84th day

We had a mini x'mas dinner together, with turkey and ham and julian apple pie. There was a fireworks display along the bay, which we caught a bit. followed by a sailpast of beautifully decorated sailboats and pleasure crafts, manned by enthusiastic merry-makers.


A view of the bay, and also the Coronado bay bridge:

feels almost surreal running here. though the cold air gives me a little problem with my left shin, i'm starting to cope with it by keeping warm. but the feeling is great! the air is clear, the view is beautiful, and endurox here is cheap! not to mention the magazines which are discounted when bought in base. i picked up every issue of Runner's World since i got here, and i still find it hard to believe that i'm right here reading all these, being so close to those events or places the articles talk abt, and doing all the training tips on how to cope with the cold fall/winter weather. i even visited some of the shops that Bicycling magazine showcased in the Oct issue. like i said, surreal!!

Gears of War 2

Kona, the mythical place

I just watched a show abt the 2008 Ford Ironman Championship. boy, was it inspiring... watching it is so different from reading abt it on website coverage. witnessing the endurance, determination, pain, fear, anxiety, hardship, and then the relief and exuberance at the finish, is really amazing... and to listen to the stories of how the individuals arrived at the starting point. like how a person survived cancer and decided to try out for Kona. how a disabled motorcross rider wanted a new challenge. like how David Goggins, the navy seal, wanted another event to raise funds for families who lost breadwinners in the war. like how the oldest starter, at 72, also became the oldest finisher many hours later. and so many others who sacrificed so much to achieve that elusive dream.

More updates on the crash

From Foxnews.com:

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

SAN DIEGO — Both engines of a military jet fighter failed before the aircraft crashed and burned in a residential area, killing three people on the ground as it destroyed two houses, a congressional aide said Tuesday.

Investigators resumed the search for a missing child, believed to be 15 months old, in the wreckage of one house. Neighbors were in shock at the tragedy that befell the South Korean child's family Monday, hours after the father kissed his wife and baby goodbye in the driveway.

The twin-engine F/A-18D Hornet went down about two miles from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.

No official initial finding of the cause of the crash was given, but a congressional aide who had been briefed on the crash said the pilot had been attempting to land at Miramar after his right engine malfunctioned. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because the information was not yet public.

While the pilot was on final approach to the runway the aircraft also lost thrust from its left engine, and the pilot ejected, the aide said Tuesday.

The pilot ended up suspended by his parachute in a tree. He was being treated at a hospital.

Three people — a mother, her baby and a grandmother — were killed in one house and officials said a fourth person, believed to be a small child, was in the house and had not been found. The search for the child had been suspended during the night.

One other home was destroyed and three were damaged.

The San Diego County medical examiner's office has not officially released the names of the victims. The Rev. Kevin Lee of the Korean United Methodist Church identified those killed as Young Mi Yoon, who was in her mid-30s; her 2-month-old daughter, Rachel; and her mother, Suk Im Kim, who had recently arrived from South Korea to help care for her daughter's newborn.

He identified the missing child as 15-month-old Grace Yoon.

Neighbors said the family of Korean immigrants moved into the area about three months ago.

Resident Choko McConnell, 85, a widow who lives down the street, said she often saw the grandmother pushing a child in a stroller.

"I cried all night," McConnell said. "A family perished, a young family."

Michael Rose, 44, said he often spoke with the family and had seen the father kiss his wife and baby goodbye in the driveway just hours before the crash.

"I thought, what a beautiful sight. And then later in the day, they were gone," Rose said.

Amy Hegy, a spokeswoman for the American Red Cross, San Diego, said she spoke to the father of the children when he returned to the gutted home Monday night. Hegy said he was "calm" and stayed with friends. She also said the man had extended family in San Diego but would not reveal further details.

Military aircraft frequently streak over the neighborhood, but residents said the imperiled aircraft was flying extremely low.

The pilot, who ended up hanging by his parachute from a tree in a canyon beneath the neighborhood, was in stable condition at a Navy hospital, said 1st Lt. Katheryn Putnam, a Miramar spokeswoman. He had been returning from training on the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln off the coast, she said.

Investigators will review information from a flight data recorder. There was no indication the pilot was using alcohol or drugs, Putnam said.

Dawn Lyons spoke to the pilot just after he landed in the tree.

"I saw an incredibly composed person," Lyons said. "He didn't have any scrapes or bruises. He was very lucid."

There was little sign of the plane in the smoking ruins, but a piece of cockpit sat on the roof of one home, and a charred jet engine lay on the street. Authorities said the smoking wreckage was toxic and about 20 homes were evacuated.

The Navy recently inspected hundreds of F/A-18 Hornets, built by Boeing Co., after discovering "fatigue cracks" on more than a dozen of them. The inspections looked for cracks in a hinge that connects the aileron — a flap that helps stabilize the jet in flight — to the wing.

The Navy announced last month it had grounded 10 of the $57 million fighters and placed flight restrictions on 20 more until repairs could be made.

The supersonic jet is widely used by the Marine Corps and Navy and by the stunt-flying Blue Angels. An F-18 crashed at Miramar — the setting for the movie "Top Gun" — in November 2006, and that pilot ejected safely.

Other news articles here, with comments from the public.

F/A-18 jetplane crash

Was watching the news while having lunch and saw this horrific story. A F18 pilot experienced difficulties and had to ditch his plane abt 2 miles west of Miramar. At least 2 houses were completely destroyed, with a few more in the neighbourhood severely damaged. Latest update is that 2 are confirmed dead, with 2 still missing.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/12/08/national/main4655894.shtml
http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=6419464&page=1

A post on CNA:
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/395041/1/.html

F/A-18 jetplane crash (click on the thumbnails)

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the ultimate multi-tool

Leatherman Skeletool CX.
Made of only premium materials, it is a mere 5 ounces light. the blade is made of 154CM stainless steel which is outside-accessible, very smart design. the stainless steel handle has a layer of tungsten DLC scratch-resistant coating, and even has a carbon-fiber (carbon-fiber!!) insert for the finger grip. nice...
It brags having only "everything you need and nothing you don't". a plier with wire-cutter inside, a stainless steel combo knife, a carabiner/bottle opener, a bit driver with interchangeable philip/flathead screwdriver, and a removable pocket clip.

8.5cm when folded. make for a real compact and convenient tool for all occasions and situations.

so that is the third Leatherman i bought. and all these over the past 2 months. i'm such a spendthrift, haiz...

there's the 16-in-1 full sized multi-tool, Leatherman Blast:
and then i bought the e303 folding knife on a slight impulse...Guess i have all the tools i ever need in a lifetime =)

more updates

here and here.

i witnessed a suicide attempt today

We wanted to go for jap buffet, and so I was drove out of base when we met a huge jam leading to the Coronado Bay Bridge, the one that links north island to mainland. A little background on this bridge: it has a max height of 200 ft to allow aircraft carriers to pass underneath it, and it is a really beautiful bridge which gives a wonderful view of downtown as we drive out, and of the pacific ocean as we drive in. Sometimes if we are lucky, we can spot seahawks going up and down the bay doing training sorties. It also happens to be the third deadliest suicide bridge in USA according to wiki.

So we were stuck in the long jam, wondering what's happening in front. then i spotted a guy standing on the bridge on the opposite side of where i was driving, as if he's gonna do a bungee jump or something. as i drove past, it became apparent what was going on, cos there were non-uniformed negotiators trying to talk to him. (i saw 1 main negotiator talking to him, with 1 more on standby just a few metres away.) and as i drove further down, i saw that the police had closed the other side of the bridge, and that there was abt 50 cars stuck with no where they can go. it was abt 2pm when i finally got onto the freeway. so we had lunch and walked around a bit, hoping that the situation would have defused by the time we head back. alas, there was still a huge jam along the freeway nearing the area, and the bridge was still "closed due to police activities", as heard over the radio station.

anyway, the incident made me wonder what it takes to drive a man to such a drastic step. this is the second time i witnessed such a thing. the other time was in uni, i was back in my room after a paper when i noticed through my window some commotion in the driveway near the engin fac. there were civil defence quick-response vehicles and police patrol cars, then i saw them running up the building to the rooftop. it was a 4-storey high laboratory building, so i could see all the proceedings from my 8th-floor hostel room. so i saw some staff and police officers talking to him, and there were some SCDF personnel deploying an air cushion on the ground (rather slowly i must add), when suddenly some guys grabbed the student and pulled him away from the edge. rather uneventful conclusion, but at least the guy get to live another day, and reflect on it.