Man Down! Man Down!

Well...it's afternoon in Alaska...and jet lag has hit me like Ward hits his calculator...hard.

WARD ALERT: Ward, a man that defines consistency, has survived me being gone from Anchorage for so long. In fact, I came back to find that his clothes were all over and the fridge was full of food and drinks...the man must have thrown a party and brought girls home. I have no doubt this was the case.

Anyway...so I made it back to Anchorage just in time to have Ward cook some Halibut that he recently caught. It was soooo good.

WARD ALERT 2.0: Ward has stuffed our freezer full of nearly 15,000 pounds of fish. I think he skipped work for 2 weeks and just went fishing.

Yesterday, after I got home and just before Ward made me dinner (yes, I said, "made me"), I went for a run on a trail near our apartment because I had been sitting down for nearly two days. Don't be fooled though...even though I once considered myself as "Oklahoma's greatest athlete in the world", my run soon became a jog...only to transition into a walk...and then a pant for oxygen as I sat on a bench for nearly 10 minutes.

But as I was running through a very wooded and dense park, I heard what sounded like paintball guns. Great...I'm gonna get shot. So I was running through while looking for the kid-soldiers. I soon ran into one and yelled at him, "hey, kid! Am I gonna get shot if I run through this area?" "No!" he yelled back, "they're just air-soft guns...you won't die."

Well...that didn't eliminate the possibility of getting shot. And I was wearing gray shorts and black fleece...just as this kid was wearing...so I looked like a target.

Eventually I became one...

So I rushed through the trees like Emmitt Smith rushed through the Bills in 1992...but I soon got destroyed much like when Thruman Thomas met, in both Super Bowls, Leon Lett...bullets began flying everywhere...I started yelling, "hey, I'm not playing!!!!!!!!!! STOP!" It didn't matter. I started getting pelted with little pellet-like bullets.

In total, I think I was shot about 7 times in the arm and back. But it felt like the Spanish Armada while meeting the British...real bad.

I don't want to confuse you - I survived the attack of the revolting Lost Boys last night. But it wasn't pretty. I don't know who they were or what in the world they were doing...cause I just ran. I wish that would have counted towards my 40 time in high school...but I think I ran 50 yards in about 3 seconds.

Isn't it great how Alaska welcomes people back?...by shooting at them.

Peace Out, Queen Lady!

In t-minus 12 hours, I'll be departing the humble island to travel back to the Midwest and back to reality in Alaska...the largest state known to man.

My time in England has been amazing. The class that I took was a struggle academically, but a lot of fun socially. I'll never forget the discussions that carry throughout the day and continue into the night. I'll never forget seeing buildings and books that are older than anything in America. And I'll never forget how much I cherish the Value Menu at McDonalds. Everything in England is about 73x more expensive than it would be in the U-better than everyone-S.

Example: Oh, would you like a burger? That'll be roughly $14. Cheese? $2. Tomato? $1.

England only has a couple of things on the United States:
1) Smaller streets (makes it easier to cross).
2) Skinnier people (gas is about $7-$8 over here...a gallon...so they have to walk.
3) Older everything.

Other than that...that's about all they have. And if that doesn't make you sleep better at night, then nothing else will. You live in America...we need to start telling the world, "you're welcome" for things like:

1) Microsoft
2) IBM
3) Apple
4) Airplane travel
5) Sea-Doos
6) The Ford Automotive assembly line
7) Levi Jeans
8) Landing on the moon
9) Beating the Soviets
10) Facebook
11) Disney
12) Nikelodeon
13) Garth Brooks
14) Boone Pickens
15) Horizontal Drilling
16) James Madison
17) Privatized Health Care
18) Capitalism
19) Amazon.com
20) Dallas Cowboys
21) Jimmy Johnson
22) Nolan Ryan
23) Yellowstone
24) KFC
25) Tupperware

And that's just a short list. My actual list is well over 250 things of which America should be proud.

So while my time in England has been fun, inspiring, and relaxing...I can't wait to get back to my beloved 'colonies' in the Americas.

Mom: please empty the washer/dryer...my socks really smell...

...and there she was...

Arriving in London around noon on Friday morning left little doubt that it would be a phenomenal weekend. The sun was shining, the emotions of everyone were electric, and...well...we were in London!

American Disclaimer: Don't worry, I never dropped my 'America is still better' attitude while in London. At any chance I could, I would always remind the Brits that "well, you're welcome for the WWII victory" or "yeah, that was us landing on the moon" and even a little "we didn't like your tea anyways".

Our time late Friday evening gave us skyline glimpses atop the London Eye. The view was spectacular. London, from the air, isn't as impressive as NYC, but it's not bad at all. All of this was precluded with our group visiting the Amnesty International Action Center. It was a state of the art building that centralizes A.I.'s marketing/campaigning. All of their resources are devoted towards mobilizing groups within the realms of advocacy, political lobbying, or grass roots activism. A.I. is a highly contraversial group, in my opinion, but the place was fascinating to view, inquire, and tour.

We stayed the night in a really good hostel (to my surprise...I've seen the movie). I didn't think hostels had showers...and that was a wonderful surprise. When we woke up, we had to rush to the Churchill War Cabinet Museum. Inside the museum, under a massive building just across from Parliment, was Churchill's secret bunker where most of the war, from the Brit's position, was conducted. Everything from his secretaries, War Cabinet, chief staffers, military advisers, etc all had little offices and action centers so that they could secretly and safely control the Brit's actions and reactions towards the world above. Most everything was left as it was when the room was abandoned after the war was completed. Basically, Churchill was incredible...

After that, Bubba and I wandered around most of London. And when I say "most"...I mean "most"...as in nearly all of it. We walked so much...and I complained plenty.

Nevertheless...there we were walking around in Harrad's (world's largest department store) looking at things we would never be able to afford.

Side note: I tried on a watch that cost nearly $10,000. I told them I needed something that was suitable for taking around many of my friends while I was flying my own private jet. Pretty much things like, "well, I hate heavy things on my hands...but I don't want to look like a slob in Manhattan...you understand of course." They bought it...but I didn't buy the watch. I told them, "I don't like the way the leather touches my wrist"...and I walked away like I was angry at them.

Anyway...we were looking for the other girls so we could meet up and head out of London to Cambridge...and there she was.

Coming out of an Armani section, she glided across the floor effortlessly and as if time was in her complete control. I simply stopped. And my jaw was on the ground. I literally ran into a rack of high fashion clothes when I first turned to look at her. She of course didn't notice. She looked as though she was a goddess from the Persian Empire. And she probably is for all that I know.

As she glanced over in my direction I was sweating.

And so there we were...her and I. And she looked at me too. Maybe she was looking past me at that point as I was standing near some purses...but I didn't care...because she was...well, pretty.

Standing nearly 50 feet from her...I tried to quickly think of everything that I had learned about talking to girls...and nothing was making sense in my head. And then I started day dreaming about what I would say if she looked at me and spoke to me. What if she asked for my name. Or asked for my number...or something like that.

But then...all that was good broke loose.

As I was day dreaming...she vanished. As quickly as she came, she left. When I wasn't looking for her, she appeared. And when she was there, I thought about what she could be, and then wasn't there anymore.

Is this the story of my life? Possibly. Doubtful. But nevertheless, she's out there...and now I have to go find her.

London

Good Sunday morning, all! It's still raining over here in England (apparently quite normal). I just got back into Cambridge from spending two days touring London.

Not to sound like an Olympian...but I probably walked 2,000 miles within the city. We saw everything from Amnesty International, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, to Harrad's.

The coolest part...my camera ran out of battery right before our private tour of Buckingham Palace...given by Her Royal Majesty, Queen Victoria...sorry. I know...isn't that awesome? But don't worry, I snapped a couple of sweet shots for your kid's scrapbooks.

Click HERE for pictures!

I'll write more tomorrow as it's quite late. Gotta get up early for church!!!

TEASER: I found her. As in...her...my lady. The lady. My love...

Still Pic'in

For some new pics from the Cambridge area: click HERE.

Also, I go to London this morning until late Saturday night...expect a London post real soon!

Cheer, Laddy.

Some Scholarly Pics...Ya'll

Click HERE for some warm up pics...

Feeling Smarter Already...

It's terribly rainy over here...but unlike the Midwest...the Cambridge drains actually drain all the water.

Gosh, what an academic setting I'm in over here. Our course work is both lecture based and discussion oriented. Today, we began our first session with an overview and insight into ethics and with worldview/leadership principles. All of it was very interesting to listen to and hear. Our professor lead the discussions and taught many things, but hearing insight and questions from others is what made the day. Each of us comes from something different and everyone is pretty darn smart.

We are in class from 9-12 and 2-4...which isn't bad at all. This afternoon, we did an exercise where we wrote down what our basic "virtues" were...in essence, we wrote down where we saw ourselves in a long time from now. Then after that, we found a partner and described that hopeful future and also elaborated on what kinds of people have influenced us the most and what kind of people have been our influence into what we wanted to become. It was all real cool to not only write it down, but hear other people talk about their pursuits and background. I talked with a kid named Austin from Yukon. But instead of sitting in the classroom (which is a very large room with a very, very large boardroom style table), we went and walked around Cambridge while talking. He had a cool story and is a cool guy.

Now don't kid yourself...I'm still looking for lady Eskimos over here. It's summer, but people are still bundled up because of the climate...so it's hard to find one with that special Eskimo physique. The ladies have their faults across the pond...mostly it's the bad teeth, bad fashion, and bad manners. So with that, if I happen to come home with a lady from England...beware...she'll be, well, awfully salty.

I kinda get the impression that the permanent students over here are constantly studying only for the sake of knowledge. There doesn't seem to be a sense of desired application. But maybe I don't have an appreciation for the classical education. If I want to learn something...it's because I want to do something with that knowledge...not just have it for the sake of being knowledgeable. Why study music for 3-4 years if you aren't going to play or do something directly related to music? Well, in Cambridge, you wouldn't be too far out of step...but possibly be celebrated.

Hopefully I'll take some pics tonight. Kids are complaining about how early the sun rises (5am)...poor them. And it's "so annoying" that it stays out real late...huh...

Cheers (such an English thing to say).