So here I sit in a Hampton Inn along a Pennsylvania Turnpike NE of Harrisburg. Up the road a bit is Fort Indiantown Gap. Don't know what that is? That is okay, neither did I. Basically it is the HQ of Pennsylvania National Guard and a large Army Reserve Training Center. We are here because it is also the closest large simulation center to Washington D.C. So this is "hands-on week" The blog title references the restaurant owner today that told me not to try another nearby place because it was bought out by "Egyptians, or Indians, or Greeks or somethin'" Hmmmmmmm. It is exciting to see all the simulation advances. This one (link) is especially exciting because it is basically an enhancement of my favorite PC combat sim, which I always felt would make a great training system. I will post the youtube video too.

I have spent the last hour trying to figure out how to post to multiple blogs at once. No luck for the PC, at least nothing that worked for me. It looks like Mac has a payware program called Ecto for all you rich people. I will just cut and paste.

I hate TV, but I watch it. So glad we hardly watch it at home. It is so easy to mind melt. Just wanted to add that.

D.C. has been fun. Lots of great memories with Dave and Kay-Kay and Wa-Wa. Although I have yet to go off on a server for lack of a club salad:-) And, I think "Hermy" would be OK left in the car right now Dave, or maybe he would freeze to death. The new WWII memorial is amazing. I know Kay-Kay would have loved to seen that; they cared so much about those servicemen that passed through their home on the way to hell. It is good to see them have such a wonderful memorial. I still run around the national mall regularly. It is inspiring and a great length for a long run (5.7 miles...well unless you are superheroes like Tracey or Tom or Dave. You may have to run around the state of Maryland too) My run route starts at the Lincoln memorial, then I run along the very edge of the reflecting pool, through the arches of the WWII memorial, up to the Washington Monument back down the little hill and then a long run up the dirt path to the capitol building, loop around By the Supreme Court building and then back to the Lincoln Memorial on the same route. Usually I will sit and read the Gettysburg address while I cool down and contemplate the line:


"It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."


And I guess when I think about that, I don't just think about Soldiers I lost in Iraq, or those that died at Gettysburg but all those that sacrificed for what the nation is supposed to be: pilgrims, pioneers, revolutionaries, inventors, slaves, civil-rights activists, mothers, and more. Basically Americans that gave their all. It is inspiring. We are going to spend Friday afternoon at Gettysburg on the way back. That has been something I have wanted to do for a while.

I am so happy to know I will be home to be a real husband and father here soon (17 days) Brooke has been a champ but is understandably hitting the wall right now. My job situation is still a little ambiguous, but it will have to work itself out, right? They still have to pay me:-\

Marnie, thanks for the playlist idea. Except for lame-Os like Mom, Dave, Tom, Treven, Peter, and Tracey, it worked out pretty well and was alot of fun.

I saw Slumdog and it really is fantastic. But, having said that, I am boycotting the Oscars because Gran Torino got snubbed. What a shame and it just shows how ridiculous that competition has become. It is like the BCS of movies.

Well, time to go.

Mike