Thankful Thursday

Before I start giving thanks, let me just recap the past couple of days as background.

I just got back from a whirlwind trip to Pearl Harbor to give a morning presentation and an have an afternoon meeting on the sub base. I flew out Monday and flew back Tuesday evening on the red-eye, so I didn't bother to adjust my body's clock to Hawaii time. After I landed Monday, I grabbed some stuff at the NEX, got some dinner at Tacos del Mar, checked into the Navy Lodge out on Ford Island and went to bed about 6 p.m. HST (midnight EST).

I woke up about 2:30 a.m. HST (8:30 a.m. EST) on Tuesday. I brought a couple of blockbuster DVDs with me. I finished off the first disc of BSG Season 2 and then I watched Fan Boys.

Fan Boys is about a group of Star Wars nerds who go on a road trip across country to California to break in to George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch and watch The Phantom Menace before it was released in theaters. They stop and get in all sorts of misadventures and battles with Trekkies along the way. It has some crude humor / sexual content - not something I would recommend for kids, but it was a pretty funny movie with some awesome cameo appearances.

Aside: The first and only way I ever heard about this movie was in this article in WIRED magazine along with these behind-the-scenes pictures. Surprisingly enough, telling each of my friends who I think are nerdy enough to have heard about and appreciate the movie, none of them have heard of it. Is it just me or did this movie get NO advertising at all??? (besides an article in WIRED magazine anyway)

About 5 a.m. when I started to see light in the eastern sky, I put on my running shoes and went for a run around Ford Island. What a spectacular and enjoyable run it was, too. I ran counter-clockwise from the Navy Lodge, past the USS UTAH memorial, past the new houses and their lovely view of the brig. The sky was getting brighter in the east as I rounded the southern end of the island and admired the view looking down the channel to the Pacific Ocean and across the water to the USS NEVADA monument, the shipyard and the sub base. I ran along the old WWII era sea plane ramp and down along the battleship row mooring keys to the USS MISSOURI, past the USS OKLAHOMA memorial and on down to the USS ARIZONA memorial. Then I turned past the swimming pool and by the traffic circle back on over to the Navy Lodge. Total distance for 1 lap around the island was 3.5 miles.

Blunoz run by the ARIZONA at sunrise

After I got done with my presentation and meeting on Tuesday, I did a quick scenic drive over to the windward side to get some macadamia nuts at Tropical Farms. After admiring the view of Chinaman's Hat, I headed back over the H-3 and picked up some POG for YB at the commissary. Then I met up with one of my JOs from the Mighty MSP and had an awesome dinner at Sam Snead's. I love the grapefruit vinaigrette dressing at Sam Snead's. I could drink the stuff by the gallon.

Okay, so shifting gears to the Thankful Thursday post, this week I'm thankful for:

- my wonderful family, the awesome dinner my wonderful wife cooked for us tonight, and the awesome bike ride we had around the trails here in Ashburn after dinner tonight
- a safe trip to Hawaii and back
- an awesome run with the history and beautiful scenery around Ford Island
- great shipmates like Matt (thanks for meeting me for dinner, Matt) and the awesome crew I was priviledged to serve with on the Mighty MSP
- macadamia nuts
- grapefruit vinaigrette dressing
- all the great family memories I have of our 15 months living in Hawaii - snorkeling, hiking, kayaking, scuba diving, and enjoying the aloha lifestyle

BT BT

After catching up on reading some of my blog-roll this afternoon, I want to add one more line item to my thankful list.

I'm thankful for the bravery, dedication, and GUTS of guys like Darrell "Shifty" Powers.

Aside: Friends of mine on Facebook know I share this article's disgust with the MSM coverage of MJ's funeral and total LACK of coverage of people like Robert McNamara and Darrell Powers. (Let's see, WHY is the flag at half mast in the photo of the ARIZONA memorial above??? I wonder how may people in America would guess it was for MJ based on the MSM coverage of his death?)

Anyway, rants against the MSM aside, H/T and many thanks to FastNav for sharing the post about Shifty. I got choked up reading it on the bus ride home today.

Thank you for your service and Rest in Peace, Shifty.