Two 40 Pounders

If you have never consolidated everything that you plan to live with for the next two years into two bags with a weight limit of 40 pounds each, I would highly recommend it. It really drives home the point that you don't need half of the crap that you think you do.

Katrina

In 2001, the Federal Emergency Management Agency ranked a major hurricane strike on New Orleans as "among the three likliest, most catastrophic dangers facing this country," directly behind a terrorist strike on New York City. Yesterday, disaster struck. One of the strongest storms in recorded history rocked the Gulf Coast, bringing 145 mph winds and floods of up to 20 feet. One million residents were evacuated; at least 100 are confirmed dead. Tens of thousands of homes were completely submerged. Mississippi's governor reported "catastrophic damage on all levels." Downtown New Orleans buildings were "imploding," a fire chief said. Oil surged past $70 a barrel. New Orleanians were grimly asking each other, "So, where did you used to live?" Please donate to the American Red Cross now by using the link to the right.

Garage Sale

Over the weekend I had a garage sale and sold all my worldly possessions. What I love most about garage sales is that guys like the one on the top show up at your house at 6:30 AM. The mystery garage saler on the bottom was an energetic little bugger. He was really getting into the exercise bike. We practically had to pull him off of it or he would have rode himself to death.

Long Time No Blog

Sorry people. I know it has been a long time since I posted. I went down to the San Diego area for a few days to visit with relatives. I saw my Grandparents (Pop and Nan), Aunt Beverly, Cousin Lonny, Brian, and Mitch. I also stopped in L.A. on the way back to see my Uncle Mike and Jim. Everyone was so supportive of my decision to join the Peace Corps. It is nice to know that even though I will be so far away, I will have a base of people that are all pulling for me. I will do my best to make you all proud and stay in contact as much as possible.

I also played some golf. Here is a story of how my typical golf game goes. It was a short, uphill, par three hole and I teed off first. My shot was a little left of the green, but not a bad shot. I figured I would be able to chip on, three put, and take a five for the hole. After the next golfer in my group teed off, I noticed a ball rolling toward us on the cart path. Another golfer tees off and the ball is still rolling toward us, bumping along down the cart path from left to right like a bowling ball rolled down a lane with bumpers in the gutters. I thought "huhh, that's funny, someone in the group ahead of us must have dropped a ball." The final golfer in our group teed off and I began to wonder if the mysterious ball could possibly be mine. Sure enough, it was mine. My ball had rolled 150 yards backwards down the hill and ended up right next to where I had originally teed off. That was my first 300 yard drive. God I'm good!

War Hero

I was clearing out my Mom's attic the other day and came across a box filled with old stuff that belonged to my Grandfather. In amongst the old pictures, high school diplomas and other memorabilia I found my Grandfather's flight record book from when he served in the Navy in WWII. The records looked something like this:

4/17/44 Attack Saipan
4/18/44 Attack Saipan
4/18/44 Attack Saipan
4/19/44 Attack Saipan (crash landing)
4/20/44 Attack Guam
4/21/44 Attack Guam
4/21/44 Attack Guam
4/22/04 Rescue mission
4/22/44 Attack Okinawa
4/23/44 Attack Okinawa
4/24/44 Attack Kyushu (crash landing)

You get the point. My Grandfather flew close to 100 missions in the Pacific during WWII. Sometimes flying multiple missions in the same day and crash landing twice! I always knew that my Granfather had served in WWII, but I never knew that he was a war hero. It was chilling to read his flight log and I was reminded that we shouldn't take for granted, those who served then and now. They are all war heroes.

Never Miss A Party!

I received a phone call last night around six o'clock from a friend inviting me to a party. I am always up for a party, but the only catch was that the party was in Livermore (about 3 1/2 hours from SLO). After pondering the invitation for about 3 seconds I said "Sure, what the hell, I'll go." By seven o'clock we were on the road. By the time we got to Livermore around 10:30, the party was in full swing. There was a massive drum circle, guitars going everywhere, and two girls were even busting out with an unplugged version of "Baby Got Back." The loosness continued late into the night and I ended up sleeping in a bed next to a girl I had never seen before ( don't worry I was safely zipped up in my own sleeping bag). Less than twenty four hours later I am safely back in SLO, ready to start my week.

PS: Karina and Family, thank you for the great party. It is always a pleasure to spend time in your beautiful home with your wonderful family.

PSS: Joe, Kyla, Mike D and Daniel, it was great to see you guys. I hope to see you at Sara's house in two weeks for my "Get the hell out of here party."

Four of the stupidest guys on earth recently made a trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and these pictures are the result.

(top left) A surf spot called Shipwreck about an hour south of Cabo, (top middle) Shipwreck at sunset, (top right) the four stupid guys driving out to Shipwreck, (bottom left), Spencer modeling some of the local headwear, (bottom right) our five star resort hotel on the beach at Shipwreck.

The best slide tackle ever

Last night I played pick up soccer with some guys in Morro Bay. My team turned the ball over deep in our end and the other team made a long outlet pass to a wide open would be goal scorer. The guy had nothing between him and the goal but freshly cut grass. He was so open that he could have walked the ball into the goal and all my team mates had given up on the play. Everyone knew he was going to score, but I thought "What the heck? I'll try to run him down. If nothing else it will be a good work out." I put my head down and took off in a dead sprint and from the far end of the field in what seamed like an impossible task. I covered 15 yards and he still hadn't finished off the play. Another ten yards, still no goal. The impossible play was becoming reality in my mind. I picked a spot ten yards from the goal line to begin my slide. Off I went like a baseball player sliding into second base. Just as I began my slide he took a shot destined for the near post, but I had other plans. Just as the ball reached the goal line, my right foot slid in front of it and saved the goal. I jumped up and began yelling antagonizing remarks like "Get that out!" and "Not in my house." I looked around and everyone was starring at me with blank stares. Had they just missed my great hustling play and possibly the best slide tackle ever? No, they had all seen the play, but I realized that their blank stares were looks of indifference. We were playing in someone's backyard with PVC goals and dogs running onto the field periodically. Not only was it not worth my effort to run down the play, but trash talking was way out of line in this setting. Oh well, I still think it was the best slide tackle ever, and in my mind, any time is a good time to talk some smack.

Three Gorillas

Last night I went to the Melodrama with my Mom and Aunt. This is theater performed in traditional western style complete with booing, and hissing for the villan and cheering for the hero. The show was pretty good, but the thing that I found most amusing was at the end when they do short two or three minute sketches about anything you can imagine. My favorite involved three gorillas and some funny music. One gorilla was conducting the music as if he were leading an orchestra. The second gorilla was sitting next to him holding a banana like a gun and shooting at the crowd in rythm with the music. The third gorilla was standing above the one with the banana and periodically beating him on the head with oversized drum sticks. If that isn't funny, then I don't know what is. I have to start taking pictures of stuff like that.

This is me at Shawn and Shigemi's wedding in Japan. Guess which one is Shigemi. 

Day Two of Blogorama

Here it is. My second day of blogging. Now I have a link and a picture. This picture has nothing to do with my blog entry, but I like it. It is a picture of me taking part in a camel rodeo in Egypt. I took second place on this day. The winner lasted a full minute before gagging from the stench of the camels intestinal gas. My camel's name was Rocket and boy did he live up to the hype.

My first blog entry

So this is my first blog entry. My sister put me up to it, and so here goes. I promise to try and keep it updated while I am in Zambia, but who knows how often I will have access to the internet. I did get some good news today, and that is that I will definitely be able to make it to Zak and Johnny's weddings next summer. I get two days off per month and I will probably have to come home for 24 days to make both of their weddings. Do the math and walla, all my days off are gone for the first year of my service with one false swoop. That's ok. I am sure it will be well worth it. Maybe I can even give my best man's speech in some strange African tribal language. I will try to get up some pictures or something before I go.