(Title goes here)

Timing feels right for a Bloggy post- one of those stream of consciousness ones that is tough to title.

Sammy's cast comes off on Friday. This is a good thing, he's starting to smell a bit. There's only so much cleaning you can do with that cast, and Rebekah and I are REALLY looking forward to setting him free. He goes back to school this week, we got him a little kids wheelchair and everything. We got it from a friend of a friend whose daughter has had 9 surgeries for hip displasia, and still is having issues... very sad! Her case is a lot worst than Sam's.

Training has been going pretty well. In the first 16 days of February I've logged somewhere around 45 miles of running to go along with 190 miles on the bike, and a half dozen swims of varied length. We'll see where I'm at this saturday at the first triathlon of the year, the "honukane" (Turtle Man, I guess) triathlon that the Coast Guard is putting on. It was a coast-guard only race, but at the last minute opened it up to others with military ties/base access.

Making its debut will be the 2009 race machine:
Man, that thing looks fast. Then again slap Zipps on a galapogos tortoise and he'd look fast.

It's a sprint race with a swim advertised at 400m, and all on Hickam on roads that I ride and run about a jillion miles a week, so although i won't taper, I'll expect to do well.

My 21 yr-old cousin Ian is a supremely fast collegiate runner and swimmer, a downright good kid and is going to spend the summer with us here in Hawaii! He wants to run some races and get a summer job, I look forward to accomodating. Anybody got a summer job for a hard working mainland kid?

I hear my sons in the other room giggling uncontrollably, and I investigate. They are watching Madagascar 2, and rewinding over the part where the Hippo's butt is shaking, and unable to stop themeslves. They've done it 37 times now. Ah, to be 5 again and be endlessly entertained by underpants.

Saturday we did the kid's aloha run- Nicholas had another great performance. We took our lessons learned from the last run- don't sprint out the gate and don't cry. He did fine, finishing faster than any of the other 5 year olds that we saw.

Sunday, I went for an early ride out and around west oahu. Down Ft Weaver, out to "the Waterfront" (The new jazzed up name for Iroquios Point), back up Ft Weaver, and then took a left through the endless homes of ocean pointe... I ran into the new ernie els golf course and kept going on. I hit a dead end somewhere in between some new construction houses and turned around to find a little security dude flagging me down in his little security dude car.
"Canjoo reebda sign?" says he.
"is the sign written in english?" i ask.
"wash?"
"Is the SIGN written in ENGLISH" i ask
"jesh"
"then yes, i would imagine I can read it."
"joor treshpashin"
"Ok, I'll leave."
and i left. I don't really care for security guards, or for Ernie Els' new golf course. Bad timing Ernie, a private golf course at the far end of the worst traffic road on this entire hemisphere in the middle of the least desirable most overbuilt area on the island... in the middle of a slumping economy and housing market. I give it 18 months before that puppy is a public golf course.

Anyway, my ride continued on. Somewhere around mile 30 I realized that i didn't bring my tube/Co2 kit. For the first time in at least 9 months, I was on a ride without a tube/Co2. Crap. Well, fortunately I hadn't taken a flat in forever either. So I'd just finish up this here ride and take it as a lesson learned. All i had left was the climb up Makakilo and the dash back over farrington. 10 miles, tops.

Well, you know what happens next... as I'm coming down Makakilo hill, my back tire starts "duguuta-dugguta-dugguta"... crap. Bekah had to load the troops into the pathfinder and come save me. Security guard put a hex on me for my jackasstic nature.

Finally, ran the Great Aloha Run today. I was running late because I suffer from an undesirable combination of impatience and a feeling that I can outsmart everybody and find some magic method of parking for an event that is attended by 20,000+ people. I couldn't, and ended up just racing downtown and parking in the first place I knew I could, which turned out to be about a mile and a half from the start line. So, I jogged down and made it with 7 minutes to spare, and tried as well as I could to get closer to the start line. The gun went off, and it was a full five minutes before I could get across the start mats, which also meant that a full 5 minutes worth of largely slower runners were clogging the width of Nimitz. I was able to hit my ideal pace for about 80% of the time, and felt really good for pretty much the whole run. I wanted to finish in an hour, and ended up running in 1:01 and some change... so not too shabby. Then I had to make it back to the car so Bekah could go to work, ao after the return shuttle bus I had to run the mile and a half back to the car from Aloha tower.

The Epic Weekend

The last three days have been a blast for lil ol me

Friday started with my completely unexpected winning of the PACAF Civilian of the Year, 2008. The annual awards are presented at a big luncheon that is attended by most of the big-wigs from the headquarters, 200-300 folks. To explain what the award is in regular ol civilian terms, just think if it as accountant of the year at a company that has 2,500 employees, 150 of whom are accountants. Besides Civilian of the year, there are awards for Airman of the year (more junior enlisted types)Non-Commissioned Officer of the year, Senior Non-Commissioned Officer....etc, etc, etc.. about 10 different categories, and 5-10 candidates in each category. My category, Civ Cat III (for more senior types) had nine folks nominated, all of whom were significantly older and better dressed than I. For whatever reason I had no expectation of victory and was very surprised to hear my name called. I was presented the award by General Jouas, who I know better than just about any General Officer, having played a round of golf in May, traveling together to a few meetings in D.C. in September, and being in the same meetings/briefings monthly or so throughout the year. I don't think he has anything to do with the selection, however so don't get all uppity. Anyhow, they called my name and I went up on stage and very surprisedly collected my new hardware, seen below. Win #1 of the weekend.


Then, when I got home, Kate was just finishing moving out, to her new place in Ewa Beach. This is a win for all of us. We've hosted Kate for a little more than 18 months, and I will admit this has been frustrating at times. The original goal was to ease her into living on her own and starting a career, a process we'd hoped would take 6 months or so, so this is a big step for her and I feel that we've been able to help her get moving in the right direction. Nuff said, Win #2.


Saturday morning was the SeaBee 10K and fun run. I haven't run a 10K without a swim and bike preceding in two years, so was interested to see where I'm at. I also wanted to test the feasibility of running the Great Aloha run next monday (8.2 miles) in one hour. As the gun went off I started a bit quick but after three quarters of a mile settled into a good 7:15/mile pace. This is a little faster than what I need to run at the GAR. Things were going fine till about the 4 mile point when I had to take a potty break fiercely. When I felt my bladder releasing ever so slightly I thought it was probably a good time to take a moment for relief. That cost me about thirty seconds, but I was back close to my pace for the rest of the way. I ended up finishing a hair over 45:30, a 7:20 pace...17th overall. I was thrilled to run my best 10K ever by over 3 minutes, even with the stop. Results here- I'd have won something but my age group was stacked. Dang 26-30's. Win #3.

Then it was time for the Kid's fun run. Nicholas was racing against about twenty 4-10 year olds in a one mile out-and-back. We learned a lot about child racing in this race:
1) there is no such thing as easing into it. When an adult says go, kids RUN- balls-out sprint style, and there's not a lot you can do about it.
2) they key to victory is to NOT cry. After the first 300 meters of pure sprint, the kids were all getting tuckered fast, and we started passing weepers.
3) Kids, who may not be crying now, still are more crying prone than usual kids. This was the case with the little boy who was running just ahead of nicholas at the three-quarter mile point whose shoe was coming untied. i said "careful buddy, your shoe's coming undone!" and the kid sat down and wept.
4) nicholas is like me- he loves to pass people. the motivation he responded to best was the challenge of passing the next person in front of him.

Nicholas finished in Second place! He ran his mile in about 9 minutes- which for someone who's 4 feet tall is the same as about a 6 minute mile for a 6 foot person (apparently people who score in the 99th percentile on their math SAT's don't like the simplicity here, but I'm trying to make a point).... the kid's fast! Win #4

Sunday morning was the second Momentum Criterium on Kbay. This is basically like NASCAR on bikes- lots of drafting, turns, and riding super close to one another. Last race I sacrificed my legs for Steve and Bryant go for the win, and they were successful. This time around I wanted to see where I stacked up, so I went for the W. I worked my way up to close to the front of the pack with a couple of laps to go. with about two laps left, I had a bee fly INTO MY MOUTH, which I spat out before he had a chance to zing me. Lucky. On the last lap I latched onto Girmsey, who had been sprinting like a champ all day long- he won 1st, 2nd and 3rd on the Primes(single lap sprints) and ended up 4th overall, with me right behind him, taking 6th overall, and 3rd in my division. Win #5



After the bike race I had to scoot down to Aloha stadium for... the pro bowl! I had won 4 tickets to the game- the last time it'll be in Hawaii for a while- at my Civilian of the year lunch. Rebekah and I joined Chris and Clarissa. I had thought my free tickets were pretty good- row 15, on the 20 yard line. Turns out I don't know much about Aloha stadium, because while we were in row 15 on the 20 yard line, we were in the yellow section which as it turns out meant we were about 7 rows down from the roof. Serious nosebleed seats. Regardless, it was a good game and fun to be a part of. The girls enjoyed the halftime show and endless nitpickery of the cheerleaders' ensembles. I'm starting to think that maybe the cheerleaders are there for the women who aren't interested in football to have something to pay attention to and criticize. They certainly weren't doing much for me, sitting up in the ionosphere. Anyhow, the NFC won, my Viking players did great, and Denver's quarterback was the doofus of the day, so I'll be able to bug Chris all week. WIN #6

What a weekend!

Sammy's cast, version 2.0

Monday was Sam's surgery to correct Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip (Tons of info here).

We had him in a cast once before, when he was 6 months old, which resulted in one of my favorite photos of all time:

and one of the internet's favorite videos of all time:



The cast didn't work entirely, nor did the two years of young-forrest Gump style leg brace that he's worn 60 hours a week since. It pretty much corrected his left hip, but his right hip still hadn't formed properly.

Our doctor (a recently retired Army Colonel), a wonderful pediatric surgeon, said now was the time to go ahead and do a surgical procedure to correct the hip once and for all. So, we brought Sam in at 5:30 Monday morning for the big procedure. Poor Sam didn't really understand what was going to happen to him- that's what bothered Rebekah and I the most. He was his usual chipper self, running jumping and having a blast in the OR waiting room. When he went into the prep room he fought and cried against the gas mask. No fun for Mom and Dad either.

The surgery took about 3.5 hours and we got to see him right as he was regaining consciousness. He was groggy and a little scared. His first reaction was to try to climb out of his cast- he had had an epidural so couldn't feel anything below his waist. It was tough to see him so agitated by the cast- he'll have to wear it for 4-6 weeks (the longer the better).

We got up to the room some time later and settled in to 24-48 hours of hospital stay. Nicholas showed up with Grandma and the family hung out and watched movies. Sammy had a few shots of painkiller as the epidural wore off, and his mood improved as the hours wore on. I caught up on a few movies with him on my lap: There Will Be Blood... Definitely, Maybe and Atonement, as well as the first half of Slumdog Millionaire.

He colored and watched some movies too... believe he got through Brother Bear, Ironman and several WonderPets episodes.

We decided to do without a wheelchair and just use our jogging stroller/bike trailer. Costco win.
When we got home Chris and Clarissa were there waiting for us with their new little puppy, Kona- big treat for Sammy!
Now it's just a challenge of keeping him clean and entertained for 4-6 weeks, and then him learning to walk, run and be a terror again.

Sammy's saying "thanks for all the prayers, kind words and love!"

Momentum Crit

Had a lot of fun racing the Momentum Crit on Sunday... the HACC did great and dominated from start to finish. I led the last lap and a half and gave my guys the final lead-out to set them up for the sprint. It was a lot of fun, and I'm really looking forward to the next three races in the series... pictures, courtesy of Grandma and Rebekah, linked below!

Thoughts I'm thinking.

Thought I'd do some free-flowing stream of consciousness writing for a bit here...

1) I'm sore in odd places here in the beginning of this Tri season. I did a lot of legs in the gym on Monday and a little upper body, and now two days later my legs feel super and my chest and arms feel like they've been beaten with a 7-Iron. Combined with a sore throat, swimmer's ear and massive heartburn, I'm in an oddly irritable mood. Sorry everyone.

2) I've discovered Michael Swaim. This dude is funny, like Will Ferrell or Ryan Reynolds with a good writer. Here's his latest, below. He's got a bunch more videos here and here, it's rather blue humor but his delivery is fan-tastic.


Tech Support from Those Aren't Muskets! on Vimeo.

3) I'm pretty happy with how Mr. Obama is shaping up to be a pres-o-dent. Regardless of your thoughts a few months ago, everyone seems excited and energized by the guy and he wants to tackle some tough problems right out of the gate- something that G-Dub hasn't been able to do for years. I especially like talk of elimination of Pork inserts in bills and putting social security in check. I'm curious to see what Panetta does at CIA- if he even gets in, but I've met Admiral Blair and think he'll be a great DNI, he's keeping the highly capable (if USAF-critical) Gates as SECDEF, and former Marine Commandant Jim Jones as Nat'l Security Advisor. All middle of the road guys who are unlikely, IMHO, to play politics too much. But since I try to avoid politics and religion on here... I'll shut up now.

4) The blogging Clark to my Lewis, Strap, posted his annual roundup of beer ratings. He grades on quality combined with price per ounce- so you get an idea of what beers are both good and cheap. The whole thing is here, check it out.

5) I joined facebook two weeks ago, and have become moderately proficient. Facebook has resulted in one dinner with two high school pals already, gobs of money and fame can't be far now.

6) on a barefoot trip out to the garbage can, i narrowly missed stepping on this guy:

Thinking to myself "hey, sure am glad I didn't step on that"... I continued. Then I almost stepped on this guy:


HOLY CRAP THAT IS A SCORPION. I've seen one before, over at Bellows on a field exercise in the Marines. We caught one scorpion and two big centipedes and pit them in a fight to the death. THE SCORPION WON (but died a few hours later).

Gotta admit I was disappointed to meet this guy in my driveway. I thought he was dead, poked him with a stick, and he skittered off.
7) New family policy: Shoes.

8) received this delightful annual account summary in the mail yesterday:


My IRA from my old job.. yowza. I guess everyone is getting these around now- condolences. Is that big negative number a deduction? Probably not.

9) I can read Failblog.org and best of craigslist all day long. Hours wasted here. It's my dream to be published there someday.

10) Bedtime.

Ode to my Bride...

We did some pre-grandma arrival housecleaning today, thought I'd share this one... I noticed a frightening pattern on the letter magnets on the fridge...


She does this naturally... some would say compulsively. It's nice to have an organized person in the house, but sometimes It's a little frightening.

Then again, Mrs. Dewey or Mrs. Linnaeus probably had the same fears. My wife is likely bound for greatness.

Reporting from the War Zone...