So Katie and I decided when I was home that we were done with CDs. It’s basically a dead medium that we both have entirely too much invested into and it’s all going nowhere. It’s consumptive and wasteful now that we can get legal unprotected MP3s from Amazon and Zune Marketplace and elsewheres and we both have Zunes. There’s just no reason to buy CDs anymore.

So I’ve been enjoying the hell out of my Zune and auto-playlists. I’ve got one that is 100 songs I’ve never listened to in random order and it’s great. I can sit here and goof off and when I hear a song I like I’ll mark it as good and when a crap song comes on I’ll mark it such and skip it. And when I’m feeling nerdy I’ve got like 8 podcasts I’m subscribed to so I’ve got some kind of nerds (tech nerds, video game nerds) talking at me and that’s rather fun.

While I was gone someone important’s laptop crapped out and the people in my section gave him mine. No one backed up my stuff for me so I’m pretty sure it’s all gone. That’s a really shitty thing to do. I mean I know they think I do nothing but play games and view webpages on it and that is a lot of what I do but I also believe in seperating work and fun so all my work was on that laptop as well as other unreproducable items and those files are all gone. So lesson learned here, when you leave for a long period of time and you think you’re leaving your work laptop unsecured so other people can get use out of it in your absence, fuck them. Lock it up somewhere and toss the key or take the damned thing with you. Or at least take the hard drive out and stow it somewhere, which has the same effect as leaving behind a paperweight. Because the people you work with don’t give a fuck about work you do that they aren’t benefitting from and no one’s getting points for being considerate around here.

Oh well, enough downers. I want to post huge news but I think I’ll make a new one for it.

There’s nothing more demoralizing than being told you’re an important aspect of the squadron and then being treated like you’re just another body. It just reinforces the notion that I’m on day shift solely to be abused.

Looking back at my most recent entries about work, they’re all negative. I’m not just posting the negatives. I’m posting the extraordinary negatives. When something extraordinarily positive happens, this place will be the first to know but I wouldn’t hold my breath. Until April 21st, 2010.

Original: The Army’s promotion system beyond E-4 is garbage. It is not designed to promote the best people for the job but the ones who play to system’s requirements.

Lots of words ahead that no one will read. TLDR: Working hard won’t get me promoted so I have no desire to work hard.

Promotions to E-5 and E-6 are conducted in two parts, a promotion board appearance and meeting promotion points. In order to get a promotion board appearance you must have at least six months time in grade. You must also be recommended for a promotion board appearance which means your platoon sergeant tells your first sergeant you’re ready to go. In order for him to do that you must prove to him you’re ready and you can be promoted. Part of this is having the minimum number of points to be promoted by the end of the board appearance, which is 350. You get 150 from your commander and (usually) 150 from the promotion board, which means the other 100 you have to come up with on your own.

I’m back on night shift again. It’s making me pretty miserable. I can’t tell whether it’s the rigid twelve hour shift, the lack of meaningful work to do, or because I don’t have anyone to talk to but it sucks. My R&R leave is coming up in two months and really it couldn’t come sooner. I can’t wait to get away from this place.

So let’s see, Katie got me Half-Life 2 Orange Box and it’s pretty much awesome. Portal was short but well worth the price of the whole collection alone. Half-Life 2: Episode 2 is more Half-Life 2 and that’s always needed, and I might not get a ton of playtime out of Team Fortress 2 here but I’ll probably play it some when I get home.

I’m still loving my Zune. About the only complaint about it I can make is the software. It’s Windows Media Player 11 reskinned. I’m more of a Winamp guy. But all it has to do is move music on and off of my zune and it does that so I won’t complain too loudly. There’s a big update coming down on the 12th or 13th that I’m very much looking forward to.

It’s horrible reading the news. What will I be coming home to? A dollar in the shitter. The NSA monitoring all internet traffic. Will DHS even let me leave the plane when I get back? How many times will I be searched going to and coming back from R&R? I won’t be able to vote in the primaries but I’m definitely voting in the election. I think our government needs some big changes and fast.

Timing is such a funny thing. As soon as my last mp3 player meets an unfortunate end, MS announces new Zunes that sound awesome and that they’d release an upgrade to the original Zune that brings it up on all the same features as the new ones.