Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Something Fun...

So Murphy took a celebrity personality test tonight when we got back from the Dog Park... probably one of his favorite places on the Island so far...

And the results are in...

George Clooney....

I found out about this little test for him after reading this article in 'That Liberal Rag' (my Dad so affectionately refers to it as) the New York Times. It's kind of an interesting article about Dogs in the Workplace... too bad I can't take the Murphster to work... but how I really found out about the celebrity personality test is that the article featured 'Bella's Boxer Shorts' a Boxer named Bella's point-of-view of her owners work.

Anyway- thought it would be interesting to post it. By the way, Happy (early) Birthday Dad... your present is in the mail. (seriously... :D )


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Monday, April 28, 2008

Carrier

So, I've been watching a program on PBS, compliments of TiVo, called 'Carrier.'  If any of you want a small glimpse into what life was like for me the last three years, watch this show.  I've watched 3 episodes of it now, and I must say, it is hands down one of the most authentic, hard-hitting, real looks at what life is like on an aircraft carrier.  From the highs to the lows... no glossy cover-ups... granted it is public television, so it's PG, and trust me, life on a carrier is anything but PG... but anyway- they even have a piece in episode three, 'Super Secrets' where they pull into Hong Kong... a port I've been to 3 times.  A film crew deployed with the USS Nimitz in 2005, and basically followed several people on board from start to finish.  It's been enjoyable for me to watch it, and if you have a chance, you should definitely watch it.  If you've missed it, you can get it on iTunes...    or you can check out pbs.org.

In other news... it's Monday.  My life isn't nearly as interesting as it was when I was deployed... I think I came to that realization last week when I sat down and tried to write something well... interesting.  And failed miserably.  Tony and I are talking about going in together on a Catamaran...  This one.

Oh yeah...  I promised a write up on 'Strengths' in my last post... that'll come later... I'm really sunburned tonight from a beach trip on Sunday... good night.
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Sunday, April 20, 2008

Kokua Festival, Astronauts and Wikipedia

So there is just something about living in Hawaii that just never gets old... although, I must admit, I've almost reached the 7 month mark here, so the idea of things 'getting old' is probably a bit preconceived on my part.  I've been told that Haole (pronounced how-lee), as they call us white-folks here in the Islands, tend to get so called 'Island Fever' after about 6 months of living here... well, that hasn't happened to me yet... and I don't forsee it happening to me anytime soon, but you never know... anyway, back to my original thought.  What hasn't gotten old to me yet after living here is the never ending good weather and sunshine... but that's really boring, and writing about it probably doesn't help with my readership... but anyway- last night, some friends and I went to the 'Kokua Festival' an open air festival featuring two of my all-time favorite artists at the 'Waikiki Shell,' an outdoor venue that is used quite frequently for concerts and the like- while I will admit that we didn't actually have tickets, we were able to sit out on the grass, and listen to the Dave Matthews Band and Jack Johnson who were here to play... anyway- I walked there and walked back from my house- it was a concert celebrating, ahem, earth day, probably not one of the most compelling celebrations in my book, but at least I lowered my carbon footprint for a day by walking the 1.5 miles to the concert and back... it seems I cover a lot of ground on the adidas express living here in Waikiki though- but it literally is easier to just walk everywhere than it is to drive... not to mention parking is at a premium, gas is well, $3.67 a gallon and heck- you can cover a lot of ground on foot if you just take the time to do it... of course, I do pay a premium for living in this fantastically convenient location, but hey, as they say, you do have to pay to play... what does that mean?  Anyway- I'm sort of rambling, but I guess I'm just happy to be here, and figured I'd write about it... today my buddy Tony and I took the Murphster to the beach over by Sandy Beach on the South-East side of Oahu... I did manage to get my truck stuck for about 10 minutes in some soft sand... which made me wonder for those 10 minutes why in the heck I bought an SUV without four wheel drive, but with a push from Tony and another helpful soul and some rocks under the rear wheels I managed to get out of the predicament I was in... carbon footprint be damned... anyway- the beach is great... whatever... nothing too earth-shattering in this post so far, but I've neglected my blog this week and felt like I needed to put something up... which is probably not the best reason to post, but whatever... so what I was going to say originally, living in Hawaii has yet to get old to me.  Tony and I kicked around the idea of going in halves on a Hobie Cat... I love sailing and having a Hobie Cat would be a great reason to get out on the water on a regular basis... not to mention the wind here in Hawaii is legendary... there is really no such thing as a bad wind day...  OK... my next topic- astronauts-

So for some reason, I was reading about Shuttle Missions this afternoon- oh yeah- when I got home from the beach today, there was a special on Discovery HD (which by the way, for those of you that don't watch TV in HD... you have no idea what you are missing) anyway- the special on Discovery HD was about STS-114, the first Shuttle Mission after the Columbia disaster, the Shuttle Discovery slipping the surly bonds of earth... well, in reading about it, I came upon something I found quite interesting... apparently NASA has had a tradition since maybe the days of the Gemini missions of waking astronauts up each morning with a pre-chosen song of one astronauts choosing... for those of you that don't know, I was an astronaut wannabe when I was a kid... unfortunately I didn't cut the mustard when it came to advanced math, so I just settled for a run-of-the-mill Naval Flight Officer (but I did go to Space Camp :) so I've always kind of had an affinity for all things space... even if it is just as an enthusiastic observer... but you've also probably figured out that I'm also a music fan... so when I found out that they play songs for the astronauts each morning to wake them, and then I found some of the actual recordings of the dialogue that follows each waking from some of the recent missions, I figured I'd feature them here... so here they are, compliments of Wikipedia... which by the way, have you ever thought about the amount of work that all those selfless Wikipedians put into their body of work?  I mean seriously- you can find information about almost anything on Wikipedia- but who wants to spend all their time writing that stuff?  I'm a big fan, admittedly, but seriously... I was reading it today, thinking, someone puts a lot of selfless work into this.  I admit, I have edited a post or two, but more to assist in the accuracy of something which I know a lot about... not really to generate data, more to just correct it.  I guess those folks who have that strength of... you know what... my next post is going to be about Strengths, and the Gallup Organizations' take on them... stay tuned.  

Anyway- check out some of the 'wake-up' songs from STS-123, the most recent Shuttle Mission, excerpted from, you guessed it, Wikipedia:  (by the way, if you do listen to one or two of the songs, listen to the whole thing, because they don't play the entire song, but Mission Control will start talking and you can hear the conversation between them and the particular astronaut who chose the song for the day... kind of cool)

(note: I also just found this little write up on the history of music being used as wake-up calls in Space...)

Wake-up calls

A tradition for NASA human spaceflights since the days of Gemini, is that mission crews are played a special musical track at the start of each day in space. Each track is specially chosen, often by their family, and usually has a special meaning to an individual member of the crew, or is applicable to their daily activities.[33][34]

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Monday, April 14, 2008

How do you wear out a 6 month old Irish Setter?

You don't.  I just ran Murphy 7.2 miles, to the Diamond Head dog park and back where he played with lots of other dogs, running at a full sprint, chasing balls and the likes, then we ran back home and I get home and he still wants to play... wow.  Oh wait... he just crashed... finally... and he's up again.
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Sunday, April 13, 2008

Hiking to Manoa Falls with Murph and Jason...

I hiked up Manoa Falls today with Jason... it was a good hike- a little muddy, but a good excursion regardless... we went to Don Ho's at the Aloha Tower Marketplace and had some food afterwards... turns out they let dogs join you for dinner on their patio on the water... so Murph sat with us on the patio while we ate... gotta love Hawaii.

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Friday, April 11, 2008

Friday's Flying Video...

Today I bring you footage of America's latest and greatest air superiority aircraft...  The F-22.  I had a chance to work with a Raptor pilot last week and he opened my eyes to some of the incredible capes of this particular aircraft... this video shows off a few of them.  Cheers, and Happy Friday!


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Monday, April 7, 2008

Kiva.org

So last year... well, probably farther back than that, I turned into a rabid NPR listener... well, rabid may not be the best descriptor, but let's just say that I developed a voracious appetite for public radio while I was stationed in Japan.  Really, the reason I was turned onto NPR is because the great technology that Apple had developed in their software for music 'iTunes' had this great free feature called 'podcasts'... well, add to the mix nothing but Armed Forces Radio as the only real English station to listen to while I lived in Japan, and well, anyone who has served overseas and has been subjected to AFR, or AFN(etwork) as it's become called, because yes, they do television too...  and after about a week or two of listening to it, one becomes quite tired of hearing about doing your taxes on time, being a good representative of the USA, etc., etc., etc.,... seriously, George Orwell would be proud.  (I blogged about it in one of my early posts) But since most folks in the military, don't really have a choice, and they do in fact play American music, most people like me would listen to them.  Well, that was the case, at least, until I found out about podcasts... once that world was opened to me, and I could find a way to auditory entertainment, without having to listen to the propoganda of AFN, I was hooked.  'Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me', 'This American Life', 'All Things Considered' 'The Car Guys' all these became favorites of mine that I would listen to on my daily commute to work... well, it was during one of these particular shows, maybe 'All Things Considered' that I found out about Kiva.org

Kiva is a microloan organization, dedicated to the advancement of microloans in underdeveloped countries.  But more importantly, what it does, is enable those of us in developed countries to use our comparatively abundant resources to help those trying to make a living in under-developed countries.  In 2006, this idea made headlines when Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in assisting thousands of under-privileged Bangladeshi women attain their goals by lending them small amounts of money (compared to most western loans) with a small interest amount, in order for them to start businesses.  The idea caught on, and today micro-loans are thriving, and the innate human spirit of entrepeneurship is thriving due to people loaning less fortunate ones money.  Anyway- I just wanted to bring it to your attention.  It's a really worthy cause, and when you research it, you find that Kiva.org does it very well... they had a small piece on an NPR show, and something about it caught my interest, and I've been going about it ever since.  I started with four loans, and of those four, three have already been paid back... tonight, I just added three more with the money I received from the paid loans... anyway, it interests me, and it warms my heart to know that I'm making a small difference in whether someone in a third-world country can buy stock for their small grocery business or parts for their taxi, or merchandise for their garmet store.  If you are interested in trying this out, please email me, and I'll send you an invite via Kiva.org.

Meanwhile, if you are looking for something interesting to listen to, 'This American Life' with Ira Glass is hands down the most interesting hour on radio.  If you've got time, download one of their podcasts, and you'll be hooked.  They are really good, and objective, and interesting, and thought-provoking.  Just give it a chance.  Anyway- here's to doing something good for someone today... just because you can.  Well, cheers, and good night.
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Sunday, April 6, 2008

Predictions and the Hash House Harriers...

Well, so much for my NCAA Bracket picks... how could UNC and UCLA both lose?  Oh well... I've never won one of these, but it's always fun- last year I was second place in my squadron, but this year it looks like I'll be in 5th or so... and I never follow basketball leading up to March Madness either... but it's always something fun to do.

In other news, yesterday I participated in my first ever Hash Run... in case you've never heard of it, and I'm guessing most people haven't, although, allegedly, it is getting bigger- anyway, back in 1938, a group of bored expatriates tasked with governing the British provincial outpost in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, decided once a week to start running together... heck, why reproduce it when I can just paste the article from Wikipedia... here it is... and I quote: 

Hashing began in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 1938, when a casual group of British colonial officials and expatriates, Cecil Lee, Frederick "Horse" Thomson, Ronald "Torch" Bennett, and a British accountant of Catalan descent Albert Stephen Ignatius Gispert (A.S. Gispert) would meet after work on Monday evenings to run, following a paper trail, through the environs of Kuala Lumpur to get rid of the excesses of the previous weekend. There was another member of the group, John Woodrow, who is rarely credited as one of the founders as he left Malaysia after the war to return home to his family in Scotland.

After running for some months they were approached by the Registrar of Societies, who advised them that, as they were a "group" they would require a Constitution (the aims of which are reproduced below) and a name.(A.S. Gispert) (known as "G") suggested the name "Hash House Harriers". As bachelors, they were billeted in the Selangor Club Annex, known locally as the Hash House, because of its monotonous food. Their runs were patterned after the traditional British paper chase. A hare was given a head start to blaze a trail, marking his devious way with shreds of paper, all the while pursued by a shouting pack of "harriers." Only the hare knew where he was going...the harriers followed his clues to stay on trail. Apart from the excitement of chasing the hare and solving the clues, reaching the end was its own reward...for there these thirsty harriers would find a tub of iced beer (and, in those earlier, more forgiving days, ginger beer and cigarettes).

Hashing died out during World War II after the Japanese invasion of Malaysia, but started again shortly after the war, when the original protagonists, minus "G" who had been killed in the Japanese invasion of Singapore, re-assembled in Kuala Lumpur. Apart from a "one off" chapter, formed in the Italian Riviera, (now the Royal Milan and Bordighera Hash), hashing didn't take off until 1962, when Ian Cumming founded the 2nd kennel inSingapore. From then on, the phenomenon started to grow, spreading through the Far East, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as Europe and North America. Hashing experienced a large growth in popularity during the mid-1970s.

By the end of the 20th century, there were thousands of Hash House Harrier clubs in all parts of the world, with newsletters, directories, and even regional and world hashing conventions. This boom is owed largely to the power of the Internet to provide timely and accurate information on kennels and their events and points of contact. As of 2003, there are two organized HHH groups in Antarctica.[


So there you have it.  It so happens that they have a couple of 'kennels' here in Honolulu, and the particular one that ran with yesterday, was the 'Aloha Hash House Harriers.'  We did about 4 miles or so through the hills around and above Kaneohe Marine Corps Base.  I took the Murphster with, and he enjoyed running off-leash.  He was quite in his element, being a field-dog, he was quite at home- in fact, I was surprised, given the terrain we traversed how well he did.  The race finished at this park where a keg of beer was produced and all the runners brought down chairs and got in the 'circle' where awards were given, nick-names were created, and of course 'down-down's' were issued... (violations of the 'traditions' of hashing... there are no 'rules' just traditions to be followed... penance for a violation involves drinking a full glass of your drink of choice- water and sodas where used as well) it was all-in-all a good time.  The run, the conversation and the good time afterward... There were probably 10 or so other people with dogs there, so Murphy had a great time socializing with them as well after the run.


Well- not much else to report this weekend... although, First Friday in Chinatown was sort of special for me for a reason maybe I'll explain some other time... and last night, some friends and I went to the Hawaii Yacht Club to watch someone we know play Jazz Harmonica... it was pretty cool- anyway- peace.  Oh yeah- the exercise is over- thank God!

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