Perspective

Sorry I haven't blogged much.  I have so many cool things that we're doing at work, but I can't talk about them...and I certainly can't post them on the interwebs. 

However, today we had a briefing for Naval Special Warfare on our progress to date, as well as our direction for the future.  While we were waiting to get started, I had an opportunity to look around the NSWCenter.  In the lobby, they have all the Congressional Medal of Honor citations that the SEALs have received.  I had the chance to read over Michael P. Murphy's & Michael Monsoor's citations.  Google them.

We're testing so many students that it's easy to lose the big picture of what these guys are training to go do.  It was very humbling to read just a little bit more about them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTswq-uHf9s&feature=related

I Got to Do a Podcast

Matt Scalici, who works for al.com, interviewed me for a podcast they were doing on Auburn & Alabama fans living on the west coast.  He was nice enough to ask me to be a part of it, so if you'd like to hear my lovely voice, click on the link below:

al.com Podcast

I've been published

When I was with the American Sports Medicine Institute in Birmingham, we helped write a paper on rotator cuff injuries in volleyball players.  It was just published yesterday by the British Journal of Sports Medicine. 


You won't be able to read the full article unless you have access to the journal, but here's the link to the abstract:
Biomechanical insights into the etiology of infraspinatus syndrome

Ethos Article

Back in February, we had our "Grand Opening" of the lab.  All the big people from University of Pittsburgh as well as WARCOM were here for a presentation of the lab's goals and direction, as well as a demonstration of the equipment we'll be testing.  Ethos, the Naval Special Warfare magazine, did a story on us, and it just got released, the title of the article is "NSW's Human Performance Initiative", on page 10.

Ethos Magazine Issue 16

I Finally Took Layla to the Beach!

This was, by far, one of the best weekends I've had since I moved here.  I went hiking up in Torrey Pines on Saturday, and it was absoultely gorgeous.  I'm going again this weekend, so I'll be sure to bring my camera this time.  It's a state preserve, so I couldn't bring Layla, but it was absolutely amazing.  There's tons of trails, and the ones I went on take you right to the edge of the cliff overlooking the Pacific.  There's also a trail that takes you down to the beach.  So pretty, but the Pacific is about 20 degrees colder than the Gulf.  I think it's in the high 50s right now, and there's crazy people surfing all the time.  I was told it will even get as high as 70 in late summer...oh boy.


Sunday, I got up early and took Layla to the beach!  There's quite a few dog parks on the beach out here, but there is one really big one in Ocean Beach called Dog Beach.  It's a huge off-leash dog park where they can run and play on the sand and in the ocean.  She had a blasty-blast.  When we got to the shore, she took off for the ocean, then got scared cause the water was coming at her--something she's never experienced before.  Then she started biting the waves like she does the Roomba when it chases her.  I swear she's smart, you guys.  It was hilarious though.  If any of you have had the pleasure of having a puppy play date with Layla, you know she herds & barks at other dogs.  Obviously she's not being mean, cause if she were, she would have been in a lot of fights by now.  So she's playing with this other dog, and barking at it, as she does.  Well I know some people don't understand that, so I went up and asked the owner if she was bothering him.  His response:  "she's bothering my dog...".  Ok, thanks for being passive aggressive about it.  So anyway, we walked down the beach a bit & found a few pups who were more her speed & personality.  After about 2 hours on the beach, she was completely gassed.  After we got home, she slept all day, it was wonderful!  I think I'm going to take her back to the beach this weekend, and hopefully I'll get some more pictures of her playing in the ocean.  For now, I'll leave you with this:

P.S.  I'm coming home May 4-7, so I hope to see all of you at the JCCHS Cornhole Tournament!!

Regular Update (2 of 2)

I won't even lie, I completely forgot about updating this thing until Carrie texted me asking if I was alive. Which doesn't really make sense, because she follows me on twitter, but, point taken.  I need to update my blog, so here goes:
We are finally testing at work, and it's been super crazy busy.  Because we're testing the students, instructors, and active-duty guys, we have double, and sometimes triple the number of subjects as the other labs.  It's a good problem to have.  For the past few weeks we've been testing 8am to 5:30 pm, with only a break for lunch.  So I've been working lots of hours, but it's good though, because it doesn't feel like work.  I'm always movig, so that keeps me from being bored.  The drawback is, I've been exhausted when I get home from work.

I had to hire a dogwalker for Layla, because I'm gone too long during the day.  I kind of hate that I had to do that, it makes me feel like a bad pet owner, but I'm glad she's taken care of. My neighor Hannah has also offered to take Layla with her when she goes for walks, too, so that's nice.  I'm trying to get out and do more San Diego-type stuff, but I've been working so much during the week, that all I want to do on the weekends is lay around and watch tv.  My neighbors and I have talked about hiking some of the mountains around here, and I still need to take Layla to the real beach, not the bay. 

Also, I want to try surfing and/or paddleboarding, but I've felt the Pacific Ocean and it is way way colder than the Gulf.  It doesn't really warm up in the summer either.  So it looks like I'll have to commit to the sport, because I'm not buying a wetsuit to try it once and never do it again.  Also, I don't want to rent a wetsuit because that is disgusting. 

I've been thinking of making a trip home sometime, but I don't know when.  That's progress though, because before I hadn't even really thought about when I'd want to come home. Heff told me the cornhole tournament is May 5, so that may be an option (I make no guarantees, though).  I'm not sure if I want to spend all that money before our big aweseome birthday trip to Cabo in June.  If it's not then, perhaps July 4 weekend.  I was initially considering coming home for Labor Day, but there's really no point because Auburn is playing in Atlanta that weekend. 

I think that's all that's going on with me.  Oh wait, there is one more thing.  I filed my taxes.  Ok, that covers everything that's going on with me.  I promise I'll try to do better updating this thing. 

Until next time...

I Had a Visitor!! (Update 1 of 2)

So, for her spring break, Callie came out to visit me.  It was wonderful!  I left from work on Friday night, March 9 to drive to LA to pick her up (it's cheaper to fly into LAX than to San Diego, and it's only a 2-hour drive from here).  So we got back to my apartment around 11 pm, and were super exhausted, so we just went to bed.  Saturday night my neighbors Hannah & Rusty came by, and we played beer pong on my balcony and some Jenga (thanks Janna for meeting up with Callie so she could bring it!).  Unfortunately, we were super busy at work, so I had to work Monday-Thursday, but Callie was nice enough to take Layla on some walks for me during the week.  I took Friday the 16th off, so we could do all kinds of fun stuff around San Diego, like visit the beaches & go to the zoo, but we didn't do any of that on Friday.  We stayed in my apartment and watched basketball.  Such bums.

Coincidentally, Ellen was in town as well Friday-Tuesday, so my neighbors, Callie, Ellen & I all went to the one bar I know in San Diego, the Lamplighter.  It's a super fun karaoke bar, which means naturally Callie & I had to make fools of ourselves.

Saturday was the day we were going to get out and do stuff, which of course meant the weather was crappy.  We met up with Ellen on Coronado, and walked around the beach there for a bit (it was FREEZING!), and then we drove up to La Jolla to see the cliffs, and Seal Beach.  There was a seal playing in the water, we tried to get pictures of him, but I'm pretty sure I just got a million pictures of the grey Pacific Ocean.

Since Saturday was St. Patrick's Day, Callie & I went to McP's.  It's an Irish Pub on Coronado, owned by a former SEAL.  The food isn't that great, but apparently it's a big draw because of the whole SEAL thing.  Anway, they were serving green beer and had a band, so we went.  Even though Ellen was eating dinner just across the street at the Del, she decided to bail on us.  Whatever.  We had fun anyway!  I ended up meeting a SEAL & a marine pilot, because they brought their dogs to the patio (you can bring your dogs everywhere here, it's great), and I went up to pet them.  We all started talking, and I told them about the lab, and how I was from Alabama, and the SEAL's wife said something along the lines of, "Thanks for losing to Creighton, by the way."  I responded that I went to Auburn, so frankly I was glad Alabama lost.  Then I called her a dummy for picking Alabama in the first round.  I thought that was a good way to make a first impression. 

Sunday was beautiful, and thankfully Callie didn't fly out until really late, so we went up to Encinitas to have brunch, and drove down the coast on the way back to my place so we could take some pretty pictures.  Then we decided to head up to LA early to explore some of that area.  We stopped in Laguna Beach to try to find Lauren Conrad's house, and we thought we found it, but according to Google Images, we did not.  Then we drove up the PCH toward LA, eventually making our way to the airport.

It really sucked saying goodbye to Callie, because it was so awesome having her here for a whole week.  I think she should move out here with me!

I Think I Had a Super Bowl Party

Wow, it's been a really long time since I posted anything here.  Forgive me.  So, let's catch up.

Work is going really well, all the equipment is in & we are just about ready to start testing.  We should be bringing in subjects at the start of next week.  We are having our "Grand Opening" even on Feb. 22, and the night before, the Pitt guys want to have some kind of reception at a hotel bar or restaurant somewhere on the island.  I don't really know what that's going to be like, other than a lot of VIPs are supposed to be there, like guys who work over at the Special Warfare Command (henceforth known as WARCOM).  Two of my coworkers are with one of the SEAL Qualification Training classes up in Kodiak, AK, which is where they do their cold-weather training, so it's just me & Ryan for the week.  Monday, we had the Chief Medical Officer of WARCOM come over unannounced (as he is wont to do), and he had with him a retired Rear Admiral & former SEAL with him.  He wanted me & Ryan to give him a tour of the lab. No pressure.  We gave the dog & pony tour, after which he gave both of us his card & told us to contact him if we ever want to meet some of the "old guys" as he put it-former SEALs from when he was active.  He also said there are currently 27 former SEALs from the very first teams still alive.  SEALs started just after WWII.  Very cool.  His card has the SEAL trident on it, which is officially my first souvenir with the insignia.  I'm super psyched about that.

I had some friends over for the commercials this past weekend (as I was boycotting the Super Bowl itself), and afterward, we decided to play some Mario Kart in a variety of headgear, naturally.  So, here's some pictures my neighbor Hannah took of us.  This first one is me & Ivey, wearing my neighbor Rusty's football helmet & bicycle helmet & ski goggles.  This significantly improved our Mario Kart driving ability.  The next two are of Hannah & Rusty (they are my neighbors from Birmingham).  Rusty is wearing the football helmet & Mr. Magoo glasses, Hannah is striking a lovely pose in a Naval Captain's hat.  There were three pieces of dog food on the carpet (because Layla picks at her food like it's Lucky Charms), so the logical thing to do was make a bet that everyone but the winner of our next Mario Kart race had to eat one piece of dog food. I took mine in a shot of chilled bourbon, Hannah took her's in a shot of vodka, and for some reason Ivey ate his covered in peanut butter and then took a shot of bourbon.  I would not recommend this strategy if you ever have to eat dog food, FFR.  Needless to say, we all felt super awesome Monday morning, especially Rusty, who had to get up at 3:30 am to go to class (he's in the Navy).  I definitely came home from work Monday & went straight to sleep.  10 hours of sleep felt great. 

This weekend we're all going to Kansas City Barbecue, which is the bar from Top Gun, and I'm supposed to wear the Navy Captain's hat. So...that won't be embarrassing at all. 

I'm sure there will be more shenanigans to come, so I'll do my best to keep you updated.  Until then, liberty is authorized.

Layla's First Time at the Beach

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while.  Nothing has really been going on!  We're almost completely set up at work, which is awesome.  I can't wait to get started!  But back to the original purpose of this post...

I took Layla to the beach this past weekend!  Technically, I took her to the bay, but whatever.  She LOVED it.  The entire park there in Mission Bay is off-leash, which is really cool.  There were a few people walking their dogs on the trails, but there weren't very many people at the water.  She did make friends with a Doberman mix puppy, though.  While I was talking to the owners, Layla was playing & running laps around everyone, like she usually does.  The owners remarked, "oh wow, she's still a puppy, huh?"  I got to explain, "Yeah, no, she's 4 years old."  She just has a lot of energy, what can I say?

Anyway, that's all I've really got.  Until I do something more interesting, liberty is authorized.  Have a great day.

The One When I Realize My Dad Is A Bammer

Anyone get the FRIENDS reference? Ok, enough joking around, it's time to focus.

I was just talking on Skype to my dad. He asked me if I was going to cheer for Alabama in the national championship game. I didn't even bother answering. Then he said (as all Bama fans like to remind us), "I cheered for Auburn last year..." Honestly, I don't even remember if he did or not. He could've been lying (as Bama fans are wont to do). Then he said I should always cheer for the SEC during bowl season. I replied that of course I would be cheering for the SEC. I think it was around this time he remember who Alabama was playing.

Then the conversation turned to the game of the century, part 1. My dad actually said, "I think we won the game, we just didn't score the points." Now, I have NEVER called my dad a Bammer, as a)he is my father, and b)he actually attended the University of Alabama, but that was a straight up Bammer comment. Could you imagine the ridicule Auburn fans would get if we claimed a "moral victory" like that? That comment is the definition of absurdity, and I rightly told him so.

Liberty is authorized, have a great weekend.

Liberty Is Authorized, Have A Great Weekend

Pretty boring week at work, just still trying to get the lab set up. The Pitt guys are coming out in a few weeks for the final install, after that we should hopefully be ready to start bringing in the instructors and collecting data.

In other news, my neighbors (the Auburn ones) took me to IKEA. I was like a kid in a candy store. I hate shopping for clothes, but I absolutely love shopping for home decor. I didn't even know IKEA had kitchen utensils!! I found the wall ledges I want to display my shot glasses on, but they only had them in white at the store, and considering my dining room wall is red, that's a big no-no. Not in my house. Also, white wall ledges? What is this, a John Hughes movie? I'll put up a picture when I get everything up, but I've been pretty lazy when it comes to decorating the apartment. I'll do it eventually.

The weather here has been amazing. This week it got up into the 80s, but today was a little chillier, around 75 with a breeze. Yes, I can feel you all hating me right now. There are really big waves in San Diego right now, something about some front coming from Antarctica or something, I don't know I wasn't paying attention. Anyway, I want to take Layla to the beach, but I'm a little nervous for her to get in the water. Perhaps I'll just take her and keep her on the leash. I don't want to have to dive in the cold Pacific because my dog got taken away in the undertow, though I totally would.

By the way, Pacific Time is totally where it's at. During the week, when I get up at 6, it's 8 back at home, which means I can call people while they're on their way to work. When I leave work at 1600, it's 1800 at home, when most people are having dinner. So I'm kinda like a telemarketer in that way. Also, on the weekends, if I sleep in until 9, I can turn on the tv and watch football. Awesome.

There's a new class going that just started BUD/S, and we can hear the shuffle as they run in their groups around base. They're already so tired they can barely pick up their feet to run. Right now there's a lot of them. After Hell Week, only 10% of them will still be here. I also just heard an amazing thing over the intercom today, "Liberty is authorized, have a great weekend." I'm pretty sure that just means it's the freakin weekend, but it sounds awesome and I'm going to start saying it.

So until next time,
Liberty is authorized, have a great weekend.

I'm Really Lazy, and Happy New Year

First blog of 2012, everyone. Welcome to the party. So I got back from Birmingham on the 30th. Did I mention my sojourn from the airport terminal to my car with Layla in a crate? No? Let's begin there:

The first thing you need to know is that I took the shuttle from my car to the terminal when I flew to Birmingham. So when I landed in San Diego, I immediately went down to baggage claim, so I could claim my baggage. I pay for one of those carts to take my bags & Layla to my car, the location of which I have now forgotten. Obviously I can't take the shuttle back to my car because I have a dog, so I figure I'll just walk; it shouldn't be that far. So I follow the signs to the parking lot, where I'm looking for shuttle stop #5, so I can have a reference point to find my car. I walked all around the lot, finding stops 1-4, but can't find 5. I ask two men in the parking lot if they know where stop #5 is, and they tell me I have to go back to the terminal, where I will see all the shuttles & can then take the bus to my stop. No, I explain to them, I don't want to ride the shuttle, as I have a dog in a giant crate on my cart. Idiots. They tell me the stop is on the other side of the airport, which I'm pretty sure isn't right, but I don't want to talk to them anymore so I go back into the airport to ask information. The woman at information tells me there's another parking lot past the one I was in, so I have to go back the way I came, & walk further. At least I know where I'm going. So now I'm in the correct lot, I'm even on the row of my car, and Layla's crate fell off the cart onto its side. Somehow, she had flipped herself during the tumble & landed on her feet. The moral of this story is that my dog may or may not be a ninja.

So anyway, jump to New Year's Eve. I hadn't really done anything all day, except for take Layla for a few walks where I see people laying out by the pool. I decide to order a pizza for dinner because I really wanted a coke. I didn't particularly care for pizza, but that's just how lazy I am. I stopped buying soda for the house to drink more water, and it's working, but I just really wanted a coke that night. There's a gas station on the opposite corner from my complex, too. While I'm waiting on my 2-liter Coca-Cola Classic, my neighbor knocks on my door to invite me to her NYE party. How sweet! So I went there & met some of their friends & had a blasty-blast. I also shot a gun. It was a real gun, but the bullet in it shot a laser, so relax, Mom. I shot the doorknob twice. I don't want to brag, but I'm pretty good.

The weather has been beautiful, of course. I'm ready to go back to work though, we'll be starting to collect data soon!