Viriginia and Bridge/Tunnels

 When I volunteered to go spend a month in Virginia Beach to help out another WTU, I had no idea that I would be faced with the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel!

20 miles long with 2 one mile long tunnels that go under the bay, this photo shows an Aircraft Carrier going over one of the tunnels.

Of course I mention this because I am not quite sure, but I think when I was a kid I had a fear of bridges over water; and if I am only imagining this childhood fear then that one day 5 months ago it became real!. So whether this fear was real or not, I can at times be paranoid and/or pessimistic about  things, so either way I was not happy about driving on this bridge that has a very thin guard rail holding one back from a potential watery demise. So as I was driving along this bridge getting closer to the first tunnel my paranoia began kicking into gear.

 Several things were going through my mind, the first thing being that about 2 weeks before going to Virginia me and my wife watched an episode of Fringe in which a guy who is messing with time may cause a similar tunnel somewhere near Boston to suddenly not exist, naturally anyone who was in the tunnel at the time would suddenly be unexplainable underwater! While I am thinking about this I enter the first tunnel and of course the whole time I was on the bridge my hands were at 10 and 2 on the wheel just hoping nothing crazy happens, and of course scarred as hell, hands on the wheel not touching anything else. So when "Concrete Jungle" by BLS comes on my MP3 player I didn't think anything of it and of course I was keeping my hands on the wheel, not touching anything, not even to change the song). Then the part of the song where Zakk sings "No one gets out, They're ready to die" (I was hearing no one gets out, get ready to die!)

 After getting through the first tunnel I was thinking ok I got through that, now I just need to worry about the rest of the bridge! exiting the first tunnel I had no idea there was a second tunnel at least not until driving a little further along the bridge I see what appears to be a very large cargo container ship, which is moving in the direction of the bridge. The position of this cargo ship is in pretty much the same position as the Carrier in the picture above. That is when it hits me, that Oh Crap there is another tunnel; and based on the ships position and how close I am to the second tunnel I realize that as I'm driving through the tunnel the ship is going over it! So take all my previous thoughts of the Fringe episode and the BLS song, that are still in my head and throw in the fact that I am literally driving under a cargo ship, I was freaking out!

 So after I finally get done with the bridge and tunnels and think I am done with it. But no, two weeks into my time down there I had to go to Fort Eustis which is about an hour away. I get about half way there and a see a sign for the Hampton Road Bridge-Tunnel (the coincidental music playing this time, God Hates Us by Avenged Sevenfold; in which several times throughout the song M. Shadows screams “Total Nightmare”).

So while I enjoyed my time in Virginia Beach and was able to help the other unit quite a bit, I a very happy to be away from Bridge/Tunnels! And if that wasn't bad enough when I was driving through eastern Pennsylvania to get there, I had to drive through a friggin mountain!

Idiocy of those who cover sports

I have for a long time always talked about how many people who cover sports are Idiots! Whether they are one of the various writers or one of ESPN's many "Talking Heads" 

Naturally anyone talking about Idiots covering sports, the first two words out of their mouth should automatically be Skip Bayless! Discussing his idiocy one could write a whole novel, so I won't start down that road, at least not in this post. I will just say that any grown man who goes by Skip should not be allowed in public, much less on national TV.

So back to my point, obviously people who cover sports are not all bad, it is just that a lot of them tend to say (or write) really stupid things, for example I was reading an article on the results of this years NBA draft http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/nba-draft-filled-with-stunning-moves-062713 and when talking about the Cavs #1 pick Anthony Bennett, the writer (who is not identified) drops this nugget "The Cavs must have fallen in love with Bennett’s ability to put the ball on the floor". Doesn't that kind of go against the whole point of  basketball? Kinda difficult for a player to put the ball through the hoop if he is so good at putting it on the floor! Plus they can't keep putting it on the floor all the time anyway it goes against that pesky rule on dribbling.

Another thing that bugs me more than anything is when you are listening to the game commentators (usually one of the ones who never played any sport a single day in his life!) describing what he thinks the team should do in a given situation, for example a football team who is facing a 3rd and long situation, the team runs the play the commentator described (as if he called it in directly to the huddle himself) the play fails, and Mr. Expert immediately starts talking about why that play was such a terrible idea, and says I would have done this; which is normally the exact opposite of his previous brilliant suggestion!

Here we go again

So I started doing this Blog way back in the Winter of 2006, when I was inspired by a friend that it is a good way to pass time. And I did need to pass some time because I was currently deployed as a member of C co 1-17 INF, Diablos, 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team.

So I followed my friends advice and started this blogging thing, which I originally started on MySpace. I was having a good time writing about my opinion on things, things or people they bug me, or what I viewed as common everyday Idiocy!

After I started I went on writing for a while, then I stopped, and this cycle would continue for about every 6 months. So I am back onto the writing phase and this time I don't plan on stopping.

So now after a few technical glitches and other mistakes and having to restart a couple of times, here it is me sharing my opinion of the world with the world!