Burgers, brews, and tunes

Last night Jen and I met our friends Pete and Jen out downtown for the Matt Costa concert at the Casbah. We decided to grab a bite to eat in Little Italy beforehand, and we were going to meet at Filippi's for pizza, but it was slammed so instead we wandered down to Burger Lounge. I'd never been, but Jen had been once in Coronado, and she said it was good. It's a trendy little burger place with modern orange lighting, microbrews on tap, a minimalist menu (just beef burgers, turkey burgers, and veggie burgers), and hefty prices. Jen and I each had a burger and a beer, and we split an order of fries/onion rings. The total price tag: $33. Yowza! It was a good burger, though, and the company was great, so it was well worth it.

After dinner we shot over to the Casbah for the show. Doors were at 8:30pm, which seemed late, but we figured the opener would go on around 9:00 or so, so it didn't seem to late. Once we got inside the doors we headed to the little bar in the back to hang out, have another beer, and wait for the show to start. And we waited. And we waited. The opener, Wire Pony, finally went on around 11:00. They were a pretty good alt-country band that sounded a lot like Ryan Adams. The coolest part of their show was that the lead singer was the rhythm guitarist's dad. Matt Costa finally came on around midnight. He played the first 5 or so songs acoustic, by himself. I was extremely impressed. He's eccentric, but more than anything he's an entertainer and extremely talented. Over the course of the set he played the guitar, piano, trumpet, and harmonica, and his bandmates swapped instruments after almost every song. They played a bunch of new songs, and I'm really excited for his new album. It reminded me a lot of The Shins last album; very few of the new songs have typical poppy 3 or 4 chord progressions, and the instruments, even live, layer in an interesting way. The Casbah's a great place to see a show anyway, since it's such a small venue. We were probably 15' from the stage the entire night. The sound was less than great, but it was a great show, and I'll trade a small venue with crappy sound that gives you a great experience for a large venue with great sound that keeps you disconnected from the artists. If I wanted great sound I'd play my iTunes through my stereo. Thanks Pete and Jen for a great night. We'll have to do it again some time.

Marine Corps Birthday Ball!

Semper Fi, Devil Dog!

It's that time of year. Halloween's a quickly fading memory, Thanksgiving's just around the corner, and smack dab in the middle? The Marine Corps Birthday Ball.

The ball is the quintessential example of "mandatory fun": slightly annoying prior to the event, but well worth it once you get there. It inevitably perturbs me that I have to spend time, energy and money getting my uniform set up, from having medals and ribbons mounted to drycleaning. Meanwhile, Jen's annoyed that she has to expend the same to get her hair and nails done, buy a dress, buy shoes, buy a new purse (okay, so I don't think she minded getting the new shoes and purse). Here's a funny story. As part of preparing for the ball I ordered Jen a corsage. Nothing big, just a little wrist corsage made with mini red roses. I thought it would be sweet since I'm pretty sure the last time I've seen her have fresh flowers to werar for an occasion was our wedding. I guess that should have clued me in. So here I am thinking I'm going to score all kinds of points because she's going to think it's so cute that I bought her a corsage. I walk upstairs where she's getting ready, hiding my hands behind my back so she can't see the present. I told her, "I have something for you." She looked me quizzically for a second, then said, and I'm not making this up, "That better not be a corsage."! Bummer. Needless to say, she laughed for about an hour at the fact that I thought it was socially acceptable for a grown woman to wear a corsage to a formal event. I laughed along with her at myself, how could I have been silly? Secretly, though, I was sure that at least one other woman would have a corsage at the ball and that once we were there Jen would wish she had her beautiful floral bracelet with her after all. I was wrong. No corsages anywhere. I checked.

But once you're there, it's all worth it. For those of you who have never been, every Marine Corps Birthday Ball has two constants. The first is the pomp, circumstance, and tradition that permeates the entire affair. A full band (I'm talking trumpets and drums not guitars and keyboards, here) sets the evening into motion and paces the ceremonial proceedings as the colors (translation: the Marine Corps flag and the US flag) are marched up and down through the ball room. Part off this ceremony is the birthday cake; the first piece goes to the oldest Marine present (they read his birthday aloud and snickers and chuckles arise from all around) and the second piece goes to the youngest Marine present (punctuated by groans and everyone present mentally calculating his/her age to see just how much older than the youngest Marine they really are). After the cake cutting, the guest of honor, typically a General or some such VIP, gets up and gives a little speech, and then we watch the Commandant's video message. Over the few years I've been in, I've really enjoyed the messages. They're generally very well produced, and alays avoid being too cheesy or corny. We've been at war the entire time I've been a Marine, and each Commandant has generally used the message as a way to recap the combat operations of the preceding year and to emphasize the stories of individual Marines sacrificing for each other. This year's message included the stories of Cpl Jonathan Yale and LCpl Jordan Haerter, two Marines who gave their lives in Ramadi, Iraq when a suicide bomber driving a vehicle borne improvised explosive device attempted to breach the gate of their compound. Cpl Yale and LCpl Haerter stopped him, but in doing so they also lost their lives. This particular story hit especially close to home because I lost some good friends this year. As always, the message reminded me why it is that we sacrifice as Marines.

The second constant is that everyone always looks so good! All the Marines look sharp in their blues (the best looking uniform our military has to offer, if I do say so myself). Their dates are all dressed to the nines, and by and large the dates are always shockingly better looking than their Marine counterparts. It never ceases to amaze me that my Marine buddies, with their ridiculous haircuts and oft exhibited neanderthal tendencies, manage to land such friendly, intelligent, well-adjusted, and beautiful women. I'm the prime example of this phenomenon. Jen, of course, looked jaw-droppingly gorgeous, and more impressive to me, she always seems to be so at ease in these social situations. The ballroom is filled with acquaintances she hasn't seen since the last Birthday Ball, and even then that she met only briefly, yet she's friendly and endearing to everyone I drag her through the room to talk to. Watching her interactions with all my coworkers and their spouses is probably my favorite part of the entire night.


Last year we cut out of the ball pretty early, but this year we closed it out. The DJ closed up shop around midnight, with about 80% of the dozen or so people that were left in the room all crowding the dance floor. All in all it was a great time, and the best part was, we took some pictures for once!

Shark watching!

Here Sharkie, Sharkie, Sharkie!

A few weeks back I found a website called Groupon.com. They have pages for most of the major US cities, and the basic premise is that companies drastically reduce their prices, 40-60% in most cases, on everything from photography to massages to golf. The catch is that they only offer these deals if a certain number of people buy them. It's really a great deal; the company gets exposed to more first time customers and the customers get a great deal. Buywithme.com is another similar site.

The other day I saw a coupon by La Jolla Kayak. Jen and I always talk about how we need to do more things around town, so I jumped at the chance for us to do something fun here in SD. It was even better than we'd hoped! We shot down to La Jolla shores to pick up our life jackets and drop off our wallets in the lockers at the store. Despite the reservations of both Jen and the sales girl, I insisted on taking our digital camera to get some pictures. I mean, it was in a Ziploc sandwich bag, what could possibly go wrong, right???

We walked the two blocks from the store location in La Jolla Cove down to the beach, which was fun since it was my first time there and La Jolla Cove has a great beachy, laidback feel. We definitely need to go back soon to hit up some of the restaurants. Down at the beach we hopped in our two person kayak and headed out to sea. The girl at the store had given us a quick rundown on the route we should take, so we hung a left just past where the waves were breaking and headed toward the caves. Within minutes, we were surrounded by leopard sharks! It was crazy! We probably saw fifty sharks total, and I couldn't get enough of them. Jen wasn't quite as enthusiastic, but I think she enjoyed it anyway. We cruised over to the caves next, saw a bunch of orange garibaldi fish, cruised through the kelp beds, and made our way over to the rocks by Ellen Browning Scripps Park. The rocks were crawling with double-crested cormorants, and even sea lions! Our rowing techniques could use a bit of work, so we splashed ourselves every now and then, but the sun was out (it was about 75 degrees!) so it was great to be out on the water. All in all, it was a blast, and if you happen to be coming to SD for a visit any time soon, expect that we'll definitely be suggesting a kayak trip!

Gish... Hoag... Wedding (too cold, too cold...)

All right, stop! Calibrate and listen (so quoth Scott).

I neglected to mention anything in my last post about the greatest wedding ever to be had! Matt and Cara professed their undying, eternal, complete and total dedication to each other (no turning back now, guys) on the 24th of October up in Spokane at Gonzaga University in the student chapel. It was a beautiful wedding, and it was great to see everybody there. Of course, no trip back to Gonzaga would be complete without at least a night or two at Jack and Dan's. For old times' sake, Ian, Mike and I decided to do something ridiculous. Of course, that makes it sound like we had a plan. What actually happened was this: we had a few beers and got hungry. The kitchen portion of the bar isn't closed off to patrons, so Ian wandered into the kitchen, found a bag of bread, and found a toaster. We proceeded to make plain toast. It was delicious and hilarious. Kind of set the tone for the entire visit. It was great to see everybody!

Catching up...

All right, it's been a while. Time to get everbody back up to speed...

Welcome Home!
I got back from my latest deployment on July 31st. Jen was there to meet me at the fly-in with a huge banner (isn't that the sweetest thing ever? It's now hanging on the wall of our garage).

Cabo Cruise
We left a few days later for a Carnival cruise with a bunch of our friends. All my Marine Corps buddies thought I was insane to want to get back on a boat after having spent 7 months on one, but I figured this cruise would be a bit different and I was all for it. My reasoning was as follows:

• Food:
  
  • Deployment: Galley produced gruel. A cup's worth of salt in every meal, and mystery meat on every menu.
  • Cruise: All you can eat, 24 hours, and you'd actually like to eat it. To include ice cream. Booyah!
• Company:
• Deployment: Great guys, I mean some of the best coworkers you could ever ask to work with. Of course, you're working with them 24 hours a day. Every day. For 7 months.
• Cruise: Awesome friends.  And the best part is that you can hang out as long as you want to, and when you don't want to hang out any more, you can go to your room!
• Scenery:
• Deployment: The coast of Somalia.  (okay, so I can't really complain since I also saw Hawaii, Thailand, Jordan and the Philippines)
• Cruise: Beautiful Cabo San Lucas, and more importantly, my wife in a bikini!

The cruise, of course, was amazing. We met some new friends (who were extremely generous, and a great time to party with), and basically had the time of our lives. The itinerary was a day and a half at sea on the way to Cabo, then a full day in port, and another day and a half enroute back to San Diego. It was the most fun 5 days I'd had in a long time, but like everything that wonderful, before we knew it we were on our way back to San Diego.

2600 Strange Ave
I'm not exactly sure why, but for some reason we guys had decided before the cruise that it would be hilarious to each make a pair of cut off jean shorts (think Daisy Duke more than Chuck Norris; we called them "jorts") and to hand make an "Ed Hardy" t-shirt. I'm not sure what the impetus behind the "jorts" was; I guess it just seemed hilarious to bare our white thighs to the world, peeking out from under the cover of frayed denim. The homespun "Ed Hardy" on the other hand, was a bit more premeditated...

The popularity of this gaudy, tasteless clothing line, and others like it, over the past few years is annoying at best, and depressing at worst. If you're unfamiliar with the brand, the shirts are almost always either black or dark gray and on them are printed skulls, skeletons, avenging angels, crosses, fire, swords, armor, and more, and all printed in flourescent colors, or even gold. If these shirts were sported by skinny little dudes playing World of Warcraft, or re-enacting medieval battles with styrofoam swords, that would be one thing; I could see why they'd want to have an intimidating angel of vengeance on their chest. Inevitably, however, the guys really wearing the shirts are the type who spend way too much time in the gym, put on way too much cologne before they go out to the bars on the weekends, slop way too much gel in their hair, and yes, spend way too much on their t-shirts. Over the course of the cruise we ran across about a dozen of these "Ed Hardy" guys, and by day two we were sporting our own "Ed Hardy" tees poolside, complete with flourescent swords, etc. (courtesy of yellow, orange, blue and pink highlighters Ryan had the foresight to bring along in his suitcase). By the time the boat arrived back in SD, Ryan, Alex and I had decided that we enjoyed making our Anti-Ed Hardy tee shirts so much that we wanted to do it professionally. And so 2600 Strange Ave was born. We've been working feverishly at our latest business venture for the last two months getting t-shirts designed, the web site set up, and ironing out the legal bits, but we're nearing completion. We should be ready to roll here in the next few weeks (we're hoping for early December). I'll keep you posted.

Camping with Pete and Jen
In early September our good friends Pete and Jen invited us to head up to Mt. San Jacinto State Park (Google Map)with them for a weekend of camping, s'mores, hiking and guitar around the ol' camp fire (sans camp fire, of course since we're smack dab in the middle of fire season). It was an absolute blast and I highly recommend it to anyone who's looking for some soft-core camping (hot showers, toilets, and running water you can drink). We stayed at the Idyllwild campground right outside the town of Idyllwild, which is a neat little artsy, eclectic mountain town with organic restaurants and an art academy. Even up at 6,500 feet it was nice and warm during the day, but cool enough to break out the sweatshirts when the sun went down. We had a great day hike, some great food cooked over our camping stoves, and even broke out the "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" book from elementary school (thanks, Pete!). They seemed a lot scarier when I was 8, but I thought it was funny that they all ended with, "(now turn to someone sitting beside you and scream, 'Ahhh!')". We inevitably read that part out loud, completely disregarding the parentheses. Hilarious.

We're serious about hiking	Oh, how cute! His pink waterbottle matches her shirt!	Pete and Jen ready to crush Mt. San Jacinto!
I hope you understand your responsibility...	Success!	Pete got lost and Jen was trying to show him the way home.

Brian's 10-year Reunion

As frightening as it is for me to admit, this year was my 10 year high school reunion up in Marysville. The reunion itself was a pretty good time. It was held at the Tulalip Casino, which wasn't as nice as we had expected, but the only casinos we've visited are on The Strip in Vegas. Pretty hard to live up to that expectation, I guess.  It was great to catch up with everyone from high school, though. I thought the funniest part was that everyone seemed to have stayed just the way I'd remembered them. I expected people to have changed somehow; 10 years is a long time, a third of our lives at this point. Overall, I was glad that people hadn't changed, and I really enjoyed the opportunity to reconnect with people, even if it was just for the night. Besides, everyone seemed to know what everyone else was up to anyway, since we all have Facebook. God bless the 21st century!

Visiting Family
Jen and I decided to make a trip of it and see most of our family while we were up in Washington (sorry Dad, Wendy and Aaron, we love you guys too, we promise!  See you in Vegas for NFR).  It's always great to see family, and trips like this make us wish we lived closer so we could do it more often. 

Jen forced us to get ice cream

We ate it against our will. Especially the whipped cream.

The Schlosser girls

Work Updates
Jen's working her way through her Master's of Science in Nursing through a great distance learning program at Gonzaga. She's been pushing hard now for almost a year, and she should be done in another year and a half. Once she's finished she'll be a Nurse Practitioner, and at that point she'll be able to open her own clinic, see her own patients, and even prescribe medicine (in most states). Right now she's splitting her time at work (on top of being a full time student, she's still a full time nurse; how does that work? She's amazing.) between the cardiac floor and the cardiovascular lab treating patients who have just had coronary artery stents placed. She's toying with the idea of moving to the ICU in the spring.

I just moved to a new squadron. It's got a really macho sounding name (the Marine Aircraft Group 39 Tactical Training Unit), a colorful patch, and it's non-deploying (sort-of) so I'm happy. I'm getting to fly a lot and instruct on my new helicopter, so I'm having fun.

So that's pretty much it. We've done some home remodeling, which I'll update in later posts, but that about sums up the past two months. If you've made it this far, I applaud your dedication. Thanks for reading. It's good to be home...