And the award for The Blog Most Likely To Make You Get Off Your Ass And Live A Little goes to Andrew S.

Having said that...

I think there is always something more to learn. Never has this been more apparent than as I watched Starship Troopers tonight.

Some of the fun new facts included:

1. Getting impaled will provide temporary discomfort but not hinder your movement

2. Human beings can indeed outrun most types of explosions.

3. Nuclear hand grenades are not only possible, but practical as well.

4. Medics can fix anything.

5. Everyone gets to say at least one line before they die. (The very last word may or may not be cut off.)

6. There is a zone around the main characters that great attention must be paid to: Too far out of this zone equals death, but too far into this zone also equals death. If you're not a main character, you're best bet for survival is to be the friend of the guy who carries the communications radio.

7. Regular missions equal death. Suicide missions do not.

8. Guns don't kill people. Hell, those guns can't seem to kill anything.

9. Asteroids are always a complete surprise to everybody.

10. As a matter of fact, absolutely nobody "would like to know more."

Fun military fact about myself: During our final 3-day field exercise, I volunteered to carry the communications radio on my back. The damn thing weighed about thirty pounds, plus I still had to carry all the rest of my gear.

Why volunteer?

Because I thought it looked cool. The radio had this really long antenna that stuck up out of the top that was supposed to look like a really, really long blade of grass. It would wave madly around everytime I moved.

I thought it was hilarious. I could picture the enemy surveying the terrain...

"See anything suspicious out there?"

"Nope."

"What's that thing moving through the trees?"

"Oh, that's just that really, really long blade of grass going out for a morning stroll."

"And does that seem normal to you?!"

"Well yeah, it's been doing it a lot lately. Why do you ask?"

When we returned from the field exercise, I learned that in every other platoon the person who carried the radio had all their other gear carried by other soldiers.

Because you know, you're not supposed to carry the radio and all the gear; that would just be crazy.

In Luis News:

I stayed with Luis in the hospital most of this morning and up until I had to go to work in the afternoon to give my mom a break to go home and shower and stuff.

The boy is fine.

Everyone has been acting like he's dying or something, which is frankly very annoying. Donaldo is flying down from Georgia to come see him (some Red Cross program that flies soldiers out when their family is ill) so that's a plus.

Luis went in for surgery to seal the opening left by the recent removal of his gastro-intestinal feeding tube.

The surgery went longer than scheduled. The boy is also having difficulty breathing due to some fluid in his lungs.

He's in his own hospital room where he has a DVD player and they brought in a PlayStation 2 for him to play. He can order room service. He has cable television. He has nurses (cute nurses) doting on him.

It's rough, I know.

His treatment is basic: oxygen and pain-killers. The reason he is there is primarily observational.

Oh well, at least my other younger brother will be around for a few days, so that'll be fun. I may even have to have a drink.