My last triathlon "come-back" was 2003-2007. I joined the forum back then, but I wasn't much of a social media person at the time. These days tho, a helova lot more of my buddies are on social media, so there's a lot more fun to be had. Fun being defined as "hanging out with buddies".

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Books @ Amazon
"If only he had used his genius for niceness, instead of Evil." M. Smart

I think it'd be funnier if we all tried introducing and defining other posters.

I'll give it a truncated start: Slowguy possesses insights into women.

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War is god

My last triathlon "come-back" was 2003-2007
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Who in the hell takes 4 years as a 'come-back'? How slow are you?

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Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/

Scott you seem like a decent enough dude and will fit in just fine here.

The fact that you were both a Jarhead and Army Doggie confuses me, but Rangers are all right by me.

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Suffer Well.

Dangerously close to the line here. BLeP is about to chime in

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"I think I've cracked the code. double letters are cheaters except for perfect squares (a, d, i, p and y). So Leddy isn't a cheater... "

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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR

My father was slaughtered by a six-fingered man. He was a great swordmaker, my father. When the six-fingered man appeared and requested a special sword, my father took the job. He slaved a year before it was done.

The six-fingered man returned and demanded it, but at one tenth his promised price. My father refused. Without a word, the six-fingered man slashed him through the heart. I loved my father. So naturally, I challenged his murderer to a duel. I failed. The six-fingered man left me alive, but he gave me these.

I was eleven years old. And when I was strong enough, I dedicated my life to the study of fencing. So the next time we meet, I will not fail. I will go up to the six-fingered man and say, "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

pretty much all there is to know about me

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I talk to myself because mine are the only answers I'll accept - George Carlin

How about you introduce yourself by telling us which of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers you are and how you came to that as your life's calling?

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Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/

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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR

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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR

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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR

Does your apartment smell like rich mahogany? Are you friends with Merv Griffin? I bet you're constantly working on your guns.

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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR

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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR

It was a really long race.


I was a Marine as a youngster. I was very impressed with the Marine officers I worked with. Near the end of school I decided, what the hell, I want to see what I'm made of so I went to the local strip mall with all the recruiting offices. I walked into the USMC recruiting office to sign up to be an officer in the United States Marine Corps.
Me: Gunny, I'm about to graduate from college and I want to go to Officer Candidate School.
Gunnery Sergeant recruiter: Sorry kid, OCS has been full for 10 months. You want to get on the waiting list?

When I was back out on the sidewalk, all deflated re. the complete failure of my life's plan, i was all "well, wtf do I do now?"

So I went next door to the Navy recruiter. They had a big poster of a Navy Seal. I didn't know what they were, this was '88 Hollywood hadn't found them yet, but it was a really cool poster. So I pointed to the poster and
Me: So tell me about these Navy Seals.
Sailor NCO: Do you swim?

At this point I'd been on the school's triathlon team for 3yrs, so I was doing a helova lot of swimming. I just wasn't much good at it. It was the cycling and running that carried me. I thought that the sailor was asking me if I swam competitively. I don't know why the hell I leaped to that conclusion. In retrospect it doesn't make any sense. But I was hopped up on hormones wanting to prove how tough I was, and I wasn't any brighter than any other 26yr old. What I knew for sure is that the folk's on the school's swim team were much faster than I. So that made for a clear answer to this logical question "do you swim competively?" re. this mystery elite naval force.

Me: No.
Sailor NCO. Well, sorry, then you can't be a Navy Seal.

I was now 0 for 2 in charting my life's road.

So I went next door to the Army recruiter. I'd read lots of books over the past decade re. the exploits of the Marines, but all I knew about the Army was that "we" held them in low esteem. The Army recruiting office had this big poster of a US Army Ranger. I didn't know who they were, but it was a really cool poster. And I remembered that there'd been a total stud dude, a couple years older than me, in HS and all he talked about was becoming a Army Ranger. Damned if he hadn't owned that same poster at his house.

Me: So tell me about these Army Rangers.

And that's how it happened.

In retrospect, I kinda regret not ending up a Marine officer. With only one exception, every Marine officer I ever met was awesome. Army officers are a lot more average. Some are awesome, many are average, some are fat lazy oxygen thieves. I was really proud to be a Marine. I was never proud to be in the Army.

A problem with going off to be a Marine officer is that it's very difficult to get the branch (job area) that you want. I could go to OCS, all hot to be a Marine Corps Infantry Officer, do fine in OCS, yet end up an Administration Officer charged with preparing clerk typists for combat. Totally could have happened. Me, being young and full of myself you know, not like "now" (irony alert), I was all "give me Infantry or give me death". I was so full of ignorant moxie back then that I was practically a lunatic.

The SEAL thing could have been cool too. But one of the things that I learned about myself is that I wasn't as terrific as I thought I was. Shocking sure, but at the time this was a fascinating lesson because it was my first exposure to guys, under very difficult conditions, that were genuinely tough. Not in a loud brash way, but in a quiet and unassuming way. There's guys that are really hard, and really smart. They can absorb huge privations of hot/cold/wet/hungry/exhausted, and it just doesn't seem to phase them much. They're always watching and aware, and they're always thinking ahead. I never knew guys like that existed and I was not their equal. I could play the role of "inexhaustible reserves of toughness" for a while, but the amount of energy needed to maintain that will suck me dry. At some point, I'll screw up. I won't see something, I won't see a problem coming, because I'm worn out and feeling sorry for myself. And that's what separated me from the studs. So there's no guarantee that I would have had what it took to make it thru BUDS and the various follow-on SEAL training. I might have screwed it up. And it would have been a bummer to fail.

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Books @ Amazon
"If only he had used his genius for niceness, instead of Evil." M. Smart

+1

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king of the road says you move too slow
KING OF THE ROAD SAYS YOU MOVE TOO SLOW

I was born a poor black child. I remember the days, sittin' on the porch with my family, singin' and dancin' down in Mississippi.

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I miss YaHey

First rule of the LR. nobody really cares about your history, past, raison d'etre. You will be defined and pigeon holed by your posts.
I am probably treated as mostly harmless, and only really taken seriously in issues of fine woodworking techniques.
If you are really interested, a Canadian now perm resident in the USA, paleontologistst, biostatistician, turned ai programmer, turned IT architect, turned fine furniture builder. And nobody here gives a rats ass about any of that, but it is a fun group to hang out with.

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Jim
"In dog beers, I've only had one"
http://www.shakercolonial.com/
Creating custom made furnishing to your requirements

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Proud member of the MSF (Maple Syrup Mafia)