Mustachio!

I am Mustachio.  As you can see from dee peetchur, I like to eat da pistachios.  My hobbies consist of eating da gummy bears, da jelly beans and da pistachios.  What?  You say dat eating da gummy bears and da jelly beans is for da younglings?  I am not youngling.  Cannot you see dat from da mustachio under my nozzo?  DO NOT JUDGE MUSTACHIO!

In case you cannot read word on bag, here is da closeup peetchur.  It says pistachios are "wonderful."  Therefore, Mustachio is wonderful!

Random Thoughts #4

Random Football Thought:  Here's my first bold football prediction of the year --- Marc Bulger will lead the Miami Dolphins to a great season in 2011-2012.  I should point out that this prediction is extremely bold because 1) Will there even be an NFL season or will football players loot the streets and wreak social havoc if there's no NFL season as Ray Lewis predicts? 2) Marc Bulger is not even on the Miami Dolphins roster and isn't even a starting quarterback.  And 3)  He doesn't even use a "k" in his first name like normal people.

Just blaze on by this part for you non-football heads.  Yes, he hasn't had a good season in a couple of years.  I think a shoddy offensive line is the reason for that.  With a good line - like the Dolphins should have this year - he should be solid and gunning the ball all over the field like he did in St. Louis.  The Ravens would love to keep him but probably won't be able to due to starting opportunities elsewhere.  I'm thinking he could do what Chad Pennington did in his first year with Miami.  

I don't think good quarterbacks wake up one morning and realize they suck.  Like Kurt Warner, when his line wasn't strong with New York, he had mediocre seasons.  And then he lit it up again with Arizona.  Let's see what happens...

Random Food Thought (s): 

What kind of cuckoo leaves a plate of collard greens next to a gas pump at a BP station in Bessemer, Alabama?

This one gives new meaning to loving potato chips.  BTW, it's hard to lose weight when you scarf an entire bag of Ruffles potato chips in a single sitting - even if they're low fat chips.

One of my all time favorites - softshell crab.  It's awesome in sushi or just by itself.  Fat-free too.  Or not.  Side note:  Alan - I found a place here in TN that's got em.  Oh yes.

Random Jake Quotes:


"The Bible says we shouldn't call people fat lards."

"CJ, go stand in the corner and think about your life."

Pet Thought:

Doesn't Flannigan realize I'm Filipino?  He's tearing up his pillows without a care in the world. He's lucky we adore him.

Navy Thought:   Moving is hard.  Duh.  I just hit 20 years in the Navy and in those 20 years, we've done 9 moves.  And we're not finished yet.

I was reminded the other night of how tough the good-byes can be.  We said farewell to the Walker family last week.  That's Amy with the rabbit ears.  It was a fun night.  Got a bounce house for the kids and "juice boxes" for the grown ups.  Only a couple of bounce house injuries.  Nothing permanent.  Yes, like the picture suggests, military folks are used to seeing the backsides of people with all of the constant good-byes we endure.  It's a challenging thing to ask of any family.  But hey, at least we get that cool commissary privilege.

Seriously, with Memorial Day weekend upon us, I'm grateful for those brave souls that answered the call to serve - and their incredible families as well.  As evidenced by the many tears the other night at the neighborhood farewell, military families sacrifice a tremendous amount.  And I'm talking blood, sweat and tears - blood in loved ones lost, sweat from days spent in the 120 degree heat of an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf, and tears over the long days, weeks and months of separation.  Please remember these things as you enjoy this special weekend.  Now go stand in the corner and think about your life... 

Choose Cruz!

It was quite the transition for CJ, leaving the academically challenging yet cozy and comfortable environment of Busan Foreign School for the relatively massive southern school in Tennessee where "fitting in" far outweighed the reading, writing and 'rithmetic on many occasions.  There were definitely bumps in the road for our sixth grader this past year.

Part of that I'm sure was because the Busan Foreign School that the boys attended for the last two years in Korea was so dang awesome.  The teachers were incredible, CJ had many like-minded friends and the social aspect was nothing to fret about.  It was much more innocent and carefree than what you see in the US.  At BFS, a male student could wear a Tom and Jerry cartoon shirt, orange pants and carry around a notebook with unicorns on it and no one would care.  He could wear these same clothes three days in a row and no one would care.  That would get you beat up in Tennessee, or at least ostracized from the cool inner circle of popular kids.

Don't get me wrong.  Arlington Middle School is a high quality school.  Their screening process for the gifted program is thorough, the teachers are caring and conscientious about students' learning and the facilities are very nice.  Lots to like and one of the reasons why we moved into our neighborhood.  But with any move, there's always transition.  Being the new kid can be tough.

So my chest was puffed out when CJ was recently voted by the school body to be next year's Student Council Vice President.  Proud Dad moment!  Carol and I knew it would just take a little time to adjust.  And adjust he did.

He ran a great campaign - cool posters and buttons, a really nice speech, help from his buddies and neighbors and even some online ground swell that might've impacted his campaign.  And of course a catchy slogan - CHOOSE CRUZ!

All of the campaign posters had to be approved by the school before going up.  CJ had no problem with any of his posters except for this controversial gem:

I haven't been keeping up with Charlie Sheen's verbal diarrhea and the whole "winning" comments he made.  I do understand why the school didn't approve this poster though.  Charlie Sheen probably isn't the role model you want the future of America to emulate.

A funny thing happened though.  The kids on the bus liked the poster and took pictures of it with their phones.  And they started spreading it out - emails, text and Facebook.  Isn't that how Obama got elected?  Well, maybe replace Charlie with Oprah and it would be more accurate.

Anyway, I'm very proud of my skinny, Filipino kid.  CJ actually used skinny, Filipino kid in his speech and got some laughs.  Now that he's elected, he'll make all of your dreams come true. If you don't know what that means, you need to Netflix Napoleon Dynamite today.  Hope you have a "winning" day!

A Special Mother's Day Gift

We have some very cool neighbors.  It's common for us to do things for each other - lend tools, pick things up while you're at the store, help with parties, etc.  So when Amy from across the street said she could use some raspberries while Carol was making a run to the store, it was no problem at all.

After Carol comes back from the store, she sees Amy outside across the street.  She asks Jake to walk the berries over to Ms. Amy.  He takes his happy little self and scoots on across the street, the whole time with Mom's watchful eye over him.  And so after Jake delivers the goods, Amy, in total jest, says to Jake in a loud voice so that Carol across the street can hear, "You tell your mother she's the WORST neighbor ever!"  Amy repeated it just for good measure.

Of course, Carol could hear the whole thing.  Both Moms got a chuckle out of it.  Carol and Amy have really gotten to be good friends and so the ribbing is common between them.

Jake trots on back to our driveway.  Already knowing the answer, Carol asks Jake, "So what did Ms. Amy say?"

"Umm, let's go inside first," Jake says.  They go into the garage.  "We should go into the house too," says the little guy with some nervousness in his voice.  

So now with the garage door closed and them deeply imbedded inside the house where Ms. Amy surely can't hear him, a very curious Carol asks Jake, "So what did Ms. Amy tell you to tell me?"

And Jake lifts up those big brown eyes and quietly says, "Umm, Ms. Amy said thank you."

There's the little guy that didn't want to hurt his Mom's feelings.

Mother's Day at the Air Force base in Osan, Korea two years ago.

Mom with the boys over 40 years ago in San Diego.  I'm the one drinking the bottle and being held by Mom.    That's the Coronado Bridge on the left.

Mom with the Cruz boys (three of them anyway) at our house in Coronado.  This was when Dad was working at the BOQ on North Island.

Another Coronado picture.

Here comes Darby!

And along comes Lee.  Here we are at the Botanical Gardens in Norfolk, Virginia.  I used to like looking at the airplanes takeoff from one of the hills at this park  The hill had a great view of the Norfolk International Airport.

While the whole family is rocking the heck out of some polyester, I'm starting a whole new fashion trend with my patches.

Happy Mother's Day to all you fabulous Moms!

Different Type of Old Navy Commercial

Just got back from the Naval Symposium in Pensacola.  Great stuff.  2011 marks 100 years of Naval Aviation.  Here's a humorous look back at the days of leather helmets...  

Get Lucky - Click here for the funniest movie of the week

Flooding and Tornadoes

A year ago, Millington was hit hard with flooding.  Here are some of the pictures of the Navy base from last year:

  

This is where I gas up on base.

A year later, the sand bags are in front of the doors again.  This is the entrance I use at work.  We've had flash flood warnings, tornado watches and vicious storms.  Trees came down all over the place, trash cans were flying down the street and roads were closed.  Needless to say, the weather here is serious business.

On cue as I'm typing this, the tornado sirens are going off again.  This latest round of extreme weather shouldn't be anything like the rampage of tornadoes that ripped through Alabama, Mississippi and other parts of the South last week though.  Over 300 dead.  Sad.

We appreciate the calls and emails.  We're good.  Carol's family in Alabama is good.  Some family members experienced some damage but fortunately, everyone's healthy.

Jake said something about some of the people that died in Alabama.  He said that maybe they can be brought back to life by pumping air back into their stomachs and in their mouths (CPR).  Wish it were that simple.

One of the great things about the Navy is the opportunity to experience new places.  We really have loved every duty station we've been to.  I can't say we've been crazy about the different weather phenomena we've lived through though - earthquakes in San Diego, blizzards and ice storms in Rhode Island, hurricanes in Miami and now tornadoes and flooding in Tennessee.  Can't say it's been boring!

The Mississippi is supposed to reach its highest level on Wednesday or Thursday.  Man I hope we stay dry.  Everybody be careful out there.  And be ready.