Every dog has his day. . .FINALLY!

You are looking at Costello, the Alaskan Malamute who has taken best in show for the 2006 AKC Eukanuba dog show. What a specimen! I mean look at the neck, head, chest, and massive paws of this stud. This is no small honor for the behemoth dog. He took home near $80,000 in awards and prizes. He is the first dog in the history of the show to take home ALL the top honors single "pawed" And not only did he take best in show, but he also resoundingly won the viewer's choice award too! Incredible.

Why am I making such a big deal about this? I am a big dog lover. Currently I have three of them mooching their existence off of me, including. . .yep you guessed it; an Alaskan Malamute.





This is Kodiak. Sorry about the photo, I pulled it off of a low res video, and he was moving, so it's a bit blurry. He's eight years old, and one hundred and sixty pounds of teddy bearish, snuggling, fur-shedding, affection. This is a great breed, despite the wolfish appearance. Very loving gentle giants, who can get serious if the situation calls for it.

Anyway, cheers for Costello! I have been waiting for a Malamute to win for a long time.

The Great American Hero!

Well, you are looking at him. A classic G.I. Joe action figure like I remember him from my childhood of the 80s. What a great toy. My brother and I had several G.I. Joes including vehicles, and played with them constantly. Other kids were into He-Man, or Star Wars, but for me and my brother it was G.I. Joe all the way! I loved how when you bought a new action figure, the back of the package would have a little profile on the character. His age, birthplace, specialties, and how he came to join the Team. I was especially proud of Alpine, the expert G.I. Joe mountaineer, because he was born in Idaho, and that's where he learned to climb so good.

Now that I'm grown and have a son of my own, I have regretted that G.I. Joe seems to have fallen from his former grace. I don't know how or why it happened, but sometime in the 90s the toys began to decline. The scuplting, and imagination that went into the characters didn't seem up to snuff. The vehicles got more and more ridiculous. The ultimate sin was when they started making honorary team members out of celebrities like Mr. T. The utlimate being a figure of Refrigirator Perry of the Chicago Bears, weilding a steel football attached to a chain. This was the clap of doom to the great traditions of G.I. Joe in my mind.

Now the reason for this post. I have often wished that someone would come out with a similar toy like the old G.I. Joe, so that my kid can enjoy the same fun that I had. Yeah, there are some cheap knock offs out there, and some honestly, aren't too bad. But last night, as I browsed the toy aisle with my kids, all my fantasies came true when I saw the resurrection of my old hero. There he was not only in his former glory, but in glory to surpass my wildest expectations. The G.I. Joe Sigma 6 series action figure. Eight inches of fully posable, well made, studliness.






I am so glad to see this revival in coolness. In fact I might have to buy a few of my own. ( just for collectable purposes of course )

I might have to start with one of my favorites, Snake Eyes.





Isn't he so COOL?



GOOOOOO JOE!!!!!

Accountability

I did something today that I haven't done in a few months. Something that I've come to believe is vital to my own success in achieving my personal fitness goals.

I weighed myself.

Yep. That's right. I have been ignoring the scale for the last few months. Mostly because I knew it had nothing good to tell me. So, like an Ostrich with its head in the sand, I walked past the scale every day, refusing to acknowlede it.

This morning I realized that by ignoring the scale, I wasn't holding myself accountable for my life style. As long as I didn't step on the scale, I would never really know how bad I'd been lately. I realized that if I'm ever going to achieve my desires, then I have to hold myself accountable.

For now on I will weigh myself once a week, and force myself to behold the consequences of my actions for the week, whether they be good or bad. I think this could be one of those things that might give me just that little extra boost of will power to overcome the little temptations that come my way during the week. That donut might be less appealing if I know I have to confront myself on that scale in a few more days. Or it could give me the motivation to get that work out in that I'm thinking about skipping. I will say to myself, " you don't want to just weight the same as you did last week do you?"

This week I got in two workouts while at work. Nothing major to report. Some weight lifting, some running etc. I didn't go too hard, as I am just getting back into a routine. I will gradually increase the intensity as time goes on. My new goal is to work out at home on my days off more often, not just while at work. My major goal this week is to workout on my birthday to help counter the cake and ice cream coming later that night. I mean it IS my birthday after all. I'll be 33.

No paintball news so far, as we are still under a blanket of snow.

Rethinking The Spec Ops Positions

After a little thought, I am wondering if it would be a mistake to follow the Specops positions too rigidly. Don't get me wrong. I still like the idea of positions, but I think having certain players locked into certain roles might not allow for the flexibility that I'd like to see on my team.

Here are the positions and how I feel about them currently

COMMANDER - I think out of all of them, this position is the most neccessary. Even if you intend to do nothing else, I think it would be pure foolishness not to elect a commander for the team. So for now that one stays.

Sniper - I'm up in the air on this one. I hate to see someone so locked into this position that they aren't capable of anything else should the need arise. I'd like to see more what I call a sharp shooter. Someone who has the basic ambush, observation, and technical shooting skills as a sniper, but his equipment is such that he can step up and switch to something else in a second without being limited by his gear, ammo and gun. In short. I'd love the whole team to be able to assume this postion, and unassume it at any given time.

DAGGER - This is supposed to be a light weight, hard charging forward guy. It should be played by someone of a smaller frame, quick, and in good shape. according to Specops, he should always be found at the fore front of the fight mixing it up in an aggressive fashion. I guess I have no problem with this position. Except again, I would rather see someone that can play this, but when the situation calls for it he can settle down, or play back when needed. Or be sent on a stealth mission instead of something in your face. But, having someone who's willing to play this aggresively would be nice.

SABRE - this is the medium rifleman. In my opinion this is the foundation of the team. This is what everyone on the team should be capable of playing. A whole team of Sabres that can switch to sniper or dagger and back out again when they want would be fine with me. These are the guys who get the job done through the use of good team work and solid common sense tactics.

BROADSWORD - This is a heavy rifleman. not as mobile as the Sabre. He carries a lot ammo and grenades and is not afraid to use them. He should be laying down a lot of supressive fire, keeping the enemy at bay. This is ok, I guess. I would rather just take a Sabre or two, and alott them more ammo, and call upon them for cover fire when needed. No need for a specialized position here.

HAMMER - The only thing seperating a Hammer from a Broadsword, is a special gun you have to buy from Specops, that is capable of firing off 30 rnds a second. So, in my opinion this is a luxury position, not a necessary one. If I had a player willing to go out and by the Hammer gun, then yeah sure that would be fine with me.

Anyway, I am not trying to cast a bad light on Specops. I like the basic idea of positions. But, I think each team needs to tailor those positions to fit their own needs.

For me, I see us all mostly being a bunch of Sabres with mabye one or two guys willing to run up front as daggers, and a couple of guys packing more ammo to lay down lots of fire when needed. And everyone on the team being well skilled in ambush, camoflauge, and flanking like a sniper. Basically a bunch of Sabres who can adapt their tactics and style fluidly from situation to situation.

That's the team I think we should be trying to achieve.



A side note. I used to get comments when I talked about other stuff. Hmmmmm must not be anyone out there who cares about paintball. :(