Char and I have planned most of the major events in our lives. We spent our first years of marriage having fun overseas, traveling to wherever the Navy sent us. After about four years our parents would subtly ask about our plans for having children. After about seven years they were not so subtle and soon after figured that we may have decided not to have children at all. We always planned to have children but wanted to have our fun first. We knew that we would have more than one and that one of every two would be adopted. We felt that if they were close in age they would play together and learn from each other. However, we never expected for our first two to be as close at this… Regardless of how much you plan, there will always be those things that you can’t control. Binh and Ava are learning from each other but not exactly how we expected. Binh has suddenly began learning a couple of new words and behaviors. The most recent and significant word is “Mine” and the behavior is… well you should just watch the short video:
Like a pack of wild animals, they will work out the order of things and settle down eventually… won’t they?
It is getting harder and harder to keep up with world outside of arms reach. Much is going on though. Last Wednesday and Thursday I was underway on a new destroyer putting her through her paces. She performed very well and will be ready to enter the fleet and do the work our nation requires.
I learned of some horrible news yesterday while on my way to a Navy Hail and Farewell ceremony. My cousin was involved in a fatal car accident. This really hits close to home because we were close in age and hung out when we were younger. I remember after we both moved out from under our parents roof we met at his place or my mine and hung out for the weekend. It became more difficult as we both began to work more weekends to pay the rent but he is always forged in my first memories of “being on my own” and doing things myself. I will be thinking and praying for him and those he left behind.
We frequently talk about doing things for ourselves but it seems more and more like we cant really do much on our own. Fifty years ago, many grew crops, killed their own chickens, worked on their own cars, got plenty of exercise and did not depended on things they did not understand or government to meet their needs. Today most do not change their own oil or grow anything and depend on some government program for something. As a result, the majority of the population has become specialized in a small number of things at the cost of a good general understanding of how the world works. I would argue that the vast majority has no idea what actually occurs in a slaughter house or how a car is built or what proportion the government allocates to all these programs that add little value to the people. Folks wonder why the stockmarket has become more erratic, why so many were tricked into adjustable rate mortgages or why just as many men as women get taken advantage of at the car repair center. I believe its because so few people actually understand how things work. For example, I would argue that the general population does not care to learn how their car works. As a result, when they take their car to be serviced they are at the mercy of the service managers integrity. The last time I took my car in to be serviced the gentlemen tried to sell me a new fan belt and wanted to change the fluid in my differential at 36,000 miles. I turned down the offer and asked him to perform only what I took the car in for which was a coolant flush and lower radiator hose replacement (very messy job to do on your own). That Jeep now has 97,000 miles on it and is just now needing that fan belt replaced. I went to my local O’reilly auto parts store and purchased a belt for $19 and put it in in about 30 minutes with the help of a Haynes manual. That got me thinking, what would that have cost me at a service station and what else would they have tried to sell the average customer. I call my local service station and asked and quoted me a price of $185 for the belt replacement (Parts – $60, Labor – $125). The guy then began to quote me all the maintenance due at 100,000 miles.
Not that everyone should be able to do major car repairs or get an accounting degree on the side to help with mortgage details but one should consider having a general understanding of the big pieces in their world and the equivalent of a Haynes manual as a resource handy. I think most would realize a cost and aggravation savings. Well, with the exception of the government piece…
Its been a while since my last post but I am trying to get my arms around my new job. I am a ship superintendent and assistant production officer for Arliegh Burke class destroyers. More specifically, I am working DDG-103, 105, and 107. Northrup Grumman and General Dynamics (the two primary ship builders) have been building destroyers for some time. However, because of Katrina, strikes, and other external factors, building destroyers on the gulf coast has become more challenging. Some ship yard workers did not return to work after Katrina because they decided that their job was not worth the risk of catastrophic weather. Others returned but found the rebuilding process much more lucrative as those with specific welding skills, wiring skills, planning skills, etc. were in high demand. The shipyard has had to rebuild itself and train new folks all while executing a contract written prior to Katrina. Many of the bean counters just figured that the destroyer program was going to work on auto-pilot regardless of the weather and blame the shipyard for not planning properly. I will tell you that the folks at Northrup Grumman are doing a great job going from being underwater to delivering ships.
As one can imagine there are a great number of “customers.” involved and priorities to juggle. Northrup Grumman is constructing ships according to the design resulting from the approved contract and ship specs. The ship specs are generated using naval technical manuals, system specs, and others documents. Over the life of such a program, there are a lot changes and adjustments made to accommodate “the customer.” One example of what I do: today the new crew approached us (supervisor of ship building representative) and claimed that there was an unauthorized part used on a ship system. I went to my engineers to discuss exactly what the ship spec reads. Then, look at the latest revision of what the fleet technical manual requires and determine a path that is agreeable with all involved. I could continue but I imagine that only 1 out of 10 that started this post will actually finish it so I will quit.
It is truly amazing to see one of these come to life. I have been on the customer side of the fence as part of a commissioning crew. In this new position, I hope to add value to the destroyer program by giving the tax payer the best possible ship for the money as well as help present the crew with a safe and robust tool of diplomacy and power projection to be used by the next 8 to 10 presidents.
The blog world has changed considerably in the last couple of days. The political blogging pages have went from accusing McCain of being old and making fun of him not knowing how many homes he has to shedding flesh. I have never read so many attacks on one person anywhere but then again that is the power of the Internet and blog world. You can find claims of an affair in Wasilla, kick backs from oil deals, racial slurs against Obama, and so on. Most reference unnamed sources. Not that I think anyone who matters would actually take these attacks seriously but it is the sweeping level of coordination that is alarming. On the lower end of the spectrum, some “neighbor of Sarah” emerges with a blog that says alot of things that are not substantiated, cannot be substantiated, half truths, or simply an opinion. On the severe end of the spectrum there is talk of her using racial slurs and her using her position to corruptly serve herself. These are all from second hand sources that do not want to be named. I decided to read every piece of legitimate source material from these articles and use any supportable facts from the articles to find an indication of character, which is what really matters, right? This is what I found:
1- She lowered her salary
2- Her City grew (which could reasonably explain the need for additional tax revenue supporting infrastructure)
3- Her popularity was sustained at a high level
4- She cut ALL property taxes, not just ones for “big business” as suggested by some
5- She sent out $1200 checks to Alaskans when the oil / gas money started rolling in
6- She kept her campaign promises
I did not find one supportable fact that would lead me to believe that Sarah is not who she says she is. She accomplished all this while still participating in life, raising a family and dealing with the challenges that go along with it. One must then wonder why so many want to cut her down, smear her record by telling half truths and labeling her as heartless… No wonder it is so hard to find good people in politics regardless of which side of the isle your constituents would want you to sit.
I have been trying to catch up on my blog reading today and found such a political charge. Unfortunately, politics are often a grand entanglement that rarely gets one very far with respect to things that matter. All you can do is establish a method for making decisions, make them and refine your process based on prior results. I am reminded of the old saying, “[in the end] we get the politicians we deserve.” If the majority is misinformed then the majority suffers. Perhaps we will learn a lesson until history must repeat itself…
The public service announcements reminding us that soon all broadcast will be in digital format are becoming more frequent. Analog is considered more pure and is very difficult to manipulate. Consider the analogy of an analog camera (one that uses film) vs. the ever so popular digital cameras. A digital image is very easy to manipulate. We have already seen the results of altered images in the mass media. Some of these are not so important like Katie Couric’s weight loss. However, some have been used to shape public opinion like the photo of a British soldier which was manipulated to make him look as if he was being overly aggressive. This photo was admittedly manipulated by Walski and published in the LA Times before being synicated. Digital TV broadcast simply means that more of what you see will most like be altered in some way. Usually the alteration will be benign or cosmetic in nature but one must ask, can I actually trust what I am seeing?
Like most kids, ours go through favorite character phases. First came Curious George and Caillou with a little Bob the Builder thrown in. There was a brief stint with Handy Manny but Veggie Tales has dominated for the last 2 months. A great friend back in Massachusetts gave us 10 – 15 Veggie Tales videos and the kids have not stopped watching them since. Both kids have their own special way of requesting a video. Ava simply says, “Esther Veggie Tales please.” Binh goes over to the basket with the kid videos and grabs the first green VHS he sees and grunts until you load one up.
Regardless of who requests a Veggie Tales video, the theatrics from them are pretty entertaining so we decided to record them as they watched the opening theme song. There are a couple of important notes. First, notice how close Binh is to the TV. We always wondered what kind of guy would sit in the first row of the movie theater. Well now we know. He backs up a bit when the music starts to clear some room to get his groove on. Binh is so excited he doesn’t know what to do with himself but will look over to get his cues from Ava. Although Ava does not sing much this time, she knows most of the words. The only part Binh knows is the last note and he always chimes in.
Char and I have planned most of the major events in our lives. We spent our first years of marriage having fun overseas, traveling to wherever the Navy sent us. After about four years our parents would subtly ask about our plans for having children. After about seven years they were not so subtle and soon after figured that we may have decided not to have children at all. We always planned to have children but wanted to have our fun first. We knew that we would have more than one and that one of every two would be adopted. We felt that if they were close in age they would play together and learn from each other. However, we never expected for our first two to be as close at this… Regardless of how much you plan, there will always be those things that you can’t control. Binh and Ava are learning from each other but not exactly how we expected. Binh has suddenly began learning a couple of new words and behaviors. The most recent and significant word is “Mine” and the behavior is… well you should just watch the short video: 
