Which I’m off to the links, seduced by the notion that I may have them all to myself, what with every red-blooded American male but me getting ready for the Superbowl. Which I still intend to catch, my sortie window being so very early, like. Prepared for the realization that there may be other men with the exact same plan, acting as spoilers for my fairway fantasy.
Which is rather a long way of saying that, between one thing and another, there will be very little else going on about the house today.
Which, the keys are in it, and Giants in a squeaker, not that I have any dog in that hunt.
Update: Was I right? I think I was.
Which at least one other red-blooded American male may have a notion about the north PB surf similar to yours re the links. Have a good round, Cap’n!
Jas,
How’re they breaking at the OB jetty? Oh, and you may have seen this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XBGITsNoyg
Haven’t been down to the jetty lately, but I’m sure it’s as good as ever, being the wedge for the northwests that it is. Makes me feel like a pelican, know what I mean, dude?
Being as to how it’s 11 hours later here in Kuwait, we’ll have to wait ’til it’s O-dark-30 before we can watch the Big Game. Still, we’ll be having our own little celebration, with steaks and (fake) beer, and have received a special dispensation from the stars above (a 3-star, I believe) to sleep ’til noon on Monday, or thereabouts.
Padre Dave,
Your story has had more turns than a roller coaster. Good to see a new door open as a window is being closed. It is gratifying to have such a happy close to a saga that would daunt lesser men.
I’ve been a silent fan of yours for years based on your posts.
Godspeed, Maj. Harvey.
Please let me know if your unit would need some small and easily shipped items. My wallet is not thick, but I can try and assist.
Salty speaks for me as well. If there is a need, post it here and I would a very large amount that help will come from this group.
Small and easily shipped, you say?
Hmmm, do cigars fit that description?
Seriously though, I would not hesitate to ask y’all (via Lex) if there were ever anything we needed over here. I still remember with humility how FbL managed to obtain a laptop for me through Soldiers’ Angels 3 years ago (has it been that long??) when I was injured in my motorcycle accident and was unable to type my seminary papers.
But the saga’s not over yet: I still plan to drop my packet with the Navy once I get back from this deployment. Which, if I’m accepted, will mean that they’ll send me *back* to OCS again (they call it Officer Development School), for to learn from some Marine Corps Gunny what it means to be an ossifer – my last 18 years of commissioned service apparently not good enough for them, it seems. Then! I get to repeat Chaplain School again on the Navy’s dime, while starting over as an O-3 for the second time.
But it’s all worth it – indeed, I can’t wait – if I get to run around in the mud with my Marines once more and see the deep, deep impossibly blue ocean from the fantail of a ship once again.
I know the word’s a bit overused today, but Padre, I find your story inspiring. It’s a rare thing to love a job as much as you do. Best of luck and do let us know if there’s anything we can do.
Strikes me as pretty strange the Navy wants you to go through OCS again. Is it the full up version, or the direct commission version?
If it’s the full up version, they and it’s still run at Newport, they used Chiefs instead of Gunnys back in ’72. Coulda changed though. The Aviation versions used Marines, however.
Boy I second that Humble1310. An unbelievable/increasingly rare example of a long slog of perseverance, dedication and faith.
QM-
As far as I know, it’s the 5-week Officer Development School that they use for medical folks & chaplains. Had I been a former Navy officer (vice naval officer), I would’ve had a pass and could go directly to Chaplain School. Or, I could do an interservice transfer (IST) and come in directly as a full-blown Navy chaplain. However, ISTs are increasingly rare, and can take a very loooooong time to get processed. And in the meantime I would have no job.
This way, I get back on active duty sooner, and have the unique opportunity to assist those around me. Since this stuff is (hopefully) second nature to me by now, I can help all those docs and fellow chaplains with basic military stuff and hopefully improve the teamwork aspect without the cadre getting all wrapped around the axle.
And it helps, whenever I think I’ve got it rough, to go back and re-read 2 Corinthians 11:21-33.
Many moons ago it used to be just two weeks long and was a gentleman’s course. One of the guys I spent a bit of time with in the transit barracks at Newport had an older cousin that was an MD and had become a Navy Physician. That was in August of ’72. I guess they’ve lengthened it somewhat for some reason.
Lex/
You need BOTH those two boats and their crews to look for your ball in the water hazard? Just how many do you shank in there, anyway? Is your game THAT bad? Won’t just one boat do?
PS: I notice they’re armed. I didn’t know those aggressive leaping Asian carp had made it all the way to Sandy Eggo/Insane Diego yet.
What sucks about today is that after tonight, we have a long, long wait until the next NFL season starts…
Aaah..but March Madness is soon afoot..Sweet 16
I take it you’re a round-ball devotee eh, dwas? We lived in Louisville during the best years of the Denny Crum era when Louisville won two national championships (80 & 86) and was always in the hunt. In the days before cable Louisville was BB heaven tv-wise as we would get all the broadcast home games
of Louisville, UK, Indiana & Purdue, Notre Dame on local tv as well as Big-10 and SEC “game of the week” on regional tv as well as National game of the week on ABC/NBC–a marriage-killer weekly schedule, lol.
Awesome..you fighter pilots get everything, lol…I lucked out..my bride is as avid a sports fan as I am..
Baseball season starts soon, however. That long drought is about over.
Pitchers and catchers report in two weeks. Woot!!
HUZZAH!
…Criswell Predicts: Giants by 14.
/No, I’m NOT a Patriots fan. Why do you ask?
Mike
Sneaks up to front window and soaps “GO PATS!”
After which the motion detector lights turn on, the lawn sprinkler turns on, a dog with a baritone bazooka for a voice starts barking and there is the disturbing metal sound of a slide ratcheting.
Runs like Hell…
Skids up to the curb in a getaway car emblazoned with “PATRIOTS, FTW!” scrawled on the side.
“Hop in, Z. I’ve got field-level tickets!”
Zooms off.
Being an NFL fan and not caring about any other sport makes this the longest Sunday of the year. I wish they’d start the game earlier so I didn’t have to wait so long. The fact that my team is in it makes the waiting ten times worse! Tick tock. Tick tock!
Try being in my time zone. Or worse, Padre Harvey’s.
Daryle,
First, with a name like that you should have the 1968 Raiders logo in the little box.
Then you could find Biletnikoff on a post pattern, or hand off to Clemon Daniels off tackle.
But then, you should root for the Patriots, like any red-blooded American.
Yeah, it’s 0130 here, and we’re just getting warmed up for the pre-game stuff. Game starts at 0230 – whee!
I imagine the aforementioned 3-star is doing the same thing you are.
I do root for the Raiders on occasion and Fred and I are Facebook friends, so I have that going for me. And red blooded Americans don’t root for teams that get caught cheating red handed.
Sorry for sounding impatient when some of you are stuck overseas waiting for the game in the middle of the night.
Let’s go Giants! I don’t understand why everyone thinks the Patsies are so good, we seem to own them!
The tag on the picture of those boats says “Bold Alligator 12″. Are they hauling the beer for the party–or did they have something else in mind?
Game is getting started. Kelly Clarkson performed a flawless National Anthem.
As the Patriots will perform tonite. Go PATS!
There is no joy in Beantown as Brady, Mighty Brady has ” struck out “.
This was a game of evenly matched teams but the Pats couldn’t connect. We did our best but came up 2nd best. Sux.
Congrats to NY……we’ll be there next year to chase you down……count on it.
I hear ya SK1. My poor husband was, as he said last night, so frustrated. It was a great game and both sides fought hard. Though I will say the Pats didn’t seem to fight that hard in the first quarter. That 96 yard touchdown drive was poetry though.
Dang. No Gronk to rely on, stone hands, stone brains at more than one point. Manning shredded that excuse for a secondary we’ve gotten by with all season.
Bill, you need a deep threat, and you need a secondary. Get going.
I wanted Denver, which was a pretty long shot. So, no dawg in the fight.
Did the same, set off at 9:30 and finished at 1:00 eastern time. Got home around 2:00 in time to get some beers cold and finish up the “she who must be obeyed” items in time to watch the game. Now I’m checking emails at half time as there have been no commercials worth doodly squat (and yes I know that is a southern term).
If you’re a Yankee, it’s illegal for you to use that term. Report to the nearest re-education camp.
I always thought it was “diddly squat,” y’all.
I know y’alls a Yankee, so it’s off to Re-ed for you too. We’ll candy coat it a bit and allow you some Bacardi, but no Barbancourt.
I also picked Giants. I also don’t care. But now, it seems the fix was in.
Paging Dr. Heimlich, paging Dr. Heimlich. There is choking in Indiannapolis, choking in Indiannapolis. Paging Dr. Heimlich.
CJ -
This was a evenly matched game and the tight score tells the tale.
The Patriots held control until we were unable to convert the down with 3 minutes & change…..this wasn’t a choke. The Giants won & we lost. This game could have gone either way and that is the truth of the matter. Congrats to NY…..we’ll be there next season, count on it.
SK1,
For the record, I hate the Giants and especially their QB; the day his daddy (and head of the Manning Quarterback Breeding Lab and Stables) said his little boy was “too good a player” to play for the Chargers, the hate was on, so to speak. That being said, if your “People” magazine QB hadn’t been rightfully called for intentional grounding, the team have too many on the field for the fumble recovery and then, on the last drive, where instead of just needing a field goal to win it, they need a touchdown. And two of the Pats’ so-called “league-best” receivers drop the ball on the final drive. Sorry, SK1, your guys choked.
That being said, if the NFL’s schedulers have as much smarts as MLB, they’ll make sure these two teams play once a year in the regular season; I’d watch that for sure! (although to curb the inevitable issues, they may need to stage the games on neutral ground!)
Commercials: the Audi “Twilight” one and the M&M party one – those did it for me. Though the Doritos ad with the cat-killing dog was very enjoyable.
I thought the Doritos ad with the catapulting baby was pretty good.
That being said, it was a remarkably poor year for Super Bowl commercials.
“That being said, it was a remarkably poor year for Super Bowl commercials.”
And the halftime show was uninspiring. Madonna moved quite well for someone over 50 but the lip-syncing left me feeling like they cheated.
“Weego, the Rescue Dog,” – best “awww” ad. “You didn’t see nuthin’,” – funniest [VW ad close second]. “Fiat Abarth girl,” – wowzers! [Valentine's Night girl," very, very close 2nd].
“Halftime in America,” – most inspirational, hands down.
I dunno. Not a Madonna fan.at.all. (or that style of music). However, she went up quite a few notches in my estimation of her. She’s really quite a capable performer. I was impressed with her level of performance and professionalism. Maybe I spend too much time tracking my theater major daughter around to her performances. /heh/
All in all that half time show was a bit of a relief after the string of geriatic seniors tour rockers of late. The overall production flowed too — wasn’t the mad hodge podge of assorted bits most seem to be of late. I’ll leave the learing comments about panties and musings about a 54 yr old woman who can move like that to others…
I liked the Madonna show. If she lip synched, oh well. Most of them do these days; even someone in Madonna’s physical condition (and half her age) can’t keep up that dance effort and sing at the same time – especially conquering nerves for performing live in front of millions of people. Largest single “concert” audience in the world. That really isn’t to be dismissed. Even a performer as experienced as Madonna can’t really be blase about that.
And like BlackEagle said – better than the other stuff we’ve been subjected to since Janet Jackson couldn’t contain herself. And Madonna could have gone that route and choose not to – which says alot about her.