Defiantone.com

A few weeks ago Jessica and I woke up early and headed south to Mt St Helens with a 10 mile trail in our sights. She promptly fell asleep in the car as I drove south. We knew that the skies were cloudy and the forecast didn’t look that great but we were hoping that the skies were clear. They didn’t.

We drove through the clouds to visitors center and got a few photos through breaks in the fog. When we reached the visitors center we parked the car and walked over to the park map. We looked into the distance and saw a herd of elk - nobody was around for miles so we spent 10 minutes watching them and listening to them call back and forth to each other. It was pretty damn cool - the pictures really don’t it justice because they were a good quarter mile away and the camera had problems picking up the light.

Jessica recorded a few videos which you can see below. Make sure you turn the volume up so you can hear them calling.

Hopefully, when we return the clouds will be gone and I’ll actually be able to see the mountain. If you want to check out the rest of the pictures you can find them in the gallery

Tags: camera, elk, gallery, hiking, Jessica, Mt St Helens, photos, trip, washington

Jessica and I joined Jeff and Leanne at a campground near Ocean Shores, WA for a few days of camping and relaxation. The weather didn’t completely cooperate with us as we spent much of the time huddling around the campfire shivering but at least we didn’t have to deal with any rain. The camping trip had the added benefit of being miles away from the airshow at McChord. Even if we didn’t watch the airshow we would have been unable to avoid the crowds in the local area - the turnstiles recorded 340k attendees - yikes!

We spent a little time out at the beach and out on the jetties - Jessica saw a porpoise in the distance and was excited -

Here’s a few more photos from the weekend

If you want to see any of the other photos feel free to check them out in the gallery. All in all it was a good trip - the worst part was our sub-par air mattress that is still extracting revenge on my shoulders and neck.

Tags: air force, airshow, camping, gallery, Jessica, leave, photos

I mentioned that we were going to be busy as heck this weekend and I was lucky enough to have enough time to upload a few photos. I’m not in either photo - mainly because I feel that even though I look fantastic I am extremely unphotogenic. Jessica is looking fantastic in each of the photos below - the first is at her graduation with Rachel and the second is at Jenny’s wedding (as if you couldn’t figure it out from the attire).

Jessica had something to say about it and you can read it at her blog

Tags: busy, gallery, Jessica, photos, wedding, weekend

In Iraq I really only knew a few things to be true - I knew that it was going to be hot during the day and I also knew that it was going to be dark and noisy at night.

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When I finally left I rode out on dark and noisy military transport - a continuation of a theme. My camera doesn’t like extremely shaky environments full of low light conditions but I think I captured enough for you to understand how enjoyable the ride actually was for us. If you look at the bottom picture, cram yourself into a closet with 4-6 other people, crank up the volume to the maximum level on your speakers, and sit/stand there for three hours you’ll have a slight understanding of how “comfortable” it was

I’ve uploaded a few more pictures from my time in Iraq in the gallery - the new stuff starts on page 4

I got home and met a fantastic girl in the airport - well - I it wasn’t the first time I’ve met her but it had been quite a while since I had last seen her.

We went home and she showed me around our house - where we had the lengthy task of unpacking looming on the horizon.

Luckily - I’m a task oriented guy and we got starting working at the task so it could be done - and so we could look forward to the party we were to have that weekend.

The house is complete with a garage and two dogs in the backyard - one of which will flop around like a fish if you ignore her.

We had a party and it was a great time despite me knowing only a handful of the people there - I met quite of few of Jessica’s friends but there names are already a mystery to me - damn short term memory. Feel free to check out more photos of the house in the gallery - thats it for now

Tags: Balad, beer, booze, Deployment, dogs, fun, gallery, home, house, Iraq, Jessica, military, moving, party

I have never been one to share - some things I share freely - others I hoard. For example, I will only loan a DVD to someone else if I know where they live because I’ve seen some of mine run away in the past. I’ll share food freely if you happen to drop by - I like to cook and I’m willing to use any random person that drops by as a guinea pig.

I’ve never really shared any space on my website - until now. Jessica has added some of her own photos from her trip to Las Vegas in the gallery. I turned on comments because she digs the comment love - I haven’t been able to get them working yet - if they aren’t available know that I’m working on sorting out the bugs. She had fun - alcohol fueled fun - while in the city of sin.

Wish I could have been there - oh well - less than a month left.

Tags: comment, gallery, Jessica, Las Vegas, photo, share

I’ve uploaded some photos that I’ve either taken or acquired from here or there and I’ve posted them in the gallery. Feel free to check them out if so inclined.

Here are a few from the gallery

This is not from an explosion, rather, its from the trash fire that I drive through every day. It does a number on your allergies and lungs - who would have thought?

Tags: Blackhawk, F-16, fire, gallery, Iraq, photo, Super Cobra

Ok, I haven’t had any great links to share until today and I found a few that somebody might enjoy

Glen Beck doesn’t believe that Florida and Michigan should get a do-over primary because they broke the rules. Instead of giving reasons why the primaries should be held they are only providing excuses - and he believes that the democratic parties in those states are taking that example from the government.

These stories prove how personal responsibility has all but vanished in America, and our government is leading the way.

A 100 year old man celebrates his birthday at a local Hooters. This man knows how to party

The Typo Eradication Advancement League (TEAL) is tired of seeing typos. To combat the problem they are venturing across the country in a bid to eradicate them. Check out NPR’s story and the website itself. I’m guilty - thank god for spell check.

A British Chap fended off an attack by over 150 Taliban fighters and was later awarded for his gallantry. During the battle he was hit - all he had to say was

It was just a flesh wound really

Do you think that he watches Monty Python? Read the rest at the TimesOnline

National Geographic has some amazing pictures - this gallery has island aerials. I REALLY want to go to Bora Bora - looks amazing.

This building will create an energy surplus when created AND… its not a power plant.

Tags: birthday, Democrat, energy, gallery, links!

Throughout the years many people have sported a lip caterpillar - I’ve collected a few photos of some of notable stache bearers - enjoi!

Though deceased, this crooner spotted a wicked entertainer stache sure to help swoon the ladies

Will Ferrell threw back to the 70’s with this stache he sported in the movie Anchorman - what a beautiful thing

(more…)

Tags: gallery, images, March Mustache Madness, mustache

Last weekend we spent a few days camping.

We weren’t exactly roughing it as we had almost everything a person might need… well, save for the things that we forgot. Luckily, we were only 10 miles down the road from a tourist trap town and 50 miles down the road from a decent sized town. Next time I’m sure that we won’t forget as much as we did this time. We learned a few lessons (don’t buy firewood from the locals) and learned that you can take wood that you find as long as its less than 10in in diameter. So… next time we need to bring an axe… I took a few photos while we were out there along with a few videos. I’ll try to get the vids later.

As you can tell from the photos, we both had fun.

You can check out the rest of the photos here.

Tags: defiantone, fun, gallery, miles, photo, video, videos

I decided to climb a very big hill today… Well, most wouldn’t even dare call it a hill but they probably would call it a mountain. I drove up to Mount Rainier today and took a few photos. While I was there I also recorded a few videos.

The sound gets bad in the end but I said something to the effect of : The bugs are insane even though I covered myself with DEET. I’m heading down the hill and not up the one thats covered with the snow.

Tags: bad, defiantone, gallery, photo, rain, video, videos