OK, this week's update is chockful of excellent info. I am happy to announce that the fundraising is going very well. We recently surpassed our 20% goal towards $35K and have enough money to pay for the physical memorial. The larger portion of the memorial's budget is to provide travel costs for the families of Adam Hoke, Brett Banks and Sean Krueger to travel to Sitka this August for the 6017 memorial dedication. If you have gone to the CG Foundation 6017 website and donated, thank you.
Pretty good week of workouts, I swam twice and ran on Wednesday and Saturday. It is becoming easier to get through the first mile while running and I don't hallucinate until I am usually an hour and fifteen minutes into the workouts, so I think I'm right on track for the big run. Also, I have had a couple of questions from the thousands (yes, thousands) of Interweb viewers about the exact date of the 6017 Memorial Pledge Run. I have decided to keep this information secret until my hour long web-based announcement podcast-I've titled it, THE DECISION because that seemed to work out really well for LaBron James. I will make a video announcement about the exact date later this week-if it is bothering you so much not to know, I will be happy to tell you via email or text (if you know the number to the batphone) only after I have proof that you have donated a minimum of $25 to the 6017 memorial (MacGregor, you may tell 20 people, York's you may tell four people). That's right, I'm like Mary Kate Danaher, I've got a mercenary little heart, but it is for a good cause.
I said I would provide an in-depth description of my Emergency Action Plan for my run up the Gavin Hill and Harbor Mountain trails. This would have addressed the specialized equipment I would be carrying when making the run. That was my intent, until I found out, like today, literally, that I will also have to worry about possible avalanches. How AWESOME is this?! Avalanches! Isn't Alaska sweet!? Seriously, I have to change my pants...it would not surprise me in the least if I find out that I also have to prepare for the Taliban during the last half mile of the run because they have decided that Baranof Island needs Shiria Law (probably did not spell that correctly, if there any imams reading this, please do not put a fatwa on my head, I meant this last sentence with the greatest respect). So long story longer, I have had to incorporate a couple other items into the Emergency Action Plan and it's not ready for a full description. However if you tune in to the planned hourlong podcast, THE DECISION, you will see the EAP in full-I'm kidding, I just made that last part up.
Finally, a couple of words about living in Alaska. It has been one of the best experiences of my life, and if you have the opportunity, I highly recommend it. Why? For many reasons, but one of the them was graphically illustrated by a Sitka Sentinel police blotter entry on April 27th. In the immortal words of Dave Barry, I am not making this up:
11:58AM A caller reported his wallet and medications had been stolen, although he may have given them to a relative for safekeeping.
How cool is this town? Anyway, if you have gotten this far I am sorry for having taken those moments away from your life, but hopefully you will hit the link for the CG Foundation in the upper right of the page. Next week, we'll go over possible parley opportunities created by the memorial run, the probability of a nanometer thick layer of cosmic grease that covers the hands of children aged 5-11 worldwide and an explanation for why I am undergoing waterboarding training. Stay classy San Diego.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
CONDUCTING BOARDINGS WITH SAILOR JERRY
So, I got a good week of workouts done this week. As you may have read below, I ran the Gavin (or if you are from SOUTH Baranof Island-GAVAN) Hill trail; swam on ran and swam Monday, did the CrossFit workout "Murph" Tuesday, cooked dinner and picked up Kai and Tabitha Wednesday (this was much harder than it sounds).
I'm about to go and execute another one of my wife's directed workouts (try to imagine voluntary waterboarding) and then I will be riding the bike into work. Why is that last piece of info important? Because it will also allow me to post the first installment of the "Michael Frawley self-induced stroke video series" on Youtube this weekend-don't worry, if you are a follower of this blog like my good friend and professional stunt woman, Dawn York, you will get a heads up from the Interweb that the video is posted. Please don't hold me responsible if you puke after watching them.
I appreciate all of the supportive comments and suggestions and hope to incorporate some of them as part of my "Emergency Action Plan" in the event that I run into a bear during the run. This is a large concern for me since Baranof, Kruzof, and Admiralty Islands have the highest bear population apparently on earth. It is something like one bear per 1.5 square miles. This is higher then Jellyston-I mean Yellowstone, anywhere in Canada, Montana, and the Kenai Peninsula (sallies). We actually had a gentleman from the AK Dept of Fish and Game come to work last fall to talk about living safely with brown bears and during the talk, I thought I was an extra in the film Hamburger Hill listening to Dylan McDermott's character talk about Charlie. I am not making up the following quote from the AK DF&G representative's talk:
"Try to imagine the smartest dog you have ever met, give him paws the size of dinner plates, make him as fast as a quarter-horse in a sprint, uphill or down, and make him weigh between 1500 and 2000 pounds. This is a brown bear. As part of the DF&G program I have had to trap black bears and brown bears to try and tag them. When you snare and tranquilize a black bear, they try to climb trees and run away from you. When you snare and tranquilize a brown bear, they go into the brush and dig a hole, turn around and wait for what ever was dumb enough to mess with them."
Here was my take-away from that talk:
Bear=Viet Cong
Pretty sweet huh?
Next post, I will outline the latest on the memorial, my progress in preps for the run and its impacts on the profits of Sailor Jerry Navy rum and give an in-depth description of the Memorial Run EAP. I hope you can't wait, I know I can't. Oh and Chris York, the run will be the week of 3 June 2011. More on that later.
I'm about to go and execute another one of my wife's directed workouts (try to imagine voluntary waterboarding) and then I will be riding the bike into work. Why is that last piece of info important? Because it will also allow me to post the first installment of the "Michael Frawley self-induced stroke video series" on Youtube this weekend-don't worry, if you are a follower of this blog like my good friend and professional stunt woman, Dawn York, you will get a heads up from the Interweb that the video is posted. Please don't hold me responsible if you puke after watching them.
I appreciate all of the supportive comments and suggestions and hope to incorporate some of them as part of my "Emergency Action Plan" in the event that I run into a bear during the run. This is a large concern for me since Baranof, Kruzof, and Admiralty Islands have the highest bear population apparently on earth. It is something like one bear per 1.5 square miles. This is higher then Jellyston-I mean Yellowstone, anywhere in Canada, Montana, and the Kenai Peninsula (sallies). We actually had a gentleman from the AK Dept of Fish and Game come to work last fall to talk about living safely with brown bears and during the talk, I thought I was an extra in the film Hamburger Hill listening to Dylan McDermott's character talk about Charlie. I am not making up the following quote from the AK DF&G representative's talk:
"Try to imagine the smartest dog you have ever met, give him paws the size of dinner plates, make him as fast as a quarter-horse in a sprint, uphill or down, and make him weigh between 1500 and 2000 pounds. This is a brown bear. As part of the DF&G program I have had to trap black bears and brown bears to try and tag them. When you snare and tranquilize a black bear, they try to climb trees and run away from you. When you snare and tranquilize a brown bear, they go into the brush and dig a hole, turn around and wait for what ever was dumb enough to mess with them."
Here was my take-away from that talk:
Bear=Viet Cong
Pretty sweet huh?
Next post, I will outline the latest on the memorial, my progress in preps for the run and its impacts on the profits of Sailor Jerry Navy rum and give an in-depth description of the Memorial Run EAP. I hope you can't wait, I know I can't. Oh and Chris York, the run will be the week of 3 June 2011. More on that later.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Did you do your taxes?
Hopefully you did and chances are, only half of you had to pay-mostly because (according to Drudge) only 47% of Americans pay taxes. Why did I ask? No reason other than it makes a good title, kind of like Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Anyway, memorial run preps continue, I was able to get about 2/3 of the way up the Gavin Hill trail this morning. Had to stop because of the snow on the trail and I did not bring my Yak Trax. Overall, I ran one hour and ten minutes and covered about 4.5 miles. Later this week I hope to fully leverage the wonder of the Interweb and will post some videos of the Gavin Hill trail and of the run preparations. I think the most interesting part of these videos will be the soundtracks which will consist primarily of me gasping and cursing like a Bahamian stevedore. I'm sure you are as excited as I am about this newest initiative.
I think I said I would post about once a week, depending on viewer feedback and how often I can put something somewhat coherent onto the screen. My goal is to, first, raise money for the memorial, and second, become a sort of sounding board for the everyman, kind of like Peter Griffin.
Finally, I was able to set up a Google spreadsheet where you, if you wish, can put in your name and pledge amount for my run. I will then pass this info to the Coast Guard Foundation so they are able to give keep track of those of you generous enough to support this fundraiser. The link is in the upper right hand corner of the page. Thank you for your support.
Well, I will leave you now to listen to my 7 year old son's lament about how he does not want to grow up and he cannot read. The amazing thing is it is very similar to The Jerk.
Anyway, memorial run preps continue, I was able to get about 2/3 of the way up the Gavin Hill trail this morning. Had to stop because of the snow on the trail and I did not bring my Yak Trax. Overall, I ran one hour and ten minutes and covered about 4.5 miles. Later this week I hope to fully leverage the wonder of the Interweb and will post some videos of the Gavin Hill trail and of the run preparations. I think the most interesting part of these videos will be the soundtracks which will consist primarily of me gasping and cursing like a Bahamian stevedore. I'm sure you are as excited as I am about this newest initiative.
I think I said I would post about once a week, depending on viewer feedback and how often I can put something somewhat coherent onto the screen. My goal is to, first, raise money for the memorial, and second, become a sort of sounding board for the everyman, kind of like Peter Griffin.
Finally, I was able to set up a Google spreadsheet where you, if you wish, can put in your name and pledge amount for my run. I will then pass this info to the Coast Guard Foundation so they are able to give keep track of those of you generous enough to support this fundraiser. The link is in the upper right hand corner of the page. Thank you for your support.
Well, I will leave you now to listen to my 7 year old son's lament about how he does not want to grow up and he cannot read. The amazing thing is it is very similar to The Jerk.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Mike, you're a "with it" guy, but why a blog?
Great question. Blogging on the Interweb seems to be the best way to communicate with my legions of fans and to reach out to those individuals who might be interested in donating money for the CG6017 memorial and its dedication. I suppose we could ask the people of SE Alaska and Sitka to donate funds, but since they have already given over $30,000 to the three families effected by the crash, I figured it might help to reach out to those folks in the Lower 48.
I came upon the idea to run the Gavin Hill and Harbor Mountain trails here on Baranof Island since I missed last years run and will not be in Sitka this summer for the 18th annual Sitka Alpine Run. Running the trail for pledge money to help pay for the memorial and travel of the families back to Sitka for the memorial dedication seemed like a good fit. It is important that you know why I (a 36 year old sedentary mammal, happier with a stiff drink and a book) would pursue running up a trail course listed as "strenuous", but at the same time I think I owe you a little entertainment, a little derring-do. So each week, I will keep you up to date on the preparations of Team Don't have a heart-I mean, Team Frawley and the 6017 Memorial Pledge Run. If it is a good week, I will recount some of my 8 year old daughter's diatribes against the evils of homeschooling and her mother's annoying habit of "forcing" her to learn basic math and science skills. In the meantime, I leave you with this important and priceless video footage of our Vice President.
I came upon the idea to run the Gavin Hill and Harbor Mountain trails here on Baranof Island since I missed last years run and will not be in Sitka this summer for the 18th annual Sitka Alpine Run. Running the trail for pledge money to help pay for the memorial and travel of the families back to Sitka for the memorial dedication seemed like a good fit. It is important that you know why I (a 36 year old sedentary mammal, happier with a stiff drink and a book) would pursue running up a trail course listed as "strenuous", but at the same time I think I owe you a little entertainment, a little derring-do. So each week, I will keep you up to date on the preparations of Team Don't have a heart-I mean, Team Frawley and the 6017 Memorial Pledge Run. If it is a good week, I will recount some of my 8 year old daughter's diatribes against the evils of homeschooling and her mother's annoying habit of "forcing" her to learn basic math and science skills. In the meantime, I leave you with this important and priceless video footage of our Vice President.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Coast Guard 6017 Memorial Pledge Run
On July 7 2010, Coast Guard 6017, an H60 helicopter, crashed while flying from Astoria, OR to Sitka, AK. Three good men, Sean Krueger, Adam Hoke and Brett Banks died that day. Shortly after the tragedy it was decided to build a memorial at U. S. Coast Guard Air Station Sitka to remember them. The memorial is going to be centered around a Tlingit totem pole donated by the Sitka Tribe of Alaska.
Despite this extremely generous gift, the memorial and its dedication is still expected to cost approximately $35,000. I am going to try and raise some of this money by running up the Gavin Hill and Harbor Mountain Trails in Sitka, Alaska for pledge money. This is also the same course run every year under the name Sitka Alpine Adventure Run. I hope you enjoy watching and reading about my preparations, and I hope you decide to support the Coast Guard 6017 Memorial by going to the Coast Guard Foundation to donate. I hope I am not eaten by a bear.
Despite this extremely generous gift, the memorial and its dedication is still expected to cost approximately $35,000. I am going to try and raise some of this money by running up the Gavin Hill and Harbor Mountain Trails in Sitka, Alaska for pledge money. This is also the same course run every year under the name Sitka Alpine Adventure Run. I hope you enjoy watching and reading about my preparations, and I hope you decide to support the Coast Guard 6017 Memorial by going to the Coast Guard Foundation to donate. I hope I am not eaten by a bear.
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