Arizona Bound and meeting Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert

I’m getting ready for a road trip to Arizona, I won’t be long at this house and my tool box is way too big to move around being a single guy. It’s paid off and maybe someday in the future I’ll be able to make full use of it. I could sell it and get a nice wad of cash but unless I’m rich in the future, I’ll never by anything that comes as close to being as nice.



Arizona’s going to give me a chance to touch base with myself, the last month has tried my emotional balance and I could use the stabilizing influence of friends and family. I am getting better, haven’t came close to crying in over a week.

Well the last time was at the book signing a week ago tonight with Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert (son of Frank Herbert). They were doing a signing for Sandworms of Dune, last book in the Dune series. Great stuff to read when you’re in the middle of an alien desert on the other side of the planet, it gives what you see out there a spiritual aspect.

Kevin’s read about my life lately on myspace and out of his 3 thousand odd friends has put me near the top. He knew how much I cared for my wife and could imagine the devastation that I was going though. At the signing at Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore he greeted me with a hug and some words of condolences and my eye began to tear up. There were more things I wanted to say but I was a little choked up and told him thank you and that his books were enjoyed by many military folk in my reading circle. It’s funny how a kind word from an almost stranger can tear down the walls you've built.

By the way Kevin and Brian, I finished off Sandworms and wanted to let you know, it’s a great read. You guys did an amazing job pulling in all of the loose plot twists and tying it together in a nice neat bow. Frank’s a hard act to follow but I don’t think he could have picked a better pair to do it then have the two of you to fill in his odd shaped shoes.

I’m eagerly awaiting Metal Swarm this fall (not storm).

Thanks for the closure guys!

Life with Gordo

My uncle from Darwin Australia, Gordo flew into San Diego on Thursday. If you’ve a long time reader, you might remember my cousin Greene from Australia. Gordo’s his dad. I saw him last in the mid ‘90’s, I was the corpsman for VMFA (AW)-242 and my squadron went down there for training in an operation called Southern Frontier. I spent 3 months of my life hanging out with him, Greene, his sister Golden, my aunt Mary and them showing me what Australia was really like. Some great memories and times, the all visited us in the states later and we went to Disneyland.

Since Gordo has arrived, I haven’t had much internet time, he’s trying to break me of my melancholy like attitude and it seems to be working. We’re going around and I’m showing him the sights. Last night we went out and watched Superbad and The Bourne Ultimatum, I think his son Greene (who’s a police officer in Darwin) would relate to Superbad quite well.

Today, we’re going to hit downtown looking for some straps for his backpack and he has never stepped foot inside of a Fry’s Electronics, sure to be a treat.

Breakfast consisted of my semi-famous dutch baby pancakes stuffed with potatoes, ham and mushrooms. Future girls in my life, expect lots of breakfast goodness, it’s nice to have someone to cook for.

Why do I blog (short answer to Bane)

It's the vent out of my normal life that won't burn in a fire or disappear if I die which is somewhat important considering my line of work. If I keel over from a chunk of lead falling sideways though my delicate flesh, my son can come back one day and say, hey that's my pop. How many people out there don't get a chance get to know their parents before they die because they lacked communication skills? I know I won’t have that problem. There are gaps in my life here but the important stuff won’t be forgotten.

Out on a Limb

A totally shameless plug for my brother-in-law, Steve's business, Out on a Limb. Not that he needs my help, his work does all of the talking.

Question...

How many of my readers became Corpsman after reading this blog and how many unknown blog children are have I seeded? I received a letter of support from a reader who's going through FMSS (Field Medical Service School) who joined and became a Corpsman after reading about my life here. Thanks Rob, I haven’t mentioned but your letter made my day and that day in particular was in need of some making.

I know I’ve had a couple of rough weeks and I apologize to you guys for dragging you though my emotional gutter with all of those depressing heart wrenching posts but I am getting better. It not often in ones life that you get dumped by the girl of your dreams and it takes longer for the image to fade of someone you thought of as a goddess, it doesn’t help that I have 3000 plus pictures of the girl sitting about and days of video footage. What am I going to do with all of this stuff?

For some odd reason, I have people out there that look up to me and I don’t plan on letting any of them down. So I’m picking up my chin and working on moving on, there is more life out there and before too much longer, I’m planning on living it again. Thanks for reading and the kind comments.

I wish I had an iPhone

Being the tech geek that I am, yes, there has been a part of me that looked at all over those iPhone owners out there with envy and longing, I wanted to reach out and stroke their new little toy and make the buttons light up. But if you’ve read me for a while, you know most of my tech investment over the last few years has gone towards cameras (have I mentioned that I needed one?), computers and external hard drives, the basics that I need for blogging. As far as cell phones go, I’ve always gone for one of the cheaper cell phones that Sprint is offering, you know, that one they’re promoting that is next to free for signing up for 2 years? Yup, that’s mine. Every MP3 player I’ve owned has been has are definitely non-Apple in design and unique. Face it readers, I’m a cheapskate and I didn’t buy more then what I needed to business.

Then this beautiful piece of art comes out that does everything, plays movies, music, surfs the web, makes phone calls, takes pictures has a sleek beautiful interface and that has my secret little boy inside jumping up and down yelling “mommy, I want that!” I could blog, check out the news, map directions even more important, I could be cool and maybe it would make me happy for a while but that's the flawed logic of a child.

Being an adult, I’m much better at slapping that child down, “WHACK!!”, which I did using the logic of “Holy crap, a 600 dollar cell phone, how many cell phones have you broken, lost or dropped out of cars?” Lots, I tell you. I would cry great crocodile tears if I broke a 600 cell phone and believe you me, after the past couple of weeks, I don’t need to be crying about anything.

What brings this up this lovely Saturday morning? I saw this story on Computer world titled “Top 10 – plus one – funniest iPhone YouTube videos”. If you have half an hour to spare, check them all out. Want to see if an iPhone blends? Oh yes, a very great site that guy runs show called “Will it Blend”, now I know what I want to do when I grow up. You want to be one up on the cool kids with the next great Apple product? Well the secret is there. What about that gorgeous VLogger girl iJustine who got a 350 page phone bill? Not all bloggers are as nerdy and geeky looking as I. Problems you can encounter using an iPhone while driving? These videos won me over from the dark side and reminded me that, hey, I really don’t need this phone right now.

Mr Cheapo camera phone is still working just fine.

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I'm taking a course on Navy Leadership all of this week, great course that's filled me full of ideas. I'll probably post about it tomorrow.

Chargers Game

I actually had a great time, was standing in the end zone making sure people didn't stand in front of the camera. Best seats I've had to any game ever, I needed it. Sorry about the small crappy pictures but they can give you an idea how close I reall was, they were taken on my old school cell phone. Oh the Seahawks won.

Chargers vs. Seahawks

Instead of spending my Sunday at home facing the world though my computer screen, I’ve volunteered to do security at the Chargers preseason game. So if any of my readers are watching or are there, I’ll be running around in black slacks and a red shirt doing whatever they have us do. We're gathing funds for our Christmas party and if I don't do it, how am I going to talk my guys into it?

I seem to be doing okay today, woke up and knowing that she wasn’t there. Maybe it's all of the kind words from my readers. It’s still sad but I’m thinking it’s a situation I can live with. Maybe it’s just time to be single for a while and concentrate on my future. I’ll have to see what that holds for me.

Her leaving did close down all of the doors that I expected to live a month ago but opened up a plethora of others that I wanted to try but wasn’t able to because I was married. I’ll just have to see.

Any San Diego locals out there want a guinea pig or a hamster? Free with cages to a good home.

Okay here's a cheery post

The wailing must end sometime, I made this video of climbing Thumb Butte with my buddies and 2 of our kids fourteen years after that other Thumb Butte video. I still sound dorky and have found out that a small palm sized camcorders are very shaky. I did have a great time and look forward to my next trip up there.

Climbing Thumb Butte 14 years later

On leave in Arizona, I gathered some of the old gang to climb Thumb Butte 14 years after the videos below were made, pictures can be found here. We all were a little older and slower but we were well able to keep up with the young ones, it was the first time for my son Collin and Larry's son Alec. It took a little bit of work to get my son up there but the results were worth it. Thumb Butte has always been one of my groups rites of passage. It's a mountain that sticks up out of the middle of Prescott Arizona.

Here's the part of gang who were able to make it from the left, Dan, Larry, his son Alec, me, Jason and my son Collin. A beautiful day the will live long in memory, thanks for coming guys.

Us climbing Thumb Butte 14 years later

Pictures can be found here