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Princess Sera - My wonderful, sweet, beautiful, elementary school teaching Girlfriend!! :o) : Here is my sweet, wonderful, beautiful and more than amazing girlfriend Sera Marie Hawkins. The pictures do not do her justice at all, she is way more beautiful than any camera could ever capture. If you want to know how we met that is a very interesting story that I am sure either one of us would love and enjoy to tell. The pictures here are from her time spent in Germany along with some older pictures that she gave me.

Princess Sera - My wonderful, sweet, beautiful, elementary school teaching Girlfriend!! :o)

Here is my sweet, wonderful, beautiful and more than amazing girlfrien ...

Updated: Nov 28, 2006 1:15pm PST

Best College Football Rivalry: U of M vs OSU '07 :

Best College Football Rivalry: U of M vs OSU '07

Updated: Nov 18, 2007 7:53pm PST

Cinque Terre, Pisa and London with my Angel! : Well for me it was time off and away from work as I get ready to transition from Military life to Civilian Life :o) for my Sera it was a much needed break that she totally enjoyed. We decided that we would go to Cinque Terre (good job Rick) and then we would end up going to London for 1 night and meet up with my sister Julie (thank god they got along as this was the first time they would meet each other) and go to the musical "The Lion King". Cinque Terre is five miles of rocky coast in eastern Liguria with 5 towns on the northern coast of Italy , two promontories lie at each extremity, thousands of kilometres of dry walling, cultivated into vineyards, five southerly villages castled up on spurs of stone or disposed in clusters of very small inlets. These are the co-ordinates of the Cinque Terre (Five lands). It is the Italian Rivera. The Cinque Terre — as this stretch of five towns along the Italian Riviera is called — is located in northern Italy between Pisa and Genoa, and it's the lowbrow, under-appreciated alternative to the French Riviera. There's not a museum in sight, just sun, sea, sand (well, pebbles), wine, swimming, hiking, and pure, unadulterated Italy. Each town fills a ravine with a lazy hive of human activity — callused locals and sunburned visitors. We started off by taking the train to the first town of Riomaggiore — the most substantial non-resort of the five towns — is a fascinating tangle of pastel homes that lean on each other like drunken sailors. A cliff-hanging trail leads from the beach to old Nazi bunkers and a hilltop botanical garden. We then proceeded that same day to take the hike from Riomaggiore to the 2nd town Manarola where our accomodations were at for the first night. Tiny Manarola, is a tumble of buildings bunny-hopping down its ravine to the harbor. You can hike up to Punta Bonfiglio — for a bar on a bluff between the cemetery and the sea — or enjoy tasty treats born right here: pesto on your focaccia, washed down by crisp local wine sprinkled with Mediterranean twinkles. We could not walk between Manarola and Corniglia since the trail was closed because of a rock slide that washed out the trail., Cirniglia with its mellow main square, is the quiet town — the only one of the five not on the water. From the train station, a footpath zigzags up nearly 400 stairs to the hilltop town. According to legend, a Roman farmer originally settled Corniglia, naming it for his mother, Cornelia, which is how Corniglia is pronounced in Italian. Residents claim Cornelia's son produced a wine so famous that vases found at Pompeii touted its virtues. Still, today, wine remains the town's lifeblood. Following the pungent smell of ripe grapes into an alley cellar, I find a local who lets me dip a straw into his keg. My favorite town was the 4th town. With the closest thing to a natural harbor — overseen by a ruined castle and an old church — Vernazza is the jewel of the Cinque Terre. Its action is at the harbor, where you'll find restaurants, a bar hanging off the edge of the castle, a breakwater with a promenade, and a tailgate-party street market every Tuesday morning. While the old men putter with their tough little boats, the day's last bit of sunshine seems to sweep the old women and children into a warm corner in front of the church. For our last town we hiked 3.5 hours and man did it whoop my butt, I really hate being out of shape. It is one thing knowing your out of shape but to experience and then to have your elementary school teacher kick your butt on the mountainside....what a shame for this young lad. Monterosso, the Cinque Terre's only resort town, comes with cars, hotels, rentable beach umbrellas, crowds, and a thriving late-night scene. Its historic center cradles Old World charm within crooked lanes and hole-in-the-wall shops. After three days in Cinque Terre sitting on a bench, eating gelato, enjoying the scenery and quietness it was ashame to come back to reality and the real world.

Cinque Terre, Pisa and London with my Angel!

Well for me it was time off and away from work as I get ready to trans ...

Updated: Mar 16, 2007 9:44am PST

Diego : Updated Message 15NOV06 - Well, I now have my doggie in my possesion. Diego's birthday is 09NOV05, so he is officially 1 year 6 days old. He is a big boy, weighing in at 83 lbs. Today we went to the vet and he got a microchip implanted in him. He did so good....now only if I can get him to get along with the rest of the 4 legged kingdom I would be very happy. Original Message: This is the newest member of my family....he is probably going to be my better half :-) He's currently with the breeder (www.working-dogs.de) in Berlin being trained until I am able to get back and get him. He is big, he is cute, and he is mine! Sera and I are heading to Berlin on Veterans Day Weekend to go pickup Diego...it will and should be a very fun and exciting trip. It will be Diego's birthday on 09 November and he will be 1 year old :o)

Diego

Updated Message 15NOV06 - Well, I now have my doggie in my possesion. ...

Updated: May 17, 2008 3:37pm PST

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1 gallery with 45 photos

Updated: Oct 18, 2009 11:53pm EST

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4 galleries with 514 photos

Updated: Sep 19, 2009 5:59pm EST

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3 galleries with 251 photos

Updated: Sep 13, 2009 1:12am EST

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11 galleries with 321 photos

Updated: Jul 21, 2009 11:53pm EST

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12 galleries with 276 photos

Updated: Jul 07, 2009 11:56am EST

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Updated: Jul 07, 2009 5:32am EST

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8 galleries with 193 photos

Updated: Feb 20, 2009 2:07am EST

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3 galleries with 156 photos

Updated: Jan 03, 2009 4:16pm EST

Diego (my better half)

3 galleries with 273 photos

Updated: Dec 28, 2008 2:12pm EST

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2 galleries with 103 photos

Updated: Dec 28, 2008 2:03pm EST

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2 galleries with 153 photos

Updated: May 17, 2008 9:12am EST

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Updated: Jan 01, 2008 2:20am EST

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1 gallery with 61 photos

Updated: Feb 24, 2007 8:42pm EST

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2 galleries with 66 photos

Updated: Feb 24, 2007 7:00pm EST

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Updated: Feb 20, 2007 10:01am EST

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Updated: Nov 28, 2006 4:15pm EST

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3 galleries with 165 photos

Updated: Oct 31, 2006 7:46am EST

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2 galleries with 19 photos

Updated: Nov 07, 2005 7:03pm EST

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1 gallery with 14 photos

Updated: Apr 14, 2005 3:36am EST