You could not have asked for a more beautiful morning with perfect, slightly cool weather, for getting out and doing a little bit of volunteer work. My wife and I grabbed a few garden tools and headed just down the street to Timberwilde Elementary where we joined several members of the GNW A-Team along with teachers and students from the school for a little bit of yard work.
The outdoor classroom was actually created several years ago as part of a project for a local GNW Eagle Scout. It is located just in the southeast part of the school in a greenbelt. With trails outlined in rock and covered in crushed decayed granite, the teachers can take their classes outdoors to see the various plants, xeriscaping and different garden areas.
In the center, large boulders have been brought in to create a classroom set-up. It really is a great idea and just needed a little TLC to keep it up.
With assistance from NISD, new landscaping material was brought in to refresh the trails, but they still needed the manual labor to spread the material, weed-eat the over grown weeds and mow some of the heavier grass.
With teams of students and adults pitching in, the entire area was covered with people working to get the classroom ready for use by the school.
Some students created little tasty bagels for birds, covered in peanut-butter and topped with birdseed. When the classroom isn't in use, I'm sure the little birds and squirrels in the area will appreciate the area too.
The Great Northwest A-Team participates in events like this in an effort to show our support for local schools like Timberwilde, Knowlton, Connally and Zachry. The schools make an effort to teach students about the value of volunteering in the community, and by having A-Team members support them, it demonstrates to the students that volunteerism is a great way to have fun and give back to the community, even when you are an adult. If you'd like to learn more about the A-Team, send me a note and I'll put you in touch with the right folks.
I was looking at the service that tells me who visits and how often when I noticed a hit on this particular blog entry I made in 2007.
Goofy stuff.
Slipping into Public Service Announcer voice: if you happen to live in The Great Northwest area of San Antonio, the following items may be of interest to you:
- Thursday, 15 October @ 7:30pm - Meeting of the GNW Board of Directors at the Lodge. They will be presenting the Independent Auditors report.
- Saturday, 17 October @ 8:00 to noon - The A-Team will assist Timberwilde Elementary students in doing a clean-up of their outdoor classroom. If you have ever thought about giving the A-Team a try, this would be a good chance. 8am at Timberwilde Elementary.
- Saturday, 17 October @ 10:00 to 3:00pm - The Great Northwest Library celebrates the 15th Anniversary. The new Friends of Great Northwest Library will be there to give out information on their new group. Please stop by and check them out.
- Saturday, 17 October @ 8:00PM to midnight, the GNW will hold the Adult Halloween Party (for GNWCIA members only) at the Lodge of the Great Northwest. BYOB. See Passages for more info.
And there you have your community announcements...
If you have been following along during this last week, you’ll know that I made a trip to Florida for what seemed like just an extended eating binge. That is mostly true, in fact upon my return late last night, I checked in with the Wii-Fit, and the little voice not only said "ouch" when I stood on the platform, it said, "Holy Cow!"
Though I have written about places I travel while on business, my personal trips are usually in the company of my wife who was obviously absent during the past week (aside from commenting several times about my forthcoming week of harsh salad treatment). Anyway, I waited until now to let you readers in on the reason for my solo trip.
This had been planned a month or so ago to be a short, one full day trip to visit my son in PCB. Regulars may recall that not long ago, my wife’s brother passed away after a long illness, and at the time of planning the trip, she simply didn’t know if she would be in any mood or condition to join in on such an important event, thus she asked me to go alone.
On Wednesday, my son graduated from a rigorous Air Force course in Air Battle Management. Those are the guys who fly up on the AWACS and control the military aircraft over a battlespace. I was to fly in on Tuesday afternoon, attend the graduation on Wednesday and turn around and fly out on Thursday to return to San Antonio.
Less than a week before leaving, I received a call from my sister asking me if I could come down to Brandon this weekend to surprise my father for his 81st birthday. In the old days, I could have just called the airlines and changed my tickets and made it all work out. In the world of Expedia and Priceline and such; not so easy. I was left with the option of either flying back to San Antonio Thursday and getting back on a flight to Tampa Friday, or doing what I did – having my son drive down with me to Tampa and driving back to catch a flight. I simply ate the price of the original return flight from PCB to San Antonio – the alternative was to pay an adjustment of over $900. No thanks. Instead, I got a one way ticket from Ft Walton Beach (about 50 miles from PCB) to San Antonio for about $300. I know, it sucks but that’s life these days. By the way, if you know of a way that I can get lower priced tickets, please don’t taunt me with it. I may just cry like the little baby seated in 14B.
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So the first part of this is the graduation. Both of our kids are in the military and we could not be any prouder of them. I knock on wood every time I say just how lucky Eva and I are to have the kids that we have, only because I’m sure many of you know people who, sometimes through no fault (or very little fault) of the parents, have kids that are little hellions. With each accomplishment, we pinch ourselves simply because we know that we are lucky to have raised some fine offspring.
I did not realize the extent of intricate training that goes into learning how to control aircraft, the massive stack, literally volumes of information that must be learned and retained and then the "get it" factor in performing the job he is being trained to do. Either you get it, or you don't, and many don't.
Thankfully, years of playing Nintendo and PlayStation actually did result in something positive. The school allowed students to take in family members to see the training facilities and I got to observe a class performing a training mission. My son took me into a room where he was able to bring up a screen showing the live (simulated) action and even though I have a fairly good understanding of how aircraft operations occur, it was impressive to observe. He had me put on the headphones to listen to the action, and it was unbelievable to hear multiple voices all talking over the various radio channels simultaneously. I asked him how everyone can know who is saying what and he told me that you just have to know what you are listening for. I think if I was a pilot, I'd pop in a CD of that Ride of the Valkyries and hope for the best.
The graduation ceremony was a typical military production with guest speaker, gifts to instructors, certificates presented and finally, the pinning on of the occupational badge.
Afterward, we retreated to the "Heritage Room" (squadron bar) and enjoyed cake and refreshments.
Though it would have been nice if Eva could have made the trip, I'm pretty sure I was proud enough for both of us.
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Being in the military is more than just the service of doing a job, working long hours, lots of training and in many cases, going into harms way. For many people who have never had a family member serve, they have a limited idea formed around patriotic scenes of loved ones leaving to go overseas or the tears of joy when a unit returns to the cheers and hugs of happy family members. Very few people outside of the military fully understand the sacrifice that entire families make even if their soldier, sailor, marine or airman doesn't go off to war.
When my father served and during most of my military assignments, there was no Internet to send daily e-mails loaded with pictures or live video streaming for people to stay in touch. Hell, I knew of guys who amassed $500 a month phone bills just trying to hold a marriage together while serving a remote tour in Korea. And while our service members have a much easier time of staying in touch with loved ones thanks to cell phones and streaming video, nothing can replace actually being there in person.
When my father left for boot camp at the age of 17 he left home only to return a dozen or so times in the next 35 years or so before both of his parents would pass away. It wasn't a matter of not wanting to return, it was a matter of distance and economics. When a son or daughter chooses the military as a career, there is a very good possibility that when they retire, it will not be in the town they grew up in, and that was certainly true for my father, and it is the same for me.
As my parents get older, I am so very happy that I have numerous brothers and sisters who decided to live their lives in and around the town my parents retired in. And I am also happy that I have never been made to feel guilty for not moving back to Florida.
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My only recollections of my father's mother are of a very confused woman. My grandmother had a stroke that resulted in the loss of her near term memory, but she seemed to have crystal clear recollection of everything prior to the most recent 15 years. She had been a school teacher and I vaguely remember talk of that, but mostly, during our handful of visits, she needed everyone to know that she lived at 22 Wilson Avenue, Rising Sun, MD. I think it is also pretty clear that my grandmother had no idea who I was, since she thought I was a little girl named Daisy. That will bolster a 10 year-old's ego.
Last year, my father suffered a stroke and though he has done very well in his recovery, there is no glossing over the fact that as people get older, they tend to forget stuff (hell, I'm only in my mid forties and it has started), and having a stroke only compounds this. Weekly phones calls that once lasted twenty minutes or so have become much shorter and generally center around generic familiar things like the weather or the fact that the Tampa Buccaneers are 0-5.
And now, some 28 or so years after leaving home to join the military, it is not such a pleasant thought to watch your father begin to fade via long distance phone call in the same way he had to watch his parents go - without being there.
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My son and I pulled into Brandon Friday afternoon and had coordinated meeting my sister in the parking lot of my parents Condo community. So as not to catch my father off guard, my mom had been preparing him for a visitor and then when we arrived, she let him know it was my son and I coming to visit. It was only in May of this year that we visited last, and in that short time, things have changed. Time flies.
On Saturday, we took my parents to the big mall in Brandon and I was pleased to see that my dad can still move around with ease. My mother seems to have recovered fully from knee surgery earlier this year and the walking in the mall helped quite a bit. I have to be honest, when you walk with an older couple and they are your parents, you suddenly become cognizant of the fact that in general, most of us younger whipper-snappers are complete inconsiderate assholes. I have always felt like I was kind to older folks, but I have a renewed interest in being kind to the old fart at HEB blocking the aisle, the old man in a hat driving 12 miles an hour on the interstate (in the left lane) and in general, folks just trying to enjoy their retirement years at a slower pace. If I have honked at your grandmother as she has driven on Loop 410, I'd like to apologize.
Later that afternoon, we had the big party at my sister's home where the brothers and sisters that live nearby showed up, and my two sisters who live out of state joined us via Skype to sing Happy Birthday to my father. Can you imagine all the birthdays my father missed during his years traveling in the military (he missed my birthday for 6 years straight), if we had just had Skype or some such capability in the 1960's and '70's?
Before we left, he told me that he was glad that I came to visit. He confessed that he had no idea who my son was when we first showed up on Friday, but that the conversations and questions helped him remember quite a lot of stuff he had not thought of in a while.
Screw the airlines; that's worth an extra $300.
You are probably familiar with the hamburger place with the funny name, Fuddruckers – good burgers but overpriced for my tastes - but in Destin and Ft Walton Beach, there are two restaurants with a similar name called Fudpuckers. Go ahead; take a moment or two to play with the pronunciation of the name and you’ll get the little joke. Very good.
So we crossed the Mid-Bay Bridge with the idea of going to a place called the Crab Trap (recommended via teleconference by my daughter who had been stationed briefly at nearby Eglin AFB) when my son saw Fudpuckers and said he had been wanting to try it out for some time. In we pulled and it was a good thing. We were both famished having driven from just outside Tampa for the previous 7 or so hours with only a cup of coffee and sausage biscuit.
Fudpuckers is a big restaurant full of lots to look at including the obligatory Sharpie markings of tourists eager to let future diners know they were there. They have some live alligators swimming around in the children's play area just to keep you entertained while you wait roughly 20 minutes to be seated, and there is the usual signage that I enjoy to keep me occupied as I dine.
There are multiple dining and bar areas, and the ones we saw all had several TV’s. They have one channel playing that is dedicated to playing music video interrupted only by occasional commercials made by Father Fud, I assume the owner of the place. He hawks Margaritas big enough for two people, T-shirts, and generally tells you throughout your meal that if you aren’t happy, to let someone know about it.
Our server, Michael was an older guy (well, at least my age I assume), and he was good, though apparently overworked with tables. We would find later that this was to our benefit. Michael took our drink order then brought us out a plate of complimentary hush puppies with some sort of dipping sauce. It was awesome! The hush puppies were really good but I noticed they tended to stick to my teeth. Must be some sort of paste they use to keep them together.
After taking our orders, and shortly after bringing us our salads, Michael showed up with another set of complimentary appetizers, this time some fried mushrooms and a small bowl of fried pickles. My son and I looked at each other and thought that perhaps because we had both ordered the all you can eat seafood platter, this was their way of making it worth the $19.99 each. In fact, my son even suggested that it was all a ploy to get us stuffed before we even tasted any seafood, thereby lessening the chance that we would eat them out of house and home. The fried mushrooms were simply delicious, though the fried pickles could have used a little seasoning.
The way they work the all you can eat seafood deal is, you order up four types of fish selected from fried fish, grilled fish, popcorn shrimp, fried shrimp, grilled shrimp, calamari, and something else – maybe scallops or something. Then you select two sides (we both ordered house salads, I had a baked potato and my son had fries). When you have cleaned your plate, you can then select two more types of seafood from the list. If you eat all the sides and the complimentary appetizers they bring out, and then you order up another platter of fish after polishing off the plate they bring out, you are one seriously hungry bastard.
For the purposes of comparison to say, Texas Roadhouse, the salad was disappointing. But for an all you can eat seafood situation, I could live with it. The croutons were hard and lacked flavor, so I picked at the salad and basically ate maybe half of it.
When we finished the second set of complimentary appetizers (the mushrooms and the fried pickles), I was already worried that I wouldn’t even make it through half my seafood.
My son ordered the grilled fish, the grilled shrimp, the fried shrimp and I’m guessing some fried fish. I ordered the calamari, fried shrimp, grilled shrimp and fried fish. They came with a host of dipping sauces including some sort of honey thing, some cocktail sauce that was just awful, some tartar sauce and something else. We both agreed that the grilled and fried shrimp were both very good. His grilled fish was also good. They loaded up my platter with calamari, and like any calamari, while it is still steaming hot, it was good. But I only ate less than half of it. The fried fish had a good taste, but the batter it was fried in had that same sticky texture to it, and in fact, it was reminiscent of Mr. Cod. It was impossible to cut with just my fork, and that is not good. My baked potato came with butter and sour cream, but given the circumstances, it was only worth picking at.
Our waiter came out to see if we were ready for a second serving of fish and as you can guess, we weren’t even close to joining the Clean Plate Club. He seemed genuinely shocked that we would order the all you can eat fish and only have one serving. But, in looking at the menu, we had figured out ahead of time that the fish and shrimp platter was the same price as the all you could eat. By ordering the all you can eat, we got to try more than just the fish and shrimp. And of course, they gave us all those free appetizers.
Oh. And then there was the free appetizer thing. As it turns out, Michael really was stretched a little thin what with being the only server in our part of the restaurant, and he got the tables mixed up. There was a couple seated behind us who were pissed off that they did not receive their complimentary appetizers that they seemed to have a coupon for. Oops! Michael apologized profusely to them and of course, did not charge us for the inadvertent appetizers. Yay!
In the end, it was all good. Considering the amount of food we put down, the price (before tip) was under $50.00 was reasonable, especially for the atmosphere of the place. We were able to watch the second half of the Cowboys – Kansas City game on a big TV in one of the outer bars before heading for the Ft Walton Beach airport.
If you are looking for a cool place to take the family – especially kids who’d like to play around live alligators, or if perhaps you wanted to sit at one of the many bars and watch a game, this would be a nice place during your vacation. If you are looking for real quality seafood dining and not much more, you could probably do better at one of the many other places to eat in Destin.
My son and I left PCB en route to Brandon and drove for several hours before both agreeing that it was probably time to get some vittles. Since we knew there was a Panera Bread in Gainesville, we thought that would be a heart healthy choice, what with all the abuse my body had endured in eating out over the previous several days.
We pulled off of I-75 and drove into the assortment of restaurants that line the streets to accommodate the more than 50,000 students who attend the University of Florida. Just as a side note, I did not understand the enormity of the student population of Gators until recently, and one time seeing a group of Florida Volleyball (I think) players at the airport in San Antonio, I casually asked a young girl if she knew my nephew, Andy. Yea. She looked at me with that look that girls give creepy older guys and I pretty much grabbed my luggage and slithered away. If I see the volley ball team again, I'll ask her if she knows Tommy, Andy's younger brother who also attends Florida; what are the chances two brothers would go to the same school at the same time, right?
Anyway, we pulled into the Panera and come to find out, right next door is Moe's Southwest Grill. My son reports that Moe's is awesome, so, forgetting all about the healthy benefits of a nice salad or a lean sandwich, in we go for huge burritos.
As soon as we walked in the door, we got the loud "Welcome to Moe's" yell from the staff and made our way to the menu board. All you need to know about Moe's is something called the "Homewrecker", and the fact that the place was clean, and reminiscent of Subway or any of the places where you go down a line telling the guy what you want to add to your heart attack in a large tortilla.
Don't get me wrong, I suspect this is considered healthy food, and in fact, I went with the black beans instead of the regular. That has to be healthy. But when you are allowed to tell the guy you want sour cream and guacamole and they are willing to throw it on like whipped cream on a sundae - at no additional charge - I'm loading up.
The end result is, you get this enormously huge burrito filled with rice, beans, chicken or beef (my son had chicken, I had the beef), sour cream, guacamole, cheese, jalapenos, black olives, and whatever combination of stuff you could think of, and then it is rolled up and served with lots of napkins and some nacho chips. My God, look at that thing!
My burrito was very good and it really was all I could do to shovel the last few bites down my gullet, even though I came in extremely hungry. In Florida or other places, this is probably really awesome cuisine, but in San Antonio, why the heck would you even consider something of this nature. Dare II say it? We have more Taco Bells than you can shake a stick at (what does that mean, anyway). I can find ten places between Silver Creek and my office that would serve up huge burritos for a fifth of the price. Having said that though, there is a Moe's in San Antonio up in Stone Oak in case you want to see it first hand.
The outdoor classroom was actually created several years ago as part of a project for a local GNW Eagle Scout. It is located just in the southeast part of the school in a greenbelt. With trails outlined in rock and covered in crushed decayed granite, the teachers can take their classes outdoors to see the various plants, xeriscaping and different garden areas.
In the center, large boulders have been brought in to create a classroom set-up. It really is a great idea and just needed a little TLC to keep it up.
With assistance from NISD, new landscaping material was brought in to refresh the trails, but they still needed the manual labor to spread the material, weed-eat the over grown weeds and mow some of the heavier grass.
With teams of students and adults pitching in, the entire area was covered with people working to get the classroom ready for use by the school.
Some students created little tasty bagels for birds, covered in peanut-butter and topped with birdseed. When the classroom isn't in use, I'm sure the little birds and squirrels in the area will appreciate the area too.
The Great Northwest A-Team participates in events like this in an effort to show our support for local schools like Timberwilde, Knowlton, Connally and Zachry. The schools make an effort to teach students about the value of volunteering in the community, and by having A-Team members support them, it demonstrates to the students that volunteerism is a great way to have fun and give back to the community, even when you are an adult. If you'd like to learn more about the A-Team, send me a note and I'll put you in touch with the right folks.
