Ask Madden

yo yo...so I went gun shopping today, went to 5 different stores...most of the stores are very friendly, busy with people especially since Obama started running...girls boys all ages...this one small store i went to had no one in it and the weirdest thing happend

im talking with the guy about certain models and he was showing me this old school gun the german army carried, that he said Hitler issued them..and i am 95% sure he referred to him as "our" leader...i thought maybe i misheard, then another guy came from the back to talk with us too and he had a thick german accent and looked like a bad guy from a Die Hard movie...it was very creepy indeed

the next store the guy was real cool..he's a SD cop/swat officer and carries two guns, one for work and one for personal, and BOTH are the guns jack bauer uses!

i did decide to go for not the one jack has cuz its expensive so starting off i don't want to spend as much...but will def go for it(i actually did a lot of research that didn't involve watching 24)

i decided to go with the springfield xd sub compact

yo yo....another thing that grinds my gears. I read an article yesterday in wall st journal that despite the disproportionate amount of NFL lineman who are obese compared to US average they are just as, actually slightly healthier cardiovascuarly. This is dumb though because they base obesity on the Body Mass Index(BMI). this system of general health tracking is so archaic i can't understand why it's still used anywhere. the BMI is only figured by comparing sex, height and weight, and thats it. so you can have two guys 5'10'', 200 pounds and both will be considered obese....even if one is has 3% body fat and a professional athlete. dumb.

yo yo...today during class the air traffic manager came in to say hi and we talked about Air Force 1 and i got so annoyed. see with air force one when they come in, EVERYONE gets moved out of the way no matter what. and with the way air traffic works, you could have a line of commerical planes coming into los angeles all spaced less than 10 miles apart for hundereds of miles...delays at LA can effect NY and vice versa. anyway, it annoys me that the president coming in 10 minutes early than when they said they'd arrive it can effect traffic for hundereds or thousands of people. wat a douche. he can't suck it up and do his little hand shaking party 10 minutes late to benefit the people? tho it isnt obama specifically, they all do it apparently

yo yo...i just read a book called "Emergency" by Neill Strauss which basically detailed his journey on becoming completely self sufficient and learning how to prepare for anythign when shit hits the fan...i got an email for his newsletter with the top 10 survival myths he recently blogged about, its pretty interesting....they are as follows(well the pdf is password protected so im gonna paraphrase)

1. If stranded in the desert you can get water from a cactus

You probably can only got a couple of drops from one if that, and it will taste bitter and acrid and you'll get cramps and vomit

2. If attacked by a shark punch it in the nose

you're more likely to hurt your hand, punch in gills/eyes

3. If earthquake happens stand in doorway

this was true a while ago when most homes were made weakly w/ wooden doorframes...nowadays door frames are weakest part...instead drop and cover under a sturdy object

4. If a bomb goes off call 911

Avoid using ur cell or radio frequency within vicinity of a terrorist attack, can trigger a secondary device

5. If bitten by snake, suck poison out

You wont be able to suck fast enough, plus gettign it in ur mouth leads to new pathways for it to travel, instead call 911, cleanse wound, keep limb below heart level, wrap in elastic pressure bandage

6. If stranded at sea you can drink ur own urine

Your urine is salty so will decrease dehydration, instead try rainwater, solar stills, turtle blood, fluid from spine or eyes of fish

7. During electrical fire, unplug device immediately

Thats how u get electrocuted, go to circuit box and trip breaker, then call 911 or use class C fire extinguisher

8. Store a gallon of water a day per person for 3-7 days in basement

This is true, but most basements have concrete floors and the reaction between concrete and plastic contaminates the water

9. If stabbed or impaled, pull the knife out

Never pull a knife or object out...call 911, leave it in place and keep it stabilized...only exception is if object is blocking airway or needs to be removed to perform CPR

10. If stranded in cold you can eat snow/ice

This will only lower ur body temperature. When possible melt the snow, boil the water then let it cool before drinking.

bonus: Prayer won't help

Studies of survivors noted a common trait was they all prayed, even if they don't believe in god. The prayer helps to keep one's mind focused and organized, which is what you need in an emergency

you should all read the book, its pretty cool...its written by the guy who wrote "The Game", so its pretty opposite...but its basically like a journal almost of all the things he learned, resources he used, and skills he acquired to be efficient of shit hit the fan(obtainign 2nd citizenship, survival skills, tracking skills, preparing food, combat/gun/knife skills, emergency response, many many things)

yo yo...so i just walked outside to do my laundry and what i thought was a cat scampered by me...except when i looked harder at it i realized it was a small skunk, and such fright took over me...a skunk is probably the scariest animal you can encounter in the wild...i honestly would have rather ran into a bear or a dinosaur...do not mess with skunks

yo yo....so today our main instructor was shootin the shit with us and he mentioned how he lost is medical(atc'ers need to have their medical evals current every year to work traffic, if u lose it u can do other jobs, just not control positions) but didn't specify why...we didnt wanna ask cuz maybe he got sick or soemthing personal(he's in late 40's)...he then told us how he lost it because of mid air collision he was involved with, the story he told us was actually kinda disturbing
he said early in his career, like 3 yrs after he started a disgruntled employee on the plane he was talking to took out a gun and killed the pilot and staff and the plane crashed while he was controlling it...he was taken off position, debriefed, given 15 min break and then asked if he could go back to position. at the time he thought he could handle it but he couldnt...then he said several years ago his wife had a stroke, lost both parents, a friend and another terrible thing all in a very short period and he had a readback error that almost made two f16's collide...after that he said he hung up his headset and said that's enough
he did say he still wishes he could go back every now and then but likes trainign like he is now

yo yo...today i was monitoring a controller and a Virgin plane came in and the pilot was hard to understand....it will be pretty cool though working LAX and hearing people from all over come in.

yo yo...so while at the DMV today getting my license switched i saw a chinese person and a japanese person both taking the written tests in both chinese and japanese. HOW is it legal to give a driving test in another language??!@?!?! its not racist, i just dont know how people can feel comfortable knowing there are people driving that can't read the street signs....then again it IS kinda ironic that it was asians taking the tests in other languages...

yo yo...on an O and A show last week they(+Patrice O'Neal) were all talkin with Greg Giraldo about his substance abuse addiction. He did some pretty hard stuff, but talked about how he started drinking just because he felt so uneasy in social situations that if he would just be like everyone else it'd work. Patrice added in that he doesn't drink and basically said that he doesn't want it to be a social crutch. I felt really good listening to all this cuz all these people that i respect that i always think about how they're probably so cool in social gatherings don't drink...patrice, jimmy, bobby, opie, none of them. Granted Jim Norton and Bob Kelly had serious alcohol problems in their teens but theyve gone their whole adult lives without it, and opie and patrice just don't.
I was at a local supplement store and made friends with the manager. I actually made a purchase i wasn't planning on. Normally I never buy anything without researching reviews on internet, even a pencil, but this man was very nice and knew his stuff. He also gave me a free shirt. Being a very warm and friendly clerk goes a long way.
I want to get scuba certified next month, but today at work one instructor said how a couple friends of his encountered a great white just norht of San Diego while fishing...i crapped my pants
My cable box better get here for idol tonight

yo yo...FINALLY have internet so blogging will be regular now. So we last left off on first day of work. It wasnt very interesting, doing paperwork and such. The people there, training staff, are all REALLY cool. The head of training gave us a huge pep talk before and about how much room for advancement there is and how many opportunities there are and how we're in one of the best positions because of where we're working.
We're supposed to be joining the previous class on monday, apparently they have kinda been doing nothing waiting for us to get there(us being me and another girl from my class). After lunch i plugged in with a controller and observed him. He made me feel good by saying that the sector i was assigned(LA arrivals) is the best sector. He was cool, has 2 labs and cursed a lot and used his phone to show me pics. His supervisor came over and told him about an emergency taht was coming his way which was pretty cool, a plane that just took off from LAX had its landing gear stuck and had hydraulic problems and had to come back.
I moved into my new apt on thursday. Katie Tooma came over and helped me move in which was very nice. After i moved my stuff it we booked to Ikea because they only delivered if u ordered before 2. I spent a billion dollars there. Its fun to pick out furniture, but not when you have NOTHING, then its kinda stressful. Ive been spending most of my time since then putting together furniture, organizing, buying other misc. things i need, food, household products, etc. Its weird when you have NOTHING, you forget the things you dont have, like a garbage can, lights. I JUST finished putting together the last of my furniture, will finish arranging and organizing tommorrow, and will post pics then. My living room will look weird because it will be arranged around the missing couch and TV(must get a tv before tuesday, idol!) speaking of which, since its live, is it on @ 5 here???

EDIT
i forgot another very interesting thing i saw....when i was watching the radar scope there was a little circle maybe 5 miles in diameter, i asked what it was....apparently Joe Biden was in town and they put restricted areas over wherever he is(on the ground) that only lets air carriers fly over it, my guy said "so a terrorist cant go rent a cesna and drop a molitov cocktail on him"

Yo yo...so I'm at the facility now outside eating lunch...it's really cool here...our trainer was telling us how working here in so cal we will be able to transfer anywhere in the country whenever we want because this facility gives us credentials...it's really cool to know that I can go back to new York whenever or go anywhere else
Also I made a friend who has an intersting story ...him and his wife are actors, they lived all over,in ny too and did professional musical theatre... He got tired of moving around and someone in a show with him became a controller so he did too....he actually says there is a lot of theater here In san diego...gotta go back to class!

yo yo...ok so right now im blogging from a library in San Diego...long story, here it goes

Ok, so last i left off i was in Arizona. When i checked into the hotel i thought about how it must suck to work at a hotel thats just a stop in between places. Your use is that people are too tired to get from one cool place to another without sleeping, so they stop in your crappy town. Following that morning i went to the Titan Missile museum. It was pretty cool. Its the only missile silo left from the cold war where they had hydrogen bombs in titan rockets prepared to fire 24 hrs a day. The crew lived inside the silo and what's interesting is the crew never knew what the targets actually were, in order to let them do their jobs easier. They only knew the targets as target 1 2 and 3, tho it was always on target 2. After that i left arizona and kept driving, stopping at matt's big breakfast in phoenix(from DDD). Arizona is actually pretty nice, just damn hot. It was like 105. On the road i passed a sign that said "dust storms may exist for the next 10 miles, visibility may be zero." That was kinda scary, i was trying to think about what i would do if that happend and i couldnt think of a good way to avoid it. If you pull over someone behind you may do the same and smash into you, if you keep going you may smash into someone, pretty much lose lose.
Ok, so now im in California almost into san diego, i texted the guy from craigslist and setup a meet. I got there like almost 9 and met him and toured the place. To be honest it seemed kinda dirty, like the carpets, the room was decent sized, but again carpet was dirty. They had a nice little rooftop deck but was kept up poorly. I think because it was late maybe in the back of my mind i felt pressured because i needed a place so i said lets do it. He had to go so he said we'd do money stuff tommorrow.
The next day i saw the other roommates door open, went to say hi and saw his gf there, she was nice, and said she'd be here like all the time (joy!) and his room smelled heavily of pot. I went to target to get some things and on the way back visited an apartment complex that i had saw online and was planning on visiting but it was too late when i got in, as my backup. I wanted to see if it was as nice as it looked online. I visited and it was very nice. So i decided to make a switch. It will only wind up being like 200 morea month. I immediately got paperwork started, which was very stressful cuz of my time constraint. I had to fake overnight something for my mom(person i lived with past) to sign, had to drive to my work to get an offer letter since i only had 1.5 months of pay stubbs, get utilities turned on, renters insurance, finally got approved and now the place is mine! (i move in tommorrow morning)
Now the awkawrdness. The next morning i called my roommate( he had just left for work when i woke) and told him a fake story about a friend of mine from school who just got a good deal on a 2 BR blah blah. He was cool and understood, since their last roommate dicked them and bounced at last minute they had to cover rent anyway, and i paid them for the week too. The guy and his gf(who seemed to force him to do things responsibly, tho was very nice) felt awakrd about the situation too which was cool. So i was basically tryingt to avoid them and stay in my room and watch 24 while home.
What made me realize it wasn't right was how i thought if friends or family came and visited i'd be embarassed, and that made me realize. They were a little too laid back for me, like they always left the dooropen(the roommate has a big AWESOME boxer/mastiff mix that walks in and out, the house is behind another and his fenced in patio, 4655 bermuda ave in case anyone wants to google earth).
So since i knew i'd be moving i didnt really unpack much, only wat i ONLY needed. The first 2 nights i slept on the floor with a bag of socks as a pillow. Then i got an airbed at target for cheap. Ive been a total transient, and for all you guys who hate awkward situations im sure this makes your skin crawl.
On the plus side when i visited work administrative people there knew my name and all were very friendly and the complex seemed cool, so im excited about that.
Im getting a convertible couch for living room and was at ikea today and found out they DO deliver so thats nice, so tommorrow will be very busy(start work friday). Its weird when you need to furnish with the bare essentials you forget about things you dont have, like a garbage can, cups, forks, its weird. In oklahoma I had all those things, didnt need much of my own, not even soap.
Tommorrow when i setup up comp i'll seeif i can steal internet, otherwise have to get that setup too, so should hopefully be regular on internet soon. So this will be a work in progress. If anyone wants to come visit my address will be 4314 west point loma blvd # A san diego ca 92107, at mariners cove apartment homes(actually a pretty nice place for the price).

anyone have any advice/ideas about mattress?

Yo yo...mobile blog post....I'm in a hotel near Tucson getting much needed sleep/watching 24...mountain time is queer ...I slept 4 hours last night contorted in my car in a wal mart parking lot in Roswell. Roswell was a
Nice small town with alien references
Everywhere which I've always wanted to say I've been to....new Mexico overall is kinda bland....arizona is hot and has really awesome
Rock structures Everywhere...I think I passed an actual slaughterhouse in Texas.....tommorrow
Morning I'm going to the Titan missle museum and then should be in San diego finally in a few hours
Next time you hear from me my hair will be 6 inches longer,I'll be a surfer ,and a
Douche

yo yo...hey can you guys help me pick out a place to eat at from DDD in new mexico or arizona? discuss amongst yourselves, vote in comments

yo yo...so this is my last night here in Oklahoma...im packing and watching 24, tho have to be up mad early for work...we have our last/only run of the day in the afternoon so we have nothing to do all morning, so i loaded up several 24 eps on my phone to watch. After dinner i'm going to leave for Roswell. My plan is to get there, or near there, visit the town, maybe nap, then proceed and spend night somewhere in arizona, and get to San Diego saturday late morning.
Im meeting with a roommate i talked to on the phone to view a house in ocean beach. Its good because its month to month and the rent was already due so i didnt have to send any money beforehand. So if for whatever reason i fell uncomfortable about the situation i can always get my own place.
I start work next friday, so i have plenty of time to get settled. I really dont mind the driving at all...5 o and a eps and im golden. I wish my car was bigger tho, it'd make sleeping easier.
Oklahoma is a pretty neat place if you ever get to visit. I may blog before i get to SD, but otherwise my next blog post will be from there

yo yo...i want another credit card, what's one that has good rewards, better than 1% cash back...btw leaving oklahoma on thursday, have our PV(performance verification) on thursday and leave after...prolly stop at grand canyon along the way...anyone have any ideas on where else to stop(including food)?