The Life and Times of Adam Hinds

Well I’ve been on deployment now for just over a week, so I wanted to give a bit of an update on how things are going. It’s starting off rocky, which I suppose is to be expected. We are all trying to find our niche and get everything the way it needs to be, make the boat “our’s” and get used to being on deployment. One in-deniable factor (which is a real drag on morale): it’s fucking hot. OH MY GOD IT’S SO HOT. You can’t even walk outside without getting soaked in sweat. Talk about having to adapt to your environment. But that is making me want to drink more water instead of Pepsi or Fanta, so there is a positive side. We’re preparing for our first patrol and everyone is nervous. At least I’ll get to wear desert cami’s. Overall I would say this: things probably couldn’t be worse right now, but they are starting to look better. That’s all I can say thus far without breaking operational security.

Oh yeah one more thing: I blew out my power adapter for my X-Box because the adapter only takes 100V and over here the voltage is 240V. DOH!

Alright. I know I’ve been purposely avoiding the topic for some time now with just about everyone from my wife to my family to my best friends, but fuck it. I need to get this off my chest. Last night the wife and I were talking about going to church today since it would be our last chance to go till I get back from deployment. We eventually agreed we should go and decided we would go to the same church Glenn & I used to sometimes go to (East Coast Baptist). Well this morning we didn’t go because I didn’t want to. The truth is, I have no desire to go to church. There are a number of reasons for this. Some are too personal to mention on an open forum such as my blog, but I’ll express a few reasons for your entertainment.

For one, most people that go to church act no differently than anyone else outside of church. They just put their fake-ass “everything’s okay” mask on when they’re in that building, then right outside you can find that same person cursing their child out for slamming the car door too hard. I know this is probably a broad generalized accusation but it seems more and more accurate the more I observe.

For two, there are too many differences in denominations that just piss me off because they are so petty, but because their members insist that their way is the only way, they make a big fucking deal about it. Two examples of theses: styles of music (a cappella vs. instrumental, traditional vs. modern) and baptism (which style is the right one, and is it required for entry in heaven). There are a thousand and one more I could mention, but this is already long enough a blog as it is.

Three, which goes with number two, is that all these people are so stuck in their ways, to the point that they can’t accept anyone who sees even one fucking thing differently than them, whether that topic be religious, political, social, or anything else. Mainly though, I’m referring to interpretation of the Bible.

These are a few (not all by far) of the reasons I decided to put a hault on my desire to become a youth minister. At one point I thought it was my calling. Now I am not so sure. I’d hate to get stuck in a field such as religion where everyone is constantly judging your every action. Buster, if you’re reading this, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

Now don’t get me wrong, I do believe in most general Christian principals, but I believe most Christians read to much into it and are way too judgmental of each other, especially when they themselves are completely incapable of fulfilling their roles and responsibilities. So I don’t see the need or have the desire to attend church and associate with these people. It just seems like it’s more trouble and drama than it’s worth.

In closing, I have nothing against the Christian faith itself, because I do follow it to a certain degree, I just have a huge problem with the two-faced assholes who claim they follow it the the “T” and turn around and will stab you in the back at the first sign of hardship, trial, or conflict.

Congrats! You are now downloading the entire internet. Oh what’s that? Hard drive too small? Oh that sucks.

Was that fun or what?!

I’ve heard Microsoft is going to (or already has) discontinue production on Windows XP in support of their failing OS Windows Vista. In light of this news, I have a (not so) shocking announcement to make myself. As of today I will discontinue my compatibility with Microsoft products (save X-Box 360). This means all my friends and family out there who want my help fixing their broke computer, forget about it. Get a mac. I hate to be so cold, but I can no longer help you fix your broken computer and therefor encourage you to continue using that 5 year old Dell laptop. Instead I offer this advice: if you’d just get a mac, you wouldn’t have a broke p.o.s. to try and fix in the first place. Remember. Once you go mac, you never go back. Or at the very least, install Linux (I recommend the Ubuntu distribution) on your computer over Windows. After all, Linux is free. Alright. I’m done ranting. For now. Good night.

So I was a little bored earlier and was thinking … what if there was a MySpace for dogs? What would that look like. So being the genius I am, I googled it. Sure enough, someone else beat me to the punch. I found MyDogSpace.com, which is indeed a MySpace for dogs. So I created my adorable dog Willie an account. See it here!

This past weekend while in Tennessee we took these pictures. As you can see we went bowling, had a watergun fight, and Donny and I went to the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, KY. Below is a video of the watergun fight.

There are four engineers traveling in a car. One is a mechanical engineer, one a chemical engineer, one an electrical engineer and the other one an engineer from Microsoft.

The car breaks down.

“Sounds to me as if the pistons have seized. We’ll have to strip down the engine before we can get the car working again,” says the mechanical engineer.

“Well,” says the chemical engineer, “it sounded to me as if the fuel might be contaminated. I think we should clear out the fuel system.”

“I thought it might be a grounding problem,” says the electrical engineer, “or maybe a faulty plug lead.”

They all turn to the Microsoft engineer who has said nothing and say. They ask him, “What do you think?”

“Well, I think we should close all the windows, get out, get back in, and open the windows again.”

My friends, wife, and I recorded this video in Nashville, Tennessee on July 4th, 2008. Happy birthday, America! I had originally recorded the fireworks show in it’s entirety to post, but my wife (whom shall remain nameless) recorded over it.

PS: This video does contain language that may be offensive to anyone with hearing capabilities. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Yesterday the wife and I were out shopping at the local mall when we went into the pet store and saw this adorable dog. We couldn’t resist. Say hello to Willie #2, or just Willie for short. Yes, we will be bringing him along to our trip to Tennessee.

As part of my attempt to be personally fully prepared for a sixth month deployment to “da gulf”, I went out last night and (finally) picked up a iPod speaker set. After much debating with myself between several models and testing each one extensively using my iPod and playing several different styles of music on each player to see how it would sound, I decided on this Logitech Pure-Fi Anywhere speaker set. I had been intending on picking one up for about a year now, I just hadn’t really needed it. Now that I have it, I don’t know how my iPod lived without it. It even came with adapters for different iPod sizes, a remote control, and a sweet case so it doesn’t get hurt in my backpack on the plane. Good stuff.