Loud Cruzers

Having a little fun with the noise meter outside of our apartment in Busan, Korea:

The New Breakdancing Capital of the World is...

...Seoul, Korea of course.  Check out the article:

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2011/1011/US-cedes-status-as-breakdancing-capital-to-South-Korea

We got to see some serious breakdancing during our time in Korea.  Here's a quick video of a group performing by our apartment during the big Global Gathering event in Busan, Korea:



They're probably a little bit better than the Fil-Am Rockers of Virginia Beach, circa 1984.

Tennessee Food - Good, Bad and the Ugly

The Good.  This is an obvious one in barbeque-crazed Memphis.  The ribs are something to write home about.  This nice rack is from the Rendezvous restaurant.  Simply awesome.

For BBQ near the base in Millington, I like Barbarosa's.  We took my niece Jena there during her visit.  The sauce on her face was her sign of approval.

Definitely in the good category.  Although not pictured here, also in the good category is sweet tea which is very prevalent in the south.  I like to mix half sweet and half unsweetened tea to tone down the sugar a bit.

Speaking of sugar, we move on to the bad.  There's a Chinese buffet restaurant in Millington.  While it's a good buffet at a decent price, we definitely had a bad moment there.  This sugary donut wasn't so sugary.  Instead of the sweet stuff, this usually delicious morsel was coated in salt.  Definitely not what the taste buds were expecting.  Even after telling our waitress about this obvious kitchen error, they didn't change out the salt-covered donuts that were still laid out in the buffet.  Other customers had to taste a mouthful of salt before the staff changed them out.  Like nobody was gonna notice?  C'mon man!

Cue in Clint Eastwood western theme music and a rolling tumbleweed.  We move on to the ugly.  Who leaves a plate of half eaten collard greens by a gas station pump?  There was a dang trash can just a few feet away.  C'mon man!

The Gun Show!

Here's CJ showing off his guns in front of the 5 inch gun onboard the USS STOCKDALE.  Carol and I are wondering how we're gonna get this kid to come out of his shell.  Notice how he's clamming up around the girls in the background.

So this is during a ship tour after my good friend Lex Walker's change of command ceremony.  The STOCKDALE is in great hands.

Every now and then, Carol hears CJ banging around upstairs when he's supposed to be in bed.  He'll sneak away to the bonus room to workout on the Bowflex or throw some weights around.  I do like the Bowflex by the way.  You can hang a lot of clothes on it.

I'm glad CJ is getting into fitness.  I'm pretty sure he's proud of his abs.  I know this because he told me he's proud of his abs.  I tell him that those aren't abs - that's malnutrition.  I shouldn't talk.  Carol and I were also lean creatures when we were his age.  Keep it up boy!

Pickles!

Meet Pickles, the newest addition to the Cruz family:

We think she's a girl but we're not really sure.  Our niece Jena found Pickles while turtle hunting at Leenie's lake house in Alabama this summer.

CJ managed to talk Mom and Dad into keeping Pickles even though his track record for keeping pets alive was less than stellar.  The recent fish tank experiment did not go well.  Jerry, George, Kramer and Newman - all dead.  It was like the underwater Bubonic Plague.  Bring out your dead!  Newman the bottom feeding catfish, lasted the longest, but alas, we could not stave off his untimely demise.  It was a busy couple of days for the toilet bowl.

Fortunately, our cold-blooded friend Pickles seems to be a hearty creature.  She's evaded death for a couple of months now.  It's relaxing to watch her swim around and let her eat out of our hands.  I also appreciate that she keeps her salmonella to herself.  Just kidding there.  She is totally disease free.  We think.

p.s.  Carol reminded me that CJ didn't talk Mom into anything.  I guess it was all on me to allow CJ to kill another animal, I mean have another pet.  Okay Pickles - it's up to you to live a long and healthy life.  To spite Mom of course.

Happy Birthday US Navy!

Happy Birthday to the US Navy!  236 years young and going strong!

Manning the rails under the Golden Gate Bridge aboard the USS CARL VINSON.

Blue Angel doing its thing during Fleet Week in San Francisco.

 21 gun salute during a burial at sea.

 Flight operations while underway.

My oldest brother Alan enjoying a sunset at sea.

You can tell this one is old because there are Vikings and Tomcats in the picture.

In San Francisco, it's a romantic fog.  In San Diego, it's the May gray.

United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

VS-30 Diamondcutters doing our thing in Fallon, Nevada.  The troops are what it's all about.

A stacked flight deck.

SCOUTS RULE!

Change of command ceremony onboard the USNS WATSON at Pier 8 in Busan, Korea.

I used to hunt these things for a living.

The USS SUMTER, LST 1181.  I did my midshipman cruise aboard this beast.  We were off the coast of Liberia for what seemed like an eternity in case American citizens needed to be evacuated.

They have no fly days on these things.  Mind boggling.

Dad as a young seaman.  Odds are I wouldn't be in the Navy if Dad didn't join the Navy.  Heck, I may not have ever stepped foot in the United States if Dad didn't do what he did.  Many thanks Dad!

Thanks for following along with me on this birthday card to the best Navy in the world.  Happy Birthday!

C'mon Man...

After Demise of 'Don't Ask,' Activists Call for End to Military Ban on Transgenders By Rowan Scarborough, Washington Times


http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/sep/28/after-demise-of-dont-ask-activists-call-for-end-to/


With homosexuals now able to serve openly in the military, the gay rights movement's next battleground is to persuade the Obama administration to end the armed forces' ban on "transgenders," a group that includes transsexuals and cross-dressers.

"Our position is that the military should re-examine the policy, the medical regulations, so as to allow open service for transgender people," said Vincent Paolo Villano, spokesman for the 6,000-member Center for Transgender Equality.

The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), which pushed to end the military's gay ban, is urging President Obama to sign an executive order prohibiting discrimination based on "gender identity."