It's Official

I got a confirmation today from my battalion commander that I will be taking command of a company on or about March 1st.  I'm excited.  It is a great opportunity that doesn't come along every day.  I'm looking forward to this chance for increased responsibility and challenge.  I'm also glad that the date is somewhat official now.  I had known about this move as a potential at first and then it started to get more sure and now it is official along with a date.  Now I am starting to get my thoughts and plans together for the new job. 

Other than that, nothing much is going on.  I've been reading several books lately - one of which was Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales.  Great book that was recommended to me by Michael Kerns.  It goes through why accidents happen - our brain processes that entice us into doing stupid stunts that get us into trouble - and why some survive while others don't.  It chronicles what traits make a survivor and how they persevere through unbelievable circumstances.  All in all, it was a fascinating book that explained some of the processes of the human brain and the interaction of our emotions with our reason.  It turns out that interaction and overiding of one part of the brain by another can both hurt and help us.  Very interesting to understand.  I'm now reading The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell.  I've recently read Blink and Outliers, also by Malcom Gladwell, so now I'm adding his first book to the list.  He's a great writer.  In the Tipping Point, he sets about explaining why epidemics come about - how they go from being a small scale set of occurrences to a full-blown trend or style or product or idea or behavior.  I'm about 3/4ths of the way done with it and it too is a great book.  Gladwell really has an infectious writing style that helps you see things in a new way and gain further understanding into commonplace events and ideas. 

Also, I've been doing some of my own computer lab experimentation on my laptop, but I'll spare you the details in an effort to keep from seeming too infatuated with technology.  I do enjoy it, however, I find that it is an interest that not many others share with me.  At least, not many other people that I would consider social or enjoyable as companions.  I suppose one of the few exceptions to that principle would be my fellow officer Ed.  He's in Argentina right now of all places, enjoying another culture and practicing his recently acquired Spanish skills.  We served together in Kuwait and Afghanistan where we used to go back and forth for hours on all sorts of topics from chemistry to theology to video games, but often we would match wits in the information technology world.  On the whole, it's hard to strike a balance between being interested in computers and being an interesting person.  I like to think there are a few of us out there who can do both.