In 1976 - the bicentennial year of our nation - I boarded the USS Basilone DD-824 for the first time. I joined the crew in Port Everglades, Florida. Serving in any branch of the military will leave you with stories. There was the guy who got seasick while the ship was at the pier in Norfolk. The ship was a destroyer. Even in glassy-smooth seas a destroyer finds a way to pitch and roll. If you get seasick at the pier, you're really in a world of hurt when you go to sea.
There was the Fourth of July we spent in Eastport, Maine. Other sailors have other memories of Eastport, and I hear that the paternity suits were settled OK. My memory: on the quarterdeck, on the midwatch (the midwatch, in Navy lingo, is 12 midnight to 4 AM.) Eastport is very near to the demarcation between the Eastern time zone and the Atlantic time zone, so sunrise in early July occurs very early; dawn started breaking at about 3:30 AM. I still remember the beauty of that sunrise over the Atlantic.
Eastport is across a bay from Campobello Island. Campobello was a Roosevelt family retreat, and it was where FDR, after a swim, developed symptoms that turned into polio. Disney, in Pearl Harbor, missed so badly on so many points, but maybe the worst was the scene where FDR tosses off his - well, no. I'm not advertising it. Suffice it to say, you may call your movie "entertainment" and point out that it wasn't meant to be taken as history. Fair enough - but it's cheating, at the very least, to take a well-known historical figure and have him do something that he could not possibly do. I think it would have been much more inspiring to show FDR as a powerful leader who could work through his handicap. But, that's just me.
I remember that Miami in mid-July gives a whole new meaning to the words "hot" and "humid."
The thing I didn't know: The USS Basilone had a boiler explosion in February, 1973, three years before I came on board. Three sailors died in that explosion. Eight others were injured. Eleven of my Navy brethren are in my thoughts today. God be good to you, guys, and may we all remember, especially today.
On October 12, 2000 the USS Cole was refueling in the Yemeni port of Aden. Shortly after 11 AM a smaller boat approached. The rules of engagement at the time stated that our ship was not to fire on another ship unless our ship was fired on first. This smaller boat had no intention of firing. It was a suicide attack; the boat was loaded with hundreds of pounds of explosives. Seventeen sailors were killed; 39 injured. Fifty-six of my Navy comrades.
May God be good to you, and may we all remember. That's what today is for.
The attack on the Cole was an al-Quaeda operation, and bin Laden was heavily involved. In the end, a Navy SEAL team was involved in taking out Mr. bin Laden. Instant karma's gonna get you. . .
Freedom isn't free. Today is a day to remember - a day to remember those who serve and are serving. For Walt and Bill Sr. and Jim and Joe and Donald and Sam and Josh and Mitch and Chuck and Chris and countless others - thank you.
And to the 67 of my Navy brothers and sisters - thanks. May God be good to you. May we all remember.
Thanks for hanging out for a few. Loved your company, and I'd love your thoughts.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Hotels - elkmoose or melk - magic light bulbs
Last week I attended a conference of the Rural Electricity Resource Council, in Johnston, Iowa. Last week I said something about hotel rooms all starting to look alike. My first item of business is to take that comment back.
The hotel and conference center in which this event was held was going for a northwoodsy sort of theme. The first thing I saw was a plaster - elk? moose? melk? - in a pond in the parking lot in front of the entrance. Why, that is something I bet you see every day in Maine, or Wyoming or Montana. Those places are just loaded with plaster melks standing in ponds. See 'em all over the place. I couldn't decide what exactly it was. The nose was too long to be quite an elk, but the body was way small and not proportioned right for a moose. Thus, a melk.
A few feet away from the melk in the pond was a plaster bear. I don't think it was a grizzly, but I don't think the owners were paying enough attention to detail to add the silver tips to the fur. I do know this: in the north woods, if a bear is a few feet from a - critter? - both the bear and the critter are thinking "Lunchtime for bears!" One is thinking, "Run!" The other is thinking, "Run faster!"
The room decor was not typical of hotel rooms I've seen. The nightstand lamp stands were shaped like cowboy boots. Besides the main bed there was a bunk bed. And, there was a teddy bear on the bed with a card: "If you want to take me home, just take me to the front desk and we'll charge the $19.95 to your room." It was a cute enough bear, but there were some issues. For one thing, "cute" doesn't really do anything for me. For another, the hotel charges were to go on an expense report. I could just see myself trying to explain a charge for a teddy bear in my expenses. For a third, we have ten grandkids. We'd have insurrection - maybe civil war - if I showed up with one teddy bear. I left it in the room.
I arrived in Johnston late on Monday afternoon. That evening some of us got on a bus and headed to Rollings, Iowa for a tour of an LED plant owned by a company called Innovative Lighting. We have an LED - light emitting diode - providing light in one of the fixtures of our house. I really think LEDs are the wave of the future. For one thing, the bulb we have is rated for a useful life of 25,000 hours. Even if you get half of that, 12,500 hours at 4 hours per day means that you won't have to change that bulb for 3,125 days - about 8 1/2 years. A second item: an incandescent bulb that is rated to use 100 watts would be replaced with a compact fluorescent using about 25 watts - or an LED using 12.5 watts. Yes, the upfront cost is a bit higher for LEDs, but for the life of the bulb it's worth it.
(BTW, if you do want to try LEDs, don't go for the generics or the store brands. Quality is a bit uneven. Stick with the name brands.)
As we left Rollings, I saw a scene that summarizes what I do for a living, and what my company is trying to do. As we left the plant that works on the LEDs it was about sunset. On the horizon I saw a wind generator. If you want to reduce the amount of carbon being discharged into the atmosphere you need to take action on two fronts: generate from clean renewables and use less. Not rocket science. I do not want to leave to my grandkids and great grandkids a world that we've turned into a chuck of charred ash just because we could. I don't want that for your kids and grandkids and great grandkids either.
A sight that struck me as odd on the bus trip back to Johnston from Rollings: a billboard by a farmer's field. Lord knows billboards are common in Iowa, and farmers' fields are not rare. But this billboard was at least 100 yards from the highway, and it was not large enough to be read from the highway. I'm guessing the farmer who owned the field is really familiar with the product advertised on the billboard. I hope the advertiser is happy with their audience of one.
One other thing that will stick with me: one of the presenters was doing a session on saving energy, and went into a discussion about some of the scams that are out there. One of the scammers advertised that their product would provide savings by removing thermodynamics from your electric lines. That got a laugh out of this roomful of engineers. How, exactly, do you remove the study of heat from power lines? For that matter, how would you get thermodynamics into a power line?
'Nuff for now. Thanks for hanging out with me for a few. I'd love your reactions!
The hotel and conference center in which this event was held was going for a northwoodsy sort of theme. The first thing I saw was a plaster - elk? moose? melk? - in a pond in the parking lot in front of the entrance. Why, that is something I bet you see every day in Maine, or Wyoming or Montana. Those places are just loaded with plaster melks standing in ponds. See 'em all over the place. I couldn't decide what exactly it was. The nose was too long to be quite an elk, but the body was way small and not proportioned right for a moose. Thus, a melk.
A few feet away from the melk in the pond was a plaster bear. I don't think it was a grizzly, but I don't think the owners were paying enough attention to detail to add the silver tips to the fur. I do know this: in the north woods, if a bear is a few feet from a - critter? - both the bear and the critter are thinking "Lunchtime for bears!" One is thinking, "Run!" The other is thinking, "Run faster!"
The room decor was not typical of hotel rooms I've seen. The nightstand lamp stands were shaped like cowboy boots. Besides the main bed there was a bunk bed. And, there was a teddy bear on the bed with a card: "If you want to take me home, just take me to the front desk and we'll charge the $19.95 to your room." It was a cute enough bear, but there were some issues. For one thing, "cute" doesn't really do anything for me. For another, the hotel charges were to go on an expense report. I could just see myself trying to explain a charge for a teddy bear in my expenses. For a third, we have ten grandkids. We'd have insurrection - maybe civil war - if I showed up with one teddy bear. I left it in the room.
I arrived in Johnston late on Monday afternoon. That evening some of us got on a bus and headed to Rollings, Iowa for a tour of an LED plant owned by a company called Innovative Lighting. We have an LED - light emitting diode - providing light in one of the fixtures of our house. I really think LEDs are the wave of the future. For one thing, the bulb we have is rated for a useful life of 25,000 hours. Even if you get half of that, 12,500 hours at 4 hours per day means that you won't have to change that bulb for 3,125 days - about 8 1/2 years. A second item: an incandescent bulb that is rated to use 100 watts would be replaced with a compact fluorescent using about 25 watts - or an LED using 12.5 watts. Yes, the upfront cost is a bit higher for LEDs, but for the life of the bulb it's worth it.
(BTW, if you do want to try LEDs, don't go for the generics or the store brands. Quality is a bit uneven. Stick with the name brands.)
As we left Rollings, I saw a scene that summarizes what I do for a living, and what my company is trying to do. As we left the plant that works on the LEDs it was about sunset. On the horizon I saw a wind generator. If you want to reduce the amount of carbon being discharged into the atmosphere you need to take action on two fronts: generate from clean renewables and use less. Not rocket science. I do not want to leave to my grandkids and great grandkids a world that we've turned into a chuck of charred ash just because we could. I don't want that for your kids and grandkids and great grandkids either.
A sight that struck me as odd on the bus trip back to Johnston from Rollings: a billboard by a farmer's field. Lord knows billboards are common in Iowa, and farmers' fields are not rare. But this billboard was at least 100 yards from the highway, and it was not large enough to be read from the highway. I'm guessing the farmer who owned the field is really familiar with the product advertised on the billboard. I hope the advertiser is happy with their audience of one.
One other thing that will stick with me: one of the presenters was doing a session on saving energy, and went into a discussion about some of the scams that are out there. One of the scammers advertised that their product would provide savings by removing thermodynamics from your electric lines. That got a laugh out of this roomful of engineers. How, exactly, do you remove the study of heat from power lines? For that matter, how would you get thermodynamics into a power line?
'Nuff for now. Thanks for hanging out with me for a few. I'd love your reactions!
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Moms
It's a trip down Memory Lane today for a visit with women who have raised me, shaped me. If I am anything like a worthwhile human being today, it's largely because of the women I've been lucky enough to have in my life. I have in mind my Mom, my sister, and my bride of almost 36 years, Cindy.
A common thread among all three of these: they were, and are, all protective of their own. All could be polite, mild-mannered, UNTIL you wronged one of their own. Then you'd find out that these were really tigers. They didn't have fingernails; they had claws. "Here - bring your face a little closer, so I can scratch it off."
Memory: I think it was when I was in second grade at Jefferson Elementary, the same school that two of my grandkids go to now. My teacher and the principal thought I had the mumps, so they made me go home. They made me stay home for two weeks. I didn't have the mumps, and I really did like school - the first of my really bad teachers that soured my attitude came the next year - so I was disappointed. So was Mom; she knew mumps when she saw them, and I didn't have the mumps - until my two weeks were up, and I could go back to school. That's when I got the mumps. Mom marched me into the principal's office, pointed at my face and said, "THAT'S the mumps!" I wound up with a month off. Mom wound up with a point made.
Fortunately, the teachers and administrators at (now) Jefferson-Edison Elementary today seem to have a much better idea of what they're doing than did the ones of my long-past era. Now, it's a pretty impressive lot.
I think of tigers. I think of my sister Sheri and her battle to get her son the educational program he needed. It involved battling school authorities, boards, I don't know who-all, but battle she did. And she won.Sheri has had many issues to deal with, and she has always come through. I have no doubt she will keep on doing so.
I think of the influence Mom had on my faith. We didn't wind up in precisely the same place. Mom was a lifelong Baptist. I, after a long and twisty spiritual journey, have found my home in the Roman Catholic Church. But Mom and I and Sheri all wound up with a faith that there is something bigger than any of us, or all of us. We all wound up with a faith that the confines of this life are not eternal confines (now, how's that for an oxymoron? "Eternal confines"? Really, Rick? How about, "The confines of this life do not last forever". Better.) We all have faith that God loves us, and that Jesus is alive and Jesus saves. We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. We believe in Jesus Christ, the only Son of God. . .
As does my wife. Cindy has been with me for every step of that journey. She has been with me for every step of parenting 5 kids, of grandparenting ten. I should say, I've been with her for every step of it, for she has been far better at it than I. And talk about tigers: she has battled schools over the needs of our special needs daughter, and they have found the programs she needed. She has - uh - shared her views in frank and useful discussions with other school authorities when she thought they were too free in handing out detentions to our kids. She's done the same with me when I got off the straight and narrow. I hope our kids and grandkids know how lucky they are.
Some years ago Joan Didion wrote about a 5-year-old girl. This girl was found by the California Highway Patrol. She was clinging to the Cyclone fence on the center divider on Highway 5, east of L.A. - clinging so hard that her fingers had to be pried from the fence. She'd been left on the highway 12 hours earlier by her mother. The little girl, when being interviewed by the C.H.P., said that, after her mother made her leave the car, she "ran really hard" for a while to try to catch mom. I can hear it now: "Mommy? Mommy!" Whatever sentence Mommy got wasn't enough, and I'm not sure even God could make hell's fires hot enough. I wonder how Dante would have treated this.
I have a very good idea how lucky I got, in Mom, in Sis, in my wife. I think about that every day. I am not close to worthy of being so richly blessed, but blessed I have been. I think of you every day, and I thank God for you every time I think of you.
Happy Mother's Day!
As always, I'd love your thoughts. Thanks for hanging out!
A common thread among all three of these: they were, and are, all protective of their own. All could be polite, mild-mannered, UNTIL you wronged one of their own. Then you'd find out that these were really tigers. They didn't have fingernails; they had claws. "Here - bring your face a little closer, so I can scratch it off."
Memory: I think it was when I was in second grade at Jefferson Elementary, the same school that two of my grandkids go to now. My teacher and the principal thought I had the mumps, so they made me go home. They made me stay home for two weeks. I didn't have the mumps, and I really did like school - the first of my really bad teachers that soured my attitude came the next year - so I was disappointed. So was Mom; she knew mumps when she saw them, and I didn't have the mumps - until my two weeks were up, and I could go back to school. That's when I got the mumps. Mom marched me into the principal's office, pointed at my face and said, "THAT'S the mumps!" I wound up with a month off. Mom wound up with a point made.
Fortunately, the teachers and administrators at (now) Jefferson-Edison Elementary today seem to have a much better idea of what they're doing than did the ones of my long-past era. Now, it's a pretty impressive lot.
I think of tigers. I think of my sister Sheri and her battle to get her son the educational program he needed. It involved battling school authorities, boards, I don't know who-all, but battle she did. And she won.Sheri has had many issues to deal with, and she has always come through. I have no doubt she will keep on doing so.
I think of the influence Mom had on my faith. We didn't wind up in precisely the same place. Mom was a lifelong Baptist. I, after a long and twisty spiritual journey, have found my home in the Roman Catholic Church. But Mom and I and Sheri all wound up with a faith that there is something bigger than any of us, or all of us. We all wound up with a faith that the confines of this life are not eternal confines (now, how's that for an oxymoron? "Eternal confines"? Really, Rick? How about, "The confines of this life do not last forever". Better.) We all have faith that God loves us, and that Jesus is alive and Jesus saves. We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. We believe in Jesus Christ, the only Son of God. . .
As does my wife. Cindy has been with me for every step of that journey. She has been with me for every step of parenting 5 kids, of grandparenting ten. I should say, I've been with her for every step of it, for she has been far better at it than I. And talk about tigers: she has battled schools over the needs of our special needs daughter, and they have found the programs she needed. She has - uh - shared her views in frank and useful discussions with other school authorities when she thought they were too free in handing out detentions to our kids. She's done the same with me when I got off the straight and narrow. I hope our kids and grandkids know how lucky they are.
Some years ago Joan Didion wrote about a 5-year-old girl. This girl was found by the California Highway Patrol. She was clinging to the Cyclone fence on the center divider on Highway 5, east of L.A. - clinging so hard that her fingers had to be pried from the fence. She'd been left on the highway 12 hours earlier by her mother. The little girl, when being interviewed by the C.H.P., said that, after her mother made her leave the car, she "ran really hard" for a while to try to catch mom. I can hear it now: "Mommy? Mommy!" Whatever sentence Mommy got wasn't enough, and I'm not sure even God could make hell's fires hot enough. I wonder how Dante would have treated this.
I have a very good idea how lucky I got, in Mom, in Sis, in my wife. I think about that every day. I am not close to worthy of being so richly blessed, but blessed I have been. I think of you every day, and I thank God for you every time I think of you.
Happy Mother's Day!
As always, I'd love your thoughts. Thanks for hanging out!
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