Posts Tagged 'army reserve'

It’s raining men

Started another army reserve duty this week, and I have to ‘thank’ technology for keeping me updated with the world. My DELL XPS and Cellcom HSPA USB Modem are keeping me connected about once a day, with quick ‘refresh’ intervals on my Nokia N95 – I have both my private and work email, as well as twitter, all hooked up in a single device. I’ve written before why the N95 is one of the best smart-phones available today, even without the touchscreen.. still holds.

In any case, I have lots of stuff to do, and little time to complete them, so I’ll leave you with this Geri Halliwell song – fits the current weather conditions we’re experiencing here. Enjoy!

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Disconnected. Not by choice.

Tuesday started early for me, 06:30, getting ready for my army reserve training day. With my new rank and position at the army, and the goal of the day – paintball training – I was looking forward to it. Unfortunately, my cellphone wasn’t as thrilled as I was.

After getting into the car and pulling my phone to open twibble and Gmail and start the day, I noticed my N95 screen went black. OMG!! And being away from home there was no way my cellular provider will send a replacement device, so basically I was stuck. The phone was working, but I couldn’t see who’s calling, and had to guess the location of my buddies at the address book – apparently I’m good at that.. 😉

Long story short – excellent day, a true learning experience, paintball fighting in an urban environment, although it was hot. Very hot. Very, very hot. Some pics will be posted later this week.

Disconnected. By choice

I’m back!

These past 10 days at the army were an interesting experiment for me, to see how I, a very connected dude, handles in a not so connected place. Before all my Israeli friends shout out ‘WTF’, let me make it clear that the entire state of Israel is pretty much covered in cellular reception, so being disconnected was more of a choice than a reality. Not to mention the fact that my internal clock completely freaked out, being awake every night, going to bed at 7/8 am.

Still, I opted not to open twibble, Opera Mini or check my gmail (thus minimizing my GPRS consumption), and even thou I had my laptop with me, it was used mostly for syncing pictures than actual work related stuff. I guess being away on Rosh Hashana sort of helped, as most of the people I interact with were away on holiday, so my calls (you know, sending/ending calls, what most people use their cellphones for) were also minimized. I did however sent out some text messages, congratulating friends with Shana Tova.

Nevertheless, I definitely saw a case of ‘you can take the technology out of a person, but not the person out of the technology’ – as I noticed how my social mind works, and often thinking ‘I can tweet about this’, ‘picture that for facebook’, ‘would make a great blog post’, etc.

So, my bottom line is this:
I can live without the tools.
But, being connected is more than having access to the tools – it’s almost a second nature.

The 40 year old virgin in army uniform

Last week around 6pm I got a call. ‘Blocked number’ blinked on the screen – I have couple of customers, mostly financial institutions that have blocked numbers, so I picked up the phone.
An automated machine started talking to me, asking me if I am who it thinks I am (well, security, you know), and then popped up the main surprise of the evening – an army reserve drill. Now.

For those not familiar with army service, I’ll explain in a nutshell. In Israel we have a mandatory service for men and women reaching the prime age of 18. Men serve 3 years (more if you’re an officer, special course/forces, etc) and women serve just under 2 years. At 21 you discharge, start college, work, life – and army reserve. Discharging from reserve is between 40-45, depending on the rank and role you perform. Some (like in my platoon) continue to volunteer until 50 and even more.

So, last week, the call, the drill. The rumors said we’ll have to sign-in, spend 3-4 hours in the base and they go back home. Told my significant other ‘I’ll be back’ by midnight. Left work, put on the uniform and started driving to somewhere in Israel (didn’t think I’ll actually tell you the location, right?). When I arrived, the (very) cold truth hit in the face: we’re in for a long night (3-4 hours sleep) and next morning we’re heading for ‘an excursion’, touring an area with the platoon. But, since we got in at 10pm, we had some time to burn. The good people from our battalion have arranged for a projector and a portable DVD. So, we sat in this hugh warehouse, watching The 40 Year Old Virgin. The wax scene is still hilarious, even after 5 times…
The pictures explain much better…




Mobile & Media Consultant. I help startup companies launch products to the consumer market. Reach out: dvir.reznik [at] gmail.com
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This is my personal blog. The postings here do not represent the thoughts, intentions, plans or strategies of my past employers or of my clients. It is solely my opinion.