I am heading out for a bit of hiking this next week, so I decided to update my blog on a few subjects.
Over the past few months I have hit a few tourist spots here in the DC area. The first one was the Civil War battlefield at Manassas, VA. This was the scene of two major battles in the Civil War. It was the scene of the first major battle of the Civil War where green Union and Confederate armies met here and slugged it out for the first time. Most everyone on both sides felt the other side would crumble, and the war would be quick. The second battle was the culmination of Lee's first invasion of the north.
http://www.nps.gov/mana/historyculture/first-manassas.htm
The park has two hiking trails (one for each battle), both are about 5 miles long, which is about right for a day trip. The hikes wind through the park to where memorials have been built and key points on the battlefield. The first hike covers the first battle, the second hike covers the second battle.
We hiked the first hike, it took about 3 hours and I enjoyed it a great deal. It is always interesting to walk the ground that a battle happened on. When you read about a battle in a book you can't really understand why someone didn't notice 5,000 soldiers moving up on them until the last minute. When you walk on the ground you see the fold in the ground and the small hills that block your vision, or the stand of woods that shield a movement. The first battle gave rise to the legend of Stonewall Jackson, his brigade was credited with stopping a serious Union advance, he and the brigade were known for the rest of the war as Stonewall because of their defense.
The battle, like most initial battles of wars, showed that the war was going to be longer than everyone expected and that both sides had a lot of work to do. There are quite a few more battlefields in this area, so I will have plenty of hiking to do.
My second tourist trip was to MT Vernon. I was kind of expecting a smaller, national park sort of experience at MT Vernon, but it is a major tourist destination. I think that most folks see it as something they have to see when they come to DC, one of the things on their list. I was more in the mood to go see where the first president, and the primary figure in the founding of our country, grew up and lived. MT Vernon is very well maintained, and you could probably spend an entire day wandering around. Washington's house was laid out very well, and beautifully designed. He was the primary designer and architect of the house and grounds of MT Vernon, going as far as to design the tomb that he and Martha are buried in. I was pleasantly surprised that so many folks were there to see Washington's house and learn more about him.
To me, Washington was the greatest of the founding fathers. Not only did he manage to maintain the Colonial Army throughout a 6 year campaign against a more powerful, better resourced foe; but he controlled the direction of the development of the early government of our nation. I truly wish we could bring some of the leaders of other nations to MT Vernon and show them how gracefully Washington peacefully passed the immense power that he was offered to other branches of the government and other presidents. Malaki and Karzai could learn a great deal from Washington: Despite having a new, fractious democracy that had a wide variety of interests and competing power structures, Washington demanded that democracy and republican principles become the foundation of our nation, not personal power. Sigh.
Movie News:
If you are a comedy fan, go see the bio-pic about Joan Rivers, I thought it was an amazing movie. It documents her discovery, rise and how she became one of the leading ladies in comedy and how she is working hard to keep herself relevant in society. Very well made. I haven't seen too many other movies this year, nothing really jumps out at me, I will check out the theater when I get back from the hike.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Stuff and other stuff . . .
Today I ran my first race since the Army Ten Miler last October, it was the Crossroads 17.75 KM in Quantico, VA. The course was pretty good, lots of hills, through a VA State Park - - Prince William Forest. If you are a Marine-o-phile and put Quantico together with 17.75, this race marks the anniversary of the Marine Corps. Pretty cool race, but I need some serious hill and distance work. I ran the race with MAJ K from work (Snake Eater). It was a smaller race, about 1500 folks entered it, and had a pretty fierce course: There were some good hills in the forest. I really needed to do some work on the sisters, but I have to find some to run up and down.
I have another race in JUL, an 8K, that should be a pretty good one and agreed to run a 20K with MAJ K in August.
Hiking News
Bill O and Charles (Boy Scout buddies from NC) came up on the net and declared they were up for some hiking in JUL, so we are going to hit the Appalachian Trail over the 4th of JUL weekend. I talked them into hiking the part of the trail in NC that kicked my butt two years ago (pre-Iraq): Fontana Dam to Franklin, NC. That will actually complete NC for me, so I will have GA, NC and MD completed. I will talk them into hiking more of VA (I thought I had a lot of VA done, but only have about 150 miles out of 500 or so completed). It should be a good hike, Dave, my hiking buddy in Western NC may be helping us out with rides, which is very cool, half the section hiking battle is figuring out how to get back to where you parked. If we were in a big park we could probably hitchhike, but this will be out in the real world.
Riding News
I have decided to add an extra day in my week for riding, the Metro is ok, but I like having a little more control in my commute. I now have my bike rack so, that makes the ride a little bit easier. I figure I will load up the food and other stuff on Monday, then haul the Tupperware on back on Fridays. I have a bike bud that rides in 4 days a week, he is all for the increase.
The Big News
The Huskers in the Big Ten, very interesting. I gotta be honest, I am pretty happy about this right now. The texas control of the Big 12 was slightly upsetting. I think watching the Big 12 Championship continue to move south - - Dallas and San Antonio - - vs. KC was kind of frustrating, I know most of the population was in texas, but there were 6 teams up north too. Ah well, I do feel bad for Turner Gill and the jayhawks and the isu cyclones; kind of indifferent about ksu and will wait and see on mizzou. I suspect there will be a few more teams moving around, so, stand by on that.
I have another race in JUL, an 8K, that should be a pretty good one and agreed to run a 20K with MAJ K in August.
Hiking News
Bill O and Charles (Boy Scout buddies from NC) came up on the net and declared they were up for some hiking in JUL, so we are going to hit the Appalachian Trail over the 4th of JUL weekend. I talked them into hiking the part of the trail in NC that kicked my butt two years ago (pre-Iraq): Fontana Dam to Franklin, NC. That will actually complete NC for me, so I will have GA, NC and MD completed. I will talk them into hiking more of VA (I thought I had a lot of VA done, but only have about 150 miles out of 500 or so completed). It should be a good hike, Dave, my hiking buddy in Western NC may be helping us out with rides, which is very cool, half the section hiking battle is figuring out how to get back to where you parked. If we were in a big park we could probably hitchhike, but this will be out in the real world.
Riding News
I have decided to add an extra day in my week for riding, the Metro is ok, but I like having a little more control in my commute. I now have my bike rack so, that makes the ride a little bit easier. I figure I will load up the food and other stuff on Monday, then haul the Tupperware on back on Fridays. I have a bike bud that rides in 4 days a week, he is all for the increase.
The Big News
The Huskers in the Big Ten, very interesting. I gotta be honest, I am pretty happy about this right now. The texas control of the Big 12 was slightly upsetting. I think watching the Big 12 Championship continue to move south - - Dallas and San Antonio - - vs. KC was kind of frustrating, I know most of the population was in texas, but there were 6 teams up north too. Ah well, I do feel bad for Turner Gill and the jayhawks and the isu cyclones; kind of indifferent about ksu and will wait and see on mizzou. I suspect there will be a few more teams moving around, so, stand by on that.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
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.
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.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
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?
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?
Sunday, May 2, 2010
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.
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.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Long Time no Blog
My vast fan base asked me why I was no longer blogging, I informed the masses that I really didn't have much to blog about. I then found out that my blog provided entertainment during rather boring meetings and conferences, so I will try to find something to help my fan base avoid death by power point.
Duke Blue Devils
Well, they won it all, I thought they were going to be vulnerable to teams that were bigger, but somewhere between the end of the regular season and the ACC Tournament, Duke developed an inside game. Brian Zoubek, Mason and Miles Plumlee and Lance Thomas came up huge on the boards and defense, and kicked in a few points on offense, just enough to win the whole show. I think this year was one of Coach K's best seasons ever - - he didn't have dominant players like he had in years past, but he took the team he had and got the best out of them. 3 of the players were seniors: John Scheyer, Lance Thomas and Brian Zoubek, that is a testament to not taking the flash in the pan, one and done type of players that other colleges have taken. It will be interesting next year, Duke will have 2 of their top 3 scorers, Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith, plus the aforementioned Plumlee brothers, and some other pretty good players, so, we will see if the combination of perimeter scoring, rebounds and strong defense will work for them again.
Life in the Pentagon
We (the AFPAK Hands Management Element) now have our own office, it is pretty nice, much more quiet than working with the rest of the Pakistan Afghanistan Coordination Cell (PACC). We share an office with our Strategic Communications Section, there are 3 USAF LTCs and an Australian Colonel in that section. I have trained the Air Force LTCs to make coffee in the morning, which provides us something to talk about. Basically, I set the coffee up, alls they have to do is push a button, which is right up the Air Force alley. They are normally there first in the morning, so they push the button, I have freshly brewed coffee waiting on me. Pretty sweet.
Sam and Cheney
Sam and Cheney have settled down in their new digs. They spend most of their days lounging on the deck, defending the backyard from anything that walks past. Cheney is starting to gain weight again, she had stopped eating for a couple of weeks or so because she was stressed out over the move and her loss of all of the attention Ben had lavished on her when he was watching them in Tennessee.
Movies to check out
My blog buddy Bill from NC comments on the movies that he has seen, kind of a grass root movie review. I have seen a couple of good ones over the past months, and a stinker or two. Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart was the best I have seen him act. The movie was a good one, not really advertised, but very good. Precious was a great movie, a good story, but it was very hard to watch, I kept waiting for the next horrible thing to happen to the girl. Julie and Julia was very good, I am amazed that Meryl Streep does not get more recognition, she is clearly the best female actress of this time.
Survivor
OK, now that college hoops is over, there are truly no sports to watch on TV. Luckily, there is a pretty good season of Survivor going on. This season Survivor has brought back some of the best heroes and best villains. There have been some pretty surprising votes, but that is Survivor. I was amazed that the villains voted off Boston Rob, but that is true Survivor - - kill off the strong and leave the weak to fight it out. Russ has come up with a pretty strong alliance on the villain side, and I was stunned when the heroes gave him an immunity idol. That will probably go down as the dumbest Survivor move ever. We'll see.
Other Weekend entertainment
I have been venturing around DC and the area on the weekends, just checking things out. I went to two aquariums, the National Aquarium here in DC and the Aquarium in Baltimore Harbor. If you are coming to DC, don't bother with the aquarium here, the only highlight was an adult spotted drum. The rest of the stuff could probably be found in a nice pet shop.
The aquarium in Baltimore on the other hand is a great aquarium. It is set in the Inner Harbor of Baltimore, so you can spend the whole day there just wandering around. They had a pretty good carribean reef set up that had most of the usual suspects that we see in Honduras, but not a lot of the really small stuff that makes the reefs interesting. I did spot a green moray eel, doing what eels do best, just hanging around waiting for an unsuspecting fish to swim by. Also in the Inner Harbor is the USS Constellation, which was constructed in 1854. The Constellation is a sloop-of-war and the second United States Navy ship to carry this famous name (the first was the sister ship of the USS Constitution which is in Philadelphia harbor). According to the US Naval Registry the original frigate was disassembled on 25 June 1853 in Gosport Navy Yard in Norfolk, Virginia, and the sloop-of-war was constructed in the same yard, possibly with a few recycled materials from the old frigate. USS Constellation is the last sail-only warship designed and built by the U.S. Navy. The sloop was launched on 26 August 1854 and commissioned on 28 July 1855 with Captain Charles H. Bell in command. It served through WW I as a training ship, and then was transferred to Baltimore as a museum ship.
The Sisters
For those of you that followed my Boston Marathon train up blog, you know what the Sisters were. Two tough hills that I ran on while I was at FT Bragg. The series of hills were a pretty good trainup for Boston's famous Heartbreak Hill. I have been riding my bike to and from work twice a week, it is about 15 miles one way, the ride there is pretty nice, mostly downhill. That of course means the trip back is mostly uphill (Beckman's law of physical geography: For every down hill, there is a corresponding up hill). There isn't a lot of traffic in the morning, and just a short stretch of thick traffic on the way back. Folks around here seem to be biker friendly, which is pretty good. I start off at the house in Alexandria, hit South Vandorn Street, take a right on Eisenhower AVE and follow that to Old Town Alexandria's Commonwealth AVE. Commonwealth AVE has a dedicated bike lane, which is the first one that I have ridden on. After Commonwealth, I get on a couple of bike only trails: A part of if on a trail called 4 Mile Run and it finishes up on MT Vernon Trail. MT Vernon Trail goes right past Ronald Reagan International Airport, then rolls along the Potomac River for 3 or 4 miles and finishes up at the Memorial Bridge. From there, I cross a few streets and am at the Pentagon.
Speaking of the Pentagon, Tan Man and the Zombie are still around. The Zombie is wearing his summer zombie uniform: The same pair of shorts EVERY DAY and I suspect the same T shirt. Other than that, same routine - - dump his shaving kit on the floor, get naked and walk around to the disgust of others.
Duke Blue Devils
Well, they won it all, I thought they were going to be vulnerable to teams that were bigger, but somewhere between the end of the regular season and the ACC Tournament, Duke developed an inside game. Brian Zoubek, Mason and Miles Plumlee and Lance Thomas came up huge on the boards and defense, and kicked in a few points on offense, just enough to win the whole show. I think this year was one of Coach K's best seasons ever - - he didn't have dominant players like he had in years past, but he took the team he had and got the best out of them. 3 of the players were seniors: John Scheyer, Lance Thomas and Brian Zoubek, that is a testament to not taking the flash in the pan, one and done type of players that other colleges have taken. It will be interesting next year, Duke will have 2 of their top 3 scorers, Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith, plus the aforementioned Plumlee brothers, and some other pretty good players, so, we will see if the combination of perimeter scoring, rebounds and strong defense will work for them again.
Life in the Pentagon
We (the AFPAK Hands Management Element) now have our own office, it is pretty nice, much more quiet than working with the rest of the Pakistan Afghanistan Coordination Cell (PACC). We share an office with our Strategic Communications Section, there are 3 USAF LTCs and an Australian Colonel in that section. I have trained the Air Force LTCs to make coffee in the morning, which provides us something to talk about. Basically, I set the coffee up, alls they have to do is push a button, which is right up the Air Force alley. They are normally there first in the morning, so they push the button, I have freshly brewed coffee waiting on me. Pretty sweet.
Sam and Cheney
Sam and Cheney have settled down in their new digs. They spend most of their days lounging on the deck, defending the backyard from anything that walks past. Cheney is starting to gain weight again, she had stopped eating for a couple of weeks or so because she was stressed out over the move and her loss of all of the attention Ben had lavished on her when he was watching them in Tennessee.
Movies to check out
My blog buddy Bill from NC comments on the movies that he has seen, kind of a grass root movie review. I have seen a couple of good ones over the past months, and a stinker or two. Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart was the best I have seen him act. The movie was a good one, not really advertised, but very good. Precious was a great movie, a good story, but it was very hard to watch, I kept waiting for the next horrible thing to happen to the girl. Julie and Julia was very good, I am amazed that Meryl Streep does not get more recognition, she is clearly the best female actress of this time.
Survivor
OK, now that college hoops is over, there are truly no sports to watch on TV. Luckily, there is a pretty good season of Survivor going on. This season Survivor has brought back some of the best heroes and best villains. There have been some pretty surprising votes, but that is Survivor. I was amazed that the villains voted off Boston Rob, but that is true Survivor - - kill off the strong and leave the weak to fight it out. Russ has come up with a pretty strong alliance on the villain side, and I was stunned when the heroes gave him an immunity idol. That will probably go down as the dumbest Survivor move ever. We'll see.
Other Weekend entertainment
I have been venturing around DC and the area on the weekends, just checking things out. I went to two aquariums, the National Aquarium here in DC and the Aquarium in Baltimore Harbor. If you are coming to DC, don't bother with the aquarium here, the only highlight was an adult spotted drum. The rest of the stuff could probably be found in a nice pet shop.
The aquarium in Baltimore on the other hand is a great aquarium. It is set in the Inner Harbor of Baltimore, so you can spend the whole day there just wandering around. They had a pretty good carribean reef set up that had most of the usual suspects that we see in Honduras, but not a lot of the really small stuff that makes the reefs interesting. I did spot a green moray eel, doing what eels do best, just hanging around waiting for an unsuspecting fish to swim by. Also in the Inner Harbor is the USS Constellation, which was constructed in 1854. The Constellation is a sloop-of-war and the second United States Navy ship to carry this famous name (the first was the sister ship of the USS Constitution which is in Philadelphia harbor). According to the US Naval Registry the original frigate was disassembled on 25 June 1853 in Gosport Navy Yard in Norfolk, Virginia, and the sloop-of-war was constructed in the same yard, possibly with a few recycled materials from the old frigate. USS Constellation is the last sail-only warship designed and built by the U.S. Navy. The sloop was launched on 26 August 1854 and commissioned on 28 July 1855 with Captain Charles H. Bell in command. It served through WW I as a training ship, and then was transferred to Baltimore as a museum ship.
The Sisters
For those of you that followed my Boston Marathon train up blog, you know what the Sisters were. Two tough hills that I ran on while I was at FT Bragg. The series of hills were a pretty good trainup for Boston's famous Heartbreak Hill. I have been riding my bike to and from work twice a week, it is about 15 miles one way, the ride there is pretty nice, mostly downhill. That of course means the trip back is mostly uphill (Beckman's law of physical geography: For every down hill, there is a corresponding up hill). There isn't a lot of traffic in the morning, and just a short stretch of thick traffic on the way back. Folks around here seem to be biker friendly, which is pretty good. I start off at the house in Alexandria, hit South Vandorn Street, take a right on Eisenhower AVE and follow that to Old Town Alexandria's Commonwealth AVE. Commonwealth AVE has a dedicated bike lane, which is the first one that I have ridden on. After Commonwealth, I get on a couple of bike only trails: A part of if on a trail called 4 Mile Run and it finishes up on MT Vernon Trail. MT Vernon Trail goes right past Ronald Reagan International Airport, then rolls along the Potomac River for 3 or 4 miles and finishes up at the Memorial Bridge. From there, I cross a few streets and am at the Pentagon.
Speaking of the Pentagon, Tan Man and the Zombie are still around. The Zombie is wearing his summer zombie uniform: The same pair of shorts EVERY DAY and I suspect the same T shirt. Other than that, same routine - - dump his shaving kit on the floor, get naked and walk around to the disgust of others.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Almost a Tragedy
A near tragedy, narrowly avoided.
Yesterday morning in the gym I almost lost a treasured veteran: The pair of shorts that I ran the 2008 Boston Marathon in. I took them to Iraq and had happy thoughts everytime I wore them, but the Iraqi environment and questionable laundry system took their toll on the Fastest Shorts Ever.
Like most Iraqi vets, on the outside, they looked OK, just a little worn, but that is normal. But,on the inside, they were having some problems. The liner on the shorts has lost it's elastic capability. I still wear them, but may retire them to the drawer next to the Fastest Shirt Ever.
Yesterday, I wore them for an outside run (my first good run in several weeks) and they were just fine, and honestly, were trying to get me to run a bit faster than I should based on my most recent running related injury. After the run, I hung them on the hook in the shower room (Tan Man and the Zombie were not around) and then took my shower. I got done with the shower, went upstairs to work and realized I had left a veteran on the battlefield.
After I put my uniform on, I made a bee-line back to the shower room to recover my shorts, luckily, they were hanging patiently on the hook when I came back. They are now waiting their turn to get washed with the rest of my laundry. I was a little disappointed with myself for leaving them behind, but I will take more care the next time around.
Other news: NO FOOTBALL on TV is tough this time of year. NASCAR is trying, but unless Jeff Gordon is winning, I don't have any interest in the race. Duke basketball is making it's late season surge to win the ACC tournament. They pounded the unc tarheels on Saturday, 4 years of frustration came out in Cameron Indoor Stadium and the ghost of Tyler Hansborough was exorcised. The ACC tournament starts this week, I think it will come down to maryland and Duke, but you can never tell. The Blue Devils will get a good NCAA seed, and will probably make the Sweet 16, maybe the Elite 8, but that will be about it. Once again, live by the 3 pointer, die by the 3 pointer. We'll see, I hope the Duke Big 3 (John Scheyer, Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler) can get hot and bury some three pointers.
Survivor is back on. Unfortunately, nobody on the Joint Staff watches the second best show on TV, so I got nobody to talk to about the show. Last week's episode was a classic blindside: Tom used the newly found, hidden immunity idol and blind-sided Cherie on the Heroes team. Russ needs to clean up his act on the villains, or he may be out of there. We'll see. Thursday nights, 8 PM EST, don’t call during that hour.
Yesterday morning in the gym I almost lost a treasured veteran: The pair of shorts that I ran the 2008 Boston Marathon in. I took them to Iraq and had happy thoughts everytime I wore them, but the Iraqi environment and questionable laundry system took their toll on the Fastest Shorts Ever.
Like most Iraqi vets, on the outside, they looked OK, just a little worn, but that is normal. But,on the inside, they were having some problems. The liner on the shorts has lost it's elastic capability. I still wear them, but may retire them to the drawer next to the Fastest Shirt Ever.
Yesterday, I wore them for an outside run (my first good run in several weeks) and they were just fine, and honestly, were trying to get me to run a bit faster than I should based on my most recent running related injury. After the run, I hung them on the hook in the shower room (Tan Man and the Zombie were not around) and then took my shower. I got done with the shower, went upstairs to work and realized I had left a veteran on the battlefield.
After I put my uniform on, I made a bee-line back to the shower room to recover my shorts, luckily, they were hanging patiently on the hook when I came back. They are now waiting their turn to get washed with the rest of my laundry. I was a little disappointed with myself for leaving them behind, but I will take more care the next time around.
Other news: NO FOOTBALL on TV is tough this time of year. NASCAR is trying, but unless Jeff Gordon is winning, I don't have any interest in the race. Duke basketball is making it's late season surge to win the ACC tournament. They pounded the unc tarheels on Saturday, 4 years of frustration came out in Cameron Indoor Stadium and the ghost of Tyler Hansborough was exorcised. The ACC tournament starts this week, I think it will come down to maryland and Duke, but you can never tell. The Blue Devils will get a good NCAA seed, and will probably make the Sweet 16, maybe the Elite 8, but that will be about it. Once again, live by the 3 pointer, die by the 3 pointer. We'll see, I hope the Duke Big 3 (John Scheyer, Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler) can get hot and bury some three pointers.
Survivor is back on. Unfortunately, nobody on the Joint Staff watches the second best show on TV, so I got nobody to talk to about the show. Last week's episode was a classic blindside: Tom used the newly found, hidden immunity idol and blind-sided Cherie on the Heroes team. Russ needs to clean up his act on the villains, or he may be out of there. We'll see. Thursday nights, 8 PM EST, don’t call during that hour.
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