Run Duck Run!

During summer breaks away from VMI, on the weeks when I wasn't aboard a Navy ship during my midshipmen summer training cruises, I was off earning my keep and being a contributing member of the society known as Virginia Beach.  Many of my college peers were smart enough to strap on business attire and do administrative support type work in cushy, air-conditioned offices for their temporary summer jobs.  As for me, I was barely one level above an illegal migrant worker hopping into the back of a total stranger's pickup truck loaded with farm animals to break my back with some serious blister-producing man labor.  And you know what, I've got zero regrets about sweating my tail off during those "summer breaks."  There's something very humbling about good old-fashioned manual labor.  We need to teach our kids this lesson.  God loves a hard worker.

And so my destiny in life for a few summers was to be a member of the Timberlake Community Association maintenance crew.  Our charter was to keep the homeowner's association happy by maintaining the grounds.  We were the silent refrigerator trolls that scurried around out of sight, beautifying the neighborhood and raising property values whenever the refrigerator door closed.  We landscaped, cut grass with tractors and mowers, manicured the curbs with edgers, and took a weedeater to every square inch of that huge community.

Whenever a private homeowner was lax with their lawn mowing duties of their own personal property, they would receive a nasty-gram from the homeowner's association.  If they didn't cut their grass after several warnings, the association would call in the maintenance crew to cut the slacker's yard - whether they wanted it cut or not.  It was communism at its finest.  The cherry on top was the over-inflated bill these slackers would receive in their mailbox shortly after the covert grass cutting.  These homeowners were never pleased to have total strangers cutting their yards.

I remember one angry old man standing in his doorway as we're about to crank up our faithful Toro mower, cigarette hanging out of the corner of his mouth with two inches of ash barely hanging on, beer-stained wifebeater t-shirt covering his gut, and double-barreled shotgun at his side.  I swear I heard him mutter under his Pabst Blue Ribbon breath, "Go ahead, mow my lawn."  Yeah, we weren't gonna take a chance on that one.  Considering that the best years of our lives were still in front of us and that our current salaries were just a smidge north of minimum wage, we collectively decided that we wouldn't test that guy's resolve on that sweltering day.  I can imagine that old guy's explanation while proudly standing over our dead corpses, "They were on my property officer!"

We encountered a wide gamut of characters during these attempted "forced mowings."  At one end of the spectrum was the trigger happy old man wielding a shotgun.  At the other end was the slightly attractive cougar clad in her open bathrobe revealing enough cleavage to make Christina Aguilera blush.  Btw, have you seen Christina as a judge and mentor on the singing competition show, "The Voice?"  My gosh girl, cover those things up.  It's incredibly distracting.  Makes for a titillating show, but still.  Anyway, back to the cougar.  I think this Mrs. Robinson wannabe was purposely letting her garden grow just so she could get a rise out of our sweaty band of migrant workers.  It worked.

And so one of the funniest memories from my days as an, ahem, Professional Landscape Technician, was when one of the filipino guys on the crew started eyeballing the ducks.  It was a nice neighborhood with several quaint ponds.  The ducks were plentiful.  During the spring, the yellow ducklings would follow Mama duck around.  Cars would politely stop as the train of ducks would cross the streets.  Very cute stuff.

Well, my filipino buddy hadn't been in the US for all that long.  His accent was still very thick and more importantly, his attitude on life was still thick with the filipino culture and life challenges.  It can be tough living in the Philippines to say the least.  I saw that with my own two eyes when I visited my parents in the PI back in 2008.  Depending on where you live, food can be hard to come by, especially meat.

As time passed, my buddy's infatuation with the ducks steadily grew.  It was pretty funny watching this grown man chase the ducks around and never catching them.  This guy knew how to make us laugh.  The work we were doing was back breaking stuff.  I felt like the kid from Charlie Brown that always had the dust cloud surrounding him.  I had multiple callouses on my hands from whacking weeds all day long and was extremely dark from hours sweating under that Virginia Beach sun.  And so my friend's dalliance with the ducks was much needed comic relief.

Until one day, he chased down one of the neighborhood ducks, caught it, took it home, cooked it, and ate it for dinner.

I guess he wasn't joking after all.  I'm pretty sure he only did it once.

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, here's a flashback from the summer of 1996.  That's me and Matt "Joose" Tobler in Dublin, Ireland.  As if being in Ireland while aboard the USS JOHN F. KENNEDY wasn't good enough, Joose and I were incredibly fortunate to have been chosen to do the airshow at Dublin International Airport.  Airshows are the best.  We got to fly our mighty S-3B Viking into Dublin proper.  My guess is that's the first Viking to ever touch ground in Ireland.  A couple of other squadronmates got to do another airshow at the same time at the airport in Shannon, Ireland.  Before the airshow even started, the Airwing did a big flyover of the city.  I forget exactly how many jets were in the flyover but it was a bunch.

That port call in Ireland was one of the best weeks of my entire Navy career.  We expected the people to be friendly and they didn't disappoint in the least.  The entire country was super excited about the Kennedy's visit.  There was even a nationwide lottery held for tickets to visit the ship.  Word got out that some of the Irish citizens that won these tickets were selling them for hundreds and even thousands of dollars.  And all the ticket got you was a tour aboard the aircraft carrier.  I think it was the first time that an aircraft carrier had ever visited Ireland.

The airshow hosts were fantastic.  They treated us to special events on a daily basis.  I remember visiting castles, seeing the US Ambassador to Ireland and other big wigs, sipping Guinness in taverns that were built in the 1500s, and having some incredible seven course meals.  They bought a brand new fleet of vehicles just to support the aircrew.  Making some new friends was one of the best parts of the whole experience.  I'm hoping to get back to Ireland one day.  We shall see.

When it's time for some well deserved rest and relaxation, sailors love to hang out in their civilian clothes while on liberty.  So there was some moaning among the JFK crew when the Commanding Officer of the ship put out the guidance that sailors going on liberty ashore had to be dressed in their summer whites.  That moaning came to a screeching halt though after the first day of liberty.  For that blessed crew of the great ship JOHN F. KENNEDY, led by CAPT "Fast" Eddie Fahey, and those under the charge of CAG "Condo" Capalbo of Carrier Airwing Eight, in that specific moment in time, in that magical wonderland known as Dublin, clad in those dashing summer whites, this epic port call would be the closest any of us would come to being rock stars.

If you had on your summer whites, you couldn't pay for a beer.  People were asking for your autograph.  You were kissing babies.  It was insane.  A good buddy of mine described the experience as being trapped in a prison full of hot chicks with a handful of pardons.  And unlike those mere mortals that had to return to the ship as liberty expired at midnight (or later depending on your rank), Joose and I had no such boundaries because of our lofty airshow status.  No Cinderella carriage turning into a pumpkin for us.  For the record, Joose and I were, and still are, very happily married men.  No funny business for us.

If I had some foresight, I would've predicted this internet/blogging thing and taken more pictures.  Carol just reminded me that the reason I only have this one picture to show from the Ireland trip is because I was so incredibly busy picking out the perfect gift for her.  Of course she told me this while doubled over in laughter.  In one of the dumbest moments in Chris Cruz history, I came home from Ireland with nothing but a stinking airshow t-shirt for Carol.  Deservedly so, I'll never live that one down.  No Waterford crystal, Celtic jewelry or Irish hand-knitted sweater.  Nope.  And I'm usually pretty good about that stuff.  Guess I just lost my mind or something.  Must've been the cider.

Anyway, I better close this out before I get myself into more trouble.  It's never good to remind your better half of the really dumb things you do.  A t-shirt?  Sheesh Chris.  Happy St. Paddy's Day.

Talent Show!

CJ was a good friend tonight in coming out to the Arlington Middle School Talent Show to support his buddy Sean.  That's Sean in the middle with the kilt.  He was awesome with the bagpipes tonight.  How many 13 year olds do you know that can play the bagpipes?

Sean and CJ

I hate to admit it, but I was groaning a little as I'm rushing home from work to take CJ to the Talent Show this evening.  I didn't know about the event until today.  I was thinking about all the work that I needed to finish up and how I really didn't have time to do this.  Blah, blah, blah.  What an idiot I am for even thinking that way.  Navy Personnel Command is like a treadmill.  There's always work and it's always gonna keep going.  It never stops.  But these teenage years are gonna zoom by like the blink of an eye.  Parents need to remind themselves to relish their time with their kids.  Me included.  You see, during the Talent Show two years ago at the Busan Foreign School, I was a grump-butt and didn't go.  Well, I went, but I didn't go inside for some no good reason.  Dumb Chris.

I think CJ was glad that we got to do this together tonight.  One of my favorite things these days is just chatting w/ Ceej at night before he goes to bed.  No particular topic.  Just whatever is on our minds.  Inevitably, we end up laughing about something.  It wasn't that long ago where instead of laughing, I'd find something to nitpick on or to get mad about.  Who wants that kind of talk?  So anyway, you have to take advantage of the fun stuff.  And tonight was one of those times.

The Talent Show reminded me of a couple of things.  Adele is still popular, playing a guitar is still cool, and youth is still king.  The reality is, not everyone on that stage can be a superstar.  But you can go out there and give it your all - whether it's shuffling around a deck of cards for some magic tricks, tap dancing your little heart out in your leotards, or making beautiful sounds spill out of a bagpipe.  It's all good.  Some of those kids were terrified on that stage.  But they got out there.  AND THEY DID IT.  They deserved every single clap and woot-woot from the crowd.  It was heartwarming to hear the positive audience response for every act, no matter if a falsetto note was a little off the mark, a piano stroke off timing, a magic trick inadvertently revealed, or a microphone left in the off position.

I couldn't help but sway to the music and smile at the brashness of it all.  How many times has fear stopped us from saying something to the boss or maybe asking a question in a public forum?  How many times do we hold our tongues anytime there's a crowd?  Maybe we don't even answer the phone because we aren't ready to talk to the person on the other end of the caller ID?  No such timidness from the kids of Arlington Middle School.  Bravery and brashness is what I saw on that stage tonight.  And I loved it.

We had dueling violinists, tap dancers, a magician, guitarists, pianists, and of course some impressive vocalists.  We even had an original number from a New Orleans Saints fan crooning on her favorite football player - the not-so-heralded number 16, wide receiver Lance Moore.  Lance would've been proud.  And what a nice treat for me for the final act.  It was one of my favorite songs, Randy Travis' "I Told You So."  Really good stuff.

So I take back my previous statement.  They were all superstars tonight.  And to think that I almost didn't come.  Dumb Chris.

Yeah, it did bring back some memories from my own Talent Show many moons ago.  That's when the Fil-Am Rockers brought down the house at Kellam High School in Virginia Beach with an awesome breakdancing performance to the song, "Breaker's Revenge."

Flashback Friday - New Year's Eve 21 Years Ago

Flashback 21 years ago, when I was home in Virginia Beach for Christmas break during my senior year at VMI.  Not sure what got into Mom and Dad but they said no problem to having a "small group" of friends over to the house for a New Year's Eve "get together."  Needless to say, it kinda got out of hand.  I guess the parents were so happy to have me home for a few days, they were pretty much forgiving about everything.  So much so that they overlooked the houseful of people, loud music and beers sitting atop of Dad's large Sony stereo speakers.  They even vacated the house early in the evening.  I can't remember if they had plans or if they just couldn't stand to see the shenanigans.  Either way, it was very cool of them to just let us do our thing.

It was an incredibly fun New Year's Eve.  Some of my VMI buddies drove down earlier in the week as well as good friends from Mary Baldwin College and James Madison University.  We hung out at my friend Anthony's place.  It was like a long slumber party.  Most of us were seniors and ready to let our hair down.

 Aileen, John and Dawn.

The living room wasn't much of a dance floor but we made the most of it.  We jammed out to "Can't Touch This" by MC Hammer, "Pump Up the Jams" by Technotronic, "I've Got the Power" by Snap, "Rhythm Nation" by Janet Jackson (Ms. Jackson if you're nasty) and of course the mega-one hit wonder from 1990...drum roll please..."Ice Ice Baby" by Vanilla Ice.  Word to your mother.

So there were other pictures from that night, but trust me, no one needs to see them - especially if the individuals captured in said photos are even remotely considering the possibility of entering the world of politics.

Man, there are some good peeps in these pictures.  You're talking an Army Colonel, Navy Commander, engineers, FBI Special Agent, business owners and other professionals.  Can't wait to catch up with some of them later this year.  Unfortunately, I won't be able to catch up with one of them until much, much later.  Miss you Ann.

Hope you have a great 2012!

Total Randomness - LaFonda

LaFonda Restaurant during a trip to San Antonio

Kip waiting for LaFawnduh

Kip and LaFawnduh

Our neighbors as Kip and LaFawnduh

Peter Fonda

Jane Fonda

LaFawnduh and a witch

A witch and Jason

Jason in space

Jane Fonda in space

Peter Fonda spaced out

San Diego!

One of the challenging things about being a beach bum living in Tennessee is... wait for it... no beaches.  So for Fall Break, we cashed in some frequent flier miles and headed to sunny San Diego.

San Diego has been one of our favorite duty stations.  Coronado is so nice that the President and his family (the Clintons at the time) vacationed there when I was a flight student.  There's incredible Mexican food, awesome weather, beaches, Coronado, the Gaslamp District, Pacific Beach, La Jolla, Sea World, and a ton of stuff to do.  Yup, it costs an arm and a leg to live there but man is it nice.

Doing the pose on Coronado Beach.  As you can tell, Jake got a little chilly.  This was on the Navy base.  They're building a new Navy Lodge which I'm sure will get a lot of business.  We stayed in their new cottages on the beach.  Highly recommend them.  Gotta book it early though.

It was great to be able to attend Lex Walker's change of command ceremony where he took over the reins of the USS STOCKDALE.  The Walkers lived across the street from us here in Tennessee.  Here is Ryan pinning on her dad's command pin.  Very nice moment and a really special day.

In the STOCKDALE wardroom with its newest Commanding Officer.

Balboa Park.  CJ remembered one of his favorite things about the park - the big rice crispy treats we'd get after visiting the model rail museum.  Because he was such a big fan of trains, that was a regular outing for us.

CJ doing his best Beretta impersonation.  I'm probably dating myself with that reference.  Robert Blake anyone?

Spreckels Park in Coronado.  CJ played in this park as a little two year old.  Every Sunday during the summers, Coronado would have their concerts in the park.  Not a bad way to spend a Sunday evening.

We got to visit with the Maves!  It was good catching up.  Doc was the Flight Surgeon for the Airwing back in the day when we were still allowed to roll videos at Foc'sle Follies.  We served together aboard the USS GEORGE WASHINGTON.

Legoland with the Walkers!

Bunch of daredevils!

Sea World!  No trainers were eaten that day.

La Jolla Cove.  The sea lions in the background remind me of what I want to do when I retire.

Jake thought it smelled funny near the sea lions.  He was right.

At the Coronado Ferry Landing with downtown San Diego in the background.

Amy and Carol right before Lex's ship sailed by.  It was great spending some time with Team Walker.  We miss our neighbors.  

So it was really good escaping the arduous 60 degree weather in Tennessee for the perfect 63 degree weather in San Diego.  I have a feeling this wasn't our last trip to San Dog.

Flashback Friday - Fleet Week in Busan

Here's a Navy flashback for you.  Right about two years ago to the day, while stationed in Busan, Korea, my command, Military Sealift Command Korea, had the great pleasure of participating in the Republic of Korea Navy International Fleet Review - better known as Fleet Week.  This event is held once every ten years.  It encompassed over 30 different Navies throughout the world and over 50 ships.  It was a lot of fun but also a very busy week.

This international event commemorated the 60th founding anniversary of Korea's armed forces.  Thousands of people, including domestic and foreign dignitaries attended the event to witness the massive gathering of navy ships and aircraft from around the world.

The ships were lined up for as far as you could see.  A fleet review is a naval event in which the head of state reviews the country's fleet as a show of strength or before a major engagement.  This British naval tradition dates back more than 600 years.

The beautiful city of Busan in the background.

Lieutenant Colonel Kim and Colonel Lee are in the middle from the ROK Army Port Operations Group.  Colonel Lee is the Commander of the ROKPOG.  On the right is my partner in crime, LTC Tripp Blanton, 837th Transportation Battalion Commander.  The incredible work relationships and personal friendships forged between our three units is something I'll always look back on with fondness.  It was only through these strong bonds that we were able to accomplish some good things on the Korean peninsula.  These guys were simply awesome.

This is aboard the Australian ship, HMAS Toowoomba during a Fleet Week reception.  Tough duty, but someone had to do it.

Of course you have to eat kangaroo while aboard an Australian ship.  Ate some emu too.

Another difference between US ships and Aussie ships - they have a bar!  The crew was kind enough to host an "after hours" event in their wardroom.

The premiere US ship participating in Fleet Week was one of my old ships, the aircraft carrier, USS GEORGE WASHINGTON.  My longtime friend, VMI classmate and squadron-mate, Steve "Whip" Blasch was serving as the Mini-Boss aboard the GW.  It was great catching up and tossing back a beer with one of my closest friends.  The Navy is always good for adventures and mini-reunions.

MSCO Korea hosted a Fleet Week Social in my building.  With so many stuffy events happening throughout the week, I think this informal event was a nice change.  The party was well attended by folks from various ships.  There were officers from the US, Korea, Australia, Canada, Great Britain and others.  And yes, with a crowd of about 150 foreigners, we managed to disturb the peace and ended up getting kicked out.  Of course we had a back up plan - Gwangalli Beach.  Somehow, I managed to catch my shoe on fire at the party.

Some of the crew from the Busan Foreign School.  They definitely enhanced the international flavor of the event.

So this whole week reminded me of one of my favorite things about the US Navy - the opportunity to meet new friends, whether they live next door or halfway around the world.  That's good stuff there.  I also got the bonus reminder that shoes are flammable.  Have a great Columbus Day weekend.

Flashback Friday - Are You Ready For Some Football?!

I'm going with this post even though the Miami Dolphins are winless this year.  It's gonna be a long season.  I hope head coach Tony Sparano survives.

So here is this week's Friday Flashback.  It's actually Saturday, but who's counting?

In the fall of 1997 after returning from a six month deployment aboard the aircraft carrier USS JOHN F KENNEDY while attached to the VS-24 Scouts, a couple of friends from the squadron hopped in a car (minivan actually) and headed south from Jacksonville to Miami.  It was a fun football weekend to hang out with good friends and watch my beloved Dolphins play at Joe Robbie Stadium.  Or was it called Pro Player Park or Sunlife Stadium at the time?  I don't know.  Whatever company was paying the big bucks for naming rights at the time.

Anything we did with our squadron-mates was always fun - hanging out on the water, parties, going to see movies, road trips, working out or grabbing beers.  It really didn't matter what we did.  There's nothing like being around a great group of guys to make a long deployment out at sea that much more palatable.

There was something off about this particular football weekend though.  Carol was always able to hang with the boys well - actually out-hang a lot of them.  But this weekend, she seemed...tired.  Very unlike her usual energetic self.  It wasn't until a couple of weeks later that we unraveled the mystery of her massive wide-mouthed yawns - she was pregnant!  We were absolutely shocked.  Nope, we weren't trying to have a baby at the time.  I should've known that the odds of slipping one past the goalie were greatly enhanced after being deployed for six months.  And so this is one of the first pictures of Carol with the little "Pinto Bean" inside her.  We nicknamed the baby Pinto Bean because when we found out Carol was pregnant with CJ, the doctor informed us that the baby was currently the size of a pinto bean.

BTW, that's our good friend Speedy on the right.  He spent most of the game looking at the red-headed cheerleader on the sideline through some binoculars.

Here is Knobby, Fran and Whip.  Fran was kind enough to let us load up in her minivan for the trip.  I gotta say, those things aren't sexy but man are they convenient.  Fran was always a ball to be around.  Our seats at Fruit of the Loom Stadium weren't great.  Matter of fact, our seats were almost the furthest away from the field that you could possibly be.  I say almost because that specific honor belonged to the people just two rows behind us.  Of course we had to turn around and tell those people that their seats really sucked.  That made us feel a little bit better.

Anyway, even though my team is struggling - and has struggled for the last decade or so - I am absolutely ready for some football.  Go Dolphins!

Flashback Friday - Carol's 21st Birthday

Since Angela and her family are here in Tennessee visiting us right now, I thought this picture of the girls would be appropriate for the Friday Flashback.  This is in Gina's dorm room before heading out to celebrate Carol's 21st birthday.

I won't say who but someone blew chunks that night.  Ah, to be 21 again.

Looking good girls - big hair and all.  We miss you Gina.

Flashback Friday - Guest Writer: CJ!

Hello internet!  It's CJ and I'm the guest writer for this week's Flashback Friday.

It's been awhile since we've lived in Korea.  It's hard to recognize that short, buck-toothed kid on the left with the shaved head and glasses surrounded by Asians.  Living in Korea was a blast and I'm so glad to have made such great friends there.

In this picture, I'm standing with my fourth grade class inside the hangar bay of the USS GEORGE WASHINGTON aircraft carrier.  Awesomest field trip ever!  Guess who set it up?  The dude on the far left.  Next to my Dad is my teacher, Ms. Taylor.  She was fun, despite the two to five hours of homework.  She was an Olympic swimmer and even knew Michael Phelps.  Pretty cool.  The teacher in the back that's taller than my Dad is Ms. Keenan.  She was my science teacher and was equally as awesome as Ms. Taylor.

Chilling with the boys.  From left to right is Koyo, Daniel, Sam, Kevin, the Ceej, Dong Whi, Terry and Ricky.  We were a pretty tight group of dudes.

This is my Dad's close friend, Uncle Whip.  Whip is his nickname, or as my Dad says, his callsign.  He and my Dad flew together for a long time.  They were squadron-mates and went out to sea together.  Here he is giving an impressive speech about something.  At the time, he was the Mini-Boss on the George Washington.  If my Dad had the same job, I think he'd be called the Mini-Mini Boss.  Uncle Whip is really cool.  He even gave me a Darth Vader action figure from the original toy collection!!!  I'm talking about the big 12 inch figure.  The guy in the ball cap is Mr. Walt.  He ran the Seamen's Center by my Dad's work.  I always liked going to his restaurant to eat real American food -  like pizza and tacos.

 Me chilling with the brown man on an aircraft carrier.  It was an epic day.