Just what the heck is going on here Al Gore...

It's 72 degrees with 66 percent humidity as I write this in Kaneohe Bay on the island of Oahu, Hawaii.

In Johnson City, Tennessee, the temperature right now is 63 degrees with 40 percent humidity.

While one of those stats is completely normal for any given Groundhog's Day in recent past, the latter is a tad bit unnerving.

Before you go flying off the handle ranting and raving about 'normal weather cycles' and 'global warming quacks', the average high for this day in East Tennessee is 46 degrees with the record high being set in 1989 at 70 degrees. The record low is 0 in 1981. Unfortunately, I remember that winter all too well.

Now maybe you're one of those people who want to blame that drastic temperature swing on the spike in minivan sales in the 80's, or maybe you believe there's a government cover up of alien terraforming in Central America that will soon be exposed by Charlie Sheen on YouTube. Hey...I'm not here to judge. All I know is something freaky is going on, and if things don't change, I've got a couple of unused sleds for sale...real cheap.

When Mrs. Tony C and I bought our current abode in 2008, I was excited about the location on a hill that was primo for sledding action. Finally, the Crazy Tomato is of sledding age, but unless we make a major investment in an artificial snow machine, she's stuck with scooter propulsion for the foreseeable future.



I'm guessing I'd be far more popular with my water department than neighbors if I took that leap...

The real problem is she doesn't really know what she's missing! With no prior sledding experiences to reference, all the Crazy Tomato knows about sledding she learned watching Frosty the Snowman a few weeks back and maybe an episode of Dumbest Stuff on Wheels...which I will neither confirm nor deny she watched with me one night while her mother was gone.

All I'm saying is while I'm thankful for wearing a short sleeve polo and Crocs to work today...wait...I wear that every day.

All I'm saying is while I'm thankful for not having to commute 23 miles in slush while surrounded by idiots with misplaced expectations for their four-wheel drive vehicles, it would be nice to do a little downhilling in the backyard with the kids at least once before time Springs forward and we're back at the pool.

Don't even get me started on the whole time change thing. What a crock (with a 'k') that is. I might move back to Hawaii where they don't change the time because someone in the government thinks it's a good idea.

For sale: Two unused sleds. Brand new. Be the first to break them in this winter. Buy one, get  one free...

It only feels really cold...

I posted last week about what a blessing it had been to reconnect with a few guys from my USMC days. You're looking at what was Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station in the late 80's and is now known as just Marine Corps Base Hawaii.

Yes, it's as gorgeous there as the picture looks...





I remember the cold, snowy day I learned KMCAS would be my first Marine Corps home. My Basic School (TBS) class had just finished our last field exercise and was humping (aka marching) back in to finish up. All newly commissioned Marine Officers attend a six month school in Quantico, VA regardless of the occupational field they go into once in the Fleet Marine Force. As a matter of fact, how you finish in your class (everything is graded) determines which field choice you get unless you have a flight contract (pilots) or are JAG (lawyers). It's six months of competition with 180 of the most competitive natured guys on the face of the planet that, mind you, have already endured the rigorous requirements necessary for a commission to start. Unmatched in any other branch of the service...it's just plain brutal.

In my TBS class of Fox Company '86, less than 10 points separated #1 from #178 after literally dozens of test covering subjects from Marine Corps' history to company-sized tactics to physical endurance. The Corps uses careful screening and then Officer Candidate School to weed out applicants who can't make the cut. Typical attrition at OCS is better than 50%, and you are encouraged to drop on request (DOR) at any point during the process. So, the freshly commissioned lieutenants at TBS are hungry to prove they are worthy and belong in the company they keep. I was absolutely no different.

I finished high enough in my class to get my first occupational choice and probably my choice of duty station too, but the duty station is based solely on Marine Corps need. There was only one slot for Hawaii...and I wanted it.

Northern Virginia is pretty darn cold in December, and we had been out in the elements for five days.The nine mile walk home was nothing but a punctuating badge of honor for Fox Company and our gung-ho Company Commander who believed trucks were for supply lines and helicopters were for jumping out of into a fight...not for riding out of one.  About half way into the hike, my Platoon Instructor pulled up along side me. Lost in my on world at the time, I didn't even notice the taller, lankier Captain walking next to me until he spoke...

CAPT R- Still pretty cold out here. What do figure? 10...maybe 12?

LT Tony C- Does it matter sir? I've not paid attention to it all week, so why start now?  

CAPT R- Very true. Of course, this is pretty warm compared to where you're going...

LT Tony C- (crap! Camp Fuji, Japan...my second choice) It's about time we took the fight to the Russians. All this waiting around and bantering back and forth isn't my style of fight anyway. Glad we've got a Commander in Chief with some guts. If Ike had listen to Patton back in WWII...

CAPT R- (cutting me off) You watch too many movies. We're not going to Russia...at least yet.

A few miles passed in silences as we kept pace, me in formation carrying a weeks worth of gear on my back and Captain R beside me with a wry grin on his face. As we came into the next 5 minute break for gear adjustments, he slapped me on the back and said just one word...

CAPT R- Aloha.

As he pressed to the front of the column laughing to himself, I suddenly felt a little warmer. Actually, I felt a lot warmer. The rest of the hump seemed to just fly by with my thoughts fixated on all things tropical...


Next post- a few funny stories from the island paradise.