Tastes Like Chicken

This is not for the PETA folks or animal lovers . . .

On Wednesday, we got an emergency call in the AME (where I work). Normally, life in the Pentagon doesn't really require emergency calls, but this one was important: There was a snake in MAJ K's garage, and he had to head on back home to take care of that matter. His wife described the snake, sounded like a copperhead, so action had to be taken. We had a quick discussion about the snake, because it was a copperhead, it was probably going to have to be killed, you can't let something like that hang around the yard or neighborhood, especially if there are kids around.There was some discussion on the technique that would be used, it was decided that a shovel would be the most effective - - plenty of standoff, and a sharp edge. MAJ K had been to Army Survival school, so he was no stranger to this sort of technique. As a Green Beret, official snake eater sort of guy, I also gave him a quick class on how to cook and eat the snake (cut off the head 6 inches back from the jaws; skin it, gut it and cook it), and told him I would think a little less of him if he didn't eat it.

The hunter and his son, check out the smile on the 5 year old. This is the picture that is on my computer wallpaper at work, whenever I get drug down into the bureaucratic brier patch, I just look at it for a few minutes.

Celebrating the hunt with a green Icee. Next time I eat snake, I will find a green Icee.

I was pretty sure he was going to kill the snake, it was a copperhead and all, so I pretty much forgot about it. On Thursday morning, MAJ K came into the AME with a huge grin and a ziploc baggie of snake meat.
Gutting the snake.



BBQing the snake.

When MAJ K came in to the office, I was not having the best of day, he came in with a grin from ear to ear and said "want some snake?" It was hilarious. He brought in 5 pieces, one for each of us, I dug in, CAPT H dug in, Bill, our 25 year old civilian and a very refined city boy, hesitated for a few seconds, but then caved to peer pressure and picked his chunk clean. TSgt R, from West Virginia, loved it. It was a pretty cool day. I hadn't had snake since the Q-course and MAJ K did a pretty good job with the BBQ. Tasted like Chicken.


His wife was a bit disgusted by the whole event, she said he went from a "Hero" after killing the snake to a "Zero" once he announced he was going to skin it, cook it and eat it. His son was all in, as were the rest of the boys in the neighborhood.


MAJ K's son, not quite sure at first, but wanted a second piece of it once he got into it.

Other, non-snake eating related news:

My bike commuting is coming along, I finally got my bike rack, so now I can put all my stuff on the back of the bike instead of in my backpack, that will make for a much easier ride. I ran into Crazy Dave at the bus station. He is a bit older and doesn't care to ride up the hills anymore so he takes the bus up the hills. While he is on the bus, he talks up different routes and riding options. He has turned me on to a new route that cuts out the two hills and a ton of traffic. I basically go around the hills on a side road, no cars, so that is cool.

The BenMan:

Benjamin, the goofball kid that is my nephew, graduated from Papillion South High School two weeks ago. Somehow, he turned into a very well rounded and smart young man. I went back to the homestead to take part in the activities and let him know I was pretty proud of him. He has ended up with a full ride scholarship to the University of Nebraska, at Omaha to study micro-biology, he will be living with his older sister during her last semester there, so he will get a pretty good education on how to get educated from her.

The next night, he was awarded the Eagle Scout rank. For the record, he is a third generation Eagle Scout - - both my father and I are Eagle Scouts. This has made the family understandably proud. Good job Benman.

Survivor

Survivor season 20 is over. Russell is a total knucklehead. He can get to the final episode, but he makes so many folks on the jury mad that they will never vote for him. I am happy that Sandra won the million bucks and am waiting for the next episode. With the end of Survivor, I am now in the true doldrums of TV - - no Survivor, no Amazing Race and no Football. Honestly, I turn on the TV for a few minutes to watch an episode of Seinfeld, then head off to find something else to watch.

My Job

Riding to work

In my quest to remove the economic power from the middle east, I have started to ride to work twice a week. I figure the less oil I require, the less money a knucklehead like Ahmadinejad has to do the stuff Iran does in the middle east.

I ran into a guy on a bus that bikes regularly, so I chatted him up about the routes he uses. He works in downtown DC and bikes in 3 or 4 times a week. He turned me on to the bike friendly routes that I should use. The route to work starts off with about 3/4 mile up a hill then is mostly downhill, and there is very little traffic. I go up Kingstowne Village Parkway, hit South Van Dorn Street, then turn on to Eisenhower Avenue. Ike Ave is a very nice route, mostly downhill on the way in. At the end of Eisenhower I wind onto Commonwealth Ave in Alexandria, this route has a dedicated bike lane, which is cool. At the end of Commonwealth I run into two bike paths - - the first is a section of 4 Mile Run which parallels a creek that runs into the Potomac River. 4 Mile Run intersects the MT Vernon trail, which runs along the Potomac until it hits the Memorial Bridge and a series of smaller trails that run into the Pentagon.

Like I said, the way in is downhill, that means (according to Beckman's Law of Physical Geography) the way back home is uphill. For the most part, the uphills aren't too bad, but there are two fierce uphills on Van Dorn, after those uphills, there are some good downs, so that is ok.

I had been riding my road bike in, a beautiful, light, nimble Motebecane bicycle. I rode the Motebecane to work when I live in NC, the back roads at FT Bragg were ideal for commuting, not a lot of traffic, nice rolling hills and there were only a few stops and goes. Alexandria is very different: It is much more urban, more stops and goes, and the pavement is not as smooth. To remedy that, I bought a Schwinn cyclo-cross bicycle, it is much heavier, more rugged, so I think it will be a better ride. It is also geared differently, even though it isn't geared for speed, my ride to and from work is a little faster because the gearing is set up for hilly terrain. So, now I have two bikes.

How small is the world? The guy I bought the bicycle from is from: Lincoln, NE! He lives in downtown DC, very close to Union Station in a very small apartment. He had 5 bikes and had to get rid of one of them. I have no idea how his apartment looked with 5 bikes in it, I hope he has more room though.

It is funny, normally bike people look at fast, sexy triathlon bikes and drool, there are several at the Pentagon bike rack. I have actually caught a couple of folks checking out my Schwinn, they envy the ruggedness I guess.

Tan Man and the Zombie Update

For those of you out there that are concerned about such things, Tan Man and the Zombie are doing just fine, both maintaining their Modus Operandii: Walking around the gym's locker room sans clothes. I actually saw Tan Man walking around the Pentagon, he is a suit wearing civilian, a fine upstanding member of the Pentagon community. I have not seen the Zombie walking around the Pentagon, but I am sure that I will run into him one of these days.

AFPAK Hand TV Star:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QigtjT1vqUE

These are the folks that we have been recruiting and training, I work with Geoff Kent, very smart guy, I now tease him about being a You Tube star.

Interesting Pentagon Tradition

Apparently, work at the Pentagon is stressful. I have no idea why. There is a small community of Pentagon members that take a little "stress relief" nap during the day. It is kind of like back in kindergarten, they go to the gym, change into gym clothes, go to the pool, lay down on the chaise lounges, put a towel over their head and take a little nap. Someone told me about it, I didn't believe it until I saw it. So, the Tan Man, Zombie and the Nap Boys. How on earth does our nation stay safe?

What has Fritz been up to?

A whole lot and not much.

Tragically, I have been working A LOT. My job is a very interesting one, so I don't really mind the long hours. What sort of job could possibly keep a lazy man like me at the Pentagon: I work on a program called a the Afghanistan Pakistan Hands Program, we are recruiting, training and deploying a group of long term Afghanistan Pakistan regional experts that get some intensive language and cultural training and deploy to Afghanistan or Pakistan for a year, come back, get some more training, do some more Afghanistan and Pakistan work, more language training, then go back to the same place in Afghanistan or Pakistan. The goal is to have a group of trained, experienced, Afghanistan Pakistan Hands that have a good understanding of the issues, culture and language, and can be relied on to be long-term problem solvers in the area.

Our first group of AFPAK Hands (APHs) deployed two weeks ago, and we have two more waves deploying this month. It has been very hectic, there are 5 of us on the team, and there is plenty of work to do. I work with a Navy CAPT (O-6), an Army Major, an Air Force Technical Sergeant and a civilian employee, a pretty good team and there is a lot of very senior leader support which is good, every now and then we have to invoke the senior leadership's name to get things done. "I am not sure how ADM Mullen will feel about that . . . . " "Hmmm, I don't think that would go well with GEN McChrystal . . . " "Let me check with GEN Petraus' staff about that . . . " are all common quotes. It is good to be part of something like this.

Right now, we are working to formalize and document the program which requires a lot of bureaucratic work, typing, e-mailing, and mind numbing staff work. But, it will all get done one of these days.

Pentagon Coffee Etiquette and Violations:

We work in a small office truly in the "Bowels of the Pentagon", there are the 5 of us and 5 Strategic Effects staff guys in the office. Right now, we are working with one coffee pot, which works pretty good. I set the first pot of coffee up the night before, the trained Air Force officers push the button in the morning, and there is a fresh pot when I come in the office in the morning. We do have a violator though, my boss. He had a bad habit of getting a cup of coffee right before he goes to a meeting each morning, normally, that will take up the last of the pot, leaving only a splash of coffee in the pot. Technically, he does not take the "last of the coffee", but everyone knows you can't just walk away from the pot without starting a fresh pot. When this was pointed out to him by other coffee drinkers (me) he got a little indignant the first time. The second time he was caught doing this he broke down and "will make coffee amends" I am not sure what coffee amends are, but I will let you know.

Lack of Football:

Now that the NFL draft is over, and spring football practices have wrapped up, there are 4 months of football wasteland ahead. I tracked a little bit of the Husker's spring practice, I think this will be a good season for the Big Red, but, we'll see. I hope the offense can come close to matching the Blackshirts. I think Zac Lee will be a much better QB this year, there will be some more tools and hopefully a better offensive line, so we'll see. I think they will clean up in the Big 12 North and may win the Big 12, we'll see.

NFL wise, I think folks will be pleasantly surprised by Tim Tebow. He was fun to watch in college, so he should be fun to watch in the NFL.

Recent Movies:

Saw "The Runaways" a few weeks ago, good sountrack, but long movie. I am a big Joan Jett fan, she is a top scorer on my Ipod, and I was expecting a bit more of her story in the movie, but instead, it was more about Cherie Currie, which was the lead singer, and a much more tragic character. The movie did show that Joan was really the driving force behind the band, but Cherie was the destructive counterpart, they spent a lot time showing Cherie's excesses, way too much time in my opinion. Probably a good movie for DVD.