tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80524179301779309952024-03-05T04:37:20.772-08:00NAVY BLUE COUGARThe purpose of this blog is to allow me to talk about whatever grabs my attention on any given day. Anybody that wants to jump in and express their views are welcome, but please try to maintain a respectful tone. Thanks.Navy Blue Cougarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04038101146366045772noreply@blogger.comBlogger128125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052417930177930995.post-15988936327413067052010-04-30T17:44:00.000-07:002010-04-30T17:53:18.747-07:00Electron Boy and The Make-A-Wish Foundation<div style="text-align: justify;">Thursday was a very special day for a young boy with liver cancer. Thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation and hundreds of volunteers including police officers, a few guys off of Deadliest Catch, the Seattle Sounders FC, and Spider Man, Erik Martin got to live out his wish of being a superhero.<br /><br />About the only thing I have to say about it is that it really made my day. It's a great story. You can <a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2011740342_electronboy30m.html"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">read it here</span></a> at the Seattle Times. There are links to a photo gallery and Electron Boy's Facebook page there as well. The photo gallery is pretty nice.<br /></div>Navy Blue Cougarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04038101146366045772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052417930177930995.post-80684114596628011312010-03-14T16:02:00.000-07:002010-03-14T16:49:57.774-07:00Would you like to see some boobs with your coffee?<div style="text-align: justify;">I don't know how prevalent they are in the rest of the country, but we have a few drive-through espresso stands here in Bremerton with baristas that brew coffee while wearing only pasties and thongs. It is a fairly hot topic in the Kitsap Sun. The stories and Letters to the Editors never fail to draw a lot of comments. There are several stands of this sort around the area.<br /><br />A lot of people say it is immoral and that the stands are a blight on our fair city. I don't know about that. I remember some of my past girlfriends that would be nice enough to bring me coffee in the morning, frequently in some state of undress. It never bothered me. Granted, that is a different context than a little drive-through coffee stand/peep show, but who am I to pass judgment on what other people think is acceptable? Personally, I have no desire to get my coffee from any of these stands. I am more concerned about how sanitary it is for a nearly-nude food worker to be preparing coffee or about the safety aspects of unclothed people working with steam and scalding hot beverages than I am about the moral aspects.<br /><br />Some people have complained about the women working in these stands being in full view of passing motorists and their passengers on the nearby road, which is quite busy. The bus that I take to and from work passes right by a few of these places. The stands are visible from the road, however, I think you would have to be looking pretty hard to get a glimpse of naked flesh while passing by. They are not exactly in-your-face. They have tinted windows that are opened when the customers pull up, but I have yet to see any naked girls. Maybe I need to look harder, but I am just not all that interested.<br /><br />One commenter on one of the Kitsap Sun articles said that she felt "ambushed" when she drove up to one of the stands with her kids in the car. The stand is named something like "Fantasy Espresso" and there is a sign on the side of the stand showing a silhouette of a woman. I think this poor woman should have been paying a little more attention. Maybe she could have connected the dots and avoided the ambush. Heaven forbid that someone needs to explain to their children that women have breasts and that men like to look at them. I wonder how they deal with questions about erectile dysfunction after their children see commercials on television.<br /><br />I remember when my first boat pulled into Fort Lauderdale. Some of us had heard about a topless donut shop and we decided we needed to check it out. It was like any other donut shop with news on the television behind the counter and various customers reading newspapers and chatting over their donuts and coffee. The only difference is that the female waitresses were topless. That part of it was kind of surreal. It was a mildly interesting experience, but not that thrilling. The donuts were okay and the coffee was pretty good. I don't know whether or not it is still in business, but I doubt I would go back if it is still open.<br /><br />In the meantime, I guess these new businesses will be a controversial subject whenever they come up. I guess I am in the camp of "Who Cares?" If you don't like these places, don't go. If you want to spend your hard-earned four dollars and throw a buck or two in the tip jar to get a good cup of coffee and a quick look at a scantily clad woman, that's fine with me. It's not going to hurt the economy. Hopefully none of the outraged citizens will take the matter into their own hands and burn the place to the ground like this <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2009/06/04/topless_coffee_shop_destroyed_in_arson_fire/"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">coffee shop in Maine</span></a> that had topless girls serving coffee.<br /></div>Navy Blue Cougarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04038101146366045772noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052417930177930995.post-40990177377396202442010-02-18T16:10:00.000-08:002010-02-18T16:35:15.389-08:00The Tea Party<div style="text-align: justify;">I read about the nutty guy in Texas that flew his plane into the IRS building in Austin. I read his last note or suicide note or whatever it is that you want to call it. I can actually agree with some of the sentiments expressed in there, but I think advocating violence against the IRS and then actually carrying out a suicide attack on the IRS is pretty nuts.<br /><br />I also read several comments that readers had submitted. I don't find much funny about this situation, but a lot of the comments make me laugh. Right-wing nutjobs and Left-wing nutjobs are both trying to claim that the suicide pilot is a liberal (from the right-wing nutjobs) and a conservative (from the left-wing nutjobs). Having read the note, I had to agree with the comment that basically said the guy was nuts and his political beliefs are all over the map. It was a pretty rambling note.<br /><br />I did read <a href="http://www.klewtv.com/news/local/84420877.html"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">a political piece of news</span></a> about a gathering of the Tea Party in Clarkston, WA. Apparently, one of their speakers want to kill one of our United States Senators. She said:<br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic;">"How many of you have watched the movie Lonesome Dove?," asked one speaker from the podium. "What happened to Jake when he ran with the wrong crowd? What happened to Jake when he ran with the wrong crowd. He got hung. And that's what I want to do with Patty Murray."<br /></blockquote>Pretty classy group of people that gather at Tea Parties. I kind of thought that some of them were well meaning people, in spite of the somewhat racist signs and thoughtless comments that I have seen and heard attributed to them.<br /><br />She was at least sincere enough to allow her comment to be recorded on video and preserved for posterity. You can watch it <a href="http://www.klewtv.com/news/local/84420877.html?video=YHI&t=a"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">here</span></a> if you want. The video clip is cut a little short after the comment so it is difficult to judge the reaction of the crowd, but if she feels that she is among people that think that murdering an elected official is an appropriate comment or a funny joke, that tells me what kind of people that she thinks are in the party.<br /><br />Maybe I will go to an anti-Tea Party gathering when they have a Tea Party around here. After seeing this video, I have absolutely no respect for them. <br /><br />Screw 'em!!<br /></div>Navy Blue Cougarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04038101146366045772noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052417930177930995.post-58240563181359603552010-02-08T18:30:00.000-08:002010-02-08T18:51:43.937-08:00Round and Round I Go<div style="text-align: justify;">I was visiting my parents a few weeks ago and I decided to drive back to Bremerton using a route that I normally do not use. From my parents house, I drove to Olympia using what we call "The Back Way In" to Olympia. This is a road that goes through some very rural areas before coming into Tumwater on the way into Olympia.<br /><br />I was approaching Tumwater when I saw signs indicating there was construction ahead. January isn't exactly the peak of construction activity in this area, but they were doing something to the road. As I got closer, I saw that they had put in a new roundabout.<br /><br />I hate roundabouts.<br /><br />Roundabouts are one European import that definitely should have stayed in Europe. To tell you the truth, I don't know for sure that they originated in Europe. I just associate them with Europe because of the Griswold's adventures in England during National Lampoon's European Vacation. Now that I think about it, comedy movies may not be the best source of information about other countries and continents, but I have to work with what I have.<br /><br />Anyway, there is another roundabout that I occasionally use and I am not very good at it. I have probably been through it about a dozen times. I would estimate that I have successfully navigated this roundabout three or four times on the first try out my dozen attempts. Most of the time when I go through it, I end up in the wrong lane and am forced to exit before I want to. I should probably have it figured out by now, but that darn roundabout outwits me nearly every time. After driving through and coming out heading in the wrong direction, I have to drive about a half mile until I can turn onto another street and get myself turned around so that I can reenter the roundabout and come out at the correct exit. I could probably stop and turn around a little earlier, but I am worried that someone will see me and realize that I got messed up by the roundabout. Since I am a man, that would be an unacceptable outcome, almost like admitting that I was lost.<br /><br />Bottom line, I hate roundabouts. Now they just put in another roundabout on a road that I sometimes travel. I came out of the roundabout, miraculously heading in the correct direction and drive for a few hundred yards when I come up on another new roundabout.<br /><br />Two new roundabouts??? Are you kidding me? What could be worse than two new roundabouts?<br /><br />I left that roundabout and continued driving for a few hundred more yards when I found out what could be worse than two new roundabouts.<br /><br />Can you guess what that might be?<br /><br />If you guessed a third roundabout, you would be correct.<br /><br />I hear that roundabouts are safer than intersections controlled by traffic lights. That may be true, but I would take a left-turn lane and a nice clear green arrow to tell me when I can turn over a roundabout every day of the week and twice on Sunday.<br /></div>Navy Blue Cougarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04038101146366045772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052417930177930995.post-24424101009134353272009-12-31T05:37:00.000-08:002009-12-31T06:12:56.887-08:00My Year in Review<div style="text-align: justify;">The last year has brought some pretty substantial changes to my life. I have a new job, live in a new place, and have a new car. About the only thing that is the same in my day-to-day life is the same old furniture that I have been dragging around with me from Hawaii to Guam, back to Hawaii, to Pullman for school, and now here in Bremerton. At least something has remained the same. I need some consistency in my life and I have been parking my butt on that couch for quite a while now.<br /><br />As for the changes, being a nuclear engineer at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard is certainly preferable to being a college student, at least for me. I am sure that some of my twenty-some year old co-workers would rather be back in college rather than working. I didn't really have anything in particular against going to school, however it is much nicer to have money flowing in rather than having money flowing out each month. In addition, while I was in school, I always felt that there was more that I could be doing for my classes or something that I should be studying when I was sitting at home which made it difficult to really relax. Now that I have a job working with classified material all of the time, I am simply not allowed to bring my job home with me. Leaving work at work is pure bliss in my book.<br /><br />My new home is Bremerton. For those of you that have been to Bremerton, you may not consider this much of an upgrade for my hometown. I always liked Bremerton and I still do. I would probably enjoy living in Hawaii more, but Bremerton is better than Pullman in my book. At least here, I can find other middle-aged sailors and ex-sailors to sit around with and bitch about the state of the world. In Pullman, every place that you went was filled with college students, most of whom were much younger than me.<br /><br />Another big improvement is the weather. If you hate rain, you wouldn't agree with me there, but what I really hate is the cold weather that would be around for so long each year on the other side of the Cascades. Snow is pretty to look at, but beyond that, I don't have much use for it.<br /><br />I know lots of people like to ski and snowboard. I went skiing a few times when I was younger. I fell down the last time I went skiing. I never thought that falling on my butt would hurt so much. I was bruised for a week and decided I didn't really like skiing.<br /><br />Another reason I dislike cold weather was a slip and fall while I was walking to the bus stop in Pullman about three years ago. I ended up sliding into a concrete curb and breaking my leg. I will take the drizzle and gray skies of Bremerton over the ice and snow of Pullman any day.<br /><br />Anyway, my new job and new home are pretty good upgrades over what I had last New Years Eve. I also got a new car. I ended up trading in my old Thunderbird for a new Prius. I like the new car, but the old Thunderbird has gotten me where I needed to go since 1997. I definitely felt a twinge of regret as I traded it in on the new car. I had decided that when the next big repair came up on the Thunderbird, I would be getting a new car.<br /><br />One day, while I was sitting at a stoplight, my windows started to fog up. I turned on the defogger and had steam shooting out of the vents. I drove straight to the dealer and got my Prius that night. It wasn't too much of a snap decision. I had done some research and talked to a few people that own one, and had known for months that a Prius would be my next car. I do miss the Thunderbird, but it was time for a new car.<br /><br />All-in-all, most aspects of my life have gotten better in the last year. I hope that everyone else out there had productive and happy years and hope that 2010 brings joy and prosperity to your families. Happy New Year!!<br /></div>Navy Blue Cougarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04038101146366045772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052417930177930995.post-44513323532077905062009-12-23T18:43:00.000-08:002009-12-23T19:04:47.753-08:00Shifting Gears<div style="text-align: justify;">One of the things that I did not really consider when I came to work at the shipyard is how much shift work there would be. Truth is, I was kind of looking forward to working mostly days, but I have probably spent the majority of my time on swings. The last few weeks, I have been working the graveyard shift.<br /><br />Although I had been looking forward to working days, I found that shift work really hasn't been that bad. There are several factors that I had not considered that make shift work easier as a civilian than as a sailor.<br /><br />Probably the biggest thing is that the shifts are truly 8 hour shifts for me. I don't have to come in early for a brief and stay late to clean or to talk to the day shift managers about the shift. Granted, this is only true because I am still a trainee. The qualified guys do have to come in a little early to do a pre-shift tour and stay a little late to conduct a proper turnover, but an important difference is that as a civilian, you get paid to work extra hours. Nice. Overtime helps a lot because you get to pick up a little extra pay and management has an incentive to keep you within your normal 8 hour day.<br /><br />As a nub, I have only had to work overtime a few times, and while I certainly don't want to work weeks and weeks on end without a day off, a few hours of overtime here and there are nice. It is certainly less hours than I would put in while I was sealed in a submarine far underwater for weeks and weeks on end, and I get paid extra for it!<br /><br />Another thing is shift differential. I get paid a little extra for each hour that I put in between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. This isn't a huge amount of money, but it gives me a little extra money in my pocket every few weeks.<br /><br />All in all, shift work is a lot better as a civilian than as a sailor. Working graveyard shift while the weather is gloomy here in the Pacific Northwest isn't so bad either, since the nights have been only a little darker than the days for the last few weeks. Might not be so great in the summer.<br /><br />I will be shifting gears again after I finish work in the morning and coming back on days. Just in time for Christmas.<br /><br />I sincerely hope that everyone out there has a Merry Christmas and that the coming New Year is fantastic for all of you!!<br /></div>Navy Blue Cougarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04038101146366045772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052417930177930995.post-47732443167171897402009-11-29T18:14:00.000-08:002009-11-29T18:33:01.157-08:00Sad Day In Washington<div style="text-align: justify;">Earlier today, just down the road in Lakewood, four police officers were slain in a coffee shop while preparing for their shift.<br /><br />The murdered police officers from the Lakewood Police Department are Mark Renninger, Ronald Owens, Tina Griswold, and Greg Richards. Here is a link to a <a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&ref=nf&gid=187870594054"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Facebook page</span></a> dedicated to the memory of these police officers.<br /><br />The police in the area are on the lookout for a person of interest, although, at the time of this post, he has not yet been called a suspect. He has a criminal history in Arkansas, where a long prison sentence was commuted by their governor. More recently, six days ago, he was released on bond after being arrested here in Washington for assault on a police officer and child rape charges. Read about him <a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010385617_webmansought29.html"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">here</span></a>.<br /><br />This comes just a month after a police officer, Timothy Brenton, was assassinated on Halloween in Seattle. Tragic days for those that Protect and Serve.<br /><br />My condolences to the families and friends of these officers.<br /></div>Navy Blue Cougarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04038101146366045772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052417930177930995.post-46739460009388967462009-11-06T20:47:00.000-08:002009-11-06T21:01:41.245-08:00Perseverance<div style="text-align: justify;">I remember when one of my boats pulled into South Korea for a liberty port. The briefing that we received prior to pulling into port included the dangers of drivers in South Korea. We were told that it was the most dangerous country in the world for drivers and also the most dangerous country in the world for pedestrians. I don't know if these were true facts, but I do remember a few white-knuckled rides from Chinhae to Pusan. They may as well take out the gas pedal and brakes and put in an On-Off switch because the taxi drivers alternated between putting the accelerator on the floor and putting the brakes on the floor. Truly terrifying.<br /><br />I want to share <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091106/ap_on_fe_st/as_odd_skorea_aspiring_driver">a heart-warming story</a> that I just read about a South Korean woman that passed her written driving test on (or about) her 950th attempt. The test requires a minimum of 60 out of 100 to pass. She has been taking the drivers test nearly every day since April of 2005. After spending more than $4000 in application fees, she finally passed with a 60 out of 100.<br /><br />The next step is to actually get behind the wheel for the driving test.<br /><br />Cha Sa-soon, I salute your perseverance. Good luck on your driving test. I hope you pass this part of the test more quickly than the written part.<br /><br />Also, I would like to say Good Luck to all of the drivers and pedestrians in South Korea. You need it.<br /></div>Navy Blue Cougarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04038101146366045772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052417930177930995.post-3428596437132664462009-11-03T15:52:00.000-08:002009-11-03T16:01:25.687-08:00Headline News<div style="text-align: justify;">I just got home from work and thought I would like to see some election coverage. The local news hasn't started yet. I prefer not to watch election returns on MSNBC or FOX. I figured headline news on CNN would have some good coverage. I looked on the guide and saw that Prime News is on and thought that would be a good place to watch. After all, the description for Prime News is:<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">"The days top stories, as compiled by CNN's news-gathering unit, are presented."</span><br /><br />I tune into to headline news and what kind of coverage do they have? If you guessed that they would be having an in-depth discussion of whether or not Anna Nicole Smith was high on drugs in the so-called Clown Video that was shot in 2005 or 2006, then you are obviously much more in touch with the pulse of CNN than I am.<br /><br />CNN, you suck.<br /><br />Guess I will have to stay up and watch the Daily Show and Colbert Report if I want to see something resembling real news. </div>Navy Blue Cougarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04038101146366045772noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052417930177930995.post-76798827566159004232009-10-07T12:06:00.000-07:002009-10-07T12:45:44.139-07:00Secretary of Navy Interview: Women on Submarines? Soon.<table style='font:11px arial; color:#333; background-color:#f5f5f5' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0' width='360' height='353'><tbody><tr style='background-color:#e5e5e5' valign='middle'><td style='padding:2px 1px 0px 5px;'><a target='_blank' style='color:#333; text-decoration:none; font-weight:bold;' href='http://www.thedailyshow.com'>The Daily Show With Jon Stewart</a></td><td style='padding:2px 5px 0px 5px; text-align:right; font-weight:bold;'>Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c</td></tr><tr style='height:14px;' valign='middle'><td style='padding:2px 1px 0px 5px;' colspan='2'><a target='_blank' style='color:#333; text-decoration:none; font-weight:bold;' href='http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-october-6-2009/ray-mabus'>Ray Mabus</a></td></tr><tr style='height:14px; background-color:#353535' valign='middle'><td colspan='2' style='padding:2px 5px 0px 5px; width:360px; overflow:hidden; text-align:right'><a target='_blank' style='color:#96deff; text-decoration:none; font-weight:bold;' href='http://www.thedailyshow.com/'>www.thedailyshow.com</a></td></tr><tr valign='middle'><td style='padding:0px;' colspan='2'><embed style='display:block' src='http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:item:comedycentral.com:251729' width='360' height='301' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' wmode='window' allowFullscreen='true' flashvars='autoPlay=false' allowscriptaccess='always' allownetworking='all' bgcolor='#000000'></embed></td></tr><tr style='height:18px;' valign='middle'><td style='padding:0px;' colspan='2'><table style='margin:0px; text-align:center' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0' width='100%' height='100%'><tr valign='middle'><td style='padding:3px; width:33%;'><a target='_blank' style='font:10px arial; color:#333; text-decoration:none;' href='http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes'>Daily Show<br/> Full Episodes</a></td><td style='padding:3px; width:33%;'><a target='_blank' style='font:10px arial; color:#333; text-decoration:none;' href='http://www.indecisionforever.com'>Political Humor</a></td><td style='padding:3px; width:33%;'><a target='_blank' style='font:10px arial; color:#333; text-decoration:none;' href='http://www.indecisionforever.com/2009/09/23/ron-paul-on-the-daily-show-tuesday-sept-29/'>Ron Paul Interview</a></td></tr></table></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />Ray Mabus, the Secretary of the Navy did an interview on the Daily Show last night. One of the topics addressed was that of women serving on submarines.<br /><br />Some of you may have been following the <a href="http://bubbleheads.blogspot.com/2009/09/skimmer-cjcs-supports-women-on.html#comments"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">long debate about this issue</span></a> going on over at Bubblehead's blog. Some people are in favor of women serving aboard subs, some are opposed, and some other people probably don't really care and just want to go to the rack when they get off watch.<br /><br />From what SecNav said during the interview, it doesn't seem that there is any debate going on. When Jon Stewart made the statement that women aren't allowed to serve in submarines, Ray Mabus replied "That's right. They will soon." The part where he talks about women serving aboard submarines starts just a little over two minutes into the interview.<br /><br />He also said, innacurately, that there would be a delay because all people that serve on submarines are nuclear-trained. For the non-submariners out there, not all sailors that serve on subs go through nuclear power training. All the officers, with the exception of the supply officer are nuclear trained. The enlisted nuclear power plant operators are also nuclear trained. The other enlisted sailors go through submarine school.<br /><br />I suspect that the Secretary of the Navy has a general idea of what sort of training that submarine sailors go through before they hit the waterfront. I guess this may be a clue that the first United State female submarine sailors will be officers, most of which are nuclear trained. No surprise if that is the case.<br /><br />One of the people that left a comment on Bubblehead's blog had a link to a news article that said the first women may hit the submarine fleet in 2010 or 2011. The writing is on the wall and change is coming whether the men currently serving on subs want it or not.<br /><br />At the shipyard, I have been working with the nukes from an aircraft carrier. Some of them are women. Seems like they can do the job that they are doing. Doesn't seem to be any obvious friction or inappropriate behavior between the men and women on the crew. The men and women both appear to be professional adults doing a difficult job. No surprise there, either.<br /><br />When we begin to integrate women into submarine crews, it will probably result in a few rough patches on the road. We may lose some people. It will be their own fault, but they will blame the fact that we are allowing women to serve on submarines. Some people will have no difficulty aside from having a longer line at the shower. Some people won't care at all.<br /><br />Most of the people who think it is a stupid idea can probably think of several other policies that have been implimented at their command that they thought were stupid ideas. They learned to adapt to the stupid policy and move on. This will be the same.<br /></div>Navy Blue Cougarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04038101146366045772noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052417930177930995.post-71879788886210781912009-09-30T12:41:00.000-07:002009-09-30T13:08:38.679-07:00The Seattle Psychic<div style="text-align: justify;">Last Sunday, the Seattle Mariners were in Toronto wrapping up their final road trip of the year. Mike Blowers, a former Mariner and Yankee player and current baseball analyst on the Seattle Mariners radio broadcast, made an absolutely amazing prediction.<br /><br />During a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">pre</span>-game segment called "Pick to Click", some of the announcers are able to make their prediction about who will "click" during the upcoming game. Mike chose Matt <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Tuiasosopo</span>, who was recently called up from the minors.<br /><br />When making his prediction, he said that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Tuiasosopo</span> had been swinging the bat well and was going to get his first major league home run that day. The original prediction was that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Tui</span> would get into a favorable count and hit a home run to left-center field, maybe reaching the second deck.<br /><br />Things got a little out of hand as the conversation continued, with Blowers predicting that <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Tui</span> would get to a 3-1 count in his second at bat of the day, then he would get a fastball, and put it into the second deck in left-center field.<br /><br />During his second at bat, Seattle's hall-of-fame baseball announcer Dave <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Neihaus</span> calling the action:<br /><br />"Left-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">hander's</span> 2-1 pitch, and that's inside, Ball 3!!!"<br /><br />"3 balls...I've never been so excited on a 3-1 count in my life!"<br /><br />"3-1 pitch on the way."<br /><br />"SWUNG ON AND BELTED, DEEP TO LEFT FIELD. IT JUST MISSED THE SECOND DECK. FLY, FLY, FLY AWAY. I DON'T BELIEVE IT!!!"<br /><br />You can hear another announcer giggling uncontrollably the entire time this was happening. Although the ball didn't quite make it to the second deck, it was a pretty amazing prediction. Wow!!<br /><br />The call was featured on the Rachel <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Maddow</span> show the other night. Here is a <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b494dinhd4Y&annotation_id=annotation_268553&feature=iv">link to the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">youtube</span> video of the clip</a> from her show.<br /><br />For those of you that want to listen to the clip without the obvious liberal bias associated with any <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">MSNBC</span> show, here is a <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.newyorkvinnie.com/images/BTB93009BLOWERSCALL.mp3">link to an audio-only story</a> about the call, embellished by New York Vinnie, a Seattle radio and television personality.<br /><br />For a more bare-bones audio, you can hear both the prediction and the call at <a href="http://www.mynorthwest.com/?nid=374&sid=218287"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Shannon <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Drayer's</span> blog here</span></a>.<br /><br />Was this a wild shot in the dark that hit the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">bulls eye</span>? Maybe.<br /><br />Was this just an experienced analyst making a lucky, educated guess? Perhaps.<br /><br />Was this a flash of psychic ability from the Twilight Zone? Possibly.<br /><br />Was this freakish, weird, and amazing? Absolutely.<br /></div>Navy Blue Cougarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04038101146366045772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052417930177930995.post-18210545847485982952009-09-21T15:28:00.000-07:002009-09-21T15:59:46.399-07:00Costco<div style="text-align: justify;">I made a trip to Costco last week. It might not sound like such a momentous event, and I guess it probably wasn't. It has just been a really long time since I had a membership there. While I was going to school at Washington State, the nearest Costco was in Lewiston, Idaho and it was a pretty long drive. Certainly not the sort of drive that I would have been willing to make on a recurring basis for shopping, particularly when considering the winters in the Palouse.<br /><br />A lot of the sailors that I worked with in the navy used to swear by Costco for everything. I had a membership a really long time ago, but it just wasn't something that I used often enough to justify the annual fee. Since everything is sold in such large quantities, a single guy like me just wouldn't use enough to make it worthwhile. Between deployments and weekly ops, staying home for more than a few weeks at a time was not something that I could count on. If I bought a pack of chicken breasts, I might eat a few of them, but the rest of the chicken breasts would just stay in the freezer for a really, really, really long time until I got tired of them taking up space and threw them out or gave them away. About the only thing that I could be assured of buying and using was toilet paper, but paying membership fees for a annual trip to Costco to buy twelve dozen rolls of toilet paper just didn't seem worthwhile, so I let it lapse.<br /><br />This trip to Costco made me realize that it hasn't changed much. I bought some grape juice and coffee creamer and a few other items. I managed to avoid convincing myself that I needed a huge package of lasagna or two pounds of beef jerky or a gallon jar full of jelly beans, so it wasn't a very expensive trip and my apartment isn't overloaded with a bunch of stuff that I really don't need.<br /><br />I did buy a rotisserie chicken there. It wasn't the most spectacular piece of poultry that I have ever eaten, but if I can buy a fully cooked, ready -to-eat chicken for $5.99, why the heck would I want to cook one? Of course, I could just as easily pick one of those up at Safeway or Fred Meyers, but I guess it will help me justify my Costco membership.<br /><br />The coffee creamer was a decent deal, but not an incredible bargain. I like french vanilla coffee creamer and the stuff that they sold there has two bottles of french vanilla and one bottle of hazelnut. I don't really like hazelnut all that well, so I won't be using that. Luckily, my mom likes hazelnut creamer, so when I buy it, I can take it down to her on my next visit or give it to her when my parents come up to visit me.<br /><br />Milk is something else that I have been thinking of buying there, but the packages that look like a good deal are two gallon packs. I drink a bit of milk and use it for some cooking, but only go through about a quart every week, give or take. I hate to buy two gallons of milk and have half of it spoil on me. I think I might pick up some of those disposable plastic storage containers with the screw on lids. I suppose they probably have them in 1-quart size. I can pour the majority of the milk into those containers and toss them in the freezer. I think I would get around to using it a little more frequently than those old chicken breast that I used to throw out in Hawaii.<br /><br />Does milk freeze well?<br /><br />I don't know for sure, but I have been single for so long, that I am not exactly a connoisseur of fine foods anyway. Should keep well enough for me.<br /><br />Hopefully, I will find enough bargains to make it worthwhile to have a membership and avoid purchasing the stuff that looks a lot better in the store than it does once it is filling up my freezer or a cupboard in my apartment.<br /></div>Navy Blue Cougarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04038101146366045772noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052417930177930995.post-36589093232033781282009-09-17T19:59:00.000-07:002009-09-17T20:30:30.651-07:00A Good Barber Is Still Hard To Find<div style="text-align: justify;">After living in Pullman for three years without finding a barber or hairstylist that I really liked, I have started a search here in Bremerton. Luckily, I don't need to get my hair cut as frequently as I did while I was in the navy, so I have a little more time to find someone new.<br /><br />The first place I went to, the stylists were friendly and chatty, but the lady that cut my hair made me kind of nervous. She was rather mature and her hands were a little shaky. She also had this habit of finishing some of her sentences with a nervous little titter. It is somewhat unnerving to have someone let out a little laugh at inappropriate times.<br /><br />One of our verbal exchanges went something like this:<br /><br />Her: "Whoops. hehe"<br /><br />Me: "What's the matter?"<br /><br />Her: "Oh, nothing. hehe"<br /><br />The haircut wasn't bad, but I decided not to go back.<br /><br />Last month, I tried another place. There was a middle-aged woman and a younger woman working there when I walked in. The middle-aged woman stepped up to the counter and asked:<br /><br />"Can I help you?"<br /><br />The words seemed normal enough, but the glare she was giving me and the tone of her voice seemed to say:<br /><br />"<span style="font-weight: bold;">What the f&$@ do you want?</span>"<br /><br />I told her that I wanted a haircut. She kind of growled at me and told me it would be about 20 minutes. I said that would be fine and wrote my name on a sign-up list and took a seat. Next, she turned to the younger woman and angrily told her that if anyone else came in, it would be at least an hour before she would take another customer because she hadn't eaten lunch yet. The younger woman sweetly replied that she would just tell anyone else that came in to get lost. The young woman also earned a glare for that remark.<br /><br />In the meantime, the middle-aged woman called a father who was bringing his son in for a haircut back to her station. I only heard one side of the conversation, but it didn't sound too promising. I heard her say quite loudly:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">"I don't think you even know what you're asking for. He's gonna look like Little Lord Fauntleroy if I cut it like that!!"</span><br /><br />Next, I heard her say:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">"A bob?!?! Do you even know what a bob is?!?! He's gonna look like a little girl!!! Just let me do this!!"</span><br /><br />Obviously, I was having some reservations at this point, but having already committed some of my time, I figured I would go ahead and stick it out and get my haircut as long as she didn't treat me so harshly when it was my turn.<br /><br />After the young boy and his father left (with a pretty good haircut, I should add), she called me to the back. I gave her my standard "Finger-length on top, a number 1 on the sides and back, and blend it together" and she commenced cutting my hair. She chatted with me and seemed quite friendly the whole time. She was like the Mr. Hyde of Hyde/Jekyll. It actually turned out to be a pretty good cut.<br /><br />I don't know. Maybe she just doesn't like kids.<br /></div>Navy Blue Cougarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04038101146366045772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052417930177930995.post-1288922943588711902009-09-06T02:53:00.000-07:002009-09-06T03:40:13.621-07:00Hello, Again!!<div style="text-align: justify;">Well, I would like to say hello to everyone again. If you happen to check in on this blog from time to time, I suppose you noticed that I haven't posted in quite a long time. I just haven't felt like making any new entries for a while.<br /><br />One of the reasons, I guess, is that my life is substantially less stressful now that I am back at work and getting a steady paycheck. I think that posting on my blog was a form of stress-relief for me.<br /><br />Another reason is that I live in Bremerton, where I am surrounded by sailors, ex-sailors, and shipyard workers. When I look at the people here, it is kind of like looking in a mirror, so to speak. When I was living in Pullman for school, I felt like I was living on another planet, and some of the observations of the younger generation prompted me to write a few posts.<br /><br />Probably the biggest reason I haven't been posting is that I have been reading a lot fewer news articles. I guess I was just getting disgusted with news in general. I used to watch some of the cable news shows, but I got to the point where I couldn't stand to watch any of them. MSNBC should rename itself the "We Love Obama" channel, FOX should rename itself the "We Hate Obama" channel, and CNN should rename itself the "We Love Ourselves" channel.<br /><br />Some of the news that has filtered through has tempted me to write a post or two, but in the end, my laziness won out. I was going to write a post about Michael Vick coming back to the NFL, but decided that the NFL has a number of convicted felons already, so it just wasn't all that big of a deal. I was going to write about the backlash from conservatives because the President wants to speak to schoolchildren. The partisanship surrounding that topic just disgusts me. In the end, I wrote about nothing.<br /><br />I did find a few articles that put a smile on my face and thought I would share them with anyone that is interested in looking at them.<br /><br />The first one is an article from the Kitsap Sun. Just a little story about some loud and naked guys in Bremerton. You can read the full story <a style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2009/sep/04/bremerton-men-accused-of-getting-naked-and-loud/?partner=yahoo_headlines">here</a>. Here is an excerpt in case you don't want to read the whole story:<br /><p></p><blockquote style="font-style: italic;"><p>Witnesses said one was completely naked, one wasn’t wearing any pants and they couldn’t see the third man because the other two were on top of him, they said. The witnesses said they heard somebody yell “return of the Jedi” while the three were naked and entwined.</p> <p>When officers arrived, they found three men — a 29-year-old and two 23-year-olds — on a porch. All appeared to be drunk. They were surrounded by empty alcohol bottles, according to the police report. All denied they had been involved in the incident.</p> <p>“We’ve got our clothes on, must not have been us,” one said.</p></blockquote><p></p>Well, I guess that is more like ninety-percent of the article rather than a short excerpt. Sorry.<br /><br />The second article details a bad experience with some gals from Craigslist. I thought that I had read a while ago that Craigslist was doing away with the Erotic Services. I took a quick look. Erotic Services is no longer listed on Craigslist. However, there is an Adult Services section. Guess it is the same thing. Anyway, this story serves as an example of what can happen when a bunch of "incredibly intoxicated" guys get together and decide that calling the number on a Craigslist ad for some escorts is a good idea. The full story is on the Seattle Times and you can read it <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;" href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/theblotter/2009787305_--_from_times_staff_reporter_2.html">here</a>. I think my favorite part of the article was probably the last paragraph:<br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic;">While trying to describe the suspects to police, the men decided to rate the women on a scale of 1 to 10. Three said the women all rated a "2." But the man described by police as the most intoxicated disagreed and claimed they rated a "4."<br /></blockquote>Incidentally, while perusing the comments posted on the second article, I learned that Sir Mix-A-Lot had written a song about some of the local girls: "Bremelo." Huh. How about that? I have heard the term used a lot of times in the past, but never knew that someone actually wrote a song. I am probably the last person in the world to figure out that this song exists. Oh well.<br /><br />For anyone that persevered and read this entire post, thanks for your time. Hopefully, I will be feeling a little more motivated to put a few posts up from time to time. Hope that everyone out there has been doing well.<br /></div>Navy Blue Cougarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04038101146366045772noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052417930177930995.post-18539491654973788582009-06-16T18:54:00.000-07:002009-06-16T19:52:10.854-07:00Road Rage<div style="text-align: justify;">When I was a teen, shortly after I got my driver's license, I almost caused an accident because I was driving aggressively. I passed a car when it wasn't safe and almost hit an oncoming vehicle. Luckily, both the car that I was passing and the oncoming vehicle made room for me to get back in the proper lane and avoid an accident. It scared the crap out of me and my driving improved instantly.<br /><br />I still liked to drive fast, but I was much more careful. A $35 speeding ticket in New York in 1988 didn't dissuade me from driving fast. A $150 speeding ticket in Massachusetts did. Over the years, I mellowed quite a bit. Now, I don't speed at all, I drive defensively, and I do my best to avoid accidents.<br /><br />Sometimes, it is tough to drive safely. For example, if I am driving on the freeway and try to remain about two seconds behind the car in front of me, somebody will take that as an invitation to squeeze in the space in front of me. While I was going to school in Pullman, it was unusual for me to drive without having some kid in an SUV getting right on my tail and try to intimidate me into speeding.<br /><br />I just finished reading an article that made me think about my driving habits and other driver's habits. It turns out that New York City has the most aggressive drivers in the United States. Can't say that I am surprised by that. What did surprise me was the breakdown of how people respond to drivers that piss them off. Normally, if I was told that 1% of a group of people do something stupid or strange, I would not be surprised.<br /><br />In this case, 1% of the drivers polled admitted to <span style="font-weight: bold;">slamming their car into the offending driver's car</span>.<br /><br />In a typical drive around Bremerton, I am sure that I see several hundred other cars on the road. Does that mean that there are several people out there that think it is appropriate to slam their car into mine because they don't like my driving? Kind of a sobering thought for me. In Washington D.C, the percentage was 4%!!! Pretty scary. You can read <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090616/lf_nm_life/us_driving_roadrage"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">the article here</span></a>. Here is an excerpt:<br /><blockquote><p> <span style="font-style: italic;">Seven percent were so angry they called the police and one percent admitted they had slammed into the car in front of them.</span></p> <p style="font-style: italic;"> "In Washington, D.C., four percent of drivers admitted to slamming into another driver," said Bush. "They stand out in that one particular category."</p></blockquote>I generally do a pretty good job maintaining my cool and rarely get upset by how other people drive. I am okay with pulling over and letting people who feel that their time is more important than mine pass me by. Over the last two weeks, however, aggressive drivers have managed to elicit a few curses from me.<br /><br />The most recent one was last week. I was driving on a rural highway going 55 MPH when a pickup truck rapidly approached me from behind and was tailgating so close that I probably could have counted the dude's nose hairs in my rear-view mirror. After about 30 seconds of this, I came upon a slow vehicle turnout and let the guy pass me. He honked his horn and flipped me off when he went by. Why? Because I let him pass me, I guess. Don't really get it. Obviously, this guy was a jack-ass. That guy made me cuss.<br /><br />About three weeks ago, on the same highway as the one that I just talked about, three motorcycles were following me. As we were leaving a small town on that highway, one of the motorcycles passed me and started speeding away from me. He passed me just prior to a long stretch of road where no passing is allowed and the small shoulders don't allow you to pull over. The motorcycle in front of me then started slowing down to just under 55 MPH until I started catching up to him, then he would RAPIDLY slow down forcing me to slam on my brakes to avoid hitting his bike and killing him. He then sped away from me again and repeated this idiotic maneuver. It dawned on me that he was trying to slow me down so that his two buddies following me could pass me. They didn't pass me. I couldn't safely pull over to let his buddies pass me. I slowed down to allow them to pass, and the guy in front of me pulled the same crap again at lower speeds.<br /><br />This insane behavior continued for several minutes until we came out of the no-passing zone. Then the two guys behind me passed me. About five minutes after that, I came to another town and the three guys were parked outside a store talking. I pulled over in front of them, got out of my car, and slammed my door. One of the motorcyclists put his hands in front of him and said "Hey man, we're sorry about that." I guess I must have looked pretty pissed off. I turned around, got back in my car and drove away. I didn't see these guys again.<br /><br />Good thing they weren't driving in Washington D.C.<br /></div>Navy Blue Cougarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04038101146366045772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052417930177930995.post-38672908293438062032009-06-09T17:04:00.000-07:002009-06-09T17:18:57.052-07:00My Phone Has Been Ringing Off The Hook<div style="text-align: justify;">While I was living in Guam, sometime in 2001, I gave up on using a home telephone. That happened after the third time my phone was disconnected because my bill wasn't paid on time. In one case, I had to bring the Guam Telephone Authority a copy of the canceled check to prove that I had paid. In the other two instances, the payment had been in the office in plenty of time, but had not been processed. In all three instances, my phone was reconnected and the reconnection fee was waived (Gee, Thanks, GTA!!!) but I had wasted half a day (or was it Hafa Adai?) standing in line at GTA to speak to a customer service representative. In any case, I had already had my fill of GTA and became a cell-phone only household ever since. Until now.<br /><br />After living without a home phone for about the last 8 years, I decided to have one installed. What a pain in the butt!! I have had the phone hooked up for less than 48 hours. I have eight missed phone calls. I haven't bothered to answer it yet because I have not given out my phone number to anyone. The numbers stored in my caller ID and the two messages that were left for me lead me to believe that all of the calls are from telemarketers.<br /><br />Who ever buys things from telemarketers? There must be people out there that do buy stuff or they wouldn't call. The second my phone rings and it is not someone that I know calling me, I feel instant resentment for the disturbance, like when I was awakened from my nap yesterday evening. I just registered with the national no-call registry, so I guess the calls, or at least most of the calls, will have stopped in about a month. I hope it works.<br /></div>Navy Blue Cougarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04038101146366045772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052417930177930995.post-78952375069916114492009-06-01T19:06:00.000-07:002009-06-01T19:29:32.863-07:00Settling In<div style="text-align: justify;">I got my cable hooked up yesterday and now have television and reasonable internet access. Actually, the Comcast cable modem is way, way faster than the Time Warner Roadrunner that I had while I was in Pullman. It is also pretty nice to be able to turn on the television and watch a little news in the morning before taking off for work. I had been watching Band of Brothers to pass the time in the evenings. I think that is one of the best World War II movies that I have seen.<br /><br />I appreciate the comments on my last post. For Nereus, I am in East Bremerton on Fairgrounds Road.<br /><br /> I had to laugh at the warning to watch out for Diamond Parking. My first day ran pretty late and I didn't have a chance to look at a bus schedule, so I drove in for my second day. The parking cost $6 and I had six $1 bills in my wallet. I was having trouble fitting them into the box and ended up putting in the bills in groups of two. When I finished work and walked out to my car, there was a blue envelope on the windshield containing a $25 ticket stating that I had paid only $2 for the parking spot.<br /><br />There was a number to call to appeal the ticket, so I gave it a try. I waited through a pretty extensive recording which ended by saying "If you are calling to appeal a parking ticket, please leave a detailed message after the tone."<br /><br />So I waited for the tone.<br /><br />And waited.<br /><br />And waited.<br /><br />And waited some more.<br /><br />After what was probably about a minute of waiting, a diamond parking enforcement car (golf cart?) came by and it had a different phone number on the side of its door. I decided to give that number a call. A woman immediately answered the phone and I explained that I had some difficulty putting the dollar bills into the payment slot and that I had put them in in groups of two bills, but that I had paid the full $6. She told me that they had found four $1 bills in the slot right next to the one that I was putting my money in and that the missing bills had probably found their way to that slot. She ended up voiding the ticket, so in the end it didn't cost me any more than a few minutes of cell phone time.<br /><br />I did get bus schedules that day and found a bus that picks me up at a Park & Ride just about a quarter-mile down the road from my apartment and drops me off at a gate that is right next to my building at the shipyard about 20 minutes before I have to be there. The shipyard paid for my bus pass, so I will stick with the bus for now.<br /><br />I am getting all of my stuff put away (slowly) and everyday my apartment looks a little more home-like. It will be nice when I can come home and relax and not worry about putting another box of stuff away, but overall, I am getting settled in nicely.<br /></div>Navy Blue Cougarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04038101146366045772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052417930177930995.post-58022056791771310452009-05-27T19:26:00.000-07:002009-05-27T19:32:39.028-07:00Still Alive<div style="text-align: justify;">Well, figured I would give a quick update since I haven't been online for quite some time. I still don't have regular internet access at my new place, so I decided to make a quick trip to the library to check up on stuff.<br /><br />I am getting settled in at my new place in Bremerton. After the move, I decided that I still don't like movers very much. The guys that unpacked my household goods have left me a tremendous amount of work to do to before the place looks like a home. I guess I will gripe about that in a later post.<br /><br />I started working at the shipyard yesterday and have had a few fun-filled days of briefs and videos and power point presentations as well as several long walks through the shipyard to get our group of newly hired people familiar with the area.<br /><br />That's about all that I have the energy to write for now. Hope that everyone else has had a little more fun over the last few weeks than I have. The last few weeks have been full of the pain associated with moving, but things are looking up again.<br /></div>Navy Blue Cougarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04038101146366045772noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052417930177930995.post-74390143227506854052009-05-12T18:29:00.000-07:002009-05-12T18:58:22.763-07:00Moving On<div style="text-align: justify;">Moving day is almost here. The movers are showing up tomorrow to haul all of my stuff away. I have been going through all of the closets and cabinets and nooks and crannies to see what kind of junk I can get rid of. It is not as bad as I had feared. I have accumulated a lot less junk than I had thought.<br /><br />Thursday is apartment inspection day so I will be doing some last minute cleaning after all of my stuff is gone. My parents were here for my graduation on Saturday and my mom decided that I needed some help moving, so she has stuck around to help clean the place up.<br /><br />Moving day has always been a bad day in the past. I remember when I was packing up to leave Guam. The movers packed all of my stuff into shipping crates and I was supposed to install and sign security seals to each crate after they were nailed shut. The guys doing the moving tried to get me to sign the security seals and let them take them back to the warehouse. They promised me that they would make sure nothing went missing and that I should just give them the signed seals. I wasn't that trusting.<br /><br />They got pretty pissed when they were nailing shut the last shipping crate which was only about 1/3 full. They kept going on and on about how I should let them finish nailing it shut back at the warehouse. They said they would be packing out someone else the next day and if I wasn't such an asshole, they would be able to pack my stuff together with this other persons stuff and save everyone some money. After spending the day with these guys mishandling my personal belongings, I told them I didn't care if they thought I was an asshole, but the security seals were going on before my stuff left my sight.<br /><br />Another group of movers irritated me when I left Hawaii. There were a couple of island boys packing up my stuff. One of them asked me questions like "Hey Brah, You don't plan on keeping these golf clubs, do you?" while he was looking at my TaylorMade irons, Callaway driver, and Mizuno woods. I was asked twice if I really wanted to keep the golf clubs. I talked to the guy in charge of the movers and told him this guy needed to leave the house immediately. When the people that are moving you out of your house are eying your personal belongings and trying to talk you into leaving them behind, you start to worry about sticky fingers.<br /><br />The supervisor talked to the guy and he stopped asking me if I wanted to leave any more of my stuff behind. Then he started bitching about how the last time he packed up a house, the guy that was moving bought everyone a pizza and sodas. He mentioned it about two hundred times. I told him the last time that somebody packed up my belongings, they brought their lunch with them. I talked to the supervisor about this guy again, only I was much louder and my language was heavily laced with profanity. Told him I wanted that guy out of my place immediately. This time, the supervisor apologized and told the guy to leave right away. When the guy told him that he needed a ride, the supervisor cussed him out and told him to call his brother if he wanted a ride that bad. Turns out, the guy had gotten the job because his brother worked at the moving company and he was already on thin ice with the boss. Anyway, he walked off complaining that the world was against him.<br /><br />Anyway, the bottom line is that I hate moving. Hopefully, the guys that come to pick up my stuff tomorrow don't cause me any unnecessary aggravation. As many times as I have moved in the past, I figure I am due to get some good guys here to do the work.<br /></div>Navy Blue Cougarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04038101146366045772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052417930177930995.post-73543126146840096832009-05-09T08:07:00.000-07:002009-05-09T08:32:54.464-07:00Washington State University Graduation 2009With graduation weekend upon us here in Pullman, the population of the town has swelled. There are a lot of family members in town to wish their graduates well. My parents have been here for a few days now to join in on the festivities. If you are ever going to attend a graduation ceremony for Washington State University, make sure to book your hotel room well in advance. I have heard that some of the local hotels take reservations a few years in advance for graduation ceremonies. Pullman is not a very large town and the hotels in the region are booked solid months in advance. Luckily, I have an extra room in my apartment for my parents to stay in for the weekend.<br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />We went to campus to take some of the obligatory pictures in the cap and gown. One of the most popular spots is the sign at the entrance to the campus.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgl8srarvED0x40JObgp6n5w2UG1REFcc1ujvKCMkeJbs1vrLQhHoS5k4VLodyIYA0sTGMVRoehszgRFacx_KKDccn_TjnsODJwiy6C8V18s6xyS2mAlP77LDJ7Y0z5okoKDZyk7gRcA/s1600-h/PictureLine.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgl8srarvED0x40JObgp6n5w2UG1REFcc1ujvKCMkeJbs1vrLQhHoS5k4VLodyIYA0sTGMVRoehszgRFacx_KKDccn_TjnsODJwiy6C8V18s6xyS2mAlP77LDJ7Y0z5okoKDZyk7gRcA/s400/PictureLine.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333843131836773970" border="0" /></a>This is a picture of the line to take pictures. It was a bit longer when we got into the line, but it moved pretty quickly. The weather was pretty cooperative. There was quite a bit of rain Thursday, but it cleared up nicely ahead of the commencement ceremony.<br /><br />There was a reception for the School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering graduates yesterday evening. It was a nice chance for my parents to meet some of the other students and some of the professors. We had a pretty good time. I guess I was probably about the same age as most of the parents, but I was only asked once which one of the students was my child.<br /><br />We have about 2400 graduates going through commencement today. We are divided into three groups. I get to walk in the 3:00 pm ceremony. I am sure that there will be several thousand guests there today. The ceremony is also broadcast on live television here in the Pullman and there will also be a live webcast and the webcast will be archived for future viewing. If you want to know what the ceremony looks like, you can find a link to <a href="http://www.experience.wsu.edu/"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">the webcast here</span></a>.<br /><br />It has been interesting going to school and probably an atypical experience given my age. In the end, it has been a fairly enjoyable experience, I met lots of nice people, and at the end, I get to walk out with a degree in Chemical Engineering. I guess it has been a fairly productive two and half years.<br /></div>Navy Blue Cougarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04038101146366045772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052417930177930995.post-58878188510374514212009-04-30T08:33:00.000-07:002009-05-03T14:19:46.958-07:00It's Time To Go Home<div style="text-align: justify;">My parents live in a small town and there are not very many entertainment options. There is a popular tribal casino located just a few miles from their house and the casino has become a sort of hang-out for locals. My mom and dad go there nearly every day. They don't really do a lot of gambling. My dad is retired and sits with all of his retired friends drinking beer, talking sports, playing keno, and arguing politics. My mom will put $5 or $10 into a slot machine and play until it is gone or until she wins a little bit of money, then she goes home and plays video games on their home computer. Later, she will go out and pick up my dad when he is done socializing.<br /><br />My parents don't lose much money and it is truly a place for them to go and socialize and have fun. When it is time for them to go home, they go home. I usually go out there with them when I am visiting. I am not so good about knowing when to come home, but I do come home of my own accord when I get tired of being there. Luckily, we always drive out there so we can come and go as we please.<br /><br />Some people really don't know when to come home. There are frequent announcements at the casino to tell people that the bus that brought them there is loading. They will make this announcement two or three times, then they will start to announce the absent passengers by name through the casino. There is almost always one or two holdouts that can't tear themselves away from craps or blackjack or the slots until the very last second. They won't go out to the bus until repeated threats over the announcing system that the bus is leaving without them, then they will sprint to the door hoping to catch the bus. Some of these people look pretty elderly and kind of frail. It can be kind of frightening watching them sprint for the door.<br /><br />I remember one late night in particular, a wife had requested numerous announcements for her husband to come out to the car.<br /><br />The announcements started with the usual: "Robert, your party is waiting for you at the security podium,"<br /><br />then progressed to "Robert, your ride is leaving,"<br /><br />then further escalated to "Robert, your wife says that if you aren't at the security podium in one minute, you will be walking home,"<br /><br />and culminated with "Robert, your wife is going home and throwing your stuff on the lawn."<br /><br />These were late night announcements and people kind of make light of these situations when someone doesn't want to come home. I just read an article about a woman that took it to new extremes. Apparently, when she didn't want her husband to gamble away the money they were saving for a car, she phoned the casino and told them that her husband was on his way to the casino with a fertilizer bomb to blow the casino up.<br /><br />She wouldn't tell them her husband's name but said he was intent on blowing up the casino as revenge for losing a whole bunch of money. Unsurprisingly, this is not the woman's first brush with the law. She has been arrested several time at the casino and at other places for drinking, drugs, trespassing, and so on. She said she wasn't too concerned about the charges, but was awfully upset that her phone records were released:<blockquote style="font-style: italic;"><p style="text-align: justify;">She said she wasn't worried about the charge. She was more upset that police had obtained her telephone records, "violating my civil rights and my privacy."</p> <p>"I thought this was still a free country," she said.</p></blockquote><br />You can read the <a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009145600_webbombthreat29m.html"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">full story here</span></a>. You should take a look at it. It is good for a few laughs. As they say: Life is hard. It's harder when you're stupid.<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span></div>Navy Blue Cougarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04038101146366045772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052417930177930995.post-54839271466882012362009-04-27T11:40:00.000-07:002009-04-27T11:43:55.941-07:00A Nasty Tumble<div style="text-align: justify;">People run up and down the stairs outside my apartment at all hours of the day and night and it sounds like a small train running through my living room. This is frequently accompanied by laughter and yelling.<br /><br />Last night, while I was sitting in my living room, I heard someone going down the stairs much more rapidly and making even more noise than usual and letting out a small scream at the same time. Something about the noise made me concerned and I poked my head out the door to see if something was wrong. There was a coffee cup laying on its side at the top of the stairs and a young Asian girl laying on her side at the bottom of the stairs where she had landed after tumbling down the stairs.<br /><br />She got to her feet as I was walking down the stairs to check on her. I asked her if she needed help or wanted me to call somebody or get somebody for her. She insisted she was okay and limped around trying to find her coffee cup. I grabbed her cup for her and asked her again if she was okay. She sat on the bottom stair and said she would be fine, that she just wanted to sit for a moment. I stayed and talked with her for a few minutes to make sure she was coherent. Eventually, I decided she was probably alright and she didn't seem to want me around to babysit her.<br /><br />I went back inside my apartment and poked my head out a few minutes later. She was gone. I guess since she was able to get up and walk away and since I didn't see any blood, she must have been okay. Still, even if you can walk away relatively unscathed, a big tumble down a flight of concrete steps seems like it would suck.</div>Navy Blue Cougarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04038101146366045772noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052417930177930995.post-39539374462576718102009-04-27T11:12:00.000-07:002009-04-30T09:14:10.339-07:00One Week Left<div style="text-align: justify;">The last several weeks have been pretty packed, but now I am down to my final week of classes. Two of my five classes are completely finished now so this week is shaping up to be pretty easy. I will finish another class this afternoon, and the professor told us that class today is just an opportunity for us to give feedback for the curriculum as a whole and after that is done, we will adjourn for a few drinks at a local watering hole (first two rounds on him). I have one last exam that I will take one week from today and that will be the last academic thing that I need to do to complete the requirements for my degree. I think I have enough points to pass that class even if I score a zero on the final, so I am not particularly concerned about that.<br /><br />I think the thing that I am looking forward to more than anything is finding a quiet place to live. The last three years living in an apartment building with college students living above, below, across from, and beside my apartment has definitely made me want some peace and quiet. Although I will not be moving out the day that I finish classes, experience has taught me that once classes and exams have finished for the semester, there will be a mass exodus from Pullman as all the kids go home to visit their family. End result: Peace and Quiet. I will be moving one or two weeks after classes have let out, so I will be gone by the time the noisy people show up again.<br /><br />Something else that I am looking forward to is being around people that can eat politely. Everybody always brings food with them to study sessions and to class. I have spent far too many hours sitting across from somebody that brings a pizza to a quiet study hall, sits down across from me chewing on pizza with their mouth wide open, and smacking on their food like a cow working on a piece of cud. Very distracting. As I write this, I am listening to the guy behind me slurping loudly while chowing down on some Cup O' Noodles. Of course, now I am just being nit-picky, but it will sure be nice to be around people my own age again.<br /></div>Navy Blue Cougarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04038101146366045772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052417930177930995.post-61257898476550770212009-04-24T07:28:00.001-07:002009-04-30T09:14:35.269-07:00A New Fan Convention<div style="text-align: justify;">I guess Comic-Con is one of the most popular fan conventions that there is. I remember once when we pulled into San Diego while Comic-Con was going on. One of the guys that worked for me was incredibly excited. It was all that he talked about for about two weeks before we pulled into San Diego. He was, of course, mocked and scorned by everyone else on the boat.<br /><br />When we went on liberty after we pulled into Point Loma, a few of us went to the bus stop by the mini-mart and waited to go into town. Darth Maul from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was also waiting to take the bus. I didn't know that Sith Lords took the bus, but there he was.<br /><br />Anyway, everywhere in San Diego that we went, we were running across people dressed up for the convention. I had no idea that people got into movies and comics to that extent. Tens of thousands of people went to the convention.<br /><br />The guy that worked for me tried to convince everyone to go with him to Comic Con. He promised that anyone that went with him would have a great time. Everyone refused. A few days went by and we left San Diego. When we got out to sea, he was telling people how great the convention was. He told another guy that worked for me that he saw Gene Simmons at the convention. This other guy was a huge KISS fan and was greatly disappointed that he had missed the chance to see one of his musical heroes.<br /><br />During a field day, he was lamenting "Man, I can't believe I missed Gene Simmons!!"<br /><br />A shipmate, nicknamed Wookie, said "So what? Who cares?"<br /><br />"Gene Simmons, man...I missed Gene Simmons!!!"<br /><br />Wookie: "So what, you missed a dude that exercises with fat women. Who cares?"<br /><br />Wookie brought everyone to silence with his ignorance, followed by lots of laughter.<br /><br />Anyway, the reason that this story was brought to mind this morning was <a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/television/2009112252_ztv24deadliest.html"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); font-weight: bold;">an article</span></a> that I read in the paper this morning. Apparently, there is a new fan convention happening in Seattle tomorrow. It is called CatchCon and it celebrates the crews portrayed in The Deadliest Catch. There were 500 tickets and they are already sold out with 600 people on a waiting list, so you are too late if you want to go and don't already have a ticket.<br /><br />Apparently, the people from The Deadliest Catch aren't entirely comfortable with having a crazed fan-following. One of the captains hides his boat when he pulls in because people come looking for it.<blockquote style="font-style: italic;">"People are always creeping around," said Hansen, who hides his fishing boat now. "It's kind of flattering, but weird."</blockquote></div>Navy Blue Cougarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04038101146366045772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8052417930177930995.post-61031194908632636292009-04-18T10:49:00.000-07:002009-04-18T11:35:10.389-07:00Fort Lewis: Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy?<div style="text-align: justify;">A sergeant at Fort Lewis has made <a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009080525_apwasoldierprostitution.html"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">the news</span></a>. It was for allegedly committing a crime. <blockquote style="font-style: italic;">Pierce County prosecutors have charged a Fort Lewis soldier with promoting prostitution, alleging he directed two teenage girls to trade sex for money.<br /><br />The girls involved in the case are 16 and 17 years old.</blockquote>Stories about crimes that occur near a military base that involve military members frequently make it into the local newspapers. In some cases, the stories appear to be written in a manner that are trying to put the military in a bad light. Fort Lewis has certainly been in the news over the last few years. Not for little crimes. For big, bad crimes. I don't think the newspapers are picking on Fort Lewis, either. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">McChord</span> AFB is the next door neighbor to Fort Lewis. A search for news stories about <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">McChord</span> yields results like "Air Show" or "Fireworks" or "USO Hugs and Kisses", but no stories about criminal behavior.<br /><br />A sampling of some crimes committed or allegedly committed by Fort Lewis soldiers:<br /><br /><a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008958058_apwasoldiersstabbing.html"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Olympia Police Arrest 2 Fort Lewis Soldiers</span></a>:<blockquote style="font-style: italic;">Police have arrested two Fort Lewis soldiers following the weekend stabbing of a 24-year-old man outside an Olympia, Wash., bar.</blockquote><a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008836230_webfortlewisdeath10m.html"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Army Files Charges Against Soldier in Death of Teen at Fort Lewis</span></a>:<blockquote style="font-style: italic;">Pvt. Timothy E. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Bennitt</span>, 19, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of Leah King. He was also charged with wrongful use and distribution of controlled substances and conspiracy to use controlled substances.</blockquote><a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008614858_websoldier11m.html"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Soldier Sought in Abductions, Fires</span></a>:<blockquote style="font-style: italic;">A Fort Lewis <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Stryker</span> Brigade soldier accused of abducting and torturing two women is being sought on a warrant that charges kidnapping, rape and arson.</blockquote><a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008717647_uwattacks07m.html"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Fort Lewis Soldiers Charged in University District Holdups</span></a>:<blockquote style="font-style: italic;">Three Fort Lewis soldiers accused of robbing University of Washington students at gunpoint last month were charged with robbery Friday in King County Superior Court.</blockquote><a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2009025924_military12.html"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Fort Lewis Officer Among Soldiers Accused of Skimming Reconstruction Money</span></a>:</div><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote style="font-style: italic;"><p>In a federal indictment in March, prosecutors alleged that Nguyen skimmed more than $690,000 in cash while acting as the civil-affairs officer responsible for overseeing millions of dollars intended for reconstruction projects and payments to private Iraqi security forces northeast of Baghdad.</p> <p>Nguyen, 28, a West Point Military Academy graduate, is accused of packing stacks of cash into boxes and mailing them to his family's home.</p></blockquote></div><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote></blockquote> <a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008507615_ranger13m.html"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Former Army Ranger Gets 24 Years in Prison for Bank Robbery</span></a>:<blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;">According to documents filed in the case, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Sommer</span> was an Army Ranger stationed at Fort Lewis when he recruited two other Rangers, Chad Palmer and Alex <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Blum</span>, and Canadian nationals <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Tigra</span> Robertson and Nathan <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Dunmall</span> to participate in the Aug. 7, 2006, robbery of a Bank of America branch on South Tacoma Way. The robbers, some armed with AK-47s and wearing body armor, made off with $54,011.<br /></span></blockquote>Admittedly, the embezzlement crime happened in Iraq, but I felt justified in including it in the list because the money was spent at or near Fort Lewis. Other than the bank robbery, which occurred in 2006, these crimes were all committed in the last six months.<br /><br />What is the U.S. Army doing about this? These are serious crimes that pose a big risk to the local community. They are robbing community banks, robbing local college students at gunpoint, being very involved in the death due to drug overdose of a local girl, and pimping out local girls.<br /><br />I certainly don't want to indict all of the soldiers at Fort Lewis. In fact, the soldiers that were robbing college kids were turned in by a fellow soldier after bragging about pistol-whipping one of the students. Still, these are a lot of serious crimes happening in a pretty short period of time. I have commented on these stories in the past, defending the soldiers. It is getting kind of tough to continue to comment that most of the soldiers at Fort Lewis are good people. I think that the time has come that the Commanding Officers of the base and the various units take action to protect the community. These thugs may represent only a small percentage of the soldiers at Fort Lewis, but they pose a substantial risk to the members of the surrounding communities.<br /><br />I think it is time some officers at Fort Lewis get fired. I am not talking about the O-1's and O-2's. I mean guys that have scrambled eggs on their hats. They are failing in their duties and have squandered their chances to stop this crime wave emanating from Fort Lewis.<br /></div>Navy Blue Cougarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04038101146366045772noreply@blogger.com3