Wednesday, March 19, 2008

#191-200

#191. Have a Bachelor Party. A bunch of the guys took me out one night and wouldn't really tell me what was going on. We were going to watch the UFC fight, but someone got the times down wrong so we ended up eating a gigantic pile of wings at Hooters. I know what you're thinking, and yes, we like to keep it as classy as possible at all time. We headed back into DC, not without swinging by Total Wine and picking up some exotic brews. We picked up Brendan and hopped on the metro...but not without drinking down a few beers at the metro stop. Sophisticated guys. Anyways, we all know where this probably ended up and yes, you guessed it. We made a stop at Camelot. It was entirely too busy and we were crammed into seats next to a bunch of really creepy guys. Drinks were way over priced (4 bud lights, 4 jagerbombs = 88.00) and it was a no touching/ no lap dance place. DC Laws be damned!! All in all it was a pretty good time, especially getting back to the Barracks, where we found some taxi to lug us back.



Doesn't this look straight out of a sub quality 80's action flick? Seedy indeed.

#192. Own a pocketwatch. This was my keepsake I got from the wedding. Hopefully, I can get something engraved on the back and I'll be able to pass this down to young whippersnappers ....but thats a LONG time from now.



#193. Visit a Caribbean Island. I've now been to a couple of them now, I think my favorite out of all of them is Aruba. I'd never get tired of 85 to 90 degrees on little underdeveloped islands geared totally to tourism....and rum is delicious.


This picture is actually a picture taken over looking Magen's Bay, St. Thomas. Here we drank rum and were attacked by the red sea monster that wouldn't stop splashing us. The water here was crystal clear, it was a perfect day out and the palm trees provided the optimal amount of shade while letting us get a nice tan in. The water was cool and refeshing, and now that I think about it, and would kill to get back there right now.

#194. Slash someone's tires. Youthful galavanting through suburbs at night can lead to some pretty pricey vandalism. Destroyed mailboxes and stolen booze from the garage comes as complimentary side dishes. I don't know what it is about boys and their love for destroying things. Bush...can you help me answer that one?




#195. Eat escargot. I had them baked in a dish with a simple butter, garlic, and other herbs sauce. They were actually very tasty. A little bit different texture, but not slimy at all.



#196. Go on a cruise. I went on a 7 day South Caribbean cruise aboard the Adventure of the Seas. We made ports at Oranjestad, Aruba...Willemstad, Curacao....Philipsburg, St. Maarten...and Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas. It was definitely a blast, good relaxation time, and entirely too short. I would recommend a cruise to anyone, the only thing thats a slight draw back is you have to be back on the ship in the late afternoon, so you do miss the night life of the islands. The shopping was good, drinks...though expensive, were strong and the food was plentiful. I just noticed I used plentiful in a sentence and I feel like a pilgrim.



#197. Go snorkling. Right off the coast of Aruba, I went snorkeling after sailing out around the island for about 25 minutes. Our next stop was the Antilla, a sunken German ship. Here is your daily history lesson:

World War I (1914 -1918) and World War II (1939 -1945) propelled the sleepy island of Aruba into a significant factor of the war effort. During World War I, Aruba was a major supplier of calcium phosphate (Guano), which can be used to make fertilizer as well as explosive powder. During World War II, Aruba was an important strategic factor as Aruba supplied the Allied Forces with about 8 % of the entire motor fuel for the war effort against the Axis Powers. Because of the importance of Aruba as a fuel source, German U-boats and other naval ships patrolled the waters of Aruba in attempts to destroy Allied fuel tankers.

In early May 1940, the German freighter Antilla anchored in the Dutch waters of Aruba, while a chain of events is unfolding in Europe. May 10th, German paratroopers landed in Rotterdam and De Hague. Fieldmarshall von Rundstedt Army corps cuts thru Holland and Belgium, circumventing the Maginot line, into France. Queen Wilhelmina fled to England. The Dutch Army surrenders four days later. Holland is at war with Germany and thousands of miles across the Atlantic, the tranquil island of Aruba is soaked into it.

Unbeknown of the events taking place in Europe, the German freighter Antilla was caught in Dutch waters. A flotilla of the Dutch Navy warships surrounded the Antilla. The Dutch served a 24 boarding notice to the Antilla and in response, the commander of the Antilla, Captain Schmidt, gave the order to scuttle the ship. Captain Schmidt and 46 crewmembers disembarked in lifeboats as several explosions ripped holes in the hull of the Antilla, causing her to sink into the shallow waters. Several days after their capture, as they were transported to a prisoner of war camp on the island of Bonaire, Captain Schmidt and his crew saw the remnants of their once proud ship sticking out of the ocean.

#198. Ride the Ripcord. This ride took me some convincing to ride. Jessica had almost talked me into it when I saw a 6 & 7 year old pair of brothers hop in line excited as...well little boys. I said if they could do it, so could I!! So Jess and I tackled the mean monster, and it was amazing. I felt like I was going to hit the ground but we coasted out and up just in time. If you ever come across something like this, go for it!

#199. Complete the Green Belt MCMAP Course. It was only a couple weeks after my Gray Belt Course that Captain Andrious started up a Green Belt Course. It was pretty tough training, and the E-Course down in Quantico always is a good tromp through the forest. Hopefully soon, since the Captain has been giving the Adj office some lessons and grappling with other Marines, I'll have my Brown Belt and be only one step away from my Black Belt. For those of you who don't know what the E-Course is...it starts off with the Marine Corps Obstacle Course, then a 5 mile run up and down steep hills. You have to be careful of where you step, there are loose rocks and roots jutting out everywhere. We ran it with our flak jackets, kevlar, water source, and rifle. Oorah.

#200. Accomplish 200 goals. 801 more to go.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

You ran it with your "water source." WTF is that? Can't you just say "water bottle" - or is that too simple? You know, I'm beginning to think Al Gore lied to me - you military people use big words to complicate the simplest of things.