A Talk To Remember

I was having a marginally work-related conversation with an older gentleman at the office the other day. He was discussing the background to a horseback riding trip in Hawaii. He casually dropped this line about his travel companions:
"They were from my first wife's family. She was from Indonesia, and she died young."
He quickly moved on to the rest of his story of riding horses up mountainsides, but I couldn't shake that sentence. It's one of the most compelling I've ever heard. He was from New England, went into the Navy and served in special forces (all history I already knew). Somehow he met a young woman from Indonesia, fell in love, was married, then lost her. Entire novels are written on thinner foundations, but he summed up perhaps 5 years of his life in a single sentence. And I will never get to hear the remainder of the story, for there is no polite way to ask.

Christmas

Do you remember when Christmas was THIS awesome? I don't just mean getting this fired up over some long-coveted gift. I mean getting this fired up over finding things like Tic-Tacs in your stocking.

Merry Christmas from our family.

Merry Christmas from the military-industrial-congressional complex

No Trophy For #2

Purely academic question: what was the second sin committed by Adam and Eve? They may well have committed different sins for their encore, or maybe the same one. In either case, we will never know because it is not written. Why not? Why couldn't we have a running diary for their first year out of the Garden of Eden? Wouldn't their continued fall from Grace be informative for the rest of us?
I think we can infer from the Old Testament focus on Cain and Abel that Adam and Eve committed no murder, from the focus on the Tower of Babel that there were no pride issues, and from The Flood that they did not have any tendencies toward wickedness in a general sort of way. We can hopefully rule out adultery and covetousness, as well. Therefore, it was probably something we would consider hopelessly mundane and uninteresting.
I like to imagine that any further sin was an echo of sinning at the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (a very long name, why not just use a maple or chestnut or cedar?). Based on their specific genders, I imagine Adam would have dealt with a great deal of anger, every time a thorn ripped his flesh or he tripped on a tree root while gathering/growing food. I think Eve would have wallowed in bitterness and resentment, every time she labored to deliver a child or noticed her uncomfortable, primitive clothing that gathered bugs and would not dry off. Almost every day would be a constant reminder of a single, epic failure on their part. I think they likely would have blamed Satan, blamed God, and blamed each other. Blaming themselves for their own plight likely did not come to mind.

The Front Fell Off

You have got to be kidding me. This was formerly the Russian guided missile attack submarine Kursk, of latter days a mausoleum housing the bodies of over 100 men. Rumors have the cause of the boat's sinking as a faultyweapon, probably one propelled by a fickle hydrogen peroxide system. It's no surprise to a ship designer that the weapon guys would be to blame. The weapon designers are darlings to naval officials because their product is sexier than the giant chunks of steel that ship designers use, so the weapons are allowed a much narrower safety margin than the boats they are carride on. This brings us to a famous tenet of naval architecture

(narrow safety margin)=(resting on bottom)

I did find a few things interesting from the top picture, especially. Note the monstrous size of the boat, second only to the American Ohio and Soviet Typhoon Classes of submarine for length and displacement. Despite that, the drydock in turn dwarfs the submarine. What a facility! Note that the missile tubes straddle the central pressure hull on both port and starboard. The pressure hull itself actually appears elliptical, but that could just be due to the perspective of the photograph. The missile tube fairings are decoupled from the missile tube hatches themselves, and each fairing covers two hatches. There could be a separate hydraulic or electrical interlock, but there appears to be no mechanical link between the two. The fairings seem to have a couple of linear hydraulic actuators apiece, but with a very precarious alignment in the full open position. In other words, they look like a wave or missile launch wouldn't have a tough time breaking them. From the picture, there is no sign of the hatch operating linkage at all, so it must be pretty flimsy. As for the sail, it looks bigger than a double-decker bus. I wonder what they put in that thing.

On a lighter note, here is more lighthearted case of the front falling off.

My Fair Ladies

The family recently spent an evening taking in a local fair. Where else can you:

• watch riding lawnmowers belch white smoke and take corners at 25 mph
• spend $23 for a greasy (albeit tasty) dinner and walk away thankful that the lady didn't charge for the bottle of water
• see your child defy gravity
• think it's OK that half of the teenage boys are wearing their high school football jersey
• spend some quality time with livestock

The ladies are pumped for the carousel

Good looking? Yes. Resembling her father? No.

Sarah Joy momentarily decides the fair is overrated. Wifey momentarily decides Sarah Joy is overrated

Radial acceleration=(velocity^2)/(radius of rotation)

Daddy, the #4 tractor is running a little rich

Where's my soundtrack? I wanted 'Ride of the Valkyries'!

Raise Snorkel

Raising snorkel; it's what most of the world's submarines still do every so often as a way of getting a breath of fresh air. We have been beyond busy the past month or so. Bulletized rundown:

• Samuel is doing GREAT. He has yet to catch up to his sister's for weight at 8 weeks of age, but he's smiling, and even laughing now. Very jovial, borderline jolly, he may be destined to be a gregarious fat man.
• Sweetness just started her second year of preschool. The socialization is good, but the academics of Pre-Kindergarten aren't going to benefit her much, since she now reads letters & cards she gets in the mail on her own.
• Sarah Joy is now talking, combining words and getting clearer by the day. Her feats of strength are already legendary in the toddler community. Seriously, she's BOSS, I'm afraid her build will be more like mine than Wifey's
• Wifey has really bounced back well from the delivery of Samurai. In the past few weeks she has absolutely slaughtered the furniture & appliance market (see next item)
• On the home front, I've cleared many vines, with more to go, prepared & sealed the deck, we're getting cable TV Sunday, have hosted many friends, purchased a used 21+ cubic foot freezer (like new, from acquaintances, $125!), Two wingback chairs (about $800, after an extended warranty), a futon for guests to sleep on (less than 1/2 price, $115!), and a patio set (couch, 2 large chairs, coffee table, originally $800, today only for $250!!!)
• Think about this: we've been in this house for about 12 weeks, and have only had DVDs to watch, and not really missed a thing. Only football convinced us to get cable.
• I've averaged 50 hours a week at work the past few weeks, and next week promises more of the same. Great timing! The gremlins have been at work again at our companion shipyard down South. It's worse than the papers let on. The best day had me at work at 5:00 A.M., leaving for 2 hours to pitch a softball game that went an unheard of (for that league) 90 minutes (we rallied from down 14-2 to win 22-21!), then back to work until 11:30 P.M. Wifey has been very supportive, but it's tough on the kids.
• ...and Paul K. finally retired at work. The last guy with more experience than me at work. A 70 year old Vietnam Vet (USMC). I will miss that man. Not just for the extra burden I now have on the job, but for a little perspective.
• Fantasy football starts in earnest on Sunday. I got Drew Brees as my QB... but I had Tom Brady last year.
• Go Lions
• Go Tigers
• I bought a chainsaw, hope to break that out in a little over a week. Pray for my fingers.
• I listened to the Neil Young album Harvest Moon last night, it was the first time I've had the time to enjoy an entire album at home in some time. I cannot recommend it highly enough. It's a warm campfire, throwing off gentle light that somehow just makes the surrounding darkness even more overwhelming and oppressive.

Hopefully I won't go 6 weeks before posting again

Warning: Gratuitous Submarine Plug Ahead

The Providence Journal recently printed a pretty lengthy article on how we build nuclear submarines. I recommend it, if you have a little spare time. I haven't made it through the whole thing yet, but what I've read so far has been pretty good.

Pass Go, Net $200

I moseyed out of the bank this morning quite pleased. After hunkering down with a limited bank account due to closing costs on our home sale/purchase, all of the checks due from various agencies came in over the following weeks, and today I deposited them in one sweep. Two thousand five hundred dollars in a single, fat deposit! Before I even reached the car, though, I recalled that last night I had paid bills, to include our new mortgage and vehicle taxes. How much did I dispense from the very same checking account? Oh, I remember now, two thousand three hundred dollars.

Running as fast as I can, just to stay in one place, just like the Red Queen. At least I have good employment to be thankful for.

Receiving to Ourselves Samnation

Samuel Stewart
Sarah Joy greeting in the way of her people

The lesson, as always: Don't leave you sunglasses behind when visiting the hospital, because sick people will find them

More syrupy sweetness

We have met our newest family member, all 7#, 7 ozs. of him. Samuel Stewart arrived at 11:07 P.M. Thursday night, after Wifey labored for 15 hours. She managed to hammer out the delivery in only 2 pushes once the time came, which was most impressive. That all the more so, since there were no pain meds whatsoever in Wifey's body when the active labor began. An impressive performance, and she and our new son are both flourishing. The staff and facilities at the hospital were great. Best of all, Sweetness and Sarah Joy both really took a liking to their baby brother. We kind of expected Sweetness to enjoy him, because she was very excited during the pregnancy, but we were completely blown away that Sarah Joy was so enthusiastic to hold the newest member of the family. I'll save the syrupy details, but it's been great. The icing on the cake is that Samnation slept great the first night here. That is likely to change as time goes on (like tonight, maybe), but it made for a nice first night home.

We were fortunate enough to receive a dinner provided by another young family from the church, which is part of a ritual I like to call Fellowship By Carbohydrates or The Great Casserole Siege. It's awesome, especially if you like to eat, as I do.

Something Has Changed

In the six months Barack Obama has been president, nothing of significance has changed. The good news is that in our family, big change has been brewing. We're going to the hospital tomorrow morning for the birth of I Tell You What scion #3, our first son. Hopefully I'll get some pictures up soon!

Nothing New Under The Sun

I kept everything inside and even though I tried
it all fell apart
What it meant to me
will eventually
be a memory
of a time when I tried so hard
And got so far
But in the end
It doesn't even matter
-Linkin Park

17 So I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was grievous to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind.

18 Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under he sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me.

19 And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is vanity.

-Ecclesiastes 2: 17-19

All I'm saying is that I heard one on the radio on the drive home from work, and read the other last night, and that things simply don't change very much.

Coming Up For Air

Wow, talk about some craziness. Spent June 8-12 in Boston, taking in a course on submarine combat systems. Had just over one week to complete preparations to move out of our house and into a different one (only about 8 miles away, fortunately). Wifey really put in a yeoman's effort packing, and then unpacking later. Rented and drove a 22' Penske moving truck (diesel, as if you have to ask) with a sweet hydraulic lift gate in the back. Had help at all steps from friends young and hale. Closed on both houses on the same day. Still unpacking, but mostly done. Looks like we squeaked in under the deadline of the arrival of our son. The growth of the baby beard (like a playoff beard, but not best-of-seven) is in full swing. I could write a full entry about any of these things, but doubt I'll get around to it.

Is Their Crew Team Violent?

I'm going to be away on travel this week. I'm heading to Boston to attend a seminar on submarine combat systems. It's hosted by MIT, and run by the Naval War College (Motto: "Go forth and sinketh"). The whole thought of a war college is mind-boggling to me. Do they have a fight song, or is that unnecessary since they actually fight? Instead of peace rallies, do they have war rallies? Because of the sensitive nature of some of the topics, I cannot bring so much as a notepad into class. How much will I possibly remember out of 30+ hours of lectures? We'll see

This link is the perfect confluence of some of my favorite pop culture. I leave it to provide a smile while I am away.

It Depends On Who You Talk To

My boss is sharp. Really, he knows what he's doing. For the first time in some years, I have felt for the past 24 months like I had a bit of a safety net if I made a mistake. He's an unashamed ladder-climber, but I can live with that. He's enrolled in some developmental program for potential directors or even executive officers, very prestigious. The program includes all sorts of personality profiling to determine an individual's strengths and weakness, as well as an awareness of the personality types of others they work with. The benefits of this sort of training for a reasonably young but skilled worker can be enormous.

There's one thing the program never does: talk to any of the people who work for the corporate shooting star. All the input that could be gained, valuable feedback over the real difficulties and frailties of the someday executive... nobody knows those warts better than the grunts who have to do the front line tasks. Sure, you have to watch out for disgruntled types who have an axe to grind, but isn't it possible that if you go back far enough you'd find that there is a reason for the axe grinding?

It Needed To Be Said

Let's give it up for Sub_Eng, May 28, 2009.

Memorial Two-fer

Has anybody else noticed that gasoline prices at the pump have increased by about 25% in less than a month? You would expect some sort of media attention to this, since it affects everybody. Anticipation of increased demand for Memorial Weekend would be a suspect, but this started a little too early. It could be that this is caused by the biannual re-tooling at refineries to shift some of their processing from heating oil (winter product) to more gasoline (more in demand during summer). I can't say for sure, though, because exactly zero journalists in the major media outlets have addressed this.

This brings me to my second topic: the word "biannual" means twice every year, as I just used it. EXCEPT when it doesn't, and instead means once every two years. Wait, you mean the same word, in the same context, can have a meaning that cannot necessarily be distinguished from the other meaning based strictly by the surrounding words? Exactly right. www.m-w.com and www.dictionary.com both allow this crap to propagate through our English language. I know it's cobbled together, and very difficult to learn, but it's the language that we've got, and is the language of business, engineering, and commerce! Who are the gatekeepers of dictionaries, and why can't the definition of biannual be changed to "BIANNUAL, adjective, declared obsolete in 2009. See instead biennial or semiannual"?

Young Turks

I recently filled in as a substitute pitcher for a softball team that a few of my co-workers put together (not the same ones who have the 4 miles/dozen doughnuts race from my previous post). We got a few lucky breaks and ended up doing really well. The team was basically me and 10 22-23 year old engineers. Afterwards, they went to the pizza joint that is sponsoring the team, while I hopped on my bicycle and pedaled the 2 miles home. One of the team, who I do not know well at all, asked Joe, who I'm pretty familiar with, where I was.
Joe: "Oh, he went home to see his wife"
Other Guy: "He's married?"
Joe: "Yeah. I mean, he's got 2 kids and is expecting a third."
Other Guy: "He's got kids? How old is that guy."
Joe: "Thirty."
Other Guy: "THIRTY!!!??? You've got to be kidding."
It could be a long season as Father Time on that team.

Coolest. Race. Ever

A few of my co-workers shared an absolutely inspired idea with me. A half-dozen or so of them are going to run a four mile race. This race will consist of two equal segments separated by a dozen doughnuts that must be consumed before running the second segment. What an ingenious idea! I don't even know if I can eat a dozen doughnuts. I think a competitor's best bet is to come as close as possible to sprinting the first two miles, eat the fat pills, then walk/jog the second segment of the race as best as possible. I'm not stupid enough to try my idea, I declined to participate. Maybe next year.

Read'em & Reap

I recently had to prepare this lesson outline for a class I am taking, thought I would post it, for what it's worth, hopefully the actual delivery was more insightful:





Project
5/2/09
Galatians 6:7-10
Who- Paul is writing to the churches of Galatia
What- The overall theme of the Book of Galatians is justification of a man by faith
Where- Central Asia Minor
When- 49 or 55 A.D.
Why- Some members of the early church falsely believed in merit/works-based salvation
How- To expound on the basic theme, Paul uses the audience’s experience (3:1-5), Abraham’s example (3:6-9), Christ vs. Law (3:10-4:11), his personal testimony (4:12-20), using Abraham illustratively (4:12-31), and Application of faith (5:1-6:10)



Context of Galatians 5:2-6:10
5:2-12 Liberation from the Law by Christ’s sacrifice
5:13-15 Loving others in freedom from the law
5:16-24 Freedom from fleshly weakness
5:25-6:5 Freedom from pride
6:6-6:10 Works from faith



READ Galatians 6:6-10



Key words identified
Flesh-as human nature, see Gal 5:19-21
Spirit-the Holy Spirit
Good- see Gal 5:22-23
Faith- (from earlier context)
Sow- to scatter seed. It is likely viewed by this audience as an ongoing, rather than discrete, event (see picture below)
Prov. 11:18, Hos 10:12, James 3:18
Reap- harvest what is sown
Jer 12:13, Hos 10:13


http://www.wcg.org/lit/law/festivals/harvest.htm


Literal interpretation
V7- God knows the balance of all men’s lives, and they will receive according to their behavior
V8- If we live for our own corrupt desires, our reward will be spiritual corruption, but living for closeness to the Holy Spirit will yield eternal rewards
V9-Our rewards will be eternal, but perhaps not immediate
V10- Let us live (as Jesus lived) driven by concern for others



Contextual interpretation

Gal 2:16- Faith, not works, justifies a man
Gal 5:4-6- Confirms Gal 2:16, plus v6 shows faith working through love
Gal 5:13-14- Freedom from the Law should not turn the flesh loose, but be an opportunity to serve each other



James 2:21-26
Correlates precisely to Galatians Ch 5 & 6
V26 reasserts faith as salvation and declares the necessity of a manifestation of faith



Acts Ch. 6 & 7 provide a clear illustration of the power of one who sows to the Spirit in Stephen, who in turn influenced the author of Galatians in a remarkable way. See also 1 Cor 3:6-9 for explanation.



The Book of Proverbs asserts in numerous locations that the good in heart and deed will reap rewards as called for by Gal 6:7-8, exemplified by Prov 10:22-25. But where are the eternal rewards of Gal 6:9-10 specified. 1 Cor 3:10-15 describes this at the Judgment Seat of Christ.




Application
The purpose of Paul’s letter to the Galatian church is to assert the supremacy of faith over legalism. However, chapter 6 clarifies that a life driven by faith will manifest itself in the fruit of the Spirit, which is described in Gal 5:22-23. This is the faith that is also described by James, one that justifies a man and glorifies God by his words and actions for all to see.
Just as Abraham was justified by faith, so can we be also. We can also observe the heart of the Law by loving our neighbor as an exercise or manifestation of that faith
Additional study needed: How does v6 fit in with the rest of the text?

Steely Skies

My engineering group has made our long-anticipated move across the shipyard to the nice, relatively new high rise that serves as a sort of headquarters for design work. The view of the river and seaside is quite serene, even from the lowly fourth floor (really ground floor, but we're on a hillside sloping down to the water) of ten. A few of our guys have been disappointed by the generally rainy/foggy weather since we arrived, and I can see their point, since the sunny days are as colorful and uplifting as can be, with the sweeping horizon and gem-like reflections off the choppy waves. However, I am partial to the steely grays of the overcast day, with the far more subtle shifts of shade and more immediate feel to everything you see. To each his own, but I see nothing inherently worse about a day more suited to contemplation and coolheaded thoughts than idyllic whimsy and soaring fancy.

Featherbuster

Went for a walk with the family recently to enjoy the improving weather. I heard a flurry of wing beats, and across my vision I saw a mourning dove dart, frantically accelerating against the measured, yet lethal, pursuit of a hawk. The erratic gyrations of the dove succeeded in sending the hawk on a bad bearing, allowing the dove to reach top speed and find cover. On our next lap through the neighborhood, I saw a clump of dove feathers on the ground where the strike presumably occurred. The lesson, as always: Be the hawk.

The Coolest Three Word Conversation Ever

I went down to the shipyard today, with every other engineer from my group in tow, to check out a giant test fixture that had just returned from shock testing in Virginia. It was a great trip. On the return to our building, we walked by a few conex boxes (the size of a mobile home) that some crews were working out of. One had a painter (judging by his coveralls) sitting in the doorway in a folding chair, soaking up the gorgeous sunshine. Being the point man (or mother goose for the goslings that followed my steps to avoid getting lost or into trouble), I threw a quick wave and a disarming smile to the gentleman, a dignified, middle-aged black man. This is a quick signal that "We engineers are frightened and confused by the primitive ways of the shipyard, and are only moving through peacefully in search of air conditioned offices with coffee makers.". The painter, obviously gathering my meaning, nodded behind his reflective sunglasses and simply said with a deliberate, basso profundo:
"What it is."
Seriously. I haven't heard that phrase uttered un-ironically in decades. Not only that, it perfectly summed up this individual's all-out lounging and laissez-faire attitude toward our band of interlopers in his world. No further conversation was helpful, desired, or necessary. Indeed.

Mess With The Bull...

I am a huge fan of horns. Not all of them. Saxophones, for instance, are the coolest thing going, especially when coupled with a sharp suit jacket and sunglasses at night, but I'm not much for most brass or woodwinds. I refer primarily to signal horns of days gone by. Most of them I imagine to look something like this:

This whole fascination was kicked off in my work cubicle about 2 years ago when this commercial for Snickers came out. Pure genius. Of course, every time somebody sat down to eat lunch or drink a caffeinated beverage, and imaginary feast horn was sounded. We actually got pretty good at imitating it. Well, turnover at work being what it is (or was, I should say, since attrition has dropped virtually to zero in the current economy), I found myself surrounded at work by new guys who didn't have the proper knowledge or respect for the significance of the horn's call. That's where the brilliance of the Internet ("now on computers!") came in. Check this out (sorry, you have to cut & past into your browser, no linking):

http://www.audiblebeauty.net/do-not-link/king/hardhrim_horn.wav
http://www.audiblebeauty.net/do-not-link/fellowship/horngondor.wav
http://www.audiblebeauty.net/do-not-link/king/rohan_horn.wav
http://www.audiblebeauty.net/do-not-link/towers/eldarhorn.wav

All the guys I sit with are now on board, now that I have these files to play at-will while working, and often when somebody enters or exits our cubicle an appropriate horn is sounded.

Oh, and did I mention that Warhammer: Dark Omen has a horn as a butt-kicking item for your armies to use? I still have to write about that game. One day soon...

The Lesson, As Always...

• Lifting weights is good. The zoo is good. But combining the two by carrying 70 lbs of kids at the giraffe exhibit is exhausting.
• Committing yourself to work through diligence, education, and humility brings crushing workloads and frustration.
• Committing yourself to work through diligence, education, and humility brings recognition and personal satisfaction.
• Reconciling the previous two points is a daunting endeavor, to say the least.
• Selling your house is much easier when you pick a realtor who is familiar with your segment of the market, you have put some effort into the house, and your Wifey is able to commit copious amounts of time making it sparkle for showing it to prospective buyers.
• Through either age, lack of other talent, or some other sort of doom, it's inevitable that I will be a softball pitcher (slow-pitch).
• The Office is still just about the best thing going on television.
• When holding hostages, the Naval warship is not really offering to throw you a line to help you weather high seas.
• And the flashes in the sunlight are not from men holding binoculars, but rifle scopes.
• Our latest word of the day at work: chicanery
• Just because: Turtle Man. I heart the Rebel Yell. Closing word to the wise: don't choose ponds on farms to hunt snappers, you don't want to know what rinses into them.
  

Not Even Disappointed

At least the MSU Spartan b-ball team were gracious hosts, allowing the UNC Tar Heels to put up 55 points in the first half. After about 10 minutes, the Spartan players looked like extras from the Omaha Beach scene of Saving Private Ryan. UNC deserved it, what a juggernaut!

Now it's time to contemplate the overrated, overhyped, yet still intriguing NFL draft and the beginning of the church softball season.

Men Of Sparta!

I live in UConn Huskie turf, no doubt about it. But tonight, compliments of the Michigan State Spartans basketball team, there is no doubt who is top dog. No, I did not attend MSU, and I do not regret that decision. But I did get accepted there during high school to study chemical engineering, and I watched many Spartan games as a child to cheer them on, so I can claim a connection. Bravo, Spartans, bravo.

Things That Make You Go Boom

If you like things that are awesome, click here. Right this moment. I'll tell you why things like this happen. Sometimes mankind emerges from the dark forest of daily life, to emerge upon a rolling plain of grass and clover, with the sun shining and a light breeze blowing. At that moment mankind realizes "hey, the company executives are on vacation for a month, and we have two train engines that are scheduled to be cut up for scrap, let's be awesome!".

I don't know, maybe that kind of epic dudeness only happens in Texas. Or does it...

Overhaul Complete

My apologies for stepping away yet again. More technical issues, this time on our computer's end. Some of the files in our operating system were corrupt, so I enlisted some help in repairing it. NOW I understand why my college buddies who were into electrical engineering used LINUX. Our biggest highlight during the long moment of silence: we sold our house again, this time for more money than the first. Sadly, we again unsold our house within a week. Yet again, the buyer was financing 100% of the purchase and, despite being pre-approved, was denied at the final loan application. At least we found out when we did, since Wifey and I were going to put a bid on a sweet little property that very evening.

Good To Be Back

Sorry about the absence. A combination of technical difficulties and rough schedule have conspired to keep me away for some time. An update of what's been going on:

• Our house sold, then, due to the buyer's credit record, unsold. A word to the wise: If you're financing 100% of the purchase of a home (haven't we learned that's not so wise?), make sure to keep up your student loan payments.
• Sarah Joy has begun using words. This is a serious upgrade from grunting and screaming.
• Sweetness turns 4 years old Sunday. We took her to the doctor to get a vaccination, she stared at the needle the whole time it was in her arm, and she didn't even whimper. Impressive. I have lately found myself doing foolish things and internally saying "my 4 year old daughter is better than that. This provides some parenting insight: we are more intelligent, faster, stronger, more mature, and more experienced than our children. We are not better, and to think otherwise is to become a stumbling block to raising our children into upstanding adults.
• We discovered that the baby Wifey is carrying, due mid-July, is a boy. Could not be more excited, so to explain any more would just fail to convey.
• My job has shifted, for the moment, from checking calculations and putting out fires to acting as a sort of iron-mongering interior decorator for submarines. Want a giant hatch? Need some motion synthesis for a linkage? Will that be a power screw or a hydraulic cylinder? For a dork, this is a breath of fresh air after rooting out old mistakes on drawings and new mistakes on 400 page calculations for over a year. One thousand, one hundred, fifty pages and counting in the past 9 months.
• I was just patting myself on the back for pioneering the use of "monger" as a verb. Alas, a quick self-check of Merriam-Webster (who needs editors if you proof read?) showed that I am no pioneer, after all. Ergo, mongering is the word of the day.
• Started playing Warhammer: Dark Omen for original PlayStation on my PS2. Awesome game, makes me want to bring back words like "stoked". I'm sure I'll follow up with an entry on this gem.
• Wifey and I watched Stranger Than Fiction a few weeks ago. Strange, but very sweet movie. It really drew me in, and I loved it.

That's enough for now. More to follow, hopefully soon.

Not A Week For The Weak

Take heed, fair citizens. This is National Engineers Week! U.S. presidents get a day. Workers get their own day. The nation gets an independence day. Football and turkey get a day. Jesus gets his birthday. Love just had a day. Somebody, who was very smart, recognized that engineers deserve AN ENTIRE WEEK! Engineers are so awesome that they, like an ideal gas, can expand to fill whatever time period they are allotted. I recommend some activities that everybody can enjoy to celebrate the week:

• Hug an engineer. He will not respond, because he has no emotions, but he probably appreciates it. Or at least doesn't resent it.
• Take something apart. Then put it back together...
• ... if it still works, disassemble it again, modify that something to make it perform better, and reassemble. Repeat until it ceases to work.
• Read some instructions, and follow most of them.
• Watch the History Channel
• Learn the binary number system
• Make observations of the things around you that have no significant impact on anything
• Read J.R.R. Tolkien

My favorite part about the official National Engineers Week web site hyperlinked above is the "introduce a girl to engineering" section. I introduced Wifey to engineering, and continue to introduce her to it every day after I return from work, and... it's not winning her over.

This is but a brief sample of the awesomeness that you can enjoy this week. I just feel bad for the people who only get to feel like engineers for a single week out of the year.

Tolkien In The Boys' Room

I'm working on a pseudo-Tolkien trifecta right now, a work several months in progress. I finished reading The Hobbit to Sweetness (yes, she followed most of it, which I can scarcely fathom at age 3), watched the The Lord of The Rings movie trilogy with Wifey, and I have now been provoked to re-read The Silmarillion. Of all this, one thing came to mind: In the movie trilogy (and books, for the typographically inclined), why are the only truly interesting characters Faramir and, especially, Boromir?
The writing of Tolkien is engrossing, it really defines the term "epic" for other fiction writers to follow. And so many other writers, particularly fantasy and sci-fi, have attempted to do just that. One thing that Tolkien's writings do not have in abundance, though, is characters cast in gray scale. Absolute, selfless, divine good clashes with almost comically wicked evil. Iron-clad courage pursues yellow-bellied cowardice. Self-sacrifice envelopes self-serving avarice. But characters with true weakness to offset some decent qualities are rare. Some of the prequel writings for the Lord of The Ring trilogy do include great heroes overcome by greed or corrupted by power or blinded by rage. But these are stories told at a great distance of mighty figures and great kingdoms in Paradise Lost (see previous blog), not characters that you get to know intimately or see develop much over time. Very much of the Greek Tragedy vein.
But with Faramir and Boromir, you see the struggle between honor and arrogance, obedience and greed, and those conflicts more than any of the (admittedly awesome) special effects are what make repeated viewings or readings of the trilogy worthwhile. While Faramir struggles with Doing The Right Thing at a key juncture of the story, it never seems likely that he will falter. Once he Sets Things Straight, he gets injured and fades out of relevance. Boromir, though, is portrayed as mighty and valiant, a born leader. He only sets out on the great journey of the story at the behest of his father, who is already corroded away to rottenness. He has endured the suffering of his people for his lifetime while striving endlessly for their protection and freedom. In the ring he sees a resolution to every problem he has ever faced, that his whole land has ever faced. And he finally folds. Neither bravery, nor experience, nor strength can prevent him from cracking and committing foul acts. But even through that, he is able to recover, and repenting from his evil ways he commits a last courageous act of sacrifice, selling his life dearly for his comrades. In the movie (I cannot recall if this is true in the book) he even plays a role with his dying words in developing the main character, Aragorn, whose victory is never really in doubt but at least matures in character during the story.
Who can't get behind characters like that?

Paradise Lost

I have had an idea kicking around my head the past few days. Not anything that coagulated into solid form, but lingering nonetheless.
Why is paradise lost a common belief, or an almost universal longing?
Obviously, the Book of Genesis kicks off and is followed almost immediately by a personal foul on the only two people on the planet. It is certainly not just a biblical theme, though. J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth was full of longing for lost days and great heroes who had fallen in the battle with evil, and majestic cities that no longer stand and who's beauty will never be matched. Tolkien was biblically influenced, but I don't know that we can say the same for Rush. The old rock band wrote the 2112 Overture, which describes at length a single man trying to restore life to the wonder of old days by, naturally, the means of a 'prehistoric' guitar.
I know that, for my own part, I was a little saddened to see that the McDonald's restaurant in my hometown was remodeled. I have no great love for the place, but it's where I worked my first job, and now I can never be in that place with the same atmosphere, whatever it's worth. Going back to the house where you grew up and seeing another family's car parked in the driveway, or other kids playing in the yard, can be downright jarring. It seems as though the plodding of time is acceptable as long as we can restore our present world to a past moment, thus regaining it. Thus, that memory, that time is lost but for the frail thread of our own mind.
Of course, The Ancients who occupied Paradise Lost where also of greater might than can be found today. The Good were great and the Bad were wicked beyond match. I often wonder if the hero worship portion of this phenomenon may even go back to our childhoods. Your father's strength and wisdom were incredible until you became an adolescent, and the devoted selflessness of a mother sets the foundation for your view of love and tenderness. How can anybody you encounter as an adult ever match these outsize traits. Only now as my own family grows can I see any sort of bonds of that magnitude emerging in the all-consuming, hyperbolic EVERYTHING of children and the understated love and care of Wifey.
This entry feels rushed, because it really needs to be about twice as lengthy, but it's time to cut out.

The Menace Within

What would you think if I described a military with these stats:

• 2.3 million members (less than 1/2 of them auxiliary)
• 8,300 bases
• At least 8,300 pieces heavy firepower

I'm guessing you'd say "Because I, too, am a dork of history and warfare, I recognize that is approximately the manpower and artillery strength of the Indian Army." To that I would reply "bravo", because that is truth, yet that is not the organization I described. This army exists within the borders of the United States, yet falls outside the control of any U.S. military command, and has infiltrated "posts" into nearly every community in this country. That's right, the VFW. Think about it. They have some sort of combat implement (helicopter, tank, artillery)at every building! They have built up a corps of experienced soldiers from conflicts over the last 60 years, and concentrated the lethal cocktail of manpower, practical combat knowledge, and alcohol serving permits as they marshal their forces for what can be their only purpose: an all out assault on our great nation. Not even the defunct battle tanks sitting outside of National Guard Armories can stop this War Machine once its engine of destruction starts turning over. Yes, these veterans are your neighbors. Yes, they have served with honor. Yes, the can potluck like no others. But do not dare turn your back on them. You have been warned.

Beg Your Paron, But...

It is a double-edged sword telling your boss "I have been too busy to draft a paper explaining everything I have worked on this year for my annual performance review. When I finish the 3 urgent things I am working on, I will be happy to oblige." Honesty is the best policy, eh?

Michimmigration

Last Monday another engineer joined our group at work. He is a native of Kalamazoo, MI, and attended the University of Michigan. The flight of college graduates from that state is startling. Of my closest friends at Michigan Tech (the engineering school in the state), not one remained in Michigan after graduation. Vermont, D.C., Massachusetts, Illinois, Texas, and other places all offered better employment opportunities than our home state. I can understand that Michigan, with the industrial and educational infrastructure to historically need and produce engineers, would be creating a glut of technical types who don't find the job they're prepared for near home.

Unfortunately, it goes beyond that. Even some of the education majors that I knew who attended other colleges had to join the exodus. One of my cousins just headed to Indiana to work as a technician at a hospital. Set aside the dorks, if you are no longer hiring teachers and medical types your society is hurting. Michigan is now manning the caboose of the nation's economy.

Free Association Friday (Saturday Edition)

• Forgot to mention that on the drive back from Michigan, having seen far more wildlife than you ever find on the East Coast, we encountered, just a few miles from home, a coyote calmly sitting right in the middle of the road. Had I not come to a complete stop, our car would have plowed right into it.
• I Tell You What's sister has lost 65 pounds recently. Wow!
• The proliferation of Obama bumper stickers prompted Wifey to come up with a new classification for annoyingly plodding drivers: Slobama.
• Speaking of that, can we end the hagiography (word of the day) of our new president? Fortunately, the national news media is now realizing that if it doesn't get out of bed with the Democrats, there will be nothing to report on, especially with things going much better in Iraq.
• I knew it, I knew it, I knew it was going to be trouble checking those installation torques on something that's never broken but, you know, what if...? That just landed me a 60 hour week.
• A recent conversation (witnessed by Wifey):

Engineer 1: Look at those swans in the ocean. They're probably corroding!

Engineer 2: No, they're fine. They have a higher nickel content than fresh water swans.

Michigan, Again

We headed across the upper reaches of the U.S. again this year to visit my family for Christmas. We made the veteran parenting move of taking Sarah Joy to the doctor the day before to ensure antibiotics were available to combat her persitent head cold. The I Tell You What family does not advocate antibiotics to counter mild and transient illnesses, but you DO NOT want that spreading into a major respiratory thing as you drive cross country and sleep in unfamiliar surroundings. Just trust me. We were very fortunate on the trip to my grandmother's house, the worst weather we encountered was rain until about 50 miles from her home. Then it was the usual Michigan grind of ridiculously heavy snow.

It's remarkable to span so much distance in a single drive. The beginning is from coastal Connecticut through hilly Massachusetts and eastern New York. The hills fade to pancake-flat western New York and southern Ontario, with raptors (this kind, not this kind) acting as sentinels every mile or two in the treetops. Then it's into the woodlands of Michigan once you exit the Thumb area. There it's forests, forests, and forests. The snow was deep, and the dark nights there mock your car's puny headlights. As we approached our destination we saw deer (naturally), turkeys (a foot from the windshield!), an elk herd (only me, everyone else was napping), a bald eagle, and, once we reached my mother's house, a pileated woodpecker big enough to fly off with one of the children.
The time with family was fantastic. Being in a rural area truly does slow things down. You can wait an entire day for something to happen, and it doesn't feel like you're missing anything else important. It was also an opportunity for Sweetness and Sarah Joy to enjoy some things we don't get much of on the coast.

1. Chickens- My mother has a bootleg-egg production up & running. It's great for the girls (Sweetness, here) to get a look at a small farm. Not many people really get an intimate look at where any sort of food comes from these days. I can't wait to see what else is in store for Grandma T's 20 acres of paradise.

2. Sledding- When snow is abundant, there is one thing that is easy to arrange. This is one of the downhill runs where Sarah did not take out her Grandpa at the knees.

3. Snow machines- My cousin rode her (that's right, her, and she could beat you in a race, I'd wager) snowmobile over to our grandmother's house on Christmas day to join the family celebration. All the great grandchildren were offered rides. Here is Sweetness taking advantage of the offer. This is how we celebrate the birth of Sweet Baby Jesus in the Winter Wonderland.

Drive On

1 Family
5 States/Provinces
890 Miles
17 Hours

What a drive home from Michigan. We were able to enjoy safety and good roads after the first 60 miles, so we have definitely been blessed. I'll start posting again soon.