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Headed 'Home'-
Like any place is actually home for me, right? Still, I'm leaving Virginia Beach
late this
week and headed back to New Hampshire. It will take about a week to get there,
as I am stopping off in
Western Virginia, Washington DC, and Pennsylvania to see about a dozen
friends, family members, and
shipmates. I am not sure as to my plans after that, but I may have to fly
to New Orleans for a few days
on business. If I'm passing through your town or city, give me a shout.
We'll have coffee or something.
*
Canary Islands- I
never did post pictures from the Africa Mercy's trip to the Canary Islands last
year. I left the ship in Gran Canaria,
so I never got to Tenerife other than the airport (see bottom of page). With no
news to report, I thought I'd post a few pictures of the
three weeks I spent there. Starting off, here's a few pictures of the
ships entrance into Gran Canaria & the move over to the drydock.
Below are some pictures of us around town, mostly of Jen and I. We got a
car and headed into Las Palmas, walking the lovely parques downtown,
having a plate of delicious seafood Paella just off el Plaza de Espirito Santo
and window shopping the snooty boutiques along el camino primero
de vende. As you can see, Isla Canario architecture is clearly Spanish, with
many subtly painted pastel-colored houses and a hint of moorish style.
We also hit the obligatory cathedral. There's always a major one in every
European city, especially Spanish ones. In Las Palmas, it's the Santa Ana
Cathedral, which was begun in 1500 and took over 400 years to
complete. We eschewed the elevator and hoofed it up to the rooftop which gave us
a stunning view of the city, and, as always, made me want to chuck it all to
move there. We also visited the interior of the church ( where Jen had to
be shushed by a not-too-pious pilgrim attempting to have his 'quiet time',
& on the way out we stumbled upon the monstrosity you see at bottom left.
Turns out it's an actual typewriter from the 1920's, and made in Brooklyn, no
less. There's Jen typing up her latest support letter. Christmas was just
around the corner, and evidence of that was all over the city. Below
right you see some of the Christmas decorations we saw around Las Palmas,
including the ladder-climbing Santa which seems to be a 'Gran Canaria'
tradition. We saw these endlessly walking around the
city and the island.
*
August 3- I moved
across town this week. My lease was up, and my roommates fiancé wanted to begin
getting the room
ready for her upcoming move in. My new roommate is a friend I've been attending
school with here. He has a condo only
a mile from the beach so I suspect I'll be hitting it a bit more often.
He is also studying for his license, so we'll be able to
hit the books together. I've managed to head out to sea onboard the
McArthur, an old NOAA research vessel now serving
BlackwaterUSA, the private security firm. They head out for training once a week
or so, and were kind enough to allow me
to ride along. I managed to complete two of my three needed assessment, and may
knock out the third this week, as they
head out for more training at night. My last assessment is to measure Gyro error
by checking it against the azimuth of any
body at night. After that, I will spend several more weeks
here doing some more studying, then head back home to test.
*
Cool And Eclectic- Is a
furniture store near the beach on Laskin Road. The owner has a number of
eclectic statues he likes to display.
I've driven by it dozens of times, always slowing down and craning my neck to
see what they've put in the parking lot this time. Today
I decided to stop and check it out. Inside of the store is a large
collection of everything from James Dean posters to chairs shaped like
trout. Should I ever settle in Virginia Beach long-term, I would
definitely choose to furnish my place from
Cool & Eclectic.
It's not all
chairs & statues, they actually have a large selection of funky
furniture. On the wall is a who's who of visitors to the store, with photos
of celebrities ranging from Tupac to
Clint Eastwood to The Misfits. I took
some pictures of the statues standing in the parking lot today.
*
July 28- I've been repairing
the many broken pages on my website. I don't really know what caused
them all to go 'kabloey', but I know there's been dead links and
blank pages for a good long while.
Of the thirty pages on my website, about a third of those were bad. I've managed
to fix all but two of
them, and am working on fixing those. If you've tried to peruse some the older
pages, like 'Gateway',
'South Africa', or my family/friends page, go ahead and look again.
They've all been fixed. The only
two pages left to fix are Ghana and my Caribbean Mercy page, and those
should be done by the end
of the week. If you find a bad link (or several), just let me know which
page it's on, & I'll sort it out.
In other news,...it's been an incredibly
stressful weekend, vis-a-vis my license, but things may have
been sorted out, and God blessed me with another surprise ending. I would
like to explain further,
but things are still very much in flux. I will let you know more as
events unfold later on this week.
*
Obligatory Current Events
Post- Anyone paying attention the past few days knows that
Starbucks is closing
a whopping 600 of their most underperforming shops, or about 5%. It will put
about 12,000 people out of work,
which I don't like, but it will mean 600 less Starbucks, which I do like.
I've disliked Starbucks since 1994 when I
moved to Seattle & developed an immediate dislike for their disgustingly
over-roasted coffee. Even now, the only
time I drink them is when I go to my local Barnes & Noble which carries the
charcoal-in-a-cup brand exclusively.
To celebrate this event, I'm posting a
list of all the shops
to be closed...sadly, none in Nashua or Virginia Beach.
*
American Splendor- Want to know what my
life looks like? Take a look below. This is pretty much what my
life has
consisted of the past couple months. I finished my last class in May, and have
been studying ever since. These 3 pictures
below show you the whirlwind of excitement that I deal with every day. At
left is the condominium I am currently staying in,
with my faithful Cherokee at left and my roommates truck at right. We live in a
little cul-de-sac in a condo complex just off
Independence Blvd, a long strip of fast food joints and strip-malls. The
condo is about the same size as the one I lived in
as a teenager. Below center is 'command central', my study desk, a table a
picked up for $20 on Craigslist. Eagle-eyed
will spot a copy of Bowditch, my Star-finder, and of course, my coffee
cup, which should be as recognizable as my face
to anyone who knows me. I spend the better part of my day here, stuffing my
brain with information ranging from stability
formulas to First Aid to Celestial Navigation. There's so much to remember, it
seems about the time I finish studying one
subject and begin on another, I begin to forget the first subject. Finally, at
left is my bed and my easy chair, where I divide
my non-studying time. Laying across my bed is a Chesapeake Bay chart, one
of the charts I have to study for my exam.
You also see my drum I bought In Ghana, which doubles as a serviceable laptop
table. My 2 windows overlook the alley
between the condos the next street over and the view is only interesting
when my neighbor decides to sunbathe topless.
Still, my life is not all condos and calculations. A few times a week, I head to
the beach. The weather has been scorching
to say the least, and I can't recall ever being in a place this hot outside of
West Africa. Considering that it's only mid-July,
I suspect it's going to get worse before it gets better. Heading to the
beach with a couple of good books has been a life
saver for me these past few months. I've managed to get back into a reading
cycle & have read some great books lately,
including Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer winning novel, The Road, and a fantastic
biography on uber-loon Howard Hughes.
When not at the beach with my nose in a book, I can be found
at one of my favorite places on earth...Barnes and Noble.
I'd like to tell you that I'm happy, but at seven months, this is over twice as
long as I've ever gone without working and I'm
way beyond cabin fever. My lack of physical activity has caused me to gain an
extra 20 lbs., and I am completely burned
out on studying. I am looking forward to getting back to work...or at
least some sort of regular physical movement. I am
STILL waiting for approval to sit for my exams, and expect an answer this
week sometime. My lease is up in a week or
so, and I have to move out. I suspect I will receive approval to test the same
week I have to move out, which will no doubt
put my stress level off the charts. My friend Scully has offered me a room
in his condo down by the beach for a week or
two, so it won't be too difficult if things get delayed, but still, I really
hope this is the week when everything gets sorted out.
*
July 15- Got to see another ex-Mercy
Shipper this weekend. Emily Haymes, the deck secretary during or time in Ghana,
was down from Philadelphia for the weekend to get a little bit of sun and
see some old friends from high school, which
she attended here in Virginia Beach. Typical Mercy Shippers, we ignored everyone
else around us to talk about who was
doing what, where they were, and who getting was married. Emily looks good
and is still the bubbly, friendly girl we all
knew and loved. The weather was good that day, cloudless and high 80's, and the
beach was, predictably, very crowded.
Speaking of the beach, here,...I'll tell you a bit about it. Virginia Beach is a
great tourist destination. The hotels are cheap,
as low as $50/night, (almost) all of the hotels are within a block of the beach,
and the water is warm, at least 70 degrees
between May and October. The 'tourist' section of the beach is long, at
about 3 miles, and stretches from First Street all
the way to 40th St. From 40th St, it stretches another three miles through a
residential section with great public beaches
(provided you don't mind walking two blocks and sunning yourself on an empty
beach. The entire Virginia Beach area is
loaded with things to do, from go-carts to funhouses & haunted houses to batting
cages to museums, an aquarium, and
Colonial History National Park just a short drive away (ask for my good friend
Linda Williams for a top-notch tour guide).
Best of all, with two DOZEN military bases in the area, chances are you know a
serviceman in the area, giving you a good
excuse to come. For families on a budget that want a cheap beach vacation,
I cannot recommend Virginia Beach enough.
It's not perfect, of course. My main complaint with the beach area here is
the 'Gestapo-like' contingent of lifeguards that
keep watch over the swimmers. Dozens of 20-somethings are perched in chairs
stretching the length of the beach, on the
lookout for 'swimming violations'. What constitutes a violation in VAB? Better
yet, what doesn't? This is my biggest beef
with the beach here...the overzealous lifeguard who seem to blast their whistle
every two minutes or so. I've seen people
'waved in' for being in water up to their shoulders, and when the waves get too
high, look out! I've tried to combat this
by situating myself as far away from them as possible, but with the lifeguards
space about 250 feet apart, you're going
to hear the ear-piercing whistle blast, like it or not. This Sunday was the
worst I've ever experienced, with the lifeguard
equipped not just with a whistle, but a megaphone as well. I made the mistake of
putting my towel down near the pier,
and I can assure you that's a mistake I won't be repeating. The swimmers going
out to far was only the half of it. There's
a rule against swimming (or surfing) too close to the pier, and from the
endless cacophony of whistle-blasts shattering
my peaceful reading of Cormac MacCarthy's latest novel, it seems
that particular rule was broken more often than not.
They finally closed the beach within 300 feet of the pier, while the
annoyingly overzealous lifeguard patrolled the area
like Dwight Shrutte with a tan and a whistle. The pictures above will show you
the contrast between 'closed and 'open'
area, and a glimpse of the lifeguard, too. Next time, I think I'll head to the
beaches above 40th street- not to get away
from the crowds, but to get away from the lifeguards. Finally at right is a
crazy car....standard viewing for the beach.
*
Washington National Cathedral- I never did
post my pictures of it. My friend who let me use her apartment lives
only a block from it, so I passed by it every day and have been inside a couple
of times. I was struck by the sheer size
of it. It's the second largest in the country, and the sixth largest in
the world. Construction on the cathedral began in
1907, and was finally completed 83 years later in 1990. It has been the site of
three state funerals (Eisenhower, Ford,
and Reagan), and is traditionally used as a house a prayer after a president is
inaugurated. It was also the site Martin
L. Kings last Sunday sermon back in 1968...he was assassinated in Memphis a few
days later. As you can see from the
pictures, the Cathedral is enormous. I had to walk almost out to the
street just to fit the entire church into the photo.
The architecture is strict Gothic, as you can tell, but draws it's style from
several different era's of gothic. It ranks #3
on a list of America's favorite architecture, after the Empire State Building &
the White House. In America, It's rivaled
in size only by the John the Divine Church in NYC. You're only allowed to
explored a small part of the church, but as
you can see from my photos, that little bit was stunning enough. The most
exciting area is the 'Pilgrim Observatory
Gallery, located at the top of the church, seen at bottom left. The
crypt was also interesting, containing classrooms,
meeting rooms, & a bookstore that sells among other things, 'Buddhist statues'.
Episcopalians...what do you expect?
Darth Vader's Church- If I
hadn't seen this, I probably wouldn't have believed it. Back in 1980, Cathedral
Magazine,
in conjunction with National Geographic's World Magazine ( like Nat Geo
for kids ) held a contest where people were
allowed to submit their ideas for gargoyles,...or more to the point,
'grotesque's'. A grotesque is
defined as a gargoyle
that doesn't serve the purpose of funneling water, but generally applies to a
carving on a church that doesn't resemble
what we think of as a gargoyle. Some of the unusual designs that the received,
and approved for carving, are a photo-
grapher (seen at bottom left), dual war & peace grotesques (with a gas-mask
wearing protester ironically filling in as
peace) below center, and others like politicians, animals, a hippie, a lawyer, &
even a 'horse skeleton'. But without a
doubt, the strangest grotesque of all was suggested by young Christopher Rader
of Nebraska, who submitted 'Darth
Vader' as a 'symbol of futuristic evil'. The 'grotesque selection
committee' actually
approved the design, and the Dark
Lord of the Sith took his place on the National Cathedral. You can
see some pictures below right. There are
several
tours exploring the hundreds of grotesques on the Cathedral, &
this
website seems to have a good roundup of them.
*
YouTube!- I love it.
it caught on while I was at Mercy Ships, so I never got to see it. Since I've
been home,
I've been going crazy with it. I watch everything from pranks to comedy
routines to political sound bites to
old music performances. I thought I'd post a few of my favorites for you.
Below left is my favorite YouTube
clip of all. It's Tim Conway on the old Carol Burnett show. He tells a
story about elephants that has the cast
covering their mouths with their hands to keep from breaking up on camera. I
laugh like a maniac everytime
I watch. At right, comedian Tom Mabe shows us a clever & funny way to feed the
homeless...without paying.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qqE_WmagjY
http://youtube.com/watch?v=4X8BkuFQBOo
*
July 9- Still nothing to
post. I'm waiting to hear back from the National Maritime Center that I've
been approved to test.
My days are spent sitting in my room studying over and over. There's so much to
keep in, I seem to forget one thing as
I'm studying another. I'm hoping to test in a week or two. I have to test soon,
as my lease is up at the end of the month
and I'll have no place to live. If all goes well, I'll be leaving here in
early August and returning to New Hampshire. After
that, I have plans, but not definite ones. I've applied to and been accepted to,
Operation Mobilization, another ship-based
ministry. The Logos Hope is the ship I'll be working on, but before that
happens, I have to actually get a license, and that
requires passing my exam. Of the seven exams I have to take, I'm only allowed to
fail (and re-take) two of them. If I fail
a third, I fail overall and have to wait two months to retake it. If I
only fail two (or one), I can retake those as soon as I
like. If it's only one, I will spend the rest of my time here studying to
re-take that test. I'd like to spend a little time in NH
before flying over to Copenhagen, where the Hope is. If you'd like
to know more about Operation Mobilisation, or about
the Logos Hope, feel free to click on the links below. I'm short-term, so OM
is not charging me...which clinches the deal.
Operation Mobilisation Homepage
Operation
Mobilisation Wikipedia Entry
Logos Hope Homepage
*
4th Of July- What's it
like spending it in a city with 2 dozen military bases, and at least 25% of the
population in the military
or has been in military, or is working for it somehow? I have to
admit, Virginia Beach has the best 4th of July celebration I've
ever seen. Mount Trashmore, with it's long, sloping hill & location next to a
lake, makes it an ideal 'amphitheatre' for watching
a fireworks display, as there's not a bad seat in the house. What's the best
thing about 4th of July at Mt. Trashmore? The fact
that it's about a 10 minute walk from home. While everybody else is still
fighting to get out of the parking lot, I am at home,
posting pictures and updating the website. Virginia Beach does a good job, with
ample parking & plenty of concession stands
around the grounds. I probably could have done without the hired entertainment;
'Butter', the horribly named rock band that
entertained us for hours on end with their covers of everything from Pink Floyd
to INXS. Maybe I'm biased, have been raised
(like all Bostonians) on listening to classical music & John Philip Sousa
on the fourth of July, but I found 'Butter' as mediocre
as they were loud. Once the fireworks started, it jumped right to a loop
of patriotic songs....your Bruce, your Lee Greenwood,
what have you. Still, can't complain. Nice crowd, plenty of room, and as I said,
not a bad seat in the house. If you're reading
this, and for for some reason are wondering which city has the best celebration
of our independence, I throw Virginia Beachs
hat into the ring. The pictures below a good idea of what it looks like before
dark. The hill fills up quick, and it's population
doubles after the sun sets and the show draws near. Once the darkness
falls, it's almost a panorama of fireworks before the
main show starts, as seemingly everyone in the Virginia Beach area sets of his
backyard pyrotechnics. Sitting up on the hill,
You get a 360 degree view of this, which lasts for about a half-hour until
the official display starts. It had been some time
since I'd seen a fireworks display, and they seem larger, more colorful, and
somehow better. I've posted a few photos below,
setting my camera to a quick shutter speed. To get an idea of what the picture
at top left looks like when there's nobody on
the hill, scroll down to April 11, or just
click here. Despite
the plethora of military folk here, VAB seems to remain a family-
type atmosphere in it's celebrations, and this was no different. Perhaps that's
because all the crazies gravitated towards the
beach, where another fireworks display was going on, and quite likely it
was a crazier one. I suspect the city holds two to
keep the party crowd at the beach and give the families a forum to enjoy them as
well. Me? I was quite content at this one.
*
July 3rd- Wow, has it
been a long time since I posted on here. Why is that? It's because I have
had nothing to share.
My life right now consists of sitting in my room 16 hours/day studying. My Coast
Guard test will consist of seven exams,
3 or which require a 90%, 3 of which require a 70%, and one which will require
an 80%. This means I have 7 exams
to study for, covering about 3 dozen subjects ranging from stability to
regulations to celestial navigation to firefighting
to hazardous cargo to....don't get me started. I hope to head to Baltimore to
test in 2 weeks or so. I've been approved
for joining a mission, but I'd rather not say to much, as it's early yet.
Anyways, for all who are interested, I'm still alive.
*
Mercy Shippers in Virginia-
On my trip to DC, I managed to get together with a few old shipmates from the
Anastasis. From left,
Heather Ross is working as a Clinical Research Coordinator in Richmond. She took
me out to a great lunch at Croakers, a funky little
place in downtown Richmond. Mark Brown and Stefanie are living just
outside DC & have a new baby boy. On the way back home,
I stopped off and saw Linda Williams. Linda is working as a Park Ranger at
Yorktown Battlefield, only about 30 minutes north of me.
Despite the looming rain clouds and the distant rumble of thunder, Linda
gave a very entertaining 45-minute talk on the 1781 battle
of Yorktown and why it was so important. Afterwards, many of our tour
group approached Linda and commented what a good tour
she gave. I found myself wanting to find out more about not just Yorktown, but
the whole Revolutionary War. Finally, at far right is
a picture of me with my old friend 'Baltimore'. I lived in Baltimore for a
couple years in the late 1990's, and just being there was as
comfortable as an old friend. This is the first time visiting my old home in
almost 10 years. Thankfully, little has changed in 'Balmer',
and my delicious crab cake sandwich at the Broadway Market was followed by
a great cup of coffee at Daily Grind and a slow stroll
around Fell's Point, my old neighborhood. My nostalgia lasted most of the day,
then I got back on the road, bound for Washington.
*
Washington DC- As I had
business in Baltimore on Monday, I decided to spend the weekend in DC. I hit the
bike early Saturday
morning, doing a 'counter-clockwise' circle throughout the city, from Cathedral
to Georgetown, all through the Mall, up to Shaw, &
into Dupont Circle, where I met my friend Chris for drinks. I managed to check
out all the monuments I hadn't seen yet, from the
Franklin Roosevelt monument to the Jefferson. The Roosevelt was one of the best
I've seen. it traces his election through the New
Deal, WW2, and his eventual death in 1944. Below left you see statues of a bread
line during the depression, with a 'fireside chat'
next to it. There were several waterfalls along the way, built into the cubical
stonework, and is made of brownish Georgia Marble.
You couldn't help but notice the many WW2 vets in DC.
They're easily recognizable by their blue ballcap which list their
command, be it a ship, a company, or squadron. They're clustered around the WW2
memorial, completed in 1995 and
located at the other end of the reflecting pool from the Lincoln Memorial. There
were plenty of vets there, but one of the
more famous ones was hanging around, having his picture taken...Sen. Bob Dole. I managed to get a photo taken with
him (vets went to the front of the line). I photographed and talked to some
other vets as well. the guy who took the pic
at left was shocked when I told him that Dole was there-he had graduated high
school with him! He thrust my camera at
me and practically ran down to where Dole was posing. Last time I saw the
memorial was March and too cold. This time
around, it was a beautiful spring day, & the fountains were going. A nice
memorial with one of the prime Mall locations.
Among with the many monuments, museums, and memorials, I managed to visit
'Ben's Chili Bowl', a true institution in
the Black
neighborhood of Shaw. this year marks Ben's Chili Bowl's 50th year in service.
It's been around since the days of Duke Ellington,
Joe Louis, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It was one of the few businesses that
survived the riots that broke out after Dr. King was
assassinated in 1968. It's most famous customer is Bill Cosby, who gets a 'chili
half-smoke' every time he's in DC. A sign behind
the counter says 'List Of People Who Can Eat Here For Free',
with Cosby's name typed in and 'And Nobody Else!'
scrawled
underneath. The line was long, the music was Kool & the Gang, and the chili
half-smoke was over 5 bucks. I wasn't too impressed
with it, but I don't regret getting to visit Ben's Chili Bowl. I was more
impressed with Ben's than I was with some of the memorials!
*
Small Milestones-
After 10 years, 3 months, and 22 days, my
truck has finally reached 100,000 miles. So,...Thank you for 10+
years of (mostly) trouble-free service, 1998 Red Jeep Cherokee!!!
And Large Ones- Another
nephew born this AM. Luca Christiano, born to Rik and Virginia. V is doing well,
I hear,
and Xavier is no doubt over the moon. He'd wanted a sister, but I think he'll
settle for anyone that will listen to him.
*
May 3- Drove down to South
Carolina this past weekend for a wedding. Kimberly Williams, the deck secretary
for the Anastasis
in 2005-2006 was married to Joshua Menken. The wedding was in Edisto Beach State
Park early Saturday afternoon. There was
about 150 people there, including 10 or so ex-Mercy Shippers, including my
friend Gordon Keesler, who I worked with on both
the Anastasis and the Caribbean Mercy. There have been many 'Mercy Ships
weddings' in the past two years, but I never got to
go to any, as I've been on the ship. I was glad I got to go to this one, as
Kimberly was a good friend. And, as you can see, she
makes a beautiful bride. The food served was delicious 'lowcountry' food,
like shrimp and grits, and a tasso gravy with shrimp.
At bottom left is a photo of some of the Mercy Shippers in attendance,
such as the Schirduans, the Keeslers, and Yashira Ortiz.
Accommodations in Edisto were pretty
scarce, so I stayed in Charleston, a city I've always wanted to see. My friend
(and Ex-Mercy
Shipper) Jessica Walkup lives there, so I got to see her again. We spent Friday
exploring the downtown. Charleston is remarkably
similar to New Orleans, so I felt right at home, despite there being no drunken
people taking their shirts off for a string of beads.
Although Jessica had to work most of my
time there, I wasn't hurting for company. Yashi gave up her seat for
the flight back to Miami,
getting another flight later that night, and a free ticket in the process.
Heather Schirduan picked her up and so we all explored Charleston
together. Automobile troubles kept me in Charleston another day, so Gordon & Jen
picked me up and we hit Chrleston AGAIN, although
it was getting a bit old by now. On Saturday after the wedding, I
stayed in Edisto for a few hours and we drove and walked around the
State Park for a few hours, exploring the beaches, beach houses, and
campgrounds. Gordon and Jen were in the wedding, so Kimberly's
dad hooked them up with a spacious condominium surrounded by beaches and swamp.
As you see, I took no small shortage of pictures.
April 26- As the weather
heats up, the Oceanfront is beginning to 'come alive' with festivals, concerts,
parties, and other
happenings. I spent the day sunning myself at the beach (the water is
still too cold to go in past my ankles), where there
was a few hundred cars lining the boardwalk. I can't say it was a 'Classic Car'
show, as there was everything there from a
Model T to kit cars to dune buggys to brand new vehicles. There weren't too many
cars from my favorite era (early 40's),
and the late 60's/early 70's muscle cars like Chargers and Challengers were the
greatest in number. The Army showed up
with a couple of Humvees, a handful of customized Harley took up position at the
end of the line, and some local dealers
set up a half-dozen tricked-out jeeps and pickups for sale. Stretching about 2
miles long, there were too many cars there
for me to take pictures of, so I posted only the best. Among my favorites
was the 1950 Mercury at bottom right and the
customized 'Death-mobile' just above it, top right. The Oceanfront is getting
more crowded with every passing weekend.
*
Mount Trashmore- I spent
part of the day bicycling around Mt. Trashmore, a 10 minute walk from my place.
The
park was converted from a landfill to a huge 165 acre park back in the '60's. It has
one giant hill and a smaller one,
both around 60 feet tall, and 2 good sized lakes. Between the dozens of ducks & geese living there and the
mounds
of garbage underground
I wouldn't vouch for the cleanliness of the water, but people do fish it, and
I've seen a few
waders, if not swimmers
(swimming is forbidden, I believe).
The metal pipe I'm standing next to is used to vent the
methane created by the
decomposing garbage, lest it builds up
and explode. I've heard that they 'smell a bit' on the
hottest of days, and only
when there's no wind, but after 40 years,
I'm surprised it smells at all. Running along the
park is a small creek with some nice real estate & lovely homes
built there. The park is very popular with kite flyers.
In addition to the boat launches, bike & jogging trails,
covered picnic spots, and fishing spots, Mount Trashmore also
boasts a skate park and a half-pipe, both of which are pretty good sized.
It has a handful of playground equipment,
and a giant playground ('Kid's Court') with enough to keep your 'precious
snowflake' out of your hair for at least an
hour. About three weeks after I moved here, I rented 'Stoked', a
documentary about the rise and fall of Mark 'Gator'
Rogowski, a popular skater from the 80's. The half-pipe was featured in one
scene, when Gator famously assaulted a
police officer who was attempting to arrest him at a skateboarding competition
being held at Mount Trashmore back
in 1984, sparking a minor riot among the hundreds of skateboarding
teenagers who'd come to watch him compete.
Finally, Here's a panoramic photo I made stitching together
three separate photos taken from the end of the biggest hill.
*
April 11- I've had off
for 11 of the past 14 days, and it's rained every single one of those. I've been
going mad walking the malls,
watching TV, and reading book after book. Today the forecast called for partly
sunny and 80 degrees, so I grabbed a book, threw
my bike in the back, & headed to the beach. I sat on the beach reading the new
Grisham for a few hours, then got my bike out and
spent another two hours pedaling up the beach and down the strip. Virginia Beach
is funny in that there's no 'downtown' here. The
city seems to center around the beach area. Running along the beach is a three
mile long boardwalk. Adjacent to the boardwalk are
a few dozen massive hotels, with a bike path/jogging trail in between. Behind
the hotels lies Atlantic Ave, four miles of restaurants,
beach shops, video arcades, pizza joints, miniature golf courses, and tattoo
parlors. It also has several amusement park rides, from
outdoor rides like the tilt-a-whirl, to indoor rides like 'Pirate's Cove' and
Haunted Mansion, below left. On the beachfront are a few
museums like the 'Old Coast Guard Station' and the Waterfowl Museum. In the
center of the boardwalk is a giant statue of Neptune.
Scattered around the beach area are strange signs that seem to be 'banning
profanity'. A quick Google search seems to confirm this.
The beach is bordered on the north by an Army base, the south by a Navy base,
and a Naval Air base is about two miles way. This
means that about 25% of the people at the beach are military. The combination of
soldiers, sailors, and Marines gives the dozen or
so tattoo parlors here a steady stream of customers. The beach experienced
some riots in 1989, but has settled down a great deal.
Located not too far from King Neptune is the Norwegian Lady.
It commemorates the 1891 sinking of the Norwegian barque Dictator,
and actually faces a similar statue thousands of miles away in in the Norwegian
City of Moss. Read all
about the Norwegian Lady here.
Adjacent to the Norwegian Lady is the Naval Aviation Park,
which commemorates...Naval Aviation. And as you enjoy
yourself at the Oceanfront in Virginia Beach, Naval Aviation will be very much
in your mind, as jets will be flying over-
head the entire time you're there. Virginia Beachers are used to aircraft,
which come from Oceana Naval Airbase, less
than two miles from the beach. 'I
Jet Noise' is a
commonly seen bumper sticker around the Virginia Beach area.
*
April 9- Sorry, I
haven't posted too much lately. I was dealing with computer problems and a lack
of pictures to post. I restored my
computer recently, and when I did, I improperly re-installed my Norton AntiVirus,
leaving me wide open to the dreaded viruses. Sure
enough, my laptop 'contracted' a virus, namely the Trojan Vundo virus,
which kept hijacking my browser and directing me to various
websites and slowing down my laptop's performance. So...I restored my
laptop again and made sure AntiVirus was installed properly.
I'm off school this week, and with nothing to do and nothing but rain outside,
I'm spending too much time inside. Since I have time
to spare, I thought I'd use some of that time to fill my readers (all four of
them) in with what I've been doing & how I've been doing-
School- goes well. I have to take 3 months of OICNW (Officer in
Charge of a Navigational Watch) classes, which range from Celestial
Navigation to Meteorology to Ships Construction. It's the Coast Guards plan to
get those of us who worked our way up from deckhand
to Officer to the same 'knowledge level' as those who went to school for four
years. Trouble for me is, I studied this stuff already, out
of the books, all by myself. The classes I have to take are elementary to
me, and I'm taking many of my exams early and getting over
over a 90% on them. I took one test after just 1 day of class and still
got 100%. The school that I'm attending, Mid-Atlantic Maritime
Academy, is great. They've gone from a bare-bones 'study hall' to a
multi-classroom facility complete with simulator in less than one
year. They're still expanding and are preparing to double in size and will soon
include not just a 'bridge simulator', but an engineering
simulator, as well. The instructors are knowledgeable in several different
subjects and are able to adjust their level of instruction from
teaching experienced students to 'brand-new' mariners with ease. All of the
instructors are mariners themselves, from Academy grads
to Ex-military personnel. Of the 10 or so marine schools in a half dozen states
I've attended, 'M.A.M.A.' is definitely the best. I have 4
more weeks of classes (3 weeks of Celestial Navigation & 1 of Meteorology),
and I'm going to miss coming to this school every day.
Physical- Definitely improving. I go to Mount Trashmore YMCA every
day. It's expensive, but worth every penny. I do a Nautilus set
three times a week, and 35 minutes on the elliptical 5-6 times a week. My
weight seems to be staying the same,...but seeing as how
muscle weighs more than fat, I think I've lost some pounds and gained them back
in muscle weight. I've changed my diet, too-heavy
on the tuna fish and protein shakes, very low on junk food. I allow myself to
eat badly one day a week, usually Saturday, but even on
that day, I'm careful. I notice a definite gain in upper body mass, but
strangely, my waist has yet to drop below a size 34. I've bought
a mountain bike, and as the weather improves, I'm going to be spending more time
cycling at the beach. I'm also looking into doing a
bit of hiking in the area, but I fear I'll have to travel to North Caroline for
that! Mount Trashmore is a 165 acre park built over a dump
only a quarter-mile from my house. Strange as that sounds, it's actually a
stunningly beautiful landscape complete with a skatepark, 2
big lakes, two 60 foot high 'mountains', three playgrounds, and more geese &
ducks than you can shake a stick at. I plan to post more
about beautiful Mount Trashmore, but I'm going to wait until the rain stops so I
can take some pictures of the park to show it to you!
Spiritual- Just took a turn for the better. I've gone to a
few different churches since I've been here. This past Sunday, I went to the
Rock Church, a multi-racial church only three miles from me. I
don't understand why, but God has always led me towards churches
that were either black or mixed race. I've not been able find a local church
I was completely comfortable in, until this past Sunday.
The Rock church is
a 5,000 man church founded in 1968 by a former drug addict, John Gimenez.
As Rock Churches website says-
In October of 1968, Rock Church was founded when
John & Anne Gimenez were traveling from Pennsylvania to Florida & stopped
in Virginia to appear on Pat Robertson's "The 700 Club". The prophetic word
declared, "…I am sending you to a people you know
not of" inspiring them to trust God for clear direction. Gimenez felt compelled
to seek an empty church building as a sign of God's
confirmation. Incredibly, an empty building became available for services, & was
soon overflowing with spiritually hungry people.
This church is, quite literally, an answer to prayer, as I've been
uncomfortable in the churches I've attended. Sadly, Pastor Gimenez
dies about a month ago, and it's a credit to his ministry that it was the top
story in the local news that night. When I attended the
church this past Sunday, they spoke of 'The Bishop' in glowing terms. His wife,
Pastor Anne, is currently leading the church, and I
was impressed enough with her sermon this Sunday to make me want to return.
So, if all goes well, Rock Church will become my
regular church. And, most amazing of all, they have a ministry (in the
form of a church and radio station) in my beloved Liberia!
In General- I'm happy here. It's funny, when I was in the Navy, I
dreaded the thought of being stationed here. With the several
dozen bases here, I didn't want to get stuck in such a military-heavy
town. Now, 16 years later, I find that I actually like it here.
With the 700 Club in town, I like to make the joke that everyone here is
either a Christian, a Republican, or ex-military,...or any
combination of the three. My condo complex seems to be about 50% military,
and every third car seems to have a 'Department
Of Defense' sticker on the back. The weather is crazy up and down-one week
hot and sunny, the next week raining cats-&-dogs.
I'm hoping that next week brings us more sunshine, as I plan to spend weekends
at the beach with some good books. Hampton
Roads (as the Norfolk/Virginia Beach area is known) has plenty to do
between the many museums, waterways & beaches here.
Crime is generally low, and there's enough oceanfront to provide us with decent
seafood. I would even consider relocating here!
*
We're working in the simulator this week.
This school has the only simulator from New York all the way down to Ft.
Lauderdale.
It's a new state-of-the-art $500,000 Transas Ship Simulator, combining two
radars, controls for several different types of vessels,
from container ships
to Z-Drive tugs. It has about a hundred different ports entered into it and
every type of weather scenario you
could think of. It's realistic that when the instructor puts you in the middle of a
heavy storm, you find
yourself losing your balance
and holding on to the chart table to support yourself. My first scenario,
spinning a single screw ship around in the Elizabeth River
channel, didn't go too well. I swung too wide and ran over a buoy. I redeemed
myself on the next scenario, spinning a 250 meter
empty tanker around and exiting Gibraltar with a 13 knot offshore wind. I
also rescued a man overboard here in Chesapeake Bay,
faring a bit better than my classmate who ran his over. Here's a few pictures of
me and my classmates in action in Norfolk Harbor.
*
Happy Saint Patrick's Day!-
Ok, it's a couple days early, but if they had the parade on Monday no one would
show up.
I got together with some friends who live right off the parade route. The parade
was your usual assortment of bagpiping
cops, high school marching bands, Shriners, and Vets on Harleys. There weren't
many bagpipe bands, but the number of
sea cadets, JROTC members, Boy Scouts, and USCG Auxillary guys was off the
charts. Just one of the results of living in
such a military town, I guess. My favorite parade participants were the
'Hillbilly Shriners', who came in three faux-rickety
jalopies and a 'redneck school bus. Pictures below, top left. Also there were
the 'Military Preservation Society', who fix up
old Army surplus vehicles and ride them in parades. Throw in a few antique
fire trucks, some Irish dancing studios, and
ten thousand drunk people in green afro wigs, and you've got the Norfolk St.
Patrick's Day Parade. It's a big deal here, as
mid-March is when the weather usually warms up. St. Patrick's day here is like
Memorial Day in New England, I suppose.
*
Washington, DC- While my friend is attending a
Discipleship School in Scotland & Cambodia, she's graciously allowed
me the use
of her apartment in Washington, DC. I headed up there the other weekend
for a three day weekend. I haven't been there in a dozen
years, but not much has changed. This time around I made sure to visit some of
the things I hadn't seen on earlier trips. Since 9/11,
both the White House and Capitol building have been closed to visitors, but I
snapped a few shots from the outside, anyways. Here
I am outside the White House, Capitol, the US Navy Memorial, and Ford's theater,
where Lincoln was shot. Ford's was #1 on my list
to see, but just my luck-it's closed for renovations for another year or so. I'm
thinking of returning in another couple of weeks, when
the Cherry Blossoms are in bloom, which might just coincide with opening day for
the Washington Nationals...in their new stadium.
The Mall has added a couple new memorials
since I was there last. I explored the WWII memorial and the Memorial to the
Veterans
of the Korean War before revisiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. I
had been wanting to see the Korean War Memorial, but I
never got a chance. I was moved by it's stark depiction of haunted-looking
soldiers on maneuvers. The wall was powerful, as always.
Arlington National Cemetary-
I was unprepared for just how big it was. With 250,000 burials on over 600
acres, Arlington is
huge. I walked around for a few hours, but only saw a small portion of it. I did
visit the Tomb of the Unknowns, JFK's burial site,
the original mast of the Maine, and several other memorials. After
watching the Changing of the Guard, which takes place every
hour, I found myself standing not twenty feet away from Audie Murphy's
gravesite. I couldn't resist taking a picture of America's
most decorated veteran buried, amazingly, in a regular grave. Also buried here
is RKF, Joe Louis, and the crew of the Challenger.
*
Spent a few hours at Nauticus, a maritime
museum here in Hampton Roads. On the waterfront in Norfolk, it consists of a
maritime-
themed museum on the waterfront with the USS Missouri, a Iowa-class Battleship
that's a sister ship to my USS Missouri. While the
museum was interesting, what I really wanted to see was the Wisconsin.
There was an extensive display on the battleship, from it's
construction (that's a picture of it's launching at left) to it's service in
Operation Desert Storm alongside my ship in 1990. We weren't
able to go inside or even off the main deck, but what little I saw took me back
to my days aboard the Mo, as the ships are identical.
*
I'm attending school in Virginia Beach for
around three months or so. These are pictures from my recent week spent studying
electronic navigation. I've also been studying cargo handling, Emergency
Procedures, Search & Rescue, & Celestial Navigation.
*
The night I left for Virginia, we all supper together and
everyone surprised me with a birthday cake and gifts! Better than gifts
is getting to spend time with family, of course. I got some towels, some Dunkin
Donuts coffee, and some snacks for the road.
*
Spent the morning at the Coast Guard Station in
Boston, sorting out my license. The Coast Guard station in Boston is
located in
the North End, the oldest, most historic part of Boston, once home to Paul
Revere, and now the Italian section of Boston. Here
you see a little North End charm'... the Mangia Mangia ( Eat Eat ) restaurant,
a Red Sox last supper picture complete with jokes,
a memorial made of dog tags to the Veterans of Foreign Wars (actually, Viet
Nam), and 'All Saints Alley', an alley full of...Saints.
*
Always good to spend time with friends. The Patriots were finishing up another
record season, so we got together for a few games at
my friend Eric's in North Andover. As you can see, there's a little
Poss on the way, but Chris's belly gives Jen's a run for her money.
*
Here's one thing I didn't miss while in Africa. The December I was home
was the snowiest on record since 1970, the year I was born!
Also, the primary took place while I was home as well, so I was blessed with
non-stop calls from candidates seeking my vote all month.
*
Tickets home from Gran Canaria were over a thousand dollars, but flight through
Dublin were less than half that. I figured
what better way to decompress after over two years in Africa than spending four
days in Ireland. With all of my luggage, I
didn't want to go too far, so I spent a relaxing four days in Dublin. Here
I am on the river Liffey, which runs right through
the center of the city, with a James Joyce statue, at Dublin city hall,
the Guinness brewery, and of course in and around a
few pubs. I was expecting a quiet city so close to Christmas, but Europeans
apparently flock to Ireland around this time in
search of work. There were countless Italians, Spaniards, and Frenchmen
there looking for whatever work they could get,
usually restaurant work. they all wanted to see the Irish pubs, Irelands most
well-known 'attraction'. I was happy to oblige.
Tenerife airport, Dec 13...on my way home.
