Hiking Through Life

Bold Fresh Spoiled

We’ve had a lot of snow here in DC this year already and if you’ve been watching the news you probably know that another big storm is rolling through this weekend. As much as 20 – 25 inches is expected. We already went through one storm in December where we received 24 inches. Anyway… enough about that. Jen’s Mom paid us a visit in December to celebrate Christmas with us. My parents visited the last week of January. Emily Kate had a good time playing with them while they were here. My dad bought tickets to the Bold Fresh tour (Bill O’Reilly and Glen Beck tour) for the Norfolk show. DC is about 3 hours drive north and they were calling for a big storm in Norfolk so we traveled down their on Friday to ensure we could make it to the show Saturday. After we got there and got settled into our hotel after eating dinner and looking forward to relaxing for the evening we found out the event had been canceled! So we packed up and drove back to Woodbridge. The Governor of Virginia had declared a state of emergency because Norfolk was expecting 12 inches of snow. Apparently it was supposed to be the biggest storm to role through there in 20 years. The snow storm DC had in December was the 7th biggest storm for DC and they are expecting the one this weekend to top that. So much for global warming… below is a photo of the snow from December.

Avatar

I saw Avatar yesterday in IMAX 3D… the best way to describe it in just a couple words is simply stunning! I was amazed sort of like I was amazed the first time I saw The Matrix… and probably like people were amazed the first time they saw Star Wars back in the day. I really did not know much about the movie before I went except for a few people told me I should go see it. It was the first movie I saw in a theater since the summer of ‘08 and it was well worth it. It was just a visual masterpiece. With the crystal clear 3D projection and the precision of the picture it felt like you were right there with them. If you’re scared of heights you will definitely feel that scary feeling of looking over a cliff if you watch this movie in 3D. It is just unbelievable what they were able to accomplish with CGI in this film. Now, beyond the amazing special effects it was a good story… it was a nice balance of action and blowing things up with a little drama and romance. However, I will say that the story is nothing new… This movie is basically Dances With Wolves on another planet with a lot more action.

Many people I know have been investing in big screen HD TVs with digital surround sound… I’m here to tell you that all that money spent on a home theater system will not do this movie justice. To really get the awe inspiring effect of this movie it needs to be seen in a theater in 3D or better yet, IMAX 3D.

Brazilian Court Orders U.S. Boy to Be Returned to Father

Brazilian Court Orders U.S. Boy to Be Returned to Father – Local News | News Articles | National News | US News – FOXNews.com

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It is about time. This boy has been unjustly held by his step-father in Brazil for the past 5 and a half years! I will be surprised if his real dad actually gets to take him home. His step-father has been pretty persistent about filing appeals at just the right time to keep the boy in Brazil.

Marathon Completed

So I know I am a little slow with this update but better late than never. I completed the Marine Corps Marathon and raised a grand total of $2710 for the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors! That is $90 over my goal of raising $100 per mile! I completed it in 5 hours and 22 minutes. My cousin Natalie, who came out from Colorado and ran it too, left me in her dust and completed it in 3 hours and 39 minutes to qualify for the Boston Marathon! It was a beautiful day with highs in the 60s and no wind. Perfect for marathon running. I had a great time (even towards the end when it started to hurt… there is just something about running with 25,000 people that is fun) and I left with a great sense of accomplishment! It was quite the rush running up the hill towards the Iwo Jima memorial with the big crowd of people cheering all the way to the finish. If you’re interested you can view photos of me running at the following link: http://community.marathonfoto.com/1369/finisher.cfm?bib=32656&lastName=Johnson

Thanks again to everyone who donated to my cause! TAPS is a great organization. I got this email today from a staff member with an update about the recent events at Ft Hood:

Undoubtedly, you have heard about the tragedy at Fort Hood and the 13 families who are at the dawn of their grief for their fallen military loved ones.

At this time, we simply want to say thank you for your support of TAPS, because you truly made it possible for our organization to fulfill our mission within the first few days of this tragedy.

Because of your past support, we were able to respond immediately to the need at Fort Hood, AND to those extended family members affected nationwide. Our crisis hotline saw a 200% increase in call volume over the last 4 days, and we know the calls will keep coming.

More than 80% of the families who lost their loved ones at Fort Hood reside outside of that immediate area, and TAPS is the only organization with the resources, staff and network of survivors nationwide to reach them in their time of need.

And now, we know the path of healing will lead many Fort Hood survivors on a journey for years to come. With your continued support, TAPS will stand ready to help those families for as long as they need us.

As the holiday season approaches, please keep TAPS and the families like those affected by Fort Hood in mind. Your donations help make a difference for those suffering the loss of a military loved one!

Marathon Training

Training is going well. I ran the Army Ten Miler Sunday and felt pretty good. The problem came Monday morning when I woke up and my right ankle was all swollen like I had twisted it the day before. It didn’t even hurt before I went to bed Sunday but I haven’t been able to run all week which is not a good thing considering the Marine Corps Marathon is 18 days away! I’m going to finish that marathon whether I run, walk or crawl across the finish line. I’m not out to set any records but I would like to finish in under 5 hours. I’ve hiked 26 miles in just over 9 hours and that was up and down 3 peaks over some rough terrain… I will likely be running and walking this marathon but I will finish.

I’m almost to my goal of raising $2620 for the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors. If you would like to donate click here or go to http://friendsoftaps.kintera.org/2009marinecorpsmarathon/chadjohnson

Rubik’s Cube

So there I was… sitting in an airport restaurant in DIA passing time. I was passing time because Jennifer and Emily Kate flew out to Washington State in the evening and my flight back to DC was in the morning… so I had a lot of time on my hands. Anyway… I was sitting there in the restaurant when two people came in and sat down at the table across from mine… a mother and her teenage son. I didn’t even really look at them until I saw the boy, who had his back to me, got out a rubik’s cube and started messing with it. I took note of this because I enjoy playing with a rubik’s cube from time to time. In fact Jennifer would tell you that I mess with way to much. I couldn’t help but notice that he was solving and then scrambling the thing so fast that it looked as though he was doing it several times a minute. I asked him how he learned to solve it so fast and he said he read about it online. He said he was 14 and had been doing it for about a year. His mom proceeded to tell me that he was headed to Stanford in a couple weeks to compete in the Rubik’s Cube National Championships. His personal best on the 3×3x3 cube was 13.01 seconds. 13.01 SECONDS!! I’ve been toying with the rubik’s cube for like 7 or 8 years (not consistently) but my best time is only 2 minutes. He then got out his 4×4x4, 5×5x5 and his tetrahedron and said he’ll be competing with those as well. It was definitively cool watching someone solve a Rubik’s Cube in under 15 seconds.

Training for Marathon

Yep… I’ve gone and done it. I’ve signed up to run the Marine Corps Marathon here in Washington DC. The race is on October 25th so this week marks 16 weeks until race day. I honestly always thought that people who ran marathons were crazy and I always said I would never run one… well, never say never. Two years ago I ran the MCM 10K and raised money in support of the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS). Once again I am raising money for TAPS but this year I’ve decided to stretch myself even further by running the entire marathon. I am running in memory of 1Lt Ray C. Owens. I was his sons mentor at the annual TAPS Good Grief Camp here in DC.

I have decided to try and raise $50 per mile I run. If I reach that goal by August 1st I will raise my goal to $100 per mile. If you would like to sponsor me and make a donation to TAPS click here.

To learn more about TAPS and what they do for families who have lost loved ones to military service visit their website at http://www.taps.org/

Back in the Saddle

I’ve started taking classes again for my Master’s degree. It’s been a long time coming… I’m going through Liberty University. I’m taking two classes this summer. Seems weird taking classes again after being away from it for so long. One nice thing about being in the military is that my classes are paid for with tuition assistance from the Air Force. To pay it back I have to serve two more years in the Air Force after my last class is completed. Small price to pay for a free Master’s Degree if you ask me. I still have to pay for my books… but that’s chump change compared to classes at $250 a credit hour.

Taking classes online is a lot different than taking them in the classroom. However, with the use of the Internet, it does make it pretty straight forward. I would say to anyone thinking about going back to school for bachelor’s or master’s that they should seriously consider doing it online… and Liberty comes highly recommended. Not only do they have a great online environment, all their instructor’s are committed Christians and teach the classes from a Biblical point of view whenever possible.

TAPS

The Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors is a great program… read more about it by clicking the link below.

Chairman Lauds Group for Work With Families of Fallen Warriors

“All of us know that nobody goes through life alone — nobody,” Navy Adm. Mike Mullen told those gathered for the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors Honor Guard Gala. “[And] nobody should have to go through grief alone. It’s really that that TAPS does so well.”

Bonnie Carroll started TAPS after her husband, Army Brig. Gen. Tom Carroll, an Alaska National Guardsman, was killed in a plane crash in 1992. Seven others died in the same crash. TAPS, a nonprofit organization, provides ongoing peer-based support to anyone who is grieving the death of a loved one who served in the armed forces. It brings together survivors for comfort, healing, and hope through grief seminars for adults and its Good Grief Camps for children.

Letter Me Later

Ever wish you could type up an email and have it sent at a later date? If you are a Microsoft Outlook user you may have used this function. Outlook allows you to specify a date and time for a message to be sent and then, when you send it, the message is saved to your outbox. The message is then sent at the specified time and it doesn’t matter if your computer is on or not. Many, many people have requested, through the Google Labs Forum, to have this feature added to Gmail. People have listed a wide range of reasons for wanting Google to develop the capability ranging from typing up birthday messages early, to business use, to just casual use if you’re going to be away from the computer for an extended period. Over the past couple months I have been watching the Google Labs Forum and I would say this service is requested multiple times a day with no response or reaction from anyone at Google. Instead of developing something useful like a delayed send service they seem to be busy developing services for people who drink to much instead. So, since Google seems to be busy developing applications for lushes, try Letter Me Later if you find yourself in the need of delaying the send of an email.