My blogs

About me

Gender	Male
Industry	Student
Occupation	Day care worker
Location	East Lansing, Michigan, United States
Introduction	I am currently a student at Lansing Community college. My area of study is currently International Studies. I would like to transfer to Michigan State University. I have grown up in East Lansing and I cannot think of another University that I would rather attend. I have a great niece and nephew who mean the world to me. Spending time with them is great, exhausting at times but worth every moment. I love to run, bike, read and play drums as well. I have a 10 peace pearl set and I have been playing for nine years. I AM an Über history buff/nerd...and proud of it. Similarly I am very interested in the Private Military industry. The trend of outsourcing military functions within the worlds Western military's is fascinating and staggering. Similarly the outsourcing within the humanitarian sector is very interesting. Is the privatization of peace on the horizon? I am also sponsoring a child in Sri Lanka. I have been her sponsor for going on three years now. I became her sponsor when she was in 5th grade and she should be going into eighth grade this year. I love being a sponsor, and I wouldn't replace this for anything.
Interests	I enjoy long distance running (usually between 4-6 miles), biking, hiking, and playing frisbee. Aside from sport type active interests, I love history, photography, spending time with my family. I love hanging out with me niece and nephew; they are extremely funny, and there is never a dull moment with them. Pizza is also on the top of my interest list. Coffee is right up there as well, no morning is the same without it:) I also have a particular interest in the private military and security industry, or the sugar coated version "peace and stability industry". I recently, within the last year, completed an independent study on this subject. For me, the ongoing outsourcing of physical security, logistics and maintenance within the US military, the UN and humanitarian NGO's as well, to private companies is fascinating and staggering. Just as interesting, and worrying, are the prospects for future and complete corporatized military operations. While in many cases this is detrimental to democracy, this scenario is none the less around the corner, in my view. After all as the adage goes..."History repeats itself". It wasn't to long ago, the 1990's in-fact, when a South African firm, Executive outcomes was hired by the governments of Sierra Leone and Angola to defeat the rebel movements within their countries, which they did with mechanical efficiency. So enough with that spiel, maybe I should have left it at: I’m interested in that stuff.
Favorite movies	Ghost busters, Back to the future I, Uncle Buck, The Goonies, Monster Squad, Terminator II, 5th element, Big fish, Tombstone, Gettysburg, Star Dust (laugh if you like), Gladiator, District 9, Pulp fiction, The Matrix, Im sure the list could go on.
Favorite music	I like classical instrumental, blues, jazz, rock (modern and classic), and HEAVY METAL. Although with Metal I'm picky, I pretty much stay with Slayer, Megadeth, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Lamb of God and Dream Theater. If you can't do complex single noted guitar riffs, then compliment them with power chords AND have great drumming (i.e. Dave Lombardo, Mike Portnoy and Chris Adler), then your sound is going to suffer and you will risk being relegated the position of a second or third rate cookie cutter metal band...sorry but that’s a fact. The only country music I actually enjoy is of the Willy Nelson and Johnny Cash variety. I like some hip-hop, I have taken a liking to Gangstarr, "...crazy hip-hop, check one two and it don't stop".
Favorite books	As I said above I really like history. But I did read the Lord of the Rings, which is amazing. As for history, I enjoyed Stephen Abrose's: D-Day, Citizen Soldiers and Band of Brothers. "The Good Old Days-They Were Terrible!" by Otto Bettmann is another good read. It takes the veneer of that term as it relates to the early 1900's. I would like to read more about the Korean and Vietnam wars and or Conflicts.