I Like Cute Chicks

WHEN: April 20, 2010 WHERE: Norfolk, VA Every morning I take the same stroll in to work. It's a long(er) walk from the back parking lot to the building but thankfully there is a good view on the way in. A new walkway and fence were put in right on the water back in October. It provides a front row seat to any ship traffic on the harbor, frolicking water fowl, and beautiful morning skyscapes. It's often littered in bird droppings, washed up seaweed, and broken shells seagulls drop from the air to crack open. Nevertheless it's refreshing. The jaunt is my one last moment of sanity before I walk in and stare at a computer screen for 8 hours, with less than enough sleep the night before (probably because I stayed up too late blogging).

Mornings on the "boardwalk"

This morning was extra special as I witnessed something I had never seen on the walkway to date. I have little desire to see Canadian geese outside their namesake country. It seems there are few places these birds don't set up shop and call home. Not to mention, it is their poo that most often litters the walkway (and those aren't small droppings)! But today my attitude was temporarily swung to love towards these birds. And this is why...

A whole family of poopers!

They walked up to within 10 feet of me and my camera before stopping dead in their tracks. They looked a little confused but ma and pa quickly sized me up as non-threatening and decided to walk around me in the grass. The six little chicks followed without hesitation on the heels of their parents. Now I know these geese can be a force to be reckoned with, especially with a gaggle of little ones in their care (I had to Google what a group of geese was called and could not resist using the word 'gaggle' - because I'm 26 and still laugh at funny-sounding words). Yet somehow these geese had no qualm with me and went on eating the grass right in front of me as they passed by.

Off to work!

I'll just let you know now that one of these will more than likely be this week's Picture Of the Week. Secret's out! I had to share these cute little chicks with you - I couldn't keep all the adorableness to myself. And in case that wasn't enough cute for you in one blog, I've included a couple quick videos of the geese to wet your whistle.

Where Dreams Come True

WHEN: April 19, 2002 WHERE: The University of Northern Iowa Today marks the 8-year anniversary of Stace & my first prom together. What's the big deal about that? Nothing extraodinary, but neverthless it's a part of our history and something that goes along with the "TIME" half of my blog. At some point during every day on the calender, I try and think if anything significant that has happened. Today, April 19, "prom" ran across the "chronologic adhesive" that's genetically wrapped inside my brain. Dates just stick with me. Upon checking some old photos, I confirmed that April 19, 2002 was the date of our first prom and so this blog was born. I dug through some boxes of old pictures (you know, before digital) and found what I was looking for.

April 19, 2002 - our first prom together

The theme of that year's prom was "Hollywood: Where Dreams Come True" and was held at UNI's Commons Ballroom (banquet) and Wellness Center (after party). Stace and I had been dating for 7 months, high school graduation was a month away for me, and my hair was as ridiculous as ever. Dreams were coming true in abundance.

The night began with a dinner and "comedian" (also a UNI mathematics professor). This comedian's first victim he called on to the stage to asisst him was my beautiful date, because she "wasn't paying attention" (too busy talking to me). Stacie was not happy.

Stace enjoying herself on stage :)

My future brother-in-law, Dave, later presented me with the "Most Energetic" award but of that moment I have no picture to remember it by. You're in my family now Dave and that's all I need ;) I believe my future sister-in-law, Steph, also custom made our corsage and boutonniere. Steph, I tried real hard to find a receipt of Stacie's corsage but to no avail. I blame Flowerama. The banquet was then followed by a limo ride around town before being dropped off on the red carpet at the Wellness Center and introduced by a local news anchor (lights, camera, and all). I recall hanging out the sunroof for most of the ride, but no amount of wind was going to mess up the hairspray plastered in my mop.

Stace & I with Ann & Aaron

Oh, how the times have changed. I'm thankful for these kinds of memories of young love and high school that I will always have with my wife, my first love; but I'm also glad they are behind us. It's hard to believe we've been together almost 10 years now and amazing to think of all we've been through together and all the memories we've already made by our mid-20's. God blessed me with a wonderful wife and I'm thankful He gave her to me at an early age. Beyond the moppy, crispy hair and un-muscular figure, she somehow said yes to two proms, two Homecoming dates, and one marriage proposal...and our story continues. My dreams have come true (you knew that was coming). PS-Stace will NOT be happy to see these pictures of her on the world wide web. If my blogging is discontinued for a while, it's because I'm grounded.

Jesse's POW (April 18, 2010)

WHEN: April 15, 2010 WHERE: Pagoda Garden Tea House, Norfolk, VA

See where this picture was taken, here!

Lunch With the Tourists

WHEN: April 15, 2010
WHERE: Half Moone Cruise and Celebration Center, Norfolk

I was pleasantly surprised to see this sight (and sound) as I rounded a curve on my drive to work in downtown Norfolk this morning.

The Costa Atlantica of Costa Cruises. It's home port is Genova, Italy and is 960ft. long (just to get the facts out of the way ;)

Costa Atlantica from my office.

 Bow-facing webcam atop the ship (at 8am).

Stern-facing webcam (with my office in the top left corner!)

Webcams on the ship can be viewed LIVE at the bottom of Costa Atlantic's website (in case you have nothing better to do).

Today marks the "beginning" of the cruise season in Norfolk. Not that the season is impressive by any means but if it means I get to see these ships in the front yard of my workplace, I am excited! At least according to the Cruise Norfolk website, there is a spring and fall cruise season. A different cruise ship - Royal Caribbean's Enchantment of the Seas - is scheduled to make an appearance about once a week during the month of May and twice in June, then cruises don't resume in Norfolk again until October. I was able to catch a couple cruise ships in port last Fall when I first started work in Norfolk. Today was the first time in 6 months since I've seen one and I was not content to observe from a distance. I grabbed my lunch pail and drove to downtown for lunch and ate in the shadows of giants.

The bench I ate lunch on today.

The USS Wisconsin

A nearby "tourist park"

Oriental restaurant (Pagoda Garden) within the park

Beautiful flower also inside the park. I just take pictures of them - I don't know names.

Mingling tourists

Never can be too careful when it comes to tourists these days.

Beautiful day in the park!

I asked two couples sitting on a bench if they were on the cruise then asked where it began/was headed. They said it began in Fort Lauderdale, FL and was headed to Quebec, Canada with a stop in New York City tomorrow. One of the couples was from England and the other was from Australia. After spending an hour walking among the hundreds of tourists, they were the first that I heard speaking English. Most appeared to be from the Mediterranean (many looked like they were from Italy or Greece).

I had "walked among the tourists" last Fall as well when one of the ships came in to port. It's a very interesting experience. For one, I'm from Iowa so the fact that I'm standing next to a cruise ship and I'm not on vacation...it's almost confusing. Once I get past the fact that I AM home and it is these people around me that are on vacation, I start to think of where some of these people have come from - from all over the world! I've never been on a cruise (or to another country for that matter) but I feel like I get a taste of it when I am down on the waterfront with these tourists. I'm within arm's reach of hundreds of people from countries I may never visit and from all walks of life I will never experience. It's like I'm setting foot into THEIR lives (not vice versa) but all at once and without leaving home. It's quite surreal and I look forward to doing it a few more times before the "spring cruise season" is over.

 Rotating in the channel, leaving port

Off to New York!

I've been keeping track of Costa Atlantica on its jaunt from Norfolk to New York tonight. Big surprise, right? I went to (too much) work making this map; but wasted time in the name of blogging is still bliss! That's debatable.

I need a cruise. On to bed...

Bon Voyage!

Jesse's POW (April 11, 2010)

WHEN: April 4, 2010 WHERE: 155 Hillcrest Rd., Waterloo, IA

See where this picture was taken, here!

Jesse's POW (April 4, 2010)

WHEN: April 1, 2010 WHERE: 272 Bendix Rd., Virginia Beach, VA

See where this picture was taken, here!

If You Can't Stand The Heat, Get Out!

WHEN: April 1, 2010
WHERE: Mid-Atlantic to the Mid-West

Yes, I can stand the heat. The question is can the heat stand me. As we get ready to embark on our trip back home to Iowa (in 7 hours), I have come to accept the fact that my love for warm weather is not a mutual relationship. Weep.

Today was a great weather day from the Mid-Atlantic to the Midwest, and beyond. For that I am grateful. However, that's about the end of it. Just as we leave the heat wave bearing down on the eastern seaboard, the heat wave in the Midwest is preparing its Exodus as I type. We are due for the mid-80's the next several days here in Virginia, on top of what may be the most beautiful week of Spring here. Today was the precursor of the week ahead. Cloudless, sunny skies, temps in the 70's, trees and bushes flaunting their new leaflets, the smell of mowed grass and flowers wafting in the air - this is what we're leaving. But the one thing I could trade an early-season heat wave for is a trip home to see our amazing families and be "home".

Forecast highs for the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest (April 1-6)

I took in as much of the day as I could here before we leave. I got off work at 11 and went out to lunch with Stace for (as far as I remember) the first time. We work too far apart to be able to have lunch together so today was a great treat. I took her back to work and headed home to do some travel preparations then left as soon as I could to grab some snapshots of the day's beauty. There is an office park on the land behind our apartment complex that we drove by today for the first time after lunch (with many areas for a curious photographer to explore). I headed there with my camera and took pictures of the birds and flowers for an hour.

Don't judge me for how I spend my time before I travel.

The setting made it difficult to get a bad picture and the birds were great subjects - posing for no other reason than that they knew just as well as me how beautiful the day was. Who could be grumpy on a day like today??

The setting

The birds

Dave, are you traumatized yet?

Time to wrap this up. Stacie is already in bed and I have to get up at 4:30a.m. (and that's no April Fool's joke). You can track our flight to Detroit here and to Minneapolis here.

Iowa, here we come!!

This Is Where We Live

WHEN: For the time being
WHERE: Virginia Beach, VA

Today marks the equivalent "halfway" point of our residence in Virginia Beach. Obviously we don't know what God has planned for us as the next chapter of our lives but on paper it's "over the hill" for us from here on out (for good or bad). Although I could go "deeper" with that fact alone, I don't have time to (vacation starts in 48 hours and I have 49 hours of tasks to accomplish beforehand). However, I feel I at least owe the anniversary the acknowledgment, plus I've learned/experienced some new things about our current home this past week for the first time. Nothing that will make you jump out of your chair screaming "Great Scott!!" yet interesting enough to me to be sidetracked from getting out our suitcases out and packed.

Not to beat the drum of my previous post in regards to Charleston but a couple notes on that. If you have ever spent any amount of time in Charleston you have probably seen at least one of these beasts flying overhead.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

This is a C-17 Globemaster, a flying military cargo fortress to say the least. Many of these jumbo jets are stationed at Charleston Air Force Base and the first one off the production line in 1993 was delivered to Charleston AFB. I'm not going to pretend to know anything about that base or these cargo jets other than that I have seen my fair share of them flying in low over downtown Charleston, both times I've visited. In fact, to my recollection, the only time I have ever seen a C-17 in person has been in Charleston. That is, until two days ago.

Stace and I have gone on numerous walks since Spring arrived. During our walk on Sunday, while I was forcing Stace to smell the blooming flowers (she's focused when she exercises), one of these fortresses went roaring over our heads, probably no more than 1,000ft overhead. That's not very high for a jet with a 170ft wingspan and weighing over half a million pounds. We both stopped in our tracks and stared silently as it flew right over us at what seemed like a snail's pace. With numerous Navy and Air Force bases within the metro area I'm not sure where it was headed. Most days we are accustomed to hearing dozens of F-18 Hornets training at the Oceana Naval Air Station that is about 5 miles east of us. But this was a new and exciting sight!

Continuing with the military theme I introduce my second story. As if Sunday's sky surprise was not enough, I was pleasantly surprised to see this floating by outside my office at lunch yesterday.

I know it may be hard to see but it is a Navy submarine (mostly submerged) being guided by a couple of tugs (and escorted by the Coast Guard and some small Navy boats). I jumped out of my chair, ran outside after it, and snapped this shot with my cell phone. Perhaps I should be thankful some sniper somewhere didn't blow my arm off when they saw some nobody running after a sub with some object in his hand pointed at it! I had heard that the occasional submarine will pass by the office but I had never seen one myself. It's the first time I've ever seen one in person. All I'm waiting for now is to see the even rarer aircraft carrier go by that I've heard does happen. Other than that, I think I have seen just about every other kind of vessel imaginable on the harbor in the past 6 months. Naval Station Norfolk is the largest U.S. naval station in the world (i.e. number of vessels) and all Nimitz-class nuclear aircraft carriers and Los Angeles-class nuclear attack submarines have been built in Norfolk (Newport News exactly) by Northrop Grumman (the company I currently work for). And given the clearance of my current job, I am able to tour any of the military bases and walk up next to these ships. Yet somehow I have foolishly not done so yet.

And to wrap up this random discourse of cotton-headed ninny muggins nonsense, I present a not-so-glamorous facet of life in Hampton Roads. This article caught my eye today which talks about storm surge risks for U.S. regions; a product of research conducted in response to Hurricane Katrina. The article lists the most at-risk zip codes for property damage as a result of a Category 5 hurricane. Although there are more variables than what appear on the surface, the main point is that the city of Virginia Beach may have won the award. Mt. Pleasant, S.C. (which I unrelatedly also mentioned in my previous post) received the top spot on the list - not something to assume bragging rights over. Out of the top 15 at-risk zip codes in the country, 4 zip codes were in Virginia Beach (and 2 more in neighboring Chesapeake, VA). Our zip code is surrounded by but not included in this list of zip codes. Comforting! I drew up a quick map today to illustrate our condition. We are the blue zip code and the red are the ones that made the Top 15.

So, if you want to see ships with really big guns or drown in a hurricane, please, plan a visit soon! We're only here 6 more months, Lord willing, so don't miss out!

Jesse's POW (March 28, 2010)

WHEN: March 28, 2010 WHERE: 4001 Virginia Beach Blvd., Virginia Beach, VA

See where this picture was taken, here!