Sisyphus Today...

DFAS Fight Follow-up

2009-10-18T13:43:00.002-05:00

Thank you all who have responded in the comments to my previous posts about my ongoing fight with DFAS. The current status is this.... I have exhausted the appeals through my Congressmen and Senators. I placed an appeal directly to DFAS using dd form 2789 (google it) and am waiting to hear back. The process, they claim, can take 90 days or more and I am reaching that limit. I have little hope that they will see my plea. I truly think that with the deployment cycles as they are and the ever-growing divorce rates among military personnel that there would either be a stronger enforcement of UCMJ for infidelity (it is currently on the books but hardly enforced unless it is a CYA move to avoid an EO complaint) or create a new Hardship code for us honorable soldiers that find ourselves in an impossible situation by no fault of our own.

I propose that maybe we should band together and start a grassroots movement to make this issue prominent. The problem is too pervasive and has gone unaddressed too long. The end result is that we get victimized twice, once by the home-wrecking spouse and then by the branch of the military we've loved so much.

I have contacted lawyers but they are either afraid to take a case against the government or flatly assholes with no concern for anything but they pay. Pats on the back are free thanks for what I (we've) done for this country, but stepping up and helping is too much for these people. Maybe we can send a Brigade of lawyers to Afghanistan for a rotation, then things may change here.

Contact me if there is any interest in forming some advocacy / action group or if I can help in any way.

Dean

Progressive Insurance = Ironic FAIL!

2009-08-17T19:58:00.002-05:00

ironic-fail
Originally uploaded by Die Strafbar

Saw this on the way home from work today.....

Here is a multi-angle photo for your enjoyment...

DFAS fight part 3

2009-03-21T12:16:00.003-05:00

This is the latest letter I sent to the collection agency that has been harassing me for most of a year. I have tried reaching out to negotiate, discuss, appeal, talk, whatever, and am flatly ignored. I received no response whatsoever from these people except an increase of phone harassment.

If there is anyone willing to help me erase this illegitimate debt and clear my credit record... please contact me.

Thank you.

Dean

__________________

Sunday, November 30, 2008
Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, LLP
Attorneys at Law
1301 Travis St. Suite 210
Houston, TX 77002

Dear Ms. Cummings,

I have received your mail regarding the alleged debt owed to DFAS (account: 200717xxxxx) and would like to take this time to respond to your request for full payment. I have sent this letter previously with no acknowledgement nor action on your part on Sept. 14, 2008. This is an illegitimate debt. Understanding that your agency has been employed merely to recover this debt, I believe that you should know some its pertinent history. I have also chosen to write you this letter because I have been given no legitimate method for contacting anyone from the DFAS offices in order to rectify this situation; from the beginning until now.

I originally signed my Army contract for a 5 year deal with an $11000 bonus to be received over the length of that time. Near the end of my first contract, after returning from a year deployment to Iraq, I was coerced into re-enlisting for 4 years to be re-classed. I say ‘coerced’ because I was threatened by my commanding officer to be discharged within 72 hours while in Germany simply because while I was in Iraq, my wife at the time neglected my children and was sent back to the States. Having custody of my children in Germany without the hospices of the Army would have made it impossible for me to live. I was in a difficult position; I was unable to provide a valid Family Care Plan due to the antics of my ex-wife, and was being threatened by my commanding officer to lose my Army career. I opted to re-enlist to bide some time. That e-enlistment contract had no bonus, no options. I was told by several officers and the retention NCOIC that this contract fully negated the first.After verbally verifying how the contracts worked, I was accepting that the final two bonus payments from the first contract would not be paid. That is what official representatives of the US Army guaranteed me.

I took leave back to the States and tied to set up housing for my follow up assignment to Fort Gordon, GA. Because of my Family Care Plan (FCP) situation, they didn’t want me to show up. They provided no aid for me to find housing or getting my children set up at school. The duty shifts would have made it impossible for me to parent my children. I looked for alternate assignments but still found none that I could successfully do. All because I have no available family for the FCP. I did my best to continue my career in the Army, I loved being in the Army. But I was squeezed out due to the lack of an FCP. The paperwork says I was discharged on hardship, which in a way is true but not wholly accurate.

I received bills shortly after my discharge with extremely inflated erroneous amounts. I tried calling the phone numbers provided but was not met with any account rep that could help me resolve these issues. No, instead I was met with just a bill collector who didn’t care about issues, just when I would pay the debt back. Knowing there had to be some mistake, I ignored it for a while hoping that DFAS would catch there errors or that it was just a paperwork tangle. They didn’t.

The only avenue I found was to appeal to my local politicians who requested nothing more that the debt be looked into. Well, DFAS found some glaring errors in their accounting but I could still get no-one to listen to my situation to resolve the source of the debt. After a year and several attempts to appeal through politicians, I still have no voice.

I came across a DFAS hotline for veterans that were having debt problems upon discharge. This hotline was established by the VA, I believe because of the wide proliferation of these repayment requests. I talked to a very helpful SFC Shannon who provided me with a DFAS phone number. That phone number eventually went to a voicemail box that played a “mailbox full” message before hanging up. After a month or more of that, the message stopped playing and I was disconnected after a few rings. DFAS has never provided me, or apparently anyone else, a way to resolve these situations!

I tried for months to find a lawyer to help me but none would accept a case against the government because “nobody wins against the government”. So much for integrity. Then I found a local lawyer who happened to be former National Guard. He did me the favor of reviewing my case and pointing me to the regs that DFAS is operating under. He understands my position and believes that my case is significant and not that unique. I know a few other former soldiers and marines that have been tapped by DFAS after a discharge, but they gave up the fight and somehow found enough money to pay the debt and move on. My lawyer is unwilling, though, to handle debt law, so now I stand alone once again looking for a reasonable and fair resolution.

Sincerely yours,

Dean Michael Dorman
(formerly a proud veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom III)

DFAS fight part 2

2009-03-21T12:09:00.002-05:00

To give a more complete picture, I will post 2 more letters written during this struggle. There is a pile of documents that pertain to my efforts that I will not post here. I am just trying to provide a complete picture as concisely as possible.

What follows to one of the initial collection agencies.

Thank you for your interest.

Dean

______________________

August 15, 2007

To Whom It May Concern:

I dispute the validity of the debt trying to be collected from me by your agency. DFAS
has been attempting to collect this bogus debt from me without allowing me voice to
dispute it directly with them. I have been going through proper channels for months to
dispute this debt, to have it corrected and therefore eliminated. My credit is now
ruined from their exploits and I face being continuously victimized without recourse.
They cannot prove the source or validity of this debt. They have mistaken the two
enlistment contracts that I had signed. The following should explain my situation
further. I wish for the elimination of these illegal collection proceedings at the source,
but they refuse to listen. My credit should not continue to suffer as I appeal.

I served in the United States Army from 23 Sep 02 to Nov 06. Since February of this
year, I have received letters from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service claiming
that I am indebted to them for fees ranging from $7091.11 to $1367.84.
The letter sent to me on February 2, 2007 stated that it was a ‘bns recoupment for the
unearned portion of your enlistment or reenlistment bonus based on your separation
code of KDG. Your enlistment contract obligated you to perform duty through
07/05/2010 and at separation you had 1324 unserved days. . .’ Succeeding letters
stated the same repayment reasons yet the amount of repayment changed.
They are as follows: 02 FEB07 from DFAS of $6668.18
05 MAR 07 from DFAS $1321.51 (letter accompanying this ‘debt
amount’ stated that ‘the principal debt amount of $6668.18 . . .
has been decreased . . . due to an error in auditing’)
05 MAR 07 from DFAS $6690.92
07 MAY 07 from DFAS $1348.33
07 JULY 07 from Collection agency $1367.84

Further explaining my situation, my original enlistment date was 23 Sep 02 for a period
of 5 years. In July of 2006, I reenlisted for another 4 years and waived a reenlistment
bonus as noted in section I4b on my Request For Reenlistment or Extension in The
Regular Army and on the Enlistment/Reenlistment Document (copies enclosed) section
Bb2 where it states ‘no bonus entitlement’. Although my intent was to remain in the
Army until 2010, while in Iraq my family situation deteriorated outside my control and I
was left a single father. Before returning to CONUS, the commander and SGM
repeatedly threatened to discharge me due to an unworkable Family Care Plan.
OCONUS discharges on that basis are 72 hours which would have left me in complete
disarray. So I tried to make it work with a follow‐up assignment in CONUS but with my
family situation I was unable to successfully report. Although my intent was to remain
in the Army, I was unable to provide a Family Care Plan and on 01 NOV 06, I was
honorably discharged from the Army.

You can imagine my confusion upon seeing these notices. The accounting
practices are nothing less than suspect. I left the Army due to family hardship and had
no knowledge of any type of repayment for any monies received. It was repeatedly
asked of me if I had any bonuses related to the reenlistment contract because if I did
then I would be bound to pay back that money. As you can see, there were no bonuses
included in the reenlistment contract. The response letter to the last appeal takes the
stance that an agent of their organization, specifically the Re‐enlistment NCOIC,
misrepresented herself purposely by telling me that the original contract is fulfilled and
moot upon re‐enlistment. It is my understanding that as an assigned and official
representative of the US Army, it is their legal responsibility to maintain and assure
accuracy. The terms of the re‐enlistment cannot be changed after‐the‐fact with the
disregard of the agreed upon terms. Misrepresentation is fraud and voids the contract

In summary, after signing my reenlistment contract on 06 JUL 06, it was
understood that the original enlistment obligations signed in 2002, were fulfilled and
the new reenlistment contract with no bonus would override any previous contractual
obligation. Under this circumstance, I do not owe any money to the United States Army
for the days claimed to be ‘unserved’. The remaining days served, the original
enlistment bonus money, and any other perk or obligation, was superseded by the new
contract and thus I was to not be bound to them. For instance, when I signed the new
contract the remaining days unserved were not added on to the new but rather were
eliminated. Since I was no longer legally bound to the original enlistment contract,
there can be no fees applied to me in relationship to that document. What this debt fails
to consider is that I cannot be bound to two contracts at once. The fact that this debt
had initially been misconstrued; upon DFAS realizing there was an error they re‐
miscalculated the imaginary debt 5 times in the past 6 months. This indicates to me
that this is not my problem, error or debt.

Also unjust and in violation of contractual parameters is the idea of being ‘pro‐
rated’ for bonus payments as a convenient way to collect payment from me. NOWHERE
in my contracts does it state the method of pro‐rating payments to me or as a method
of delivering the bonus money to me. The money came in lump sums and was never
directly attributed to a per diem scenario. My point is that after I signed the second
contract and therefore completing the first, nullifying the bonus payments and time
remaining on the first, I was not to receive the remaining lump payments of money from
DFAS. I CAN LEGALLY BE BOUND BY ONLY ONE CONTRACT AT A TIME.

What I am requesting is to be exonerated of DFAS’s accounting error and the
integrity of my credit restored. After speaking with the staff at the Carlisle Barracks, it
was explained to me that maybe the code of my discharge was incorrect. However,
regardless of what my discharge code is or was, I remain bound under the 2nd and final
contract which states a waiver of any bonus. How can I repay something that I never
received or existed? I proudly served in the Army for almost 4 years; 12 months of
which I served in Iraq. I am desperately trying to hold on to that respect and pride now
as I am victimized by the very country to which I committed years of my life in service.

Very Respectfully,

(SPC) Dean Michael Dorman

An open letter for assistance in a fight against DFAS

2009-03-20T09:44:00.002-05:00

I am still being persecuted by DFAS and collection agencies working for them. DFAS for those that do not know is the government's financial wing for the military. I need a politician or attorney brave enough to help out a veteran by standing up to these thugs on my behalf. The debt they claim I owe is not large in the perspective of a new car or national Debt, but it is more than I can comfortably pay and a debt that I should not owe.

My story follows, originally posted to the Black Sheep Books mailing list.

Hello All,

Walter summed up my situation pretty accurately but I feel compelled to just introduce myself by giving the story a complete view. It is not pleasant for me to recount these things. But, here it goes....

In 2003 I joined the Army just barely making the age requirement. I was a good soldier throughout my career, never getting as much as a negative counseling statement or told to shine my boots. I did PT on par with the 20 year olds. I had pride.

When we were given orders to deploy to Iraq for the year 2005, I prepared my home life as wisely as I could. Euphemistically, I had a contentious marriage to a woman that never quite became a mother to my children. At the warnings of the Army, I protected my money, thankfully, because almost immediately after I shipped out from Germany, my kids were neglected. At the time my son was 12 and my daughter 8 so they had a fighting chance of taking care of themselves but their school attendance languished, prepared meals were fewer and farther between, and the apartment was not maintained. I was also abandoned by this woman.

I came home on R&R 7 months later to find my apartment hip-high in garbage with a path worn into the filth on the linoleum floors where my 2 dogs paced for exercise. My children acted like zombies out of the confusion of what they had experienced. I found out that their mother had been having an affair with the married couple upstairs. That was the end. My R&R then consisted of disassembling my family to fly them back to the States. Fortunately my elderly parents were able to care for my children while I returned to Iraq.

She gave me custody of the children, knowing that she could never parent them again. They came back to me when I returned to Germany but I was facing another difficult change. My unit was deactivating and it was a mad scramble to find follow-up orders for everyone. The short version of this is that I was railroaded away from my support system in Germany and into taking orders in Georgia that would ultimately impossible for me to take. I had no Family Care Plan and no one to care for my children in any situation if I returned to Georgia. I fought to stay in Germany but was denied. Part of the follow-up assignment was a mandatory re-classing and thus a re-enlistment. I reluctantly signed up for 4 more years.

Upon returning stateside, I found that the schooling in GA would be impossible for me as a single father. The Powers-That-Be at Ft. Gordon didn't care and provided me no assistance so I turned to the local Chaplain at Carlisle Barracks, PA. I was processed out in 2 months. Then the letters from DFAS started.

I had an $11000 bonus on my first contract of which I received $9K or $10K over the 3.5 years I served. I was told by everyone involved in my former unit that re-enlisting 'completes' or 'negates' the previous contract so that any 'deals', bonuses, choices of duty stations, etc, would not be valid upon the onset of the new contract. Even the time remaining on the first contract would be moot. I originally signed for 5 years leaving 18 months on the first contract. I was assured that when I signed that second contract for 4 years and no bonuses that I would serve just those 4 years and receive no further bonuses.

That is not what DFAS tried to get me to believe. Their accounting was flawed from the start as they told me I owed them almost $9000. They creatively prorated my bonus from my first contract's start date to my second contract's end date. I protested and sought help of my State Representatives and Senators. The accounting and debt was changed each time as they found 'errors' but never relinquished the claim that I owed them. I recently was able to find a lawyer that would take my case since many refused on the simple basis that they would be fighting the government. The frequent calls from the debt collection agencies are harassing and unstoppable.

My credit has now been seriously impacted due to DFAS. They have given me no recourse as they refuse to hear my case directly. This situation was not precipitated by any culpable act of my own but yet I am persecuted for doing the noble, right things. I am looking for any help to have this debt and the blemish on my credit erased.

I appreciate your consideration for my situation and any aid that anyone can give.

Thank you,

Dean Michael Dorman

Sunbury Bridge [HDR]

2009-01-17T11:49:00.001-05:00

Sunbury Bridge [HDR]
Originally uploaded by Die Strafbar

anyone who has ever been through Central Pennsylvania has most likely seen this bridge. This spans the Susquehanna River from the south end of Sunbury to the start of the Golden Strip (the god-forsaken ode to rampant consumerism). In the distance is Sunbury at night. If anyone has toured the coal regions then this should be a clear symbol of 'escape'.

Copyright Infringed Like I expected!!

2009-01-13T08:44:00.003-05:00

My wife told me that some numb-nuts claimed the most popular new words for 2008 as his own, and ObamaNation was one of them!! So, how does one go about staking one's claim and exerting rights to terms like this? I clearly announced it to the world months ago in a previous blog post. Now, as expectred, my genius is being stolen.

Apple iTunes Genius Network Timeout

2008-10-09T06:05:00.003-05:00

I was unable to turn on the Genius feature of my new iTunes 8.0x. Every time I tried to turn on this feature, I was met with frustration as the transfer stopped around 80% of the way. A Network Tiomeout error was usually the report. Sometimes I would get the message that the servers are too busy. After digging through the many replies to support forums. I did as many of the fixes as I could... they seemed to work for others but not for me. Last night, I hit the jackpot! Here is what I did.

I ran the scripts to weed out dead links to songs. (found none)
I ran my iTunes Library.xml file through Validator to check for spurious UTF-8 characters (found none)
I rebuilt my library several times; as a whole and incrementally.
I retried at different times of the day to rule out network congestion in Cupertino.
I verified that my AirPort and iMac had no firewall settings to get in the way.

Strangely, I was able to take some tracks and use my MacBook to turn the Genius feature on there while at work. This was unsettling to me and I couldn't give up the fight. So, I took the principle of a few of these fixes and decided that just maybe there are some characters that the Genius servers do not like but are not being flagged by Validator.

Here is what I did....

I found my iTunes Music Library.xml file and opened it in TextWrangler. Remember that it passed when run through Validator. The file looked good in TextWrangler, too, but TextWrangler has a wonderful tool included - Zap Gremlins. This function scours your file looking for odd characters that do not belong there. Apparently, it is much more stringent than Validator. My XML file was roughly 15Megs in size, so it really bogged down my system once loaded. I chose to replace the gremlins with a unique character. I copied that character to my clipboard and let it find gremlins to zap. After a few minutes TextWrangler came back to tell me I had 80 gremlins to replace!

I had TextWrangler show me the list of gremlins by searching for that unique character. I was then able to see all the offending tracks. What I found is that each of those tracks had a strange apostrophe in it. The apostrophe in each of those tracks was sharply angled; much different than the apostrophe on the keyboard next to your Enter key / under the double quotes. (Yes I know technically it is a single-quote).

I opened iTunes again and did a search for that strange apostrophe to get a list of tracks to work with. I then did the low-tech process of manually changing the strange apostrophe with the apostrophe next to my Enter key. For good measure, I deleted the files "iTunes Library Extras.itdb" and "iTunes Library Genius.itdb" from my "Music/iTunes" directory. Then closed iTunes, opened it again, and started the Genius feature.

This time it worked!

Now, your mileage may vary. You may find a different gremlin. But after weeks of effort, I finally got Genius to stop acting so retarded.

claiming copyright

2008-09-28T10:05:00.003-05:00

just because I am arguably creative, unarguably a prick, and tired of others taking my good ideas for their own, I have decided to do a poor man's copyright on some possibly popular terms.

For the bumper sticker crowd, I better not see 08AMA or 08AMA 08 without a royalty check in my pocket. That goes for you criminals in the media, too.

Second, if the tanner candidate gets the win and subsequently fouls things up, I will be pissed if I see references to the situation and/or country vein an "ObamaNation". Or any variation on that theme.

I missed my chance with MILF 22 years ago in a conversation with my homeboy Bob, I ain't missing these!

Remodeled Web Site

2008-08-06T10:39:00.003-05:00

Yes folks, I liked the old style for my photography site but it was too limiting in what content I could fit into it, so we all pitched in and did some site remodeling. This is the new look and feel for Die Strafbar Photography which is so much more flexible.

Besides just the superficial changes, we have added some new features: The Discussion Area is more robust that had been before. I am excited just for that! My hopes are to draw in local artists or anyone else that is interested in photography as a hobbyist or a professional.

There is also a section, which is now the focus of further development, that provides access to downloading free digital versions of my work or purchasing prints/books.

I hope everyone enjoys the new site structure and joins in to make the discussion area and interesting and edifying as I hope it to. Remember, we do not advertise - no ads ever on our site!!

Pondering mortality

2008-08-04T15:14:00.002-05:00

Pondering mortality
Originally uploaded by Die Strafbar

Took a tour of Pennsylvania's Coal Region yesterday. Outside Centralia, there is a coal hill that covers a lot of unmapped area between roads. While 4x4'ing the XTerra on one of these remote rocky paths, we came upon this memorial, apparently for a young boy that died. The marker was surprisingly well kept despite its location. Toys surrounded the homemade cross and cherubs; army men, hotwheels, etc. Quite a surreal finding.

That darkening sky was a storm headed our way, provided astounding contrast with the blazing sun at my back.

This photo can also be seen and discussed in the Discussion section of my new website: Die Strafbar Photography.

YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG

2008-06-30T19:06:00.001-05:00

YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG
Originally uploaded by Die Strafbar

Self- Explanatory. You are doing it wrong!

Found in a public bathroom in one of Pennsylvania's many State Parks. No wonder they refer to it as "Pennsyltucky"

Virgin Mary & Baby Jesus

2008-06-27T20:00:00.001-05:00

Virgin Mary & Baby Jesus
Originally uploaded by Die Strafbar

A miracle appearance by the Virgin Mary carrying her Baby Jesus... The dog pooped on the rug and we sprayed carpet foam evenly. This is the heavenly figure that appeared!!

Cue Samuel L. Jackson...

2008-06-23T15:30:00.003-05:00

So, on the way home from work we got a semi-frantic call from Zak. Apparently, Sadie was sitting at her computer desk and kicked something underneath that hissed. She looked down and found this beauty. Yes, in our house. Yes it is a Black Snake. Yes, it is 4 feet long or bigger. Yes, that is me doing my best Steve Irwin impersonation (God rest his soul). And yes the mess was caused in the shuffle to pull this thing from under our heating ducts.

FAIL

2008-06-18T11:25:00.001-05:00

FAIL
Originally uploaded by Die Strafbar

I always get a kick out of Fail pics. Now I can contribute.

This is almost a double fail. 1) the whatever it was that was roadkill and 2) the idiot State workers too lazy to clear the path before painting the line.

My Main Site

Art Show

2008-06-18T11:20:00.001-05:00

Flyer
Originally uploaded by Die Strafbar

My Art show coming up..... do not miss it.

She Said YES!!!!!!

2008-04-20T20:59:00.002-05:00

She Said YES!!!!!!
Originally uploaded by Die Strafbar

A while ago, I made an offhand comment to Andrea when we started getting serious. It went something like, "I liked Paris when I was there, wouldn't it be wonderfully romantic for me to propose to you in Paris?" She agreed that it would. Well, I can't just jump in a rental car anymore and drive to France so I did the next best thing. I found a few towns named Paris in the States.

We decided to take a weekend to Vermont and wouldn't you know that there is a Paris, NY on the way. We stopped right past the Welcome To Paris sign. I stopped the car, asked her to step out to walk towards the sign with me. She didn't get it until I pulled out the Tiffany's pouch. Well, as they say, the rest writes itself.

Here's to keeping one's word.

The version according to my better half

New section on my Photo site

2008-03-29T19:57:00.001-05:00

I have expanded my photography web site to make it more interactive. As many of you know, I have been focusing my efforts towards professional photography. This web site and new section is one more step in aiding me in connecting with the community. Th new section is New Photo Discussion. I took down the tired old Galleries and put up something that will allow me to display my work easier and with feedback from the viewer. So I hope you like it though it is still in its infancy. Please pass the site address (www.diestrafbarphoto.com) around to any of your friends that enjoy photography or art. Keep checking back on the site for announcements too because Andrea will have my work entered into several Art Shows this summer along with a few showings both local and around PA.

The Boondocks Theme Ringtone

2008-01-13T14:40:00.000-05:00

Courtesy of me. Great show. This is a ringtone that should work on most phones - in mono mp3 format. Less than 30 seconds long and only 154KBs.

Download Here

Die Strafbar Photography

CSS: Vertical and Horizontal Centering with Cascading Style Sheets

2007-12-26T10:22:00.000-05:00

For some time I had been looking for a simple and elegant solution to center a fixed sized block both vertically and horizontally ona web page using CSS. I had been using tables to do it, but anyone that has used tables for any length of time can attest to how complex the code can get and how hard it can be then to read and maintain.

I searched and found some proposed hacks to the problem. But none do it with a fixed sized object on a variable sized viewport (browser / screen size). Following my logic, I looked at it with the idea that I would need to set an anchor point then use relative positioning. So what I did was place a "block" that I knew I could place precisely and work from there. Looking at the CSS code, you will see that I place an object in the center of the page vertically and at 0 pixels in height. I then place the block which will house my content relative to that. Since the height is set at 400px for the content, I simply place it relatively -200px from the top of the #reference block.

I arbitrarily set the width of the #content block to 80% just to show the horizontal centering but on the page I made this solution for, I use a 100% width.

Here is the css code, small, simple, elegant, and effective across browsers (FireFox, IE7, Opera 9.2x, and Safari 3).


#reference {
display: block;
position: absolute;
top: 50%;
width: 100%;
height: 0px;
}

#content  {
position: relative;
top: -200px;
left: 10%;
width: 80%;
height: 400px;
background-color:red;
}

Below is the HTML that puts it to use.

<html> <head> <title>Centering Test</title> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="test3.css" /> </head> <body> <div id="reference"> <div id="content"> Here is the big red centered box </div>  </div>  </body> </html>
Here is my site that puts this to use... Die Strafbar Photography

Let's Roll!

2007-08-22T16:45:00.000-05:00

So, last weekend I made a pilgramage to Shanksville, PA. Me, my kids, the future wife and the future in-laws were headed to a family reunion that took us right past the site. I have been to Disneyland before and let me just say that the only difference is that there are men in mice costumes at Disney.

The place is an obvious front and a joke. I was tense before we pulled in because I knew I wouldn't tolerate the ignorance of he sheep watching the puppet show or the blind patriotism that this Bush administration marketing campaign has evoked. I held my tongue as long as possible while some talking head spewed propaganda that any thinking person could see right through. For instance, she showed the crowd a brilliantly clear photo of the mushroom cloud caused by the supposed crash. The photo was taken on the other side of a red barn / building and had no stem, just a ball of smoke in the air. The only buildings nearby are the farm about a half mile away and the town about 3 miles or more away. Pretty good time to have a high quality camera as a farmer I would say! Or walking through Shanksville and hearing a "terrible rumble" to turn and get that photo as quickly and expertly as whomever did is mind boggling at the odds. Not to mention that a mushroom cloud caused by a firey, fuel-fed crash of an airplane would have continued to burn after impact for a little while and created a noticeable stem from the ground to the poof. Coincidentally there is a strip-mine operation right on those same fields that would obviously use explosives to clear rocks. That smoke ball was obviously created by a single, quick explosion much smaller than that of a trans-continental plane.

As I made obvious questions to this aloud, Andrea being prepared for this, came over to encourage me to go to the car. As I turned to go the talking head made mention that the
"terrorists allowed the passengers to use their cell phones". Odd statement to make, to which I replied loudly, "cell phones do not work on airplanes even today! When was the last time you were able to use a cell on a plane!?" Andrea succeeded in pulling me away from the questioning crowd before the Secret Service jumped out from behind the port-o-potty.

What I did see: a flag 1/2 mile away in a field next to nothing...no ditch, no gulley, nothing. You aren't allowed to get any closer for some obvious reasons. I saw a list of made-up names of people and crew who allegedly died in that field. Has anyone checked these names and verified? I also saw a bunch of sheep with throats open.....

Being the Man

2007-04-17T09:17:00.000-05:00

My first art show is coming up and Andrea and I are so excited. We have been spending much of the last week framing my work and it has taken on such a new dimension being coupled with frames that match the pictures' moods. I hope that all of you local folks can stop out and take a peek. Friday night starting at 6.

Meeting the Man

2007-03-12T21:47:00.000-05:00

Ya, that is me on the left, fat, hairy, and bearded. The man on the right is the amazing Alex Grey who had become more than just a favorite artist of mine. I had the pleasure of not only meeting him on Saturday, but also having my family with me to hear him speak in depth about each of his pieces of art that hang in the CoSM. It was an incredible time in NYC which just capstoned how good things have been going in my life for the last several months.

I have been significantly silent for months on my blog simply because I choose to keep my personal life quite personal. After being discharged from the Army, I had to collect the remnants of my life and decide what stays and what goes. I drew the line between what was an after-effect of my former (mistaken) life and what is now my own series of causes and effects. Very liberating watching the final reverberations of a 15 year mistake definitely disappear; the last vestiges of power and destruction of the ex's sickness losing their grip on our lives. I now live and die by me, I have me back.

Out of this growth has come the realization that I desire to live my life correctly for the happiness of me and my family. In that is where we should live and what career I want to pursue that will allow me to be happy and not force me to sell my soul to corporate america again. I miss the Army terribly but not the missions in which the Army is being used.

So there is a brief and vague update of my life in case I have anyone out there still checking in on me. I have substituted daily anger with the love of a good woman (finally), the technical with Art, and conflict with quiet observation. I am growing again as a human and it feels right.

New Photo Collection - "Abandoned"

2006-12-25T04:46:00.000-05:00

I am excited to announce that I have a new photo collection posted at Flickr. It has been way too long, without my equipment and proper frame of mind, since I produced any decent art. This batch I think is my favorite so far!

With the help of my photo-mentor, Carnealian, we found an old creepy burned-out abandoned house deep in the woods flanked by a junk-ridden singlewide trailer. An old decrepit man came slithering out of there while we were sneaking around his property taking these interesting pics. To me it was a scene right out of a Rob Zombie movie. We got away unnoticed and with some IMHO incredible shots. Go see!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bestraft/

The Cause of Death

2006-12-15T08:06:00.000-05:00

I am just putting this information out for any of you who are dog owners or are friends with someone who owns dogs. I have determined the cause of Zero's death. Lyme Disease.

On Thursday, my dog, Abby, had a black bump on her ear that looked like a skin tag. My first thought was that it was a tick and we should remove it but we did not see any legs. Zero had a skin tag that looked similar so we didn't think much of it. The next day it ballooned and fell off. That told me definitely it was a tick.

Saturday, Abby began to limp on her front leg without any obvious sign of injury or tenderness to the touch. That scared me because it was the same symptoms Zero exhibited in June, 5 months before he suddenly died. That night I put 2 and 2 together and thought maybe it was lyme disease. The next morning when I got home, I looked up lyme disease in dogs and found that indeed forepaw limping and soreness is a determining symptom in canine lyme disease!

We took her to the vet that day and told them my concerns. She tested positive for lyme, moderately progressed. Though the tick recently could not have been the carrier, we knew that both dogs must have had ticks all year that we did not find. She is doing better on antibiotics now and should make a full recovery.

Check your dogs for ticks often and be aware of the telltale signs before you lose a loved one like I did.