Off Topic: We’re back!

Jan25

One of the questions I get the most when people find out I’m retired from the Air Force at such a young age is “Do you miss it?” I can honestly say that I don’t. I have a lot of things going on, raising kids, blogging here at Frank’s Place, trying to get a book published, etc… that I don’t really miss it after 22 years of service. Every once in a while I miss certain aspects of it, and that usually stems from running into guys or girls I served with and start tripping down memory lane.

One of those trips down memory lane prompted me to move my political blogging that I used to do here, to a new site with an old friend from my Air Force days, Tony Hupp. It’s called Unfiltered and Unfettered: The World Explained – by Us. It’s politics, but it’s a lot of social and cultural stuff too.

There you can read Tony’s take down of the ridiculous 32oz soda ban in NY, Tony’s take down of the word police and political correctness, Tony’s take down of the haters attacking Victoria Secret ads and lingerie shows. In short, aggravate The Tony at your peril. Oh, I did a pretty decent, (if I do say so – and I do), takedown of PETA.

Tony and I met as instructors at the Noncommissioned Officers Academy in Knoxville Tennessee. After a few years we ended up in the same branch of the Academy doing broadcast work for the Air National Guard’s Warrior Network. It was all about distance learning, live interactive education programs, etc.

Tony was the gold standard of live educational broadcasting and I was fortunate enough to learn from and co-anchor the desk with him for two+ years. We were live on the air four hours a night, two nights a week, for about seven months out of the year. No commercials either.

Live television was the best thing I ever did in the Air Force. Except for that time I got lost in the jungle in Panama and walked into a gorilla’s dumping ground and then got chased by fire ants while I was trying to pee, but that’s a different story.

Well a new trip down military memory lane has spawned a new idea and a new venture.

So it turns out we have both been missing our time on the air, and after my friend Kevin said we should get back to that somehow, we figured out a way. We started a pod cast.

Uh wut?

Yeah man, a podcast!

Tony and I have decided to take to the airwaves. Again.

So live, (well, previously recorded really), from The Monolith, Studio 1B it’s UNfiltered and UNfettered: The World Explained – by Us.

We have mics and everything. see.

The Snowball, from Blue Microphones

Yeah strictly audio…. for now. I’m working on Hupp to get back on TV. We’ll see.

We finished the first show Thursday night, Tony is editing, and it should be posted at our joint blog Unfiltered & Unfettered, Friday or Saturday.

You’ll hear my views on the game with-in the game surrounding the Kerry nomination, our views on the inauguration speech, and a lively debate on Hill-dogg’s Benghazi testimony. Plus some fun stuff too. And that’s just the first episode.

So if you’re tired of reading our stuff, just come for the listen. Then drop us an e-mail at theunmail@yahoo.com and tell us what you thought, think or might be thinking. Comments, questions, debate welcome. We’ll even answer them on an upcoming podcast.

Come back Friday or Saturday and hear what two old, retired, military guys sound like when they complain about everything.

That’s some quality weekend entertainment right there.

Don’t miss it!

Statler & Waldorf or Hupp and Linardo. Who knows?

Statler & Waldorf or Hupp & Linardo. Who knows?

Diary of a Stay at Home Dad: Daddy, I made a dirt!

Jan9

Yeah so we’ve been potty training Frank. Fear not, this post contains no pictures. Tracy wouldn’t let me.

As I said we have been potty training Frank, and it’s not really been going well. He seemed to be completely unaware of when he had to go. He liked sitting on his little Lightning McQueen potty, just not when he was peeing. He saved that for his pants.

He’d walk in the room like John Wayne after a 600 mile horse ride and say, “Daddy I’m soaking wet.” Well Frank that will happen from time to time when you pee nine gallons of apple juice down your leg. Actually he looked more like the old plastic cowboy figures who were molded to sit on a horse.

So it was with complete surprise that I looked on my son the other day when he showed up in the kitchen, naked from the waist down, arms strangely out to his sides like he was about to draw down on me, and exclaimed, “Daddy, I made a dirt! I need some wipes!” The “I need some wipes” shout came with the urgency of a crook trying to clean his prints from a crime scene.

With trepidation I walked around the corner into the bathroom. No need to look, the odor answered all my questions several steps before I got to the door. Well, all but 1 question. Did he hit the target? For that info I had to go in. Fortunately, I guess, he had in fact hit the mark. He might not have been the lead plane of a flight of B-17s over Berlin, but there was nothing on the floor, so there was a small silver lining. However, his Lightning McQueen potty might not ever recover.

What was so confusing was the fact that he had been wearing a diaper.

I had to ask, “Frank where is your diaper?” It’s in the trash, he says. Again, thankfully he got it off before the action started. So it was basically a dry diaper in the trash. Ok no harm there. Now the big question. “Frank, why did you take your diaper off?”

“Dirt was coming out!” “I NEED SOME WIPES!” That in fact, was yelled at me with the attitude of, Dude are you mental, I just pooped, can we do the interrogation after I get cleaned up and put on some pants.

So yeah I was trying to reason with my half naked 3 year old, who had just dropped a #2 in the potty and was demanding wipes so he could clean himself. At that moment, he was the more mature person.

This was the turning point. For whatever reason after days of peeing the hell out of his pants, he decided this moment was the time to start using the potty. He’s been perfect with the potty since. Got the whole routine down to include washing his hands.

The only hangup now is when he’s sleeping. He wears a diaper for naps and bedtime, but if he “makes a dirt”, no matter what time, he gets up, takes off his pants and the diaper, puts the dirty diaper in the trash and yells for some wipes.

It would be hilarious if it wasn’t in the wee hours of the morning.

Wee hours, see what I did there?

Paid Advertisement: Deal Dash – It’s the real deal.

Jan5

Have you ever seen friends on your facebook page show up with a picture like this and the words, “so and so likes…” next to it?

Deal Dash

I have, and now I finally know what it’s all about. It’s from a web site called DealDash.

Deal Dash is a penny auction site, where apparently you must have the patience of a mongoose ready to strike a cobra. It’s a lot like that other site that starts with e and ends with Bay, except it’s more exciting, all products are new, and shipping is free and immediate, not dependent on seller.

Gotta be honest, I had my doubts but I’ve been checking the site out for the last two days, reading the reviews, etc… It’s legit folks. Those deals they have on their home page are real. What I found in the reviews is patience is the key if you want to land those really incredible deals. So time will be as big an investment as your pennies. And it is truly a penny auction. Each bid is a penny at a time. The bids always start at 0.00 American dollars and each bid pushes the price up one penny at a time.

The site has a frequently asked questions tab for some good help before getting started and according to the reviews the support people may be the friendliest on the internet.

So if you have the time and the pennies and like the excitement of winning stuff, take a run at DealDash.

DealDash – If you can’t get to a casino, it’s the next best thing!