mtefft: September 2007 Archives

I am back from my trip to Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Forest. I had a pretty good time even though I never had a good nights sleep. Seems I am spoiled in my old age and a tent and a sleeping bag just don't cut it anymore. But the weather was fine and the scenery was beautiful. We climbed Hawksbill Mountain and Stony Man Mountain as well as hiking numerous trails. Saw the usual deer and chipmunks but no skunks or raccoons. We did have a close encounter with a black bear which I captured on video. Work is still stressful but there is good news to announce. My command may be offering early retirements (VERA) that would allow me to retire either this year or the next with no penalties. I told them I was interested and I am now waiting to see if they actually offer me one. Anyway, here are a couple photos I took with my camcorder and a link to the bear video that I posted to YouTube.

I am headed to Shenandoah National Park with my brothers Chris and Jon. We will be camping on Skyline Drive at Lewis Mountain campground. It has been a few years since we last went camping so I am really looking forward to 4 days away from it all. I have charged all the batteries for my camcorder and digital camera and I plan on documenting the trip. I also plan on having fun and letting go a little. Work has been a little hectic lately with me filling in for our IMO who is on two month maternity leave. I hope these 4 days away from it all will help relieve some of the stress. I will be back Sunday and I will be busy processing the videos and photos I will have taken. There is much more going on in my life but that is for a later entry.

Tropical Storm Gabrielle was a non-event here. All we got was a little wind and a little rain. We have gotten much worse weather from a thunderstorm. I did go over to Ocean View in Norfolk to see what the bay looked like with Gabrielle approaching and there were some impressive waves for a bay. I will have a short video up on YouTube which I will link to later. My iRiver Clix 2 came and it is going right back. I have not been able to get it to work for more that a couple of hours before it locks up. Then I am unable to unlock it for days. So I have an RMA number and it is being shipped back tomorrow. I really want to get my hands on a good one because when it did work it was a fantastic piece of technology. Summer is slowly coming to an end and the weather is getting too cool to use the pool after work. It is still great on the weekends but it won't be for long. I am going camping next week to the Blue Ridge with my brothers Jon and Chris. We plan on leaving Thursday morning and returning on Sunday. I have not been camping in several years and I am really looking forward to it. That's it for now.

Tropical storm Gabrielle is paying us a visit here in Chesapeake, Virginia. Gabrielle started out as a sub-tropical storm but has since strengthened to a 50 mph tropical storm. The forecast path has kept changing, first bringing her closer to us and then further away. This morning the forecast is bringing her closer to us and it is starting to become cloudy and windy. So I guess the next couple of days are going to be interesting. About the best we can hope for is that Gabrielle changes her mind and visits someone else.

Well, my Clix 2 has not arrived yet. I just checked its status at UPS online and it has arrived in Maryland from California. According to UPS it is scheduled to be delivered on Thursday. In the meantime I have been pretty busy. As I promised myself after returning from the LDRS in Nevada I bought a model rocket kit this weekend. The kit included a rocket, engines, and launching system. I built the rocket on Labor Day and took it to the park for launch. I am glad to say that the launch was a total success. The rocket flew straight and high. Unfortunately the parachute did not deploy and the rocket buried itself 2 inches nose first into the dirt. My poor rocket will never fly again. I am undeterred and plan on buying a couple more rockets this weekend to build and fly. I anticipate a much better outcome this weekend.

The other thing I have been busy with is upgrading my web site from Mambo to its successor, Joomla. Joomla is a more sophisticated version of Mambo and I have created a rough draft of my new site. Check it out at Mike's Place. That is it for now, I hope to be writing about my new Clix 2 in the next entry.