Special Day Alert!!

Can you believe its already been a year?? Its Josh and Shaleese's Anniversary!! Happy Anniversary, guys! I hope you have fun in San Antonio. And.... guess what?? In...... 14 days (thats 2 weeks from today)... I'll be getting on a plane to come visit you!! I am SO EXCITED! Love you!

Modesto Marathon 2010

First Marathon of 2011 , for me! It was in Sunny...(or this weekend it happened to be NOT so sunny) Modesto, CA.

Drove 4 hrs on Saturday, to get there. The only thing that slowed me down was the water that trucks would kick up off the road... but I got there in pretty good time.

First stop was to meet up with some of the guys and pick up our bibs and goody bags.

After that I went to go check in to my hotel. It wasn't too bad. If anyone is passing through Modesto, I would recommend the Best Western Town House Lodge on 16th Street.

After check in, I met up with the fella's and one of the guys, Jeff, his family lives there. So had this spaghetti dinner. It was really good. And they were so nice to make and invite us. A good way to carb up before the big race the next day. The next morning....

The rain wasn't looking like it was going to be giving way.... little did I know how much of a factor it was going to be.

But, still I was preparing... Put on the temp tattoo I got at the expo (thanks Jacob for the idea).

But little did I ALSO know that I wouldn't be finishing in the 4:20 target time.

And then its 7:00... oh, no - we were late. Thought the starting line was somewhere else. But we caught up to where the line was, and only started like 6 mins late. No biggy. Not life Jeff though.. HE got to the race, and forgot his Bib at his family's place, so HE started like 30 min late.

A few pics from the run. This is me and Efren.

And Chris ... and Efren....

They were both running the half.

Me and Jeff....

But, I was a little disappointed at the ONLY, yes, I repeat ONLY professional photo they got of me...

When I see this picture... all that goes through my mind is 'What are you looking at?'

After a LONG 5 hrs and 30 min... I finally crossed the finish line. So, yeah - a little off the 4:20 goal. But just to let you know... it was windy, and snowy, and uphill both ways... did I mention I didn't have any shoes?? Ok, not quite like that. But it did rain quite a bit on the second half, and the wind was VERY bad. Made it feel like the temperature was in the 40s.

I even put myself in for the Clydesdale Division (200 lbs +). And believe you me, I was training to JUST meet that 200 lbs mark. And I STILL didn't do as well as I thought. Came in 17 out of 21 people.. WHAT?? I can't even beat half in the 'fat guy' club? Oh, well...

After a brief stretch, I figured I should hit the rode - so I could get some resting in at home. But I found it was very interesting. That part of California is usually in a water crisis. It was weird how you would drive past all these fields, and there would be orchards. But then all of a sudden, a huge field with NOTHING.

My only concluding thought to this is, maybe if they could NOT limit the amount of water these farmers can use... then MAYBE they could use ALL the fields for agriculture.. then I don't... maybe that would help California with their fiscal problems... maybe a little bit?

Yeah. But overall this Marathon was a good experience, and I am looking forward to the next one in September - the Air Force Marathon 2011!!

Special Day Alert!!

Today is a special day for some of most favorite people in the whole world!! Its Jacob and Camille's Anniversary!! Happy Anniversary you guys! You both have blessed my life and taught me so much! I can't wait till I get to come out to visit! Love you!

Special Day Alert!!

Today is my lil' sister's Birthday!! Happy Birthday Becky! And guess what? Not only HER birthday, but also her daughter (my niece) Alysea!! I hope it was a good day for you both. Best wishes in the coming year! I love you both!

Special Day Alert!!

Today is Grandma Woodbury's Birthday!! Happy Birthday Grandma! I hope you have a great day, and great times ahead of you this year. I'll see you soon!

Surprise Appearance CMSgt Narofsky

Today I was selected to meet the Senior Enlisted Leader for US Strategic Command, Command Chief Master Sergeant, Chief Master Sgt. Thomas S. Narofsky.

I explained to him what I do here at Vandenberg. After taking about 2 minutes explaining it, he congratulated me on my previous awards from over the past year(2010). He even coined me!!

Fun California Adventures (not the place next to Disneyland)

I figure its time to record some of the fun things I do here (sometimes). Today I spent the early afternoon with some co-wokers. Over the past few months some of them that go to San Diego quite often talk about these carne asada fries that they get when they go to San Diego. So, we heard of this place that has them around here. We went to Rancho Nipomo Deli & BBQ where we could get these carna asada fries.

They were really good. Not so healthy, but WAY yummy. Pieces of steak, cheese, pico de gallo, guacamole, and sour cream. I split one with someone else, and we both couldn't finish ONE plate. I also got a brisket sandwich which was pretty good too.

Next we decided to head over to Boomers to take on a mini golf challenge followed by a round of go-karts.

As you can see I started off strong, but ended up NOT being my day. And as for the go-karts... the karts really weren't that powerful, so unless you slowed down on purpose, it wasn't really fun. We are gonna have to go to a REAL track in L.A.

Next it was off to Yogurt Creations. A great way to cure that ice cream itch. I love to get the chocolate ice cream, topped off with LOTS of strawberries, chocolate syrup, and heath bar crumbs. Yummy!

Dont let my face fool you, it was really good.

Fun on a Friday Night!!

It was fun to learn that a preseason MLS(Major League Soccer) game was going to be played just 45 min from here. So, I went with two of my friends - Kayle and Lindsay. The Colorado Rapids were playing the San Jose Earthquakes. I had only been to 1 pro soccer game before, so I was excited for this.

They were playing at Cal Poly Stadium in San Luis Obispo. And tickets were way cheap!!! Only $15.

Players warming up.

Scoreboard... this is before the game.

Introducing the starters.

Game Time!!!

Foul in the goalie box led to this free kick. This would be the only goal of the game.

It was interesting to note that San Jose was the home team, but near the end of the game - it seemed like the fans in the stands were getting excited for either team when they were close to scoring. The Rapids lost 0-1.