Snow Day (a few days later)

Oklahoma City had some pretty heavy snow a few days ago (more like a week ago).  Here are some picture of the missus and the dogs enjoying the powder.

“Lost” is back!

The final season of “Lost” begins tonight.  I am hoping for some serious answers over the next several episodes.  And this better not turn out to be a dream sequence or any other deus ex machina funny business–I don’t care who shot J.R., I want the truth about that smoke monster!

2010: Year of the Harry Potter-ites

2010 is looking like a great year to be a Harry Potter fan–and here’s why:

Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Islands of Adventure, Universal Studios:

–Here’s a glimpse of what the Wizarding World will look like at IOA:

And finally, the beginning of the end–The Deathly Hallows film, part I:

Yes, it is a good year for nerds!

Quick update: I’m still here

Work has been incredibly busy the past few days.  Our Military Justice section relocated to an annex, near the rest of the legal office. Several folks (including me) who were only tangentially working in this division are now hard-core Justice assets.  It has been hectic getting things relocated physically (and trying to get LAN access, set up new printers, etc), not to mention the shifting responsibilities, plus the normal duties that don’t stop just because we have to take time to set up shop.

Also, I love three day weekends, but hate the fact that the following four-day work week means you still have the same amount of work to do, just in less time.

Anyway, I just wanted to post something quick to say “yes, I am still here”. 

Pat Robertson is crazy

Pat Robertson, so-called televangelist on the 700 Club, had this to say about the recent earthquake in Haiti:

What a crazy thing to say–that first of all, the Haitians made a deal with the devil to free themselves from a French occupation (based on what evidence???), and secondly, that God would punish the Haitians 200 years later by sending a devastating earthquake for a “deal” that they had nothing to do with…  And don’t even get me started about his comments regarding 9/11.

For any people that think this nut-job is representative of Christianity, please know that his views are not in any way consistent with the great majority of Believers.  Feel free to call him crazy, confident that he is in fact an extremist with little to no grounding in reality.

Ukulele Kid: “I’m Yours”

I don’t even know what to say about this video, other than it is 1) hilarious (he arguably scats better than Jason Mraz) and 2) a pretty talented kid (did you see those barre chords?!).  Enjoy.

California Christmas ‘09, in Photos

The wife and I spent this Christmas with her dad in California.  It was a lot of fun, and we got a lot of good pictures–which I will not be posting here, because I am feeling a bit lazy.  But, you can see all of our pictures on Facebook.  Highlights from our trip included meeting Santa Claus at church on Sunday, seeing the crazy sights at Venice Beach, and later hiking up to a frozen waterfall in the mountains north of L.A.  Good times.  The thing I like the most about California is the diversity of the land–there aren’t too many places where you can go surfing in the ocean, watch the sunset, take a drive through the desert, and  (potentially) then go snow skiing in the mountains the next day.  Anyway, here’s a few pictures in case you aren’t on Facebook.

The view from Cori’s dad’s house (it’s in the mountains!)

We weren’t the only visitors at church on Sunday–Santa stopped in to pose for this picture with the pastor.

Cori and her dad on the pier at Venice Beach

Sunset at Venice Beach

Our hike up the mountain…

It’s a frozen waterfall!

Count Down to the New Year…

It’s New Year’s Eve, and I’m counting down to the new year–and counting up to 100,000 hits on my blog.  I’m kind of hoping to break 100k before midnight, so (assuming you are reading this via Facebook) if you have nothing better to do, check out my blog at micahmcmillan.wordpress.com.  I have no shame and I see nothing wrong with hitting refresh a few dozen times.  Hehe.

And even if I don’t get 100,000 hits today, I’ll still wish a happy new year to all. 

Happy Christmas!

This year Cori and I are celebrating Christmas with her dad in California, which means snowy mountains, In-N-Out Burger, fresh sushi, and of course West Coast rap.  Play on playa!

Pictures and details on our California holiday will follow soon.  Until then, hope you have a merry Christmas. 

Halo: Reach

I know, I know, you are super-pumped about the next Halo game and can hardly wait to play Halo: Reach.  Me too.  Hopefully this new trailer will help tide you over.

Recommended Music: Neko Case

In keeping with my previous post advertising Flight of the Conchords, I’ll let you know that Neko Case’s album “Middle Cyclone” is just $5 during the month of December on Amazon.com.  It’s good.  You should get it.

I heard about Neko Case on the Relevant Podcast (I think), but didn’t actually listen until I saw the aforementioned deal on Amazon.  I think she sounds kind of like Patsy Cline filtered through an indie folk-rock lens.  If that sounds appealing, or just not sufficiently descriptive, you should check out the video below.

It really is good stuff–you should get the album now!

http://www.amazon.com/Middle-Cyclone/dp/B001U8ZILC/ref=sr_shvl_album_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1259799470&sr=301-1

Flight of the Conchords: Think About It-

Just for fun:

“Can someone PLEASE get that knife the fork out of my leg?”

Also, for those who enjoy Flight of the Conchords for the music (even without video), you can download a copy of their self-titled album on Amazon.com for just $5 during the month of December.  You can consider that smoking-hot buyer’s tip my Christmas gift to you.

JAG Corps Student Loan Repayment Program

Being in public service as a member of the Air Force Judge Advocate General Corps is a good thing.  I get to practice law, serve my country, and look pretty cool while doing it (thanks tiger-stripe ABUs!).  But one of less attractive aspects of this job is the debt-to-income ratio, due in large part to student loans used to pay for law school.  The average new JAG has somewhere between 70-100 thousand dollars in student loans.  I won’t get in to how much debt I am carrying, or how much money I make as an 0-3 captain in the Air Force; but I will say that many of my fellow JAGs are financially unable to continue serving in the Air Force (or public service) because of the difficulty they have in paying their student loans out of their military income.  This has meant that, in recent years, nearly 50% of the JAG Corps leaves after only four years of service.

Sad, right?  Well here’s some good news:  it looks like these pesky law school loans will qualify for repayment under Section 2171 of Title 10, United States Code (10 U.S.C. §2171).  The implementation and other guidance for this program is still being ironed out, but here’s some general information sent out by The Judge Advocate General for the Air Force.

TJAGC Student Loan Repayment Program  (JA-SLRP)

Reference: 10 U.S.C. §2171

How much money could I receive?

Each eligible active duty judge advocate can apply for a maximum of $65,000, which will be divided into three equal annual payments. The three annual payments are capped by 10 U.S.C. §2171 at 33 1/3 percent of the loan’s remaining unpaid principal or $1,500, which is greater, for each year of active duty service. Interest, even interest recapitalized into the principal, will not be repaid. The payments are taxable income, so each JA-SLRP recipient will be responsible for paying applicable state and federal taxes.

What loans are eligible for JA-SLRP?

Federal, state, and private loans are eligible for JA-SLRP, provided the loans meet the criteria in 10 U.S.C. §2171.

In accordance with 10 U.S.C. §2171, the Air Force is authorized to repay the following educational loans, which must be in good standing, as defined by the judge advocate’s lender:

1. Any loan made, insured, or guaranteed under Part B of title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. §1071, et seq.);

2. Any loan made under part D of such title (the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program, 20 U.S.C. §1087a, et seq.);

3. Any loan made under part E of such title (20 U.S.C. §1087aa, et seq.); or

4. Any loan incurred for educational purposes made by a lender that is –

a. An agency or instrumentality of a State;

b. A financial or credit institution (including an insurance company) that is subject to examination and supervision by an agency of the United States or any State;

c. A pension fund approved by the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness for the purposes of this program; or

d. A non-profit private entity designated by a State regulated by such State, and approved by the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness for the purposes of this program.

Is there an additional Active Duty Service Commitment (ADSC)?

No, JA-SLRP payments will be made on the basis of each complete year of active duty service performed by the eligible judge advocate.

What impact will JA-SLRP have on my eligibility for College Cost Reduction and Access Act (CCRAA) programs?

There are two CCRAA programs you will need to consider in light of your personal financial situations before applying for JA-SLRP. First, if you are repaying your loan under the Income Based Repayment (IBR) or Income Contingent Repayment (ICR) program, your monthly payments will likely rise in the tax year following each JA-SLRP payment. Those repayment programs calculate your monthly payments based on your income, not the amount of your student loan debt. In addition, this rise in your income may make you ineligible for the IBR or ICR.

Second, if you have a Federal Direct or Federal Consolidated Direct Loan and are pursuing the CCRAA’s Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLFP), you must closely examine whether JA-SLRP payments should be applied to those federal loans. To take full advantage of the PSLFP, you will want to keep your monthly payments as low as possible thereby maximizing the remaining principal and interest the federal government forgives. By applying JA-SLRP payments to these federal loans, you will actually be accomplishing the opposite: your monthly payments will rise and you will be reducing the amount the federal government forgives.

As I said, the specifics of this program are still up in the air (final details are expected sometime during spring of 2010), but it is good news for JAGs with law school loans.  I’m excited!

Happy Turkey-Day!

Happy Thanksgiving folks!  Cori and I will be spending this holiday with some friends in Wichita.  So, to our family, we miss you guys and hopefully we’ll get to see everyone some other time soon. 

Modern Warfare 3?

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 came out this week, and I’m hoping to snag a copy sometime in the not-too-distant future.  In the meantime, here’s a bit of satire from The Onion about the next ultra-realistic Modern Warfare release.

Modern Warfare 2

In honor of Veterans Day and the release of the latest Call of Duty game, here’s the launch trailer for Modern Warfare 2.  God bless America (and the Xbox 360)!

Performance Review Time

I’ve been at Tinker AFB for a year.  That means it’s time for my annual performance review.  I don’t have much to say about what I’m expecting from this review, although I have been watching these clips from The Office (BBC and NBC) to get some tips.

(Belated) Halloween Pictures

Sorry for posting this a bit late–work stuff is busy busy this week (we have an ORI going on, for those who know what that means…).  Anyway, here’s some pictures from our Halloween in Oklahoma.

MuteMath in OKC

This is just a quick update to say that the wife and I are going to see MuteMath in concert tonight.  Back in Tallahassee we got to see this band twice, and they put on one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen.  I’ve only listened to their new album a few times, and I’m not really sure what the venue will be like–so I’ll be sure to update in the next day or so with more information on how things shake down.

October Mini-Vacation

Oklahoma–where the wind goes sweeping down the plains… or mountains.  Yes, there are mountains in Oklahoma.  I know, you may not believe this–but I have pictures to prove it!  Here are some pictures from a trip Cori and I took to Broken Bow, which is in the south-eastern part of Oklahoma.

(In case you’re wondering, yes, these pictures were taken with my cell phone.)

We went to Broken Bow to celebrate Cori’s birthday, and we got in some fun hiking, canoing, roasting hotdogs and marshmallows over a campfire, and generally enjoying being outdoors for a few days.  If you happen to be in Oklahoma and get tired of the flat psuedo-suburban landscape, Broken Bow is a great way to break up the monotony.  Just make sure to bring a camera other than your cell phone. 

Soda Tax? Good Idea!

I saw this political ad on TV recently:

While I can sympathize with the impact taxes can have on financially vulnerable families, I have zero sympathy for this obviously paid actress.  The idea that I should somehow be up in arms with this frizzy headed woman (sorry for the ad hominem…) over a proposed tax on soda and high-fructose corn syrup “juices” (like Sunny Delight, which contains less than 2% actual fruit juice) is insulting.  A tax on soda is analogous to a tax on cigarettes; high-risk behaviors like smoking or consuming unhealthy beverages should carry an appropriate price tag.  If you want to smoke or buy soda in bulk, then you should be willing to pay for the costs of providing health care down the road.  Just as there is a strong correlation between smoking and lung cancer, so too there is a strong correlation between drinking soda and other poor lifestyle choices (like not getting enough exercise or eating fatty foods).  Obesity is a huge problem in America, and I am all for giving people an incentive to make smarter dietary decisions.  Imagine the national savings if obesity-related problems like heart disease or type II diabetes were not burdening our health care system.

So there’s the issue of incentive; but there’s also the issue of necessity.  This little ad implies that people have a some kind of right or even a need for soda.  This is stupid.  Folks who consume large amounts of soda are not forced to do so; water is available in most locations in the United States at little or no cost.  You don’t HAVE to drink cola with your meals.  In fact, you probably shouldn’t drink soda more than a few times a week, especially if you are sedentary and don’t get much exercise.

So “Washington, if you’re listening,” please go right ahead and impose a tax on soda–give people an incentive to make smarter choices, and help defray the future costs for providing medical care to the ever burgeoning number of obese Americans.  (And it’d be nice to perhaps see a little more information to combat this driveling bit of propaganda from the folks with a vested interest in the public’s consumption of high fructose corn syrup.)

C.S. Lewis: Charity

The nice thing about having my own blog is I can post pretty much whatever I want.  And today, I want to share a passage I recently read from Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis:

“Some writers use the word charity to describe not only Christian love between human beings, but also God’s love for man and man’s love for God.  About the second of these two, people are often worried.  They are told they ought to love God.  They cannot find any such feeling in themselves.  What are they to do?  The answer is the same as before.  Act as if you did.  Do not sit trying to manufacture feelings.  Ask yourself, ‘If I were sure that I loved God, what would I do?’  When you have found the answer, go and do it.

“On the whole, God’s love for us is a much safer subject to think about than our love for Him.  Nobody can always have devout feelings:  and even if we could, feelings are not what God principally cares about.  Christian Love, either towards God or towards man, is an affair of the will.  If we are trying to do His will we are obeying the commandment, ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.’  He will give us feelings of love if He pleases.  We cannot create them for ourselves, and we must not demand them as a right.  But the great thing to remember is that, though our feelings come and go, His love for us does not.  It is not wearied by our sins, or our indifference; and, therefore, it is quite relentless in its determination that we shall be cured of those sins, at whatever the cost to us, at whatever the cost to Him.”

Good stuff.

The Beatles: Rock Band (Don’t Buy It!)

The latest incarnation of Rock Band features musical legends the Beatles.  The wife and I rented and played through The Beatles: Rock Band last weekend.  We had fun with the familiar tunes (and learned a few less well-known tracks too), but there is no way I’d pay $60 to buy this game.

Since we already owned the instruments from the first Rock Band, renting was an easy choice over purchasing the full game.  And I know there are a few folks out there who will go ahead and purchase the full game (plus instruments, for around $200.00).  But from a money-making perspective, I think the smarter way to get the Beatles out to music game fans would have been digital distribution.  There are plenty of songs available for download within Rock Band–ranging from Iggy Pop to the Jackson Five.  It seems like more folks would purchase individual Beatles tracks than would go out and buy the game.  At roughly $2.00 per song (or 160 Microsoft points, if you don’t pay attention to conversions), I would have easily spent more money to buy 15 to 20 Beatles songs; which is a lot more than the $8.00 I spent to rent the game.

Like I said, I’m sure some folks will buy this game and love it.  But the game is far too short to justify the cost (Cori and I played through every single song in the game’s tour mode in just under four hours), and there honestly aren’t that many of the Beatles’ hits.  Maybe it’s because I’m too young, but I was really unimpressed by the number of B-sides and psychedelic oddities included in the game.

Still, it was a fun game for a rental, so even if I don’t recommend buying The Beatles: Rock Band, I do recommend you take advantage of someone else’s copy if you get the chance–if for nothing else, then at least to see the trippy videos like this one:

I Can Haz?

No, it’s not a new cell phone post–it’s a few coming-soon video games that look like fun, and a good way to kill time (were I not otherwise so busy with work).  As usual, this post is dedicated to Erica (and anyone else whose eyes glaze over at the thought of playing any video game other than Mario Kart). 

First, Halo ODST’s live-action trailer:

Next, the very hip (maybe a little too hip) trailer for Borderlands:

And finally, the sequel to Mass Effect:

Don Miller and Me

Writing–more than just putting pen to paper…  Want to see a lil’ story about me co-authoring Donald Miller’s latest book?  Read on: http://topsellingauthors.com/world/top_stories/1383/3555/micah_mcmillan

Hehe.

Blogging from the road

Well, our little holiday in Florida is over and we’re on the road back to Oklahoma.  I’ll post a bit about our trip when we get back, but I did want to share this little clip that Pastor Mario Solari showed me and Cori when we stopped in Tallahassee.

Yes, that is Steve Martin, yes it is from “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels”, and yes he is saying “Oklahoma, Oklahoma, Oklahoma!”

Fable III

I think it’s been long enough since I last posted anything video game related to share without shame the brand-spanking new trailer for Fable III (that’s the sequel to Fable II, in case you struggle with math and logic).  So Erica and everyone else, enjoy:

“District 9″

This past weekend the wife and I saw “District 9″.  Definitely an interesting film, lots of different things to think about–primarily xenophobia and human rights.  “In-human” rights might be a better way to write that, since this issue comes to light via the treatment of alien visitors (“prawns”) who are segregated into concentration camps.

I’ll spare you the plot details, but I will say that I recommend this movie with one caveat: this is not “Independence Day” or your typical space-marines shoot ‘em up; this is social commentary.   The moral of the story  and the way that message is couched in “District 9″ actually reminded me more of “Blood Diamond” than anything else.  Of course, if you’ve never seen “Blood Diamond” that analog is not helpful.  So here’s a trailer with some commentary that may do a better job of explaining what the film is about.

Again, I recommend “District 9″ (and “Blood Diamond” too!) if you don’t mind a bit of moralising in your movies.

First Trial!

Well, I’ve been pretty bad about blogging lately–down from everyday when I started to barely once a week.  I guess I set the standard pretty high, though.  At any rate, now that I don’t have oodles of time to kill by blogging, I’m trying to pace the youtube videos with some substance.  Except it takes a lot of time to write a substantive post, even if it’s only a few paragraphs.

So, short of anything really meaty, I’ll keep this post fairly brief, and just update with this:  I’m trying my first case on Wednesday.  It’s a drug case with some fail-to-obey stuff too; it was fairly complex to get ready for trial (you would not believe how much lab processing there was!).  But now that we’re so close, I’m ready.  I’ve been getting stuff lined up over the past few week or so–questions for witnesses, opening, closing, and sentencing arguments, plus exhibits and the oh-so-fun court-martial script.  It is a lot of work to get ready for trial–preferring (filing) charges, referral (to get from our equivalent of misdemeanor to felony level court), discovery, docketing, motions… But now all that leg work will pay off (hopefully) and we’ll see justice done at trial (regardless of whether we get a conviction or jail time).

So, it’s my first trial–wish me luck!

Ladders…

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about where my professional life is headed after Tinker, and a little later, after my initial four year commitment to the Air Force is up.  I’m getting valuable experience at Tinker, but I don’t know if the work I’m doing now is the kind of work I want to be doing long-term.  At the same time, I like doing important legal work without worrying about billable hours or “climbing the corporate ladder”.  But, like it or not, I am climbing some ladder; it’s just a question of where I’m going….

(Yes, this is me being outwardly introspective.)

Well, regardless of my personal life-ladder questions, I can at least say with absolute certainty that I do not want to be like these ladder-climbers.

(Booya!  And you thought this was going to be a Youtube-free post!)