In the Beginning

From BMT

In the beginning there was just God. Well while at boot camp, our Technical instructor or TI (similar to a drill sergeant) thought that referred to them being there in the beginning. In the Air Force, Basic Military Training or BMT takes place at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. We are there for 6 weeks as our introduction into military life and initiation. For this time we spend a lot of time marching, marching, cleaning our living areas, oh and did I mention marching.

From BMT

We also do a lot of "pushing Texas" (pushups), sitting in invisible chairs, and being spat on by an angry TI who swears that we are the scum of the Earth. While going through it, one is just dying to get it over but looking back, it was a lot of fun; some great stories came from that experience.

From BMT

Really you can ask anyone who has gone through boot camp about something funny that happened there, they wouldn't know where to begin.

From BMT

As you can see I gained skills of loosing hair, making a bed that you can bounce a quarter off of,

From BMT

shining boots that where just caked with mud 30 min earlier and well looking like 29 other guys with no hair and wearing the same clothes.

Weekend Adventure

Well this weekend was quite an adventure. First I went to a friend's house who is deployed to Afghanistan to mow his yard. Lucky for me his yard had the grass pretty long and a very poor lawn mower. What should have taken maybe 30 min at the most became a 2 hour fight with a lawn mower that did not want to cut. After that was over I came home to tackle my own backyard. To my surprise I found an intruder inside my house. A large yellow jacket who was trying to set up shop around my computer books. To his dismay, I was armed with a can of air which I used to give him frostbite. Bye Bye yellow bugger! Afterwards I cut my lawn to find it taken over by multiple red ant farms. It was like a red ant resort. Too bad the weed eater had to pummel that 5-star hotel. Well after a Indiana Jones styled day, I decided to take some pictures of this really cool plant with heart shaped flowers. As well a plant that only two weeks ago wasn't there and now it became one giant cabbage patch. What a beautiful day and a stunning backyard :)

My "Postcard"

Well it is no secret that I love to run and I definitely enjoy the beautiful outdoor, so it is perfect when I live only a block away from an outstanding place that allows me to do both. Bure Park. This I will admit was one of the reasons I choose the house that I did to move into. I wanted to have a place that had running trails, and not just one loop to run but a place where I could customize my run to the mood and time of that day. This park has plenty of paths that interweave throughout the gorgeous landscape and makes it easy to fit in a 4 mile run without running the same path twice. Granted it is a place where many come to walk their dogs so you have to be on the lookout for "land mines." Since running with a camera can be a bit difficult and counter productive; I took advantage of a wonderful day to walk and capture the beauty of this park that I spend so much time in running.

Trip to Germany

Well I had a very interesting one week trip to Ramstein Air Base, Germany for a CISCO SONET class. We started out with not the greatest weather; three days straight of rain. Then Wednesday things lightened up for us as we went to the Castle Burgruine Nanstein in Landstuhl, Germany. It was a small castle partially in ruins but fun to explore. As our class was coming to an end on Friday we learned that a volcano erupted in Iceland shooting up an ash cloud that was coming over Europe. Though the ash cloud was not visible it would choke up any airplane's turbine, thus grounding all European flights. Well we wouldn't let that stop us from coming home so we decided to drive through the Netherlands, Belgium, and France to catch a ferry acrosss the English Channel and drive on home. Fun times.

Schnitzel

Here at Ramstein Air Base, Germany; they have many detachments from different coutries stationed on the base. The Germans had a restaurant that serves authentic German food, so I had to take advantage of it and try the famous "schnitzel." Schnitzel is a thin slice of pork that is beaten to be smashed. It is then breaded and fried; nothing to complicated but tastes absolutely great. Great food!!

Another Volleyball Game

Well now that our team was at full strength we were able to put away a more solid victory! This was our last regular season game. Now it is a week break and we get ready for our playoffs for base champions . . . I am already calling a Comm Sq Champ!!!

B-E-A-UTIFUL DAY

Today has been one of those rare days that blue dominates the sky. I was beginning to think that the sky was only made up of dark clouds but lo and behold the sun still exists!! This is a view that I am able to see as I come out of my building surrounded by blast walls then as I come out of the blast walls I have this great view! Nothing like seeing a great back drop through the barbed wire fence.

World's First Kilomathon

I know you have seen pictures of me actually running in the Kilomathon but according to "The Runner's Rule Book" by Mark Remy (actually a very funny rule book) there is a rule about running photos. According to rule 2.38, race photos never look good. With that being said I thought you would like to see a photo of me before the race got started :)

Comm Squadron Volleyball

Here are a few photos of me playing volleyball with my team representing the 422nd Communication Squadron. Unfortunatly three of our other star players were not here this night and we couldn't prevail against the Security Forces (cops) team. Though we did better than I expected :)

My house

Welcome to my home, on facebook I have displayed my house but with my furniture it becomes my home!

Bath

Bath was a Roman town that had a natural geyser nearby. This was considered magical and a gift from the gods. They used it to create a sort of spa where the wealthy would bathe and relax. The heat from the water still comes up today.

Stonehenge!

Back in early January I went to Stonehenge and Bath with my Uncle Ted who was in London on a business trip. This came after a big snow storm that is very rare to have had here in England.