Humbling

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to play golf at the Navy SEAL Tribute Celebration in Half Moon Bay. The event was hosted by the Navy SEAL Foundation and was amazing.

The Navy SEAL Foundation is a non-profit that takes care of the families of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.  If a loved one is lost or injured, the foundation steps in and makes sure ALL loved ones can attend the funeral, grief counseling is provided, spouses and children are taken care of financially and the children of fallen soldiers earn college scholarships.  It's an amazing organization that is run by former SEALs.  Naturally, this means they do things right the first time and provide the best for their people.

This event showed just that.  It was humbling.  I was invited by a USNA alumni who I spent time with this summer talking about my transition into the private sector.  He is a former Team Guy (Navy SEAL) who has kicked ass in the private sector.  I met up with him and two of his friends and we got ready for a round of golf.  I was stoked!

Shaunnah joined our group for dinner!

The four of us were teamed up with an active duty SEAL.  It's amazing how humble these guys can be.  They have been through a tough 11 years, constantly jumping from deployment to deployment, risking their lives in places most of us can not even imagine.  He's a great guy.

We didn't just play golf and go home.  No No No.  We played at the Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay; were given free gear (AWESOME) and had an amazing cocktail hour and dinner event.  Top notch event for a top notch organization.  During the golf game, there were roaming cocktail carts with booze and beer.  I think our five-some focused a bit more on the carts than the game, haha.

The dinner speaker was Richard Phillips.  He was the Captain of the Maersk Alabama when it was boarded by pirates off of the Horn of Africa, captured and then rescued by Navy SEALS.  He is a great speaker!  Very energetic and witty.  His respect for his saviors was so evident throughout the entire speech.  The craziest part was the SEALs' reaction to the story.  None of them had that look of supreme achievement when the story was told.  Rather, it was more of a shy look.  They didn't want the credit and I felt like they were thinking it was just another day on the job.

It was a great event and I'm so glad to have been a part of it.  Just remember that one of the reasons we sleep well at night is because men like this are out in the shadows of the world defending your freedom.  Even more reassuring is the fact that there's an organization that supports these warriors.  The Navy SEAL Foundation does an awesome job!

- Jimmy

Welcome to California

So Shaunnah and I have been in Cali for about 2 weeks and we've noticed a trend... "Welcome to California."  The problem is it's not the greeting we usually get when we tell "the locals" we're newbies.  It's been the response we get when we are jaw-droppingly surprised at the answer to our questions.  Here are three short stories to help you understand.

1.  The Bike Ride
We were in a bike shop and I asked the bike shop guy if they organized any group rides.  He chuckled (another common theme in this series) and said no.  His reasoning was that the bike shop is not allowed to organize rides because they would then be held liable if someone was hurt during the rides.  That's right, the state of California would allow them to be sued.

2.  Can You Toast My Bagel
Getting some b-fast at a coffee shop with Shaunnah and she orders a bagel and then asked if it can be toasted.  The answer was "Sorry, no.  We don't have the permit to heat food."  The guy actually looked embarrassed when he said it, hilarious.

3.  Recycling Fee, Up-front
We purchased a computer yesterday and were getting the bill breakdown from the salesman.  "This is the cost of the computer, protection plan and tax..." Then I interrupted him when he skipped over and $8 charge and said, "What's the eight bucks for?"  "Oh, that's the recycling fee for your computer.  When you're ready to turn this one in and buy a new one you don't have to pay for it then!"  He tried to justify it with a little excitement and then I asked, "If we move out of state before we recycle the computer, can I get my $8 back?"  SILENCE!

The weather here is amazing and so far our experience has been equally amazing.  I really don't see that changing anytime soon.  The rules, however, are starting to get a little annoying, haha.

Have a great one.  Once we get settled in I'll post a few pics from the trip on the blog!

- Jimmy