Rican's World

Rifleman's Creed

2011-08-28T21:18:00.000-05:00

This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. My rifle, without me, is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me.

I will...

My rifle and myself know that what counts in this war is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our burst, nor the smoke we make. We know that it is the hits that count. We will hit... My rifle is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its sights and its barrel. I will ever guard it against the ravages of weather and damage as I will ever guard my legs, my arms, my eyes and my heart against damage. I will keep my rifle clean and ready. We will become part of each other.

We will...

Before God, I swear this creed. My rifle and myself are the defenders of my country. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life. So be it, until victory is America's and there is no enemy, but peace!

Being a Leader

2008-05-22T17:36:00.005-05:00

Being a leader is more than just dealing with people or difficult problems.

It's about rising above.

It's about going where very few dare go.

It's about have the vision to recognize where to make improvements.

It's having the courage to overcome any obstacle to make those improvements.

It's all about sacrificing yourself for the greater good.

It's something inside you that tells you it's all worth it.

It's that internal satisfaction of knowing that you did something great.

It's knowing that something that would have broken most spirits only made yours stronger.

If any of what I just said sounds dumb to you then your are not meant to be a leader.

Leadership isn't learned, it's discovered.

DUI FIRST OFFENSE

2008-05-02T11:38:00.004-05:00

In case you are curious about what the penalty is for a DUI first offense in Ouachita Parrish here ya go:

~ $1,200 Fine
~ 4 Days Community Service
~ 3 Hour Driver Improvement Class @ $50
~ 3 Hour Substance Abuse Class @ $50
~ 1 Hour MADD Class @ $5
~ 2 Years Probation @ $50 per month
~ 2 Years Suspended License (Must have Interlock installed to get Hardship License)
~ 3 Years SR22 Insurance (More expensive than regular insurance)

2008 Pictures

2008-03-13T08:35:00.004-05:00

Click here to download the latest pictures of Sydney, Nathalya and Yasmin!

Choose Run/Run/Unzip
Pictures will be saved to your Desktop

Wit and Wisdom from Military Manuals

2008-03-12T10:56:00.004-05:00

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'If the Enemy is in range, so are you.' - Infantry Journal
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'It is generally inadvisable to eject over thearea you just bombed'- U.S. Air Force Manual
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'Aim towards the Enemy'- Instructions printed on U.S. Rocket Launcher
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'When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is not our friend.'- U.S Marine Corps
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'Cluster bombing from B-52s is very, very accurate. The bombs are guaranteed always to hit the ground.'- USA F Ammo Troop
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'Whoever said the pen is mightier then the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons.' - General MacArthur
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'Try to look unimportant; they may be low on ammo.'- Infantry Journal
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'You, you, and you. Panic. The rest of you come with me.'- U.S. Marine Gunnery Sgt. (Mgysgt5)
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'Tracers work both ways.'- U.S. Army Ordnance
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'Five second fuses only last three seconds'- Infantry Journal
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'Don't ever be the firs t, don't ever be the last, and don't ever volunteer to do anything.' - U.S. Navy Swabbie
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'Bravery is being the only one who knows you're afraid.'- David Hackworth
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'If your attack is going too well, you're walking into an ambush.'- Infantry Journal
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'No combat-ready unit has ever passed inspection.' - Joe Gay
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'Any ship can be a minesweeper. Once.'- unknown
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'Never tell the Platoon Sergeant you have nothing to do ' - Unknown Marine Recruit
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'Don't draw fire; it irritates the people around you.'
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'If you see a bomb technician running, follow him.' - USAF Ammo Troop
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'You've never been lost until yo u've been lost at Mach 3.' - Paul F. Crickmore (test pilot)
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'The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.'
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'Blue water Navy truism: There are more planes in the ocean than submarines in the sky.'- From an old carrier sailor
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'If the wings are traveling faster than the fuselage, it's probably a helicopter -- and therefore,unsafe.'
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'When one engine fails on a twin-engine airplane, you always have enough power left to get y ou to the scene of the crash.'
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'Without ammunition, the USAF would be just another expensive flying club.'
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'What is the similarity between air traffic controllers and pilots? If a pilot screws up, the pilot dies; If ATC screws up... The pilot dies.'
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'Never trade luck for skill.'
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The three most common expressions (or famous last words) in aviation are: 'Why is it doing that?', 'Where are we?' And 'Oh S...!'
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'Weather forecasts are horoscopes with numbers.'
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'Airspeed, altitude and brains. Two are always needed to complete the flight successfully.'
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'Mankind has a perfect record in aviation; we never left one up there!'
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'Flashlights are tubular metal containers kept in a flight bag to st ore dead batteries.'
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'Flying the airplane is more important than radioing your plight to a person on the ground who is incapable of understanding or doing anything about it.'
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'The Piper Cub is the safest airplane in the world; it can just barely kill you.'- Attributed to Max Stanley (Northrop test pilot)
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'A pilot who doesn't have any fear probably isn't flying his plane to its maximum.'- Jon McBride, astronaut
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'If you're faced with a forced landing, fly the thing as far into the crash as possible.'- Bob Hoover (renowned aerobatic and test pilot )
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'A slipping gear could let your M203 grenade launcher fire when you least expect it. That would make you quite unpopular in what's left of your unit.' - Army's magazine of preventive maintenance.
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'Never fly in the same cockpit with someone braver than you.'
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'There is no reason to fly through a thunderstorm in peacetime.'- Sign over squadron ops desk at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ, 1970
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'If something hasn't broken on your helicopter, it's about to.'
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Basic Flying Rules: 'Try to stay in the middle of the air. Do not go near the edges of it.The edges of the air can be recognized by the appearance of ground, buildings, sea, trees and interstellar space. It is much more difficult to fly there.'
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'You know that your landing gear is up and locked when it takes full power to taxi to the terminal.'
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As the test pilot climbs out of the experimental aircraft, having torn off the wings and tail in the crash landing, the crash truck arrives, the rescuer sees a bloodied pilot and asks, 'What happened?'.The pilot's repl y, 'I don't know, I just got here myself!'- Attributed to Ray Crandell (Lockheed test pilot)
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BullShit

2008-02-06T14:47:00.000-06:00

A story about rising to the top:
A Turkey was walking through a field one day, he looks up in a tree and on the very top branch is a Bull. He asks the Bull how did you get up there? The Bull replies my feces the power to make me float and I floated up here. The Turkey wanted to get to the top branch and tells the Bull let me get some of your poop so I can join you. So the Bull plops a turd out and the Turkey rubs it all over himself. Magically the Turkey floats up and joins the Bull on the top branch. A Farmer is walking through the field and sees the Turkey and the Bull on the top branch and pulls out his shotgun and shoots that Turkey dead.

Morale of the story:
Bullshit might help you get to the top but it can't keep you there.

Rekindled Members

2008-01-15T13:07:00.000-06:00

I recently found out that my big sister was able to track down some younger sisters of ours that we haven't seen in like 10 years! YAY!!! It's tough trying to respark a relationship that never really had a chance to begin but we are all willing and ready to get to know each other. I'm sure it will be slow at first (with all of us having kids and all) but I look forward to getting to know these "new" additions to our family. We are all Caban's but I'm the only one to retain the name. It's amazing how little you can know about your own family when the male figure who is supposed to keep that bond alive decides not to. I vow to never let that happen to my girls and hope that fathers worldwide understand the importance of staying in their childrens lives. Fathers are the foundation to a strong family while mothers are the home that welcomes the family into warmth. Fathers out there do the right thing....love your children and honor thier legacy!

Being a Daddy x2

2008-01-11T13:04:00.000-06:00

Alot of folks have had the 'pleasure' of having babies back to back and can certainly relate..those that haven't can't even imagine what it's like. After the first kid turns 1 year (and the newborn is just getting their birdseed) your mind and body is telling you "Ah finally we got one broken in, now why the heck are you making me do this all over again?". You of course dig deep and do what needs to be done but the second time around it's not so easy (not that it was easy the first time but, you know). You end up in this zombie like, aggravated state that's well, just not pretty. I have been telling myself that in one year I'll look back at these many slepless nights and laugh (yeah right). Then begins the real fun.

The terrible Blogger

2008-01-09T11:11:00.000-06:00

If anyone even reads these Blogs they'd notice that I am a terrible Blogger. Almost never put anything out there. The point of me creating this Blog was to share more about myself...which of course I am terrible at....Lots going on in my life...New baby and stuff so it keeps me pretty busy....I've got to make an effort to write more or the 1 reader I have may stop coming back to read!! Wish me luck!

Almost Done

2007-12-04T10:15:00.000-06:00

Well I have all 23 words hidden, a (not so) hidden quiz and the last remaining clues hidden. I will try to keep everything as is with some minor cosmetic changes and the like. So get to it folks! And just in case you are wondering there is a prize for finding all this stuff there most certainly is. I feel obligated to tell you that the last phase is nearly impossible but what fun would it have been to make it easy? The prize is a very personal revelation about myself that I wouldn't want to share with just anyone, and since only those who really want to know me (or who have nothing better to do) will be able to solve this riddle I can rest assured that my secret is safe! Have fun you guys!

I screwed up

2007-11-27T08:00:00.000-06:00

Hello fellow travelers! Just thought I'd share one of the many hazards of Web Design with you. I was finally able to hide 22 of the 23 words and was preparing to hide the final word and make the last few modifications to the riddle. I uploaded the files and prepared to sit and finish up when I noticed something odd. I of course proof read every page I upload as soon as it is uploaded and was reviewing some pages when I noticed that my changes hadn't populated to the site. I uploaded the files again (in case it was an FTP hiccup) and returned to proofing. Again the changes were not populated. Seems I made the rookie mistake of not saving the changes I made prior to uploading the files. To my dismay I had already closed out and will now have to start again. Good news is that only a few changes had not been saved. So lesson learned folks, save and save often!

Start of a journey

2007-11-20T10:34:00.000-06:00

Well folks, after much deliberation I have decided to add a little spunk to my site. Keep your mind's eye open as you navigate through the site. You may see odd things lurking about. I will post here once all secrets have been hidden. If you are reading this blog you are one of the lucky few who gets a head start. Happy hunting!

My First Blog!

2007-11-16T13:13:00.001-06:00

This is my first attempt at Blogging so if the rants are incoherent, tough. I'm sure I will get the hang of this before too long. I am creating a Personal Portal so be sure to check out my website once it's complete. I'll post the link here soon as it's live.