Friday, October 17, 2008

Surface, Surface, Surface

Here I am.
I have been pretty busy over the course of ten months. I've lurked around a bit and dropped a few comments here and there, but haven't been inclined to put up any of my own posts. The summer was too short and not a particularly warm one. I didn't accomplish all the projects I had planned. The other half and I have both gone back to school in addition to our other duties. I've finally gotten the motorcycle I almost bought thirteen years ago in Norfolk and I love riding it, although the snow has been here for a few weeks and I won't be able to ride it again for seven or eight months. I caught up with an old Navy buddy last week who I have not seen in over ten years and it was good. I'm also keeping my hopes up for the Fourth of November that this country will not elect a socialist for President. We'll see when I have a chance to post again.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Who ya gonna call?

It's really strange what inspires me to put stuff up on this blog. The build team from the show Mythbusters is here in town doing research for a few Alaska based myths. I like the show but my wife has never seen it (we don't have cable) so she didn't understand my geeky excitedness at hearing about their presence in town. Apparently they'll be figuring out whether there is any truth to the myth that you should speed up when about to hit a moose (I doubt it, your car is gonna be totaled and you'll be hurting if not dead. That's why I drive a truck.) and also a myth or two about cabin fever related things. I heard that from a local TV station. It seems the team was surprised to find that they wouldn't be going out into the bush to find a specimen for their research. They found a moose downtown as is usual during the winter months here in Anchor-town. I hear it was this one again.

So yeah, it's 2008 now and much time has passed since I last updated this page. I've been lurking around the blogosphere though; perusing other people's handiwork and have occasionally left a comment or two behind. I've given a few stories away to be posted about by others but nothing I think they wouldn't have found anyway.
So a belated Happy New Year to all. I'll put something else up, eventually.

Monday, July 30, 2007

Summer

I've been so busy this summer that I have had little time for reading other blogs let alone posting to this one. Not that the picture below is any reflection of the type of thing that has kept me so busy. It's just an example of what we caught for dinner one night last week.





Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Leviathan

Who knew whales could be this old?

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Score

A hat tip to RM1/SS over at The Old Coot where I found the link to this quiz. I wonder if my wife will agree.

Your Score: Pure Nerd


65 % Nerd, 39% Geek, 13% Dork



For The Record:

A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.
You scored better than half in Nerd, earning you the title of: Pure Nerd.


THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST



Road Trip

When I travel Outside I look for submarine related items and places. I found a memorial to 52 boats outside Las Vegas while visiting my wife’s grandfather’s final resting place in a national cemetery. I also found a few things on my last trip down south.
I went down to Seattle to attend a conference for work. I headed down a day early to see some family in the area. On my way back to Seattle I took the scenic route from Mount Vernon through Whidbey Island to the ferry. It’s the first time I’ve been to sea in awhile. It’s a short ferry ride from Keystone to Port Townsend, around 30 minutes dock to dock. While underway I did get the chance to see a boat pulling back into the area from somewhere. Escorted by two USCG patrol boats the Ohio class boat was crossing our intended course and we got surprisingly close.



I snapped a few pictures and listened to the kids around me chatter excitedly about seeing a real live submarine. That got me thinking about a place I’d heard about for years but being an east coast sailor I had never had the opportunity to visit.
So making my way from PT south I meandered through the area towards my intended destination until I found the Naval Undersea Museum near Keyport.



I didn’t know it existed but when I saw the signs for it, I had to take the detour. Luckily for me they were still open and I had an hour to roam about on a self guided tour. Admission is free but they’ll still take a donation if you’re so minded. They’re closed on Tuesdays if you plan to go. The museum is pretty nice. Outside the facility they have the sail from the USS Sturgeon SSN 637 as well as the entire research vessel Deep Quest and DSV-1 Trieste II. Inside, the ladies who were running the show are very friendly and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask them. They’ll guide you to the start of the exhibits by passing through a door into a room with a timeline on the wall that begins with the myth of Gilgamesh and ends in our modern times. A section dedicated to the boomer fags SSBN sailors who patrol the seas is next. Sections on oceanography, torpedoes and mines, propulsion, navigation, WWII, diving and others await the intrepid explorer. Interestingly they have the major components of the control room of the USS Greenling SSN 614 in a mockup that visitors can fiddle with. Youngsters can sit at either of the Helmsman/planesman stations, dive & drive and look up at the SCP that is curiously missing a couple of gauges to those who know to look for them. The BCP is there enclosed in plexiglass as well as a few FC consoles, a chart plotter, and two periscopes through which a visitor may view a camera feed from the roof of the building. A fathometer and a MK 27 gyro are there too. It looked like they were working on a few other items for the control room as well though I don’t recall what they were.



There is a Japanese Kaiten midget submarine there as well as a variety of torpedoes and mines from throughout history. In the diving section there are diving suits and bells from early hard hats to current hard suits. There is also a section devoted to women divers and their accomplishments and contributions. A Vietnam era SDV hangs from the ceiling as well. There is also a few displays that honor the sub community’s greatest heroes, those bubbleheads from WWII.
Winding up my time in the museum, I stopped in the gift shop and bought a t-shirt and headed down the road.
Before long I arrived at my next destination.
Here.



I'd heard about this place from guys who came to the boat from the west coast and thought I'd go there if I was ever in California. But circumstances being what they were I never made it and the bar moved to Washington not far outside the base at Bangor.
I had a burger and a brew. Bought a t-shirt there as well and looked at the memorabilia lining the bulkheads and overhead. It almost felt like home.
I had to run though and continued on my way to Seattle for the rest of the week.
If I go back I’ll have to bring the family, at least to the museum.
I’ll just bring the wife to the bar.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Sunshine

After returning to work from a six weeks of leave to welcome my newest addition to the family home(and do as much for my better half as possible before leaving her alone with three kids), I find myself in the place I was when I started this blog. Cold Bay, Alaska. It's a gorgeous day here and seeing bothenook's pic of a glacier on his page inspired me to attempt to photograph myself enjoying the sunshine. It was a little difficult to take a self portrait with the wind steadily blowing 25 knots with higher gusts knocking the camera over. After a few faulty starts I came up with this.
Enjoy.




Friday, December 15, 2006

The final countdown...

I've been pretty busy lately, what with work, school, the holidays and the upcoming arrival of V2.3 .
Not much time for other things such as posting to this blog or even reading my favorites, although I have managed to peek at a few.

So keeping this short, I'll just say Merry Christmas to all and have a Happy New Year!