Steel Beach

1/20/11

Whales. I mean, 30'-50' long, black, tail slapping, spout blowing whales. Of all the things on this voyage I didn't expect to see, but experienced nonetheless, this one takes the cake. Somewhere between Maui and Lanai we surfaced and came to a stop. The Captain (actually a Commander in rank, but it is his ship) announced over the communication system that the seas were a little rough, so men could go topside in a few minutes and make cell phone calls, but swimming was not allowed until the ship's divers made an assessment. I never doubted for a moment that the swim call was going to happen, and it did after about 5 minutes. While I did have some shorts, I took one look at the frenzied sailors thrashing in the water, trying to play King of the Submarine and throw each other off the boat, and figured it would be best to play the well-mannered engineer. Hurting or getting hurt by sailors, accidental or not, is not good for relations between the Navy and its contractors. Accordingly, I soaked in some sun and called Wifey. So good to hear her voice and get a positive report of happenings back home!

That's when the whales arrived (it was only well after my return to shore that I determined they were humpback whales). They lazily breached the surface, occasionally spouting off air, to the starboard side of the ship at least 200 yards away. This while I was on the phone, so I got to describe it to my wife as it happened. After I hung up, the whales circled the boat a few times, spiraling nearer. Their curved black bodies slowly arched over the water's surface, with only the sight of the stubby dorsal fin indicating that there would ever be an end to the beast. There was a pair of the brutes, and they easily came within 30 yards as the took turns spouting, now circling to the port side of the ship. The shouting, swimming, and general horseplay of the sailors did not disturb the whales in the slightest, which was remarkable. Many of the crew were trying to photograph or video the event, and the whales seemed to make great sport of surfacing when everybody had just lowered and turned off their camera. After 25-30 minutes, the whales slowly began moving away, lumbering off to the port side of the ship. As a final display, when they had reached a distance of 200-300 yards, the whales began to finish each breach of the surface with a mighty tail slap. I said to myself "I think you're gonna need a bigger boat."

Even if there were no whales, the scene would have been breathtaking. The nearest island (Maui, I reckon) was lush and green with soaring slopes rising nearly straight up from the ocean. The mountains rippled with valleys, and even richer land nestled in these nooks Along a thin strip of flat coast a few small towns clung precariously, unable to build any meaningful distance up the slopes, yet unwilling to surrender to the ocean below. A small island nearby (Kahoolawe or Lanai, not sure) consisted of a single peak, and it was perfectly wreathed by cloud. Only the highest and lowest elevations were in view, the clouds obscured the mighty waist of the hill.

The water was blue. And, sweet sassy molassey, was it ever still. It was obvious to me that the Captain was just messing with the crew, building the suspense for them, making the swim call an even more special event through sweet anticipation. As a 32 year old parent, I also spotted an example of this earlier in the week. The crew had been doing drills for days, preparing for a very major inspection. On Thursday, there were a crushing 5 major drills scheduled (they take about an hour apiece, plus there is a meeting afterward). After completing the fourth drill, the fifth was abruptly cancelled for reasons of great performance and exhaustion on the part of the sailors. I knew darn well the Cap'n never intended to conduct the fifth drill, just like I don't intend to actually implement The Worst Case Scenario with my children. This is one way a man can motivate 120 young men going on four hours of sleep nightly. In the same way, it was determined that a $2.5 billion warship can spare an hour to keep its crew in peak operating condition.

March to the Sound of Nones

I got home today and immediately had a sense something was wrong. The sort of sense that something is out of place, or that something imminent was loitering in the air, or, that's it, something is missing. I stood for a moment, and I could hear myself breathing. That was it, I could hear myself breathing. The house was still, somehow even more still than when I awaken at 5:30'ish in the dark hours of the morning. Maybe it was the contrast of coming back home from a hectic day at work as opposed to coming downstairs right after waking up, but it was the most still sensation I have had in a long, long time. Five seconds after closing the door, I knew with complete confidence that Wifey and the children were out of the house running errands, which was perfectly fine. If they were not coming back, that would not be fine.

Having adjusted (more or less) to the daily pace of a young family and the centrifugal struggle of having three children and their energy flowing through our home, this one moment was positively shocking. And, cosmetically, I would expect to treasure any moment of peace. Surprisingly, I missed the energy, I missed the focus, I missed the purpose of having every second balanced on a knife's edge of joy and exhaustion.

The thought of living without children, maybe even combined with retirement down the road, seems like a husk or cruel facade of a life. This is enjoyable, so long as my youthful strength and vigor hold up.

Serial Tiller

What a great weekend! After working a few small jobs in the wonderful Spring weather I to have some man-time, sweating in a shirtless toil as my skin slowly browns. Well, in the name of full disclosure it must be noted I'm redding, then browning. Full disclosure-plus mandates I note that laying down on a bench and lifting when reddened/browned is very uncomfortable, to boot.

But I digress... I found myself clinging desperately to a 100 pound, iron oxide coated monster augering its way through my garden. A kind friend loaned me a rototiller, all the better to engage in dominion over the wilderness that is (has been, really) my modest garden. The beast is about the same age I am, was clearly built before aluminum or stainless steel were commercially available, and was quite a handful to control. Knowing that, it was all the more remarkable that the machine, which I dubbed Tirpitz, started on the second pull and ran without fault for the whole morning. And that thing could chew up some dirt, I tell you what! The rototilling was preceded by extensive slashing, clipping, sawing, and digging to clear the lot, then burning all the debris along with extra piles of branches from the pear and apple trees (shown above with Sarah Joy).

This is all good news. Wifey has seedlings coming up (including about 1/2 dozen chestnut trees), the blueberry bushes are no longer choked out, and all the derelict trees that threaten structures or safety are down. And we have a tire swing up for Sweetness and Sarah Joy! Our property is slowly, painstakingly, taking shape. There will be work to do as long as we live in this blessed house, but it's starting to look less like a wildlife preserve and more like Eden. Or, at least our little slice of it.

Ours Is Not To Question Why...

The other night Wifey nonchalantly passed me a grenade and inadvertently pulled the pin. There was no indication, no sound, heat, or vibration to indicate a fuse had been energized. One moment, all was peaceful and happy in our household. Then, the grenade blasted and spewed it's violence. I was immediately immobilized, unable to do anything other than clutch the bomb while it belched its hot fury all around. As I took the full brunt of the explosion, I could only wonder what went wrong, and my last coherent thought was what would happen to my loving children, beautiful wife, even the home and furnishing surrounding me. Then, the cleanup began. As for me and my outfit, both were a complete loss. That's right, substitute "baby" for "grenade", and that definitely happened a few nights ago.

Just Because

Wifey took this photo. It reminds me of Michigan.

Here Comes The BOOM, Ready or Not

In early autumn, there were 2 days of very high winds. One of those days the long-dead tree on our property came down. Hard. Wifey and I looked into our backyard to discover the tree, which was easily big enough to wipe out the deck and part of the house, fell lying almost perfectly north-south. No structural damage to our house OR the kindly 75 year old lady who lives next door. Very fortunate we are. To sweeten the deal even more, I was able to parlay this event into the purchase of a chainsaw and a maul for the clean-up. Let's just say we have ample firewood.

Rotted out completely at the base

One foot, two foot, cut right through foot

The beautiful looks & cute outfit are from Mommy, the mug of coffee on the job is all Daddy

First fire at the new house!

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

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

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!

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.

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.

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.
  

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.

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.

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.

Did Somebody Leave The Parking Brake On?

I recently completed the second and final run of the 2008 I Tell You What race circuit. The EBAC Fall Challenge provided a little bit more challenge than the previous weekend's Tarzan Brown run. While the course was shorter, I had a stomach ache so did not eat much breakfast. Also, I am optimized for cold weather running, so low 60's and humid causes me to struggle a little bit. As a result, my pace was notceably slower (6:57 per mile) than the previous weekend. It was still a very nice outing for the family, as the girls were able to play by the beach and were gracious enough to cheer for me as I sputtered my way across the finish line. My time was still OK, better than any year I've participated in the Fall Challenge. Having Wifey prepare me breakfast and being consistent with my training runs (with a 22 year old to pace me) certainly helped. Now that I've had time to recover and rest, my overworked knees are feeling much better, to boot. Here are a few photographs of the morning:

A little time with my ladeez
Relaxed/fatalistic beforehand

My fans, minus Wifey

Gratuitous submarine picture from race morning at Ocean Beach, because that's how we get down on I Tell You What

Wheezing my way across the finish line, ending the 2008 race season