2881

So today my new side company won its first contract. We are selling (re-selling) some special forces military stuff to the Air Force. They use it to secure foreign airfields, apparently.

Feeling a bit like Destro today. :)

2882

Cool ElGuapo! Maybe one day they’ll declassify it and you can tell us what it actually is :)

2883

Its obviously a bunch of HISS Tanks.

2884

What decrepit soviet era stuff are you pawning off on our troops? I thought we just did that to Iraq and Afghanistan. I find a bit disturbing that you can get a contract running a side company to re-sell equipment you got from god knows where and apparently know very little about. Welcome to the Military Industrial Complex ElGuapo.

2885

Because we all know our special operations units use decrepit soviet era weaponry.

2886

Yeah, that shit never happens.

Or you know, our troops buying their own body armor or KBR doing shitty electrical work that actually results in the death of US soldiers for entering the infamous combat zone know as “the shower.”

2887

Old article, but it looks like he just now plead guilty.

ElG, get a haircut!

2888

Afghan security forces =/= our special operations units. But hey, you know, its the spirit that counts, right?

No. No it doesn’t.

2889

Yeah, when Devry graduates are training our Marines, someone needs to keep the dream alive! Go DGS!

2890

You’ve moved onto something far different than what was being discussed, so i’m going to give this one to you; I no longer care to argue about the quality of our current weaponry compared to the quality of 50’s Soviet garbage against your blatant hatred of the armed forces. G’day sir.

2891
  1. Flew out to San Diego on Monday for an interview.
  2. Spent an evening at the beach in Del Mar.
  3. Took a train to Van Nuys from SD for another interview a day later.
  4. Visited West Hollywood and interviewed with some cool folks there.
  5. Flew out from Burbank that evening at 7pm into San Jose, and while waiting in the security line I turned around and was face to face with John McCain. It was odd. I voted for Obama and I didn’t really know what to say, so I just kinda nodded briefly and said “Sir.” Then everyone else realized who he was and everyone wanted pictures taken with him, which ended up royally pissing off the TSA because it was holding up the line, and then once they realized they had John Mofucking McCain in their airport they made EVERYONE go through that crazy particle accelerator-nude-scanner thing.

Managed to get a shaky iPhone shot of him though before passing through security:

…and a bonus pic of the San Diego skyline at 7am as seen from the Amtrak station:

Oh and my week isn’t even over yet! Saturday I’ll be on the beach all day in Santa Cruz with hometown friends, then coming back to SJ, and Sunday morning flying back out to Jacksonville, FL, with a layover in Vegas. All of this amounts to the most interesting things that’ve happened to me since I lost my job 5 months ago.

2892

No, I never said anything about the general state of our weapons. How does concern over the quality of what’s being resold to the Air Force by a guy with a side company that demonstrates very little knowledge of what he’s selling, translate into a “blatant hatred of the armed forces?” ElGuapo is basically a military pawn shop. ElGuapo is not Destro, he’s this guy…

My brother is a defense researcher* (and technically a contractor now I think since he’s retired from the Navy), another brother of mine served in the Navy as well, two of my uncles served in the military (though unsure of the branches atm), and my grandfather was a bomber pilot in WW2. I don’t hate the armed forces by any stretch.

Jesus dude, did you even read what I said?

Btw, the soviet era ended in 1991.

*Well, manages defense research I think. He has so many degrees it makes my head spin and he can’t talk about what he does other than he kinda sorta works for the NSA maybe…

OMG, I didn’t see this.

I won’t say government; you probably voted for Obama.

Ooooohh burn, DGS. I’ll be feeling that for weeks!

2893

So you saw John McCain before you entered the security point? So if someone had a gun, they could have killed him on the spot? What kind of security do we have for our Senators anyway? (Don’t even THINK ABOUT picking and choosing among Senators who should or shouldn’t have security, btw).

2894

He was alone, in the security line, in the airport, standing directly behind me. I watched him walk by my terminal gate completely by himself, no escorts, no security, no nothing. No entourage or anything. I did notice that some of airport security moved into more strategic places, spaced pretty evenly around the terminal (Burbank airport is pretty small) after McCain passed through, but I think that was their own judgment call, not a request by McCain or anything.

But, yeah, if someone had a gun and wanted to shoot McCain, they could have done it right there. It was before we had even passed through the security checkpoint.

edit:

  1. I had my name changed on the forums from “Scry” (my gamertag) to my real name.
2895

Damn, why all the hate for Destro? Destro loves you baby.

2896

Fixed.

No offense, but I think its a legitimate point of concern when some guy gets a contract for what he describes as side business as a reseller of weapons to the US government. I know you’re rich and all and can retire right now if you want, but that doesn’t really change anything. Throughout the entire war our procurement methods have seemed to have systemic problems (tons of money lost to contractors both in Iraq and Afghanistan), fraud, and abuse.

And then to have that expressed concern shoved in my face as an example of my supposed hate for the armed services (not by you though)… god, that pisses me off, so I was a little more snarky than the evidence warrants about your side business. Though, you’re still war profiteer. Somebody’s got to do it, but it’s a tainted job with a set of inherently perverse profit incentives.

It’s not the kind of thing I’d want to brag about.

2897

Every Destro needs his Zartan, see if you can get a weapons-training contract, preferably handgun-centric. No promises on the accent or supplying additional Dreadnoks.

H.

2898

Saw a shark while out snorkeling… about a 6 footer.

Ocean has been extremely clear lately, great visibility. Very unusual for the area. So I went snorkeling after work yesterday just to relax and swim around my local beach and finally see what is down there. I was in the channel; about 6 - 8 foot deep; between the near and outer sand bars when I saw what had to be a shark turn and swim away from me. I’m guessing 6 foot long and pretty chunky. My first alarming thought was that it definitely was not a leopard shark (most common inshore shark to see) as they are a very skinny, almost whiplike shark and typically run a bit smaller. Plus they have quite distinctive leopard-spot markings. Mine was simply dark on top, lighter underneath. Which meant I’m not sure what it was. Oh, and a swimmer reported being bitten by what they described as a 6 foot shark a few miles from here over the weekend. But I lived to tell the tale so I got that going for me. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

2899

But if it was his full business because he had no other job then it’d be ok? WTF??

2900

Did the rock wall climbing again today. I did better but I’m still not strong enough to get over the out croppings so I can’t go too far. Almost though. And my strength is definitely improving…