A Sad Week

Since I returned from my little trip to Afghanistan and Kuwait it has been a slow week.  I luckily got to spend 3 days at home, see the Bride, take a few hot baths and even get a massage to help my poor aching back.  And those that know me know that I don’t enjoy massages.  They are completely therapeutic and not done from enjoyment. 

Since I returned to Fort Dix on Wednesday it has been days of organization and small decision making.  It has been rather boring.  Today we are starting to get in the rest of our people.  The formal part of the mobilization is starting this week.  It will be interesting to see how this compares to the rest of the training we have completed. 

This was taken on our first day of training in early October.  We were learning combatives, which is more or less Army sanctioned “Tap Out”.  The idea is to be more prepared to take down an opponent if you are attacked.    As you can see here see here the instructor did a fine job of taking me down.  What you can’t see is that my left hand is tapping him so that I can be allowed to breathe. 

 

This photo was taken as I was waiting in line to shoot the 50 cal.  I love to shoot that gun.  It makes the best sound as you fire it. 

Finally, lets keep the soldiers and their families who were injured or killed at Fort Hood in our prayers.  It is shameful that an anti-American piece of crap was serving in uniform.  He ended or changed the lives of all these people and their families.  There will be no 72 virgins for him. 

Catching Up

I really am still around.  I just have not been training or blogging.  I finished up my civilian work the end of August and spent the month of September starting Army work and cleaning out my mother’s house in Georgia.  I have a great house for a great price if any one in the North GA area is looking. 

The first three weeks of training we did at Fort Dix, NJ were some of the best I received as an Army reservist.  It was all very professional and of the highest quality.  I was much impressed.   One of my soldiers has taken a lot of pictures and once I get copies of them I will post them and go into more detail of the type training we conducted. 

After we completed this first phase of training the leadership left for Afghanistan and Iraq.  I just completed a whirlwind tour of Kabul with stops in Bagram and Kuwait.  This was my first time back in Afghanistan since 2002 and it has really changed.  Bagram has about three times as many people as it did then and the streets of Kabul have much better cars than before.  The most amazing thing was that I only saw three burqas on women.  Based on the media reports and the Taliban violence I expected many more. 

Here is a photo of Bagram from the air.  As you can see it is pretty good sized. 

 

 

 

This is a sad little tree we decided reminded us of the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. 

 

 

 

 

Finally just a quick photo of me in front of the Pat Tillman USO in Bagram. 

I will work to get a new post out every couple of days.  I think we have the connectivity issue fixed. 

I am NOT Dead

I am not been around for a while due to a busy schedule and lack of time management.  As deployment gets closer and closer my free time gets scarcer and scarcer.  Plus my time management skills have gone out the window along with any semblance of training.  The last time I ran was 2 weeks ago in Chicago when I went to visit my sister and brother-in-law and see the Billy Joel and Elton John concert at Wrigley. 

This week I am off of work taking a class on Integrating Information Operations into the Middle East.  It has been very interesting.  The instructor is very good, having lived in the Middle East for a long time. 

Tomorrow, I plan on running and getting my fat soft self back into some shape other than round.   More tomorrow I hope.   

Cleaning Up

As the frequent reader of this blog knows my mother passed away in February.   I have been back to Georgia a few times since then in order to clean out the house and deal with the other issues.  Luckily, my mother was a organized and did not want to leave a huge mess for the kids.  When I talk with other families who have gone through the same situation I am amazed and shocked at the selfishness of the children and the parents total lack of concern the mess that the children have to deal with.  I count my brother and I very lucky in this regard.   It is also a huge help that the house was paid off years ago.  I am not in any rush to sell it. 

This weekend I was back in Georgia with the Bride for a few days to clean, pack, sell, dispose items and to see relatives.  As I was digging around in the basement I found an envelope with   newspaper clipping of things that I accomplished growing up.   I was a relatively big fish in a little pond growing up.  Which is very different than now—I am a tiny minnow in an ocean.   I am not really sure which is better, but I would not trade my life for anything.  

I ran into a number of people I haven’t seen in years and the question was always the same, “Gonna sell the house?”  “Nope,” I would reply.  “We would love to have you back here.   How can you like living in that big city?”   How can I answer that question?  I love small towns and if there was a decent job for people like the bride and I would not mind moving back.  But I can’t make the money or have the standard of living I do here.  However, I would have a bigger house.   But explaining to people that life is what you make of it can be difficult. 

Back to the envelope I found.  It was fun and some what scary reliving the life that once was.  Back in high school and then realizing that your 20th Reunion is next month.   Where the hell did the time all go.   Since leaving that small world I have lived in 3 different countries (been shot at in all of them  LOL), visited in excess of 20 countries, spent 2 years of my life in a combat zone, resided in numerous states, owned 3 houses, and been married twice.  Life has been fast and furious for me. 

The photo I have opted to share today is when I was selected for the All Area Academic Football team for 1988.  I wasn’t a great football players, being 5-8 and weighing about 140.  Plus we were not a passing team and since I was a receiver it was hard to rack up huge numbers.    I was actually a much better baseball player.  But I will share those photos later. 

I hope everyone had a great a Independence Day Weekend and got in some good mileage.  I am off again on Monday and I plan on getting in a long brick. 

You know it’s close to Independence Day in DC when…..

I had jury duty today and the trial goes into tomorrow which really messes up things at work.  However, I did want to get picked.  So many people complain about jury duty, but hell I would rather intelligent people on the jury (especially if my ass is on trial) than Judge Judy watching whiners who think the system is out to get them or they think the $30 a day is a lot of money. 

This morning I was up and at the pool.  I arrived a little late, but I was still able to get in 2200 yards.   I started out with a 350 warm up and the rest went like this:

• 5 x 100 odds hard, even easy
• 1 x 500 free
• 3 x 100 kick
• 8 x 25 sprint
• 5 x 100 free odds hard, even easy
• 4 x 25 sprint
• 150 cool down

I felt good in the water and I am always glad when we work sprints into some longer swims.  I need to work some 1000 yard plus sets in soon. 

After we left the court today, I picked up the bike and headed out for an hour ride.  I got out to Hains Point to some loops and the gates where locked.  Then it dawned on me that the 4th of July is Saturday.  They store can secure the fireworks at Hains Point.  No one can get to them and if they did, then the explosion would not really effect anything. 

On the way back I stopped to watched the planes landing at Reagan National.  I love it when the planes land from the north.  They flight right over your head.  As you can see from this photo the plane is following the Potomac and is on final  to land.  The planes come in at about 70 or 100 feet and you can feel the wind from them. 

 

 

It really is a sight to behold.  If you ever get to the DC Area make sure you stop at Gravelly Point to watch them land.   Then I looked over and got a view of the Capitol Dome.   One clear days like today it reminds that I am lucky enough to live in a pretty cool place. 

Tomorrow is back to court and then heading to Georgia to do some more work on my mother’s house.  I hope everyone has a great Independence Day and remember the real meaning.  The beer, burgers and fireworks are just a way to celebrate, they aren’t the meaning. 

Crossing the Wilson Bridge

The Woodrow Wilson crosses the Potomac River on I-95/495 as the southern point of the Washington DC beltway.    We here in the DC area have been dealing with the congestion that goes with constructing a new bridge for years now.  The old bridge was completed in 1961 and was designed to handle 75,000 cars a day and by the end of the 90’s was handing something like 200K a day.  Needless to say there was one of hell of a bottle neck.  The new bridge which was completed this year has a bike/pedestrian lane which I have been dying to traverse.

So this morning as I started my 2 hour ride, I headed down to Old Town Alexandria and across the bridge into Maryland.  The bike lane is at least 8 ft wide and handles the flow of traffic for walkers, runners, and riders very nicely.   At the apex of the bridge are a couple of stations for looking back into DC and the Alexandria waterfront.  You can watch planes lining up to land at Reagan National Airport, view the Washington Monument, and the see the dome of the US Capitol. 

After I crossed the bridge I rode over to National Harbor which a new and very large convention area.  The bride and I have been been over there for a food and wine tasting in the past and it a very impressive facitilty.  Disney is even going to be opening a hotel there sometime in the future. 

When you are coming from the Maryland side you get a very good idea of just how massive this bridge is.  The grade is not too steep but  for those us who bike in the flat lands around here,  it is nice to have a something to climb.  I then biked through Old Town and headed over to Hains Point to complete the two hour ride.  I was rather disappointed in my overall mileage.  I only did 30 or so miles in the two hours.  But riding on through Old Town with all the stop signs and then fighting with “social walkers/riders” on the Mount Vernon trail on a Saturday morning can be a real pain in the ass.  I was very happy with my hard 8 miles at Hains Point.  I was able to average close to 18mph for the 8 miles of limited traffic that makes Hains Point just a good place to ride. 

After the ride, the Bride and I headed over to the Alexandria Pool and I got in an easy 1000m of swimming.  This evening we are heading out to one of favorite restaurants and tomorrow is an hour run with running buddy.  I hope everyone had as good a Saturday as I did.   

You Clean-up Well

This morning I was back in the pool for the first time in ages.  I have been having early morning meetings that preclude me from swimming in the mornings.   Today’s work out was 2100 yards with both some distance and speed work thrown in.  As much as I hate those workouts I like them too.  It is what I need.   This work out took me 49:17:

• 250 warm up of swim, kick, and pull
• 5 x 100 odd hard, even easy
• 8 x 25 sprint
• 5 x 100 free odd, choice even
• 1 x 500 free
• 150 cool down

After the workout, I was talking with the Aquatics Director in my suit with a towel  wrapped around my waist when one of the other lifeguards came in to work.  I finished my conversation and changed into my work clothes (I wear a suit and tie every day).  As I walking out the same lifeguard who had seen me soaking wet did a double take and then said to me, “Wow, you look different.”  I jokingly responded that I clean up well.  She agreed just a little vigorously. 

After work today I hit the road on my bike for a little over an hour and I did about 17.5 miles.  I was pretty happy with the main set as I averaged about 19 miles an hour for it.  I slowed down a little to take these photos:

If you look closely you can see I was doing 18.9 mph.

 

This is not a “cleaned up” photo of me.  Don’t you love how my helmet is all crooked. 

Tomorrow is a run day. 

Dextro ITU Triathlon Weekend

One of the great things about living in the Washington DC area are thing the things that you get be part of that for most people are out of the ordinary.  As a kid travelling the 50 some thing miles to Atlanta to watch a Braves game was the height of adventure.  Now I just catch a cab or hop the Metro to Nationals Park to watch a game.  Friday night the Bride, some friends, and I headed over to watch them take on the Blue Jays—and they actually won. 

Saturday evening I had been invited to a VIP dinner and drinks function for the Dextro ITU Triathlon.  Now don’t get any wrong ideas here, I am no VIP.  However, I do know the VIPs and luckily I get invited to certain events.  The best part of this event was the free food and beer.  I met up with Running Buddy and some other friends for the festivities. 

Sunday the Bride and I rode our bikes in to watch the pro races.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with ITU races the men and the women typically race separately and their are no age groupers on the course. 

We started a little late and got the men’s race in the middle of the bike course.  In ITU racing you can actually draft and the race course is typically a smaller loop where spectators get to the see the participants many times.  The course here in DC was an 8 loop course and the pack of riders were typically flying by.  The cool part was the chance to see the people you only typically read about up close and personal.  I was able to see Hunter Kemper, Andy Potts, and Matt Reed.  In addition to these stellar American triathletes, Tim Donn from Great Britian is also a short course favorite. 

 

After the  men, we headed down to the Potomac and watched the start of the Women’s Race.  Have the chance to get this close to some many Olympians was a great experience.  It is not every Sunday you get to see Emma Snowsill, Sarah Haskins, or Laura  Bennett. 

While we were awaiting the start I also got talk with DC Rainmaker for a few.  It is always good to catch up with your bloggy pals.  Then the Bride and I continued our ride back to the house in order to complete those mundane tasks that have to be accomplished prior to a new work week.

Another one of those interesting things that occur in the Great DC area is the President had ice cream with his kids in my neighborhood this weekend.  As the Bride pointed out, it is a great business model to have President Obama come to your establishment.  It has to greatly increase your business. 

How to look like a Bone Head

This weekend was another weekend of Battle Assembly.  Because of that, I did not get in a workout at all.  When you only see  everyone two days a month there is a lot to do, especially when you are the commander.   Everyone wants a minute of your time, so this weekend was merely mental exercise. 

Friday I did something funny and stupid.  I think it was because I had my Army Battle Assembly this weekend, I was not thinking that Friday was Friday.  I thought it was Thursday when I got up.  (Yes I know it is better to think it is a day behind instead of a day ahead).  So I cussed myself for not putting out my work clothes and headed to swim.  Since there actually is a swim class on Friday I still did not realize that this was not my normal Thursday class.   Now keep in mind that Running Buddy is awaiting my presence at the running link up point.   I am blissfully unaware that Running Buddy was wondering where in the hell I was and probably cussing me like a whore in church.  I finished and headed to work.  It was not until I got to work that I realized it was Friday.   She got a big chuckle out my boneheaded play. 

I just finished some core work and stretching.  Now off to work. 

Final Trip Report to Hawaii or How I finally made to Robin’s Nest

And we come to the close of our Hawaiian adventure. This is my last post on this wondrous trip. In addition to the adventures I have previously mentioned we did just a lot of regular exploring around the hotel and going to see some of the sights from our favorite TV shows (Lost for the Bride and Magnum PI for me). It even worked out better when the site we visited was featured on both shows.

Our stay in Honolulu was at the Hilton Hawaiian village. The place is effing huge. It was not overly crowded when we were there, but it was still too many people for my taste. To put it in to perspective, it was like staying a very large hotel in Vegas with out the casinos. The room was very nice and we had a wonderful view of the tower next to us. Luckily, being on the 25^th floor allows you to see a long way and watch the surfers on Waikiki. This freaking hotel even had penguins. These are black-footed penguins  native to South Africa.  The Bride even had her picture taken with the Fire Guy.  I think he lit more than just the tiki torches.

The primary reason we spent anytime in Honolulu was to be able to visit the Arizona Memorial. For those of you without a historical reference, the Arizona was the “Ground Zero” for World War II. In addition to being a Memorial, the still submerged ship, is also a tomb for over 1000 of the sailors who were unable to escape the bowels of this great battleship when the Japanese attacked. It was a very humbling experience for both of us. The  Navy does a first rate job with the transportation from the visitors center to the actual memorial. Kudos boys (and girls).

Finally we did a long drive around the perimeter of the island. The  one place I wanted to visit was Robin’s Nest of Magnum PI fame. Those of you familiar with the show may be shocked to learn that the lay out of the property in the series is much different than reality.  However, I did make it my 1980s Mecca.  In addition we visited the Temple of the Gods.  The funny part was that the Bride did not know what place I was talking about.  She was very happy to see that this was a location from Lost

 

 

This has been a rather busy week back in the Nation’s Capital.  I have been able to get in about 3000 yard of swimming, a track workout, and tomorrow is a nice run with the Running Buddy.  On Tuesday we were invited to a screening of Bedford, The Town the Left Behind.  This was held by Senator Mark Warner at the New Capitol Visitors Center.  It was very humbling to watch the movie and see what the member of the community and of the the unit form Bedford, VA went through. 

Weekend Workouts and a Few Things That Piss Me Off

This weekend was best workout weekend I have had in months. Friday morning was slow and painful run in 100% humidity. Running buddy and I were both feeling the effects of lacking of working out and then it being 70 degrees and 100% humidity. As hard as it was to get out of the bed, the outcome of the workout was needed.

Saturday morning I was up for a bike ride with another group of friends at Hains Point. Other than a few short spins on the trainer I haven’t been on my bike in months. I needed to get out , sweat, and get my legs moving again. We met up at the gentlemanly hour of 9:30 and I planned on riding for 90 minutes to get a decent gage of where I was on my cycling, but not over do it. After getting a slightly later start than exp

acted I did about 20 miles in 80 minutes. I was not expecting to hit any land speed record, just to get my ass use to the saddle and my legs use to pumping. The only real issue I had with the ride were the morons cruising the route or the people trying to park along the road in order to play their softball games. However, more on that later. Sunday was another relatively short run. Running Buddy and I headed out for a 4.5 mile run since we had both biked the day prior and are not ready for a long run after biking. It was a beautiful morning and it really made me feel good.

During the ride I was very frustrated with people can’t drive. Hains Point is a semi-closed recreation area in DC along the Potomac. The route is not closed to traffic and I don’t think it should be. However, on Saturday mornings there are scores of walkers, runners, and cyclists. There are certain people who like to cruise the loop. They are more interested in talking on their cell phones or hollering inappropriate comments at the ladies as they exercise. The other group is completely unable to parallel park and will stop suddenly nearing causing accidents.

After my ride I had to go to Whole Foods and get some meat for a cook out. I hate going Whole Foods. In my opinion a lot of self important and mean women go there. I was about hit twice in the parking garage just walking into the store. Once I got in the store it was not much better. On a positive not about Whole Foods, the employees are absolutely wonderful and professional. So as I was dodging mini-vans to get back I started thinking about all the things I really hate in the People Republic of Alexandria. Here is a short list:

• Hypocrites in Hybrids who throw their cigarette butts out the window
• A lot of the shoppers in higher end grocery stores who are “have to buy” organic because it is the hip thing to do, but their children are out of control
• Che bumper stickers
• People who don’t understand that blinky left means turning left and blinky right means turning right.
• People with Peace Signs on the bumpers, but honk incessantly and/or yell expletives at cyclists or runners

I could go on and on, but I will stop here. Any thoughts or your pet peeves.

The Road to Hana

The Road to Hana is a journey and not destination. The trip along this winding road is more like leaving Maui and entering a different world. The road is 52 miles long and it follows the old King’s Trail that had been the main path before the Highway showed up. However, we only did about 36 of the miles on our trip. We turned around in Hana (population 709) instead of going all the way to Lindbergh’s grave. We started our trip with a breakfast at Charlie’s in the Historical Plantation Town of Paia. The Bride knew of this restaurant because of her devotion to Rachel Ray. I will admit the macadamia nut pancakes and coconut syrup were delicious.

After filling our bellies we started the trek in our rented Jeep. I had always heard the road was very dangerous (which appealed to me) and very beautiful (which appealed to the Bride). However, the legend of being unpaved, with rickety bridges, and no guard rails is false. Since the 1980s the road has been paved and the bridges in very good repair. You still have to be very careful while driving due to the road having over 600 turns and 54 different bridges in less than 40 miles.

Our first stop was Twin Falls around mile marker 7. We chatted with the lady at the Twin Falls Fruit Stand, got directions to the first waterfall and started our trek. This was not a long trek to the falls, but it was slippery as we climbed down the creek bank and followed to the falls. We stopped long enough for me to take some photos. Even though this is called Twin Falls we only saw the bottom water fall, because we did not want to take the hour round trip to the upper falls and get behind a lot of traffic.

A few miles down the road we turned off the main road and found the most wonderful deserted beach. We were the only two people there for most the time and only one other car bothered to “get off the beaten path” and enjoy this secluded area. Since this was May the waves where not rolling in and it was actually hard to believe that in the winter months you can get 30-60 waves. The Bride commented after we had returned to the hotel that this beach was her favorite part of the trip.

The next location that was memorable with the old Hawaiian Village of Keanae. The village stands out against the blue water like a place time forgot.  Based on the guide book we were using this is one of the last coastal enclaves of native Hawaiian people. They still grow taro in patches and make their own poi. We drove to where the road ends to enjoy the view of the waves of the Pacific breaking over the lava rocks. Other than the cars and buses, primarily from tourists, you would have thought that you had gone back in time. It would have been very peaceful but another bus of tourists showed so we beat a hasty departure.

The rest of the trip was one more astonishing sight after another. We turned around in Hana after discussing driving further, but our bellies were talking. And we wanted to beat the traffic back to “civilization”. Once we returned around 3pm, we stopped at Mama’s Fish House and I enjoyed a magnificent meal of freshly caught mahi-mahi. MMMMMM.

Cruising The Big Island at 500 feet AGL

We have covered the bike ride and the scuba diving. The other really cool thing we did was take the Big Island Spectacular with Blue Hawaii Helicopters. This was a great two hour trip up and over Kilauea which is still active. Here is a photo of the Bride and I after returning from the flight. The Bride did not look as relaxed prior to the trip. She had never been in a helo before.

Our pilot was a Vietnam era pilot who had also flow for NBC in Los Angeles. He was the pilot of the chopper that followed OJ during the infamous Low Speed Chase.

We started up a valley and it was rainy and foggy and it did not appear we got more than 500 ft above the ground, but I looked at the altimeter and realized we had climbed up to over 6500 ft. We cruised around the smoking top of the volcano and then headed back down toward the sea, so we could see where the lava was flowing into the Pacific.

Then we flew the coast over to Hilo and explained how the Big Island is of one of the few islands with an active volcano and valleys. It has to do with the age of the island and the Big Island is actually big enough to have both. We circled a bridge next to what use to be an old Sugar Plantation. There use to be a railroad bridge next to the road bridge, but it was not rebuilt after a tsunami.

We continued our flight along the coast and it really was the picture you imagine when you hear about the cliffs of Hawaii. These cliffs were steep and high, with the blue water of the Pacific rolling in them. You can see the white surf crashing into the coast line. It was so absolutely beautiful. At this point another helo passed us (if you look closely you can see the dark speck—that gives you a good idea of the magnitude we are dealing with here).

We continued down the side of the Big Island and saw some amazing water falls. These sights were truly something out of a book. It was so amazing to see them for real.

Finally we headed up into the valleys where there were giant water falls.

We went up and down the different valleys looking at different water falls.

Finally we headed back to the heliport and have many fond memories of a great 2 hours in the air over the Big Island.

The next report is the Road to Hanna.

And so you don’t think I haven’t been working out—Tuesday I did 2300 yard in the pool and about 30 minutes of drills on the bike. This morning I did an easy 40 min run before work.

Why My Ears are Ringing or Diving Hawaii

Friday May 8th I planned on diving the Molokini Crater. However, when I got to the dive boat, the planned had changed to dive the back wall of Molokini. A group of people who were diving all week with this organization had already dove the crater and were looking to dive the back side. This turned out to be a really bad idea. First of all, getting near the backside is tough. The waves crash on the back side, so you have to get in the water a fair distance away and then swim over there. There is a strong current from the wave action which really messes with your equilibrium. In addition this is 90+ foot dive and I haven't dove since August of last year. I was the first one in the water and it took me a while to equalize. What really blows about this dive is that there was nothing to really see. I am normally an airhog anyway, but after 19 minutes I was running low on air and went back to the surface. Since this dive my right ear has been ringing.

The second dive of the day was much more to my liking. This was a 50 foot dive on a sunken shrimp boat, The Saint Anthony. During the surface interval the Bride got to snorkel the inside of the crater and said it was absolutely amazing. The St Anthony was great and my ear felt better was in the water. I was not going to continue if I felt any pain. I actually had hope that a good equalization would solve the problem. Needless to say it did not.

The dive site has a large abundance of fish and turtles. The photo below is of the dive master clapping and bringing the yellow tang in. He started clapping and I looked behind and all I could see was this huge school of fish coming my way. It was very cool.

The boat also had a couple of sea turtles who lived on it. I took a bunch of photos of the turtles but unfortuately, not many turned out. This was the best of the lot.

The second day of diving I did was Tuesday May 11 on the Big Island. We went out and did a night dive with the Manta Rays. I don't have any photos because it was a night dive and the flash reflected off all the plankton in the water. However, I do have a professional video of the dive and when I figure out how to get it cut down in length I will post it.

My last day of diving was also on the Big Island and we left from the hotel. This was the best dive of them all. We dove the reefs on the west side of the Big Island. We also explored some lava tubes. This was a very easy and fun morning of diving. It was just me and another diver on the boat.

The Bride did some snorkling while we dove. This is a white tipped reef shark that I was able to photograph in one of the lava tubes. It was actually very difficult to see the shark due to the lack of light and my eyes not having adjusted. I am not sure how big this one was. But looking at the other fish, he could not have been more than 4 feet long.

I also was able to get a good photo of me swimming with a turtle. The dive master on the boat was a marine biology student at the University of Hawaii and was a very informative man. I wish I had a job like that when getting my masters.

And finally I have the obligatory photo of me diving. You can't go diving with out it.

And if anyone is worried about my ear, I have been to the doctor and she did not see any damage, just a little swelling and has put me on Claritin-D to drain the fluid off. We will see how that works the next couple of weeks.

Tomorrow I am back in the pool.