• Never underestimate the utility of intercepting someone outside the men’s room when you desperately need information or a decision and they desperately need to get in the men’s room.
• It takes a very special woman to let her husband go out and play Jihad Joe on Valentines Day.  Luckily,  I have just such a wife.
• A sliver of moon and the stars provided plenty of illumination to not knock myself silly or break my leg last night.  This may be the first time I’ve come back from night-time training without a self-induced bruise.
• Fire hot.  Fire from exploding junked-out car very hot and loud.
• Zip ties are a great way to control someone’s arms and gives the person holding the prisoner an easy handle for when they want the prisoner to move.
  • One note – When using zip ties as a handle to pull a prisoner up to his feet, make sure you don’t grab the end of the zip tie that pulls it tighter.  Lifting a big Norwegian up by that end of the zip tie will make his wrist and hand turn all sorts of really cool colors.
  • Note to self – cut off the zip tie before going into the Stop-n-Stab.  It makes the clerk nervous when you walk in wearing a pair on your right wrist half an hour past midnight.
  • Note to self – send note to manager of the Stop-n-Stab thanking him for his employee’s help with a pair of stout scissors to remove said zip ties.
  • Note to self – Find the pocket knife that is supposed to be in the truck.
• Did I mention that I have a wonderful wife?  She waited up for me, gave me a hug when I came home smelling like burnt rubber, and even made me a snack before we went to bed.
• Wake-up time came way too early this morning.

Update – One I forgot but which kicked over my giggle box last night:

• When detonating left-over pyrotechnics, it might be a good idea to check the port-a-potties underneath them to make sure that young ladies are not using them.

• It’s a sad state of affairs when you go to work before the doughnut shops are open.
  • In related news, I’m out of decent coffee at the house.
  • No, I’m not going to cut into my end-of-the-world stocks.  This is a mess-up in grocery shopping, not the apocalypse.
• Being organized and efficient only helps if you use correct information.  If you use incorrect information, being efficient and organized just means that you dig a hole that much quicker.
• Schadenfreude – The feeling you get when someone complains about having to do the really crappy thing that you told them they would have to do, but they discounted your advice and planned to do something else.
• Why must kindergarten teachers be so bloody cheerful on a Saturday morning?
• Today at the latest kindergarten preparatory meeting, we were told that Boo’s new school does not use the traditional methods for grouping children for learning.
  • Apparently they’ve taken the prudent step of not roping the children into set study groups for each subject for the entire year, and try to tailor who works on what with whom based on everyone’s needs.
  • When I was in kindergarten, we were all grouped together and organized by height and viciousness.
  • It was a simple system, and worked for most kids, but heaven help you if you were short or easy-going.
• If we have one more orientation meeting for kindergarten, we will have officially done more planning for Boo’s move to a new school than I did for most of my deployments.
• I found the reason that the bathtub has been draining so slowly and the washing machine has been making those picturesque waterfalls in the basement.
  • I won’t go into the gory details, but let’s just say that I’ve seen field mice without that much heft.
• Nap – A word used by another member of the family to describe what they want you to do while they use a power saw and a nail gun in the next room.
• Irish Woman and I are so romantic.
  • I asked her if she wanted jewelry, flowers, or chocolate covered fruit for Valentines.
  • She asked if I wanted alcohol, ammunition, or a new knife.
  • She completes me.