A new Computer

Linda bought me a new computer for Christmas. I decided to go with Linda's recommendation, and go with a HP. It has a camera and everything. Now all I have to do is get all my software loaded. I'll see if I can take a picture of me and post it here.

Fuzzy Wuzzy

I decided to get my hair cut today. I'm mailing the remains to "Locks of Love" where they use donated hair to make prosthetic hair pieces for children who lose their hair due to medical reasons, usually chemo-therapy. I will be starting school next week, and figured I might end up crawling around under an airplane. The way my hair is when I tie it back in a pony tail, it ends up looking almost like this picture by the end of the day. When I was skydiving all the time (several years ago, when the cold didn't bother me as much as it does now) I used to cut my hair in what I called a "skydiver cut." None of my hair could reach my eyes when I cut it like that. I don't have any old photos of what it looked like, but it wasn't nearly as long as it was earlier today. This is a little over three years growth. The last time I cut it, I buzzed it off in preparation for doing "NBC Training" before going to Iraq the first time I went over there. In case you are wondering what "NBC Training" is, it is training to learn how to put on equipment used to protect yourself from a "Nuclear, Biological, or Chemical" attack. When I did the training the first time around, I did mine on Saturday, and watched the other half of our group do theirs on Friday. As I watched people donning and removing their gas masks, I thought it might be very uncomfortable with my long hair. I was also concerned about the heat, and the sand. I figured it would be uncomfortable in the heat, and a lot of work to keep clean, so the easiest way to solve that problem, along with the possible discomfort in donning and removing the gas masks for the training was to whack it off. I buzzed it. There were people I had sat next to for several days that did not recognize me after I cut my hair. This time around, I decided the sand wasn't that bad, and I would deal with the heat when it came time to deal with it, and there were a lot of women who had hair longer than mine, and they didn't buzz their hair off, so I kept it. Lately, my hair has been in the way when I get out in the wind, so I decided it was time to do something. Also, since I am job hunting, it might be easier to pass an interview if I don't look like an old hippie, since I am in the middle of Conservative America. During the time I worked at GuitarCenter.com, I felt like I looked pretty conservative, even with the long hair. In this photo, you can also see the back of my hair in the mirror, and it was pretty long.

This is the view of my four pony tails from the back.You can see the reflection in the mirror, and the two side pony tails hide the two rear ones when viewed from the front.

This is what my hair looked like after the pony tails were cut off, and before it was "styled."

This is the finished product. The lady who cut my hair was great fun. She thought it was great I had wanted to do pictures before and after. If you want to donate your hair to "Locks of Love" you can go to Great Clips, and they will tie your hair into a pony tail, or four in my case, and cut your hair for free. It is the policy of Great Clips to do free hair cuts on these deals. I didn't realize it, but the back of my head, next to my neck, my hair is still brown for about the lower two inches. The rest is very grey. It sucks getting old, but at least, I'm not getting bald also.