Life's journey's: Big and small

Tomorrow I set out on a journey that I originally made nearly three years ago.  In 2009 I was selected for Officer Candidate School, drove from Washington to Newport, R.I., and was subsequently injured during training.  They disenrolled me from the program and sent me back to the fleet.  It was a huge emotional letdown for me.

Two years later I was selected for a commission a second time.  This time through the Limited Duty Officer program.  I am heading to Newport again but for a different school and under different circumstances.  I am looking forward to the trip for several reasons.  First, I am planning to make a pit stop in Missouri to see my grandparents, all of whom are getting older and it is important for me to take the opportunity to see them when I get the chance.  I am also excited to see my niece, Macy Painter, who is two years old and who I have never met.  It will be nice to see other folks also but those are the big reasons for hitting Missouri.

I have always enjoyed traveling on the open road.  Yes, driving across the entire country is a daunting task.  Sitting in the car for that many hours can be physically and mentally taxing.  I have my iPod loaded with audio books and I have a camera to stop and take pictures every so often.  I think that this journey will be good for me and help me to reset myself.  I am also excited about the school in Rhode Island and the opportunity to meet new people who are going through the same process of becoming a new officer.

So perhaps you can keep me in your prayers as I journey across the country.

I also had an interesting moment this morning when I was thinking about how old I am now (34) and started thinking about what my own father was doing at this point in time in his life.  He was my age in 1990.  He had five children compared to my two.  It was right around that time that he lost his leg in an accident on the farm.  In my mind my father is always older and wiser than I will ever be and yet I realize that when he was my same age he probably had many of the same worries and concerns that I do and that he always had a lot of additional stresses in his life.  As children we think that our parents are so experienced and that they have all the answers.  As I think about myself and the struggles I have as a parent, a husband, and as a human being, I discover that I gain a new respect for my father.  Not because he actually had all the answers but because I realize more and more that he is human and he must have struggled the same way that I do.  Perhaps not with the exact same issues but in the sense that all men struggle.  I am certain my mother was the same but it is easier for me to identify with my father since we are both men and husbands and fathers.

As I age I begin to compare myself to my father more often, looking at milestone moments in our lives.  When my father was 34, I was 12.  My son is only 8 and I look at him as though he is growing too fast and I don’t know where the years have disappeared to.  I wonder if my father had those same thoughts as he looked at me.  Did he compare himself to his father?

I don’t consider myself to be old and I believe I have many years left in me.  Growing older does cause me to reflect more often on the person I have become in relation to both the person I thought I would be and the person I want to be.  The journey is one filled with the unexpected.

Review: Line Of Fire

Line Of Fire by W.E.B. Griffin

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



So here is the deal with these books by Griffin. I really enjoy the stories. They are about a subject I am interested in. They have likeable characters. They are quick reads and keep you entertained.

My gripes with these books are twofold. First is that they are so poorly edited. I feel as though Griffin was just trying to pump out as many books as possible and sometimes didn't pay much attention to the minutia. Then whoever his editors were didn't really do much editing. Most people probably wouldn't even notice the stuff I am talking about but I am a very detail oriented person. Some of the character attributes get changed from one book to the next. Maybe in book one a character was from Jersey and drove a red 1939 random car. Then in the next book it talks about the same exact guy in the same exact situation driving a green 1939 random car. It is little stuff like this that gets under my nerves. Or, and this is a specific example from this book, there was a guy who went into a bar to get a drink. He pulled out two fives from his wallet and set them on the bar. The bartender told him the drinks were on the house. He picked up the twenty dollar bill and put it back in his wallet. ??? So he put two fives down and picked up a twenty? Silly little mistakes in editing like this start to get to me after a bit.

The second problem I have with these books is that starting with #2 and each one after, he repeats a tremendous amount of material. I am sure he did this so they could be read as stand-alone novels but for someone reading the series from the beginning it is very irritating. Especially when the repeated material is where a lot of those stupid editing mistakes takes place as if he failed to go and look back at the previous book to verify the facts and just tried to recall it from memory.

Anyway, so like I said at the beginning, I do enjoy these books. They are a fun read and the story is great. He is obviously a bestselling author and so millions of people don't care about the stuff I just mentioned, or more likely, don't notice it. I will continue reading his books but because of the above mentioned problems they get bumped down to 3 stars instead of 4.





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Thoughts on a spring day

We are halfway through April.  In 12 days I will be commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Navy.  This is an event that I have been anticipating for a long time.  It is the fulfillment of a major professional goal for me.  I have turned over all my responsibilities on USS SEAWOLF to the guy who was designated to relieve me.  Now I am just hanging out and taking care of the things that need to be done for my ceremony and my transfer to my new command.  It is an exciting time.  I am looking forward to having family come to visit for a few days as a part of this.

Yesterday was gorgeous.  The sun was shining which is is a good thing for my flowers.  I planted them a couple weeks ago when we had some amazing weather.  Then it turned cold again and they appear to be suffering a little.  I am hoping the sun continues to shine so they will flourish.  The kids and I spent some time at the playground and then I spent a couple hours reading outside in the sunshine.  It was a nice day.

I am doing a lot of reading.  I have been skipping back and forth through several different books so I have finished any of them.  Currently I am reading:

Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI
The Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture - The Gospel of Matthew
Theology of the Body for Beginners by Christopher West
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway

I was also selected as a Beta tester for Diablo III.  This is my geek side coming out for sure.  I have been a big fan of the Diablo video game series since it came out about 15 years ago.  The first two games were a lot of fun and this third installment has been highly anticipated by RPG fans for some time.  I don't spend a lot of time playing video games anymore but I am making an exception for this title.

Finally, I am seriously considering moving my blog to a different platform.  I am thinking that blogger just isn't doing it for me anymore.  Too many issues that I don't like and my inner fear that google is controlling the planet.  I am considering moving to Wordpress but need to figure out the logistics of it and if it is worth my time.  I also need to make sure all my old content is still available.

Hope you all have a blessed and happy day.

Matt

Review: Empire

Empire by Orson Scott Card

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I love reading anything by Orson Scott Card because I know that I am going to enjoy it. I also know that he is going to have something to tell me which may or may not be immediately obvious. In the case of Empire it is pretty obvious from the start. The book details a possible future of the U.S. government. When compared to modern day events it doesn't seem too far fetched. Card's book always make me think and I appreciate an author who turns my brain on for a bit.



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Review: The Tailor of Panama

The Tailor of Panama by John le Carré

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



For a number of years I have been hearing great things about John le Carre but had never read anything he had written. I was a huge fan of spy novels when I was younger, particularly Tom Clancy, but had not read much in this genre for some time. I was a little disappointed after so much hype about the author.

The story follows a well known tailor in Panama who is recruited by an intelligence agency. The tailor has his own secrets and his "methods" of gathering intelligence have some rather unforeseen consequences. It was a well developed story, however I had trouble connecting with the characters.

It is possible that I simply have lost interest in this genre. I have a couple more of the authors books sitting on my shelf so I will give him one more shot. After that I might be finished with spy novels.



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