Visits Galore I - Friday

I just had a fun (but exhausting) weekend with Daniel & Tim. Daniel decided to take Amtrak from Conneticut, not because it was a cost savings, but because it keeps you from having to drive through New York City, Jersey City, Philly, Baltimore and DC to get here. The train came in late Thursday night to Union Station, where he transferred to the extremely convenient DC metro. He was a little nervous about taking the subway, because his only subway experience has been in Chicago, where you need to make sure you're wearing the right gang colors before you ride certain routes. Compared to that (or the urine-tense NYC subway) the metro is about as threatening as the monorail at Disneyland. I picked him up at Suitland, which scores an 8 in convenience but about a 9 in shady-ness.

Friday we got up early, but not early enough to avoid the heat on my weekly long run. Daniel, being the good sport that he is, decided to join me for the first (of two) lap of the 10-miles. When we started it was cloudy, hot and humid, but it soon cleared up enough to be sunny, really hot and humid. We soldiered on for the first lap, after which I dropped him off at the drill hall and started on lap #2. I sealed my fate by saying "I'll see you in about 45 minutes."

Now, usually my long runs are a fun experience. It's hard, but I've always found that if I pushed on I could do the whole distance, and usually a little more. This, however, was the most disappointing and humbling experience that I've had since I started running. It was awful- it proceeded to get even hotter out, and I probably walked more than I ran. I would try to run, but my legs just wouldn't. I was basically doing run/walk intervals, but instead of run 2 minutes/walk 2 minutes, it was walk until I see someone coming in the opposite direction/run until I pass them. All in all, the loop took me about an hour and 10 minutes, which is about 50% longer than usual. Daniel was waiting for me at the drill hall, wondering where the hell I was. He and I were sort of raquetball arch-rivals in college, so we had tossed around the idea of playing a game or two after the run. Given how we were both feeling, we decided to try something easier, like trying not to pass out or vomit.

After we got cleaned up, we went back to base to see what was flying because (as I said in my last post) now he can appreciate how cool it is that so many different Navy aircraft are just sitting out or flying around base. We were able to see lots of Sikorsky H-60s, but there wasn't an H-53 (the platform Daniel works on) to be found, which is odd because they're usually everywhere. We rounded out the day with some Donkey Konga (always an excellent time) and a couple movies. First was Kung Fu Hustle, which gets an enthusiastic two thumbs up. Later we watched Equilibrium, which gets two lukewarm "mehs." We had to go to turn in fairly early because we had a big 'ole day planned for Saturday.

Well, I was going to do the whole weekend in one post, but this is getting a little long. To be continued!

Frogs!

A few nights ago (well, last Saturday- I've been busy) I came home from helping the Woodburys with their deck. After I shut the garage door and got out of the car, I saw something jumping around in the garage. I get closer, and it's a little frog! So I spend a couple minutes chasing him around, and finally catch him. After I walk through the whole house and get out to the driveway, I open up my hands to let him out. Nothing. I get right down to the ground and tilt my hand a little. Nada. Pretty soon we're at the full-on hand upside down, vigorous shaking and the little guy is not going anywhere. Perplexed, I actually took out my phone to photograph him. The first one didn't come out, so I had to turn on the flash to take this picture that you see. Afterward I had to kneel down and like scrape him off with my other hand, at which point he hopped away.

Then, a few nights later I was out in the garage getting a Fruit2O. Yes, I still keep them in the garage. This works fine in the winter, but these days they end up tasting like some sort of hot fruit tea but I still haven't learned to stock the fridge. Anyway, I'm out there in my boxers and I hear this repeated "Thunk...thunk...thunk" sound against the garage door. All I can figure is that maybe it's some evil neighborhood kids throwing rocks at my door, so I run upstairs, get fully dressed (lesson learned - thanks Daniel), and go out to the driveway. What do I see? A big frog, repeatedly leaping at the garage door. I watched him take 3 or 4 headers right into the aluminum before I chased him off into the bushes.

The question is this: What is in my garage that frogs want so desperately? Sure there are some bugs in there, but I can't believe that it's more appealing that the insect kingdom in my yard. Maybe they just want hot Fruit2O.

Anyway, both Daniel and Tim (Tina's boyfriend) are coming into town this weekend. Friday Daniel and I are just going to kick it here in the LP- maybe I'll take him on base again since now he should be able to appreciate what he's seeing in the hangers (Seeing as how he now works for Sikorsky). Saturday we'll meet Tim in DC and do a good old monument tour. I'll either take some pictures or just use some that Tim takes- that's kind of his thing. Have a great weekend everyone!

What it Takes

People find a lot of comfort in song lyrics, and I know when you go through a break-up it seems like every song on the radio is about you. Well, nothing is ever perfectly apt (although Matchbox Twenty's Last Beautiful Girl is eerily close to a previous break-up) but I heard this for the first time in years on XM the other day and parts of it really spoke to me. I know it isn't totally accurate for my situation, but I highlighted the parts that really said what I'm feeling.

What it Takes
Aerosmith

There goes my old girlfriend, well there's another diamond ring
And all those late night promises, I guess they don't mean a thing
So baby what's the story? Did you find another man?
Is it easy to sleep in the bed that we made?
When you don't look back I guess the feelings start to fade away...

I used to feel your fire but now it's cold inside
And you're back on the street like you didn't miss a beat, yeah

(Chorus)
Tell me what it takes to let you go
Tell me how the pain's supposed to go
Tell me how it is that you can sleep in the night
Without thinking you lost everything that was good in your life to the toss of the dice...
Tell me what it takes to let you go

Girl, before I met you I was F.I.N.E. fine
But your love made me a prisoner, yeah my heart's been doin' time
Spent me up like money, well then you hung me out to dry
It was easy to keep all your lies in disguise,
'cause you had me deep with the devil in your eyes

(Chorus)

Tell me that you're happy that you're on your own
Tell me that it's better when you're all alone
Tell me that your body doesn't miss my touch
Tell me that my lovin' didn't mean that much
Tell me you ain't dyin' when you're cryin' for me

(Chorus)

I guess sometimes songs can be theraputic just because they let you know that someone else has gone through what you have. It helps that someone who's good with words can put something together that I can't. Anyway, maybe I'll post more as they occur to me.

Marc Burgess Photography

Sometimes the internet just gives you gems. Long ago I blogged about Google-ing yourself, but there is an outstanding new entry. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Marc Burgess Photography.

In case you're reading this and don't know me, let me assure you that this guy is not me. Now, I find Marc's photography a little shallow and pedantic- nothing special, but not bad. I'm sure he's just begun trying to break into the biz because he actually thanks his web designer for that turd of a website on this page.

But oh hoh, what else do we spy in his bio? Marc also works as a professional model? My first thought was "Hey! Maybe people will google me and think I'm hot!" Which of course would only complicate things later, but novel none the less. Alas, feast your eyes on Marc Burgess, professional model!

Now, I don't know what makes an attractive man, but that guy's lips are huge. It looks like he's going to say "MATT DAMON" (Team America reference, I have nothing against MD). Not only that, but he's totally doing the Zoolander "Blue Steel" face! Hah! Oooh, maybe no one else finds this amusing, but I sure do.

Anyway, I hope he never Googles himself and finds this, because I don't want to hurt his feelings- he's probably very sensitive about his "artistic and technically precise" style. Plus, he looks like he could beat the crap out of me.

HOT / Picnic

Whew. It's hot here today. My sweet little weather station recorded a high of 100.0. That's pretty high in itself, but it's also pretty humid. What amazes me is that I saw dudes jogging on base today right at noon. What are they, masochists? I was sweating profusely while standing at the gas pump on my way home. I plan to run my 4 miles on the treadmill today- I finally had to turn on the air conditioning when it hit 89 in the bedroom. I probably could've slept at that temperature, but it sucks to sweat when you're just sitting there.

The main highlight of the day was the company picnic. It starts at noon and there's food, ice cream, a dunk tank (that all the bosses take turns in), and it ends with a raffle. This is all well and good, but what you're really buying is a $5 afternoon off. The way they regulate attendance is by waiting until 4:00 or so to start the raffle. So, I convinced 3 co-workers to join me in a rousing game of badminton. On a side note, I have very little natural athletic ability, but I will take you down in a game of badminton given the chance. During the badminton unit of 9th grade PE I actually ran out of people willing to play me. I like to think it was because I was so dominant, but there were actually some grumblings about trash-talk and excessive celebration. C'mon, I had years of basketball humiliation to make up for. Anyway, we made an honest effort at badminton even though there was a pretty strong breeze that meant you had to hit the birdie at like a 45 degree angle to where you wanted it to go. I think our record volley was like 5 hits, but we eventually gave up, because as I stated earlier, it was hot as crap. We really could have chosen from any activity that was set up because most of the attendees wouldn't leave the shade of the pavilion. Actually, the dunk tank was starting to look pretty good.

But the highlight of it all was the raffle. It takes a while, because most people just eat and take off, so there's a lot of dead space while they determine if the person they called is still there. I was actually called up for a $25 Best Buy gift card, which is good for three reasons:
1. Staying for the raffle finally paid off.
2. I got a 500% return on my investment, not counting the hamburger, hotdog, 3 popsicles and 2 brownies I ate (which is why I really need to get that run in today).
3. My over the top fist-pump celebration as I walked up prompted the Captain to say I also won the "most excited winner" award, which means they'll probably remember that I didn't punk out early.

So put that with my Outback gift card win at the Human Society 5K and perhaps we can dub 2006 "The year of the raffle."