaline and totally boring in my interests, as I think adventure sports are just as cool and fun as Scrabble on a rainy night.

I am desperately trying to hobble my marathon relay team together. I've had 2 drop outs, and one other is highly suspect. I am already doing 50 miles, I'm now consigned to do about 65 or so. No big deal. As long as I don't run out of clean shirts, I should be ok. I ordered some great race day snacks for in between legs (Ostrich Jerky and sunflower seeds of all things) and have been slowly building up my miles. I'll essentially be running 2x Marathons in one day, so it'll be taxing for sure, but I'm preparing well and my cautious but bold approach is helping me get to where I need to be. The race is on April 8th, I believe.

The Long, Intermittent Winter

The weather comes in chunks here. That's not quite accurate, since there's always weather. As my wife tells me, it's not whether there will be weather, but what the weather will be. That's true enough. Here the weather goes from snowy and cold to just warm enough to melt it and then cold to freeze it all again. Recent;y we've gotten 2 days of snow, followed by a day of bright sunshine that melts it and turns it to slush and frozen mud. My new sneakers are fully worn in and I have ended evening runs two times now with waterlogged socks.

I enjoy the snow here, since it reminds me of home. I miss getting up 45 minutes early and shoveling our 2-3 inches every morning. It stinks when you're doing it, but it's also a nice opportunity to get a little physical activity in before work. And I get to feel like I did something for my family, clearing the driveway and making little walkways for them along the house. I also miss knocking over icicles, but that's just my love of smashing things, I think.

I am back on track with my running, although I have a lot of ground to make up. We are 2 months from the Marathon and 50 miler, and I can't afford to miss anymore time if I am to run confidently in April. I don't expect to run very fast, and the only thing I have truly to worry about is blisters. This is why it is so important to get a lot of miles under me now, so my feet toughen up as much as possible.

Things are quieting down at work, which is nice. I spend most of the day putting out fires other staff members start or trying to get our subordinate units to follow order as directed. Working with our subordinate units is like having children at daycare, since I have no real amount of authority. You can only punish them for naughtiness so far until you're yelled at by the boss.

I bought a mug and started drinking hot chocolate mixed with coffee. We have lots of swiss miss packets from the DFAC and a hot water heater, so there's no shortage. I also decided to eat a little healthier, since living off chili and turkey sandwiches wasn't really paying the bills.