Project:Virtualmeet

It's been a while, but I'm back.

I'll be back in the gym on February 9. Aside from the laziness after 16 days of vacation to the United States in December, I broke a rib in a scrimmage game while I was home so I've been letting that heal. Broke it in a scrimmage game of basketball.

So, about the title . . . . .

One of the nice things the military does for people recalled for what I'm doing is Rest & Recuperation (R&R) Leave, where they pay to send you ANYWHERE in the world when you are on one year orders. You just pay for everything else, and the leave gets charged - - - up to 15 days. Now, I could always go any place in the States on my own dime but for my second year in Africa, I've decided to take full advantage and go somewhere else I haven't been yet. . . . .

Finland.

For those of you who frequent Tsampa.org or Virtualmeet.net, you know who Kris is. I learned about him around 2001 or 2002, when I was trying to find Prilepin's Table using Google and one of the links it spit out was the Prilepin Bench Program on his site. Aside from having done a few of the virtual meets (highly recommended), we have corresponded here and there. Well, you may also know from going to his websites that he has an outdoor gym on an island (Vaasa), and has always wanted to do a gathering of some of the powerlifting bloggers who have done some of the virtual meets, partly to do a meet and also a convention. So I contacted Kris in January and asked him if he would be willing to host me for a while, and maybe show me around, for the Virtual Meet in July 2009. Kris thought it was a splendid idea, and sent me all the information I needed to file my request. It's now being routed up my chain of command and, hopefully, it will be a go. Thanks, Kris.

For me, it would be the chance of a lifetime. Finland is pretty damn far from Washington State (heck, it's pretty damn far from Djibouti) so it is not something I can always do a whim. Of course, I get to meet Kris and Sana and family, people I've read about on the blogosphere, but I also get to hang out and lift with him and do a Virtual Meet, too (Christian Burger, Virtualmeet.net site moderator from Austria, also plans on being there). I may even get to see Sweden and Estonia, and would be more than glad to lend a hand in the judging.

And of course, I'm gonna blog about it. I finally got myself a speedy laptop, and my digicam is on its way here. All I have to do now is prepare for it.