2012!

2012 has been quite an exciting year!  Starting off with a return from Afghanistan (really, if that was the only good thing this would be a great post). A nice couple of weeks off and then back to work.

Lots of wedding planning, followed by the actual event

A delightful almost 3 week vacation to Australia and New Zealand.
A second reception in my Wifes hometown (along with a trip to the State Fair).
There was a bit of tragedy as we had to attend the funerals of both of my wifes Grandmothers (within 3 months of each other).
And of course some new life to counteract those losses as my wife is now pregnant and due in June.

Busy

Yeah, thats my excuse. Finals for class, then vacation to FL (said hi to Mickey), then turned right around and was on a plane to Mexico City (for work! the trip was a blast (even saw some Lucho Libre, got to see some pyramids) and then it was back on the ground for 4 days before heading off to a 3 day drill. In which I got to shoot a brand new grenade launcher (the M320).

The off to a Black Tie Oscar Party at the St. Regis. And I started 2 new graduate courses in stuff that I know nothing about. Oh yeah, its been some frightfully busy times. And now I have to go off to an 8 day field exercise for the Army...

Texas

So for the past 9 weeks thanks to Uncle Sam I have been a tenant of "The Great Place" aka Ft Hood TX. I will forgo talking about the actual training (not for OPSEC since that really doesn't apply in this case... just because I am trying to get over the fact that the 10 weeks of training could have been condensed into 4, maybe 5, weeks and there is so much wasted time in this stuff that it makes me sad... when I find myself fondly wishing to be back at work? I am bored).

Not exactly where I wanted to be (since I get to miss 4 of the 8 weeks in DC where the weather is pleasant by my standards) but I am a true believer taking lemons and making something approximating lemonaide, so I took it upon myself to explore the heck out TX (I spent 5 months in Houston in 2000, but never got over to this side except for one trip to Austin). I went out drinking on 6th Street in Austin, made my arteries cry out for mercy when I went to the TX State Fair, explored Austin and San Antonio pretty extensively with Cupcake Girl and my parents, and even went in and went to a University of Texas game (vs Colorado).

I think I will borrow from some other bloggers and present some of the good things and some of the bad things in a list:
Good

• Friendly people - really.... My favorite story is that after walking around for 2 hours in 90 degree heat we were looking among the tailgaters at UT for a beer to buy. My Dad said that he was a tourist, was hot, tired and just wanted to buy a beer. The man just reached around, grabbed into his cooler and gave my Dad a beer.
  
• Great BBQ - really, some of the best!
  
• Best Tex-Mex ever
• Short work day (average day started at 0800, broke for lunch from 1130 to 1300 and then was done by 1530). I think going back to working 8-9 hour days is going to kill me
• Lots of space for long runs (training for MCM and the Army Ten Miler)

Bad

• Surprisingly bad trails. Sidewalks ending, poorly maintained... Kind of surprising on an Army base.
  
• Interesting (new) things to run into the trails. I had to hop off one when a M2 Bradley APC came roaring up past me. Also a whole new assortment of wildlife, snakes and cattle. And because of the cattle? They have these things called cattle guards that are meant to coincide with streams etc that were meant to keep the cattle constrained. Large bars about 9in separation.
• Driving... everywhere.... Distances that I would never drive had to be driven because walking was just unsafe.
• The motel I spent this time in. Completely sealed (poor ventilation that can lead to mold if not run continiously), crappy shower and right next to the cannon at the 3 Corps HQ.
• Living on base. The above mentioned cannons that go off every weekday at 0600 and 1700.... Very hard to sleep through.
  
• And yes, being so far from home

But in just another 2-3 days I can leave. 1500 miles of driving and I will be home!!!

Vegas!!!!

Really? What is not to love?

I did spend a lot of time at the poker tables (I won't bore you other than mention this one hand where I got quad 9's on the river and took in an almost 300 pot!!). I actually left Vegas with more cash in my pocket than when I left (so while I had budgeted more than $600 for gambling I used up none of it... all told with meals and whatnot the trip cost less than $500).

Coolest part of the trip? I went to the Penn & Teller show and got picked from the crowd to be part of their gun trick (shocking I know for anyone who knows me). Still working on exactly how the trick works, but it is pretty cool. My brother, D, wanted to kill me when I stuck my hand up and volunteered to get up on stage... it was pretty funny! It was pretty cool to be up there (Army has taken care of my fear of crowds and public speaking... and embarrassment...).

Lots of good food (breakfast in Paris, last dinner in Mandalay Bay's buffet). Best find of the trip? Ellis Island Casino. They have this fantastic meal where for 6.99 you get: a imperial pint of beer (their own brew), a salad (big and not adorned by anything other than dressing and croutons), a side of garlic green beans (not a fan of green beans mostly, but these were fantastic), a potato and a 10 oz steak (very good). It was right around the corner from Paris (if you went the quick way... not so around the corner if you choose the wrong direction).

O'Sheas Casino has beer pong!! Pretty cool!!

I still have to wait another 4 days til Vegas?

Darn. Though I will enjoy the coming days since my GF will be back tomorrow from her work obligation.

I am so pysched. Not only that, I get to avoid the commotion that surrounds this coming event (where the crown and sceptre are bestowed and the throne is sat upon... they had to get them specially made for this event).

On the running note? I am now registered for the National Marathon (the half version), the Marine Corp Race to Qualify (to lock me in for the MCM) and the Fredericksburg Historic Half. Nothing like races to motivate you to get out there.

Vegas Baby!!!

What to do when you want nothing to do with the coronation, sorry, inauguration mess that is about to descend on your hometown?
Head far away to the land that is American Capitalism at its best and worst.

From the 18th to the 21st I will be living it up at Paris and enjoying all that makes America great!

Let's Go Hokies!

I was lucky enough this past weekend to attend the VT/Nebraska game at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.

It was quite an experience. 88 thousand people were in attendance, maybe all of 6-7k of them were Hokie fans. But we represented, almost all wearing Orange (some wearing the more camouflaged Maroon) and apparently we were far louder than any visitor team that any of our neighbors could recall (my family was sitting almost opposite to the Hokie corner and you could clearly hear the cheering and chanting from across the ginormious stadium).

Really, the game was a sheer, grip the edge of your seat game. While the Hokies grabbed the lead early with a Safety and a quick TD from an interception, there was no moment that night that that I felt completely comfortable with victory (probably due to my having seen the Hokies blow it so many times at this point when they do get ahead).

I will say that I have nothing but good things to say about the Nebraska fans. We were sitting deep in their territory and answered many questions (the most popular being of course, "What is a Hokie?") and other questions (I think overall they were impressed that so many people traveled so far for this game). They were also very gracious in defeat (it was such a close game they could be angry at their own team but not us... particularily since there really is no bad blood between VT and Nebraska), I even was given a brand new Nebraska hat as we were leaving the game

Other than the football game I was quite impressed with Nebraska (not that I would live there or anything... far too pedestrian unfriendly for my taste) but it has been 11 years since we went out there. I saw a number of relatives that I haven't seen since then and was actually pretty impressed with the way that they have developed downtown Omaha.

Commando Raid Home

Since Georgia was starting to wear on me I decided to make a quick trip home this weekend. I tried to be all stealthy about it on the recommendations of the girl I am seeing but I appear to be bad at keeping secrets (other than national security ones). I called my older brother to when/if my nephew would be around and apparently even though I think I asked he keep it on the Down Low it trickled back to my parents.
Friday night was a nice relaxing night after a long week. A few drinks with the guys, a movie (OMG, Doomsday seemed to decide to incorporate almost every cliche about apocalypse movies... it was comical) then bed. An early morning, 0430 to get on the road ASAP, get up to Atlanta airport and then a short flight home. I slept the whole flight, probably to the consternation of my neighbors. I got picked up by the woman I have been seeing, walked around Old Town for while, had a nice relaxing lunch at Chart House. Stopped by my parents, had tea and some nice conversation with them, and then headed back to the condo. Spent some more time chatting with my roommate (and killing some bottles of wine... its been 3 weeks since I had wine). Then later in the evening we went out to Brasserie Beck. Great food (I had the mussels and she had the sea bass) and awesome beer (convinced my companion to switch to beer after tasting the awesome St. Louis brand that they had there).

A late morning (gotta sleep in one day of the week), some bagels (thanks to nice roommate) and then off to the surprise of the weekend, a couples massage down in Alexandria. It felt pretty good. It was my first and I have no complaints (though I am pretty good about stress, I don't internalize it too much into my body and luckily I don't have any chronic problems) and even thought it was pretty relaxing (fell asleep for a bit of it). Then it was off to the baseball game. Unfortunately when I left the condo this morning I did not figure that the temperature had dropped so much. So I, the person acclimatized to Georgia (and in body armor), was out in shorts and a tshirt. It was cold. I did get to see the Nationals score, had some Five Guys burgers and fries and just enjoyed the new ballpark. A dinner at my parents, some playing with my nephew and then it was off to the airport for my flight. Another flight where I slept on the way back and a quick drive back to the barracks. I finally got to bed at midnight, so I get at least 5 hours of sleep before formation tomorrow.

Gotta love busy weekends! Sometimes they can be packed full, sometimes its nice to do nothing at all. Gotta mix them up!

Skiing

First off, I must say that I bet my roommate will have a definite pause when she next plans to go to Vermont.... How many people can say that they got stung by a Wasp... In Vermont.... Indoors (most believable part).... in February... And the day before she gets run over by my run-away ski (first run of the day on some demo's on a green. I wipe out, look uphill and think "wow, that ski is really covered, all I can see is the binding". Then walk up, see that all that is there is the binding (which of course since that is where the ski brake is meant that it kept going). Then I look downhill and see that my roommate is sprawled out as well. Yep, she was hit by my ski before it richoted off the mountain.). Then I get to take my first (and hopefully only) tobogan ride down the mountain courtesy of the ski patrol (I wasn't injured but it was the only way down with the broken equipment).... interesting experience, but freezing since the SP person basically kicks a ton of snow at you... I had a face that was covered in ice by the time I got to the bottom.

Other than the perilious trips both in and out of Vermont (so much driving on the snow while it was snowing.... in my FWD Prius..... I was toast after I finished those segments) it was a lot of fun (even the .3 mile uphill walk to get to my Uncle's house, since there was no way my car was going to make it past 2 switchbacks). 2 Days of downhill skiing (at Stowe... Never have I skiied on so much powder) and then a day of cross country skiing (lesson and then applying that lesson.. having never done it before I REALLY like it and will do it again).

Gotta love vacations where you come back more tired than when you left (though I also appreciate the other option as well).