~~Please read the below and consider helping my Marine reach his goal of $1600 in support of AIDS Project Los Angeles. Only a few bucks out of your pocket, a lot of miles for him, and a long way in helping people in needs~~

The official Link ~~> CLICK HERE

Dear Friends and Family,

I’ve decided to take on a tremendous challenge to help in the fight against AIDS, and I really hope you will support my efforts. Over the next several months, I’ll be training to complete the LA Marathon; PLUS, I’ve made it a personal mission to raise at least $1,600 for AIDS Project Los Angeles.

I’m not a professional fundraiser, and I never thought I’d agree to run 26.2 miles! But the work of APLA is so compelling; I feel I need to do my part.

First, a word about the training... As you might imagine, it’s going to take me a while to get ready to run a marathon. So, several times a week, I’ll be up at the crack of dawn and hitting the streets just as some of you are getting into your nice hot shower or enjoying your second cup of coffee. I’m starting out with just a few miles, but each week, I’ll push it a little farther. Overall, I expect to log about 500 miles! It's a bit daunting. But when the going gets tough, I’ll just think about how lucky I am to be able to do this sort of thing when so many others can’t.

Nearly 1.2 million Americans are now living with HIV, and 56,000 more will be infected this year! These aren’t just numbers; this is impacting real people and their families. For 25 years, AIDS Project Los Angeles has been providing food, home health care, and other basic needs to thousands of people whose lives are affected by HIV/AIDS. Many of these people are living in poverty and have few places to turn.

Now that the economy is struggling, understandably, people are tightening up on their giving. But consider this, if things have been rough on you or someone you know, just think about how much more difficult they are for those that have even less… those that have nothing!

So, that’s why I’m asking for your help. Please join me in doing all that we can to bring an end to this epidemic.

Please donate today by clicking on the button that says, "Donate To Support!" It's easy — you're already online! All you have to do is click on the button and you're ready to donate. PLEASE DON’T LEAVE THIS PAGE WITHOUT DONATING!!! Help me make my goal of raising at least $1,600, and make a difference in the life of someone suffering from HIV/AIDS today. Donations are put to use immediately — so please, donate today! THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT!!!!

Sincerely, travis pinn

Auschwitz To Have It's Own Facebook Page

In a world driven by the blogosphere and social networking, many of us have become accustomed to seeing our friends, family, and co-workers online. I have a Facebook and so does my wife Cindy, along with corporations and even the United States Navy. Often we use these mediums as a means to stay in touch with people, to share what we would like of who we are, and increasingly as a means to disseminate information. After all, why not? So many of us spend an exorbitant amount of time on these sites that they have become the perfect platform for such things. Which leads me to my purpose for writing this particular submission. If you follow the embedded link in the title, it will lead you to an article the UK's BBC News website. It talks about Auschwitz, the most horrific concentration camp of WWII; not that any of them were any less horrific than the other. Well, more to the point it talks about Auschwitz and it's social networking endeavors. It's to have it's own Facebook page. That's right, I said own Facebook page. Auscwitz Museum official Pawel Sawicki stated "We're always trying for new ways of reaching people, and in today's world one of the most popular tools is the internet, and on the internet millions of people use Facebook". The concept is a smart one and the intentions good; I just hope that it works out in the way they envision.

USO (United Service Organization)

I wanted to take a moment here during my travels to talk about the United Service Organization or USO as it is more commonly known. In essence I wanted to let it be known that Bob Hope, the master of one-liners and the USO's tireless morale-booster for the troops would still be proud of the organization that he cherished so much. I have been the recipient of a few great performances from musicians and cheerleaders such as Shinedown and the girls from the Cleveland Cavaliers while deployed and have been into the USO/Military lounge while at the airports a few times as well. Today, is one of those days where I am truly lucky to be the beneficiary of their great service. With a layover at the Miami International Airport of over 18 hrs, it's truly nice to have a comfortable and quiet place that I can go while I wait. The USO here in Miami is tremendous. Plenty of comfy couch space, internet, TV's, snacks, and even 2 sleeping lounges, one can not ask for more.

My wife the future Dental Hygienist

Cindy received an acceptance letter from Baltimore County Community College into their Dental Hygiene program. They were the last school we were waiting to hear from and I must say, it's a relief for both her and I. Now we need to start considering the living/commuting aspect of this, since the school is about 40 miles from where we currently live.

*Congratulations Cindy; I'm so very proud of you.

Cherry Blossoms

Cindy and I recently spent some time down by the National Mall to enjoy the cherry blossoms which are in full bloom right now. I highly recommend seeing it if ever afforded the opportunity. It really is an amazing sight and makes one just feel good seeing everyone out and about enjoying themselves. Never mind the fact that the traffic was just horrible. Now that the day is staying light later into the night and and spring is kind of, sort of here I will definitely be looking to do more outdoor activities.

*Note: Finally added a pic.

2009 Marine Corps Marathon

Really?

What kind of person pays 88 bucks to run 26.2 miles... for their birthday??

I decided the other day to sign up to run the Marine Corps Marathon here in Washington, DC. You can sort of call it a birthday present to myself (Oct. 25th). Please, don't ask me what I was thinking because I don't know. There are times in life when you do things simply because you can and others can't or they won't.

It also would appear that I may even be graced with the company of my good friend Ryan Dini all the way in from Japan. Old friends and hard miles, one can not ask for much more than that.

"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." T.S. Eliot

Because it's my 26.2 miles

Do I really have nothing to say?

Well, do I really have nothing to say? It seems that once the safety net of social networks such as Myspace and Facebook are gone writing about yourself, your activities, your thoughts, becomes a bit more difficult. Well, at least to write things of substance anyways. Sure, I could write some silly quip or one liner, but that's what Twitter is for right? Another thing to note is that you basically have "friends" or "followers" by default on those other sites, but here you need to pull people to you and then comes the hard part, you need to keep them coming back by capturing their interest. It appears that Crossfit and fitness have been the easiest for me to write about so far and you'll probably see more of it in the future. This is fine by me and I hope you don't mind either. It's good practice of writing for me until I figure out the direction of this blog. Until then, I'll be stressing the content of my next post.