| Enlightened Visitor#: |
| Cool Ass Links: Fish: Ribbala! Fischer! Fishface, one of my buds in GTMO, Schula: Website of good friend Jeff, lots of good links and insights into music, some politics, and life. Squeak: Website of good friend, so named for Squeak Scolari, of the children's movie Baseketball fame. Snopes: This website should be mandatory for all college students, at least it would cut down on forwards. It debunks all urban legends. HillZoo: Informative and lighthearted take on all things on Capitol Hill. Check out "Whine and Dine." J.Miller: Military Police LT in Iraq, we used to work together. US Army: America's "Force of Choice." The Onion: Humorous "newspaper" with tongue-in-cheek articles Mazda RX-7 R2: Car that I used to own, Caveat Emptor! The White House: Website of the Executive Office of the President, my former place of employment, and my future residence. News of the Weird: Funny column I started reading at SUNY at Buffalo, check out the archives. Military Police Corps: My job, one of the three most versatile, professional and deployed branches in the Armed Forces today. Washington Semester Program: Great idea to get to DC, if interested and within the academic consortium, do it! Best semester I ever had. Joint Task Force 160 (JTF-160): Shows what is going on down in Cuba, a sanitized version that's issued by the Army Public Affairs Office. |
| Interesting to me: I am interested in politics, books, running, working out, art, bars etc.. I love outdoor sports and anything that stimulates the intellect. I also love Washington DC. It is an eclectic mix of liberal and conservative thinking, and one of the only places in the country where you have to watch what you say about public figures because they may actually hear you. Favorite Authors: Kurt Vonnegut, Nelson DeMille, James Joyce, Tom Clancy Least Favorite Authors: John Steinbeck, Herman Melville Favorite Movies: Point Break, The Last of the Mohicans, Good Will Hunting, Rounders Favorite Musicians: DMX, Fiona Apple, LL Cool J, New Order, The Cure, Lenny Kravitz, The Smiths, Bjork, Outkast, Tom Petty Places I've Lived (defined as residing in one place for 30 days or more) in chronological order: Rochester, NY; Fort McClellan, AL; Buffalo, NY; Alexandria, VA; College Park, MD; Fort Stewart, GA; Hunter Army Airfield, GA; Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Fort Benning, GA. Best Jobs I've Had: US Army, Military Police Officer; The White House, Public Liaison; New York State Attorney General's Office, Consumer Fraud; Institutional Shareholder Services, Account Manager Best Places to Visit: Venice, Italy; Heidelberg, Germany; Washington DC; Orlando, FL; Stony Brook State Park, NY; Adirondack State Park, NY; Burlington, VT |
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| Am I that void, That even the senseless, Pursues to feel joyed, By filling the breathless? |
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| Myself and bud "Philthy" Phil. That glazed look on our faces is due to alcohol poisoning, a means by which Cuba is better tolerated (more socially acceptable than heroin). |
| Me, Adam (right hand raised) and Phil on the Banana Boat. Building in the background is JTF160 HQ. |
| Copyright 2004 James R. Snoddy |
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| I tried to crack Mark's back on Hospital Cay in Guantanamo Bay. (Mar 2002) |
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| Lucky You! |
| Adam, Jimmy and I at The Sign of the Whale, M St, NW Washington, DC on Jimmy's 21st birthday...He did not make it much further than this...(Sep 2002) |
| Wendy and I at The Old Ebbit Grill, 15th St, NW Washington DC. It was the Oyster Riot, a smoker of a party held at a long time DC saloon, the Old Ebbit Grill. (Nov 2002) |
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| My buddy Jimmy Bush and myself, drinking Heinie's in Vicenza, Italy.(Jun 1999) |
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| Pictures of a Wasted Life! Just kidding mom... |
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| Josh, Anita and I at Panama City Beach, Florida. (Mar 2003) |
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| JImmy, Laurie, and I at our Hawaiian Party at the house. (March 2004) |
| Sarah and I at our local dive directly after the LSAT's, and directly before her "Fuck the LSAT's party" at the house. (January 2004) |
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| My step-dad, sister, brother-in-law, mother at Heather and Tim's wedding. |
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| My dad and I at commissioning, 5/20/04 at the University of Maryland, College Park. Go Terrapins! |
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| Jimmy, Brian, myself, and Stever at Lupo's Steakhouse. This was my last night "out" in College Park before leaving for beautiful Fort Benning. |
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| Wilson, Paape1, Jimmy, Paape2, Heather, Holly and I at my house the night before graduation doing what we do best, shots. Blitzed! |
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| Right: Katie, Matt, Nick, me, and Drew at The Tap, Columbus, GA. Pretty cool place, pictures of naked girls pretty much everywhere. People kept telling me that I had gum on my hat...No shit...I was saving it for later. Bottom right: Me at Bowie State Univ., playing Billy Bad-Ass. Bottom left: Wilson and I at my house after my commissioning/college graduation. One of the best days ever. |
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| Ruts are tough, but without them, would you appreciate the peaks? They are better than valleys, and more secure than the heights. There's no falling out of a rut, there's only climbing out of it. You could dig it a little deeper to make it a trough, but you wouldn't be able to make the distinction very well. Human nature dictates that when something is going well, you'll think about how something is going to fuck up your good thing. Then, when things are going poorly, you can only think about the next thing to save yourself from the low. Humans need to embrace what is going on now. Have goals and aspirations, of course. But do not focus on them as the end all beat all of your existence. When you're constantly looking ahead for the thing that will make you complete, you tend to miss out on the things that you have now. For instance, when I was in high school all I could think about was getting to college. When I was in college, all I could think about was graduating. When I was working, all I could think about was that better job, hotter girl, kick ass car, more friends, more money, etc. I never once stopped to consider the stars, except when I was piss-drunk on an evening walkabout. It sounds so cliche, but look around more often, and not always in front. Consider what's to your right and left, and of course, behind you. When I remember my past, it seems so great and colorful. Then I think back a bit and remember how fucking miserable I was because I was only looking to the "bigger and better." Well shit, son, you've had the bigger and better, and you didn't realize it. But that's ok, because no condition is permanent. I have had quite a go at life and I regret close to nothing. Sure, we make out mistakes, but, fuck it, you're young-only once. I, for one, can't wait to see what happens next. -jrs |
| Atlanta, Orlando, Montgomery, San Diego, Los Angeles, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and Tijuana So, Christmas Break was a blast. Eight cities in 16 days. Christmas was family time on the East Coast, but New Years, New Years was all about the party. I got to San Diego on the 27th and proceeded to tear the ass out of Mission Beach, CA. Wilson's house is located on "The Strand," a strip of land with the Pacific on one side and Mission Bay on the other. Once the debauchery was taken care of for the time being, I got used to my surroundings. SoCal is brimming with hot women, natural beauty, and traffic. Wilson and I decided to sneal up to LA to get a feel for where we wanted to spend NYE. We did dinner at Mel's Diner in Hollywood and "poked" ;) around Beverly Hills a bit. I definitely dig the LA and San Diego vibe. I almost can't believe that I've spent 25 years living on the East Coast. I'm seriously thinking about relocating to the West permanently. I got to take a tour of the Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier John C. Stennis. Let me tell you, the Navy lives a hell of a lot better than we do. Officers get private "staterooms," their own area of the ship, first class dining, flat screen TV's in their lounges, email, cable etc. I definitely joined the wrong branch of government service. But it's ok, because I have this moral majority: I'm a fucking bad-ass. Well, that doesn't exactly make it worth it, but it certainly helps. On the 30th Aaron made it into town and we went to a hole-in-the-wall joint that night with a few friends in San Diego. On the all important New Years Eve Day, we had no idea where we were going to go...it was a toss-up between Rosarita, Mexico; LA; Lake Tahoe; and Las Vegas. We whittled it down to Vegas or LA, and decided on Vegas. It was a last minute decision, but we were able to get a room at Luxor (the big pyramid hotel.) The Vegas Strip was out of control. It fell somewhere on the out of control spectrum as below New Orleans, but ahead of Costa Rica. People getting fucked up, taking hits, fighting, gambling, anything you wanted as a human was there. Wilson was going around yelling to everyone that he was a Plastic Surgeon. Then he offered to give some hotties breast implants. After their reaction, Wilson decided to become a Navy Seal who had lost his team. Shauna, an actual doctor, ended up passing out shortly after midnight. Boo. The casino was cool, but I didn't gamble much, given the "incident" some years ago. We had a pretty good time and ended up drinking moonshine with some girls from Utah. I figured that they must be reformed Mormons to be doing the things they were, and was 100% correct! I can spot a sinner a mile away. Vegas looked a lot better than New Orleans did at dawn. Tijuana was crazy, given that we started in San Diego. We met some girls in SD and drank with them for a while. At 2am the bars closed and we were looking for an after-hours. Well, Wilson decided to tell us all that he was taking us to some place down the road. When we ended up in Mexico, we sincerely doubted his intentions. Unfortunately there were no donkey shows at the hour we had gotten there, so we had to content ourselves with going to one of the clubs in TJ. The clubs there are fucking insane. Hookers, Mexicans, Americans, just a huge cross-section of people looking to get something satisfied. Kristin and I danced until about 5am. I haven't danced at all since Costa Rica, and have never danced this long before. Just not really my thing. Wilson, Mike, and Jackeline hung out. We lost Aaron during the night, but found him in the arms of a hottie senorita later...He didn't even realize he was lost, and quite frankly, wanted to stay lost. I couldn't blame him. The night progressed, and progressed well. I was not a happy camper to have to get out of the bed I was in to catch a flight back to hell. |