career day, ahhhh!

In less than 3 hours I am speaking at a middle school career day here in Frederick MD (neighboring city to my hometown) and my dad is coming down as well. Im doing this as a favor to one of my “moms” that helped raise me on the old block, Aunt Char. I did this last year and had a great time, but for some reason I was so nervous I sweated through my shirt. It was just uncontrollable and I even had a fan on me. I guess its partially to blame that I was ill prepared and that I hadnt spoken in front of people for nearly 2 years.

This year should be different. Im a veteran to the middle school career day circuit now and should have no problem telling these kids how cool I am. Ha, if that only were the case. (this is a high pressure gig. you think speaking at colleges is hard, try these little guys and gals. They are ruthless!) You might ask, “what will you be telling them about at career day, arent you are unemployed?” Well good question people. I will be talking of owning a skate company and not of my playboy exploits of partying on the government’s money (I earned the GI BILL through 6 years of service to this great nation, so if you think I am taking advantage of the system, I am not. I earned this and will relish in every second of it until I have to grow up. Thank you.). I cant tell them about all teh fun Im having being unemployed and having the world at my finger tips. I could ruin an entire grades thoughts on going to college or striving to be the next Bill Gates. I dont want that hex on me! So skateboards it is.

We will see how this goes. I dont expect any problems, I mean hell, they are 13 years old. What’s the worst that could happen? (that sounds like a line from a horror movie and now I am getting axed as I run up the stairs instead of out the wide open front door where the policemen are waiting to shoot the madman who is chasing me) Wish me luck.

honeysuckles

Do you remember the smell/taste of these things?

I was driving through town with my dad today and caught a whiff that took me back to my youth. It was like a flood of memories all in a second and then it passed. It made me think back to playing in the woods, building forts back on the old block, and riding bikes up on the mountain. I remember riding bikes down the lane near the church behind my old house and seeing the woods just littered with white, yellow, and pink variations of these little fragrant flowers. I think back to picking a couple vines and then just sitting down in the grass to pull pestals that yielded sweet drops of dewey nectar. Am I the only one that remembers going this? I hope not because it seems so vivid in my mind that I would hate for people not to have enjoyed this tiny piece of heaven on earth. Ike knows what Im talking about, he was there for the whole thing.

It just felt like spring today as we drove through town. It felt like I was younger and Hagerstown had regained its old time luster. The air was pretty heavy with humidity, the clouds were dark, rain dropped in patches, but the air was cool and full of aromas that kicked my memory into high gear. I loved it. It was a simple day with no real intention. Dad and I just did what we wanted and used this old town for all it had to offer. I vaguely thought back to when I was younger and my ‘rents were newly divorced. I sat in my dads late 70s Chevy pale green truck with a white cab. We didnt have a care in the world, nothing to accomplish, we were just going with the flow and hanging out. I really, truly enjoyed today.

it kinda looked like this, but better

Eat some sushi at Sakura and try to get dad to try eel for the first time. “Hell no” he says. “What about avacado,” I say. “I dont want that either, stop it. You eat yours, Ill eat mine.” I proceeded to ask him about 10 more times and he finally just didnt talk to me anymore. I was just trying to get him to experience a little more in life, that’s all. After that we drove around looking for some new shorts for me, no dice. Then on a whim, we decided to see a movie. My dad hadnt been to the theater in almost 8 years! For real, 8 YEARS! How does that happen? I took him to see “Date Night” with Steve Carrell and Tina Fey. It turned out to be pretty good and I think I even heard him laugh a couple times. What makes it even better is that we had the whole theater to ourselves.

From there we decided to grab Frosty’s. Why not, right? Its an amazing day outside and we didnt have a care in the world. Yeah this ruins some of the great eating I have been doing and Ill have to work out a little harder, but how often do I get to hang with Pops?

now if only I had some fries to dip in it

Loved today. Loved the smell of honeysuckles that kick-started all this. Loved being with my old man shooting the shit. He’s such a cool cat, Im glad he’s mine.

‘LOST’

I am watching the LOST finale right now and I cannot explain to you the rollercoaster Im on unless you are a fan too. I havent been a LOST fan for the past 6 years like many of you. I only found this phenomenon this year through Bub (I owe you big time. Thanks Bub). From watching the first episode, I knew I would be hooked and now here I am watching the end of an era. Since I am lucky enough to not have a job besides being a full time college student, I had the luxury of watching all 5 seasons, 94 hours, in less than 3 weeks leading up to the final season. Yes, I might have sat on the couch for a little too long each day watching this mythical adventure unwind, but now that I am seeing what I am seeing, I am truly thankful to have experienced it first hand.

Note: The target commercials are amazing byt the way. The smoke monster coming out onto the beach then it being a commercial for smoke detectors. The keyboard from the hatch isnt working and its a commercial for $23.00 keyboards at Target. The boar running through the forest and then BBQ sauce coming up. Priceless.

Are other people blogging their feelings as the show is going on too? I cant imagine that I am the only LOST nerd expressing his feelings through blog right now. But if I am, then that is good for getting out this blog of mine!

a dogs life

How great is this? What it must be to have a dogs life.

Stadium night

With my bus running late (so late in fact that the bus that left an hour after us PASSED us and beat us into DC) we ended up missing the national anthem and the first pitch. But we got to Check out some Redskins cheerleaders, nice.

The Nationals stadium is absolutely incredible. The open air design allows for some of the seats to see the Capital Building and from just about every piece of the stadium you can see the game. If you’re grabbing a beer, you can still see the game. Getting food or wandering around, you can see the game!

There were 13 of us in all but we couldn’t all sit together bc they wouldn’t let Danny purchase more than 12 tickets. It’s a rule in place for scalpers. Either way, Danny and I rocked $20 tickets right behind home plate while everyone else sat down the left field line.

The seats were great, the Os pitcher had a no no into the fifth, an we (Orioles nation) got a win! To top it off, it was fireworks Friday too.

After the game we went to a dive bar fit for BK, but more original. It’s called Thirsty’s Refueling Station and it was littered with normal folk just like us, not the suits and ties I thought it was to be. We spent the rest of the night there drinking whisky and trying to recover from the “half smoke” that I ate at the stadium. “Half smoke” is a DC favorite that is a sausage stuffed with half pork and half beef topped with chili and cheese. Simply delightful.

All in all it was a chill time with Danny, his girl Jenna and their crew. Now we are driving to HagerVegas for the Hunt Hills Invitational. Can’t wait to hit the links.

21 May

Despite missing happy hour last night, I did manage to meet some people out for a couple roof top drinks at City Bistro. A beautiful night to see the city and have a drink to unwind.

All in all it was a tame night and this morning I was awoken by a half neked 3 yr old and her Marine daddy. Not in the flesh but through Skype. I LOVE technology. I wa still wiping sleep from my eyes and talking to them in Okinawa. Presley is without a shirt and giggling about it all while covering herself with her hands. Then she says to me, “Mapp (i spelled that right. She calls me Mapp) dont look at my boobies!” Ha! I almost peed the bed. What a great way to wake up. That should be standard a couple days a week. As I’m crawling out of bed, they were just turning in for the night. AND what is a 3 year old doing up at 10 at night?!

Quick breakfast, some final packing and off to wire some money to get new Marc Jacobs boards into production. Easier said then done. It took an hour and a half to get the transfer to go through and I almost missed out on fish sandwich Friday. Almost I said! I phoned in my order to Steve from the bank and he had a fresh special with tartar, lettuce, tomato and cheese waiting on me. Oh joyous day!

Hit Von Hollands, skate back to the Path and into NYC. The city was just yearning to be skated but I didn’t have enough time. The city just seemed alive with the buzz of people and i had a certain flow while skating. Wish i had the time. Made it to the megabus bus stop and actually was 4th in line. I even got the front seat so I can watch the world roll by.

I put down my sandie with a vengance and laid claim to the first person ever to eat a Von hollands fish sandwich on a megabus! I know it has to be true bc no one else would go through all the trouble I do for this weekly delight.

Still on the bus trip from hell now an an hour late. Thankfully the Orioles v Nationals game doesn’t start until 705p. I’m not letting this get me down at all. This ordeal is almost over. Less than ten miles now to DC, Danny Everett, and a screaming clan of 13 Os fans. Sprinkle in some beers and a corndog and I’m in heaven. Can’t wait to stretch these legs at the new Nats stadium!

my thursday nights

for the next 3 months will be consumed not in happy hours with my friends drinking the night away and making poor life choices. No, they will be spent listening to the ramblings of finance and other business teachers. Im sitting in Finance class right now at the Jersey City campus where my teacher, Dr. T., is giving his introduction in broken english. This definitely wont be a fun course for the content, but this guy seems like a character. Im not sure how you would spice up finance anyhow. First couple sentences out of his mouth I didnt really understand except for the word “shit.” That was followed by a broken F-bomb and now I know the pace set for this course.

I cant help but want to be in a Hoboken bar, preferably TXAZ, drinking $2 beer-waters and doing shots of my favorite whisky all while waiting for Liam to show up to take the night to a whole new level. Its a nice dream, but I wont have a free Thursday night until late August. Whoa is me.

Note: He just asked a passing administrator if he could “get this sonuvabitch outta his classroom.” Talking about this kid that has been in his courses several times before. Dude’s going to be crazy.

Note2: I think that he might be hard of hearing bc he yells everything that comes from his mouth. Its comical too bc he accentuates strange syllables.

Note3: I learned on break that Dr. T used to conduct business in Colombia. Business with attractive women, that type of business. He might be the coolest cat in this school. He also wears a Rolex.

what happens late at night…

that makes you so vulnerable to your own thoughts? I can go through most of my days now without thoughts of her, but when I lay in bed, sometimes its a totally different story. Like tonight. There was no real reason for it at all. I watched my Phoenix Suns get beat again by those damned Lakers, talked to a couple friends on facebook and was good to go. Out of nowhere it hits me and I just feel sad. No reason whatsoever for this rush of emotion, but out of the blue it comes crashing in like it happened yesterday.

Its been more than a month since our last interaction. No texts, no calls, no emails, nothing. I deleted her and all her friends from facebook so that i didnt have those constant reminders in my face every time I log on. I thought this would all be good enough, but somehow it hasnt been. I found some of her clothes while I was packing my room up today, an Easter card that my mom wanted me to give her along with her favorite candy, and even some bobby pins on my nightstand hiding under my alarm clock. They are all going in a box tomorrow and getting shipped away. No more constant reminders. Even with all these things today, I really didnt flinch. I guess I had so much more on my mind. But here in my bed, alone like every other night for months, it creeps in. That sinking feeling. That weight on your chest kind of feeling. A rush of heat and my heart pumps a little harder kinda feeling. I hate that it still bothers me like it does. I guess the reasoning behind it all kills me too. Maybe its the abrupt ending when all our talk was of the future. I really dont care to debate it here in open forum because its our business, not the world’s. But since I started writing, its helped me to explore my feelings in a much deeper manner. I just need to vent.

target. how many hours have you wasted?

for people who deserve better than walmart

I wandered around Target today and got to thinking about how many hours I waste in this place. It has to be 100s. I mean, I go in there for a DVD and I come out 3 hours later with a cart full of nonsense. Today was actually the exception to the rule because I went in with a purpose and left in under 15 minutes. That absolutely has to be a record for me, maybe a record for all of mankind.

One time this winter Nick, Michelle and I actually walked to Target during a blizzard. We played video games, looked through all the isles, sampled some of the Target fare (put it back on the shelf) and left without buying a thing. We then trudged all the way back home in 8″ of snow. Call us weird, but we were stuck inside for days!

Its just so inviting in there. No clocks, well lit, infinite isles to peruse. They do well to keep people wandering aimlessly through the store. Their merchandising is top notch, the branding is world class, and the products are actually worth buying for the most part. It makes you wonder why you would ever be caught dead in Walmart. Dont you just feel better than the average Walmart-goer when you are in Target? Have you seen this website People of Walmart? If not, click the link and check it out. The outfits in here are amazing. This site automatically makes you feel better about yourself. If you are having a bad day, go to People of Walmart and know that you dress better than these poor saps. Well at least I hope you do.

Insurgents take aim at Bagram Air Base

On each of my tours to Afghanistan, I was stationed in Bagram. Click the link to read the CNN article.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/05/18/afghanistan.bagram.attack/index.html?hpt=T2