In November, my friend Craig Bingham will release a documentary of our 2013 Race Across America (RAAM) victory and World Record. Here's a brief trailer to whet the appetite:
http://vimeo.com/74958081
I'll be providing additional photos and a review of the experience in the weeks ahead.
The continued adventures of a Navy Diver, Triathlete, and Adventure Seeker as he looks for new life experiences.
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Read more... React less...
As we approach a new year with renewed conviction, perhaps we should take the time for critical thinking...
I'm still reviewing the data on these contrasting perspectives:
The first one was endorsed by an athlete and Clinical Psychologist.
http://www.upworthy.com/3-lies-about-food-youre-used-to-hearing-and-might-even-believe
The second was provided by a PhD (tenured Economics Professor)
http://www.marklynas.org/2013/01/lecture-to-oxford-farming-conference-3-january-2013/
Perhaps it's as simple as this... "The wealthy can afford organic foods, but for those desperate to eat, Genetically Modified will ultimately rule."
I'll need to continue reflecting on the scientific and ethical implications of BOTH sides of the argument.
I'm still reviewing the data on these contrasting perspectives:
The first one was endorsed by an athlete and Clinical Psychologist.
http://www.upworthy.com/3-lies-about-food-youre-used-to-hearing-and-might-even-believe
The second was provided by a PhD (tenured Economics Professor)
http://www.marklynas.org/2013/01/lecture-to-oxford-farming-conference-3-january-2013/
Perhaps it's as simple as this... "The wealthy can afford organic foods, but for those desperate to eat, Genetically Modified will ultimately rule."
I'll need to continue reflecting on the scientific and ethical implications of BOTH sides of the argument.
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Let the rain wash away your sins...
Today's ride was a small snapshot of the work ahead when I return to the Pacific Northwest next month. Yet, there is a strange satisfaction in denying (more like delaying) gratification and earning that extra dessert.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
These days (we can make a choice)...
Are you the optimist or the pessimist in this song?
Which do you want to be?
Will you take action to make it so? Is your inaction an act?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OWgxqoGedE
Which do you want to be?
Will you take action to make it so? Is your inaction an act?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OWgxqoGedE
Friday, December 14, 2012
Baseline
Sometimes it's necessary to take a few steps back to take a bigger step forward.
It looks like 2013 might start a few weeks/months behind due to some long-term health issues I'm resolving.
Needless to say, I still feel pressure to perform. Of course, it's all self-imposed so I'd better put it behind me and be patient and persistent.
Of course, I think this guy makes the look more badass:
I'll work on it!
It looks like 2013 might start a few weeks/months behind due to some long-term health issues I'm resolving.
Needless to say, I still feel pressure to perform. Of course, it's all self-imposed so I'd better put it behind me and be patient and persistent.
Of course, I think this guy makes the look more badass:
I'll work on it!
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Using the gifts we've been given...
I've been reflecting on sport and its place in my life a lot recently.
Hopefully, I can use the gifts I've been given to help a few less fortunate. For 2013, Team 4Mil and the Race Across America (RAAM) are my outlet. The goals are really quite simple:
1. Use cycling as a vehicle to help wounded veterans recover from physical and emotional injuries.
2. Raise funds to get an 8-man wounded veteran Team to complete RAAM 2013.
3. Have our 4-man competitive Team win RAAM 2013.
Of course, like all goals, they are completely dependent upon execution. More to follow!
Hopefully, I can use the gifts I've been given to help a few less fortunate. For 2013, Team 4Mil and the Race Across America (RAAM) are my outlet. The goals are really quite simple:
1. Use cycling as a vehicle to help wounded veterans recover from physical and emotional injuries.
2. Raise funds to get an 8-man wounded veteran Team to complete RAAM 2013.
3. Have our 4-man competitive Team win RAAM 2013.
Of course, like all goals, they are completely dependent upon execution. More to follow!
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Back online...
As I prepare for another extended period overseas, it's time to get back to posting on this site... More to follow soon...
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
A Few Suggestions On What To Do When You Miss Being At Sea:
1. Invite 200 of your not-so-closest friends to come over, then board up all the windows and doors to your house for 6 moths. after 6 months is up, take down the boards, and since you're on duty that day, wave at your friends and family through the front window of your home.
2. Sleep on the shelf in your closet. Replace the closet door with a curtain. Six hours after you go to sleep, have your spouse whip open the curtain, shine a flashlight in your eyes, and mumble "Sorry, wrong rack."
3. Have your next door neighbor come over each day at 6am and blow a whistle so loud that Helen Keller could hear it and shout, "Reveille, reveille, all hands heave out."
4. Put lube oil in your humidifier instead of water and set it to "High".
5. Don't watch TV except movies in the middle of the night. Also, have your family vote on which movie to watch, then show a different one.
6. Leave a lawnmower running in your living room six hours a day for proper noise level.
7. Have the paperboy give you a haircut.
8. Install a fluorescent light bulb underneath your coffee table. Lie underneath it while reading a book.
9. Have you mother-in-law write down everything she's going to do the next day and read it to you.
10. Submit a written request form to your father-in-law, asking if it's o.k. for you to leave your house before 3pm.
11. Have your neighbor collect all your mail for a month, losing every 5th item.
12. Spend $20,000 on a satellite system for your TV, but only watch CNN and the weather channel.
13. Renovate your bathroom. Build a wall across the middle of your bathtub and move the shower head down to chest level. When you take showers, make sure you shut off the water while soaping up. 14. Buy a trash compactor and only use it once a week. Store up garbage in the other side of your bathtub.
15. Once a month take every major appliance completely apart and them put them back together.
16. Empty all the garbage bins in your house, and sweep your driveway 3 times a day, whether they need it or not.
17. " Needle gun " the aluminum siding on your house after your neighbors have gone to bed.
18. Post a menu on the refrigerator door informing your family that you are having steak for dinner. After making them wait in line for at least an hour, inform them that you are out of steak, but you have dried ham and hot dogs. Repeat daily until they no longer pay attention to the menu and just ask for hot dogs.
19. Use 18 scoops of coffee per pot and allow it to sit for 5 or 6 hours before drinking.
20. Wake up every night at midnight and have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on stale bread, if anything. (Optional: Canned ravioli or cold soup).
21. Make up your family menu a week ahead of time without looking in your food cabinets or refrigerator.
22. When making cakes, prop up one side of the pan while it is baking. Then spread icing really thick on one side to level off the top.
23. Every so often, throw your cat into the swimming pool, shout "Man overboard, ship recovery!", run into the kitchen and sweep all the pots/pans/dishes off of the counter onto the floor, then yell at your spouse for not having the place "stowed for sea".
24. Put on the headphones from your stereo (don't plug them in). Go and stand in front of your stove. Say (to nobody in particular) "Stove manned and ready". Stand there for 3 or 4 hours. Say (once again to nobody in particular) "Stove secured". Roll up the headphone cord and put them away.
25. Do heavy physical labor all day, then stay up all night monitoring a radio tuned in between stations.
26. Set your alarm clock to go off at random times during the night. When it goes off, jump out of bed and get dressed as fast as you can, then run out into your yard and break out the garden hose.
27. In the middle of January, place a podium at the end of your driveway. Have your family stand watches at the podium, rotating at 4 hour intervals.
28. Every couple of weeks, dress up in your best clothes and go to the scummiest part of town, find the most run down, trashy bar you can, pay $10 for a beer until you are hammered, then walk home in the freezing cold.
29. Lock yourself and your family in your house for 6 weeks. then tell them that at the end of the 6th week, you're going to take them to Disneyland for " weekend liberty ". when the end of the 6th week rolls around, inform them that Disneyland has been canceled due to the fact that they need to get ready for ORSE, and that it will be another week before they can leave the house.
30. Eat the raunchiest Mexican food you can find for 3 days straight, then lock the bathroom door for 12 hours, and hang a sign on it that reads "secured, contact OA DIV at X-3053."
2. Sleep on the shelf in your closet. Replace the closet door with a curtain. Six hours after you go to sleep, have your spouse whip open the curtain, shine a flashlight in your eyes, and mumble "Sorry, wrong rack."
3. Have your next door neighbor come over each day at 6am and blow a whistle so loud that Helen Keller could hear it and shout, "Reveille, reveille, all hands heave out."
4. Put lube oil in your humidifier instead of water and set it to "High".
5. Don't watch TV except movies in the middle of the night. Also, have your family vote on which movie to watch, then show a different one.
6. Leave a lawnmower running in your living room six hours a day for proper noise level.
7. Have the paperboy give you a haircut.
8. Install a fluorescent light bulb underneath your coffee table. Lie underneath it while reading a book.
9. Have you mother-in-law write down everything she's going to do the next day and read it to you.
10. Submit a written request form to your father-in-law, asking if it's o.k. for you to leave your house before 3pm.
11. Have your neighbor collect all your mail for a month, losing every 5th item.
12. Spend $20,000 on a satellite system for your TV, but only watch CNN and the weather channel.
13. Renovate your bathroom. Build a wall across the middle of your bathtub and move the shower head down to chest level. When you take showers, make sure you shut off the water while soaping up. 14. Buy a trash compactor and only use it once a week. Store up garbage in the other side of your bathtub.
15. Once a month take every major appliance completely apart and them put them back together.
16. Empty all the garbage bins in your house, and sweep your driveway 3 times a day, whether they need it or not.
17. " Needle gun " the aluminum siding on your house after your neighbors have gone to bed.
18. Post a menu on the refrigerator door informing your family that you are having steak for dinner. After making them wait in line for at least an hour, inform them that you are out of steak, but you have dried ham and hot dogs. Repeat daily until they no longer pay attention to the menu and just ask for hot dogs.
19. Use 18 scoops of coffee per pot and allow it to sit for 5 or 6 hours before drinking.
20. Wake up every night at midnight and have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on stale bread, if anything. (Optional: Canned ravioli or cold soup).
21. Make up your family menu a week ahead of time without looking in your food cabinets or refrigerator.
22. When making cakes, prop up one side of the pan while it is baking. Then spread icing really thick on one side to level off the top.
23. Every so often, throw your cat into the swimming pool, shout "Man overboard, ship recovery!", run into the kitchen and sweep all the pots/pans/dishes off of the counter onto the floor, then yell at your spouse for not having the place "stowed for sea".
24. Put on the headphones from your stereo (don't plug them in). Go and stand in front of your stove. Say (to nobody in particular) "Stove manned and ready". Stand there for 3 or 4 hours. Say (once again to nobody in particular) "Stove secured". Roll up the headphone cord and put them away.
25. Do heavy physical labor all day, then stay up all night monitoring a radio tuned in between stations.
26. Set your alarm clock to go off at random times during the night. When it goes off, jump out of bed and get dressed as fast as you can, then run out into your yard and break out the garden hose.
27. In the middle of January, place a podium at the end of your driveway. Have your family stand watches at the podium, rotating at 4 hour intervals.
28. Every couple of weeks, dress up in your best clothes and go to the scummiest part of town, find the most run down, trashy bar you can, pay $10 for a beer until you are hammered, then walk home in the freezing cold.
29. Lock yourself and your family in your house for 6 weeks. then tell them that at the end of the 6th week, you're going to take them to Disneyland for " weekend liberty ". when the end of the 6th week rolls around, inform them that Disneyland has been canceled due to the fact that they need to get ready for ORSE, and that it will be another week before they can leave the house.
30. Eat the raunchiest Mexican food you can find for 3 days straight, then lock the bathroom door for 12 hours, and hang a sign on it that reads "secured, contact OA DIV at X-3053."
Thursday, October 8, 2009
I was just feeling a little egocentric (it's the whole BLOG thing) so I'm just downloading a photo from Austria...Monday, September 28, 2009
Settling in...
I've enjoyed the good fortune to have beer in Munich, Espresso in Milan, "health water" in Chesky-Krumlov, Coca Cola in Atlanta, Kir in Paris, and countless other experiences.
However, I never grow tired of having a glass of water on the family deck.
There are houses and there are homes... It's good to be home.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Good fortune...
Last week, the results of the annual Command Board were posted. The Board will give me a chance to Command Boat Division 93. This Boat Division provides port security and harbor defense in an expeditionary environment. It's an extremely capable group of sailors with whom I've worked in the past. I couldn't have received a better honor.
Monday, August 31, 2009
The things we see on a ride...
A wise German-American Owl?
I can't tell you why the birds were displayed in a town celebrating its 400th anniversary, but it definitely made me smile...
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Munich (and Dachau)...
A day of highs and lows...I spent the morning at Dachau. It's sobering to realize the depths to which man can descend.
The afternoon was spent in Munich which was enjoyable. A slight breeze of Fall in the air left me feeling refreshed.
Finally, the evening was spent with good news... It appears I'll be given the opportunity to Command Boat Division 93 next year. I know the men and their capabilities... This will be one heck of an honor.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Almost time to go...
In two weeks, I'll be sitting at home. While I'm looking forward to re-cultivating some friendships, I can say with sincerity that I'll truly miss living in Europe.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Monday, August 3, 2009
The new puppy-mobile (oh... And bike carrier)...
Thanks to the Obama-administration's CARS program, I was able to buy a bit nicer car... Just doin' our part for the economy:-)
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Wetting down...
It's a tradition that when an Officer is promoted, they throw a party to thank their friends, family, and co-workers for the support. Often this is done at a local pub.
This is a fine tradition, but I wanted to do things my way. Therefore, my wetting down celebration began with 3 hours on the bike. Subsequently, the Mike and Angie Buckley were kind enough to host a BBQ at their home on base.
It was a beautiful day and I really appreciated the efforts of those who showed up for a warm, hilly ride.
Monday, July 27, 2009
ADHD...
I don't sit still very well... Never have... T.V. is something to visually stimulate you while you do something else...
So... When a completely ADHD guy who is used to swimming, biking, and running 20+ hours each week, can't workout... It's time to find alternatives...
Voila! Guitar, physical therapy, stretching, icing, applying for a new job, and completing a new online educational program... Problem solved!
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Travel tracker...
It's been a pretty good year of travel. Since arriving in January, I've managed to visit the following cities:Amsterdam
Armenia
--Yerevan
Austria
--Salzburg
--Innsbruck
Azerbaijan
--Baku
Belgium
--Brussels
--Ninove
Czech Republic
--Prague
--Karlovy Vary
France
--Paris
--Strasbourg
--Colmar
Georgia
--Tbilisi
Germany
--Stuttgart
--Frankfurt
--Heidelberg
--Eagle's Nest
--Rothenburg
Italy
--Milan
--Cambiago
--Bellagio
--Bergamo
--Como
--Bormio
Ukraine
--Kyiv
Not a bad year at all...
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Eating for my country...
Another trip to the Caucasus and further confirmation of the wonderful hospitality of our hosts... Despite some stomach issues, I really enjoyed the meals. Further, our meetings were a productive outlet for continued cooperative relations with Armenia.
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