The Best Day at Work

You know how when people have an awesome day at work and they are trying to make an analogy to explain it to someone else and they say, "Imagine if the President of the United States came and visited you at work." Well, my day was kind of like that... actually it was exactly like that. President Bush has been traveling a lot to say goodbye to people on his way out of office. Today he came to my squadron to thank us for eight years of successful take-offs and landings in his helicopter.

I have a really cool job, I can't lie. I have been very blessed to be able to do the things I do, and experience things I have experienced. Most of the cool things I have done, I am not at liberty to tell people. So it's really awesome when I do things I can share.

It was pretty surreal. I have been attached to this unit for about 2 1/2 years. I've been "working for" this man all of this time, but before today I have only seen him twice from a distance. When we travel to a trip site, we are usually there days more than the President is. And for the short time he is on deck, we are usually tucked away in the corner of a hanger out of sight while he is conducting his business. It was nice to be his business for once. We were like star struck idiots straining for a handshake, stretching for a picture or, if you were lucky, pushing for a photo with him. I wasn't able to get a picture with him, but I did get a hand shake. My thoughts? - Soft hands. Below are some pictures I got.

Our commanding officer, Col L'Heureux, introducing our Commander in Chief.

(L-R) XO of HMX-1 LtCol Braman, President Bush, CO of HMX-1 Col L'Heureux and Sgt Major of HMX-1 SgtMaj Nowak

We presented him with a few gifts. In addition to that hat, we gave him this picture. The frame was made out of the actual window from HMX-1.

If you didn't know, President Bush is also a big mountain biker. We also gave him this bike helmet which is modeled after Marine One. It was custom designed and painted by the Marine to his left.

These are my friends Cpl Bebeau and Cpl Polk... lucky devil dogs.

Something we all can respect

The world needs to hear more stories of people like this. Stories like this should not be pushed off until the last 3 minutes of a broadcast as a "special segment". Stories like this inspire people to make a difference. This is what should be flooding our news medias.

Not worth my time

There is a lot going on right now in our world. There is a lot in the news today that I have on my mind. However, I'm not going to talk about it here. Why? Because everything going on is making me angry. What the worst part is, these things are insignificant in the grant scheme of my life. Life if too short to dwell on meaningless things that make you angry. Instead I want to talk about things that make me feel good. I realize that you cannot avoid tough subjects your whole life. But when I can avoid them, I like to. I hate arguing. I hate debating. I hate building meaningless barriers between my fellow man. I know it sounds cliche, but can't we all just get along? Stay tuned for blog posts that don't raise your blood pressure.

TV Landmarks in New York

Earlier this summer my wife and I took a weekend get-away to New York City. It was the first time we had ever been in the city. It was quite overwhelming. It was also quite surreal. So much of American pop culture comes from here. I would venture a guess to say that over 50% of TV shows and movies are based here. I have a better perspective when I watch shows like Law and Order or Seinfeld now. I know how confusing the subway is when you are trying to figure out if you want the E train "uptown" or "downtown". I know the general geography of the area like how Manhattan has the Bronx to the north, Queens to the east and Brooklyn to the south. I know how valuable a parking space is in midtown. I even have a better understanding for New Jersey jokes. It was like I was in a fictional place. It was even more weird when I visited actual TV landmarks. Here are a few pictures I snapped:

Recognize this landmark? It is the shot the producers of Friends used for the apartment building of Monica, Rachel, Joey and Chandler. There isn't a coffee shop on the ground floor as depicted in the show. There is, however, a fancy restaurant. We were going to eat there, but it looks a little too pricey for our budget. We did however eat at this little Mexican restaurant around the corner. Another reality discrepancy is the apartment building is not located next to Central Park. It's quite aways away from it in lower Manhattan.

This is also from Friends. It is the building across the street from the gang's apartment building. This is the shot used for Ross's apartment when he moved in to "ugly naked guy's" place.

If you know me at all, you know I am a Seinfeld fanatic. This was probably my favorite part of the trip. This is obviously the actual coffee shop shot used in the show.

This is the inside of the place. It doesn't look anything like the show. It's tiny. There is a lot of Seinfeld memorabilia on the walls. The prices and food are nothing special. The place was packed though. If you go here, remember it's cash only.

It just wouldn't be right if we visited Monks... uh.. I mean Tom's Restaurant and not have a cup of coffee.

Mountain Biking 10/21

Yesterday I rode some more trails here on base after work. It was a great time. The weather is starting to get cold though. That means I have limited time left this year to get in more runs. I'll have to switch to snowboarding. The thing with snowboarding though, is that it gets expensive.

Heartbreak Ridge huh? We'll see...

About 20 minutes into my ride, my chain slipped completely off of the gears. It's not a big deal. It was a quick fix, but it was quite annoying. I'm getting that fixed soon. This is a picture of what your front gear is NOT suppose to look like.

And this is what your derailleur is NOT suppose to look like.

These trails really keep in interesting. It's not just a flat path in the woods. You really have to stay alert.

This obstruction popped up around a corner as I was still smoking from a hill.

Moguls for a mountain biker.

I love being out in the woods. It's so peaceful, especially when I'm riding alone.

This was a FUN trail. Long, windy, and downhill. I like downhill.

Sometimes I forgot I was in Northern Virginia.

If you ride these trails and happen upon this overhanging branch, and think you can duck down and squeeze under it... you'll be wrong. Unfortunately I now know from experience. Maybe that's what the red marker on the tree means.

Wow. Perspective is everything sometimes.

Joe Biden Scares Me

...He does. Everytime he talks he just seems so angry. He reminds me of a old grumpy old man who sits on his porch and yells at little kids who run by.

Mountain biking 10/14 and 10/18

I've recently found a new passion in mountain biking. There were always plenty of wooded trails to ride in the area I grew up in. I would occasionally go out and tear up some dirt. But now I want to do some serious mountain biking. Living in Virginia is a great place to start. Fredericksburg has some great trails only minutes from my house. I work at Quantico and there are miles and miles of trails here on base I can ride during my lunch hour. And if I want to make a day of it I can drive only a few hours and ride in Shenandoah National Park. I thought I would keep a photo journal of some of my adventures. Hope you enjoy.






















This is my trusty steed. Believe it or not, I got it for free. It's a great bike. It just needs a little updating. I've already been into the bike store getting prices.

This is what the trail sees when I'm tearing it up!

I had Columbus day off last week. I took advantage and hit the dirt. Here is a battle wound from the ride.

This is one of my regular spots to ride. You park at the trail head, then you take various dirt and gravel roads for about 2 miles. You come to this second parking area at this little lagoon. You can't see it in this shot, but off to the right are two paths you can take. One is an intermediate trail, and another one is a pretty advanced trail. Over Columbus day I rode the Intermediate trails. This particular day I felt pretty confident to step it up and take the advanced trail. I didn't feel too confident 5 minutes into the ride.

Take note of the top of this cliff. You see something poking up above the trees? I'll come back to that later.

The advanced trail runs up the cliff and around the lagoon. This is a shot about half way up, looking down. Yes, that was taken on the trail. Not a whole lot of room for error on one side.

It's a very pretty ride up to the top.

Remember those rocks too. It will put the ride in perspective. This was shot half way up across the lagoon.

I love these trails.

When you get to the top, the trail opens up to a clearing. This is a shot looking back at where I came from.

This is the view at the top of the cliff. You can see I95 off in the distance.

Those people have no idea they are being featured on some strangers blog right now!

Man I love the zoom on this camera!

The view of I95 is off to your left as you come to the clearing. This is the view to your right. I should have got a picture of me next to it to give you an idea of how big it is. But take my word for it... It's a big sign. Remember that thing poking up above the trees at the bottom of the trail?

This is a shot from the top of the cliff looking down at the lagoon.

This is a shot back at the second parking area where I started.

Remember those rocks? This is the same shot about a hundred feet up.

I guess people scuba dive a lot in the lagoon. I assumed it was like a class.

Continuing down the trail, you go back in the woods on some even more technical singletracks. Part of the trail runs right by I95. That picture was taken on the trail as well. I didn't have to hike to get this close to the highway.

For a second I thought I made it all the way to North Carolina... I don't know why they put a Virginia Welcome center up here in Fredericksburg.

I think that was the only log on the trail that was cut.

Every man needs a break sometime...

...And water.

This part of the trail is really cool. The dirt path turns into a drainage trough...

...And at the end of the trough is this tunnel that runs UNDER I95! That is pretty sweet! I didn't ride through it, however. I was by myself and, quite honestly, I was a little freaked out by going in there. In Fredericksburg, you never know who is living in there.

I had my first head-over-heels wipe out. It was pretty awesome actually. I wish someone was there with a video camera. This is the first view I saw after I landed.

...And this is the second.

I wish it would have been this tree stump I tried to hop over and got my back tire caught on. It would have made a lot more impressive wipe out story...

...But it wasn't. It was this wimpy little branch.

This is what I looked like when I landed.

The trail eventually looped around almost back to where I started. If you notice, you can see the back of the billboard where I was early in the pictures.

Here's a closer shot... just to show off the zoom again. Did I mention it has an awesome zoom?

-And that was my Saturday morning.