The Naval Submarine League's annual symposium was Wednesday and Thursday this week down at the Tyson's Corner Hilton (just outside the beltway here in the DC area). One of my chiefs from the Mighty MSP was there to receive the Lockwood Award for Professional Excellence. Congratulations and well done, STSC(SS) Sowa! It was good to see you and Heidi and I hope you had a safe trip home.
Wednesday evening, my wife and I went to the Submarine Force Cocktail Party. It was a nice event. Since it was held in conjunction with the NSL symposium, there were booths set up by all the major submarine-related defense contractors with pens, posters, and other goodies to hand out.
The cost and the food were much better this time than last time we went a few years ago. The last time we went, it was like $70 per person and we barely got anything to eat. Okay, okay, I know it's a "cocktail" party, but still. We did NOT get our money's worth that night. This time around though, the tickets were "only" $35 per person and there were several buffet tables of everything from veggies, cheese, and fruit to meatballs, crab dip, and roast beef, plus an open bar.
Anyway, it's not that we went for the food or the booze mind you. It's a great place to run into old classmates and shipmates and friends. We had a good time chatting with several old friends and some of my new coworkers as well.
The surprise of the evening came when one old classmate and friend of mine who I haven't seen in... gosh... at least two years, came up and told me what a big fan he is and that he reads my blog all the time. I was floored. So hello, Chris! It was good to see you Wednesday evening, and I appreciate your positive feedback on my blog. :-)
It makes me wonder who ELSE is LURKING out there reading my blog and not leaving any comments. (You can always email me if you don't feel like posting a comment for others to read).
BT BT
Today I raised the number of blogger friends I've met in person from one to three. By this I mean people whom I have met through the blogosphere before meeting in person. Samantha and Kelly are in town for the Marine Corps Marathon this weekend, and they met me for lunch in Crystal City.
I tried to give them a wide variety of options for lunch and not corral them into any particular favorite of mine, but we went to an awesome Mexican restaurant. You'd think they read my blog or something.
Okay, okay, so I might have given them a slightly biased assessment of their lunch choices by saying something like, "Well, there's THIS AWESOME MEXICAN RESTAURANT RIGHT HERE (stomp stomp stomp) or we can go into that greasy food court over there."
Sam and Kelly - it was a pleasure to meet you both, and I hope you have a blast with all the MCM festivities going on this weekend. Have a good run on Sunday!
If they don't block it out, between the domain, IP, location, in click and out click, I can usually figure out who is coming around but not always. A lot of them block everything out. I can't figure out how to do that. I'm pretty lame with computers.
ReplyDeleteI had a hit once from a private island resort run by Royal Caribbean, the in click was an off shore, high stakes, gambling site and the out click was hard core, gay porn from the Brazilian interior. It featured mainly painful things to do with beer cans. What Larks, Pip!
I never could figure that one out or how my little site fit into that particular sandwich. Better not to know, probably.
So are you going to have a big 'bloghead' now that you are a celebrity? :)
ReplyDeleteCC - Ahhhhh, no. Maybe someday if some totally random non-Navy, non-submarine related person walks up to me in the middle of nowhere and says, "Hey! You're BLUNOZ!" THEN I might get a big bloghead about being a celebrity. But not for a fellow submarine officer who already knew me before he started reading my blog. :-)
ReplyDeleteI DO read the blog! And not only your great recommendation but the smells coming from that doorway were enough to convince me! I don't do the whole carb load thing pre race, mexican was great!
ReplyDeleteIt was a pleasure having a friendly face meet us at the hotel and escort us to lunch. You're just as great of a guy in person...thanks for the company and the well wishes! Kel and I both ended up having a great race!
I've been a lurker for a bit ... I think I left a comment a few posts ago when you were talking about Ashburn ... though it might not have gone through.
ReplyDeleteMy inlaws live in Ashburn ... it's a gorgeous area. I look forward to heading back up there when I get back from deployment.
I don't remember how I found your blog but I'm pretty sure it was through C of Life, Love and the Pursuit of Sanity. Our husbands were roommates in college. Anyway ... probably more info than you needed. Have a great day!